Ultimate debuffer build

[whatever]

Here's a build that i've been testing for a while and seems to be (at least to me) the ultimate debuffer.

Mercenary / Fellblade

Sturdy Grip / Health Expert / Malice / Dual Wield

Mystic Shield or Root

Pestilence, Toothed Sword, Soul Armor. Other equipment that favors critical and shields against status effects.

This is a rather tanky unit that may inflict several status effects at once. The pairing of Pestilence and Toothed Sword does not produce the highest attack output possible for this build; however, regular attacks might inflict up to five debuffs at once with decent attack power. Fellblade's Chaos Slice might inflict up to six debuffs at once, although the attack power is much less than regular attacks. A maxed-out Soul Armor compensates for the Mercenary's lack of speed and low evasion. Overall, a great unit for debuffing and crowd control, which pairs really well with units such as another Fellblade using Health Syphon or a Gambler using Pile on.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1977329691

Please share your thoughts :)

[Dabor]

Yep, pretty high end. I wouldn't call it the ultimate debuffer - perma-charming enemies probably has that role, but this is definitely a whole lot of up-front debuffing. I'd also recommend just more crit chance over Malice - since critting ensures applying debuffs, it actually pays off more for a low-chance weapon like Pestilence. If I recall correctly a Pestilence Mercenary/Fellblade actually appears in the final tournament! It was the first thing that came to mind for me when I saw the weapon the first time in early access, and rushed to put together a dual-maul-with-pestilence build running Fellblade.

I also couldn't resist placing Counterattack (or, if we're using secret characters, making it a Pounce) though - seeing that go off on an enemy turn just feels great. Mystic Shield's definitely the spooky option if you wanna be generally strong, though.

But yeah, it's a fun build! Sadly some later enemies have immunities to a lot of those common debuffs, but in those cases, still a strong attacker with high crit rate, in a decently beefy main class.

[Mechalibur]

I'd replace Malice with Know Weakness. A crit always inflicts a debuff, and Fellblade Slices count as regular attacks, so they caj crit without versatile. That way you're essentially getting +25% crit chance instead of 10%

I'd also recommend Guardian Sword, Eternias, or Soul Eater over a Toothed Sword. The bleed is nice, but a bit overkill, and not as good as the bonuses the other weapons offer.

[whatever]

Originally posted by Dabor:

I'd also recommend just more crit chance over Malice - since critting ensures applying debuffs, it actually pays off more for a low-chance weapon like Pestilence.

Thanks a lot! it did worked a lot better with higher critical. This character has a lot of critical bonuses from completing different classes, so with Known Weaknesses critical is around sixty-four. Maybe it can go higher with later weapons but wouldn't it be kind of op?

For a long time I thought Counterattack was great but limited in scope, that's why I prefer attack units with counters that either inflict a debuff or protect against damage. I haven't tried Pounce yet though. Maybe pairing Mystic Shield with a second class that uses less mp, like Reaver or Assassin.

Originally posted by Dabor:

I wouldn't call it the ultimate debuffer - perma-charming enemies probably has that role

Can you do that with Bzaro and Arpia's Dirge?

[Dabor]

On the last one I was thinking more in terms of using Pile On - using a Vampire's Charm or Knight's Berserk or such on a vulnerable target and then keeping them permanently locked into it via Pile On (possibly even via doublecast! That's one late-game elite as well) can snap some encounters in half. It's something I avoided doing myself - the most extreme debuff builds I did were similar ones to yours, critting dual wielders (and yes, it is possible to get a 100% crit dual wielder, although that requires both soul items maxed and a lot of other late game gear).

I think exploiting the "mental" debuffs (Berserk/Sleep/Charm) can get a bit boring if you do it too often. While plenty of enemies later are resistant to them, even 1 or 2 targets you can instantly and consistently neutralize using them can still be a big deal.

[magikot]

My debuffer is a Werewolf/Fellblade with Know Weakness 1 and 2 and Versatile wielding a Dragon's Nail. With such a high crit chance you can put at least 3 debuffs on an enemy a turn.