Iron Curtain: Build Update
So my group is taking the Krete Sidequest currently and since we made it through Red Hill with fairly few issues I thought this was an opportune time to write this up.\
This build never ceases to amaze me. Defenses are holding, overall damages are increasing (except for KJ, who I will get to) and we are cruising through the start of E2A1.
Vraes is the anchor that the team relies upon for holding back the masses, but just as importantly absorbing the incoming ranged attacks with his PS
Attributes: Str 12, dex 4, 9 con, 5 wil, 4 intel, 3 kno
Skills: 13 Hammers, and 4 Leadership and Lore
Talents: Crushing 3, SSk 4, Phalanx 6. Another simple build, but effective nonetheless
Overview: Currently at full buffness, he is sitting on 642HP, 74 armor, +4 dodge, and +15 parry. This equates to a nearly untouchable V in CQB, as he parries 8 out of 10 melee strikes, and when they do hit they are greatly knocked down by his massive armor count. He hits consistently for 50+ and on a stripped, low-armor foe has hit as far as ~80. Misses are also a rare occurrence, as dual -parry curses are working exactly as planned.
Fyona is not the tank that Vraes is, but where he lacks, she more than makes up for the difference. With a much higher dodge than V, she can still dodge a few arrows, but since she cannot auto-block ranged she still takes hits like a champ.
Attributes: 9 str, 4 dex, 8 const, 5 wil, 7 int, and 4 kno
Skills: 11 Hammers, 3 leadership, and 5 lore
Talents: Zealous 2, Consecrated 4, SoC 4, and Blessed Aura 3
Overview: At full buffs, she sits at 74 armor, 504 HP, 9 dodge and parry, with 21 to all resistances, except for 12 unholy. She is a great all-around tank, that supports the entire team with SoC. With all the buffs up and running, she hits like a truck, consistently 50+ like V, but she doesn't have the high end damage that Crushing Blow grants. An extra point was added to ZS to keep her hit ratio up, due to the +acc it grants, as well as providing a nice +9 Holy damage buff. Standing shoulder to shoulder with V is where she shines brightest, but if needed she is a force to be reckoned with as a separate battle point. If I need to split them up, I just stick KJ and Selen in the middle of the two, and proceed to curse everything as normal. Heads get crushed in the process. SHE WILL BE INVESTING IN RECKONING!! I cannot survive much longer only stripping 1ap from my foes, therefore, she will handle cursing the close range, while Selen will stack up on what Reckoning hits, while keeping the ranged mobs at bay.
Selen is still cursing with PS 5, and I couldn't be happier with her as she stands. HOWEVER! I am fully feeling the effects of not stripping more than 1ap from each mob.
Attributes: 6 str, 10 dex, 5 const, 3 wil, 9 intel, 4 kno
Skills: 3 blades, 15 bows, 3 lore, 2 security, and 4 (12) stealth
Talents: Pinning Shot 5, Dance of Shadows 6. Another very simple build, but she is amazing- DoS is going straight to 10, then I'll work on boosting Sly Look and see if I need to boost PS further. I may end up doing just this, as the -dodge/parry may drop off and I can't afford to have V miss things.
Kjartan. Oh, KJ... I don't know what happened to him, but he is becoming less and less effective at everything. He still helps out with Ash, and he has dabbled in Meteoric Shockwave, but his damage is dropping quickly. Not normally an issue in most builds, but this one in particular REQUIRES that ranged damage remains HIGH.
Attributes: 7 wil, 9 int, 10 kno
Skills: 9 sorcery, 8 conj
Talents: Firebolt 4, Choking Ash 5, MS 2 (going up to cross-shaped AoE then idk) Pureflame Shield 3.
I honestly don't know what to do with him. I need to keep his damage up, but stripping armor is paramount to keeping the front lines effective. I also thought that another way to help out the frontline would be to knock acc with MS and I realize that those two points could have been better spent improving FB or even banking for Firestorm. my course of action I think will be to just start putting points into Firestorm and get his damage back where it NEEDS to be. Selen is also doinking dodge/parry, so I really only need Ash for the -armor it provides. I'll bring up MS to its first AoE then start raising Firestorm until I'm satisfied with his damage once again. With ranged mobs being an issue, taking them out of the fight is EXTREMELY important for our continued survival.
Anyone else have this issue with KJ? if so, how did you get him back on track? is it a bad idea to start on Firestorm or should I keep bumping up FB? it looks like the starting damage for the two would be very similar but I'm looking for other input. Overall I'm still very satisfied with this buildout and I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle E2.