Alchemy + Close Combat or Construction?

[LowMoose]

Hey guys! Been a while but I'm getting back to TQ again because Masteries mod looks really cool.

Looking at the brief overview Alchemy looks like a fun mastery. Could someone tell a bit more about the differences in playing style with the combinations of Alc/CC and Alc/Construction? Or what about CC/Construction? How do those three combos differ in general terms? Like, where are their biggest challenges, are they good for trash mobs or bosses, focused on few clicky-skills or able to deal with a lot of circumstances, etc.

I want to make an untwinked character for playing the game normally through Normal and Epic (maybe Legendary too), not for farming or for hopping straight to Legendary with Defiler.

Also, which mastery combos would work well together in a two-player game? I'm thinking stuff like Nature/Hunting totally rocked with Spirit/Storm thanks to the elemental damage and recharge synergies.

[Matseb2611]

Well I've started an Enforcer (CC + Construction) recently. To me it seems kinda like a Conqueror class but with summons. As for Alchemy it's a wonderful mastery. I have a Manipulator (Alchemy + Chronosophy) character who is early game still too, but she absolutely rules.

[benjidatramp]

Hi Low moose. I have finished legendary with a CC/Alch character. (dual wield). It excels naturally at destroying groups, but with imposture can destroy single targets as well. The hardest thing with this character is energy management. You will only be able to get illusions to level 8 or 9 and will need to have max philosopher's stone and a few points in pancea and use them both every cooldown if you dont want to quaff energy pots.

The other weakness with dual wield is the lack of a "charge" ability to get into the fray. if you can get an item such as cerebus bite which grants charge you will cruise through the game alot quicker. Warshout is an awesome skill which will keep you alive in a pinch as is flash powder. All in all a VERY fun character to play and a character that can complete the game. My character was untwinked, but was lucky enough to find a sapros in act 1 legendary and a cerbus bite which are 2 very good weapons.

You will have a bunch of auras going at a time and because battle aura increases with + damage you will be doing ~ 200+ damage to every mob in range per tick end game, which is nice dps on top of the absolute smashing you give mobs as they are fumbling round you Very good build. I couldnt tell u alch/con but it should be an interesting build because induction is possibly the most overpowered skill in the mod.

[LowMoose]

Wow, you sure weren't kidding about the energy management... infinite potion stacking is a must to store all those countless blue pots. Maybe I need to alternate between auras instead of using everything at once to conserve energy.

But yeah Exterminator is a very apt name for this class, maybe even "Overkill". I've never had this much fun in normal Greece... monsters flying every which way with bombs, sandstorms, battle aura, injection and just plain swords. It doesn't get boring when there's more than just one tactic for trash mob fights. This is what I like in a character.

With the two strong auras and AOE bombs though, group killing seems fairly easy. What if I went spear and shield instead? Wouldn't that make boss-killing a bit easier? And I'd get Spear Dance for charging. Also, do +pierce and +pierce% increase the damage done by Injection? In that case a good pierce spear build might be quite fun, too. Is there anything that would make dual wield a better choice?

[benjidatramp]

I am toying with a spear based character using close combat. I just went dual wield for pure fun factor. Reminded me of the good ol frenzy barb in diablo 2 zipping round the screen. Endorphin has the nice damage absorbtion. If injection does flat piercing damage I imagine it would be increased with + pierce, but I found I had too many auras. As for the energy if u turn illusions off the energy management becomes easier - also when u get max phil stone your energy management issues become easier and you get a nice big OA boost to boot

[The Rock-man]

Rule for skills only +% X damage boosts them and INT if they are magic skills.

[AusWilko]

I have a Exterminator that has just started Epic and it is a lot of fun, duel weilding with swords at the moment.

As others have mentioned energy manegement is your prime concern but fun factor just blows everything away. I had gone away from melee classes but I have now fallen back in love

[LowMoose]

What makes it for me are the grenades. It's just so much fun to chuck a bomb into a group of enemies, then go charging in. Plus they're good for taking out the random mage or archer when I'm surrounded. I think I'm going to be concentrating on the grenade and its synergies for a while... sandstorm is already starting to lose its effectiveness.

[AusWilko]

Yeah the grenades are good, very nice to come up to a war camp and lob one over the fence and charge in, good for when you are hightailing it as well, chuck one down as you run away and the mob charge straight into it.