[Class Build] Bleak Walker , Melee DW Paladin Monster

[Blunderboss]

Bleak Walker Dual-wield Paladin

 

How does this character work ?

This paladin is an off-tank ( You have to be tanking for this build to work ! ) , melee DPS who uses Dual-Wield to achieve 0 recovery while using Sanguine Plate , coupled with other Spell-Holding items for offense and defense , you will have fair amount of abilities considering you play paladin , meanwhile keeping the character very low maintenance , it does 3 types of damage : Slash/Corrode/Fire , and turns the fight every time it receives critical hit .

Monsterlash Included @ Boeroer

 

This is Not solo Build !

 

Race - Human/Coastal Aumaua/Any

 

Races that have increased might , and melee related bonuses are best choice .

 

Culture - Living Lands , Colonist ( +2 Survival ! )

 

Attributes :

 

MIG 20 ( MAX )

CON 10

DEX 10

PER 10

INT 18

RES 10

 

Attribute build with Sacred Immolation in mind , Consider Starting with more PER/RES and retrain @ lvl 13 to put attributes for better use before you need max INT, this is not needed however .

 

Build :

 

Level 1 - Flames Of Devotion

Level 2 - Remember Rakhan Field

Level 3 - Zealous Focus / Lay on Hands

Level 4 - Intense Flames

Level 5 - Sworn Enemy

Level 6 - Two Weapon Style

Level 7 - Reviving Exhortation

Level 8 - Savage Attack

Level 9 - Liberating Exhortation

Level 10 - Spirit of Decay

Level 11 - Deprive the Unworthy / Healing Chain

Level 12 - Deep Faith

Level 13 - Sacred Immolation

Level 14 - Scion of Flame

Level 15 - Any

Level 16 - Any

 

Pick Lay on Hands and Healing Chain if party has no priest , however healing same as scrolls is not this paladins business .

 

Skills :

 

Survival 11 ( +2 Sanguine Plate ) or Survival 13 Without Sanguine Plate

Rest Athletics

You can put some points into lore as well but this paladin build is not aimed at casting scrolls even if attributes are perfect for that , id rather spend my time auto attacking and tanking , and you have your own stuff to cast when encounter starts

 

Items :

! - Essential

Head : Maegfolc Skull

Armor : Sanguine Plate (!) + Durgan

Ring1 : Gathbin Family Signet / Ring of Overseeing (!)

Ring2 : Gwyns Band of Union

Feet : Shod-in-faith (!)

Neck : Swaddling Sheet

Hands : Gauntlets of Swift Action (!)

Belt : Looped Rope

 

Weapons :

Bittercut (!!!) + Corrosive/Fire Lash + Durgan Refined

Vent Pick + Corrosive/Fire Lash

 

Or use Helwax Mold for 2x Legendary Bittercut Durgan Refined Corrosive Lash

 

You dont need all these unique end game items only the ones marked with (!) , tho if you have those items , you can hardly put them in better use honestly , stacking Spell-Holding items is the key to ultimate power

If you are lucky like me and get Swaddling Sheet ( Cape that proc Overwhelming Wave on crit and has Recall Agony spellbind 0_o ) this character becomes really strong .

The sole armor i would swap Sanguine Plate for is Ryonas Breastplate soulbound armor from WM2 , then you kinda have to drink DAoM potion every single fight .

If you can spare Mold for double Bittercuts you will witness real power of this build .

Try it out !

Edited April 5, 2016 by Blunderboss

[Boeroer]

Totally makes sense.

 

After our "Monsterlash" conversation I briefly tested a Bleak Walker like this - with dual Bittercut an all the lashes and elemental talents you mentioned above. The FoD strikes are really... devastating! Way more powerful than an FoD arquebus shot - since it's a full attack and the full weapon damage plus lashed get multiplied by Scion of FLame and Spirit of Decay. And the normal attacks also deal a lot of damage because of that trick.

 

So I can absolutely confirm the aweseomness of that part.  

[Kaylon]

Totally makes sense.

 

After our "Monsterlash" conversation I briefly tested a Bleak Walker like this - with dual Bittercut an all the lashes and elemental talents you mentioned above. The FoD strikes are really... devastating! Way more powerful than an FoD arquebus shot - since it's a full attack and the full weapon damage plus lashed get multiplied by Scion of FLame and Spirit of Decay. And the normal attacks also deal a lot of damage because of that trick.

 

So I can absolutely confirm the aweseomness of that part.

While on paper dual sabres do slightly more damage than an arquebus (average 30 base dmg for arquebus vs 2x16 base damage for sabres) once you start hiting heavy armored enemies the sabres will fall behind because the DR counts twice.

[Blades of Vanatar]

 

 

Totally makes sense.

 

After our "Monsterlash" conversation I briefly tested a Bleak Walker like this - with dual Bittercut an all the lashes and elemental talents you mentioned above. The FoD strikes are really... devastating! Way more powerful than an FoD arquebus shot - since it's a full attack and the full weapon damage plus lashed get multiplied by Scion of FLame and Spirit of Decay. And the normal attacks also deal a lot of damage because of that trick.

 

So I can absolutely confirm the aweseomness of that part.

While on paper dual sabres do slightly more damage than an arquebus (average 30 base dmg for arquebus vs 2x16 base damage for sabres) once you start hiting heavy armored enemies the sabres will fall behind because the DR counts twice.

But how many shots in a combat do you get as compared to Saber swings?

[Boeroer]

It's about the fact that Bittercut's corrosive damage, including all +% dmg mods and corrosive lash, gets multiplied by 1.2. All burn lashes also get multiplied by 1.2. This results in higher FoD damage than with an arquebus shot.

If the target has higher corrode DR than slash DR you are right. But Bittercut will always favor corrode damage as long as corrode DR is equal to slash DR (or lower). With Durance's staff it's the other way round by the way. It has crush/burn. Bitter cut has corrode/slash.

This also works perfectly well without FoD by the way.

 

And like the Blades of Vanatar said: dual sabres are a lot faster than an arquebus.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Boeroer

[Blades of Vanatar]

I guess it depends on how long combat lasts....

[Boeroer]

No, they are always faster.

[Blunderboss]

After u reach White Forge , u attack with no recovery with Sabres assuming u got crit and proc frenzy , this actually allows u to do serious damage even after FoD is used , especially with Sworn Enemy and Recall Agony( From the cape ) active on enemy

Edited April 5, 2016 by Blunderboss

[Kaylon]

I never said you should use only the arquebus to fight, however it's clearly better to start with an arquebus and maybe switch to another one or the sabres for the second FoD. 

 

The sabres are better against enemies weak to corrode but against the rest the arquebus will be superior because the DR is doubled vs sabres. 

[Blunderboss]

Using arquebus with this build is gimping urself , believe me i tried , even Alpha Strike is not worth it , u better cast Sworn Enemy ( and recall agony if u have the cape ) for that it has no recovery and swapping weapon without quick switch is simply too slow , and no Arquebus will never do damage with FoD that is equal to 2x Bittercuts full attack with all the lashes , full attack with fod and 2x bittercuts is devastating .

Shooting Guns is another paladin build which i bet is very interesting and fun

Edited April 5, 2016 by Blunderboss

[Kaylon]

Using arquebus with this build is gimping urself , believe me i tried , even Alpha Strike is not worth it , u better cast Sworn Enemy ( and recall agony if u have the cape ) for that it has no recovery and swapping weapon without quick switch is simply too slow , and no Arquebus will never do damage with FoD that is equal to 2x Bittercuts full attack with all the lashes , full attack with fod and 2x bittercuts is devastating .

Shooting Guns is another paladin build which i bet is very interesting and fun

Using an arquebus isn't gimping yourself, it's the best option in most situations - you don't have to believe me, it's simple math...  Of course, it's your build, it doesn't have to be optimized. I just explained why the FoD damage with dual Bittercut isn't always better than with an arquebus.

[Blunderboss]

math means nothing if it doesnt work in practice you know

[Braven]

Nice build!  Alpha striking enemies without tedious quick switching is very nice and double sabers look great.  It should work well soloing too (with a healing ability added like lay-on-hands or veterans recovery).  Though alpha strikes are not as impactful when soloing, it is still nice for quickly getting rid of the "troublesome" enemies that stun, cast spells, etc.  Not sure if Deep Faith is ever needed since it is pretty lousy overall and increases deflection which is anti-synergy.  Wonder if Cloak of the Master Mystic could be taken advantage of for the invisibility, just so you can escape, stealth, and get FOD (and invisibility) back by "ending the encounter".  If using that strategy, resolve should be dropped more to lower deflection to make up for the cape and maybe a concentration item considered.

 

Shame there is no way to get vulnerable attack without losing speed.  That is always nice to have if dual-wielding with no/low recovery. 

Edited April 5, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

I tried that build (only the Monsterlash part) on the Bleak Walkers in Woodend Plains which have fairly high DR - and the FoD with two Bittercuts and the "monsterlashes" plus Spirit of Decay plus Scion of Flame was higher than any FoD hit/crit I ever saw on my Arquebus-Quick-Switch paladins (like the Dull Runner who was solely build around FoD alphas with all the lash talents and enchantments). I didn't do any math now - but after the first Bittercut-FoD I just thought "Wooohaaa!". I think it's because most of the time the whole Bittercut damage, including the two corrosive lashes and all the base dmg mods gets multiplied by 1.2. With an arquebus only the lashed would get multiplied - and you only get one shot instead of two attacks. And you have a lower cirt damage multiplier on guns. Don't forget that. If you crit with Bittercuts, the crit damage also gets multiplied by 1.2.

If DR is very high then maybe the Bittercut FoD is inferior - but I guess it would have to be a very high DR. Then you should perhaps try to lower it before wasting your precious FoDs on that. On the other hand - you can of course always fire a gun from a distance if you meet high DR foes and then switch to bittercuts (without wasting talent points). Everybody has two weapons slots at least. But I like the simplicity of this approach while losing no dps on your FoD. Just run into the fray and start hacking.

 

This would be even better if Runner's Wounding SHot or the Girdle of the Driving Wave would give you full attacks. Sadly, the first only gives you a primary attack and the latter is bugged. It doesn't do the same as the abiliity. Knockdown was buffed to a full attack - but they forgot to adapt the GIrdle. As they forgot it to adapt all the Whisper of Treason items when they buffed the casting time of that spell. 

Edited April 5, 2016 by Boeroer

[Blades of Vanatar]

Well, Kaylin is right about starting off with the Arquebus shots as that is from a distance where the enemy, mostly, can't hit back. It is an awesome opener. "BWAM to the face, BWAM to the face and then SHNG out come the Sabres for some Dice n Slice!" Think we can get Tarantino to make a PoE film? The action would be just Awesome!

[Blunderboss]

Problem with opening with gun is :

You start a fight in front line ,

You need to cast Sworn Enemy before enemies are in melee range ,

Now if you also fire a gun u have to switch to melee , which leaves you with huge recovery penalty untill u can attack again , god forbid if you move during that time it adds even more recovery , and enemies will be slashing ur face while u cant do anything even worse if they crit u during that time and frenzy is already up , and if u have Swaddling Sheet and need to cast Recal Agony with Sworn Enemy this not even an option honestly .

With this build you want to get crit at combat start proc Frenzy , consecrated ground , overwhelming wave and start smashing enemies using one fod per enemy and killing the bigger ones with Recal Agony , Sworn Enemy and 0 Recovery dual wield attacks , meanwhile healing allies with shod in faith and doing aoe damage with Sacred Immolation

Edited April 5, 2016 by Blunderboss

[Boeroer]

I can see why this works best without shooting a gun. 

[Braven]

Since you are not using your other weapon slots or guns, you could also adopt the "fire paladin" style for additional AOE in tough fights.

 

With the fireball quarterstaff and fireball saber filling your other two weapon slots, you will have 6 fireballs to add to your combat options. Works well since you are already getting Scion of Flame.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Good point!

[dgray62]

Many thanks for this excellent build. I have never tried an "evil character" and thought a bleak walker build such as this would be an excellent one to try out. I had one question, however. Given the nature of this build, wouldn't it make sense to pick the Weapon Focus: Ruffian talent? I see that it could be selected at level 16, but I imagine that is you went this long without it there'd be no need for it. Is this in fact the case? Do Paladins pick up enough of a bonus to accuracy from other talents and skills so that they don't need Weapon focus or high perception?

[Boeroer]

Flames of Devotion has an ACC bonus of +20. That can compensate for the relatively low ACC paladins have. But that's only 2/encounter. Besides that, paladins' ACC is not very good, but OK. It gets better with Zealous Focus, which gives you +6 ACC like a Weapon Focus would. Of course you could stack those.

 

edit: typos - stupid german autocorrection on my smartphone...

Edited June 14, 2016 by Boeroer

[Blades of Vanatar]

Does Outlanders Frenzy make sense on this build or does the durganized plate and durganized Bittercuts reduce the speed to make it unnecessary?

[dgray62]

 

Thanks, Boeroer. I can see that ACC is not a problem when using Flames of Devotion. But I am concerned that the miss rate of auto attacks would be high, since Savage Attack ACC penalty would basically negate the bonus from Zealous Focus. I wonder if it would make sense to take Weapon Focus at lvl 6, Two Weapon Style at lvl 8, and delay taking Savage Attack?

[Loren Tyr]

Keep in mind though that the Zealous Focus isn't quite like a Weapon Focus talent though. It's just a modal effect, so it won't stack with a lot of things including Flames of Devotion (on the other hand, FoD gives a 20+Level ACC bonus, so it does scale a bit with level).

[Boeroer]

Thanks, Boeroer. I can see that ACC is not a problem when using Flames of Devotion. But I am concerned that the miss rate of auto attacks would be high, since Savage Attack ACC penalty would basically negate the bonus from Zealous Focus. I wonder if it would make sense to take Weapon Focus at lvl 6, Two Weapon Style at lvl 8, and delay taking Savage Attack?

Of course you can do that. I always favour ACC over damage in the early and mid game. So Savage Attack comes always a bit later for me (if I use it at all).