Good caster?

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

I played this game a while ago as a Nightblade and I think Soldier, and am gonna start a new character, and wanna do a caster this time. I'm still not completely familiar with the classes, anyone got a recommendation for a fun caster class? I don't need a build or anything, I just need a starting off point as I have no idea what mastery to really do. One that's more engaging, right now I'm thinking Spellbinder.

[[R] Nerva]

Occultist, Arcanist, Inquisitor, and Necromancer are generally your go-to classes for caster types. Honorable mention, however, goes to Demolitionist and Shaman, as they can both synergize really well with the above and are worthy secondary classes.

Occultist and Necro tends to be more pet-oriented, and if you want a pet character you could do a lot worse than putting those two together, but a casting build is certainly viable for them, too. A lot of people I know swear by Arcanist/Demolitionist (Sorcerer/Sorceress) or Arcanist/Inquisitor (Mage Hunter).

If you go Arcanist/Occultist (Warlock), you'll probably be building for Aether (favoring Arcanist skills) or Chaos damage (favoring Occultist skills). Arcanist/Inquisitor (Mage Hunter) tends towards Elemental damage (as does anything/Inquisitor, really). Demolitionist/Occultist (Pyromancer) clearly favors Chaos. Arcanist/Necromancer (Spellbinder) typically favors Aether damage, but Elemental's not unheard of.

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

Originally posted by R Nerva:

Occultist, Arcanist, Inquisitor, and Necromancer are generally your go-to classes for caster types. Honorable mention, however, goes to Demolitionist and Shaman, as they can both synergize really well with the above and are worthy secondary classes.

Occultist and Necro tends to be more pet-oriented, and if you want a pet character you could do a lot worse than putting those two together, but a casting build is certainly viable for them, too. A lot of people I know swear by Arcanist/Demolitionist (Sorcerer/Sorceress) or Arcanist/Inquisitor (Mage Hunter).

If you go Arcanist/Occultist (Warlock), you'll probably be building for Aether (favoring Arcanist skills) or Chaos damage (favoring Occultist skills). Arcanist/Inquisitor (Mage Hunter) tends towards Elemental damage (as does anything/Inquisitor, really). Demolitionist/Occultist (Pyromancer) clearly favors Chaos. Arcanist/Necromancer (Spellbinder) typically favors Aether damage, but Elemental's not unheard of.

Well damn, thanks. I heard this community was pretty helpful, guess that wasn't a lie. I might try a Mage Hunter then, I wasn't completely sold on Necromancer initially, and the Inquisitor skills seem to be more up my alley.

[N00bWarrior]

Occultist, Arcanist, shaman, Inquisitor, and Necromancer.

[CrUsHeR]

I deleted my characters and stashed gear for the FG expansion, only kept the recipes and components.
Played a summoner necro first, but then designed a new Spellbinder (Arcanist+Necro) to be played without any required items or reputation:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2ddm892

Start as Necro with exactly 1 point in the mastery, then max out the basic Raise Skeleton skill. This will bring you at least until level 20, preferrably by doing Crucible until you have 10 Devotion Points. The skeletons are steamrolling everything with lightning speed at that level, so this part is very comfortable compared to any other class.

Any points after 16/16 Skeletons go into Arcanist Mastery (15 points), then put 1 point into Panetti's and the rest into Distortion - because you only use Panetti for its Aether bonus skills. When the skeletons start dying too often, refund the 16 points and put them into the Arcanist skills/mastery.

Panetti's are initially a bit weak, but once you reach lvl40-50 they are okay for bosses and absolutely devastating to groups of monsters. So you want to max out Distortion first, then put as much into Proliferation as you need.

So with Arcanist Mastery you want to stop at 40, get the 1-point-wonder skills and Maiven's Sphere / Conversion as much as you feel comfortable.
After that you want to invest into Necromancer and get Spectral Binding + Wrath, Mark of Torment, and finally Harbinger/Reap Spirit can be upgraded simultaneously. Note that the pet from Reap is not why you take the skill, but the extreme Aether nuke and Vita DoT.


Currently at lvl 81, Ultimate is pretty much effortless in Act1+2. Also tried the FG areas, but the resists on the current gear are too low.
Only thing to look out for are the Haunt Relic, and the Arcanum Sigil. Both recipes should be easily obtainable. If you don't have Haunt, you'll need 1 point into something like Ill Omen or Ravenous Earth to apply devotion procs at range.

This build can also switch freely between the different Aether-based skills, for example replacing Reap Spirit and Harbinger of Souls with their Arcanist counterparts. Depends on which items you find. Generally +Arcanist is more important, because that is where all the 1-point-wonder skills are. Otherwise go for Aether bonus damage and try to keep resists at 80+.

...and most important: This build is actually fun to play, and you feel like a spellcaster. Most "beginner-friendly" builds i tried were absolutely awful, like the Vitality Cabalist who just stands on his Ravenous Earth blobs while spamming 12 other skills nonstop.

[kekkuli]

Tbh shieldbreaker (oathkeeper+demolitionist) seems like a very solid option for a fire&burn caster. I've been playing one lately though i have aegis of menhir maxed as well for some more instantaneous damage, in addition to blackwater cocktail. But you could pretty easily take any other skill instead of aegis.