Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – Enhanced Edition: Thematic builds: Mounted Death (Ghost Rider Lich)

Hello and welcome to another entry in my Thematic Builds series!

This time, we’ll be using one of the new DLC classes, the Ghost Rider!

I got the idea for the Lich version of with inspired by Arthas, from Warcraft 3, and I was actually creating a RP build for him. But then, after putting all the ideas on paper, I realized it would not be a great character. First, starting with 8 levels in paladin to follow his story would really hurt the mount’s progression and make it not viable, and starting the game already with Ghost Rider would skip all of his lore and previous story in favor of build optimization. While technically possible, this wouldn’t really be a roleplay build like I wanted it, so I dropped the idea and changed it to a regular, scythe-wielding death rider. I’m quite happy of how it’s turned out!

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Now, the important stuff:

This is a theme-focused build. As such, I avoided multiclassing and made flavour choices to keep the theme of the character, as mentioned above.

Yes, I am aware X class is better, that Y feat does more damage, that Z weapon has more crit. I know Angel is op. You get the point.

Sometimes you just wanna play some cool, thematic character, and not a weird mix of several different classes, or whatever someone said would be the “best dps”, you know? It’s a roleplaying game after all.

That being said, the build is optimized enough to be played and finish the game comfortably on Core or below. With a little bit of party optimization, can even be used on Hard, which I did for a good portion of the game.

If you are a new player, stick to normal/daring mode at start. However, you’ll soon realize this build is too strong to the point of making combat trivial on normal mode. Consider raising the difficulty after you learn the basics of the game.

Another important thing to mention: the walkthrough section of this guide is focused on the combat and exploration parts of the game. I won’t be telling you what to do for story choices, what to say to get X outcome, how to get Y ending. If you need any help with any of that, I’ll be glad to help you in a comment or chat, but this is not meant to be a story guide.

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If this guide helped you in any way, feel free to give it a positive rating and/or add it to your favorites! if you see anything wrong, please let me know and I’ll be happy to edit it accordingly.

Check my other guides if you need additional help:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006752479
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2968096295

Note: take Cavalier – Ghost Rider on all 20 levels.

Mythic Feats and Powers:

In order of importance.

Skills: Athletics, Mobility.
Class: Deathtouched.

Yes, Bulwark would be “better” since it gets the two armor feats for free, but it doesn’t really matter unless you’re playing on unfair. I like the flavour. 😉 And honestly, with good buffs and the tether ability, your horse will hardly ever die.

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All of those can be found in Act 3.

Use the other pair on the main character.

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This is how my horse’s AC looks at high level (took this at level 18).

Horse is basically untouchable against 99% of the endgame enemies on core.

A list of some good and/or thematic equipment for the build. If any slot is not mentioned, that means there’s nothing particularly unique there and you can use anything.

Only use this if you have a source of Rage in your party, either from the Rage spell (wizards, sorcerers, alchemists, bards, or witches can cast it) or if you’re running with my Skald mercenary. 🙂

Those two cloaks will be especially good if you’re running with some of the Lich-exclusive undead companions. If you don’t have any undead in your party, it doesn’t really do anything for you and you should use something else. I had Delamere and Staunton in my party, so it was a great buff to them. For maximum benefit, use the Bound of Possibility on the main character, and the Wrath of the Undead on a companion.

Reagents for the cloak:

Since you should already have the relevant +4 bonuses to STR, DEX, and CON from spells, you got this slot free. Use the first belt until you get to Act 4 and buy the new chest armor, then you can switch to the Display of Power Belt from the same vendor. This belt makes it easier for your fear aura to land since the range on the belt’s aura is bigger than yours, so it will always be applied first to reduce enemies saves against your shaken effect. At this point your skelly companion’s Dirge of Doom won’t be used much.

Last Sarkorians DLC exclusive items (OPTIONAL):

To get the belt, you need to keep the relic for yourself when choosing its outcome after finishing Ulbrig’s quest. Then, take the relic to the Storyteller and ask him to convert it to a belt.

I’ll repeat an important part here:

This walkthrough section is focused on the combat and exploration parts of the game. I won’t be telling you what to do for story choices, what to say to get X outcome, how to get Y ending. If you need any help with any of that, I’ll be glad to help you in a comment or chat, but this is not meant to be a story guide.

At the start of the game, equip any 2H melee weapon from the chest so you can mount up. Don’t use armor to avoid the mobility penalty and to keep your DEX bonus. Don’t worry, the horse is your tank. Keep the tether ability toggled on and always try to charge from out of combat to get the surprise attack.

Remember that both you and your mount are not healed by regular spells and potions. You must use the inflict wounds potion/spell. Always good to have a helpful shaman around. 😉

Your Frightful Gaze ability can paralyze a whole screen worth of enemies. Good to use when you can’t charge or need to control the numbers on the battlefield.

Check the mongrel camp shop and buy the cold iron masterwork greataxe for your character (assuming you’ve picked everything to sell up to this point). It’s the best available weapon at this moment. Don’t spend all your gold though; save it to hire a mercenary after the prologue.

Enemies on the Shield Maze will not be a problem. Explore and loot everything. You can even defeat the Water Elemental if you’re feeling brave. For this you’ll need to use every buff you have, including scrolls. Let Seelah go first in defensive fighting while you charge it. You might need to walk away from it to charge a couple of times, but it’s totally doable with a bit of luck and help from your party. If you really want to make this easier, you can pick the protective luck hex on Camellia at level 2 and spam it. However, don’t use the enlarge person spell on yourself, otherwise you won’t be able to mount your horse.

After getting to the tavern, visit the merchant outside to buy a masterwork scythe if you didn’t pick one in the shield maze. Or use Finnean, if you have him, which would be better.

If you want a cool Dhampir buddy to go along with you, I recommend recruiting a mercenary (talk to Hillor inside the tavern) and using my Demon Dancer. 🙂
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3376244495

Finish everything you want before heading to the Gray Garrison. You’ll find a barding for your horse there, in the statues puzzle room. You should have no problem with the whole dungeon, even the minibosses.

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Your horse should be so good that most enemies here will need to roll a 20 to hit you.

The only tough fights here will be the blighted animals, but you’ll eat gargoyles and ghouls for dinner. Make use of your Frightful Gaze ability when lots of enemies start to show up.

Now, before heading to Leaper’s Smile, a few preparations are in order. I’ll hide those if you’re playing it for the first time and don’t want spoilers.

• You’ll need some aoe magic damage from your party. You should have at least one companion with some offensive magic at this point, and you can also buy scrolls at camp. Ice and acid spells are better since swarms don’t have damage reduction against it. Channeling negative energy also works if you have someone that can do that;
• The level 1 spell Unbreakable Heart (which most of your companions can cast) can help you resist their confusion aura, as shown in the picture above. Slot a lot of those and keep the effect up on your whole party. Especially important for the horse;
• And, if you have recruited Ulbrig, get his necklace that allows you to do full weapon damage against swarms and resist the confusion effect. If you don’t have it, consider bringing a good bludgeoning weapon for your melees;
• As always, grab all inflict wounds potions and scrolls you can find to heal yourself and the horsey.

The boss should be a piece of cake. It couldn’t even land a hit on my horse… charge her from out of combat, challenge her, and finish her. Should be done in 2 turns.

After dealing with the boss (save some of its slime!), there’s something special we must do in the cave here, so don’t leave Leaper’s Smile yet. This will be needed to unlock the Lich mythic path.

Enter the cave. Take the first left and go all the way down until you find a bunch of undead around the Wand of Zacharius. You have to click it during the fight and take it or the undead will keep respawning. Attention: put the wand in your bag, don’t pick any other option.

When you get to the Lost Chapel map, enter the chapel and go downstairs through the secret passage on the false wall next to the statue.

Then, go straight up until you find Zacharius and give him his wand back.

Congrats, you’ve unlocked the Lich path!

Drezen should not be a problem if your party is up to speed. Keep your buffs up and you’ll get to the end of it with no big issues. The bosses should not last much longer than your initial charge + follow up turn.

Your first priority here is your mythic quest. Zacharius will be giving you tasks and/or calling you to meet him. While you wait for those events, complete some companion quests you might have, explore new places, play with the crusade (ew), complete some decrees, build stuff on Drezen, etc. There’s a LOT going on this act. I suggest you leave Wintersun and Ivory Sanctum for level 11+. Blackwater doesn’t have to be done on this act but, if you do want to go there, I recommend level 13+ (if it is your first time).

At some point, he will tell you to find a mysterious place. Completing this part of the quest will give you another mythic level, so that’s why it is pretty important that you do it as soon as possible to make your life way easier since this act has some really tough fights.

The place is called Desolate Hovel, located south-west of Drezen.

The place is pretty simple, just walk around killing everything you see until the end. There’s a handful of great items there, so explore everything. Some hard fights, but you should be ok with all of them as long as you keep your buffs up. Remember to check your enemies stats to check their saves and use abilities/spells according to their weaknesses. For example, those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ carnivorous crystals can be killed in one turn by DEX damage, which should be no issue if you slot some appropriate Lich spells.

Finish exploring the place before you leave.

When you’re feeling brave, at level 12 or so, head to the Ivory Sanctum to advance the main story. Be prepared, it’s a long one.

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The main character could easily kill everything here alone after receiving all the buffs. My party was there only to die and waste ressurrections provide buffs and the occasional magic damage to pick off low health enemies and to help kill swarms during the Xanthir Vang fight (I recommend you equip that same necklace you’ve used for Leper’s Smile if you have it).

Horsey was rocking ~54AC at level 13 with equipment, feats, and buffs so nothing really hit him and I could stand there all day killing one by one. These are all common buffs that you most likely have at your disposal at this point (and you should have them), with the exception of the Shield spell that has to be provided by an Alchemist. Check the equipment section for information about the Half of the Pair necklace.

One of the bosses was even dead in one crit charge…

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After you return to Drezen from Ivory Sanctum, story will be on hold for 1 game month. This is your time to finish everything you have pending on this act, including crusade affairs and companion quests. After this 1 month passes, you’ll be called to Drezen again to procede with the story, and that will take you to the final segment of Act 3 and there will be no coming back.

The last place on your journey from this act shouldn’t be too hard. You have to kill 3 generals and get their keys, then bring the keys to the hall where you started and put each key in its statue. The only real enemy will be the one holding the next passage. If you’re struggling to hit, turn power attack off. But it should not be necessary if you got all the good buffs. You only need to hit the first hit to be able to make the enemy flat-footed. He was dead in 2 turns for me.

legendary proportions go brrrrrr

Welcome to the Abyss 🙂

Explore the city as you like. There’s plenty of action to be found. Just remember that demons don’t really play nice and ambushes are common around these streets. Always be on the lookout.

One important thing to mention in the lower city is the Battlebliss Arena. By talking to the arena healer, you can accept a Demongraft for 30k gold. It gives you some great permanent bonuses: +2 AC, +2 to checks to overcome spell resistance, +2 DC to your spells and +2 to attack and damage rolls. However, there’s a big catch… if you get to below 20% health, you get into a frenzy, losing control of your character until it dies or combat ends. Think very carefully if you wanna accept this. I didn’t. Nenio can also receive it if you have her with you, which is probably a better idea. If you want Nenio to get it, make sure you decline the offer after she volunteers for it, then talk to the healer again and select the option for Nenio, otherwise it will be done on you.

At some point, close to the end of the main story here, Zacharius will show up and tell you to do something. That is your priority. If you don’t know where to go after completing the task: go back to the mage’s tower and ask the Storyteller to deliver a message to Zacharius, which will then show up as soon as you leave the tower.

Continue with your affairs until you get a call from the city’s ruler. Trying to force your way into the palace by killing the guards works, but you won’t find anyone inside. You have to wait for her to directly contact you.

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Whenever you’re ready, head to the palace to talk to Nocticula at last. Before talking to her, explore the place, there’s something interesting to be found there (even if you did enter the palace before).

Now, head to the main hall and prepare for story time. 😀 At the end of your conversation, you’ll have the option to depart immediately to your next assignment. But don’t do it yet. Say you need more time to prepare. Now is your chance to finish up everything you have pending around Alushinyrra, including companion quests. There will be no coming back once you sail to Colyphyr.

Now, Nocticula did ask you about the Lexicon of Paradox. If you give it to her, she can bestow her Profane Gift upon you. This is a +6 profane bonus to your STR and +4 to your CHA. It is up to you if you want to accept that or not for roleplaying reasons. Consider the offer carefully. If you don’t have the book, she will still make the offer again later.

All enemies here should be dead if you just look at them funny. There is only 1 notable fight: Melazmera.

The dragon is really tough. She has 72 AC on core, but only 18 touch AC. You’ll have a really hard time hitting her with normal attacks, so touch attacks like polar ray or hellfire ray are your best bet. And some dispels can obviously help too. I got a good hit on her, which made the next hit target her flat-footed AC and score a good crit. She was dead on my following turn.

Here you can see my buffs at the moment:

Nothing too weird, no extreme min-maxing needed (skald rage was not even active for this attack, which would be another +5), you should have all of that at your disposal fairly easily. Moment of Triumph is your lvl 15 cavalier ability. Make sure you use that just before the fight, since it only lasts for one round. Also, you might wanna turn Power Attack off to make it easier, at least until you score your first hit.

Now, the final boss will be a fun one. I won’t spoil it. Good luck. 😀

Before you leave, return to the Fulsome Queen to finish her quest. If you want, you can also accept her Unclean gift: +2 CON, +2 natural armor, and 50% chance of treating critical hits or sneak attacks against you as normal hits. However, you also receive a -4 penalty on CHA. Not gonna lie, not a great offer, but you do you. Just remember that CHA will be your health after you turn undead.

First order of business: go talk to Zacharius. It is time we finish your Lich ascension. Start rebuilding your Ziggurat as soon as possible, since it takes 21 days. After that is done, and you have also finished the other task he gives you, return to your boss.

During the ritual, Zacharius will ask you to sacrifice a few things from your life in order to become a Lich. You need to sacrifice 2 out of the 3 things to complete the ritual.

The 3 sacrifices are: your luck bracers from the start of the game, your youth, and your romance companion, if you have one (if you don’t have one, it will count as if you have agreed to this sacrifice).

If you’re playing on core or higher, my only recommendation, from a gameplay perspective (not roleplay), is that you don’t sacrifice your youth. The penalty for doing that is a permanent 20% miss chance on attack rolls, -2 STR and DEX, and reduced move speed. This is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Of course, that means you have to accept the other two. I hope you’re ready for that. Feel free to proceed however you like.

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Main story quests can be done at any order here, so this will only be my suggested route.

Go to the Ineluctable Prison first to get all the juicy gear from there. You’ll have a random encounter just before getting there, and one of the enemies ambushing you will have the key to the Prison. The place itself is pretty straighforward and you should have no big issues with the fights there. Just explore everything to find the necessary key to the main chamber. And make sure you kill Alderpash. We want his cloak. The final boss should pose no real threat to you. There’s also an optional secret boss somewhere in this dungeon.

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When you’re feeling like settling some unfinished business, it’s time to head to Iz.

There are 3 main objectives in Iz: the temple, the sword of valor, and the queen. If you don’t wanna risk losing one of those things, make sure you head to it first. It’s your call.

If you got this far, then the big bad guy here won’t be an issue. Enjoy finally putting an end to that. 🙂

Return to Drezen to have the last place of your journey revealed to you. Threshold is the point of no return: remember to do everything you want/need to do before heading there. Once you step in, there will be no coming back!

This is it. Time to put an end to this.

Lots of big, scary enemies at the Threshold gates. The hardest part was actually chasing after the enemies feared by my Frightful Aspect…

Uhhhh spooky. Too bad it died in two turns.

Khorramzadeh is a ♥♥♥♥♥ though. Hope your Last Stand is up if you don’t kill him in one turn. I forgot to check if he has ascendant element, but if not, it helps to have protection from energy (fire). I got to lvl 20 after this fight.

Before entering the fort, you can rest and buy items by talking to Arsinoe. This is also your chance to have a few last words with your companions. And oh, make sure they are all leveled up and geared to defend themselves.

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As soon as you enter, Nocticula will pay a visit to either offer you her profane gift or give you something if you’ve already accepted it before.

There’s 1 particular enemy you should focus during your siege: Desolating Gallu Stormcallers. Not because they are hard to kill, since you can kill them in one or two turns, but because they can spam a bunch of aoes at once. Don’t give them time to do that and it should no be too hard. Keep Protection from Energy up (fire, cold, electricity), along with extra hit points from Greater False Life/False Grace. Remember to use Repurpose to get some of them to fight for you. 😉

The only enemy you can’t really just click and kill by yourself are the swarms. lol But your horse’s bite can do a bit of damage on them. Make your casters work for a change. Other than that, no enemy here should even have enough attack bonus to land a hit on your 70 AC horse, so dying to regular attacks is out of the question.

I mean, there’s Imezlen, rocking 76 AC and 56 attack bonus (on core), so I hope you either have some touch attacks ready for it or can use all of your good buffs to hit him. If you have my skald mercenary, all the correct equipment, and all the basic buffs, this should not be a problem.

Keep going until you fight an old Echo. After disposing of it, the next map transition you find will lead you to the final fight. Make a manual save now, rest, buff with all you have and go in.

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Areelu has 70 AC on core, which is totally killable by you alone. If you’re struggling, consider bringing some dispels, or using your Corrupt Magic as a last resort. You can reduce her defenses to like 56AC~ this way, making it easy to hit even if you don’t have a lot of buffs. She will heal to full health three times when her health gets to half, so it should probably take you 3 or so turns to finish her off.

Only read the next part if you want to know about what happens after the fight. Otherwise, good luck! And enjoy the music.

For the next phase, you just have to survive. The fight will be over after a few turns. So do your best to stay alive. You can cross the whole place on your horse easily to stay away from her. Make good use of your Restore Undead to heal yourself as needed.

There is a way of avoiding this phase, but that requires passing a DC 50 persuasion check. Which is impossible for this build. So yeah, you’ll have to fight.