Group build feedback and advice thread

[contributor]

ES is significantly more costly than LS. So one difference would be huge difference in the SP needed to drive it. I'm not totally familiar with the Kinetic Energy build and what you've got going for them but if you're talking about respeccing Vincent and you've got 10 points coming from LS, you might put 6 or 7 of them into ES and the rest into Thundering Blades that way people will get more benefit out of the -Lighting that ES gives. Even then you're not going to be able to cast ES all the time like you might with LS.

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma Energy Storm will have a shorter range than lightening spear (upgraded), but the -lightening resistence makes for a brutalized double tap.

Pinning Shot and punishing blades switch hit makes a good curse combo. Just aim for DOS 3 as well for the plus mp

RE accuracy. Max Dex and blades on Kincaid. Max Dex and split blades / bows on Selen, Max sorcery and raise knowledge on Vincent, you'll need to raise int too, but don't neglect knowledge.

Other things to think about 3 pts in TB gives +3 acc and 1 pt in Flanking gives 2 for a total of 5 group acc for 4 talent pts

My thoughts anyways

[CdrPlatypus]

Oh and I assume you are using Kyera as a battery ?

[crimsonking]

The main advantage of LS is that it costs only 2AP and better range since the first target is not in the center but the closest corner of the target area. These things make it easy to allow three shots per round with better targeting capacity. SP ain't critical later on.

We didn't talk about an ES/LS combination though. Won't get effective before e3, but might be a game breaker in late game. Add Fyona's Holy Strickening and some multi elemental damage buffs to the mix and you will kill standard enemies with the second hit.

[CdrPlatypus]

Es can hit patterns of enemies that lbs can't though. Decisions decisions

[crimsonking]

There will be very few occasions for which ES' target pattern works better.

[En1gma]

I might end up keeping the points in LS... Right now I have it doing over 200 damage over the largest template, three times a turn, so I can completely overwhelm enemy armour/resistance soaks. As much as I want to switch attacks on him, LS is just godly... Now if I had Fyona with me, that would be a different argument altogether, just so I could use both ES and Strickening in tandem.

Unless I just go with it. As it stands right now, Vincent does 60% or more of the damage in an entire turn. Kincaid and Selen are just cleaning up. We are trying to make our way back through the respawned trash mobs between the Brayes and Riven Field so we can get to the new content. Without serious accuracy gear and talents, they're having issues hitting mobs 7-10 levels below them... Couple this with the fact that they still only deal enough damage to kill one or two mobs apiece per turn and Vincent's damage ends up over 75% of the group total. If this new content is as tough as I'm heading, Kinetic Energy may hit its first wall if I can't spread this damage around. The only thing I can think of atm is to make the switch to ES and have him tag individual groups for Kincaid to take out with Crippling Strikes, and for Selen to hit with Pinning Shot for two AoE elemental damages alongside ES...

Decisions, decisions...

Because also doing this will cripple Vincent's effective range. Will PS be enough to compensate?

Another thought... If I'm using PS as an AP removal, I may just scrap using Flash Freeze, put those points into TB and ES 8, respec Kyera to have AoE Ethereal Anguish and turn her into the main debuff... This lets Vincent focus on offense, allows Kyera to have something to to do when she isn't healing/sacrificing/finishing things with her hammer. plus if I bring it to 10, its accuracy debuff might substitute well for the accuracy curse granted by Frigid Air, and affect more mobs overall because it hits everything. Hmmmmm....

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma I really like EA 6. Have you put any points into flanking unity? If you don't use crippling strikes and instead go storm of steel you should be able to drop some points into it

[crimsonking]

Mar 18, 2015 9:05:01 GMT -5 En1gma said:

I might end up keeping the points in LS.

The main argument pro Energy Storm is Thundering Blades and focussing on damage with at least two of the three other characters. However, IMHO Strickening works far better for that because of the -Resistance it provides.

[anrdaemon]

Just repecced Kyera. Ethereal Anguish 10. Love ethernal.
However, got washed by seer lord in the tower of loss. And decided to go for sidequests while I'm not that deep into the City of the Dead.

[En1gma]

crimsonking- completely agree with that, but I'm using Kyera instead of Fyona, so I don't have access to Strickening unfortunately. Which is exactly why I'm considering ES for the build... If I can't lower all resistances, I can make a significant weakness to lightning damage, eliminating the need (or at least working around) for Strickening.

What I'll likely end up doing is completely removing his curses, with maybe one point into Flash Freeze to help with AP removal. I'll bring ES to 7 or 8, then dump the rest into LS and TB. I'll give him +2mp with Charged Speed and get rid of Eye of the Storm. This lets him drop ES and then completely fry the targets with LS, or spread ES around to allow Kincaid and Selen to work their magic. Flexibility switched over to damage dealing instead of curses. Honestly he never gets the chance to curse, as he's the lead damage dealer.

My plan is coming together- you don't know how much I appreciate everyone's input!!!

[Officer Genious]

Interesting to see how your Vincent turns out as I'm also rocking Kyera and Vincent.

[En1gma]

He has a total of 22 talent points to spread around. ES 8, TB 7 for about 20 weakness/added damage- about +40 lightning damage, effectively.

One into FF, two into Charged Speed, then I can drop the rest into LS for a respectable off attack. I think this works........

[En1gma]

Here is the result of my respect- I'm actually quite happy with it.

Kincaid: Dodge Tank and AoE melee damage. 693 HP, 354 SP, 91 Armour, +29 Dodge Bonus, +23 Parry. 12% Crit
Attributes: 16 Dex, 11 Con, 5 Int
Skills: 16 Blades, 10 Leadership, 9 Lore
Talent Spread: Lunge 3, Crippling Strikes 6, Sure Parry 7, Flanking Unity 1, Live by the Blade 4, Cunning Footwork 3
- I got rid of Storm of Steel for this respec. It wasn't doing as much damage as I would like at level 3, but already it was becoming more and more expensive to use consistently. So for about half the SP cost of Storm of Steel 3, Crippling Strikes will make up for the paltry drop in damage by dropping enemy dodge, damage, as well as having an effective AP cursing AoE attack. I'm very happy with this new setup. Lunge 3 I kept the same level, same as LbtB. Parry lost a point, but still auto-blocks 3 full attacks. Past this, I think Footwork gets maxed out to further increase Dodge/Parry and Damage via crit %

Vincent: Full on Damage build. 601 HP, 688 SP. 46 Armour, 12/6 Dodge/Parry. 16% Crit. (+54 Damage Bonus, 42 Lightning Damage)
Attributes: 9 Con, 12 Int, 12 Kno
Skills: 16 Sorcery, 14 Conjuring, 5 Lore
Talent Spread: Lightning Spear 6 (After damage boosts will do 39-164 Lightning Damage), Energy Storm 8 (73-212 Lightning Damage. Causes -21 Lightning Resist), Frigid Air 1, Charged Speed 2, Thundering Blades 7 (+5 Group Accuracy, +22 Lightning Damage to match the weakness granted by Energy Storm [-21])
- I think I made the right call here. This allows anyone attacking anything tagged by ES to deal +~40 Lightning Damage, which greatly increases overall group damage, grants Selen unforetold power with her shiny new Pinning Shot AoE, and boosts Kincaid's CS to be a cheap powerhouse AoE. The +5 Accuracy from TB, plus the new Dodge curses on Kincaid (CS 6) and Kyera (EA 6), PLUS Pinning Shot, I don't think I'll have any issue connecting from here on out.

Kyera: Support/Curse Utility Build. 934 HP, 780 SP. 61 Armour. 14/11 Dodge/Parry
Attributes: 11 Con, 16 Int
Skills: 9 Hammers, 9 Conjuring, 16 Lore
Talent Spread: Ethereal Anguish 6, Purifying Breeze 1, Sacrifice 2 (WHERE IT STAYS!!!!!!!!!) (Ahem), Myshana's Tears 5, Warder's Shield 10.
- It wasn't easy, but I think this is the right build for her (for this group) EA 6 drops 2 AP from enemies, and while it doesn't hit as many per cast as Flash Freeze used to, being able to drop it 3 times per turn is crazy efficient. I'll never move Sacrifice past level 2 EVER again. I just wanted to put that out there.

Selen: Switch Hitting, Uber Cursing Dodge Tank. 693 HP, 326 Int. 51 Armour, 33/21 Dodge/Parry. 6% Crit
Attributes: 16 Dex, 11 Con, 5 Int
Skills: 16 Blades, 8 Bows, 6 Lore, 7 Security
Talent Spread: Punishing Blades 6, Pinning Shot 5, Dance of Shadows 5, Quicksilver Defense 5
- Super simple, crazy effective build out for her. Nothing crazy, just curses and buffs. Future points will be split into Frenzied and QsD.

I can't wait to try these guys out on the long trek back to Riven Field. I'm assuming we are just going to plow straight through these trash mobs. Which is fine by me, because this gives me the chance to reacquaint myself with the new dynamics before the insane battles to come. Also I am very happy that I shelved the group before the holding pen. Let me know what you all think... this was my first major respec, so I only hope I didn't break my furthest group yet...

[fallen]

En1gma - nice work! It always helps to have a really clear plan when attempting a re-spec and it looks like you hit it just right. The combo of both Lightning Spear and Energy Storm on Vincent is pretty impressive decision, I hope it pays off. I assume you've obtained his special rod?