Top 3 builds in current version of the game?

[Plaje]

Been thinking about playing this game again and really haven't messed with it much the last couple years so I have no idea what has changed and what is and isn't good. I haven't decided how much of a challenge I want yet exactly, but in the past I played a lot of really bad builds that ended up being very disappointing in endgame. In particular dual daggers were really bad in certain dungeons or against certain enemies.

I'm ready to actually try a decent build that will actually work and actually get to the endgame for once. So if anyone out there experiments with a lot of builds, I'd like some general guidance on what you think are the best X builds (I think 3 is a good number but feel free to just share whatever you have tried if you think it worked well).

Would be even more helpful if it included roughly the weapon/shield/armor selections, what are the key trees and skills selected, and some rough idea on attribute points.

[Sir Gura]

1h weapon + shield, any weapon + shield + light or medium armor
2h swords + armored combat, with any armor type
My favorite build, RoT Flails with medium armor, check my guide ;-)

Those aren't exactly the best builds but are some that I think should be interesting.

[Včelí medvídek]

Imho fire, geo and electromancy mage:p

[Warspite]

I would say everything except bows and 2h axe.
Mage with magic mastery + one magic is an ultimate choice.
My meele favourites are:
1, 1h sword and shield.
2, 1h axe with shield
3, 2h mace.
All with heavy armor.

[Abaxoth, The End of All That Is]

Originally posted by Warspite:

I would say everything except bows

Bows are actually pretty strong from midgame and thereafter, combined with Athletics.

[Freeman]

Everything is strong from midgame onwards.

[Rognar]

Brace for Impact in armored combat is a one point wonder that solves most of your defensive needs on a melee build, especially in light armor.
Light armor overall is very strong, it often boast offensive benefits ontop of defense, is cheaper to obtain and maintain and dodge is one of the best damage mitigation in the game, especially when supported by a Buckler.
My lastest build was sword + 2 points in warfare + brace for impact. Get Cauterize + First Aid at lvl 5-6, finish building sword by prioritising the charge skill, get the passive in armored combat for 2 prot on light armor and then I spent some points in electro + magic mastery for basic melee damage buffs against heavy armor.

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by Freeman:

Everything is strong from midgame onwards.

Idk. Everyone keep saying this but for me it is exactly opposite - early levels and dungeons are easy/normal and it does not matter so much what build exactly I am trying to make as evertyhiong works. But past level 20 when all maps are swarmed with gulons and such or distant dungeons enemies that can kill me quickly no matter the gear - that is the point that test the build abilities.

[Elder Borjoyzee]

Back when I played, Spears were consistently strong/safe picks for me, I would get a few spear skills and go down the survival tree for master huntsman for the troll fight at 10 (pretty sure the main bosses outside prologue count as beasts, also F harpies/gulons).
But yeah I really liked the RoT flail build too, would side in a shield for certain encounters.
Two-handed sword solid once you get a REAL sword.
Finisher in Combat Mastery is also just an excellent pickup and I would go for it almost anytime I could.

[brown29knight]

Both bows and electromancy with full perception slaughter all at ranges foes cannot see you. Both are OP if built right, but can be harder to play if you make mistakes in the early game.

Light armor 2H sword Arna is likely the strongest melee, ATM, able to slaughter anything in the game without using healing items at all.

You pump dodge, block, physical damage resist, and global damage resistance, stagger your foes, and deal massive damage, all while constantly replenishing your energy and cooldowns due to your passives. Meanwhile on offense you have the longest range charge of any melee class, a near 100% counter attack and crit rate, and deal massive damage. It gets pretty broken.

Do expect it to be nerfed when the next patch drops.

[Plaje]

Originally posted by brown29knight:

Both bows and electromancy with full perception slaughter all at ranges foes cannot see you. Both are OP if built right, but can be harder to play if you make mistakes in the early game.

Light armor 2H sword Arna is likely the strongest melee, ATM, able to slaughter anything in the game without using healing items at all.

You pump dodge, block, physical damage resist, and global damage resistance, stagger your foes, and deal massive damage, all while constantly replenishing your energy and cooldowns due to your passives. Meanwhile on offense you have the longest range charge of any melee class, a near 100% counter attack and crit rate, and deal massive damage. It gets pretty broken.

Do expect it to be nerfed when the next patch drops.

Was hoping you'd still be around :)

I have started the long range bow character as I found a video that really shows how bonkers that build is and it was suggested here as well.

The 2H sword Arna was a surprise to me, I might want to try that out. What core trees/skills are we looking for?

[brown29knight]

Originally posted by Plaje:

Originally posted by brown29knight:

Both bows and electromancy with full perception slaughter all at ranges foes cannot see you. Both are OP if built right, but can be harder to play if you make mistakes in the early game.

Light armor 2H sword Arna is likely the strongest melee, ATM, able to slaughter anything in the game without using healing items at all.

You pump dodge, block, physical damage resist, and global damage resistance, stagger your foes, and deal massive damage, all while constantly replenishing your energy and cooldowns due to your passives. Meanwhile on offense you have the longest range charge of any melee class, a near 100% counter attack and crit rate, and deal massive damage. It gets pretty broken.

Do expect it to be nerfed when the next patch drops.

Was hoping you'd still be around :)

I have started the long range bow character as I found a video that really shows how bonkers that build is and it was suggested here as well.

The 2H sword Arna was a surprise to me, I might want to try that out. What core trees/skills are we looking for?

I never leave, just go on vacation to other games between updates. :)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3340272491

It is a very jack of all trades Arna, which lets you really grow as you get the books.

The screenshot above is so that you can see her attributes at level 29.

She takes:

2 Handed Sword Tree: All
It is a 2H Sword build.

Warfare: Opportune moment and Setup.
These give you nice energy returns and more damage reduction.
For levels 28-30 I'm taking offensive/defensive tactic and tactical advantage so that I can swap stances to heal out of combat, but it is a QoL thing, and not needed. You could always just rest a bit instead.

Athletics: All BUT Leg Sweep/Inner reserves, Mighty Kick/Push the falling.
The majority of the athletics tree is tailor made for this build. Disengage helps all dodge builds, Not This Time keeps stuns off you, Dash keeps you mobile, Sudden Lunge is insane with lowering your cooldowns while putting foe's skills on cooldown and staggering them (setting them up for a fumble that you dodge and counter) No Time to Linger is huge seeing how many foes you bleed and stagger, it is almost a constant 10% Crit/Acc bonus, and makes sudden lunge a free action! Elusiveness is a powerful buff for a dodge build, but it also is powerful for a damage reduction build that increases vitality... you are both, so it pulls double duty. Sprint Training buffs 3 skills, Peak Performance is an almost constant bonus, and Adrenaline Rush is a god-tier buff.

Magic Mastery: Dissipation, Seal; Cleansing Seal; Reflection
Dissipation Gives you extra energy when you face mages, and extra resists. The seals let you deal with spell casters / pain curse ghouls by cleansing the effects or reflecting them. Makes graveyards so much easier, and helps in all high tier dungeons.

Armor Mastery: Brace For Impact, Battle Forged, Battering Ram, Custom Adjustments
Brace for impact is a great buff to survive a powerful boss hit. Battle forged is a amazing passive for this build. Battering ram is another dash move that staggers. and custom adjustments adds decent armor to your weakest areas.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3340266786

This is both my end-game gear, and the gear I had to get there. Your first gear priority is, as Elder Borjoyzee put it, "to get a real sword" because the first few 2H swords are really bad. Then get what you need to survive. The mail mantle is a great first choice upon getting to Brynn. Get gloves helm and boots to match, and that'll take you well into Mannshire dungeons

If you are interested in seeing what a maxed build can do, you may want to look at this thread of mine:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/625960/discussions/0/4356745048752533578/

There I pushed an Electromancer to 100% Miracle chance without temporary buffs, and proceeded to demolish everything that stood before me. That build even turned out to be insanely powerful in melee, despite only having a basic attack. (and that is also the current version of the game)

[funkmonster7]

There isn't a top 3 build in the game, they're all plenty viable unless you're going with something "off the books".

That being said, if I really have to rate them, in terms of power and ease of learning:

1) Jorgrim - 2h sword, light armor
2) Jonna - pure Geomancer
3) Arna - 1h sword + shield, heavy armor; tied with Dirwin bow build

For the 3rd option, you don't start with heavy armor, but rather you start with light armor as every other build but eventually you move to heavy armor, and optionally heavy shield. I have exactly that: 1h sword, heavy shield, heavy armor, literally Arna is unkillable. There is no going through the block for starters, but the downside is shield gets damaged a lot. Once it gets damaged, even then it is frickin' difficult to go through all that armor. Mages can be a problem but with Onrush from 1h sword you can rush them down and kill them easily.

As for the reason why this ties with Dirwin bow build; with Dirwin bow build, you just kill enemies from range, but for those that you can't kill at range and they get into the critical range (usually about 4 tiles away from you), you can start running for your dear life because there is no way you can fight them past the critical range. So you are essentially unkillable, but only because you're gonna gtfo once the enemy gets into critical range.

Btw you can still opt for light/medium shield and heavy armor, up to you. But this game doesn't actually need you to min-max to beat it. So, I went for heavy everything just to test things...

Honorable mention: dual wielding, dagger + sword, counterattack build. Also reasonably unkillable, and has insane offensive capability almost like 2h sword. Sadly, it is just outclassed by 2h sword in light armor, but only by a little. This is actually my favorite build right now, because I can at least die (haha), so the game isn't as boring.

And also, while you can use Velmir but choose a different weapon style than whatever he starts with (and it rocks - my dagger + sword build is based off Velmir), if you do this you can have a hard early game before you reach Mannshire.

If we're talking about min-maxing melee build, Velmir is probably the best out of every character, with Arna being the close second. Jorgrim is great but not being able to use shrines for +10% xp is really, really bad, because shrines are the easiest source of +10% xp at the start, other than the Vigor buff. However, I don't like Velmir with 2h weapons because you'll be completely open to getting shot at by ranged enemies...

[WizKid]

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Honorable mention: dual wielding, dagger + sword, counterattack build. Also reasonably unkillable, and has insane offensive capability almost like 2h sword. Sadly, it is just outclassed by 2h sword in light armor, but only by a little. This is actually my favorite build right now, because I can at least die (haha), so the game isn't as boring.

just wondering if dual wielding need a dagger + sword? or both dagger are fine? new player here kindly advice.

[Abaxoth, The End of All That Is]

Originally posted by ECHO.WizKid:

Originally posted by funkmonster7:

Honorable mention: dual wielding, dagger + sword, counterattack build. Also reasonably unkillable, and has insane offensive capability almost like 2h sword. Sadly, it is just outclassed by 2h sword in light armor, but only by a little. This is actually my favorite build right now, because I can at least die (haha), so the game isn't as boring.

just wondering if dual wielding need a dagger + sword? or both dagger are fine? new player here kindly advice.

Yes, you can DW with daggers only. I believe it may not be as strong as dagger + sword, but the advantage is that you can spend more points in other utility trees, like Athletics, Warfare or Survival, because you won't spend on 1H Sword.

[brown29knight]

DW Daggers is a late bloomer build. It takes a while to really get moving, but by the time you have the massive crit on kill that the dagger passives give you, you can pretty much blender through whole gangs of foes.

Several veterans have specialized in that play style, funkmonster7 (who you quoted) is one of them.