Which mastery to choose for beginner?

[Potato]

I'm new to this game. Which mastery I should choose for easy gameplay? I see people suggest Defense/Warfare a lot but pure warrior build is boring imo. I prefer something like spellsword, mix both magic and physical.

[Captain Pentium]

Definitely Dream. It has a good mixture of both magic and physical abilities, you can get a pet to help you out, and it's pretty powerful from the getgo so it can never really be a wrong choice.

[slayor3000]

Are you starting level 1 or 40. Level 1 Warden is a good all round choice. Level 40, auramancers are good fun to play. Look for guides. Dream/ Earth, Dream/ Spirit.

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Your Mother:

I'm new to this game. I prefer something like spellsword, mix both magic and physical.

Hybrids (mix of physical / magic) are a bit more complicated to build and play and as you're new you might want to play another mastery first and then try a hybrid on a subsequent run. Pure casters can be more gear dependent. Rogue can be almost anything depending on what your other mastery and can be pretty complex, maybe skip that for now. TQ masteries are all pretty balanced through.

Dream is good all around, can be used as melee or caster. Warfare (offensive melee oriented) is simple and strong overall. Hunting is a good standalone mastery as well (bow / spear oriented). Nature is primarily used for summons or support, summoners are pretty good in TQ and aren't too gear dependent as your pets take the heat of you letting you get away with worse gear than others.

[Potato]

What about Dream and Hunting? I do like use bow.

[sarcastic_godot]

Dream / Hunter works nicely. But I'd advise for using thrown weapons - you can do that while using a shield, they have faster attack speed, all the Marksmanship procs work with them, and all that at the cost of a bit of range... ...which helps the baddies get into range for your Trances to take effect.

Or go for spear and use Shadow Strike to nuke whole groups at once.

[Potato]

Originally posted by suicidal_godot:

Dream / Hunter works nicely. But I'd advise for using thrown weapons - you can do that while using a shield, they have faster attack speed, all the Marksmanship procs work with them, and all that at the cost of a bit of range... ...which helps the baddies get into range for your Trances to take effect.

Or go for spear and use Shadow Strike to nuke whole groups at once.

Thanks. So for hunter should I focus on increase Strength or Dexterity?

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Your Mother:

Thanks. So for hunter should I focus on increase Strength or Dexterity?

You'll want a mix of both. Strength increases physical damage, Dexterity increases Pierce, Poison, Bleeding damage and increases your offensive and defensive ability (Offensive ability isn't needed for bows / throwing weapons through). I believe you get the most benefit from boosting both rather than going totally in on either by itself.

Bows / Throwing Weapons require mainly Dex along with some Str. They do physical damage and pierce damage based off the pierce ratio. End game strength armour requires a lot of strength (~650), Dex gear only requires ~450 at most I think but tends to be rarer than strength gear I find.

[sarcastic_godot]

I tend to invest into Str (or Int when playing a caster) to meet gear thresholds, and spend the rest in Dex. - with Hunter. DA is very important, TQ is a defense-centric game...

...and once I'm past level 20, 25, 30, and can afford this, I keep 10 stat pick points unspent to have some reserve in case I need them to put on some newly found shiney...

And if you opt for the spear-wielding leap-and-BOOM Shadow Strike version, then you might want to have more Str.

[slayor3000]

Haruspex is a great choice if your a bow lover. Do not get too hung up about attribute points. They are important. But with Hunter/ Dream once you max out wood lore, lucid dream, trail blazing and find cover ( as far as i think the backbone of a tanky archer). You will have 400+ da, 110+ oa and a good start to attack and movement speed and that is without any points invested into dex or from equipment. Plus 40% avoid projectiles and all this without any +skills. Only invest enough attribute points to wear the gear you want. Try to find some -reduction to equipment.

Do not invest any into int if you are going archer/ spear. The skills in Dream you want are all strength/physical based. As said above try to save 10 to 20 attribute points later in the game, just in case you see the perfect gear.
Plus I believe you will end up being heavily strength based, 2 or more strength to 1 dex.

[JewelryStar]

/txhuy88

Rune!
- You can very fearsome at low lvl with lot of elemental dmg bonus from Magical Charge (synergy kill of Rune Weapon).
- You can run so fast even without +movement speed/total speed from gears just by pump skill point into Sacred Rage skill.
- There is Transmutation skill that converted your weapon's base dmg to elemental dmg (which boost by Int & +% elemental/fire/cold/lightning/total dmg).
- Thunder Strike skill is big nuke at low lvl, and can be shotgune at close range enough if using bow, especially with dual throw weapon ( Rune has Reckless Offense skill that allowed your character dualwield).

[Graf Unknown]

I recommend Defense+Runes or Defense+Dream.
Defense is overall a pretty good mastery if you are new to the game, since you can tank more dmg. Runes and Dreams are nice pairings to it, judging from my own experience.

[shane]

The first playthrough (the first few for that matter) are about learning the game mechanics, enemies, and classes. I'd pick whatever I thought was more interesting. You'll probably want to try most of them eventually anyway. I went conqueror because that's what everybody suggested. I didn't really like it. Then I tried again, and it's one of my favorites now that I understand how it works.

I'd second defense/runes if you want something dead simple for the first few acts, but defense is more geared toward melee.

Dream/hunting is a solid choice if you like ranged weapons. Or nature/hunting if you like doggies. Wolves are super strong the first couple of acts, though they fade noticeably for a while unless you invest heavily in them before eventually bouncing back.