Any Class General Build Advice: Short and Concise

This is a small and concise Guide designed to quickly state what numbers, stats, affixes, and build tactics matter most for 90% of all Mod Classes encountered throughout the Torchlight 2 Community whether on Steam Workshop, ModDB, Nexus, and the Torchlight Fansite / ModDrop.

The only exception to this Guide are mods that change how the Main Stats affect the character like the
"Lao III Stats" mod.

The purpose of this Guide? Hidden Basics Worth Remembering:

There was a basic Review written by someone else on some Mod Classes:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1320959449&searchtext=mod+class

I don't feel this Linked Mod Classes Review is useful for Builds yet it provides a few Class Names.

I actually feel that any Class can be made viable; it simply takes more Farming Gear for some.

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Now for something useful:

All Classes are capable (in theory) it's just that some are over tuned in power while others are under tuned for survival on the hardest scenarios.

The basic recommendations for Classes in Vanilla generally apply onto Mod Classes.

Let's begin:

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Stats, Player Damage, and Minion Damage:

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If relying mostly on Skills that deal Dps (Weapon) Damage = Build Strength.

If relying mostly on Skills that deal non_Dps Damage = Build Focus.

If relying mostly on Skills that deal both Dps and non_Dps = Build Strength and Focus.

If using different Skills that deal Dps and non_Dps separately = Build Strength and Focus.

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Strength affects All (Total) Weapon Damage (Including when Dps itself appears in a Skill description).

Focus affects Elemental Damage on Weapons and any not_Dps Damage often unofficially referred to as Flat (this also includes over-Time) Damage and will affect "Dps as (Any Type) Damage" when the Dps converts to that Type Damage.

Because of this, in some cases it's advised to invest both Strength and Focus since some Skills benefit from both.

If a Skill is missing Dps then only invest Focus. If a Skill only includes Dps and there's no conversion then only invest Strength.

The only exclusion worth remembering is that Focus does not raise Physical Damage on Weapons.

Skills however only care whether Flat, over-Time, or Conversion Damage are available for Focus to empower.

It's worth noting that Weapons have very few options to interact with "Focus empowered Skills" as the only affixes worth placing on Weapons (if Focus is the main Build) are:

. +% All-Damage (or a related single Damage Type because of Skills)
. +Focus
. +% Cast Speed

With a special note on:

. +Damage
It is possible to get direct (non-%) +(any type) Damage from green and blue tier armor items however it's rare that vanilla Unique armors will carry this affix.

More specifically this +Damage usually only appears in vanilla on "trinket" armors otherwise known as Rings, Amulets (Necklaces), Belts and almost only on green and blue tier versions of these items.

The reason this doesn't mention the usual source on Weapons is because pure Focus (non-Dps / non-weapon damage) Skills don't source +Damage from Weapons. Armor sourced +Damage works around this limitation.

Originally posted by Snowcrash000:

I have absolutely found clothing (mainly rings, amuletts and belts) with + elemental damage (not %). In particular, I have a ring that gives +91 to frost damage in my stash, which seems like it may be rather good. My guess is that it adds that damage to any frost damage being done, but IDK

Originally posted by ADEC Inc:

Originally posted by steffire3:

I've seen Flat Damage Bonuses from Skills add onto the total damage output however I wasn't aware that this also worked from Armor sources.

While armor sources of +damage do technically work, they don't work well, because they are added onto the end of damage calculations without the usual bonuses they would receive.
... ... ...
Either way, the +damage on armor/trinkets isn't very useful because of the lack of strength / focus and other bonuses applied to it. Armor with +percent damage is the better option.

Originally posted by ADEC Inc:

They're affixes that can roll on green or blue trinkets with a low chance. Can also be applied with any of the basic enchanters.
https://pastebin.com/0P1upkUf

There seems to be only one unique example.
http://tidbi.ru/eng/item.php?item=shield_u07

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If a Body affix or Weapon affix adds +(Any Type) Flat (no %) Damage then that will be added directly onto Weapon attacks.

+% however will only increase Damage if it's already present on the currently active Weapons.

This logic also applies from Skills onto Weapon attacks although it's rare to see this without modded class skills such as the Kensei class from Far East or FEP+ mods.

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Boris the Stat Enchanter randomly appears in Dungeons and can raise any of the main 4 Stats on Items especially on Higher Leveled Items.

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Dexterity is usually good enough at 100 or 200 until Boris is available to support higher numbers.

Dexterity increases chances to Critically strike hence works well with Strength which raises Critical Damage. Focus benefits less from Dexterity in comparison.

Note that Block has more priority negating Damage received making Dodge much less useful.

Vitality is a decent bonus against small threats however Item Defenses are highly recommended for safety towards larger Damage received especially from high-risk scenarios.

Vitality has a hard cap at 999 while Dexterity has diminishing returns then caps at 495.

Strength and Focus have extremely (unknown?) high caps even if their side bonuses cap early.

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The Main Hand (non_Shield Hand) will provide all available Dps.
Strength works well with this.

The Off Hand (Shield Hand) is only useful if the Weapon provides special Bonuses or activates Item Skills at good %.
Focus works well with this.

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Vanilla and most Mod Classes rely on high Strength, Focus, or both.

Mod Classes "may" provide extra bonuses for Dexterity, Vitality, or both.

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Some Skills provide extra Damage dealt on foes for a few seconds.
These are very useful and should be considered when using Skills together against foes.

If Skills share a Damage Type or provide a same Damage Type bonus then those are good to use together as well.

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Minion Skills cannot be empowered with anything normally except '+% Minion Damage' however some Vanilla and Mod Classes provide other ways to boost Minion Damage through certain Skills.

Without Mods:
Minion Skills need Skulls of Level 47 Joskin (or Level 82 Umbarmun) likely found from Phase Beast farming of chests to increase their Damage significantly by +25% or +35% per Socket item respectively.

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Item Skills are Chances to activate a damage event whose details are not listed in the game.
Because they're an important Affix to pursue for Item Builds; I'll list Chthon's quote here:

Originally posted by Chthon:

Firestorm does 30-30 fire damage (per sec) with a 5 sec duration (scales with Focus and player level) and has a 2/3 chance to cause flee for 5 sec.

Thunder does 50-200 lightning damage (instant, scales with Focus and player level) and has a 100% chance to apply shock for 5 sec.

Glacial Spike does 225-225 ice damage (instant, scales with Focus and player level) and has a 100% chance to immobilize for 5 sec.

Scalding Geyser does 75-75 physical damage (per sec) with a 5 sec duration (scales with Focus and player level) and has a 100% chance to silence and reduce move speed by 1/3 for 4 sec.

Shed Poison Spore sheds a poison spore. It has a suicide attack that does 22%-88% of the monster damage graph for the spore's level as poison. (Summon level scales with player level.)

Meteor strike does 150-300 fire damage (instant, scales with Focus and player level) and 150 knockback.

Acid rain does 25-25 poison damage (per sec) with a 8 sec duration (scales with Focus and player level) and has a 100% chance to poison for 8 sec.

Blind Cloud has 100% of full blind and 50% of silence for 6 sec.

Chaotic rift has 100% chance to random teleport and stun for 2 sec, and 15% to apply each of burn/freeze/poison/shock for 7 sec.

Lightning does 40% weapon damage (not WDPS) as lightning (scales with Strength and Focus).

Tiamat's Wrath drops up to two giant swords from the sky, each of which does 100% weapon damage (not WDPS) (scales with Strength; only scales with Focus to the extent your weapon is elemental) and 50 knockback.

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Item Sets for Health Stolen, Mana Stolen, or Damage Reduction:

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Although not common - any amount of "% Health Stolen" found on some Item Set Bonuses will add much survival for "Direct Weapon Attack Builds" or when using Weapons to steal resources from targets when Health is low.

These Rare (more common than Unique) Sets are available for all Classes:

. Level 21 Regent Set with 3 pieces provides +20% Health Stolen.

. Level 37 Ironlord Set with 3 pieces provides +10% Health Stolen.

. Level 49 Dwarfking Set with 6 pieces provides +30% Health Stolen.

. Level 94 Dragonrift Set with 4 pieces provides +20% Health Stolen.

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Mana is an important resource often quickly drained by expensive high-Damage Skills hence having an Item Set that provides "% Mana Stolen" is ideal to remedy this problem with Weapon strikes during low Mana scenarios.

These Rare (may include Unique) Sets are available for all Classes:

. Level 44 Exocist Set with 6 pieces provides +3% Mana Stolen.

. Level 58 Sentinel Set with 2, 4, or 6 pieces provides +1%, +2%, or +3% Mana Stolen.

. Level 60 Incubus (Unique) Set with 7 pieces provides +7% Mana Stolen.

. Level 91 Aristocrat Set with 3 pieces provides +2% Mana Stolen.

. Level 92 Inquisitor Set with 2 pieces provides +1% Mana Stolen.

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Damage Reduction provided by Item Sets is optional and usually results in lower Damage available from Boris Enchants due to their lower level yet should be considered if seeking to free sockets from being used mostly to reduce the number towards Skulls of Limony (+5% "ADTR" per Skull).

These Rare (may include Unique) Sets are available for all Classes:

. Level 35 Wazir Set with 3 or 7 pieces provides +3% or +20% All Damage Taken Reduced.

. Level 85 Celestial (Unique) Set with 8 pieces provides +20% All Damage Taken Reduced.

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Since this Guide includes advice for modded classes within modded scenarios;
it's worth recommending two very powerful mod Sets from the Lao 2.0 mods that can be used by any Class.

These Sets can randomly appear at almost any level near 10 until 100.
These Sets are only available in any of the main Lao 2.0 mods.

Motive: Seek this for Damage.
Name: Armory of the Archfiends.
2 pieces: +5% Focus
2 pieces: +5% Strength
3 pieces: Charge Rate +20%
4 pieces: +20% Poison Damage Taken Reduction
5 pieces: +15% Cast Speed
5 pieces : +15% Attack Speed
6 pieces: +30% Poison Damage
7 pieces: +15% Critical Chance
8 pieces: 33% Interrupt Chance
9 pieces: +20% All Damage
10 pieces: 100% Magic (Item) Find
11 pieces: 50% Chance to Poison for 1 minute

Motive: Seek this for Survival.
Name: Embrace of Undeath.
2 pieces: +10% Vitality
3 pieces: +15% Physical Armor
4 pieces: +20% Ice Damage Taken Reduction
5 pieces: 15% Health Stolen
5 pieces 15% Mana Stolen
6 pieces: +30% Ice Damage
7 pieces: +100% Critical Damage
8 pieces: +100% Minion Damage
9 pieces: +25% All Damage Taken Reduction
10 pieces: +50% Max Health
11 pieces: +100% Charge Decay Reduction

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Damage Absorption limits; Best Items for Max Health and "ADTR":

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Worth noting that Block and Dodge Chance won't help Forcefield or any Modded Damage Absorption Skills since Block and Dodge only activate after the Damage is received hence weakening the Damage Absorption Barrier before any Damage received can be negated.

Damage Absorption is one of the best survival Statuses to have actively or passively in spite of this fact.

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Farm Phase Beast chests within 20 levels below or above a Skull's Level for 2 reasons:
. Faster gathering
. Guaranteed availability

The list of ideal Items:

. Level 60 Skulls of Meerko will raise Max Health by +538 per Skull.
. Level 69 Skulls of Penderal will raise Max Health by +876 per Skull.
. Level 73 Skulls of Riechliu will raise Max Health by +1540 per Skull.

. Level 55 Skulls of Limony will raise All Damage Taken Reduction by 5% per Skull.
optionally:
. Act 1 Eyes of Grell will raise All Damage Taken Reduction by 3% per Eye.
or
. Act 2 Eyes of Manticore will raise All Damage Taken Reduction by 2% per Eye.

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Additional safety to augment survival:

. Level 02 Skull of Ando +5 to Physical Armor
. Level 17 Skull of Dakyte +126 health
. Level 22 Skull of Erimony +10 Vitality Attribute bonus
. Level 25 Eziro Skull +12 Vitality Attribute Bonus
. Level 27 Skull of Festuur +20 Vitality Attribute bonus
. Level 35 Grapilio Skull +6% to Physical Armor
. Level 37 Skull of Haskool +26 to Physical Armor
. Level 45 Ismeldan Skull +25% pet and minion Armor
. Level 70 Skull of Quato +64 to Poison, Ice, Fire and Electric Armor
. Level 72 Qzmonda Skull +35% pet and minion Armor
. Level 87 Vellinque Skull +15% to Physical Armor
. Level 97 Skull of Zardon +50% Slow Resistance
. Level 99 Zardon's Mighty Skull +25% chance to reflect missiles at 50% weapon DPS

For farming treasures:

. Level 20 Demoza Skull +6% increase in the amount of gold found
. Level 63 Nephanic Skull +20% increase in the amount of gold found
. Level 96 Yololo Skull +7% increase in magic-finding Luck

Not a priority however some modded dungeons passively drain health hence this mitigates it:

. Level 05 Skulls of Assarian +2.2 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 32 Skulls of Grimdor +22 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 50 Skulls of Jendenny +33 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 64 Skulls of Omorox +54 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 75 Skulls of Rambren +67 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 84 Skulls of Unapom +74 Health Regen per Second.
. Level 91 Skulls of X'n!troph +103 Health Regen per Second.

. Level 17 Skulls of Dakyte +12 Health Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 35 Skulls of Grapilio +33 Health Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 64 Skulls of Omorox +96 Health Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 96 Skulls of Yololo +282 Health Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.

Sometimes having that extra recovery for Mana is necessary in small amounts:

. Level 07 Skulls of Benzirim +0.8 Mana Reen per Second.
. Level 15 Skulls of Celh +0.9 Mana Regen per Second.
. Level 40 Skulls of Hokobo +1.3 Mana Regen per Second.
. Level 54 Skulls of Korox +2.5 Mana Regen per Second.
. Level 58 Skulls of Macaburg +2.6 Mana Regen per Second.
. Level 79 Skulls of Trenkay +4.4 Mana Regen per Second.
. Level 88 Skulls of Whorlbarb +4.7 Mana Regen per Second.

. Level 20 Skulls of Demoza +4 Mana Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 40 Skulls of Hokobo +9 Mana Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 63 Skulls of Nephanic +20 Mana Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.
. Level 82 Skulls of Umbarum +48 Mana Leech on Weapon Strike. Not as good as % yet decent.

For those who wish to raise their damage instead; risky yet viable for Soft-core Campaigns:

. Level 02 Skull of Ando +6 Physical Damage
. Level 05 Assarian Skull +30% Damage to secondary targets
. Level 07 Skull of Benzirim -3 to All Armor per Hit
. Level 10 Bondron Skull +4% to All Damage
. or +4% Critical Hit Chance
. Level 12 Skull of Crimone +8% Ranged Weapon Damage bonus
. or +35 Physical Damage over 5 seconds
. Level 15 Celh Skull Conveys Silence for 2 seconds
. Level 22 Skull of Erimony +80 Physical Damage over 5 seconds
. Level 25 Eziro Skull +20% bonus to Critical Damage
. Level 27 Skull of Festuur +20% chance to break enemy shields
. Level 45 Ismeldan Skull +425 Physical Damage over 5 seconds
. Level 47 Skull of Joskin +25% pet and minion Damage
. or +80 Physical Damage
. Level 52 Skull of Karandir +37 Dexterity Attribute bonus
. or +50 Knockback (good for ranged builds)
. Level 54 Korox Skull +12% Attack Speed
. Level 55 Skull of Limoany -84 to All Armor per hit
. Level 57 Lovantine Skull +40 Strength Attribute Bonus
. or -177 to All Armor per hit
. Level 60 Meerko Skull +8% to All Elemental Damage
. Level 61 Skull of Nopsil +470 Physical Damage over 5 seconds
. Level 66 Orpantile Skull +20% Ranged Weapon Damage bonus
. Level 72 Qzmonda Skull +1555 Physical damage over 5 seconds
. Level 75 Rambren Skull +60% bonus to Critical Damage
. Level 76 Skull of Samadow +6% to All Damage
. or +100% Damage to secondary targets
. Level 78 Sossimu Skull +80 Knockback (good for ranged builds)
. Level 82 Skull of Umbarmun +35% pet and minion Damage
. Level 85 Skull of Vastok +18% Attack Speed
. Level 87 Vellinque Skull +200 Physical Damage
. Level 88 Skull of Whorlbarb +10% Critical Hit Chance
. Level 90 Wfuntir Skull +62 Focus Attribute bonus
. Level 91 Skulls of X'n!troph -404 All Enemy Armor on Weapon Strike
. Level 94 Skull of Yanfeer +10% to All Damage
. Level 97 Skulls of Zardon +3970 Physical Damage over 5 Seconds

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Armor, Shield, Dodge versus Max Health, "ADTR", % Health Steal:

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What are the most efficient bonuses for survival?

Although Vitality-Armor, Block-Shield, and Dexterity-Dodge are tempting; not all Classes will reward Players optimally for their investment.

A much more accessible combination must be attained for Single and Dual Weapon Builds.

. +Max Health (not %)

. +% All Damage Taken Reduction (I also call this "ADTR")

. +% Health Stolen (must have the %)

This enables any Build to survive Champion (try not to get struck by Bosses) strikes as the "ADTR" reduces Damage received "after" the Armor activates on an enhanced Max Health amount so large (near 20,000+ at End Game) that the Player has time to activate Health Potions and Regeneration Skills while fleeing to reduce the sudden risk of losing a Hardcore Campaign.

The Player is free to avoid enemy strikes allowing their own Health to regenerate; the Weapon can be used to leech %-Health-Stolen based on the amount of Damage dealt onto foes usually returning from 10,000 Damage a 2,000 Health Return per Player-strike (assuming 20% from the guaranteed availability with 4 pieces of the Level 94 Dragonrift Set) hence it benefits to have a fast long range Weapon to Regain large amounts of Health rapidly from a safe distance although a melee weapon can also suffice if supported well.

Critical Chance (mostly from Boris enhanced Dexterity or Level 88 +10% per Whorlbarb Skull Sockets) and Critical Damage (mostly from Boris enhanced Strength or Level 75 +60% per Rambren Skull Sockets) will benefit greatly to increase the % Health Stolen returns at a faster and more consistent rate.

(Assuming 20% returns) 20,000 Damage = 4000 Heal; 50,000 Damage = 10,000 Heal. 100,000 Damage = 20,000 Heal. This tactic is more effective at guaranteed large heals on demand than the other rare affix that offers a small and unnecessarily risky "chance to regain full health if struck by an enemy" hence pales in comparison.

An optional bonus to have on Items is the -
. +% Missile Reflection (Chance)

- as this mitigates enemy projectile risk (especially Ranged Bosses) even if the bonus has diminishing returns when totaled together with itself from different Item sources. It's more effective than Block and Dodge Chance for survival due to it's activation before Block and Dodge.

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General Question on Defenses for Player and Pet / Minions:

Originally posted by gigi_dago:

i recently got back into playing torchlight 2 after buying it several years ago, but i played it only a little back then, while now i took a deep dive into it... i have a few questions regarding all those unwritten rules and game stats, about the character's defense and also the pet's defense.

It's true that TL2 doesn't explain many details on the systems in-game; it's very common for players to ask for these topics:

top is first to activate; bottom is last:
Missile Reflect (doesn't prevent all projectiles however it's still one of the best defenses to have).
Dodge (doesn't prevent most attacks other than Melee strikes).
Armor (only good for small attacks).
Reduction (best defense to have and farm for).
Absorption (doesn't team well with Shield-Block yet good).
Block (much better than Dodge at preventing a wider selection of attacks).

Pets can't die hence aren't studied much. Pets can have most of the same affixes and amounts as the Player although it's mostly only in mods like Doudley's Warbounds where this is explored more.

Minions are much more limited and require Minion Skills or the few Minion Affixes available to the Player for empowerment.

Overall for vanilla, Pets don't get many options from items for Damage Reductions. The next best method is to equip anything with higher armor and depend on Skeleton Scrolls to take the focus of enemies away from the Pet.

Damage-over-Time can't be mitigated by anything for anyone. Avoid Blade-Traps and Damage-Pools. This can work in the Player's favor against enemies too.

Weapon-Strikes are almost the only way to activate Health-Stolen-% however it's extremely good for survival on Elite Difficulty if paired with All Damage Reduction and lots of Max Health from skulls.

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Vitality overall is better than Dodge from Dexterity. I could make a case where Dexterity is actually the weakest Stat (without Strength) if factoring Boris Enchants and Claptrap's Item.

Chthon (from his Defense Guide) is probably the most brutal in his assessment on Vitality (he's correct for Elite Difficulty).
It does help against small attacks from crowds however outside of the Block Chance for Shield builds, it's not much better than gaining Armor and Health from Equips.
The best modded scenario I've had with Vitality is with the Ace-mod Soldier class building up the Front-line Passives that add extra bonuses to Physical Armor and Damage from Physical Armor totals that Vitality affects indirectly.
Now if the vanilla Engineer could build damage from Vitality... this would flip the narrative completely on it's usefulness.

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I confirm X% Health / Mana Stolen affixes function on any Weapon regardless of the hand (the game isn't strict on this detail). Most skills (even Dps skills) won't activate it yet Weapons always will.
Shield is great to have because the Block function protects against much more than Dodge does (it also pairs well with Missile Reflect).
There's a random chance that the Town Blacksmith will sell a blue tier shield that has 30% Missile Reflect Chance. This is actually better than random extra Block chance.
Yes, Dual Wield and 2-handed (1 weapon only) have an uphill battle in this game. Some players even prefer not to use them until end-game if playing Hardcore in some cases.
Asphyx is the ultimate custom-build Set in this game. +10 Sockets with only one potentially lost for the Health Regen to counter the bad effects.
Yes, unfortunately the ideas of keeping a specific Affix on the build are features only found in TL3, Chronicon, and Grim Dawn (and probably other games I'm not familiar with).
TL2 could actually emulate that feature if vanilla Gems actually had more of the Affixes seen on Equips (some mods expand this a little).
The randomness of blue items is actually kind of a bonus in the sense that it can roll something useful... unfortunately this usefulness is only really enhanced with mods.
Hence for vanilla - Orange-Uniques are... surprisingly not always better yet at least more guaranteed on what affixes they supply unlike Blue-Rares.
I actually prefer building with Blue Sets because the Set-Bonus is at least guaranteed and there's some that are good for the X% Health / Mana Stolen from weapon.

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How to make a Class good? What Skills to prioritize? Key Words?

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What makes a Class good?

Some Classes have a Skill Set that provide rarely attainable and unusual bonuses. Some of these Classes require less Farming for good Item Bonuses.

Other Classes will only provide Skills for basic needs and require much more caution when attempting to slay powerful Mod Bosses that may require rigorous Farming for good Item Bonuses.

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. Most Classes favor choosing 1 or 2 Main Damage Skills.

If available also:

. 1 or more Damage Support Skills.

. 1 or more Mobility / Escape Skills.

. 1 or more Healing / Resource Skills.

. 1 or more Minion or Minion Maker Skills.

. 1 or more Long Lasting Area Damage Skills.

. 1 or more Crowd Control / Weaken Enemy Skills.

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Here are some very useful key words to look for when choosing End Game Skills:

. Damage Reduction

. Damage Absorption

. Missile Reflection

. Damage Reflection

. Damage Typing

. Damage Increasing

. (Any) Regeneration

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Challenge Builds to prove good Affixes uplift low tier Skills:

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Torchlight_2 rewards players for good Affix choices rather than Skill investments.
This means that any Skill arrangement can be made viable however not because the Skills are providing what the Player needs, rather by bolstering a solid Affix availability from Items, Scrolls, Weapons, Clothing, Effects, Sockets, Enchants, and even Set Bonuses.

With that in mind; it would be an intriguing challenge to make normally avoided Skill Builds function with proper Affix support:

There's 132 un-modded Skill Points from Level-ups and Fame Rank-ups.
120 points equals 8 maxed skills.

Engineer Challenge:
Shield Bash, Ember Reach, Shock Grenade, Bulwark, Charge Domination, Sword and Board, Aegis of Fate, and Charge Reconstitution all maxed to Rank 15.

Embermage Challenge:
Elemental Boon, Death's Bounty, Fire Bombs, Shocking Burst, Charge Mastery, Elemental Attunement, Staff Mastery, and Prismatic Rift all maxed to Rank 15.

Berserker Challenge:
Executioner, Chain Snare, Glacial Shatter, Perma Frost, Northern Rage, Battle Rage, Rupture, and Wolf Shade all maxed to Rank 15.

Outlander Challenge:
Akimbo, Dodge Mastery, Shadowling Brute, Bane Breath, Glaive Sweep, Burning Leap, Tangling Shot, and Shattering Glaive all maxed to Rank 15.

With 75% All Damage Reduction from Limony Skulls, with around 20,000+ Maxed Health from Skulls of Riechliu, with 20% Health Stolen from 4 pieces of the Dragonrift Set: Any of these poorly optimized skill Builds should be able to handle Elite.

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Answering the question: How to support dual Stat Skills

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Originally posted by delta:

So if you're using Icy Blast or Magma Spear on an Embermage, you do 1/4 strength/focus and then equip a hammer or sword? How effective is this compared to a Prismatic Bolt Embermage?

I don't have the raw data to answer this question (with exact numbers) however based on Haadrak's Guide chapter: "Mechanics of Build Design" that expounds on Emberquake's example; there's more potential damage to gain if mixing both Strength and Focus. It's worth noting that Boris the Stat Enchanter is very important to empower any build especially mixed builds.

Embermage's Dps / weapon damage skills are also dealt as some kind of Elemental Damage hence Strength and Focus are both empowering different parts of that calculation.
I'm aware that there's games out there that give penalties if spreading Stat investments however Torchlight_2 provides decent calculation synergies when skills allow both Stats to be sourced.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1883242935
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Another way to explain is that there's only 3 (4 if time is available) positions in an Armor-piece (within 10 Set-Equips or 11 with an added Shield) to roll for Strength or Focus (from Boris). It's easier on inventory to aim for just one Stat (for Prismatic Bolt skill) however when mixing then it's easier to randomly roll at Boris for both Stats.

Strength will provide the benefit within 1000 points because of the Critical Damage increase however Focus will outpace Strength in extreme end game scenarios after that -
- (NG+ Tarroch's Tomb rising enemy-level-up-towards_190+ bosses).

It really depends on what end-game sections of optional challenges a player aims for.

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Originally posted by delta:

When you hit level 100, will you be able to equip anything, or will the items still have stat requirements?

Character Level 100 (max) will be able to equip all items except level 101+ items like the highest red Legendary weapons or the highest possible Exclusive Class Gear.

Boris the Stat Enchanter is also useful for equipping these items by placing Enchants on lower level gear especially on Rings and Necklaces that don't have versions above level 100.

With that said; some of the best alternative items for specific builds are from mixing any-class Sets including Dragonrift, Inquistor, Asphyx, and Netherrealm Weapons / Shield. All of those can be equipped by Character Level 99.

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Originally posted by delta:

Going back to this... so if I'm using a %dps spell then I'd want to use a high dps staff or wand and max focus? Why not do this for an Engineer? Or conversely, why not max strength on an Embermage using Magma Spear or Icy Blast and use a high dps sword?

Exactly.

If the Engineer were using a %Dps / Weapon-Damage skill that doesn't covert to (or additionally include) Fire or Electrical Damage and if the Embermage were only using a pure Focus (no Dps / Weapon-Damage) skill then none of this advice would apply.

However because the game is so flexible to allow for Elemental-Engineers and Dps-Mages with certain skills then the mixing (or investing the opposite Stat) becomes beneficial.

Some players will correctly point out the fact that the game does make it easier to equip some gear and weapons sooner by aiming for the default Stats however with that same logic; a player could also invest a Strength-Mage or a Focus-Engineer and still thrive with specific skill combinations while equipping different gear and weapons sooner.

Perhaps the only downside would be having to use more of Boris the Stat Enchanter to equip Class-Exclusive gear that usually requires default Stats however there's plenty of viable All-Class Rare-Tier Sets that offer great affixes for survival to support other builds outside of default Stats.

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Originally posted by gigi_dago:

Anyway, are STR and DEX still useful with critical hits on class skills like Infernal Collapse, Frost Wave, Prismatic Bolt, Shattering Glaive, Glaive Throw, etc...??
(basically, class skills unrelated to weapons's DPS)
Because, the other guides said that they're just less useful than class skills based on weapon's DPS, but... They're still a tiny bit useful, no...?

While the Guides have their opinions; Focus-based damage (non-Dps / non-weapon-damage skills) are a force to be reckoned with since Mana is naturally spent less during Focus builds and the damage is consistent while Strength-Dex builds are burst-heavy (more dependent on many rapid strikes to get more successful Critical Chances).
Strength-build-weaknesses: Mana-hungry = Need weapon-strikes to regain Mana to get Skill-damage cycles available again = cost hurts the potential-damage rate, burst (damage style) dependent on speed of strikes (rate), very dependent on finding high Dps weapons.
Focus-build-traits: Consistent (neutral = no comparitive loss or gain), usually Elemental damage hence gets past high enemy Physical Armor, outpaces Strength in NG+ Tarroch's Tomb map.
Worth noting that high Focus also empowers Time_Damage and that cannot be reduced for players or enemies.
(not related however it's like comparing Axe-type weapon's consistent damage (no variance) with all other weapons (burst-style; looking for speed for higher overall damage rate).
The difference is the style on how to land damage on targets. Strength and Focus get compared often yet the difference before and after Level 100 is not so sharp as to disqualify one over the other.
In fact if anything; deep dives from Guide players have proved that TL2 favors players who invest both Strength-Dex and Focus for skills that support both.
More than useful if suitable for the build a player chooses to invest. Minion-Damage suffers the most in this game from lack of vanilla support except for some skills and equips that help with that.

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Final Re-cap for general everyday progression advice:

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If looking at this from level to level with 5 Stat points to distribute every level-up:

Dps Skills present? = 2 up to 4 Strength.
non_Dps Skills present? = 2 up to 4 Focus.
Both Dps and non_Dps Skills present? = 2 points each for both Strength and Focus.
Getting Critical Chance to a decent amount? = 1 up to 2 Dexterity.
Wielding a Shield for Block Chance? = 0 up to 2 Vitality.

The game provides 495 Stat Points total from 99 level-ups.

If Boris is randomly encountered... emplace a personal portal to save his location for later Stat Enchants on higher leveled items. It's always worth it even though the results are random. More Stats are beneficial no matter what (however beware of Dexterity's mitigated gains and 495 hard cap limit although Vitality's 999 limit is easier to manage).

Originally posted by Grittbone @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue2AvLQWYpQ:

Tarroch's Rift in Ossean Wastes Act 2 he (Boris) appears 2 mins in. He's spawned 50% of the time for me. I farmed Crow's pass for 2 days and he never showed up.

Originally posted by ADEC Inc:

The base amount for Boris enchants is item_level/3+1. Then it rolls a random multiplier within a certain range. About 1 in 6 enchants will be "powerful" with a higher range. The maximum possible result is twice the base amount.

The random multiplier is between 0.5 and 1.2 for normal enchants, and between 1.5 to 2 for powerful enchants.

Sometimes a lower level item can be better, for example the Pandectos ring's +50% fire damage, which is equivalent to 100 points of Focus before the enchants.

Most Items encountered only offer Armor and general affixes that won't add much.
Most Weapons offer decent Dps (good for Strength) and general affixes that won't add much.

Pure Focus Builds only benefit from Weapons that specifically have (or are given) the affixes of +Focus, +% Damage (either All or a Matching Type), and +% Cast Speed (for Skill usage).

Occasionally, there'll be useful affixes appearing such as +Max Health, Mana Regen, Health Steal, Mana Steal, All Damage Taken Reduced (a rather rare find), Missile Reflect Chance, Block Chance (for Shield wielders), Dodge Chance, Run Speed, Attack Speed, Cast Speed, +% Damage, +Damage, +% Pet and Minion Damage, Blind Chance, Silence, and Gold Find.

Phase Beast maps that feature Chests and Champions are worth farming by save-quitting after the challenge is complete yet before leaving the Phase map. Chests and Champs provide a higher rate of dropping higher Tier Items.

Weapons that natively or have been given enchanted direct Ice or Poison Damage will apply slows (Frozen Status) and weakens (Poisoned Status) respectively onto targets (supporting Crowd Control tactics). Dps Skills also apply most Weapon affixes related to Damage or Status.

Any source of lowering enemy Armor will benefit on Elite where Armor tends to mitigate damage especially noticeable on the Target Dummy in Towns.

Claptrap is secretly located on the final left wall (north to south direction) of the Bloatfang boss fight in Act 3's Middenmine map. This unique character has a 50% chance to give an item that provides Fumble Chance Reduction. Extremely beneficial and rare for Weapon-Strike Builds.

Keep a look-out for these affixes that especially benefit the Player.

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Personal notes on End Game damage output:

I've tried Vellinque Skulls (+200 Physical Damage Skull) in the Weapon and also compared the damage output against Rambren with Whorlbarb (60% damage and 10% chance Critical Skulls).
Rambren and Whorlbarb will provide more damage per second.
1000 Strength is where Critical Damage caps as a Stat provider hence the final 99% damage will have to be filled from items like Rambren.

One of the better ways to raise the Weapon's overall damage is to Enchant it with an Elemental Enchanter randomly placing direct damage. Strength and Focus will help to raise the Weapon's damage in that case.

There's a guaranteed randomly located Poison Enchanter in the overworld Salt Barrens of Act_02 specifically around the Ship Graveyard region where enemy crabs and undead pirates spawn.

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Magic Find affects whether "Magical" Items with Affixes will drop more often.
However it's not exclusive to Uniques or higher qualities.
Players will see more Greens and Blues however that will compete with Golds and Reds.

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Since almost all items in Torchlight-II are random drops. It's basically just random whether some items show or don't show.

However it helps to try other sources where legendaries can be found including the Gambler of whom the prices give clues to how rare an item is. Anything in the 7000+ range (it varies by item type so Rings cost differently from a Weapon) or higher is likely to be a Unique or possibly a Legendary-Weapon if 12,000+ or higher cost.

Could also try to farm Tarroch's Tomb (on any NG+) in the Ossean Wastes since that's another source for farming and leads to some high-value chests that can help with drop rates.

Originally posted by ADEC Inc:

Unfortunately legendaries below level 105 won't appear in the gambler's inventory. Your best bet for those is to farm maps in the right level range and just rack up many, many kills. While you're doing that you could make sure to buy maps that include lots of secret rooms (crypts, ezrohir, dragon tower) to help with the skulls you wish to find.

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Legendary (Red) Weapons very rarely drop to the point where I don't recommend Players to chase after them for weapon builds. Uniques are far more common and are not out-classed.
Legendaries may have better Item Skill Chance % and overall Damage yet offer little else.

There's also the Unique Lv99 Nether-realm Weapons and Shield with 4 Sockets each.
And the Lv92 (unique) Asphyx Helm and Glove that each carry 5 Sockets.
Overall, a +10 Socket gain to customize builds likely with more Riechliu Skulls for survival.

Also consider 4 pieces of Lv94 (rare) Dragonrift for the +20% Health Stolen.
And 2 pieces of Lv92 (rare) Inquisitor providing +1% Mana Stolen.
That leaves 2 pieces remaining to choose from if this strategy is chosen.

Nevertheless, because many Players ask me for the Legendary Drop Rates; I'll post this quote:

Originally posted by https://torchlight.fandom.com/wiki/Legendaries_(T2):

Legendary items can be acquired through random drops once the player reaches level 49 or higher, with Champions and bosses having a 1/2500 (0.04%) chance to drop them and other monsters having a 1/48000 (0.002%) chance to drop them. Legendary items can also be (very) rarely dropped from chests, and they can be bought from the gambler.

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Sourcing for Sockets:
Level 99 Netherrealm Weapons (and Shield) have 4 native sockets each.
Asphyx 2-piece Set Helm and Glove also offer 5 native sockets each.
Some (blue) Rare-Tier weapons will also carry 3 or even 4 sockets randomly.
Some 2-handed Unique weapons also carry 3 or 4 sockets.

Randomly encountering Jurick in a map (2-sockets-total limit and the only Socket Enchanter) has competition for player builds because of these other options.

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Videos from other people showing Build potential:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZvTCCN1n-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwIwibHf1zs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RryPVgBpx0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecRGSvFNTw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi3lP2naZts
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And for those who want very powerful builds:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPCYe9q47QY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2EJF1aIbHo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhmpG2m66IQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XF_JKDzW54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLDKpLegxrI
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[steffire3]

@ Aranea of Andariel : It's a good suggestion as some Mod Classes do include Forcefield as a foundation for some Mod Skills. Thanks and I'll review the info to write another category into this.

[Aranea]

Also a small suggestion, maybe add a section talking about some of the hidden issues, for example blocking not working with forcefield health (as far as i'm aware never fixed in vanilla, still unsure if any mods adressed it). Might be besides the point but just felt it would be a nice addition

[Aranea]

Hopefully this gets more views, this game is extremely frustrating to level without being aware of the whole deal with the atributes, shame runic died without being able to adress the lack of clarity in most of their skills, they were a great company. Good Job with the article.

[steffire3]

@ Saffronfist : You're Welcome! I've been intending to write some Guides for several years and decided to roll them out when I knew I had substantial info on specific topics. The TLM2H Steam Group is one place where I've been gathering linked discussions to help fulfill this. I'm glad this Guide has been helpful to your class builds! Feel free to point out any other info I should include to help other Players in their quest to master TL2 tactics. Thanks for your feedback!

[Saffronfist]

Excellent article. I have never been tempted to do a warlock, but maybe I will try one. My favorite is my dread pirate, although now I am not playing that, I have a L58 Lightbearer who really is one tough cookie. She rocks, I am enjoying her immensely. However, I like having 3 or 4 or more even toons to level at once so I can change pace and type of class etc. So think I will go roll a female warlock. Thanks, friend.