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#623467 29/09/17 10:07 AM
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Hello,

I am writing this thread to ask what you think are the most fun class to play, along with some fun race combinations. I played through the last game about 4 or 5 times, and I mainly plyaed wizard, rogue and marksman. I am planning to play on tactician difficulty with one or two extra friends. Any advice about fun class playthroughs would be appreciated as well as some fun party combinations; also I am not looking to minmax but to enjoy the game with a bit of a challenge. I have heard that mage is signficantly weaker this game but is this true and even if this is accurate is the mage still fun to play. Any past experiences and observations are very valued to me as I hope to pour hundreds of hours in.

thanks very much

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Sadly best builds are physical (ranger, rogue, summoning, 2h or dw).
Wizard are doable but physical is overall better until they balance, maybe next week patch.

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I was really struggling with my mage at the beginning, but after a restart and different approach I find them very fun to play.

The key to making them usable at least in early game, is to spread out their points. Get a point in hydro, aero, pyro, summoning, maybe some damage reduction as the new AI knows who the weak one in your party is. Also, gear will come with random +1 to different skill trees, i.e. geomancer, etc... So use that to augment your characters so you can do different types of damage.

The funnest thing I have found so far with my rogue is: Rupture tendons on their melee character, cloak and dagger away, then watch the melee character bleed out as it moves across the screen.

When building a character, pick whatever class you want to role-play, then add some magic or physical damage dealing skills to them via skills. I put geomancer on my ranger and will give him a point in pyro as well. Also the necromancy skills do physical damage (I think most of them do, can't remember atm) so I give that to my mage.




"Keep distant, My own demons still haunt me too closely. I cannot also bear the burden of yours."
epitek #623501 29/09/17 12:18 PM
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Originally Posted by epitek
Sadly best builds are physical (ranger, rogue, summoning, 2h or dw).
Wizard are doable but physical is overall better until they balance, maybe next week patch.


IF they "fix" it, it will be by nerfing everything else. That's been their MO all along. I don't think they've ever buffed anything in their career.

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I've been doing some experimentation, and what I found the most fun was actually a 2x Lone Wolf run, with Fane as the main character, starting out as a traditional tank, but with summoning. Over time (without respeccing), I gradually turned him into more of a caster, as magic increases in strength later on (geo + fire is a very strong combo, especially for an undead).

His companion used a similar build, but with more of a wit/crit spell caster build (get the perk to allow for spell criticals), as one character with high wit is almost mandatory.

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Originally Posted by Lady Cassandra
I was really struggling with my mage at the beginning, but after a restart and different approach I find them very fun to play.

The key to making them usable at least in early game, is to spread out their points. Get a point in hydro, aero, pyro, summoning, maybe some damage reduction as the new AI knows who the weak one in your party is. Also, gear will come with random +1 to different skill trees, i.e. geomancer, etc... So use that to augment your characters so you can do different types of damage.

The funnest thing I have found so far with my rogue is: Rupture tendons on their melee character, cloak and dagger away, then watch the melee character bleed out as it moves across the screen.

When building a character, pick whatever class you want to role-play, then add some magic or physical damage dealing skills to them via skills. I put geomancer on my ranger and will give him a point in pyro as well. Also the necromancy skills do physical damage (I think most of them do, can't remember atm) so I give that to my mage.



I agree with you on almost everything here, however I think that the Rupture Tendons thing feels like a bug and the AI shouldn't just kill themselves but instead wait in place until Rupture Tendons ends, or at least only move a few steps until they realize that it is not a good idea laugh

@OP: Generally I think that the classes are all fun and well thought out. Most combos work well together. Some combos are stronger then others from a minmaxing point of view, but if you want to play the most FUN combos, then pick whatever is appealing to you - think of the characters you would like to have in a group of adventurers - and you'll have fun wink

Last edited by Bokajon; 29/09/17 02:28 PM.
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Finished my first play with a 2handed Necro-Warfare Lizard. That was fun.


Now I'm trying a grenadier build, fighting almost exclusively with traps (pyro), explosives (scoundrel toybomb) and grenades.
Almost all my actions cost only 1AP and I move around the battlefield with relative ease, thanks to scoundrel + huntsman skills, always trying to reach heights to proc the Huntsman bonus%

It's really hard to play in ACT1 and the begining of ACT2, but now that I'm at the end of ACT2, I have enough money to buy more grenades and throw some explosions/effect in every fights.

This build is incredibly weak and costly, but it's a ton of fun.

I can't wait to finish this campaign to try Baardvark's modded classes (bard and artificer)


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Fane Blood Knight (2h necro warfare) was fun for me.

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Originally Posted by Dopelgingembre
Now I'm trying a grenadier build, fighting almost exclusively with traps (pyro), explosives (scoundrel toybomb) and grenades.
Almost all my actions cost only 1AP and I move around the battlefield with relative ease, thanks to scoundrel + huntsman skills, always trying to reach heights to proc the Huntsman bonus%

It's really hard to play in ACT1 and the begining of ACT2, but now that I'm at the end of ACT2, I have enough money to buy more grenades and throw some explosions/effect in every fights.

This build is incredibly weak and costly, but it's a ton of fun.

Sounds super fun, I might try that after finishing my first game. Are you playing Lone Wolf (Solo or 2 characters?) or do you have a party of 4?

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With the shitty armor system fun is the least you will have, in fact you should build your characters to avoid combat whenever it's possible with high persuasion.

Zherot #623638 29/09/17 04:43 PM
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True enough.

In the end, the armor system plus the initiative BS was a huge letdown for me.

I always liked the diversity of the teams in the previous game, with my mage being the king of cc. Now, I just run 3 physical and a support mage. Sad. I like physical teams but still.

Bokajon #623658 29/09/17 05:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Bokajon

I agree with you on almost everything here, however I think that the Rupture Tendons thing feels like a bug and the AI shouldn't just kill themselves but instead wait in place until Rupture Tendons ends, or at least only move a few steps until they realize that it is not a good idea laugh


Thats the point the AI has no control over the running chicken even if it would want to. Same goes to your chars that get chicken-hexed they simply run around like ....a frightened chicken.

I admit I have not yet tried that synergy but it sure DOES sound like a wicked combo.

Bokajon #623662 29/09/17 05:28 PM
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@Bokajon I have a party of 4.
If you try it, grab a crossbow or a bow, you will still be able to use Ambidextrous!


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MAsterX #623665 29/09/17 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by MAsterX
Originally Posted by Bokajon

I agree with you on almost everything here, however I think that the Rupture Tendons thing feels like a bug and the AI shouldn't just kill themselves but instead wait in place until Rupture Tendons ends, or at least only move a few steps until they realize that it is not a good idea laugh


Thats the point the AI has no control over the running chicken even if it would want to. Same goes to your chars that get chicken-hexed they simply run around like ....a frightened chicken.

I admit I have not yet tried that synergy but it sure DOES sound like a wicked combo.

He didn't say anything about the chicken combo with rupture tendons (although that sounds fun smile ). That of course would make sense.

My point was that the AI oftentimes kills themselves by running towards you after they have been hit with rupture tendons.

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Originally Posted by Lady Cassandra
I was really struggling with my mage at the beginning, but after a restart and different approach I find them very fun to play.

The key to making them usable at least in early game, is to spread out their points. Get a point in hydro, aero, pyro, summoning, maybe some damage reduction as the new AI knows who the weak one in your party is. Also, gear will come with random +1 to different skill trees, i.e. geomancer, etc... So use that to augment your characters so you can do different types of damage.


I completely agree with this. My team is made up of 2 mages, 1 warrior/necro/morph, and 1 ranger.

I've tried many different skill distributions with my mages but what I find to be most fun and effective is the Jack-of-All-Trades approach. At level 14 it looks like this:

Warfare: 1 pt (for executioner)
Huntsman: 2 pts (for tactical retreat)
Polymorph: 2 pts (for Chameleon & Wings)
Hydro: 2 pts (healing and magic armor healing)
Aero: 2 pts (teleportation, nether swap)
Earth: 3 pts (AoE slows, poisons, oil fields, armor recovery)
Pyro: Remaining points (Damage)

Talents:

Elemental Affinity
Executioner
Stench
Savage Sortilege

Equipment:
Wand & Shield

Stats:
Even split between Int and Memory

With this setup my mages are masters of the battlefield and are prepared for any situation. They have high survivability, high mobility, high aoe damage, great control and are a blast to play!

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I'm running a Fighter build based on a valkyrie from Norse mythology. Skills are Warfare, Polymorph, and Hydrosophist. Bull Horns and Spread Your Wings from Polymorph tree and healing spells from Hydrosophist. Roll the Warfare skill however you like to fight. Leech and Hot Head for the first 2 talent points. I'm having a lot of fun with the character. High mobility and hits like a train.

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Fane rogue with what a rush and glass cannon talents. Early in the playthrough, build lots of initiative to avoid getting targeted before you have a chance to hide. Using cloak, feign dead, skingraft and fanes special take extra turn source magic, you can pretty much always go invis or lose aggro and you deal absurd ammouts of damage more often then not getting through the armor of any enemy on turn 1, turning them into a chicken and then cloaking yourself to safety.
Additionally, deathwish can be casted on a feign death character without breaking his cover, unlike cloak which is dispelled when damaged. You can imagine how much damage fane can deal, using his source talent to take both deathwish turns in sequence.
You can also cheese using this build and solokill almost any enemy, in case your crew is unagreeable. And you will always have the option of running away when things get rough. Over all great for multiplayer. But sometimes your mates may get annoyed that you arnt tanking.
Interstingly, between gag order, lizard breath(shape shift to lizard) and medusa, you can cc enemies that have predominantly physical armor aswell. The combo costs 8 ap if you start lizard and 9 if you start something else which means that if you start elf or lizard you can use adrenalin and flesh sacrifice to do the combo and cloak afterwards.


On another note, In my experience, the most important thing for a mage is to be independant in selfdefence. She will be the target of the enemy almost every engagement, so build her accordingly. Two points in aero for teleport is essential. After that go Necro + hydro + geo, focusing on hydro or geo which gives you a ton of defensive for armour and magic armour aswell and applying stasis. Also, necro bonewidow is sipoer OP and resist death will keep you even safer.
In my experience hydro is the strongest magic in terms of control. There are multiple spells that apply many instances of chilled, allowing you the chainfreeze opponents effectively. If you have trouble breaking through magic armour yourself, tell your rogues to use gag order. Hell, if you have fane on your party he can always shapeshift to a lizard and burst. Aditionally you need a healer to damage fane, putting him bellow the what a rush threshhold.

Finally archers are alot of fun. Im thinking of trying a glasscannon what a rush fane archer, it may work even better then the rogue.

Last edited by iFreeDawg; 03/10/17 08:16 AM.

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