So I'm starting up a new game for the new DLC, because I'm a sucker like that and probably going to buy it, and I've decided that elemental weapons offend my inner roleplayer (I know, that R word. Forgive me). As a result, no non-stave that deals non-physical damage will be used by anyone in my party at any point in the game. Not even my beloved Celebrant .
And just to make it harder on myself, I think this is going to be a 2h reaver/templar playthrough. Cuz I'm a hopeless power-spammer from too many mage playthroughs.
So here's the question: weapon itemization should be pretty straightforward, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest of my slots. Since I'm not going Berserker the stamina/Will build won't get me anywhere, and since I'm going all physical there's no point in collecting +elemental damage. That would seem to leave me with either a pure strength build and +physical damage items, or a strength/dex build and +crit chance/crit damage items. The latter seems more lucrative in terms of damage, but the former seems both more reliable (there's a fair number of crit-immune mobs, particularly in the endgame) and easier to attain (since all the +crit gear is rogue).
Thoughts? Or am I missing some third option?
(Here's the other question: can Isabela survive a party led by a Holy Smite spammer? I guess I'll find out.)
The best thing would to use the Maul of the item DLC #2, (and the swords from the first one when there are better).
You should spec towards are full strenght build and + critical items (there are also items that give go + critical and +% physical). Sometimes lategame it becomes more viable to go Dexterity instead of strenght, use this formula to know what gives you more damage
2 points into str = 1 + 1 x crit_chance/100 x crit_damage/100
2 points into dex = 2/100 x base_damage x crit_damge/100
For the armor slots I think you should stick with the armour of the item DLC's and the black emporium, for the acessoary slots you should get "rogue" gear, so seven deadly cinch, black fox puzzle ring, eddies lucky charm and that ring you can buy at the nexus golem (forgot the name) that costs about 80g, you know, the usual.
There are no enemies I know of that are immune to criticals, since I usually play as a rogue with 100% crit chance I think that I could not have missed it.
Izzy is squishy, she will die pretty fast even if you don't hit her with your holy smite, with should be possible if you aim carefully, the radius isn't that big (4m I think). If you have Aveline in the group however and use bodyguard on Izzy she should be quite durable however. But then again it will be quite difficult to use Holy Smite with 3 melee, and Aveline will be one-shoted if you hit both Izzy and Aveline at the same time.
Oh and don't forget that Sunder is bugged, it may still be a good choice however, if you have high crit chance, but you won't get any crit chance bonus.
I was waffling about Sunder, actually. The -10% bug could hurt a lot on a crit-dependent build, but the staggers would be really nice if the crit chance is high enough. Maybe something for mid-to-lategame when they're coming more reliably?
As for the crit immunity - golems are supposed to be crit-immune, notably, as well as some bosses. Or at least, they have the tag in the appropriate GDA file for it; I admit I've never paid attention to see if that's actually applying in game.
Attrubite points - full strenght, and maybe some points in willpower, so that you can use your abilities without constantly running out of stamina. Constitution is optional, invest only, if you are feeling too squishy. Also, low con is prefrable for Reavers. Maybe once you have strenght up to 90+, invest a couple of points into dex, otherwise I don't think dex is really worth it for warrirors.
Armor - Use the armor from the new item pack. It gives you a nice a nice crit-chance and strenght boost.
Accessories
- Act 1 - Enchanted Silverete Chain, Evra's Might, The Fallen Star, generic +physical damage accessories
- Act 2 - Puzzle Ring of the Black Fox, Etched Ring of The Twins
- Act 3 - Seven Deadly Cinch, Four-Fingered Eddie's Talisman, Bardin's Folly
- Legacy - The Graven Circle, Bloodstained Girdle
Weapons - The Blade of the Archon (the best weapon for act1), The Empress' Point, The Dogs of War, The Hawke's Key (attacks ignore enemy armor & crit chance or damage upgrades).
Use Runes of Striking and Runes of Devastation. I would recommend putting The Primeval Rune on The Dogs of War, since it is the only evolving 2H weapon, and the attack speed bonus also increases when the weapon lvl-ups with you.
I think that about covers it. If you have any questions, go ahead.
Not true, Sunder works fine, until you load the game. Wich means you get the +10% crit chance once you pick it up, but after loading the game, the crit chance goes to -10%.
I think I read somewhere on the boards that you could get around the bug by equipping S&B before saving. Or after saving. Or something. There was some methodology that involved swapping weapon sets, anyway.
I was definitely thinking Hawke's Key might carry for a long time; that "ignores armor" attribute should, like an elemental weapon, make it outdamage physical weapons well above its own level. I figured I'd do Legacy in early act II and see if it'd last me to the Arishok. But I was planning to put the PLR in Empress' Point; I think it's level.... 28? and I generally cap the game out at 26ish so at that point it would still be outperforming Dogs. Though I suppose the new DLC will probably raise the cap.
Yeah equip s&s before saving. Or just raise your base crit rate with the gff editor.
I also am of the opinion that there are no crit immune mobs in the game and that you should go a standard str build with gear for crits etc. I was just using Fenris for something like this and he was pretty awesome. Ended with almost 80% crit rate without any investment in dex., which is pretty good I think.
You want to go Berserker/Reaver...Go 20 const, 30 will, and the rest strenght. in the berserker tree focus on everything below adrenaline and in the reaver tree just get the talent that increases attack speed when you kill someone( forgot what its called havent played warrior in a while). And also get second wind in the battlemaster tree. Does wonders on boss fights. With this build you should be able to sustain berserk 24/7 with full fatigue.
I think I read somewhere on the boards that you could get around the bug by equipping S&B before saving. Or after saving. Or something. There was some methodology that involved swapping weapon sets, anyway.
I was definitely thinking Hawke's Key might carry for a long time; that "ignores armor" attribute should, like an elemental weapon, make it outdamage physical weapons well above its own level. I figured I'd do Legacy in early act II and see if it'd last me to the Arishok. But I was planning to put the PLR in Empress' Point; I think it's level.... 28? and I generally cap the game out at 26ish so at that point it would still be outperforming Dogs. Though I suppose the new DLC will probably raise the cap.
What Sabotin said. Just equip a 1H weapon before saving and Sunder crit-chance should be fine.
J3WD0 CH0P wrote...
You want to go Berserker/Reaver...Go 20 const, 30 will, and the rest strenght. in the berserker tree focus on everything below adrenaline and in the reaver tree just get the talent that increases attack speed when you kill someone( forgot what its called havent played warrior in a while). And also get second wind in the battlemaster tree. Does wonders on boss fights. With this build you should be able to sustain berserk 24/7 with full fatigue.
First, the OP said he was going Reaver/Tempar. Second, you don't go full strenght with a berserker build. You invest just enough strenght to have a decent attack rating (100% vs. normal enemies), the rest goes into willpower. I'm not the math guy, but people here in this forum have calculated how Berserk works post-patch. And the conlusion was that you get more bang for your buck, if you invest into will instead of strenght, in terms of dps. It's kinda like Rogue Assassins that will benfit more from Cunning, rather then Dex.
I think I read somewhere on the boards that you could get around the bug by equipping S&B before saving. Or after saving. Or something. There was some methodology that involved swapping weapon sets, anyway.
I was definitely thinking Hawke's Key might carry for a long time; that "ignores armor" attribute should, like an elemental weapon, make it outdamage physical weapons well above its own level. I figured I'd do Legacy in early act II and see if it'd last me to the Arishok. But I was planning to put the PLR in Empress' Point; I think it's level.... 28? and I generally cap the game out at 26ish so at that point it would still be outperforming Dogs. Though I suppose the new DLC will probably raise the cap.
What Sabotin said. Just equip a 1H weapon before saving and Sunder crit-chance should be fine.
J3WD0 CH0P wrote...
You don't need more than 30 willpower, you shouldn't be running out (unless your fighting the high dragon).
You want to go Berserker/Reaver...Go 20 const, 30 will, and the rest strenght. in the berserker tree focus on everything below adrenaline and in the reaver tree just get the talent that increases attack speed when you kill someone( forgot what its called havent played warrior in a while). And also get second wind in the battlemaster tree. Does wonders on boss fights. With this build you should be able to sustain berserk 24/7 with full fatigue.
First, the OP said he was going Reaver/Tempar. Second, you don't go full strenght with a berserker build. You invest just enough strenght to have a decent attack rating (100% vs. normal enemies), the rest goes into willpower. I'm not the math guy, but people here in this forum have calculated how Berserk works post-patch. And the conlusion was that you get more bang for your buck, if you invest into will instead of strenght, in terms of dps. It's kinda like Rogue Assassins that will benfit more from Cunning, rather then Dex.
She, actually. But yes, J3WD0 CH0P. I'm aware of the Mach 5 build, and have played it before. It's ridiculously powerful, but ultimately not really my thing. Hence these kind folks helping me be as effective as possible within the bounds of something that is.
And to said kind folks: Thank you! Strength build with crit accessories it is.
Any suggestions on spec order? Reaver is more DPS sooner, but now that the Haste bug is fixed, spell resistance seems like an appealing thing to rush toward as well (I like dropping firestorms on my melee, what can I say).
I would say Reaver, Annulmeant is far into the Templar tree, so it will take a while to get there.
However you can go to Reaver first, and then when you have the level requirements respec into Templar. Annulment has a lvl 15 requirement, so when you reach lvl 15 respec to get the Templar talents (keeping the important Reaver ones). Like this (lvl 15 + 1 tome).
And using some fire resistance runes on your chestpiece works wonders, even without any magic resistance
Any suggestions on spec order? Reaver is more DPS sooner, but now that the Haste bug is fixed, spell resistance seems like an appealing thing to rush toward as well (I like dropping firestorms on my melee, what can I say).
I would recommend going Reaver first. Especially, if you intend to drop Firestorms on your Hawke (it's a great synergy). Also, fire resist runes > spell resistance for any fire spell. And since you have item packs, you should be able to achieve 95% fire resistance via resist runes at any time in the game, save the low lvl's below 7 or so. I think Templar will also be of much more use in act 2, since there will be a whole lot of annoying elite+ enemies that you can disable with silence and/or cleanse.
What I like to do with Fenris when I'm running him is stack him with Spirit runes against Walking Bomb and let the spell resistance handle Firestorm/Winter's Grasp/bloody sodding Saarebas lightning (Aveline gets spirit in the armor, fire in the shield and just has to live with occasional popsicling when my aim is bad). I suppose I can always drop a point in Elemental Aegis early on and respec out of it later, though, and achieve much the same thing. (Can't stack spirit resist in Act I anyway, more's the pity.)
Is there much use for Cleanse beyond Lasting Cleanse? I've never played with it much, given the relative dearth of genuinely lethal enemy DoTs.
Dispels are more of a situational thing. Often it doesn't make much of a difference, but sometimes it's a big help, like in the Xenebeck fight. It's also a pretty handy thing to "temporarily disable" these buffing enemies, since they'll recast the buff and it takes a bit to do it (see commanders waving swords in the air untill they die).
Well, if anyone was curious about this little experiment, I've learned two things:
1) Silence is awesome,
2) Overpowered DLC is overpowered.
(neither of these is news.)
So generally things have been going well, and I'm actually almost never killing Izzy (Merrill seems to walk into my scythes a great deal, though, dammit Merrill). Relying solely on Isabela/Varric for threat management via Goad and Armistice has been a real trial, though, since I just don't have the DPS to hold attention during those long DLC boss battles and their timing is completely awful; I'm tempted to try to free up a couple points for Pommel/Taunt or Fearless Synergy to get some Hawke control back.
That aside, it's been a pleasantly successful build thus far (~lvl 20). So thanks again for the assistance all around.
If you have problems with both threat management and DPS, I would recommend you put a single point into Taunt, and then opt for a fully upgraded Bravery, rather then Battle Synergy. Bravery will increase your threat and give you a nice damage and crit chance boost as well, wich should in turn increase the threat even more. It is, however, a slightly more situational sustain compared to Battle Synergy, but it can be an absolute beast in the right circumstances (when coupled with taunt in those large mob fights for instance). Taunt is also a fairly reliable tool for boss fights, it's usually an insta threat re-direct win button, whenenver the boss decides to atack your squishy rogues/mages insted of you.
DPS in crowds wasn't really the issue. It's more that Izzy is a murder machine on single targets, so she'd peel a boss off me in one STAGGER-proccing Twin Fangs and then get one-shotted before anyone could get a Goad off. Taunt has been quite helpful though.
And man I felt vindicated in my templar-ness during that Sky Horror fight Perfect build for it, really. Though I may have killed Izzy with FF more times in that one combat than the whole rest of the game combined... >.>
Any chance you could put together one of those build links? I'm interested to see which way you went, currently my warrior is using the Mach 5 build, but like you I enjoy spamming abilities.
It's a bit of a pain since you tend to knock enemies around so much meaning you take longer to kill them, but as you can see- it doesn't have to be that suboptimal. You can get almost as much +physical% as any element and the lack of elemental immunities makes up for not having any elemental weaknesses (no more switching from spirit to kill a mage, only to switch back to spirit to kill a templar). The only downside is having to deal with enemy armour ratings (and that ridiculous amount of knockback you deal).
My understanding and experience is that a 2H physical warrior will be very suboptimal however (in terms of pure damage). Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I couldn't be bothered recording anything as slowly hacking things apart is really boring. :/
dang it, was going to list the stats I had (i think i had a really nice critical chance/damage and +physical going) but i think i overwrote that save. I think i had:
Helmet: Golden Mask (+3% crit chance) or Helm of a Thousand Battles (+2 strength) Gauntlets: Ser Maura's Gauntlets (+1 strength, +3% physical damage) Chestpiece: Hauberk of Gelgenig the Faithful (+4 strength, +13% crit chance) Boots: Boots of the Champion (+4% physical damage)
Weapon: Blade of a Thousand Battles (+5% crit chance, +8% phyiscal damage) Shield: Ideally it would be a (good) generic shield with a high +physical damage, but i think I just used Courage as I was too lazy to go shopping/prebuff constitution again.
So in total I had ~+24% physical damage (potentially can be upped to ~+34% or so), a crit chance ~60-70% or more (I can't exactly remember), ~90% critical damage (also can't remember), and a great deal of +% damage from buffs etc
Using the Dogs of War (+23% crit damage, +15% physical damage at level 22) would greatly increase the those modifers, so maybe I'll give that a go for a comparison. (Although i think when i did try it, it didn't work very well).
Elemental damage for warriors is usually capped at ~+70% for electricity/fire and a lot less for spirit/cold/nature. They also require pumping magic and equipping less +strength, in effect reducing the amount of dexterity they can pump (and thus having a lower crit chance).
So I would say that using a physical S&S build could actually be a viable late-game alternative for those who can't be bothered switching weapons all the time- although i still think that a 2H non-elemental build won't be as effective. The only thing which somewhat redeems it is the variety of elemental weapons available (e.g. same as S&S with spirit, electricity, fire (from mota) and cold). That means that it's superior at killing dragons (and that's about it) haha.
This was using the 100 strength, rest into dex attribute allocation and the abilties of my reaver build (with a tiny splash into templar late game).
p.s. I misread the OP and didn't see the '2H' so I felt like a had to semi-justify my irrelevant post. Which ended up in an essay as usual.
@mr_afk: Haha, watch those Hunters. Though yea, PLR is permahaste that stacks with actual Haste, it makes anyone brutal XD Personally I have found my killing to be slower than my Celebrant days, but it does mean I actually have a use for Silence and Cleanse on a fairly regular basis, so it does have that mage-y controller feel to compensate, if you're into that sort of thing.
I'd be interested to see your build though. I've been trying out your all melee party with my Shadow (Concealing the whole party at once every time is a great perk) and it's great fun, I have faith in your mechanical savvy.
My priorities were basically thus: I wanted CCC as fast as possible, so Scythe and Claymore to set up STAGGER and proc BRITTLE both got picked as soon as I met the level reqs, and I wanted Aegis and Bolster before I hit the Rock Wraith (I didn't have many issues with stamina prior to that, but you can't ability spam on a boss without it). I had to buy both to make it fit (Hubert and the Emporium); if you're going to do that, remember to cart around Runes of Fortune. I didn't, and ended up four gold short of the expedition and had to shank a dwarf in Act II.
I also hung on to Pommel Strike until Act II, where I swapped it out for Devour; it's pretty useful in the early game when you lack threat management. The build's pretty much done at lvl 21 with tomes; past that it depends on the party. I was rolling Merrill/Isabela/Varric or Seb most of the time so I upgraded Devour, Whirlwind and Sunder for more CCC and grabbed Muscle and Unite. If I'd had Merrill/Anders instead I'd have filled out Templar for Annulment and upgraded Mighty Blow for more BRITTLE exploits. Also it's probably good to drop another point in Frenzy, but during most fights I never got hurt enough that it felt worth the casting time.
I am no AreleX however, so don't hold all this as too gospel.
.
Retour en haut
Strength build with crit accessories it is.
