Best build for a beginner?

[Schrader]

I've got 400 hours in DOS2 and I've played a bit of both Baldur's Gates, so I know a good amount of isometric RPG's.

What would you guys recommend as a good build? I've got about 30 hours in the first game and I'm wondering what's changed (buffed/nerfed)

I'm eyeing up a Dwarf Monk (Forbidden Fist), which seems fun

[Schrader]

Messaggio originale di SmashStomp:

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

Thanks, will do. What's the best race for a monk?

Honestly doesn't really matter, pick which ever race you like to look at... Unless you are soloing at the highest difficulty, its perfectly fine to play what ever race you like.
The only thing I recommend is try to get the palm shield for your monk as soon as possible, in the metal work at the main city (the one in the bathhouse district).. Its a shield exclusive with a monk that counts as a unarmed attack.. Scales.. And gives tons of defense.. Where you can get both one hand and shield AND dual wield talent bonsues to stack.

Aren't monks supposed to fight unarmed?

[✙205🍉🐆→]

Fighter+Chanter=tank+summons
Cipher+Rogue=DD
ez mod for solo game

[Fendelphi]

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

Messaggio originale di SmashStomp:

Honestly doesn't really matter, pick which ever race you like to look at... Unless you are soloing at the highest difficulty, its perfectly fine to play what ever race you like.
The only thing I recommend is try to get the palm shield for your monk as soon as possible, in the metal work at the main city (the one in the bathhouse district).. Its a shield exclusive with a monk that counts as a unarmed attack.. Scales.. And gives tons of defense.. Where you can get both one hand and shield AND dual wield talent bonsues to stack.

Aren't monks supposed to fight unarmed?

Monks can use a lot of melee weapons efficiently. They even have a lot of abilities that uses Primary attack(so scales best with 2-handed weapons).
Their enhanced unarmed proficiency makes it fairly easy to always have a good weapon at hand(HA), and is a great crushing weapon, but outside of that, dont be afraid to use Quaterstaffs, Pikes, Greatswords, Morning Stars, Rapiers or what ever you like. There are ways to make most weapons work, depending on how you build your monk(they are not that good with ranged weapons though, IMO).

[Schrader]

Messaggio originale di Fendelphi:

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

Aren't monks supposed to fight unarmed?

Monks can use a lot of melee weapons efficiently. They even have a lot of abilities that uses Primary attack(so scales best with 2-handed weapons).
Their enhanced unarmed proficiency makes it fairly easy to always have a good weapon at hand(HA), and is a great crushing weapon, but outside of that, dont be afraid to use Quaterstaffs, Pikes, Greatswords, Morning Stars, Rapiers or what ever you like. There are ways to make most weapons work, depending on how you build your monk(they are not that good with ranged weapons though, IMO).

I thought the whole point of a monk is that they fight unarmed. Guess not.

[kaymarciy]

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

I thought the whole point of a monk is that they fight unarmed. Guess not.

Little did he know that Ranger can use Wounding Shot with a melee weapon...

[Schrader]

Messaggio originale di kaymarciy:

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

I thought the whole point of a monk is that they fight unarmed. Guess not.

Little did he know that Ranger can use Wounding Shot with a melee weapon...

What??? So weapons just dont matter in this game at all?

[kaymarciy]

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

What??? So weapons just dont matter in this game at all?

Well, more or less. The main difference between weapons comes from their profficiency modals. For example, you may want your main tank to use morgensterns (-25 Fortitude on hit) if you have a powerful Druid or Cipher with a lot of abilities targeting Fortitude. Or you may want to give your Rogue a rapier (+20 Accuracy) for more crits against enemies with high Deflection. And of course ther's a matter of unique enchantments, so many wizards gravitate towards the Sun-and-Moon for some free power levels. But other than that weapons don't really matter. It's not like tiny dwarves can't equip massive arbalests or whatever. The whole "monks fight unarmed" comes mainly from DnD, but here the concept is "monks charge up with wounds to deal massive crits". They still get the Improved Unarmed which scales pretty nice (quite useful if you play with Trial of Abiddon enabled and don't want to spend a fortune on repairing Legendary quality items), but there's no restrictions on using fists only. Wounding/Concussive Shot is more of a bad naming, everything would be fine if it was called Strike or something instead of Shot.

[Schrader]

Messaggio originale di kaymarciy:

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

What??? So weapons just dont matter in this game at all?

Well, more or less. The main difference between weapons comes from their profficiency modals. For example, you may want your main tank to use morgensterns (-25 Fortitude on hit) if you have a powerful Druid or Cipher with a lot of abilities targeting Fortitude. Or you may want to give your Rogue a rapier (+20 Accuracy) for more crits against enemies with high Deflection. And of course ther's a matter of unique enchantments, so many wizards gravitate towards the Sun-and-Moon for some free power levels. But other than that weapons don't really matter. It's not like tiny dwarves can't equip massive arbalests or whatever. The whole "monks fight unarmed" comes mainly from DnD, but here the concept is "monks charge up with wounds to deal massive crits". They still get the Improved Unarmed which scales pretty nice (quite useful if you play with Trial of Abiddon enabled and don't want to spend a fortune on repairing Legendary quality items), but there's no restrictions on using fists only. Wounding/Concussive Shot is more of a bad naming, everything would be fine if it was called Strike or something instead of Shot.

Oh I see thanks for explaining that. Coming over from DOS2 it's a huge leap in information lmfao there is wayyyy more to this game than I thought there was

[Balkoth]

My Monk used the spinning spear on his playthrough before they changed how the extra attacks worked. It was fun to walk into a room and just spin-to-win everything in sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPuEY_vlXSQ

[Du-Vu]

Monks can fight unarmed and unarmored and they're definitely a better choice for it than a lot of other classes, but yeah, flexibility and balance were the driving force behind the design of the game. Monks make unarmed fighting competitive, and the same abilities that make monks so tough while unarmored *also* synergize well with armor. Think crusader-style European warrior monks instead of Asian martial artists -- it's a class that can support both concepts, or a hybrid of the two. I always loved having Xoti and Rekke doing jump-kicks in plate mail, very anime. Soul magic makes it possible.

[Schrader]

Messaggio originale di Du-Vu:

Monks can fight unarmed and unarmored and they're definitely a better choice for it than a lot of other classes, but yeah, flexibility and balance were the driving force behind the design of the game. Monks make unarmed fighting competitive, and the same abilities that make monks so tough while unarmored *also* synergize well with armor. Think crusader-style European warrior monks instead of Asian martial artists -- it's a class that can support both concepts, or a hybrid of the two. I always loved having Xoti and Rekke doing jump-kicks in plate mail, very anime. Soul magic makes it possible.

Awesome, thank you bro

[Diomedes]

Messaggio originale di God Himself:

Messaggio originale di Du-Vu:

Monks can fight unarmed and unarmored and they're definitely a better choice for it than a lot of other classes, but yeah, flexibility and balance were the driving force behind the design of the game. Monks make unarmed fighting competitive, and the same abilities that make monks so tough while unarmored *also* synergize well with armor. Think crusader-style European warrior monks instead of Asian martial artists -- it's a class that can support both concepts, or a hybrid of the two. I always loved having Xoti and Rekke doing jump-kicks in plate mail, very anime. Soul magic makes it possible.

Awesome, thank you bro

Another thing, wear armor.. In fact if you got unarmed combat, you can wear some of the heavier armors and be completely fine.

[Du-Vu]

It's one way of offsetting the speed penalty for wearing heavier armour, yeah. Basically you just want to decide how much of a pure frontliner/damager you want to be.