I’m currently thinking up my new 8th level character for Abomination Vaults and while perusing ideas, I found out the Hellknight archetype got updated and I figured this would be a perfect time to finally play one.
Thematically, I feel like the Orders Pyre, Pike, Gate, and Godclaw might all fit the idea of traversing the Abomination Vaults for various reasons and I do like the idea of a Champion of the Godclaw, admittedly, and a Fighter for the Order of the Pike feels like a classic “legendary monster hunter shows up to help save the day” type of deal.
However, as I was looking at the order benefits and feats available to the archetype, I took note of how not only does the Order of the Chain’s Shackles of Law allow you to attempt to Strike and Grapple without MAP as two actions, but also give a critical success if using a Flail or Spiked Chain and not need a hand free, either! That honestly seems so absurdly incredible to me as a neat little thing for a Fighter to really focus on making sure both the initial strike hits (Master level striking is very good at that, plus other party buffs and off-guard bonuses too), as well as Master Athletics to practically guarantee the crit and inflict the Restrained condition, too? And Bludgeoning damage to top it all of and make sure the slimes we’ve encountered can’t do anything?
That would allow for a nice and simple turn of Raise Shield -> Shackles of Law -> Let the party have fun destroying/ignoring a (hopefully) restrained enemy and just being a monster in combat too, since with the Fighter’s huge crit range relative to other classes, you can also slap on the Crushing rune to also attempt to trip with the Flail specialization and force Clumsy and Enfeebled 1 as well!
This honestly seems like an incredible CC oriented Fighter built that comes online at level 8 and only gets better at 12. The only issue is having to play a Hellknight of the Order of the Chain for most people, ha!