Serafen Companion Build: Pure Cipher (Wild Mind)

Hey folks, Aestus here. I’ve got another Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire companion build for you. Over a year ago, I made a series of companion builds for Eder, Xoti, and Aloth. Those builds were meant to be powerful but also simple and easy to execute, especially for newer players who want effective companions so they can focus their attention on their main character. A lot of people asked me to make builds for all the companions, and I’m going to start doing that now.

Today, we’re building Serafen as a pure single-class Cipher.

Build Overview

This is a pure full-class Cipher build for Serafen. I think it fits him best thematically, and it’s also the strongest way to build him from a power perspective. The build is designed for real-time with pause mode on Path of the Damned difficulty, but it will be powerful at any difficulty level. It should also function well in turn-based mode, though some choices differ slightly – I’ll note those as we go.

What makes this build sing is the way its pieces interlock. By late game, Serafen becomes one of your best controllers, one of your best buffers, and one of your best damage dealers – all in one package. The key is a crit-focused equipment setup combined with the Cipher’s already excellent spell list, creating a character who ramps up through an encounter and then dominates it.

One important note: the build is also designed from a role-playing perspective to match Serafen as a character. He’s this pirate-prince figure, and many of the equipment choices come from the Principi quest line and Serafen’s personal quest. The build uses those items and happens to be top tier. That’s the sweet spot.

The Wild Mind Question

Serafen is locked into the Wild Mind subclass of Cipher, which is unique to him. Wild Mind functions like Wild Magic from the original Baldur’s Gate games – every time you cast a spell, there’s a chance something random happens. It can be good, it can be bad, and it’s entirely outside your control. There’s no way to weight the outcomes in your favor.

For this reason, Wild Mind is an overall disadvantage. Serafen would be stronger as a vanilla Cipher. That said, people exaggerate how detrimental it is. The random effects don’t fire often enough to ruin your experience, and the build is powerful enough to absorb the occasional bad roll. Don’t let Wild Mind scare you away from using Serafen.

Skills

I’ll cover skills up front so we can focus on abilities for the rest of the guide.

Active Skill: Serafen makes a great Mechanics user. If you haven’t already invested Mechanics on another companion (I put it on Aloth in my Aloth build), go Mechanics here. If you are using my other companion builds, I recommend putting one early point into Mechanics for party assist, then alternating between Athletics and Stealth for the rest of the build. Party assist in Deadfire means that if several party members invest a little into Mechanics, you can spike the skill early enough to always unlock locks and disarm traps for bonus experience.
Passive Skill: Everything into Insight. This is a role-playing choice – Serafen is a Cipher, meaning he can read minds, and the dialogue options for high Insight give exactly that flavor of reading people’s emotions and intentions.

Levels 1–5

Level 1: Starting Abilities

Serafen starts with Tenuous Grasp, which you cannot change. It’s actually a decent single-target debuff for the early game. It applies both Shaken (-5 Resolve, which means -10 Will) and Confused (-5 Intellect, another -10 Will), for a total of -20 Will. That’s significant. In the early game, you can combo this with a Will-targeting ability: hit a target with Tenuous Grasp first to shred their Will defense, then follow up with a charm or domination effect. By mid to late game, you’ll stop casting Tenuous Grasp, but it pulls its weight early.

Level 2: Whispers of Treason

We take Whispers of Treason here – a Will-targeting Charm effect and one of the best Power Level 1 abilities in the entire game. Charming an enemy is always good: it scales naturally because as enemies get more powerful, converting one to your side becomes correspondingly more valuable. This is a Power Level 1 ability that you will use well into the late game.

It also pairs beautifully with Tenuous Grasp for that early-game combo: debuff their Will with Tenuous Grasp, then immediately land Whispers of Treason for a much more reliable Charm.

Level 3: Mental Binding + Draining Whip

Here we unlock Power Level 2 abilities. We take Mental Binding, which is Deadfire’s version of Hold Person. It paralyzes a single target and immobilizes targets in a small AoE around them. Paralysis is excellent not just because it prevents the target from acting, but because 25% of incoming hits against a paralyzed target are converted to crits. So if your party focuses down a paralyzed target, you deal significantly more damage.

We also take Draining Whip. This is an automatic pick on every single Cipher in the game. Draining Whip increases your focus gain to 100% of the damage you deal with weapons. It’s mutually exclusive with Biting Whip, which only increases Soul Whip’s bonus damage from 20% to 30% – a 10% damage increase that is strictly worse than the focus generation of Draining Whip. Biting Whip is a trap choice, in my opinion. Always take Draining Whip.

Level 4: Psychovampiric Shield + Pistol Proficiency

Psychovampiric Shield is a very powerful single-target debuff. It costs only 20 focus, targets a single enemy, and debuffs their Resolve by 10. While the debuff is active, you receive a corresponding Steadfast buff (+5 Resolve). The Steadfast buff is nice but not the point.

Here’s why this ability matters: -10 Resolve is -20 to an enemy’s Will defense. And many of our most powerful spells target Will. That’s effectively +20 accuracy on all our Will-targeting spells. But it’s even better than that, because Resolve in Deadfire also affects the duration of incoming debuffs. With -10 Resolve, you increase the duration of negative effects on that target by roughly 30%. A 30% increase to the duration of your debuffs is incredible, and for 20 focus – especially by mid game – that’s nothing.

Hitting a target with Psychovampiric Shield before following up with other spells becomes a core part of your default rotation.

For your weapon proficiency at this level, take Pistol. The Pistol modal (Rushed Reload) is very strong in real-time with pause, and we’ll be using Scordeo’s Trophy as our primary weapon for the entire early and mid game. More on that in the equipment section.

Level 5: Soul Ignition + Hammering Thoughts

We unlock Power Level 3 abilities and take Soul Ignition, a solid burn damage-over-time ability that targets Fortitude. This gives us early and mid-game damage output. It becomes obsolete once we unlock Disintegration at level 11, but I like having a damage option on my Ciphers early.

An alternative here is Puppet Master, an improved version of Whispers of Treason that grants the Dominated condition instead of Charmed. Dominated lets the target use active abilities, whereas Charmed forces auto-attacks only. However, the difference isn’t worth the additional 30 focus cost in my opinion. Whispers of Treason is two Power Levels lower, which means it benefits from extra Power Level scaling for increased duration and accuracy. I prefer the cheaper, better-scaling version, but Puppet Master is a perfectly valid choice.

We also take Hammering Thoughts, one of the best passives in the game: a flat +1 Penetration with weapons. Straightforwardly excellent.

Levels 6–10

Level 6: Psychic Backlash

Psychic Backlash is a passive that triggers once per encounter when you’re targeted by a Will-targeting ability: you stun the attacker for a short duration. It’s an action-economy-free stun. You don’t get to choose the target, but that doesn’t matter – free disruption in an encounter is always valuable.

Level 7: Pain Block + Greater Focus

We unlock Power Level 4 abilities. Honestly, Power Level 4 spells on the Deadfire Cipher are underwhelming compared to their Pillars of Eternity 1 counterparts. But Pain Block is worth taking – it’s a single-target defensive buff that grants the Robust condition, which increases Constitution, Armor Rating, and heals the target over time. It also removes Weakened, Sickened, and Enfeebled conditions. Having Pain Block available when you need it in a pinch is always worthwhile.

We also take Greater Focus, which increases both maximum and starting focus. A strong start snowballs into a stronger build overall, because once Ciphers ramp up, they create a virtuous cycle of generating and spending focus.

Level 8: One-Handed Style + Weapon Proficiency

This is a flexible level. I recommend One-Handed Style for our single-pistol setup, which we’ll use through the mid game. One-Handed Style grants hit-to-crit conversion when wielding a single one-handed weapon, which pairs perfectly with our crit-focused equipment.

For your weapon proficiency, take Saber or Sword (whichever you prefer – you’ll take the other one later).

Level 9: Borrowed Instinct + Keen Mind

This is a huge level. We unlock Power Level 5 abilities and get Borrowed Instinct, one of the best buffs in the game.

Like Psychovampiric Shield, it’s a combined debuff-and-buff: you debuff a target’s Intellect and Perception by 8 each, while gaining +20 Accuracy and +20 to all defenses for the duration. The offensive value of +20 Accuracy is enormous in Deadfire. The defensive value of +20 to all defenses is equally strong.

The debuff side is also excellent. -8 Intellect translates to -16 Will. And it stacks with Psychovampiric Shield’s -10 Resolve (-20 Will). Combined, that’s -36 to the target’s Will defense plus +20 to your Accuracy – a net swing of +56 effective accuracy on your Will-targeting spells.

This creates what I call the 80 Focus Combo:

Psychovampiric Shield (20 focus) – debuff their Resolve, boosting your accuracy and extending your debuff durations
Borrowed Instinct (40 focus) – you now land this more reliably and for longer, thanks to the Resolve debuff from step 1. You get +20 Accuracy and +20 all defenses
Whispers of Treason (20 focus) – with their Will shredded by -36, this Charm lands easily and lasts a long time

You want the target Charmed rather than dead, because the Borrowed Instinct buff disappears when the debuffed target dies. So convert them to your side, enjoy the massive buff, and let your party focus other enemies. By the mid game, my rotation is usually: save up to 80 focus, execute this combo, save up to 80 again, repeat.

We also take Keen Mind for another +10 starting focus, for the same reasons Greater Focus is good.

Level 10: Rapid Casting

Rapid Casting gives +10% action speed with spells. You want to stack your buffs and debuffs as quickly as possible, so faster casting is exactly what we need. If you’re playing turn-based mode, you can skip this and pick something else.

Levels 11–15

Level 11: Disintegration + The Empty Soul

This is where the build’s damage output goes through the roof. We unlock Power Level 6 abilities and take Disintegration, one of the best spells in the game.

Disintegration targets Fortitude and deals an overloaded amount of raw damage over time. Raw damage bypasses Armor Rating entirely, which matters enormously because many bosses in Deadfire have very high AR that your weapons can’t penetrate. Disintegration becomes your primary way to kill tough targets for the rest of the game.

The spell scales extremely well with duration. Higher Intellect means more total damage. Lowering the target’s Resolve (which increases the duration of incoming effects on them) also means more total damage. This is why our 80 Focus Combo is so important – the Resolve and Intellect debuffs from Psychovampiric Shield and Borrowed Instinct directly amplify Disintegration’s damage.

We also take The Empty Soul, which gives +10 Accuracy for Will-targeting spells. This directly benefits Psychovampiric Shield, Borrowed Instinct, and Whispers of Treason – the core of our rotation.

Level 12: Improved Critical + Weapon Proficiency

Improved Critical is essential for our crit-focused build. You’ll see why when we get to the equipment section – nearly every piece of gear amplifies critical hits.

For your weapon proficiency, take whichever of Saber or Sword you didn’t take at level 8.

Level 13: Ancestor’s Memory + Echoing Horror

This is the most impactful level for pure single-class Ciphers, and one of the main reasons we go single class. We unlock Power Level 7 abilities and get two of the best tools in the game.

Ancestor’s Memory grants a single allied target the Brilliant inspiration. Brilliant increases Intellect, increases Power Levels, and – here’s the big one – regenerates class resources over time (every 6 seconds in real-time with pause, or every round in turn-based). Returning class resources is absurdly powerful. Cast a high-level spell on a Wizard, then give them Brilliant, and every 6 seconds they get that spell back. You can just spam your party’s best abilities. This is one of the two major reasons to go pure Cipher.

Echoing Horror is one of the best passives in the game. Whenever you kill a target, it makes an Accuracy vs. Will check to Frighten all enemies in an AoE around the corpse. Frightened is an outstanding debuff:

-5 Resolve (-10 Will, -5 Deflection)
Roughly +15% to the duration of incoming debuffs on frightened targets
-3 Power Levels (significantly weakens casters and monk-type enemies)
Prevents the use of hostile abilities (casters are forced to auto-attack)

And you get all of this for free – no action economy cost, just for killing a target, which is what you were doing anyway. With Disintegration killing targets regularly, Echoing Horror provides constant free crowd control and debuffing. The synergy is beautiful.

Level 14: Two Weapon Style

This is a flexible level. I recommend Two Weapon Style because it’s around this point that we transition from our single-pistol setup to dual-wielding melee weapons. We’ll discuss the specific weapons in the equipment section.

Level 15: Uncanny Luck

Another flexible level. Uncanny Luck gives us a bit more crit chance, which is always welcome in a crit build.

Levels 16–20

Level 16: Time Parasite + Soul’s Echo + Dagger Proficiency

We unlock Power Level 8 abilities. For real-time with pause, take Time Parasite – a massive action speed debuff on targets (targeting Will) with a corresponding action speed buff to yourself. This is what lets you truly ramp up and act at blistering speed. If you’re playing turn-based mode, take Reaping Knives instead.

We also take Soul’s Echo, which grants 15% hit-to-crit conversion for Cipher spells that target Will. Since our best spells all target Will, this is a significant boost to our crit output.

For weapon proficiency, take Dagger (for Pukestabber, which we’ll cover shortly).

Level 17: Reaping Knives

If you already took Reaping Knives at level 16 (turn-based players), this is a flexible level – pick whatever you like. For real-time with pause players, take Reaping Knives here.

Reaping Knives isn’t your bread and butter, but it’s invaluable in certain boss fights. It summons a set of fast-attacking daggers on an ally that deal raw damage (bypassing AR) and generate roughly 5 focus per hit for you. If you hit a boss whose Armor Rating is so high that your weapons can’t penetrate, you stop generating focus and become useless. Reaping Knives on an ally ensures you’re never locked out – they generate focus for you through raw damage while you continue casting spells.

Level 18: Accurate Empower

Somewhat of a dead level. I recommend Accurate Empower because when I empower an ability on Serafen, it’s almost always Disintegration, and increased accuracy on Disintegration is very important.

Level 19: Driving Echoes + Prestige

We unlock Power Level 9 abilities, and this is the second major reason we go pure single-class Cipher.

Driving Echoes gives a single allied target +8 Penetration for four rounds. +8 Penetration basically means the buffed character can penetrate any target in the game. When you encounter those bosses with absurdly high Armor Rating – the ones that your party normally bounces off of – Driving Echoes just solves the problem. The combination of Driving Echoes plus Ancestor’s Memory is what makes pure Ciphers some of the best support buffers in the game. These two buffs are among the strongest in Deadfire, and you can only get them on a single-class Cipher.

We also take Prestige for +1 to all Power Levels. Straightforward power increase, instant pick.

Level 20: Protective Soul

The last level offers several strong options:

Haunting Chains – single-target Will; applies Hobbled and Terrified, effectively a long-duration stun
Death of a Thousand Cuts – more raw damage that increases as you attack the target; a strong boss-killer

However, I recommend Protective Soul. You already have plenty of raw damage from Disintegration and your weapon setup. Protective Soul gives you extra survivability when you get crit, which matters because by late game you’re a melee attacker who hasn’t invested heavily in defenses. This shores up the build’s one real vulnerability.

For your final weapon proficiency, it doesn’t matter much. I take Rapier.

Equipment

The equipment is where this build really comes together. Nearly every item amplifies critical hits, creating interlocking synergies that multiply each other’s effectiveness.

Accessories

Fair Favor (Helmet) – Serafen gives you this hat as a gift when you max your reputation with him. It’s the only way to get it, and it’s outstanding: +10% hit-to-crit conversion and +10% crit damage with daggers, rapiers, sabers, stilettos, and swords. Notice that we took proficiencies in several of these weapon types during leveling. This item is what incentivizes the switch to melee weapons in the late game. Fair Favor is missable – if you make too many choices that Serafen dislikes, you won’t get it.

Precognition (Necklace) – Perfect for Serafen both mechanically and narratively (a Cipher who can see slightly into the future). It provides two once-per-encounter passives:

Heads I Win: The first two times you’re crit in an encounter, damage is reduced by 75%. Excellent for a melee Cipher who isn’t the main tank – you’ll catch stray attacks occasionally, and this absorbs the worst of them.
Tails You Lose: Your first two crits in an encounter deal +25% increased crit damage. In a crit-focused build, this is a significant damage spike.

Drunkard’s Regret (Ring) – Grants immunity to hangover effects from alcohol. This seems minor until you combine it with Pukestabber (see weapons below). It also just makes sense that Serafen is a drinker. Note: this ring is missable and requires certain dialogue skills (Diplomacy or Intimidate) to obtain. Check the wiki for specifics.

Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune (Ring) – Purchasable from the Deck of Many Things shop. Grants increased hit-to-crit conversion that scales with your current gold. By late game, if you’re selling gear as you go, you’ll have plenty of gold and this ring provides substantial crit conversion.

For boots, belt, gloves, and cloak, the choices are less build-defining. I have specific recommendations in the spreadsheet version of this guide linked in the video description.

Armor

Nomad’s Brigandine with the Tactical Withdrawal upgrade, which grants immunity to disengagement attacks. This enables the skirmishing melee playstyle you want by late game: run into melee, attack a target, run out without provoking.

You might be thinking: “Heavy armor slows down attack speed, and that’s terrible on a Cipher.” You’re right in general, but this build has so many sources of action speed – Time Parasite, Opening Barrage (from Scordeo’s Trophy), Mad Drunk (from Pukestabber) – that you can easily reach maximum attack speed even in heavy armor.

If you prefer lighter armor, Flesh Mender is a good alternative.

Weapons: Early/Mid Game – Scordeo’s Trophy (Pistol)

Scordeo’s Trophy is your primary weapon for the early and mid game, and one of the best Cipher weapons in the game. You can actually steal it fairly early.

How to steal Scordeo’s Trophy: Head to Uto’s Gunsmithy in the Brass Citadel district of Neketaka. You’ll need roughly 11 Stealth (including party assist) on one character and the Bounding Boots (found in the command area of Fort Deadlight after completing the Blow the Man Down quest, which you can resolve without combat very early). Pre-unlock the chest containing the pistol, enter stealth with your party, then use the Bounding Boots’ leap ability to jump behind Uto and as close to the chest as possible. Pause the instant you land, click the chest, and grab the pistol before Uto notices you.

Why is this pistol so good? Several reasons working together:

Opening Barrage (enchantment): Grants +5% bonus action speed per attack, stacking up to 5 times for -25% recovery time. This applies to everything – attacks and spells. For a Cipher, this is perfect: a hybrid weapon-and-spell item.
Obliterating Crits (enchantment): +25% crit damage, which offsets the normal -15% crit damage penalty on firearms, making this a strong crit weapon.
Rushed Reload (Pistol modal): Massively increases attack speed at the cost of accuracy. But if you wield a single one-handed weapon, you get +12 Accuracy, which offsets the modal’s accuracy penalty. Combined with Opening Barrage and Time Parasite, you hit maximum attack speed quickly. This is one of the few cases where one-handed style genuinely outperforms dual-wielding.

Use Scordeo’s Trophy as a single pistol with Rushed Reload toggled on. Auto-attack to build Opening Barrage stacks and generate focus, then spend focus on your rotation. This attack loop is one of the best in the game for mid-game Ciphers.

Weapons: Late Game – Scordeo’s Edge + Pukestabber

Once you acquire Fair Favor and your build has enough survivability to handle melee, it’s time to switch to dual-wielding Scordeo’s Edge (saber, main hand) and Pukestabber (dagger, off hand).

Scordeo’s Edge is a saber obtained deep in the Principi quest line (near the end). It may be missable or mutually exclusive with other faction quests – check the wiki to be safe. It’s one of the best weapons in the game:

Adaptive (enchantment): Increases accuracy of all weapon attacks for a duration, stacking up to 10 times for +20 weapon accuracy. More accuracy means more crits, which is exactly what this build wants.
Blade Cascade (enchantment upgrade): 5% chance on hit to clear all recovery time as a buff. This clears weapon attack recovery and spell casting recovery. In real-time with pause, when Blade Cascade procs, you act at essentially infinite speed. Have your Priest cast Salvation of Time to extend the duration, and even 10–20 seconds of Blade Cascade is enough to end any encounter. You buff yourself, cast Disintegration on every enemy, generate focus instantly through rapid attacks, and just obliterate everything on the map.

Once you get Scordeo’s Edge, your melee rotation is: run into melee, auto-attack to build Adaptive stacks and generate focus, and fish for that 5% Blade Cascade proc. When it fires, the fight is over.

Pukestabber is a dagger available in the late mid game. Daggers inherently provide bonus accuracy (more crits), and Pukestabber has two excellent enchantments that synergize with alcohol consumption:

Mad Drunk: While under the effects of alcohol, gain +20% action speed and +20% melee damage. This is a lot of extra damage and speed.
Debauchery: On a critical hit against Kith or Wilder targets, the target starts puking – effectively a stun. More crit-driven crowd control on top of everything else.

Combine Pukestabber with Drunkard’s Regret (immunity to hangover effects) so you can drink alcohol before resting without penalty. For your alcohol of choice:

Forgetful Night: Roughly -25% damage taken (after Deadfire’s inversion math), +10% damage, -3 Dexterity. The Dexterity penalty barely matters because we have so much action speed from other sources.
Rakhi Aura: +25% crit damage, less Dexterity penalty. You’ll likely get more total damage from Forgetful Night’s flat +10%, but +25% crit damage is never bad in a crit build.

Alternative Main Hand: Aldris Blade of Captain Crow – If you miss Scordeo’s Edge (wrong faction quest, etc.), this saber is an unmissable reward from the main quest at the end of Act 2. It’s stylish and mechanically strong:

Storm Blade: +10 flat shock damage on critical hit – significant bonus damage in a crit build
+10% shock lash on all hits
Corvid’s Bounty: Heal on crit for extra survivability
Blood Honed (enchantment upgrade): Even more hit-to-crit conversion

Between this weapon, Fair Favor, Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune, Uncanny Luck, and your other crit sources, your hit-to-crit conversion becomes astronomical.

Tactics and Rotation

Now that you’ve seen both the abilities and equipment, here’s how it all comes together in practice.

Early to Mid Game (Scordeo’s Trophy Phase)

Toggle on Rushed Reload on Scordeo’s Trophy
Auto-attack to build Opening Barrage stacks and generate focus
Once you have 80 focus, execute the 80 Focus Combo: Psychovampiric Shield -> Borrowed Instinct -> Whispers of Treason on the debuffed target
Save up to 80 focus again and repeat
Use Mental Binding or Pain Block when you need emergency CC or healing
Use Soul Ignition (later Disintegration) for damage on priority targets

Late Game (Scordeo’s Edge + Pukestabber Phase)

Drink alcohol before resting (Forgetful Night or Rakhi Aura) for Mad Drunk bonuses
Open the encounter with your pistol if you prefer, or go straight into melee
Execute the 80 Focus Combo as before to buff yourself and debuff a key target
Switch to melee weapons and auto-attack to build Adaptive stacks, generate focus, and fish for Blade Cascade
Cast Ancestor’s Memory on your most resource-hungry ally
Cast Driving Echoes on whoever needs to penetrate a tough target
When Blade Cascade procs, have your Priest cast Salvation of Time to extend it, then cast Disintegration on everything you can see
Use Time Parasite for even more action speed when stacking with Blade Cascade

Against Bosses

Serafen excels in long fights against high-AR bosses:

Ancestor’s Memory returns enormous value over a long fight, keeping your party’s resources flowing
Driving Echoes lets your damage dealers penetrate targets they otherwise couldn’t
Disintegration deals raw damage, bypassing the boss’s high Armor Rating entirely
Reaping Knives ensures you’re never locked out of focus generation even when your weapons can’t penetrate
High accuracy from Borrowed Instinct and Adaptive stacks means your abilities land consistently

When things ramp up, Serafen becomes a one-man force multiplier. He controls enemies, buffs allies, and kills priority targets – all while generating the focus to keep doing it.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Class Tier List – full class rankings and analysis
Pillars of Eternity Companion Tier List – companion rankings from a tactical perspective