Best Avowed Dagger Build

Learn the steps to craft an optimal Dagger build in Avowed, including advice on skill selection, attribute distribution, weapon choices, companion pairings, and character development strategy!

Unveiling the Avowed Critical Build: A Guide for Stealthy Adventurers

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the intricacies of the Critical Build in the first-person RPG, Avowed, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. This captivating game is set within the Pillars of Eternity universe, specifically in the Living Lands, where you embark on an enthralling journey to uncover a hidden mystery.

The Dagger Build is a fan favorite due to its emphasis on speed, critical hits, and agility. This build centers around the use of Daggers for close-quarters combat. To optimize this build, prioritize Dexterity and Perception as they significantly boost attack speed and critical damage respectively. This build caters perfectly to players who thrive on a high-risk, high-reward playstyle.

To excel with the Critical Build, make use of specific skills, invest heavily in Perception, and arm yourself with weapons and gear that amplify crit damage. In this guide, we will explore the optimal Avowed Critical Build alongside valuable gameplay tips and recommended gear selections.

Table of Content
  • Dagger Build Features & Mechanics
    • Background
    • Attribute Points
    • Weapon Choices
    • Best Weapons
    • Secondary Weapon
    • Stealth Kills
    • Critical Damage
  • Skill Selection
    • Levels 1-10 Skills
    • Levels 11-20 Skills
    • Levels 21-30 Skills
  • Best Dagger Skills Explained
  • Companions
    • Marius
    • Giatta
  • Dagger Gameplay & Tips
  • Weapons and Armor
    • Beginner Weapon and Armor
    • Locations
    • Endgame Weapon and Armor
    • Locations
  • Consumables

Everything You Need To Know About Dagger Build Guide in Avowed

In the game Avowed, the Dagger build provides a distinctive fighting style characterized by swiftness, accuracy, and substantial critical damage. Since daggers are light, they enable rapid strikes and increased critical hits. Our chosen Dagger build employs weapons such as Survivor’s Guilt (the main weapon) and Umbral Needle (off-hand). The latter enhances the infliction of high critical damage. In this build, Dexterity, Might, and Perception are the primary attributes to focus on.

Wisely distribute your attribute points for optimal game performance, as your success heavily relies on them. Marius and Giatta make excellent companions in this setup, assisting you during challenging fights. To enhance your gameplay experience, we’ve added skills such as Charge, Critical Strike, Devastating Criticals, and Parry that align with your playstyle. If you prefer ranged combat, consider starting the battle with a bow before transitioning to a dagger for close-quarters fighting. This build sacrifices some base damage and stun capabilities in exchange for other benefits.

Dagger Build Pros Dagger Build Cons
High Critical Hit Limited Range
Fast Attack Speed Lower Base Damage
High Mobility Lower Stun Capability

Dagger Build Features & Mechanics

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

  • Background: Vanguard Scout
  • Attribute Points: Dexterity, Might, Perception
  • Weapon Choices: Survivor’s Guilt. Umbral Needle, The Long Touch
  • Best Skills: Charge, Critical Strike, Devastating Criticals, Clear Out, Parry, Piercing Thrusts
  • Recommended Companions: Marius and Giatta
  • Best Consumables: Darkest Rauataian Chocolate Cookie, Magran’s Blessing, Strangebrew

Background

In the game Avowed, choosing the Vanguard Scout as your background is optimal for a Dagger build, providing a role-playing framework that perfectly suits a scout-oriented character. This background caters to players who desire a stealthy gaming experience. Initially, you’ll wield a standard axe, like one used by Vanguard Scouts, and your attribute points will be allocated to boost critical hit probability, attack speed, and health. With the stealth ability, you can eliminate enemies before they even have a chance to respond. Additionally, the Vanguard Scout background provides exclusive dialogue options. This background concentrates on dexterity and perception, which aligns perfectly with the swift and accurate melee combat strikes.

The setting significantly impacts the way you navigate and engage in role-playing within the game. It influences your conversation choices, decides what weapon you begin with during the tutorial, and even affects how your starting attribute points are distributed among six different categories. Yet, it’s important to note that this setup does not limit your access to any equipment or skills as the game unfolds. In essence, the background serves to deepen your character’s history, offering initial attribute distributions and dialogue options when you choose a background in Avowed.

Attribute Points

As a dedicated fan of the Avowed Dagger build, I prioritize three key attributes: Dexterity, Might, and Perception. Boosting Dexterity not only quickens my attack speed but also enhances the agility required for swift strikes and flexible combat maneuvers, making me a formidable foe on the battlefield. To maximize the potency of my daggers, I invest heavily in Dexterity.

Investing attribute points in Might serves to amplify overall damage output and increase my carrying capacity. This enhancement impacts all types of damage, including melee attacks, particularly my stealth takedowns with daggers.

Perception is the third vital attribute for my character. By enhancing this attribute, I raise both my critical hit chance and maximum range. As a dual-wielding Dagger character in the game, distributing points evenly among these three attributes is essential to ensure I have the edge in combat.

Pay attention to how you distribute points when assigning them to attributes, as your gameplay relies on this allocation. Upon reaching a new level, you’ll receive extra attribute points, enabling you to tailor your character’s abilities. Utilize the consumables you gather during gameplay to boost your attribute points. You can choose up to 27 attributes at the highest level of 30. Here is the distribution of attribute points for the Dagger build in Avowed:

This way, the text maintains its original meaning but uses simpler and more conversational language.

  • Resolve: 2
  • Dexterity: 12
  • Might: 6
  • Perception: 5
  • Constitution: 2
  • Intellect: 0

Weapon Choices

In the game Avowed, it’s advantageous to specialize in Unique Daggers for your character build since they excel at close-quarters combat. This strategy focuses on acquiring daggers capable of dealing significant melee damage. To maximize your overall damage output, consider wielding two daggers simultaneously – one in your main hand and the other in your off-hand. These daggers should ideally have distinct characteristics to dish out heavy blows. As a backup, carry a bow to attack from afar. Remember, each weapon type has its own unique benefits, so choosing one that suits your playing style is essential.

Best Weapons

The key item in the Dagger strategy is Survivor’s Guilt, which works best during end-game fights for stealth takedowns. Make Survivor’s Guilt stronger for tough situations. This dagger has a unique passive ability that adds 10% frost damage to your attacks. The default enchantment of this dagger is Needling Doubt, causing Frost Accumulation with a full combo attack. You can improve the basic enchantment for increased lethality. A bonus enchantment, Bitter Shame, increases frost accumulation by 30% for 10 seconds with strong attacks. Alternatively, you can upgrade the base enchantment to Haunting Regrets, causing full combo attacks to inflict both Poison and Frost Accumulation on surrounding enemies.

In the game Avowed, the Umbral Needle functions as your secondary weapon, boasting a passive skill called Greater Opening Strike that increases damage by 15% on fully healthied opponents. The inherent enchantment of Umbral Needle is Fampyr’s Bite, which restores 2% of the damage inflicted as health for you. You can enhance this enchantment to either Black Wind or Fampyr’s Feast. Black Wind gives your attack speed a boost of up to +30% for ten seconds after defeating an enemy’s special attack, whereas Fampyr’s Feast restores 4% of the damage inflicted as health. The Umbral Needle is distinctive due to its swift attack speed, bonus damage against full-health enemies, and the Fampyr’s Bite enchantment.

Secondary Weapon

For the Dagger build, your secondary weapon is called The Long Touch, a powerful bow that stands out due to its remarkable attributes and enchantments. It’s an excellent option for engaging tough opponents from a distance in ranged combat. You can initiate fights by shooting enemies with The Long Touch from a safe position, then switch to your Dagger when you’re closer. This strategy is ideal for starting combats. The Grim Focus enchantment increases the critical hit chance by 10% during power attacks when aiming precisely. Additionally, the Lesser Opening Strike enchantment adds an extra 5% damage to enemies with full health. Headshots with The Long Touch cause significantly more damage, and its silent draw feature minimizes noise when fired.

Stealth Kills

In the game Avowed, Divine Thorn is a God-like talent that enhances your sneaking skills passively. This hidden power empowers you to execute potent stealth assaults on foes by conjuring an energy lance for immense damage, but only when they’re unaware of your presence. You can acquire this ability right from the start of the game.

Critical Damage

In the game, Avowed daggers enable you to execute powerful critical strikes that inflict extra damage beyond normal attacks. The fundamental bonus for a critical hit is an additional 50% of the regular attack’s damage. By investing 5 skill points in Perception, your probability of landing a critical strike increases by 10%. Each dagger has distinct base rates of critical hits within the game. Additionally, abilities like Critical Strike can boost your chance of scoring a critical hit by up to 20% at higher levels.

Skill Selection

At the beginning of the game, it’s advisable to focus on mastering skills like defensive maneuvers (Charge, Parry), agile dodges (Evasive), powerful attacks with devastating effects (Devastating Criticals, Piercing Thrusts), and finesse moves (Finesse). Allocate your skill points wisely to acquire these abilities that will help you survive during the early game stages.

Passive skills are beneficial as they boost your damage output or enhance survivability. Active skills, on the other hand, demand essence for activation, which might not be feasible in the initial levels due to their high cost.

Levels 1-10 Skills

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

Level Skill Name Tree Description
1 None
2 Charge Rank 1 Fighter Dash forward and smash into anything in your way, interrupting enemies and dealing Explosive Damage to break enemy Blocks, destroy walls, and shatter frozen enemies for bonus damage.
3 Armored Grace Rank 1 Fighter Decreases the Stamina penalty for Medium and Heavy armor by 15.
4 Parry Rank 1 Ranger Time a perfect Block against a melee attack to knock the enemy back and gain an immediate counter-attack.
5 Evasive Rank 1 Ranger Reduces the Stamina cost of Dodge by 25%
6 Barbaric Shout Rank 1 Fighter Let out a fearsome roar that interrupts enemies and empowers you against larger foes. Your weapon attacks become Uninterruptable and deal higher Stun.
7 Devastating Criticals Rank 1 Fighter Critical Hits with melee weapons deal 30% more damage.
8 Shadowing Beyond Rank 1 Ranger Channel the Beyond, becoming Invisible and draining Essence until your next combat action.
9 Piercing Thrusts Rank 1 Ranger Power Attacks with Daggers, swords, and spears deal +25% damage.
10 Finesse Rank 1 Ranger Increases damage with one-handed melee weapons by 25%.

Levels 11-20 Skills

In the heat of mid-battle, these skills – Unbreakable, Critical Strike, Retribution, and Clear Out – prove most beneficial. Strengthen your active abilities for optimal performance in combat. As you face off against tough adversaries sporting powerful armor, prioritize boosting your damage output.

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

Level Skill Name Tree Description
11 Charge Rank 2 Fighter Increases the distance traveled during Charge by 100%
12 Unbreakable Rank 1 Fighter Decreases the Stamina cost when Blocking by 30%.
13 Built to Destroy Rank 1 Fighter Destroying things restores a small amount of Health and Essence. Melee Power Attacks can break destructible walls.
14 Piercing Thrusts Rank 2 Ranger Power Attacks with Daggers, swords, and spears deal +35% damage.
15 Critical Strike Rank 1 Ranger Increases your Critical Hit Chance by 10%.
16 Retribution Rank 1 Fighter After taking damage from an enemy, your next attack within 5 seconds deals +70% of the original damage you received.
17 Finesse Rank 2 Ranger Increases damage with one-handed melee weapons by 40%.
18 Critical Strike Rank 2 Ranger Increases your Critical Hit Chance by 15%.
19 Devastating Criticals Rank 2 Fighter Critical Hits with melee weapons deal 50% more damage.
20 Clear Out Rank 1 Fighter Spin in a dangerous whirlwind, becoming Uninterruptable and hitting all nearby enemies with your currently equipped melee weapons.

Levels 21-30 Skills

Elevate your skills to a superior level to enhance their efficiency and land more crucial blows with your Dagger in high-intensity battles. As your skills improve, so does your opportunity for lethal strikes.

Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best Dagger Build for Avowed from levels 21 to 30:

Level Skill Name Tree Description
21 Piercing Thrusts Rank 3 Ranger Power Attacks with Daggers, swords, and spears deal +40% damage.
22 Retribution Rank 2 Fighter After taking damage from an enemy, your next attack within 8 seconds deals +100% of the original damage you received.
23 Unbreakable Rank 2 Fighter Decreases the Stamina cost when Blocking by 50%.
24 Charge Rank 3 Fighter Increases the Stun dealt by Charge by 50%
25 Parry Rank 2 Ranger Increases Parry efficiency by 25 %, dealing greater Stun when Parrying enemies.
26 Finesse Rank 3 Ranger Increases damage with one-handed melee weapons by 50%.
27 Critical Strike Rank 3 Ranger Increases your Critical Hit Chance by 20%.
28 Clear Out Rank 2 Fighter Clear Out lasts for 2 full rotations.
29 Devastating Criticals Rank 3 Fighter Critical Hits with melee weapons deal 60% more damage.
30 Evasive Rank 2 Ranger Reduces the Stamina cost of Dodge by 35%.

Best Dagger Skills Explained

The top skills for an Avowed Dagger character include Charge, Critical Strike, Devastating Criticals, Clear Out, Parry, and Piercing Thrusts. Here’s what each skill does:

– Charge is an active ability that enables you to dash forward, colliding with enemies to disrupt them, break their defenses, demolish walls, and shatter frozen foes for additional damage.
– Critical Strike is a passive ability that boosts your chance of landing critical hits.
– Devastating Criticals is a passive ability that amplifies the damage inflicted by melee weapon critical hits.
– Clear Out is not explicitly mentioned, but it could refer to an area-of-effect attack or a skill that helps you quickly eliminate multiple enemies.
– Parry is a passive ability that allows you to knock back enemies and retaliate with a powerful counterattack after successfully blocking an attack perfectly.
– Piercing Thrusts likely refers to a skill that allows your dagger attacks to penetrate enemy defenses, dealing increased damage.

  • Piercing Thrusts- Increases the damage of power attacks with your Dagger.
  • Charge- It allows you to dash forward, interrupting enemies and dealing explosive damage upon impact.
  • Critical Strike- This ability allows you to increase your critical hit chance.  
  • Devastating Criticals- Increases the damage of critical hits with melee weapons.
  • Clear Out- You perform a spinning attack, striking all nearby enemies with equipped melee weapons.
  • Parry- It allows you to perform perfectly timed blocks against melee attacks.

Companions

Giatta and Marius make excellent partners for the Avowed Dagger playstyle. Marius’s Bleeding Cuts skill gradually harms enemies, making them easier to fight before a direct encounter. His Thorny Shield deflects attacks back onto assailants. Marius is ideal for managing crowds, and his ability such as Binding Roots allows you to concentrate on inflicting damage without being swarmed by numerous adversaries. Utilize Marius’s Heart Seeker’s skill to enhance damage against low-health enemies. His crowd control and high burst damage abilities synergize well with stealth takedowns. You can acquire Marius following the completion of the main story quest, “An Untimely End.

Giatta provides healing, protective barriers, and enhancements to boost your performance in battle. His skills such as Barrier temporarily fortify your health defenses, while Acceleration increases both movement and attack speed. This means you can maximize your critical hit chances by staying alive. Combining Giatta with Marius results in a well-rounded team that’s ideal for Dagger-focused strategies. You’ll encounter Giatta when embarking on the main story quest, “The Animancy Method.

Marius

Skill 1 Skill 2 Skill 3 Skill 4
Binding Roots Heart Seeker Shadow Step Wounding Shots
Entangle enemies Increases damage dealt to low-health enemies Devastating Blow Damage over time

Giatta

Skill 1 Skill 2 Skill 3 Skill 4
Purification Barrier Acceleration Reconstruction
Essence Generator Protective shields to reduce incoming damage Increases the movement and attack speed Heal and restore health

Dagger Gameplay & Tips

opt for Marius and Giatta as your allies in challenging fights against adversaries. Prioritize Dexterity, Perception, and Might when developing your team, as these traits align with your playstyle, particularly if you’re wielding a dagger and have crafted a specific build.

Dexterity boosts both attack speed and action speed, while Might amplifies overall damage output. Allocate some points in Perception to enhance the probability of critical hits. For melee combat, consider equipping Survival’s Guilt or Umbral Needle daggers. To initiate combat from a distance, use a bow to inflict ranged damage first.

When engaged in close combat with adversaries, opt for the Daggers. Pairing two Daggers enhances attack speed and damage. To defend against attacks, consider acquiring the Parry passive from a Ranger skill set. You can parry by pressing the right mouse button or LT on a controller when an enemy’s attack is imminent. To avoid detection and eliminate enemies stealthily, crouch or hide behind trees or grass. Wearing lighter armor enhances your stealth and agility for faster movement and decreased detection.

Weapons and Armor

Beginner Weapon and Armor

Slot Item Bonus
Primary Weapon Sheathed in Summer 137 Physical Damage 104 Stun 9 Stamina Cost 9% Critical Hit Chance
Off Hand Weapon Exceptional Dagger Physical Damage: 65 Stun: 56 Stamina Cost: 9 Critical Hit Chance: 9%
Secondary Weapon The Long Touch 189 Physical Damage 182 Stun 12 Stamina Cost 9% Critical Hit Chance
Armor Blackwing Armor +30% Stealth Attack Damage
Gloves Death Knight Gloves -10% Stamina cost while Blocking
Boots Boots of the Bricklayer +10% Dodge Distance
Trinket   Gilded Skull Reduces the cooldown for Second Wind by 15%
Ring Wayfarer’s Ring +20% Health and Essence regeneration from food and potions.
Ring Vailian Dueling Ring 7% chance to avoid melee damage

Locations

  • Sheathed in Summer (Dagger)- Location is Dawnshore. Looted from the Dawnshore Bounty target Octav the Firebrand.
  • Exceptional Dagger (Dagger)- Purchased from Merchant Alyssa located at: Naku Tedek Grounds in Emerald Stair.
  • The Long Touch (Bow)- Location is Dawnshore. Purchased at Paradisian Military Surplus in the Militia Headquarters in Northern Paradis for 4,320 Skeyt.
  • Blackwing Armor- Location is Dawnshore. Choosing to kill your assassin at the end of the Dawnshore zone.
  • Death Knight Gloves- Location is Emerald Stair. Kill Captain Aelfyr at the end of the Emerald Stair chapter.
  • Boots of the Bricklayer- Location is Dawnshore. Found inside of the Pargrun Cache east of the Overgrown Expanse Party Camp in Dawnshore.
  • Gilded Skull- Location is Emerald Stair. From Naku Tedek Grounds, head Northwest across the bridge and keep going straight. There’s a small spider lair, and climbing up above it will have a small lockbox with this unique inside.
  • Wayfarer’s Ring- Found on the corpse of a Skeleton east of the Shrine of Woedica. Inside a tiny cave where you’ll fight 2 bears. It’s on the path to Runyd’s House, and to the left instead of right at the split.
  • Vailian Dueling Ring- Location is Emerald Stair. You’ll find this on a body near the Ogre’s Lair in the Northwestern part of Emerald Stair. Exiting the lair, head downward and right to find this body in some ruins.

Endgame Weapon and Armor

Slot Item Bonus
Primary Weapon Survivor’s Guilt 137 Physical Damage 104 Stun 9 Stamina Cost 9% Critical Hit Chance
Off Hand Weapon Umbral Needle Physical Damage: 98 Stun: 80 Stamina Cost: 9 Critical Hit Chance: 9%
Secondary Weapon Ancient Alacrity 162 Physical Damage 182 Stun 12Stamina Cost 9% Critical Hit Chance
Armor Councilor’s Garb +50% Stealth Attack Damage  
Gloves Sentinel Gloves +15% Stun -50% Stamina Cost while blocking
Boots Sojourner Boots Increases your health restoration from all sources by 5%
Trinket Poisoner’s Kit +3 Intellect
Ring Gourmand’s Delight Food restores 40% more Health and Essence
Ring Ring of Greater Overseeing +20% area of effect damage

Locations

  • Survivor’s Guilt (Dagger)- Inside Belderreno’s (Bounty Quest) Lair, there’s a root at the entrance you can climb up, and then a few ledges upward later, you’ll find this next to a skeleton.
  • Umbral Needle (Dagger)- Location is Galawain’s Tusks. Follow “The Blade that Hungers” treasure map to get your hands on the Umbral Needle.
  • Ancient Alacrity (Bow)- Location is Galawain’s Tusk. After making your way under Solace Keep, you’ll make your way to the Solace Lava Tubes on your way to the Garden. These are a series of doors behind the skeleton boss.
  • Councilor’s Garb- Location is Galawain’s Tusks. Kill Kostya toward the end of the Main Story Quest, “Our Dreams Divide Us Still.”
  • Sentinel Gloves- Location is Galawain’s Tusks. Found in the building on the north side of Ash Forest Outpost. Head up the stairs towards where you rescue Petru, but take a right to jump over and drop into the building.
  • Sojourner Boots- Location is Shatterscarp. Purchased from Cinzia at The Dead Swordfish in Thirdborn.
  • Poisoner’s Kit- Location is Shatterscarp. Wasteland Courier Side Quest – Test the “goods” you receive from Aiko, and tell Daiko nothing happened.
  • Gourmand’s Delight- Location is Galawain’s Tusks. Purchased from Chef Kumitru at Kimitru’s Questionable Edibles in Solace Keep for 3,000 Skeyt.
  • Ring of Greater Overseeing- Location is Galawain’s Tusks. Found behind a destructible wall in the Northern Warden Tower.

Consumables

The top choice among edibles is the Darkest Rauataian Chocolate Cookie, offering a boost of +1 to Perception and Dexterity, plus a 10% speed increase in movement. Magran’s Blessing amplifies your offensive capabilities with a +20% damage increase and a +20% reduction in received damage. Strangebrew stands out as well due to its ability to revive fallen allies and re-energize second wind. To maximize your benefits, invest three skill points into Survivalist in the Ranger tree. Upon unlocking this skill, you’ll be able to create advanced food items and buffs that significantly enhance your survivability, damage output, and regeneration.

FAQs about Dagger in Avowed

What is the best Dagger build in Avowed?

In the game Avowed, an optimal Dagger setup features Survivor’s Guilt and Umbral Needle for dealing critical damage in combat. For those who prefer a crit-focused playstyle, Kai and Marius make excellent companions to enhance your performance on the battlefield.

Which is the best Background for the Dagger build?

The Vanguard Scout is an ideal backdrop for a Dagger build due to its emphasis on agility and keen senses, making it highly suitable for swift and accurate close-quarters combat.

Which are the best skills for a Dagger build?

As an avid fan, I’d say that among my favorite abilities for my Avowed Dagger character are the mighty Charges, the crucial Critical Strikes, the devastating Devastating Criticals, the efficient Clear Outs, the defensive Parrys, and the piercing Piercing Thrusts. These skills truly make my gameplay experience exceptional!

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2025-03-14 01:40