Warfare + polymorph, what should my third specialization be?

[Magnus]

Hi,

Started playing with two friends as a knight and have specialized in warfare and polymorph so far. My friends are playing as an enchanter (aero + hydro), and a summoner (summoning + geomancer + pyromancer).

I've seen some builds around melee DPS, which are juggernaut, frost paladin and death knight (which focus on warfare, polymorph and either geomancer, hydrosophist or necromancy).

The 4th person in the group is more of a tank character (played by one of us).


I am wondering what third specialization I should invest more in, based on the current combo of the team. Since my friends already have invested in hydro and geo, maybe necromancy is a way to go? AFAIK, necromancy mostly scales with intelligence, so which skills should I pick up that scales good with strenght/melee build?

[JaSzczur]

I'd say pick up only 1-2 points in Hydro, Geo and Necro (consider 1 point in Pyro too - Peace of Mind and Haste) just to get skills that interest you (see a full skills list online for could interest you) and then if you have any points still left, pump up Two-Handed (I suppose that's the weapon type you're using).

[Shima Yamagoto]

Necromany is a good route to go if you want some more damage and sustainability. You are correct that it scales with Intelligence but you will get bonus damage from each point in Warfare as well, as it does physical damage. Remember that Warfare scales your damage multiplicatively, not linearly.

If not Necro, then you might want a point or two in Hydrosophist and/or Geomaner, for Armor of Frost, Soothing Cold, Restoration, Fortify, and Mend Metal essentially a little bit of extra support for your party.

If neither of these, you could do 2 point in Scoundrel for Cloak and Dagger, Adrenaline, and Chloroform, though I honestly reccomend at least those first two skills for every character you ever make. Chloroform will give you a little bit of magic damage, as well as a form of hard CC. Adrenaline will give that extra action you might need to finish someone off, which is very important sometimes if you are DPS, especially if you have taken Executioner.

My last idea here is Aerotherge for Teleport, Uncanny Evasion, and Nether Swap, this will give you more utility in a fight and just a smidge of physical damage at range, though I believe Teleport's damage will scale from nothing other than Intelligence and Aerotherge.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

All you need is:

2 Poly: Tentacle Lash, Medusa Head, Bull Horns
1 Scoundrel: Adrenaline

For support skills I guess
1 Geo: Fortify
1 Hydro: cleanse wounds (situational usefulness)
Some necromancer for life steal

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

All you need is:

2 Poly: Tentacle Lash, Medusa Head, Bull Horns
1 Scoundrel: Adrenaline

For support skills I guess
1 Geo: Fortify
1 Hydro: cleanse wounds (situational usefulness)
Some necromancer for life steal

I’d argue that swapping Geo for Aero is the better way to go as Uncanny Evasion can protect from far more than Fortify can restore, but it can be a bit harder to use. There’s also something to be said for going Geo for Worm Tremor and Torturer combo... that’s strong on anyone. Beyond tentacle, I’ve never been a fan of Poly personally. I feel there’s better support skills out there. But then again, my melee never are DPS focused given their natural inefficiency.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

All you need is:

2 Poly: Tentacle Lash, Medusa Head, Bull Horns
1 Scoundrel: Adrenaline

For support skills I guess
1 Geo: Fortify
1 Hydro: cleanse wounds (situational usefulness)
Some necromancer for life steal

I’d argue that swapping Geo for Aero is the better way to go as Uncanny Evasion can protect from far more than Fortify can restore, but it can be a bit harder to use. There’s also something to be said for going Geo for Worm Tremor and Torturer combo... that’s strong on anyone. Beyond tentacle, I’ve never been a fan of Poly personally. I feel there’s better support skills out there. But then again, my melee never are DPS focused given their natural inefficiency.

I like Fortify utility more plus it's only 1 skill point. Although Uncanny Evasion is better later on.

A geo warrior should be interesting, considering medusa head and earthquake. But I guess that falls out later too. Just fun things to cast I guess. I've been wanting to use under used skills like corrosive touch and such.

[Darkcake99]

Originally posted by Magnus:

Hi,

Started playing with two friends as a knight and have specialized in warfare and polymorph so far. My friends are playing as an enchanter (aero + hydro), and a summoner (summoning + geomancer + pyromancer).

I've seen some builds around melee DPS, which are juggernaut, frost paladin and death knight (which focus on warfare, polymorph and either geomancer, hydrosophist or necromancy).

The 4th person in the group is more of a tank character (played by one of us).


I am wondering what third specialization I should invest more in, based on the current combo of the team. Since my friends already have invested in hydro and geo, maybe necromancy is a way to go? AFAIK, necromancy mostly scales with intelligence, so which skills should I pick up that scales good with strenght/melee build?

You could do aerothurge, there is a radiant battlemage build online you can use for reference, involves using a staff, aero, poly and warfare skills.

[Magnus]

Hi and thanks for all the replies.
If I invest in necro, what kind of skills should I pick up that will be useful as a melee DPS?

[Shima Yamagoto]

Mosquito Swarm and Infect will give you straight physical damage at range, nice for softening targets. Mosquito Swarm will give you health regen equal to it's damage dealt, on top of any you may gain from Necromancy via health damage. Infect will give a status to enemies that lowers the damage they deal.

From here, Necromancy gets a little whacky, with a lot of potential routes to take.

You might want to get Raise Bloated Corpse and/or Raise Bone Widow; summons are nice to have in general, as they add a little damage, and may soak damage/abilites from your enemies. It is understandable if this does not fit thematically with your build though.

Next we have Decaying Touch. This does Physical damage at touch-range. If the target has no Physical Armor after taking this damage, they will gain the Decaying status. Decaying means that healing will deal Physical Damage to the enemies, rather than, well, healing them.

Next there is Death Wish and Living on the Edge. While Living on the Edge is active on a character, they will fall only as low as 1 HP, never dying. To supplement this, Death Wish grants a percentage increase to damage, based on the percentage of health that a character is missing. These skills in tandem can give nearly a 100% increase to your damage, though they are hard to juggle. Each of these skills are castable on your teammates as well.

Next is Shackles of Pain. This is a very weird skill to use. This skill will set a status that shackles your character and the one it is cast upon, together. This now means that any damage the caster takes is directly reflected onto the shackled character. This damage is pure; it is not affected by resistances of any kind. Typically, when using this, the AI will just ignore you, so you will want to take that into consideration. I apologize, as I do not remember if this is resisted by Physical Armor or not, though I would guess that yes, it is.

Silencing Stare is a skill that deals Magic damage in a cone, in whichever direction you cast. If, after damage, the enemies in said cone have no Magic Armor, then they will be silenced. This prevents them from casting any spells. Of note, some skills that may not seem it at first, are considered spells. For example, Silenced make you unable to cast Tentacle Lash.

Second to last, we have Blood Sucker. This skill will absorb blood surfaces from the ground in a medium AOE around your character, and give you vitality, based on the amount of blood absorbed. When I say that it gives you vitality, this is different from healing, though it is the same functionally. This matters for things like Decaying, Undead, etc... That is off topic though.

Finally, there is Bone Cage. This will give you a small amount of Physical Armor, plus the same amount of Physical Armor for each corpse in the area. This skill has the potential to give from anywhere between 30 and 5,000 Physical Armor, depending on location and level etc...

Outside of Hybrid Skills and Source Skills, these are the Necromancy Skills. If you would like me to elaborate on those as well, please let me know.

In my 'professional' opinion, if you are going for Warfare+Necromancer DPS, you will want to pick up some combination of: Mosquito Swarm, Infect, Bone Cage, Raise Bone Widow, and Death Wish.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

A little extra for the above post. Being an elf with elemental affinity lowers the AP of most necro spells by 1 so that's one thing to keep in mind both in the front lines and supportwise.

Also, my personal favorite combo. Flesh Sacrifice > Decay Touch > Blood Rain, Blood Sucker. Does good nuking damage early for only 3 AP if you use Elemental Affinity. You will pretty much kill any non boss enemy with that, always found it fun to use. Even better if you have torturer to make everyone bleed with Blood Rain.

[Magnus]

Hi and thanks for the elaborating posts! It seems that many of the necro skills will fit nicely in a warfare/poly build. Regarding Infect - will this only spread to enemies or will it affect allies as well? And will the Disease effect be resisted by physical armor?

If it spreads to allies as well, it seems like a bit risky skill to use?

[Senki]

Originally posted by Magnus:

Hi and thanks for the elaborating posts! It seems that many of the necro skills will fit nicely in a warfare/poly build. Regarding Infect - will this only spread to enemies or will it affect allies as well? And will the Disease effect be resisted by physical armor?

If it spreads to allies as well, it seems like a bit risky skill to use?

It spreads to everyone including allies, but physical armor blocks it.

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Senki:

Originally posted by Magnus:

Hi and thanks for the elaborating posts! It seems that many of the necro skills will fit nicely in a warfare/poly build. Regarding Infect - will this only spread to enemies or will it affect allies as well? And will the Disease effect be resisted by physical armor?

If it spreads to allies as well, it seems like a bit risky skill to use?

It spreads to everyone including allies, but physical armor blocks it.

And since armor needs to be down to apply it, the enemy usually dies before you get value from it. Never really felt it was useful personally. Maybe that’s the spell Torturer should work with rather than Tremor...

[Senki]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Originally posted by Senki:

It spreads to everyone including allies, but physical armor blocks it.

And since armor needs to be down to apply it, the enemy usually dies before you get value from it. Never really felt it was useful personally. Maybe that’s the spell Torturer should work with rather than Tremor...

Yeah infect is just a good single target damage spell, the disease made more problems for my necromancer than it helped,if you spawn bloated corpse and move it next to diseased enemies for the aoe explosion the disease spreads to the bloated corpse and reduces the damage lol.