[1.5] Bulwark Guide

[Cathbald]

Hello everyone.

There has not been a Bulwark guide for a while now and I intend to fix this. There also had never been an insane ghoul bulwark win but it is now fixed : *shameless gloating*



I have read a lot of things I disagree with on tomechat, so this is also a way to show the class power level is pretty decent, even if playing one is a bit boring.
For starters :

• Shield deal no damage

  My shield went up to 250 damage

  Repulsion sucks (because shield deal no damage)

  I got the overpowered achievement (6k damage) using repulsion (wish I had taken a screenshot). When it doesn't crit it's a 10+ turns daze, rush reset, and GTFO of my face button. Notably great against necro/summoner

  Last stand sucks

  Funny thing, if you press "rest" while a monster is nearby it deactivate, doesn't go on cd and doesn't take a turn. Activate it as long as you don't have to move, deactivate by resting when you want to move. You don't need to deactivate to use "tp" (tk leap, ghoul leap, dream walk, PD rune, psychoport,...) or to swap place with friendlies (summons op). That's an easy 1k HP. Other hack? You get into negative HP, pop a shield, rest with monsters in sight (so it deactivates and you have -X HP out of 0 minimum), do anything that takes a turn (I advise running) and poof you've healed all your negative life damage and are at 0HP! You can now activate it again and gain back 1k HP

  Block sucks

  This is perfectly accurate and a bit too nice to block actually. You will block with shield slam but never use the block talent.

Now that this is said...

Should be done, open to question and discussion!

Why Bulwark?

Strong points

• Built-in stun res
  Really good key talents
  Not really possible to screw up your build
  

Weak points

• No build diversity
  Bland playstyle
  No unlockable generics

Races
TL;DR : Ogre master race, if not then play an elf

Cornac – 2/5: Cornac = free class/generic/category points, I just said Bulwark lack unlockable generics
Higher – 1.5/5: Nothing helps you there, at least Cornac could get two escorts with luck
Shalore – 4.5/5: Great racials, timeless can extend a few really good effects
Thalore – 4/5: Strong racials and you can switch place with summons during last stand
Doomelf – 3.5/5: Doomelf is a good defensive race thanks to the first two racials. Sadly you don't have a lot of debuff to extend with pitiless
Halfling – 3/5: Racials are nice 1 pointers, you don't really have synergy though.
Dwarf – 2.5/5: Stoneskin is really good since you're melee, the rest is lackluster
Yeek – 2/5: You can't afford the low life. Yes the racials are nice, but they don't make up for it for bulwark
Ogre – 5/5: 2h + shield. Bulwark even has a 2h tree to unlock!
Ghoul – 2/5: For best life rating in the game, most categories scaling of constitution, and attaining 4k HP. Somewhat trollish.
Skeleton – 1/5: Doesn't bring you anything. Not even gonna rate them above ghouls.

Stats

Max STR. Then max DEX because you need to stay alive, but make sure to have max MAG at level 42 for Arcane Might. After that put points in CON/CUN to taste (I'd go with CON)

STR: you're a melee, that's what you scale with
DEX: defensive stat and a few abilities scale with it
CON: defensive stat, a few abilities scale with it. Less efficient than DEX
MAG: you're gonna want Arcane Might. Disregard if you choose another prodigy
WIL: you gain nothing out of this
CUN: more crit is always good but you won't have points to put here

Class trees

• TL;DR :
  Shield Offense : 3/1/1+/5
  Shield Defense : 2+/3+/5/5
  Combat Techniques : 1-3/1/3+/5
  Combat Veteran : 1+/0-1/0/0
  
  Battle Tactics : 4/5/1+/0+
  Warcries : 1/1-2/5/1
  Two-handed Weapons : 1+/3+/5/4-5 (only if ogre, and then you don't take warcries)
  Archery training : 0/0/0/0
  Superiority : 0/0/0/0
  Dirty Fighting : 0/0/0/0
  
  That leaves you a dozen point to further improves the skills of your choice

Unlocked class trees

Shield Offense: 3/1/1+/5

• Shield Pummel : Your stun, 3 points for 4 turns
  Riposte : 1 point, you don't benefit from more
  Shield Slam : 3 shield hit, nice if you have procs on your shield, and a free block.
  Assault : Big damage. 2 automatic crit is nice.

Shield Defense: 2+/3+/5/5

• Shield Wall : You're in this for the stun res, 2 is a good chunk, more if you need it is not a problem. You could float points there as needed if you like to micromanage.
  Repulsion: Nice talent that scales to 300%+ shield damage, reset rush, and can daze for upwards of 15 turns.
  Shield Expertise : 5/5 for more shield damage on all your shield strikes
  Last Stand : contrary to its name it's not a last measure defense, you should use that at the start of every fight after positionning (remember you can swap place with summons while last stand is on). Based on max life (I reached 1k5 bonus life from this but more normal values would be around 800-1k I think)

Combat Techniques : 1-3/1/3+/5

• Rush : Don't forget, rush is to run away more often than not. But with repulsion resetting the cd bulwark can be more aggressive with it than most classes. 3 is a nice range break point.
  Precise Strikes : not a fan of lowering attack speed, and you have accuracy to spare already, point tax.
  Perfect Strike : awesome skill, Dreadmaster notably now no longer bother you and die in 2-3 turns instead. 3 points for duration breakpoint, I went to 5 late game so it would last as long as GWF.
  Blinding speed : 5/5 this for 55% global speed. Very good, combo it with your other buffs.

Combat veteran : 1+/0-1/0/0

• Quick recovery : 1 or more depending on your stamina issues. You don't have a lot but it never hurts.
  Fast Metabolism : I usually go 1 for the early game and to rest faster.
  Spell Shield : no, stop, spell saves are useless.
  Unending Frenzy : I said stop! Stamina on kill is useless too.

Locked class trees

Battle tactics : 4/5/1+/0+ You will definitely unlock this tree

• Greater Weapon Focus : Look at that, another great buff (even after the nerf)! 4 points for duration, the last bring basically nothing.
  Step Up : you know what I like? Repositionning. At 5/5 you can do that after every kill. Careful though! It last until the end of the game turn, not a full turn! Pay attention to the buff while you move.
  Bleeding Edge : Nice damage, and healing reduction at 50% uptime. Time it against Argoniel to cripple her vitality.
  True Grit : This could be good but the increased stamina cost each turn scares me a little and I had constant maxed all res thanks to a great PD rune, so I didn't feel the need. It would have allowed me to go above 70% though. Why not.

Warcries : 1/1-2/5/1

• Shattering Shout : Gotta love how it takes 4 level for shattering shout to shatter things. 1 point, you won't use it.
  Second Wind : great for stamina management, 2 points ensure you go from empty to full. It's instant, too!
  Battle Shout : took this to combo with Last Stand. Gives heroism level of extra HP, on top of Last Stand heroism level of extra HP. Last 16 turns and also buff stamina.
  Battle Cry : why take this since we already have Perfect strikes you ask? Well Elandar has hymn of shadows and it SUCKS (for you). Disabling evasion isn't often useful but when it is, it's awesome. 1 point only since duration doesn't scale.

Two-handed Weapons : 1+/3+/5/4-5 For Ogre only, for obvious reasons. Sadly this tree is at 0.9 mastery only.

• Death Dance : AoE, nothing more to say
  Berserker : gives extra accuracy, phys power, stun and pinning resist. With this and Shield Wall you can almost get 100% stun res.
  Warshout : AoE confuse, why not 5 it since you're lacking in disable.
  Death Blow : Automatic crit with possible instakill. 4 points only if you don't want the stamina drain.

Archery Training: 0/0/0/0 You don't have bow mastery, otherwise might have been fun on Ogre.
Superiority: 0/0/0/0 Lackluster tree.
Dirty Fighting: 0/0/0/0 You don't have enough disable to make this worthwhile.

Generic trees

• TL;DR :
  Combat training : 3+/3+/0/0+/5/0
  Conditionning : 1/4/0/0
  Survival : 1/1-5/1/1
  
  That's 20-24, you still have about 25 points to spend! You need an escort, light is great, so is tinkers. And of course you'll have your racials.

Combat training: 3+/3+/0/0+/5/0

• 3 in thick skin because it's a nice breakpoint. 3 in armor training for massive armor.
  Combat accuracy is to taste, you don't need it if you put points in DEX, plus you have perfect strikes.
  5/5 weapon training of course.

Conditionning: 1/4/0/0

• Vitality : 1 point is nice, scales badly
  Unflinching Resolve : 4 points let you recover from everything, 5 points is a barely noticeable boost. Get it early!
  Daunting Presence : won't do much
  Adrenaline Surge : will do even less

Survival: 1/1-5/1/1

• Heightened senses: 1 point is nice to have
  Device mastery : if you use charms max it, otherwise leave it alone (but it's pretty good!)
  Track : always good when you have the patience to use it
  Danger sense : 1 points is nice since you always have at least 5% chance to save, investing more sucks though

Category points

Start with an inscription at level 10 then Battle Tactics at level 20. After that it depends what you're planning but it should be escort category and then your second class category (Warcries/Two-handed Weapons). If you want another infusion skip the second class category and be prepared to max a lot of skills.

Inscriptions

Friendly reminder that heal is low cd, instant, and clear 1 wound and 1 poison when used. With a massive health pool it's less risky to use one instead of a regen since you can lose more life before trigerring it.

Final layout: phase door, heroism, phys/mental wild, regen
Add a movement if you got a fifth.

Special inscriptions: none really interest you

Prodigies

Strength based:

• I Can Carry The World! : more STR, no more fatigue. Great damage boost, first prodigy
  Legacy of the Naloren : are you Ogre? Do you like massive damage? Take this if you answer yes and yes.

Dexterity based:

• Windblade : cheat the requirement on target dummies in the fortress and you get a strong AoE

Constitution based:

• Eternal Guard : Just kidding, don't take this because you don't block except with shield slam.

Magic based:

• Spectral Guard : no wait, this is the prodigy you NEVER want to take actually
  Arcane Might : Huge damage boost.
  Temporal Form : there isn't a class where this prodigy is bad, seriously. It's a decent damage boost, some immunities, anomlies are useful. And it's fun!
  Cauterize : who loves not dying?

Willpower :

• Nothing interesting there

Cunning:

• Nothing interesting there

Escorts
On all escort you can take a talent just for stun fodder if nothing interest you, potentially better than a small stat increase even if you never use the skill

• Alchemist: Spell/Stone Alchemy (if you wanna go there)
  Anorithil: Light is great
  Loremaster: go for disarm, that's a nice disable
  Seer: If you can, betray for nature's touch. Arcane eye is nice without betraying, but I don't like having a mana bar with the new antimagic.
  Sun Paladin: A chant is nice to have, also disengage if you betray, for more mobility
  Temporal Explorer: Dream walk if you betray, nothing interesting if you can't
  Thief: free generic points
  Warrior: free generic points
  Tinker: Tinkers are great

Alchemist quest

+2 class points, 2 generic points, +4% phys crit chance
Then go for whatever is left.

[Micbran]

Great guide!

For best life rating in the game, most categories scaling of constitution, and atteigning 4k HP. Somewhat trollish.

assuming that's supposed to be "attaining"?

[Cathbald]

Great guide!

For best life rating in the game, most categories scaling of constitution, and atteigning 4k HP. Somewhat trollish.

assuming that's supposed to be "attaining"?

That was fast! Fixed, english is hard

[Dopaminka]

i'd rate ghoulwark a bit higher than 2/5 but w/e

[minmay]

Bulwark really needed a good guide and this is one, thanks! I find it hard to believe that Ghoul is better than Higher, though. Higher is bad, but is it really worse than no infusions?

Unfortunately True Grit only updates its values in callbackOnActBase, making it really unresponsive to damage. devs plz fix

[Cathbald]

i'd rate ghoulwark a bit higher than 2/5 but w/e

You'd think I would, having won with one but let's not kid ourselves, you lose infusions and 20% global speed. I debated putting them higher but I decided it would not help people looking for a bulwark win.

Bulwark really needed a good guide and this is one, thanks! I find it hard to believe that Ghoul is better than Higher, though. Higher is bad, but is it really worse than no infusions?

Debatable, but since higher bring absolutely nothing apart from heal mod on first racial you have absolutely no reason to ever play one.
I like to try and find use for the less played races when I can and higher had no redeeming feature for bulwark while ghoul's every racial had several.
Ex : gnaw reducing stats by 50 and then giving you a summon with which to swap places, stun immune at level 3.
The need for heroism is lessened by the fact that you have 2 talents giving you as much hp, the need for movement by a tp boosting global and the already mentionned stun immunity. You're gonna want a PD rune undead or not so that's one slot not changing. Overall, ghoulwark is probably less affected by the restriction to runes than your standard ghoul, mostly noticing it for status clear where wild are vastly superior.

Thanks for the info on True Grit!

[vd77]

Do you go antimagic?

[Derael]

What do you think about Stone Alchemy + Crafty Hands as a second prodigy? It will potentially give you 3 artifact tier gems applied to your body plus 2 more on amulet if you complete the quest. Sounds shiny. You usually get quite a lot of them on Insane.

Lifebinding Emerald, Goedelath Rock and Windborn Azurite/Petrified Wood. And Petrified Wood/Windborn Azurite + any grade 5 gem of choice for amulet if you don't find some super great one.

80% total healmod (+32% more from CON) + 28 physical power + 40 CON + 8 CUN/DEX + 8% chance to avoid any damage + 15% movement speed + 23% reduced crit damage + 9% all damage + Stun/Freeze resistance + Bunch of elemental resistances and affinities + bonuses from tier 5 gem of choice if you use amulet (actually from 2 of them if you are lucky with your bonus gem).

Compared to 50 Str/No fatigue and Light tree not sure what is better. I feel it'd be super good on Ghoul since that healmod and CON bonuses fir perfectly well. You won't lose much damage either since 28 physical power will mostly compensate for STR loss.

Basically you lose only Providence since Bathe in Light is heavily outscaled here.

The main downside is lack of flexibility, you can't swap item if you already imbued your powerful gem in it. But after level 42 you'll probably have some end game level body armor/helm and belt.

Got inspired for this by my Temporal Warden who got Artifact level gem as his bonus gem for my amulet enhancement and it alone gave me 40 CON + 80% heal mod. Steamrolled through final battle never using my emergency buttons on nightmare.

Tinkers are the most superior choice IMO, one level 5 salve is almost as good as providence and you get all the passive bonuses from tinkers for free. Overall I feel like Celestial/Light is inferior to those 2, but if you play Ogre, then Naloren dominates Stone Alchemy.

I'd still go with Stone Alchemy as Ghoul though, just for the flavor (because there really aren't much classes who can benefit from it).

[PseudoLoneWolf]

The only thing about that Stone Alchemy play is that your entire endgame strategy relies on getting those T5 artifact gems that you need, as well as an unenchanted voratun amulet for the crafting, both of these being things that I've had considerable trouble locating on past runs. If everything falls into place, that would be excellent, but that's a pretty big if. What happens when you clear all the prides and you haven't found any of your gems? You either sit on the cat point forever and keep yourself intentionally weak while you look for supplies, or you spend it on Crafty Hands and socket some half-assed gems into your burner gear in the meantime and then you never find your good gems and your build sucks, or you spend it on something else.

My point is, this strategy heavily relies on the Troll Engine dropping you some rare unique awesomeness that it doesn't like to drop very often, and by the time you're far enough along to see whether or not you're going to get what you need to finish the build, you're far enough along that you aren't going to want to scrap it and try again. This in particular is why I don't like taking Crafty Hands, because I already have to rely on gear to make up most of my strength, I want my talents and prodigies to be a source of guaranteed strength to make up for shit drops. Crafty Hands is a decision that I make when I hit level 40 and already have Goedalath and Windborne Azurite sitting in my inventory.

In addition, it relies on getting a LOT of special gems. Any character can use the two in the amulet if you can get to the valley of the moon, so that's two already taken care of. Lifebinding Emerald is easy enough to guarantee getting, but beyond that, you're a slave to luck in order to get anything else worth socketing into your armor.

[Cathbald]

First a few specific points :

1. The only thing about that Stone Alchemy play is that your entire endgame strategy relies on getting those T5 artifact gems that you need, as well as an unenchanted voratun amulet for the crafting

   You don't need crafty hands/stone alchemy for the Limmir Amulet.

2. 80% total healmod (+32% more from CON)

   More like 20% since CON heal mod gain diminish the higher it goes. Still nice though.

3. Stun/Freeze resistance

   Useless, you already have 100%

4. Bunch of elemental resistances

   PD rune already cap you, maybe not 100% uptime but at least close.

5. 80% total healmod (+32% more from CON) + 28 physical power + 40 CON + 8 CUN/DEX + 8% chance to avoid any damage + 15% movement speed + 23% reduced crit damage + 9% all damage + Stun/Freeze resistance + Bunch of elemental resistances and affinities + bonuses from tier 5 gem of choice if you use amulet (actually from 2 of them if you are lucky with your bonus gem).
   Compared to 50 Str/No fatigue and Light tree not sure what is better.

   You're comparing 5 gems at once, so a prodigy + Limmir amulet + a cat point to a prodigy + a cat point, there is some imbalance there.

6. I feel it'd be super good on Ghoul since that healmod and CON bonuses fir perfectly well

   Heal mod fits perfectly well on everyone, but yes it's nice.

7. You won't lose much damage either since 28 physical power will mostly compensate for STR loss.

   This is WAY off, 50 STR is 50 raw phys power (~80% more) and the equivalent of 50 EFFECTIVE physpower (assuming you use a weapon with 100% STR mod). Let's say you are at 80 physpower (fyi, I finished with 116), 50 effective physpower is equivalent to 290 raw physpower (100 for 80 to 100, 120 for 100 to 120, 70 for 120 to 130) so 10 times more.

Now to the general :

Crafty hands is just too weak.

Let's say I do not find artifact gems (rarely happens but hey) : you used a cat point and a prodigy for (most likely) 30% all damage and 15% all crit.
I'd say ICCtW and AM are roughly in the same category damage wise (someone do the math to prove I'm totally wrong if that's the case, thank you) but you also have the light/tinker tree, which will give you cleanse and survivability (and in tinker's case also damage).

If you do find artifact gems, you have other problems. First, the gems are defensive, no artifact gem is better than an opal, damage wise. So now you are dropping in damage for more survivability (like light/tinker), and you still don't get the cleanse light/tinker offer.
Second, you're gonna hold that gem for later and you know it. Can I get a better helm for that gem? A better armor? A better belt? So you're going to wait and only get those boni in the very end game.

[Derael]

Okay, now I agree that it's not as good as it first seemed to me. Although some points can be mitigated (like not taking a prodigy and just going with Stone Alchemy if you fail to get enough Artifact gems till level 42), but I overlooked STR scaling, and though only about physical power, my understanding of the game mechanics is still a bit lacking.

My experience was based on Nightmare TW run (my first and only winner so far) where I got all the Artifact gems and ~5 voratun amulets so maybe I really got super lucky with drops. Also the inability to swap armor/helm/belt is indeed a big disadvantage but still quite manageable. IMO the main problem is lack of damage options. Not sure if all the bonuses worth losing 50 STR after all.

___

Now I have another question. How is Legace of Naloren compared to ICCtW as second prodigy on ogre (after AM)? I've heard that if you get exotic weapon mastery from warrior escort you can get it to level 10 total (+ modifier). But now I wonder if it'll win vs 50 STR and ability to use the diversity of powerful 2H weapons aside of Naloren trident.

[Cathbald]

Finding 5 white voratun in one run is insane, I usually vault them just in case I want to do something one day and I only have 4 in vault. Of course you only need 1 per run anyway. I usually finish with 1-2 artifact gems, but the Limmir drop is really rare, I'd say I find it less than 1/10.

If you want to go Naloren i'd take ICCtW with it, not AM. Naloren has 140% STR mod, so more STR is even better than usual. And with the extra physpower from 10 weapon mastery, AM will give you less physpower than usual because of diminishing returns.
Go ahead and take Naloren as ogre if you want, it is a perfectly legit strat. And in that case you don't touch MAG and max CON/CUN as third stat instead.

[tabs]

Finding 5 white voratun in one run is insane, I usually vault them just in case I want to do something one day and I only have 4 in vault. Of course you only need 1 per run anyway. I usually finish with 1-2 artifact gems, but the Limmir drop is really rare, I'd say I find it less than 1/10.

If you want to go Naloren i'd take ICCtW with it, not AM. Naloren has 140% STR mod, so more STR is even better than usual. And with the extra physpower from 10 weapon mastery, AM will give you less physpower than usual because of diminishing returns.
Go ahead and take Naloren as ogre if you want, it is a perfectly legit strat. And in that case you don't touch MAG and max CON/CUN as third stat instead.

Isn't Atamathon guaranteed to drop 2 white voratun amulets?

[Cathbald]

Haven't done Atha in a while I admit, wether I knew I'd die trying or not
iirc he drops 1 white amulet and 2 white rings

[Derael]

Finding 5 white voratun in one run is insane, I usually vault them just in case I want to do something one day and I only have 4 in vault. Of course you only need 1 per run anyway. I usually finish with 1-2 artifact gems, but the Limmir drop is really rare, I'd say I find it less than 1/10.

If you want to go Naloren i'd take ICCtW with it, not AM. Naloren has 140% STR mod, so more STR is even better than usual. And with the extra physpower from 10 weapon mastery, AM will give you less physpower than usual because of diminishing returns.
Go ahead and take Naloren as ogre if you want, it is a perfectly legit strat. And in that case you don't touch MAG and max CON/CUN as third stat instead.

Thanks for the advice, it helped me to understand the mechanics a little better. Definitely would go with ICCtW and then finish with Naloren, it also saves some points for CON (which is one of my favourite stats after buff) instead of dumping them to Magic which is useless outside of AM.

As for white Voratun amulets, gotta admit that I farmed Sludgenest a bit, so probably got a couple from here, alongside with 20 or so artifacts, but maybe I'm wrong. At least I've heard that Insane provides much more Artifacts than Nightmare so I assumed that you could aim for this much even without Sludgenest grinding (which would be much harder on Insane).

As I've said, I don't have much experience with how common things are, since I only have one winner, my assumptions might be inaccurate.