Pasqal is a powerful, tanky frontliner of the Adeptus Mechanicus, blending debuffs, melee, and AoE Plasma damage. He’s a bit tricky to build at first, so I’ll guide you through the best setup in the early to mid-game. Let’s dive into our best Pasqal build for Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader.
Tips and Tricks for Building the Best Pasqal in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
Similar to my best Idira build, Pasqal is all about debuffing your enemies with Operative abilities until their defensive stats are almost non-existent. The difference is that he can tank hits and even deliver powerful ones in melee range. Our build will focus on making the most out of his Exploits through a discounted Expose Weakness and improved Tactical Knowledge. Of course, our Analyse Enemies and Expose Weakness combo is our bread and butter.
I’ll focus on Intelligence and some Perception since these power our Operative abilities and Talents. We also want to pursue either Grand Strategist or Bounty Hunter later. As for weapons, anything Plasma works great on Pasqal. The Plasma Gun or the Plasma Pistol are excellent since they don’t require high Ballistic Skill when we overcharge them in melee range for an AoE attack.
Additionally, I recommend stacking as much armor as you can on Pasqal, focusing on medium armor. We also want to outfit him with gear that boosts his intelligence or Perception but more importantly, movement. Dynamo Boots are an excellent item on Pasqal for this reason.
In boss fights, our goal is to essentially Analyze Enemies on a boss, Expose Weakness, and use Dismantling Attack as soon as we have enough momentum. This combo will drastically reduce the boss’ defensive statistics and our team can finish them off. I suggest pairing Pasqal with a heavy-hitting ranged backline like Yrliet or Argenta and melee powerhouses like Abelard or Ulfar who’ll make use of the boss’ reduced defenses.
Lastly, we want to pop Machine Spirit Communion whenever we can with our vast Intelligence stat as it’ll heavily buff our allies and debuff enemies. With its hefty 2AP cost, Instant Exposure helps with AP economy as you’ll see below.
Best Pasqal Talents to Choose
Our Pasqal essentially fills a supportive tank role with some damage options. We should make use of his high Intelligence either with Tech-Use or Logic investments and max these stats out; specializing is always better than being a jack-of-all-trades in RT. That’s because only the character with the highest relevant skill is used in a skill check.
Let’s go through Talents level by level:
- Level 2: Tech-Use.
- Level 4: Passive Learning.
- Level 5: Intelligence + Combat Master.
- Level 6: Instant Exposure + Intelligence.
- Level 7: Tactical Knowledge + Tech-Use. Try to use Tactical Knowledge on a single target for that damage boost.
- Level 8: Joint Offense + Power Weapon Expert. This is to boost his Omnissian Axe.
- Level 9: Tech-Use or Medicae.
- Level 10: Tech-Use or Medicae + Perception.
- Level 11: Improved Tactics + Tech-Use.
- Level 12: Joint Analysis + Plasma Weapon Expert. This allows your allies to consume Exploits for extra damage.
- Level 13: Weak Body Weak Soul + Perception.
- Level 14: Intelligence + Swift Movements. Pasqal needs all the extra movement he can get.
Each round, I recommend using Analyse Enemies on a key target in combat you want to eliminate as fast as possible, then use Expose Weakness on it. You’ll both get extra Exploits from Passive Learning and a free Expose from Instant Exposure. Note that this doesn’t have to be a boss but can be any valuable enemy target, like Psykers, Medics, or Officers.
Then, use Machine Spirit Communion and start blasting with your Plasma weaponry or move in with your axe. Since we’re paying one less AP thanks to Instant Exposure, MSC essentially costs 1 AP instead of 2. Your allies will also benefit from exploits if you activate Joint Analysis and passively from Joint Offense.
Alternatively, you can consume exploits with Tactical Knowledge to grant your team armor and yourself damage if you remove three of them thanks to Improved Tactics. Lastly, as soon as your first Heroic Act comes up at Momentum 175, use Dismantling Attack to weaken a boss and reduce their defenses for your team.
Best Pasqal Advanced Archetype Choices
The two best options for Pasqal are Grand Strategist and Bounty Hunter. Grand Strategist will allow you to create zones on the battlefield where you can activate various bonuses for your team and debuffs for your enemies that scale with Intelligence. You can boost ally dodge chance and reduce the same for enemies.
Additionally, Bounty Hunter also works great as it’ll allow you to place down traps for battlefield control and even activate team-wide damage buffs on a single target. In case you opt for the latter, make sure to sometimes take some Perception over Intelligence in our talent guide as BH scales more with that characteristic.
And that completes my best Pasqal build guide for Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader I hope you’ve found it useful for getting your Tech Priest journey started. For more tips, tricks, and walkthroughs, such as our article on the best companions for Voidship posts or our how to make the Servitors choice, check out our WH40K: RT guides hub here.
