High CON Build w/ POE II Viability

[Krowseph]

Hey All,

 

I have always liked playing high constitution builds that can take a large amount of beating and still remain healthy.  I know there are some monk builds floating around that use retaliation and high constitution in order to be viable.  Are these types of builds viable going into POE II or would a certain multi class be better?  What are your suggestions for builds that rely on high endurance?

 

Thank you for your time.

[Boeroer]

The PoE class that profits the most from high CON is the Barbarian. Since his deflection is very low and his endurance and health base is very high (endurance on par with the monk's, health the highest in PoE).

 

In Deadfire the Berserker for example suffers self damage while frenzied. A Helwalker suffers +5% damage per wound he has (and gains +1 MIG). So here high CON might be good as well. Also because of the fortitude defense of course, which still seems to be the most important defense against most dangerous CC abilites.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Boeroer

[Petey488]

Can you perhaps give an example? I have been looking for this too. Most of the barbarian builds listed dump con or have it at 10. Is there a specific build I should be looking at? The only high con build I have found was monk, but that was a retaliation build and Idk if that would still be viable going into the next game.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Petey488

[Boeroer]

I guess there is no high CON Barb in the build list because it's pretty straightforward. But here is one with which I did a "The Ultimate" attempt (died at lvl 16 in Noonfrost/Twin Elems because of a bug with Battle-Forged + Second Whind - leading to self-hits with very high burn damage):

The trick is to dump DEX but balance this out with dual wielding hammers, Frenzy, Bloodlust + Blood Thirst. Retaliation also triggers Bloodlust & Bloodthirst when it kills, reducing recovery to 0. YOu just don't care about deflaction at all but just heal it all away. You don't have to minmax though:

Race: Fire Godlike
Culture: Old Vailia
Background: Colonist

Skills: survival 14

 

 

Stats:

• MIG: 18 
• CON: 18
• DEX:03
• PER: 16
• INT: 20
• RES: 03

Talents:

1. Veteran's Recovery
2. Weapon Focus Soldier
3. Two Handed Style
4. Accurate Carnage
5. Barbaric Blow
6. Savage Attack
7. Wound Binding
8. Vulnerable Attack (maxing out Heart of Fury's damage)

Abilites:

1. Frenzy
2. Savage Defiance
3. Bloodlust
4. Blood Thirst
5. One Stands Alone
6. Heart of Fury
7. Dragon Leap
8. Blooded

Items:

• headgear: none (Godlike)
• neck: Lost Periapt of the Winding Path (+RES, + Concentration, Consecrated Ground on getting crit)
• armor: Blaidh Golan (great against stun & prone, +2 MIG)
• belt: Belt of Bountiful Healing
• gloves: Gauntlets of Accuracy
• rings: Ring of Protection, Iron Circle (+4 CON), Ring of Searing Flames (if maximum HoF damage is needed, for example in bounty fights)
• boots: Fenwalkers (great against hobbled, stuck and paralyzed)
• weapons: Shatterstar + Godansthunyr

All Healing is boosted by +115% (MIG, survival bonus, belt), also healing that cures health, like potions of Infuse and Wound Binding (will usually fully restore your health once per rest).

It will be really hard to kill you because not only your healing is powerful (= extends the high endurance a LOT), but also because you have an immense health pool (also because of Wound Binding that will double your immense health pool). Most afflicitons can be countered with the enormous fortitude defense (hich stats + Frenzy) and also with Blaidh Golan and Fenwalkers, both don't come late. Since you usually only catch grazes of those nasty afflictions like paralyzed/prone/stun the reduced duration (-3 secs Fenwalkers, -50% prone/stun) you often cancel them completely. Petrified is still a major pain in the tailbone so beware Andragans - althoug the massive fortitude helps a bit (grazes mostly, still long enough).

 

Offense is good as well. You start with Frenzy, jump in with Dragon Leap, trigger Heart of Fury (killing a lot, triggering Bloodlust + Blood Thirst), finishing with Barbaric Blow.

 

Theoretically you could retrain and skip Blood Thirst after getting Durgan Steel (=0 recovery with Frenzy + Bloodlust), but I didn't bother. There are still situations when Frenzy runs out and Bloodlust alone is not enough. 

 

With a full party one could use some other cool items, but this is my Ultimae Barb who couldn't do stronghold adventures.

 

A really powerful variant is with the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer Belt + Forgemaster's Gloves, using Firebrand as main weapon. Basically same build, but a bit more DEX and skilled for two handed use. Another variant would be with Tidefall: even more healing and great damage with wounding, but a bit less with Heart of Fury. 

 

Another high CON build is a dwarven spirit hunter monk from Rauatai with 20 starting CON, using Iron Circle and dual Whispers of Yenwood (Helwax Mold clone), using Iron Wheel and max DR, Ghost Hunter + Bartender's Ring for damage & flavor. You'll have 28 "base" CON with this and with Iron Wheel + plate a ton of DR. Very hard to kill and great against all sorts of banshees, shades, specters and so on.

 

I can't say if those would also work flawlessly in Deadfire - too much has changed. But the basic principle (high CON + buffed up self heals) should work even better because there's no health bar anymore. As long as you can heal enough you won't have to rest.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Boeroer

[Krowseph]

Thank you.  I'm assuming if you don't want to min max like you said to just pull a few points off con, int, or per?

[Boeroer]

Right

[Krowseph]

From a RP standpoint I think I can "justify" low dex to fit the "lumbering berserker" archetype.  The below stats the best optimized?

 

Stats:
MIG: 18 
CON: 18
DEX: 04
PER: 13
INT: 17 
RES: 08

[Boeroer]

Will surely work.

 

In the early game the advantage of high endurance/health pools is not obvious because they are still small compared to crit damage of enemies and armor. That's why I took Veteran's Recovery first. So don't give up after a hard beginning. Barbs need some time. Once in Defiance Bay he will get really meaty.

[Krowseph]

Last question I swear....I'm sure you get quite annoyed by these questions coming from people that seem to have an internal dilemma on what MC to play...  My idea of a main character would be something that has decent str, con, int, and resolve.  So like 15 in each.  Would the only thing to really fit that type of build be a defensive fighter tank?

[Krowseph]

Sorry I can't edit a post before it gets approved by a moderator.  Was thinking something like...

 

Fighter

 

Stats:

• MIG: 16 
• CON: 16
• DEX:08
• PER: 08
• INT: 15
• RES: 15

Talents:

1. Weapon and Shield
2. Hold the Line
3. Superior Deflection
4. Wound binding
5. Rapid Recovery
6. Weapon focus
7. Wary Defender
8. Weapon Mastery

Abilites:

1. Disc Barrage
2. Defender?
3. Vigorous Defense?
4. Overbearing Guard
5. Into the Fray
6. Take the hit
7. Sundering Blow? Charge? Weapon Specialization?
8. Triggered Immunity

 

Would this be the best fit for that stat spread or is this too unnecessary as far as tanking?  Would that stat spread be better fit for an off tank paladin?  I also like the idea of using the soulbound dagger for some reason (unlaboured blade) or would the damage be too pitiful?

[hansvedic]

A Fire Godlike Monk could work with a spread like that, except I'd dump dex down all the way to 4, get Perception up to at least 10, and spend those other two points on constitution or whatever you like.

 

EDIT: The key with a Fire Godlike Monk is Turning Wheel and the Blood Testament gloves, which add fire damage lash and raw damage lash respectively per wound. This allows for powerful retaliations.

 

EDIT 2: Check out "The Anvil" and the "Monksterlasher" builds on the build list thread for more insight into these characters. While they stat them a bit different (15 PER, 7 RES), I am sure your stat spread could work with their ideas.

Edited March 7, 2018 by hansvedic

[Jaheiras Witness]

IMO a balanced stat spread like that works for a lot of classes. However the one constant would be a defensive / tank build. The low DEX and PER make it weak for DPS, offensive spellcaster, or a build which is looking to debuff through status effects (on crit type effects).

 

You could run perfectly viable Fighter, Paladin, Monk, Chanter and Priest with that stat spread. Possibly Barbarian as well. I don’t think it works too well for Cipher, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard or Druid.

[Boeroer]

IMO a balanced stat spread like that works for a lot of classes. However the one constant would be a defensive / tank build. The low DEX and PER make it weak for DPS, offensive spellcaster, or a build which is looking to debuff through status effects (on crit type effects).

 

You could run perfectly viable Fighter, Paladin, Monk, Chanter and Priest with that stat spread. Possibly Barbarian as well. I don’t think it works too well for Cipher, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard or Druid.

I would also say that. That stat spread is good for a lot of classbuilds, including the fighter that was posted above and which is solid (always take Charge - also use a bashing shield like Dragon's Maw or Badgradr's Barricade if you like Knockdown). Also a chanter with Dragon Thrashed would work.

 

Low PER is a thing in the early game, but with some levels and decent buffs it doesn't matter that much anymore.

 

With Disciplied Barrage lowish PER is totally ok, too.

 

 

 

I'm sure you get quite annoyed by these questions coming from people that seem to have an internal dilemma on what MC to play

Hehe - actually... no. It's fine for me to answer questions. I also get some PMs with questions around mechanics and character creation on a regular basis and so far I never felt annoyed because of that.

[Krowseph]

Would you take defender / Vigorous Defense on that fighter build?  I'm sure there is a point where you have too much defense and it would be more beneficial to introduce offense?

 

Also for the low per, is there any good weapon that adds accuracy that would be able to offset the penalty?  Unlaboured Blade (For some reason I like the idea of this one), Sword of Daenysis, Blesca's Labor, or Cladhaliath?  I obviously want something that isn't just a "send into the middle of a group / can be ignored by enemies".  If that concept doesn't fit this then I'm sure a dual wielding monk would be better?

 

I also figured with the stat changes this would be a good candidate to multiclass into a wizard or another caster class to help tanking in POE II.

 

Thanks!

[Boeroer]

I mostly use offensive fighters (and I like them), so I'm not a good advisor on tank builds. Since a fighter is quite sturdy per se I always build his offense, not his defense. A nice apporach is to maximize his self healing capabilites with high survival and Rapid Recovery and the Cloak of the Tireless Defender and then a Belt of Bountiful Healing and go full offense. Leads to good sturdyness and good offense. With a bashing shield you can have a bit of both worlds: Full Attacks with Knockdown and Charge but better deflection and reflex with a shield. And Dragon's Maw or Badgradr's Barricade are just great. Scath Gwannek is also good for a fighter with your stats (gives you some spells per rest).  

 

With those stats he would be a good candidate for an Unbroken/Wizard in Deadfire: very tanky on demand and a good battlefield controller.

[lightsfantastic]

Another high CON build is a dwarven spirit hunter monk from Rauatai with 20 starting CON, using Iron Circle and dual Whispers of Yenwood (Helwax Mold clone), using Iron Wheel and max DR, Ghost Hunter + Bartender's Ring for damage & flavor. You'll have 28 "base" CON with this and with Iron Wheel + plate a ton of DR. Very hard to kill and great against all sorts of banshees, shades, specters and so on.

This fascinates me. Could you elaborate on this?

[Boeroer]

Erm... what else do you wish to know?

[dreamrider]

 

"Hehe - actually... no. It's fine for me to answer questions. I also get some PMs with questions around mechanics and character creation on a regular basis and so far I never felt annoyed because of that."

 

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Well, THAT is spectacularly reassuring, for some of us. 

Edited August 17, 2018 by dreamrider

[lightsfantastic]

Erm... what else do you wish to know?

Stat spread and/or talent ideas. You know your usual brilliance.

Edited August 17, 2018 by lightsfantastic