6 deaths in total: 1 out of reckless , 2 in Orc Prides, 2 in High Peak, 1 during the final battle.
For anyone who hasn't tried madness, although it's a viable build and I believe veteran players better than me can get a valid rl win, but madness is usually exhausting and punishing per se. This run took me around 60 hrs and before that i tested several chars on Debug, i shall say not a pleasant experience
.So play on Insane is recommanded, but if you insist, see Madness Tips below.
-----------Intro-----------
This shield annihilator is built around Automated Defense.
Along with Static Shock, Eternal Guard and some other talents, each time you raise your shield when wielding Shockstaff, you make a 500% shield dmg aoe, get a dmg barrier, a retaliation buff, 25% valuable resall, 2 turns flat dmg reduction of block value which can countersrike enemies, recharge Capacitor for a future chain-lightning aoe and, most importantly, reload heavy weapons. It provides great survivability even on madness and is also an essential part of our arsenal.
All in all, our juggernaut uses Shockstaff to blink across the battlefield, uses shield for almost impervious hard defense, hide behind impenetrable caustic smog for soft defense, obliterate enemies with 5k+ aoe lightning strikes and annihilate bosses with 13k+ acid blast.(See also How to Play below.)
(Sry
, not on madness, some boss fights last for a long time for they have ridiculous dmg shield/defense/healing etc., and you still need Stormshield rune to negate some 6k bursts threw at your face).That being said, annihilator lacks of solid mobility and status removal, so all that remains is to reduce the cd of Block, fill our dmg rotation and build up multiple defenses. We will cover that in the following.
-----------Addon-----------
Select your escorts and Enchanced escorts:
If play on madness, due to the notorious 'Hunter!' debuff and Survival tree being born locked, you have to use Theif escorts to grab Track asap.
By lvl50, 'Hunter!' will have a range of 20 tiles , you need around lvl 4 Track to cover and escort is a reliable source.
Hypervision Goggles is an innate scouting, but better be used as offense first to deal with dangerous enemies quickly.
Charms are too situational and often come with less but fixed range, better to leave the Misc slot for a barrier/healing charm to support the Flame turret(See Turrets below for details) at early stage.
-----------TLDR-----------
Prodigy:
Eternal Guard, Eye of the Tiger
And Master of Disasters if you find Writhing Ring of the Hunter or get a extra point from online events
Race:
Cornac/Skeleton/Dwarf/Ghoul
Stats:
1.Dex=Cun>Con>Str
2.DON'T go antimagic on madness, for insane or lower and if you're interested in antimagic , Dex=Cun>Wil>Con>Str
Class Talents:
Magnetism 3+/1+/4+/3+, for madness: 5/2+/5/5
Heavy Weapons 4/1/5/0+, for madness: 4/1/5/0
Gadgets 5/5/5/1
Demolition 1+/5/3+/3+, for madness: 1/5/0+/0
Turrets 0/0/0/0, for madness before Eye of the Tiger : 3 floating/0-1 floating/0/0
Artillery 1/3+/3+/3+, for madness: 1/3+/5/5
Chemical Warfare 3/1/3+/5, for madness: 3/1/5/5
Generic Talents:
Combat training 5/3/0/0+/0/0, for madness: 5/5/0/5/0/0
Engineering 1/1+/5/0+, for madness: 1/1/5/5, this tree is the best of best to recharge your exoskeleton in dire situations
Survival 0/0/0/0, for madness 0/0/4-5/0 from escorts
Blacksmith 0/0/0/0, for madness and Cornac and not using Escorts Talents: 1+/1+/1+/5
Physics and Chemistry see Tinkers below
Inscriptions:
Injector*2/Steam Generator*2/Stormshield for madness after getting high lvl Salve
For insane or lower see below
-----------Prodigy-----------
Eternal Guard like said before at 25, then Eye of the Tiger immediately at 42.
Unfortunately ... or fortunately, these 2 are mandatory if you really wanna make this build functional, especially on madness.
For the latter, since we dont have alternative source of block like Shield Slam or Demonic Madness etc. anyway, Eye of the Tiger is the only exogenous option to keep it up.
Note that although Block is a physical technique and almost all your talents are steamtech, every crit you get will reduce Block cd by 2 and it comes top priority(the majority of your active talents counts as steamgun shoot i guess).
So bascially you would have a 3-turn cd Block, and since Eternal Guard makes block last for 1 extra turn, we would only be left exposed for 1 turn every 3 turns, and dont forget we also make a big dmg aoe and get like 25% resall buff and dmg barrier when blocking , good enough~
For madness:
Master of Disasters is the only reliable source of Steampower, you need 120+ (around 190 cunning with other talents) to counter the mental save (around 100)of final bosses and silence lock them, making the fight alot easier.
Take it if you manage to find the third point, either from Writhing Ring of the Hunter or online events.
-----------Race-----------
Cornac:
More class and generic points, excellent for annihilators who often spread too thin on key abilities.
However what really matters is that extra category point at early game. Annihilator talents often consume huge chunks of steam, with sustains we're in desperate need of another steam generator and have to retain slots for status removal/mobility/healing at the same time
So by lvl 10 Cornac can have Regeneration/Shatter Afflictions/Movement/Generator and a extra slot to deal with different situations, which forms the basic toolbox and important for madness at this stage
Skeleton:
Extra str for massive armor, physical power and dex for dmg, a sizeable shield and healing to release inscription slots for Generator, significantly shorter debuffs and immunity of poison and fear(these 2 are deadly on madness), even a free life-potion for rl.
Probably the best race for our shield annihilator, but do note that Skeleton has 20% XP penalty, which means its nearly impossible to reach 42 before Reknor. Because of the high density of enemies to trigger HuNtEr! and open space, without Eye of the Tiger Reknor often means nigh-guaranteed lose of the game on madness.
So for insane and lower, just pick Skeleton and forget antimagic.
Dwarf:
+15% evasion and Racial mobility. Once you get a Earthen Fury shield, extra armor will be a nice dmg boost.
However, note that the armor boost is reactive, evasion only applies to melee, and mobility not until 24, you will still be in shortage of inscription slots at early game
For Power is Money, 50 raw saves are like a drop in the ocean for enemies with 90+ average power on madness and Unstoppable Force Salve can will easily boost saves to around 120. Take it if you have spare points given that you don't spend last coin for Font of Sacrifice.
Anyway, it's a powerful race and manageable on madness.
Ghoul:
Ghoul has very good mobility even with light investment, and that 50% max life dmg threshold is sooo powerful, you get one-shoted from time to time by 4-6k attacks from some lvl 140+ random bosses after they easily strip off your sustains and nullify your resistance if you are careless. Thats why you really need a stormshield rune if not a ghoul even with so many defensive talents.
That being said, 20% global speed penalty may get you double-turned and 12% XP penalty is still terrible. Veteran players may get 42 by taking advantages of online events or through delicate game planning or just finish Reknor without Eye of the Tiger, your choice.
-----------Stats-----------
Dex and Cun
Our essential stats, just max them as lvl progress and no otherwise.
Con
Stock up +Con gears before 25 to get Eternal Guard, then max it after Dex and Cun.
Con provides valuable +healmod and also makes your Vitality and Unflinching Resolve more potent if you actually get them from escorts.
Str
Mainly for physical power, massive armour and Heavy Armour Training. Put the rest points here.
-----------Class Talents-----------
Steamtech/Heavy Weapons
Heavy Weapons(4 for diminishing return): that' why we are here, note that Shockstaff is a double attack actually, you also make a shield attack as lightning and reduce enemies dmg by 25%, making us even more tanky. Besides, it's an excellent natural gap closer, and in niche cases can be used to retreat.
On madness before Eternal Guard however, it's highly recommended to use Boltgun and stay away from dangerous melee rare+ like Cursed/Brawler/Sawbutcher etc., if you're lucky enough to find a Twinblaster, you fire 4 ammo each time you attack and 8 times while using Heavy Weapons Expertise, which is of great help for early game or if you have good weapon procs.
For Flamethrower, stack your Steampower and use it as a 3-turn cd silence, it has great tactical value when fighting caster bosses.
Heavy Weapons Expertise(1 point wonder): Medicore stun and that's it, but at early game on madness, do use it as a extremely reliable disarm to disable melee enemies, 1 point is enough for a fixed disarm duration.
Automated Defenses(5 no otherwise): Like said before, this talent transforms your Block into both a very strong offensive and a defensive skill. It also reloads Shockstaff when blocking and is the only way to replenish ammo while wielding heavy weapons. By carefully managing skill rotation, with Eye of the Tiger to reduce Block cd down to 3 turns, Shockstaff and block can be kept up for the entire battle, enable you to face tank group of rare+ with the support of Stormshield Rune and Pain Suppressor/Unstoppable Force on madness.
Safety Override(0 of course): Disable your heavy weapon is the last thing you want, every time you toggle off Shockstaff(or be dispersed by enemies), it goes into a 10 turns cd, leaving you extremely vulnerable. It even expends all remaining ammo and prevents you from switching to another heavy weapon. Float some points here at early game when there's only one ammo left, or you really want Flamethrower's mobility somehow. Just a reminder, you need to spend 1 turn to actually attack something to switch to Flamethrower and spend another one to cast Safety Override to jump away.
Steamtech/Magnetism
Static Shock(3 or 5 depends on difficulty): Good resall, 3 for optimal result. For madness you may need every bit of defense available to you, 5 it at mid-late game.
Magnetic Field(2 or 5 depends on situation): Can cancel big dmg spells like Fireflash and very good critical chance reduction, although the diminishing return is awful and only works when not on cd. I stacked quite some crit shrug-off, so 2 points for 8% reduction worked for me. More if you can spare some points here.
Capacitor Discharge(5 no otherwise): More block value and a guaranteed critical chain-lightning as retaliation. Once you get Eternal Guard, Discharge will always be kept at max power and easily crit for 5k+.
Lightning Web(5 no otherwise): An emergency button if your got dispersed or Block/Stormshield/Pain Suppressor in cd and you anticipate nasty dmg upon your face. Sometimes can be used as gambit along with block to soak up initial bursts.
Steamtech/Gadgets
Autoloader(5 no otherwise): Self-explantory. Steamgun also uses Physical power as dmg factor btw.
Exoskeleton(5 no otherwise): The only talent to justify all those sky high steam consumptions. One of the most important inner defense behind dmg shield/block/resistance etc. and extremely durable. Take it as invaluable 50% dmg reduction if we can keep repairing it, and we will, trust me.
Hypervision Goggles(5 no otherwise): Self-explantory. It provides great offensive power, meanwhile helps you monitor enemies under 'Hunter!' and therefore helps to decide whether to reposition or hold.
AED(1 point wonder): Note that it takes 1 turn and unlike Cauterize it only absorbs the lethal dmg and can still get you killed if there're subsquent attacks. 1 is enough since we have good healmod.
Steamtech/Demolition
Grenade Launcher(1 no more): Fixed cd sadly, also makes Sapper way less useful, so no~
Reactive Armor(5 please): Can be better if the threshold is a little bit higher, but still a good defense. 5 it for 3 turns cd.
Sapper(0 for me): If we can find reliable ways to keep triggering the Incendiary one or have spare points, but neither unfortunately. Also, switch Grenade(toggle on and off actually) gives you 2 stacks of Miasma, so you can easily prepare a full-power Fumigate before combat, use it as you see fit.
Barrage(0 for me): Has to be used in battle, hmmm... we have better dmg awaits.
Steamtech/Turrets
Deploy turret(floats 3 here before mid game): On madness, we have to put great efforts to forge ourselves into a titan of survivability and dmg, for each point into Turrets, it means 1 less point into us directly. It may work when the tradeoff is profitable enough but unfortunately, Turrets needs heavy investment to be functional and the equivalent points elsewhere will bring more power. Turrets can be helpful if used as sort of... gimmick however. That being said, 3 floating before mid game is useful, Flame turret is tanky with Overlock, Steamgun turret is also good extra dmg.
Overclock(floats 1 here before mid game): 1 floating to support Flame turret. You actually need to wait for 5 turns to place the second turret is super annoying, it often means your Steamgun turret can't benefit from Overclock, or the Flame turret can't survive the initial bursts .
Upgrade(0 means 0): No, we can only refund 4 points, pity~ .
Hunker Down(0 means 0): No, Never.
Steamtech/Chemical Warfare
Miasma Engine(3 for diminishing return): Now we're talking about some invaluable oftensive and defensive, actively and passively, 24/7 good skills. 3 for optimal reduced healing and failure chance. And, do note that it may get redirected onto your face when fighting classes with Scoundrel.
Caustic Dispersal(1 point wonder): 1 is good enough. A nice filler~
Smogscreen(5 no otherwise): 5 for max chance. Since every attack with Heavy Weapon will get you 1 stack of miasma, it basically means constant 25% evasion before Fumigate.
Fumigate(5 no otherwise): Our explicit ultimate. A big aoe nuke for only 5 turn cd(we need 5 turns get max stacks anyway). I didn't specifically focus on acid dmg and could still easily crit for 13k. Sadly it cannot remove spell effects.
Steamtech/Artillery
Rocket Pod(1 is enough): Our essential sustain to trigger Eye of the Tiger and procs. It's all passive and helps you to keep reducing Block's cd even if you are forced to do something other than attacking.
Incendiary Powder(3-5 for me): Well, it may also get redirected to you by Scoundrel, be careful.
Lock On(5 depends on difficulty and enemies): On madness, you will find enemies with 100+ defense from time to time and we won't be able to spend too much Ego slots on acc. So 5 it otherwise you plan to play on Insane or lower.
Death From Above(5 no otherwise): Good dmg but I used it as mobility mainly, note that you can actually use instant Salves to remove status effects and won't break the uptime.
-----------Generic Talents-----------
Technique/Combat Training
Thick Skin(5 no otherwise): Like always .
Heavy Armour Training(5 for me): More armor, hardiness, critical chance reduction, good for me.
Combat Accuracy(5 for me): Like said before, although the diminishing return is bad but you will need every bit of acc on madness to hit something and build up your defense.
Steamtech/Physics/Chemistry
Steam power(5 please): One of the reliable source of steam power. Otherwise you will need some 'miracle-tier' randarts to stack cunning if you want to silence lock the final bosses.
Others(Depends): See Tinkers.
Steamtech/Engineering
Emergency steam purge(1 pointer wonder): Almost useless for other tinker classes but good for annihilator for its 50 steam cost. Use it as alternative to recharge your exoskeleton....on emergency and note that it takes 1 turn~
Innovation(Depends): Can be useful if you do have relative Egos .
Supercharge tinkers(5 no otherwise): Instant, cd=duration, big boost of Steampower and crits, and the best part~~~~60 steam cost to recharge exoskeleton!!! Rejoice my friends~
Last Engineer Standing(Depends): More cunning and good crit shrug off~5 it on madness
Steamtech/Blacksmith (If you don't plan to use escorts talent~)
Massive Physique(1-5): If you have spare points somehow~
Endless Endurance(Depends): Good pin resistance(Getting pinned is annoying for annihilator), +healmod and +hp regen.
Life In The Flames(Depends): Likewise, if you have spare points somehow~~
Craftsman's Eye(5 recommeded): Very good +critmult, and you may use Headlamp(for acc) or Mental Stimulator(for cunning i.e. Steampower) all the time, so 5 it for Blindfight~
-----------Inscriptions-----------
On Madness, adjust your Inscriptions according to current game progress is highly recomeneded~
1. Movement/Shatter Afflictions/Regeneration/Steam Generator around 10, one good Steam Generator is barely sufficient while firing Boltgun at this stage. Replace Regeneration according to your racials if not Cornac.
2. Movement/Shatter Afflictions*2/Regeneration/Steam Generator before nasty dungeons around 20, move and reposition is almost mandatory upon entering new places to avoid triggering 'Hunter!' . If not Cornac drop Regeneration and use charm to heal since you will use Turrets at this stage and it can heal both of you~
3. Movement/Shatter Afflictions*2/Steam Generator*2 once you unlock Artillery and get full stun/confusion immunities. Drop Movement once you 5 Death From Above if not Cornac~
4. Injector*2/Steam Generator*2/Stormshield after getting high lvl Salves, Stormshield is necessary on Madness~
-----------Tinkers-----------
Head: Like said before, Headlamp for 25 extra acc, Mental Stimulator for 10 cunning~ Air Recycler when needed
Body: Second Skin mainly to avoid disgusting poisons and high dmg bleeding and diseases which you can't block~, Ablative Armor if you can't get enough crit shrug off, Crystal Plating for extra cunning to stack Steampower
Cloak: Grounding Strap no otherwise.
Feet: Kinetic Stabilizer~ Get teleported onto unknown places and trigger 'Hunter!' is of great fun if you want~
Belt: Alchemist's Helper for 25% acid and fire dmg or Fungal Web with Unstoppable Force Salve ~
Hands: Iron Grip~ Disarmed means death for us~
Ammo: Magnetic Shell is valuable to greatly lower animies defense (around -150), providing that you can land it in the first place with Lock On or before they buff themselves and able to counter enemies' Physical saves~
Salves: Unstoppable Force Salve can easily boost your saves up to 120+ with strong injectors and Steampower, making you almost immunity to debuffs and greatly mitigate Mind dmg even on madness, you WILL use it
. -----------Egos-----------
Depends on randarts and your coins actually~
1. Stun/Confusion immunities: Mainly Undeterred on Boots, use it as benchmark~ then Mindcaging on Head, it also provides mind resistance and saves. Slots on rings and amulet are often much more valuable for offenses, but if you don't get enough immunities then Of Clarity and Of Perseverance on rings which are lesser Egos and provides good +health regen and saves.
Also, remember that you will need extra numbers over 100 to hedge debuffs that lowers them~
2. Crit mult: Mainly Of Murder and Of Soulsearing on amulet and Of Backstabbing and Of Conjuring on cloak
3. +Lightning>+Acid dmg>>>+Fire dmg: Mainly on rings/weapons etc. but numbers are medicore, just grab anything you can. You really need some serious 'Miracle tier' randarts to stack them sky high and more dmg will always help you solve problems before they become problems.
4. Mastery: If you have good rng or good coins , you may get +0.8 mastery from amulet with both Of Mastery and Of Perfection, it's valuable since we 5 lots of talents~ Or you can save some points on Physics/Chemistry with relative mastery~
5. Resistance: Priority should be like Fire/Cold/Physical/Darkness, then Acid/Nature/Temporal/Mind and the rest.
That being said, you have good resall and will use Pain Suppressor with good uptime on later game, it bascially means +70% all res-individual... before debuffs~ So if you're short of coins, roll offensive Egos first.
6. Saves: Focus on Spell saves but you won't get much from Egos, Unstoppable Force Salve is preferable~
7. Cunning: Steampower actually~prepare an alternative gear set with high cunning to stack Steampower for fixed spell-caster boss fights (Namely Vor and Elandar) or some ridiculous random bosses in High Peak.
-----------Madness Tips-----------
Status Effects
Pay close attention when fighting classes with these effects, like a 15 turns 50% power confusion may not be lethal in short terms but these will soon turn the tide toward lose, so use your status removal wisely~~~
1. Burning Hex/Prophecy of Madness/Decay Ground etc.
The most devastating debuffs to totally destory our defense since we live cd by cd to keep block up, remove them immediately or it will be nigh-guaranteed death~(Decay Ground is a rare terrain effect from Wyrmic, you need to move away first~)
2. Cripple/Slow etc.
Lvl 140 rare+ in High Peak can reduce your global and other speed easily down to 50%, you would rarely survive when enemies all around act 4 turns in a row.
3. Entropy etc.
Heavy Weapon/Exoskeleton/Rocket pot/Miasma are sustains therefore vulnerable to Entropy and will get removed by Corrupted Negation although they are Steamtech btw.
Basic rules
You should strictly follow those rules if plan to play on Madness~~
1. Find the shortcut of Auto-explore on your keyboard, rip it off and throw it away~
2. Always Track first and inspect every rare+ to check their talents(or at least classes) and stats, like if they have the mentioned status effects, extra speed(namely Blinding speed, Haste, Essence of speed etc.), terrain change if you've digged some z-tunnels, dmg displacement(namely Web of Fate, Displacement shield etc.)
3. Toggle off your Rocket Pod before entering new maps, it's better to waste 1 turn than to aggro unexpected enemies.
4. Upon entering new maps, Track then find the nearest corner with lowest enemy density or least unique/random bosses, cast Movement and go that direction immediately.
5. Set up your safe area, and slowly push forward by taking advantages of 'Hunter!'
------that means Track, stay at the max range of 'Hunter!' , rest until you've aggroed enemies you want, then retreat deep into your safe area and fight them there. Repeat until the floor is clean~~6. Use 'white' enemies as resources of dmg shield when facing nasty rare+
7. Never drain your heavy weapon ammo, limit its use to once per Block if possible~
How to Play
These are kind of standard procedure regardless of specific enemy types and assume you've inspected their talents and realised the possibility of triggering 'Hunter!'
1. Set up your defense (Stormshield/Unstoppable Force Salve etc.)
2. Use Shockstaff to charge up then Block
3. Capacitor Discharge(in most cases it will be at full power immediately, do note that it dosen't check acc which can help you deal with enemies with high defense)
4. Supercharge tinkers, then Lock on/Hypervision goggles as you see fit
5. Block~
6. Shockstaff/Capacitor Discharge/Caustic Dispersal
7. Repeat until you get 5 stack Fumigate (Do note that Fumigate needs common steamgun ammo to take effect~)
To conclude
Although madness is said easier in 1.7.6 but still challenge even on adventure. I was luckly enough like there were only several lesser rare+ in the first few rooms in Grushnak Pride that allowed me to quickly clear the area and use the door to choke the horde of enemies aggroed by 'Hunter!' and didn't get death trapped. So hopefully you can make some fun out of this build and manage to get a rl win~