[RC1] Sylv the dwarf bulwark (died in charred scar)

[Rankith]

Posting this to hopefully get some tips
Link: http://te4.org/characters/1157/tome/cc8 ... 89727a5acd

Death: I finally lost my last life in the charred scar, after trying to get to the end I got trapped right before getting to the farportal and couldnt break through as stuff caught up with me.

I went as tanky as I could, with a little bit of willpower for anti-magic stuff. Can this work out in the long run? I had a TON of problems once I got to the east with casters even though I carried around a variety of resist gear. Orc Necros and blood mages just destroyed me even with a lot of various resists. I spent a good 4 hours clearing the first orc stronghold out and nearly died whenever I encountered the orc casters. I can't imagine a way to take less damage then I was really. Any tips on that?

This is the furthest I've gotten by a large margin, though bulwark wasn't a whole lot of "fun" compared to the more active classes .

[SageAcrin]

A: It sounds like you went straight to a Pride instead of doing the back-west sidequest. While the latter isn't required, it's much better for inexperienced players. (Not that I didn't make the same mistake.)

To start it, go to Gates of Morning and talk to Zemekkys, the mage there, then go to Vor Armory to the north east(not the pride). It's a pretty hard area, but easier than the prides proper. Take the Athame, then bring it back to Zemekkys, then go to the south east to Briagh's place. That gets you a Resonating Diamond, then you can go back west and many of the tier 1/2 dungeons will have spawned extra bosses for EXP and loot. There's also several new dungeons that open up if you talk to the elder in the center of Last Hope.

B: Your resistances are, to put it simply, horrible. (Your defenses there aren't great, either, for a Bulwark. For some reason Shield Wall's off for you.) Even though you're swapping equips for specific resists, you still have more than enough equipment in your inventory to have 70% fire resist for the Charred Scar, but haven't.

Generally speaking, 20 armor isn't going to save your life from a physical assault-especially not on a Bulwark's well-over-100-easily Armor with Shield Wall up-but 15-20% in common resists can save you from blindside mage attacks that aren't of an element you expect.

C: Going with Antimagic alone, and just pumping Resolve, is bad medicine, especially using it as you did(as a resistances replacement, I think). Resolve doesn't use its effect on damage until after you've been hit with an element-this means that if an enemy constantly uses two different elements, you simply take full damage from both. It's a great effect, and still possibly worth leveling, but generally speaking you shouldn't take that as your only reason to go AM.

Aura of Silence is really good if you can get the Mindpower to back it up, as is Mana Clash, but the real value for AM is Antimagic Shield and the Fungus Tree. The latter, if you've missed it, is obtained by doing the quest in Derth(killing all the lightning elementals and receiving the request for help), and then talking to Protector Myssil in Zigur to go to Tempest Peak, then talking to Myssil again afterwards to get the category.

Fungus' first skill massively extends all of your Regeneration infusions and can be a huge help, and Ancestral Life lets you restore the Equilibrium that Antimagic Shield uses up, albiet slowly, so you can actually utilize it pretty well.

[kazak]

Also your DEX is pretty low--it should be kept near max. Bulwarks typically get great defense to go along with high armor. I like to pump precise strikes as well, as it'll really boost your crit rate with high dexterity.

Everyone here will also tell you to max step up to boost your mobility. I like to max rush as well, though some folks think it's overkill. I prefer to max it--low cooldown, high range, good damage, daze.

I like to get really good regen to go along with your defenses. Being able to heal for 70 or 100 or more hp each turn while negating most melee damage can be a huge boost to your longevity; and with fast metabolism, the first fungus talent, +heal mod, and a good regen rune, this isn't difficult to accomplish.

Positioning is pretty crucial. By the time you go East, melee folks shouldn't be bothering you much. You use them as meat shields. Stay behind them taking next to no damage (with your good defense, good armor, and good regen), pop a movement infusion to run up to a spellcaster, take out the caster with assault, then Step Up to move back behind your meat shields. That's a pretty effective combo. Maxed rush + assault + step up is also great for hit and run. Hiding around corners or weak-ish melee types and using your mobility for hit-and-run is key for dealing with casters.

You might consider playing a Yeek Bulwark instead. Dominant Will is miraculous against necros and corrupters and the like (it's instant, so you can totally cheese the Melinda quest with Dominant Will + stairscumming). They're like 95% immune to confusion without even taking into account equipment, and figuring in the stun resistance from shield wall it's easy to get full immunity to two of the worst effects at a really low level. The speed boost offsets the the precise strikes penalty, and the last talent gives you a couple disposable meat shields. Also, you'll level quicker than anything else, and so your talents will tend to be more effective than say a dwarf would be for a given area. Bulwarks are one of the easiest characters in the yeek starter dungeons.

[Rankith]

Thanks for all the great tips guys!

It sounds like you went straight to a Pride instead of doing the back-west sidequest.

I saw the side quest, but assumed it was kind of for after the prides so didn't pursue it.

Your resistances are, to put it simply, horrible.

Really? I thought 50%+ resists when in specific gear was decent, apparently not . Also, I had a little more fire gear, but I had my fire shield on for a bit, except it converted some of my damage to fire which everything in there had 100% resist so I took it off. I should have replaced the lost resist with some of my other gear though. Shield wall was off because I rezzed from blood of life and didnt put back on as I was just trying to escape as best I could.

Going with Antimagic alone, and just pumping Resolve, is bad medicine, especially using it as you did(as a resistances replacement, I think).

I was using it as a supplement. Basically I found I still got wrecked by casters so I just pumped it to get some more help. I didn't think the point investment in lots of willpower would be worth the other ones, but lesson learned.

Also your DEX is pretty low

Is it really that useful? Melee/physical attacks were never, ever an issue, so I never felt I needed the defense.

Positioning is pretty crucial. By the time you go East, melee folks shouldn't be bothering you much. You use them as meat shields.

I will try upping mobility if I do another bulwark. However, my main problem was that I wouldnt be able to get to the caster because of all the melee/summons would block my way and I just get nuked from range. That said though I was afraid to charge in at the start alot, or use my movement infusion for anything other then booking it to safety. Maybe I should have been slightly more aggressive when up against casters instead of trying to lure stuff to a doorway or something?

Thanks again for the great help!

[SageAcrin]

50% isn't bad in general, but with a Bulwark, who has the equipment to float it and not a lot of real anti-mage options, you should be at or near 70% for any relevant, common enemies in an area. You have the best equipment options in the game for high resists(heavy armor, shields) and you should take full advantage.

If you resist an attack 50%, you take half as much damage. If you resist an attack 70%, you take nearly half as much damage as the person with 50%. Resists have increasing returns, thought of this way.

Meanwhile, your physical defense will always have Shield Wall, and Shield Wall always makes you the best physical tank in the game, pretty much. Don't worry about adding a ton more.

Dex is pretty useful, though. Shield Wall pumping isn't required, but, if you're building for resists very heavily, it helps keep you from ever having issues with physicals. And Precise Strikes is a pretty good skill if your Dex is high, granting a large critical hit rate and accuracy bonus for 10% slower attacks. Which, in practice, tends to equate to one missed turn every 20 or so, since it only applies to physical attack usage. Not so bad.

If you want to build Will, instead, though, it is an option. As long as you have enough Dexterity to not totally cripple your defenses, both True Grit and Shattering Impacts are excellent uses of your points, since they give huge bonuses at the expense of a lot of Stamina. I'd suggest getting Dex up to 30-40 regardless, but otherwise yeah. In short, shorting Dex isn't too bad of an idea, as long as you have a specific reason to.

You can also short Con, incidentally. Unflinching Resolve can be good with the Con needed to unlock it(which you'll hit just off equipment bonuses eventually), and if you use equipment swapping to unlock Thick Skin, the main benefits are more HP and more Unflinching Resolve/Vitality impact, neither of which is strictly required. Look at both skills and see how much you like them-if you're not big on them, you can probably skip capping out Con, and if you're really good at looking out for swap equipment, maybe skip on building it at all.

Basically, it depends on what you want. The only stats I wouldn't generally suggest for Bulwark are Cunning and Magic(and even Magic can work, if you get a specific Escort.).

Edit: I wouldn't suggest Yeek to a new player-they're sorta finnicky, since the low life makes it hard to have a buffer in bad situations.

Thalore, however, is really good right now. You get most of the save bonuses of a Dwarf, and a great resistance booster too, in exchange for a ton of Generic points...which Bulwark has to spare. Good stuff.

[jenx]

Dex has more positive effect on bulwark talents than the descriptions indicate. So increase it for bulwark.