Tales of Maj'Eyal - The Bulwark Experience
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 01. 2024
- Anti-Magic Krog Bulwark: te4.org/characters/266609/tom...
Skeleton Bulwark: te4.org/characters/266609/tom...
Drem Bulwark: te4.org/characters/266609/tom...
How ToME turns work: / how_does_turn_gain_work
Skirmisher Overview and Guide: • Tales of Maj'Eyal - Sk...
Music:
Path of Exile - Lioneye's Watch (Old) - Hry
Im just getting into this game and its so nice seeing that there are still people making quality videos on it. Love your content
Thank you, hope you have fun exploring the game
This video explains Bullwark perfectly, especially the tragedy of the final fight, after you have been able to crush the second act quite well with anti-magic and Eternal guard. Dissipation rune is so good on the final boss, but Bullwark without anti-magic is so vulnerable to many things, therefore the class really struggles. Combined with having one of the worst early game experiences, the class is in a sad place and leads to a lot of frustration more than anything.
"but Bullwark without anti-magic is so vulnerable to many things, therefore the class really struggles"
3 letters: O-O-P
Level up your Device Mastery to 5, get a voidstalker cloak + some Out of Phase gear, and enjoy having around 55-70% all resist at almost all times without needing to go Antimagic.
You were so close to getting it! All you have to do is 5/5 device mastery, wear two pieces of 15% out of phase gear, and have your voidstalker cloak set to auto use on enemy visible. Skeleton runes should be shatter,shatter, shielding, tp at lvl 10. Also windblade at 42 pairs quite excellent with counterstrike being applied to multiple enemies and especially with GREATER WEAPON FOCUS (I unlock survival(device mastery) on Melee classes with it locked like sun paladin to run this exact strategy)
Have you been able to beat Insane Roguelike with this? Which race did you use? Skeleton, or something else?
@@luka188 yes I've won as skel, ghoul, and dwarf on bulwark. Ive won on every playable class as skeleton( just need coe,and alchemist)
@@suchastateofsmash Holy that is amazing. I need to learn to use OOP and when to take device mastery... So much to learn in this game.
Yeah, I definitely should've done that for the Undead races, Runes in general are outside of my comfort zone.
I know OOP is good, but I'm shocked you manage to get away with just straight up autocasting it on enemy visible. I'll give Skeleton a try again soon.
@@Drybe the benefits of having it up outweigh you having it down. You can cast a shielding rune or bone armor when you have 1 turn of oop left to cover the half turn downtime if you are scared of a particular randboss. The 40 extra defense is amazing at keeping weapons from hitting you and the 40% damage reduction is a lovely buffer if they do manage to hit you. I have a short video I put up about a month ago on my page if you want to remake the video in your style for your larger audience I wouldn't mind at all. The more that know about this seemingly ignored mechanic the better. A lot of people find temporal warden powerful and they don't understand it is mostly because of all the out of phase already built into its kit(among other things)
That final fight was a sad way to go. But im glad you gave us a really detailed breakdown of it even though it wasnt a winner
I want to suggest the most fun cursed experience you can have, cormac cursed with a full focus on leveling up your equip curses regardless of circumstance, including prodigy. Of course, all of your category points are already defaulted into the tree here.
Fantastic video and content in general, concise and coherent explanations with a great sense of humour 😀
I love this content so much
Bulwark Guide! Bulwark Guide! Bulwark Guide!
Долго не мог вспомнить, что это за чудесная музыка на фоне, я точно ее где-то слышал, много лет назад 😂 а потом открыл описание, спасибо за видео и спасибо за музыку
Nice content. Even though I agree that the class is not top tier I have a soft spot for Bulwark ‘cause it’s the first class I ever won Normal with. And not too long ago after many failed tries, I won Insane rl with a Skelly bulwark, pretty strong combo for sure. Eternal Guard is an absolute must as a choice of prodigy at 25 for the block AND the counterstrike debuff which is insane. You need at least 4/5 in that talent and pump Dex as much as you can in order to reliably apply it to enemies. As others have pointed out, using a voidstalker cloak and 5/5 device mastery is extremely OP. In terms of stamina, there’s Adrenaline surge which eventually is a pretty nice boost in phys. Power as well. Also, items with + 3 stamina per turn aren’t that rare early game. I’ve rarely had stamina problems with a bulwark unless the battle drags on too much of course. At lvl 12, bulwark becomes a beast with Assault: Block, apply counterstrike, Assault, and delete everything.
Since the bulwark doesn’t have so many active talents or tools, it is imperative to bump phys.pwr through items as much as possible. That combined with 100% crit , high crit mult, counterstrike and assault and you can delete Elandar in two turns (unless he does something wacky, which can happen sometimes, like teleporting or some bs) Most players would use robes on Insane on melee characters and rightly so because their benefits are so insanely superior to any T5 heavy armor randart. However, on my insane win, I went heavy armor with my skelly and I would do it again provided I manage to find a good fixed artifact somewhat early on ( I’ve gotten Tarrasca in dreadfell a few times) Late game, I would definitely wear Plate of the blackened mind or Cuirass of the Dark Lord but I would never wear a T5 heavy/massive armor randart, not worth it, at all.
Well, onwards and upwards. Maybe you can revisit good ole ’bulwark again one day and get that win, you were so close!
I do think heavy armour is usually sabotaging yourself, but I can't bring myself to go robes on classes, that feel designed to wear heavy armor.
Warrior shield dude in robes just doesn't feel right.
@@Drybe Oh yeah, 100%. I used to feel the same way about melee characters and robes but then I just caved in and I’ve been going robes with all my melee characters with the exception of bulwark, ‘cause yeah, it does feel kinda goofy to be wearing robes with a melee/warrior class like that. Also, bulwark gets so much armor from as a class so it’s not too bad. So, that's why I actually went with the Plate of the blackened mind on my last bulwark win.
Anyway, maybe you can trick your mind and use the mirror and change the appearance of your character to look as if it was wearing heavy armor when wearing robes? Smooth transition into robes? Lol
@@redrice5130 haha I think I got a couple more deaths, that you see coming from miles away, because of that one resist you just can't find anywhere, before I fully give up on heavy armor. And at least the uniques look cool.
This is pretty much my experience for Cursed as well. After testing out many different builds, I finally got one to the final boss but not inscribing rune of dissipation (because I was used to winning with stronger classes without it) lost my long awaited chance to get a Cursed Ogre win.
Regarding "Step Up" being broken:
I'm playing bulwark at the moment, and definitely noticed the weird movement speed durations
I thought it might have just been until you took damage, or got physically attacked, but I haven't figured it out either
Very excited for the tinker class. I hope there is a more general overview of tinkers and how to use them for characters that get tinkers or other tinker classes.
Bulwark was a ton of fun in normal when I started out the game. Assault is such a fun skill since new players never get late enough to see consistent, so assault critting with huge numbers is an easy way to do a ton of damage as a new player. Also, step up is so much fun when you are battling trash mobs. Being able to kill someone reposition, kill someone, reposition repeat is so much fun. This is probably why I am drawn to the prodigy steamroller, even though it kinda sucks.
I never liked Bulwark because it always seemed to need way too much coddling for not enough payoff, but you have definitely given me some ideas here.
Can confirm, I dropped my late game antimagic bulwark playthroguh because he got so unstoppable
Yeah, same kind of experience for the Berserker I would wager. These pure melee classes are the simplest and the hardest, it seems. It's an interesting contrast I think. For me, it helps me play better, as you cannot play these classes without constant attention to your positioning and enemy threats.
I looked at your play time and it is shockingly low for your skill level, unless this isn't your only account. Seems like you have a low tolerance for loosing, which I find funny because I, like probably a lot of players, never even won a single game after hundred of hours. I couldn't tell you how much Berserker losses I had over the months. None on the last boss though I will admit ; I don't even think I can get to the prodigy with that class.
When I started out, I found Berserker to be quite a bit more difficult and awkward than Bulwark since you get no Block, less armor, and less HP (which you also constantly lose due to Berserker rage), but now I play Berserker a lot more and I find him to be more consistent and fun for me. They both share some trees and have the same mobility issues, which does make positioning important, as you've said, but honestly that where the similarities end. However, Berserker does have an advantage here since you've got Fearless Cleave and Death Dance, with the former allowing you to reposition + AoE at the same time and the latter giving you a kind of "ranged" attack, so even in that regard they aren't too similar.
Still, even with their issues in mind, I wouldn't say they are "the hardest," really. For me, they are "the ol' reliable": you don't have anything flashy or special, but you do have a quite a bit of "straightforward" tools to survive, such as decent HP, regen, armor, stun (+ a very long confusion for Berserkers), automatic debuff clear/immunities, etc. Besides that, since they are pure melee classes, they don't need to care about silence or manaburn. For that reason, I actually find melee/caster hybrid classes to be somewhat harder early since they can be shut down completely by BOTH disarm or silence, and they typically do not have any way to clear it automatically on their own (not to mention other common debuffs).
I sort of spam it a lot, but if you are really struggling with some melee classes, I'd say making use of Blink runes and OOP gear is a good way to get loads of damage mitigation early and get to your first prod.
It's been a while since I played Berserker, but I think you're spot on.
It's my only account. I do sort of have a low tolerance for losing in ToME. I found it's really easy to go on autopilot, when playing the same class over and over, resulting in progressively stupider deaths, so it's better to change classes (ideally to one of the super powerful ones) and repair your ego before trying again.
sawblade guide please! 🙂🙂
lol i thougt that i was hearing old poe soundtrack
any thoughts on attempting a cursed experience?
I do like this new format: short and (mostly) to the point.
However, I really disagree that Antimagic is the best way to go for a Bulwark. You yourself said that the class struggles with mobility, and ditching Blink/Teleport runes, voidstalker cloaks/other teleportation items, Stormshields, Dissipation Rune and OOP for AM and Fungus doesn't really seem worth it to me, especially since you don't even seem to have enough phys power to consistently silence Elandar (unless he just spawned silence immune, in which case it was really unlucky) or use Fungus for big regen.
Besides that, judging by your char sheet, your spell save was way too low. I'm not sure about Elandar, but it is pretty easy to shut down Argoniel almost completely by pumping enough spell save, which is really doable on Bulwark. I know you don't like Combat Veteran (and it does suck mostly), but putting at least some points into Spell Shield always seems worth it to me. Debuffs were pretty much never an issue in that fight when I played that class.
I'm not entirely sure about getting Battle Cries (or any class tree besides Battle Tactics) either. Sure, the stamina struggle is real early, but later on things should die way before you are out. And the Battle Shout extra HP/Stam do seem nice on paper, but you really don't need it most of the time. Instead, I would've gotten Scoundrel from a Thief escort and put some points there, which would work really well since you do have a lot of multihits.
Finally, you also neglect Last Stand and True Grit. They do not seem too impressive on their own, but if you combine them with teleports and OOP I think they can be quite interesting. You can still Blink/voidstalker (or even do Ghoulish Leap) when Last Stand is active, partially mitigating the no movement downside, and with the OOP resists you can pretty easily get to almost 90-100% resist all if your HP drops low enough.
Overall, while I do agree that Bulwark isn't the best class out there, and that you got pretty unlucky with that final fight (I'm not sure I've ever been timeprisoned by Elandar like that), I think you could've built the char better tbh. Still, I would say the guide does describe the class quite well, and I'm looking forward to see more content from you in the future.
At this point I've sort of built up a resistance to going OOP on classes without inbuilt teleporting, because if it's as easy as autocasting voidstalker's on enemy visible (and I wouldn't be surprised if it is), it means a big part of every character should just be solved through this exact same way.
Similar thing is Heavy Armor vs Robes, I get the feeling robes might just be always better, but it doesn't feel right on the Warrior classes.
Obviously this already happens with things like Movement Infusion, but this feels a step beyond that.
@@Drybe Well, not every character has Survival unlocked, and not every character has the generics to put into Device Mastery like that. The way I see it, if the class can afford to do that, it can be probably seen as a "legit" part of the class and its strategies. And besides that, if you don't go Antimagic and get the resists that way, there should still be some benefits for staying "pro-magic," which is what I view the OOP strats as.
When it comes to the "easiness" of it, it does make the game quite a bit easier, especially early-mid, but I do not think it's as simple as autocasting; in fact, I would say it can be a really bad idea since such teleporting all over the place can easily land you into even bigger troubles (like teleporting you behind walls into even bigger groups of enemies). Furthermore, it does fall off late game since there will be plenty of enemies with 70% resistance penetration who will destroy you through OOP - you still gotta plan around those, so it won't replace your class's other tools. Also, you should keep in mind that you gotta sacrifice other egos on gear for OOP and/or inscription slots for Blink runes, so there is this aspect to it as well.
So, overall, I don't think OOP strats are somehow mandatory or necessarily solve every problem you face (maybe besides really early game if you are lucky with drops) - they are just one of the tools you can use to even the field sometimes.
P.S.
And "robes vs heavy armor" also isn't as simple as "robes always better" IMO. Most T5 heavy armor randarts do suck, and robe randarts do have better egos for damage, but then you meet some boss with 100+ acc (no buffs) and 50-70% resist penetration who will make you wish you had some actual armor on. Moreover, ditching heavy armor and going for robes does make Ethereal Form almost necessary if you want to have good chances of survival (especially since you don't have Mobility/some other defensive trees), so it's another sacrifice to consider.
@@donilock1930 I don't understand why you should make a teleporter out of a pure warrior. If you like teleports, take temporal warden, if you want a cool magic knight, there is a paladin and a demonologist. What is the advantage?
It's like vegan steaks, why eat something that looks like meat if you love vegetables but hate meat.
Can you explain?
@@Kambrian"out of phase" stuff makes teleporting around getting tons of all resistance super super strong, like way too strong. Temporal warden has the most access to it, but it's so stupidly strong that I think he's saying if you are having survivability issues that is a good way to fix that.
Is it lame? Yeah, that is pretty lame. If I'm playing bulwark I want to just sit in front of someone and face tank, not teleport. But it is extremely effective.
@@Kambrian Teleports give OOP (out-of-phase), which gives up to 40% resist all, which covers one of Bulwark's biggest weaknesses (lack of %dmg reduction) + it also covers any mobility issues you might have (especially effective with Last Stand). Besides that, the idea of a massive and seeming immobile heavily-armored warrior suddenly teleporting behind his enemies and turning them into paste is pretty fun IMO.
You don't have to do it ofc, but if you like to have a more optimal build and a higher winrate, then it's a way to go.
And Bulwark, Paladin and Demonologist still all play pretty differently even if you use teleports. Both Pala and Demo are pretty dependent on magical resources and sustains, so Silence, Dispel, and Manaburn can still pose a threat to them; Bulwark does not give a damn, so even without the extra teleports you can still very efficiently kick ass with pure physical dmg and tank hits with your armor - the magic stuff is just en extra at the end of the day, not the core part.