vincent build

[carthaginians]

Thinking about starting a group with vincent using holy strickening and thundering blades to add damage to the team. Was wondering what attack spells to use on him And if I can get away with one or two points in flash freeze. Never played with him before. Also playing on nm.

[contributor]

I've got a group that is exactly what you're looking for and I've been meaning to write them up too. Maybe this evening I'll find the time to start a thread about the V2 Thundercats. They use Energy Storm, Thundering Blades and Strickening together for massive lighting damage fun. The characters are Vincent, Vraes (hence the V2), Fyona and Selen. Vraes focuses heavily on Phalanx Shield and Selen on Pinning Shot to get -AP. Vincent will do Flash Freeze but not till later.

[matrim]

I'm using a setup like that, there were some hurdles that I had to deal with before this team started rolling. Setup is Kincaid, Vincent, Fyona, Selen. Kincaid 3 into Cunning, 1 into LbtB, then straight flanking unity to 8. Vincent was 1 point into flash freeze then straight blades. Fyona straight soc then strickening with 1 point sprinkled into her ap curse, and Selen PS to 5, 1 dance, then her parry/dodge buff to 7ish or so. Strengths of this group are everyone is a killer. Vincent leads in damage but is followed very closely by Kincaid and Selen, last is Fyona because she has no 1 ap weapons to abuse the bonus lightning and normal damage from the buffs. Weaknesses are defense. On nm I had to get the early flash freeze and go straight soc because I was taking too much damage from giant rats and shaman. These effectively took the kick out of them, flash freeze is cast on archers I cannot kill and 3 ap killers stacked with PS to turn them into non-threats. This build is also sp heavy but i have countered that by making Selen tanky. I usually fight the first 2 rounds with all of them and then as the rest of my team is mopping up the enemies I run Selen into another battle. Usually I can get 2-3 battles per buffs cycle doing this, although it is not guaranteed. I stop looking for other fights when my buffs have 3 rounds left. With Selen being tanky I can fight these 2 front battles effectively although from my experience with this Selen will have a hard time being a main tank for a long time, so you will need to add some con to her early if you want to go that route. There are just too many random hits that get through despite her crazy defensive stats and with fighting orcs that means 200ish damage a hit...too much. Kincaid still does awesome though and his sure parry is really nice insurance against that burst. Made it to mid ep 2 with this build and have never been close to dying yet so it's going well.

[Deleted]

Great thoughts here. My build that went after Strickening focused on Energy Storm as Vincent's attack talent. I put 6 or 7 points here but I feel like it's just too SP intensive for me at that level.

The saving grace of the build for me was discovering the wild effectiveness of level 1 Lightning Spear and Storm Strike with Strickening, Energy Storm, and Thundering Blades. Basically you're looking for the most effective way to deliver the most lightning damage, so it's the same equation as getting crits: more hits equals more damage. So LS which is cheap in AP and a 1 AP blade with storm strike, are your most effective vehicles because the neg lightning resists on the enemy and your lightning damage boosts stay consistent.

Each of these level 1 talents nets me over 100 per hit per target. Anyway, just my two cents from a surprising build outcome.

[nednederlander]

I'm trying to decide if I've built him wrong or if I just plain like Karjtan that much better. Flash freeze is amazing, you get a big aoe earlier than anguish. But besides that he's been useless. Lightning spear is level 3 or 4 and pretty much a waste. I haven't put anything into energy storm or thundering blades, maybe I should try that next time?

What do people think? Does Vincent need a little boost in effectiveness to make him as good as Karjtan? I think lightening spear should start out more like it is at level 3. But then I compare the charts from John Robinson and see that it is comparable to firebolt already. So why does firebolt hit every time and do big damage and lightening spear misses more often than not and usually does 4 or 6 damage? Maybe Vincent needs to start with 2 or 3 more points in sorcery? Or am I just not leveling up correctly with him?

[fallen]

nednederlander - I think there is great argument to say that Lightning Spear is one of the best attack talents in the game. If you're missing or not doing enough damage, consider looking hard at your gear / attributes / skills. Stack up extra damage with Thundering Blades. Also, look to other characters to help reduce armor, resistance, and dodge on your targets. LS is a monster, I can't imagine making it even more powerful!

[crimsonking]

Lightning Spear is hands down the best blasting spell in the game starting at level 5. Good damage, cheap in terms of AP (the only blast that you can cast three times per turn) and SP, solid range as you don't target the center but the corner of the target area. To bring it to maximum effect you'll need to combine LS with Holy Strickening and multiple elemental damage buffs though. At level 40 you easily hit for more than 200 points of damage in the average.

[CdrPlatypus]

Yeah it's powerful. LS can be cast 3 times a round with eventually a massive Area. Make sure you have points in knowledge as well as sorcery. The first 3 points in Thundering blades give the best ROI and then eye of the storm boosts his ranged damage and crit % even just dropping one point in it at lvl 12 and not coming back to it until later can help your accuracy a bit.

A funny option for energy storm builds is to have fyona lay down holy strickening, then have vincent cast ES 1X then clean up with lvl 1 LS

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2015 8:06:45 GMT -5 nednederlander said:

Flash freeze is amazing, you get a big aoe earlier than anguish. But besides that he's been useless. Lightning spear is level 3 or 4 and pretty much a waste. I haven't put anything into energy storm or thundering blades, maybe I should try that next time?

Seems like you may have split your points at the beginning to invest both in curses and damage. I find the best return for Vincent is to focus on either spell, curse or melee skills until level 14 or 15. For those who use boost-in I feel he's the hardest hero to use because he's so dependent on equipment. It's so much better to acquire equipment organically and work to where you want him.

I find that I really need Eye of the Storm, Thundering Blades and +acc equipment in addition to skills to make him reliable. But when he is, he's a fantastic damage dealer and soften up everyone for your heavy hitters.

(With melee Vince, you can build out one of his curses significantly or two low level curses because he's not going to be a melee powerhouse until later in the game)

[En1gma]

I have three standard builds for Vincent:

1- Pure Damage output with LS 10 first. Straight to ten, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. Past that he gets +2 MP from Charged Speed, then focuses on a curse for versatility. This is my absolute favorite of the three.

2- Full curse bot. Exactly what it sounds like. Pick a primary curse- I prefer getting him to the 9-block on Flash Freeze, then bringing Frigid Air up to 6-7. At that point, +2 MP (I'm sensing a theme), and then FF gets brought to -2 AP. This one is very effective, but not one I use as much bc I like him dealing damage.

3- Energy Storm/Thundering Blades/Strickening combo. This one is a late blooming tactic, but works so well that you end up doing more damage than you would with Kjartan Ashing everything. This build/group plan takes some dedication but has some great returns.

[nednederlander]

Well, I'll have to take a look at where I have him and maybe start a new group with a different focus. Thanks for the tips!

[nednederlander]

Looking at gear, should I be looking for ranged accuracy improvement? That's what I've been putting on him and tamlin.

[En1gma]

nednederlander- Any way you could provide a Skill/Attribute/Talent breakdown so we can pinpoint exactly what your issue is?

[Deleted]

As a point of reference I have a level 17 Vincent that does pretty well in the accuracy department.

I'm at level 9 lightning spear, with 11 sorcery, 8 knowledge, and 7 bonus so my accuracy equation totals 39. (13 from LS 9) these are standard and strong dice but it gives a rough idea.

I hit almost all the time on hard at level 17 and am surprised when I miss. I don't often curse Vincent's primary target which would give me better numbers. I've focused pretty heavily on Vincent and having him connect.

I still have some room to grow in the accuracy department as I add more levels but my accuracy will begin to level off as I bring this group into the 30s. Once I max my skills etc, my only growth area will be in equipment.

This is just one group though, anyone else have numbers at different Vincent levels to add?

[nednederlander]

Well, I finally wrote it down since I play on the family kindle and come here on my work computer:
Vincent, just got to level 18 after clearing the rats out at the end of chapter 1. This is my second Vincent but I gave up on the first one pretty quickly.
4 Strength
7 Dex
7 Con
4 will
7 int
8 Knowledge

3 blades
2 polearms
8 sorcery
8 conjuring
6 lore

Wearing scarred hide cuirass, a hardbone wrap with +8 hp and +12 armor, Stalkers ring with +4 damage 3% critical, and left hand of ice bracers for +1 ranged accuracy and +6 ice damage

Storm strike 1
Lightning spear 3
frigid air 3
eye of the storm 2
flash freeze 6

Besides taking 2 from frigid air and putting one in eye of the storm and one in lightning spear, I'm not sure where else to improve him

Thanks for any tips!