Extreme difficulty build?

[Chilkoot]

Curious if anyone has or is playing through for the "Extreme" achievement, and if so what build/s you're finding work well.

I've been trying the bog standard "traps'n'guns" build pretty much every extreme playthrough guide suggests, but it seems there's a heavy reliance on using the ammo dupe cheat, which I really don't want to do. Early (prologue) play suggests melee builds are very difficult with frequent and unavoidable ragdoll stunlocks, where magic builds with stasis are comparatively easy. I suspect that may reverse in late game...

Any suggestions based on your own experiences would be thankfully received.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Technical with traps and phials/bombs - no cheats necessary.

Magic with max mental power and willpower for spells works, too - but there will be extreme dependency on stasis, and it can become quite tedious.

[Chilkoot]

Thank you for the insights.

The traps and phials build certainly works, though I was getting a bit frustrated with the playstyle (personal preference). I wanted to be a little more engaged with the party, and leverage their combat abilities more, so I started experimenting with a number of less conventional builds. I've found something that seems sustainable/flexible and a bit more varied, but still handily ploughs through extreme difficulty.

The build I've semi-settled on is a hybrid support magic and technical build, starting with magic at creation, and picking up firearms at level 3.

Primary Skills:

• Damage: Firearms for primary DPS output
  
• Damage: Traps and later phials esp. for enemies where poison is beneficial
  
• Support: Group heal
  
• Support: Group shield
  
• Support: AoE stasis (start of combat to lock down groups and remove shielding)
  
• Survival: Magic Ring skill with Lightning Dash is amazing on extreme

Attibutes/Talents & Gear:

• Willpower plus a good regen necklace. With enough mana regen the whole team is essentially unkillable.
  
• Accuracy plus a firearm will make quick work of enemies.
  
• Vigor and Intuition pair well with this setup for more ingredients and regen, plus access to uniques in some areas...
  
• A bit of Charisma helps with party support role
  
• I keep a starter ring equipped only for Lighting Dash. With the CC and boosted party, coupled with firearms/traps, there's more than enough damage output. If you rotate a bit, resources are really never an issue.

I'm sure many will disagree with this, but it's been working great for me, and really leveraging the companions has made this run more smooth than my first non-extreme playthrough.