Epic Build: Blood Thirster

Dimidium

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11/07/2016
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Epic Build: The Blood Thirster

As you know, I've made quite a few Berzerker builds in the past. I've tried the Sword and Shield styles and it's not for me, and likely not for some of you either. This new build is very fun and exiting to play. If any of you have questions about any part of this article, I'll reply if I am not at work.

Introducing the Blood Thirster:

Blood and Death give him power. He is optimized for Advanced Skills, and makes extensive use of the new ones released recently.

The Blood Thirster is quite the opposite of the Berzerker builds I have made before. No Two-Hand Warrior I've ever made can acheive the defence this monster can. My Berzerkers usually rely on skills like Whirlwind, Charge, and Bash. The Blood Thirster doesn't use ANY of those skills because he simply doesn't need them. He has two skills that can be activated: Flurry 3 for a boost in damage, and Resilience 2 to compensate for the lower defences. To further back up the lower defences, I gave him 504 HP to soak that damage up AND 2 extra Recoveries for extended dungeon crawling.

My character's *base* DPS isn't spectacular at all, 46.6 with a Great Axe of Falling Stars. However, I can boost his stats five different ways:

1. Duel 3: +2 damage every time you hit the same opponent, max bonus caps at 5 hits(+10 Damage)
2. Flurry 3: Instantly boosts that base 46 DPS to 77 for 6 seconds by increasing weapon speed by 75%.
3. Bloodlust 3: Adds +4 Armor and +6 Damage any time you kill something. It doesn't stack with itself, but stacks with the other powers he has.
4. Resilience 2: Adds +9 Armor for 8 Seconds
5. Add a Giant Strength Potion for +6 Damage

I use Resilience so that I can use a Strength potion and still have high defences. Potions have a cool-off time after you drink one, as most of you know. One option I have found useful is to remove Duel 3 and back down to Duel 2, then use Resilience 3 instead for a big 14 Armor boost. The loss of 4 points of Duel damage is minimal, as most monsters don't live long enough for it to matter much.

All five of these bonuses will stack, leading to some incredible damage and defence. As you see in the screenshots, my new build will simply destroy everything and not need any of the basic Warrior skills do it. For example, just a Potion of Giant Strength and Flurry will make your DPS soar to 89 with really big Critical Hits- 147! The potion doesn't cost much at the Warrior Guild, making this a spammable option any time I want. Once you add Duel and Bloodlust to the equasion, critical hits come near 200 with a DPS of 115.

When I get into combat, things get interesting. I hit something and either kill it or not. Either way I'm doing more damage than I was the instant before. Duel kicks in on harder targets and Bloodlust kicks in on weaker enemies. This effect gives rise to situations where the Blood Thirster *really* shines:

I kill a regular enemy and get the Bloodlust. I direct my attack on a boss and immediately start the Flurry plus drink a Strength Potion. This makes Duel spool up so fast that you're at +10 damage from it in no time because your hits are 75% faster. As mentioned, I've gotten around 115 DPS and a max crit near 200...I don't know yet if this is the ceiling.

Finally, with damage this high, opponent armor doesn't really seem to matter any more. Even if the enemy had 30 Armor, they're still taking insane amounts of damage from regular hits, God forbid a critical hit...

I wish I had a Great Axe named after this build so badly...

fDhgcKV.jpg


The next post was from the Beta, so please don't mind the stats, it's just proof of damage potential - which remains the same.

qxmiaRc.jpg


Questions are welcome, as are comments!

Note: I will try to get better screenshots, but it's hard to find a monster that lives long enough to get my DPS that high, and the last screen shot was against a really nasty Lich.
 

feldon

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Would you recommend this as a late level reset build or a build you can grow into from the beginning?

if you can grow into it, any advice for those that want to build towards it?
 

Dimidium

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11/07/2016
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552
I am still working on that... This is likely going to be a late (Level 20+) level reset build because of the almost complete lack of basic skills, which are really needed at lower levels. Will post info later, as I am still sorting that stuff out.
 

Dimidium

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I wrote a small book to append my build posted above after Feldon's question. This build can't really be started until you're level 18 or so. It will really take shape by level 22. It took me a while to post this because I tested most of it before I wrote it, that way it'll work for you. If you liked this build, but aren't level 25, this is what you need to know:

For those under level 25, I did some testing to see how the build would work. Just because I posted this build as Level 25 doesn't mean it won't be effective at lower levels. I will go over the key skills, traits and equipment needed to be successful. The build I posted is the "ultimate version", but many smaller incarnations can be used to start, and you'll quickly gain more and more power as you grow in level - to the point where you're doing your own 195 damage critical hits!

I am going to approach this by using my build posted above as the target, and showing what can be removed at lower levels, giving users the choice to customize.

Part 1: Skills

Duel can be the first thing to go completely. This is because the best you're going to get is a +10 damage bonus, and a simple potion can provide 6 by itself. You'll also be killing stuff so quickly, that Duel isn't a huge player in killing stuff.

Bloodlust can be set to level 2, saving three skill points. Don't go down to level 1 unless you already have recovery at 1. It's important to keep this at 2 or more.

Because so Trait Points are invested in Flurry, keep this at 3 unless you just can't spare anymore points. Also, Two-Handed Mastery must stay at level 2.

Resistance is very important because you have such low defense as a two-hander, so I would say level 1 is required, and level 2 should be gotten quickly and should be a last resort of shaving points off. You can't drink defense potions because you'll always be drinking strength potions, remember that!

Alternatively, if you have lots of cash to spend on healing potions, you could theoretically not use this skill until you have extra points to spend in it. You'll end up paying for it in gold, instead, though.

Finally, you can shave 1 Recovery off at lower levels to save 3 more skill points. Don't go below Recovery 1 because you need that to do the longer dungeons.

Part 2: Stats

Endurance can also be taken down a point or two, as well.

INT, PER, and AWA must stay where they're at, and so must agility.

Taking Strength down to 6, instead of the 8 I use, would save you a lot of points. If you have the +2 Str belt like me, you could go down to 4(6 total)if you wanted. A modified Strength of 6 is the base minimum to make this work, atleast as I have found so far...

Part 3: Equipment

Furthermore: the Executioner's Axe and Cruelty are both required to make this build viable. The Great Axe of Falling Stars is the best option in most cases, but is the only one you don't absolutely need.

The reasons are:

Great Axe of Falling Stars: Pure awesome high DPS
Executioner's Axe: Non-Elemental, with an nice damage boost helps when the above weapon won't work (Undead mainly)
Cruelty: Fire damage for trolls.

As for Armor, go for the highest resistance and Armor value you can get for each dungeon. Resistances matter first in most dungeons, then Armor. Ideally you should have Legion armor, but at very low levels, even Full Platemail could work.

Get the Advanced Belt from the Warrior Guild in N Garand. It gives Armor and Str. As you get higher in level, get the +2 Str belt.

All other equipment can be tailored to your own needs, but I like any jewelry that gives Health, Endurance, and big resistances.
 

Tordak Q

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Joined
31/10/2016
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60
Looks like a potent build, Dimidium. I'm running something more balanced at lvl 21:

Traits:
Str-7
End-5
Agl-5
Int-5
Awa-4
Per-3

Skills:
Whirlwind-2
Bash-1
Cleave-3
2-H expert-3
Resilience-1
Charge-2

Advanced skills:
Heavy hand-2
Duel-2
Precision strike-1
Massive crit-1
Bloodlust-2
Spirit ward-2
Deathward-0 (just bought it)

The reason for this type of balanced build is to XP faster. With Agility, intelligence, and awareness I'm able to get XP off traps instead of having to charge over them or leave them behind all together (plus a higher int gives 2% more XP Per point. Throw a xp scroll in that and your making almost 25% XP. Add rings/necklace with wisdom on them and you'll make over 30% XP).
By lvl 23 I'm planning on getting Agility up to 6 so I can get flurry as my last advanced skill. That, coupled with P strike and massive crit, has the potential to decimate any target ( though I put little stock in counting on crits to save me, hence the 1 point in each one. Does pay off at times though...)
Since running this build I've lvld much faster with little worry for NPCs and bosses.

By lvl 25 I'll have +1 STR and +1 AG with point increases in flurry, deathward, spirit ward, p-strike, and massive crit. That alone should make for an interesting DPS build.

I really don't rely on potions for strength and shielding unless I'm going boss hunting. It can get expensive just using only health potions, let alone buying the other 2 for that added edge, so I store all potions I find for later use. Never purchased any of them except the ones for health. Nice build you have there, though...
 

Dimidium

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Joined
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Messages
552
Tordak Q":21z1ig8g said:
Looks like a potent build, Dimidium. I'm running something more balanced at lvl 21:

Traits:
Str-7
End-5
Agl-5
Int-5
Awa-4
Per-3

Skills:
Whirlwind-2
Bash-1
Cleave-3
2-H expert-3
Resilience-1
Charge-2

Advanced skills:
Heavy hand-2
Duel-2
Precision strike-1
Massive crit-1
Bloodlust-2
Spirit ward-2
Deathward-0 (just bought it)

The reason for this type of balanced build is to XP faster. With Agility, intelligence, and awareness I'm able to get XP off traps instead of having to charge over them or leave them behind all together (plus a higher int gives 2% more XP Per point. Throw a xp scroll in that and your making almost 25% XP. Add rings/necklace with wisdom on them and you'll make over 30% XP).
By lvl 23 I'm planning on getting Agility up to 6 so I can get flurry as my last advanced skill. That, coupled with P strike and massive crit, has the potential to decimate any target ( though I put little stock in counting on crits to save me, hence the 1 point in each one. Does pay off at times though...)
Since running this build I've lvld much faster with little worry for NPCs and bosses.

By lvl 25 I'll have +1 STR and +1 AG with point increases in flurry, deathward, spirit ward, p-strike, and massive crit. That alone should make for an interesting DPS build.

I really don't rely on potions for strength and shielding unless I'm going boss hunting. It can get expensive just using only health potions, let alone buying the other 2 for that added edge, so I store all potions I find for later use. Never purchased any of them except the ones for health. Nice build you have there, though...

I didn't know I had a reply to my post.... Very interesting ideas you have there. I like your long term plan.
 

Tordak Q

New Member
Joined
31/10/2016
Messages
60
Thank you. And no worries on the reply time. You seem to be one of the few who, like myself, enjoys feedback and giving tips to new players. I appreciate your comments and insights on this game, so keep up the good work. I look forward to running with you when this game opens up the multiplayer expansion in the future...
 

Dimidium

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Joined
11/07/2016
Messages
552
Tordak Q":a16fu7i6 said:
Thank you. And no worries on the reply time. You seem to be one of the few who, like myself, enjoys feedback and giving tips to new players. I appreciate your comments and insights on this game, so keep up the good work. I look forward to running with you when this game opens up the multiplayer expansion in the future...

You're welcome! I do enjoy helping all the new players around here a lot. Also, yes I can't wait to run with some of you in Multiplayer. It will be the icing on the cake for Exiled Kingdoms.
 

feldon

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Joined
18/04/2016
Messages
1,352
Dim, don't forget that when/if multiplayer teams are established, I've got a spot on the EKholics for you...
 

Dimidium

New Member
Joined
11/07/2016
Messages
552
feldon":3v6e2292 said:
Dim, don't forget that when/if multiplayer teams are established, I've got a spot on the EKholics for you...

I can't wait to team up! I am excited to post some multiplayer builds for the community as well.

I would wager that the Cleric class will become super important when multiplayer comes out...
 

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