PotD Solo Build Guide - Herlad / War Caller aka "Sword Singer"

[Voltron]

Votron, any changes to this build due to 1.1 patch?

 

Not much, Herlad is imo now the strongest melee multiclass for solo as fighter was nerfed to ground. Brilliant won't change much, especially on Troubadour. Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour will still have no problems in solo. War Caller on the other hand I would not take for solo at all. It sucks now, but if yoy do- not much changed apart from his AOE burst being nerfed too much. So for War Caller you I would DEFINITELY take Seven Nights now and maybe White Worms before it on lower levels. Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked is stil l the way to go as 50% more healing is still amazing especially with Ancient Memory, Endurance Aura, Devil Caroc healing and FoD heal/Lay on Hands etc. For Fighter it stil gives crazy boost to Rapid Recovery. Unbending is not worth 3 Disc points now after Brilliant was removed.

 

Instead of Brilliant invocation (Set to Their Purpose, They All Knew Their Part) I would now take either:

 

 Yet Its Mate Was More Feared - as your new main summon and replace summons from previous levels for something else. Drake is super strong and another one that comes after it is even stronger. But first inovcation is not worth it so only respec to it when you can get it with upgrade. Till then Skeletons or Wurms will be enough.

 

Her Tears Fell Like Rain - Seven Nights is an AMAZING spell for Herald and it's upgrade will make only more deadly. 

 

Honor Mention:

Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints - only if you run Brisk all the time so not imo that good for solo but for teamplay it may actually be cool :D

 

 

Fortunetely I don't give a **** about patch and I still have normal old Fighter in my 1.1 game

Edited June 2, 2018 by Voltron

[Ganrich]

Yeah, Seven Nights is the best Damage Invocation, and White Worms isn't shabby either.  Thrice was she Wronged is ok just because of its short cast time.  This patch has me restarting my Herald play through.  Mostly because of how easy it was prior to the patch, and the difficulty changes will make doing it again worth while.  I was only level 9 anyhow.  However, the changes have made me revisit whether I want a pure fire build, or not.  As without Set to Their Purpose... Seven Nights looks really tempting.  I think it, plus Sacred Immolation would be silly.  If you build to survive SI damage that is. 

Perhaps instead of Healing through Fire the theme should be a Song of Ice and Fire. 

[demien87]

> Fortunetely I don't give a **** about patch and I still have normal old Fighter in my 1.1 game

Heh. I've being trying beta and though I like new PoD difficulty, my latest Sage is no longer valuable.

I  feel like trying your build on it with Pal/Chanter since Pal still seems to be strong enough.

 

 

Btw did you considered making a build for Sage or other monk multi?  WDYT about this build https://fextralife.com/pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire-builds-guide-sage/ ?

would be nice to play something monk-ish with spells or weapons. 

[Voltron]

Yeah, Seven Nights is the best Damage Invocation, and White Worms isn't shabby either.  Thrice was she Wronged is ok just because of its short cast time.  This patch has me restarting my Herald play through.  Mostly because of how easy it was prior to the patch, and the difficulty changes will make doing it again worth while.  I was only level 9 anyhow.  However, the changes have made me revisit whether I want a pure fire build, or not.  As without Set to Their Purpose... Seven Nights looks really tempting.  I think it, plus Sacred Immolation would be silly.  If you build to survive SI damage that is. 

Perhaps instead of Healing through Fire the theme should be a Song of Ice and Fire. 

 

Well, if you wanted to use Sacred, all you had to do was to take Shieldbearer for that 10 second of unkillable for when you use Sacred + Nemnok Cloak for BtDD spell and 15 sec unkillable and you can just go to town.

 

However I am still amazed they didn't fix Sacred Immolation at all.... It's still stupid 43 raw self dmg which is just stupid. It only required 1 min work to edit numbers. Seriously Obsidian....

 

Fortunetely I have fixed that myself and my next solo on 1.1 will be Herald again but this time with Sacred Immolation + Seven Night AOE combo just for that Song of Ice and Fire :D :D

Edited June 3, 2018 by Voltron

[Ganrich]

 

Yeah, Seven Nights is the best Damage Invocation, and White Worms isn't shabby either.  Thrice was she Wronged is ok just because of its short cast time.  This patch has me restarting my Herald play through.  Mostly because of how easy it was prior to the patch, and the difficulty changes will make doing it again worth while.  I was only level 9 anyhow.  However, the changes have made me revisit whether I want a pure fire build, or not.  As without Set to Their Purpose... Seven Nights looks really tempting.  I think it, plus Sacred Immolation would be silly.  If you build to survive SI damage that is. 

Perhaps instead of Healing through Fire the theme should be a Song of Ice and Fire. 

 

Well, if you wanted to use Sacred, all you had to do was to take Shieldbearer for that 10 second of unkillable for when you use Sacred + Nemnok Cloak for BtDD spell and 15 sec unkillable and you can just go to town.

 

However I am still amazed they didn't fix Sacred Immolation at all.... It's still stupid 43 raw self dmg which is just stupid. It only required 1 min work to edit numbers. Seriously Obsidian....

 

Fortunetely I have fixed that myself and my next solo on 1.1 will be Herald again but this time with Sacred Immolation + Seven Night AOE combo just for that Song of Ice and Fire :D :D

 

 

Agreed.  Other than Deep Faith's scaling Pally only needed a nerf to their self damage from Sacred Immolation.  It is pretty stupid that it is a suicide button on all but one Pally Sub.  It reminds me of some of those jokes in spy/action movies "Whatever you do... Don't push the red button."  Why give us a red button Obsidian?  It should be risky, but not a death sentence without an ability that gives immunity to death. 

[Voltron]

I will update today this guide for 1.1 but in short just if anyone is looking for how this builds play now:

 

1. War Caller sucks hard due to Charge nerf, Cleave nerf nad lost of Brilliant as it was Brilliant that made War Caller usable in end-game due to how cost-heavy his abilities are. Generall I wouldn't bother with War Caller for solo anymore.

 

2. Heral is absolutely fine as he has super low cost and instead of Brilliant just take Virtuous Triumph at Paladin Level VI, which gives back Zeal per kill.

 

3. Since Virtuous Triumph works with any kills- Seven Nights is a must have now as it's best offensive invocation for melee build. Once you get Seven Night- drop White Worms for something else.

 

4. Best weapons are still the same for primary hand- Scordeo, Modwyr etc. however now in off-hand you want to use Sasha's Sabre and enchant it to give you full Phrases back on empowering invocation. This will allow you to do the following combo with Herald- go in the middle of combat, cast Beacon for 40% more dmg to enemies, Cast Empower Seven Nights->Max Phrases->Cast Second Seven Nights. This should clean 80% of enemies around you and after that it's Sworn Rival-> FOD as always.

 

5. Since invocation that was giving Brilliant sucks now-  Bridgeman is better for melee character if you want self buffs and it's upgrade is not too shaby but upgrade to Seven Nights or upgraded Drake (till you can take Upgraded Drake don't take basic Drake, stick to Sekeletons/Wurms and respec later for Drakes for end-game) are very good options.

So yeah, patch 1.1 basicelly killed solo War Caller so if you want to use that- don't patch the game or replace your files with 1.02 files to have old Fighter back if you need to. If you don't have old files or don't know how to do it- shout to me on PM, I will help.

[Clerith]

I can recommend some sort of mobility item (boots, helmet) with a dash or jump or charge for the Herald, since that is its only weakness imo (no mobility skills). This is sort of personal preference, but I just got so used to Charging everywhere with my fighters that playing a Herald can feel slow as molasses.

 

Seven Nights is a really cool skill, and I'm actually pretty excited to use it. Also pretty flavorful RP for my Pale Elf character (white worms -> ice nights chants).

[dambros]

Voltron, how is the build doing on 1.1? I’ve been curious to try soloing after the difficult changes, so I am looking for more experienced player inputs on the builds.

Edited June 5, 2018 by dambros

[thseremet]

Excellent guide! I want to try it for 1.1, but with a shieldbearer instead (and with a shield). How would you do the build differently, if I wanted to do that? More tanky stats? less offensive abilities?

[Voltron]

Voltron, how is the build doing on 1.1? I’ve been curious to try soloing after the difficult changes, so I am looking for more experienced player inputs on the builds.

 

Look at my post two posts above you

[dambros]

 

Voltron, how is the build doing on 1.1? I’ve been curious to try soloing after the difficult changes, so I am looking for more experienced player inputs on the builds.

Look at my post two posts above you

Thanks!

[Ilyan]

Does that order for skills seems right to you for 1.1? (in a team for me, I don't solo) or if anyone has a different order/abilities to suggest I'd love all suggestions?

 

1    Lay on Hands & Come come soft wind / If their Bones
2    Sworn enemy
3    Deep Faith
4    Zealous Aura & At the Sound of his voice.. froze
5    Retribution
6    Two Weapon Style
7    Sworn Rival & Ancient memory
8    Combat Focus
9    Ancient Brittle Bones (respec at 19 >> Eternal Devotion)
10    Exalted Endurance & The Brideman Slew
11    Aefyllath
12    Glorious Beacon
13    Inspired Beacon & Seven Nights
14    The silver Knights Shields
15    Praticed Healer
16    Virtuous Triumph & Each Kill Fed His Fury
17    Greater lay on hands
18    Liberating Exhortation (respec at 19 >> Garnisc' Beast…)
19    (Respecing at this level) >> Liberating Exhortation & Yet Its Mate was more feared
20    Her Tears Fell…

Edited June 6, 2018 by Ilyan

[Skoot]

Does that order for skills seems right to you for 1.1? (in a team for me, I don't solo) or if anyone has a different order/abilities to suggest I'd love all suggestions?

 

1    Lay on Hands & Come come soft wind / If their Bones

2    Sworn enemy

3    Deep Faith

4    Zealous Aura & At the Sound of his voice.. froze

5    Retribution

6    Two Weapon Style

7    Sworn Rival & Ancient memory

8    Combat Focus

9    Ancient Brittle Bones (respec at 19 >> Eternal Devotion)

10    Exalted Endurance & The Brideman Slew

11    Aefyllath

12    Glorious Beacon

13    Inspired Beacon & Seven Nights

14    The silver Knights Shields

15    Praticed Healer

16    Virtuous Triumph & Each Kill Fed His Fury

17    Greater lay on hands

18    Liberating Exhortation (respec at 19 >> Garnisc' Beast…)

19    (Respecing at this level) >> Liberating Exhortation & Yet Its Mate was more feared

20    Her Tears Fell…

I'm not an expert, but I'd personally hold off on Sworn Enemy until 6th level.  Early on, when I was still hanging around Port Maje, most of my Zeal had to go towards Lay on Hands.  You only have a few of those to throw around per fight and I don't think doing extra damage to one mob at a time is really a worthwhile use of them.  Maybe in certain scenarios (that drake at the Engwithan Digsite, for example), but in general I think you can hold off on it until right before you get the upgrade that essentially makes it free.

 

That aside, I think the Devil of Caroc Breastplate is still the go-to armor even with the nerfs.  Definitely still the best for how relatively easy it is to obtain.

[Cocijo]

Would this build be terrible with an Arquebus, or does losing Gunner from the Ranger class make it too hard?

[segundoblz]

Will be this updated to 4.0? It's a great guide I wish it was updated.

[Archaven]

Will be this updated to 4.0? It's a great guide I wish it was updated.

Virtuous triumph nerfed to rock bottom. 25% chance to gain a zeal. Obsidian level of balance deserve goty award

[michel.montenegro]

Would this build work with Beckoner / Gold Pact?

Edited January 30, 2019 by michel.montenegro

[QuiteGoneJin]

Playing a sabre warcaller. Devoted/skald. But with a mod that gives skald a bit of a boost, as well as devoted.

https://gyazo.com/9babf1b61b560e332c6cba719e41ae7d

https://gyazo.com/66a890996bd89d6591cd23aa1cc32507 for reference. 

 

I find the shorter paralyze duration a pain, though my stat spread might be bad and im just getting started.

H Orlan 

with BB

18 m, 10 con, 16 dex, 18 perc, 18 int, 10 resolve.  I feel like I could have lowereed perc a bit and raised dex. And am worried I overvalued the paralyze and shouldn't use it as it's so damn short. 

[Lampros]

May I ask why this build is deprecated?

[Lampros]

Bump: Does this build still work for turn-based?

More specifically, I want to pair this guy as a main tank alongside my Brawler main that Boerer sketched for me.

[David Carter]

Is this still viable in 2020? I tried it and get crushed at level 11 fighting the pirates guarding the ship ... 

[Boeroer]

There were some major nerfs and other changes after this was published. 

[David Carter]

Ok figured as the builds I've tried that are 2018 don't seem to work as suggested

 

[SilverArrowsMP]

@VoltronHey there! Know this OP was 4 years ago, but I just started with this build (Herald version... already rolled the War Caller as well). Wanted to let you know: according to the Wiki, the Kapana Taga was changed to a Club in one of the patches, just so people know in case they want to put a point in that proficiency if they choose to use it.