-
- Forums
- Chatrooms
- Gallery
- Gameplay Videos
- Upload
- Articles
- Mod Reviews
- Shop SP: Games, Movies, Books
|
|
ZAKARA, F FIRE GODLIKE BLEAK WALKER
The character concept is a Black Knight character with demonic hellfire overtones. The build is a complicated one.
Firstly, she can inflict a lot of steady damage with each blow through a Sabre that inflicts Corrosive Damage on its victims. That in itself has a definite synergy with the Remember Rakhan Fields power, which adds bonus Corrosive Damage to Flames of Devotion. Each killing blow will also inflict Frightened as an Accuracy debuff on all enemies within a certain radius of the kill.
The benefits of being a Fire Godlike will trigger if she's reduced to 50% Endurance or less. One, she'll gain bonus Damage Reduction. And I'll get her a ring that gives her additional Damage Reduction when her Endurance is low enough. Second, she'll transmit a flaming aura that wounds any enemy that strikes her thereafter. The damage scales with character level. Should she take enough damage in combat, she'll end up as a kind of porcupine that enemies can end up breaking themselves on.
Stats
Abilities
1st Level - Flames of Devotion: This is the natural choice for a Bleak Walker on account of The Black Path and Remember Rakhan Field talents.
3rd Level - Zealous Endurance: A modal aura that adds +3 Damage Reduction for the Paladin and all allies within its radius. The idea is that Maneha will take the Gallant Focus talent, so that I benefit from two auras overall instead of just one.
5th Level - Sworn Enemy: Allows a Paladin to inflict +20% damage and attack with +15 Accuracy against a single-enemy. It can be used once every Encounter, and will last the entire battle or until its target dies. Those two factors make this a fabulous ability to use against the most powerful enemy in any and every battle, especially against bosses.
7th Level - Inspiring Triumph: Adds +7 to all Defenses for all party members with a certain radius of the Paladin when the Paladin kills an enemy. It is a logical choice for a Paladin build that already revolves around an 'on kill' effect like Remember Rakhan Fields. Since the bonuses spring from the use of a Passive ability, they will stack with other Defense bonuses as well.
9th Level - Coordinated Attacks: A passive ability where the ally standing closest to Zakara and attacking the same enemy as Zakara will gain a +10 Accuracy bonus against that enemy. Eder and Maneha will benefit a lot from this ability, as well as Zahua though probably not as often.
11th Level - Righteous Soul: It increases her Defenses against Charming, Domination, Disease, Poisoning, Frightened and Terrified.
13th Level - Sacred Immolation: This ability causes the Paladin to pulse fire in a certain radius around the Paladin every few seconds for a base duration of 30 seconds. Each pulse inflicts a small amount of Raw damage on the Paladin, but will also at the same time cause Burning Damage to all enemies near the Paladin, and heal a small amount of Endurance for nearby allies. If the Burning damage kills an enemy, it will trigger The Black Path for her.
15th Level - Behold the Martyr: This ability requires first that a party member get knocked unconscious in combat. Once that happens, the Paladin can make the fallen party member the focal point of an aura that increases Damage Reduction by +8 and Attack Speed for all allies within a certain radius, and imposes Damage Reduction and Attack Speed penalties on all enemies within the same radius. It is highly situational, given the requirement that a party member get knocked unconscious in combat. It is, however, undeniably potent when used. The tipping point for me using this in the evil party is that I don't have access to Druid spells that provide a comparable level of Damage Reduction bonuses.
Talents
2nd Level - The Black Path: Unleashes a Frighten effect on all enemies within a certain radius of the Bleak Walker whenever she strikes a killing blow on her target. The -10 Accuracy penalty is meaningful throughout the game, even from the earliest levels and onwards.
4th Level - Remember Rakhan Fields: Adds an additional 25% Corrosive Damage to the Flames of Devotion ability, on top of the +50% Burning Damage.
6th Level - Two Weapon Style: This is the natural choice as it increases her Attack Speed by 20% when she's attacking with her pair of Sabres. Anything that will increase the chances of triggering her Remember Rakhan Fields power is a must.
8th Level - Spirit of Decay: This is one of the linchpins for her build. It augments all at once the base damage of her Bittercut sabre, the Corrosive lash enchantment I placed on Bittercut, as well as her use of Flames of Devotion in conjunction with the Remember Rakhan Fields talent. I am able to take this talent very shortly after having acquired Bittercut.
10th Level - Weapon Focus / Ruffian: It is the natural choice as it augments her Accuracy with her sabres.
12th Level - Scion of Flames: It augments the Burning Damage for Flames of Devotion, her Battle-Forged power, and Sacred Immolation, which she will take on her next level up.
14th Level - Deep Faith: Adds +8 to her Deflection and +17 to all of her other Defenses. Even a little boost to Deflection can be helpful for a Damage Dealer, if for no other reason than that it will sometimes reduce Critical Hits to standard Hits instead. The boost to other Defenses is certainly welcome as well.
16th Level - Intense Flames: Increase the Burning Damage from her use of Flames of Devotion.
Inventory
Bittercut: Looted from the Elven Slaver named Vamrel at #11 in the Russetwood. The key feature is that the ability to inflict Corrosive damage on its targets if the target's Corrosive Damage Reduction is lower than its Slashing Damage Reduction, which is almost always the case. This is probably the weapon of choice for a Bleak Walker, especially in conjunction with the Spirit of Decay talent. I added the Corrosive Lash, Legendary Quality and Durgan Iron enchantments to it in the course of the game.
Bittercut: Looted from the Elven Slaver named Vamrel at #11 in the Russetwood. I used The Helwax Mold to make a duplicate after I had added all the enchantments I wanted to the original. Zakara is that much more deadly for being able to dual-wield exact duplicates of a very powerful weapon that is optimized for her use.
St. Ydwen's Redeemer: Looted from Urthal at #12 near Russetwood. The Resurrection, and Holy Power abilities are nice, but they are really sugar on top. The 10% chance to inflict Divine Mark on a Hit or Critical Hit makes the weapon quite useful in its own right. However, the real perk is the chance to kill a Vessel outright, which in turn will trigger The Black Path. It becomes her weapon of choice whenever she's fighting corporeal undead or constructs.
Mantle of the Excavator: In a debris pile at #25 in the Lower West Tower. As with Alliria, the +4 bonus to Perception and the +2 bonus to Survival (and therefore improved Resting bonuses) are key benefits. With Zakara there is the additional point that the +25 bonus to defense vs. poison will offset the penalties to the same that come from wielding the Bittercut sabre.
Sanguine Plate: A reward for The Forgotten task. The bonus to Survival is nifty since it enhances her resting bonuses when camping outdoors or in dungeons. The real point is that it will activate Frenzy for her when she gets Critically Hit, which will happen often. The Constitution bonus from Frenzy will improve her resiliency, while the bonuses to Attack Speed and Might will increase her fighting power. I add the Exceptional Quality enchantment (+4 Damage Reduction) to it, and that's as far as I can go for what I have in mind. I next place the +2 Intellect enchantment on it. The point is to increase the range of her powers like Zealous Endurance, The Black Path, and Sacred Immolation. I add the +3 Crushing Damage Reduction enchantment to it. She already has increases to Piercing and Slashing Damage Reduction from her Blunting Belt. Lastly, I added the Durgan Iron enchantment to it for the reduction of Critical Hits to Hits, and more importantly the reduction of the Armor Speed Penalty.
Celebrant's Gloves: A reward for The Celebrant's Dirge companion adventure. Adds +10% to area of effect abilities, so it will also enhance the Sacred Immolation and The Black Path abilities, and not just the Zealous Endurance aura. The 10% chance to cast Holy Meditation on getting Hit or Critically Hit doesn't hurt either.
Pensiavi Mes Resi: Looted from a cache at #8 in the Temple of Hylea. It allows her to get her +3 Might bonus from one of her ring slots, thereby freeing her belt slot for the Blunting Belt.
Iron Circle: Looted from Chief Red-Maw at #5 in Cayron's scar. Her fighting style is heavily dependent on Damage Reduction, and not so much on Deflection. So it makes sense for her to get an item that gives her a hefty +4 bonus to Constitution and another boost to Damage Reduction should she sustain enough damage in a battle. The -5% Attack Speed is negligible in this instance, since it will easily be overborne by the bonuses to Attack Speed provided by her two-weapon style.
Blunting Belt: Obtained from the chest near the ladder at #8 in Raedric's Dungeons, as an item from the Raedric Hold - Dungeons - Lower Chest section of the Random Drop List. One of the emphases of her build is to emphasize Damage Reduction instead of Deflection to last through her battles, and that ties in with the Battle-Forged power of Fire Godlikes. The Belt adds +5 Piercing and Slashing Damage reduction, so it's a natural fit for her build.
Boots of Zealous Command: Purchased from Winfrith's Arms and Armory, the entrance to which is at #14 in Dyrford Village. It is the obvious choice of boots for a Paladin, as it will expand the range of the Paladin's Zealous aura.
