Hello,
I’m experimenting with different builds (weapons traits, attributes, armor types). My goal is to decide on a build that can serve me well while soloing lv 60+ areas.
I’ve tried:
Dex focus (Spear, Rapier and Hatchet+gem). Light or Medium armor (medium = batter). I’ve tried adding Life staff as secondary. Spear and rapier, if I fail a dodge or I get swarmed = I get hit Hard and with no Hatchet or Life staff = a bad time / rip. All in all I feel that Dex focused builds are good at killing fast, but bad for solo play because of the lack of sustain.
Str focus (GA, Hatchet, sword and board). With or without Life staff. Medium or Heavy armor. Medium felt better when not using Shield. Decent sustain from GA/Hatchet. It’s slower at killig than the Dex, but better at surviving.
Int focus. Fire staff / gauntlet / Life staff. Medium armor. Only viable if the enemies are not resistant to Cold/Ice. Fire staff feels bad in tight spaces and the Pillar of fire is unreliable / clunky. Least fun of the three setups.
I have not tried Focus → Life staff + X (+gem), but from what I read it’s slow at killing things (or is it only slow if Life staff is used as primary weapon?).
Full Strength Hatchet/Great Axe is face roll simple and super strong. Great sustain, speed buffs on both weapons, best buff in the game (Berserk). It’s good both single target and can still pull AoE.
Focus builds (life staff + x(with gem) are very, very slow at PvE regardless of weapon used (except maybe hatchet- I heard that is still passable as a focus build but haven’t tried it yet).
I’m a focus build with ice gauntlet as secondary and it takes me 30 seconds to kill a small group of 1-2 mobs. Someone runs past and flattens huge groups in 5 seconds. This is level 43 btw (it’s been getting slower as levels increase).
I run spear musket with light armor and almost never die, but am only 35 so idk beyond that. Basically do 2dex/1con per lvl. You get hit sort of hard but with both roll dodge and block it’s pretty easy to stay alive even against 3 or 4 mobs. light meals keep hp up fine with occasional pot.
Im sure there are better options, i think sword + lifestaff is a popular never die combo. Plus you’ll always be able to get dungeon grps
i’m Focus lifestaff and have tried several weapons, making it hard to decide. Imo Frost gauntlet was one of the worst for soloing multiple enemies. Sure you have the control but using Hatchet with berserk keeps you on your sacred ground and you kill 10 enemies at once rather easy.
Hammer, greataxe, sword, they all work well. Especially since you don’t use mana to deal dmg too.
I kill quite a bit slower than someone who goes strength/dex/int for example, but my survivability is great so i can kill 10 at a time. (heavy armor, lifestaff, about 170focus/100con at 44)
For lower levels any map that it’s level is below reekwater and shattered mountain is a walk in a park. Get ready to get stomped by tendrils here and there.
Back to the topic.
Full heavy + any weapon with some sustain makes it much easier, since mobs will come in packs no matter what you do. (Hatchet is nice but war hammer crowd crusher lifesteal in huge packs gets your HP from 0 to 100 real quick)
Light armor is just a big nope for these maps and solo play.