Blizzard Servant

[Varon]

Anyone have a decent build for it ? (or links to one)

Thank you in advance <3

[{NLR} C´est Moi ;D]

I just did all the ranged feats and it works pretty well.
Point blank, precise shot, deadly aim, rapid shot, clustered shots, multishot, hammer the gap, improved precise shot, and then just snap shot for good measure because I wasn't sure what else to give it.

[Varon]

Originally posted by {NLR} C´est Moi D:

I just did all the ranged feats and it works pretty well.
Point blank, precise shot, deadly aim, rapid shot, clustered shots, multishot, hammer the gap, improved precise shot, and then just snap shot for good measure because I wasn't sure what else to give it.

Thank you! I wasn't sure if those feats stack with the damage as it does natural attacks ? But thanks will give it a go.

[{NLR} C´est Moi ;D]

Originally posted by Varon:

Originally posted by {NLR} C´est Moi D:

I just did all the ranged feats and it works pretty well.
Point blank, precise shot, deadly aim, rapid shot, clustered shots, multishot, hammer the gap, improved precise shot, and then just snap shot for good measure because I wasn't sure what else to give it.

Thank you! I wasn't sure if those feats stack with the damage as it does natural attacks ? But thanks will give it a go.

Well I'm happy to inform you they do work! <:

[pete3great]

Originally posted by {NLR} C´est Moi D:

Originally posted by Varon:

Thank you! I wasn't sure if those feats stack with the damage as it does natural attacks ? But thanks will give it a go.

Well I'm happy to inform you they do work! <:

That makes sense, as those feats also work with manticore shifter.

[Deo]

Originally posted by pete3great:

That makes sense, as those feats also work with manticore shifter.

Not anymore. You can test it yourself - Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim not working in Manticore form. And number of attacks will be a big surprise for you (in a bad way).

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Okay, so the class is just trash then? Blizzard Servant seems to be a horrendous companion - only 2 attacks, can't tank and can't hit either...And hits against cold, which is one of the most common resistances. Is there ANYTHING redeeming about it?

[Schlumpsha]

The elemental gets better with levels in Winter Witch.

\• Combining the Winter Witch and Winter Child spellbooks now works correctly;
• The levels of the Winter Witch are now added together with the levels of the Winter Child to determine the level of the Blizzard Servant;
• Winter Witch's Unearthly Cold ability also applies to the cold damage from Blizzard Servant's Whirlwind of Hail ability;
• The Winter Witch's Cold Specialization ability also increases the difficulty of the Blizzard Servant's Whirlwind of Hail saving throw.

For a build I'd go Legend with Winter Child 20 / Winter Witch 10. The remaining 10 levels can be anything else.

[Uzkin]

Blizzard Servant has an extremely high DEX and immunities of an elemental so it most definitely can tank. It is also extremely fast, and has an extremely long range in its attack. These make it useful, even if its DPR is a bit lower than that of the melee pets.

The only annoying thing about it is its hitbox, which keeps growing when the Servant gains size. Eventually the hitbox covers half of the screen or more, so whenever you are trying to loot, open a door or chest, or interact with something you may end up just clicking and selecting the Servant instead. Wish they would fix the hitbox size.

[SotiCoto]

Sounds like the sort of thing that is made to work with the Lord of Nothing DLC feature shard powers.

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Originally posted by Schlumpsha:

The elemental gets better with levels in Winter Witch.

\• Combining the Winter Witch and Winter Child spellbooks now works correctly;
• The levels of the Winter Witch are now added together with the levels of the Winter Child to determine the level of the Blizzard Servant;
• Winter Witch's Unearthly Cold ability also applies to the cold damage from Blizzard Servant's Whirlwind of Hail ability;
• The Winter Witch's Cold Specialization ability also increases the difficulty of the Blizzard Servant's Whirlwind of Hail saving throw.

For a build I'd go Legend with Winter Child 20 / Winter Witch 10. The remaining 10 levels can be anything else.

While I do appreciate the help, Legend only becomes available in the last what, 5%-10% of the game? It is somewhat strange to see people suggest that as a "build", given you're pretty much just going on a Last Hurrah Rampage at that point and mow down the last few enemies, rather than actually struggling. Like, Act 1 is challenging to get through even on Core, while past Mythic 8 it was a breeze on Unfair.

Also - this is for a merc, not the main, so no Legend levels to begin with.

Originally posted by Uzkin:

Blizzard Servant has an extremely high DEX and immunities of an elemental so it most definitely can tank. It is also extremely fast, and has an extremely long range in its attack. These make it useful, even if its DPR is a bit lower than that of the melee pets.

The only annoying thing about it is its hitbox, which keeps growing when the Servant gains size. Eventually the hitbox covers half of the screen or more, so whenever you are trying to loot, open a door or chest, or interact with something you may end up just clicking and selecting the Servant instead. Wish they would fix the hitbox size.

Yeah, that is strange. Especially since the class even states that it doesn't actually grow bigger.

There also seems to be a bug with Rapid Shot. The Elemental gets an additional attack, whether Rapid Fire is turned on or not. No clue why or how, it just happens. Manyshot has no such effect. Played around with Toybox a bit and gave a dozen levels to the merc to test it out.

Boon Companion works though and the blizzard ability does seem to be rather good, given it's a reflex check AoE every turn.

I'm guessing the Elemental then just grabs mostly defensive Feats and tries to be as obnoxious as possible, in the center of the enemy group.

[hilburnashua]

It's fast and it has a high dex. You could build it with Snap Shot/Improved and Combat Reflexes. Run it up into melee range and use it for AOOs.

I admit, I found it extremely weak offensively the one time I played with the class.

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

It's fast and it has a high dex. You could build it with Snap Shot/Improved and Combat Reflexes. Run it up into melee range and use it for AOOs.

I admit, I found it extremely weak offensively the one time I played with the class.

I think the idea is actually its Blizzard Form. It creats a large area that is very benificial to you and detrimental to opponents. And if needed for offense, I'd probably use polymorph on it instead, if it works on elementals. That's what I did with my Smilodon on the first playthrough - polymorph into a Wyvern, shred everything.

[hilburnashua]

Originally posted by Hex: Onii-Chan:

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

It's fast and it has a high dex. You could build it with Snap Shot/Improved and Combat Reflexes. Run it up into melee range and use it for AOOs.

I admit, I found it extremely weak offensively the one time I played with the class.

I think the idea is actually its Blizzard Form. It creats a large area that is very benificial to you and detrimental to opponents. And if needed for offense, I'd probably use polymorph on it instead, if it works on elementals. That's what I did with my Smilodon on the first playthrough - polymorph into a Wyvern, shred everything.

It's a solid idea and It was a long time ago that I used it but I don't remember the elemental ever getting a decent strength (at least not compared to normal animal companions). So the bonus strength from polymorph might not make up the difference. You could try to go the small cat route and build for weapon finesse but as best as I remember the small cat gets to apply dex to damage eventually (or am I just remembering the tabletop rules?). But at least with polymorph you could give the elemental a amulet of fists to benefit it's attack, which I don't remember working with the blizzard elemetal since it's attacks were ranged.

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

Originally posted by Hex: Onii-Chan:

I think the idea is actually its Blizzard Form. It creats a large area that is very benificial to you and detrimental to opponents. And if needed for offense, I'd probably use polymorph on it instead, if it works on elementals. That's what I did with my Smilodon on the first playthrough - polymorph into a Wyvern, shred everything.

It's a solid idea and It was a long time ago that I used it but I don't remember the elemental ever getting a decent strength (at least not compared to normal animal companions). So the bonus strength from polymorph might not make up the difference. You could try to go the small cat route and build for weapon finesse but as best as I remember the small cat gets to apply dex to damage eventually (or am I just remembering the tabletop rules?). But at least with polymorph you could give the elemental a amulet of fists to benefit it's attack, which I don't remember working with the blizzard elemetal since it's attacks were ranged.

It's not the strength bonus, it's the 8 or so attacks they get and the HP boost. It's been a while, but Wyvern get wing, bite, claws and tail, while staying much smaller than Dragons, making them better in actual combat, no matter how badass Dragon-transforms look.