POTD Chanter Solo Questions

[Blades of Vanatar]

Starting my next solo run as a Borreal Dwarf Chanter Scientist from the Living Lands. Not caring about Stealth but will build up Lore, Mech, Athletics and Survival. Plan on RPing him as a 'good guy' so no Gift to the Machine or Blood Pool. Probably siding with the Knights for their bonus.

 

Stats - don't like dumping stats but I'm open to suggestions

 

Might 15

Con 14

Dex 9

Per 12

Int 18

Res 10

 

My goal is to be tanky enough to survive. My plan is 2 Spear and Shield setups. 1st containing Vile Loner's and 2nd Cladhilath. CCing with VL then finishing with Clad. Looking for equipment advice from this point. Currently in chapter 1 about to depose Raedric and his henchmen.

 

Which version of Clad is best for finishing? What other Equipment would you recommend?

Edited July 20, 2016 by Blades of Vanatar

[Jojobobo]

You can't enchant the Cladhaliath spear if you go proper solo, you don't have anyone to stand on the symbols   Nor can you get the Blood Pool boosts, sadly.

 

If I were you (and what I'm planning for my own solo Chanter), I'd go max Mig, Int and Res - the first two for heals and stronger Chanting effects due to AoE, the latter for just the Deflection bonus. You can dump Dex, you're hardly going to be a DPS machine. Per and Con can likely be base, though maybe run the numbers on Con to make sure you're comfortable with the health you're getting. I'd also take the Fear Phrase, as that effectively bumps your Deflection by 10.

 

From there on I'd just go full defensive and use your Invocations for summons. Equipment choices - things like Cape of the Master Mystic (most Deflection in game) and Ring of Protection. I'd take full on defense talents, and also healing talents (Wound Binding, Veteran's Recovery) and Ancient Memory/Beloved Spirits (which I think was just patched to also affect the Chanter? Maybe those heals always did, I don't know).

 

I've played this kind of tank with other classes, and it does work fine. I've never properly played a Chanter however, so I'm sure people will have much more in depth advice - but bottomline this tanky base works.

[Dr <3]

You can't enchant the Cladhaliath spear if you go proper solo, you don't have anyone to stand on the symbols Nor can you get the Blood Pool boosts, sadly.

 

 

Don't have time to answer properly, but on this point: you can buils Cladhaliath also in solo: you need to mantain 1 or mobs Alice, when they attack you, summon 3 shadows or 3 scarab, send 1 for tank and the other 2 on the symbols, this will activate the procedure also in solo.

 

For General porpouse: in my solo Chanter run i liked to max int e might , dump dex for abuse dragon chant. And i took all the defensive talent: cautius attack, sword& shield, bear fortitude, +5 def , ecc. It rocked.

[Blades of Vanatar]

I'm a Dwarf. Con is a must!

[Kaylon]

You can enchant Cladhaliath solo now because you don't have to stand on the symbols anymore - you just have to walk over them and they stay activated. However for a chanter I don't think it's such a great idea. With the Vile Loner however you can build a very strong interrupting build once you have the buff giving +50interrupt.

[Boeroer]

A sidenode:

If you want to use invocations a lot I wouldn't drop DEX too much (if not 100% tank mode). Nowadays you will have a recovery phase after every invocation in which you don't even chant. That phase can be rather long and with dumped DEX it takes forever to start chanting again. So your phrase counter buildup will be a lot slower and also your dps with damaging chants. I did some simple tests because I wanted to find out if you can chain cast "The Killers Froze Stiff" at lvl 16 with max INT and Brisk Recitation (lvl 1 chants take only 2 secs) and took a tank approach (DEX 3). That's when I found out that I gimped my invocation speed so hard. On the other hand, with very high DEX and speed buffs you can reach impressive invocation rates.

I want to play a solo chanter next, too. With Persistence as main weapon, using low level chants for fast invocations like summons and White Worms and other invocations as bread an butter and NOT The Dragon Thrashed.

 

Other than that: Cladhalitah + solo chanter, the agony of choice:

- Stunning + Vicious: the obvious solution. With Vile Loner's Lance it's a bit easier to stun and spears have +5 ACC, but chanters are still no crit monsters. But luckily you have a paralyzing invocation which can trigger the stunlock once and you might have good chances against wilders and primordial anyway. Stunning sets up it's own mini-sneak attack from Vicious (which is weaker than coordinating, see below). Also works together with bonus damage against flanked targets and Apprentice's Sneak Attack if you use summons to flank.

- Marking + Coordinating: Good combination for a solo chanter who uses summons: your phantom for example gets +10 ACC and you get +4 ACC and +25% damage. In the early to mid game your phantom will stunlock this way on hit - so no need for stunning enchantment on cladhaliath, right? Here also the flanking bonuses can add quite some damage. With this setup one could also imagine to take the Dozens' side. It's not too bad when you plan to flank a lot: another +5 ACC - so basically +19 ACC (Mob Justice + Coordinating + flanked) as well as up to +70% weapon damage when flanking (20% camping, 10% item, 15% Apprentice's Sneak, 25% Coordinating). It's like rogue's damage with more ACC when you and your summon attack the same target. In theory I like this even better than the first (and more obvious) approach. I used this on a chanter tank in a party and was quite pleased.

 

You can also go for Stunning + Coordinating of course when you plan to flank with summons.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Boeroer

[Jojobobo]

You can enchant Cladhaliath solo now because you don't have to stand on the symbols anymore - you just have to walk over them and they stay activated. However for a chanter I don't think it's such a great idea. With the Vile Loner however you can build a very strong interrupting build once you have the buff giving +50interrupt.

Last time I checked, which was admittedly a while ago, it didn't work. Thanks for letting me know.

[dambros]

A sidenode:

If you want to use invocations a lot I wouldn't drop DEX too much (if not 100% tank mode). Nowadays you will have a recovery phase after every invocation in which you don't even chant. That phase can be rather long and with dumped DEX it takes forever to start chanting again. So your phrase counter buildup will be a lot slower and also your dps with damaging chants. I did some simple tests because I wanted to find out if you can chain cast "The Killers Froze Stiff" at lvl 16 with max INT and Brisk Recitation (lvl 1 chants take only 2 secs) and took a tank approach (DEX 3). That's when I found out that I gimped my invocation speed so hard. On the other hand, with very high DEX and speed buffs you can reach impressive invocation rates.

I want to play a solo chanter next, too. With Persistence as main weapon, using low level chants for fast invocations like summons and White Worms and other invocations as bread an butter and NOT The Dragon Thrashed.

 

Other than that: Cladhalitah + solo chanter, the agony of choice:

- Stunning + Vicious: the obvious solution. With Vile Loner's Lance it's a bit easier to stun and spears have +5 ACC, but chanters are still no crit monsters. But luckily you have a paralyzing invocation which can trigger the stunlock once and you might have good chances against wilders and primordial anyway. Stunning sets up it's own mini-sneak attack from Vicious (which is weaker than coordinating, see below). Also works together with bonus damage against flanked targets and Apprentice's Sneak Attack if you use summons to flank.

- Marking + Coordinating: Good combination for a solo chanter who uses summons: your phantom for example gets +10 ACC and you get +4 ACC and +25% damage. In the early to mid game your phantom will stunlock this way on hit - so no need for stunning enchantment on cladhaliath, right? Here also the flanking bonuses can add quite some damage. With this setup one could also imagine to take the Dozens' side. It's not too bad when you plan to flank a lot: another +5 ACC - so basically +19 ACC (Mob Justice + Coordinating + flanked) as well as up to +70% weapon damage when flanking (20% camping, 10% item, 15% Apprentice's Sneak, 25% Coordinating). It's like rogue's damage with more ACC when you and your summon attack the same target. In theory I like this even better than the first (and more obvious) approach. I used this on a chanter tank in a party and was quite pleased.

 

You can also go for Stunning + Coordinating of course when you plan to flank with summons.

Surviving using a bow on a solo chanter should be really challenging I think. Unless splitting every single encounter the summon should get swarmed and killed really fast (faster than you could resummon maybe?). Keep in mind though I am saying this using the figurines as comparison from my current solo playthrough and I can be really wrong.

 

I would like to hear your experiences on the subject, because for me the summoned creature by the figurines are always melted if focused but maybe the ogres can have a better lifespan.

Edited July 21, 2016 by dambros

[Boeroer]

I have two words for you: White Worms. Turns any doorway into a mob grinder.

And of course Persistence wouldn't be my only weapon. It's the one I use when kiting with high move speed and Shot on the Run of course.

So I can use chokepoints when there's no room for kiting and kiting when there's no doorway and open space... That stupid Dweller will bleed. :D

Edited July 21, 2016 by Boeroer