[Theoretical build]The Bavarian rouge (full-riposte-rouge with good mental stats)

[Ben No.3]

ATTENTION: Again, it's not tested... My PC is still down (which apparently makes me more creative... Good thing I'm using it in a useful way rather than wasting it on real-world problems). Again, testing will start as soon as possible

 

 

"No a Bier, und dann gengan mia a boh Drachn platt machn."

 

[rough translation: "One more bear, and then we'll go kill some dragons."]

 

-Seppel, enjoying some beer just before facing off the alpine dragon

 

 

 

This build is an attempt to create dedicated riposte rouge (with nice mentals). Besides spellcasters, dedicated damage dealers always are the ones to have poor mentals (Res mainly), hence this build. A riposte rouge seemed ideal. He will drop dex (whaaaaat?) to push up Res. But most heavily we will invest into accuracy, thus the highest stat will be perception. See, this build is all about only hitting back (Seppel is a sort of peaceful guy), so when we do hit, we want to hit hard. This raises the question, what might be the ideal weapon for our lovley seppel. And the answer is: a battleaxe! This is because we are aiming to crit if riposte finally triggers, and the battleaxe adds a straight +50% to the crit damage bonus. That is insane! So let's build around it. Also, we'll try to fit some nice debuff/CC into it.

 

Race Heart Orlan

 

Initial stats:

Mig 14 (15 base -1 Orlan)

Con 10

Dex 3

Per 20 (18 +2 Orlan)

Int 12 (11 +1 Old valia)

Res 18 (17 +1 Orlan)

 

You may want to switch Dex and Res until you get riposte to get something out of seppel.

 

Endgame stats:

 

Mig 17 (15 base -1 Orlan +3 Sentiel's Girdlei)

Con 14 (10 base +4 Iron circle)

Dex 3

Per 20 (18 base +2 Orlan)

Int 16 (11 base +1 Old Valia +4 Gwyn's Band)

Res 20 (17 base +1 Orlan +2 Coat of III Payment)

 

As you may notice, this build also was created with mental stats in mind, I'm into mental stats . I like good talkers as mains.

 

Equipment:

-Armour: Coat of III Payment (Retaliation, +2 Res)

-Weapon: Wodewys (put the best enchantment you're willing to spend on it, +0.5 crit damage (!), 10% to cast Nature's Mark on hit (our CC), +10 defense against Posions and disease, spellbind purge of toxins) or resolution or purgatory (sabers with annihilation (+0.5 crit damage)), however, you'll loose the debuff effect. If you use Bittercut together with spirit of decay, you will have the least dependence on critting since your damage output is very high, but again, no debuff.

-secondary weapon: We Toki (has a chance to inflict prone on crit, a good way to get an enemy proned if necessary)

-Shield: Badgrad's Barricade (bash, 10% to cast Thrust of tattered veils on crit)

-secondary shield: Supra's supper plate (no accuracy loss, so We Toki's prone is more likely. Also adds to retaliation)

-Head: Executioner's hood (+20 max endurance/kill, +5 melee accuracy for 5s when you get missed, terrifying presence)

-Feet:Manila's boots (+1 move speed, +50 defense while stunned/prone), late game you can consider viettro's formal footwear for the extra reflex

-Hands: Ryona's vembraces (3 DR bypass)

-Neck: Cloak of comfort (+5 to all defenses, +30 max endurance, +3 DR to slash/pierce/crush)

-Waist: Sentiel's girdel (+3 mig, +20 defense against push, spellbind watchful presence)

 

Abilities:

Auto (a), recommended ®, important (!), central (!!!)

-sneak attack (a)

-blinding or crippling strike

-dirty fighting (!)

-riposte (!!!)

-deep wounds ®

-adept evasion ® or escape ®

-deathblows (!)

-sap

-withering strike

 

Talents:

Same symbols

-weapon and shield style (!!!)

-veteran's recovery (!)

-cautious attack ®

-vicious fighting (!)

-vurnable attack ®

-WF: knight (!)

-superior deflection or penetrating shot

 

Be sure to invest some points into lore... Besides the terrible casting speed he's quite a good scroll user, and the high DR bypass has a wonderful synergy with all kinds of missile spells. Take penetration shot. If you want to heavily invest into scrolls through (which would make sense, they work beautifully with sneak attack/deathblows), there is a build for this already around here called the sorcerer's apprentice, scrolls aren't the main focus of this build.

 

So, we will be really slow! Which is why one one side, we are very dependent in riposte being triggered. On the other hand, that makes us not

care about speed penalties, so cautious and vurnable attack are instant takes. We also need to stack accuracy or find other ways of triggering crits, hence vicious fighting, WF, high per. With the axe (+0.5 crit), the 8 DR bypass (3 DR bypass from gloves, 5 DR bypass from talent) and the bash shield (and maybe ToTV), we will have a very nice damage output when we crit. Additionally, a crit might trigger Nature's mark, which is a nice thing to have. The coat of III payment will be our main source of constant damage output, while also offering quite some protection, especially with the +3DR on pierce/slash/crush from the cape.

 

So, let's talk synergies:

We get into battle and open with a blinding strike and thus lower their accuracy, making grazes/misses more likely. If we are very lucky, we crit and also triggered nature's mark, lowering deflection and making crits with riposte much more likely.The enemy tries to hit us and hopefully either grazes or, best of all, misses (in which case we get a accuracy bonus from the hood BEFORE riposte-hit is calculated, also the coat hits with high DR bypass, regardless of hit/miss/graze); not hitting is also not unlikely with the many defense bonuses from stats and equipment). Let's say riposte triggers. So we crit (we probably will-we have a lot of accuracy, vicious fighting and lowered deflection on the enemy) and if we set up for example a chill fog and a tanglefoot or of our first blinding strike is still active we crit with deathblows. That combined with the battleaxe's crit damage bonus is a lot of bonuses being applied. If we are lucky, nature's mark hits again (did I mention it goes against fortitude? Since we wear the Executioner's hood that stat is lowered, and our accuracy is higher). Now the bash of the shield gets applied, with the high DR bypass and the damage bonuses it'll even be noticeable. If ToTV hits against the already lowered defense with all the damage bonuses, that'd be nice as well. By the way, penetrating shot works with that one. Deep wounds then applies additional damage.

If you feel the need to switch to a different enemy (for example if your casters get engaged in melee), switch to we Toki, you'll most probably prone your enemy and can then move on. To make this "panic button" more likely, we'll use the supper plate, which not only has no accuracy penalty, but also retaliation that stacks with that of the coat.

And even if none of that happens, you'll still get the retaliation with deathblows, sneak attack, DR bypass and triggering deep wounds

 

Well, that's chaotic... Sry bout that

Let's clear things up with some numbers:

Note: I have not included enchantments applyed by the player, since it's your character not mine. Every time you see (nonenchanted)/(nonenchanted non durganised), I highly recommend enchanting and/or durganising.

 

-Lvl 16 deflection: 111 (15 base, +3*16 level, +10 Res, +12 (nonenchanted) Barricade, +6 weapon and shield style, +5 cape of comfort, +10 cautious attack, +5 superior deflection)

-Lvl 16 deflection with escape: 136 (same as above, +25 escape)

-Lvl 16 accuracy, non enchanted weapon: 91 (30 base, +10 per, +3*15 level, -4 barricade, +5 WF, +5 Hood)

-all damage multipliers on crit, (non enchanted/durganised weapon): 251% (+3%*17 mig, +50% crit, +50% battleaxe/annihilation, +100% Sneak attack and deathblows)

-DR (nonenchanted): frost/burn 18 (coat of III payment), corrode 15 (coat), slash/pierce 21 (+18 coat, +3 gear), crush 25 (+22 coat, +3 gear)

-Speed malus (nondurganised): 111% (7*3% Dex, +50% coat of III payment, 2*20% talents)

 

Why Bavarian? Because of the shield

You are obviously required to drink beer before every major battle.

 

So, here is my passive riposte rouge with high mentals.

Feedback welcome... I've still got to learn

 

HUGE thanks to Boeroer, Jojobobo and GuyNice for all the support

Special thanks to Boeroer for the shield recommendation.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

A solid riposte build. Deep Wounds with high MIG and INT, combined with retaliation is very nice.

Some things:

 

- A riposte rogue would greatly benefit from escape's +25 deflection bonus and the immunity to engagement

- Resolution or Purgatory are also annihilating (=+0.5 crit damage mult.) like battle axes. They do more damage and are slash only as well. So Resolution and later Purgatory would be the better choice I think. I like using Bittercut (looks superawful with Badgradr's Barricade though) because of it's two damage types and more damage than any other sabre with Spirit of Decay (+20% initial weapon damage and +30% corrosive lash instead of 25%. In fact, the initial damage also defines the lash damage, so your lash profits twice. With Spirit of Decay, your lash will be like a 36% lash compared to the normal 25% one.)

- Another nice shield - if you look for dual retaliation - may be Sura's Supper Plate. It's retaliation stacks, giving you 2 retaliations when you get hit. But then you won't have bash. You will trade full attacks for an additional retaliation. But I think the Barricade is better...

- I would only use Feign Death if I had Backstab. I fact with Badgradr's Barricade, I would use Crippling Strike - not so much because of the hobble effect, but because you get 2 full attacks which let you attack with weapon and bash in quick succession, negating the disadvantage of low DEX a bit. 

Edited September 21, 2016 by Boeroer

[Ben No.3]

Thanks post has been modified

[Jojobobo]

I would consider taking Viettro's Formal Footware as your end game shoes, not because you need the Dex per se but rather to shore up your reflex save further. With the lore bonus you can easily have access to the level 10 spells, which are quite powerful.

 

Obviously if they're intended for another character then ignore this.

[Ben No.3]

Thank you, option added as well

Edited September 22, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

Scrolls on Deathblows are just awesome! And since you might want to stack a lot of DR bypass anyway (for the retaliation) you can also use all those missile scrolls on Deathblows - like Missile Barrage. This combined with a lot of DR bypass and Deathblows is very powerful.

[Ben No.3]

Aaaand another update! Also corrected not counting the cape for defense bonus...

Edited September 22, 2016 by Ben No.3

[GuyNice]

Cool build, I'm considering a riposte rogue MC for my next playthrough, mainly because I find their power level to be fairly balanced, and the high mental stats are great. I'm not sure about dumping dex though, I personally don't like very slow characters, instead I would keep might at 10 (as the bonus damage is additive with sneak attack and death blows, which makes it comparatively weak) and drop per to 16 in order to have an average dex score. But it's really a matter of taste, your stat spread is completely valid.

 

The DR bonuses from fryth's plated greaves and cloak of comfort won't stack, so I would pick just one of those. There are many options for what to replace, but cloak of missiles (5 burn/shock DR and minor missiles 3/rest) could be a good fit, or perhaps hiro's mantle for retaliation which opens up a different armor option.

 

About Wodewys, I'm not sure what you mean by CC, as nature's mark is a debuff, it doesn't disable enemies or enable sneak attack. At 10% it's also a bit unreliable, not to mention it's potentially replaceable with aspirant's mark. With your high crit rate I would go for We Toki or (if you're keen on battle axes) or a stun-on-crit weapon instead if you want more CC. But then again CC'd mobs can't attack, so no retaliation or riposte. That's why I would probably go for sabres with annihilation instead.

 

I would also seriously consider taking penetrating shot if you're planning to make use of missile scrolls (which i think is a great idea), as vulnerable attack will not work with them. For minoletta's concussive missiles, 5 DR bypass effectively means 25 damage (5 per missile) in the AoE, added to the 15-20 raw damage you should get from deep wounds with decent might and int. As a bonus, penetrating shot also affects the ToTV from Badgradr's Barricade. If you go for sabres and weapon focus ruffian, you can open battles with a (sneak attack) blunderbuss shot (5x6 DR bypass), eventually with something like Silver Flash or Scon Mica's Roar, which provide a nice debuff along with decent damage.

[Boeroer]

[...] mainly because I find their power level to be fairly balanced [...]

Best euphemism I heard this week. :D

[GuyNice]

 

[...] mainly because I find their power level to be fairly balanced [...]

Best euphemism I heard this week. :D

 

Haha, well, I like playing with a full party, so I need to do something to keep things interesting 

[Ben No.3]

By CC I meant the debuff, sry for the confusion. And I would have recommended we toki, but it only has a 10% as well, and I'd rather have nature's mark then. Correct me if I'm wrong. Due to riposte, i don't see the use in high speed IF we need to sacrifice damage. The missiles update will be added, thanks.

[Ben No.3]

I'll look into what gloves to use then, the cape is to awesome

Edited September 22, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

The Executionier's Hood is perfect for this build. Any kind of debuff that lowers enemies' ACC is good. The hatchet that causes minor fatigue on hit would also be nice, but it's damage is not so great of course. Anything that dazes would also be good. Fatigue, dazing and frighten stack by the way. your enemies could suffer from -30 ACC - even -50 with Devotions (priest - if it stacks with fatigue/daze/frighten - which I hope).

[Ben No.3]

Does anyone know how high we toki's chance to prone is? I thought it was 10%, but I can't confirm it... If it's especially higher it might be worth it (although we need people to hit us to quickly hit back... Not sure what option is best)

Edited September 22, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

Also: Pen. Shot not only works with Thrust of Tattered Veils, but it also doesn't slow you down in melee. It also doesn't slow down your spellcasting. So I would take it and also keep Vuln. Attack.

I would also keep Ryona's Vambraces and aim for Effigy's Resentment: Devil of Caroc for another 1 DR bypass. +9 DR bypass in melee and ranged are worth it with retaliation and spells.

Taling about Blunderbusses: with Lead Spitter you would have a whopping +16 DR bypass... nice opener before going into melee maybe. 

 

What I forgot: Deep Wounds work with spells that deal pierce/crush/slash damage, too. So a scroll of Twin Stones on Deathblows will not only do double damage, but also cause Deep Wounds in a huge AoE on all enemies that get hit. Same with Concussive Missiles. Great stuff! Twin Stones also works with Pen. Shot by the way.
Items with great spell bindings that deal perce/crush/slash are The White Crest (Overwhelming Wave), Swaddling Sheet (Overwhelming Wave on steroids), Bittercut (Vile Thorns), Nidhen's Finger (Mind Lance) - and maybe others I forgot.

[Boeroer]

Does anyone know how high we toki's chance to prone is? I thought it was 10%, but I can't confirm it... If it's especially higher it might be worth it (although we need people to hit us to quickly hit back... Not sure what option is best)

"Chance"? What do you mean? When you crit with the initial attack then you will roll another die with the same ACC against fortitude. When you graze/hit/crit the target falls on it's buttocks. All weapons with overbearing or stunning work this way. You can look that up in the combat log. It will be listet under "additional effect", like "XY crits for x damage.. and grazes with additional effect (prone) for y sec". You may then hover over the text to see the actual rolls that happened. There is no fixed chance.

 

You have chances with other items which have something called "spell chance: xy" - like Wodewys or Redeemer or some other weapons. Those work differently. They have a certain chance to trigger their spells with every hit or crit.

 

However, We Toki only works on crit, but then it rolls a die for prone every time. With high ACC you will nearly alway cause prone after a crit because a graze is enough to cause prone. Exceptions may happen if the target has low deflection and very high fortitude - then it may be that you land a crit but the target will not fall. But even against ogres this seldomly happens. I would say in 90% of times if you crit you will cause prone also.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Boeroer

[Ben No.3]

 

 

Does anyone know how high we toki's chance to prone is? I thought it was 10%, but I can't confirm it... If it's especially higher it might be worth it (although we need people to hit us to quickly hit back... Not sure what option is best)

"Chance"? What do you mean? When you crit with the initial attack then you will roll another die with the same ACC against fortitude. When you graze/hit/crit the target falls on it's buttocks. All weapons with overbearing or stunning work this way. You can look that up in the combat log. It will be listet under "additional effect", like "XY crits for x damage.. and grazes with additional effect (prone) for y sec". You may then hover over the text to see the actual rolls that happened. There is no fixed chance.

 

You have chances with other items which have something called "spell chance: xy" - like Wodewys or Redeemer or some other weapons. Those work differently. They have a certain chance to trigger their spells with every hit or crit.

 

However, We Toki only works on crit, but then it rolls a die for prone every time. With high ACC you will nearly alway cause prone after a crit because a graze is enough to cause prone. Exceptions may happen if the target has low deflection and very high fortitude - then it may be that you land a crit but the target will not fall. But even against ogres this seldomly happens. I would say in 90% of times if you crit you will cause prone also.

That's nice That obviously makes We Toki a very strong choice

 

Edit: We Toki added as secondary weapon, seems like a good option and finally added all defense bonuses.

Thanks for your patience guys

Edited September 23, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Ben No.3]

Manila's boots added