Warden (hunt/def) advice

[Mr. Teatime]

Hi, I'm aiming for a spear warrior, was wondering what skills and stats I should be focussing on. Do the bleed damage skills serve much use, considering they don't seem to add much damage and don't work on UD?
Also, what split should I go for between dex and str? 50/50?

TIA.

[Jack McCandless]

I tried making a warden...I gave up on him but I think I should have shown a bit more patience, it's definitely a combo with some good potential.

Skillswise, it's hard to say. Personally I found Take Down to be a thing of beauty, but I hear good things about Shield Charge too, which is very similar. Art of the Hunt and its upgraded are an absolute no brainer for investment, and Wood Lore would be a staple skill - the extra attack speed is fantastic with the slow spears, and the defensive ability doesn't hurt either.

The weapon pools look good - I'd pick up Volley and Gouge from hunting along with Shield Smash, Disable and Pulverise. That should give you a good chance of proccing something on every attack.

Defensively I think armour handling is a definite choice. You'll be doing lots of piercing damage with your spear so you'll want a higher dexterity - you'll need to make up for your lack of an offensive ability boosting skill too. Armour handling will ease up the need for quite as much strength, though I'd still be inclined to invest in it about evenly with dexterity, as you suggest. Maybe favour dex a little more than strength, or maybe let the natural imbalance in the bonuses in hunting do it for you.

There's a very helpful thread about defender skills that's good to read. It's called "let's get some defender skill guides going" - something like that. Good to check out.

On the bleeding issue, I'd definitely pick up Gouge and Eviscerate (assuming you choose Take Down). The items I've found that pack bleeding damage give much higher bonuses to it than equivalent items give to other damage types, so it looks like it's highly boostable.

[Dulak]

I'm probably making a warden also; meaning I'm pure hunter atm and waiting a bit to check things out ...

I really like art of the hunt ... you face lots of beats and nothing like doing alot of damage to them early on.

Study prey is really nice also for champions or bosses - IMO its a must have.
And of course wood lore/herbal medicine/volley are must haves; gouge is nice also ...

But first I would take art of the hunt ie max it then go for what you want ...
I have been putting about 2 points str 2 points health 1 point dex; kind of in that order ...

I'm playing hardcore so I dont want to die also ...

[Shiver]

I was just multiplaying with a guy who was starting up a spear fighter and we had a lot of dialogue over this, so I think I can help here. Warden is a class with a lot of potential. Skills you want:

Wood Lore.
Take Down and Eviscerate. This is superior to shield charge. Hell, it's the best physical single strike attack in the entire game.
Armor Handling so you don't have to stuff so many points into strength I suppose.
1 point Battle Awareness, max out Focus.
Adrenaline, Resilience, Defensive Reaction.
Fill out that weapon pool! Get Volley, Gouge, Shield Smash, Disable and Pulverize.
Study Prey. Good against anything that takes a lot of hits to kill.

I'd go for this key setup:

Weapon 1 left click - Attack with spear and shield.
Weapon 1 right click - Take Down.
Weapon 2 left click - Attack with bow. Good for pulling.
Weapon 2 right click - Study Prey.

Tilde - Weapon Switch
1 - Rally (primary healing)
2 - Health Potion (secondary healing)
3 - Mana Potion
4 - Battle Awareness

[Dulak]

I'm undecided if take down is better then shield charge; I mean I dont think take down works on bosses anyways (unless if you cast study prey then used it ... have to test that one)

I just found a blue spear in normal act 2 so I'm doing pretty good now ie level 15 and still alive :)

[Shiver]

I'm undecided if take down is better then shield charge; I mean I dont think take down works on bosses anyways (unless if you cast study prey then used it ... have to test that one)

I just found a blue spear in normal act 2 so I'm doing pretty good now ie level 15 and still alive :)

Doesn't work on bosses? Oh, you mean the HP reduction thing. Crap, I didn't think of that. Shield charge might be a better choice but I'm gonna have to look at the stats on both. If Take Down is out of the picture, Warden pretty much becomes a Defender with a better weapon pool.

[Mr. Teatime]

I'm worried at the lack of AoE really, neither tree has anything that has AoE :|

[Shiver]

I'm worried at the lack of AoE really, neither tree has anything that has AoE :|

AOE doesn't matter when you can take nearly infinite amounts of damage using Defense talents.

[Dulak]

"AOE doesn't matter when you can take nearly infinite amounts of damage using Defense talents."

For me some type of AOE matters; and some type of crowd control as you get into later difficulties ...

Defender does have some aoe ala bash ... max it and rend armor and get to work :)

I really liked how my warfare guy could take care of packs; ie nothing like going in and hitting warwind then killing everything around you ... problem was the massive amount of damage you took.

Hence why I'm working on a hunter and most likely I'll make him a warden ... still debating thou ...

[Dulak]

Warden vs. Slayer

Slayer: Warwind aoe (very nice) and you can take lacerate and synergistically with gouge from hunter tree for nice bleed damage, power up the onslaught line, weapons training, and battle rage, warhorn for emergencies, and battle standard (but honestly I dont find this that useful since the cool down is too long and it often gets killed.

Warden: Batter 3 person aoe and decrease attack speed (very nice); improve shield skill and shield attacks, rally, and adrenaline.

I think warden would be better but I sure miss warwind ie its a nice aoe skill ... onslaught line is just fun also lots of damage

but then again you wont be alive long enough to use either if you cant survive hence why the warden may be better ...