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| Pillars of Eternity 2 Online Walkthrough by David Milward |
KONSTANTEN, M DWARF HOWLER (BARBARIAN / SKALD)
Stats
Abilities
1st Level - Barbaric Yell: Default starting ability. It will be upgraded in ways that take advantage of other abilities in the build.
The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas: Default starting ability. An Offensive Invocation that both inflicts Crushing Damage and Stuns in a cone. It has an upgrade.
Come, Come Soft Winds of Death: Does a little bit of Raw Damage every 3 sec, and also heals the Chanter himself a little bit at the same time.
2nd Level - Frenzy: Adding +5 Might and +5 Constitution and +15% Action Speed is often good and thematic for a Barbarian. I have a specific upgrade in mind that will play to other abilities and strengths of this build.
3rd Level - Blooded: He'll inflict +25% Damage if he himself is at 25% or less Health. It's often an obligatory passive for a Barbarian who's packing a two-handed weapon.
4th Level - Thick-Skinned: Adds +1 to Engagement and +1 to Armor Rating. It's a typical passive for many Barbarians.
Two-Handed Style: It adds +20% Damage when using a two-handed weapon. And it's the natural choice, since a Morning Star is going to be his weapon of choice.
5th Level - Accurate Carnage: He also adds Accurate Carnage on his 5th level-up. The bonus Accuracy to Carnage makes it a staple passive for Barbarians.
6th Level - Barbaric Blow: It's a Full Attack with +20% Damage, +50% Damage on Critical Hit, a 30% chance of converting a Hit to a Critical Hit, and a +50% area of effect for Carnage. And it will be upgraded.
7th Level - One Stands Alone: It adds +20% Damage when he's within melee range of more than one enemy, and it will take at least three enemies to put the Flanked status on him. It's pretty much a staple passive for Barbarians.
Combat Focus: It adds +1 Concentration at the start of each fight. And it's a good passive to have for a Chanter, as some of his Offensive Invocations will have significant casting times.
8th Level - Bloodlust: It provides an Accuracy bonus to The Thunder Rolled Like Waves.
9th Level - Bloody Slaughter: A passive ability that provides a 20% chance of converting Hits to Critical Hits and +50% Critical Hit Damage, both against Near Death targets. This is a good ability to take when you have other abilities or benefits that trigger on landing the killing blow.
Rapid Casting: Some of his Offensive Invocations do have significant casting times, so taking this passive is certainly advisable.
10th Level - Spirit Frenzy: Attacks made while Frenzied now also inflict Staggered (-5 Might, cannot Engage). That includes Carnage, and it also includes any other attack, even spells. That makes Spirit Frenzy a popular choice for many multi-class builds that combine Barbarian with a spellcaster class. In Konstanten's case it will also add Staggered to his Offensive Invocations. There's the additional point that Staggered will also reduce the targets' Fortitude by -10, and that will help with the Brute Force passive when he gets it.
The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning: His phrases will now alternate between Come, Come Soft Winds of Death and this one. It imposes the Weakened (-5 Constitution, Healing Received reduced by 50%) Affliction on all enemies within its area-of-effect. The Constitution penalty from Weakened and the Might penalty from Staggered will both reduce a target's Fortitude by -20. Add to that the -25 Fortitude penalty when using the Body Blows modal for a Morning Star, and all three penalties together act as a great primer again for the Brute Force passive when he gets it.
11th Level - Barbaric Shout: It will cause Shaken (-5 Resolve, -3 Power Levels) to all enemies within a 2.5m radius. Add Staggered (-5 Might, cannot Engage) to that in conjunction with Spirit Frenzy being activated. It will also increase his Engagement by +3.
12th Level - Savage Defiance: The Robust Inspiration both boosts Armor Rating by +2 and provides Health regeneration during its duration, so it will improve his survivability when he uses it.
13th Level - Barbaric Smash: It upgrades Barbaric Blow so that it recoups any Rage spent on it if it results in a killing blow.
Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept: It's an Offensive Invocation that launches seven bolts of ice from the Chanter that inflict Freezing Damage only on enemies.
14th Level - Rapid Casting: It will reduce the casting times of his Offensive Invocations.
15th Level - Uncanny Luck: A passive that provides a 5% chance to avoid any attack, and a 5% chance to convert a Hit to a Critical Hit. The latter ties in with his incentive to land Melee Critical Hits as a Skald.
14th Level - Her Tears Fell Like Rain: It upgrades Seven Nights She Waited so that each Freezing Damage bolt causes a small area-of-effect of additional Freezing Damage when it first strikes a target.
16th Level - Brute Force: Attacks with Melee Weapons will now target Fortitude instead of Deflection if the former is lower than the latter. And now I get the passive that brings the pieces of the build together.
Improved Critical: Adds 10% Damage to Critical Hits. It's a perfectly sensible choice for a character build that emphasizes scoring Critical Hits as often as possible.
17th Level - Tough: More Health is always a good thing for any character, but especially a character who packs a two-handed weapon in the thick of combat.
18th Level - Its Crash Could Not Be Denied: It upgrades The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas with an Accuracy boost. This was about enhancing an ability he has pre-selected when he first joins the party, and which he will inevitably use during ship combat.
19th Level - Bloodthirst: Landing a killing blow triggers the Barbarian enjoying instant Recovery after any and all actions for 10 sec. There will be the usual Recovery Time immediately after the killing blow itself. But once that Recovery Time elapses, that's when the 10 sec of instant Recovery begins.
Her Tears Fell Like Rain: It upgrades Seven Nights She Waited, so that each bolt triggers a small explosion for additional area-of-effect Freezing Damage when the bolt first hits a target in its path.
20th Level - Stalwart Defiance: It reduces the Rage cost for using Savage Defiance from 3 to 2.
Inventory
Helm of the Falcon: Purchased from the Merchant at #3 in Crookspur. The key point is that it reduces Recovery Time with two-handed weapons by -15%.
Orishia: Obtained by defeating Flamewalker Vessali at #35 on the World Map while pursuing a bounty against him. It grants one of six effects at random at the start of each combat: +5% Action Speed, 25 point Damage Shield, -20% Hostile Effect Duration, +1 Penetration, -10% Recovery Time, +15% Stride. Most of them will enhance the abilities of a character designed to hit hard in melee for damage and as often as possible.
Cloak of Greater Protection: Looted from a corpse at #9 in the Eastern Cavern. Other characters have claims to more unique cloaks that fit in with their particular builds. I otherwise have no objection to equipping him with a generic cloak that adds +10 to all Defenses besides Deflection.
Contender's Armor: Purchased from Engari at #10 in the Temple of Toamowhai. I choose the Heavy Mobility power, which reduces the Recovery Penalty of the armor by 1% for every point in the Athletics skill of the wearer. An armor with reduced Recovery Time is always welcome for a character that both fights on the front lines and casts spells, and some of the Offensive Invocations that Konstanten uses have significant Recovery Times.
Gauntlets of Accuracy: Obtained after defeating the Woedican Agents in Neketaka. A Skald as always wants to land Critical Hits as often as possible in order to accumulate the Phrases for Offensive Invocations as quickly as possible. That makes these Gauntlets an easy choice.
Ring of Regeneration: Looted after defeating the enemy miners in the Collapsed Coal Mine. It's a sensible choice for a warrior who is himself going to get hit plenty.
Ring of Overseeing: Looted from Tahae at #3 in the east island of the Wakara Reef. Its bonus to area-of-effect will benefit his Carnage, and his Offensive Invocations.
Mewnan's Broad Belt: Looted from the Reeking Horror at #6 in Old City. The +2 to Athletics will reduce his Recovery Time in combination with the Contender's Armor.
Dreamwalker's Tread: In a chest at #12 in The Upper Bowels. The +2 to Stealth will be meaningless for him. The +1 to Athletics augments the reduction of Recovery Time provided through the Contender's Armor.
Possible Alternatives: Spirit Frenzy will apply the Staggered Affliction not just to the targets of the Barbarian's Melee Attacks, but to spells as well. A Barbarian using Spirit Frenzy is thus a popular choice for multi-classing with spellcaster classes that use offensive spells. Just be careful not to take Spirit Tornado, because then attacks made while Frenzied will only apply Staggered to the single target of a Melee Attack.
