So I’ve been chugging along in RIFT like crazy these days, trying to make the most out of my final pre-Guild Wars 2 time while decking out my character for Storm Legion. I’ve geared up pretty well so far, enough that I can hold my own on Ember Isle, which was my goal. Ember Isle is a level 52ish zone, and since the level cap is at 50, it means that it is not a cakewalk. Very pretty and cool, but not a cakewalk.
I still was dying more than I wanted, so after a couple of aborted adventures, I went back to the drawing board and came up with a better build for my solo journey. What I centered it around was the Druid’s level 26 greater fairy pet, which is a strong healer and light DPSer. I noted that when I had that pet out, my Druid was all but invincible — but I wasn’t taking down mobs fast at all.
So what I did was create a build that put 26 into Druid and the rest into Shaman for the harder hitting melee, and that’s worked out tremendously well for me. I have three shields, a self-heal, and whatever heals the fairy throws out, plus a lot of natural mana regen and strong DPS. It might not top the Inquisitor as my favorite class, but it’s working very well for me so far.
Last night I was puttering around some ruins when I saw a glowing sparkly thing, and you know that you ALWAYS have to click on glowy sparkly things. It turned out to be the entrance for Ember Isle’s puzzle, and so I had fun figuring that one out. It was easier than some others I’ve done, and at the end I not only got a great lesser planar essence, but a new vanity pet! Named Bernie!
Bernie instantly became my most favorite companion in the game:
The picture doesn’t do him justice. He’s like a short, squat blob that looks vaguely like the Chinese guy from Gremlins, and he smokes a pipe. Because he smokes, he huffs and puffs when he runs, and occasionally grunts. I stinking love him so very much.
Here’s a better picture:
Looks like he’s smoking some magic herb.
Oh my, now that’s a brilliant pet! I don’t play Rift, but Bernie almost makes me jealous.
And clicking on things, I ALWAYS do that, too. Even if it means I apparently get one-shot by a magically appearing fist from the sky or something (yes, I clicked a thing on Voss and got one-shot by the Nightmare Pilgrim in SWTOR).
Glad it turned out better for you. 😉
44 Shaman/22 Justicar — Run in Mien of Honor and you’re invulnerable, even on Ember Island, and still does pretty decent dps. 3rd soul is irrelevant to the build, but IIRC I went with Warden for the spammable waterjet in the rare cases where you need some more ranged attacks.
I want that pet!
That looks like an awesome pet! I loved fluff extras like that in Rift (titles and achievements as well!)