[Phyrex]

Originally Posted by raduneo

Again, fantastic job with your description. I'm impressed!

P.S. I still prefer the Storm mastery. I guess I've always been more interested in lighting than fire. (same thing happened with Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege)

P.P.S. What is your first character going to be? Mine Defense + Spirit.

Thanks.
I used to like Storm too but that was before I did a thorough comparison and found out Earth simply has much more DPS capability. All the separate skills I discussed did not even include Volatility (Earth) which gives each fire attack a 15% chance to do 215% more damage (!).

And about the Defence/Spirit class; yeah I made a post about that too, it seems Spirit is a wonderful secondary class in a lot of cases.
I’m not sure whether I’ll be the perfect tank or caster. One of those two at least.
So far I’m sure the following 4 are optimal combinations:

Tank: Defence & Spirit.
DPS caster: Earth & Spirit.
DPS ranged: Hunter & Rogue.
Healer: Nature & Storm.

But it all depends on how you are gonna play the game. If you’re going solo then a less optimum build for one purpose might suit you better because when you’re solo you don’t just have one task. You need to do all; DPS, tanking, healing and all that stuff on your own.

Originally Posted by Ragefist

Volcanic orb should work ok for disposing of support (trash) mobs. AOE's are not needed to deal with a single boss mob

Aye, you’re right that the build I’ve posted is all-in with AoE but in case of the Ternion staff attack it doesn’t matter because it’s about the 3 projectile modifier you get. It simply triples your normal DPS and you can hit all 3 balls on just one target/boss.
The only drawback could be when a certain legendary staff with incredible stats has less damage than lower grade staves in which case you probably want the most dps anyway, but this most likely won’t be the case.
Besides, in the beginning you’ll get most of your dps from the earth enhancement/brimstone plus the extra vitality damage gained from the dark covenant (spirit) aura anyway.

Massive multiple AoE + life leech is just unstoppable. You might not even need a tank.
And if you are low on health because of the hp drain aura and absence of mobs to leech life from then you can always use Stone Form to quickly regenerate your health. (Another useful synergy between earth and spirit)

On a side note, one thing I’ve always had with melee vs casters is that melee weapons matter so much more, and the caster weapon is only about stats hence you don’t see it as the most important item. With the build I posted you will want a better staff above any other piece of equipment. I didn’t include in this ‘fun factor’ (for me at least) in my statement that Earth & Spirit is the best dps caster but for me it certainly increases gameplay fun.