Likely going to pick up the game, question about a tanky build

[Landale]

I tend to try and play the tankiest characters possible, so I had a question about that for this game. I was thinking about starting with 3str/3dex/1int so I can craft, get heavy armor, get dual daggers, and leech from blood magic. It seems like this would be good in theory, but having not actually played the game yet I have no idea if this would be viable and I've always liked having some idea if a build will at least function before jumping into a game.

I did notice that you can't use magic without 2 int though but I have been unable to locate skill lists so I'm not sure if you just need the passives from blood or if it would be a good idea to sacrifice dual wielding to get blood skills? Could always do 4str/1dex/2int if the dual wielding isn't that important for the leeching and the magic skills are more useful.

[Thaecrasis]

Blood magic doesn't require 2 int actually - it's the only one warriors can use

I did 4 str, 3 agi last time, for the extra melee damage (the power jump is pretty much only useful for jumping higher for parkour), but I think being able to craft would probably be more useful with 3/3/1.

Tanking with blood magic is 100% viable, it's very good.

One other thing - since you won't have double jump or power jump, you will definitely need the upgraded throw weapon skill to pull yourself up to heights you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise - it's extremely useful.

[Landale]

Could always do 4/2/1 maybe? Is getting dual wielding much stronger for blood vs using say 1h/shield as far as your own sustain/tankiness goes? At least that would give me the option to jump higher if needed, would just have to give up the dual wield.

[Ravenwolf Silvermoon]

Hello. You could also add a splash of Holy Magic, for the 3rd Paladin Seal. Its similar to that double jump but much higher. And with 0 Charisma, you can eventually have one companion with you (if you don't mind wearing the hat, or any other pieces of the Diplomacy gear).

Staring out, its good to try what ever abilities/skills you have. Once you reach 50 or 70, you most likely will respec to better suit you play style, be it the Citadel, Expedition or Crafting mode or just exploring the rest of the game once you done with Story Mode.

I have several other characters/save files that I play off and on. But I still play with my "main" for now, 3 Agility, 2 Charisma, 2 Intel, 1 Strength. I do miss the double jump from my other build with the 4 Agility. And having 4 Charisma for my Bard build is fun too.

Each time I play a new game, start out brand new again, I find or come across things I didn't see or noticed before from previous game. And crafting is useful, especially when you upgrade all your Epic gear, items, weapons.

[Amarantamin]

To be blunt, you're not going to accomplish a tanky build at endgame without a shield and some metagaming. The damage scale from enemies becomes quite intense.
Daggers go best with Banditry and Ferocity play, and can gain some benefit from Blood Magic but they are stifled by Blood Magic's built-in procs-per-minute limit, meaning the extra speed of daggers is lost.
Heavy armor and daggers don't play well together. There's no heavy armor end set that combos well with daggers. You're also giving up the biggest benefit of 3 STR, access to 2H weapons; this can be foregone if you're going to a full Ferocity dual-wield build (which allows you to dual-wield two full 1h weapons), or if you're using a shield, but it will never be made up for with daggers.

However, daggers and agility play combine excellently with medium armor and bows, have some striking benefits with Nature magic tree, and can deal high damage (through guaranteed poisons) and is extremely survivable (through mobility and Nature summons/heals/entangles). In fact, this is often more survivable than a Heavy Armor build, because the damage scaling of enemies precludes any armor obtainable. If you're set on a dagger build with Agility and want to survive, this is the way to go. Strength is a non-issue beyond one point for leather armor, as all of your skill damage comes from Agility and the dagger damage is primarily through poison procs and special abilities, not raw melee power.

[Landale]

I am not set on anything, I was just tossing out a basic idea to bounce off people. The more info I can get the better, especially if my original idea is bad (and it sounds like it is). One of my favorite archtypes is the leech/heal tank (Blood DK in WoW, Warrior in FF14, stuff like that). I just want to tank the world as easily as possible, something that is kind of needed for me due to a bit of a hand impediment, I have very slow reaction time 99% of the time so I tend to need tanky and easy or I have a lot of issues playing games sometimes. I need to be able to make plenty of mistakes :P

[B4Marc]

Originally posted by Landale:

I am not set on anything, I was just tossing out a basic idea to bounce off people. The more info I can get the better, especially if my original idea is bad (and it sounds like it is). One of my favorite archtypes is the leech/heal tank (Blood DK in WoW, Warrior in FF14, stuff like that). I just want to tank the world as easily as possible, something that is kind of needed for me due to a bit of a hand impediment, I have very slow reaction time 99% of the time so I tend to need tanky and easy or I have a lot of issues playing games sometimes. I need to be able to make plenty of mistakes :P

I'm kind of like you, my disability force me to use cheathappens.com trainers to be able to enjoy.

[Trakehner]

I also tend to play Tanky builds. Playing with 2 Str, 3Agi, 1 Char. Leather Armor.
Mainly use ax and shield, but go to the bow for certain situations.
Currently in the last zone at lvl 60. With good buff and healing pots, it works for me.

[Landale]

Figured I would try the game in the test mode for an hour, worst case scenario I can refund it. I am definitely leaning towards something like 4str/2dex/1int, having a hard time picking between heavy or leather armor though...as well as 2h weapons or dual wielding 1h weapons. Both armor sets give stats I like. There was also the option of going 2str/4dex/1int if I was sure about giving up heavy armor and sticking to leather, but that much investment into dex seems a bit wasted without going ranged or at least dual dagger...but I was very much enjoying the dual 1h weapons. I suppose 3str/3dex/2int or 1int/1cha could also work maybe? I didn't test out either of those last two though. Didn't think to try out a 1h/shield either actually.

Both of the first two setups absolutely wrecked the large spawn of minions, and both pretty easily did the elite enemies. The bosses absolutely destroyed both builds but I assume that's lack of experience rather than the builds being bad...although I guess the builds could just be bad, in fairness :P

Honestly really unsure of what path I want to take. I definitely enjoyed melee though so I do think that's where I want to go...

[Yorm]

Levelling up may be a bit tough as melee, keep an eye out for craftable epic gloves, they help a lot.

As for stats, while 4 STR may be considered for melee (especially for whirlwind berserker), 4 AGI is only useful for archers (who get both damage and attack speed from this stat). For a generalist melee guy multiplicative bonuses from 3:3 in these stats plus magic access easily surpass 4:2.

...also, just to be clear, crafting is an ABSOLUTE MUST unless you want to roleplay with self-imposed restrictions...

To give you an idea, toughest build I've had so far is a 3 STR, 3 DEX, 2 INT paladin with sword and shield. Capped magic resistance, almost capped physical; I could stand there and passively take hits from the entire horde for quite a while in expeditions (current endgame). That same build can be respecced into pretty much any melee given the stats.