Build Advice - Hybrid Damage?

[Tempestfury]

After looking though some of the threads on builds here, I was struct with a curious question. Is it possible to build the Champion to be an effective Hybrid Damage Dealer?

First, I need to explain what I mean by a Hybrid Damage dealer: I'm not talking about someone who can do decent physical and magical damage, or someone who can do two or more types of magical damage effectively. I'm talking about a build that can deal either physical/magical damage, alongside a decent amount of lust damage.

Basically, when we had HP and Resolve as two different damage types, is it possible to build an effective character who can deal damage to both?

Now, keep in mind, I am very aware that mechanically, it is most likely best to focus on one rather than both. That specialization will give me better rewards than generalization. But, a hybrid damage build feels more appropriate for the character I am planning to play. And, at the end of the day, CoC is much more about the RP than the G, is it not?

So, is a Hybrid Damage build viable? And, if so, what do people suggest?

 

[Savin]

Basically, when we had HP and Resolve as two different damage types, is it possible to build an effective character who can deal damage to both?

No, and that's why Resolve was removed. It forced not just each character but each entire party composition to spec into one or the other.

NOW? Sure. Charmers are great at this: go all in on Presence and Willpower and you'll make a great Mental/Magical damage dealer.

 

[Tempestfury]

No, and that's why Resolve was removed. It forced not just each character but each entire party composition to spec into one or the other.

NOW? Sure. Charmers are great at this: go all in on Presence and Willpower and you'll make a great Mental/Magical damage dealer.

... Well, that wasn't quite what I meant, as I am more interested in Now rather than then, but fair.

Presence and Willpower, a mix of Mental and Magicial... that makes sense. Any suggestions for what abilities and spells I should pick up?

 

[Rezplz]

... Well, that wasn't quite what I meant, as I am more interested in Now rather than then, but fair.

Presence and Willpower, a mix of Mental and Magicial... that makes sense. Any suggestions for what abilities and spells I should pick up?

When I go charmer, I go a mix of lust damage, buffing, and some magical damage. I'll swap out abilities depending on where I am, and how many enemies are likely to be immune/resistant to tease.

Your at will has a lot of options, depending on how much you want to lean into the support angle. I recommend doing some support, since you'll have a high presence you'll have a good leadership anyway, might as well take advantage of that. The starting bolstering dance is pretty good, as long as you have a tank - constantly healing your allies will build up threat. If you're running tankless, then song of courage is another good support at will. If you want to go damage and disregard support, I would probably go charge weapon.

For other abilities, again there's a lot of options. Song of storms is good to buff either yourself or an ally. If you put it on an ally, the extra damage you give them will be increased by your leadership buffs. Dischord will do some good AOE damage, esp against some things that are immune to tease. (The golems in the undermountain come to mind). When you're safer with doing tease damage, allure and song splendor will slap tease damage on everyone. If you have any other tease attackers, song splendor will buff them up as well. Bless is always really good, as it buffs up not only yourself but everyone else.

In fact, I'd say that charmers are one of, if not THE only class I'd hard recommend to be a hybrid of sorts. Tease damage has the largest variability in how useful it is, so you'll want a few different options.

 

[Tempestfury]

Hmmm, sounds like there really is quite a lot of different options. Song of Storms and Charge Sword lets me dabble with Spellblades abilities, Bolstering Dance is, as you said, a pretty good healing ability for when I have a tank. With Song of Courage being a pretty strong replacement for when I want pure, raw-damage for my allies. Dischord gives AoE Damage and a status debuff, Song of Splendour and Alurre are a pretty potent combination...

Honestly, sounds like I should just go for Presence and Willpower and play around with the Charmer powers and Magic Powers to make a build that I feel like is best. Changing them to fit my enemy - if I know them in advance - does sound like a rather smart choice. What should my third ability focus be, Cunning or Agility? Cunning makes me more likely to critical hit, makes my crits stronger, and makes me more capable of taking magic damage. While Agility increases the accuracy of my non-tease attacks, makes me move quicker, and gives me more evasion.

Both sound like rather strong choices honestly.

 

[Rezplz]

While both are strong choices, agility wins out by far. As a charmer, you're not likely to have much armor, making evasion more important. It will also increase your initiative and accuracy, which are important no matter which way you're going. If you're leaning into buffing, initiative will let you buff your allies before their first big attack. Accuracy is important for all the attacks you'll be doing, including tease attacks (sexiness no longer increases accuracy of tease attacks, it's just a damage multiplier like attack power. Wiki/codex are out of date).

Cunning is still really helpful, so when you're swinging by Garth's I'd grab a cunning drink whenever it's convenient.

Edit: As far as when to choose what powers, In the east and south of hawkthorne I tend to go all into tease. Tease is really strong in the old forest, but at early levels wolves can be annoying, so I would have more of a hybrid set up early on. (luckily your default powers are pretty hybrid) Once wolves are trivial, you can easily go full tease. In the frosty forest with all them foxes I recall being safe going full tease, but in glacial rift/undermountain hybrid becomes much more useful.

 

[Tempestfury]

Gotcha, thanks for the advice.

 

[Rezplz]

Also, Since I just remembered you were talking about dabbling into spellblade stuff: if that's the case, you'll want to take a strength drink instead of cunning. Attack power should boost the weapon damage AND the magic damage added to your weapon. Your crits won't be as boosted but that's fine since you'll be doing a lot more base damage.

 

[Tempestfury]

The fact you have a drink that lets you buff up one stat to max is really damn strong for how cheap it is.