Charmer Build Advice

[Zbearbear]

So I'm currently working on a Charmer build, and I was just reaching out on what I should focus on stats and gear wise. I already chose Charmer with the Courtesan background because I'm under the impression I'd need to focus on Presence for the Charmer abilities. Also checking out gear that raises sexiness with a simple sword for melee if I need to. Any additional input is welcomed and appreciated.

 

[Burnerbro]

Resolve damage through teasing and other class powers is a pretty solid strategy. However you will find that in the early game no companions can complement that playstyle very well ( at least in terms of targeting enemy resolve alongside you. Plus some of the enemies you will encounter will be mindless and thus lust immune, and some will be resistant to certain types of Resolve damage.

So I highly recommend for you to pick a secondary role and build your powers kit accordingly:

You get a good Spellpower based damage buff from the get go and can become a pretty decent magic damage dealer relatively easily if you max out your Willpower. Picking up some of the Black Mage and Ranged powers you can learn from trainers can help the process.

You can become the off-healer for the group after learning some White magic. That way you can keep your party alive as you nuke the enemy resolve or slowly chip at they health in the fights where you can't tease them into submission.

Finally you can learn enough of Ranged, Thief and Warrior powers to make a physical damage dealing viable for you. Pick either strength or cunning and maximize to get the most out of these powers.

Maxed out Agility will help you with all four of the things you might be doing, and it's a class stat, so maxing it out is a must.

 

[Zbearbear]

Resolve damage through teasing and other class powers is a pretty solid strategy. However you will find that in the early game no companions can complement that playstyle very well ( at least in terms of targeting enemy resolve alongside you. Plus some of the enemies you will encounter will be mindless and thus lust immune, and some will be resistant to certain types of Resolve damage.

So I highly recommend for you to pick a secondary role and build your powers kit accordingly:

You get a good Spellpower based damage buff from the get go and can become a pretty decent magic damage dealer relatively easily if you max out your Willpower. Picking up some of the Black Mage and Ranged powers you can learn from trainers can help the process.

You can become the off-healer for the group after learning some White magic. That way you can keep your party alive as you nuke the enemy resolve or slowly chip at they health in the fights where you can't tease them into submission.

Finally you can learn enough of Ranged, Thief and Warrior powers to make a physical damage dealing viable for you. Pick either strength or cunning and maximize to get the most out of these powers.

Maxed out Agility will help you with all four of the things you might be doing, and it's a class stat, so maxing it out is a must.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'm still level 1 so that's why I reached out early. My main Champion is a thief/archer build. So I might make my Charmer a sword fighter or Spear fighter. I saw a couple spears. Might yoink Elthara's scythe. Dancing and singing with a scythe sounds cool.

 

[Burnerbro]

So I might make my Charmer a sword fighter or Spear fighter. I saw a couple spears. Might yoink Elthara's scythe. Dancing and singing with a scythe sounds cool.

A war dancer is indeed a very cool concept.


One last piece of advice I'd like to give for that particular build is for you to seek out the encounter in the Harvest Valley on the rightmost tile opposite of Anna's Farm after you get 2nd or 3d level. The NPC you will find there, on top of being quite interesting and well written, is another trainer that can teach your Champ some powers that will be a great thematic and mechanical fit.

 

[Animefan666]

I went with magic as my secondary for Charmer. The class already compliments spell casting and if you go Kitsune, you can get the Fox Jewel, which I think is the only offhand that boosts spell power and sexiness and Kitsuneski, which is one of the more effective Ultimates. For stats, I focused on the three core stats that Charmer relies on. As far as powers:

At-Will: You'll want a healing skill. Great Heal is the endgame for those long fights (which will likely be few and far between given the build)

Recharge 1: Allure for finishing off anything that might withstand the first attack.

Recharge 2: Arc Cannon/Fireball for anything resistant to resolve damage.

Encounter: Song of Splendor will be your bread and butter. Build up your stats and equipment with sexiness and spell power in mind and most enemies will fall to this in one round.

Ultimate: Revive/Unbreakable if you don't go Kitsune, otherwise Kitsuneski is the way to go.

For equipment and party members, make sure you get the whip from the hive. The shield too if you don't go Kistune for the sexiness boost. The Girthy Rod and accompanying skill makes a decent early game weapon. Remember, spell casting is supposed to be secondary. So, don't worry too much about optimizing your spell power. I went so far as to sacrifice defense and speed in favor of maximizing resolve damage and it hasn't failed me. Just keep Cait around to compensate for your squishiness and Brint/Brienne for hard hits, but if you want to capitalize on the build, Azyyran is a must have. She'll essentially be a copy of you in battle.

 

[Titanio]

Resolve damage through teasing and other class powers is a pretty solid strategy. However you will find that in the early game no companions can complement that playstyle very well ( at least in terms of targeting enemy resolve alongside you. Plus some of the enemies you will encounter will be mindless and thus lust immune, and some will be resistant to certain types of Resolve damage.

So I highly recommend for you to pick a secondary role and build your powers kit accordingly:

You get a good Spellpower based damage buff from the get go and can become a pretty decent magic damage dealer relatively easily if you max out your Willpower. Picking up some of the Black Mage and Ranged powers you can learn from trainers can help the process.

You can become the off-healer for the group after learning some White magic. That way you can keep your party alive as you nuke the enemy resolve or slowly chip at they health in the fights where you can't tease them into submission.

Finally you can learn enough of Ranged, Thief and Warrior powers to make a physical damage dealing viable for you. Pick either strength or cunning and maximize to get the most out of these powers.

Maxed out Agility will help you with all four of the things you might be doing, and it's a class stat, so maxing it out is a must.

how do you get strength as a charmer?

 

[Burnerbro]

how do you get strength as a charmer?

Pick one of the races that has affinity for it (out of the starter races it's just orcs and lupines), or use the stats redistribution service provided by any of the class trainers.

 

[Titanio]

Pick one of the races that has affinity for it (out of the starter races it's just orcs and lupines), or use the stats redistribution service provided by any of the class trainers.

Thx, and the npc you talked about is the one with the monk-like skills? How are those useful for a strength-charmer?

 

[Throg]

Having points in cunning to raise your crit chance with tease damage helps, too. Don't neglect your temptation stat, 'cause I think (maybe?) that sexiness effects accuracy of tease, but not as much the damage it does. So gear with +temptation.

 

[VerySexyGrammar]

Having points in cunning to raise your crit chance with tease damage helps, too. Don't neglect your temptation stat, 'cause I think (maybe?) that sexiness effects accuracy of tease, but not as much the damage it does. So gear with +temptation.

You're right to doubt the information. Turns out, the Codex hasn't been updated in forever (they're waiting until game mechanics have settled) and it's got the wrong info on that. Sexiness currently affects Tease attacks just like Attack Power affects physical powers and Spellpower affects spell powers, meaning it increases its damage. It doesn't affect its accuracy anymore. And Temptation is just Focus Penetration.

Song of Splendor crits are absurd, but then again there are only two functional lust powers in the game so they've got to be strong.

 

[Throg]

You're right to doubt the information. Turns out, the Codex hasn't been updated in forever (they're waiting until game mechanics have settled) and it's got the wrong info on that. Sexiness currently affects Tease attacks just like Attack Power affects physical powers and Spellpower affects spell powers, meaning it increases its damage. It doesn't affect its accuracy anymore. And Temptation is just Focus Penetration.

Song of Splendor crits are absurd, but then again there are only two functional lust powers in the game so they've got to be strong.

Haha. I knew some of the info was outdated, but wasn't sure about that in particular, so thanks for clarifying.

And yeah, getting a crit with song of splendor is a nuke but with splitting cheeks instead of atoms. So instead of +temptation gear, maybe +crit gear.

 

[Burnerbro]

Thx, and the npc you talked about is the one with the monk-like skills? How are those useful for a strength-charmer?

Zo, the lupine monk lady, teaches you 7 skills in total.

Equanimity is a stance that raises your crits (both the crit chance and scaling) the most out of any individual crit buff you can get. Good for almost any build that can afford to have it occupy the at-will slot.

Intuition is a stance that provides a good buff to Evasion and Physical Resistance. A slightly diluted version of the Duelist Stance that is available a level earlier (at 3d instead of 4th), so it is useful for any Charmer build that trades physical blows with the enemy.

Influence is an Encounter power that deals a really solid chunk of crushing damage while silencing and disarming the opponent, and it isn't dependent on your weapon's damage so it works even while your character is disarmed. You will be giving up the class's main Resolve nuke (Song of Splendor), but it is a good non-magical alternative for fights that you will have a hard time (or straight up can't be) winning by targeting Resolve.

Tranquility is an at-will stance that provides a Resolve damage resistance and a hefty passive Resolve recovery. This is less versatile than the Resolve healing class powers the Charmer gets, since it can't target your companions, but it is a much bigger heal, so if your Champ is getting Resolve nuked by enemies it is useful.

Equilibrium is a niche at-will stance that mostly provides you with immunity to Prone and Disarm statuses. So it is situationally useful for all classes in fights where your Champ gets targeted a lot with those abilities (and where the enemies don't stun you, because stuns cancel the target's stance).

Exertion is a bad power that should feel bad.

Guidance is a very weird at-will healing power that restores 25% of your companions' max Health and Resolve at the cost of 15% of your own. It's a risky move, but if you have a good tank+healer combo with you, it can help healing your team up after a nasty AoE. Probably not very good on Charmers, since they usually aren't rocking heavy protective gear and big HP pools.

 

[VerySexyGrammar]

And if you learn all her abilities, you get a silver mask that makes those abilities stronger. I don't know by how much exactly (haven't made an unarmed combat build yet), but considering that that's all this head item does and how much time you have to put in to get it, I assume it's a lot.

 

[Prent]

And if you learn all her abilities, you get a silver mask that makes those abilities stronger. I don't know by how much exactly (haven't made an unarmed combat build yet), but considering that that's all this head item does and how much time you have to put in to get it, I assume it's a lot.

The boost is quite substantial.


Equanimity grants 10% more crit chance and damage

Intuition likewise gives 10% more evasion and physical resistance.

Influence gets a massive damage buff and the silence and disarm statuses last an additional turn.

Tranquility increases the resolve regen by 5% and resolve damage reduction by 10%.

Equilibrium straight up makes you immune to combat statuses. But is actually a mixed bag since it makes you immune to combat buffs as well.

Exertion is a slightly less bad power that should still feel bad.

Guidance restores an additional 10% hp and resolve for your companions.

The only real problem with the mask is that so many of these are At-wills and so you can’t stack multiples on the same build most of the time.

 

[VerySexyGrammar]

Delicious information, thank you.

Yeah, so many of these are At-Wills, and there's only one At-Will slot, and you might need that slot for something else (like Mirror Stance)...

I like that it gives you so many options, but they're all so niche that I'm not sure I'd ever use any of them. What's really awful about them is that they take a turn to use, and at the worst possible time because you'd want to enable these for the whole fight but, at the start of combat, all your other powers are available and there are so many enemies you need to deal with.

Giving up your At-Will slot for one of these, losing a turn at the worst possible time... these are big sacrifices and I find myself unwilling to make them.

 

[Burnerbro]

Giving up your At-Will slot for one of these, losing a turn at the worst possible time... these are big sacrifices and I find myself unwilling to make them.

This is a problem with all of the stances in general: with a very few exceptions they occupy the slot you will otherwise use to die you over between the turns where you use you big ultimate, encounter and recharge powers; additionally. the easy fights don't warrant the use of stances and, more importantly, many of the current late game fights are straight up damage races where you can't take your time to set up big moves. Especially if every turn you risk the enemy debuffing you with statuses that will straight up rob you of your ability to use your most powerful moves.

If B or the dev team ever have time to look back at the design of Zo's roster of cool powers, I'd really love them to rework at least some of them into recharge ones. alleviating one of their two shared problems. Maybe even make Exertion into a worthwhile, if risky, power to use instead of a joke it is now.