Maia Rua to multi or not to multi?

[prototype00]

So Maia Rua is always going to be a Ranger, at least in part. And her subclass is probably the best with guns in the game. But should she multiclass? And if so which one? The Geometer or the Scout?

 

Also, I had assumed that her best weapons were either the Soulbound Arquebus Blightheart or that 45k monstrosity the Royal Deadfire Company sells, but what do people think?

 

Edit: Also, what are the best skills for ranged DPS Maia to take?

Edited May 16, 2018 by prototype00

[Yosharian]

> Geometer

 

Ugh.

[prototype00]

How do you feel about the Scout then?

[syphonhail]

How do you feel about the Scout then?

She one shots 1-2 mobs before melee gets in range. I have her using the Dragon's Dowry.

Edited May 16, 2018 by syphonhail

[prototype00]

 

How do you feel about the Scout then?

She one shots 1-2 mobs before melee gets in range. I have her using the Dragon's Dowry.

So you would definitely recommend Scout then? What talents are you investing in?

[erichough]

 

 

How do you feel about the Scout then?

She one shots 1-2 mobs before melee gets in range. I have her using the Dragon's Dowry.

So you would definitely recommend Scout then? What talents are you investing in?

 

I have run my own main scout as well as Maia as a scout. I recommend picking up the following talents:

 

Ranger:

Marksman (+acc)

Gunner (stacks with her armor bonus)

Mark Target + Marked for the hunt(upgrade refunds points spent on kill)

Protective Companion + Stalkers link (+acc)

Driving flight

Rogue:

Escape (basically a short range teleport) + Upgrade that allows you to paralyze on next attack

Dirty Fighting (+ crits)

Any attacks that give +acc and extra damage - Blind/Withering Strike + upgrades are nice, but get passives first

 

If you have spare talents it never hurts to buff her pet - her bird does the best damage of all the pets in the game, so either buffing its damage and/or its armor would add DPS to the fight.

[Iymurra]

Throwing my vote in for Geomancer. Wizard is the better of the Blightheart versions that Maia can have access to, theres a bunch of buff spells that Maia gets access to from the wizard line along with Heart of Decay which further benefits Blightheart.

If you want to micromanage her, going Wiz allows you to drop armor and trust in your buffs for defensives. You lose the reload on her armor but gain the increased action speed which applies to reload, fire and recovery. Also, wizard Blightheart is a static +10% corrode damage from all attacks, so all the corrode wizard spells are that much stronger.

 

And she gets access to repulsive visage which is one of the stronger spells in the game, in terms of CC at least.

[pstone]

Throwing my vote in for Geomancer. Wizard is the better of the Blightheart versions that Maia can have access to, theres a bunch of buff spells that Maia gets access to from the wizard line along with Heart of Decay which further benefits Blightheart.

If you want to micromanage her, going Wiz allows you to drop armor and trust in your buffs for defensives. You lose the reload on her armor but gain the increased action speed which applies to reload, fire and recovery. Also, wizard Blightheart is a static +10% corrode damage from all attacks, so all the corrode wizard spells are that much stronger.

 

And she gets access to repulsive visage which is one of the stronger spells in the game, in terms of CC at least.

 

Fom a pure damage perspective scout is better. The alpha strike from stealth is far more devestating, and if you go for Edér fighter/rogue to apply flanked to all engaged (or flanked via spell), the damage output is so much better than the 10% she gains from Blightheart. However, I also prefer Geomancer for more versality (via spellbooks), more interesting to play imo...

[Climhazzard]

My vote is for scout.  The rogue skills interrupt, with her range they are amazing for sniping enemy spellcasters and archers.

 

I use...

 

Ranger:  Accurate wounding shot, Marked prey, Evasive fire.  Plus passives like driving flight and marksman.

 

Rogue:  Debilitating strike, Smoke Veil, Gouging strike, and deep wounds.  

 

I don't really feel like getting a slightly better upgrade on your gun is going to make up for stuff like deathblows and rogue attacks, but that's just me.

 

P.S.  Only level 13 so far, so take that into account.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Climhazzard

[jones092201]

She is really powerful as a scout- deathblows, finishing blow with damage upgrade, and twinned arrow.

 

She also has high perception, armor that speeds reload on arquebus (and gunner from ranger tree)

 

Also, if you run a cipher her ranger escape teleport let’s you set up the ectoplasmic beam skill very quickly.

[Shakyr]

Personally I'm running pure Ranger, but then I tend to play her more as ranged backup for my Rogue/Monk. There is a complete dearth of skills to pick at a later Power Level though.

 

Power Level 1

Abilities: Marked Prey, Wounding Shot

Passives: Merciless Companion, Vicious Companion. Optional: Resilient Companion.

 

Power Level 2

Abilities: Heal Companion.

Passives: Gunner, Marksman.

 

Power Level 3

Abilities: Marked for the Hunt, Hobbling Shot. Optional: Evasive Roll, Revive Companion.

Passives: Predator's Sense.

 

Power Level 4

Abilities: Concussive Shot.

Passives: N/A

 

Power Level 5

Abilities: Binding Roots, Evasive Fire.

Passives: Driving Flight.

 

Power Level 6

Abilities: N/A

Passives: N/A

 

Power Level 7

Abilities: Thorny Roots.

Passives: N/A

 

Power Level 8

Abilities: Twinned Shots.

Passives: N/A

 

Power Level 9

Abilities: N/A

Passives: Stunning Shots

[Shakyr]

She is really powerful as a scout- deathblows, finishing blow with damage upgrade, and twinned arrow.

 

She also has high perception, armor that speeds reload on arquebus (and gunner from ranger tree)

 

Also, if you run a cipher her ranger escape teleport let’s you set up the ectoplasmic beam skill very quickly.

Multiclass will not get access to Twinned Shot @ Power Level 8.

[CAlmond]

I generally have Maia as a Ranger/Rogue multiclass. On both class trees, I mainly pick passive options that maximise her damage or her pet's damage with maybe 2 actual active abilities for each class. She doesn't need to debuff anyone because the rest of my party is full of debuffers.

 

She is currently top of my party in hits, crits, damage done and kills. Which is exactly what I want from her.

Edited May 16, 2018 by CAlmond

[Koth]

yeah I'm considering losing about 5 hours of play time to rewind and pick her as a scout instead of straight ranger. huge regrets here...

[prototype00]

So the consensus seems to be for Scout multiclass. Gotcha. Any preference for weapon? (I will probably pick the Soulbound one if there aren’t strong feelings either way)

Edited May 16, 2018 by prototype00

[Koth]

Unlike others I couldn’t give 2 hoots for the interrupts, I just want her as a ranged dps monster, and as such I prefer the 45k arquebus from the dead fire trading joint in SE nekataka.

[M4xw0lf]

Using her as Scout as well. Right now with a superb Arquebus, because I have nothing more special at hand.

[Nemesis7884]

I think rogue has some nice additions....the eye gouge applies sneak and dot which is nice for the pet

[Gutbuster]

yeah I'm considering losing about 5 hours of play time to rewind and pick her as a scout instead of straight ranger. huge regrets here...

 

fwiw same position and I did this, 0 regrets. Scout all the way for Maia for sure.

[Spoting]

Well if you ask me I would say 100% pure Ranger, so no Multiclass.

All her passive and active Abilities for single target dps are too good for this role so you shouldn't maim her progression at all.

Her Accuracy is unparalleled resulting in many Crits. I wont go in depth for Abilities but I will say that you should consider Concussive Tranquilizer(Upgraded).

 

As per active skills I totally recommend :

Primary Alchemy: Applying poison before fight and hitting that back row Mage and dying after 1 shot is too strong by its own rights. ( And you can assume that it will hit with your kind Accuracy ) 

Secondary Stealth: To support Alchemy + Upgrading her chest bonus ( extra ranged deflection )

 

As per equipment: 

Armor = Her default armor is awesome.

Consider investing in Stride since she is kinda position dependable. ( Especially if you like using "Wild Call"(up) ability )

The necklace "Precognition" is a solid choice for her.

 

As per weapons:

-Weapon Set 1

     Your assumptions are correct. You need a good Arquaberus no matter what.

-Weapon Set 2

     I would recommend Blunderbuss+MeleeWeapon. ( Especially "Kitchen Stove" )

     This way you get extra minus reload time on the blunderbuss from dual wield AND the "Marksman" ability bonus since the max range for Blunder is         4.8m       thanks to her Gunhawk subclass resulting to having that extra Acc when you usually shouldn't have with this weapon choice.

Optional Weapon Set 3

     Her personal quest reward Arquaberus that does AoE in a line is cool too and equally buggy. ( Needs even more positioning babysit )

 

PS. Maia main waifu :Q

Edited May 16, 2018 by Spoting

[Thormind]

For practical reasons i went Geomancer with her. My team was Serafen, Tekahu, Xoti and Aloth when i got to her. I wanted to replace Aloth and have a team with only the new characters while still keeping some wizard spells. Aloth was also getting pissed off by Tekahu.

 

With the spell tome that add +1 spell cast per spell lvl and her high perception she makes a nice CC/nuker and her shots are still really good. You dont have to invest much on the wizard side since the spells from the tome are almost always the ones you want to use. I just get a self buff  or an illusion spell the levels i get a point for both classes. With her pet she takes care of ranged opponents quite well wile the rest of the party can focus on the melee targets.

[evilcat]

I generally go with Scout.

Mostly for Devastating Blow and sneak attack.

But Dirty Fighting, Deep Wounds, Deathblows is nice bonus.

[Enoch]

For practical reasons i went Geomancer with her. My team was Serafen, Tekahu, Xoti and Aloth when i got to her. I wanted to replace Aloth and have a team with only the new characters while still keeping some wizard spells. Aloth was also getting pissed off by Tekahu.

 

With the spell tome that add +1 spell cast per spell lvl and her high perception she makes a nice CC/nuker and her shots are still really good. You dont have to invest much on the wizard side since the spells from the tome are almost always the ones you want to use. I just get a self buff  or an illusion spell the levels i get a point for both classes. With her pet she takes care of ranged opponents quite well wile the rest of the party can focus on the melee targets.

I did the same, and have been rotating her and Aloth as my backline artillery.  Takes a little while to build effectiveness in getting the right Grimoire and complementary spells, but she does OK.  (Also, on a first playthrough, it took me a ridiculously long time to find an enchanted arquebus of any kind-- and I'm stubborn enough to avoid buying a "fine" one unless I know that I won't find better anytime soon.)

 

For interrupts, I think Geomancer has an advantage over Scout, in that Thrust of Tattered Veils (priority #1 in selecting a Grimoire for her) is much faster than a weapon-ability attack.  When you need something interrupted NOW, that's what you want in your pocket.

 

The drawback of Geomancer is that her INT score (IIRC, 10) holds her back.  Aiming AOEs is tough without much of a "safe zone," and her buff/debuff durations aren't fantastic. 

[Boeroer]

Geomancer, Combusting Wounds + 8 Blunderbusses (Quick Switch + Arms Bearer + the Leather Armor that gives you +1 Weapon Set).

 

Driving Flight + Missiles...

 

It's good, but a ton of micro.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Boeroer

[Lokithecat]

The rapid fire (glitch, bug... idk) makes just firing faster than screwing around with multiple weapon sets, and is less micro intensive than switching weapon sets.  See the Bleak Huntress build for description.