Spear and Ranged Build - Landsknecht Velmir - Stoneshard

Overview

This is a light armour spear and crossbow hybrid which relies on the (frankly overtuned) crossbow for its primary damage output, switching to spear to clean up the remaining enemies. It relies on perception to increase its accuracy, range and crit chance. It excels at exploring the overworld, killing dungeon bosses, and is capable of strolling through tier 5 proselytes with 0 pushback.

Character Choice

Character Trait

Velmir's trait "With Great Vengeance" perfectly synergizes with the pike and shot playstyle.

By increasing our vision range through perception, we can more often capture 4 or more enemies within our vision. Alternatively, we can spot dungeon Mini-Bosses from further away, meaning that we have more time to capitalise on the increase in damage output, before they reach us in melee. As such, this build can kill most dungeon Mini-bosses without ever going into melee. 

Starting Attributes

This build perfectly makes use of Velmir's starting attributes
11s in Strength, Agility, and Perception is one of the strongest arrays of attributes for a melee weapon user. This build increases each of them at least to 15, meaning that this array is incredibly efficient.

Accelerated Progression

Additionally, spear is one of the best weapon classes to kill the first Boss of the game - the Ancient Troll. Impaling Lunge's high bleed chance and 2 tile range make it very good at dealing damage to the troll, as well as being able to interrupt his healing. Meanwhile, Determination gives us reliable energy regeneration, and plenty of bonus damage, allowing you to kill the troll in a fraction of the time required by other builds at this level.

These features allow the build to safely take on the Ancient Troll as early as level 7, which in turn rewards you with bonus attribute points from Velmir's passive. Doing so also increases the rate we can accumulate Brynn reputation.

Endgame Attributes

This build requires 30 perception to maximize crit chance and vision radius. 15 agility is needed to minimize fumble chance on our endgame weapon of choice. 20 Strength increases our weapon, body part, and armour damage as well as crit efficiency, which very often becomes relevant.

Final Skills

Final Gear

This build uses light armour to reduce energy costs, as spears are very energy hungry, and our primary safety tool is range. Dodge is our primary defence, though late game, our best defence becomes our offence. 

Item Name	Image	Contribution
Sabre Halberd
Siege Crossbow
Magehunter Gambeson
Blademaster Gloves
Jibean Cape
Mercenary Captain Headwear
Captain Waistband
Magehunter Boots
Morion Rings
Amulet- Curse of Voracity

All of our gear is focused on offence, while our enchantments and amulet shore up our energy and defences. Morion Rings are BIS, though Velmir's ring and Berserker Ring are very acceptable alternatives until the late game. This halberd is chosen due to its high base damage, crit chance, and slashing damage type. Investment in Agility 15 is done exclusively to counteract it's high fumble chance.

Notable Alternatives

Item	Image	Contribution
	29 Piercing Damage	Sacrifices raw damage and crit chance in favour of better defence through block. Best Paired with Knight Belt. This version does not need investment in agility, and the extra attribute points can be split between Strength and Willpower instead. Either 22/13, or 24/11.
		BIS, when paired with the partizan and 24 Strength.
		BIS for the crit-focused version of the build.
		On this build, it presents as a viable sidegrade to the Mercenary Captain belt, despite being a tier lower. I would not spend money on the mercenary captain belt if I already had this one.
		The bonus vision and range naturally synergize with our playstyle.
		Very strong defensive amulet. All of these stats are desirable.

Enchantments

This build wants exclusively max hp, and energy enchantments on the rings and armour, with Life Drain on the spear, and ideally % weapon damage, crit chance, or flat elemental damage on the crossbow.

Progression

This part of the guide will focus on how to recreate this build in your own game.

Attribute Order

The order in which you increase your attributes is important, as it will affect which higher-level skills become unlocked first.

• 1. Perception -> 30
• 2. Willpower -> 11
• 3. Agility -> 15
• 4. Strength -> 20

Skill Order

Collective

Individual

Early & Budget Gear Options

Item	Stats	Contribution
	17 Piercing Tier 2	Daze chance is very strong. Can be looted from enemies in Tier 1.
	22 Piercing  Tier 3	Good option to fix fumble chance before we can fix it through other gear and stats.
	22 Piercing Tier 3	Can be acquired for free, slightly damaged, by killing the Ancient Troll.
	12 protection	Light Armor is too weak until tier 4-5. This armor has great protection for it's price.
	+2% crit chance +10% crit efficiency + 4% damage taken	Solid option until tier 5. +4% Damage taken means little when fighting at range.
	32 Piercing	Longest range available on a Crossbow. Allows firing anywhere within sight.

Gameplay

When playing this build, the most important thing is to be patient. Fundamentally, you are a glass cannon, which means the build can feel deceptively untouchable until it is too late.  You should never find yourself engaged by more than 2 enemies at once, and if you are, you likely made a mistake earlier on in the battle.

When played correctly, your only expense on armour repair should be your boots from walking. Being in danger does not mean being locked in a brawl, at half health. Being in danger could instead mean accidentally pulling a large, tight group of enemies from behind an awkward corner where you cannot make maximum use of your range. You must respect the danger of your enemies to overcome it. 

Generally, the gameplay can be compared to being a rapidly deployable mobile sniper turret, as over 70% of all damage dealt, after the early game, is done with the crossbow. It is therefore the most important piece of your equipment, and is the highest priority to upgrade. Your goal is to thin the approaching enemy wave such that the remaining enemies are far enough apart for you to deal with them individually using the spear, ideally without letting them touch you in melee.

Quality of Life Settings

Once your vision range starts to outgrow your screen, I advise switching to a higher screen resolution, as that will effectively zoom the camera out. Additionally, you can disconnect your character from the camera by disabling both the "Centre Camera" options and ticking "Enable Edge Panning" In the settings.

Early Dungeons

Make sure to make the most of your range with the crossbow. Having ranged damage at this level is extremely powerful. Lure enemies out by shouting if necessary, knowing that on average, your spear skill rotation will comfortably kill 1 enemy.

Ancient Troll

Spears make him very easy, by comparison, at this level. Bring a smoke bomb and throw it 2 tiles ahead of you, so that the smoke hides you from the troll's sight. Hide in the smoke, trying to stay 2 tiles away from the troll at all times to prevent the troll from throwing a boulder at you. Afterwards, use Impaling Lunge as your main means of damaging the troll.

In addition to the usual dance, dodge the shockwaves such that you end up 1 tile away from the troll as it resolves. Then, if you know the troll is going to step forward, as opposed to roaring, activate determination. Dash is recommended as it can forgive your mistakes in positioning, allowing you to avoid damage or stabilize after taking a hit.  Do not try to use the crossbow.

Entering Tier 3

Tier 3 can be challenging as at this stage, enemies across the board start to hurt more. The most important upgrade would be finding or buying a tier 4 crossbow from Brynn, ideally one that has as long a range as possible, such as the Windlass Crossbow.

Manticore

This is an endurance fight. I strongly recommend waiting until level 18 to do this fight (which is when you should reach 30 perception). Having a tier 4 spear and crossbow will massively help as well. The main danger in this fight is running out of energy due to the pyres and being immobilized while being next to the Manticore.

The safest approach is killing skeletons in melee, and then switching to a crossbow, instantly reloading and aiming (thanks to Dexterity) to shoot the Manticore. Additionally, when the Manticore is 2 tiles away, you can impaling lunge at it.

You have to ensure the skeletons don't die from old age and heal the manticore. Allowing the skeletons to become pyres is a necessary sacrifice. Energy is a secondary concern in this fight. I recommend bringing an Azurecap mushroom to take right before the fight.

Also, make sure to receive Precision training from Leif before every major dungeon or battle.

Late Game Dungeons

Be Very, VERY careful around dungeons with trapped entrances. That is the number 1 thing most likely to kill you that is not your own blunder. Always over-prepare for such an entrance room, especially for undead, as the open floor plan of undead dungeons leads to the sound of battle attracting many, many more enemies from deep within the level. Since this is the start of the dungeon, and the exit is locked, you have nowhere to kite back the enemies, meaning you have to fight them in melee. 

Here is the carnage after entering a tier 4 undead dungeon with this build:

https://youtu.be/vHhEHtJlSNY?si=37lbg_gfH80cyxi9

Typical Combat Skill Rotation

Group of 2 mace fiends, a Yagram and a sanguimage approach from 13 tiles away. 

Plan 1) Retreat until they start losing interest, so you may fight them 1 at a time. 

Plan 2) Scoot and shoot - slow retreat while firing.

• Begin taking aim, firing and reloading at the sanguimage.
• The moment he is dead, dash toward the exit / more kiting space so that dash is on cooldown.
• Start firing at the enemy in the middle of the congaline, to create separation. 
• After the middle enemy dies, if there's time, shoot at the biggest threat - the Yagram. 
• Wait for the front enemy to enter within 4 tiles before firing at them with Take Aim active (bonus stagger and immobilization chance).
• Switch to spear and try to kill them using range 2 skills.
•  Use Sudden Lunge while the enemy is bleeding or immobilized to reduce cooldowns. Save kick and Leg sweep for last.
• Use regroup to gain block chance and reduce spear cooldowns.
• If Dash is still somehow on cooldown, as are all the attacking skills, use Offensive Tactic just before they enter melee, and Elusiveness as they enter melee.
• Attack with default attacks, hoping to land crits (+67%) to regain enough energy to be able to use adrenaline rush if need be.

Conclusions

This is a very powerful glass cannon battlefield artillery build that can easily dish out 80-120 damage crits every other shot, while also being capable of killing the tier 5 proselyte maggot boss in 3 turns of melee. Your main weakness is being overrun, as this build wants to keep enemies within sight but not in direct contact. It avoids the weakness of low-tier light armour by sticking to medium armour until it can skip tier 4 straight to tier 5 light armour. 

This build offers an opportunity to practice fighting the troll much earlier than normal, as that can catapult you into the migame. Good luck, and may your bolts darken the skies and strike as lightning!