Group build feedback and advice thread

[En1gma]

The Reaver build just made it to the Shaman, hoping to do a write-up about it tonight. This group is actually doing really well- no close calls in the Lair, or really at all since they got started. Having only one tank is totally doable for now. Selen and Vraes both reached 12 before the fight, so I got big V BoS 3 and Selen QsD 1 so now they can both do better for the fight. Good stuff so far, and hopefully I can do another section of their story while I'm at it.

[En1gma]

Selen had given up hope of Vraes ever settling down behind her, and Kjartan was on edge. He hated having his robes wet, and since Mariah Strom sent them through her secret passageway, he had been in a constant state of dampness. Sure, he could dry his robes quite quickly if he wanted, but this would be unfair to his companions, and so he suffered in silence. Instead, he occupied his mind with the rumination of exactly who the dark force the Shaman had been speaking to. His gut told him it was the magus, but he just couldn't shake the thought... no, it couldn't be, but the more he thought about it the more sure he became. He shook his head and tried to listen over the rushing water of the River Torrent beside them. His ears weren't nearly as sharp as the rogue's but if he could hear approaching Krete he could still warn her. He heard nothing unusual, and so he went back into his thoughts.

The four had dispatched the vile Shaman without incident, as the towering beast of a man Vraes had borne the wrath of the entire ratkin army with nothing more than his armor and his sword. If it weren't for him, they would surely been overtaken by spell and tooth. It was a grueling fight, and it raged for what seemed like hours. Scores of rats met their end on Vraes's blade, others impaled on Selen's deadly arrows. In the end, in the final battle against the Great shaman and his Deathkin bodyguards, it was Kyera who dealt the final blow, summoning forth a holy spell that seemed to boil the vile rat from the inside out, and it breathed its last at her feet, uttering such profane words that Kyera smashed its mouth into fragments as it lay dying, silencing it. They now carried with them the gifts of Oskahold, ancient relics from before the Shattering, and each of them immensely powerful, compared to their previous armaments. Among these gifts was an ancient and enormous two-handed sword, once wielded by Lukai, the great protector of Oskahold, now by Vraes.

Selen raised her hand as she had done so many times before, and they all stopped while she crept ahead. Vraes followed behind her, silently unsheathing his massive blade and bringing it before him. Kyera checked the grip on her shield, and tightened the strap that held her new mace about her wrist. It wasn't often that she needed to use it, but against these Krete warriors it was sorely needed, as they would often rush her and the wizard that stayed beside her for protection. Selen nocked an arrow and readied several more in her draw hand. She had perfected the rapid fire needed to rain down her barbed arrows in brutal succession, and it was serving her very well as of late. Across the river, she could see several tall and scaled beasts, and they carried primitive weapons. However, she could see the distinctive curves of their vicious long bows. Oh how she wanted to wield one, but the draw was impossibly heavy, and the bow too unwieldy for her to use it properly. Before they saw her, she slipped into the shallow crossing and prepared to fire on the Krete on the far bank. Kjartan moved up to the bank quietly and waited for Selen's mark. She pointed at a group on the left flank and drew her bow back. Kjartan began his incantation and as smoldering ash began to form above the Krete, Selen loosed her first arrow, then in the time it takes a heart to beat thrice, three more arrows were unleashed.

They found their mark at the exact same time the embers began to eat into the scaly hides of the Krete warriors. They hissed in anger and pain, and they wheeled around. They spotted the four and moved up to attack. The other Krete on the right began firing arrows of their own, and Vraes waded further into the river, daring them to come and try his blade. Four of the warriors waded into the water, accepting his challenge. Another cloud of ash formed around them and they screamed in agony, collecting themselves to swing their weapons at the Outlander before them. As their arms raised to attack, Selen targeted the soft skin underneath their arms one by one, and again they screamed in pain. Their weapons were easily turned aside by the hard blows dealt by Vraes, and the water surrounding them was tinged with the blood of the unlucky warriors. Vraes swung his sword in short and efficient arcs, scaled hide coming undone at the force of them. One by one, Vraes cut the warriors down, sending their souls to Ryethin. There was a break in the Kretes' advance into the river, and Vraes charged to the other bank, deflecting as many arrows as he could, but the broad arrow heads eventually found their mark in his skin, and he bellowed at the archers who grinned back at him, nocking more and more arrows to fire at him.

Selen, unnoticed at the moment, found a rock midstream to balance on, and she lobbed another volley at the massed archers, arrows piercing their hides. Following these were Kjartan's bolts of fire, and they lit up the gloom as they arced towards their marks. Kyera sent her own retribution over Vraes's head, these beams of light caught a pair of archers squarely in the chest, and they fell, tearing at their skin as they screamed their last. Capitalizing on the distraction, Selen leapt from rock to rock, nimbly and lightning fast, she closed the distance on the archers she had initially crippled. They were preparing to fire again at Vraes when she slid under their bows, severing the strings as she passed under them. The arrows clattered uselessly to the cavern floor and they swung at her with their bow staves, missing entirely. She kept her momentum going, and drew her bow as she ran to where Vraes was fighting. She turned and fired a pair of arrows at each of the pursuing archers, catching them in the face and neck. They fell, clutching at the arrows that ended their lives so abruptly. Not ten paces from where Vraes was swinging, she stopped and drew another set of arrows and waited for an opening.

Vraes was doing his best to catch the remaining archers, but they were nimbly dodging his swings, counterattacking with powerful swipes of their broad tails. He raged at them, continuing his onslaught. Feinting a side swipe, he forced an archer to back step to avoid the swing, but as it did, he stopped his swing mid arc and thrust forward into the archer's midsection. The archer gripped the giant sword now protruding from it in a last ditch effort to allow its comrades to fire at the Outlander, but as it did so, Selen shot at it and killed it instantly with an arrow to the neck. Vraes kicked the body from his sword and lunged at the remaining three Krete. Ash rained down on them yet again, and allowed Vraes the chance to close the distance. Going low, he ducked under their misplaced shots and swept his sword in a mighty arc as he rose to his full height. It caught the closest archer and spilled its entrails onto the floor. He just walked at the other two, his great sword coming up in front of him in his salute to a worthy opponent. Effortlessly his sword flashed out at them, and they dodged as best they could, but Selen wanted to watch Vraes cut them to ribbons, so she placed an arrow behind their kneecaps and watched Vraes work.

He was a surgeon, and his blade moved faster than her eyes could see. She loved this part. Vraes flourished and turned around, raising his sword high above his head. He turned and lowered his center of gravity and brought the mighty blade down diagonally, removing the head and an entire shoulder of one of the archers. The remaining Krete fumbled backwards, nocking another arrow as it tried to retreat. Selen saw this and fired at it, not wanting it to injure the Outlander. Vraes heard her bow string snap and without even looking for the arrow, he swiped his sword out and stopped her arrow short. Selen's jaw dropped, he had never done anything like this before- such mastery with this blade, it was marvelous to watch. The Krete fired at Vraes, who flipped his sword up and caught the speeding arrow with the pommel of the blade, just barely stopping it before it caught him between the eyes. Vraes just smiled and cut the head off the stupefied Krete, who was just standing there blinking at him.

Kyera drew forth her healing incantation and the cuts and arrows Vraes had suffered melted away, leaving scarred skin behind them. Selen retrieved her arrows from the corpses she had felled, when she came to the arrow Vraes had deflected mid air. "Show-off" she whispered, then she pocketed the arrow head to keep as a reminder of this fight. Vraes just kneeled by the river, silently meditating. 

 

[En1gma]

I'll do a write-up tomorrow... these little stories are a blast to do

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma EPIC! Is the only description befitting your prose.

[En1gma]

Just you wait I'm working on my battle sequence wording here practicing for something....... Better...

[En1gma]

So... The Reaver. One of my favorite builds yet, and they keep getting stronger and stronger. I have been lucky to come across Krete who largely ignore the soft targets and focus only on Vraes and Selen. All characters excepy for Vraes are developing their ranged abilities, allowing them to screen the flanks, effectively protecting themselves by taking these enemies off the board or crippling their AP to the point of uselessness.

Vraes: the Reaver. 574 HP, 140 SP. 48 Armor, 6 Dodge, 4 Parry bonuses @ LVL 13. Vraes is using Captain Lukai's Blade (2AP Version): 27/67 Damage. 5 Accuracy, 4 Parry

Attributes- 7 Str, 4 Dex, 11 Con, 4 Int.

Skills- 10 Blades, 5 Lore

Talent Spread- Crushing Blow 2, FEROCITY 2, Burst of Speed 3, Stone Skin 3

Really all he does is bum-rush and freakinng crush things. Next to Selen and her AoE, he is my highest damage output. Not much to say about his playstyle, really, but it is very effective. Talent focus for him.... hmm. I'm honestly thinking of forgoing Juggernaught altogether. FEROCITY just is too good to ignore, and I think he will stop at 3 or maybe 4 once we get well into E2. I have seen the light, and it is good. The high cost of FEROCITY is 100% worth it. Great accuracy compared to Crushing Blow makes it almost always hit, and when it does, it hits HARD. I am also going to make BoS a priority, eventually maxing it out. With the insane amount of MP it grants, Vraes will almost always be able to close the distance and get at least one kill. The added dodge is also too good to pass up, as it enables him to minimize even more damage that will make it through his massive Armor count.

Kjartan: Support Wizard. 200 HP, 417 SP

Attributes- 4 Dex, 6 Con, 7 Wil, 9 Int, 5 Kno

Skills- 5 Sorcery, 9 Conjuring

Talent Spread- Firebolt 1, Choking Ash 5, Meteoric Shockwave 2, Pureflame Shield 3

Kjartan has aspirations of out-supporting his counterpart Vincent. Kjartan has what no other character has: Pureflame Shield. This is going to end up being maxed out, as is Meteoric Shockwave. Ash will creep its way up, but with the combination of PfS raising BOTH resistance AND armor, coupled with Meteoric Shockwave lowering damage AND accuracy, enemy damage will be at an all time low. Shockwave may be more expensive than Frigid Air, but its curse is even more effective, as it doesn't discriminate between ranged and melee accuracy. He wil likely never raise FB, and if he does, it will never get higher than level 3, with a base damage of 25. He can finish off opponents, but his main focus is debuffing everything in sight.

Kyera: Mana Battery and Ranged Holy Damage dealer. 248 Hp, 398 SP, 24 Armor. Kyera is using the Chaplain's Heavy Mace: 29/42 Damage 4 Accuracy, 3 Parry.

Attributes-5 Con, 11 Int, 7 Kno

Skills- 6 Invocation, 9 Lore

Talent Spread- Holy Retribution 2, Sacrifice 2, Tears 2, Anguish 1, Warder's Shield 3

She is the crux of this group, and without her, the group falls apart. She is an efficient finisher with Retribution and when she isn't filling Vraes back up, she is helping Selen strip AP, as well as finishing off mobs that fail to die from Vraes or Selen. Her focus right now is maxing Lore to get +50 SP out of Sacrifice, and raising Invocation to connect with Retribution. Talent wise, she is never going to raise Sacrifice higher than 2, as it is most effective here, and can be cast with only 1 AP. She will continue to raise Retribution, Warder's Shield, and Tears until Tears 5. I'm not sure about Banishment yet, because I want her to be a finisher, and Retribution will be much more efficient than Banishment by the time we reach the CoD. Her role is support, not assault, after all. She will be able to target weakened enemies and move on to the next task, so the high AP cost of Banishment (it's 4, right?) is too much to ask of her.

Selen: Pinning Shot specialist and Neo Off-tank. 339 HP, 225 SP, 20 Armor, +7 Dodge, +6 Parry bonses she is using a Vrotta Dagger, and the up-speced Ashwood Bow. 18/39 damage at 5 accuracy

Attributes- 9 Dex, 7 Con, 6 Int.

Skills- 10 Blades, 3 Bows, 5 (11) Stealth

Talent Spread- Pinning Shot 5, Quicksilver Defense 2, Dance of Shadows 1

Selen, my love. Standard PS build, but all blades to assist her in defending. She will eventually switch to Frenzied Blows to increase melee damage. I don't think she will go into Punishing Blades until much later- KJ is in charge of -armor, and the damage curse is redundant if she is just going to be killing everything. DoS to 3 for +2 MP, QsD keeps going until at least +7 Dodge and Parry. One thing I'm planning for her is to bring Pinning Shot to 8. The AoE becomes much larger (comparably), and allows her to hit even more enemies at once. I plan to have this by E3 to offset not using Banishment with Kyera- the AoE will really help against massed skeletons and ghouls.

The group is honestly doing fine having only one true tank, and until we get to the fight against Geraux, I'm pretty certain we can handle the scripted flank fights. Vraes is such a monster with this build, and he never takes more than 30 damage against the Krete. Kyera never even needs to heal him really, which is perfect for her as it allows her to support Selen and Vraes with much needed SP. All in all, this is a blast to play, and even more so because it is a true Role-Playing group. This is how I envision the group really fighting, and it is nice to see that is as effective as I had thought!

[anrdaemon]

Please add weapon used to the headings. Othervise good reading stuff, thanks!

[En1gma]

Edited to show weapons, anrdaemon. KJ is using the quest staff.

[anrdaemon]

I mostly did mean, if Vraes go with a 2h or sword-and-board style.
Thanks.

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma , contributor My current run is riding the razor with the deathkin looming. I have bought as little as possible to increase score, but looted very little armor. I have enough saved up to buy 4 of the 22 armor pieces. Do I clean out my savings or continue to try and run off drops only?

[fallen]

CdrPlatypus - the amount of gold you are carrying around now is inconsequential for your lifetime score. Gold drops from monsters in E1 are so small in comparison to later Episodes. Burn the money to stay alive.

[CdrPlatypus]

fallen thx for the tip. Good to know.

[contributor]

Yeah, I would definitely agree with fallen. At this stage in the game the 800 (or 3200) you spend on new armor won't affect your long term score. In fact it could help your score if it means less healing and less pots and less camping and not buying armor when you get to Riven Field.

[CdrPlatypus]

I did and I just completed the most imho skillful battle of the first deathkin yet for myself. It was nail bitting and exhilarating. I will do a write on this group sometime soon. So far nobody has invested in con...

[fallen]

CdrPlatypus - that is insane Good on you!