Worst character class?

[mothwentbad]

I don't know if this is productive or not, but I thought it would be a good change of pace to ask: What's the *worst* character class out there? Follow-up: Ok, it *looks* like a bad combination. But do you think you could make it work?

I kind of think that it almost doesn't matter, since if your classes don't combine well, you can always pump one a lot and then just pick up those one or two skills from the other tree that actually help you out. For example, a melee Champion character could take just a few points of Heart Of Oak, Regrowth, and Accelerated Growth. At high levels, when the Warfare tree looks solid, he could come back for Heart Of Stone and Refresh. Plague with Fatigue might make an ok crowd control debuff at early-mid levels, and then susceptibility could probably help a lot at high levels... See, there's more than it seems at first.

It seems like every time a combination seems like it wouldn't work, it turns out better than I thought if I just think about it harder. But TQ is just kind of fun like that.

One thing I haven't thought about yet, though, is mixing up magic types - seems kind of like you could spread yourself too thin in ways that don't stack, like storm/earth. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to put all points in Earth for a long time, and then eventually get Eye Of The Storm maxed out. Maybe get a couple defensive enhancements along the way, too.

The trouble with magic/magic is that it's not as obvious what to do as when you have a hybrid fighter type. But it might still work.

[BrigandPwnage]

I think you'd want to look out for single mastery chars. Even if you can add a lot of points to the masteries skills, it would help to consider to look after some other skills such as the Lightning Bolt and Trance of Wraith (Prophet(Dream, Storm)) instead of something like Lucid Dream (Dream) or Throwing Knifes (Rogue) only. I would consider to look out for Theurgist (Spirit) as I've had a bad past with this pointless mastery. Something you would possibly like would be the Dreamkiller (Dream, Rogue) or the Assassin (Rogue, Warfare). Those would be the best skills I've worked up on. Whooped those little monster butts with Dreamkiller (which I HIGHLY recommend to max out Trance of Wraith if you do do this mastery). But, if they don't work out, try this: http://www.titancalc.com/

[mothwentbad]

Hah, I wasn't even thinking of single-class builds. I figured no one was doing those, anyway. :-D

[Joopa]

How you build your character has more impact on success than what classes you chose. Deficies can be overcome with equipment anyway.

[mothwentbad]

I suppose so, Joopa. I just figured it might be interesting to run the usual class selection process backward - instead of shopping for combinations you want in the same charcter, looking for something that seems awkward and then making it work. Instead of saying, "clearly Earth Enchantment would be good for a melee or ranged character. Which looks the best?", I would say, "storm/spirit seems difficult to work with. What can I do with what's there?"

[Irma2]

There is no worst character class. They're all viable in some way.

[johnjov]

or more appropriately, which is the toughest class combinations to play? If there was a worse class, then it would have been made obsolete by the developers as it implies there are few good gear & skills to make it viable on the long run

[Violos]

looking for something that seems awkward and then making it work

Try a Sorcerer or Magician.

The knack is, as you say, to make those work on synergies rather than just pumping one half and adding one or two utility skills.

Battlemage is another... but I won't start on that again.

[mothwentbad]

"the knack is..." meaning that's what really works, or that's what's hardest to accomplish?

[Violos]

The point, or the art if you want.

Not like making an Earth mage who also thows poison bombs and declaring this an effective combination. This sounds cheesy, but for a combo to be good by another merit than using powerful masteries, I believe they must become more than the sum of the parts.

Flash Powder or Mandrake-Flurry are a little better in this regard, for example, because they combine well with the ranged, evasive nature of a mage. But the real gems to find are things like Mandrake + Arcane Lore.
There is, of course, not a lot left to find these days... but it still happens.

Talking about the Magician, that is the one class where I could not really come up with anything notable so far. Unboosted traps become rather weak in later difficulties, a fact that a little burn from EE isn't going to change. If you go melee, Earth has very little to offer, and if you use a staff and spells your only friends are the skills named above.
So this one really looks like a "bit of everything" case. You get a lot of crowd control with confusion, Fragments and the Cory, but that's about it.

So in short, if you need something to "make work", try a Magician.



EDIT: I just realized that posion bomb, weak as it is, is actually a bad example because it could be used to slow. But you get the idea.