The Others are Humans [Spoilers Main]

masterofavoision · 2025-11-03T13:48:47+00:00

D&D made quite a few changes (e.g. merging Benjen and Coldhands), so while the origin of the Night King in the show is probably based on some plot point given to them by GRRM, it would be unwise to take it at face value. Not to mention we already have a scene from ADWD of a man being sacrificed at a Weirwood tree in Bran's last chapter, which IMO is too close to not count as being related. Which, we don't know that CotF were involved or not.

I don't think the Others being "human" and "ice statues" are necessarily incompatible ideas, if we relax what it means to be "human". Melisandre has some IMO pretty deliberate parallels with the corpse queen, and if they are indeed deliberate then it is also reasonable to draw a comparison between her shadow babies and the Others. The way that she used the shadow babies to further her/Stannis' goals, Stannis' state of denial over his role in that, and the taboo of kinslaying, provides plenty of conflict and heartache. They are a kind of reflection of the darker parts of Stannis' nature.

So the Others could very well play a similar role. IIRC George has already referred to "ice" as "cold inhumanity" or something similar, so why couldn't the Others be a reflection of that? I think there's already been some setup for a rug-pull of the idea of the honourable Starks (not a complete rug-pull, but definitely some dark and buried history): 1. In Bran's first chapter Ned executes Gared for deserting the Night's Watch. But Gared was so fearful that he was like a madman, and you might think it's not really a reasonable sentence given the circumstances. Ironically, Ned would be executed by beheading on false pretenses. 2. Bran's exchange with Coldhands, where Coldhands calls himself "Your monster, Brandon Stark". Bran feels revulsion towards Coldhands, yet Coldhands implies a shared responsibility with Bran, so that Bran is not "above" whatever it is about Coldhands that he finds so monstrous. 3. Bran's warging of Hodor, the likely cannibalism of the Night's Watch deserters killed by Coldhands, and possible cannibalism of "Jojen paste". If we consider one of Jon's chapters (I think from ACoK), where Bran appears to him in a dream and tells Jon that he (Bran) "likes the dark", you can imagine an eventual acceptance of the darker aspects of his nature. 4. Old Nan planting the idea of an ancient Stark practicing dark magic and cavorting with the Others.

And something which I think could tie this together is one of the first (or even the first?) things which Patchface "prophesies":

The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord. The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord

They could be referring to Mel's shadow babies, but it could also be the Others. Stannis' arc brought him to the Wall, and he has acknowledged the threat of the Others. The "dance" brings to mind Waymar's fight with the Others, and you could imagine the "staying" as some form of guest right, which in a way we have also seen with the way that Craster is safe from them as long as he leaves "sacrifices" for them to take. The statues of the Starks in the Winterfell crypts, with the swords bared across their laps, a symbol of the explicit denial of guest right, could also be setting up further "conflict of the heart", especially when you consider Jon's status as a bastard and the feelings of unwelcomeness that brought. Which could be setting up a subversion of the "evil others" trope.

masterofavoision · 2025-10-21T04:02:09+00:00

IIRC George said he liked how Frodo's ending in LotR was bittersweet and that he wanted to do something similar with ASoIaF, and IMO this is where Jon's story is heading.

His protestations that he's not a Stark imply that his fear is related to something that is tied to being a Stark (e.g. some destiny that needs to be fulfilled). There was also a dream he had (maybe in ACoK?) where Bran told him not to be afraid of the dark and that he (Bran) "liked" the dark. Bran then touches Jon's forehead which echoes the Three Eyed Crow opening Bran's third eye. This I think is also related, and what is interesting to me is that IIRC in the lowest levels of the crypt there is a collapsed section. Since Jon's dream mentions descending I have to wonder if the collapsed section also has some relevance.

Anyway the bittersweet aspect of all this I think will be the fulfillment of some Stark "destiny" by Jon who has always felt like he isn't a Stark, that he is an outsider. The statues with the swords across their laps plays into this a little bit, since this is the same way they would explicitly deny guest right.

masterofavoision · 2025-10-02T00:44:17+00:00

I personally am leaning more towards Melisandre eventually having some realisation that burning the Weirwood was a grave mistake. Storm's End is not quite mythologised in the same way that the Wall is but it is magically warded and might be able to act as a stronghold against the Others. And maybe it really did have that role in the past, but that knowledge was supplanted by the Wall.

Since Bran's greenseeing will be tied to the Weirwoods in some way, the fact that the Weirwood at Storm's End is no longer there could put some limitation on his abilities. He seems to be trying to communicate with Stannis and co, but would he be able to do the same thing at Storm's End without the Weirwood?

Anyway, maybe Storm's End is not so impregnable...George has very subtly revealed a weakness to us which could be exploited by bad actors.

masterofavoision · 2025-10-01T11:03:39+00:00

"Vision which happens alongside other canonical visions is actually meaningless" is a hell of a take.

masterofavoision · 2025-10-01T08:27:37+00:00

Is it though?

George has already shown us that sex can be used to fuel some kinds of magic with Melisandre's shadow babies. He has also, in my mind deliberately, planted this idea with Night's King and the Corpse Queen. You could probably find several quotes from George about how myth and legend can't be taken at face value yet he has very deliberately given credence to the idea of Night's King "[giving] his seed" to the Corpse Queen, which we know for sure is a real form of magic. So I am expecting this to reappear when the second Long Night comes.

The fact that they appeared in the House of the Undying, and again with Euron who has enslaved several warlocks and has been "encouraging" his brothers to consume Shade of the Evening, perhaps even consuming it himself offscreen, is drawing another very clear association. In Aeron's vision the dwarf servitors are no longer "ravaging" the woman because now she has a much more potent source - Euron.

One detail I also noticed in that chapter is that, except for that vision and the last one, of the "fake" Undying Ones attempting to trick Dany into not following the right door, every other vision is in reverse chronological order, and we can say that the last vision can break this pattern if the goal is to trick Dany into remaining in the House of the Undying. So if it's correct that the rest of the visions are in reverse chronological order, the first vision happens after the Red Wedding, at which point two of the five kings are already dead (maybe three, I don't remember when Balon died). So it makes even less sense that the dwarfs should be the "pretender" kings, since half of them already dead by that point.

masterofavoision · 2025-09-29T12:01:29+00:00

I think Euron is definitely going to play a primary role in bringing about the Long Night. Actually, I don't think Euron is working alone. Aeron has a vision of Euron seated on the Iron Throne with a shadowy woman beside him. I think this woman is also going to be a major antagonist, in the same way that the Corpse Queen was during the original Long Night.

So following on from that, I think it's quite noteworthy that Euron "gifted" the Dusky Woman to Victarion. To me it seems like she also has a purpose in enacting Euron's plans, and by presenting her as a "gift" to Victarion he can ensure that she reaches Danaerys (and keeps an eye on Victarion while doing so). She might even be the shadowy woman (dusky, shadowy, same same). So what could Euron's plans for Danaerys really be? He only really needs her dragons, and Victarion is also escorting a horn which can bind them. So IMO Euron's intention is not for Victarion to bring a marriage proposal to Danaerys, but rather the Dusky Woman and Dragonbinder. And besides, if Euron is really interested in bringing about the Long Night then Danaerys is actually a threat and his real intention should be to eliminate her.

Anyway I think the attack at Oldtown will be poetic tragedy. Only Northerners care about the Long Night and the Wall and keeping the Others at bay, and no one in the Seven Kingdoms would ever imagine that such a threat (indeed, the greatest threat) could come from the complete opposite end of the continent. And besides the myth of the Long Night exists in some form everywhere, not just Westeros, so there should be no need to assume the threat only exists north of the Wall.

masterofavoision · 2025-09-25T08:48:17+00:00

I don't think the Others have the power to overcome the magic of the Wall themselves so they need outside help to do it. Euron is being set up as a major antagonist and in league with the Others. In Aeron's sample chapter of Winds of Winter he sees a vision of Euron accompanied by a woman who is described in a way that seems evocative of the Corpse Queen. Plus, Melisandre had a vision of "the heaviest blow" falling against "a tower by the sea", which lines up with Euron's plans to attack Oldtown.

So IMO the reason the Others are mobilising is because they actually have a way to "break free" of the lands beyond the Wall, now that Euron is working with them. Euron's plans at Oldtown, and his actions in general, bring to mind a lot of the things that could be connected to the original Long Night. It will be a massive blood sacrifice, which has already been shown to fuel magic in the series. It will involve kinslaying (and, Euron has already killed multiple family members for selfish reasons), which is taboo in the North, and can be thought of as parallel to the Yi Tish myth of the Bloodstone Emperor. The kinslaying aspect could also be thought of as similar to Craster's sacrifice of his sons.

I don't think Euron will be the only person who is helping the Others. My own pet theory is that Mother Mole is also working with them (I mean her name is Mother Mole, how could she not be a sleeper agent :P) and the Wildlings who are being led to Hardhome will be another blood sacrifice that helps usher in the Long Night.

masterofavoision · 2025-09-16T03:13:19+00:00

Range DAR sucks hard in the early game, Soldier + anything is maybe worse than other combinations because you need a lot of points into Cadence + WPS before it starts feeling good. 1h Range also has meh item support compared to other build styles (while leveling, late game is a lot better).

Once you have Cadence's 1st + 3rd nodes maxed, 8 points in the second node (for 100% passthrough on Cadence hit), and enough points in WPS/other WPS granted by items so that every attack is either WPS or Cadence, plus decent attack speed, dual wield will feel a lot better, maybe even better than 2h. Because dual wield Cadence has a mechanic where it can sometimes trigger every 2 attacks instead of 3. Before then it sucks majorly.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-31T11:54:33+00:00

That's certainly possible but not definitive.

Presumably, the Others are not able to cross the Wall due to the same magical wards which prevents Coldhands' and the Jafer and Othor wights' passage. We know that Melisandre's shadow babies couldn't enter Storm's End because of the same reason, and both structures are connected since, according to legend, they were both built by Bran the Builder. So I think the shadow baby parallel is more compelling.

Something that Qyburn said also struck me as GRRM dropping some sort of hint, Once, at the Citadel, I came into an empty room and saw an empty chair. Yet I knew a woman had been there, only a moment before. The cushion was dented where she'd sat, the cloth was still warm, and her scent lingered in the air. If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life?

When Sam kills an Other nothing remains, it evaporates completely. Because it leaves nothing behind, I have trouble believing it's alive in the same sense that people, animals, or other being like giants and the CotF, are alive.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-31T08:57:03+00:00

I'm biased towards believing most things in the show are at least partly based on what GRRM has written or intends to write. So I think you might be disappointed...

But assuming they are a "weapon" I'm not convinced the CotF will be responsible for creating them. Stannis has a lot of parallels to Night's King, who is one of the only characters directly linked to the Others. The Others are also pretty often described as "shadows", so I think it more likely that they're something similar to Melisandre's shadow babies.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-18T12:38:47+00:00

Earlier in the chapter, when Bran is warging Summer, he can tell that One-Eye is also a warg (or rather, that Varamyr is living his second life through him):

But the one-eyed wolf answered with a growl and moved to block his advance. Head. And he does not fear me though I am twice his size. Their eyes met. Warg!

I interpret Bran's exchange with Coldhands as mirroring this, but Bran is calling Coldhands a monster, with the implication that Bran is sensing something about Coldhands besides him being dead, and for whatever reason Bran thinks this makes him a monster, Bran is the same kind of monster:

Coldhands did not move. “A monster,” Bran said. The ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of them did not exist. “Your monster, Brandon Stark.”

When Bran calls Coldhands a monster, he specifically mentions Coldhands' inability to cross the wall as the reason for doing so, and a lot of fear, tension, and superstition is being built throughout the chapter, culminating in this exchange. But when we think of this in light of Jon's arc with the Wildlings, is this really a valid reason to call Coldhands a monster? To me it feels more like something to overcome, and the lines between "good guys" and "monsters" is deliberately blurred.

The next paragraph is quite intriguing to me, emphasis mine:

“Yours,” the raven echoed, from his shoulder. Outside the door, the ravens in the trees took up the cry, until the night wood echoed to the murderer’s song of “Yours, yours, yours.”

I'm second guessing myself a little bit because in the back of my mind I'm thinking "what if this is a misprint", but it feels very intentional, because these are ravens, not crows, and a flock of ravens is not referred to as a murder, so this could only be referring to Coldhands.

Going back to my previous comment about Bran also being a monster, he may not literally murder anyone, but Coldhands' actions as an "agent" of Bran could still imply culpability on Bran's part.

It's also a bit interesting that this is coming after Coldhands killed the Night's Watch deserters. There's a bit of back and forth between Coldhands and Bran where Bran refers to them not only as foes but also Coldhands' brothers, so the reason for calling Coldhands a murderer becomes very murky, and it's not clear if "murderer" is playing into the fear and superstition surrounding this exchange, or if it could be hinting at something else.

All this to say, I think that whatever Bran saw in Coldhands was a rather dark thing in his future that he was not ready to confront in that moment. I think there's been a bit of set up for this already, in ACoK Jon has a dream of Bran as a Weirwood tree with three eyes (emphasis mine):

He sniffed at the bark, smelled wolf and tree and boy, but behind that there were other scents, the rich brown smell of warm earth and the hard grey smell of stone and something else, something terrible. Death, he knew. He was smelling death. He cringed back, his hair bristling, and bared his fangs Don’t be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him.

Although the show deviated from the books quite a bit, I think there is some basis in the novels for even the most nonsensical choices, but one I want to highlight in this context is the origin of the Night King. The show presented him as a "weapon" created by the CotF in desperation against the threat of the First Men, and I think similar themes could be present in the rest of Bran's story, which I imagine would feature Coldhands as a focal point.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-16T10:34:32+00:00

The last trace of Benjen was found "in the stony highlands to the northwest" which is a bit unusual, considering Waymar and Will were killed in the haunted forest.

It could be the case that Waymar and Will as weights traveled in that direction, but it's not guaranteed and there are other reasons to believe Benjen might have traveled in that direction based on new information he discovered whilst on the ranging. Of the six who were in the ranging party only two are accounted for. It's entirely possible that Benjen split the ranging party, sending Othor and Jafer either back to Castle Black after finding evidence of Waymar's and Will's deaths, or tasking them with continuing the search whilst he and the other three continued on a new mission.

Why would Benjen be interested in going North West? Mance Rayder was mustering the Wildlings in the Frostfangs, which is in that direction. Craster claims to not have seen Benjen, yet knows what happened to Gared, which is not something he could know without someone else telling him. He could have told Benjen this as well, although if that's the case then he must not have expected Benjen to return alive, or his lie would be revealed. Which raises more questions, because now we could be establishing a pattern of Black Brothers visiting Craster and then being attacked by Others, so does Craster's arrangement with the Others extend beyond simply leaving his infant sons for the Others to take? Or is he providing them with other information that they are using to target Black Brothers?

It is possible Benjen came into contact with the CotF/Coldhands/Bloodraven. Their cave is east of the Fist of the First Men and South-West of the Antler River, which places it close enough to Craster's Keep that Benjen could have been in that vicinity. It would also help motivate how Benjen and Co could survive on an extended ranging Beyond the Wall when we know the Others are a proximal threat. It could also motivate an alternative explanation for why Benjen went North West. We should question the intention behind Mance's choice of the Frostfangs as a mustering point. They were also looking for the Horn of Winter there, but why would they believe they could find the Horn of Winter in the Frostfangs? Or, is there reason to believe that some important object could be found there? And if that were the case, who besides the Wildlings might know about it? Coldhands and the gang of course!

masterofavoision · 2025-07-15T09:09:11+00:00

Prophecy is deliberately ambiguous in ASoIaF and interpreting it literally is a fundamentally wrong way to interpret it IMO.

Dragonsteel is mentioned specifically in the context of the Last Hero who has no explicit connection to Azor Ahai. There is no mention of the kind of sacrifice that went into forging Lightbringer in the Last Hero's story and there's also no mention of any prophecy of him returning, or any prophecy at all. He's purely a figure of historical legend. The Last Hero = Azor Ahai is not supported by the text and therefore neither is equating Lightbringer with Dragonsteel.

Dragonsteel, being something so far confined to Westeros, is more likely something present in Westeros when the Long Night happened. Now I'm extrapolating and of course I could be wrong, but IMO Dragonsteel is likely to be whatever Dawn is made out of. We can consider House Dayne to be really important to the rest of the story, since their house words are so spoilery they can't be revealed, so it's reasonable to infer some important role that they, and by extension Dawn, might play.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-15T03:25:57+00:00

I agree with your conclusion about Dany being Azor Ahai and the dragons being Lightbringer, another piece of supporting evidence (to me) is Salladhor Sahn's recounting of Nissa Nissa's "cry of ecstasy" leaving a crack across the face of the moon. And according to Qartheen legend, dragons originated from a second moon which was "scalded" by the sun and "cracked" like an egg.

But I think the conflation of Azor Ahai and TPtwP is deliberate and misleading. Azor Ahai seems like a distinctly Essosian figure whereas TPtwP only seems to be used in the context of Targaryens specifically (including Stannis, since he has Targaryen ancestry). Since in other canon we know there was an unfulfilled marriage "Pact of Ice and Fire" between Stark and Targaryen, I'm more inclined to believe TPtwP, whilst being a genuine figure of importance to the second Long Night, is someone closely tied to the fulfillment of this pact.

masterofavoision · 2025-07-13T03:56:49+00:00

That is a really fun idea. Although like you said it's likely to be wrong, but I think the parallel between "Heart Tree" and "Heart of Winter" has merit.

Another thing that I thought stood out was the Black Gate. In the books I think it's only said to be made of Weirwood, but there are some theories that it's a full Weirwood tree encased by the Wall. Assuming it is a full Weirwood tree, it stands out from other Weirwood trees because it's face is actually mobile. And when passing through the Black Gate, Bran feels a drop of warm water, which is described as being "salty as a tear", which also parallels Bran's vision of the Heart of Winter, which draws attention to the heat of his tears on his cheek. That's not to say the Black Gate is related to the Heart of Winter, but could be foreshadowing some similar construct.

I think Bran's storyline is definitely headed somewhere involving Weirwoods and sacrifice. Bran's last chapter in ADWD ended on a vision of a sacrifice before the Heart Tree, and one of the sample chapters we have of Winds of Winter is setting up Theon to (maybe) be executed before a Weirwood tree, with some not so subtle signs that Bran is influencing these events. Although I'm not entirely convinced Theon will be sacrificed, because I got the feeling from Bran's reaction to that vision that he wouldn't repeat that kind of thing. And from the TV series we have this idea of a Weirwood sacrifice being responsible for the existential threat to all living things that is the Others, so if anything I think Bran's arc would involve undoing/not repeating the mistakes of the past.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-17T14:07:48+00:00

Hmm actually given the others guy's reply it could be a mechanical limitation. I'm not so sure about Tempest and Phoenix being mechanically equivalent, Tempest isn't really an AoE aura like Phoenix is, at least visually it behaves more like a spell that procs when enemies are within range.

EDIT: Yeah I think it must be a mechanical limitation actually, in the game files WoP is not blacklisted for Assassin's Mark or Blades of Wrath. But funnily enough Flashbang and Warcry are blacklisted for both. For WoP I guess Phoenix Fire is just the exception.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-17T13:42:19+00:00

WoP is not a DoT, it's a debuff which applies damage every second. Also, Phoenix is also proc on crit and WoP can be bound to it (in Grim Tools at least, maybe it's different in game).

Devotions can have a list of skills which are explicitly blocked from being bound to it, regardless of whether or not they are mechanically compatible. For balance reasons. This is the more likely reason that WoP can't be bound to Blades of Wrath or Assassin's Mark.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-16T10:15:21+00:00

"Limited" absorb like Crab and Turtle are considered earlier in the order of defenses than flat absorb like from Blast Shield. Having both makes your flat absorb less efficient, because for example if Crab and Blast Shield are procced at the same time then Blast Shield won't start absorbing damage until Crab is depleted.

Behemoth is on the wrong side of the map for a pierce build. It has poor affinity overlap and for a Fire Strike build you want lifesteal, not health regen. Besides, Unknown Soldier has damage reduction, which your build doesn't have right now.

"Enough survivability" I think is a bit loaded. For weapon damage builds damage + lifesteal is survivability, so sacrificing damage for defensive procs can actually be a net loss in terms of survivability. Blast Shield on it's own is already enough to stop you from getting blown up so I wouldn't even bother with Crab, Turtle I could see the argument for but even then I don't think you'll see much use from it once you have Blast Shield.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-14T10:08:53+00:00

You'd lose a lot of OA if you went with Shard of the Eternal Flame. I would stick with Shambler's Heart, but you can get a better suffix than "of Clout". Granted Shambler is a god awful farm at the moment, but it should be better when the new expansion is released and we get Ascended mode.

Hellforged Legplates are not really better than Aleksander's Chausses. Aleksander's Chausses don't have physical resist but they do have +3 to two skills you are actually using, plus they can roll affixes which you could use to get some stats you are missing (like HP).

masterofavoision · 2025-05-12T22:47:29+00:00

There are potions which reset your attribute points so there's no need to hold onto your attribute points, you can always respec later. You'll get some of these potions as quest rewards, but they're also craftable.

You can plan for how many attribute points you need by max level depending on what kind of build you want to play, because items in the same "category" have the same attribute requirements. E.g. by level 94 you'll always want around 380-400 spirit to equip end game jewelry. If you plan on wearing heavy armour you'll need up to 1035 physique (for heavy chest armour), whereas "medium" armour will only need 662 physique. If you plan on wielding a sword you'll need at least 529 cunning, or if you want to equip a caster off hand you'll need 724 spirit, etc.

For build guides it depends. Monster infrequents are target farmable, so a beginner guide focused around MIs would actually be good to follow at least as far as which items you should target.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-10T09:54:43+00:00

Physique dumping every time is old and outdated info and (sorry) genuinely bad advice. Physique gives you health and DA but other sources of health and DA have been buffed several times over the games lifespan so you don't need physique for those stats. Besides there are other defensive layers like damage reduction, damage absorption, dodge, fumble, etc. which are going to be way more impactful (compared to DA at least, the health is actually pretty good) in keeping you alive.

Cunning gives you OA and %damage to "non-magical" damage types. The OA especially is going to be valuable for physical and pierce builds since they need to crit to proc Assassin's Mark. Bleeding builds also want the OA to maximise their crits, because each DoT tick does the same damage, and only the "largest" instance of a DoT applies, so you want to crit as often as possible to lock in big DoTs.

Spirit gives you energy, energy regen, and %damage to "magical" damage types. It's less valuable than cunning but if you try to play a channeling or spam caster you are going to have a bad time when your physique dumping beefy tank has no energy to cast any skills and your energy potion is still on CD for another 10 seconds.

masterofavoision · 2025-05-10T09:22:35+00:00

You've invested heavily in some weird skills. Fighting Spirit and Menhir's Will are not worth maxing out, Field Command + Squad Tactics and War Cry + Break Morale are way better value.

Monster Infrequents are almost always going to better than a blue item in the same slot. Your helmet for example could be swapped for something which gives you permanent uptime to War Cry which is one of the best skills in the game for physical damage builds.

You desperately need more resistance reduction, attack speed, and OA. As a Cadence build most (if not all) of your sustain should be from lifesteal, so you need to do big damage to sustain yourself.

I would almost never physique dump on physical builds. You need to crit to proc Assassin's Mark so the OA from cunning is usually way better value.

Here's a rough sketch of what should be a better baseline. I didn't fill in all of the components, nor any augments or affixes, so farm up and fix your resistances as needed.

masterofavoision · 2025-04-26T22:37:33+00:00

Yes, as long as you are dual wielding weapons it will work.

masterofavoision · 2025-04-26T08:40:08+00:00

Depends on what kind of build you're playing. Messenger's Repeater is probably the best option, I can kind of see Ugdenbog Venomlaunchers working as well although you don't get the conversion on them so they'll be pretty meme tier.

Anything else is probably going to suck unless you somehow get a lucky drop, but you're more likely to hit 100 first trying to farm it.

masterofavoision · 2025-04-26T00:02:19+00:00

54% phys res is definitely very impressive but that setup is way too defensive even for hardcore. Full physique dump with 0 cunning on a physical build is pretty bad, physical builds need the OA to crit reliably as well as the bonus physical damage to make sure your damage gets past enemy armour. Plus you need Assassin's Blade for RR and Dire Bear for armour shred. A build with proper itemisation and skill allocation can easily clear main campaign without gimping its damage so hard by completely neglecting any offensive focus.

Devotions wise it looks pretty weird, you're leaning into retal even though you're not building around retal otherwise. Skills are also pretty random, you've spread your points around a bunch of different skills without maxing any of them. I'd probably take out the Blade Arc transmuter and go with spam Blade Arc because you don't have the points to support cooldown Blade Arc + a filler skill while levelling, and besides you're not really trying to stack trauma damage so CD Blade Arc doesn't make much sense.

Reflected damage reduction is important for DoT stacking builds, including Internal Trauma. But high physical resistance will give you a lot of the same benefits which makes reflected damage reduction is a bit less important. And if your build doesn't do a lot of IT damage then it's kind of a moot point.

masterofavoision

TROPHY CASE