Developing A Character Effectively

[dwaynegand]

Just recently, I deleted another character because I felt like I was doing it all wrong. I made it to Delphi with a level 14 Conqueror. I tried the technique of putting in two points into a mastery per level up and the other into a skill I wanted. I started with Warfare and got my second mastery, Defense, at level 8. But even still, I felt like I wasn't doing enough damage to most enemies, each taking several hits and having to rely on dropped epic weapons. I also felt that I was taking too much damage when up against certain enemies such as packs of centaurs led by an Elder. I kept all skills I had at that point at level 1. But I think that the technique of putting one skill point into a skill I wanted and the other two in the mastery isn't very effective.

Why did the producers have to make character development so difficult in this game? Is there a more effective way of making a character? Does it have anything to do with my skill point allocation and when I choose my mastery? I've been told on one site that you start investing in your other mastery once you can make the two of them synergize with each other, but I have no idea what that means.

Somebody help me out here: what is a more effective way to make a character?

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Well, for a Conqueror I'd have maxed Onslaught early. Usually I only put a point into skills, but Onslaught is one of those where it's better to max it early on I think.

It has nothing to do with when you choose masteries.

What skills are you using from the masteries? Are you going weapon/shield or dual wielding?

[dwaynegand]

Shield. What point is there in taking Defense if you're not using a shield? Most skills in Defense require one.

How many skills should I get? I was using both War Horn and Battle Standard with their addons, and I had a point in Battle Rage and War Wind. In Defense, I had a point in Batter. I was focusing more on Warfare than Defense. I had planned on getting Shield Charge, Rally, and Adrenaline with their addons, together with the passive shield attacks, Colossus, and Unyielding Phalanx. Is there a problem with having too many skills in the early game with only one point?

What about the other masteries? What skills are best maxed early? I know from past experience that Call of the Wild was best maxed as early as possible since if you start with Nature, it's your only source of reliable damage.

[kekkuli]

Melee or weapon damage based builds overall are weak early on, totally normal. It will get better the further you go. I usually do the same, 2 in mastery 1 to a skill, but often times i max a skill early on. In your builds case i would max weapon training early, makes melee feel so much smoother. But then again i play on normal game speed so that speed feels good. Not sure if it's needed on faster settings.

[dwaynegand]

Well Weapon Training is applied to every attack. Should it and Onslaught be maxed early as well?

[kekkuli]

Originally posted by dwaynegand:

Well Weapon Training is applied to every attack. Should it and Onslaught be maxed early as well?

You do you but i've never maxed it early on. Conqueror kinda requires a bit higher level to really come online, shield passive skills in defense tree are the key. Pulverize being especially good. Shield charge is excellent gap closer. Combination of battle standard&colossus form make you practically immortal during bossfights.

[dwaynegand]

What about other class builds? What if you are making a ranged fighter using bows or throwing weapons? Or a caster?

[kekkuli]

Well i'm no big fan of ranged in this game since AE but i found thunderer with thunder strike to be super strong with throwing weapons.

[dwaynegand]

Is there a place online where I can find a step-by-step guide for which skills to put points into and when in order to make a character?

[kekkuli]

Originally posted by dwaynegand:

Is there a place online where I can find a step-by-step guide for which skills to put points into and when in order to make a character?

I don't know if there's many written guides but there is this https://www.tqcalc.com/

I don't think the order of skills really matters that much if you just understand the basic principles of build making. Attack based scales off better with gear and spells with flat damage values scale very well with +skill bonuses. If you are going fully untwinked and you have no gear ready in your stash etc. then it's totally normal that the game is the way you described in the opening post.

For example i just started leveling a new harbinger. i'm level 15 and i have weapons bought from act 5 on my other character socketed with best possible relics. At that point you can expect the game to be very easy early on.

[CygGame]

If your character feels really weak in a specific area, you can go to the re-trainer (the NPC with the blue ball above its head) and pay gold to get skill points back and redistribute them to other skills.

It looks like you may have spread your skills around too much, normal mode you don't have to worry about about defensive skills really until you get to the dragons in act 3, so about level 25-30 ish I think?

I would focus on the 2 points to mastery and one point to skills every level up still, but go with majority of points into onslaught and the activated shield buff on the defense tree.

After that you should be looking at having at least one point into your defense and warfare passives so they can start activating.

[dwaynegand]

And when do I start investing into the addons of my skills?

[kekkuli]

Originally posted by dwaynegand:

And when do I start investing into the addons of my skills?

If they are useful then you need to get them earlier perhaps. For example onslaught addons you really don't have to worry about for a long time. Really need to think of which benefit you the most. Generally only picking a few chosen skills until like level 25-30 is good because that allows you to pump your masteries up more. Health is pretty important and so are attributes.

For example my lvl 25 conqueror would look something like this. https://www.tqcalc.com/TitanCalc738c738c738c.html?mastery=Conquerer&master1=5&master2=3&sa=0&m1=32-0-1-0-1-0-0-0-1-0-1-1-0-0-6-0-1-1-0-0-6-0-0-0-0&m2=10-6-0-4-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

[Salty Nobody]

I didn't have much luck with a Conqueror either for the same reasons as you, though mine fizzled out in act 3. I had several other melee based characters fizzle out as well until I found the right class combination to make it work.

as such, if you really want to do a melee character before you have good gear from other playthroughs I suggest having one class be rogue. The poison damage it gives you will (after a few seconds of damage over time) kill most enemies that aren't undead or magical in a single hit even into early epic difficulty. For enemies that care about bleeding and poison you can mostly ignore your lack of good gear long enough to get well into act 3, and by then you should be able to start getting actually good equipment anyway. As for the class weakness of undead, there are plenty of ways to get +50% damage to them through items or charms. Magical enemies are another problem entirely but by the time those are giving you significant trouble you should have other options to kill them than poison.

As for skills, I usually go with one point in a mastery, and the other two into actual skills, one in each mastery. This is not a hard rule, if I really need more of a certain skill or need a mastery upgraded to the next tier I do that instead. I also focus on only a few skills, both so that the ones I do have are more effective with more points and for the practical reason that it is difficult for me to keep track of trying to use them all. For a new character I would go for rogue first and start maxing out the base poison damage since that quickly trivializes most of act 1 and many of the challenges after that. Note: I didn't actually max my masteries themselves until level 58. You probably don't have to go that far before doing so yourself.

Also, if you want the best gear possible try running the chaos dungeons. They drop ridiculously overpowered loot for the difficulty they are on, and the one for normal difficulty consists of flesh and blood enemies that the rogue skills will do well against. Don't try this until you are around level 33, the dungeon is very difficult (until you equip yourself with your new overpowered gear it is giving you) and you won't be able to use most of the gear you get out of it until that point or after anyway. Make sure you pick up literally everything that drops from it as well even the potions and common items, as even those are worth alot of money.

Also, for general easier gameplay you want to kill things like the Centaur Elders FIRST, they do lots of damage if they hit you with their abilities regardless of what class you play.

Last, you might want to check your game speed in the settings and set it to normal if it is higher than that. I think the default speed is fast and the faster the game speed the less time you have to react to problems or dodge enemy attacks. Many of my own troubles were solved by giving myself more time to deal with them.

[dwaynegand]

I found an online website that has a lot of tips on Titan Quest, including a list of the best skills to level up to take you through Normal.

https://www.almarsguides.com/Computer/Games/TitanQuest/Misc/BeginnersGuide/BestLevelingAbilities/

[dwaynegand]

Should I just get skills or improve them as I need it and then respec later when I don't need them anymore?