[CLASS BUILD] The Anvil, the most tough monk around

[Dr <3]

He was just a poor fire godlike slave from the far Ratatuai lands, since one day something new happened... His boss beated  him a bit too much, and his body started to glow like fused iron! His boss panicked and started to hit him even harder, and in a few seconds he was completely carbonized. So he ran away seeking his own liberty, and decided that killing while being hit will became his main business in life.

 

===================================
The ANVIL  (beacause he got beaten like that)
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Difficulty: PotD v. 3.05 (solo or party)
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Class: Monk
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Race: Fire Godlike
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Background: Ratatuai - Slave (!)
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Stats: (base)    
MIG: 18 (+1 from gift of the machine) --> 19
CON: 18 (+ 1 ratatuai, +1 Rymgrand boon, +4 iron circle, +2 yen wisper sword, + 3 caed nua resting bonus, +2 food, ev +1 from durance in the pool) --> up to 32
DEX: 4
PER: 15
INT: 15
RES: 7 (+1 weapon, +2 armour)
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Skills:

Stealth 3 (0 base; +1 monk, +1 blooded hunter, +1 dungeon delver)

Athl. 9 (3 base, +1 monk, +1 slave, +2 long march boots, +2 caed nua resting bonus),

Lore 0,

Mech. 9 (8 base, +1 dungeon delver, + 2 with mechanical gloves on demand),

Surv. 12 (9 base, +1 slave + 1 monk, +1 Rymgrand boon , +2 on demand with sanguine plate)

 

note: slave is an important background,since with this array + story talents we can reach:

11 mechanichs when need (so we can discover all the march steel lingots and disarm nearly all traps)

14 survival befor resting (so we have access to healing mod + 60%)

higher atletism as possible (good free heal every fight, expecially when combined with +60% healing resting bonus)

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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
Veteran recovery (!) --> absolutely the first thing to pick

Vulnerable attack (!) --> absolutely the second thing to pick, since the only retaliation we have in the beginning is battle forged, and the damage in the eraly levels is so wimpy that gets all eaten by armours, without this talent

Scion of flame (!)

Gallant focus

Cautios attack

Bear fortitude

Apprentice sneak attack

Body control / wound binding / whatever

 

+ story talents : dungeon delver (!), merciless hand, rymgrand boon (!), gift machine (!), blooded hunter, heaven song, eventually trow durance in the pool ®

Abilities
Transcendent Suffering 4 (a)

Battle forged (a)
Torment's Reach (!)

Turning wheel (!)

Soul mirror

Rooting pain (!)

Duality mortal prsence

Crucible of suffering

Iron wheel (!)

Weakening blows / Flagellant path

Second Whind (a)

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Items (!=important, r=recommended):

Weapon set 1: Yen wispers sword  +  Steadfast (or doubled Yen whisper with helwax mold if playing with party)
Weapon Set 2: Fists OR double torch for fun

Boots: Shood of faith / long march boots

Head: n/a

Armor: Plate --> Sanguine plate --> Coat of ill Payment (!) or Ryona Brestplate in super late game

Neck: protection mantle (+9 to all defs) or Hiros mantle if wearing Ryona brastplate

Belt: Girdle of mortal protection (!) / Looped rope (vs booses) / Binding rope (if not solo)

Rings: at start: ring of sering flames (!), ring of protection-deflection, late game : Iron circle (!) + ring of deflection/protection OR still ring of sering flames; 

Hands:  Blood Testment ® or Ryona vambraces or gauntlets of accuracy

Quick slots: Potion of flame shield (!); potion of healing, potion of infuse vital essence (if you want to skip resting)
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Hi again!

This is my personal spinoff guide of the valiant monksterslash by Boeroer!

 

The guide is based on my solo run, but can work greatly also in a party, in the case a priest or a paladin for emergency heal will be your best friends.

 

The plan is to compress as much constitution and defence to obtain a very sturdy char that kills by retaliation effects.

From lvl 4 it is actually unbelievably strong, and see enemies burning to death while trying to kill you  make me laugh more than it should.

At max lvl we can reach about 600 hp (or anyway more than 500 when not fully buffed), that means that at HALF LIFE we STILL HAVE between 300 and 250 hp, wich is the value of a "normal" tank hp (and usually in the middle of the combat we will also have between 30 and 40 DR).  This, paired with monk's natural boosted defences and our healing effects (veteran recovery and shood of faith) boosted by the rest bonus make you very hard to kill.

Actually the boots of long march are better than shood of faith, since we need to reach half life to activate battle forged and start kicking ass, and the shood can "overheal" you and be less beneficial than though.

Dex is at minimum since we will have unlimited wounds to spam torment reach all day long, which is a full attack.

 

 

Our "retaliations":

- battle forged : this is the strongest one.  At max lvl we have 32 base dmg (41 with our strenght). Adding the mods from scion of flame, turning wheel lash, testament gloves lash you can reach about 100 dmg every time you get hit, about 130 if you manage to crit.

   WORK WITH : turning weel, blood testament gloves, vulnerable attack, weakening strykes (apply weaken),

   DOESN'T WORK WITH: apprentice sneack attack ( so sad ) , savage attack

- Item retaliation (coat of ill payment/ Hiros mantle)

  WORK WITH: turning weel, blood testament gloves, vulnerable attack, weakening strykes (apply weaken), apprentice sneack attack

  DOESN'T WORK WITH: savage attack

- flame shield (potion)

  WORK WITH: turning weel, blood testament gloves, vulnerable attack, weakening strykes (apply weaken),  apprentice sneack attack

  DOESN'T WORK WITH: savage attack

- rooting pain : 12-19 dmg in aoe every time i got 10 dmg? very strong! But consider that in late lvl the huge armor on every enemy

  WORK WITH: n.a.

  DOESN'T WORK WITH: turning weel, blood testament gloves, vulnerable attack, weakening strykes (apply weaken), apprentice sneack attack, savage attack

 

(note : At the beginning of the game you can also use sura supper plate to add another retaliation effect that stacks with all the others.)

 

At the end of the game (lvl 16) the relative accuracy are:

- battle forged : 100 accuracy vs deflection (burn dmg)

- item retaliation : 84 accuracy vs deflection (pierce dmg)

- flame shield : 110 accuracy vs reflex (burn dmg)

- rooting pain : 100 accuracy vs fortitude (crush dmg)
 

 

Some notes:

- weakening stikes apply weaken quite often. This is good for us, since it means +15% dmg for our normal strikes and most of our retaliation (too bad it didn't work for battle forged). Moreover it helps a bit with landing rooting pain hits (since it hits fortutude).

- our atletism + healing multiplier heals for more than 100 hp, so is like to have a free big violet potion every combat (ctually with +60% heal modifier big violet potion heals us for about 160 hp)

- we can reach in combat between 30 and 40 DR, so the girdle of mortal protection do a great job for us, since he take care of the spike of dmg that can fly high over our DR.

 

 

EDITS:

 

1) Some loot in the beginning

 At the start of the game we need to grab asap the following items:

- Rymgrand mantle : gilded vale tavern, day 2  --> thank to this we can kill all the shadows and spectres in the main all simply by our retaliation (if we are at least lvl 4 and have vulnerable attack). Really, see shadows and spectres dying while you are permastunned is hilarous.

- Gloves of manipulation : Roedric keep in the chest of the bedroom, day 4 --> when soloing mechanics is never high enough

- Ring of sering flames : Roedric keep in the hidden stash near the cell of the guy you have to free, day 4 --> see next point

 

2) About Ring of Sering Flames

This items is super strong with this build, and need a dedicated space.

Combusting wounds gets triggered by : standard attacks, targets caught in the cone of torment reach (!), targets caught in the AoE of rooting pain (!), target hit by our retaliations (items [up to 2 if you use also sura supper plate], battle forged, flame shield).

So as you can see you can easily just run in the middle of the fight, get completely surrounded, cast combusting wounds and watch people burning to death. It is strong from the beginning to the end of the game, because as the game progress we can stack up more and more retaliation effect, multiplying  the triggers. And you can find during your run 3 or 4 of these, so you will never run out of the spell (you can change an "empty" ring with a full one before a fight). 

Actually you can even substitute weakening blows with flagellant path to teleport yourself just in the middle of the fight to ease the process.

The only "problem" is that the spell targets endurance (usually the most high defense around), so against very tough targets is better to cast it AFTER pumping our accuracy (eldrich aim potion or similar effects)

 

3) Rooting pain DO NOT "transport" effect like weakening ecc to more enemies

 

 

 

Q&A

 

Boeroer:
You didn't say anything about Combusting Wounds + Rooting Pain (you have the Ring of Searing Flames). In theory it should be pretty powerful. If you catch 10 wounds that would mean 10 parallel CW DoTs in an AoE. Or doesn't Rooting Pain trigger CW? Would be too bad...

 

Did you ever experience that Rooting Pain's AoE accidentally "transports" effects like prone or weakening in an AoE?

 

updated

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Cool!

 

If he would have had a party they could have been named "Anvil and the Chipchunks".

 

You didn't say anything about Combusting Wounds + Rooting Pain (you have the Ring of Searing Flames). In theory it should be pretty powerful. If you catch 10 wounds that would mean 10 parallel CW DoTs in an AoE. Or doesn't Rooting Pain trigger CW? Would be too bad...

 

Did you ever experience that Rooting Pain's AoE accidentally "transports" effects like prone or weakening in an AoE?

 

It used to be like that with Shod-in-Faith and auras from items like Executioner's Hood and the Redfield shield.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Boeroer

[IamNOOB]

Very interesting!

[Dr <3]

updated

 

@ Boeroer: i have discovered with great sadness that you can upgrade a torch up to legendary, give it any slay enchantment and any lash EXEPT the fire one XD

Edited January 29, 2017 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Really? I did something similar once and was able to put an additional burning lash onto it. But that was some time ago.

[Torin]

Very nice. After my Moon-Godlike just crashed, I think I start with a fire-based next.

Some questions:

 

 

Question on random loot: Are the days to get these item right? In the wiki are other days: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Random_loot

??

 

No weapon focus?

 

No Long Stride - Never run away? Is that doable (for soloing)?

 

Torin

Edited January 30, 2017 by Torin

[Dr <3]

Very nice. After my Moon-Godlike just crashed, I think I start with a fire-based next.

Some questions:

 

 

Question on random loot: Are the days to get these item right? In the wiki are other days: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Random_loot

??

 

No weapon focus?

 

No Long Stride - Never run away? Is that doable (for soloing)?

 

Torin

- the days should be right, actually the random loot list got "upgraded" some times... To be honest apparently even an updated loot table is not 100% reliable, since with 2 different charachter with different names the order of the items in the days remains the same, but the day in wich you find an item can change. Is like if the same list can "slide" forward or upward of some days.

 

- no weapon focus because defensive talents are more important imho. If you want you can take it in the last level instead of body control. Before Gallant focus > weapon focus since it applyes to spells and retaliation effects too.

 

- when soloing i hate to run away, Split pull, kiting ecc, since i consider them kind of cheap tactics. So my builds usually have good tanking capabilities. The anvil in particolar is a real man, never run away and endure any kind of pain

[JerekKruger]

The days were pretty wrong in my last play through. Not only that some containers didn't have the same overall loot list e.g. Raedric's chest not containing the Gloves of Manipulation (I did a full month long cycle to check). I suspect in one of the more recent patches Obsidian completely reworked the "random" loot tables.

[peolone]

Hi. I'm actually playing your build for my first solo run and I'm really enjoying it. I have only a question. I don't get why you advise to take "Bear fortitude" as a talent after "Cautious attack". I mean, I'm level 9 and I have plenty of fortitude. Isn't it better to focus on something else?

[Elric Galad]

You never get enough fortitude.

 

Uber-fortitude will basically makes you immune to Prone, Paralysis, Petrify and Stun. This is priceless.

 

And if you have a cipher in your party, great fortitude + defensive mindweb will do the same for your whole party.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Elric Galad

[Dr <3]

Ad Elric said, you will never have enogh fortitude. I consider it the most important defence, at least when soloing, since is the defence targeted by near all "stun" effects ( stun, prone, paralyze, petryfied ecc) and most debuff effect ( blind, blocked, weakened, ecc).

In particolar with this build and the critical defence girdle, you can eat critical strikes all day ( since they dmg you takr is just a bit over a normal hit), instead beign critted by a blind or permastunned/permaparalyzed or later in game beign petryfied by and adragan for 10+ sec have much bitter consequences.

 

Edit: Happy that you are enjoing the build so far!

Edited February 10, 2017 by Dr <3

[procsus]

Is this build still viable for soloing on POTD?

Because I'm getting my ass kicked - "Really, see shadows and spectres dying while you are permastunned is hilarous." - I die too quickly, they are laugning at me.

I'm level 4, and I have Ring of Searing Flames, Rymrgand's Mantle, Plate Armor and Whispers of Yenwood as you suggest. I've also followed your talents picks to the letter.

My endurance is 153, DR 16.

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something obvious? Sorry if I'm noobish :D

[Boeroer]

Your level is too low and you don't have retaliation. This build is better at higher levels.

Solo PotD is especially tough in the beginning (Act I). You will have to kite and pull & split a bit no matter the build. No build is tough enough to tank everything in PotD that early in the game. After more levels, when your build unfolds, it becomes easier.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

Is this build still viable for soloing on POTD?

Because I'm getting my ass kicked - "Really, see shadows and spectres dying while you are permastunned is hilarous." - I die too quickly, they are laugning at me.

I'm level 4, and I have Ring of Searing Flames, Rymrgand's Mantle, Plate Armor and Whispers of Yenwood as you suggest. I've also followed your talents picks to the letter.

My endurance is 153, DR 16.

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something obvious? Sorry if I'm noobish :D

Glad you liked my build :3

 

I was completely serious about that and is 100% doable ( maybe not 100% of the times but for sure the majority).

 

You need torment reach, vet recovery, turning wheel and vulnerable attack. If you manage to reach lvl 5 via other quest is even better ( bonus hp and accuracy) but is not necessary.

As item you need a plate ( kill the Moon godlike near the entrance of eothas Temple), rymgrand mantle, whisper of yenwood in one hand and a mace or fist in the other. A potion of vital essence can be useful sometimes but not mandatory.

Last thing needed is 4 in survival, and rest in the countryard for +10 accuracy vs Spirit, After that you can walk proudly in the main hall, and eat some chicken(+2 con), beef (+2 str), a beer (+2 dr) and a cake (+2 agi).

 

Ok preparations done!

 

Now the tactics is : walk to the shadows, as they start charging against you, retreat asap in the left corner of the small corridor in the left of the main entrance. In this position only 1-2 shadows/Spectre can hit you at the same time. Now you just need to wait. Rymgrand mantle usually will keep your endurance bar full, but your health will slowly drop. When finally healt reach a low level, than your endurance will start sink too. When this happen the retaliation from the flame godlike racial starts to work, and will kill the enemies for you. Sometimes, if they crit you too much the endurance will drop lower than the 50% trashold and flame retaliation will activate also with High healt.

If possible try to NOT get hit by both Spectres togheter ( stun + sneack attack do heavy dmg and permastun in this case is difficult to break, while 1 Spectre + 1 shadow let you drink a potion if needed or land some torments reach) this can be done kiting a bit at the start of the fight so the monsters are "channeled" in the corridor in the right order.

 

Ok , these are all my "extra" triks, please report if It worked for you!

 

Edit: tks Boeroer for pointing my mistake!

Edited April 15, 2017 by Dr <3

[Dr <3]

And i have to say that imho this build is quite strong from the start ( at least from lvl 4). Monks torment reach + High hp + retaliation if things go bad is a very strong combo from early on to the end of the game.

[Boeroer]

You confused health and endurance in your previous post.

[procsus]

Thanks for the guide and tricks Dr <3. I'll report back when I've tried it.

And thanks for the inputs Boeroer!

[procsus]

 

Is this build still viable for soloing on POTD?

Because I'm getting my ass kicked - "Really, see shadows and spectres dying while you are permastunned is hilarous." - I die too quickly, they are laugning at me.

I'm level 4, and I have Ring of Searing Flames, Rymrgand's Mantle, Plate Armor and Whispers of Yenwood as you suggest. I've also followed your talents picks to the letter.

My endurance is 153, DR 16.

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something obvious? Sorry if I'm noobish :D

Glad you liked my build :3

 

I was completely serious about that and is 100% doable ( maybe not 100% of the times but for sure the majority).

 

You need torment reach, vet recovery, turning wheel and vulnerable attack. If you manage to reach lvl 5 via other quest is even better ( bonus hp and accuracy) but is not necessary.

As item you need a plate ( kill the Moon godlike near the entrance of eothas Temple), rymgrand mantle, whisper of yenwood in one hand and a mace or fist in the other. A potion of vital essence can be useful sometimes but not mandatory.

Last thing needed is 4 in survival, and rest in the countryard for +10 accuracy vs Spirit, After that you can walk proudly in the main hall, and eat some chicken(+2 con), beef (+2 str), a beer (+2 dr) and a cake (+2 agi).

 

Ok preparations done!

 

Now the tactics is : walk to the shadows, as they start charging against you, retreat asap in the left corner of the small corridor in the left of the main entrance. In this position only 1-2 shadows/Spectre can hit you at the same time. Now you just need to wait. Rymgrand mantle usually will keep your endurance bar full, but your health will slowly drop. When finally healt reach a low level, than your endurance will start sink too. When this happen the retaliation from the flame godlike racial starts to work, and will kill the enemies for you. Sometimes, if they crit you too much the endurance will drop lower than the 50% trashold and flame retaliation will activate also with High healt.

If possible try to NOT get hit by both Spectres togheter ( stun + sneack attack do heavy dmg and permastun in this case is difficult to break, while 1 Spectre + 1 shadow let you drink a potion if needed or land some torments reach) this can be done kiting a bit at the start of the fight so the monsters are "channeled" in the corridor in the right order.

 

Ok , these are all my "extra" triks, please report if It worked for you!

 

Edit: tks Boeroer for pointing my mistake!

 

It worked like a charm. I'm now level 5, and going strong. Chicken and beer is awesome. :D

Thanks guys.

[Dr <3]

Ha ha, Yes, When you solo you can indulge a bit more with the food... Is very cheap, and since you have only a char to use is also quite fast to give him the food... I always keep in the inventory chicken, beef ( or the farmers cream), the agi cake and the beer... Later in the game also the +2 int fish and the +3 dr drink they have in stalwart... ( With this build +1 const means more or less +15 hp, so the chicken alone gives you +30...). Just no reason for NOT do so.

Have fun!

[Boeroer]

With a retaliation build it's also very nice to use potions of Infuse with Vital Essence when the fight starts. It will give you a health buffer which will be used first before your own gets scratched.

[Dr <3]

Totally agree. I also use them often to replenish the health between fights during a long quest so i don't lose the resting bonus ( i usual stack caed nua +3 const and the +40% healing).

[jazzthing]

This build sounds awesome. I couldn't find any videos, so here my questions: is this build ready for "The Ultimate"?

[Dr <3]

Probably you can even manage to do it, but i wouldn't choose this build to try that achivement. Mind you, not because is weak, but mainly because:

1) you will often run low in Life, a couple of critical strike or stun at the wrong moment can ruin your day ( and since the main strategy here is just run in the middle of the mobs you can't even easly escape)

2) in some battles you will had to rely on potions. Potion animation Atm is *very* bugged, lose your run because you fail to drink an healing potion 3 time in a row ( happened to me in a couple of battles) is very depressing

 

Tl;dr: a good and fun build for solo, not raccomanded for trial of iron

[Boeroer]

I'm currently doing a barb ultimate run with a quite similar approach and so far it's going well. Since I consider the monk to be stronger I'd say he's viable.

[Dr <3]

Good luck for your run! Barb have larger health pool, but poorer retail effects imho ( and no iron wheel/turning wheel). Let me know how is going!