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ALLIRIA, F MOON GODLIKE KIND WAYFARER
Why She's Included and How to Use Her
The Watcher leader of the good party. A Kind Wayfarer's build emphasizes both dealing damage in melee combat as well as triggering innate healing powers whenever possible. This character pretty much has to dual-wield highly damaging Sabres, and for more than one reason.
The Sword and the Shepherd activates whenever she uses Flames of Devotion. It activates twice over when the Kind Wayfarer is dual-wielding two weapons.
Moreover, Strange Mercy triggers hefty healing of Endurance whenever she lands the killing blow on an enemy. You must therefore develop a Kind Wayfarer to, as much as possible, maximize her damage output with the intention of landing the killing blow on her targets as much as possible.
If she's taken enough damage, her Moon Godlike ability can also send out waves of healing at 75%, 50% and 25% Endurance remaining intervals. *Note* An equally valid choice would have been Death Godlike, since they gain a Damage bonus against enemies with low Endurance. But I thematically prefer Moon Godlike as a matter of taste.
Stats
Abilities
1st Level - Flames of Devotion: This is the natural choice for a Kind Wayfarer on account of The Sword and the Shepherd and the Strange Mercy talents.
3rd Level - Zealous Endurance: A modal aura that adds +3 Damage Reduction for the Paladin and all allies within its radius. The idea is that Hiravias will take the Gallant Focus talent, so that I benefit from two auras overall instead of just one.
5th Level - Sworn Enemy: Allows a Paladin to inflict +20% damage and attack with +15 Accuracy against a single-enemy. It can be used once every Encounter, and will last the entire battle or until its target dies. Those two factors make this a fabulous ability to use against the most powerful enemy in any and every battle, especially against bosses.
7th Level - Inspiring Triumph: Adds +7 to all Defenses for all party members within a certain radius of the Paladin when the Paladin kills an enemy. It is a logical choice for a Paladin build that already revolves around an 'on kill' effect like Strange Mercy. Since the bonuses spring from the use of a Passive ability, they will stack with other Defense bonuses as well.
9th Level - Reinforcing Exhortation: Allows her, twice each Encounter, to give either an ally or herself a +25 bonus to Deflection. It can be used in a number of ways. I very often tag both Hiravias and Devil of Caroc with it at the start of a fight so that they can function better as off-tanks. Sometimes I put Kana ahead and use this ability on him so that he can stick his neck out as a super-tank. Or sometimes she'll use it on herself if she's in it tough and surrounded by enemies ganging up on her.
11th Level - Coordinated Attacks: It is a passive ability that provides a +10 Accuracy bonus to a party member when the party member is attacking the same target as her. This ability can be really powerful, especially when it is Devil of Caroc who is benefitting from it.
13th Level - Sacred Immolation: This ability causes the Paladin to pulse fire in a certain radius around the Paladin every few seconds for a base duration of 30 seconds. Each pulse inflicts a small amount of Raw damage on the Paladin, but will also at the same time cause Burning Damage to all enemies near the Paladin, and heal a small amount of Endurance for nearby allies. If the Burning damage kills an enemy, it will trigger Strange Mercy for her. There is also the additional point that the pulses will also trigger the additional +5 points of Burning Damage for any enemies affected by Combusting Wounds.
15th Level - Healing Chain: It provides another healing option if the battle is intense enough to warrant it.
Talents
2nd Level - The Sword and the Shepherd: It restores Endurance to everyone within a certain radius of her whenever she uses Flames of Devotion. More than that, it will activate twice when she uses Flames of Devotion while dual-wielding a weapon in each hand. This is one of the reasons why Kind Wayfarers are considerably more effective when they dual-wield two weapons.
4th Level - Strange Mercy: It recoups Endurance for all party members within a large radius upon her landing the killing blow on her target. There's no limit (aside from the number of enemies themselves) on how often this will trigger during each encounter. That makes it one of the key features of a Kind Wayfarer. Many of her other talents or abilities are selected with a view towards either maximizing the probability of her landing a killing blow, or adding other benefits in addition to Strange Mercy once she lands the killing blow.
6th Level - Two Weapon Style: This is the natural choice as it increases her Attack Speed by 20% when she's attacking with her pair of Sabres. Anything that will increase the chances of triggering her Strange Mercy power is a must.
8th Level - Apprentice's Sneak Attack: Anything that increases her chances of triggering Strange Mercy with a death blow is helpful. This talent will come into play quite often because other characters will have powers that can expose enemies to Sneak Attacks, like the Cipher's powers and Druid spells that can Stun.
10th Level - Weapon Focus / Ruffian: It is the natural choice as it augments her Accuracy with her sabres.
12th Level - Scion of Flames: The bonus to Burning Damage will enhance both her Flames of Devotion, and her Sacred Immolation power, which she will take on the next level-up.
14th Level - Intense Flames: It increases the Burning Damage of Flames of Devotion by 25%. I'm at the point where I have a lot of what I planned for, so add ons this late in the game amount to tweaks.
16th Level - Deep Faith: Adds +8 to her Deflection and +17 to all of her other Defenses. Even a little boost to Deflection can be helpful for a Damage Dealer, if for no other reason than that it will sometimes reduce Critical Hits to standard Hits instead. The boost to other Defenses is certainly welcome as well.
Inventory
Purgatory: Looted from Archdruid Rehstin at #20 in the Blood Sands. The Endurance-draining power will increase her resiliency during the intense physical combats that she's often involved in. To start with, Sabres have the highest base-damage for any single-hand melee weapon type in the game. My set up for her, and the tactics she uses, emphasize increasing the Accuracy of her melee attacks, with the point of increasing the chances of a Critical Hit. The increased Critical Hit Modifier will in turn increase the damage of those Critical Hits. All of this in turn leads to an overarching theme of her build, to maximize her damage on any given melee strike and in turn maximize the chances of triggering her Strange Mercy power. I added the Burning Lash and Legendary enchantments to it.
Purgatory: I used The Helwax Mold to make a duplicate after I had added all the enchantments I wanted to the original. Alliria is that much more deadly for being able to dual-wield exact duplicates of a very powerful weapon that is optimized for her use.
St. Ydwen's Redeemer: Looted from Urthal at #12 near Russetwood. The Resurrection, and Holy Power abilities are nice, but they are really sugar on top. The 10% chance to inflict Divine Mark on a Hit or Critical Hit makes the weapon quite useful in its own right. However, the real perk is the chance to kill a Vessel outright, which in turn will trigger Strange Mercy. It becomes her weapon of choice whenever she's fighting corporeal undead or constructs.
Mantle of the Excavator: In a debris pile at #25 in the Lower West Tower. The +4 bonus to Perception will obviously help her land her potent melee attacks. The +2 bonus to Survival helps expand her combat options upon resting. The bonus against poison attacks is sugar on top.
Ryona's Breastplate: Looted from a corpse at #3 in Whitestone Hollow. The +3 bonus to Intellect and Triggered Immunity will be key benefits. In particular, Triggered Immunity can be especially beneficial for a Paladin who's constantly throwing himself into the thick of it with low Deflection. A 15% chance to cast Vigorous Defense upon receiving a Hit or Critical Hit is another key benefit. The ability to use Triumph of the Crusader, another strong healing resource, upon reaching 50% or below Endurance is yet another card.
Mourning Gloves: A reward for The Mourning Circle companion adventure. Bonuses to Attack Speed and Endurance on kill are the key benefits. Minor increases to Defenses, Concentration and Interrupt are sugar on top. Arguably the best gloves in the game, but especially so for a dual-wielding character that places a premium on Attack Speed and Endurance recovery. And especially so for a Kind Wayfarer character that is built around garnering multiple benefits upon inflicting the killing blow.
Pensiavi Mes Resi: Looted from a cache at #8 in the Temple of Hylea. It allows her to get her +3 Might bonus from one of her ring slots, thereby freeing her belt slot for the Binding Rope. The might bonus will increase the damage of her physical attacks, the Burning Damage of Sacred Immolation, and the healing provided by both The Sword and the Shepherd and Strange Mercy.
Bartender's Ring: Looted from a locked chest at #12 in the main floor of the Goose and Fox. She's one of the heavy-hitters in the party, so equipping an item that provides bonus damage against Spirits and Vessels makes perfect sense. There is also the additional point that it increases the chances of triggering her Strange Mercy power when fighting such monsters.
Binding Rope: A reward for the Bound and Buried companion adventure. The Constitution bonus is obviously one of the key points, so as to increase her durability. The other key point is that any enemy that strikes her in combat is subject to getting Stuck for at least 3 seconds. Stuck inflicts a -20 penalty on Deflection, which means that she can in turn retaliate with an attack of her own that has the increased probability of inflicting a Critical Hit. And she herself will enjoy multiple bonuses to her Critical Hit Modifier. It's all about maximizing the chances of triggering her Strange Mercy power.
Boots of Zealous Command: Purchased from Winfrith's Arms and Armory, the entrance to which is at #14 in Dyrford Village. It is the obvious choice of boots for a Paladin, as it will expand the range of the Paladin's Zealous aura.
