User blog:Bluemax87/My Character Build in Excruciatingly Painful Detail!

Phase 1: Selecting a VocationInitially, I picked a Mage. It was extremely difficult to start off with a class with almost no defense or HP to help with soaking up attacks from enemies. I toughed it out from level 1 to level 10 without purchasing any upgrades within the vocation.

Phase 1: Selecting a Vocation for my Main PawnMy Main Pawn was easy, I needed someone to soak up the enemies and beat them down for me whilst I cast spells. So, she quickly became a Fighter. However, I made a huge tactical error with the question/answer phase of her creation. I initially assumed having a high Guardian Inclination would help me as a mage. I was wrong in the fact that my Fighter Pawn, while able to handle herself on her own, was the root of many of my enemy problems; she brought them straight back to ME!

Phase 1: QuestsThis is easy enough, I picked up every notice board quest I could when they came available and slayed as many bunnies, seagulls, oxen or goblins I could find in order to grind for EXP.

Phase 2: Changing vocationUpon achieving level 10, I was ¾ of the way through escorting the Hydra head to Gran Soren. Upon arrival, I immediately went to see Asalam in the inn and changed my vocation to Sorcerer. From level 10 to level 64, I spent the rest of my game as a Sorcerer. I can honestly say that the Wyrmking Ring does not boost your spell casting time, nor does Salomet’s Grimoir boost your magick attacks.

Phase 2: Changing the Main Pawn’s vocationUpon reaching level 45, I switched my Main Pawn from Fighter to Sorcerer. This may seem counter-intuitive to some, but just hear me out. My Pawn now had a base physical defense of 170 to add to any armor I may equip on her. This adds up to quite a bit when considering that a Sorcerer/Mage’s biggest weakness is physical attacks. Next, she had a base 2,045 HP at level 45, as well as the Augment “Vigilance”. These two factors added together increased her longevity immensely! In addition to these stats, her primary inclination for the moment was still guardian, which as a sorcerer meant she would stick to my side and dual cast any of my spells with me. Ever since, my Main Pawn has been a Sorcerer and Post-Game I changed her inclination to Scather/Mitigator.

Phase 3: Changing Vocations yet againAround level 64, I switched back to Mage for about a level in order to obtain rank 9 in the vocation and purchase the Augment “Attunement” for my final build. Around level 65, I switched over to Ranger until I hit level 99. I did this for the Stamina increases. In addition to the stamina increase, Ranger also gains +3 to base Magick each level and +4 to physical attack. This all assists in my final build… At level 99, I jumped over to Magick Archer for a level in order to max out the Vocation and purchase all abilities, core skills and augments. I then jumped to Assassin for one level to max out the vocation and purchase two necessary augments within that tree.

A shirt aside: a note on my gameplayI reached post-game around level 45 or so. At this point, I went to the Duke’s Demesne and aggravated the guards and used the loophole of standing on the church’s walls whilst my Pawns killed the guards. The guards are straight Fighters and have almost 0 Magick defense. So, with myself and three Sorcerer Pawns with a grab bag full of Veteran’s Periapts, we ‘power-leveled’ and ‘power-vocation’d’ quite quickly! Another aside, once I hit around level 60, I searched the Rift for Pawns 15 or more levels below my own in order to increase my experience gain.

Lastly: My buildI am a Magick Archer. With augments from Mage, Sorcerer, Assassin and Magick Archer. On a good night, without any Pawns, my magick attack power ranges around the 4,000 point mark. My physical attack power (used with dagger base attacks, but not the magick attacks based out of the dagger tree) is 2,500. My augments are 1-Magnitude, 2-attunement, 3-acuity, 4-articulacy, 5-bloodlust, and 6-autonomy. My active dagger skills are Grand Scension, sunflare and immolation. My active Magick Bow skills are Hunter Bolt, sixfold bolt and great sacrifice. Great sacrifice tends to be my go to shot on the Ur-Dragon after about 6 minutes of battle to ensure I get some good damage in before he departs…

Without checking my character, my HP is around the 2,500 point mark and my Stamina is around the 3,000 point mark. The Stamina level is a huge deal to me and a key point in my build. In order to better fight enemies, I need magick attacks… advanced magick attacks, that is. Therefore, my Hunter Bolt, Sixfold bolt and Great sacrifice take less overall stamina to fire off and leave me with more to use for a follow-up shot if needed. Not many additional shots are needed, however, seeing as my sixfold bolt will oneshot kill a Hellhound, which is in my opinion one of the toughest base enemies in the game.

Prologue: My future plansI am currently attempting to level my Arisen from 115 to 150 as a Fighter for better Physical defense statistics. It seems that if I allow enemies to get too close, their physical attacks take more damage than I’d care to admit. From about 150-200, I’d like to go back to Sorcerer for the base magick attack boost and attempt to get a magick attack (provided I have the right equipment) over the 5,000 point mark.

Another Personal asideI do not have my Xbox readily available at the time of writing this blog post. Therefore, I cannot physically check my character’s exact stats. I can, however, assure you that when last I played the current stats I posted above are within 100 points of being exact.