Help Choosing Next Class

[Desh_Bouksani]

So I have owned TQ for quite some time, but I have serious gamer ADD and have never really stuck with a class for too long.

I wanna make a new guy, and I am determined to get him through the highest difficulty the game has. (legendary? Epic?)

Ill tell you this much...

a) Has to be melee
b) Has to have a few active skills that keep the flavor up
c) Prefer not to use spear (only because I find they feel boring after a while)
d) Prefer to use a shield (more survivable and less worry about finding a second awesome weapon)
e) Pets over Spells (if any, but pets are kind of cool, imo)

Some of the trees I have alot of interest in is.. Spirit, Dream, Rogue, Nature, Warfare, Hunting, (maybe defense too)

I know how could I like warfare and not wanna dual wield, and how could I like hunting but not wanna use a spear. I know these things are contradicting, but Im just stating I think those trees are interesting, and powerful. (i know all the classes are powerful in there own way.)

Spirit I like because of the pets and the awesome leeching abilities
Dream just has amazing synergy with just about anything with its buffs and PHANTOM STRIKE yes please.
Rogue is just cool with the traps (traps any good?)
Nature for the pets and the dots look cool
Warfare for just being an awesome tree for any melee class
Hunting for volley and awesome piercing damage but again forget hunting I guess since I really dont wanna use a spear or bow.

I guess the two that I really love is spirit and dream. problem is, I hear that melee diviners are super hard to play if they arent twinked out, any advice on this?

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Okay, so it sounds as though you've had TQ for a while, but haven't really played that much. As you have the Immortal Throne version take the time to download and install the bugfix fanpatch you'll find here on the forum in the Fanpatch section. It fixes most of the bugs in the game, including the skills that were broken.

As you've never been very far in the game I think either a Spellbinder or a Templar would be good first choices. Both these classes give you Defense and your two favoured second masteries. Defense is built for a shield with Shield Smash and Shield Charge making the best use of the shield as a second weapon. Pulverize and Disable, Battle Awareness tree, Adrenaline tree and Colossus Form all help to turn a Defense toon into a powerhouse.

With Spellbinder, you'll have Spirit's added benefits of Deathchill Aura tree (don't use Ravages of Time without the fanpatch; it's one of the broken skills), the Liche King for a pet, Death Ward, Spirit Ward tree and the Outsider to call on to help with boss fights.

The Templar benefits from Dream's Psionic Touch tree, a choice of 3 Trances, Lucid Dream tree, Phantom Strike tree, Distort Reality to blast foes if you get surrounded. Distortion Wave tree to slow and main, and little Nightmare for a pet who sows confusion amongst your enemies.

These would probably be better for you to play through the game first so you know how it works before tackling something like a melee Diviner. You could substitute Warfare for the Defense mastery and still use a shield, but half of Defense skills are shield beneficial so sounds like a better choice for now. Warfare is still a good one to go for though, although I would suggest choosing Dream as the second mastery for its Trance of Convalescence which will help counter Warfare's poorer defensive ability.

And, of course, there is the classic melee toon: Defense and Warfare for a Conqueror. With Defense's shield work and Warfare's Onslaught tree, Battle Standard tree (again don't use Triumph without the fanpatch) and Ancestral Horn, you'll deal damage from start to finish.

[Desh_Bouksani]

Okay, so it sounds as though you've had TQ for a while, but haven't really played that much. As you have the Immortal Throne version take the time to download and install the bugfix fanpatch you'll find here on the forum in the Fanpatch section. It fixes most of the bugs in the game, including the skills that were broken.

As you've never been very far in the game I think either a Spellbinder or a Templar would be good first choices. Both these classes give you Defense and your two favoured second masteries. Defense is built for a shield with Shield Smash and Shield Charge making the best use of the shield as a second weapon. Pulverize and Disable, Battle Awareness tree, Adrenaline tree and Colossus Form all help to turn a Defense toon into a powerhouse.

With Spellbinder, you'll have Spirit's added benefits of Deathchill Aura tree (don't use Ravages of Time without the fanpatch; it's one of the broken skills), the Liche King for a pet, Death Ward, Spirit Ward tree and the Outsider to call on to help with boss fights.

The Templar benefits from Dream's Psionic Touch tree, a choice of 3 Trances, Lucid Dream tree, Phantom Strike tree, Distort Reality to blast foes if you get surrounded. Distortion Wave tree to slow and main, and little Nightmare for a pet who sows confusion amongst your enemies.

These would probably be better for you to play through the game first so you know how it works before tackling something like a melee Diviner. You could substitute Warfare for the Defense mastery and still use a shield, but half of Defense skills are shield beneficial so sounds like a better choice for now. Warfare is still a good one to go for though, although I would suggest choosing Dream as the second mastery for its Trance of Convalescence which will help counter Warfare's poorer defensive ability.

And, of course, there is the classic melee toon: Defense and Warfare for a Conqueror. With Defense's shield work and Warfare's Onslaught tree, Battle Standard tree (again don't use Triumph without the fanpatch) and Ancestral Horn, you'll deal damage from start to finish.

Thanks alot for the indepth reply I Really appreciate that.

I was actually considering the two classes you mentioned haha. I figure if im worried about surviving, defense mastery should ease my fears. Im downloading the bugfix patch as we speak. Is there any compatability issues with the steam version of TQ?

Anyway yeh, I never got too far in TQ, I think my highest is a level 24 harbinger. I like the game alot, I just always get sidetracked with other games, and IRL stuff. I love hack and slash games, I been messin around with torchlight, but I always head back to TQ, and D2. I am really worried about D3 sucking (dont flame me for mentioning it.)

Anwyay.. thanks again.

Just a final question. What do you personally think would be more entertaining to play. Defense/dream or defense/spirit

[jonnymon69]

both diviner (dream/spirit) and templar (defence/dream) are fun 2 play, i like a club using templar and smashing enemies left,right and center and im not sure if u can go melee that well as a diviner but dont take my word on that

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Thanks alot for the indepth reply I Really appreciate that.

I was actually considering the two classes you mentioned haha. I figure if im worried about surviving, defense mastery should ease my fears. Im downloading the bugfix patch as we speak. Is there any compatability issues with the steam version of TQ?

Anyway yeh, I never got too far in TQ, I think my highest is a level 24 harbinger. I like the game alot, I just always get sidetracked with other games, and IRL stuff. I love hack and slash games, I been messin around with torchlight, but I always head back to TQ, and D2. I am really worried about D3 sucking (dont flame me for mentioning it.)

Anwyay.. thanks again.

Just a final question. What do you personally think would be more entertaining to play. Defense/dream or defense/spirit

I think they'd both be good fun. I took my Templar through to the end of Legendary, but I hadn't gotten very far with my Spellbinder. Not because I didn't like it, but I hadn't really come to appreciate Spirit's skills as much as some other classes. though that's changed now I've tried Spirit out more lately. A Templar might be slightly better for a first timer as Trance of Convalescence is a great help for boosting health and energy when needed, plus Phantom Strike is a great looking skill when you vanish and reappear in the middle of mobs. The other two Trances can be good too, but just remember the Wrath one only applies to your toon while Empathy and Convalescence will also be applied to pets.

There have been some problems with Steam installation and there are some threads about it in the Fanpatch projects section so have a read and see what they advise. I can't help a lot with that as mine is a disc copy.

You won't get flamed by me over D3. I had so much trouble trying to install D2 on my machines and it never worked properly when I finally did, that D3 isn't even on my radar I'm afraid. Grim Dawn now, that definitely my number one look forward to. TQ's spiritual successor, it's being made by some of the same people who made TQ and it uses the same engine. If you're interested hop over to www.grimdawn.com and have a look at how things are progressing. There are screenshots, a couple of videos and they're now a Kickstarter project too.

[Desh_Bouksani]

right I actually have heard of grim dawn. i actually remember it being wayyyy off in the horizon tho, ill have to check it out.

quick side note question.

Is there any class that makes use of a sword and shield rather than a mace/axe and shield. Its not that big of deal. I just like the look. I know that swords are really only good for there piercing damage, but Im not sure if I wanna play an assassin or a hunter class at this point. Technically I figure any rogue/??? class would use a spear shield anyway. I dunno Im still lookin around.

I always have a hard time choosing a class, I even started thinking about making a mage conjurer for the awesome pets. And also thought about making a paladin for a Thor type character lol. I dunno still thinking haha.

[vletr]

Sword and shield? Corsair maybe? But you need a very good sword to compete with a spear. I would go for style over efficiency, so if you don't want to use spears, don't. Rogue with a sword still works great, and your shield attacks (and calculated strike) proc more often due to faster attack speed of a sword.

Use batter with the slowing synergy skill of envenom weapon to slow down enemies with your first attack. Then just hold down LMB to proc calc. strike and shield attacks. BTW shield attacks are with shield and weapon, which counts for 2 attacks meaning calc. strike procs more often for a shield user.

Use traps as distraction for bosses, knives to regain energy (to spread energy leech on rings, relics), etc.

So something like this (lots of one pointers can be incr. when needed / and you have the points):

titancalc build (http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Corsair&master1=6&master2=5&sa=0&m1=32-8-6-1-1-0-8-1-1-0-1-0-1-1-0-0-8-0-1-6-1-0&m2=32-0-1-1-6-1-1-8-6-1-6-1-6-1-6-1-1-6-1-1-6-0)

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Defense can quite happily use a sword, I just happen to prefer clubs when I play Defense, especially since it has the nice Concussive Blow skill to add stun damage when it's used. But even using a sword with Concussive Blow will improve stun attacks, you just don't get the additional bonus from the club weapon usage.

Rogue is another with a skill to help with sword use in its Blade Honing Skill. This adds pierce damage when active and can only be used with either swords or spears.

Warfare too can be sword based and if you dual wield then you can sort of get the best of both worlds. Once you've unlocked the base skill you can equip a sword in one hand and an axe/club/mace in the other. This helps to up your attack speed a little because swords are fast or very fast weapons while the heavier club types add more damage.

[Desh_Bouksani]

true, yeh its just a style preference haha. I guess i will play around a little with different builds and see that I think will keep me satisfied. Im sure either way i will have fun no matter what I choose. Thanks for the help guys.

[Fozzie]

Hmm... since you like shields and pets, why not try a Guardian (Defense + Nature)? Great survivability, pretty straightforward gameplay.

[Xaq]

Hi all! I am in the same boat as the OP. I try a lot of classes but want one that is fun to play and that I will stick with throughout the game and get to the end of legendary.

I am going to try the spellbinder, do you guys know of a good guide for leveling it properly? I seem to do better if I have a good guide to follow with where is best to put skills and that good stuff.

Oh, and don't look down on D3 to badly if you are going by D2. D3 is already an awesome game! (I played it quite a bit in beta). Be sure to at least give it a shot, you wont regret it.

[Xaq]

OK so I did some reading and changed my mind one more time. I want to do a Templar.

Same thing, I can not find a good guide for it. Anyone know of one?

Oh, and I will NOT use spears (hate them!). I may be willing to use clubs but if it still works well I prefer to use axe or sword.

[Desh_Bouksani]

Hmm... since you like shields and pets, why not try a Guardian (Defense + Nature)? Great survivability, pretty straightforward gameplay.

Haha well I actually went back to my Bone Charmer. I got to bored of deciding and not playing. I dug up the guide Irma had done on a bone charmer and figured lets do it.

I remember liking the idea of Take Down actually doing something useful.

After this class I have no idea yet.. I thought about defense and nature. My next guy might wind up being some crazy AoE caster or something along those lines.

What class has the coolest looking spell effects in your own opinion?

[Medea Fleecestealer]

If you look in the Skills and Strategies section there are two possible threads there for more info on Templar. One is the Almost Full Builds Compendium and the other is the Mainstream TitanCalc class compendium. Both will give you info on what skills are best to use and how many points to put into them. For a Spellbinder, the Almost Full doesn't seem to have one (at least not listed on the first page), but Irma2 gives skills/points info on the TitanCalc class compendium. However, remember that unless you've installed the bugfix fanpatch from the forum here the Ravages of Time synergy will not work so don't put points in it.

Also search the Classes section in Defense, Dream and Spirit for Templar/Spellbinder build guides. There are quite a few floating around.

Desh_Bouksani, I always like watching Earth's Volcanic Orb fly through the air and explode raining firey fragments everywhere. I haven't actually used it, but I would think Storm's Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning would look pretty cool too.