Boeroer

My thoughts: Fighter The best single target dps class in my opinion. Later an gets some AoE abilities as well. Fighters can dish out good damage while staying alive even when not skilled for tankyness. I would go for dual wielding. Why? Because Knockdown (up to 3/encounter) is a Full Attack, meaning you will hit once with every weapon. But the main reason is Charge. It doesn't say it in the description, but Charge will also deliver a Full Attack to the target, ON TOP of the crush damage that charge itself does. This kills most enemies right away. This makes the fighter the best "behind the lines" class. He can quickly take out dangerous enemies like casters while not getting knocked out. Add high INT, Clear Out and Disciplined Barrage and weapons with on-crit-effects and/or annihilating (like Godansthunyr + Shatterstar for example) and you are good to go. Very effective and lots of fun. A charging fighter is also out of the way and makes room for all the other melee guys. Paladin For me it's always Outworn Buckler. It's just too good. Have a look at my latest paladin build Counselor Ploi, it's a supporter melee but also kills for effects. Can easily be converted to a Kind Wayfarer. Monk Always dual wielding because of Torment's reach (Full Attack). BUT - what's really nice is a monk with Badgradr's Barricade: the on-crit-effect works woth Torments's Reach AoE which triggers Thrust of Tattered Veils - and you don't lose much dps with bash because the cone's crush damage has its own base damage which is completely independent from your weapons. You can build a tanky monk and still do Full Attacks with Torment's Reach all the time. Until you get Badgradr's Barricade you can take the Larder Door that you get very early. This is the best combo of stzrdyness and dps on a monk there is If you don't like shields in a monk, then any dual weapon setup will do. Look at my Monksterlasher build, it combines sturdiness with very high dps. Barbarian If you want a reach weapon, take Tall Grass and skill for critical hits. You might want to take Aspirant's Mark on any of your chars because it's the only way to lower deflection in an AoE if you don't have casters. Prone in an AoE (carnage) is very powerful. Use Frenzy, Bloodlust (both stack) and also Blood Thirst to speed things up. The only Full-Attack-ability of the barb for which you want dual wielding is Heart of Fury (HoF), which is superstrong. But you could use dual war hammers in the second weapon slot and switch before HoF in order to get two swings - or you do it with Tall Grass, it's also nice enough for HoF. Ranger Go for a wounding weapon - likely Tidefall because it's the earliest one to get. Later you could respec for Drawn in Spring + Little Savior (stacks with outworn buckler) or something. Look at my Riptide Ranger build and you'll know why a wounding weapon is good for a ranger. Also put on Shod-in-Faith boots to constaly heal your pet (pref. wolf). The build says it all. It's 2.03, but most things said there still apply. Rogue Melee rogues are kinda crappy in my opinion. Strict single target damage while being extremely squishy is a bad combo - especially if the damage is nothing special compared to some other classes which are not as squishy and don't need that much micro with afflictions and all. I tried a ton of different builds but they are all inferior to other classes' builds which do the same as a rogue. This is not an invitation to a discussion - my mind is set on this one. Maybe they are fun in a solo game when using stealth and invisibility and stuff - but when you prefer the good old "into the fray" approach there's always a better option than a melee rogue. What works okayish and requires not that much babysitting is a tankish rogue, skilled for sturdyness with Veteran's Recovery, a shield, with retaliation and Deep Wounds. With high MIG, Vulnerable Attack and all his damage mods he can dish out good (dual) retaliation damage when he gets hit and will also trigger Deep Wounds on everybody who hits him (even if immune to pierce damage). Grab Sura's Supper Plate and Garodh's Chorus (both retaliations stack) and Deep Wounds, then maybe a battle axe (I would aim for We Toki). You can even take Riposte although it's still not superpowerful. What may be good is to aim for the Unlabored Blade - its Firebug spell chance will get fixed with the next patch 3.04, which is supposed to come out this week. Firebug has very high base damage and it works with Deathblows (damage will get doubled) and Scion of Flame and will do very high damage when it triggers.

They can be a nice distraction - esp. if you are solo. They don't last very long though. I quickly tested the Grey Sleeper with Torment's Reach: sadly, against my expectations, the special effects don't get triggerd by the AoE cone. I tried to do a ranger build with The Grey Sleeper because Twin Stones works with Driving Flight in a really funny way, but 5% spell chance is so low that it's not worthwhile without carnage.

Def. the Golden Gaze. I once tested a ranger with this and it's quite awesome. Outlaner's Frenzy + Vicious Aim + Dangerous Implements do quite a bit damage, and Driving Flight and the two projectiles trigger Expose Vulnerabilites pretty soon. It's only 5% in theory. You get two projectiles instead of one and both work with Driving Flight, raising your theoretical chance of 5% to ~20% per shot. You should take Penetrating Shot, too, because the two projectiles are a bit weaker than normal implement shots. Once Exp. Vuln. got triggered, you will have 10 DR bypass - combined with the damage bonuses it's quite awesome. Implements with stun on crit or prone are redundeant once you get stunning shots. It also works with driving flight, meaning it also stuns the enemies behind the initial target. With Golden Gaze this can be two different targets (Driving Flight doesn't always choose the same target behind the initial one) and you also have a higher chance to hit/crit with the stun effect on the initial target (because you have two projectiles). Marked Prey also works in a weird way with the Golden Gaze: the first projectile get the 20% damage bonus, but the second gets +40%. The damage bonus kind of stacks. This also works with magic missles with every projectile and also Missile Barrage (up to +180% damage for the last projectile). So you could also take Prestidigitator's Missiles and a cloak of Magic Missiles. Those all work with Pn. Shot and also Driving Flight. It's a nice build. For the wizard I'd also say that you should focus on missiles and other damaging spells. Spells whch don't care too much about INT are: - Jolting Touch - Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp - Minor Missiles - Thrust of Tattered Veils - Wizard's Double - Necrotic Lance (the direct damage part) - Ray of Fire - Rolling Flame - Concelhaut's Draining Missiles - Crackling Bolt - Bounding Missiles - Essential Phantom - Ironskin - Writhing Tentacles - Ninagauth's Death Ray - Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring (the damaging part) - Chain Lightning - Concelhaut's Crushing Doom - Ninagauth's Killing Bolt - Substancial Phantom - Thayn's Chaotic Orb (damaging part) - Kalakoth's Freezing Rake (damaging part) Some of those spells work with penetrating shot (all direkt targeted damaging spells like missiles or necrotic lance, all jumpers and all spells that go in a straight line like Rolling Flame and Crackling Bolt) - so I would advise to take that. It doesn't slow down your spell casting. That would be a "sniper" approach. You could even use Persistance as main weapon because it works really well with high MIG and low INT. The wounding damage will get applied nearly instantly with 3 or even lower INT (Dandy Hat of the Diseased Yak: -1 INT or Ultimate Head of Alluring Perfection: -2 INT).

I'm really interested how you manage to enchant a weapon with adra dragon scales.

They also proc with Torment's Reach I think, since on-crit effects and other on-hit effect also work with it - but I haven't tested that. Would be even better with Twin Stones because Torment's Reach and Twin Stones are both cones.

With carnage the Grey Sleeper is fun if you attack large groups of enemies. Paralyze here, a summoned vessel there, Twin Stones from time to time. The weapon dps from the Blade is higher of course. The elemental lash alone results in more damage than most soulbounds can give you with their special feats. Try The Hours of St. Rumbalt on Maneha and you'll see it's one of the best weapons for a barb though.

Dancing Bolts, Winter Wind, Returning Storm, Twin Stones, Relentless Storm, Nature's Terror, Venombloom - those are all foe only - just to name a few that come to mind. If you'd taken decent CON and Veteran's Recovery you needn't to retreat in order to cast. You could also cast Nature's Balm before going into melee. In the early levels it's also good to summon Firebrand. Compared to the other weapons around at that time it does great damage. You can then use Taste of the Hunt with it to deliver damage while getting healed. Edit: nevermind. I missed a whole page. Good riddance!

Higher DEX is also not bad for casting. When you want to wear heavy armor I wouldn't go under 10. RES is neglectible. You'll have Spirit Shield and a lot of awesome self buffs and auras like Lengrath's Displaced Image, Arcane Veil, Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage and healing from Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon (which is really, really good). I like to take Veteran's Recovery and an item with +25% healing bonus, too - maybe also survival 8 or even 14 for the healing bonus. An approach of mine would probably look like: MIG 18 CON 10 DEX 10 PER 16 INT 18 RES 06 With those stats I solo'd the Nalrend-Bounty in Elmshore a few house ago without kiting, pulling and also without any consumables or resting bonuses (I had +15 ACC against wilders from camping though). The defenses will be quite balanced, too.

But teleporting a fighter across the battlefield in a blink while leaving behind a trail of invisible destruction is totally cool?

That may be. I just recalled it was there at some point. Who runs around completely naked anyway?

Thanks - I rolled them quickly with the help of the console just for this purpose. I could have taken a more fitting skin color with the aumua (under the Maegfolc Skull). Also nice. The color of the armor fits the color of Citzal's Spirit Lance very well.

Turning Wheel and Iron Wheel both apply without problems. With Iron Wheel you have to wear at least cloth armor. If you go naked it doesn't work (I suppose it enchants your armor in some way - I mean code-wise). What sometimes doesn't work is the mechanic of Blood Testament gloves (+2% raw lash per wound). Sometimes they work and sometimes not. Maybe this got fixed lately, too. Also, the whole thing about Enervating Blows is total nonsense. Monk's Fists scale with level and get higher ACC bonuses than most weapons - and earlier, too. They crit all the time...

Here a Death Godlike wizard with an enchanted fine plate armor and Citzal's Spirit Lance:

Concelhaut's Staff does crush damage only. But it's still a good weapon. It has high base damage, good ACC and drains endurance The best summoned weapon - as I said - is Citzals Spirit Lance. It can suit your whish of doing corrode/poison damage: As I said above, Envenomed Strike works with its carnage-like AoE. So it applies poison to all enemies in the area. You can even add things like Runner's Wounding Shot. THe wounding itself will only get applied to the initial target, but the hobble effect also works with that AoE. Same with Sever the Soul (Watcher ability). It applies weaken in the AoE, also fits your theme of a Deathguard/Necromancer I guess. THen choose all the poinson and corrode spells. The Spirit Lance also works with Knockdown of The Girdle of the Driving Wave: all enbemies in range will go prone. As everyday weapon you could use any two hander - like an estoc or a great sword or a pike. The SPirit Lance and also the Staff use any weapon focus. It's totally cool if you combine that with, let's say the Maegfolc Skull (for the deathguard-look) and a cool, dark themed plate armor. With the console you could even give him the original plate armor of a deathguard from Concelhaut's place (if you don't care about steam achievements). Once you killed your first deathguard, open the console and type "additem plate_armor_death_guard 1" and pretend you looted it from its body: Later on there's also Caedebald's Blackbow. This indeed has corrode base damage. But it's a bow. (the estoc in the picture is The Grey Sleeper)

Pike and quarterstaff are the only reach weapons. Good quarterstaffs are Durance's staff and Llawran's stick. The best pike is Tall Grass. All of them can be obtained early, which is good. Durance's Staff is the only reach weapon besides Citzal's Spirit lance that has two damage types.

Spirit of Decay does indeed boost the corrosive lashes on weapons. Basically you'll do 30% instead of 25%. Bittercut is even better: the base damage gets a 20% boost as well as the lash. So it's a great weapon for somebody who has Spirit of Decay. Please note that the main point of this build is to make yourself nearly immune to your own AoE poison and disease spells. This approach will not work if you take away Wodewys and Mountain Dwarf (together they give you +45 defenses against poison) - and take a pale elf and use Bittercut, which even lowers poison defenses further by -10. For a pale elf there's a similar approach with ice spells like Chillfog and the Crossed Patch (immunity to blind) - I think it's also on the build list. You can even try to boost reflex and burn DR with a pale elf and do this with fire/fireballs: dropping them onto your own head and don't get harmed. This wizard is supposed to be a tank and therefore should use a shield. However, you can certainly wield melee weapons with a wizard like a two hander or dual wielding. Dual wielding might even be too fast because you have Deleterious Alacrity of Motion which gives you +50% speed. Together with the 50% automatic speed enhancement of dual wielding you're already (mathematically ) at -0.25 recovery - but of course recovery can't be negative - so it's a bit of a waste. If you skill for two handers (Two Handed Style, Savage Attack, not too low DEX etc.) you will be perfectly set up for using The Parasitic Staff and latet Citzal's Spirit Lance - which is one of the best weapons in the game. Its damage is huge and its AoE splash damage also works with Knockdown (you can get that from a Girdle of the Driving Wave - random loot) and also Envenomed Strike, turning it into an AoE attack. Plus: Citzals Spirit Lance and the staff are universal, meaning they work with any weapon focus. You could for example use an estoc as tour everyday weapon, take WF Adventurer and it would still apply to Concelhaut's Staff and Spirit Lance. If you want to be a melee wizard and feel super powerful, use Citzal's Spirit Lance + Alacrity and every DMG boost (like Savage Attack, Two Handed Style, Apprentices Sneak, high MIG) you can get.

Or skip the fuzz, skill lore to 2 (!) and use a scroll.

Maybe you want to know that Outmanoevering doesn't work with The Dragon Thrashed - so I assume it also doesn't work with spells but only Steadfast's attacks.

Wolf has hoigher move speed (+1 like Fast Runner) and Knockdown per rest (meh) and bear has +DR (+2 I guess, meh) and 2 frighting roars per rest (supermeh).

Sorry, edited the post above because I forgot to answer that.

Wounding Tusks are the spiritshifted boar's natural weapons. Its damage scales with MIG and also works very well with the high base damage. It does 20% wounding (raw DoT) damage and is the special (passive) feat of the boar - together with regeneration (about 3 points of endurance per 3 sec with decent MIG). It stacks with Veteran's Recovery (which also works while shifted). If you combine those two with Moon Godlike (also works when shifted) you can totally go the dps way without the fear of getting killed quickly. The boar has no active 1/rest ability when shifted like cat, stag or bear have. Taste of the Hunt is nice if you need quick healing but you don't want to stop casting. Because when you are shifted you want to deliver as many blows as possible. Taste of the Hunt is "only" a primary attack, but it adds another raw DoT to the target and instantly gives you the damage you inflicted as endurance while hitting. It's only one attack though. I find it to be very circumstancial but sometimes it can save your buttocks. It's nothing I would use as spell mastery though.

The base damage scales (to a ridiculously high amount) and you boost damage with talents (Wildstrike and Greater Wildstrike, Savage Attack, Two Weapon Style, Weapon Focus Peasant, Outlander's Frenzy, Apprentice's Sneak and so on). Every damage mod, even if only 15%, works great because the base damage is so huge. Crits also add a ton of damage because of this - not only the tiny 50% of a usual weapon's base damage. If you take the Merciless Hand and add Dungeon Delver it gets even better. Also things like Wilder Hunter (+25% damage) do wonders. The only items that have some use while spiritshifted are those that are designed for the shifted Druid and those with Spell Holdings or Spell Bindings. The Wildstrike Belt also disappears when you shift, but with the action of shifting it triggers a timed elemental damage buff that lasts as long as you are shifted and gets add to the other wildstrike lashes. The Spell Holding/Binding items also disappear of course, but the spells that got triggered before the shifting carry on. For example you can get a crit and trigger Consecrated Ground from Shod-in-Faith boots, then shift. Conserated Ground will carry on. Same with Frenzy from Sanguine Plate and so on. And you can still cast spells when shifted. Avenging Storm for example is very good for a melee druid. It will add a quite powerful seperate shocking attack that also stuns each time you hit an enemy (and it also retaliates with thais effect when you get hit). As I said above, the combination of that very high base damage (scaling claws) plus the 60% lash and things like Avenging Storm makes a shifted druid the top single target damage dealer - as long as he's shifted. There is nothing else that comes close to this. Also not a rogue with Deathblows + Backstab + crit with annihilation weapon (and that's a real chore to get). My boar for example (who is not optimized for melee damage) constantly hits for >100 damage with the known speed of unarmed damage, then also adds wounding (usually around 20 to 30 raw) with every hit. Usually it takes not more than two hits to kill any mob. Also dragons fear his strikes. He can kill any dragon during shifting time at lvl 16 if somebody else cares about the adds. Scaling makes him very accurate, too.

Does Outmanoevering only affect the attacks with the blade or does it also work for spells as long a Steadfast is equipped?

I never ever use it.

For solo it's too short. With a full party it usually is enough time with decent INT. Just keep in mind the INT bonuses from items don't work so well while shifted.