Ranged/Backline Chanter (Kana)

[MortyTheGobbo]

So I'm making my way through Pillars once again, and this time I decided to put Grieving Mother in the front-line, or close to it anyway. But I figure once Zahua and Maneha join up, it'll get crowded there, particularly since I'm playing a druid who often goes melee as well. So I'm thinking that instead of having Kana Rua tank in the front-line, I might put him in the back, so he focuses more on support. But I'm not sure if I can get away with giving him a ranged weapon, or if it should be a pike or other long melee weapon. Or what phrases/invocations would be best for this purpose.

[Boeroer]

If you don't use a ranger then I'd give him Stormcaller, use Wengrith & Sure Handed Ila, light armor and spam Killers as often as possible.

[MortyTheGobbo]

Hmm. I do have Sagani, so either I'd give her something else or I'd need a new plan.

[rod.homie]

So I'm making my way through Pillars once again, and this time I decided to put Grieving Mother in the front-line, or close to it anyway. But I figure once Zahua and Maneha join up, it'll get crowded there, particularly since I'm playing a druid who often goes melee as well. So I'm thinking that instead of having Kana Rua tank in the front-line, I might put him in the back, so he focuses more on support. But I'm not sure if I can get away with giving him a ranged weapon, or if it should be a pike or other long melee weapon. Or what phrases/invocations would be best for this purpose.

 

I'm using Kana as Backline also (playing on PS4). But every single time I summoned those ogres, they appear with no weapons. They execute the attack moves as if they are wielding clubs but there are no clubs and the damage they inflict is ridiculous (2 or sometimes 0.9 damage). This happened to you too?

[MortyTheGobbo]

I've rarely ever used the ogre-summoning invocation and I play on the PC, so I can't tell you.

[Boeroer]

Hmm. I do have Sagani, so either I'd give her something else or I'd need a new plan.

Sagani is also great with Persistence. Its wounding enchantment can be used to trigger Predator's Sense 100% of times. It's also the ranged weapon with the highest single target dps.

[MortyTheGobbo]

Sounds like Kana can get Stormcaller, then. He'll just need another bow in the meantime. Doesn't matter if it's a hunting bow, since soulbound weapons work with any talent.

[rod.homie]

Sounds like Kana can get Stormcaller, then. He'll just need another bow in the meantime. Doesn't matter if it's a hunting bow, since soulbound weapons work with any talent.

I gave the Stormcaller to myself (playing as a ranger moon-godlike cipher). Really enjoying it. My party consists in 2 backliners (me and Kana), 2 Paladins, 1 Fighter and 1 Barbarian all of them at the front line with acolyte radiances, they can pretty much take care of themselves. I'm destroying everything with this set-up

[MortyTheGobbo]

I could also get him the new soulbound arbalest, which apparently works with chanters.

[Boeroer]

It is bugged and gets slower and slower with every upgrade...

[MortyTheGobbo]

Well. That's quite the bummer, isn't it. Stormcaller it is, then. He'll just use another bow until I complete it.

Edited March 22, 2018 by MortyTheGobbo

[Abbzug]

There's a fan fix for the arbalest on nexusmods here

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/171

 

I'm not positive but I don't think the deadfire soulbound weapons (club and arbalest) work like other soulbound weapons. I don't think they work with any weapon focus or priest talent, I think they need the weapon focus specific to that weapon type. Idk could just be a display error or me not remembering correctly.

[MortyTheGobbo]

Interesting, thank you. Now I have an actual choice here.

[MortyTheGobbo]

It seems that Kana's low dexterity makes his shots with an arbalest very slow. Though it does make for some good damage in the early combat. The highest upgrades should make it faster, with the patch, but it'll be a long time before I get there.

[Boeroer]

With Gunner and Sure Handed Ila you can reduce reloading times a lot, too.

[MortyTheGobbo]

I do have Sure Handed Ila, but I don't think I've taken Gunner let. I'll take it and see how it goes. I prefer to have varied weapons in my party, so if Sagani uses a hunting bow and Devil of Caroc uses a war bow, it's well-rounded.

[Boeroer]

Once the Spike Flinger is fixed and upgraded it's quite fast. The only drawback is that stacked reloading bonuses have reduced impact with every added bonus.

 

That's because it is calculated like so:

 

100 frames reloading time (just an exemplary number) with Gunner (-20%) = 80 frames.

 

80 frames with Sure Handed Ila (-20%) = 64 frames.

 

64 frames with Spike Flinger's bonus (-50%) = 32 frames (I assume).

 

And so on. But maybe the Flinger does it differently because it's a bonus on a weapon.

 

But generally you can't reach 0 reloading time because those bonuses get multiplied, not added. Of course every bonus still does something, but it's effect is diminished the more bonuses you stack.

[MortyTheGobbo]

It doesn't look like the bug is even going to come into play, fix or no fix, because I'm unlikely to be able to stun enough enemies with Kana before I'm finished with the game. But he's doing alright shooting the arbalest and providing defensive buffs and ranged attack speed to the party. Even if all my usual problems with chanters still apply.

[Boeroer]

Funnily, if you stun with the thunder invocation (tier 1) while holding the Flinger it also counts.

 

Made upgrading it a lot easier...

Edited March 30, 2018 by Boeroer

[MortyTheGobbo]

Well, I certainly wish I'd known that before. Oh well. Maybe I'll still have him use the invocation on some trash enemies just to try it out.