Worst builds? *possible spoilers*

Ixodes · #1 (**permalink**) 09-29-2006, 11:31 AM

There's been a lot of discussion about the best builds, but I've gotta say that my Brigand blows!!! I'm currently level 37 with most of my points in Rogue. I'm using green spear that gives extra attack speed and extra damage that's been modified with a complete Achilles Charm. I've also got a complete Herakles charm as well. I've maxed out the calculated strike, lethal strike trees and wood lore. I've also got +2 to all hunting skills. Most of my equiptment is aimed at increased attack speed or damage. I haven't sacrificed in my armor as well. And you know what...this build stinks!

Despite all of this my baseline damage is only ~620 dps. I can only take on a handful of grunt characters without gulping health potions. I'm currently in Epic mode and have *significant* problems with bosses. The large construct that uses fire, an electrical stomp, and a nasty ball and chain...oh, yeah, only about twenty deaths to get him killed. That consisted of lethal strike, run away, take down, run away, lethal strike, etc. requiring about 15 minutes. (My three-year-old keeps telling me, "why you dies so much, dad? He kills you again!") And before you start flaming me about my playing skills, I've been playing video games longer than some of you have been alive.

From other posts, it sounds like maybe I should have gone the bow route with a brigand, but there has got to be a way to successfully use spears in this build.

Don't get me wrong, there is some great fun to be have bait monsters to attack me one-on-one and having to think about the layout of the territory whenever I attack. But it's starting to get ridiculous. Some builds are taking out the end boss in a few shots. I need 2-3 pokes with a spear just to kill a little spiderling.

So, is the brigand the worst build out there? Does anyone have any horror stories with other builds?

xidioos · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2006, 02:24 PM

i too use the rogue mastery in my build (i'm an assassin)
and i use it more for being "jeneraly" better, i mean, i only spend skill points on passive skills and skills i only need to get active.. and i do that because rogue isnt such a good active mastery! lethalstrike is a good skill but when you make so much piercing, blooding, poison dmg only from passive skill..lol.. the boss is dead so fast so you dont need any "special attack skill"

another thing.. i dunno what other ppl think but i think hunting mastery is kind of a lame job.. most of the skills are aspecialy against beasts but lets face it.. the strong megical bosses arn't beasts...
and all over the game you have to alwayz think of the bosses~~~ all over the game the only thing thats importnet and may get you killed -are- the bosses so you dont wanna waste points on skills that kill more monsters in a single hit or skills that cant hurt bosses.. (i'm talking about a more str-dex based charecter that wont have problems with regular big spawns)

also you cant take a lame combination of masteries and say its because you want a chalenge.. the real chalenge is to combine in a way that'll make you kickbutt~

i fergot to mention- a rogue is in every other game a fast and stealhy guy.. that means that maybe the fact that you use a slow spear thats, thats one of the things that trips you! theres for example the calculated strike skill wich is a very good skill that i use aganist bosses mostly.. and its good if your fast!

well hope i kinda helped with all that wrighting :P if not, sorry XD

PyroDrew · #3 (**permalink**) 09-30-2006, 04:12 AM

Quote:

i dunno what other ppl think but i think hunting mastery is kind of a lame job.. most of the skills are aspecialy against beasts but lets face it.. the strong megical bosses arn't beasts...
and all over the game you have to alwayz think of the bosses~~~ all over the game the only thing thats importnet and may get you killed -are- the bosses so you dont wanna waste points on skills that kill more monsters in a single hit or skills that cant hurt bosses

There are only 2 Hunter skills (Call of the Hunt & Art of the Hunt) that give bonuses against beasts & those skills have other bonuses than just bonuses to beasts. My damage jumps from 305dps to 444dps with Call of the Hunt & only 1pt in Exploit... the extra damage against beasts added to that is just gravy. People post about ScatterShot being insanely powerful in 1.2. Add in Study Prey, which is TQ's AmpDmg, and nothing is safe. 1.2 also boosted the damage on Marksmanship which doesn't even show on the character screen. I'm a fan of faster movement so TakeDown in fights and TrailBlazing outside of fights is beautiful. Monster Lure is all the safety you need most of the time as it's aggro rivals CD, but both their aggro is temporarily broken in 1.2 making it useless for now which probably partly explains Ixodes problems. Now compare that with...

Spirit...the mastery with 3 skills dedicated to only damage against undead & do nothing else... how many of those magical bosses are undead? I could see 1 skill focused only on undead damage, but 3 all with no other bonuses? That wins the lame prize. Then add in Life Drain & Cascade which all posts I've seen say is useless in Legendary. Using Outsider to kill bosses feels like calling mommy when the bully comes up... it's not for me. LicheKing is GREAT, but he's just 1 guy. Enslave Spirit will never get the grand skeleton army of the D2 Necromancer & worse Enslave Spirit is temporary, which is about as fun as Conversion with a D2 Paladin and his traitors. And the almighty Ternion was nerfed, but is ok if I decide to use it. Out of all the masteries Spirit is the worst... not necessarily in terms of power, but at least in terms of most disappointing... for me.

Believer83 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-04-2007, 09:18 AM

My worst build was the Juggernaut. He was a tough Melee character until I faced Typhon. Okay, I had major difficulties in all of Orient. I had invested too many points on ring of Flame and Soften metal and my energy would drain out. I think I should have spent points on Earth Enchantment instead. And maybe I should have taken other inflict spells than Eruption. Also, my Core Dweller was maybe too "high" in points.

This was my very first character so it can be understood...

Maybe I'll try the Earth mastery again later but maybe Juggernaut isn't my choise...

moltovir · #5 (**permalink**) 05-04-2007, 10:21 AM

No build stinks when you play it the right way. Brigand is one of the most powerful melee builds, as long as you focus on getting loads of pierce damage. Call of the Hunt with Exploit Weakness, Art of the Hunt, Blade Honing, Calculated Strike, Lethal Strike and especially Study Prey can be combined to create some truly sick pierce damage. Sure, you don't have pets to divert the enemies' attention, but the rogue can deal with this nicely with Nightshade and Mandrake (spreaded easily by Flurry of Knives).

For now, I'd dump Lucky Hit and Mortal Wound completely and spend points in Art of the Hunt, the Call of the Hunt tree and Study Prey. Be sure to use a weapon with a high piercing factor such as a spear.

If I were a Brigand, my build would probably look like this at level 37.

jotaguro · #6 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 08:11 PM

I don't believe brigand is a horrible combination. However, playing a melee class does require some (ok maybe a lot) of farming. I started epic with a DPS of 500-600 on my champion. The game was kind of hard. After hours of farming, my DPS is over 2100. I am currently at a point where most mobs die with one hit.

I struggled with the flame thrower mob also before I had my improved equipment, so I am interested in going back and trying that mob again.

silverswordsman · #7 (**permalink**) 09-08-2007, 03:58 PM

I don't think the brigand is that bad unless your gear is at fault. My brig has the 4 piece armor set with scorpion king in it and a nice epic spear and pretty much one shots anything he comes up against. Then again so far he's only level 19. I spent most of my points in calculated strike, Lethal strike, envenom weapon, and blade honing.

*Chaos* · #8 (**permalink**) 09-09-2007, 05:35 AM

Im very disappointed in dream...

It kicks BuT at first but loses its lethalness end epic and whole ledgend....
The nightmare isnt that good...or im not using the mastery right...

Claudius · #9 (**permalink**) 09-09-2007, 05:47 PM

Dream, Hunting, and Defense are widely felt to be the strongest masteries. Any mastery is good with good gear even terrible ones like illusionist (my favorite).

PheonixFire · #10 (**permalink**) 09-10-2007, 03:46 PM

another thing you might consider doing with the brigand is switch from a spear to a bow because once you can get scatter shot its really usefull in the mobs and if you have mandrake you can spread it really well with scatter shot. My ranger is level 49 and using a bow and Im doing over 4000 damage