Guardian Feofasia - Elemental Clawing Assassin

[Maltatai]

Concept​

After my experiences with the sometimes very useful but very chaotic shadow master I theorized that a shadow warrior could be better if you had the right skills to make her use. And if the assassin herself could switch between different damage types she would always have an effective attack and with the shadow using the same it would be doubled. Sort of. She could even delegate the worst fights to her shadow and control the attacks used from behind.

The plan itself was a little too ambitious as with a maxed shadow warrior and phoenix strike for synergies there were not enough skill points to build up fists of fire. But at least phoenix meteors could be used if needed and a certain zweihanders enchantments would come to add some fire damage too so it worked out still. All the shadow disciplines would be just a bonus and she would surely find many skill points that could improve them vastly as you gain a lot from the first few points in some of them. Treachery would be completely ultimate as a complement to the martial arts skills.

Another general idea of the character was that she would be able to damage while charging up. To that end I was looking for Malice and Strength claws to spread wounds and crushing blows. That proved to be a very successful idea and Feofasia might be the best wounding character I have played.

Skills and Stuff​

The plan was to distribute the skill points as follows.

20 blades of ice
20 claws of thunder
20 phoenix strike
20 shadow warrior
1 mind blast
1 dragon claw
1 venom
5 weapon block

Feofasia focused on blades of ice first and it remained her main attack throughout the game. Claws of thunder did impress me with its damage but was always a secondary option against immunes more than another main attack. The time it took to charge up light effects was often better spent charging up and distributing another load of cold to keep enemies frozen.


The Face of Horror mask socketed with Dol (to counteract Malice bleeding)
The Cats Grace amulet
Smoke gothic plate
String of Ears demonhide sash
Goblin Toe light plated boots
Blood Craft heavy gloves with minor mana and life stealing
Rare rings with resistances and minor life stealing

Todesfaelle Flamme zweihander on switch (for enchanting)

Malice Suwayyah
+2 to claws of thunder
+2 to mind blast

Feofasias Skull Claw Rare Suwayyah socketed with Eth
Damage: 106-141
+2 to assassin skills
+1 to death sentry
+3 to blades of ice
+2 to blade fury

Can there be a more game-changing claw? Granting ranged capability and corpse control to an otherwise melee-bound character. Not to mention +5 to the main attack skill on top of that.

Alhizeer the Chilling Town Guard​

Feofasias Vampire Gaze socketed with Sol
Treachery breast plate
Woestave Bec-de-Corbin

Conclusions​

Feofasia succeded in part but failed miserably in the rest. The root of the problem was that she could deal damage well and good but had too little defenses to survive in combat long enough to deal that damage in peace. Her skills would have gone well along with some sort of PDR outfit I think. or in any case some heavier defenses. The speed from the amulet and fear from the mask was fun but perhaps those slots would have been more needed for other things.

Her attack skills were a solid idea but I underestimated her need for physical damage to steal life sufficiently.

The character turned out to require Treachery a little too much but when I found a Lem rune late in the game the rest of the equipment made her dependant on Smoke and the Weaken charges with it in some situations.

The shadow warrior was the weakest link in the party and the plan. I had hoped for something at least resembling a golem or a valkyrie or a bear. Suffice to say that I was sorely disappointed. I still think she could have been a good damage complement if Feofasia could tank the enemies but I needed her for the reverse.

Alhizeer did not survive the journey and if nothing else the character predates me starting to care about preserving the mercenary. He was still ridiculously tough and withstood mobs and bosses that I thought would chew him up in seconds. With three damage types and Woestave there was nothing immune to him in the end and I Can think of few outfits that could rival Vampire Gaze and Treachery for a town guard. Note few, not zero.

I have still not given up completely on trying to make the shadow minions work but assume that it will take an all-encompassing investment in support skills and +skill equipment to enable them to be effective.

 

[Maltatai]

Feofasias Story (previously posted in the SPF Quest for Guardians in Progress thread

Conqueror Feofasias progress so far

Spoiler

The character is an elemental martial arts assassin intended to make a shadow warrior follow her prudent example and always use a damage type that the target is sensitive too, unlike the rebellios shadow master. The skill plan being roughly

20 blades of ice
20 claws of thunder
20 phoenix strike
20 shadow warrior
1 mind blast
1 dragon claw
1 venom
5 weapon block

Feofasia had a rather easy and simple start throughout normal as I recall it, able to depend on her skill levels for damage and getting by with unremarkable equipment. Normal Baal gifted her with superb claws that I have sadly no memory of nor any screenshot. I had however meticulously made a note that they were superb so obviously they must have been epic beyond the point of mortal comprehension.

Feofasia found a 4 socket gothic plate in lower kurast and after that unique and set pieces started raining down. Kuko Shakaku (the unique cedar bow) from nightmare Andariel was hers at level 59 and the moment after Blackleach Blade (the uniques bill) from the first unique cantor thereafter. Two excellent weapons for the inept enthusiast. From going with a fire mage for the sake of it, to a rogue to speed things up in nightmare and finally settling for Alhizeer the Freezing Town Guard after the available equipment opened up for a melee hireling to actually stand a chance. More specifically, while the nightmare Hellforge yielded a disappointing Lum Diablo gave the party the Kelpie Snare which made up for it.

Feofasia rerolled forth a good path to nightmare Mephisto that soon gifted the party with a perfect Woestave which replaced the fishing implement. Kelpie Snare is better defensively but freezing corpse control and open wounds allow the minons to outdamage any enemy on their own which is pretty much good game for any non-boss foe in itself. The halberds minor damage is a completely insignificant factor in the grand scheme of things.

For her own part, she found the generals flail, which can be used alongside phoenix strike for extra attack rating to slow act bosses and the Todesfaelle Flamme which was an excellent addition since Feofasia is weakest in the fire damage part of her build and have dire need for extra attack rating. Last but not least her signature mask, the Face of Horror, would haunt monsters throughout all of hell.

In Act I there was a tremendously dangerous archer whose enchantments I have long forgotten and also missed completely in this screenshot. Unless the point was to illustrate the usefulness of the shadow spawning with a cursed weapon, or the fact that the fallen one was converted and cursed by the dangerous archer lady. Regardless, be awed either by the formidable foes or minions of Feofasia.

​

A most scary ghost to haunt every assassin. No further elaboration is needed.

​

In hell Charsi imbued a wonderful suwayah for Feofasia with a most decisive bonus to death sentry and blade fury. Corpse control and a ranged alernative attack along with solid damage makes it one of the best imbues I have ever seen for a specific character.

The Halls of the Dead had a place at the second level with a sarcophagus where the game crashed twice, probably due to the/a cloak of shadows bug. I was so scared of it that I removed the skill from my hotkeys for the time being and made without...very much more difficult. Pesky undead...

Fangskin and his slithering pack was handled far smoother with a successful grab of the central mound. Which was just as well since the primary damage types of the party is cold, physical and lightning and none would prefer to melee a cursed viper.

​

Like many others, Feofasia found the blunderbores boring and troublesome. As is probably now apparent she had a large amount of skills to use and balance between which was often quite complicated. The trouble with these kinds of situations is that while you have the right tools to deal with said muscle-brained goons, none of those tools are strong enough to do it effectively. The shadow needs a hefty investment in skill levels and probably also fade to stand her ground in hell, while mind blast stunning runs out a bit too quickly to allow for much use of attacks inbetween. Eventually the blunderbore would have no more 'sins to bother, in any case.

​

A matching impediment was the hairy death metal singer roaming the canyon of the magi in search of beer glasses of dubious reliability and other festival necessities.

​

Apart from the lacking attack rating the party can be rather effective against act bosses due to the slowing and weakening effects available and the possibility to dish out lots of sparks that all hit their bulky lower parts.

​

Just as in the early days of the game, Duriel was not necessarily the most dangerous adversary in his act and many risky experiences awaited before the team could set sail for Kurast. One must, in all fairness, commend the enemy commanders for their prudent choice of auras to complement their innate abilities.

​

Great spider minds spin alike or whatever, and Sszark the Burning had taken it to heart and hired an assistant executive officer that mostly mimicked his talents. Feofasia had less admiration for the stellar example of sound business management.

​

The hordes of flayers and even the undead varieties were manageable since they rely so much on surprising shock tactics, which falter before mind blasts and cloaking along with sturdy minions. Once the momentum is gone, such packs are easy prey to charged attacks. The hardest monster packs are the few but strong champions of larger monsters and the mixed groups, or ranged attackers with stupefyingly overpowering combinations of skills, like conviction combined with weather sorcery and an insulting name. That one was less than amusing to have teleporting on top of your toes while in the process of losing critical health.

​

Being innately equipped with, but not exclusively reliant on, cloaking made stair traps less of a danger for Feofasia than for most characters. The challenge in this particular case was not overwhelming but in principle the same approach can thwart much more severe stair traps in the same way.

​

As of now, Feofasia has pushed as far as the second level of the durance of Hate and the way down is reasonably close to her waypoint but she has a good deal of the middle portion of the second level left to clear first. It isn't impossible, just grueling work to deal with the maulers and the fire walls and poisons that affect minions so badly.

No dolls!

Spoiler

And no conviction of Bremm Sparkfist either! Feofasia has joyfully explored the rest of the Durance and obeyed the wishes of her opponents and gone to hell. Mauling leaders and cursed dark lords proved risky enough while the cadavers often made short work of the fragile shadow, being a mere shadow of itself as the saying goes. Alhizeer actually survived the whole ordeal even though Mephisto was quite nasty for him. I am almost considering a life tap wand for bosses, and it would suit the red details of Feofasia well, but she has on the other hand quite a lot of skills to balance between already. Weaken was obviously useful but the damage from act boss spells still pile up a lot over time. Also, long live the goblin toe!

Feofasia found a perplexingly unsuitably phenomenal charm on her way down, such a taunt.

​

For once a picture of Mephisto without him highlighted, but Feofasia appears moderately interested in the battle as such. Then again, that is what mindless minions are for. Speaking of minions, Wyand was camping right next to his master, the sycophantic flatterer. It was an unconventional contest in that the boss was lured away from his underlings instead of the other way around.

​

 

[Maltatai]

Plains of Despair Relief

Spoiler

Doubly so. First, Feofasia suffered a game crash in the Outer Steppes just as I had cleared them and had to start over. After that experience I have dropped using cloak of shadows completely with the character, replacing it with weaken charges as the general curse. It is enormously irritating and I saved and exited before continuing pas tthe outer steppes just to save the progress. Despite repulsive opposition from doom knights and a dual pack of multishot venom lords Feofasia hacked through to the Plains of Despair, where there were NO SOULS! Rejoice! Those would have been extremely dangerous to handle without cloaking and suffering further crashes would probably remove the fun in playing this one.

Feofasia took down Izual in no time, long live Goblin Toe!

The large demons are rather manageable since they get in the way of one another and can be trapped by the cold and frozen. The greater danger is a pack of fast enemies that quickly swarm and overwhelm the party. Woestave, as if one ever would need an excuse to use that incomparably stylish item, can actually blind enemies quite well this late in the game even if the fear of Feofasias mask mostly overrides it.

​

Since this is a tournament-esque thread it is only proper to provide a picture of the notorious Black Hack.

​

At level 83 Feofasia prepares to handla the abyss knights without cloaking and urdars without getting hammered into the ground.

Treacherous Forge

Spoiler

The urdars were manageable and disorganised with barely any middle managers among them, and the abyss knights were absent and apparently holding a meeting further down or soemthing like that, being abyss knights. Feofasias party clawed their way acros the river of flame at a slow pace, like most melee characters at this stage I suppose, and fought one of the most resilient Hephastos I've seen with stoneskin and something else and holy shock. Feofasia switched to fade for that battle in fear of the lightning aura and spectral hit. After a lot of poking and bleeding the way was clear to the forge and the most sought rune of assassins dropped!

​

Feofasia was originally built to take maximun advantage of the Treachery rune word among other things. Now however she has grown dependant on her Smoke armour and while fades resistances and Treacherys speed is more or less equal to Smokes resistances and burst of speed it doesn't make up for the loss of weaken curses. However, Alhizeer on the other hand was quite happy to replace his old Spirit Forge linked mail with a treacherous breast plate. Feofasia can of course borrow it to charge up venom but since you lose the hotkeyon weaken when doing so it is a bit inconvenient, albeit quite strong. Probably more worth the effort in Act V than in Act IV.

Despite the considerable improvement for Alhizeer he and the rest had huge troubles with the oblivion knights and their minions and had to frequently retreat and draw out small parts of the minions in a tedious manner. Feofasia played it safe and mind blasted de Seis pack into rebellion until a path was cleared to the mage itself and also remembered to return from the waypoint and not get trapped by the angry demon stereotypes. That was very wise as the Infector of Souls spawned with fanaticism.

​

Having handled Izual so quickly, I was a little bit optimistic about fighting Diablo and he was quite endurable with slowing and weakening working. Feofasia needed four health potions and one rejuvenation potion and since Diablo focused on her Alhizeer survived the battle! Alhizeer has actually for some inexplicable reasons urvived all of Avt IV, which is quite the feat for any of my mercenaries. The power of slowing and Vampire Gaze are certainly undeniable.

​

Feofasia faced bloody foothills with imps and death maulers which was a comparably easy combination, far from the annoying super speed foul crows or thorned quill rats that could have been there. Larzuk punched a hole into Alhizeers helm in which I put a Sol rune. I am already dreading going up against tomb vipers and picked up an armour suit of amicae to use if nothing better presents itself. In retrospect I shuld have gathered Sol runes for only that occassion. Feofasia is without any defense against the viper clouds and I probably have to risk cloaking when facing them and then trust in mindblasting to keep them stunned. In any case she is now at level 83 and has just smashed Shenk.

Faulty Fortifications

Spoiler

Feofasias next part of the journey was the long-winded trek across the Frigid Highlands and Arreat Plateau towards its waypoint. Being so long and so time consuming due to the fortifications, and in hell potentially dangerous, I worried about gtting tired and losing focus. How to make it all easier? For one thing, instead of clearing the entirety of the highlands at once in a clumsy frontal assault Feofasia choose to stick to the southern side as much as possible. After pushing through to the waypoint in that manner she turned around and cleared up the rest from the wrong side, so to say. In tactical terms, she concentrated her forces on the demonic right wing and broke through, following up with an attack from the enemy rear. General principles are often applicable to RPG:s as well as RTS:s...

The dreaded Abaddon and Pit of Acheron should not be forgotten. Rightly feared nests of nasty creatures they are. Usually...

​

Feofasias bonus point in blade fury was certainly convenient against the various ranged creatures appearing above ground, such as burning dead archers, slingers and most of all carver shamans with their glacial spikes. Even if the enemy flees her malicious blade ensures that the time spent fleeing works in her favor and not theirs. Open Wounds at high levels is a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to Goblin Toe the shurikens were usable for weakening large monsters as well when the situation demanded. Even if you lack the opportunity to destroy a pack entirely it makes a huge difference if the minions are at half health and no longer regenerate.

​

I was so happy with being spared minotaur encounters that I continued even to the Crystalline Passage waypoint. Celebrating lacking minotaurs by plunging headfirst into the home of those...my logic is impeccable. There werent any there but there were howerver bone spear tossing claw vipers. On the upside there was also a well where fresh water from the Not-Entirely-Frozen River welled up which aided things a lot.

​

Feofasia is still at level 83, plottin the hunting down of all corrupted and nefarious users of the dark arts that cast the unbecoming spell Bone Spear, wherever they may hide. She hopes that such blackguards will end up in a sandy wretched hive of scum and villany where a scruffy-looking rogue shoots them first in the local bar, so the noble order of Assassins won't have to do the work.

 

[Maltatai]

Vile Vipers

Spoiler

The dreaded expedition to the Frozen River began moderately successful as ice trolls forced the party to retreat to the waypoint. After some manic mind blasting and weakening Feofasia could start to counterattack against the outlying parts of the mob.

​

The waypoint was fairly close to the cave but that was not much of a consolation when the defending force made itself known. Two out of three of the worst possible opposition...

​

I still wouldn't risk cloaking but the situation became quite unbearable with all the ranged attacks and viper charges preventing a quick rush against the succubi. Not the easiest of playing sessions to handle with the kids around, as was the case in this case. After a far too stressful foray along the river I quit the attempt.

The next time went better and I decided to risk cloaking again. I think the danger of crashes is lesser in areas without fixed installations like towers, sarcophagi and trapped souls and such. Weaken is a good replacement against melee enemies but not ranged casters with overpowered range. Feofasia is also far too weak to tank damage if she can avoid it. She only has her 39 % chance to block for defense and must rely on surprise to overpower the monsters with curses and freezing to stay safe. In that way she is a classical rogue character despite the indiscreet elemental totally-not-magics of the Diablo II assassin.

​

Succubi can be lured into blade fury range but it takes a lot of time and they are a bit too tough for it to be convenient. Despite the danger a rush is often most effective but you wil want a wall to pin them against. The lancers present the danger of a surprising counter rush in mostly the same way as vipers but at least they haven't got any charge attack and bone spears. I didn't dare to open any evil urns so there goes any full clear aspirations.

Anya did as usual leave impolitely without any word of goodbye or allowing her rescuers to use the portal.

​

With Anya rescued and Feofasia at level 84 the most fitting assassin target stands before her. Nihlatak and his tomb vipers hunger to make short work of a character without any damage reduction. Gambling away the spare gold on circlets didn't yield anything with PDR but a magekillers circlet that could be used to precast a powerful shadow warrior perhaps.

Even Viler Vipers

Spoiler

Feofasia has plunged into the dark dungeons of despair inhabited by the archetypical corrupt mage her class is supposed to enjoy hunting. Not that anyone enjoys a visit to Nihlatahk. His upper levels held a mixed force of minotaurs, reanimated hordes, goat men, zealots and hierophants, quill beasts, fallen ones and apes. The hierophants were quite irritating as they forced Feofasias party to advance to catch and disrupt them, which drew in ever more melee units to their aid. This fellow was uncomfortable to face with chargers nearby.

​

An inventory full of these would have been VERY interesting to play with along with open wounds and blade fury.

​

At the second last stair trap spot in the game Feofasia cloaked at lightning speed, looked around, and found...an empty spot. No immediate danger. As they edged forward a barrage of cold arrows slamme dinto the shadow which was soon after a mere shadow of herself. Returned archers are nasty for minions, nasty I say! Blade fury proved invaluable and I have been thoroughly convinced how shortsighted it was when I planned the character without taking into account the need for a ranged option when the character scares the enemy away. Open wounds is godly by itself, but it is only when you can also attack actively from afar that the Face of Horror truly shines.

​

And yes, there they were...

​

Alhizeer insanely enough survived the ordeal despite lacking a PDR rig, not even wearing the full plate of amicae I had stashed for this very occasion. His life went down to a sliver several times but always clung the bar until Feofasia could toss him a potion or portal to Malah. The shadow fell apart every odd step, which was quite disappointing. It is a weak minion, but I had expected a little better performance from it.

Now only the ancients remain as a really frightening threat. Thanks to Alhizeers astounding endurance and slowing capability along with Feofasias weakening curses and shadow, I am confident she could deal with them so long as they are separated at least. Speaking of which, she happens to have an entrapping amulet of teleportation waiting to be put to use.

Well. It's Over.

Spoiler

Watch this cute Snapchip Shatter, a crowning achievement of unpleasantness for a place that had already crawled with sirens and gloams and ghosts. Repulsive little backwater.

​

With that out of the way Feofasia took on the ancients.

She failed.

Pathetically.

Pitifully.

Several times.

Until I got too disappointed and quit.

The shadow warrior is at 20 points not much of a warrior at all. Her puny health is a joke when compared to her valkyrie and golem and bear colleagues with the same point investment. She is even beaten at that game by town guards, and THAT is nothing short of embarrassing.

As for Alhizeer his skills are half useful at the summit. Holy Freeze is almost useless while the slowing from Woestave is apparent, but a detriment when facing Talic as he stays in hitting range longer when whirling... Neither is being enough to last long enough against the ancients. Three rows of potions run out all too soon even when the ancients have been separated by a teleporting amulet.

The answer would obviously have been to stock up on wands of life tap rather than healing potions to sustain long fights against Madawc and Korlic at least, and leave potions for emergencies when Talic whirls. And use a town guard with Prayer rather than Holy Freeze. Because for some damned reason Alhizeer stopped regenerating until given a potion which ruined the whole hit and run attrition Feofasia had going during one of the lost matches. My theory is that one ancient had a weapon of vileness, otherwise it's one nasty bug to encounter.

And ranged tactics with a resummone dshadow and blade fury failed miserably with said shadow being both too expensive and too weak and Feofasias hit rating with blade fury suddenly abysmal despite having been workable against almost everything so far.

After a shameful dozen or so of tries in two sessions she rolled a barely, by the smallest margin, manageable trio and waited and slugged through it.

​

Finally through the summit this would have been a convenient time to quit but I didn't know if he gate opens when you have completed the quest or if you would have to fight the ancients again, so better to claim that last waypoint. And without cloaking. Because cloaking crashes the game on regular occasions as noted earlier not least in Act V. And of course an army of Black Souls are occupying the keeps second level...how nice after the heaps of succubi on the first. Terrifically comical to combat these packs without cloaking away their ranged attacks. Feofasia truly felt like a stealthy assassin barging into these ambushes in brainless frontal assaults and panicked retreats.

After clearing pratically every corner of the first two levels, at long last were the waypoint and Feofasia could get some rest before the final stretch.

The Throne of Destruction had no stair trap but held a garrison of burning souls which were extremely annoying.

​

After that the waves of Baal and he himself were comparatively harmless and the only danger was lacking attention due to the disappointing setbacks. The councillors and their hydras were probably the most risky. But it wasn't enough and Baal fell after doing nothing for a short while, as is ever the case with the Woestave.

​

Feofasia is a guardian at last but the least joyous one I've guardianed. A character that is a combination of too many bright ideas of which none had room enough to be done justice.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Wonderful write up! Also made me realize I’d been sleeping on Woestave all this time.

 

[PhineasB]

Congrats on the Guardian! I found the Warrior useful with an uber-twinked Assassin where I left the LMB on to keep her casting claws of thunder, but she was mostly just supplemental damage. I am actually interested in trying to do a melee Sin with heavy +Shadow skills investment to see if it's possible to get the Warrior to be an offensive asset as opposed to just a complimentary distraction for enemies who does minor damage.

 

[Maltatai]

I wonder if maxed fade would be the way to go to make the shadow warrior survive, together with a cold mage or cold rogue so you don't need to waste time looking out for a melee hireling at the same time as the shadow.