Who makes better ranged - Chanter or Paladin?

[Lampros]

I love both of these classes, because they are so light on micro-management and yet still powerful.

 

So anyway, for the next playthrough: If you want a ranged guy, who would you prefer? A ranged Chanter or a ranged Paladin? I cannot have more melees, as I already have 3 of them - 2 Chanters and 1 Paladin. And what weapon would you guys suggest?

[Kaylon]

The chanter... He can unlock Stormcaller, has ranged attack speed chant and can use other support chants from the back at the same time. 

[Boeroer]

A very nice chanter approach is max DEX, PER and INT and no to light armor, Sure Handed Ila and Blessed was Wengrith, wielding Stormcaller (or whatever fast ranged weapon) and using Killers Froze Stiff as often as possible. You can reliably achieve perma-paralyze with this approach at higher levels with some bonus INT and also at lower levels with crits. Killers Froze Stiff targets will which is awsome.

 

If you don't want to use invocations because of the fuzz and mostly auto-attack then I'd probably go Sure Handed Ila and Myth Fyr + Burning Lash (obviously not Stormcaller this time) + Scion of Flame. This will give you +60% burn damage (or to be more precise 30% + 30%). Also spells will get the +25% burning lash from the chant, so it's not too bad to take Prestidigitator's Missiles as well.

 

There is a nice ranged paladin variant that is not about supergreat damage but great accuracy boosting: Darcozzi Paladini with Inspiring Liberation, Coordinated Attacks and a ranged marking weapon (Pliambo per Casitàs or St. Garam's Spark or Cgadob's Hazel). Especially for your casters this is great. Just point on the enemy (no need to run there) you want to mark and the nearest party member that also attacks this foe will get +20 stackable ACC "for free" and without micro, even +30 when you cast Insp. Liberation on him.
If you do this with Pallegina (obviously without Insp. Liberation) you can also get Penetrating Shot and Wrath of the Five Suns as well as Prestidigitator's Missiles and be a good damage dealer besides giving good support.

 

The most powerful thing is the perma-paralyze of the chanter I would presume, but it requires some micro of course.

Edited September 8, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

The chanter... He can unlock Stormcaller, has ranged attack speed chant and can use other support chants from the back at the same time. 

 

Is the Stormcaller all that useful on a non-Ranger?

 

 

A very nice chanter approach is max DEX, PER and INT and no to light armor, Sure Handed Ila and Blessed was Wengrith, wielding Stormcaller (or whatever fast ranged weapon) and using Killers Froze Stiff as often as possible. You can reliably achieve perma-paralyze with this approach at higher levels with some bonus INT and also at lower levels with crits. Killers Froze Stiff targets will which is awsome.

 

If you don't want to use invocations because of the fuzz and mostly auto-attack then I'd probably go Sure Handed Ila and Myth Fyr + Burning Lash (obviously not Stormcaller this time) + Scion of Flame. This will give you +60% burn damage (or to be more precise 30% + 30%). Also spells will get the +25% burning lash from the chant, so it's not too bad to take Prestidigitator's Missiles as well.

 

There is a nice ranged paladin variant that is not about supergreat damage but great accuracy boosting: Darcozzi Paladini with Inspiring Liberation, Coordinated Attacks and a ranged marking weapon (Pliambo per Casitàs or St. Garam's Spark or Cgadob's Hazel). Especially for your casters this is great. Just point on the enemy (no need to run there) you want to mark and the nearest party member that also attacks this foe will get +20 stackable ACC "for free" and without micro, even +30 when you cast Insp. Liberation on him.

If you do this with Pallegina (obviously without Insp. Liberation) you can also get Penetrating Shot and Wrath of the Five Suns as well as Prestidigitator's Missiles and be a good damage dealer besides giving good support.

 

The most powerful thing is the perma-paralyze of the chanter I would presume, but it requires some micro of course.

 

I don't mind Invocations. They don't even trigger in many fights and at most it's like two a fight - whereas a genuine spellcasting class requires once every one or two combat seconds (which is a big chore!).

 

Also in regard to Sure Handed: Is it worth casting when there are only 2 ranged DPS in my set-up (I assume it'd be the ranged Chanter, a Wizard)?

[Boeroer]

Stormcaller is always useful. It's better on a ranger but also good on a chanter. So if you don't have a ranger you can give it to the chanter or a cipher.

 

It has a build-in DR reduction of 6. With Penetrating Shots you'll overcome 11 DR easily. That alone is great.

 

You don't have a lot of invocations because you use long(er) phrases like Drgon Thrashed. And you haven't experienced the effect of Brisk Recitation yet (starting from lvl 4 and the +10% faster chanting every 4 levels). If you are lvl 16 for example and only use tier-1 phrases you'll get a phrase point every 2 seconds. That means that you could cast Killers Froze Stiff (which is a very powerful invocation) every 8 seconds (!) (not counting recovery after using the invocation). To keep recovery short I recommended max DEX and low armor (and also gear/talents that speeds you up like Gauntlets of Swift Action, Outlander's Frenzy and so on).

 

The invocation itself has a base duration of 8 seconds. With 20 INT it will last 12 seconds, with a crit even 16 seconds. So after the first 8 seconds of combat you should be able to perma-paralyze most enemies you hit with the really big cone.

Edited September 8, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

Stormcaller is always useful. It's better on a ranger but also good on a chanter. So if you don't have a ranger you can give it to the chanter or a cipher.

 

It has a build-in DR reduction of 6. With Penetrating Shots you'll overcome 11 DR easily. That alone is great.

 

You don't have a lot of invocations because you use long(er) phrases like Drgon Thrashed. And you haven't experienced the effect of Brisk Recitation yet (starting from lvl 4 and the +10% faster chanting every 4 levels). If you are lvl 16 for example and only use tier-1 phrases you'll get a phrase point every 2 seconds. That means that you could cast Killers Froze Stiff (which is a very powerful invocation) every 8 seconds (!) (not counting recovery after using the invocation). To keep recovery short I recommended max DEX and low armor (and also gear/talents that speeds you up like Gauntlets of Swift Action, Outlander's Frenzy and so on).

 

The invocation itself has a base duration of 8 seconds. With 20 INT it will last 12 seconds, with a crit even 16 seconds. So after the first 8 seconds of combat you should be able to perma-paralyze most enemies you hit with the really big cone.

 

Ah, ok. I will consider it. But I also like at least 2 guys chanting Dragon Thrashed for easy DPS!

 

Speaking of Invocations, my Chillfog just hit a Cragholdt mercenary for 175 with Seven Winter. Jesus. Is there anything from players that will hit enemies that hard? He did like 600 damage with that one cast alone - not one fight, one cast!

 

Finally, speaking of Cragholdt, is Sentinel's Girdle better than Blunting Belt for melees? I held onto the Blunting Belts on every melee, because I was getting hit so hard early game, but now I am wondering if I can do without those +5 Slash/Pierce resists. And frankly, Sentinel Girdle seems like an awesome end-game item. (Cragholdt incidentally seems like a good place to hit for cash and items ASAP.)

[Boeroer]

If you stand very near to enemies you can hit them with three spikes of Seven Nights at once. This kills most enemies at once if you crit. So it's also neat against powerful single targets (if you can manage to lower their fortitude first). If the place is really crowded with enemies it does a ridiculous amount of damage if you get the positioning right (like in the Battle of Yenwood Field or those Elmshore Ogres or Lagufaeth hordes).