Chanter build help

[firkraag888]

I wouldn't be expecting to much from a chanter.

 

There invocations take a ridiculous time to work, most fights you only be able to use them once.

 

There phrases have basically no impact at all and are more like " cantrips". You will also be forced to keep using the first level phrases or your invocations willl provably never accumulate enough time to work.

 

Chanters are far and away the worst casters in the game.

 

Because they are not a melee based class like a fighter/ rogue/ paladin they don't get any good talents/ skills related to melee fighting at level up.

 

What they can do, and not much else, is wear the heaviest armor a shield and a single handed weapon and use dragon thrashed. Dragon thrashed is a high level phrase so when you start using that you probably will only be able to use invocations in one in every 3 fights.

 

I personally think chanters where one of the worst mistakes and design issues in pillars one. Unlike the cypher which was very well designed.

[Valci]

I wouldn't be expecting to much from a chanter.

 

There invocations take a ridiculous time to work, most fights you only be able to use them once.

 

There phrases have basically no impact at all and are more like " cantrips". You will also be forced to keep using the first level phrases or your invocations willl provably never accumulate enough time to work.

 

Chanters are far and away the worst casters in the game.

 

Because they are not a melee based class like a fighter/ rogue/ paladin they don't get any good talents/ skills related to melee fighting at level up.

 

What they can do, and not much else, is wear the heaviest armor a shield and a single handed weapon and use dragon thrashed. Dragon thrashed is a high level phrase so when you start using that you probably will only be able to use invocations in one in every 3 fights.

 

I personally think chanters where one of the worst mistakes and design issues in pillars one. Unlike the cypher which was very well designed.

Can't say I agree on that. I like the way the chanter is designed by and large. On POTD at least currently (at low levels) I use invocations multiple times in a fight what with the enemy not being easy to kill... That is especially true in the fights that actually matter which are usually longer and more difficult and is where the chanter shines. For melee you can always use the general non class specific talents to get bonus dmg and accuracy...

I do like your name though... Wasn't Firkrag the dragon dude that hires you to help him then frames you for killing some paladins etc. in BG2?

Edited September 22, 2017 by Valci

[Boeroer]

Whenever somebody wants to have advice on a chanter or barbarian firkraag888 will awake from his slumber down under and rant about them (although he never played them thoroughly - for example to witness Brisk Recitation and realize that you can possibly dish out a tier-1-invocation every 6 seconds with it).

Then he will recommend a rogue or a cipher...

 

Paladins and rogues are not melee based classes by the way. All their abilities work in melee as well as ranged - except Reckless Assault.

 

Chanters are fine - especially on PotD where fights are longer and there are a lot more enemies. In solo runs they are especially good.

But with a chanter you really have to know the tricks - else the experience can be boring or frustrating. For example Soft Winds and Dragon Thrashed get +12 ACC from one-handed weapon use...

 

But even with a plain old March-of-the-Kamoa chanter (singing a tier-1-song that raises all defenses except deflection by 10 and gives +1 move speed), like Kana starts, you will increase the survivability of the whole party. Via Ancient Memory you can also give everybody a regeneration effect. This alone is pretty useful. Invocations just come on top.

But firkraag888 is right that it maybe best just to make him a tuna can with a shield and give him Dragon Thrashed at lvl 9. Pretty one-trick-ponyish, but it's basically the most effective way to play a chanter. Lvl 9 is not high level by the way, 9 of 16 is more mid level I'd say. Comes earlier than Deathblows and Amplified Wave...

 

You can kill Raedric on lvl 4 with a chanter. No other class can do it that easily at this level - and the reason is White Worms. It's LOT of planning, tactics and micro though: You have to pull all enemies to a doorway one by one (or two or four ) and kill them there. Do that with a lot of enemies and don't leave the map, reload or rest! Then, when only Raedric's encounter is left, just shoot some of his buddies from afar and retreat to the pile of corpses. Don't be stealthed! Stealthed chanters don't sing. While you are running back to that pile of corpses on a doorway your chanter already starts building phrases. When you arrive he will most likely have build up 3 phrases. Cast Blessing & Inspiring Radiance and put a Chillfog in front of the doorway. When Raedric & friends gather in front of the door and catch the blind affliction you cast White Worms with buffed ACC and debuffed enemies and everybody in the vicinity should be dead. Combusting Wounds should be very effective here, too.

 

You can place a character in the doorway and cast Withdraw on him so that "none shall pass".

 

Anyway: tackling Readric with 4 level 4 characters on PotD is a bold move. It's very hard. Kolsc is a wussy. :D

 

Speaking of tricks: chanters don't stop chanting when withdrawn. You can place a chanter in the tick of it and cast Withdraw on him - he will still sing and do stuff with his phrases while being untouchable.

 

He will also sing while being prone. You can abuse that by giving him a preservation armor like Blaidh Golan and a preservation shield like Irfin Byrngar's Solace and get +100 to all defenses when prone or stunned. When stunned he will not sing, but when prone he will - while having +100 to all defenses (minus the prone debuff).

 

You can totally crack the game if you have a cipher with Defensive Mindweb, a priest and a chanter with double preservation: cast Defensive Mindweb, then Withdraw on the chanter while he keeps on singing Dragon Thrashed. The whole party will get the defensive stats of the chanter who has +100 to all defenses while he's withdrawn...

 

Edit: my mother tongue is German by the way. I live in Bucharest because of job-related reasons.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Boeroer

[Valci]

yes i was aware that White Worms does quite a bit of damage as i tried it at one point or another but i purposefully avoided it. Im going for more debuff type invocations... the lvl1 invos i have so far are the one that reduces DR by 5, the thunder one (dmg + stun) mostly for the stun effect, and the one that summons a phantom which is especially helpful at lower levels and gives me easy "flanked"... i can always respect it ofc...  I noticed that the chants keep going while withdrawn just the other day actually

 

But anyway, do i get anything extra from killing Raedric then i do from killing Klosc? Cause i went with killing Klosc this time around like i said... still got Justice (the sword) plus some cash... whats the downside?

Edited September 22, 2017 by Valci

[Boeroer]

Nothing basically. Killing Kolsc is a viable option. I once killed both...

 

I always kill Readric and the whole castle because:

a) he's a prick

and because:

b) all the gear gives me so much money that I can quickly buy nice uniques and build up my stronghold's defenses so that those annoying raids will stop.

 

And c) because I can.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Boeroer

[scythesong]

If you're going for a dual-weapon party chanter I would suggest using Mig: 10 Con: 10 Dex: 16 Per: 16 Int: 16 Res: 10 as a baseline, The thing about chanters is that they do a LOT of things well, so if you're not going to be just standing there tanking/spamming phrases then you'll want the whole package. Chanters, after all, have good starting accuracy/deflection (second only to the top classes each time). 10 Might won't seem impressive at first but the fact is that a chanter can still swing his weapons while chanting phrases/using invocations, so you're basically going for quantity over quality via multi-tasking. You can also just choose to respec and raise Might later when you decide on your gear/talent setup, especially since perception starts to lose value in late game as more and more good +accuracy gear and various high level class buffs/debuffs become available. Once you get "Their Champion Braved the Horde Alone" and various attack speed mods (durgan steel) you can also start looking into reducing dex.

 

High perception is crucial because early on you'll be swinging your weapon and using invocations all the time in combat, the only time you won't is probably when you're using "But Reny Daret's Ghost...". High dex helps with your basic attacks/invocations, especially since you'll probably be kiting/moving a lot to aim your invocations or trying to flank early. Instead of the nuke invocations,get buff/debuff invocations since you are better off swinging your weapons rather than using a light damage AoE, though a few ones like "White Worms Writhed..." are just so powerful that you should consider getting them regardless. You should also get enemy damage reduction debuff effects, like the chanter's own "And Hel-Hyraf Crashed...". You should be using scrolls like Scroll of Defense, especially if you don't use hatchets. Finally, you should aim for a gear/talent setup that maximizes BOTH your accuracy and deflection - like I said, chanters can afford to raise both, so why only pick one?

 

Your phrases should be similar to the "tanky" chanter, actually, though feel free to swap in "Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr" if you want. Ultimately that phrase is really more a party theme phrase though, it's much more powerful if more people are attacking. If a lot of your guys like to just stand there or are normally outside of the buff AoE then you're better off just using "The Dragon Thrashed..." Your default phrase setup should be "Blessed Was Wengridh..." for defense/invocation spam, you can switch to something else as the fight progresses.

 

People tend to complain about chanters being unimpressive before they get "The Dragon Thrashed..." or that stuff dies too fast before they can use their strongest invocations, but then a lot of these people only seem to play tanky chanters. Personally the only tanky chanter I regularly use is Kana, I see no reason why my own chanters can't be tanky AND kill things at lower levels or why my chanters can't shred things in melee while waiting for my invocations. The difference of course is that I don't use my chanters to actually tank stuff, but the payoff is worth it. I really only see the value of the tanky chanter in solo, TBH.

Edited September 22, 2017 by scythesong

[Valci]

If you're going for a dual-weapon party chanter I would suggest using Mig: 10 Con: 10  Dex: 16 Per: 16 Int: 16 Res: 10 as a baseline, The thing about chanters is that they do a LOT of things well, so if you're not going to be just standing there tanking/spamming phrases then you'll want the whole package. Chanters, after all, have good starting accuracy/deflection (second only to the top classes each time). 10 Might won't seem impressive at first but the fact is that a chanter can still swing his weapons while chanting phrases/using invocations, so you're basically going for quantity over quality via multi-tasking. You can also just choose to respec and raise Might later when you decide on your gear/talent setup, especially since perception starts to lose value in late game as more and more good +accuracy gear and various high level class buffs/debuffs become available. Once you get "Their Champion Braved the Horde Alone" and various attack speed mods (durgan steel) you can also start looking into reducing dex.

 

High perception is crucial because early on you'll be swinging your weapon and using invocations all the time in combat, the only time you won't is probably when you're using "But Reny Daret's Ghost...". High dex helps with your basic attacks/invocations, especially since you'll probably be kiting/moving a lot to aim your invocations or trying to flank early. Instead of the nuke invocations,get buff/debuff invocations since you are better off swinging your weapons rather than using a light damage AoE, though a few ones like "White Worms Writhed..." are just so powerful that you should  consider getting them regardless. You should also get enemy damage reduction debuff effects, like the chanter's own "And Hel-Hyraf Crashed...". You should be using scrolls like Scroll of Defense, especially if you don't use hatchets. Finally, you should aim for a gear/talent setup that maximizes BOTH your accuracy and deflection - like I said, chanters can afford to raise both, so why only pick one?

 

Your phrases should be similar to the "tanky" chanter, actually, though feel free to swap in "Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr" if you want. Ultimately that phrase is really more a party theme phrase though, it's much more powerful if more people are attacking. If a lot of your guys like to just stand there or are normally outside of the buff AoE then you're better off just using "The Dragon Thrashed..." Your default phrase setup should be "Blessed Was Wengridh..." for defense/invocation spam, you can switch to something else as the fight progresses.

 

People tend to complain about chanters being unimpressive before they get "The Dragon Thrashed..." or that stuff dies too fast before they can use their strongest invocations, but then a lot of these people only seem to play tanky chanters. Personally the only tanky chanter I regularly use is Kana, I see no reason why my own chanters can't be tanky AND kill things at lower levels or why my chanters can't shred things in melee while waiting for my invocations. The difference of course is that I don't use my chanters to actually tank stuff, but the payoff is worth it. I really only see the value of the tanky chanter in solo, TBH.

 

so far i havent had particular difficulty except as mentioned in the Readric fight seeing as my party is still low level... but otherwise my "Hel-Hyraf" debuff, Ice fog thingy from Aloth for blind, putting dazed on the targets and so i havent had trouble hitting my targets with my chanter... in fact after the initial engagement i usually use him to get into "flanking" positions for the extra ACC debuff... I might respec into White Worms just cause of the power level and the amount of corpses you end up with in POTD... and i fully intend to use "The Dragon Thrashed" eventually. I wont be expecting my chanter to tank so i wont be putting him in heavy armor mind you... I have Eder and Pallegina for that... Anyway, thanks for the lengthy analysis

Edited September 22, 2017 by Valci

[Boeroer]

With a high DEX/very high INT chanter in thin armor you can actually perma-paralyze at a certain level via Killers Froze Stiff. You can also perma-buff yourself and the whole party with +5 to all stats (Bride/Bridesmen invocations).

Both of course after you build up the phrases at the beginning of the fight. It's very beneficial to pull enemies to the party where the chanter waits. That way he can use his invocation right away when the enemies arrive.

[scythesong]

There's a difference between tanky and being a tank. Being a tank means getting also getting aggro, being just tanky means you can handle yourself in melee and mobs won't turn around to attack you because your low deflection makes you a juicier target. Any character who wants to do well in melee must be tanky, with very few exceptions. Being a chanter actually has its advantages in this case because, like I mentioned, their deflect growth is very good. You just need to build on that with the appropriate gear/talents. It's less about the armor you actually use though I would not recommend going below leather armor.

 

Accuracy is not just about hitting things but critting things, and you will want crits on your chanter. It's pretty much your strongest melee damage multiplier, which is why a lot of my own chanters are hearth orlans.

Edited September 22, 2017 by scythesong

[Valci]

the current plan is to use one of the unique Chainmails and dual-wield a pair of Bittercuts because reasons... lol. Mostly an RP thing but want it functional too. That would be paired with Corrosive lash and Scion of Decay. You're absolutely on point that you need to be on the tanky side in melee and i have no intention of going that low.  In principle you can always add stats to your armor so i expect to him 18 might off of that for one thing. Int is also available so i will be hitting 18 on that as well. Currently my Dex is 12 (cause of the Favulo gloves i believe) .... 

[firkraag888]

Whenever somebody wants to have advice on a chanter or barbarian firkraag888 will awake from his slumber down under and rant about them (although he never played them thoroughly - for example to witness Brisk Recitation and realize that you can possibly dish out a tier-1-invocation every 6 seconds with it).

Then he will recommend a rogue or a cipher...

Paladins and rogues are not melee based classes by the way. All their abilities work in melee as well as ranged - except Reckless Assault.

Chanters are fine - especially on PotD where fights are longer and there are a lot more enemies. In solo runs they are especially good.

But with a chanter you really have to know the tricks - else the experience can be boring or frustrating. For example Soft Winds and Dragon Thrashed get +12 ACC from one-handed weapon use...

But even with a plain old March-of-the-Kamoa chanter (singing a tier-1-song that raises all defenses except deflection by 10 and gives +1 move speed), like Kana starts, you will increase the survivability of the whole party. Via Ancient Memory you can also give everybody a regeneration effect. This alone is pretty useful. Invocations just come on top.

But firkraag888 is right that it maybe best just to make him a tuna can with a shield and give him Dragon Thrashed at lvl 9. Pretty one-trick-ponyish, but it's basically the most effective way to play a chanter. Lvl 9 is not high level by the way, 9 of 16 is more mid level I'd say. Comes earlier than Deathblows and Amplified Wave...

You can kill Raedric on lvl 4 with a chanter. No other class can do it that easily at this level - and the reason is White Worms. It's LOT of planning, tactics and micro though: You have to pull all enemies to a doorway one by one (or two or four ) and kill them there. Do that with a lot of enemies and don't leave the map, reload or rest! Then, when only Raedric's encounter is left, just shoot some of his buddies from afar and retreat to the pile of corpses. Don't be stealthed! Stealthed chanters don't sing. While you are running back to that pile of corpses on a doorway your chanter already starts building phrases. When you arrive he will most likely have build up 3 phrases. Cast Blessing & Inspiring Radiance and put a Chillfog in front of the doorway. When Raedric & friends gather in front of the door and catch the blind affliction you cast White Worms with buffed ACC and debuffed enemies and everybody in the vicinity should be dead. Combusting Wounds should be very effective here, too.

You can place a character in the doorway and cast Withdraw on him so that "none shall pass".

Anyway: tackling Readric with 4 level 4 characters on PotD is a bold move. It's very hard. Kolsc is a wussy. :D

Speaking of tricks: chanters don't stop chanting when withdrawn. You can place a chanter in the tick of it and cast Withdraw on him - he will still sing and do stuff with his phrases while being untouchable.

He will also sing while being prone. You can abuse that by giving him a preservation armor like Blaidh Golan and a preservation shield like Irfin Byrngar's Solace and get +100 to all defenses when prone or stunned. When stunned he will not sing, but when prone he will - while having +100 to all defenses (minus the prone debuff).

You can totally crack the game if you have a cipher with Defensive Mindweb, a priest and a chanter with double preservation: cast Defensive Mindweb, then Withdraw on the chanter while he keeps on singing Dragon Thrashed. The whole party will get the defensive stats of the chanter who has +100 to all defenses while he's withdrawn...

Edit: my mother tongue is German by the way. I live in Bucharest because of job-related reasons.

yep you got me I completely agree with everything you have said.

 

PS....I would never read 11 paragraphs of complete BS and lost interest in reading it after the first sentence

[Boeroer]

Since you didn't ask for advice but just stomped in that's totally fine with me.

[Lampros]

Nothing basically. Killing Kolsc is a viable option. I once killed both...

 

I always kill Readric and the whole castle because:

a) he's a prick

and because:

b) all the gear gives me so much money that I can quickly buy nice uniques and build up my stronghold's defenses so that those annoying raids will stop.

 

And c) because I can.

 

Don't you get Cruel Disposition if you kill both?

 

I so want to kill the entire House of Doumenel (spelling), because that's a time when I need money but I am so afraid of getting the Cruel Disposition penalties for my Wayfarer Paladin.

[Boeroer]

Nope, no points in cruel.

[Teldurn]

Update: Since I only have about an hour or so free each night to play, it's taken me a bit of time to play this new, revised build. That said, though I'm still level 4 (again, hehe) I discovered how great this chanter build can be.

 

At Anslog's Compass, I beat up some guls and noticed their bodies were nice and clumped together. So I put my party behind them and then with the Fine Arbalest found on a corpse nearby, I (as the chanter) hit one of the xaurips in the northeast camp, aggroing the whole camp. I then ran back to where my  party waited. Meanwhile, "Come, Come" started plinking away at the chasers. By the time I got to behind the gul corpses, I had 3 phrases sung. I turned around and waited less than half a second for the xaurip priest to get within range and let loose with a "White Worms."

 

HOLY CRAP! All 6 xaurips went down in one magnificent moment. Suddenly, I'm in love with this character. And to think, "Dragon Thrased" is supposed to be so much greater. I can't wait! :D Thank you so much for the advice, Boeroer.

 

Unfortunately for me, I can only play with headphones on. RIP my eardrums, haha!

[mammasaura]

[...]

If you're going to use the Mith Fyr phrase then take a look at "The Flames of Faîr Rhîan". It's a sabre that gives you 3 Fireballs per Rest. Because Mith Fyr also puts lashes on spells - it's powerful because of that.

 

Do you mean Myth Fyr applies lashes on any weapon's spellholding/binding spells?

 

[...]

But anyway, do i get anything extra from killing Raedric then i do from killing Klosc? Cause i went with killing Klosc this time around like i said... still got Justice (the sword) plus some cash... whats the downside?

 

If you help Klosc in killing Raedric you'll get a surprise post Act III.

[Boeroer]

Mith Fyr applies a 25% burning lash to all direct damage, including all spells, yes.

This includes party members' spells, powers, abilities, scrolls, invocations, spell bindings and whatnot. If it does direkt damage (no DoT like Shining Beacon or Envenomed Strike's poison damage) it gets a +25% burning lash. 30% if the party member has Scion of Flame (not the chanter but the party member who causes damage).

 

Ahhhrgh, I forgot that you will miss that quest in Act III if you don't kill Raedric. Dammit, sorry. I only thought about the early game. But you can always go back to Raedric and kill him before Act III - so nothing is lost yet. He's a lunatic anyway.

[Valci]

Mith Fyr applies a 25% burning lash to all direct damage, including all spells, yes.

This includes party members' spells, powers, abilities, scrolls, invocations, spell bindings and whatnot. If it does direkt damage (no DoT like Shining Beacon or Envenomed Strike's poison damage) it gets a +25% burning lash. 30% if the party member has Scion of Flame (not the chanter but the party member who causes damage).

 

Ahhhrgh, I forgot that you will miss that quest in Act III if you don't kill Raedric. Dammit, sorry. I only thought about the early game. But you can always go back to Raedric and kill him before Act III - so nothing is lost yet. He's a lunatic anyway.

 

its fine... im probably gonna go for the Scion of Decay build with Bittercut... atm im alternating between PoE and BG:EE (on core rules... might be increasing it shortly) ... just cause i got nostalgic

[Lampros]

the current plan is to use one of the unique Chainmails and dual-wield a pair of Bittercuts because reasons... lol. Mostly an RP thing but want it functional too. That would be paired with Corrosive lash and Scion of Decay. You're absolutely on point that you need to be on the tanky side in melee and i have no intention of going that low.  In principle you can always add stats to your armor so i expect to him 18 might off of that for one thing. Int is also available so i will be hitting 18 on that as well. Currently my Dex is 12 (cause of the Favulo gloves i believe) .... 

 

At least on PotD, I have found 1st-line DPS Chanters to be too difficult to use. Even as a mid-line Tall Grass user, they seem to be on the fragile side and tend to be more in danger of getting knocked out than anyone else on the team. But then, if they were more robust, they would then be un-balanced!

[Teldurn]

If I can take back my thread for a moment...

 

What sorts of items should I be aiming to get for my chanter?

[scythesong]

At least on PotD, I have found 1st-line DPS Chanters to be too difficult to use. Even as a mid-line Tall Grass user, they seem to be on the fragile side and tend to be more in danger of getting knocked out than anyone else on the team. But then, if they were more robust, they would then be un-balanced!

 

That will happen if you ignore your deflection. If you really want to play a glass cannon DPS chanter then you should at least have a secondary panic button setup, like hatchet + shield and possibly the Weapon and Shield Style talent.

 

My own chanter builds always start with dual-wielded hatchets + Cautious Attack talent or hatchet + shield setups on weapon switch to discourage attackers. While not particularly tanky by an stretch before you reach Caed Nua, their high defenses means that mobs mostly ignore them . This is important because, as I mentioned, you should be attacking (specifically flanking, to increase crit rate) whenever possible. Note that "But Reny Daret's Ghost..." is excellent for setting up flanking since you can choose where to summon it.

Ranged weapons are also helpful if you're one of those adventurous types who likes fighting wilder-type enemies early on.

 

Caed Nua opens up Resolve resting bonuses and adventures that reward you with various defensive goodies. The Superior Deflection talent should also be available a little after this point and you'll have access to more consumables (like scrolls of defense). Once you reach this stage then as long as your chanter doesn't get themselves surrounded by hostiles or are taking on very powerful enemies too early then you're good to go for the rest of PotD.

 

/end thread hijack

 

Tanky Chanter items are  pretty intuitive. You'll be taking a lot of defensive talents to raise your defenses/effective endurance so the idea is that you just use gear which increases your defenses/damage reduction. As long as you do every quest/bounty you will not miss good tanky items (most of these gatelocked behind tough fights and bounties anyway, so you don't exactly "aim" for them as just work towards getting them) and things like the Blunting Belt tend to drop often. Yiou're not soloing, so there's also no pressure to stack as much survivability as you can since you can rely on buffs from other classes too.

The rest is just paying attention to item stats. I think the only item I go out of my way to get on some of my chanters is the Voice of the Mountaintop amulet from Dyrford Village.

Edited September 28, 2017 by scythesong

[Lampros]

If I can take back my thread for a moment...

 

What sorts of items should I be aiming to get for my chanter?

 

Voice of the Mountaintop is the one Chanter gear that almost every build uses. It's pretty close to a "must," as it extended the range of your chants significantly. The others really depend on context and preferences. I no longer run a tanking Chanter on PotD, and I use a 2nd-line pike Chanter using Tall Grass. (I might give Tall Grass to the 2nd pike user in future runs though.) So on the 2nd line, the Chanter is a bit more protected and do not need tanking gear so urgently. But I tend to try to collect Rings of Deflection, Rings of Protection, and Blunting Belts in the first act and early 2nd act anyways for all my melees.

 

 

At least on PotD, I have found 1st-line DPS Chanters to be too difficult to use. Even as a mid-line Tall Grass user, they seem to be on the fragile side and tend to be more in danger of getting knocked out than anyone else on the team. But then, if they were more robust, they would then be un-balanced!

 

That will happen if you ignore your deflection. If you really want to play a glass cannon DPS chanter then you should at least have a secondary panic button setup, like hatchet + shield and possibly the Weapon and Shield Style talent.

 

My own chanter builds always start with dual-wielded hatchets + Cautious Attack talent or hatchet + shield setups on weapon switch to discourage attackers. While not particularly tanky by an stretch before you reach Caed Nua, their high defenses means that mobs mostly ignore them . This is important because, as I mentioned, you should be attacking (specifically flanking, to increase crit rate) whenever possible. Note that "But Reny Daret's Ghost..." is excellent for setting up flanking since you can choose where to summon it.

Ranged weapons are also helpful if you're one of those adventurous types who likes fighting wilder-type enemies early on.

 

Caed Nua opens up Resolve resting bonuses and adventures that reward you with various defensive goodies. The Superior Deflection talent should also be available a little after this point and you'll have access to more consumables (like scrolls of defense). Once you reach this stage then as long as your chanter doesn't get themselves surrounded by hostiles or are taking on very powerful enemies too early then you're good to go for the rest of PotD.

 

 

 

Yes, if you dual wield hatchets and get Superior Deflection or Cautious Attack, then you will bump up Deflection - along with the Caed Nua Resolve bonus. But the build I was reading here seems to head toward a full-blown DPS build? I think that's too taxing on PotD for micro-hater like me!

 

By the way, is the Resolve bonus the Caed Nua resting bonus you generally take?

[scythesong]

Resolve is my go-to bonus because but I'm sure some of my parties could have benefited more from Might (aka kill them before they kill us) or survival. I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to static stats though.

 

There are also situations where I'll pick specific bonuses for skill interactions, like mechanics. All of my characters have some points in Survival and Athletics/Lore (+0-2 other skills) so sometimes I end up just 1-2 points short of the required skill for interactions (particularly WM content). I also generally don't reroll for random items, so while things like Gloves of Manipulation are nice I welcome variety in each of my runs.

Edited September 28, 2017 by scythesong

[Valci]

 

If I can take back my thread for a moment...

 

What sorts of items should I be aiming to get for my chanter?

Voice of the Mountaintop is the one Chanter gear that almost every build uses. It's pretty close to a "must," as it extended the range of your chants significantly. The others really depend on context and preferences. I no longer run a tanking Chanter on PotD, and I use a 2nd-line pike Chanter using Tall Grass. (I might give Tall Grass to the 2nd pike user in future runs though.) So on the 2nd line, the Chanter is a bit more protected and do not need tanking gear so urgently. But I tend to try to collect Rings of Deflection, Rings of Protection, and Blunting Belts in the first act and early 2nd act anyways for all my melees.

 

At least on PotD, I have found 1st-line DPS Chanters to be too difficult to use. Even as a mid-line Tall Grass user, they seem to be on the fragile side and tend to be more in danger of getting knocked out than anyone else on the team. But then, if they were more robust, they would then be un-balanced!

That will happen if you ignore your deflection. If you really want to play a glass cannon DPS chanter then you should at least have a secondary panic button setup, like hatchet + shield and possibly the Weapon and Shield Style talent.

 

My own chanter builds always start with dual-wielded hatchets + Cautious Attack talent or hatchet + shield setups on weapon switch to discourage attackers. While not particularly tanky by an stretch before you reach Caed Nua, their high defenses means that mobs mostly ignore them . This is important because, as I mentioned, you should be attacking (specifically flanking, to increase crit rate) whenever possible. Note that "But Reny Daret's Ghost..." is excellent for setting up flanking since you can choose where to summon it.

Ranged weapons are also helpful if you're one of those adventurous types who likes fighting wilder-type enemies early on.

 

Caed Nua opens up Resolve resting bonuses and adventures that reward you with various defensive goodies. The Superior Deflection talent should also be available a little after this point and you'll have access to more consumables (like scrolls of defense). Once you reach this stage then as long as your chanter doesn't get themselves surrounded by hostiles or are taking on very powerful enemies too early then you're good to go for the rest of PotD.

 

 

Yes, if you dual wield hatchets and get Superior Deflection or Cautious Attack, then you will bump up Deflection - along with the Caed Nua Resolve bonus. But the build I was reading here seems to head toward a full-blown DPS build? I think that's too taxing on PotD for micro-hater like me!

 

By the way, is the Resolve bonus the Caed Nua resting bonus you generally take?

I understand what you're saying but I've never had much trouble so far. I usually start it off with a well placed pistol shot while the front liners engage and then move the chanter into a flanking position (switching to melee)... The formation I use doesn't have the chanter in the front line per say. It has Elder, Itumaak and Pallegina then the chanter in the mid line solo and aloth, sagani and durance with ranged weapons at the back... Edited September 28, 2017 by Valci

[Lampros]

 

 

If I can take back my thread for a moment...

 

What sorts of items should I be aiming to get for my chanter?

Voice of the Mountaintop is the one Chanter gear that almost every build uses. It's pretty close to a "must," as it extended the range of your chants significantly. The others really depend on context and preferences. I no longer run a tanking Chanter on PotD, and I use a 2nd-line pike Chanter using Tall Grass. (I might give Tall Grass to the 2nd pike user in future runs though.) So on the 2nd line, the Chanter is a bit more protected and do not need tanking gear so urgently. But I tend to try to collect Rings of Deflection, Rings of Protection, and Blunting Belts in the first act and early 2nd act anyways for all my melees.

 

At least on PotD, I have found 1st-line DPS Chanters to be too difficult to use. Even as a mid-line Tall Grass user, they seem to be on the fragile side and tend to be more in danger of getting knocked out than anyone else on the team. But then, if they were more robust, they would then be un-balanced!

That will happen if you ignore your deflection. If you really want to play a glass cannon DPS chanter then you should at least have a secondary panic button setup, like hatchet + shield and possibly the Weapon and Shield Style talent.

 

My own chanter builds always start with dual-wielded hatchets + Cautious Attack talent or hatchet + shield setups on weapon switch to discourage attackers. While not particularly tanky by an stretch before you reach Caed Nua, their high defenses means that mobs mostly ignore them . This is important because, as I mentioned, you should be attacking (specifically flanking, to increase crit rate) whenever possible. Note that "But Reny Daret's Ghost..." is excellent for setting up flanking since you can choose where to summon it.

Ranged weapons are also helpful if you're one of those adventurous types who likes fighting wilder-type enemies early on.

 

Caed Nua opens up Resolve resting bonuses and adventures that reward you with various defensive goodies. The Superior Deflection talent should also be available a little after this point and you'll have access to more consumables (like scrolls of defense). Once you reach this stage then as long as your chanter doesn't get themselves surrounded by hostiles or are taking on very powerful enemies too early then you're good to go for the rest of PotD.

 

 

Yes, if you dual wield hatchets and get Superior Deflection or Cautious Attack, then you will bump up Deflection - along with the Caed Nua Resolve bonus. But the build I was reading here seems to head toward a full-blown DPS build? I think that's too taxing on PotD for micro-hater like me!

 

By the way, is the Resolve bonus the Caed Nua resting bonus you generally take?

I understand what you're saying but I've never had much trouble so far. I usually start it off with a well placed pistol shot while the front liners engage and then move the chanter into a flanking position (switching to melee)... The formation I use doesn't have the chanter in the front line per say. It has Elder, Itumaak and Pallegina then the chanter in the mid line solo and aloth, sagani and durance with ranged weapons at the back...

 

 

Yup, the concerns I have can be addressed by different play-style. I tend to hate micro-management, so I don't do fancy placement/movement, and I would never use weapons switch tactic. Damn, I am lazy!