Adivice for Thunderer (Rune+Storm) Build

[Another Brick]

Hello Everybody,

I recently started a new char and decided to build it for magical melee damage. Until now my idea for skill build is as follows:

Rune Skills:
https://ibb.co/cGnOoJ

Storm Skills:
https://ibb.co/b5iUTJ
NOTE: I forgot to put points in squall. There will be Squall:6 (more after) Obscured visibility: 6

The ideia here is to maximize elemental damage in the atacks, and doing some procs with the Runeword: Explode+Storm Nimbus for dps like dmg. There's some energy leech for more strom skills after some lvls. And defence from resistances from the wisp, Rune of Life (this I will tweak on demand, diminishing storm surge for though battles) plus almost -30% Shield Recover Time from Runeword: Absorb. In the late game I will still have some skill points for improving.

Also I should note that I intend to cap resistences with gear all the game the best I can. So there is some good defence coming from this choice.

The problem comes with the Attribute points and weapon of choice. Since the 2 points are connected, here are the weapons that I intend to have in the late game (will have to farm for those, no choice).

Option 1 - Sword (Easier to find):
https://www.tq-db.net/equipment/hofud

Option 2 - Sword (rare drop):
https://www.tq-db.net/equipment/lord-seths-chaos-blade

Option 3 - Throwing (also rare):
https://www.tq-db.net/equipment/blessing-of-the-moirae

Of course inteligence will be the priority. But as you can see, my doubt is about what path to take from here. If I go for swords (which will give eventually better average dmg I guess) I will have to invest to get to around 213 for strenght and 295 for dex (thats for lord seth caos blade). If I go for Throwing I can almost skip points in strenght and focus on int/dex but I guess I end losing some dmg in exchenge for potentially better DA (also have 6 extra points that will no longer be spent in Runeword: Feather skill). I don't know which is better...

As you can see I'm also on a turning point in atribute allocation.

https://ibb.co/ndHOoJ

What do you guys think? Can someone help diminish my crucial doubt?

Thank you in advance!

And sorry for the bad english.

[AndAgain]

Is a throwing weapon so much better than a meele ? When i find one, i will give it a try. Thanks4sharing.

[Dr Duh]

If you go with INT armor and put a point or two in Runeword:Feather (assuming you will have some +rune or +skills), you won't need to pump much STR or DEX just to equip stuff. Assuming you use a melee weapon, points into DEX aren't wasted since you need the OA and DA, but you do get some OA from Feather too. STR does you little good other than just to equip stuff, especially once you get Transmutation into ultimate levels.

One thing I don't know about is the order of damage conversions. Is a sword's physical divided by its pierce ratio before or after Transmutation or things like Hofud's elemental conversion take place? If you're losing 10-15% or more to pierce with a sword or knife, you'd be better off with an axe or blunt, so long as it isn't getting a lot of it's listed dps off of +phys%, which you also lose after transmutation.

[jkaplow21]

I find that throwing weapon works very well as Thunderer. You should also look at the following items.

https://tq-db.net/en/equipment/mj%C3%B6lnir

https://tq-db.net/en/equipment/munnin's-grasp

Also, I'd use Thunderstrike as it synergizes very well with thrown weapon and with Storm due to the lightning damage.

Here is the framework build I'd use:

https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc464c464crunee80e.html?mastery=Thunderer&master1=8&master2=10&sa=30&m1=32-0-10-1-0-8-1-0-12-0-0-0-6-12-0-0-1-0-0-8-0-0-0-0&m2=32-10-1-10-16-1-10-0-1-10-10-0-10-1-0-12-0-0-6-0-0-0-0-0-0

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Runeword: Feather helps with dealing with strength issues. If you're going rune weapon + transmutation you want to stack int anyways as you'll be turning all you dmg to elemental. You'll still want some decent dex for OA/DA. Runeword only helps with weapons but not armour so you'll have to make do with int or dex based gear.

You should look into picking up thunder strike as a RMB attack. For melee it acts as a charge and decent dmg with some CC. For throwing weapons, it fires 5x per weapon. I had a duel wielder and 10x projectiles was insane.

My own Thunderer is a Thor themed build. Throwing weapon + shield and lots of lightning related buffs and attacks. Rune weapon to buff int, thunder strike and lightning bolt for aoes, wisp, lightning aura, etc. And to make it challenging, no wall, lots of kiting instead. No the best build but interesting.

[Chrix]

Originally posted by AndAgain:

Is a throwing weapon so much better than a meele ?

For some kind of builds throwing weapons are an excellent choice: early in the game you find awesome darts with 50% piercing and other bonuses (green items - so you can put relics on them, too) and that are VERY FAST.

Rune Mastery, in particular, has various skills that work in perfect symbiosis with throwing weapons..

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chrix:

Rune Mastery, in particular, has various skills that work in perfect symbiosis with throwing weapons..

Thunder strike in particular. It fires 5x projectiles per weapon. If you duel wield you fire 10x projectiles. Add this in with weapons that have a chance of activating special effects on hit or passive buffs like runeword: explode.

There's also a duel wielding skill in reckless offence and extremely good CC in menhir wall. A duel wielding throwing rune build is very powerful and very fun.

[Chrix]

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

My own Thunderer is a Thor themed build. Throwing weapon + shield and lots of lightning related buffs and attacks. Rune weapon to buff int, thunder strike and lightning bolt for aoes, wisp, lightning aura, etc. And to make it challenging, no wall, lots of kiting instead. No the best build but interesting.

I have a similar character named Thor too : )

Thunder Strikes + Unleash, even with few points invested, is a so overpowered sinergy that you can really go through normal wiping whole areas without breaking a sweat.