Best martial class for Citzal's Spirit Lance?

[Clerith]

I love this thing, it was my baby in PoE1, and I finally have the time to build for it in PoE2.

 

My first thought was Monk. So many things just synergize super well. Lance's AoE will make Swift Flurry proc a lot. You have AoE stun and knockup. Melee buffs, lash, more int. Seems great. Shattered Pillar, perhaps? With Wizard buffs you should be hard to hit, with Spirit Lance you have high damage, so getting Wounds via damage dealt seems better.

 

My second thought was Streefighter. What can I say, the subclass is broken? I personally don't like to play it because of the conditional way it gains power, but it should be super strong if you get bloodied and flanked. 

 

My third thought was Paladin. AoE Flames of Devotion, anyone? Spam spam. Definitely thinking Bleak Walker here. You get nice passive defenses, and you even have healing if you want. Tanky when buffed, high damage with Spirit Lance, healing/cannot die? Are we even missing anything here? 

 

My fourth thought was Fighter. I'll be honest, I'm not really considering it, but just for completion's sake. I haven't liked Fighters after they gutted Charge and the cleave stance. But Devoted is always great for more damage, you have useful offensive and defensive buffs, and AoE Mule Kick isn't bad. To be honest, the multiclass is still good, but probably not as good as the first three.

 

My fifth and last thought was Barbarian. Definitely Berserker. Recently there's been somewhat of a Warlock surge on these forums, but mostly from the spellcasting side. Barbaric Blow is a strong spammable attack, Frenzy is a huge steroid, and the Barbarian passives, especially Blood Thirst, work as well for melee as spells, especially with Spirit Lance's AoE. Not my first thought, but perhaps surprisingly strong? You self-damage though both Frenzy and DAoM though, so you'll probably need a pocket healer.

 

I still think that Monk is maybe the best, but I'm not sure. Your thoughts?

[grasida]

I think you’re selling fighter a little short. Clear out will apply the lance’s blast to every enemy you hit, meaning if you attack a dense pack of enemies, set up by pull of eora, say, you’ll deal massive damage to all of them. And the spirit lance is perfect with cleaving stance, since you’re damaging everything around you, once you drop one enemy you have a decent chance to start a chain reaction. Finally, you have strong aoe disruption with mule kick. I don’t know if all that’s enough to make fighter best, but it’s certainly a good choice.

 

If I had to pick, I’d choose monk for overall versatility, since helwalker provides an enormous boost to your spells, and streetfighter for pure damage. But fighter is a really good choice if you want a tough character with strong utility and good damage.

[Boeroer]

Have a look here:

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104298-top-2her-reviews/?do=findComment&comment=2079803

[Clerith]

How the **** do I delete my posts...

 

Ah wells. Yeah, I might be underselling the Fighter a little, I do think it's good though, like I said.

 

And that's essentially three votes for Monk so far. I wonder what the best single target dps option for that combo is. Just keep stabbing with the spear? Switch to dual fists? Dual legendary sabres/other? Empowered Wizard missiles? Or do you cast dot/cc spells instead? 

 

Oh yeah, and does Avenging Storm (from the helmet) work with Spirit Lance's AoE? As in does it shock every enemy or just the primary one?

Edited August 1, 2018 by Clerith

[Boeroer]

Avenging Storm works just fine: every enemy gets a lighing on his head once he gets hit, yes. You can combine that with Combusting Wounds for a lot of AoE DoT damage.

 

Fists for monks are generally great when it comes to single target dps. Also: Monks have some attacks that target fortitude - a Morning Star with Body Blows modal is also a good idea if you want to reliably apply Stunning Blows, Force of Anguish and such.