Triggering deathblows often and efficently

[QuiteGoneJin]

Lets say you are playing potd, have a fighter and paladin tank and either a gun/sabres swap rogue or possibly hunting bow sabres...

 

What would you do/build for the rest of your party to trigger deathblows easily?

 

I'm thinking Wizzie/cipher/priest and counting on the ciphers eyestrike and or phantom foes would be the easiest route. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by QuiteGoneJin

[Boeroer]

If you have a stag helmet or the wyrwood ring then a wizard with binding web is a nice way. Rogue puts on the stag helmet and is immune to stuck, wizard casts binding web and a whole area is afflicted with stuck. It's a powerful debuff with a low level spell.

 

Chillfog is a great way to cause blind for a long time - but I wouldn't run into it to attack in melee. But with a bow it's nice.

 

Phantom Foes is also very nice. With Phantom Foes you can also trigger the bonus damage against flanked targets that you can get from items and survival.

 

A druid would be another source of afflictions. And don't forget that the fighter has knockdown.

 

A great way to trigger deathblows, as I mentioned in another thread, is a monk with Force of Anguish and Enervating Blows. Preferably with an accurate weapon. He will often trigger deathblows for your rogue with one crit.

[Enoch]

Deathblows can't be learned until level 11, at which point your Vancians will have 1st- & 2nd-level Mastered spells.  I'd focus on using those, as they're per-encounter and don't have to wait for wounds/focus generation.  Sunbeam or Curse of Blackened Sight for Blinded; Halt for Stuck; Slicken or Repulsing Seal for Prone; Fetid Caress for Paralyzed.  (I wouldn't recommend Mastering Tanglefoot or Binding Web.) 

 

Combine any one of those with each other or with a Painful Interdiction (Weakened) from the Priest, and you're there.  My favorites are the Blinds-- it's a great debuff that few enemies are immune to (Oozes and Eyeless, mostly), both the spells affect several targets, Sunbeam is super-long-range and works great as a first strike, and CoBS is Foe-AOE for front-line targeting.  Halt can also be a nice spell to Master, presuming that your Paladin will have an aura making Blessing largely irrelevant, but it's single-target and can make the target tough-to-reach for melee rogues.  Against enemies that are immune to some of these, maneuvering into flanking position or using per-rest spells probably becomes necessary.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Enoch

[Boeroer]

Good advice.

 

I also wouldn't master Tanglefoot or Binding Web. It's just funny to move through the ranks of stuck enemies with a stag helmet and hitting here and there.

 

For a wizard I would always recommend mastering Eldritch Aim as lvl 1 spell. Your afflictions will hit even harder. If you crit your CC spells will last a lot longer.

 

But for lvl 2 Curse of Blackened Sight is indeed a nice option. It targets will and it lasts a really long time. Only downside is it's small AoE, but for a rogue this shouldn't matter.

 

Slicken is too short for my taste, same with Fetid Caress. I find them both a bit underwhelming. Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon and Combusting Wounds are my no.1 lvl 2 spells - but they will do nothing for your rogue I'm afraid.

 

Another way to cause afflictions with a wizard without spells is to use Blast and combine it with an implement that causes stun or prone on crit. It will work in an AoE - but the durations are quite short. Still not a bad option.

 

Sunbeam is a nice spell, I agree. The druid's other great options for causing afflictions that last some time are Returning and Relentless Storm of course, but also Spreading Plague (weakens and hobbles for a fairly long time) as well. It will trigger Deathblows by itself with its two afflictions.

The best one is possibly Venombloom. It's foe only (which I like a lot), deals a lot of raw damage and weakens for a long time and has a huge AoE.

 

If you later want the rogue to use spells and scrolls with Deathblows (like Fireballs, Twin Stones and so on) and you need big AoE afflictions for that, then Tanglefoot, Chillfog, Binding Web and all those spells which cover a large area for a rel. long time are good.

 

And Phantom Foes of course - still a good spell if you decide to go for cipher.

 

I seldomly use priests to cause afflictions. They are not too good at that and are busy with buffing most of the time. Devotions + Inspiring Radiance makes your CC guys like wiz and druid and cioher a lot better - so I leave thst to them. But Painful Interdiction is a nice exception and a good advice if you are willing to spend two talent points. It has a huge AoE and can be cast quickly. It doesn't last too long but you can cast Crowns for the Faithful or Minor Avatar before using it which will give you much longer durations with the following spells. Just note that Empowered Interdiction doesn't raise the ACC for the weakening part, only for the dazing roll.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Boeroer

[the streaker]

To make most use of deathblows, 3 casters (combination of wizards and ciphers) will make it very likely that there are at least 2 status effects on enemies at all times. If you don't mind resting often, take two wizards, otherwise go with two ciphers. In terms of which powers to use, there are too many and they're all good as long as they have a decent duration. Just look it up in the wiki here, most of the best status effects you should be applying during fights anyways will also allow the rogue to sneak attack.

[Boeroer]

Just make sure that the two afflictions stack. For example stun will suppress prone completely while weakened, flanked and blind are afflictions that (most of the time) won't get suppressed completely.

 

Another good way to ensure Deathblows is to give your rogue a weapon that does stun or prone on crit. Early weapons which do this are Tall Grass, the Temperacl and Hours of St. Rumbalt. Tall Grass and esp. Hours of St. Rumbalt are great weapons for rogues in my opinion. With enough attack speed and some INT you will stunlock (or prone-lock) your enemy while you're attacking him. You can then cause your own second affliction with one of your special attacks (not Sap! ) and you'll have your reliable, self made Deathblows.

[the streaker]

Better to keep him with the highest DPS setup and rely on the high interrupt rating + fast attack speeds to keep the target "disabled" while the classes that are better at inflicting status effects are left to do that. Having the rogue try to do everything is not optimal.

[Elric Galad]

You're probably right, but a rogue with boot of speed is good to flank and Prone/Stun on crit works well with rogue hit to crit and high accuracy. But that's indeed the exception.

[Boeroer]

Rogue + Hours of St. Rumbalt did better than a dual battleaxe rogue in the same playthrough when I had two rogues in the party.

 

Annihilation and the higher base damage, paired with the prone on crit and ACC III (which is great that early) is a good combination of enchantments - also in terms of damage. It has two damage types by the way.

The chain-prone also helps with survivability - better than interrupts which will also occur, but less often.

 

I don't think that this weapon causes a lot less DPS than dual sabres or battle axes - eapecially if you look at high DR targets and take resistances/immunities against slash into account.

 

And it's an alternative way to trigger Deathblows often and efficiently (it doesn't cost you any per rest spells) as asked in the title.

 

Tall Grass is maybe better if you want to avoid getting hit at all and attack from behind your front line. This allows for a more glassy build.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Boeroer