Good second mastery for a Storm noob?

[Kuromiya]

As per the title. Bought the game on the sale, picked Storm after like three hours of deliberation, am now wondering which mastery to get second. What woudl you recommend, and why would you recommend it?

I went Storm because I like Lightning and Cold elements. Currently using Nimbus and Squall mostly, while shooting stuff with a bow and whacking other stuff with a Blue Rarity ghammer I found - Lightning/Chain sounded cool, but so far it seems like too much cost/cooldown for too little effect.

I'm pretty flexible with playstyles. In FPS/RPGs (TES, Fallblivion, etc) I usually go for a stealth/ninja build; in more traditional RPGs (NWN, Dragon Age) I tend to play as nuker mages; and in Diablo, I went Rogue (D1) and Barb (D2). Don't like pets very much.

Currently I'm looking at:
Sage / Hunting: since I'm using a bow already, and don't like staffs much. Is it viable to kite enemies around while hitting them with spells and arrows, or is having long-range physical and long-range magical attacks too redundant?
Thane / Warfare: since I liked Barbs. Use Storm spells to deal with enemies at range, then Warfare to tank/ finish off anyone who gets close?
Sorcerer / Rogue: since I like sneaky rogue characters. Was thinking that Storm could handle crowd control, with Rogue to finish off big single targets, but I heard this was an unpopular / UP combo.

or something else completely? Should I stick with another caster and focus on spells instead?

[Somebody]

With Storm, you usually go for a pure caster. Intelligence increases your elemental damage by 10% every 50 points.

I do not recommend to mix Storm with a mastery that focuses on melee combat, unless you are a very experienced player

Your best options are:
- Nature - Ice Shard build, spam Ice Shard while being protected by Briar Ward and maybe pets
- Spirit - Ternion build (fire multiple projectiles with your staff, instead of one)
- Earth - Elemental caster, very high damage, but fragile
- Dream - Lightning build with Dream for some support skills and passives

[Xenkaroshi]

So far My Oracle (Spirit + Storm) have reached lvl 40. Granted I could transfer some good mage gear I had previously found by other characters. I just started act 4 though and enemies are rapping (eat that steam!) me because my gear is 20 levels behind aside from my weapon which is up to date.
Though Act 3 Telkine and Typhoon was a joke - I also didn't die til I reached halfway into act 3.

It's a class that works, it's not too fun to play in terms of variation - but it's fairly easy to progress in a rapid pace, as long as you grind out some levels in Greece first but aside from that - quite nice progress.
Like Somebody points out - dont go melee hybrid into Storm you are def stuck with the options he mentioned.

I personally would pick Spirit/Nature if I were you

[OldMemes.biz]

Originally posted by snupster Shikaroxen:

So far My Oracle (Spirit + Storm) [...]my gear is 20 levels behind

I have this problem too. I am still wearing 3/4's of the Oracle set (am missing Oracle's Winding, have been forever). I'm in Act III at level 30 now; my gear is all from Act I but being Blue set gear, not finding any caster friendly gear more than Yellow lately has given me no reason to change.

I'm in a weird grey area where what I am wearing is starting to show signs of losing effectiveness, yet it's still marginally better than what's dropping currently.

By the time I do eventually get the Winding (which requires me to go back and farm Act I like a madman, AGAIN), it won't even be worth having completed the set most likely.

I'll probably take a break from that character and get my others through I and II. Maybe then the Winding will drop.


*Yes, there's an item set called "Oracle's Winding," which is not to imply only the Oracle hybrid class can wear it. Just wanted to avoid that confusion. I am definitely talking about both the class and the item set, coincedentally being that I am playing one, and he is wearing it.

[Xenkaroshi]

Ya, I def think it's worth starting a new class at this point and just hope to find more suitable mage gear from there, while at the same time get progress on another class.

I have 3 classes running atm and it def helps!

[rhyrhy86]

I'm currently working on a Paladin (Storm/Defense) early game requires ALOT of juggling and having to wait till Delphi to re-spec was a pain but once the build starts rolling, it's bliss, Ice-shards OP :) just reached Great Wall and only 1 death.......friggen double Djinn heroes in a cave that froze me in double squalls.....wasn't prepared for that lol

[OldMemes.biz]

Originally posted by rhyrhy86:

I'm currently working on a Paladin (Storm/Defense) early game requires ALOT of juggling and having to wait till Delphi to re-spec was a pain but once the build starts rolling, it's bliss, Ice-shards OP :) just reached Great Wall and only 1 death.......friggen double Djinn heroes in a cave that froze me in double squalls.....wasn't prepared for that lol

I suffered my first death in Act III from the neanderthal boss mob that can stun you like Polyphemus stuns you but then immediately drops tons of ice on you. It nuked my character one hit. That really kinda bothered me lol.

[Gloryhawk]

IMO, your first char on this game should always be a dream+defense, focusing on health regen, completing normal is EASY with that, almost too easy, you'lll never die unless you want to for some reason lol. After that, farm legendary stuff from epic for other characters.

Also, from act 2 normal (or 3? i don't remember) you start getting green amulet and helm with +1 to all skills, try to finish at least half of act 3 and then start refreshing shops until you get both, a +2 to all skills is quite nice.

[OldMemes.biz]

Originally posted by Gloryhawk:

IMO, your first char on this game should always be a dream+defense, focusing on health regen, completing normal is EASY with that, almost too easy, you'lll never die unless you want to for some reason lol. After that, farm legendary stuff from epic for other characters.

Also, from act 2 normal (or 3? i don't remember) you start getting green amulet and helm with +1 to all skills, try to finish at least half of act 3 and then start refreshing shops until you get both, a +2 to all skills is quite nice.

Dream+anything really. Even with Dream's minor nerfing it's still the mastery that works sooooo damn well with any other.

[Malgardian]

You can also check if the merchants in towns and cities sell good things (which they do quite often). Their inventory refreshes every 5 mins or so, so you can port around the world and visit them one after the other or go back and forth between two.

[Cowboyman]

Hey everyone. Just want to say thanks for all the tip's and help. I have the original TQ on disc and you have to leave it in to playeven After you install it. I played it through to the end twice, using a complete different character and strategy the second time. You could play this game for year's, even using one single character and strategy and never get the same result's twice; there are so many possible and different option's and outcome's, it's mind boggling! Buut I haven't played in year's, so I'm a newbie all over again and I didn't need to use Steam back then, so it was day's and week's and month's of trial and error and learning to Quicksave after every win.
So happy gaming everyone and thanks for all the help that I'm certain I'm going to need.

[seikesven]

My Haruspex doesnt died until the Fields after Elyshion; againt, erm, i called it ,Mecha-King`. Its funny play, but Corsair is less sweating for some old Guy like me :P (Def/Rog). And dont jump on: "hey, you must start with this and that"; each Player has his or her own Style, so play what you like (and curse Typhon for eating your wolfes and whisps, :P)

[Cowboyman]

Lol so true. While everything is all coming back to me all nice and familiar, I'm getting my butt kicked something terrible! And like you say, all the help is well and good, but it doesn't one whit of good when you don't know where the attack's are going to come from or have anything to fight or defend yourself wirh and die within 3 second's of getting attacked. Time, patience and practice with a healthy dose of luck in picking up some good item's.
Keep fighting the good fight. And remember, when you duck, take your ass with you!
It's not an admitted statistic, but the majority of wound's and death in the battlefield are by both enemy And friendly fire, because the idiot's were too stupid to get their asses out of the air when they dove for cover! It is the highest cause of death in live fire battlegroup training.