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Strength-based Ranged Companion?

AuthorMessage
Gunner's Mate
Jun 22, 2011
208
Does anyone else think we should get a strength-based ranged companion? As a buccaneer, I'm a bit tired of having the squid/shark/whale buffs, THEN going and buffing up my Bonnie. Am I just going on and on here, or do I actually have a decent idea? I'm too tired to tell.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Hello AlphaWolf.

A great strategic weapon to possess in any pirate's arsenal, regardless of class, is some gear with the Great Juju power. I too am a Buccaneer and I currently possess 5 pieces of gear with the Great Juju power-- only one equipped right now. You may not be aware, but the Juju line of powers Buff crewmembers based on their class. Meaning that when you use Great Juju any crewmember and/or ally adjacent to your pirate will receive a 100% Buff to their classes primary stat. Witchdoctors and Privateers receive Will buffs, Swashbucklers and Musketeers receive Agility buffs and Buccaneers will receive a Buff to their Strength.

What I like to do when I have a mixed class crew, especially on a smaller battle board, is use my Great Juju in the very first round because they are already adjacent to my pirate. Even when I go with an all Buccaneer crew, I try to use Great Juju in the first round and then start to use my Strength Buffs as my companions start to spread out and close in on the enemy, since those powers have infinite range. I find it helpful to use the lesser of the Strength Buffs (Kraken's Coils) first, after the Great Juju, then move up to Shark's Fury and finally Whale's Might. This way I have a 100% Buff right out the gate with Great Juju and then by using Kraken and Shark's Fury, each round of boosts from my multiple Whale's Might powers (from Quint and gear) will all benefit from stacking on top of the +50% and +75% from the other 2 Strength buffing powers. If you go high to low, the first round casting Whale's Might you lose the stacking benefits of the other 2.

With Great Juju, right away you gain the benefits of Buffing the primary stat on multiple companions in a mixed-class crew, so they can further add to their awesomeness. Then you can follow with other Buffing powers of your liking.

So, grab some gear with Juju......they're Greeeeaaaaaat!
Gunner's Mate
Jun 22, 2011
208
ValkoorTheVictorio... on Aug 13, 2014 wrote:
Hello AlphaWolf.

A great strategic weapon to possess in any pirate's arsenal, regardless of class, is some gear with the Great Juju power. I too am a Buccaneer and I currently possess 5 pieces of gear with the Great Juju power-- only one equipped right now. You may not be aware, but the Juju line of powers Buff crewmembers based on their class. Meaning that when you use Great Juju any crewmember and/or ally adjacent to your pirate will receive a 100% Buff to their classes primary stat. Witchdoctors and Privateers receive Will buffs, Swashbucklers and Musketeers receive Agility buffs and Buccaneers will receive a Buff to their Strength.

What I like to do when I have a mixed class crew, especially on a smaller battle board, is use my Great Juju in the very first round because they are already adjacent to my pirate. Even when I go with an all Buccaneer crew, I try to use Great Juju in the first round and then start to use my Strength Buffs as my companions start to spread out and close in on the enemy, since those powers have infinite range. I find it helpful to use the lesser of the Strength Buffs (Kraken's Coils) first, after the Great Juju, then move up to Shark's Fury and finally Whale's Might. This way I have a 100% Buff right out the gate with Great Juju and then by using Kraken and Shark's Fury, each round of boosts from my multiple Whale's Might powers (from Quint and gear) will all benefit from stacking on top of the +50% and +75% from the other 2 Strength buffing powers. If you go high to low, the first round casting Whale's Might you lose the stacking benefits of the other 2.

With Great Juju, right away you gain the benefits of Buffing the primary stat on multiple companions in a mixed-class crew, so they can further add to their awesomeness. Then you can follow with other Buffing powers of your liking.

So, grab some gear with Juju......they're Greeeeaaaaaat!
That may not work for me, as my buffing strategy goes Squid-Shark-Levy's Call-Whale-Hide-Assassin's Strike. I know it's a bit complicated, but if you count Peter's Whale I get a total of 425 strength. If I added Great Juju in there...well, you can see where that might go wrong. Thanks anyway!
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
AlphaWolf02 on Aug 17, 2014 wrote:
That may not work for me, as my buffing strategy goes Squid-Shark-Levy's Call-Whale-Hide-Assassin's Strike. I know it's a bit complicated, but if you count Peter's Whale I get a total of 425 strength. If I added Great Juju in there...well, you can see where that might go wrong. Thanks anyway!
No problem at all but just a little extra info to add is that I wasn't completely stating which order to use them in regards to other powers or buffs. Just the order for the Strength Buffs that I like to use, not taking into account using other powers/buffs in between. The Great Juju can be a great 1st or starter Power just to give all of your crew a buff to their primary stat while they are out of harms way. With every class of companion gaining an immediate boost, it just adds to their early effectiveness while you carry on with your favorite strategy.

I too like to intermingle my Levi's and Fortresses in there as well, plus use Peter's Whale's Might and an extra Shark's Fury Granted courtesy of my pet-- thank you Queen Isabella (she has Grants Blade Storm and Grants Rally as well-- plus Flanking, Relentless and Repel Boarders...yep, I love my little faithful critters). I have been able to get my Strength as high as 559 by using these methods, but sometimes that doesn't incorporate using some Shielding powers. And not to worry, I don't find your method complicated at all, as I have often used that combo or one very similar. Sometimes I use one of my Hiddens first (Walk in Darkness) to protect my pirate's hide while all of the buffing is going on and then after the Buffing/Shielding I use another Hidden Power (Shadows) to Poison, Buff, and/or Heal and then go in with Assassin's on the last turn with all of that extra Strength.

But that is one of the wonderful things about the game-- so many strategies and so many ways to carry them out. Everyone gets a chance to implement them how they wish and to their liking. It is so fun just to "toy around" with different strategies and then stumble upon an "A-HA" moment or two.

Well, best of luck to you no matter which strategy you enjoy using.
Captain
Jan 17, 2012
672
There are five different types of pirates and companions:

Privateers, who are probably best with strength and will,
Buccaneers, who are best with strength,
Swashbucklers, who are best with agility,
Musketeers, who are best with agility,
And Witchdoctors, who are best with will.

What you want is a buff that increases the very thing that each companion needs.

Guess what? Witchdoctors have that! Juju, Big Juju, and Great Juju. If you minor in the Witchdoctor skills, you can get Juju, and quite often you can find clothing items which will grant you Big Juju or Great Juju. Look for drops like that (no vendor will have them) or send your companions out Scavangin' and you could get lucky.
Gunner's Mate
Jun 22, 2011
208
My boots give that, actually, and I have to say it's very useful - if you stay clustered together. As this often isn't the case with me...
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Max DeGroot on Aug 19, 2014 wrote:
There are five different types of pirates and companions:

Privateers, who are probably best with strength and will,
Buccaneers, who are best with strength,
Swashbucklers, who are best with agility,
Musketeers, who are best with agility,
And Witchdoctors, who are best with will.

What you want is a buff that increases the very thing that each companion needs.

Guess what? Witchdoctors have that! Juju, Big Juju, and Great Juju. If you minor in the Witchdoctor skills, you can get Juju, and quite often you can find clothing items which will grant you Big Juju or Great Juju. Look for drops like that (no vendor will have them) or send your companions out Scavangin' and you could get lucky.
I agree Max! My points exactly....the Juju line of powers, in my opinion are a must for all pirates and all companions, regardless of class -- at least owning a few pieces of gear with the beneficial-to-all buffing powers. I too used practice points to gain access to Juju and have some great gear with up to Great Juju (and the lesser versions for my other pirates).

Going into battle, no matter who your team consists of, you will have the ability to Buff all of their primary stats, thus improving their effectiveness-- providing you are adjacent to them. It's a great way to prevent from having to have separate Stat Buffs for all of the different classes and they just compliment the powers your given class already possesses.

It's especially a great power for those that set their companions to RANDOM, because no matter who shows up in battle, you've got the right tool to do the job with just one click of the button.

Great Juju to the rescue!
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
AlphaWolf02 on Aug 19, 2014 wrote:
My boots give that, actually, and I have to say it's very useful - if you stay clustered together. As this often isn't the case with me...
Very true, that's why I like to use it in the first round, since the whole crew is already clustered-- so that in the second I can possibly hide and begin to employ the rest of my strategy, while my crew goes on the attack with bonuses to their primary attributes already in place. Or since I go primarily melee, depending on the opponent, at some point we will "re-cluster" and I will use it then. Just throwing out anything I think will or may help, certainly you don't have to use any of it and should go with what works for you.
Bosun
May 10, 2010
396
Strength based ranged? Say what? I am sorry, but I read this and I could not read the rest of the post, nor did I care to read any of the replies. Sorry, but that is not how this game is setup or how the classes are constructed. I think it is pretty clear cut as to why each class uses a certain ability, not sure why you would want to see a strong powerful warrior sitting back with a pistol shooting sparks when they have all that muscle and defensive ability, along with the know how to use swords and shield and be in melee.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Darth JT on Aug 19, 2014 wrote:
Strength based ranged? Say what? I am sorry, but I read this and I could not read the rest of the post, nor did I care to read any of the replies. Sorry, but that is not how this game is setup or how the classes are constructed. I think it is pretty clear cut as to why each class uses a certain ability, not sure why you would want to see a strong powerful warrior sitting back with a pistol shooting sparks when they have all that muscle and defensive ability, along with the know how to use swords and shield and be in melee.
Well, if you would have taken the time to read the other posts and the original you would have seen that there was slightly more to the original post and the responses then what those four words in the topic's title implied. If I had dismissed a topic every time the title didn't appear to make sense to me or follow so-called proper game logic, I certainly would have missed out on a lot of great gaming conversation. Same goes for a super fantastic read -- lot's of great books out there that have not-so great titles.

A lot of people have had some really great threads, post and replies despite not possessing the most awe inspiring Thread Title. Maybe next time just give a topic a chance....or at least extend a courtesy glance and chance to those that cared enough to put there thoughts into it.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Darth JT on Aug 19, 2014 wrote:
Strength based ranged? Say what? I am sorry, but I read this and I could not read the rest of the post, nor did I care to read any of the replies. Sorry, but that is not how this game is setup or how the classes are constructed. I think it is pretty clear cut as to why each class uses a certain ability, not sure why you would want to see a strong powerful warrior sitting back with a pistol shooting sparks when they have all that muscle and defensive ability, along with the know how to use swords and shield and be in melee.
Oh, one other thing to add to the 'let's not judge a topic by it's title' point.

Can you imagine how many people would have missed out one of the grandest literary adventures, if they saw a book with a whale on it having the title Moby Dick and thought.... "That makes absolutely no sense-- don't care, dismissed".

Not to say that anything in this thread is extremely engaging, but I do at least hope you get the point I am attempting to make. Just an added thought.
Gunner's Mate
Jun 22, 2011
208
Darth JT on Aug 19, 2014 wrote:
Strength based ranged? Say what? I am sorry, but I read this and I could not read the rest of the post, nor did I care to read any of the replies. Sorry, but that is not how this game is setup or how the classes are constructed. I think it is pretty clear cut as to why each class uses a certain ability, not sure why you would want to see a strong powerful warrior sitting back with a pistol shooting sparks when they have all that muscle and defensive ability, along with the know how to use swords and shield and be in melee.
I was going for more of a smashy/shooty idea.
Bosun
May 10, 2010
396
AlphaWolf02 on Aug 20, 2014 wrote:
I was going for more of a smashy/shooty idea.
There are already shooty/smashy weapons in the game, although, I don't like them as you lose all your Buccaneer talents with them and they are completely ranged weapons with the added bonus of having armor, aka a shield. However, that is not what the op suggested, the op wants a ranged companion to be strength based, stating that Bonnie anne is Agility based, so musketeers can boost her, swashbucklers can boost her, and even witchdoctors can boost her, but buccaneers and privateers can not boost agility...

This is part of the game dynamic, sure, it would be nice if all Buccaneer companions were boosted with strength, all privateer companions were boosted with strength or will, all swashy/musky companions were boosted with agility, but this is not the case...

I guess the real complaint is why does everyone get different boosts and not great juju? Wouldn't that make more sense?