Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous - Best Nenio Builds (2024)

Nenio is a contentious character in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. She is a scientist hell-bent on creating a definitive encyclopedia that will be Golarion's equivalent to the Encyclopedia Britannica. You'll meet her quite early on through a random encounter in Kenabres.

Sticking around with Nenio can be a very rewarding experience, especially if you enjoy puzzles as her companion quests are full of them. That said, one of the most fun things about Pathfinder is thinking about how to build your characters, and Nenio is no exception.

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Nenio's Basic Stats

Nenio will join the party at level three as a pure Scroll Savant. This is a Wizard archetype with a focus on scrolls. Nenio focuses on the Illusion school of magic, which is a very decent school to specialize in thanks to the existence of spells like Phantasmal Web and especially Phantasmal Killer, which Nenio can be lethal with.

This build appears to lend itself to Nenio being a Crowd Controller through Illusion spells and whatever else she can get her hands on, but it's quite easy to bring her up to snuff as an offensive caster who can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Ember.

It's also worth noting that Scroll Savant is more effective in this game than you may think thanks to the abundance of Scrolls to pick up and the class's ability to make them more effective based on your class level.

Scroll Savant build for Nenio in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

This build is a simple and effective one. It aims to use the unique aspects of Scroll Savant to their fullest extent and abuse powerful Illusion spells as much as possible. There are plenty of memes on the net regarding Nenio's ability to take down late-game bosses with a single cast of Phantasmal Killer and this build aims to enable that while also keeping some general flexibility.

• While this build recommends using your Spell Specialization for Phantasmal Killer, feel free to swap that up for any other spell that would benefit if you prefer. The game will prompt you to swap your Specialization every time you level up so it's a great opportunity to experiment.
• We take a Dexterity improvement at Level 20 as Nenio wouldn't actually benefit from a further Intelligence improvement and extra armor is always a bonus.
• Use Heighten Spell religiously on your best controlling spells, and Selective Spell for your area spells —Grease and the various Pit spells are perfect for these Metamagic feats.
• Once Nenio hits Level 10 in Scroll Savant she will automatically heighten any scroll to her highest caster level, absolutely use this to your advantage when you reach that level.

• The last four choices here can really be taken in any order, so if you are one of those players who really values Enduring Spells feel free to take those abilities sooner.
• We use Expanded Arsenal to let Nenio get up to speed in offensiveness, but this choice could really go to any other school that isn't Abjuration or Necromancy. Enchantment would be a good choice if you want to hone in on your Crowd Control abilities.

• Remember that Nenio is able to learn any spell from the Wizard spellbook from Scrolls.
• In addition, Nenio can create Scrolls while resting and this should be used as much as possible.
  • Get Nenio to create low-level Scrolls that don't take long to make, and then have her use them while raising their level up through Scroll Savant's Level 10 ability.
  • Also, get her to create Scrolls for spells that usually consume items such as Communal Stoneskin and Legendary Proportions - casting these spells from Scrolls doesn't consume a thing!
• Apart from the usual buffs, Phantasmal Killer and its AoE version (Weird) are the standouts here.

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Arcane Trickster Build For Nenio

Arcane Trickster build for Nenio in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

Arcane Trickster is a great prestige class for giving some additional offensive oomph to your pure casters, and Nenio suits the bill quite well. Not only does this build get her some magical Sneak Attack damage (eventually) but she'll become a fantastic skill monkey with proficiencies in everything you could need.

One nice bonus to this build is Ranged Legerdemain allowing Nenio to disable traps at a distance, as the pathfinding (ironically) in this game can be a little lackluster and lead your party members directly into trapped areas.

• This build does not get to Scroll Savant Level 10, and as a result, does not get the ability to replace a Scroll's caster level with Nenio's caster level. It's still great at using Scrolls for buffing purposes, however.
• At Level 17 Nenio gets the ability to apply Sneak Attack damage to her spells - this is late but will significantly boost her damage output, something that isn't exactly low anyway.
• The requirements to take levels of Arcane Trickster are Trickery 4, Mobility 4, and Sneak Attack 2. Make sure you boost those first skills before Level Eight. We get the Sneak Attacks from Vivisectionist and the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat.
  • We choose Vivisectionist instead of Rogue as it gets Nenio some extra spells (with a ton of spell slots thanks to Abundant Casting) and access to Mutagens.
• This build increases Dexterity as a means of improving hit rates with ranged touch attacks. You could easily replace these with Intelligence boosts if that isn't your style, however. Alternatively, if that is very your style, you may with to consider replacing some of the Metamagic feats with Weapon Focus (Rays) and Critical Focus!

• This is a pretty standard setup for an offensive mage. It will grant Nenio a ton of spell slots and plenty of improvements to her spell penetration and spell DCs.
• With both a ton of Quickened spells and Sorcerous Reflex, it will be very easy to have Nenio casting multiple spells per turn, every turn. This will further improve her offensive output significantly, especially once she's reached higher levels, and enables her magical Sneak Attacks.

• This spell list is largely similar to Nenio's full Scroll Savant build, but with a slight focus on offensive spells.
• Nenio will still rule the roost with her Illusion spells like Phantasmal Killer, but can also deal with groups of enemies quite handily with spells like Controlled Fireball and Fire Snake.
• As always, Pit spells are fantastic additions to the spell roster that can turn battles around in a single cast.

Eldritch Archer Knight Build For Nenio

Eldritch Archer Knight build for Nenio in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

This build is a weird one that goes for a very different vibe when it comes to Nenio. This build gives her a Longbow and pivots her into Eldritch Archer before committing fully to Eldritch Knight. It's a hybrid build that might not be completely viable on the hardest difficulties but will definitely expand Nenio's options on more comfortable ones.

• This build goes all-in on improving Dexterity to boost Nenio's archery. She already has a decent Dexterity stat so she's not too behind compared to the other archers.
• If it's your preference, you can easily swap to Shortbows. You will want to avoid Composite versions of these weapons, however, thanks to Nenio's abysmal Strength stat.
• The Elemental Punisher Longbow is a perfect weapon for this build thanks to all the elemental damage types it has attached to it. It pairs perfectly with Elemental Barrage.

• Depending on how risky you play and how much you value the attack roll bonus granted by Point-Blank Shot, you may wish to delay Archmage Armor in favor of the more offensive Elemental Barrage.
• Even if this build does sacrifice magical power for some martial power, having all three Abundant Casting abilities will make sure Nenio is always useful with some spells to cast.

• This spell list focuses on ranged touch attack spells for obvious reasons. You should be using your Ranged Spell Combat at all times and combining your magic with your martial ability to get the most out of your classes.
• Don't neglect the Illusion half of your spellbook - Nenio is still fantastic with these spells and they can severely cut down the difficulty of late-game fights.

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