Charmer Build Help

[OccultTheEnby]

Very apologies, reposting to right forum.

"Hiya, this is my first time playing the game and I think I am pretty far in. But I was wondering if I could do my charmer build better so I wanna ask people who have been playing this for longer.

(Just cuz I saw a person repeatedly ask this on every other build post, at this point I DON'T have preferred party members. I switch them frequently. I do have Cait the most in the party though if that helps at all.)

Again, very new to this game so like, if I am doing something wrong then please don't be too harsh?

I am thinking about if I should switch out my armor for the fishnets for the sexi boost or if I should switch my new weapons back to my two handed mushroom staff for the sexi boost.

Should I be working for sexi at all? Is temptation better?

I am doing decent combat wise, I want to be able to do even better though."

Additional question, is priestess cait best cait? Or is her other outfits better?

 

[PalletTown]

I would recommend reading the Companion Analysis Thread for more complete information over companions. There really isn't a "best" Cait outfit because all the outfits are specialized in different areas. If you need Cait as a healer above all else than stick with passion priestess.

Fishnets is better for the temptation. Temptation is generally better than sexiness because it's harder to boost and its essentially armor penetration for sexiness.

I think I understand your reasoning with your build. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that you choose every piece of equipment to maximize sexiness. While it is generally better to focus on what you are good at, try not to be too hyper focus.

Belt with a pouch is highly underrated. That extra 5 initiative comes in real handy. It's also good that you didn't fall the bottom heavy belt which will actually lower your overall sexiness.

You focused your attributes on Agility, Willpower, and Prescence. Agility and Prescence are fine, but most of your powers don't take advantage of willpower. If you want to do a pure tease built, I would swap out Willpower for Cunning because the extra crit affects teases as well.

A popular choice among a lot a people right now is to wear the pyromancer set which allow to dump willpower but still have high spellpower due to sexiness.

Leadership is a good stat because it boosts your companions.

Enchanting arts is ok, but I generally find that Expert Inspiration allow you to do insane strategies. For example, if you swap soul arrow for blessing then with Expert Inspiration, you would give your party member 2 turn blessing which is insane. However, your current power set would not really be able to take advantage of Expert Inspiration.

Rogue's Ring is not very good. The amount of threat reduction is minimal especially with a heavy tease build. If you can stand huge breasts then the hornet ring would be better, or Guldring for the leadership, or ring of fortune, or lucky strike. (I would also use the lucky coin for money generation.)

Hairpin a bit meh. Not bad, but the stat bonuses are fairly marginal.

Unless you really want to take advantage of the Summon Sporling power, I would recommend against the mushroom staff.

There are also several threads dedicated to builds. Here are some of them.
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/build-advice.35959/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/physical-damage-build-help-needed.38095/#post-436959
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/can-anyone-help-me-with-an-archer-build.37687/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/lo...t-me-through-a-playthrough.37064/#post-431765
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/st...-a-magic-warrior-build-any-suggestions.36197/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/please-newbie-need-help.36047/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/spellsword-build-help.34580/

Just in case you want to do something else with a charmer, I made a pretty good buffer build. Buffer Build

 

[OccultTheEnby]

I would recommend reading the Companion Analysis Thread for more complete information over companions. There really isn't a "best" Cait outfit because all the outfits are specialized in different areas. If you need Cait as a healer above all else than stick with passion priestess.

Fishnets is better for the temptation. Temptation is generally better than sexiness because it's harder to boost and its essentially armor penetration for sexiness.

I think I understand your reasoning with your build. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that you choose every piece of equipment to maximize sexiness. While it is generally better to focus on what you are good at, try not to be too hyper focus.

Belt with a pouch is highly underrated. That extra 5 initiative comes in real handy. It's also good that you didn't fall the bottom heavy belt which will actually lower your overall sexiness.

You focused your attributes on Agility, Willpower, and Prescence. Agility and Prescence are fine, but most of your powers don't take advantage of willpower. If you want to do a pure tease built, I would swap out Willpower for Cunning because the extra crit affects teases as well.

A popular choice among a lot a people right now is to wear the pyromancer set which allow to dump willpower but still have high spellpower due to sexiness.

Leadership is a good stat because it boosts your companions.

Enchanting arts is ok, but I generally find that Expert Inspiration allow you to do insane strategies. For example, if you swap soul arrow for blessing then with Expert Inspiration, you would give your party member 2 turn blessing which is insane. However, your current power set would not really be able to take advantage of Expert Inspiration.

Rogue's Ring is not very good. The amount of threat reduction is minimal especially with a heavy tease build. If you can stand huge breasts then the hornet ring would be better, or Guldring for the leadership, or ring of fortune, or lucky strike. (I would also use the lucky coin for money generation.)

Hairpin a bit meh. Not bad, but the stat bonuses are fairly marginal.

Unless you really want to take advantage of the Summon Sporling power, I would recommend against the mushroom staff.

There are also several threads dedicated to builds. Here are some of them.
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/build-advice.35959/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/physical-damage-build-help-needed.38095/#post-436959
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/can-anyone-help-me-with-an-archer-build.37687/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/lo...t-me-through-a-playthrough.37064/#post-431765
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/st...-a-magic-warrior-build-any-suggestions.36197/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/please-newbie-need-help.36047/
https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/spellsword-build-help.34580/

Just in case you want to do something else with a charmer, I made a pretty good buffer build. Buffer Build

I think after going through all of my options I might want to switch classes I looked at the links you put down and I think I would have more fun being a more easy to understand build like warrior, but since I have presence as my starter boost I might go with black mage?

 

[Resawar]

Hello hello screenshots are nice, good base line to work with. (Sniped but hey I toil for something and maybe this will hep you out)

Spoiler: What is your Charmer going to be?

I assume you wanna squeeze every last drop of damage you can get based off of what your build currently looks like and the fact that you feel fine with the combat currently, charmer is a fantastic class to spec into both damage and support but pure damage is ok too even if I would recommend being more supportive. WillPower is good for a few things such as most spells or boosting your Focus and Mental Resistance but your build most likely will not use it to it's fullest potential, now Cunning is a bit better as it will boost your damage first and foremost via the boost to Crit Chance and Crit Effectiveness along with a boost to magic resistance. You can always boost another stat with the drinks sold at a bar to have four high stats
to use in cimbat such as boosting Toughness or WillPower to help with the many enemies that you will face, there is never not a reason to forgo drinking one unless you physically can not.

For level seven perks you have to ask yourself if the extra 40 percent A.O.E is worth giving up two rounds of Blessing or any other boosted duration buff.

Sexiness is your damage while Temptation is your "armor" penetration i.e more Sexiness mean more damage and more Temptation means more of your damage is not resisted, now for balancing the two a high Sexiness is a good thing to aim for while also having a bit of Temptation to make you can get past most baseline enemy resistances to teasing and the such. Other section will cover most of the other important stuff such as powers, gear, and even team makeup.

Spoiler: Gear

Gear is very important to pick right for the role you want to fill, all gear is "good" but some are better.

Spoiler: Offhand

Rosebloom is good for those enemies that resist tease damage but are either weak to or not immune to pheromone damage and it also boosts Sexiness and makes you immune to crit, but this item is better to pack incase of the problem as there are better items in different ways. The Fox Jewel is good but unless you are making use of spellpower there is a better item, this my preferred item but I also use spells. An item that is the most fitting for you my friend is the Parasol with it's boost to not only Sexiness but Temptation too with the bonus of a leadership boost, this item is great as a "stat stick" as it's everything you need and more with the leadership improving you team members.

Spoiler: Primary

The whip is good, not like you get much else

Spoiler: Accessories("Neck", Rings, Belt, Shoulders)

Starting with the neck it's not really a choice as the fluffy scarf gives a boost to Sexiness while also giving some bulk, you can always go with the collars or Black Monkshood but I like the bulk. For the belt you would think that the stat boosting one is the best but it's heavy and there are betters belts such as the Belt with a Pouch or the Senninbari as the former with give a nice boost to Initiative and the latter can help you not get one shot or "die" once a day. For Rings you should get a Luck Strike as the stats it give are very relevant to your build and for the other ring you can grab one of the money doubling ones, for another combat ring you can get the Hornet Ring as long as you can read or the Guldring as boost to your Leadership. Finally for your Shoulders keep the Cloak of Winter for the same reasons you keep the scarf.

Spoiler: Armor(Head, Armor, Feet, Hands)

Lets start with armor and for that you have a few options but interestingly all the top Sexiness and Temptation options are not bad but underwhelming as they do one thing if not maybe two and that's it, it's not a bad thing but we want more out of our armors. For a good choice you can go with the Royal Leathers if you want some bulk while also boosting your Sexiness, keeping the bodysuit for it's high evasion, Regal Kimono if you want the stats, Dancer Silks are there with the highest Sexiness but no Temptation and with fewer stats, or just say screw it with what ever I'm on and use the Bondage Gear for maximum damage as they have more armor then the Fishnets for only five less Evasion. For the head you can use the Titanic Hat for a massive boost or stick with the Hairpin for the Leadership, you can also use the Everblossom hood for extra HP or even the Dueling Hat for the extra Evasion. Next is the feet and I would say to stick with what you have unless you really want the Initiative from the Winged Sabatons. Last is the Hands and those also come somewhat limited as the best option is the Latex Gloves unless you want some armor in the Arm Length Leather Gloves.

Spoiler: Power

Power choice is always hard but I may have a few suggestions. Some enemies are immune to "lust" damage so it might be good to have some alternative damage on your person.

Spoiler: At-Will

Bolstering Dance is good but there are other powers you can also pick from. Equanimity could be used to boost damage via crits, Intuition to dodge more A.O.Es, or you could use Equilibrium to avoid being knocked prone or all buffs and debuffs in general. Soothing Dance can be use to somewhat heal but it's not great.

Spoiler: Recharge

Allure is good keep it as your general damage source, no reason to not use it as it is one of the best powers. Other powers you can use could be Suggestive Sway to do good damage and debuff your enemies. For non charmer powers you could use Acid Flask with Cunning to do good damage and lower enemy armor, you can also use Blessing for extra damage for the whole team for one to two turns based on your perks, Keldoran's Song for A.O.E debuffs and a stun onto the target, Estrus Flask for some utility debuffs and some damage, or Grease and Crackle Powder to stun or prone the enemies.

Spoiler: Encounter

Look Song of Splendor is really good but you do have options if you want something else such as Flames Within to boost damage. Garrote can be useful even if you have low strength as it's raw damage and can shut down spell casters, Roaring Storm can be good passive damage if you want it. Summons are also an option and can be boosted and buffed.

Spoiler: Ultimate

Inspiration is ok but there are some more interesting power to use, Abjure stuns and strips all buffs from an enemy if need or you can use Revive to revive a fallen teammate.

Spoiler: Companions

I wrote a whole bunch about all of them in my analysis here.

 

[OccultTheEnby]

Hello hello screenshots are nice, good base line to work with. (Sniped but hey I toil for something and maybe this will hep you out)

Spoiler: What is your Charmer going to be?

I assume you wanna squeeze every last drop of damage you can get based off of what your build currently looks like and the fact that you feel fine with the combat currently, charmer is a fantastic class to spec into both damage and support but pure damage is ok too even if I would recommend being more supportive. WillPower is good for a few things such as most spells or boosting your Focus and Mental Resistance but your build most likely will not use it to it's fullest potential, now Cunning is a bit better as it will boost your damage first and foremost via the boost to Crit Chance and Crit Effectiveness along with a boost to magic resistance. You can always boost another stat with the drinks sold at a bar to have four high stats
to use in cimbat such as boosting Toughness or WillPower to help with the many enemies that you will face, there is never not a reason to forgo drinking one unless you physically can not.

For level seven perks you have to ask yourself if the extra 40 percent A.O.E is worth giving up two rounds of Blessing or any other boosted duration buff.

Sexiness is your damage while Temptation is your "armor" penetration i.e more Sexiness mean more damage and more Temptation means more of your damage is not resisted, now for balancing the two a high Sexiness is a good thing to aim for while also having a bit of Temptation to make you can get past most baseline enemy resistances to teasing and the such. Other section will cover most of the other important stuff such as powers, gear, and even team makeup.

Spoiler: Gear

Gear is very important to pick right for the role you want to fill, all gear is "good" but some are better.

Spoiler: Offhand

Rosebloom is good for those enemies that resist tease damage but are either weak to or not immune to pheromone damage and it also boosts Sexiness and makes you immune to crit, but this item is better to pack incase of the problem as there are better items in different ways. The Fox Jewel is good but unless you are making use of spellpower there is a better item, this my preferred item but I also use spells. An item that is the most fitting for you my friend is the Parasol with it's boost to not only Sexiness but Temptation too with the bonus of a leadership boost, this item is great as a "stat stick" as it's everything you need and more with the leadership improving you team members.

Spoiler: Primary

The whip is good, not like you get much else

Spoiler: Accessories("Neck", Rings, Belt, Shoulders)

Starting with the neck it's not really a choice as the fluffy scarf gives a boost to Sexiness while also giving some bulk, you can always go with the collars or Black Monkshood but I like the bulk. For the belt you would think that the stat boosting one is the best but it's heavy and there are betters belts such as the Belt with a Pouch or the Senninbari as the former with give a nice boost to Initiative and the latter can help you not get one shot or "die" once a day. For Rings you should get a Luck Strike as the stats it give are very relevant to your build and for the other ring you can grab one of the money doubling ones, for another combat ring you can get the Hornet Ring as long as you can read or the Guldring as boost to your Leadership. Finally for your Shoulders keep the Cloak of Winter for the same reasons you keep the scarf.

Spoiler: Armor(Head, Armor, Feet, Hands)

Lets start with armor and for that you have a few options but interestingly all the top Sexiness and Temptation options are not bad but underwhelming as they do one thing if not maybe two and that's it, it's not a bad thing but we want more out of our armors. For a good choice you can go with the Royal Leathers if you want some bulk while also boosting your Sexiness, keeping the bodysuit for it's high evasion, Regal Kimono if you want the stats, Dancer Silks are there with the highest Sexiness but no Temptation and with fewer stats, or just say screw it with what ever I'm on and use the Bondage Gear for maximum damage as they have more armor then the Fishnets for only five less Evasion. For the head you can use the Titanic Hat for a massive boost or stick with the Hairpin for the Leadership, you can also use the Everblossom hood for extra HP or even the Dueling Hat for the extra Evasion. Next is the feet and I would say to stick with what you have unless you really want the Initiative from the Winged Sabatons. Last is the Hands and those also come somewhat limited as the best option is the Latex Gloves unless you want some armor in the Arm Length Leather Gloves.

Spoiler: Power

Power choice is always hard but I may have a few suggestions. Some enemies are immune to "lust" damage so it might be good to have some alternative damage on your person.

Spoiler: At-Will

Bolstering Dance is good but there are other powers you can also pick from. Equanimity could be used to boost damage via crits, Intuition to dodge more A.O.Es, or you could use Equilibrium to avoid being knocked prone or all buffs and debuffs in general. Soothing Dance can be use to somewhat heal but it's not great.

Spoiler: Recharge

Allure is good keep it as your general damage source, no reason to not use it as it is one of the best powers. Other powers you can use could be Suggestive Sway to do good damage and debuff your enemies. For non charmer powers you could use Acid Flask with Cunning to do good damage and lower enemy armor, you can also use Blessing for extra damage for the whole team for one to two turns based on your perks, Keldoran's Song for A.O.E debuffs and a stun onto the target, Estrus Flask for some utility debuffs and some damage, or Grease and Crackle Powder to stun or prone the enemies.

Spoiler: Encounter

Look Song of Splendor is really good but you do have options if you want something else such as Flames Within to boost damage. Garrote can be useful even if you have low strength as it's raw damage and can shut down spell casters, Roaring Storm can be good passive damage if you want it. Summons are also an option and can be boosted and buffed.

Spoiler: Ultimate

Inspiration is ok but there are some more interesting power to use, Abjure stuns and strips all buffs from an enemy if need or you can use Revive to revive a fallen teammate.

Spoiler: Companions

I wrote a whole bunch about all of them in my analysis here.

Hello, thank you for this. it was very informative and I am going to implement your suggestions I think that what I am trying to do is to be a nonsupport charmer, wanting to mostly deal damage rather than support allies, if that makes sense. I want to do big numbers, but while being sexi.

 

[PalletTown]

I think after going through all of my options I might want to switch classes I looked at the links you put down and I think I would have more fun being a more easy to understand build like warrior, but since I have presence as my starter boost I might go with black mage?

Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out.

 

[OccultTheEnby]

Oh boy, I went to windy peaks and getting my 20 raw size butt handed to me ;-; my character is getting high threat and getting targeted every single time, not even cait reviving me can save me. I'm going to see if switching willpower to cunning helps, because the difficulty curve is very much wrecking me.

 

[PalletTown]

One of the problems Charmer builds face is that they have high threat generation, so all the enemies attack the PC. I would suggest mitigating this by making sure a tank is in your party, Arona, Atugia, or Brint/Brienne. Cait and Etheryn both have somewhat tankier sets. Additionally, if you swap soul arrow with blessing then your threat won't immediately spike.

No, the rogue ring does not reduce your threat nearly enough to be worth it.

Another weird strat is that you can equip the dawnsword to get the deflection stance which can let your threat work for you.

 

[NinjaTacos]

I play a Charmer-Summoner build. I figure that summoning an ally that will attack every round is a good use of my encounter power, moreso than any single attack or buff; it benefits from my high presence/leadership; and as PalletTown said, it means I'm not generating as much threat in the first round while my tank warms up. I maximise Presence and mostly maximise Agility (for evaaaasion and accuracy) and Cunning (so I crit all the time), dropping two points into Willpower because I'm stupid, probably.


As for powers:

Someone Tide Hunter recommended to me that I keep Bolstering Dance as my at-will power for the whole game (they convinced me with maths!) and they were not wrong; it is a fantastic healing ability. If I don't have another healer in the party I'll swap in Great Heal instead, but every time I do I miss Bolstering Dance; it's brilliant for keeping the whole party (guests and summons included) topped up on health.

With high sexiness, Suggestive Sway is so good it's almost broken. I used it against the Lureling at the end of Winter Wolf and it did around 1200 damage - that's a single action. It can easily deal around 400-600 damage against demons or other enemies weak to teasing - with my high Cunning, an attack that has three separate chances to crit is generally doing so at least once on each use. The only drawback is that this song is now permanently stuck in my head (my brain has made it my champ's battle theme, whether she wants it or not).

I keep Dischord as my other recharge power to give me some versatility when facing enemies immune to teasing. I've put a couple of points into Willpower and use a Bento Box in dungeons to raise my spellpower, though I'm tempted to switch to the Pyromancer's set...


For gear:

For the offhand, I strongly feel that using the Rosebloom Shield is a mistake; it switches any abilities that deal Tease damage to deal Pheromone damage instead, which in my experience is much less versatile. I find the scarier enemies tend to be weaker to Tease than Pheromone damage (this is true even of the terrifying final boss of the dungeon where you pick it up). I prefer the Parasol, which boosts Temptation, Leadership and Spellpower, and possibly the Harp of Waves, which boosts Leadership and Spellpower but not Temptation.

The Guldring is more Leadership. And The White Blossom, Hana's engagement ring, takes advantage of all those crits I'm landing.

I'm tempted by the Pyromancer's set but haven't made the switch yet. Otherwise, the Golden Carrot is decent hand-wear for boosting crit chance. I'm using the Everblossom Hood as it heals me and lowers threat, though I'm guessing people will tell me it's underpowered and not worth it.

 

[Resawar]

Oh boy, I went to windy peaks and getting my 20 raw size butt handed to me ;-; my character is getting high threat and getting targeted every single time, not even cait reviving me can save me. I'm going to see if switching willpower to cunning helps, because the difficulty curve is very much wrecking me.

Okay so after testing it myself yeah I can see what you mean, left on one HP without Senninbari. Your nuking everything here if you get the chance, but your a glass cannon so your dying fast after a Song of Splendor. What you need is Grease or Crackle Powder to get that one turn to setup and "kill" everyone, pair them up with a good healer and a tank that can abuse A.O.Es or other powers of the damage type and you should be golden.