Basically just topic. I've never really thought of a beserker/cipher build, especially a ranged one. My experience with barbs is that they are mostly melee characters. Does anyone here think he'd be a good build with barb/cipher? I sorta wanted Ydwin to be my pure Cipher, so I was afraid to make him the same. 

 

Anyone have any pointers or just skills to point out with him?

I would prefer Serafen as a Cipher with dual wielding pistols. since my main character isn't a cipher and I wanna have one in my party(focus on damage/control). I think you should look into what kinda role he is going to play in your party.

I will experimentw his Witch ( Barbarian + Cipher ) Multiclass.

The idea is to use his cipher to empoer himself instead of CCing the enemy to make more damage. So Deflection / Armor or Pain link enemies and focus on dishing out damage as a barbarian with carnage.

It is only an idea so far, but I think it will work.

Well, my PC is a cipher, so I'm playing him as a pure barbarian. So far, he seems to do the job of hitting things - which is what you want a barbarian for - pretty well even if his stats probably aren't perfect.

Serafen has a unique Cipher kit (Wild Mind), so I'm going with that for the flavor. I think it's actually kind of lame that you can even make him a pure Barb narrative-wise. 

Whaat are the special traits of Serafens Wild Mind Cipher subclass?

You can change his stats quite easily if you do it before you meet him!

Whaat are the special traits of Serafens Wild Mind Cipher subclass?

 

It's like Wild Mage from BG2.  Random effects (sometimes bad) when casting spells.

Wondering if u loose too much cipher power if you go witch... on the other hand youre faster and the toredos items or how they are called sewm to be made for serafen

Wild Mind can sometimes kill your own party members, so single class Barbarian for me, even if it goes against his lore a bit. Wild Mind makes him the worst party member in a controlled setting imo.

possible outcomes that actually stuck in my memory after full playthrough with serafen:

- dominates a random enemy while stunning himself

- instantly getting full / zero focus

- casting ally targeting spells on ally and himself at the same time

I went Barb/Cipher Serafen. Mostly putting points in Barb abilities. Frenzy+Blow + passives

On Cipher side, mostly quick powers like mind blades. Damaging one. But not too much since we have limited focus anyway.

I use him as a pure cipher as the scenario in which you meet him establishes him as having those abilities. 

Seems odd to me to then have him as a pure barbarian who can't access those powers.

Would opt for a barb/cipher but still can't get over 'witch' as the multiclass name. 

My main is an oracle though, so I haven't used him much. 

Still no strong recommendation for him? I read the idea of dual pistols, but wonders if that still work after patch 1.1

Cipher who spams Whispers of Treason seems to do well.

Cipher, dual pistols and cc. Pretty good for this, and Cipher powers early is nice. Witch would be good assuming Soul Whip affected Carnage, but with the changes to Carnage it's just not as good in theory. Could probably benefit from the Cipher steal-buffs and increased hp from Barbarian.

 

Serafen has a unique Cipher kit (Wild Mind), so I'm going with that for the flavor. I think it's actually kind of lame that you can even make him a pure Barb narrative-wise.

 

I use him as a pure cipher as the scenario in which you meet him establishes him as having those abilities. 

Seems odd to me to then have him as a pure barbarian who can't access those powers.

Would opt for a barb/cipher but still can't get over 'witch' as the multiclass name. 

My main is an oracle though, so I haven't used him much.

 

Obsidian wanted every class to have a single class option with Companions, so Serafen got stuck with single class Barbarian. Imo they should change Serafen to Cipher or Mindstalker or Witch and introduce a Dwarf Barbarian from Naasitaq in dlc.

It is very odd he can be a Barbarian. Based on his character, Witch is the only sensible choice from a RP perspective imho. As another said Mindstalker really should be an option.

I went with Cipher. He struggled to hit anything with pistols or Blunderbusses on POTD (1.1). Also Pierce dmg only sucks. Pierce is worst dmg type in Deadfire.
Btw his starting weapon hits against reflex not deflection. I found it's pretty useless to me, reflex on soft targets you want to hit with guns is high usually.
So respected him and gave him WarBow - Frostseeker. it has both slash/piece, mulitple projectiles, freeze dmg AOE, good accuracy, good penetration, good attack speed.
Seems it fills up his focus lot faster and more reliably than dualwielding guns.

Edited June 11, 20187 yr by Farsha

Has anybody tried modding his subclass to reduce the "wild" proc rate to 0? 

Sin Tee's Witch build for Serafen is (roughly) what I'm using, and it is good and fun:

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1399216139

 

I switched out Sickening Horrors for Whisper of Treason, just because charm turns fights on PotD like nothing else other than summons. Also, the soulbound mace goes really well with the build.

I've used him as a Witch in both games I've had, second game at like level eight or so.

 

First game was at release so everything was a roflstomp on PotD.

 

Current game is 1.1 so enemies are a lot tougher. Gave him the Woedica club and he dual wields it and whatever. I use the club modal to reduce will and then charm/dominate that guy which gets my 33% chance to hit up to 50% or so which helps a lot.

 

A ranged Serafen would suffer a lot of accuracy problems on PotD and a corresponding focus problem. Melee Serafan seems better and Barbarian helps with the melee a bunch.

 

To me pure Cipher looks good with Ascendent but even then I'm thinking mixed with a martial class would be better. You miss the high end powers but I skip the level VII one already and I get enough use from the lower level charm/dominates, borrowed instinct and the nice level VI disintegrate and the AoE raw damage prone one. Since Serafan can't take Ascendent I like the barbarian mix better.

Use this.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1399216139

 

But keep in mind that he's squishy before 13. Body Attunement at 10 helps a bit before that.

Guys, regarding "strange to put Serafen barb-only".

Understand, not everyone in the game uses their innate abilities in combat. Serafen was never shown to use cipher-abilities through dialogue via combat-ish ways. So, the way I see it - the game lets YOU decide, whether these psychic abilities are combat-oriented, or just outside of combat, and letting him be a full barb.

 

I like interpreting the game that way, sinse I chose to go full barb