Best Avowed DPS Build

Discover how to create the best DPS build in Avowed, with recommendations for skills, attributes, weapons, companions, and leveling progression!

dps build avowed
Best Avowed DPS Build (Source: Xbox Games Studio)

Avowed is a first-person RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. Set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, the game takes place in the Living Lands, where you are uncovering a secret mystery. DPS builds are designed to eliminate enemies swiftly, reducing the duration of combat encounters. You can modify your DPS build by selecting abilities from various trees – Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard.

DPS build is particularly advantageous when facing multiple enemies or challenging foes. This build focuses on dealing high DPS from a distance or close range while maintaining agility and stealth. The game Avowed can be complex in terms of combat and gameplay and features action-oriented combat with a mix of melee, ranged, and magic-based abilities. Players can wield weapons in one or both hands, use spells dynamically, and customize their character’s abilities and playstyle. In this guide, we aim to tell you about all the elements of a beginner build and how to get the best start in the game.

Everything You Need To Know About DPS Build Guide in Avowed

Our DPS build focuses on attributes and abilities that deal damage per second to enemies in combat. The War Hero background is ideal for a DPS build in Avowed. It provides a strong foundation in key physical attributes. The attributes boost your damage output, health, and stamina, which are essential for close-quarters combat. Investing in specific abilities like Charge and Clear Out from the Fighter class will enhance your combat effectiveness. It’s best to pair your Fighter class skills with other classes’ skills to make a perfect DPS build. Your primary weapon is the one-handed sword, Grimoire (Off-hand), and Bow is your secondary weapon for this damage-per-second build.

The key attributes for this class are Might, Perception, and Dexterity. Allocate some points on Might to increase physical damage output, which is crucial for maximizing melee attack effectiveness. Each point in Perception increases your critical hit chance by 2%. Dexterity boosts your attack speed by 3.5%, allowing for more frequent attacks. Marius and Yetzil are the best companions who complement your DPS build to enhance your combat effectiveness and overall gameplay experience.

DPS Build ProsDPS Build Cons
High Damage OutputLow Defense
Combat VersatilityLow Support Skills
Engaging GameplayResource Management

DPS Build Features & Mechanics

Below are the essential best DPS build features and mechanics for Avowed:

  • Background: War Hero
  • Attribute Points: Might, Perception, and Dexterity
  • Weapon Choices: One-Handed Sword, Grimoire, Bow
  • Best Skills: Clear Out, Grimoire Mastery, Blood Magic, Retribution
  • Recommended Companions: Yetzli, Marius
  • Best Consumables: Fine Aedyran Mead, Fruitful Wine, Krakenhorn

Background

Avowed Character Background Choices

War Hero is the best background for a DPS build, providing a strong foundation in key physical attributes. Background plays a pivotal role in shaping your role-playing experience. It affects your dialogue options and determines your starting weapon during the tutorial. Your initial allocation of attribute points across six stats is also influenced. However, they do not restrict your access to any equipment or abilities as the game progresses.

Regardless of your background, you can use any equipment and abilities. Avowed enriches your character’s backstory and provides initial attribute distributions and dialogue options by selecting the background. War Hero provides a strong foundation for melee-focused DPS builds, emphasizing physical strength and stamina. The high Might attribute boosts overall damage output, making it ideal for close combat specialists.

Attribute Points

Attribute Points Avowed

Might, Perception, and Dexterity are the best attributes to focus on for the best DPS build in Avowed. Might increase your damage from all sources and enhance carry capacity. Allocate points to Might because it enhances the damage output of both physical and magical attacks. Perception, on the other hand, increases critical hit chance and maximum weapon range, making it ideal for DPS builds aiming for maximizing critical hits.

Dexterity enhances attack speed, reload speed, and action speed. It’s essential to allocate some points for those players looking for swift attacks and quick actions. Several God Totems can provide attribute enhancements. You will also gain attribute points when you progress and gain experience, your character levels up. Boost your attributes with food and consumables or permanently via companions.

Weapon Choices

Weapon Choices Avowed

One-handed Sword, Grimoires, and Bow are the best weapons to use for the DPS build in Avowed. The one-handed sword can deal melee damage in close-range combat, while Grimoires allows for spellcasting to deal massive damage. The Bow, on the other hand, is your ranged weapon, allowing you to deal damage from a safe distance in long-range combat. Each weapon type comes with unique strengths, so selecting the one that complements your playstyle is crucial.  

One-handed melee weapons paired with a Grimoire can deal high DPS in combat. This allows your character to be more flexible in the game. Use spells to stun the enemies and attack with your best one-handed sword to deal heavy damage. Proper strategy is required when using the one-handed sword as your primary weapon and Grimoires as an off-hand weapon. Sword provides swift melee attacks, enabling you to deal consistent physical damage. Wielding a grimoire in your off-hand allows you to cast potent spells like Fan of Flames without fully committing to the Wizard class.

Practice using the bow to enhance your archery skill, improving the draw speed. This weapon is excellent for stealth or ranged combat but is difficult in close quarters. You cannot block with a bow, making you vulnerable if enemies get too close. You can headshot with the Bow to defeat the enemies in one shot, allowing you to save ammo. Bow allows for stealth attacks, dealing moderately high damage.

Perfect Block

The Perfect allows you to parry the enemy attacks, knock back targets, and immediately counterattack. It causes the attacker to stagger and create the opportunity for a counter-attack. This is effective for players who prefer a defensive combat style. You can unlock the Parry ability from the Ranger skill tree to increase proficiency with Perfect Blocks. Precise timing is crucial for the success of a Perfect Block. However, blocking and counter-attacking consume stamina. We recommend you invest some skill points in Parry and Reflect to increase your blocking capabilities. Successfully executing a perfect block not only mitigates incoming damage. Perfect block offers you counterattack opportunities, enemy control, and stamina conservation.

Skill Selection

The game allows you to unlock skills at each level, starting at 2. One level gives you one more skill point to place in one of three skill trees. You can mix and match skill trees, but you can synergize Fighter skills and Wizard skills for the DPS build. Moreover, you can reset skills at any time with gold, though it gets more expensive the more levels you increase.

Levels 1-10 Skills

dps build skills level 1-10 avowed

The crucial skills at this level are Charge, Toughness, Minor Missiles, Bounce, and Parry. Invest skill points to gain the skills that can keep you alive in the initial stages of the game. Passive skills are used to increase damage or survivability, while active skills require essence, and you can’t use them due to their cost.

Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best DPS Build for Avowed from levels 1 to 10:

LevelSkill NameTreeDescription
1None
2Charge Rank 1FighterDamage to break enemy Blocks, destroy walls, and shatter frozen enemies for bonus damage.
3Toughness Rank 1FighterIncreases your Maximum Health by 20%.
4Minor Missiles Rank 1WizardSummons three magical projectiles that seek out enemies, dealing large amounts of damage to nearby enemies on impact.
5Bounce Rank 1WizardPower Attacks with wands bounce to a nearby enemy, dealing reduced damage but retaining any elemental Accumulation.
6Parry Rank 1RangerTime a perfect Block against a melee attack to knock the enemy back and gain an immediate counter-attack.
7Unbreakable Rank 1FighterDecreases the Stamina cost when Blocking by 30%.
8Bleeding Cuts Rank 1FighterPower attack with axes and greatswords deal bleed accumulation.
9Grimoire Mastery Rank 1WizardUnlock level 5 Grimoire spells and decrease the Essence cost of all Grimoire spells by 10%.
10Blood Magic Rank 1WizardWhen Essence is depleted, you may continue casting by reducing your Health by 150% of the Essence cost.

Levels 11-20 Skills

dps build skills level 11-20

Ensure to increase your damage potential from level 11 to 20. Choose the skills that enhance your damage per second. This will allow you to dominate enemies coming in your path. Skill like Grimoire Mastery allows you to unlock high-level spells that can deal massive damage. Retribution skill allows you to deal 70% of the original damage after taking damage from the enemy.

Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best DPS Build for Avowed from levels 11 to 20:

LevelSkill NameTreeDescription
11Into the Fray Rank 1FighterReach forward, Taunting an enemy and pulling them towards you.
12Arrow Detection Rank 1RangerMelee weapons Block arrows or similar projectiles when Parrying.
13Power JumpFighterSlam to the ground by pressing crouch while in the air to interrupt nearby foes. The AoE and amount of stun dealt are based on the fall height.
14Grimoire Mastery Rank 2WizardUnlock level 10 Grimoire spells and decrease the Essence cost of all Grimoire spells by 15%.
15Unbreakable Rank 2FighterDecreases the Stamina cost when Blocking by 50%.
16Arcane Seal Rank 1WizardConjures an Arcane Seal at your feet for 30 seconds. Your Essence regenerates while you stand within the seal’s lingering area of effect.
17Heart of Storm Rank 1WizardIncreases the amount of Shock Accumulation you deal by 20%.
18Blast Rank 1WizardPower Attacks with wands explode on impact, dealing reduced Stun and Explosive Damage to nearby enemies.
19Retribution Rank 1FighterAfter taking damage from an enemy, your next attack within 5 seconds deals +70% of the original damage you received.
20Blood Magic Rank 2WizardWhen Essence is depleted, you may continue casting by reducing your Health by 125% of the Essence cost.

Levels 21-25 Skills

dps build skills level 20-25
dps build skills level 20-25

At levels 21-25, you want to increase damage per second potential with high-level skills. You can use the one-handed weapon at the beginning but shift to a two-handed weapon for additional damage per second.

Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best DPS Build for Avowed from levels 21 to 25:

LevelSkill NameTreeDescription
21Inspiring Triumph Rank 1FighterKilling enemies restores 10% of your Companion’s Maximum Health.
22Blood Magic Rank 3WizardWhen Essence is depleted, you may continue casting by reducing your Health by 110% of the Essence cost.
23Clear Out Rank 2FighterClear Out lasts for two full rotations.
24Grimoire Mastery Rank 3WizardUnlock level 20 Grimoire spells and decrease the Essence cost of all Grimoire spells by 20%.
25Staggering Shot Rank 1RangerPower Attacks with bows and guns deal +40% Stun.

Best DPS Skills Explained

Clear Out, Grimoire Mastery, Blood Magic, and Retribution are the best skills for the DPS build in Avowed. Clear Out is an active skill within the Fighter class that allows your character to perform a powerful spinning attack. It allows you to attack all nearby enemies with your equipped melee weapon. This ability enables you to control crowds and deal substantial area-of-effect damage.

Grimoire Mastery is a passive ability within the Wizard class that enhances your spellcasting capabilities by unlocking higher-level grimoire spells. Blood Magic is a passive ability unlocked at Player Level 10 that allows for spellcasting to continue even when Essence is depleted, at the cost of Health. Retribution Retribution increases your offensive capabilities by converting damage taken into increased attack power. At Rank, it extends the window to 8 seconds and increases the damage bonus to 100% of the damage taken.

  • Heart of Shock- This ability increases your proficiency with Shock-based magic.
  • Clear Out- It not only does three rotations but knocks down targets as well. Upgrade it to maximum capability to make it more effective in the game.
  • Grimoire Mastery- Allows you to get access to the higher-level grimoire spells.
  • Blood Magic- It provides powerful, sustained spellcasting and requires careful resource management.
  • Retribution- Effective for players who engage directly in combat and can anticipate taking hits. You can enhance your damage output by timing your counterattacks.
  • Staggering Shot- It increases your stun effect of power attacks executed with bows. This ability is effective for power attacks by augmenting the stun inflicted on foes.
  • Blast- It allows you to deal explosive damage and stun effects to nearby enemies. This ability is useful for crowd control and increasing damage output in combat.

Companions

Selecting the Companions in Avowed that complement your DPS build is crucial for maximizing combat efficiency. The companions can increase your offensive capabilities, provide crowd control, and offer essential support. Marius and Yatzli are the best companions for DPS build in Avowed. Yatzli is a ranged magic damage dealer who excels in delivering high burst damage from a distance. This makes her an excellent companion for players focusing on melee or physical DPS builds.

Arduous Delay of Motion is her crowd control ability that can hinder foes, allowing you to take control over the battlefield. Her Blast ability ensures that attacks affect multiple enemies, which further increases overall damage output. Marius is a crowd-control companion, and his ability, like Binding Roots, allows you to focus on dealing damage without being overwhelmed by multiple foes. Enhance your combat effectiveness with his DoT effects and dealing support. Use Marius’s Heart Seeker’s ability to increase damage dealt to low-health enemies.

Yatzli

Avowed Yatzli new companion info and starting abilities
Skill 1Skill 2Skill 3Skill 4
Essence ExplosionMinoletta’s Missile BatteryArduous Delay of MotionBlast
Increases the size of the blast caused by Essence Explosion.Increases the rate of fire for missiles from Minoletta’s Missile Battery.Creates an area of effect that afflicts all enemies within its radius.Deals explosive damage, breaking enemy Blocks, destroying walls, and shattering frozen enemies for bonus damage.

Marius

Avowed Marius dwarf companion official art from Obsidian Entertainment
Skill 1Skill 2Skill 3Skill 4
Binding RootsHeart SeekerShadow StepWounding Shots
Entangle enemiesIncreases damage dealt to low-health enemiesDevastating BlowDamage over time

DPS Gameplay & Tips

Use companions like Yatzli and Marius to complement your DPS build. Marius provides crowd control abilities, and Yatzli serves the role of ranged magic dealer. Focus on attributes like Might, Perception, and Dexterity to boost your DPS capabilities in the game. Choose the one-handed sword, Grimoires, and Bow to tackle enemies in combat but shift to advanced weapons after reaching level 20. Mastering combat techniques Parry, Dodge, and Perfect Block are essential to enhance your combat effectiveness.

Combine the Fighter skills with the Wizard and Ranger class’s skills to enhance your effectiveness. Use the grenades to deal damage over time. Equip a bow and start from stealth by crouching and shooting an arrow at the highest damage-producing target. Upgrade your weapon and armor to maintain peak performance. Coordinating with companions enhances combat effectiveness and creates opportunities for DPS attacks. It’s best to gather resources for crafting and upgrading equipment. Use the ability like Steady Aim to increase accuracy and critical hit potential.

Weapons and Armor

Beginner Weapon and Armor

SlotItemBonus
Weapon 1Sheathed in Summer20 Physical Damage 8 Stun 9 Stamina Cost 9% Critical Hit Chance
Off-HandAnextli’s Grimoire-28% Ability Cost -15% Cooldown
Secondary WeaponFine Bow54 Physical Damage 56 Stun 12 Stamina 9% Critical Chance
ArmorArcanist’s Gambeson8% Damage Reduction -15 Maximum Stamina -20 Maximum Essence
GlovesDeath Knight Gloves-10% Stamina cost while blocking +15% Frost Damage
BootsVailian Boots+5 Carry Capacity  
TrinketBerath’s Blessed Ward-5% damage from Vessels
RingRing of Pain Amplification+15% Critical Damage
RingRing of the Founder+10% Damage against enemies will full Health

Endgame Weapon and Armor

SlotItemBonus
Weapon 1The Emperor’s Reach96 Physical Damage 70 Stun 11 Stamina Cost 3% Critical Hit Chance
Off-HandExceptional Grimoire of Elements-58% Ability Cost -35% Cooldown
Secondary WeaponAncient AlacritySlow the hit enemy by 15% for 5 seconds.
ArmorCouncilor’s Grab5% Damage Reduction 70 Additional Damage Reduction -20 Maximum Stamina -10 Maximum Essence
GlovesSentinel Gloves+15% Stun -50% Stamina Cost while blocking
BootsBerserker Boots-10% incoming Fire, Frost, and Shock Damage
TrinketCartographer’s Companion+1 Dex, +2 Perception
RingDisciple’s Ring+60 Maximum Essence
RingRing of Greater Overseeing+20% area of effect damage

Consumables

Fine Aedyran Mead grants +2 Perception and +10% Maximum Essence for 300 seconds. Fruitful Wine provides +2 Constitution and +5% damage reduction for 300 seconds. Krakenhorn allows you to gain +2 Resolve and +5% Maximum Stamina for 300 seconds. You need to take three points into the survivalist skill in the ranger tree. Once unlocked, you can craft advanced food and buffs that drastically increase your survivability, damage, and regeneration.

FAQs about DPS in Avowed

What is the best DPS build in Avowed?

The best DPS build uses a one-handed sword, Grimoire, and Bow. It provides you survivability and damage per second within a range or melee.

Which is the best Background for a DPS build?

War Hero is the best background for a DPS build, providing a strong foundation in key physical attributes.

Which are the best skills for DPS build?

Clear Out, Grimoire Mastery, Blood Magic, and Retribution are the best skills for the DPS build. These abilities not only allow you to deal massive damage per second but also provide more survivability in the game.


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