Note: Above statement was done two nights ago. I realised it's already post-midnight. Either way, this post title is never meant as a misogynistic answer to the Next Top Model franchise. Trust me when I say badassery is temporary, character is permanent.
Moral of the story? Behind every Guts is a human being of flesh and blood.
Learn to be great, live with your mistake
We all will end up doing stupid things in life. Thing is, what do we do with the mess we created? Recently, I burnt like near 300K astral diamonds buying an Enchanted Courser (which tbh wasn't a big deal since the auction house market is currently hitting a massive reform). The reason why being that I thought this beast can confer that insignia bonus known as Combatant's Maneuver. Wrong. Enchanted Courser confers either Artificer's Persuasion, Shepherd's Devotion, or Berserker's Rage.
Artificer's Persuasion is out of question because Arylos doesn't do artifact spam.
Ditto for Shepherd's Devotion as well because that one is no good for going solo.
Which means Berserker's Rage is the only option.
Firstly, I have to admit I could have chosen to place that magic horse into the stable. However, that'd be a waste of resources. If I must live with my mistake, why should I just stop at there? Therefore, I decided to test run Berserker's Rage.
To maximize this insignia bonus, you'll most likely want to choose boons like Elven Haste and Demonic Swiftness. Basically, stuff that gives either a direct AP boost or at least a recovery buff. The main problem here? Arylos opted for Feywild Fortitude and Demonic Endurance. To offset the handicap caused by this, I changed his final Dread Ring boon to Rampaging Madness (okay, that's a lie. The reason why I did that was because Endless Consumption has been proven a failure for any build with less than 20% lifesteal chance).
Basically, what happened was that I accidentally (and by accidentally, I mean it) created a power hitter with a Berserker's Rage bonus of 400+ power. Coupled with a Sigil of the Devoted and we may have gotten Faerûn's Next Top Guts.
Things to note if you want to emulate Arylos (or Guts if you like to)
You have to make a decision: Do you want to opt for an AP friendly build or a build high on power and damage? The former will proc Guts mode faster while the latter basically reduces the need to wear the Berserker Armor (in case you don't know what that thing looks like...).
Next, you'll need to set down strict requirements for daily power usage since this stunner will only proc at 100% AP. This is definitely the most difficult part. Period. Currently, I'm still trying to get the hang of this (mainly because I'm still too used to doing Forest Ghost 4 teh lolz instead of strictly as a jailbreak tactic). Unless there's an absolute need to, don't use your daily powers once every 1-2 minutes (Disruptive Shot is the exception to this rule due to its 25% AP usage instead of 50% and beyond).
Note: Another alternative strategy is using Berserker's Rage during a specific interval (i.e. either in the early, middle or later stage of any fight). I'd say this would be a more pragmatic approach since it's easier to manage your AP gauge this way.
Note: Another alternative strategy is using Berserker's Rage during a specific interval (i.e. either in the early, middle or later stage of any fight). I'd say this would be a more pragmatic approach since it's easier to manage your AP gauge this way.
Thirdly, don't (and I really mean DON'T) use neck slot items like Greater Cloak of Seldarine or Cloak of Valhalla. Don't opt for the AC option, opt for the AP increase ones like Amulet of Valindra's Favor and Amulet of Tiamat's Demise. If you can get a Lostmauth's Hoard Necklace, it's for the best due to the armor penetration stat.
Fourth, please ensure your build has a high survival game instead of just another hdps. The reason why I say that is very simple. Firstly, hdps builds tend to depend more on daily powers. Secondly, the survival dps build will definitely last long enough to proc the Berserker's Arm... erm, I mean Berserker's Rage.
Lastly, it's actually possible to do a Tenser with this one. All you need is maxing out your AP in a matter of minutes, after which you just use your daily power sparingly. Trust me, I happen to be one of those control wizard users who doesn't know what to do with a full AP gauge unless it's push coming to shove.
Momentum and AP building
Berserker's Rage is not about brainless bashing like your stereotypical machismo caveman. In Berserk, Guts proved himself through tactical awareness more often than we'd like to think otherwise. Yes, we all know his ability to do a mental shutdown in order to initiate a complete wipeout. However, you don't expect a dumb idiot like Adon Coborlwitz to hold the post of a raid commander.
In other words, you'll need to take note of how much AP you have in the tank before the fight. If it's near 100%, then you can afford to charge headlong into battle. Otherwise, you'll need to devise an efficient defensive strategy so that you can stage a mass wipeout asap (either that or you can just save your rage for the next round of unfortunate victims). Believe it or not, Berserker's Rage is far more tank friendly and less dps friendly than you'd like to think otherwise.
Also, please take careful note on which mob you're dealing with. Depending on the area (or the digsite rng for that matter), you'll have to fight the Nashers. This faction may read like "fighters in the fight club" logic, but I find Nashers to be the most problematic faction in-game (apart from any Kabal's mooks led by a flaming head dreadnought. Now I really hate that one).
Unlike the other factions, the Nashers have, by far, the most dangerous mages. In Ember Hollow, Kabal's casters are all evokers. Drifting backwards is nothing more than a minor inconvenience. In the Realm's Edge, it's teleporting and more teleporting from magic users who may have harbored twisted feelings for Ciri (after all, anyone associated with the Far Realm should be considered physically abnormal and mentally insane). That one is basically more of an annoyance than anything else. As for the Tainted Grove, the green chick holding a staff is all about summoning a stag party (stag party as in quite "literally" one). Which means you'll have to deal with the summoner instead of the summoned if you want the party to end prematurely.
For the Nasher mages, they're good at three things: Casting a silence spell (where you can only spam at-will powers and nothing else), doing a circular shockwave (those who have played through the Reclamation Rock will know what I'm talking about), and placing multiple minefields. The last part has the highest chance to happen. In fact, it will always happen. Against silence spells, it's not much of a problem so long you can narrow your focus to reading the situation. As for the shockwave, you can just either interrupt it or get away from the red zone. Against the AP drain, that's where the problem comes. Dodging the circles is nigh impossible, let alone staying put between the circles instead of within (unless it's through dumb luck or something insanely Japanese). This is not to say Berserker's Rage won't work against such a mob. Rather, you'll have to use daily powers whenever possible to take down the mages first. Fortunately, there will never be more than two mages per Nashers mob. The only catch? The aggro will follow you, no matter what, unless your companion is a non-augment type. In which this case, the companion will have a higher chance of getting the aggro. #2toomany
Note: Using the DC sigil before the fight also means proc'ing Guts mode right from the get go.
Add note: If you proc the DC sigil, the correct thing to do is to pull off a daily power first provided that power doesn't cost you a full AP gauge. Something which HR is known for. In fact, it's possible to pull off a 75% AP whopper if the AP gauge is at least half full. I'm not referring to Forest Meditation, but rather linking Disruptive Shot off Forest Ghost.
In other words, you'll need to take note of how much AP you have in the tank before the fight. If it's near 100%, then you can afford to charge headlong into battle. Otherwise, you'll need to devise an efficient defensive strategy so that you can stage a mass wipeout asap (either that or you can just save your rage for the next round of unfortunate victims). Believe it or not, Berserker's Rage is far more tank friendly and less dps friendly than you'd like to think otherwise.
Also, please take careful note on which mob you're dealing with. Depending on the area (or the digsite rng for that matter), you'll have to fight the Nashers. This faction may read like "fighters in the fight club" logic, but I find Nashers to be the most problematic faction in-game (apart from any Kabal's mooks led by a flaming head dreadnought. Now I really hate that one).
Unlike the other factions, the Nashers have, by far, the most dangerous mages. In Ember Hollow, Kabal's casters are all evokers. Drifting backwards is nothing more than a minor inconvenience. In the Realm's Edge, it's teleporting and more teleporting from magic users who may have harbored twisted feelings for Ciri (after all, anyone associated with the Far Realm should be considered physically abnormal and mentally insane). That one is basically more of an annoyance than anything else. As for the Tainted Grove, the green chick holding a staff is all about summoning a stag party (stag party as in quite "literally" one). Which means you'll have to deal with the summoner instead of the summoned if you want the party to end prematurely.
For the Nasher mages, they're good at three things: Casting a silence spell (where you can only spam at-will powers and nothing else), doing a circular shockwave (those who have played through the Reclamation Rock will know what I'm talking about), and placing multiple minefields. The last part has the highest chance to happen. In fact, it will always happen. Against silence spells, it's not much of a problem so long you can narrow your focus to reading the situation. As for the shockwave, you can just either interrupt it or get away from the red zone. Against the AP drain, that's where the problem comes. Dodging the circles is nigh impossible, let alone staying put between the circles instead of within (unless it's through dumb luck or something insanely Japanese). This is not to say Berserker's Rage won't work against such a mob. Rather, you'll have to use daily powers whenever possible to take down the mages first. Fortunately, there will never be more than two mages per Nashers mob. The only catch? The aggro will follow you, no matter what, unless your companion is a non-augment type. In which this case, the companion will have a higher chance of getting the aggro. #2toomany
Note: Using the DC sigil before the fight also means proc'ing Guts mode right from the get go.
Add note: If you proc the DC sigil, the correct thing to do is to pull off a daily power first provided that power doesn't cost you a full AP gauge. Something which HR is known for. In fact, it's possible to pull off a 75% AP whopper if the AP gauge is at least half full. I'm not referring to Forest Meditation, but rather linking Disruptive Shot off Forest Ghost.
Basic demonstration (well, sorta)
For Arylos, defense is not an issue. This is due to three maxed out feats. Namely, Bloodletting, Wilds Medicine, and Battle Crazed. Bloodletting gives 5% lifesteal chance on melee stance. Add to it a rank 1 Dragon's Thirst and it's 8% lifesteal chance. For a melee HR, this is good enough so long you have that first line of defense. Namely deflection chance. This is where the combination of Wilds Medicine and Battle Crazed comes in.
The best thing about the reworked BC feat lies in taking away the original lifesteal property and giving a 3% deflection bonus per hit instead. Going by the maximum number of stacks and we're talking about a whopping 15% deflection bonus (and that's not taking into account melee damage increasing by the same percentage as well). The stupid thing about the melee HR before anema fixed the HR class was this: Unless you have Aspect of the Lone Wolf, your melee HR is most likely screwed. The lifesteal game was going nowhere after mod 5, it basically took Cryptic like 4 mods to do something about the whole damned skill tree.
To create a balance between the offensive and defensive, my current two final Tyranny of Dragon boons are Dragon's Fury and Dragon's Thirst. I decided to forgo Dragon's Grip because CC is no longer a top priority in the light of what I've observed in my first Nostura fight. As for my third final ToD boon, it should be a toss up between Dragon's Grip (because of Magistrate's Restraint) and Dragon's Revival (because of Arylos' strong incoming heal game). Most likely I'll take the latter since CC tends to affect the overall dps unless you have Combatant's Maneuver (and even then, you'll have to deal with an elite minority who are certified control immune).
In solo PvE, it's way harder to maintain Berserker's Rage than doing so in party instances. In fact, maintaining Guts mode is very easy in any fights involving not just you on the correct side. I've done the treasure ship BHE more than a few times with a full AP gauge intact for 90% of the fight (the remaining 10% being that moment where you'll have to deal with Kabal's flaming head boss. That plus fighting those AP leeching Nashers). The dps actually went better than I expected otherwise, believe it or not.
Note: Think I may want to do a post about Arylos' current build in the near future with the vital screengrabs.
Add note: Pretty sure Fey set would go well with Berserker's Rage due to the 10% AP gain per 30 secs. So much for being a living conduit of Feywild.
In solo PvE, it's way harder to maintain Berserker's Rage than doing so in party instances. In fact, maintaining Guts mode is very easy in any fights involving not just you on the correct side. I've done the treasure ship BHE more than a few times with a full AP gauge intact for 90% of the fight (the remaining 10% being that moment where you'll have to deal with Kabal's flaming head boss. That plus fighting those AP leeching Nashers). The dps actually went better than I expected otherwise, believe it or not.
Note: Think I may want to do a post about Arylos' current build in the near future with the vital screengrabs.
Add note: Pretty sure Fey set would go well with Berserker's Rage due to the 10% AP gain per 30 secs. So much for being a living conduit of Feywild.
Special mention
Namely, the vorpal. When we talk about vorpal, a few words come to mind. Death is one of them. Which makes Kelemvor a patron deity somewhat associated with the vorpal. Recently, I sold a normal holy avenger enchantment for 3 million astral diamonds. What this means is very simple: I'm embarking on a risky venture where Cyrea is concerned.
Interestingly enough, vorpal enchantment can be quite good for a DC. This is due to the high crit severity game it offers. However, it doesn't have the mass buffing capability boasted by the holy avenger. Which means there has to be a sound strategy justifying such a decision.
When it comes to the AoE game, the DC is basically top tier. This helps a lot when it comes to the vorpal effect. Secondly, opting for Wis-Cha DC build may not be that dumb. Yes, Strength gives your DC additional crit chance. However, opting for a Wis-Str build means a lack of versatility due to lower recovery. To maximize the vorpal effect, chances are that you'll have to cast encounter powers on a consistent basis instead of just relying on at-will powers for the next 5 seconds or so. This is due to the DC encounter powers being the source of the AoE gameplay (not to mention as well a Wis-Cha DC is great for Hallowed Ground spammers).
To offset the disadvantage caused by the absence of defensive buff and incoming heal (not to mention as well adding a radiant damage buff on the allies), my personal recommendation would be using Astral Shield to provide defensive cover with Bastion of Health used as the main healing option. As for the third encounter power slot, I find Searing Light to be very good for any righteous DC (which Cyrea is one). The normal version is nothing to shout about, I'm not so impressed with the empowered version as well. The divinity version, however, is one of the best DC encounter powers usable. Not only will it heal allies around the target, it also damages surrounding enemies as well. If your righteous DC is all about stacking Burning Radiance with Engine Inspiration, then Searing Light should be the blue eyed boy (or girl depending on your personal creative preference). Alternatively, Forgemaster's Flame is also a nice option if you don't want to waste at least 2 seconds aiming at the correct target (not to mention as well enemies doing taunt will just mess things up at least a wee bit). Unlike Searing Light, Forgemaster's Flame is all about dealing the empowered version instead of the divinity one. Also, the normal version can chip in with the damage since it's counted as damage over time.
To use the vorpal enchantment properly for a DC, you'll need to decide which encounter power to use in divinity mode and which one to use in empowered mode. During divinity mode, cooldown for any encounter power is virtually nil. However, there will be moments where you'll get like 2-3 seconds of cooldown. What this means is very simple: You have 3 encounter powers slotted, reserve two for divinity mode and the third for empowered mode. Out of the former, designate 1 encounter power for your default divinity usage with the other placed in standby in case the cooldown hit home. If there is not enough in the divinity meter, try not to left click or right click unless someone (read: 1 person out of the rest) is dying or only the boss is left standing. The reason why being that vorpal is all about pulling off mass AoE powers in rapid succession more than a single target approach or using any AoE power with limited reach.
Note: Above part is only applicable to party warfare. If we're talking about solo... well, actually Cyrea with a vorpal did far better than I expected.
P.S: Ever wonder why Forces will always say Hai?
Note: Above part is only applicable to party warfare. If we're talking about solo... well, actually Cyrea with a vorpal did far better than I expected.
P.S: Ever wonder why Forces will always say Hai?
Okay, I know. That's a super lame joke. Pretty sure my super mignonne legal housebreaker and her BFFs won't find this funny.
Add P.S: Come to think of it, it's quite interesting to see that the lyrics of Forces I indicates the nature of Guts' relationship with Casca while Forces II took on a sinister turn via Guts' relationship with the Beast of Darkness. As for Hai Yo, the English translation "Oh Ashes" should be telling enough on Guts' life being synonymous with the harsh world he's living in.
Final P.S: Something crazy clicked in me days ago. Apparently, Kelemvor is the Skull Knight and Mystra is Flora while Arylos is Guts and Cyrea is Casca. Any literal connections shouldn't be drawn, however. Even more so for the last individual. I may be insane, but that doesn't mean I should demand the rest to be the same as well.
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