Thane Help...pls!

[Stragor]

Hello everyone...I am a huge fan of the old Diablo & Diablo II games as well as a whole host of MMO's. The other day I was in Best Buy, looking for something to distract me away from MMO's for a bit when I stumbled upon this game, which I bought.

I have started playing and built two seperate warriors trying to find my way. In looking at TitanCalc.com I found that a Thane definitely fits my play style best...I love to be able to wade into the thick of battle swinging a couple of swords or axes while being able to utilize skills that slow enemies run and attack speeds. Below is the build I have come up with but being that I am so new to the game I would love it if some more experienced players wouldn't mind picking it apart.

Thanks in advance!

My Thane Build

For those that don't want or are unable to follow the link, here are my selections:

Warfare
Weapon Training: (Rank: 6 of 6)
Battle Rage: (Rank: 1 of 12)
Onslaught: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Dual Wield: (Rank: 6 of 6)
Hew: (Rank: 6 of 6)
War Wind: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Lacerate: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Tumult: (Rank: 6 of 6)
Ardor: (Rank: 6 of 6)
Ancestral Horn: (Rank: 15 of 15)


Storm
Ice Shard: (Rank: 12 of 12)
Storm Nimbus: (Rank: 10 of 10)
Spell Breaker: (Rank: 6 of 6)
Heart of Frost: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Spell Shock: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Velocity: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Static Charge: (Rank: 12 of 12)
Torrent: (Rank: 8 of 8)
Storm Surge: (Rank: 12 of 12)

*************ADJUSTMENTS*************

*Thanks for the feedback ward_rb I adjusted it a bit and got rid of one of the spell lines in favor of a bit more melee power. I feel that most of the Storm line that I have taken enhances my melee damage and I thought was a good compliment to my class. If I am mistaken (definitely a possibility) please feel free to give me a few tips!

[ward_rb]

basically, youre gonna be spreading yourself to thin. focus on either melee or spells, not both. since youre a thane, i would say melee

[Stragor]

Thanks for the feedback...I have readjusted a bit as the notes at the bottom of my post point out...any other pointers?

[Aurican]

Looking at your build I noticed that you've maxed two very expansive lines which in my opinion aren't that useful for a thane. The first one is the battlerage line which looks great but doesn't proc that often. Hence it's very expensive without helping you as much as other skills could. I would leave 1 point in battlerage for the nice and cheap +50% OA but for the rest leave the line.
The second line is Ice shards. Although it is kinda fun to spam a lot of ice shards (I had a ice spamming druid) it's really expansive mana wise, even for a pure caster (I even respeced myself because it just costed to much mana). Moreover it costs a lot of skill points to max.
If you drop these lines (still one point in battle rage though) you will have 63 skill points back. So now with what to do with them.. I would advise you to max the strom mastery, even if you aren't going to use the top skill line you do want the extra attributes. 14 int, 8 dex, 168 health and 80 energy are really nice extras.
Then my advice would be to get at least 1 point (you could go to 5 to get it's extra skill thunder clap which stuns enemies) in the whisp and max his eye of the storm. This will give you +100% elemental damage everytime he casts it (which is quite often) and you don't want to miss that as a thane IMHO.
Storm surge is another skill I would max. This skill goes of a lot when you're surounded and stunned enemies are good for a thane , not even to mention the extra damage they get.
If you still want an extra spell to use I would go with Thunderball. This one is less expansive (skill point wise) to max then the other spells and will help you a lot on the melee side of your build through the stun power it has (I haven't used this skill myself though so I'm not sure if it works as well in practice). If you don't like it you could max Lightning bolt and chain lightning instead. This skill is a massive damage dealer. The only drawback (same with thunderball though) is the long recharge time but there is where your melee part will come in.
Then on the warfare side I would max crosscut, since the more proc the better. This will leave 8 points which I would put in dodge attack and ignore pain.
So in the end you will get something like this.

I hope these tips are useful to you. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and that there are probably a lot of people who wouldn't agree with me here. The most important thing is that you have fun with your build. And if you don't like one of your skills there is always the mystic to help you out.

edit: I posted the wrong link, d'oh. Changed it now.

[Stragor]

Can Storm Surge and Storm Nimbus both be active at the same time?

[Aurican]

yup, they can. You just reserve more energy.