A good Engineer leveling guide that leads to a great solo build? Strictly 0 modding so I can't respec at max level.

[OMGWTFLMAO]

Hi all, if I'm going for a strictly vanilla run with strictly 0 mods, is there a guide or tip for Engineer that I could follow as I level up? I'm afraid to reach end game only to find out that my character couldn't go any further because I invested on the wrong skills and stats since I won't be able to respec.
I see that ember quake seems to be the most popular but a guide I saw just basically recommended joining groups to get to level 41 since it's going to be very hard to play until I get the skill, but I tend to solo for now instead of joining a group. I plan on playing on veteran or elite.
Thanks in advance and have a nice day.

[ADEC Inc]

I'd strongly recommend another temporary skill to get you to 42. You can always respec the 3 most recent points spent in town, so you could keep 3 points in Flame Hammer for example. Or switch to Ember Hammer a little later. You could just keep 1 point in Ember Hammer from then on in case you needed to break shields. Another option would be to take Blast Cannon up to rank 10 or so.

Aside from that, pick up the usual goodies - Healing Bot, Forcefield, Immobilization Copter, Dynamo Field - and whatever else you want.

For attributes, you might do 2 str 2 vit for several levels, as engineer equipment tends to require a lot of both. A bit of dex and focus never hurts either. Feel free to dump points into whatever you need if you find a good piece of gear so you can equip it sooner, especially for weapons.

Final build could look something like this[tidbi.ru] with Blast Cannon or this[tidbi.ru] without.

[frostyshad]

Flame Hammer is an insanity as a primary demaging way on the hardcore elite (I have lost few characters with that), without any protection or anti-mob stuff, because this skill has no any knockback like the Ember Hammer and when your char will happens to be assaulted by for an example the cursed frozen bats, the knockback may save your protagonist from an abyssal amount damage and give the time to fast kiting... Usually the small, high damage minions has no any resist to knockback. On my humble opinion.

[HiFive]

What I sometimes do is use an entry level skill with just a few points invested in it, and level the passive skills as much as possible instead. (Your higher-level weapons will often increase the damage of a lot of skills. Read the descriptions.) Then, when I finally have access to the most desired skill, I'll invest as much as possible in that.

That said, for Engineer, I usually invest in some or all of the bots. I stopped using more than one point in the healbot a few years back but always summon it to mostly help my pet. (I use a bunch of HP regeneration embers on all of my characters instead - you can keep transmuting extra gems in your inventory until you finally get those.)

Blast Cannon is an early skill that seems to work well to endgame, if you enjoy using a cannon. If you want to stick with melee, I'd say the Ember Quake is still the best. You can equip a shield, and use Forcefield as well, to help you get to level 41. I always play this game (and all my games) solo, even on Elite Hardcore.

[linda6943]

There are several good builds (strictly vanilla) available outside Steam. You can find them in just about any browser. These were mostly created before modding, because they date back to the disk version of Torchlight II. If you're going vanilla, they're still valid today. Good luck!

[linda6943]

P. S. What kind of build you want for your Engineer depends, too, on your play style. You may want to use a two-handed weapon, or may prefer either dual wielding or sword-and-board. These would use slightly different builds. There's even a special build for an Engineer who is going to summon helpers to do most of the crowd control. There really is no single best build for any class, in my arrogant opinion (IMAO?)

[HiFive]

Originally posted by linda6943:

There really is no single best build for any class, in my arrogant opinion (IMAO?)

I agree that there are many good ways to play each class.

[OMGWTFLMAO]

Thanks all. So far, I'm at level 24. I was hoping to make a really good build to start with so I can supply future classes with gear with it. I wanted a build that will give me plenty of options in terms of weapon choices as the game seems to favor dropping certain weapon types (I have yet to see a blue quality blast cannon in all 24 levels) and at the same time, be able to stomp mobs reasonably easy on veteran difficulty and on future new game pluses. I am currently going for emberquake. Currently putting 3 points into ember hammer and respecing back the 3 points everytime I get a bunch of skill points to spend.

At what level do I see forcefield getting good? I rarely use it because even with five full charges, it's gone in less than 2 seconds if I try to fight enemies head on. Will it eventually get better? I'm currently playing on Veteran mode.

[steffire3]

Originally posted by OMGWTFLMAO:

At what level do I see forcefield getting good? I rarely use it because even with five full charges, it's gone in less than 2 seconds if I try to fight enemies head on. Will it eventually get better? I'm currently playing on Veteran mode.

Forcefield is best at max rank and even though it goes down fast- it's still the best defensive Skill in the game as it acts as free defense to absorb a strong strike.

Less All Damage Taken Items will be useful for taking strikes as well as Missile Reflect and Max Health Items.

[HiFive]

Originally posted by OMGWTFLMAO:

Thanks all. So far, I'm at level 24. I was hoping to make a really good build to start with so I can supply future classes with gear with it. I wanted a build that will give me plenty of options in terms of weapon choices as the game seems to favor dropping certain weapon types (I have yet to see a blue quality blast cannon in all 24 levels) and at the same time, be able to stomp mobs reasonably easy on veteran difficulty and on future new game pluses. I am currently going for emberquake. Currently putting 3 points into ember hammer and respecing back the 3 points everytime I get a bunch of skill points to spend.

At what level do I see forcefield getting good? I rarely use it because even with five full charges, it's gone in less than 2 seconds if I try to fight enemies head on. Will it eventually get better? I'm currently playing on Veteran mode.

I'm glad you stuck with Veteran instead of Elite. I don't recommend Elite for new players, and it's definitely not good to use for a character that is collecting gear for future characters. I usually use a Normal mode character for a faster run for gear and supply collection. The drops are not very good on Easy mode for that purpose. In Normal or Veteran, if you don't enter NG+ after the main campaign, you can go back to old areas and quickly gather up more gear and embers for your newer characters, and still play the dungeons that Mapworks gives you for leveling up.

Forcefield makes the game easier, in general, but you must still play defensively. You can't just plow into everything on Veteran mode on your first character.

There are advantages and disadvantages to entering NG+ at different points after the initial campaign, but you can weigh that when you get there.

[***]

I'm looking to play a cannon build, can we set fusillade with left mouse button?

[steffire3]

Originally posted by ***:

I'm looking to play a cannon build, can we set fusillade with left mouse button?

Should be able to. It can be used without targets as it has auto tracking missiles.

[***]

Originally posted by steffire3:

Originally posted by ***:

I'm looking to play a cannon build, can we set fusillade with left mouse button?

Should be able to. It can be used without targets as it has auto tracking missiles.

Thanks, it miss a lot tho, especially at point blank.
I don't recommend Fusillade, it will take a lot of time to make it better at least 10 point needed, at lv 59 fastest. What a joke game probably already end by then.

[HiFive]

Originally posted by ***:

Originally posted by steffire3:

Should be able to. It can be used without targets as it has auto tracking missiles.

Thanks, it miss a lot tho, especially at point blank.
I don't recommend Fusillade, it will take a lot of time to make it better at least 10 point needed, at lv 59 fastest. What a joke game probably already end by then.

Fusillade gets better at around level 40 or 45, if I recall correctly. However, I am usually using robots and other skills with it as well.

[***]

Originally posted by HiFive:

Originally posted by ***:

Thanks, it miss a lot tho, especially at point blank.
I don't recommend Fusillade, it will take a lot of time to make it better at least 10 point needed, at lv 59 fastest. What a joke game probably already end by then.

Fusillade gets better at around level 40 or 45, if I recall correctly. However, I am usually using robots and other skills with it as well.

Based on this site the requirement for 10 points in Fusillade for aoe mod is lv 59, without the aoe it attack miss most of the time, better use other skill as main attack. It maybe good for new game+.

https://torchlight.fandom.com/wiki/Fusilade

[HiFive]

Originally posted by ***:

Originally posted by HiFive:

Fusillade gets better at around level 40 or 45, if I recall correctly. However, I am usually using robots and other skills with it as well.

Based on this site the requirement for 10 points in Fusillade for aoe mod is lv 59, without the aoe it attack miss most of the time, better use other skill as main attack. It maybe good for new game+.

https://torchlight.fandom.com/wiki/Fusilade

Ahh, thanks for the clarity. It seems I was short on my guesstimate. I do remember it getting good at some point. I have leveled a few characters based on that skill, just for fun/variety.