Mainstream TitanCalc class compendium

[CrocMagnum]

Nice thread. You can pat yourself on the back Irma2

[Ancient_of_War]

Amazing work here, I can appreciate the effort it took to do this. I've added many toons to my line-up. Most of them were caster types and pet users. My earlier characters are mostly melee or bow wielders. I'm thinking of starting the melee Ritual build, and wondering which mastery I should start with. For instance Dream first to have good damage for late Act III and Act IV Normal and wait for Epic to invest in the pets? Or start with Nature and put seven points in CotW right off the bat to get two wolves and then work on HoO and Plague? And finally, would attribute points be mostly invested in str and int with a few in dex or int and dex with a few in str? One of these days I'll get things straightened out and I won't have to ask so sften.
Once again thanks for the info.

[gotaplanstan]

Amazing work here, I can appreciate the effort it took to do this. I've added many toons to my line-up. Most of them were caster types and pet users. My earlier characters are mostly melee or bow wielders. I'm thinking of starting the melee Ritual build, and wondering which mastery I should start with. For instance Dream first to have good damage for late Act III and Act IV Normal and wait for Epic to invest in the pets? Or start with Nature and put seven points in CotW right off the bat to get two wolves and then work on HoO and Plague? And finally, would attribute points be mostly invested in str and int with a few in dex or int and dex with a few in str? One of these days I'll get things straightened out and I won't have to ask so sften.
Once again thanks for the info.

If you go nature first, put 16 points not 7, then find a mastery shrine and you'll have maxed wolves even in act 1 of normal which will make it a cakewalk. Plague isn't really necessary until the tail end of act 3 anyways. Theres also no point in maxing HoO out if you can't support healing the added hp boost it gives, via more points in regrowth and its synergies. Obviously none of what I just said matters if you're playing twinked and have more than +4 skills before you finish normal.

As far as stats, you'll get 64str, 136 int, and 48 dex from masteries alone, so if you're going melee I'd completely skip int and probably pump str:dex 1:1 for a while and then transition into full str.

[Fozzie]

Nice list!
One question, though: why do you max (or even pick) Static Charge in the Sharder builds? The only spell benefitting from it is Squall, which, as I take it, is really used more as a debuff so Shards will hurt more. Just seems like 12 wasted points to me, sorry.

[Irma2]

Squall does significant damage, even in Legendary. So if I have the points, I max out Static Charge. It won't be a high priority for Sharders, though.

Ancient_of_War, melee Ritualist could ostensibly go three ways:
1) Pure Str/Dex melee, but then you don't get optimum returns from your EBD spells like DR/TR or Psionic Immolation
2) Pure Dex/Int, but then you don't get the full benefit of Strength of the Pack
3) Hybrid Str/Int/Dex, but then you'll have a mixed bag of moderate damage types rather than one overwhelming type

I am trying number 3 atm, although I also have 1 and 2 builds, although the Int build is a caster not melee. For any hybrid, it's difficult to recommend stat distribution because a lot depends on your gear. I usually go with a Stately helm and its individual boosts can affect your stat distribution greatly. For example, finding a Stately with 20% Str, 18% Int but only 8% Dex will be very different from one with very high Dex but much lower Int.

For my melee Ritualist, I'm aiming to have at least 400 Dex and 450 Str. The Str will allow me to wear even heavy warrior items as long as I have a Weightless affix somewhere - probably on an Outrider's Buckler shield. I find quite a lot of Weightless Outrider's Bucklers when farming Legendary Nessus.

Once I've attained those levels, I'll put as much as I can into Int. Ritualist does have a safety valve in that, even if you aren't doing optimum damage, your pets will do excellent damage in Legendary. So even if you take a fail boat trip on your own damage, the toon will still be viable and can finish the game.

My Ritualist went Dream first and, for the whole of Normal, Dream only. I maxed out Nature for the attribs and put one point in Heart of Oak for the decent speed and small health boost. For my last few levels in Act IV, I also invested my points in the pet skills and Plague, such that I will have the Nymph, two Wolves and decent level Plague from the start of Epic.

But Dream is perfectly adequate for Normal. You really just need maxed Dream Stealer, maxed Sands of Sleep, a half-dozen or so points in ToC and about 7 or 8 points in Temporal Rift. With that, you can beat any mob without taking any damage at all. If you haven't seen it already, here is my demo video of beating groups of Deathlancers using the SoS & DR/TR & PS technique. It works on everything, including Machae archers and Gigantes. I needed very few health potions during Act IV Normal. I cleared the whole Ixian Woods section right up to Medea's Grove without taking one health pot. My melee tanks like Conq and Templar didn't come close to achieving that, they were potting like crazy in that section.

The Dream start is slower than Nature because you only start rocking once you get Temporal Rift at Dream level 32. But you have to get there regardless of how you start. Taking Nature first means you will have fewer problems in the first part of Act I. But then you have to buy a whole bunch of points back, and usually I want my gold for equipment and to increase my Caravan storage at that point.

Another option is to invest in Distortion Wave instead of Wolves. That kills very quickly in Act I Normal. But generally I just push on for 32 and Temporal Rift. It's not like Dream is helpless up to that point. Phantom Strike and Dream Stealer owns, even with just a point in each, and one point in Psionic Touch buffs your weapon considerably. Psionic Immolation is another option at level 24.

I was amazed again by PI's damage in Normal with my Ritualist. I only put one point in it (3 if you count my SBC and Book of Dreams artifact) and, even though most of my attrib points in Normal went into Str and Dex, PI was still doing great damage in Act IV. It wasn't killing outright but it was taking large chunks off monsters' life. For just two points, and with 50% slowing and quick cooldown to boot? Yeah, I'll have some of that. Although that was with Lucid Dream maxed.

[Fozzie]

Squall does significant damage, even in Legendary. So if I have the points, I max out Static Charge.

OK, I have to admit, I've never really used Squall. Whenever I did, most monsters always seemed to just lazily step out of it's radius before it could do them any significant damage - probably because I can't make myself stay put with a caster, I constantly zoom around all over the place, trying to dodge incoming attacks. So I always bought back the points and rather used LB/CL, Shards, or whatever my primary spell was, to pelt them with. Also, this kind of spell simply doesn't really fit my playing style. I just don't like active and targetted (de)buffs, especially when either the monsters or your character have to stay inside a specific, small area in order to have it take any effect. To me, they don't seem to be worth the hassle. So the same goes for Study Prey an Battle Standard - "on paper", they're awesome skills, I just don't like using them, at least not on trash mobs. Plague is a horse of a different colour, since in most cases it's used alongside pets so it gives you something to do, while your companions handle the dirty work. But then again, I'm not big on pets, either.

But those are problems I have to deal with on my own, it's my "defunction" and I wouldn't dream of imposing it on you guys - everybody to their liking, I say.

[Ancient_of_War]

gotaplanstand and Irma, thanks for info and ideas. What I might do is what I've done for a few other characters. Do two of them, starting one with Dream the other,Nature. Just to get an idea if one or the other has a smoother start from the gate. I'm doing it with Champions, Harbinger, melee Diviners, and a couple of more I don't remember off hand. It helps eat up my free time.

[sans_soleil]

Hahaha poison gas bomb assassin. I was actually thinking about making one the other day while enjoying using bombs to cast study prey.

[Somar1983]

I'll had my caster Sage:

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.a...0-8-1-0-12-8-0

Tactics:
Drop Monster Lure
Cast Squal + Study Prey (Flush Out) to criple the badies
Lightning Bolt + Thunderball for damage and stun to avoid the lure being destroyed
Ice Shards to deal with all that remains
Spellbreaker for disabling the tough ones
Ensnare if anything else fails to give me a litle time (may not really be needed but it's not a very heavy skill points build)
The Art of the Hunt Line to give a litle more survivability from projectiles
Wisp for the elemental damage bonus
Herbal Remedy only if u need the poison resistance, but also usefull for the health regen as it can be kept all time, even without recharge gear)

i also should mention that i use two green staffs:
first one with lightning bonuses (for squall and lightning spells) and then switch for cold bonuses for the shards

As for gear, just the usual ones for most casters, i tend to prefer armour that gives the -recharge bonus and resistances and rings/amulets for int/damage boost

Artifact: Elemental Rage

[GlurakTheGreat]

Can someone make a build for the bomber assassin that is viable? Maybe an AOE build with storm or dream for stuns? Maybe with earth for more dps from Volcanic orb? Just some thoughts hahaha...