Prophet Vs Orcale vs Sage

[JordanL]

Hi, in the past year and a half of titan quest, I've only made Melee characters, so my knowledge on casters is quite low. I've been watching various videos of these classes on You Tube to see how each one performs. I would like to start one of these classes, but I'm looking for a class that does fast casting with lots of those ice crystal missiles ( thats what it looks like ) and other spells as well.

I also don't really want to depend or have a Pet with me either, does the dream Pet in the Dream Class help your stats, or does it fight because it does look neat to have around? For the stats of a Spell Caster, Should I put my majority of points in Dex and Intelligence ?

For every 4 points of stat attributes, what would be a good recommended amount to put in to Dex and Intel for a good distribution estimate, and should I put much in Energy ?

Thanks to whoever gives advice, first time using a spell caster in any game in general. Just for a Recap, I'm looking for a Mage Class that is about fast casting, and shots multiple ice shards at once and other spells.

Storm/Dream ? I do happen to have some darkseer armor as well.

[F4rmerbob]

You want 174 base dex by the time you finish legendary. Other than that, int. Unless you know what you are doing, put nothing in mana/health/str. Casters tend to be squishy, so petless casters can be hard.

Ice Shards requires you to be right next to a mob to deal the most damage. Squishy + Proximity = Mortality. I'm having fun with my frostdin though. I'm trying to find a nice balance of durability and casting power.

[JordanL]

I'll probably go with Storm/Dream, Storm for sure, the Dream pet looks neat as well. Seems like some mage pieces require a lot of Intel, and others require a lot of Dex.
....

So does Dex play the same role for a mage as a melee character as far as critical hits and offensive ability

[F4rmerbob]

Originally Posted by JordanL

I'll probably go with Storm/Dream, Storm for sure, the Dream pet looks neat as well. Seems like some mage pieces require a lot of Intel, and others require a lot of Dex.
....

So does Dex play the same role for a mage as a melee character as far as critical hits and offensive ability

No. you really only need 174 total base dex.

[Jetras]

I love my Oracle, but haven't tried the others so I'm a little bias...

[mamba]

Forget about the Sage, I certainly would not recommend that, from the Hunting side you are a meleer from the Storm side you are a caster, you are hosed from the very start

For Oracle versus Prophet, I'd go with the Oracle. Dream is a great melee mastery and an ok caster mastery (with Storm or Earth), but it imo simply comes nowhere near Spirit + Storm or Earth.

You need Storm (or Earth) for your offense anyway, Dream only offers electrical damage, which is lightning DOT. No DOT holds up in the long run, you are better off killing fast than over time. If you go the lightning route from Storm, there is very little Dream offers, Spirit imo has the better synergies with the Lich King and Ternion. To make a Prophet shine with a Dream focus, you need very specific gear (and even then he is inferior imo), the Oracle is less gear dependent and the better (best) mage.

This is not to say a Prophet is a bad caster (he is ok), but I definitely prefer the Oracle.

Imo the following are decent casters (anything else is not)

Spirit/Dream/Nature + Storm/Earth

pretty much in this order (Storm over Earth, Spirit over Dream over Nature, whether Spirit + Earth is better than Dream + Storm is up for grabs, imo they are comparable))

[F4rmerbob]

Originally Posted by mamba

Forget about the Sage, I certainly would not recommend that, from the Hunting side you are a meleer from the Storm side you are a caster, you are hosed from the very start

Sage could actually be pretty good as a caster. Hunting offers another elemental resist debuff, so you can get nearly -100% elemental resists, and quite a bit of crowd control for very little in the way of points, allowing you to focus almost entirely on your storm abilities.

For example, if you are going for a -100% lightningspam build you are done before you finish epic

The ML also allows your weak caster to get close enough for full ice shard effect on multiple mobs.

[mamba]

Interesting use of Hunting I always considered this a weak melee build rather than an odd mage build.

I believe that as a mage I still am better off going with either Spirit, Dream or Nature as secondary, but Sage probably is better as a caster than as a meleer.

[F4rmerbob]

Originally Posted by mamba

Interesting use of Hunting I always considered this a weak melee build rather than an odd mage build.

I believe that as a mage I still am better off going with either Spirit, Dream or Nature as secondary, but Sage probably is better as a caster than as a meleer.

There's no damage output or survivability in melee for a sage. The only other kind I can think of is some sort of bow stunner like this. You can't deal piercing and elemental damage at the same time because the stat points for an int/dex character simply don't work, as there is no good equipment to wear. Plus the two classes have very little in the way of synergy except that they both offer something decent to the other for crowd control and resist debuffing.

[mamba]

Originally Posted by F4rmerbob

There's no damage output or survivability in melee for a sage.

You can't deal piercing and elemental damage at the same time because the stat points for an int/dex character simply don't work, as there is no good equipment to wear. Plus the two classes have very little in the way of synergy except that they both offer something decent to the other for crowd control and resist debuffing.

Which is why I initially said that build is hosed I agree it is better off as a mage than as a melleer (now that I actually think about going the caster route), but I still would prefer 'regular' mage builds.