AoE class

[narrus]

Before I start let me tell you that I've never been above lvl 13. I am complete noob, don't know how upgrade system works and etc. All I know is how to kill mobs :D

I've been reading a lot and I can hardly find any class combos which appeal me. I see a lot of builds which revolve around pets or summons. But I am looking for a caster mastery combo or pure build(no secondary class) which excels in AoE damage.

My friend and I play this in multiplayer only and I won't be playing single player at all.

So basically which class can AoE like a boss? I don't need any builds because I find them confusing and dumb(lol). I prefer to experiment myself and how it affects our gameplay in multiplayer. Would nice to get some clues on which classes can AoE.

[P.A.C.]

You are free to try a pyromancer-His ring of flame, eruption and volcanic orb are quite descent skills,+ you can upgrade them with earth enchantment which increases your overall fire damage.Experimenting is good I know :) it is like half the fun you need when playing a new game.

so simply you can either concentrate on maxing the volcanic orb with its synergies + eruption(a stone form with an eruption is a good combo) and volativity (if thats the name) or you can go pyromancer+ spirit (ring of flame+ synergy + the deathchill aura tree.might add dark covenant if it pleases you).

Just remember tho that if u want to use the deathchill tree u should install the fanpatch which fixes the common bugs in certain TQ skills.Other than that wish you lots of fun with the game :).

[Irma2]

All Storm and Earth casters do AoE. So you can put them together for two different types of AoE damage. Or you can pair their AoE damage with AoE debuffing and slowing (Nature), AoE crowd control (Dream) or AoE capability for your staff (Spirit).

[narrus]

Earth + Dream sounds nice. Always loved classes who can CC.

[P.A.C.]

Yh true.The difference is with evoker you get that cc and a nightmare pet who can manipulate the monsters as well with cryptic gaze.On the other hand,you can combine the elementalists fire dmg with eye of the storm to get +100% ele dmg and 100% fire dmg all in one.Prolly could use the ice block to lock down some monster buddy for a while.

And dont forget that spirit has vision of death giving you ability to fear monsters for 6 secs as well as making the mob your own slave.

[Irma2]

Earth + Dream sounds nice. Always loved classes who can CC.

Caster Evoker is very powerful. About Earth's only shortfall is that you find monsters in Act III which are quite Fire-resistant and Earth doesn't have a way to debuff them. Evoker can switch to Electrical Burn Damage for them. Other than that, it has pretty much all the bases covered - good damage potential from spells, two nice pets to tank for you, lots of crowd control options, two different types of damage. The only thing you lack is a good debuff. If your playing partner has Squall or Study Prey or Plague, you're good to go.

[Sind]

AoE like a Boss. Defender is very good, but don't be fooled that he is only a tank and doesn't do a lot of damage. Of course he does, my Conqueror (80% defender) does 400 DPS more than my friend's Brigand. Almost all skills of the Defender are AoE, the Shield Batter once you get it's upgrade. The Charge ability (forgot it's name) once you get it's upgrade. The Defiance ability, and some of those passives. Trust me, I also thought that Defender will lack damage, but he does very good damage, and awesome AoE damage, and IT IS EXTREMELY FUN TO PLAY. You will suck until level 15, but once you upgrade the AoEs of your spells...it's game over for the mobs, trust me, you won't regret. But that is your choose, I'm just suggesting.

[P.A.C.]

AoE like a Boss. Defender is very good, but don't be fooled that he is only a tank and doesn't do a lot of damage.

Im quite afraid narrus prefers the mage side of the power ;).

[narrus]

Im quite afraid narrus prefers the mage side of the power ;).

Well not that I am strictly against melee.

What I hate the most is pets. They always give me headaches. I really despise relying on pets to be able to succeed in game. I don't mind if they are there to do damage independently like Nymph for Nature or are simply around me to give me some buffs.

But if I have to micro them and actually use them more instead of my hero then it is a big "no".

[Sind]

Well not that I am strictly against melee.

What I hate the most is pets. They always give me headaches. I really despise relying on pets to be able to succeed in game. I don't mind if they are there to do damage independently like Nymph for Nature or are simply around me to give me some buffs.

But if I have to micro them and actually use them more instead of my hero then it is a big "no".

Defender doesn't use any pets, you will regret that you started it at first, but after you reach Act 3 you will be happy with your character, just like I was. And again, my Conqueror (80% defender) does 1100 DPS on level 44, my cousin Brigand is also level 44, we co-op the game, and he does only 700 DPS, and Brigand comes from two masteries that rely fully on damage.

But as you are looking for AoE, it's there too, maybe 5-6 abilities of the Defender are aoe, some of them passive, some of them active with upgrades. I said em in my previous post.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

You could combine Defense with Earth or Storm and gain even more AoE possibilities. Toss Earth's Volcanic Orb or Storm's Thunderball to stun groups of enemies and then Shield Charge in to mop up what's left over. Or combine Earth with Rogue to make a Magician. Fozzie did an interesting guide a little while ago for one, which uses Rogue's Throwing Knife tree to spread Rogue's poison AoE damage, boosted by Earth's fire capabilities. It's called the Bladefinger Magician and you'll find the thread under the Rogue class part of the forum. I suggest it because it's played as a caster and doesn't use a pet. I've been following it and it works very well so far (only around the mid-20s level so far). Like you, I get frustrated trying to manage too many pets sometimes so this was an interesting build to try out. It is gear dependent though so might be one to look at once you've played for a bit and have the gear to make it work best. Doesn't mean you couldn't play a Magician as melee instead though, still using Throwing Knife and Volcanic Orb to spread AoE damage around.

Remember, although most of the caster classes have pets, you don't have to use them if you don't want to. All the caster classes have some sort of AoE damage skill which you can use: Earth - Volcanic Orb/Eruption, Storm - Ice Shard/Lightning Bolt/Thunderball, Nature - Plague, Spirit - Life Drain/Deathchill Aura and Dream - Distortion Wave/Trance of Empathy or Wrath.

If you want just one caster class without pairing it with a second mastery then I suggest Earth. Volcanic Orb is a great skill for AoE and you have the bonus of being able to throw it over walls and cliffs to target enemies farther away from you than normal - simply hold down the left shift key as you throw it. For a single melee then Defense for its durability and Shield Charge AoE ability.

Oh - also remember that if you do install the fanpatch to fix the bugs in the game, your friend will also need to install it, otherwise you won't be able to multiplay together.

[Radagast82]

If you want just one caster class without pairing it with a second mastery then I suggest Earth.

Not the only good option though.
Dream and Storm are also VERY capable on their own of even defeating whole normal with just one mastery.

I for instance, recently finished the game with a pure storm aoe build, going both ice and lighning and it was very viable even completely untwinked and while playing for the first time. If you like aoe stuns, and kiting this may just be your thing. It does get a bit challenging toward the end mind you, but nothing you can't handle with a bit of kiting and some proper gear of elemental/lighning dmg and some + skills which you get anyway from shops in act 3-4 kinda easily. I did get plague (once again an aoe, though it's a debuff in this case) from nature in epic difficulty though, just to make things a little bit easier. :)

Dream due to it's immense dps aoe spells for normal (DW/DR), its phantom strike capabilities and some very nice auras, is also fully capable of defeating normal on it's own, though I srsly think some of it's skills are more melee-helpful than some may think. It's also a more gear-dependent build imo.

[narrus]

Well I started up Defensive today. Currently lvl 7. It will surely take time to get to lvl 20 as I don't play much a day but so far I am liking it. Tier 1-2 skills seem already pretty strong. Adrenaline rush is like a free HP pot(probably going to max) + paired with lvl 1 CD reduction is pretty good.

The damage is less than other starting classes due to the fact that I don't have an element to imbue on my weapons but that's alright since I can take heavy punishment. Will see how it goes. Currently I am overwhelmed with the skills in Defensive class because they all seem to be so great(except for that lousy 5% stun).

What I generally dislike is how you start in this game. It picks up so effin slowly and you need to spend a good dozen of hours to actually get far enough to make a final judgement whether you like that class or not. But by that time you've already dealt with it and stick with what you started.

Also why is respecing so damn expensive? Can barely respec half the tree by the time I get to Delphi -.-

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Definitely max the Adrenaline tree as well as Pulverize, Disable and Shield Smash. One point only in Battle Awareness and Shield Charge initially, but max out the rest of their trees. Batter is a great early game skill until you reach Shield Smash, but a lot of players like to keep Batter going as well. If you want to use Rally tree, again one point in the base, but max the synergies first. Colossus Form is very good when facing up to bosses so a few points at least there. Armor Handling helps with reducing strength requirements for wearing armor so at least a few points in that too. And don't write off Concussive Blow. It will build up to 60% stun with club weapons.

What I like about Defense is that so many of its skills are passives and don't take up space on the LMB/RMB/hot keys, leaving you with more space for skills from your second mastery. With Shield Charge on the RMB, I usually only have Battle Awareness and Colossus Form on hot keys because I rarely use Rally tree and never have used Quick Recovery. So I have nearly all Defense's abilities activated with only 3 slots taken for the active skills. With the potions taking up the last two hot key slots that means I have 6 spare slots for 2nd mastery skills or scrolls.

Unfortunately, respec costs go up every time you do it until it reaches a max of 45,000. You just have to do it in small increments if money is tight. It's the millions it can cost to take a relic/charm off an item that I find annoying - doesn't seem to be a limit on his ability to wring money out of you.

[narrus]

Well I am lvl 28 Conqueror so far now. Just got to Act 3. In the next level I will have finished maxing both of my masteries and will start pouring points into skills above 1.

What I read so far was that the effect of Adrenaline fades away as you keep leveling, to the point where the extra HP regen is barely noticeable. So I thought maybe to leave at 1 but max the +DMG and +% attack speed while it is active and the cooldown.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Well, I'd probably have 2/3 points in Adrenaline by that level (I like to sneak 1/2 more in while I'm climbing the mastery), but what I usually do for most trees is max the synergies first and only then, if I have spare points, max the base. That's why I suggested only a point in Battle Awareness, Shield Charge and Rally, it's their synergies which really boost the build so max them before you put any more points in the base skills. With a Conqueror I'd also be putting a point in Onslaught as well to max it as that is a good skill to max out early, then max Ardor synergy. Or you could max Ardor first and then Onslaught, but either way get Onslaught maxed before filling out Ignore Pain and Hamstring.

Don't discount Adrenaline and its health regen capability. It really depends on whether you feel you can survive without having more points in it and where else you're getting any regen from.