Provisional Builds

[Dr <3]

@ boeroer: yesterday i found that poison stryke apply no more to the whole area of rot Skulls, only to the main target. So maybe is still good, but basically no more than a autumn decay well aimed. Instead going full melee i reached 160 dmg with 1 hit, so i suppose i will Stick to an heavy shapeshift build, since other talent are not boosting much rot Skulls anyway. Also Dangerous implement is far from "very good".

 

@jojobobo : going solo of course. But as you know even find azzurro happen not so fast by itself, and rech chlandillah is not so much faster then Godansthunyr, since you can just talk to the dragon, steal the hammer and run away in safety. The rest of build is wm2. So basically you are a rogue with a shield and Deep wounds, that is ok, but is bit boring compared to a faster for example.

[Jojobobo]

@jojobobo : going solo of course. But as you know even find azzurro happen not so fast by itself, and rech chlandillah is not so much faster then Godansthunyr, since you can just talk to the dragon, steal the hammer and run away in safety. The rest of build is wm2. So basically you are a rogue with a shield and Deep wounds, that is ok, but is bit boring compared to a faster for example.

You can cheese Azzuro being there, just chain wait at the Stronghold to see what dilemmas appear and then if he doesn't repeat. Then once you've solved his dilemma, do the same for the item. It's definitely tedious, but entirely do-able to get the cloak mid-Defiance Bay-ish.

 

I guess I quite like builds that pay off after a lot of effort (the Gunslinger was a far worse example than the Rogue) so I think I'd enjoy the pay off more, maybe I'm just more masochistic than you 

 

I finally got the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar plus Ryona's Vambraces on the Barb, and currently doing 31-35 damage with 8 DR bypass - to say the least, it's very good.

[Dr <3]

How you manage to kill the alpine dragon?

[Dr <3]

Ok i decided to abide the " corrosion " theme about my boar druid and go straight for lighting for pure powerplay reasons.

I'm still puzzled about what talent to take, these are the possible choice and how much i like them ( consider that his is a solo build, so need to tank a bit and there is no Priest):

++ Gallant focus ( +4 accuracy to melee and spells is always powerful )

++ Veteran recovery ( with max int & str this keeps you alive more than anything else, and is free, maybe is less useful late game)

++ Wild strike / greater wild strike : togheter they give you a +45% dmg lash

++ Weapon focus paesant

++ Two weapons style

+ Heart of the storm --> actually is like +10% dmg from lash

+ Outlander frenzy --> 0-recovery, +10% dmg from strengh

+ Apprentice sneack attack --> +15% dmg

+ Savage attack --> +20% dmg, -5 melee accuracy

 

So 10 talents and only 8 slots...

 

1 thing to consider is that with the boar we have 2 lash:

wildstrike (45%)

Tusks wounding (20%)

For a Grand total of +65%.

This actually transform some meh talents like savage attack and apprentice sneack attack in powerful ones:

Savage attack :

+20% dmg --> + 9% dmg from wildstrike lash and --> + 4% dmg from tusks lash

So il like a +33% dmg in total, wich is a lot.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Dr <3

[Dr <3]

I feel i will drop heart of the storm ( the lesser dmg bonus) and outlander frenzy ( sanguine plate ftw) and take all the other.

 

Another plan could be go more defensively for sword&shield style and maybe bear fortitude, but only ingame testing will help me i suppose...

[Dr <3]

Addendum: for some unknown reason, stack wild strike, greater wildstrike, elemental talent and wildstrike belt leads to a +76% dmg from lash ( calculated from raw numbers in Battle log, es: 105 perforation dmg + 79,7 corrode on a critical hit) instead of the expected ~60% ( 45% x 1,1 ( belt) x 1,2 (elemental talent)). No idea where is coming from the extra +16%.

 

As a side note i can confirm that wildstrike belt works for all kinds of wildstrikes, not only the fire one.

 

Edit: without wildstrike belt the lash go down to 52-53%. So at the moment is like the wildstrike belt add a +24% dmg to the lash, totally worth it!

 

Edit2: wilstrke + greater wildstrike + belt reach 64% dmg lash. So the elemental talent add only a +12% to that. Wich makes sense, since 64% x 1,2 = 76%.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

+25% damage with the very high base damage of Rot Skulls is very good. But the nerf of envenomed strike is a hefty blow.

 

Does anybody know if they also needed it for Blast and Citzal's Spirit Lance?

[Boeroer]

*1.2 is the same as +20% by the way.

 

Wildstrike + Greater Wildstrike + belt should lead to a 50% lash which should get multiplied by 1.2 when using an elemental talent. Which should lead to 60% lash. No idea where the additional damage might come from. But it might be that your target had high pierce DR and low corrode DR. Elemental lashes are calculated with the initial pre DR damage as base.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

I tried vs trolls, the dmg anyway was so High that some point of armour could not have alterned much the results. And the 76% lash value was constant between fire and corrode.

I just think that the wildstrike belt is broken somewhere, but i'm not going to complaining about it...

[Boeroer]

Well if you did 125 pre DR and 105 after DR and 80 lash damage (for example) then the difference for the lash would be near 64% (more like expected) and not 76%. I also don't know how much DR gets substracted from Wildstrike+Greater Wildstrike+belt. 1/4? Or more? 

[Dr <3]

I always thought 1/4 but actually i haven't tested. thks for pointing the issue, i will check in the next days, togheter with the dr effect on my calculations.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Dr <3

[peddroelm]

Well if you did 125 pre DR and 105 after DR and 80 lash damage (for example) then the difference for the lash would be near 64% (more like expected) and not 76%. I also don't know how much DR gets substracted from Wildstrike+Greater Wildstrike+belt. 1/4? Or more? 

25%.

 

An example from my test thread 

[20.7 * (0.3 + 0.1) - 14 * 0.25 ] + [20.7 * (0.15 + 0.1) -14*0.25] = 6.455 

 

greater wildstrike adds a separate 15% lash (Same as with intense flames)  .. So is 30% lash vs 25%  DR + 15% lash vs 25% DR .. The belt ups both lashes by 10%  so  30% to 45% and 15% to 25% and you end up with 45% lash vs 25% DR + second lash 25% vs 25% DR .. 

 

Can also multiply by 1.2 before the DR subtraction if the relevant elemental perk is enabled..

((20.7 * (0.3 + 0.1) * 1.2) - (14 * 0.25)) + ((20.7 * (0.15 + 0.1) * 1.2) - (14 * 0.25)) = 9.146

Edited December 9, 2016 by peddroelm

[Boeroer]

Ah - that explains it. Thanks.

[Dr <3]

Actually the model of double lash explained my results: [(30% + 10%) + (15% + 10%)] x 1,2 = [40% + 25%] x 1,2 = 78% lash dmg, where i found about 76%.

The conclusion again is that wildstrike belt is indeed very strong for shapeshift druid

[Boeroer]

Yep - but did you notice that the belt's benefical effect (which gets triggered once you shift) can have a different duration than your shifting itself? I didn't investigate further but I think it's most obvious when you have a lot of (or very low) INT. 

Edited December 10, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

Yes, i noticed, i suppose it have a fixed duration that get mods from int. My trasformation with 20 int is during 22,5 sec, while the bonus from belt only 16,4, wich should be equal to the basic duration of shapeshift

 

Addendum: tested, wildstrike belt bonus get no benefit from High int

 

Addendum 2 : anyway you can use the wild belt bonus duration as a kind of marker for the shapeshift duration

Edited December 10, 2016 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Very stupid that it doesn't get influenced by INT though.

[hansvedic]

Boeroer, did you ever end up making that unarmed priest build?

If so, could you please tell me how it went?

[Boeroer]

Hi - no, unfortunately I didn't.

Maybe I could retrain my priest of Eothas whom I use as a buffing turtle at the moment.

[hansvedic]

Perhaps it can be a Wild Orlan who, when he says the magic words, turns into a fist-flinging, magic-using superhero?

 

Also, can the magic words be "Shazam!"?

 

EDIT: Perhaps, in the case of your Eothasian priest, the magic word should be "Eothas" instead.

Also, do you think that boosting perception some would be good for such a Monk-Priest, for the purpose of interrupts? If so, how much would you boost it at Character Creation?

Edited October 15, 2017 by hansvedic

[Boeroer]

I wouldn't put too much PER, because the whole point with Novice's Suffering is that it does nearly equal damage with grazes, hits or crits - and thus you can get away with lowish PER.

 

Single target interrupts wit fists are a bit overrated I think.

[hansvedic]

Boeroer, could you please clarify as to why single target interrupts with fists are overrated?

 

Is it not possible to interrupt-lock powerful enemies with fists if you have high perception like a buffed priest would?

[Boeroer]

As far as I know fists will cause interrupts that last 0.35 seconds. Even if you hit faster than 1 time per second and cause an interruot every time you can't constantly lock a powerful foe. And if you can attack that fast the enemy will be dead very quickly anyways. I would not focus on this. 

[Braven]

In general, I am not impressed by single target interrupt focused builds; or stun-locking a single target with weapons. The problem is that locking down one enemy is not that significant. With a interrupt or stun lock focus, you have to keep auto-attacking them and cannot be interrupted or knocked down yourself, or stunned by another enemy.

 

It is a nice perk to interrupt an enemy better, but it is not really good enough to focus a whole build or make other compromises unless you are a barbarian and can crowd control multiple enemies at once.

 

The advantage of novice’s suffering is to have lower perception (sinces grazes don’t matter and crits are not helpful) and monks can just FoA for a much better interrupt that lasts over 50 times longer.

 

Anyone can handle a single enemy, 1v1. The harder challenge is dealing with multiple enemies at once.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Braven

[Jojobobo]

In general, I am not impressed by single target interrupt focused builds; or stun-locking a single target with weapons. The problem is that locking down one enemy is not that significant. With a interrupt or stun lock focus, you have to keep auto-attacking them and cannot be interrupted or knocked down yourself, or stunned by another enemy.

 

It is a nice perk to interrupt an enemy better, but it is not really good enough to focus a whole build or make other compromises unless you are a barbarian and can crowd control multiple enemies at once.

I wasn't too sure if you were referring to the Rogue build in the thread, so I thought I'd mention the specific plus points. I think the advantage of the build is mainly that is works so well in solo play and so low maintenance, getting sneak attacks all the time and having worthy defences (which makes them difficult to interrupt and/or knock down themselves) - and that you also disable more enemies due to Riposte. While in party play Deathblows and CC are a doddle, for a solo Rogue they take a little more effort.

 

I did a class build for the build itself under the Sprightly Scorpion somewhere floating around. I'm currently thinking of making another alteration to the build to go single-handed We Toki, which can get 70% hit-to-crit conversion (Durgan, One Handed Style, Merciless Gaze, Dirty Fighting, Vicious Fighting) with a x 3.8 crit damage multiplier [1 + (0.5 for a crit) + (0.3 Durgan refined) + (0.3 The Merciless Hand) + (0.1 Rabbit Fur Gloves) + (0.1 Dungeon Delver) + (0.5 Annihilation)]. While doing so you can also hit Def/Ref/Fort of 100/109/108 (no one cares about Will) - which is perfectly okay seeing as you can buff your Def a lot higher with a shield and standard buffing, and Adept Evasion is a massive buff to even mediocre Reflex in the first place. Accuracy would be 105 with Superb We Toki (108 with Legendary), with the level 3 survival buff available for 125 against a specific monster type - which is quite horrific given the 70% hit-to-crit conversion.

 

Given that this build would dish out massive Reckless Assault Sneak Attack Deathblows crits more or less constantly and completely disable one enemy, while also wounding with Deep Wounds, and while also Deep Wounding all enemies around you with Retaliation, and while also getting in a fair few Riposte hits on those enemies (and so likely disabling them with Prone for few seconds, giving you more longevity), while also avoiding spells with reasonable Reflex I really don't think it's have any trouble at all with groups. I also think it's nice to do some serious damage with something that's quite tanky for a change, busting through DR that other tanks would have issue with, and while also maintaining a wounding capability with Deep Wounds.

 

Onto other matters, here's another provisional build. I think it needs a bit of road testing because of the low Might, but I fully anticipate it to be quite a lot of fun. I present the...

 

Working Title: This Charming Vailian (from This Charming Man by the Smiths)

 

Class: Wizard

 

Concept: An interrupting and dominating/charming/confusing Wizard who uses Citzal’s Martial Power to boost the accuracy of those effects to sky high levels (131 accuracy on Gyrd Háewanes Sténes' Dominate), with enough Intellect for massive durations on a crit (27 seconds).

 

Details in spoiler tags…

 

 

 

With the Deadfire DLC, I wanted to make a build that utilised the Company Captain’s Cap for its Confuse effect along with other mesmerising items. One option would be to simply slap the hat on the Boeroer’s Counselor Ploi build that I did a little work on, and while that is a good idea what I really wanted someone who really could mesmerise enemies all day long. The only option therefore was to go for a Wizard with Gyrd Háewanes Sténes (10% Dominate chance on hit or crit) with Blast for a nice chance at Dominating someone in a group.

 

The Witted Wizard Class Build already uses Gyrd Háewanes Sténes with Blast, so I was looking for an interesting way to differentiate this build – and I found one. It turns out with Citzal’s Martial Power you can still Dominate and Charm enemies (they don’t count as spells) at +20 accuracy, which also makes the accuracy of the Gyrd Háewanes Sténes Dominate procs go through the roof (at level 16, you get a +16 accuracy from your level modifier, the effect itself has an innate +15 accuracy, and then you add the +20 accuracy of Citzal’s Martial… yeah…). Part of the role-play of the Witted Wizard is the low Might and Con, so Citzal's Martial Power isn't an easy fit for it, and it also doesn't utilise other Dominate or Charm effects.

 

By maxing your Intellect (26 for an Orlan without food/prostitute buffs) you get 18 seconds of dominate/charm on these effects per hit, and 27 seconds per crit. Given that Wizards have a range of Will debuffs (Ryngrim’s Enervating Terror being the main one at -28 Will with Sickened and Terrified, which will last well into your Citzal’s Martial Power casting with the Intellect) crits should be easy to come by, essentially letting you control your enemy for large portions of an encounter – particularly with the adage of Confusion from the Company Captain’s Cap. What's more, you can easily get both of these effects activate as early as Act II.

 

From there I decided to add interrupt, using interrupt to stall time for the Dominate effect to proc, necessitating high Dex and Per. I didn’t want the build to be a slouch defensively, so I gave it some Con. I decided to completely dump Might; while this isn’t great for a Wizard, it puts much more of an onus on the key feature being the Dominate effect, and besides once the enemy has done tearing itself apart I’m sure even with Might dumped clean up wouldn’t be too tricky.

 

In terms of talents, I focussed almost entirely on defensive ones, with the exception of Interrupting Blows. Through a little testing, I found out that Blast AoE is pretty weaksauce even if I had moderate Might (which I don’t) – and is no longer effected by goodies like Runner’s Wounding Shot or Envenomed Strikes. From this perspective, there really isn’t any point in Penetrating Shot or Penetrating Blast as you’re just not doing enough damage in the first place. Blast is a means of spreading Dominate, nothing more.

 

Race/culture:

 

Wild Orlan (or choice)/Old Vailia (duh…)

 

Attributes (start/final):

 

Might 2 / 4 (Gift from the Machine, +1 armor enchantment) -> 12 (Citzal's Martial Power)

Con 13 / 16 (Company Captain’s Cap, Rymyrgand’s Boon) -> 24 (Citzal's Martial Power)

Dex 18 / 20 (Company Captain’s Cap) -> 28 Citzal's Martial Power

Per 20 / 25 (Song of the Heavens, Mantle of the Excavator)

Int 19 / 26 (Gywn’s Band of Union, Forum resting bonus)

Res 6 / 12 (Company Captain’s Cap, Gyrd Háewanes Sténes)

 

Spells (in the order you should acquire them more or less):

 

Level 1

 

Spirit Shield (mastery)

Wizard’s Double (mastery)

Slicken

Fan of Flames

 

Level 2

 

Bewildering Spectacle

Infuse with Vital Essence

Bulwark Against the Elements

Necrotic Lance

 

Level 3

 

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion (mastery)

Llengrath’s Displaced Image

Expose Vulnerabilities

Ryngrim’s Repulsive Visage

 

Level 4

 

Confusion (mastery)

Essential Phantom

Pull of Eora

Ninagauth’s Shadowflame

 

Level 5

 

Ryngrim’s Enervating Horror

Llengrath’s Safeguard

Artermyr’s Wondrous Torment

Malignant Cloud

 

Level 6

 

Citzal’s Martial Power

Gaze of the Adragan

Death Ring

 

Level 7

 

Substantial Phantom

Ninagauth’s Killing Bolt

Wall of Draining

Concelhaut’s Crushing Doom

 

Level 8

 

Llengrath’s Superior Elemental Bulwark

Wilting Wind

Wall of Many Colors

 

Abilities:

 

2 – Blast

4 – Bear’s Fortitude

6 – Veteran’s Recovery

8 – Arcane Veil

10 – Interrupting Blows

12 – Cautious Attack

14 – Superior Deflection

16 – Hardened Veil

 

Notable extras: Second Skin, Rymyrgand’s Boon, Gift from the Machine, Song of the Heavens, Flick of the Wrist

 

Equipment:

 

Weapon set 1: Gyrd Háewanes Sténes

Weapon Set 2: Drawn in Spring (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced, etc.), Little Saviour (Durgan-Reinforced, Legendary)

Armor: Helmsman’s Uniform (+1 Might, Durgan-Reinforced)

Neck: Mantle of the Excavator

Belt: Looped Rope

Rings: Gwyn’s Band of Union and Ring of Changing Heart

Hands: Spirit Spiral

Head: Company Captain’s Cap (Resolve repressed by Ring of Changing Heart, but oh well)

Feet: Shod-in-Faith

 

Level 16 Gyrd Háewanes Sténes accuracy:

 

101

 

Level 16 defences:

 

Def/Fort/Ref/Will

 

90/92/115/101

 

Gameplay and notes:

 

Gameplay should be simple enough; use any number of buffing yourself (defensively, Deleterious Alacrity of Motion), summoning (Phantoms), debuffing the enemy (Ryngrim’s Enervating Horror, Expose Vulnerabilities), and Confuse the enemy if desired. Then activate Citzal’s Martial Power, go for a Dominate and some Whisper’s of Treason, then start blasting away to secure more Dominates while interrupting the hell out of your enemy with your 60 interrupt rating. Rinse and repeat. From testing, the Dominate and Confuse effects proc at a fairly reasonable rate in a long encounter.

 

While the Deflection and Fortitude defences may look low, it’s worthwhile remembering that these will get huge boosts from the Arcane Veil and Citzal’s Martial Power. Spell selection was reasonably straight forward, focussing on some buffs, some damage, and some debuffs.

 

You can unlock the 20 Resolve requirement of the Company Captain’s Cap as soon as you hit Stalwart and get the Ring of Changing Heart. 6 (base) + 3 (Dragon Meat) + 3 (Chapel resting bonus) + 3 (Ring of Changing Heart) + 3 (Gyrd Háewanes Sténes) + 2 (Big Durmsey’s boon) = 20.

 

 

 

So, there it is. Any suggestions? This would be my first Wizard build, so any notable spells you’d really have on there that gel well with the build. Otherwise, I think it will be pretty good.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Jojobobo