I Have Questions About Defense Mastery

[dwaynegand]

From what I have been told, Defense is the weakest mastery to start a new character with. It may give you higher health than all the others, but it lacks a spammable left-click attack, has no permanent passive or active skills to increase damage, and many skills require a shield.

Kerplunk Gaming on his video for Quickstarting with this mastery has him using Batter to start off with with Rend Armor, then Shield Charge. Later on, Colossus Form and Defensive Reaction give more physical damage, then the passive shield attacks for more damage and fighting techniques.

Later on, pick up Unyielding Phalanx.

For the other masteries, here is a list of skills to take to supplement Defense through Normal:

Dream: Lucid Dream increases physical damage of all Defense attacks. Psionic Touch is your main attack, later get Psionic Beam for reduce charge levels. Hypnotic Gaze for reduced resistances. Phantom Strike and Dream Stealer for attacking multiple targets and rejuvenation. Distortion Wave with Chaotic Resonance for crowd control. Trance of Empathy for healing yourself and reflecting damage.

Earth: Earth Enchantment and Brimstone for imbuing your weapons and shields with fire and burning damage as well as increasing physical damage. Volativity for more damage. Heat Shield and Storm Form for defenses. Later on, the Flame Surge tree for reducing defensive abilities to get more critical hits. Eruption for crowd control.

Hunting: Wood Lore for increased damage with spears. Herbal Remedy for increase poison resistance and health regeneration. Volley for a triple attack. Art of the Hunt for more damage. Study Prey and Flush Out for reducing resistances and defensive ability. Spear Dance for when surrounded.

Nature: Susceptibility for reducing resistance. Earthbind for reducing defensive ability. Strength of the Pack for increased damage and speed. Heart of the Oak for more health and speed. Refresh for reduced recharge times.

Neidan: Huangdi's Favor for a left-click attack. Consequences and Mutual Suffering fore reduced resistances. Aura of Tranquility for defenses and resistances. Inner Equilibrium for increased speed when not under potion influence. Later on, Spreading Influence for hitting multiple enemies.

Rogue: Calcuated Strike with Lucky Hit for a left-click attack. Lethal Strike with a point in Mortal Wound for a more powerful hit. Poison Gas Bomb with Shrapnel for crowd control. Nightshade and Mandrake for inflicting status ailments.

Rune: Rune Weapon for a left click attack. Runeword: Feather for increased offensive ability. Rune of Life for more speed and resistances. Runeword: Absorb for shield enchantment. Thunder Strike for a powerful attack. Seal of Fate with Aftershock for a powerful elemental attack and reduced resistances. Transmutation for more damage. Menhir Wall to help synergize with Seal of Fate.

Spirit: Deathchill Aura and Ravages of Time for defensive purposes. Spirit Ward and Spirit Bane for more damage and defense against undead. Unearthly Power for more damage. Circle of Power for reduced recharge.

Storm: Storm Nimbus and its synergies for imbuing attacks with elemental damage. Squall and Obscured Visibility for crowd control and debuffs. Eye of the Storm for more elemental damage. Thunderball for reduced defensive ability.

Warfare: Onslaught and later Ardor for left-click attack. Weapon Training for increased speed and offensive ability. Battle Rage, Battle Standard, and Crushing Blow for more damage. Triumph for debuffs. War Horn for utility.

What else should I take from Defense? What other skills from the other masteries are recommended? Should I max Batter at the start?

[Swanky]

Why do you care if a class is weak at the start? Beyond act 1 where you can basically do whatever unless you want to rush through it doesn't matter. Defense has excellent survival skills, one of the best ways to boost secondary resists and devastating shield skills, if built right.
There are ways to powerlevel up to skill mastery 32 as early as level... 13 or so, so getting the necessary skills to go easy mode can be achieved as early as Megara.

Choose either Bash or Shield Charge. Both have a cooldown but Shield Charge doubles as a mobility and debuff skill.
Skill Shield Bash, Disable and Pulverize top to bottom. Pulverize will usually make the game a cakewalk until act 3. Use a fast weapon to maximize chances to procc these skills.
Adrenaline proccs a lot and is a great skill to have with its mods fully skilled.
Battle Awareness if you need the extra survivability in key moments, makes you a walking tank for a short time.
Haven't found the level 40 skills to be worth it.

Dream: Trance of Wrath is probably the best choice unless you go for a reflect build. Has great CC options but falls off damage wise at some point.

Rune: Has decent synergies because both have skills to reduce str. requirements. Great auto attack and seal is a great way of debuffing enemies. Stat distribution still makes this combo challenging to play - balanced stats mean you can wear most heavy armor but don't do the most damage, int focus means you will have issues with survivability at some point.
Also, shield skills and damage conversion is funky and could have been solved better.

Hunt: Good synergy with defense, going for a strength crit build should balance out the weaknesses of either class - hunting is a high damage single target class, while defense focuses on survivability and AoE shield attacks.

Warfare: Best autoattack, battle standard. Conqueror is a very easy class to play and gear.