Build advice? 1h sword and athletics

[uv523]

Hi,

Im not sure where I should take my build from now and would like to hear your opinions.

athletics: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421020455
warfare: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421020604
survival: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421020704
swords (full): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421020804

Except for peak performance - Im not really sure what else to take (maybe something for crowds? battle cry or offensive tactic?).

Regarding stats (current value):
- strength (15): seems like a good option to me, as it increase both damage and block, also by RoT it increases a bit of armor penetration.
- agility (20): dodge and counter attack is really good, but -fumble is wasted, adds a bit of damage but not as much as strength (both hands eff and damage from RoT).
- perception (10): crit, accuracy and armor penetration all seems good, but range/vision is wasted + for peak performance I must place the 4 points elsewhere.
- vitality (11): at start seemed useless to me, as the build is energy efficient, but hp is always good, and both RoT and elusiveness give damage reduction according to it (RoT 0.5, elusiveness 0.3 per stack, 1.8 max).

Including extra points from boulder circle - I should have a total of 19 points left.

Thanks!

[Freeman]

Nice, almost step to step as I used to do not too long ago.

Go for perception 15, take aim and dexterity, and a good crossbow. You already have pathfinder, so why not start a fight with a deadly sniper shot? You'll be amazed what difference 2 point investment can make. More crit and accuracy is never wasted, you are now missing 20% of hits. Peak performance will unlock in time.

If you can't wait, go for vitality 15. Staying power is worth diamonds when you meet real enemies.

EDIT pretty neat gear for level 18. Good job!

[uv523]

That's a really neat ideal! I thought about taking some magic for ranged option but crossbow seems like a more affordable option.

Do you think I should invest most of the remaining points in perception (in multiples of 5)? This could add up to +15 crit, +22 acc and armor penetration - which is quite a lot.

[money3030]

Captain Messer sword will need 15 Agility for no Fumbles though, on RoT, Should have switched it to 20 STR not 20 AGI fencers Stance is good, The other Builds are 30 Perception, 15 Agi, 15 Vit, whatever left to STR.

[BlackKatana]

I tried one handed sword and empty off hand before, but two handed sword is superior. I gone full agility and remaining to perception so that all the skill I use would get bonus from the stats. And use light armor, and try to enchant your gear with either dodge chance or block chance. Dps won't be great, but it has very high survival. Besides with this stat you can use ranged weapon too if you want, but I prefer not to spend any skill point on it.

[Freeman]

Originally posted by money3030:

Captain Messer sword will need 15 Agility for no Fumbles though, on RoT, Should have switched it to 20 STR not 20 AGI fencers Stance is good, The other Builds are 30 Perception, 15 Agi, 15 Vit, whatever left to STR.

Just mentioning that there are other great swords too. There's no need to be dogmatic.

In the end, with solid build and gear few points here or there won't matter. I've played very non-optimal joke builds and it wasn't that bad.

[uv523]

Originally posted by money3030:

Captain Messer sword will need 15 Agility for no Fumbles though, on RoT, Should have switched it to 20 STR not 20 AGI fencers Stance is good, The other Builds are 30 Perception, 15 Agi, 15 Vit, whatever left to STR.

Actually I do have 2% fumble now (with I'm without vigor) - how could 15 Agi be enough in this sense?

[uv523]

Originally posted by BlackKatana:

I tried one handed sword and empty off hand before, but two handed sword is superior. I gone full agility and remaining to perception so that all the skill I use would get bonus from the stats. And use light armor, and try to enchant your gear with either dodge chance or block chance. Dps won't be great, but it has very high survival. Besides with this stat you can use ranged weapon too if you want, but I prefer not to spend any skill point on it.

I tried previously 2h swords, but I really enjoy more the 1h sword so far (with 2h I tried mainly Str and Vit along with heavy armor)

Edit: also I felt like due to heavy armor and parry I blocked a lot and it degraded my weapon real fast, have you encountered this?

[money3030]

Originally posted by uv523:

Originally posted by money3030:

Captain Messer sword will need 15 Agility for no Fumbles though, on RoT, Should have switched it to 20 STR not 20 AGI fencers Stance is good, The other Builds are 30 Perception, 15 Agi, 15 Vit, whatever left to STR.

Actually I do have 2% fumble now (with I'm without vigor) - how could 15 Agi be enough in this sense?

RoT with more Perception reduces Fumble you have Anti Fumble Rings.

[funkmonster7]

Cauterize Wounds. Always learn Cauterize Wounds on melee builds. Always. No exception.

If you get hit with 2 skills and they both gave you a bleed stack each, you can instantly deal with it in just 1 turn and give yourself so much bleed res for 240 turns that basically the chance of getting bled again after doing so is very close to nil.

[BlackKatana]

Originally posted by uv523:

I tried previously 2h swords, but I really enjoy more the 1h sword so far (with 2h I tried mainly Str and Vit along with heavy armor)

Edit: also I felt like due to heavy armor and parry I blocked a lot and it degraded my weapon real fast, have you encountered this?

No my build focuses on dodge, and good thing about dodge is it saves money too.

[Freeman]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Cauterize Wounds. Always learn Cauterize Wounds on melee builds. Always. No exception.

If you get hit with 2 skills and they both gave you a bleed stack each, you can instantly deal with it in just 1 turn and give yourself so much bleed res for 240 turns that basically the chance of getting bled again after doing so is very close to nil.

I never learned cauterize wounds for any melee builds and been doing fine. Bandages, solid defense, and few good crossbow shots does the trick.

Not getting hit is a good idea. Saves blood and money.

[money3030]

Originally posted by Freeman:

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Cauterize Wounds. Always learn Cauterize Wounds on melee builds. Always. No exception.

If you get hit with 2 skills and they both gave you a bleed stack each, you can instantly deal with it in just 1 turn and give yourself so much bleed res for 240 turns that basically the chance of getting bled again after doing so is very close to nil.

I never learned cauterize wounds for any melee builds and been doing fine. Bandages, solid defense, and few good crossbow shots does the trick.

Not getting hit is a good idea. Saves blood and money.

Cauterize is good for Blood Hex stuff and also upping your Bleeding Resistances, Basically if you have Berserker Tradition more pain is good, then you could upgrade to First Aid and Will to Survive, Adrenaline Rush for more masochist face tanking.

Less Consumables carried the better, doesn't hurt to carry one split and bandage though just in case skills on cooldown.

[Freeman]

Originally posted by money3030:

Cauterize is good for Blood Hex stuff and also upping your Bleeding Resistances, Basically if you have Berserker Tradition more pain is good, then you could upgrade to First Aid and Will to Survive, Adrenaline Rush for more masochist face tanking.

Less Consumables carried the better, doesn't hurt to carry one split and bandage though just in case skills on cooldown.

To each their own. I'd say less skillpoints wasted is better. Blood hex sucks and blows, absolutely agree, but it is only one condition and in my last run I met it just once. I don't do akimbo stuff and OP asked advice for RoT so I stick to that.

All like to promote their favorite builds and so do I. In my opinion, take aim plus pathfinder is better than cauterize plus first aid. Killing, or at least crippling, enemies from afar is the best and cheapest kind of survival. No other 2 skillpoints gets you that kind of versatile hitting power. Besides, maybe it's my dodgy sniping playstyle, but I found I need splints and bandages very rarely. Actually, I'll check how many my latest character needed.

[Freeman]

Just for context here is my latest level 26 Arna damage count, essentially a very non-optimal melee build with 2 points of ranged skills.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3421461549

During all my career I suffered only 40 bleeding wounds and 15 injuries. Moreover, this was my achievement run where I walked into spike traps to force the negative psyche states. The real tally of combat injuries was even less.

So if you play berserker, no doubt you'll find cauterize and first aid useful. But I never did.

EDIT maybe 20-25 bleeds were from enemy hitting me. The rest were from that one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ blood hex dungeon and messing around.

[laveley]

Cauterize wounds is a convenience skill and only a necessity for inefficient builds.

I play on ironman and I almost never get it.

That being said, it's just one skill point so I guess it's ok if one really likes it.