I need advice for a build: I'm trying to make a pure warrior melee build that will max out critical, to get around the annoyingly high counter/dodge/block rates of most endgame enemies. I know I'm going to go for duel-wielding + axes and the swiftstriker tree (bonus caddishness), but does anybody else have any tips?
Dual wield "The Hexaxe of the Magic Axe Lords". It grants the 'Killing Blow' buff every time you kill an enemy. If you max out your damage to the point that you can one-hit-kill enemies you'll be at a constant 100. The megacrafts mod adds a recipe for it.
I... yes, but... two of 'em? Can you double kill someone? Does that reboot them to heaven? Or instantly turn them undead? Both?!
Well, one of them and another similarly powered axe I guess is what he meant, because dual-wielding axes grants +24 critical.
Logically, since we know monsters can be resurrected (e.g. by Witchies) as long as their corpses are present, a double deathblow would not only kill them, but butcher their corpse so that they suffer true Permadeath. Alternatively, double killing a named monster could inflict Permadeath upon it such that it is not only dead, but can never again spawn in future playthroughs. Mind you, statistically speaking this is only likely to bother Lord Dredmor.
(^^ This is all false.) Build advice: Axes Dual Wield Assassination (Big Game Hunter) -- these three skills are about all you can do, skill-wise, to up your Critical. BGH only gives +2 at level 2, so it's probably optional. Berserker Rage Killer Vegan Smithing -- these three skills all add decent amounts of and/or (which adds indirectly.) Since a critical hit deals extra damage equal to your , these skills make your critical hits more deadly. Because Killer Vegan and BGH don't work together, probably Killer Vegan is the better bet. So that's 6 of 7 skills you can dedicate purely to criticals. You probably want that last skill to be something useful like Alchemy, Fungal Arts, Burglary, or some form of magic that gives you healing (hint: Fleshsmithing's first level also grants more .) For equipment, obviously, you want the best axes you can get and gear that grants + and . Strategy-wise, you probably want to charge straight up the Axe tree, then max out Assassination, then switch to Berserker Rage, then Killer Vegan for the stat boosts and walking meatshield at the very end. Take Smithing if you find a killer recipe that will net you a badass axe, but other than that just treat it as end-game filler for the extra . Good luck!
The only thing I think I would change would be to max smithing and berserker rage first. Because the extra damage and survivability(plus crafting) is really only useful in the early levels. Crit isnt really needed until later levels when monsters have high dodge and counter rates so maxing the axe tree can wait until the middle levels.
When it comes to equipment, the Fine Steel Axe and the Rift Axe are probably what you're aiming for. For crossbows, the highest +crit comes from the sneaky assassins crossbow, with 5 crit. No helm gives critical, nor plate or pants. Magic sandal gives 3 crit... it appears that you will be going for +Crit, or more whatever primary skill crit is under.
Do crit you get from crossbows skill count? I guess it is, then it's not a bad tree that provides some decent crit.
