Ideal class/build for a beginner?

[Sparrow]

Never really played an RPG of this calibre before, i think the earliest title I've played was probably Baldurs gate dark alliance on the PS2, but that was more of a hack and slash.

If i were to play this game, are there any particular classes/builds that stand out among the others in terms of strength or will provide more to the overall experience? (Akin to playing say a mage in Dragon age, where you feel more involved in the story)

I don't want a class/build combo that will completely break the game, I still want to have a challenge.

Last question is, with said build, should i be going for lone wolf?

[Stabbey]

There are no really bad classes. You should generally pick a party which complements each other's strengths and weaknesses. You should think more in terms of roles you want the party members to fulfill instead of the specific skill schools and classes.

Single Handed + Shield warriors fulfills a tanking role. Pump them full of defense and resistances. They won't be a great killing machine, but they can stay alive and pump out consistent damage, buff allies.

Two Handed warriors fulfills a frontal attack role. They also benefit from defense of course, but they are much more focused on dealing heavy damage.

Rogues fulfill a sneak attack role. They are fast moving and can dish out high damage when positioned behind, but are pretty fragile and can't take many hits.

For Mages, you have a few varieties. The preset classes take on the following roles.
Battlemages are warriors who use a melee weapon complemented with spells (generally close range).
Enchanters focus on crowd control and disabling enemies.
Wizards go for heavy damage.
Witches focus on buffs and debuffs.


Never go Lone Wolf the first time you play. It is effectively a difficulty increase.

[Nickita]

"a challenge." .... => Rouge :3
But play what you like! If you like Magic, play a Mage and so on.

Greeezzzz

[Firebird]

Originally posted by Joshua |UKCS|:

I don't want a class/build combo that will completely break the game, I still want to have a challenge.

Last question is, with said build, should i be going for lone wolf?

the best advice i can give is trial and error, quicksave often, dont be afraid to reload a lot on your first time. consider your first time a test run (you're probably going to a restart a few times before you find a composition you're really happy with, almsot everyone does)

don't use leech, zombie, glass cannon, guerilla if you want a challenge, these talents (especially when combined) will make the game difficulty a complete joke.

i would recommend using a 4man party (no lone wolf) on your first try, just so you have more "builds" to work with so you can see what style of characters you'll be more interested in without having to completely restart (although you most likely will a few times)

this has a similar character progression to games like balldurs gate/dungeon siege, but the play style is centered more around strategic turn based actions. its not turn based like things like xcom (where each team has an entire turn), its more like how DnD plays (each individual character/enemy has its own initiative which determines its place int eh order).

there isn't really any combos that work ridiculously well together or any that are bad together either. it all comes down to how you like to play that makes the difference. eve polar opposites can work well together (fire/water).

however, if you do decide to have a mage, i can recommend fire/earth (pyro/geo), water/electric(hydro/aero) are good combos due to the game being heavily based around environmental and elemental interactions ie: lightning poison with a fire spell to make explosions etc jsut focus on high INT and SPD for a mage

for a ranger, you really only need the expert marksman tree with high dex and perception (perception = crit/accuracy etc, dex = offence rating and defence rating -chance to hit, chance to avoid-) and a point in scoundrel can help with some nice things like invisibility and haste.

for a rogue style class, you want speed and dex with either 2 daggers (high amount of potential stats) or a dagger and shield(amazing amount of defence with very limited amount of loss of stats-you do the same damage whetehr you have 1 or 2 daggers, it doesn't make a difference, the ony thing is a shield won't have the potential stats a 2nd dagger could).

for a strength based one you want man at arms at max as soon as possible, and can basically ignore all other schools of skills. high STR with a mix of SPD and CON (constitution increases health)

some notable talents include:
bully: 50% damage to slowed/cripppled/knocked down enemies (these are 3 of the best styles of debuff in the game anyway, so use them as much as possible) benefits all classes

far out man: for mages, increases the range of your skills by 2m, might not sound like much, but it is, and generally means you can outrange your enemies forcing them to waste points on moving.

opportunist: great for melee classes, especially a 2h STR based class, allows enemies who are fleeing from your immediate vicinity to potentially take a significant "extra" attack form you for free.

stench: makes you less likely to be the target of melee attacks, causing the enemies to focus on a character without this skill (especially useful if using a 2 ranged classes and charms)

quickdraw: reduces the cost of your basic attack with a ranged weapon (bow/crossbow) by 1 attack point, this is significant.

pet pal: not required, but can open up a lot of quests you otherwise wouldn't get as long as treasures, secrets and hints/tips/exp

back stabber: essential for a rogue class, causes your attacks from behind to be guaranteed crits and they are very cheap to attack with.

willpower/body building/loremaster are very very good! loremaster at higher ranks will allow you to see enemy resistances, this is invaluable to most, especially newcomers. but don't focus on getting it to 5 asap, you have more important things to spend your points on.

feel free to add me if you would like any further tips or advice tailored to your current build/gear in real time.

just remember too, al advice is simply that, advice, nothing is in stone and most combinations will work well wth each other.

[Stabbey]

Napalm, there is no such thing as "two daggers" at this time. A dual wield skill is theoretically coming, but it isn't in yet, so mentioning it now is just confusing.

[kaffekoppen]

If you want to have the easiest time, make sure you can summon some creatures to tank for you.

For example: a wizard with Midnight Oil, Flare and the spider summon spell. Get a heal on that same mage ASAP as well. This is an excellent beginner character and just an excellent character overall.

It also pays to have a character who can turn invisible. This is either a level 7 spell (which means you can't get it right away) or a level 1 scoundrel skill. I recommend the latter, since you can get it right away.

[Ziigler]

@Napalm, I too am kind of new to this, it's been a long time since I've played something like this. Your post is very helpful, Thank you.

[Kazz]

having played the ranger my first time through I would recommend giving him a point in magic at start. the bow is soo inaccurate at anything over point blank range unless they are knocked down. about level 6 or 7 starts to get more competitve

[Stabbey]

Any disables will let you have a 100% hit chance at range. Stun, Blind, Knockdown, Petrify, Frozen (although that one also grants armor so it's not great),.

[Sparrow]

Hey everyone, just want to thank you all for the informative posts you've all made, I've settled on a knight and Enchanter as the starting two and have picked up Bair and Madora.

My main tank dude is going down the Man at arms & Geomancy tree, mainly for the defencive buffs, trying to keep him in the forefront, taking the full brunt of the enemies hits as i can, seems to be working well if i position everyone right.
Also my blacksmith to repair armor in the field, not too fussed with the crafting.

My enchanters gone hydro/Witchcraft/Aero for the Controlling, Heals & Debuffs, working very very well, using this gal to throw out heals in between fights and it's working like a charm.
She's my loremaster too, currently +5 with increases from jewelery i've been finding too, seems to be overkill though at the moment as i haven't ran into anything requiring 3 or more, still, only put 1 point base in here, rest is from items.

Bair is my obvious ranger, i dump all the special arrows on her and she's pretty much got one to fit any need at this current point in time, been stealing a lot of stuff so whenever the opportunity arises to buy a special arrow, she seems to be my main form of DPS too at the moment as well, Ricochet combined with this legendary crossbow i found for her is nuts.
I was going to use her for lockpicking doors, but i always end up just bashing my way through them.

Madora I'm taking down the Pyro/Man at arms trees, mainly for the DPS too, figured fire would compliment her well as I haven't really got a stable way of dishing out fire damage other than special arrows, so having it readily available on madora is nice, and things seem to be going well!

Everyones level 7, it was a bit rough at the start, but now that everyones getting more abilities and becoming more developed, it's getting much smoother.

Cheers all for the feedback, it's helped a bunch.

(And i haven't gone for Leech or Zombie, i feel they would triviliaze a large portion of the game).

[El_Bastardo]

remember that spells may fail if the main stat for that spell is too low ;) e.g. Wildfire will sometimes fail if the character only has 5 intellect.
try putting 1 point in scoundrel with your ranger, for the haste/invis and Trip - since they share dex as their main attribute anyway.

[Sparrow]

Yeah i've been doing that, focusing on intelligence now for Madora and my fighter, so i can make sure their spells are always going to be at least 100% chance success.

Bair has got 1 in scoundrel but i haven't come across any scoundrel books yet (or anyone who sells them)

[El_Bastardo]

mmh you know the inn where you found madora, on the 1st floor (or 2nd, depending on where you live :D) there is a merchant with a guard, she sells witchcraft and scoundrel skillbooks.

[Firebird]

Originally posted by Joshua |UKCS|:

Yeah i've been doing that, focusing on intelligence now for Madora and my fighter, so i can make sure their spells are always going to be at least 100% chance success.

Bair has got 1 in scoundrel but i haven't come across any scoundrel books yet (or anyone who sells them)

Originally posted by Joshua |UKCS|:

Madora I'm taking down the Pyro/Man at arms trees, mainly for the DPS too, figured fire would compliment her well as I haven't really got a stable way of dishing out fire damage other than special arrows, so having it readily available on madora is nice, and things seem to be going well!

these are really bad things to do, hybrids are terrible. and just because it says 100% chance doesn't mean it's 100% chance. it will roll against the enemies defences, so yes, it may say 100%, but then you have to take away all the enemy defences it will drop a lot. so mixing main stats is just a bad thing to do and will significantly hamper your characters, keep them to their correct stats and they will perform much better (properly). i've played basically every imaginable combination of build so far (over 1500 hours) and i can say without a doubt, hybrids just suck so much a**, and will rapidly lose their "fun" factor, if you can even call it that, when you start getting smashed by enemies. But of course it depends on your difficulty as well i suppose, easy/normal are very easy, even hard is pretty easy. The AI in this game is super easy imo, even with the extra difficulty "source mod" which gives you significantly less hit chance, and the enemies significantly higher hit chance, and you get a third less health, it's still not that hard, but hybrids will make it ridiculously hard for you. jack of all trades master of none, not a good way to go.

Originally posted by bucsstomp:

@Napalm, I too am kind of new to this, it's been a long time since I've played something like this. Your post is very helpful, Thank you.

glad i could help :)

[Stabbey]

So hybrids suck because easy, normal and hard are all really easy, but a mod to make the game harder makes the game harder.

Since this player is by definition a beginner, they are PROBABLY not going to jump immediately into the Source Difficulty mod. A hybrid character will not have the same raw power as a dedicated one, but it is quite a bit more versatile. It might be easier to avoid a hybrid on your first playthrough, but it probably won't cripple you.