Warden - Hunting first, or Defense?

[thorvaaldr]

I know that in the end, it's all about point distribution. But what do people prefer? What are the pluses and minuses? Which will tend to to better in Act 4, the first time?

I am figuring on a melee build, since Defense.

Huh. Is there a good Bow-based Warden? For a bow build, I would normally think Dream, or Rogue, or of course Spirit or Nature.

Thoughts?

[Terminal Desolation]

Warden is one that I've considered but decided against because it looks like it'll have a bit of a rough time in big ol groups. I've only thought about spear/shield because, imho, Warden really needs shield to be a good tree. This is as close as I can come to really developing a good Warden with Bow:

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Warden&master1=7&master2=5&sa=0&m1=32-0-0-6-12-12-0-0-8-0-0-8-12-0-8-10-1-0-0-12-6-0&m2=32-0-12-0-0-1-12-0-0-6-0-0-1-0-0-8-1-0-12-8-0-0

If you want to start with bow, definitely pick Hunting. Defense is kinda rough to start with, especially if you aren't using its shield based skills. Spear is more viable and would make a pretty good build, but big groups could be problematic unless you had friends.

[Mivo]

I start all characters with Defense in the class combo with the Defense mastery, then climb the tree quickly with just a few points on the way (Batter and 1 in synergy, Shield Charge and 1 in synergy, Battle Awareness, Shield Smash, couple points in Armor Handling). You don't really need more for the first couple acts and you get a ton of stats and HP from the Defense mastery, plus the top Defense skills are amazing (even after Pulverize got nerfed).

By the time you get to act 4, you should have skills from both masteries. Really need to play this by ear, depending on your gear, playstyle preferences, etc. I would focus on Defense because it will get you smoothly through normal difficulty without even needing a secondary mastery, but there is no reason not to work on it earlier already (unless you go for the achievement, and I believe Defense is a top choice for that).

I'll add that I switched to starting act 4/normal relatively late, end of 30s or at 40, which is probably later than many people do it. But I play with a HC mindset and also always play in a duo game (more mobs, more incoming damage).

[Dr Duh]

I started my warden with a few points in Def, but then concentrated on climbing the Hunt tree to max it out with only a single point in most skills, except for maxing wood lore early (skipped traps so far). While doing this I had good bows along the way and often ran as bow hunter since it was faster than using spear at the time. After maxing Hunting, I switched to climbing Def tree with only a single point in several of the def skills - I didn't max armor yet.

At lvl 30 and nearly at Act IV I've got Def tree at 29 and an Icthian Harpoon that now does significantly more dps than my bow (350 vs 240), so I've switched over to spear/shield - probably for good (won't put any more points into marksman/bow stuff)

[Darth Cannabis]

My original character back in the day was a warden, and my 1st question is whether you want to do bow, or spear and shield, as that drastically effects my advice. I do however prefer the shield and spear, to make a tankish warden. To do that....

Start with defense, and focus on it until you have at least 10% extra shield block from the buff, and adrenaline and rally. Then focus on the spear skills and enough hunter for herbal remedy, and the basic hunt buff til you have the avoid range attack upgrade to it. Then max all the extras like shield attack skills that auto trigger, or collosus form etc. That is more to individual taste, as long as you have the core defense and hp regens. So the general idea and final end picture is high hp regen (as well as high poison resist from herbal), and good defense (of both avoiding projectiles and blocking), while droping enemy hp and bleeding with spear. The only thing left in the end to bring it all together is the Posieden set (I may have mispelled god of seas name).

So that would be the spear and shield picture I ended up with, and it was fun. A REALLY tanky character.

[sauruz]

hunting 1st, it will helps at begin , kitting will be lot of easier and when u got enought of melee equips, u can start going melee

[thorvaaldr]

I started with defense, I'm climbing that tree, spear and shield (mace and shield for undead).

I went ahead and added Hunting at level 8, because there are some low-tier Hunting skills I thought I'd grab.

Loving the build so far. I'm thinking about the shield skills more than I do when I play a Conqueror. My Conq playstyle tends to be a lot of Warfare, and some defense to support it. I think this spear Warden will be more even than that.

I'm rarely touching a bow. Right now one weapon slot is spear, and a Hunting skill shield, and the other slot is mace, and a Defense skill shield.

It also has me thinking about trying a Defense-primary Conqueror build.

Or a Defense-primary Templar. Maybe even a Corsair, that might complement nicely!