Csaszar's Tech Berserker

[Csaszar 2]

Inspired by Gogo's post about the Dwarf I choose to start a brand new dwarf with a brand new idea behind him. While playing him I found he has enough OOmph to satisfy even Gogo to whom this guide is dedicated.

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Dwarven tech Berserker - the one dwarf army of fiery destruction backed up with fine dwarven steel

 

 

I. General Overview

 

We will create a dwarf who is equally good with his flamer and can swing (or shoot) any weapon with great efficiency. With his skill selection he will be good with teh special dwarven Combat Arts (like Flamethrower or Greed) and his other skills will allow him to use weapons in melee with an unmatched ferocity. The build heavily relies on the Battle Rage CA which will provide a huge weapon speed bonus and WIDD for our dwarf.

 

II. The skills

 

He will use at least 2 equipment parts with +XX to all skills so plan your skill progression with this in mind.

 

skill name / incresability trough items

Weapon Lore / very high

Dwarven Lore / manageable (Kabelrinte's Adamant Helmet)

Weapon Technology / low

Constitution / Good (lotsa Lorgar ammys)

Armor / low

Concentration / manageable (Goilomn Gilisfon's Headgear + other rings and ammys)

Agility / good (Kabelrinte's Boots of Deliverance + lotsa rings)

Parry / good (Tharr Eross' Repelling Shield)

 

General rule is to raise the skills as high as the return is noticable and dont leave any skills too low.

 

The lack of the weapon specific lores are compensated trough Combat Arts (Battle Rage = weapon speed, War Cry & Dwarven Steel = Attack Rating). This will let us use any weapon type in melee or support to your Flamethrower.

 

III. The Attributes

 

I advise to put all your available points into Phys Regen. While Strength and Dexterity could be also useful I always preferred the pure Attribute points allocation and Phys Regen is just what we need to be as high as possible.

 

 

IV. Combat Arts

 

IV. 1. Technical CA Tree

 

(I am not listing Mortar Grenade here because of the associated glitches and bugs. For me it works almost flawless and I find it a very good CA but lots ppl reported serious graphical problem while using this CA. Cannon Blast is without such flaws but IMHO that CA is best when a dwarf specialize himself to its use - so in our "hybrid' build its not covered. But of course you will have the freedom to experience with it.)

 

Flamethrower - This will be one of your main CA. "The Dwarf fires a jet of flammable liquid from his pack. This ignites and becomes a stream of searing flame. The fire dies down quickly." Basing the CA level on item bonuses is a good idea too but you will have the freedom to read some Flamer runes - but you should keep regen time under 4 sec.

 

Dwarven Steel - One of the most important duration buff for your melee side. "The weapon glows for a brief period. The physical resistance of all opponents is significantly lowered during that time. The weapon's aura will gleam with every hit and then gradually grow weaker until it is exhausted." This buff has 2 major uses:

#1 it gives Attack Rating

#2 it reduces the enemys physical resistance - so enabling the dwarf to deeply wound them in melee with phys damage based weapons.

Its advised to raise till the duration and the reduction is maxed (around CA level 140)

 

Dwarven Armor - "Increases fire and poison resistances. A pulsating aura around the Dwarf will indicate that the skill is active. The aura will slowly subside while the resistances decrease to their normal values." As the description describes it. Raise it as high as you would like or as many runes you could spare.

If you plan to raise it really high you could plan your entire gear with this in mind so socketing mainly Phys and Magical resistance ammys (as a Dwarf it wont be that hard to find lots Berenike Amulets (nice unik ammy)) - this way the dwarf could be turned to a real resistance monster.

 

Greed - "The Dwarf's attention is lowered (defense value) but there is an increased chance that opponents will drop a more valuable item." Using this CA will raise your chance to find sets/uniqes/"good" stuff in the cost of reduced defense value. A lot of ppl dont like greed because the lowering of defense. With the parry skill (Parry increases base defense - so its really good to lessen Greeds defense reduction) your Defense will be lower than usual but still manageable. If you cast War Cry after Greed - you wont even really see that defense reduction. Raise Greed as high as you could - possibly maxing it.

Another use of greed is much more interesting. If you keep it active all the time it will lower your defense enough to allow the opponents to lower your Health Points constantly. Now with being hurt the awesome WIDD from Battle Rage kicks in raising your damage output greatly. If you are able to attack without interruptions that will turn your Dwarf a very mean damage dealing maschine. This works the best with either the Flamer or with the Vehemence melee attack - both have Area of Effect.

 

Of course you can try any other Dwarven Techonolgy CA - but theese are the most important ones for the build.

 

IV. 2. Melee CA Tree

 

War Cry - "A striking and exhilarating roar which increases the Dwarf's attack and defense values and those of his allies (hirelings and MP party) for a set duration." Your main defensive buff - and this is really party friendly too! Raise it as high as you could - possibly maxing it.

 

Battle Rage - "Battle Rage recharges with each rapid hit while it is active and discharges when there is no fighting. The frequency of hits will increase with each successive hit. Injuries increase the strength of the dwarf's attacks.

Musket: Increases the frequency of shots." Battle Rage is a key CA for the melee side of this build and its WIDD damage bonus is useful for any purpose.

It provides a very nice attack speed bonus (without the specific lore (sword lore, axe lore ...etc) attack speed would be too low) and a special WIDD bonus. The "Wounds Inrease Damage Dealt" bonus from Battle Rage is a perchentage increasing with the CA level and with its help 300-400% WIDD can be reached without too much trouble AND whithout sacraficing valuable sockets. In short: Battle Rage ROX

 

Assault - "A combination of savage hits, kicks, and head-butts.

Musket: Fires a salvo of shots (will change target when an enemy is killed)." If the gun part would be true every dwarf would use a gun - but sadly its bugged. This is the dwarven version of "Attack".

 

Vehemence - "The target opponent sustains direct damage, with nearby enemies suffering x% damage. This technique will only work while using two-hand weapons" Works great agains mobs and its not bugged like multi hit.

 

The above two Arts - of course - have their own uses. Assault is better with a one handed weapon and Vehemence is only for tho handed weapons. This lets you choose your own fighting style and allows to change freely between your weapon slots.

 

I leave Multi Hit and Hard Hit and the other CAs to you to explore - for my part I dont really used them.

 

 

V. Equipment

 

I advise to create a mixed set/yellow gear - looking for the best bonus from every piece. Most important guideline is to have RSM on your eqipment and lotsa sockets.

 

Preferably you will have the following gear types:

 

- Levelling gear: as its name suggests this kind of gear is ultimately geared towards bonus XP. Rideg Stumel's Feathered Chainmail, Goilomn Gilisfon's Boots of Attack and Brooch of Diligence are natural choices - socketed with as many XP ammys as possible (Huron, Ethan, Goloimn or any high XP ammy - try to avoid socketing XP rings because of their lack of resistances). Kabelrinte's Blazing Howitzer and Kabelrinte's Unyielding Shoulder are good choices too because of the nice all skill bonus on them and the Flamethrower bonus (cannon).

For belt you should find a 2 socketed yellow one with nice RSM and Phys regen bonus on it.

In the ring slots you can either equip bonus XP ones (adviced) or if your Flamer isnt high enough + all ca rings (if you can afford rings like: Silasha Great Ring of Concentration or Dexter's Ring). Thar Eross Glove has enough leech on itself to be really useful.

 

- Final gear: when you reach max level OR the level you think its high enough to start some serious - non lvling oriented - playing then change some parts. Depending on your playing style: 1 handed melee/2 handed melee/flamer (or mortar). I trust your judgement to choose the gear pieces you think useful. Having Kabelrinte's Blazing Howitzer and Kabelrinte's Unyielding Shoulder + Goilomn Gilisfon's Headgear OR Kabelrinte's Adamant Helmet is a good idea.

 

The final Flamer gear of my own char:

 

Kabelrinte's Adamant Helmet

Kabelrinte's Blazing Howitzer

Kabelrinte's Unyielding Shoulder

Tharr Eross' Armor of the Anvil

Tharr Eross' Repelling Shield

Goilomn Gilisfon's Gauntlets of Glory

+ rare belt and boots

 

They are socketed mostly with Berenike + Lorgar + Goloimn ammys.

 

VI. Strengths and weaknesses

 

VI.1. Strength of the build

 

As stated before the main strength of this build is diversity. With the stated skill and CA selection you will be able to be an unstoppable melee tank or a cunning gunner or a mean flamethrower. You dont need to start lotsa Dwarfs if you want to try different weapons and CAs. You can be a gunner today but change tomorrow to flamer or an axe if you feel that way.

 

VI.2. Weakness of the build

 

Like all "hybrids" you need to make sacrafices. You cant be the best Gunman the meaniest Flamethrower and an axe wielding footman at the same time. The gear plays a definite role in this game and you need to choose your armor and weapons to support your main fighting style. Of course you can make several gears aimed to support the different type of chars but then you would need to change the gear time to time.

 

 

Last words

 

If built right this Dwarf will be VoT proof pretty soon. Until niob - with regulary updated Gear - he wont have real difficulties there. Undeads are a good choice too - mediocre xp but high enemy numbers. Pirate isle with that lotsa skellies is a nice place too.

 

While lvling its advised to depend on the cannon associated CAs - mainly Flamer. Good damage with relative lower CA level boosted with Battle Rage WIDD bonus and Area of Effect damage. Sweet.

 

 

************* UPDATE **************** 1 ************************

 

I have started some extensive testing in the WIDD part of this Dwarf. The results exceeded all my expectations so far. I have taken some pictures about the damage done by his flamer and mortar:

 

 

And there is soo much still to improve! His flamer and mortar are both around only level 140 and Battle Rage is not yet maxed.

 

The Flamer CA - mainly because of its continous nature - got a smaller damage increase "only" jumping to the 300-400k range while the Mortar Cannon CA was turned utterly destructive its damage ranging from 700k and reaching over 3 million. Further experiments are on the way....

 

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Edited September 26, 2007 by Csaszar

[erialc 3]

Ahh what a wondeful guide Csaszar! I have seen this shorty in action and what he lacks in height he sure as hell makes up for in Oooomph! This is one everyone should try and also tweak lets get a shorty discussion going I know Funki and Curtis make killer shorties so maybe we can have a whole army of shorties for D.a.r.k!

 

Csaszar wicked guide!

[Schot 415]

Very nice Csaszar! A very thorough guide it is too. But I don't understand... Dwarves can kill too? lol. Admittedly, the only thing I have done with my many Dwarves has been to make them shop, forge and mule, hehe. I generally go with a single CA and just level to the point they are at a good mule level, ie: level 1, 60 100.

 

It would certainly be a nice change for me to actually create a true battle Dwarf. Alas, you've all got me on the DE craze and I'm a little behind. Slow down! Hehe. I must say I've drooled over the Battle Rage CA many times and although I've been dieing to try it I've had to many other experiments on the go to be able to try it out. Ironically enough, Zinsho and I were chatting about Battle Rage just the other day so your guide is perfect timing.

 

I like the fact that you've mixed in melee attack Combat Arts with dwarf tech Combat Arts thus taking advantage of the two separate CA timers. Not only that but in regards to the melee Combat Arts there is a great advantage in that you can use trading to boost the melee Combat Arts such Assault(which is the Attack CA I believe)

 

I'm curious about one thing though. Since this is a WIDD build and its main CA, or one of, is Flamethrower I wonder if you had considered filling most of your sockets with Aarnums Wrath rings which can have +30% WIDD, +20% Fire damageand 2% Split. Was this an option that you had decided would not be suitable?

 

 

Very nice guide Csaszar. I look forward to experimenting with it!

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

 

Claire:

 

An army of angry shorties marching forward till the bear keg.... hehe apocalitiptic scene

 

 

Schot:

 

Hehe its all my fault. Maybe I wasnt exactly clear HOW POWERFUL Battle Rage is.

 

 

pls allow me to refine theese words:

But answering to your question: no I would never ever consider socket Aarnum rings into my precious sockets. The fire damage bonus means very little - even if added together 8 or more rings. The needed split amount could be very easy provided. From 8 rings I could get 240% WIDD. Do I really need that extra 240% if I already have 1000% WIDD? I think using RSM or +all CA or MF ammys/rings are simply a much better option.

 

I think that the available sockets could be better used with other kind of mods. MF always come handy and any jewelry with a good bonus to phys regen could be invaluable (like Temple Guardian ammy or Dragonslayer ring). Socketing Aarnum rings could improve that already high WIDD even more but IMHO with this high % the already mentioned mods could have a better overall effect.

 

 

CS.

Edited September 20, 2007 by Csaszar

[gogoblender 3,306]

Csaszar, this is probably one of the best, most comprehensive guides written on a character ever. lol, okay...you've got me convinced...yes a dwarf DOES have oomph! And what a guide this is....The descriptions and critiques on the Combat Arts are first class. A great addition you've gifted to the community.

Good job!

 

gogo

 

p.s. you only had to say the word WIDD and I was sold. I love the edge on this guide...it's fantastic. Just the kind of info that should coming out in a game's twillight years and gives us fun outside the box

!

[Epox 2]

yea this is a great combo and nice and well writen guide cze

[Funkilicious 1]

Wow great guide Csas, will definitely give it a go in the future

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

Guide updated - check the newest pictures!

[erialc 3]

Excellent update there and woah looky at all that damage

 

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

Using Evil Ring of Sturdiness (9% PAIN) I was able to break the 7 mill damage barrier!

 

 

Well of course using WIDD and PAIN (each hit drains own life energy) together could be really dangerous. One shot from my mortar has taken my life to 400(!!) but the resulting damage was enormous with the 1100% WIDD I currently use

 

Hehe it seems I invented the deadliest sniper Dwarf! Well I didnt dared to try it out in close combat this far....

(archers could be a real pain for this setup so avoid them)

 

Without the PAIN mod and using constantly Greed and Battle Rage his damage output is a steady 200-700k (possible millions) with Mortar and 100-400k (possible 7-800k) with Flamer - mostly depending on the previously taken damage.

[Obsession 0]

So is that berserk bonus equal to widd %? Just asking as currently playing on a farmer dwarf so I can make a widd gunner dwarf.

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

In Short = yes. Battle Rage's bonus works like WIDD.

[Schot 415]

Ah that's a tremendous amount of widd! Can you cast Battle Rage on other party members? Particularly my BM?! lol. Garanteed I will be trying this build in the future. Very nice!

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

Sadly its an only self buff.

[Epox 2]

hey cze what Combat Arts you use on this toon I see oyu listed 8, do yoou use all 8 of em or? could oyu list what Combat Arts you use on your tech..

 

Omg I just made one he is a killing machine even with level 8 flame and level 8 Br he is a killer

 

my ca approach is Assult, Flame THrower has atk cas. then Battle Rage, War cry , Dwarven steel , greed and I either gonna make a combo between Br and Wc or Ds and greed not sure yet

 

you can't take agility on level 30

 

 

but I must say Great Dwarf

Edited October 21, 2007 by Epox