Ranger or Chanter

[theBalthazar]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm wondering if the Chanter is the best or not between him and the Ranger, in MY team, obviously !

 

Here my team :

 

Mass C.C., based on attack. With purpose to finish the Battle as soon as possible. Res 3 and constitution 3 for all my characters.

 

Druid

Barbarian (Main, yes I'm trying, don't shoot-me. But I remain what I said about the other topic : its hard on end-game, he has nothing more than at the beginning. Only frenzy et the too rare heart of the fury, wich I regret having taken with his 1/rest.)

Wizard

Priest

Priest

 

+

 

One place...^^

 

At the origin, I have planned a ranger with Stormcaller. But, after reflexion... A chanter with Burning superlash + dragon trash. would it be better in termes of DPS total ?

 

Druid and Barbarian + Wizard will do much damages with superlash... But Ranger with its pet is not negligible Hum...

 

Its difficult to determinate to me. So according to you ?

 

Thx.

Edited March 6, 2016 by theBalthazar

[MaxQuest]

Cipher!

 

On a serious note: I has been difficult to determine for me too. 'Superlash' is very good. But, I had two ciphers to benefit from it, and for them +25% (even if it sounds strange) feels more than just +25%. Because it translates in 25% more damage from spells which surpasses that of their weapons. That's 25% more Amplified Waves. 25% more Dominates. And 25% less being hit by the enemies. The no-rest parade.

 

For you... chanter might be slightly less of use because you have two priests. And chanter doesn't really benefit from them. And same for viceversa. While ranger just loves being buffed. High acc, dire blessing, stormcaller. That's a pleasant sight to see. And fits better your "cc based on attack" motto.

 

Final verdict: Ranger (if your druid and one wizard/priest are tanky enough), Chanter off-tank if they are not.

Edited March 6, 2016 by MaxQuest

[Primy]

Endgame ranger too good, pet alone critting for 100+ (also very high acc, itumaak with pala aura and no other buffs that i was aware off had about 111 acc, that was actually the highest acc. of anyone in my party if i remember correctly), ranger with stormcaller twin arrow + stunning shot + talent that makes arrows bounce = most off the time 2-3 enemys perma stunned and sick damage.

 

U want another character that uses either drawn in spring dagger or persistence bow to enable the damage boost for the ranger pet on targets with an active dot effect. I recommend a persistence cipher.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Primy

[theBalthazar]

Yes Chanter is the bad choice, I think too...

 

I return to my first choice : Ranger.

 

I have no tank but I don't know how create a good tank which still makes correct damage.

 

I always played aggressive.

Edited March 6, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Boeroer]

If you want a good tank with good damage then you should use the chanter. Only take defensive talents and pick the chant "The Dragon Trashed". Deals lots of damage while standing around or even when prone.

[theBalthazar]

Hum... ^^

 

Usually, the pet is my infinite tank. (He don't lose health after battle)

 

To eventually replace it, so it will take a tank for the Chanter.

 

The dragon trash do ~20 damage all 3s...?

 

+Superlash.

 

Its my objective so :

 

Moon Divine

 

Starting stats
STR: 18
CON: 9
DEX: 9
PER: 18
INT: 18
RES: 3

 

Or more Resolve ?

 

We need max str ? With the dragon thrashed.

 

How make chanter viable with damages, especially at "low speed" I imagine ?

 

What would be the best weapon/equipment with this kind of character?

 

This weapon is interresting. 10 % for do AoE damage for the chanter its great no ? But need a good speed to trigger often ?

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/The_Unlabored_Blade

Edited March 6, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Boeroer]

Have a look for inspiration (you don't need to use that mind control thing) - that worked like a charm on PotD: Drake's Ambassador

Also works good with Kana.

 

However, because you have a Druid AND you want a tank, you could also try this: Batsh!t Crazy

One of my favorite tank builds. Also works with Hiravias.

 

I played both recently in 3.01 with WMII with great success.

 

Here's an unusual ranger offtank/healer/dps who worked really well in 2.03 - I think it's still viable in 3.01: Riptide

Quite powerful, but no pure tank. But a good mixture of sturdyness and damage. Heals your party all the time. New in 3.0: Stunning Shots also works in melee now. It's even better than before.

 

All those build need relatively low micromanagement (because I don't like that).

 

By the way: The Dragon Thrashed also triggers Predator's Sense. And the Sure-Handed-Ila chant lets rangers shoot even faster. So chanter and ranger usualy make a good team. 

[theBalthazar]

And then comes my beloved Combusting Wounds (CW): If you have a wizard in your party or sombody else who can apply CW, do it: If you combine CW with the lvl-1-damage chant and the Dragon chant, you will do +10 extra burn damage per tick. Some fast cast fireballs on top will end the fight very quickly then.

 

 

Your build is very interesting.

 

I love particulary the +3 fireball/rest. + CW + the dragon trashed. A chanter AoE become interresting in my team.

 

Only the speed is a little problem but its not a pure DPS. Its a tank.

 

I go for the chanter.

 

===================================

The Drake's Ambassador

===================================

Difficulty: PotD v. 3.01

--------------------------------------------------------------

Class: Chanter

--------------------------------------------------------------

Race: Fire Godlike

--------------------------------------------------------------

Background: Living Lands - Explorer 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Stats:

 

MIG: 21

CON: 9

DEX: 3 

PER: 18 

INT: 18

RES: 9

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Skills: Stealth 0, Athl. 0, Lore 8(!), Mech. 0, Surv. Max possible

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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)

Weapon & Shield Style(!) OK

Scion of Flame OK

Snake's Reflexes or Ancient Memory

Bear's Fortitude or Beloved Spirits

Bull's Will or Veteran's Recovery

Superior Deflection®

Enigma's Charm or Cautious Attack

 

Abilities (I will not write down all of the names)

Towering Physique (a)

 

Invocations

Level 1: DR-, DR+, Crush/Stun

Level 2: Paralyze, Summon Wurm, Terrify(!), Charm(!)

Level 3: Summon Drake(!)

Level 4: - nothing -(not worth it)

 

Phrases

Level 1: Endurance-(!), Reflex & Move Speed, Concentration-

Level 2: Frighten®, Defense against Frighten & Terrify

Level 3: Slash/Burn(!), Burning Lash

Level 4: Draining (not used) 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended):

 

Weapon set 1: The Flames of Fair Rhian(!) & Redfield®(Durgan Refined*)

 

[Here I think an other shield is better : like : ]

Ilfan Byrngar's Solace

 

Weapon Set 2: Curoc's Brand (for one additional fireball/rest)

 

Spelltongue ? For best speed ? With the talent of quick change ?

 

Boots: Shod-in-Faith or Boots of Stability

 

Head: Munacra Arret(!) (if fire godlike)

 

Armor: Fine Plate (*Exceptional, INT+2, Crush-Proofed, Durgan-Refined)

 

Neck: Voice of the Mountaintop

 

Belt: Girdle of Maegfolc Might

 

Rings: Ring of Overseeing or Ring of Protection or Ring of Searing Flames, Ring of Changing Heart(!)

 

Hands: Bracers of Deflection or Spirit Spiral (for 3 more Whisper of Treason/rest)

 

Quick slots: Potion of Flame Shield, Fireball Scrolls, Fan of Flames Scrolls, Rolling Flame Scrolls, Wurm Figurine

---------------------------------------------------------------

Edited March 7, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Boeroer]

Yeah you can of course use other equipment. I took Redfield because I also had Outworn Buckler and Little Savior in my party. Those herald auras and the harbinger aura from Redfield stack, giving the whole front line +13 to all defenses. And I took it because of the looks.

[theBalthazar]

I do not know too invocations.

 

The drake is really the best ?

 

The time of charge is a big problem with the chanter. Generally with me, the battle is already over.

 

So, it is better to wait for invocation (level 3) or use the -DR or paralyse ?

Edited March 7, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Boeroer]

That build was somewhat a theme build (dragon/drake), so the Drake Summon was an obvious choice. Drakes also have a lot of endurance and make better meat shields than ogres. But they are clearly not the best summon. I hardly ever use summons because I like other invocations better.

The new ability "Brisk Recitation" that chanters get automatically on lvl 4 speeds up your chanting. On higher levels you can really feel the difference. However - tier-3-chants still take some time to build up the phrase counter. The paralyse invocation is one of the best. I strongly reccommend this.

 

But a real powerhouse in terms of damage is "white worms". At first it doesn't look like much, but you can cast it on corpses over and over again. And the explosion radius is 2m on every corpse. Here it's no problem that your invocation need some time to get charged: just make sure you killed some enemies before and then use White Worms. You can even lure wussie enemies to choke points and pile their bodies up to a big heap. Then lure the really tough encounters there and cast White Worms. You can eradicate whole bounties with this. Especially useful on open maps with a lot of enemies (Crägholt Bluff for example).

Here's a screenshot:

 

The invocation "Seven Nights" is extremely powerful if you stand in the midst of a mob or right in front of an enemy. Usually you can hit with three bolts simultaniously. I often deal more than 200 damage to a single target with that (not to speak of the damage the other enemies suffer). 

 

With a chanter you generally want to decide if you want to use lots of invocations (that means you have to use short phrases) or if you want to rely on powerfull chants (so it will take more time to load your invocations). Both is viable. My build I posted above focuses more on chants but still can fire off one or two invocations. The White Worm invocation fits this playstyle because you'll have to wait to get some corpses lying around.

 

If you want to go full tank you can also dump PER and MIG and use summons and buffs only. You can keep a lot of foes busy that way while buffing your buddies with some neat chants. But I find that kind of boring. I love The Dragon Trahsed becaus it's a great mob killer and speeds up annoying trash fights. The AoE is so big that most of the time all enemies will get hit.

 

Another source for fireballs is Taluntain's Staff. You can buy it in Twin Elms. It also has 3 fireballs per rest. So you can have 6 fireballs per rest. With the high MIG and high INT it'S really powerful. Scion of Flame also does it's share.

 

However, pleas note that Scion of Flame does not work with "The Dragon Thrashed". ONly direct damage is affected by those talents. Since that chant deals DoT and not direkt damage it doesn't get buffed. Sad but true.  

Edited March 7, 2016 by Boeroer

[theBalthazar]

Thank you.

 

I introduce you^^,

 

Lutèce, the Master of Fire

 

 

===================================

The Master of Fire

===================================

Difficulty: PotD v. 3.01

--------------------------------------------------------------

Class: Chanter

--------------------------------------------------------------

Race: Aumaua

--------------------------------------------------------------

Background: Living Lands - Explorer 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Stats:

 

MIG: 21

CON: 8

DEX: 10 

PER: 18 

INT: 18

RES: 3

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Skills: Stealth 0, Athl. 0, Lore 8(!), Mech. 0, Surv. Max possible

--------------------------------------------------------------

Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)

Weapon & Shield Style(!)

Scion of Flame

Snake's Reflexes

Bear's Fortitude

Bull's Will

Superior Deflection®

Cautious Attack (Finally, I up the dex for more deflexion, and I can desactivate it if necessary)

 

Abilities

+1 slot of weapon (a)

 

Invocations

Level 1: DR-, DR+, Crush/Stun

Level 2: Paralyze, Summon Wurm, Terrify(!), Charm(!)

Level 3: Summon drake (!)

Level 4: - nothing -(not worth it)

 

Phrases

Level 1: Endurance-(!), Reflex & Move Speed, Concentration-

Level 2: Frighten®, Defense against Frighten & Terrify

Level 3: Slash/Burn(!), Burning Lash

Level 4: Draining (not used) 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended):

 

Weapon set 1: The Flames of Fair Rhian(!) + Ilfan Byrngar's Solace

 

Weapon Set 2: Talutain

 

Weapon Set 3 : Spelltongue + Random shield

 

Boots: Shod-in-Faith

 

Head: Munacra Arret(!) (I had underestimated x3 Rapid charm)

 

Armor: Fine Plate (*Exceptional, INT+2, Crush-Proofed, Durgan-Refined)

 

Neck: Voice of the Mountaintop OR Cape of the Master Mystic (I will test to decide)

 

Belt: Girdle of Maegfolc Might

 

Rings: Ring of Protection + Ring of Changing Heart(!)

 

Hands: Spirit Spiral (for 3 more Whisper of Treason/rest)

 

Quick slots: Potion of Flame Shield, Fireball Scrolls, Fan of Flames Scrolls, Rolling Flame Scrolls, Wurm Figurine

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Fireball x6/rest.

Whisper of Treason x6/rest.

Domination x2/rest

+boost of speed.

 

110 deflexion ~ ? He is a little less tanky BUT with C.C. + 2 priests ... I think its good ?

 

Like a boss : p^^

 

Thx Boerer.

Edited March 7, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Boeroer]

Looks good. 110 deflection would be enough for me most of the time. You have to play a bit to see if it's enough for you. RES 3 is a strong anouncement - we'll see if that works out.