Berserker or Fanatic?

[nmnighteyes]

I've been theory crafting alot waiting for the release later today (is it 18 o'clock yet?) and I've narrowed my Watcher down to being a Berserker or a Fanatic (Bleak Walker/Berserker).

 

however i can't get a feel for how sustainable the Berserker is on his own, especially since if I pure Berserker it, I have far less fixed idea of what armor and weapons(s) he will be using...

 

Fanatic on the other hand, I know will be in full armor and dual wielding to offset the recovery penalty (I'm very heavily inspired by the Carbide Chainsaw build elsewhere on this forum here)...

 

I know I won't play a pure Paladin because Pallegina will be a mainstay in my party and I'd end up creating those 2 almost identical if I did.

 

 

Basic question then is, how fragile is the Berserker?

If I multi Class, I will be getting (and upgrading) Frenzy, Barbaric Blow, Flames of Devotion, Sworn Enemy and Zelous Aura...

rest will be passives that enhance first, damage and then defense as needed.

Mental fortress on level 10 alone is a very strong benifit of the multi class...

however another thing I have a hard time theory crafting is Class Resources, will I even have enough to make use of those 5 abilities in a single combat?

 

 

Attached is a picture of how I imagine the Berserker and Fanatic Builds will roughly be leveled, all input is greatly appriciated as i sit in my chair for another 6½ hours jumping up and down, slowly destroying the back and seat ^_^

 

 

[KDubya]

Resource wise the paladin will be able to liberally use FoD and Sworn enemy which upgrades to return the zeal on kill. So you can sworn enemy one guy and then use the rest on FoD and just reapply the Sworn enemy on the next target.

 

For the Barbarian you probably need to reserve three resources for Frenzy and that'll last for the entire fight. I was never a fan of Barbaric Blow but the Beta was limited to low level so never had the extra ability to choose it. Saving the extra resource for liberal use of leap might be better. There were boots of Leap and they were pretty fun to use.

 

Resource usage is a bigger problem for Rogues and Rangers, why take three strike abilities that all use the same small pool instead of pick one and use that over and over?

 

The new AI system lets you set up a logic path that'll activate your powers and abilities as you want. Worked really nice with Monks to spam out Torments or FoA or keep a buff like Swift Strikes and Thunderous Blows always up. You can set it to refresh frenzy whenever it wears off.

[nmnighteyes]

Good to know the Zeal side won't be the problem...

 

Thing is the Wiki doesn't mention Rage cost on any abilities, så it's very hard to judge the abilities cost effectiveness...

But Blow seems good, full attack, increased penetration, increased carnage area, increased damage, increased crit chance, increased crit damage.

Upgrade either gives rage back or gives Barbarian instant recovery from the attack if you kill the target.

 

it was either Blow or the Shout the way i see it...
well, I could go with a paladin defensive passive...
The problem is how hard it is to know the balance between defense and offense without having played a single level...
But the Blow was 1 of the things I was considering replacing if I was dropping too fast...
I heard it's possible to respec (no idea how hard/easy it is though) or is that limited to the beta only?

[GuyNice]

Good to know the Zeal side won't be the problem...

 

Thing is the Wiki doesn't mention Rage cost on any abilities, så it's very hard to judge the abilities cost effectiveness...

But Blow seems good, full attack, increased penetration, increased carnage area, increased damage, increased crit chance, increased crit damage.

Upgrade either gives rage back or gives Barbarian instant recovery from the attack if you kill the target.

 

it was either Blow or the Shout the way i see it...

well, I could go with a paladin defensive passive...

The problem is how hard it is to know the balance between defense and offense without having played a single level...

But the Blow was 1 of the things I was considering replacing if I was dropping too fast...

I heard it's possible to respec (no idea how hard/easy it is though) or is that limited to the beta only?

In PoE you could respec at any inn for a gold cost that scaled based on character. I expect it to be very similar in Deadfire. I'm also planning a fanatic (Berserker/Bleak Walker) main character, but the ability progression will be based on in game experience, for example do I often have unused rage? pick Barbaric Blow. Am I too squishy? pick a defense passive. It's hard to make these decisions without playing the game for yourself and with missing info on abilities/passives.

[nmnighteyes]

My intentions are much the same GuyNice...
Though having nothing else to take up my time till the game is out, I figured I might as well, theorycraft a bit just to help me make the decision between pure Berserker and Fanatic...
Also, almost all abilities are in the wiki now (a few are coded wrong unfortunately) up to powerlevel 9...
And if you need to know one of the few that are buggy, you can watch CohhCarnages video, he made one where he opens every single ability in the game to let us read, does take some pausing to read, but it has full information on ALL classes.

[GuyNice]

My intentions are much the same GuyNice...

Though having nothing else to take up my time till the game is out, I figured I might as well, theorycraft a bit just to help me make the decision between pure Berserker and Fanatic...

Also, almost all abilities are in the wiki now (a few are coded wrong unfortunately) up to powerlevel 9...

And if you need to know one of the few that are buggy, you can watch CohhCarnages video, he made one where he opens every single ability in the game to let us read, does take some pausing to read, but it has full information on ALL classes.

I was looking at the ability descriptions here but there are details missing like resource costs, some of the tooltips cut off in the middle, it's unclear whether some abilities scale based on power level or not etc. I think we will be much wiser in about 2 hours

 

For me the decision to multi class is basically set in stone, I want Mental Fortress, I want the Bleak Walker's FoD, Paladin resistances etc. Whatever you choose I think you won't go wrong, Berserker looks like a great subclass, and you can always use your party members + consumables to negate confused.

[cactot]

Just FYI, Zealous Aura and Barbaric Shout will be problematic before you get Mental Fortress at level 10. Shout will apply a strong debuff your allies in a huge radius, and all of the aura abilities will buff your enemies instead of your team. It might be worth picking something else at those levels, and paying for a re-spec some time at or after level 10.

[nmnighteyes]

@GuyNice, Yeah, that information was missing where I was looking too...

 

@Cactot, that is only the case when you frenzy, though I appriciate your suggestion for respeccing, I hadn't actually considered that, thanks mate

[Pharaun159]

Im currently testing a fanatic mage slayer/kindway farer on pod. Its a power house similar in playstyle to the old baldurs gate inquisitor. Rage, then sworn, then fod. Im one hit killing at level 4 with two handed. Take the barbarian bloodied passive that grants +25% dam while bloodied, and the paladin version of it as well. Two handed style gives +15% dam and greatsword sub ability savage blows gives another 30%. Its brutal. You will litterally one hit kill most casters. Just wish there was a soulbound great sword in the game. If there is, i havnt found it yet