How is balance feeling now?

[CitizenKing]

Bought the game but I'm only just getting around to playing it, kinda curious how most of the skill trees feel. I know previously people were having a hard time with making poison and an assassin-style build work, that still the case? Is magic still leagues ahead of melee?

[Millaren]

Caster vs. Fighter Balance – Final Boss Experience

I just finished a run with a Caster build, and honestly, it felt ridiculously easy. I was able to nuke everything, including the final boss. He melted so fast that he didn’t even enter his second phase — he just died outright before anything major happened.

In contrast, I also have a Vanguard (fighter) character, and the experience was night and day. The first phase of the final boss was a struggle. Even with a two-handed sword infused with Runes, I found melee damage underwhelming. The boss gives you very little room to dodge or punish safely — you might land one or two hits, but if you don’t immediately back off or fly away, you get wrecked. His damage output is insane, and if you get staggered or hit twice in a row, you're basically dead.

What made it frustrating was that I had just beaten this boss less than an hour earlier with the Caster, first try, no issue. Switched to my Fighter character and spent over an hour and a half just dying repeatedly. The difference in effectiveness between Caster and melee builds — especially for this fight — is massive.

Overall, I think melee is still very undercooked in terms of balance, particularly against the final boss. That said, I do appreciate that they’ve made the final boss a bit more manageable in the 1.4 patch. It’s just that the gap between builds is still pretty noticeable.

[realradiohead64]

I just hopped on and messed around with my poison build actually. It feels miles better with the stamina usage on daggers reduced (its a buff).

[Terminus Est]

Awful. Spider boss still has overlapping attacks that can hit you when you've already been hit and stunlocked, same with pepper. Difficulty is turned down by 40%. I don't have encumberance to wear a helmet despite dumping tons of levels into strength.

[flushfire]

Originally posted by Millaren:

In contrast, I also have a Vanguard (fighter) character, and the experience was night and day. The first phase of the final boss was a struggle. Even with a two-handed sword infused with Runes, I found melee damage underwhelming.

1H vanguard can hit 900-1k per swing by endgame, VS around 1.3K using greatsword. That is still not as strong as a wyldwarden's ball lightning, but it is more than a flameweaver's upgraded firebolt. The swing is also pretty fast, the full 3-hit is just around 1.55s, almost as fast as a dagger. Shield charge stagger also works against the final boss's 1st phase.

If you want to use 2H weapons just switch to it before using a skill. With the damage reduction upgrade from whirlwind, a vanguard can have around 65-80% DR when below 50% HP, before any resistances. When comboed with burning blood, whirlwind recovers majority of any damage taken while using it.

I personally prefer the vanguard over a vindicator, but balance-wise I'd rank them the same.

Originally posted by Terminus Est:

Awful. Spider boss still has overlapping attacks that can hit you when you've already been hit and stunlocked, same with pepper.

Pepper is one of the easiest bosses to no-hit. Forward dodge his front swing, wait for the back swing, forward dodge again, then wail away. That's it for the entire fight. After he smashes the floor just bait him into walking towards you to keep him in the middle.

Originally posted by Terminus Est:

I don't have encumberance to wear a helmet despite dumping tons of levels into strength.

Vigor is what you invest in for encumbrance.

[Kelden]

This is 100% a Caster game, you can play as a Melee, but you won't be anywhere near the potential a Caster has. I've tried them all, Melee is just super inferior compared, its more of a challenge run tbh.

Caster, you nuke everything, no problem.

[DarkLordSen]

Originally posted by Kelden:

This is 100% a Caster game, you can play as a Melee, but you won't be anywhere near the potential a Caster has. I've tried them all, Melee is just super inferior compared, its more of a challenge run tbh.

Caster, you nuke everything, no problem.

Melee can deal great dmg with the right setup. I'm cooking up something myself right now with vanguard. Its a work in progress but my guess is at lv 75 this build is gonna hit like a truck.

[Honorion]

Does the vindicator count as caster or melee? :) I wonder lol

[Kelden]

Originally posted by DarkLordSen:

Originally posted by Kelden:

This is 100% a Caster game, you can play as a Melee, but you won't be anywhere near the potential a Caster has. I've tried them all, Melee is just super inferior compared, its more of a challenge run tbh.

Caster, you nuke everything, no problem.

Melee can deal great dmg with the right setup. I'm cooking up something myself right now with vanguard. Its a work in progress but my guess is at lv 75 this build is gonna hit like a truck.

Sure, and i know, but it's never gonna compare to a level 75 caster build. The game simply doesn't have the mechanics for it.

[flushfire]

Originally posted by Kelden:

Sure, and i know, but it's never gonna compare to a level 75 caster build. The game simply doesn't have the mechanics for it.

Depends on which caster. When properly built, a vanguard is comparable to caster vindicator in terms of DPS and survivability, with the vanguard being faster.