Auto-Cancelling Polearm Shadow Berserker Guide

Description

This is a character I made in Torchlight II that reflects the ability to abuse cancelling animations to a certain degree using Polearms and the ability Shadow Burst in the Berserker Shadow Tree.

(picture above was level 24 me early on :D)

Polearms are extremely slow weapons and when alternating between auto attacking and Shadow Burst, you are able to cancel some of the Polearm's ending lag by autoattacking, and then instantly Shadow Bursting, and then autoattacking. Shadow Burst will cancel some of the ending lag of the Polearm's autoattack by it's own animation. Now it may seem that it would travel you out of Polearm range and you will have to run back to autoattack, but with the combination of the Polearm's extremely long range and Shadow Burst's ability to turn around halfway through to be facing the other direction you casted it in, you will still be in range to autoattack the boss or whatever mob your fighting that somehow isn't dead from the autoattack + Shadow Burst combo (which it should be)

Pros-

• Extremely fun & interesting combo and general gameplay
  
  
• TONS OF DAMAGE (get out of here Phreak)
  
  
• Lots of survivability in regards to natural survivability, Shadow Burst, Howl and Wolf Shade
  
  
• It is a build that isn't seen very often and brings forward a new style of gameplay

Cons

• Slow Gameplay (no spamming, short animation, castings that do all your work for you *cough cough*)
  
  
• has not been tested in Elite Hardcore or in NG+, but works extremely well in every other case

Skills & Stats

In referral, there are 133 skill points, and 500 stat points.

Neccesary/Required Skills

Hunter Skills

• Howl - 15/15
  
  Howl is generally amazing, lowering basically all of your enemies stats to an extreme degree, in a giant area. It also increases how much damage you do to them, which is also giant. Also, (and this may sound stupid) in giant cluttered fights, you can use the symbols that appear over all affected enemies heads as an indictator as to see who is still alive, which is bigger than it might seem.
  Suggested: 15/15 for maximum range of effect, duration, and stat debuffs.
  
  
• Rampage (Passive) - 1-10/15
  
  Rampage is also amazing, and in early stages, it procs more than you might think at 4%. It is extremely useful as it is basically an extra random frenzy and when added upon a already occuring frenzy, your attack speed is increased so much so that the Poleburst (imma call it that) combo is hardly needed for the moment, being able to simply whack your enemies until their dead (not that you can't do that in the first place, just to a much faster extent :p).
  Suggested: 1-5/15 for a decently high chance of it occuring.

This leaves us with around 20-25 skill points used.

Tundra Skills

• Glacial Shatter - 15/15
  
  Glacial Shatter provides an AOE skill that can get mobs off your back if your in a tough situation, good to use if your spamming Shadow Burst to get your health back up in tough situations
  Suggested: 15/15 for maximum area of coverage and dps.
  
  
• Rage Retaliation (Passive) - 1-5/15
  
  Good skill, adds more dps and can kill stragglers that are attacking you.
  Suggested: 1-5/15, more or less depending on the extra skill points you have and dps you want, basically is Thornmail if you play any League of Legends. (if not, google it).

This gives us around 85 skill points to use

Shadow Skills

• Shadow Burst - 15/15
  
  Shadow Burst, despite being a part of the combo this guide was created for for the most part, is an extremely good skill. The lifesteal it gives you is insane, especially when leveled up, and the electric damage it levels has extremely high base numbers and the electric part of it adds a variety of damage to this build. Shadow Burst also adds an invulnerability to your kit, which is giant because if you ever get bursted low and are stuck in the middle of a bunch of mobs and are going to die, you can spam Shadow Burst until your either out of that situation or back to full health (or their all dead).
  Suggested: 15/15 for maximum pwnage and lifesteal.
  
  
• Wolf Shade - 10/15
  
  Wolf Shade adds more sustain in big fights and is also a way to pick off stragglers that you don't want to bother killing. Generally a great skill to have and adds an interesting flair to this build.
  Suggested: 10/15 so it can be summoned 100% of the time, 15/15 if you want it maxed out because its c0ol (which it is)
  
  
• Wolf Pack - 10/15
  
  More summons to pick off stragglers and soak up damage (yay)
  Suggested: 10/15, 15/15 if you're having mana problems.
  
  
• Frenzy Mastery (Passive) - 15/15
  
  Amazing skill to use your points on, more frenzy equals more damage, more survivability, more mobility, more feel-good feelings.
  Suggested: 15/15 for max Frenzy duration.
  
  
• Shred Armor (Passive) - 15/15
  
  Good skill, makes you tankier, and makes everyone else weaker. Really good if you're investing little points into Vitality.
  Suggested: 15/15 for most armor steal.

After investing in the neccesary skills, you should have around 30-40 extra skill points to put into other skills. Here are some skills that are good to have around:

Skills to take according to your personal opinions/have cool animations

Hunter Skills
-Blood Hunger (Passive)
Good if your struggling sustain-wise, not the best because of low attackspeed, but still good.
Tundra Skills
-Ice Shield
Good closer to Endgame, to counter projectiles if you're struggling with them.
-Cold Steel Mastery (Passive)
Is an amazing skill that gives 30% extra physical damage but was not put on neccesary because of the waste of the ice dmg% bonus waste, but can be used if you have an ice weapon or after you get Glacial Shatter.
Shadow Skills
-Battle Standard
Good as another stat booster, especially for the increased charge gain rate. Get for sure if you play lots of co-op.
-Red Wolf (Passive)
Good for more dps, but isn't the best due to low attack speed. You're call here.


[1h]Stats-[/1h]

So at end game, if you reach it, you will have had 500 points to work with. With this build, here are my suggestions in which stats to invest in.

Strength- Prioritize this stat the most, increases weapon damage which applies to everyone in a Polearm's giant range. (A polearm's range is so giant that it even does damage behind.) It also increases the damage that critical hits do, which is good since Frenzy=100% crit chance. The final good thing about this stat is that most Polearm's requirements require high strength, so this is the stat that you will usually stray towards to equip the better weapons.

Dexterity- Another stat that is amazing, giving critical chance, decreasing a fumble's damage reduction, and increasing dodge, which is an amazing thing to have plenty of. The most distinct effect Dex gives to this build is the fumble reduction, because if a Polearm fumbles, it is extremely worse than a claw, for example, as it has a high attack speed, and the dps will be quickly recovered. Polearms are extremely slow and hit almost everything around them, so giving them a fumble will lower your dps an extremely large amount.

Focus- This is an okay stat to invest in, as it increases elemental damage (so Shadow Burst's damage alone, at least during the early levels; it greatly benefits Glacial Shatter later on) and Mana, and having Mana is always a good thing. It also increases Execute chance, which is a worthless stat.

Vitality- This is also an okay stat to invest in, but not the best. Increasing your health, resistances, and Block Chance if you have shield. It sounds good, more hp, more resistances, i'll live longer, right? Yes, but it's not extremely necessary, because of the giant sustain you have from Shadow Burst (and the invulnerability as well) and Wolf Shade, you won't really need too much in the defensive department. (I'm not saying blow it off completely, but don't prioritize it first) This is also a stat that is usually required for early armor, so if it's neccesary, go for it. But do not prioritize it.

tl;dr: Focus your stats in this order: Strength, Dex, Vitality, and then Focus.


Spells

Lastly, here are the spells that will benefit you the most and provide the greatest benefits (in my opinion)

Dervish: This spell gives you +30% Attack Speed and Cast Speed for 20 seconds (at max rank). This basically just increases the speed of your Poleburst combo, by making you attack faster, and cast your Shadow Burst faster. Generally an amazing stat booster

Heal All: This spell is pretty self-explanatory. It heals everything for a static amount. Good for your shade, your wolf pack, your pet and yourself, it's a nice pick me up for your whole crew. Not as good later on, but early game, this is an amazing spell.

Adrenaline Rush/Shock Basically another Rampage. Really good in general, good in the same way Rampage is good. (scroll back up if you forgot '_>')

The rest of the passive Spells are really good and worth using (except Markmanship, Duel Weilding, and Blocking for obvious reasons)

Gameplay

Combos

Obviously, the first and main combo that is present in this build is the Poleburst (I made that name up) (stands for Polearm + Shadow Burst)

The main goal for this combo is for high dps and generally slipperiness. As explained in the Description, it is alternating between an autoattack, canceling the ending lag, canceling some of the animation of the lag with a Shadow Burst, and then autoattacking again out of Shadow Burst. Here is what I said in the Description for more clarity:

"Polearms are extremely slow weapons and when alternating between auto attacking and Shadow Burst, you are able to cancel some of the Polearm's ending lag by autoattacking, and then instantly Shadow Bursting, and then autoattacking. Shadow Burst will cancel some of the ending lag of the Polearm's autoattack by it's own animation. Now it may seem that it would travel you out of Polearm range and you will have to run back to autoattack, but with the combination of the Polearm's extremely long range and Shadow Burst's ability to turn around halfway through to be facing the other direction you casted it in, you will still be in range to autoattack the boss or whatever mob your fighting that somehow isn't dead from the autoattack + Shadow Burst combo (which it should be)"

Here is an old video I made showing the animation cancelling and the combo in general: (It's shown in the first few seconds of the video, look carefully. I would crop I don't really know how)

Another Combo I wanted to brush over shortly, apart from spam Shade + Wolfpack to kill everything for you, was the Shadow Burst + Glacial Shatter.

This "combo" (it's not really as much of a combo, but an escape-as-well-as-maintaining-dps survivability tool.

It's pretty simple. You're health is low, you got bursted, or something bad happened and you are about to die. Insert this combo. Start spamming Shadow Burst, using Glacial Shatter to keep enemies at bay and still dying. Eventually, you will heal back up from Shadow Burst, and you will still have maintained an extremely good dps rate against the mobs.

ALSO: Make sure you're howling in between every couple combos or attack you do, to maintain the insanely good debuff on all the minions around you.

These combos combined with all the other skills you have chosen



NOTE: ALL OF THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, AS I AM A VERY OPEN-MINDED PERSON AND DON'T EXACTLY CALL MYSELF AN EXPERT. THESE ARE MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND A BUILD THAT I PERSONALLY THINK IS VERY VIABLE AND FUN TO PLAY. IF I HAVE ANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES OR INFORMATIVE ERRORS, BE SURE TO TELL ME AND I'LL GET THEM FIXED ASAP.


IF YOU HAVE ANY, AND YES, I MEAN ANY, SIMPLE QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS OR PROBLEMS WITH THIS GUIDE, BE SURE TO COMMENT THEM, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK!! :)

[Unicarn]

Interesting build, I've never seen a build using a Polearm. I might try this. I also noticed this was posted a long time ago, but this is my first time seeing it.