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...
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.