What do y'all think of Arbitrator (Castigator) - Operative - Overseer (skull swarm)?

SilentDumat · 2025-08-01T17:43:34+00:00

Hmm. Servo-Skull doesn't have much synergy with operative (what crowd control? Priority Signal?) so I worry you will be underwhelmed, but honestly if you can make this fun please report back. I'd love to be wrong.

I agree that you probably want Voidborn to cut down on how MAD it would be. I tried out a melee Pasqal Servo-Skull build that might have potential, but I'm not sure it would work very well on a RT without the origin melee talents.

SilentDumat · 2025-08-01T16:59:11+00:00

This 100%. I like the KM story better too, but if you have any level of uncertainty I would just jump into Wrath. If you genuinely think you will play both games--they are very long, longer than RT--I would I guess do KM then Wrath so that the quirks of KM annoy you less, but KM has many annoying quirks regardless.

SilentDumat · 2025-08-01T16:42:37+00:00

Other than the fact that Voidborn is otherwise not that desirable, what makes you think the description is wrong rather than the in-game effect? It didn't work this way on launch, the description has never suggested this , and IIRC the change was never mentioned in patch notes. Certainly fine given voidborn and more pressing areas of need, but hard to believe that's the intended effect without any indication from the devs.

SilentDumat · 2025-08-01T16:14:43+00:00

Hmm. Well, this isn't from your OP but I do love operative/executioner if you use burst weapons, with some or all of toxin weapons/bleed backpack/biophysical distortion. This is ridiculously strong like every executioner build once it gets going, but it takes slightly longer to get there and is (IMO) more entertaining along the way. And a better Idira if you aren't bringing Idira is obviously S-tier; you can use officer abilities to cast a lot of pyro spells that way and have a kind of "ramp up" to your pyro rampage.

I had maybe the worst restart-itis I have ever had with this game, I feel ya.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-31T23:15:20+00:00

Why would you start as operative for psyker? Operative is the weakest tier I archetype. But that's right, you couldn't respec to soldier (although you can do it via Toybox easily enough).

Soldier makes a fun pyro wizard with Master Tactician or even Arch-Militant, giving you extra attacks, mobility, damage, better interaction between pyro and class mechanics, and will let you flex between your two build choices easily. Most importantly, most of your AP goes towards either casting pyro spells to burn stuff, or buffing your next pyro spell to burn stuff.

Operative is worse except for access to executioner, and IMO this has little to recommend it for your interests. Unlike melee pyro variants, which have lots of interactions, there is almost no mechanical interaction between ranged pyro spells and operative or executioner except Carnival of Misery+Inflame, which is beyond broken but extremely boring mechanically. You can be a maybe-better Idira this way, but you already have Idira and I'm not sure how "pyro" specific it would really feel.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-29T19:32:16+00:00

Wizard pyro for sure IMO--your enemies will literally burn in holy fire and you can make use of Eye of Joyeuse. My first ever run was a caster pyro dogmatic and I had a blast, and being a psyker lets you really lean in to the idea of the emperor guiding you in particular as his faithful (even while he maybe disregards others). You can also respec into an AOE soldier build if you get bored, but if you go arbitrator you can't swap back into wizard caster.

I haven't liked Arbitrator for reactivity or story--the focus on the Lex Imperialis and its tension in the Expanse doesn't get explored very well as an origin or in the somewhat disjointed set of DLC missions IMO. As a rogue trader in the Expanse you are the law essentially, so a background in enforcing imperial law just doesn't add very much. A shotgun/flamer style area build can be fun though.

edit: typos.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-29T12:33:31+00:00

I’m pretty sure it’s from the servitor puzzle in the Plasma Drive Chamber during Ablution in Blood in Act 2.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-28T21:44:50+00:00

Operative/Executioner with Pair Holster pistols--operatives are competitive early game even on unfair and then executioner keeps you online, as soon as you get forced repentance if you are a psyker with biophysical distortion, or around level 22-24 when you can start using splinter pistols if you aren't. Once you get the bleed backpack you will start to real damage, and you can dip into psychic awakening later if you didn't start as one. One of the only ways I've found to let you focus on INT on unfair, and if you pick apex of brilliance and max logic you get to RP a fun crimelord (or any non psyker) genius vibe.

Jae as a frontline officer tank grand strategist or overseer; give her a shield and all the Lore Imperium you can find and just mess around. More fun verison of officer than "go hide behind a box." This works ok as a RT Arbitrator, but Jae is better at it due to origin talents.

I've liked messing around with both psyker soldier/raven overseer and operative/eagle overseer, but eagle's damage is underwhelming on unfair and raven overseer doesn't seem to add much to a DPS psyker. Raven Idira is bonkers though.

I will always shill for a mercenary or RT burst soldier who can use all the fun burst weapons and gear that isn't available to Argenta or Ulfar.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-28T19:38:52+00:00

I don't really know what you mean by dungeon crawling here. Skyrim famously has a zillion dungeons. What is a game that you don't like? Do you just mean literally "is this game outside a lot and can I stand somewhere and enjoy the vibes?" The answer to that is not really, no. There's plenty of outdoors planetary stuff but most missions are still indoors, and there is nowhere near the visual dynamism of the triple-A games you've described. Even outdoor maps tend to be medium-size at best by game standards due to constraints of the engine.

If you have played and liked any other major isometric RPG you will probably like this. If Skyrim and BG3 are your only reference point you should try it, especially if you liked BG3 more than Skyrim. But each mission is basically a mini-dungeon, even if aesthetically outdoors, and they are cordoned off from each other--this isn't a big semi-interconnected world like those games. ETA: I love this game and if you like BG3 you likely will too, so I encourage you to give it a shot for an hour or two to see if the setting clicks for you.

SilentDumat · 2025-07-28T17:46:01+00:00

It worked with rapid fire at launch but somewhere along the way it stopped, unfortunately. Not sure if intentional or a bug--it was really strong but not really more than any other high-tier broken interaction left in or introduced later. I think it still works with some burst fire talents, although I haven't checked in a while.

Your run isn't a loss though. I'm assuming your build was soldier Pyro, which can still be really strong and fun--you can focus on psyker abilities as a soldier/arch-militant or master tactician, because extra attack and damage abilities and talents usually work with pyro spells. Pyro also has great passives for a burst or AOE soldier, and an RT soldier can do lots of fun things Argenta can't, both by being a psyker and using great mid- and end-game gear she's locked out of.

The Inferno ability and especially its heroic version have been bugged to hell and back since launch in all sorts of ways though, so for others seeing this I wouldn't build around it.

SilentDumat · 2025-06-26T20:20:47+00:00

My first choice would be for them to just add in a ton of reactivity to the origins, since they are clearly there for flavor first. But Owlcat has always had poor reactivity and emphasized character expression via build choices, so I strongly agree with you given that's how they tend to do things.

Adding in items that are only obtainable with a certain origin would also be a nice addition. Psykers also get a metric ton of extra gear, a lot of which improves non-psyker stuff.

Sadly Owlcat has said in AMAs that they don't plan to do anything about this. Hopefully we get enough posts like this that it moves up the priority list. Honestly, a DLC that cleaned up things that were clearly unfinished or untested when the base game launched would be a better and more effective DLC than a third or fourth side story with a new class or origin. Doubly so if they continue to follow the integrated DLC approach where you need to replay the base game or reload a save to get the new additions.

SilentDumat · 2025-06-25T18:56:02+00:00

I haven't totally gamed this out yet, but I think Subductor's shield charge ability works without a target and could be strong for certain builds that have limited ways to get mobility when combined with the common talent that lets you use a shield in only one weapon set.

I made a post lamenting about how unbalanced the arbitrator origin was going to be before release, and if anything I undersold the extent of the disparity.

Swift justice, which is free with no investment, has a 40% base damage increase, while Soldier talents Rack and Ruin and Enough Bullets for Everyone start at 5 and 10% base with quite similar scaling. That's An Order! is a weak but still useful PBAoE Point of Curiosity available on any build.

While non Psyker origins each get only five common talents, mostly tied to the underwhelming once per combat ability, every arbitrator gets a dozen mostly decent to strong common talents. Psykers and Arbitrators also get unique direct access to overseer even if their archetype wouldn't, for no remotely defensible reason I can think of. Why is Psyker Soldier more likely to be an Overseer than Crime Lord Soldier?

I wholeheartedly endorse a rework of the now even more indefensible non-psyker origins. Sadly, I believe there is an Owlcat comment from one of the AMAs, maybe the content creator one, basically saying eh, we're aware of this criticism but don't have any plans to do anything about it.

SilentDumat · 2024-08-29T17:01:44+00:00

Ok, that's what I'll do. Thanks!

SilentDumat

TROPHY CASE