4 Classes combining 8 masteries [Build Guides]

[Shadowshire]

After playing this game for some time i became tired of having too many identical masteries, weaponchoices and skills among my builds. I've tried to create 4 builds that i've found best in fun, survivability and variety and still would have all masteries represented. The Champion, The Spellbinder, The Elementalist and The Brigand.
I made this thread, so IF theres is anyone like me who wants to differ thier characters as much as possible, maybe could get some inspiration to do the same thing...Schellen made 4 guides for this post aswell, and you can find the link for them here: The Conjurer, The Druid, The Slayer and The Corsair

The classes, skill descriptions, pros and cons and ratings...

The Champion

Masteries: Warfare and Nature
Weapon: Dual Sword, Axes or Clubs
Pet: Wolves
Attribute points go: Strength

The end build: Champion Level 68

Skills: (Nature)

Heart Of The Oak and Performance Of Stone:
Gives you 10% in total speed, 65% extra health and 18% of elemental resistance. Tranquelity is not worth any points.

Wolves:
Summon Wolves is maxed, so with +skill gear or mastery shrines you'll then get 3 wolves instead of 2. Though Maul gives insignificant damage, you should max it for the % reduction to enemy health, this will really kick in later in the game combined with Plagues % reductions. Call Of The Wild gives bonus armor and damage which is just what a melee guy wants. The Wolves are meatsheild and buffers, and IMO just 1 point them in Survival Instinct, only for the synergies, since you can recast without any problem if the die. Great way to save 15 skill points that way.

Refresh: Cheap -recharge skill that just needs 1 points to help you with keeping your summonings available all the time.

Plague: Max this and all synergies. It's gives great reduction to resistances, speed, damage and health to your enemies. A must have for the Champion.

Skills: (Warfare)

Weapon Training, Dodge Attack, Full Dual line, Onslaugth line:
All these are for attack speed, more attack damage and defence. No need to explain futher. I left out Hamstring since i believe that output do not match the price in skillpoints.

Warwind:
These ability is maxed since it's a 3 target attack, and works great with mobs. Lacerate do not deal in % damage, and bleeding is anyway not a damage type that i dig. Undead and Constructs are immune/resistant so...0 points in that.

Battle Standard: Just 1 point for the +1 to all skills. The synergy Triumph is bugged and will only grant you 50% to stun resistance, so IMO not worth anything anymore...

War horn and Doom Horn:
Great skills and a true lifesaver. You need this for stun, and even 1 point in each is enough.

Ancestral Horn:
Leftover points go here. 1 point it early (around lvl 30-35) just for the cheap secondary meatsheild, and later with more points it will gives some damage aswell.

Pros:
Dual wielders are open to attacks and tend to suffer death more than pet handlers, ranged characters and sheild wearers, but combined with nature you get a boost to your defences. Heart of the Oak and your buffering meatsheild wolves makes this build survivable above average and still doing heavy damage.

Cons:
The only problem with this build is that you cross caster/fighter class and spread your attribute points abit out, but really a small disadvantages.

Survivability: Very High
Fun: Above Average
Damage Dealing: High (With Call Of The Wild: Very High)
Difficulty to play: Very Easy


The Spellbinder

Masteries: Defence and Spirit
Weapon: Clubs, Axes and Sheilds
Pet: Lich King
Attribute points go: Strength

The end build: Spellbinder Level 65

Skills: (Defence)

Rally Line:
Gives bonuses to Health in a big scale, and Defiance gives you retaliation 60% and resistances at 50%. So Rally should be on as much as possible. Inspiration gives regeneration to energy, but IMO this is to expensive in skillpoints awswell.

Battle Awareness Line:
Battle Awareness itself dosen't give any significant bonus to armor, so just 1 point for it's synergies. Focus helps sheild blocking by 18% and Iron Will gives 80% resistances to stun, entrapment, freeze and skill disruption. These should be maxed, but Iron Will is first needed around lvl 35.

Sheild Charge and Disruption: Just 1 point in shield Charge itself for the 300% movement, since the damage gained by maxing this is insignificant. Instead max out the Disruption synergy for more damage, skill disruption and a 4 target maximum. This will be your secondary attack.

Quick Recovery: This skill makes you block faster for a long time period making it excellent in sick situations. Max it.

Sheild Passives:
Disable and Pulverize gives more shield damage and disruptions to enemies. Should all be maxed. Leaveout Shield Smash since it grants only very little reductions to enemy Defence Ability.

Collosus:
Just 1 point for the 50% damage and the 32% strength. This is your bosskiller skill.


Skills: (Spirit)

Deathchill Aura Line:
Deathchill Aura and Ravages of time slows and weakens your enemies. A must have for the melee binder. Since your damage is based on psysical damage Necrosis do not give any advantages, if not using weapons with life leech, vitality damage or bleeding. So 0 points in that, or some if you want to be more item based carrying certain Theurgist related melee weapons.

Visions Of Death:
This is your lifesaver skill (If you ever need one). Makes enemies flee and fail their attacks. Just 1 point and it still does the trick.

Death Ward: Just 1 point it as a life saver. More points only adds very little extra health.

Dark Covenant Line:
Here you get what damage Defence might miss. For the prices of health you do great damage, and regenerate energy. See that why inspiration is useless to this build. Combined with Rally you regenerate health same rate as you here loose it. Perfect combination of skills. Use it very often as the Spellbinder needs this damage to function properly.

Lich King Line:
Max all but Arcane Blast and your pet is perfect. The reason AB is left out is that you don't need him to have 2 spell types, as he only uses one at a time. He also uses Soulblight more which means more regeneration for himself.

Summon Outsider:
Brings forth a weird looking Outsider, that may serve as meatsheild and a bosskiller aswell. All leftover points go here to make him a slaugther God.

Pros:
The defensive advanteges of the class is overwhelming. Sheild skills from defence includes defence, damage and disruptions and combined with Deathchill Aura your pretty much impossible to kill (Offcourse not, but they will have to make an effort in doing so). The damage part of the build is not as weak as you should think. Think of Adrenaline+Rally+Collosus combined with Dark Covenant. You're then dealing insane damage while having perfect defence from Deathchill Aura and Focus. This class is great in survivability, fun and still gives high damage. Then another bonus is the Lich King, that makes a perfect pet for melee because it's attacks are ranged. Anyway every build with defence will work well in this game.

Cons:
The only problem with this build is that you cross caster/fighter class and spread your attribute points abit out, but really a small disadvantages.

Survivability: Very High
Fun: Very Fun
Damage Dealing: Above Average (With Dark Covenant: Very High)
Difficulty to play: Easy


The Elementalist:

Masteries: Storm and Earth
Weapon: Fire Staff and Lightning Staff
Pet: Coredweller and Wisp
Attribute points go: Intelligence

The end build: Elementalist Level 71

Skills: (Earth)

Earth Enchant:
Gives you damage and % damage to your fire attacks. Should be maxed. Brimstone is both for melee figthers and for casters of earth spells as it gives % to psysical damage. Fragments from Volcanic Orb and Eruption is boosted by this so max it. Stone Skin only offers very little armor bonus and pathetic 25% fire resistance and very little armor, so no points there.

Volativity:
33% chance for 178% extra fire damage. Meaning every third attack is a critical. Max it.

Heat Sheild:
Just 1 point and you get 15% damage resistance to all damage types. Both to you and your pets. Cheap and a must have.

Stoneform:
Lifesaver, 100% immunity to all damage for 6 seconds. Also good combined with Eruption on attacking mobs. Just need 1 point and 1 point in Molten Rock for 2 seconds extra Stoneform.

Coredweller Line:
The migthy Coredweller is a brute tank in every way. Summon Coredweller gives very high HP, actually 1617 in normal difficulty, and he deals good damage. This one you max. Inner Fire offers 50% dexterity, 80% health generation and 17% total speed. This one is a max too. Wild fire though do not deal extra fire damage in %, thats why it's not that great a skill. Only Max it if you got points leftover, else just 1 point to get Metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is the best boost you get for your Coredweller. +45% health, +45% armor protection, +33% armor absorbation and 17% to elemental resistances. With this maxed your stone clown is a dumb, slow but extremely tough damage dealer on a mad burnraid. So max this one and get alot for silly 8 points.

Volcanic Orb: Great Sniper skill. Not much to say except to leave Conflagration with just 1 point in it as the damage is pathetic, but you get abit extra radius from the 1 point.

Eruption:
Bosskiller. Gives great fire damage to a small area of effect. Look above to see combination with Stoneform.

Skills: (Storm)

Thunderball:
Though some may argue for choosing chain lightning or Volcanic Orb, here's why i say Thunderball. Your staff, pet and occasional Eruption is already doing very high damage, so you need something other than that, in this case stun. Offers better surviverbility and you can take out the stunned enemies with the staff. So max it for the stun and the damage.

Wisp Line:
Just 1 point in wisp since it's attack dosen't do much difference. What you want is Eye Of The Storm. Max it. Here you get 100% to elemental damage and 33% resistance to cold and lightning. Great for an elemental build.

Squall Line:
My favorite skill in the game. Disabling archers abilities, dealing damage and weakens at the same time. Your secondary attack on the mouse. Get it, love it and max it.

Storm Nimbus and Static Charge:
Storm Nimbus itself is useless. It dosen't deal damage in %, so just 1 point for Static Charge synergi. Being dealing lightning damage max this. Heart Of Frost is for cold damage and freeze up nearby enemies, but your not cold based, nor will enemies get close enough. Trust me. 0 points in that.

Pros:
As a caster facing elemental resistance creatures your having both fire and lightning to choose from. Furthermore you have the best skill in the game IMO Squall, while have an awesome tank in the Coredweller. You get really many diverse and fun skills, making this build my favorite. Some say this is a hard build to play, but i find it easy enough for slightly experienced players. I rarely touch healing potions and im in beginning of Epic Egypt. You can choose as you like between Volcanic Orb, Chain Lightning or Thunderball after you favorite style. I choose Thunderball since staff attacks, Squall and Eruption gives me all the damage skills i need to makes the build work. You could also skip all but 1 point in Coredwellers Wildfire, if you would like to free some skillpoints.

Cons:
All caster have low HP and not much defence, but beside that i really can't see any.

Survivability: Average
Fun: Very Fun
Damage Dealing: Very High
Difficulty to play: Average


The Brigand:
Masteries: Hunting and Rogue
Weapon: Bow and Spear
Pet: Traps
Attribute points go: Strength and Dexterity

The end build: Brigand Level 66

Skills: (Hunting)

Wood Lore:
Gives attack speed and defensive ability. Both needed for a Brigand, so max it.

Herbal Remedy:
Regenerate health and gives poison resistance 72%. Output in health ain't that big, but the resistance to poison is very high. You could/should max this and benefit from it, but 1 point will also be benefitial, depends on your base poison resist. Apply before tough fights.

Art Of Hunt and Find Cover:
Superb skills. Art Of Hunt Gives you bonus to you and your traps in 75% piercing damage and +30 in damage to beasts and animals. Find Cover gives you 25% to avoid projectiles, and is one of the only defences you will get as a brigand. Max both. Trail Blazing gives you resistance to entrapment and extra speed. Not worth much, but you could choose to spend 1 point and get a fair output for that.

Volley:
16% chance for a triple attack with both bow and spear. Every 6.5 shot will deal triple damage or hit several targets. With Puncture shot and Scatter Shot this will claim great many victims. Good against stronger opponents, so max it. I left out Gouge since this brigand dosn't deal in bleeding.

Markmanship Line:
A must have for a brigand using bow. Markmanship itself only gives significant projectile speed (Not attack speed), so it's easier to hit moving targets. 12 points is expensive IMO, and just 1 point will do for unlocking synergies. I suggest that you put leftover points in it instead. Puncture Shot is very good since you can do more killing per shot and it adds to piercing damage aswell. Max it. Scatter Shot is perfect for mobs. Sending fragments into the flesh of nearby enemies, makes this a perfect mob-skill. Max this one aswell.

Call For Hunt Line:
Much alike the Art Of Hunt, this gives you piercing damage (and bleeding damage, not that it matters), and is a great skill. It has a duration of 31 seconds just with 1 point in Call For Hunt skill. The Call For Hunt skill itself dosen't get much better with more points than 1, so what you want is the extra piercing damage from Exploit Weakness synergy. Max that.

Study Prey Line:
Your first bosskiller skill as a brigand (second is rogues Lethal Strike). Adds Pierce damage and damage overall damage with giving -50% resistance to enemy in both. Max it. Flush Out is a pretty good skill aswell as it lowers their resistances to elemental damage and defensive sbility. But since your not using elemental damage, as a piercer you dont need it. Just 1 point for the lowered defensive skill.

Skills: (Rogue)

Flash Powder:
Lifesaver. Instantly confuses and makes your enemies fumble. Great for being surrounded and making your escape. Max it.

Envenom Weapon Line:
I'm no fan of poison damage since alot of creatures are highly resistant to it, and undead just don't notice their lacking blood being poisoned aswell. But Mandrake and Nightshade effects Undead aswell. Dealing no damgage, they still slows, makes enemies fumble and spreads confusion. So they're more like a defensive skill, but very important to your survivability. Max them, but skip Envenom Weapon skill (Just 1 point for Synergies) and Toxic Distillation.

Lethal Strike:
Gives 500% damage and 390% pierce damage when maxed. Need i say bosskiller. Max it. Just 1 point in Mortal Wound synergy for the 3 seconds of stun, since we're not into Bleeding.

Traps:
Gives you the nearest thing you will get as a pet playing Brigand. Max them with all leftover points along the way.

Calculated Strike: Just 1 point as it only applies on every 4 hit. Still 1 point spend is cheap for a little extra pain to your enemies. Usually a brigand kills in 1-2 hits, so don't waste 8 points in this.

Pros:
Here you have the highest damage dealer in the game. These two classes really combine their damage skills. Piercing bonuses from both masteries and perfect switching between melee and ranged. Lethal strike makes a perfect bosskiller, and traps gains bonuses from your active auras. I leftout bleeding and poison damage for 2 reasons. First undeads are immune or highly resistant to them, and because you anyway deal enough damage. No point in poisoning a creature already slain. A very fun build to play, but takes abit more strategy than the other builds. A good tip is to fire arrows against strong melee targets, and switch to spear as they come close. You'll block a deal damage with your sheild, and with Lethal Strike on right mouse button, impale them in a single overkilling hit.

Cons:
2 figther classes gives low energy so you need +energy gear. Lacking defence is maybe the biggest downside to this build, but being ranged helps abit, and Avoid Projectiles, Monster Lure and Herbal Remedy from hunting really hits a dry spot. Survive by moving around, and get disabling and slowing attacks from Flash Powder and poisons Mandrak and Nightshade.

Survivability: Average
Fun: Very Fun
Damage Dealing: Very High (With Auras and Lethal Strike: Ridiculously high)
Difficulty to play: Average

Important for piercers: Remeber that pierced damage is how much of your psysical damage that bypasses enemy armor. That's why low strength piercers do low pierce damage. So dex is for percentage of strength based damage that bypasses armor, so strength also determines how much pierce damage you do.

And a tip for building up all classes. Normal difficulty is way easy to play as long as you have a minimum of defence and damage (Normal: Your way overpowered, Epic: It's a fair fight, Legendary: You're a lamb let to the slaugther). You don't even need pets before Epic. So what i do is to max masteries so that i have all skills open when i hit Epic. That way you can easily apply any skill, when you find you miss it. Remember the attribute and health bonus from leveling up the masteries will give a huge benefit, that serves just aswell as having maxed out a few skills.

When you hit Epic be sure that the Champion has 2 wolves with Call Of The Wild and Heart Of The Oak with least 8 points in it. Spellbreaker should have nearly maxed skills from Deathchill Aura and be starting on Lich King. The Elementalist should have Squall and Coredweller with a few points in all skills, except just 1 Wildfire for the Metamorphosis synergy to be open. Brigand should have some points in Mandrake, Nightshade and Flash Powder. Besides that just defence and damage skills for every build.

Hope you can use it, or else !!!!!!

[Terca]

Very good work, I will read in detail when I get home from school. Rock on!

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

Hi,

Job well done, man! I'd have some minor comments on builds but it's not unusual here.. :]

[maul]

some comments also but anyway player preferences do vary of course. I just wish i have the same patience writing similar long posts..

[Shadowshire]

Well, i knew i should have put on some strategy tips and skill describtions, but i'll edit the main topic shortly with more info...

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

Originally Posted by Shadowshire

Well, i knew i should have put on some strategy tips and skill describtions, but i'll edit the main topic shortly with more info...

I was talking about skill points distribution in each build..

[schellen]

you play exactly the same classes as Minervian! he also has a thane and a ranger.

i have 4 characters too which i created to try out the 8 masteries: conjurer (earth/spirit), druid (nature/storm), slayer (warfare/hunting) and corsair (defence/rogue). if (and only if) i have the time, i'll post my thoughts about these too, like you.

[Shadowshire]

Originally Posted by schellen

you play exactly the same classes as Minervian! he also has a thane and a ranger.

i have 4 characters too which i created to try out the 8 masteries: conjurer (earth/spirit), druid (nature/storm), slayer (warfare/hunting) and corsair (defence/rogue). if (and only if) i have the time, i'll post my thoughts about these too, like you.

Good Idea. Feel free to do it here. I could edit the first topic i wrote to quote your builds.

[Apan]

Exellent thread, wich someone could make a similiar post when i started TQ.

After reading your post I might try a Spellbinder, seems fun.

[moongoose]

Wow, that was very long (but very interesting) post.

@Shadowshire/Shellen: Show your 4 chars similar strength? It's clear that the chars have different advantages, but can they finish one act in more or less the same time? And have you a idea, which combinations do you try in the AddOn with nine masteries?