The Dilemma of Gorment Armor - Part 2: Ranged & Sunstalker Builds (Patreon)

During the comments of the previous Gorment Armor article I was reminded that I had neglected to mention the other way you can use Gorment Armor - which is as a Ranged Armor set.

Now typically the Ranged Armor sets of choice are Rawhide and Cycloid.  Rawhide gives the advantages of survival gain when departing, some evasion and the fantastic armor set ability (which is why I still think it's the best armor in the game).  Cycloid gives a lot of survival, sharp when attacking the butt, extra accuracy, built in fecal salve and the amazing Prismatic ability.  

However we can't rawhide forever now because of how hard the later game monsters are becoming, Cycloid is an expensive set to build and it's better used making weak strength weapons have Sharp.  Also we have the potential of the gambler's chest and new campaigns changing how Rawhide works - so it's good to think about other options for archers.

Gorment is one of these options.  Now there are some issues with Gorment.  The set doesn't have much survival gain utility, and the only real defensive abilities it has are guard and the immunity to intimidate actions (as long as your courage is high enough).  Also the affinities on it are kind of awkward.

However, it does have 2 benefits for an archer build:

• It gives access to guard on an archer, allowing them to attack, retreat and set block 1.  This means that an archer can keep themselves at a distance from the monster even if they are firing a cumbersome bow - when they need to retreat they can do so by activating guard.  Otherwise they can hold their ground.

• It takes up only 4 slots to get a full set with armor bonus (regeneration suit is optional). This frees up an extra slot for more utility items.

Before we move on, let's look at our options for bows and shields at the moment. I've excluded the Cat Gut bow from this list because normally if you have complete gorment it's the mid game and you won't be using the Cat Gut anymore.  I have also excluded the Shielded Quiver from this list because we desperately need affinities when we make builds, so there is no room.

The Sunstalker is a source of 3 useful items for archers (plus arrows) so it's clearly an amazing expansion for people who want to pew pew. 

Here are the Shields:

It is worth mentioning that the Scrap Shield also has a useable affinity, but it's rare that you want to fit in a left red.  However, you want to remember that the Beacon Shield, Fetorsaurus and the Scrap Shield are also options.  I've just chosen not to show them here (because I forgot to screenshot them).

These builds are mostly going to be pure DPS bow builds, some people like to build their support character as the archer, I'm going to avoid that with many of these builds and just show you someone who is all about that pew pew.

We will start simple, with a build using items from the core game and gorm only:

Feather Boa

We get quite a lot here.  A reduction in brain damage, utility from the Gorn, a bit of evasion and a range 8, strength 10 bow with a free guard each turn.

However, we can do better if we add in the Sunstalker expansion:

Look Ma, no Shield!

This build I find to be rather sexy.  Because of the addition of the Rubber Bone Harness (Dung Beetle Knight - used for affinties), Quiver and Brain Mint we've suddenly got a Range 10 Arc bow and we can supply support abilities via arrows.

Range 10 is massive, there are a whole host of traps you can negate when you are at Range 10.  Outside of that this is a pure long range DPS build.

Gorment Shark

Here we are a lot closer and going to use a more of a 3 steps forward, attack, move three back strategy.  The Sunshark Bow is a very unique item that deserves it's own article in the future (scheduled).  However for now it's worth noting that this build here is a lot of fun to use and pretty resilient.

The Steadfast Potion can easily be a Pulse Lantern if you prefer more utility over +STR tokens.

Inky Gorment

The Ink Blood Bow is amazing, which it bloody well should be as it's probably the hardest bow to make in the game (and the best one overall).  This version of the Ink Blood Bow has all the beats you want from a power build, it's crits on a 8+, has lots of arrows and 9 range!

Obligatory Vespertine Build

This one is a bit more early game and a bit more support orientated.  You can use a Steadfast Potion or even a bone dagger in the Pulse Lantern Slot and if you have a dedicated support character the Circlet can be a Fecal Salve instead.

Sadly because the affinities on the bow are not ideal, it's a little harder to activate. But you can do it by rearranging the grid and adding in a Gorn/Armor Spikes instead of the Circlet.

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There we are, hopefully you can see the potential that the Gorment set has for a ranged character.  The way you'd play it in a campaign is to use the Gorment set to tank in the early game and then when you have something better for your main tank you would switch it off onto your bow user and enjoy dealing massive damage.

Or you can play a campaign with 4 archers, one in Rawhide, one in cycloid, one in Gorment and one in White Lion (yes)!