[CLASS BUILD] The Yellow Flash (Riposte Offtank Rogue)

[Boeroer]

I just tested a speedy defensive riposte rogue build with full bonus against disengagement attacks, escape, with two sabres, then a shield and all the stuff.
Two sabres don't work against tough enemies - you get shredded to pieces because of all the grazes in seconds while running past the enemies (in this case Ogres). What does work is a setup with Old Gerun's Wall and Purgatory and a potion of Wizard's Double. The Deflection is so high that you can run around the enemies and won't get hit a lot while triggering ripostes all the time. A good trick is to wear a stag helmet and cast Tanglefoot plus Binding Web before going in. That way you have instant Deathblows with Riposte and the enemies are already debuffed which leads to more crits.

But I have to say it's not as powerful as I wished for and also despite the shift+click pathing the micro is horrible. 

But I also tested Dragon's Maw and Badgradr's Barricade with a full tank barb who uses Heart of Fury and I have to say that is one great tank at higher levels! Jump in, daze, barbaric shout and HoF. The Thrust or Taste of the Hunt will proc like a hundret times (feel like, it's less of course) - the sound snippets of both keep playing long after HoF ends. Other than most other on-hit or on-crit effects those bash procs work correctly with HoF. Maybe I'll post a build after some more testing.
This is way better than the above rogue. I have to say riposte is stil not very good - only ok-ish.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Jojobobo]

I've got a full build for a tanky barb already (with every character I make I write out the build beforehand), as I said though with bash being bugged with Carnage it feels a little like cheating. I guess if they don't bother to patch it then I guess people will just have to take it as is, but currently it seems a bit lame to play with over-powered mechanics.

 

Does the bash bug get worse with HoF? As in, the bug as it was was triggering a second bash attack after a normal attack, is it triggering a second bash attack per each full attack or isn't it doing anything at all? Or haven't you been able to reproduce the bug in the first place, as others have mentioned?

[Boeroer]

Acutally, I haven't seen that double bash bug so far. But HoF against 6 enemies for example results in 36 bash hits alone. If you debuffed the mobs first then nealry every bash results in a crit which procs the Thrust.

 

With Dragon's Maw Taste of the Hunt gets triggered 9 times in average - giving you quite a bit of endurance and dealing good raw damage over time. Dual sabres might be better for HoF - but those two shields are not bad either and a better choice for HoF than a normal shield.

When you want to post that tanky barb build with shouts and stuff then I won't do it.
I tried Executioner's Hood + Glittering Gloves + Captain's Hatchet. It all stacks and you don't even need Barbaric Yell any more. BUT: the performace with purgatory is better than with the hatchet. A bit less defense but a lot more damage + healing. It lets you kill mobs faster and after every encounter I tried the test with the sabre came out better. Maybe I can try to convert this guy into something sturdy without shield. Then I can post it without interfering with your shield barb...? Will take weeks until I can post something anyways...

Edited August 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

Lol at boeroer, i'm just testing something similar too... A barb with max might, con, int, min res, dumped dex, flame godlike. Very elegant since he wear osric plate and spelltongue/purgatory, along with dragon maw shield. Barbaric Retaliatio + racial retaliation + potion of flame shield is wonderful. if He die vegenful defeat just rolled and osric take you back... He just cleared all craghold buffs with a single rest solo potd.

[Jojobobo]

When you want to post that tanky barb build with shouts and stuff then I won't do it.

I tried Executioner's Hood + Glittering Gloves + Captain's Hatchet. It all stacks and you don't even need Barbaric Yell any more. BUT: the performace with purgatory is better than with the hatchet. A bit less defense but a lot more damage + healing. It lets you kill mobs faster and after every encounter I tried the test with the sabre came out better. Maybe I can try to convert this guy into something sturdy without shield. Then I can post it without interfering with your shield barb...? 

No they're too similar to warrant me posting a second similar build, so go ahead and post it so long as you acknowledge me - you've put work into testing it so why not? I'm a chemistry PhD student, so not acknowledging an idea is in a fashion from someone else is almost tantamount to eating their first born child, but otherwise I don't mind.

 

In terms of an acknowledgement, I was thinking, "I hereby declare that Jojobobo, lord and master of Pillars of Eternity, did use his preternatural insight and supreme intellect to combine innate -accuracy abilities of the Barbarian class with a Bash shield to excellent effect in order to produce a defensive debuffer upon which this build is chiefly based," followed by some sort of grovelling/worship emoji. Or whatever you think is appropriate

 

To be honest, you've come up with so many ideas that haven't had builds yet (the Blast Envenomed Strikes Wizard for example) that's it's inevitable that people are going to want to make those builds - I think it's fine so long as credit is given where it's due. When I come to making a Wizard, I'd probably try that build unless I can come up with anything else original and interesting.

 

In terms of the build itself, yeah I was thinking the captain's hatchet was a little too heavy on the defence compared to other weapons. If people are dead keen on it serving as a debuffer, then the hatchet is better, but otherwise it's not as good and to be honest -30 accuracy through Terrified plus Dazed is likely already enough. It's almost certainly a build that, while viable for solo play, really shines in party play as you can have spell casters take advantage of the debuffs - particularly Reflex spells given the -6 Dexterity - 2 Perception from the Terrified + Dazed combo. In real terms, it's also boosting your party's defenses by 30 for the most part, which is pretty damn exceptional.

 

With you throwing Purgatory on top of Taste of the Hunt, it seems like a pretty legit health-draining vampire style build - or as close as you can get in the game. I know you like themes in your builds, so if you were stuck for an interesting theme (which I'm sure you wouldn't be) then there you go.

 

It's weird that the bash bug is temperamental, I would have thought it would have procced more consistently seeing as I experienced it and Loren Tyr replicated it. Who knows?

 

Anyway, have fun making the build

Edited August 1, 2016 by Jojobobo