DAIL Character class combo opinions

[Skeleton Mage]

So started messing around with the DAIL mod, Got a frost knight to level 14 without grinding but found it to be unimpressive using X mode (normal spawn rate, increased difficulty) & Vet difficulty.

After being killed a few times and burning through around 30 mending potions - compared to one of my vanilla characters which used around 15 by level 25ish with only two deaths and no attribute points spent - I came to the conclusion that its a case of go big or go home - in other words you need ether huge defence from armor & resistances or serious damage - idealy both with AoE damage being better with the fairly common large groups mixed with hero creatures.

So in your opinion assuming nothing equiped & No attribute points used & no shrine points:

1) Which class combo offers the best damage - burst or DPS ?

2) Which class combo offers the best defence - maximum armor & resists?

3) Which class combo offers the best balance of offence & defence ?

[Cosmic Cat]

I haven't played X-mode as I find S-mode to be the most enjoyable (modicum of difficulty and decent speed at levelling/grinding reputation), obviously some builds will perform better than others! Don't think there's any "best" as it also depends on gear in the end! You may use a legendary set on one build, but use none of those on another.

I probably have like fifteen characters by now with different builds, but one suggestion is to try terrorknight/voidcaller if you want to be very difficult to kill (life leech build). Or alternatively swap on of them out for occultist. Frost knight isn't easy (not in S-mode either) but I guess it depends on what kind of second mastery you pick. I picked storm for extra cold damage.

[Skeleton Mage]

Thanks for that Electorine.

I had a quick look at the different skills ingame skipping the TQIT classes as they have not changed much and also skipping mercanary as that is in a rotating slot.

I have some idea how the grim dawn origional masterys work so I skipped them as well.

If you would not mind having a look over the notes and pointing out any obvious flaws I would appreciate it:

Key = Class - Damage Skill - Mastery - Notes
Necromancer Bonespear (1) Mainly a summoner
Ranger Coup De Grace (32) Ranged damage focus
Cenobite Sun Ray (15) Most skills defensive, Sun Ray more effective vs undead
Fanshi Soulcalibur (50) Looks like a support mastery, Soulcalibur has long cooldown
Terror Knight Evocation of Terror (50) Some skills fueled by health, EoT has long cooldown
Elementalist Rapture (50) Looks like a glass cannon elemental mage, no obvious LMB skills
Coronus Awake (1) Clearly intended as a summoner
Arch Necromancer Bone Lance (1) Mainly a summoner - stronger pets then necromancer class
Mystic Warrior Warp Step (5) Warp step requires a powerful weapon for maximum damage
Voidcaller Chaos Vortex (50) Pull effect looks worthless because of short skill duration
Grove Keeper Acid Rain (25) Obvious party healer, Acid Rain has a huge AoE
Frost Knight Frost Blast (20) More defensive class, Frost blast can freeze & disrupt
Witch Doctor Firebats (5) Another summon foucsed class, Firebats is a 100% piercing DoT
Demon Hunter Cluster Arrow (20) Ranged class with natural dual wield

[Cosmic Cat]

Originally posted by Sir Pent:

Thanks for that Electorine.

I had a quick look at the different skills ingame skipping the TQIT classes as they have not changed much and also skipping mercanary as that is in a rotating slot.

I have some idea how the grim dawn origional masterys work so I skipped them as well.

If you would not mind having a look over the notes and pointing out any obvious flaws I would appreciate it:

Key = Class - Damage Skill - Mastery - Notes
Necromancer Bonespear (1) Mainly a summoner
Ranger Coup De Grace (32) Ranged damage focus
Cenobite Sun Ray (15) Most skills defensive, Sun Ray more effective vs undead
Fanshi Soulcalibur (50) Looks like a support mastery, Soulcalibur has long cooldown
Terror Knight Evocation of Terror (50) Some skills fueled by health, EoT has long cooldown
Elementalist Rapture (50) Looks like a glass cannon elemental mage, no obvious LMB skills
Coronus Awake (1) Clearly intended as a summoner
Arch Necromancer Bone Lance (1) Mainly a summoner - stronger pets then necromancer class
Mystic Warrior Warp Step (5) Warp step requires a powerful weapon for maximum damage
Voidcaller Chaos Vortex (50) Pull effect looks worthless because of short skill duration
Grove Keeper Acid Rain (25) Obvious party healer, Acid Rain has a huge AoE
Frost Knight Frost Blast (20) More defensive class, Frost blast can freeze & disrupt
Witch Doctor Firebats (5) Another summon foucsed class, Firebats is a 100% piercing DoT
Demon Hunter Cluster Arrow (20) Ranged class with natural dual wield

Don't mention it, glad to help :)

I don't have full comprehensive knowledge of each class combo as per say, but I can give you examples on what I play based on the masteries you mentioned in your list! I have more combos than this.

Necromancer/Archnecromancer = around 10~ pets that swarm everything. They are generally weaker than pets from other masteries, but no one else can field this many permanent minions.

Ranger/Hunting = you do crazy pierce damage with a two-handed crossbow/rifle. You can stack tons of projectile speed in both masteries so shots are super fast!

Cenobite/Soldier = Either a super tanky retaliation/Reflect build with 1h/shield that can afk in most encounters or a 2h melee build focusing on physical to elemental conversion (using those wings and the aoe hammer!).

Terrorknight/Voidcaller = A life leech build. Constant life leech aura from voidcaller and aoe life leech from terror knight. Add life leech to attacks ontop of that, you are nearly impossible to kill if you time your cooldowns. The more enemies around you the more life you leech.

Elementalist/Arcanist = Ice sorceress! Use icewall to block enemies, star pact and spam skyshards/greater ice shard (blizzard and leviathan pool devotions).

Elementalist/Earth = Fire sorceress! Cone fire spell that burns everything infront of you, rupture from the ground destroying everything around and some decent fireballs that are spammable.

Mystic Warrior/Arcanist = A 2h melee build focused on physical to aether and elemental to aether conversion. Use Maiven's Sphere and Eroctes for survival, bottom aura in MW for aoe. Pick weapons that either have physical or elemental damage to utilize conversion from the class-tree - first pure aether weapon is 65-70 (Wrathmourne).

Voidcaller/Occultist = Demonic pet build, bonus tentacles that rise from the ground, stack chaos damage and help your pets with vortex, curse etc.

Grovekeeper/Occultist = Poison build with DEE, acid rain and noxious bomb from component. Massive dot damage!

Frostknight/Storm = 2h frost melee, pick the energy shield from frost for survival - crucial! Eventually use Leviathan or Bane of the Frost King-weapons.

[Skeleton Mage]

Electorine have you tried the Evocation of Terror skill from the terror knight by any chance ?

It looks to be powerful to account for it long cooldown and high energy cost but looking at the picture makes me think is an AoE effect centered on the caster instead of a targeted skill.

[Severian]

Regarding Evocation of Terror I can only add my own voice to the legions who keep pointing out that fearing enemies away from you is a sure-fire way to have a bad time when you're playing melee. It really is rather frustrating and more of a point against the class than in favor.
It would be a much more interesting skill for a caster or ranged build, but I don't know if the point investment in TK is worth it compared to other, more obvious combinations, especially considering its long CD.
An interesting tidbit about the Terror Knight is, though, that apparently its inbuilt cooldown reduction can make the Fangshi's Soul Calibur skill into an always-up skill, which would make it pretty OP.

[Skeleton Mage]

I read about the terror knight & fangshi sould calibur combo somewhere else.
Still useful infomation so thanks for the input.