looking for builds

[ShadowLAnce]

Thanks! The crazy compliments I get for this mod are always flattering.

I'm glad you've been adapting and conquering lilith. One of the core principles to the design of the mod is adaptation. It's intentional that if you focus purely on killing power you will die quickly, and if you focus purely on defensive power you will kill very very slowly. The most satisfying part for me was hitting obstacles, thinking of a clever solution in skills/items, then surmounting those obstacles easily.

I like the idea of keeping a bow as a secondary weapon, I've never tried that. I'm always obsessed with being "the best archer" or "the best melee". That's probably a much more successful idea

Anyways thanks again!

[mp84]

haha yea..

I'm defiantly learning the whole "dying" a lot with killing power.. But getting better at it, lol.. Bow as a secondary is totally useful, specially if you put a few points into the poison arrow ability, and really makes it a strong "pick off" ability for sorcerers and archers.. Still focusing more on offensive stuff though, but also trying to increase my health a ton to compensate which seems to be working

[ShadowLAnce]

Actually on my recent Dokkaebi I focused on prolonged fights. Tons of points into chaos storm line, then tons of attribute points into health. So I had thousands of health and ran them around in my chaos storm til they all died. Went dual swords for single targets. Was interesting lol. Some bosses were damned impossible and some died easy, but crowds of mobs were cake

[mp84]

haha, actually I'm thinking of creating another char now one Sekhmet/Poseidon, only because as much I love Beserker, I just seriously feel to squishy at times and it's starting to bug me just a bit to much and I'd figure while the Sekhmet line may not be as flashy as the beserker line, the Poseidon line looks like it is, so I'll have my fun with that in the end, hehe..

I'll let you know how that goes as I will be starting that tonight.

[ShadowLAnce]

Try hammer and shield haha, super tank with one-shot kills. You just wade through them sending them flying each swing.

[ShadowLAnce]

A build I was toying with earlier, since people often ask for builds:

Prophet (Mind+Venefici)

Core skills:
(Venefici)
Shield of Will (Right Mouse Button) [Max]
Focus of Will + Tenacity [Max]
Power Barrier + Kinetic Protection [Max]
Harness Mana [1 point or more] + Charge [Max]
Restoration [1 point or more]
[Once the entire build is done, Dark Sphere MAX]

(Mind)
Stance of Vigil
Stance of Calm
Shield Expertise [1 point or more]
Strengthen Body [Max]
Mend Self [1 point or more]

*For more mana regen (only if you need it):
Draw Inner Power (Mind) [Max]
Harness Mana (Venefici) [Max]


(Early on you can skip Stance of Calm and Mend Self, getting only enough points in mind to use the crucial Stance of Vigil. This shaves 18 points off for pumping up Venefici early.)

Strategy:
Switch between the two Mind stances depending on what you need. Stance of Calm is situational, usually you want to be in Stance of Vigil. Calm provides stun retaliation which can stop a lot of damage if you are hurting (and Shield of Will still works because it's reflection, so the -100% total damage does not apply). Just keep in mind that your main offensive tool is Shield of Will, and when they are stunned they can't hit you as much.

You have two heals, Restoration and Mend Self. They both have long cooldowns so save them for emergencies so you never die.

As far as defense goes, here's what you get:
*67% Life leech resistance (Venefici: [natural])
*167% Mana leech resistance (Venefici: natural + Power Barrier)
*90% Skill Disruption resistance (Venefici: Force of Will)
*80% Stun resistance (Venefici: Force of Will)
*68% Piercing resistance (Venefici: Power Barrier)
*51% Fire & Cold resistance (Venefici: Power Barrier + Force of Will)
*85% Shock resistance (Venefici: Power Barrier + Force of Will + Harness Mana)
*33% Damage Absorb, all types (Venefici: 18%, Mind: 15%)
*Invulnerability whenever Shield of Will is active.
*A shield in your offhand.
*Your natural weakness of -65% Vitality from Mind is negated by 60% from Force of Will's Tenacity, leaving only a -5% weakness.

You are still weak to POISON. Fortunately for you, when you face deadly foes of this type, you can use shield of will to negate the weakness entirely.

The natural bonuses of both Venefici and Mind benefit you in various ways.
1) +42% Casting speed from Mind is a huge buff to Shield of Will.
2) You need a wide variety of attributes, health, and mana. Mind grants all of these. Venefici grants TONS of intelligence and mana. This means you have more freedom where you distribute your earned attribute points. Typically I had a whole bunch just sitting around in case I found a new item I didn't meet the requirements for.
3) Life Leech resistance from Venefici helps counter the Vitality weakness from Mind.
4)-20% Dexterity requirement for armor means you can wear mage armor while barely investing anything in Dexterity. This frees up even more points.

So where to actually put all these free attribute points?
1) Item requirements. Use the best shield and the best mage armor. Don't go beyond the item requirements, it doesn't benefit you. Keep in mind Strengthen Body + Shield Expertise makes shields very easy to use.
2) Health.

This means you get a TON of points into health. Your buffs give you +22% Health before items, which multiplies this already high number by a huge amount.

All of this is only 144 points. Meaning you can complete this build by level 35-36.

Now keep in mind you also have +25% Physical Damage from Strengthen Body (Mind). Yes this applies to all of your Venefici spells.

That's where the build goes from there. Pump everything in Dark Sphere and don't bother with it's secondary (elemental damage). Between Dark Sphere maxed with +25% damage (before items) and Shield of Will, you have plenty of damage.

As for items, get the best mage armor, the best shield, and a weapon with the highest +% Physical Damage buff (I think some shields have this buff too, if so, get it!). It doesn't really matter what the actual stats of the weapon are so don't waste points raising dex/str just to use a better weapon. You can still opt to use your weapon in your playstyle of course, but it's unnecessary; you're a tank-mage. Instead of a staff for mana regen, you have a shield.

The order to build skills is up to you, but get Shield of Will as your first skill. Picking Mind first leaves you with nothing but high attribute points. Otherwise just add points as you need them. If you're running low on mana a lot, raise the mana regen skills. If you're dying too easy, raise your defensive skills. If you can't kill anything, raise Shield of Will. etc. etc. etc.

[cmc611]

I usually play terribly with hybrids but can manage rather well with full on warriors or casters. All the new skills and differences make it hard to tell which paths would be best for which type. Could I have a short list of some sort? Also, for attributes, does it still apply that strength and dexterity should be focused on for warriors and intelligence and dexterity for casters? Or should all characters use all three? thanks a bunch, Im really excited about these new masteries

[ShadowLAnce]

A short list of which paths work best for full warriors/casters? Kind of tough since most paths can be full caster or full warrior.

Full Caster: Everything but Sekhmet

Full Warrior: Everything but Venefici

Sekhmet and Venefici are probably the most "pure" paths, so those may be good places to start if you're not sure what to do.

Attributes really depend on what you need. If you just pump everything into str/dex you'll likely be very fragile but deadly. If you hover over the stats in-game you'll see the new tooltips explain what each attribute does.

Where you have to spend points depends entirely on your Path choices. For example if you are maxing Venefici, you will probably want to spend more points on health than normal, since your dex requirements are lower for armor, and you get a TON of int and mana from the path itself.

Most things are common sense, Str benefits warriors, Dex benefits rogues/archers/spears, Int benefits anyone who uses magic but ESPECIALLY characters that intend to use mage armor or staves.

[cmc611]

ok, great. I just started with a sekhmet/poseidon. i have stance of Antaeus, storm trident, and hammer mastery. I saw that intelligence doesnt specifically affect elemental damage anymore, so that wouldnt affect my lightning damage at all? And should i mostly just use atributes for armor/weapon requirements, the rest in health/mana? Sorry for all the questions, thanks.

i love the difference between paths and vanilla, the old masteries were getting pretty...old

[cmc611]

also, im at about level 8 with my sekhmet/poseidon, and i have 200 average damage, and 250 offensive ability, but only 65 defensive ability, all the champion monsters critically hit me every attack. How shoud i get that up?