Path of Fire build advice for achievement "Who needs a magic sword"

Warning: This thread contains spoiler on path of fire story for those who haven't played PoF yet. You've been warned.

Disclaimer for seasoned players: Also spare with me as I am still a newbie player and only managed to beat personal story and heart of thorns recently. I only thought why not share my successful approach for this achievement to fellow (newbie) players. You as experienced players might look on my post and think "My my he is still such a newbie what is he thinking with this, I got a better approach" maybe you might share it here?

Hi community I wanted to share and discuss with you tips on how to get the achievement "Who needs a magic sword" that means how to beat Balthazar without using Sohothin. As a guardian I first tried to use my regular glass cannon build to hit as hard and fast as possible the God of War. Losing a few times with this approach I switched to a Dragonhunter traps only build and teasing Balthazar with the longbow while running in circles and dodging the big attacks. And with that I managed to beat that story part easily. Of course freeing Aurene from Balthazars grasp and working together with her (collecting her healing orbs and coordinating attacks with Aurene) is crucial. What do you think about playing as traps only dragonhunter and which tips for other professions do you have?

@"Holy Hallidor.3067" said:traps only dragonhunter

Consider dropping all but Procession of Blades, and picking up "Stand Your Ground!" for added Retalation uptime, which is crucial for your DPS. The third slot is fairly flexible, although it is usually filled with Bane Signet for added Power.

teasing Balthazar with the longbow

Rather than a longbow, consider using Scepter/Focus. The latter set has higher DPS, and also offers some added protection through Shield of Wrath.

Otherwise, the fight isn't any different. Shimmy between Balthazar's attacks, look for openings, and execute your burst combos.

I wish I had better advice on this, but it really is as simple as I say it: I did this achievement on the Daredevil. It was the glass cannon build of the time. The secret to my success was dodging a lot.

That's really it.

@"Ojimaru.8970" said:...I guess I did this story part the "lazy man" style not really quick, only assuming Balthazar would run and jump into traps because he doesn't know better (and me neither) . It took some time indeed, because of the lacking dps, but it was quite comfortable and because of the restricted space available still quite effective.

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:I wish I had better advice on this, but it really is as simple as I say it: I did this achievement on the Daredevil. It was the glass cannon build of the time. The secret to my success was dodging a lot.

That's really it.

Simple and straight, guess I might have accomplished the same way if I managed to understand Balthazars mechanics better, and dodging more successfully.

@Holy Hallidor.3067 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:I wish I had better advice on this, but it really is as simple as I say it: I did this achievement on the Daredevil. It was the glass cannon build of the time. The secret to my success was dodging a lot.

That's really it.

Remember that many of Balthazars attacks can be walked out of.

Many players always go for dodges way to early. Simply calmly walking out of an attack is often both better for damage uptime, as well as preserving essential dodges for situations where you want those invulnerability frames and movement. Not every attack needs dodging to avoid damage. In case of DH with focus offhand, you get 3 blocks from focus 5 too, make use of those.

EDIT: Woodenpotatoes has a video on YouTube of him doing this achievement on necromancer. He basically almost never dodges, good to have a calm look at Balthazars attacks.

@Cyninja.2954 said:Remember that many of Balthazars attacks can be walked out of.

Many players always go for dodges way to early. Simply calmly walking out of an attack is often both better for damage uptime, as well as preserving essential dodges for situations where you want those invulnerability frames and movement. Not every attack needs dodging to avoid damage. In case of DH with focus offhand, you get 3 blocks from focus 5 too, make use of those.

EDIT: Woodenpotatoes has a video on YouTube of him doing this achievement on necromancer. He basically almost never dodges, good to have a calm look at Balthazars attacks.

That is true on one of the later runs I noticed sometimes it is even sufficient to go just behind him, because most of his attacks are aimed at the area in front of him. Didn't know Woodenpotatoes has a video on it, I'm going to check it out!

I was trying to remember what I actually used for this achievement ....

It was firebrand using axe/focus + sword/shield. There was nothing really wrong with it except it took a while. I should have just used my reaper instead but I didn't want to redo the fight on a character that has already done it.

@"Cyninja.2954" said:...EDIT: Woodenpotatoes has a video on YouTube of him doing this achievement on necromancer. He basically almost never dodges, good to have a calm look at Balthazars attacks.

I might have found it:

Do not forget to make sure you bind the Special action key to a key you won't hit accidentally.

did it on my first playthrough, which was a MM Scourge, extremely easily if you run a minion master necro

Did it on a burn guard. Allows ou to stay tanky while doing decent damage.

Condi works better than power attacks on Balthazar, probably due to armor.There's no timer for the entire fight, run around in circles to buy time for heal cd if need to. Always sync with aurene to interrupt whenever possible.