Hi folks
I've played a bit during first chapter with different builds and want to focus on 2h noble with mostly auto-attacks and focus in power and magic trees, with Arrow Shield and Bandolier.
Few questions arise tho':
1. How many talent points should I expect?
2. Is armor penetration is better than recovery reduction for a stance?
3. Does armor penetration reduces elemental resistances for Imbue talents?
4. What are highest requirements for Subterfuge and Athletics in dialogs (and possibly for chests for the first)?
I'd really appreciate help
2. Depends on build and opponents. Groups like the Disfavored and Unbroken tend to have very high armor values, but only against certain armor types. By having a greatsword/warmace setup in your weapon sets, you can usually bypass a great deal of their armor on that alone. What more is, 2handed weapons tend to skyrocket in raw damage compared to armor values and recovery speed generally means more damage. Bronze weapons also have an accuracy bonus (over Iron's armor penetration), meaning more crits, which makes the opposing armor values even less significant. Armor penetration has very diminishing returns compared to recovery reduction, although it tends to be very strong early on or with 1h weapons.
That said, if you want to balance speed and armor penetration (I prefer this, since it gives you a slight edge in the early game) you can go with either stance and pick up iron or bronze weapons respectively to balance it out. Blitz for iron, Mighty for Bronze. Also, Bronze Greataxe with Mighty gives good armor penetration, accuracy and speed, at the cost of being single-type damage (slash).
3. Don't think so, but the Arcane Charge upgrade to Thrust (Magic tree) lets you inflict Spell Breached on enemies, which is the magic equivolent of Sunder.
4. Starting with about 30 in both values, without training either, let me pass all checks on the last playthrough. Lore is more important to increase, at least if you want to be a spellcaster. Otherwise, it too should be fine with a starting value in the early 30s for the purpose of passing checks.
@Kernest Thanks for reply!
I simply want to lock most skill with exception of 2h and Parry asap, but don't want to miss on nice dialog options and chests/alt solutions stemming from Athletics/Subterfuge. So far by early Act 2 I've encountered several rolls with 50+ in both Lore and Subterfuge, and I believe something above 60. Just wonder if Sub and Athletics are worth investment till they are ~75.
As for talent trees... Power looks like a solid choice. While heavy armor improvements from Defense are cool, deflection based approach isn't bad either, since good light armors got half+ of good heavy armor value, and much, much higher deflection. 'Imbue with' can potentially amplify damage quite significantly, since base damage from 2h-ers is very solid to start with, and Energy Shield more than compensate for a lighter armor.
I'm not sure if 'Imbue..' benefit from armor penetration and additional weapon enhancing spells of the same elements, but if all of these stacks, Magic is a way to go in my eyes, and still a solid pick if not.
Power has some solid options, but it is worth taking a look at Agility too. Skills like Slice and Flurry of Blows scale quite well with 2h weapons, and Arrow Shield is a very useful passive skill.
2h + Magic talents is indeed
very powerful in the later levels, though it takes a while before you start to get the benefit of the extra damage. Add in the spell Spectral Blur (Illusion + touch, available in the Scarlet Chorus camp in Vendrien's Well) and you'll be rocking over 50% hit and graze delfection from early on.
