Pure strength/physical vs. Hybrid strength/magic bow + daggers assassin build

[opethsland]

I played this game on PS3 a long time ago, before Dark Arisen. I ended up with a Mystic Knight lvl 125 that could farm Online Ur and I was really happy with that. I ended up trading the game before knowing about Dark Arisen and as the game lacks co-op and I was pretty bored of killing that dragon over and over, I didn't get the DLC.

Back then, I followed no specific build. I maxed all vocations in no specific order, just to get the trophies, but in the end my character did ok for what I planned.

Now I bought the PC version and started to look for builds... I didn't even know the levelling process was so important to determine if your character could or could not do efficient farming lol. So I looked up for an assassin build and found 2: the pure phys (1-10 fighter, 11-200 assassin) and the hybrid (the one I am following right now - 1-10 fighter, 11-55 warrior, 55-100 sorcerer, 101-200 assassin).

I can't really tell you guys if I'm doing right. I want to have balanced stats and I want to be able to try some magic archer later, just to have fun... That's why I went hybrid. What tips can you guys give me? Is the pure physical that better than the hybrid? The magic daggers still rock, like they used to back in vanilla Dragon's Dogma? Will I be able to farm Bitterblack with this build?

I am at lvl 57 right now and just started the sorcerer levelling process. Man, what a pain... Also, how do you guys level up fast in this game? I don't think I have the dmg output and gear needed to farm Ur right now, so i went to NG+, but it will take forever to get to 100 and start the assassin part of the build.

I don't really want to start all over again, cause this game is really irritating with the travels lol, so i'll stick with the hybrid for now. Is there a good community of trading nowadays? I'm not asking for a carry, but if I could get some Ur weapons and armor, I could at least farm more efficiently lol.

I tried Bitterblack at lvl 55 and it was a disaster... That Death boss one shotted me before I could even see what hit me lol.

Appreciate any help from the community. Thanks in advance.

PS.: If anyone want to add me to hire my pawn for free, it would be nice :). I definitelly could use your pawn as well.

[Quint]

You can't really go wrong with builds in this game. Sure, if you go for a pure strength build from 1-200 and then decide to play as a sorcerer you'll be at somewhat of a disadvantage, but even then it still won't totally hamper your ability to farm BBI.

Going a hybrid-route will most certainly work great in all situations. I didn't really plan much of my build, I was all over the place while questing and leveling since I wanted to max out all vocations, though I'll admit in the end, when I realized a very hybrid-friendly combo of 500 strength & 500 magic was withing reach for me, I did my last levels as a mix off assassin & sorcerer.

But if you absolutely want to play according to some build targeting good stats, why are you doing sorcerer before level 100? hp & stamina-gains are horrible on sorcerer before level 100, while after level 100 they're more equal to everyone else. As far as I can tell, going 1-10 as fighter, 10-50 as warrior, 50-150 as assassin and 150-200 as sorcerer will give you the same magic stat, higher attack, higher hp & higher stamina. Only thing you lose out on is a bit of magic defense.

Compare the two:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50 levels sorcerer pre 100:
https://stackoverflow.github.io/dragons-dogma-stat-planner/#af000000280032000000000000000000006400

HP 3620 ST 3370
Attack 716 Magick 408
Defense 377 Magick Defense 368
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

50 levels sorcerer post 100:
https://stackoverflow.github.io/dragons-dogma-stat-planner/#af000000280000003200000000000032003200

HP 4170 ST 3720
Attack 766 Magick 408
Defense 377 Magick Defense 218
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again though, I personally wouldn't recommend anyone to play a class they don't enjoy for any extended amount of time just to boost stats since BBI gear will make you overpowered regardless of what stats you have. But if you're absolutely going to do it, why not do it right? :p

[BurlsoL]

For an assassin, you're best off just sticking to physical damage since all your attacks are based around physical damage. Magic attack beyond just what weapons add provide no benefit even when using enchanted weapons. Meanwhile you still need enough physical damage to pierce defenses before any of that magic damage applies.

That said, for the most part BBI equipment renders the majority of stat builds irrelevent unless you are aiming to try and do Daimon or Ur Dragon runs in record time.

[opethsland]

Originally posted by Quint:

Going a hybrid-route will most certainly work great in all situations. I didn't really plan much of my build, I was all over the place while questing and leveling since I wanted to max out all vocations, though I'll admit in the end, when I realized a very hybrid-friendly combo of 500 strength & 500 magic was withing reach for me, I did my last levels as a mix off assassin & sorcerer.

But if you absolutely want to play according to some build targeting good stats, why are you doing sorcerer before level 100?

Compare the two:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50 levels sorcerer pre 100:
https://stackoverflow.github.io/dragons-dogma-stat-planner/#af000000280032000000000000000000006400

HP 3620 ST 3370
Attack 716 Magick 408
Defense 377 Magick Defense 368
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

50 levels sorcerer post 100:
https://stackoverflow.github.io/dragons-dogma-stat-planner/#af000000280000003200000000000032003200

HP 4170 ST 3720
Attack 766 Magick 408
Defense 377 Magick Defense 218
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the feedback. To be honest I tried the planner earlier and I thought the magic defense would matter most, because I read a lot of threads saying that in Bitterblack there were a lot of heavy magic hitting monsters. Anyways, just knowing that I'm going in a good direction is really good. What content did you farm to level up quickly instead of goign NG+?

[opethsland]

Originally posted by BurlsoL:

For an assassin, you're best off just sticking to physical damage since all your attacks are based around physical damage. Magic attack beyond just what weapons add provide no benefit even when using enchanted weapons. Meanwhile you still need enough physical damage to pierce defenses before any of that magic damage applies.

That said, for the most part BBI equipment renders the majority of stat builds irrelevent unless you are aiming to try and do Daimon or Ur Dragon runs in record time.

Not really, I just want to be able to farm them, not to set records lol. I thought the benefits from the magic defense would be better than pure glass cannon and I thought the Heavens something hybrid daggers would still be the best out there...

[Black Hammer]

I just run Assassin to 50 and Sorc to 100. Sure, you miss out of defenses, health, and stamina compared to some other builds, but since I rarely keep grinding past 100, all I need is enough offensive oomph to kill things.

Monster Hunter strat, basically. Don't get hit, hit it 'til it dies.

[Quint]

Originally posted by opethsland:

Thanks for the feedback. To be honest I tried the planner earlier and I thought the magic defense would matter most, because I read a lot of threads saying that in Bitterblack there were a lot of heavy magic hitting monsters. Anyways, just knowing that I'm going in a good direction is really good. What content did you farm to level up quickly instead of goign NG+?

You seem to be planning on playing as mostly ranged, you're not supposed to get hit by stuff :p Tbh, I'm not sure exactly how the magic defense compares to the other stats, I tend to run out of stamina though, so I like having lots of that.

After Grigori I just did everfall a few times to gain a couple of levels and a bit of gear, did the Ur Dragon in offline mode a few times as well and then I moved onto BBI. Once you get up a bit in the levels, you can start hiring pawns that are a bunch of levels below you for a nice exp-boost.

Don't bother fighting death when you first encounter him, unless you play as a bow-user and happen to carry a big pile of blast arrows and conqerors periapts you probably won't be doing much damage to him (though whatever you do will be saved for the next time you meet him) and his scythe attack isn't just an instant-kill for you, any pawns caught by it will be returned to the rift leaving you potentially very alone in dangerous territory, even if you yourself manage to avoid his attacks.

Just killing regular trash-mobs and the "mini-bosses" of BBI gives a ton of exp and should boost your levels rather quickly.

Btw, if you want to make levelling as a sorcerer more fun, bring another sorcerer or two with the same high ranking spells as you (bolide, gicel, maelstrom, seism and/or fulmination) and they will be able to sync their casting with you. I hate Maelstrom when I'm not playing as a sorcerer, but when I, and a couple of supporting pawn-sorcerers, fills a room with maelstroms, it's pure joy :)

[Blademaster]

If you plan on being a magic archer in the late game, level as an assassin 10 - 200. Then switch over and use hundred kisses/Thousand kisses + Immolation. You'll be the ultimate jihad bomber on steroids. Also Immolation is non-magical fire damage, so it works even better with a physical build.

[HappyFloor]

Originally posted by Blademaster:

If you plan on being a magic archer in the late game, level as an assassin 10 - 200. Then switch over and use hundred kisses/Thousand kisses + Immolation. You'll be the ultimate jihad bomber on steroids. Also Immolation is non-magical fire damage, so it works even better with a physical build.

But then you miss out of the downright ridiculous 6/9-fold bolt, ricochet hunter, and hunter bolt. Not to mention how Magick Rebalancer turns the game inside out without the use of periapts.

At the end of the day, you probably don't need to worry *too* much about stat growths, since damage is mostly contingent upon your weapon, its rarification level, and your augments. But if you want to totally blast through endgame bosses in seconds flat, you're gonna need to min/max to some extent.

[Anacra]

I am a level 200 Mystic Knight. I also use a balanced build which has 606 ATK and 605 MAG. Balanced build is the best for Mystic Knights. You can get more details for this build and others from here (http://i.imgur.com/FxOVsrC.jpg).

With this build, I have killed Death in one encounter (from full health), killed Daimon with and without items, etc. Basically, you should not have any issues with this build. And the good thing is you can easily switch to Magic Archer and be pretty strong at it.

[Blademaster]

Originally posted by Trashcan Carla:

Originally posted by Blademaster:

If you plan on being a magic archer in the late game, level as an assassin 10 - 200. Then switch over and use hundred kisses/Thousand kisses + Immolation. You'll be the ultimate jihad bomber on steroids. Also Immolation is non-magical fire damage, so it works even better with a physical build.

But then you miss out of the downright ridiculous 6/9-fold bolt, ricochet hunter, and hunter bolt. Not to mention how Magick Rebalancer turns the game inside out without the use of periapts.

At the end of the day, you probably don't need to worry *too* much about stat growths, since damage is mostly contingent upon your weapon, its rarification level, and your augments. But if you want to totally blast through endgame bosses in seconds flat, you're gonna need to min/max to some extent.

Actually. BASE character stats weigh much more heavily than the weapon stats do. It's just that the BBI gear gives such ludicrous amounts of stat gains that it almost makes up for it.

[opethsland]

Originally posted by Trashcan Carla:

Originally posted by Blademaster:

If you plan on being a magic archer in the late game, level as an assassin 10 - 200. Then switch over and use hundred kisses/Thousand kisses + Immolation. You'll be the ultimate jihad bomber on steroids. Also Immolation is non-magical fire damage, so it works even better with a physical build.

But then you miss out of the downright ridiculous 6/9-fold bolt, ricochet hunter, and hunter bolt. Not to mention how Magick Rebalancer turns the game inside out without the use of periapts.

At the end of the day, you probably don't need to worry *too* much about stat growths, since damage is mostly contingent upon your weapon, its rarification level, and your augments. But if you want to totally blast through endgame bosses in seconds flat, you're gonna need to min/max to some extent.

Wow, that's really interesting. I was thinking that in order to have a pretty solid magic archer build you should somewhat balance between levelling as a ranger/assassin and then switch to mage/sorcerer.

I manage to start the Ur farming right now and reached lvl 87 as a socerer. Only 13 lvls to 100 and I'll switch to assassin.

Unfortunately, this game lacks the possibility of having different characters in the same user savefile, like in Dark Souls.

That's a huge disappointment for me, cause I can't go over the slow levelling process all over again to change everything I've done until now. I would have gone 1-10 fighter and 11-200 assassin, but I was thinking about that old assassin build, using Heaven's Key, which I already got from the Ur.

Right now I think I'll just keep going as I planned to see if I'll be able to get to Bitterblack. I managed to kill the first huge Cyclops but it took me like 10 minutes from above, using spells...

As for magic archer I'll give it a try with this build to see what I can get. I hope I'm not done for good and end up losing all the precious hours I have invested in this game since I bought it 5 days ago lol.