^My feelings on the issue
GT: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDegjpN
YT (naked crucible): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeUqCXTDs-o&t
YT (SR 75 clear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQhjoEm2am4&t=
^Note - these videos were taken before the build was fully polished, thus stats will differ from the GT link.
Huge thanks to mad_lee, ya_, and x1x2 for helping me out with this theorycraft.
Introduction
Right off the bat, I want to state that I have nothing but respect for Crate. Weâll never see eye to eye on everything, but I do support their authority as creators of the game to do what they think is best for their vision of GD.
That being said, I do feel rather peeved at how skewed the game currently is in favor of certain builds. And no matter how ingeniously one may devise a theorycraft, they will simply fall short of builds like the octavius warlord.
This, if I may so toot my own horn, is an example of such a theorycraft.
And since Z himself has stated that RoH will never be fixed, I no longer feel any reason to keep my latest invention under wraps.
Ladies and gentlemen - the Chillwhisper Infiltrator.
Gameplay
This is NOT a friendly build to play. The skill required to manoeuvre it is high, and the reflexes it demands from the pilot is extreme.
One small misstep, a simple miscalculation, and youâre probably dead.
That being said, it is precisely for this very reason that this is one of the most satisfying characters Iâve ever had the joy of piloting. Because YOU the player are absolutely responsible for its success or failure.
As ya_ once told me, contrary to common believe, RoH is actually a single target spell with decent trash clearing abilities. It is best used as a âshotgun.â
The difficulty which comes with doing so, however, can be attributed to 2 reasons:
-
Its 1.5s arming time:
The pilot must move in a fashion which forces the intended target to step on a previously placed mine -
It is impossible to make RoH shotgun a fast moving enemy unless you endanger yourself
Iâll simply quote myself from another thread:
The only way to actually make RoH shotgun a fast moving target is for you to run into its attack range to make it start its attack animation. This is made even WORSE with the introduction of many enemies with gap-closing mechanics - Korvaak, and Kaisan are just 2 which come to mind.
So youâre caught between a rock and a hard place. Take the risk to try and eliminate the threat asap, or donât and allow the threat to exist for longer.
See the gifs in the spoiler-boxes to see what I mean.
This is what tends to happen if you take the risk
This is what tends to happen if you do not
In its current state, youâre making this skill inaccessible to most players as the amount of skill needed to pull it off is absurd. And even then, no amount of skill can compensate for the randomness of things like the shattered realm at deeper shards.
The best solution to this problem is to shepherd enemies into a single flock A good way to go about this is to corner yourself, and just as when the wave of bodies is about to crush you - shadow strike or blink out to its periphery.
This will not only mitigate the amount of damage you take (i.e. you can only be attacked from one direction), but will also allow RoH to attack the greatest number of enemies while simultaneously giving it the highest chance of shotgunning priority targets.
Should you be unable to escape (i.e. you are trapped), donât panic. Blade barrier, then try again.
Levelling
I donât normally do this, but this is a must for this guide - level with RoH.
You want to get used to its arming time, its cast range, and its kill potential as quickly as possible.
I would use word of pain until I can get sufficient levels into the inquisitors skill-line so that artifact handling and chillsurge are open for the taking before actually respeccing into RoH.
Devotions
- Chaos crossroad, viper, sailorâs guide, eel, solemn watcher, jackal
- Yellow crossroad
- Green crossroad, quill, scythe, hawk, 1 point into throne
- Crown (bind to Chillspikes)
- Rumor (bind to RoH)
- Refund quill and green crossroad
- Aeonâs (bind to horn of gandarr)
- 4 points into amatok for blizzard (bind to blade spirits)
You now have 3 points left over.
These are your flex points which you should use to help accommodate your shortcomings as the pilot.
Need a heal during blade barrier? get behemoth and bind it to BB
Having trouble with sustain? Invest 3 points into bat, and get the remaining 2 points from the last 2 nodes of rumor (the pierce/cold + vit/cold conversion from items are very useful here)
Need another circuit breaker? Swap jackal for ghoul, and throw the last point into the bottom left node of amatok.
Struggling with resists? Use these points accordingly to mitigate that problem
Items
Iâve tested a whole slew of item choices here, and I think what I have is BiS. If youâre having trouble with finding the alkamos rings, use reign of ice and fire and fix resists accordingly.
In addition, this build uses âsuperchargingâ of bladespirits to save skill points. Brought to my attention by x1x2,
supercharging:
when a pet (or pseudo pet) is summoned, it takes its stats based on the skill level when it is summoned. If you remove the equipment with skill bonuses on the said pet, the pet will stay strong and not be scaled down to what your current points are. So if you equip a bunch of blade spirit item where just a couple points take you to 26/16, summon your spirits, then re equip your normal items, then your spirits will still have 26/16 stats without you spending the whole 16 points in it.
What Iâve done here is use 2x malmouth blade seals + 1x reaper pants (affixes donât matter) with a +3 to BS to save myself 7 skill points.
Obviously more can be saved if you took items like chains of nightfire, any +1 to all NB skills on the amulet and relic allowing you to save a maximum of 11 skill points.
I personally just couldnât be bothered to do this. If I did, I would most probably try and softcap deadly aim.
A word on craftable items: You really want to craft that stun resist bonus on these items to shore up that low CC res. However, this is only necessary should you want to make deep shard runs/naked crucible runs.
Lastly, both john_smith and ya_ suggested I try the mageslayer amulet. While it looks amazing on paper, it actually ran worse to my surprise. The ability to drop as many runes as your can in the face of an angry nemesis before needing to blade barrier up is crux to this build. Totally worth sacrificing the -15% RR and +1 to all inqui skills for IMO.
A tangential note
This build is essentially a dodge-tank. With 30% fumble, and 38% dodge, you have on average a 43.4% chance of getting hit.
That being said, raw HP is a must for deep shard runs. Past shard 70, any attempt an enemy makes to attack you runs the risk of one-shotting you.
So do your utmost best to get your hp pool to a minimum of 12k. (I have about 13k in game with physique bonuses)
This is the reason why I traded points in deadly aim for vigor. Itâs pointless having all the damage in the world if youâre too dead to apply it.
Conclusion
I had hoped that you, lady hagarrad, would be the one to rival Aegis &/or retaliation builds in todayâs shield based meta. But dreams and reality are 2 very different things.
To quote life of pi, âI suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.â
SoâŚat long last! Farewell, Lady Hagarrad! Your time in the spotlight has finally come to an end to the relief of some, and to the disappointment of others.
Regardless, you will always be remembered.
