New player: support+pets build

[Raynel]

Hello. My friend and I are going to start playing TQ soon and I was looking for advice on mastery choice. I like playing more of a supportive role, especially since I will be playing with someone else, and it would be nice if I could have a pet or two while doing so.
Any suggestions on class? Nature obviously looks decent with buffs and plague debuffing, but I dont know what to pair with it.
Thanks for any advice.

[Terotrous]

Nature for sure. If you really want to go overkill with the buffs, you could choose Warfare as the second class, as Battle Standard is also very powerful. Plus, you have Refresh, allowing you to get the Double Standard achievement easily.

[sarcastic_godot]

...don't.

Nature Pet builds play the game for you, and your mate will die of boredom. :D

No, seriously, Nature petmancer is an autowin build. Nature per se is fine - Plague, Heart of Oak, sup support / debuff stuff. But for co-op leave the wolves out of it, they're just too strong.

If you want to go for more support, you can go to Dream (versatile Trance aura, debuffs, CC skills), Rune (bubble shield, mines, CC, and high mid-range DPS), Earth (...and Fire. burn dmg aura. And a not-so-overbearing pet...), Defense (Melee, defense aura, AoE emergency heal / buff), or Hunting (long duration poison resistance buff, ranged DPS, buff and debuff skills).

[Raynel]

Thanks for the input. What would you recommend if I want CC skills? You mentioned dream and rune for that?
What about Earth so I at least get one pet (I like having at least one) and then one of those?

[Gummiel]

I mean yeah nature would always be in the middle of any support build, and more or less any other mastery can work with it, so probably depend on what your friend goes for, so you can try and cover any weaknesses

[sarcastic_godot]

It somewhat depends on what your friend wants to play... ...melee, mid-range, caster? What do you want to play - act from within the fray, or from the rear?

All masteries have some team-valuable skills, even Warfare! Many have pets. Some Masteries synergize well, e.g. Dream + Storm, due to shared damage types. Other combos make you and your bufddy nigh unkillable, e.g. Rune + Nature... ...Dream + Defense would be a great shoulder-to-shoulder-in-the-fray variant. - even with a pet option..

So some more info would be appreciated.

[redgreen999]

If you go strictly pets, Nature/Spirit or Nature/Earth. If you want pets but also want to do some melee and have the best support spell to slow mobs, then Dream/Spirit.

[Raynel]

Originally posted by suicidal_godot:

It somewhat depends on what your friend wants to play... ...melee, mid-range, caster? What do you want to play - act from within the fray, or from the rear?

All masteries have some team-valuable skills, even Warfare! Many have pets. Some Masteries synergize well, e.g. Dream + Storm, due to shared damage types. Other combos make you and your bufddy nigh unkillable, e.g. Rune + Nature... ...Dream + Defense would be a great shoulder-to-shoulder-in-the-fray variant. - even with a pet option..

So some more info would be appreciated.

I am not 100% what he is going to do yet. I'd like at least one of my masteries to be different from his, so I'm trying to consider at least 3.
I don't really care if I am ranged or melee, but I do not want to use melee weapons and smack things (so something like an auramancer would be fine). I'd like to focus on CC with some support like buffing/debuffing, although I tend to favor debuffs. I'd also like to have at least one pet. Currently considering Earth, Spirit, Nature, and Dream. Maybe Rune.
What masteries would let me have a pet, and CC, with some possible party support/buffs/debuffs?

[N0P3]

Experiment, but patiently.
You can always re-spec with a Mystic (NPC) located in most all mid to late Act 1 and later cities; re-spec is expensive and may not allow you to drop a class entirely though from what I read so make alts - because you can have more than one character - and test them out.

Thought about this very topic myself, but opted to (win, lose or draw) grind out a melee warfare class and due to sticking to the direction have discovered a few things I find interesting. Running a build service like I would in other ARPG titles I try to gear up in all health regen buffed armor and load up on rings & amulets that buff offensive stats and use charms & relics providing mostly proc or elemental resistances as offensive stat buffs as well while stacking life leech on weapons using bat fang charms watching for weapons with fast attack rates and additional attack speed & life leech modifiers. Excusing the really long run-on sentence description, the build process has been fairly entertaining.

Main agnostic tips apply here as with most all ARPG - farm, farm; farm. Find a nicely populated area and farm the hell out of it for gold, potions and most importantly loot like gear and weapons. Oddly, build a class can offer some diverse and enjoyable perks, but if your gear is trash then you are going to suffer diminished returns. After playing almost 50 hours haven't completed but maybe half Act 2 due to the farming and enjoy the hell out of it.

Not a big fan of farm or ARPG and have yet to lose interest with this game - am not surprised at all why it still has a decent level of popularity after all this time. Take your time, have fun and get to know the classes.

[sarcastic_godot]

Dream + Spirit or Dream + Rune seems to be your place....

Dream + Spirit (Better if you go for staff caster):

- Both have a decent pet and the two of them also work nicely in concert.
- Spirit brings Ternion attack, a powerful staff attack that gives you triple staff projectiles with an AoE on impact, Devastating at close range, though at a high energy cost, be prepared to drink a lot of energy potions in the early stages.
- Both have great melee range debuff auras that synergize nicely, Dream has three different AoEs that also have a debuff, and can put enemies to sleep. Spirit also has a strong long range debuff aura vs. undead - and can Enslave one enemy.
- Spirit's Life Drain gives you a quick self-heal, with a terrific AoE nuke expansion skill @ Mastery Rank 40.
- Dream has an "extradimensional" dash, so you can get to the ranged attackers in the rear.

Can go staff, which can be a wee squishy in the early game. Also can go thrown or melee.


Dream + Rune (works best with thrown weapons, but all styles possible):

- Dream Pet (OK, not the greatest one, but decent)
- Rune has a powerful base attack, best suited to thrown weapons.
- Rune has Energy Armor, a force field bubble shield, that is a) strong, and b) also applied to neary allies when you cast it.
- Dream has player-centered CC, Rune some placeable ones.
- Dream debuff Trance aura.
- Two dashes - Phantome Strike, and Thunder Strike.
- Tanky, more than Dream + Spirit.


Defense would also synch nicely with your aims, but that'd require using a melee weapon to make best use of the Defense shield mechanics.

[Raynel]

Great, thank you for the information.