So, no such thing as fun melee? (Subjective)

[Ymarsakar]

So, I gre up to baldurs gate, I recall selling my consoles to a shadey smoke filled pc chop shop for a craptastic pc and a copy of all the old black ilse studio games and never looking back. But here's to problem, I'm older new, seen some things. Hardened and jaded to the lands of auto attacking and crit animations. I need more man!

 

Ok, jokes aside, I prefer melee but in IE games I find it kind of dull. I want a juggernaut that has tons of actives, a mobile AF rogue or some melee wizzy with tons of cc and spike damage. Something flashy, why are all the ranged toons so flashy and fun meanwhile.... I have played 150hrs of this game and barely gotten to act 2!

 

I have poured over all the builds here at http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416939844 (props to some interesting stuff) but everything melee is either a glass cannon crit machine or a tank. Maybe I'm not seeing some cool class powers cause I never get past lvl 6 but I just haven't been wowed by any melee. 

 

I have made a dual saber rogue, A tank cap'n america style monk, a cat melee druid, and a squishy AF melee Cipher and many more. nothing catches me. I did the story, but I want to dig the combat too.

 

Maybe its just me but I feel like melee should have either tons of close range cc or mobility alongside it's damage. Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong? It's clear this game is caster biased but it cannot be that bad. Can it?

 

You probably should use the wizard then. As a melee fighter, rather than a caster.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[QuiteGoneJin]

Tried the melee wizard, loved the spells, didnt like the setup time. I'm gonna give the juggernaut monk a try, if the creator or any player doesnt mind listen the order of and where to get the key gear I'd be much appreciated. 

[AndreaColombo]

Tried the melee wizard, loved the spells, didnt like the setup time.

 

Were you using Deleterious Alacrity of Motion?

 

It's a key spell for all Wizard builds.

[QuiteGoneJin]

Yeah, I should give it a shot, trying that juggernaut Monk, gotta say hes a lot of fun, never thought to wear heavy armor on a monk before. 

[KDubya]

The leap of understanding I made when I embraced heavy armor on the Monk opened up the whole Juggernaut concept to me. That and reading AndreaColumbo's Lady of Pain build to incorporate some of the equipment choices, especially the Sanguine Plate and the Shod in Faith boots.

[Khadgar42]

As I ranted in the other thread, combat just isn't for me.

 

Most talents are unappealing (to me), damage seldom stacks, items suppress each other (which isn't bad per se, but it I can't raise stats with level ups so Role-playing gets pretty stuck in one way), path finding is "amusing", loot is meagre, experience is capped, resting is limited by your camping supplies (that's why I don't like to use per rest abilities) and buffing spells don't work outside combat. I feel ham-stringed and underwhelmed by combat and try to avoid it whenever possible.

 

Oh and there is no retreat, you fight to the death, always. Win or reload are your only options, If I want to play a ****ty coward with boots of speed and bow and arrow I'm out of luck.

But this is just my personal experience.

[Stoner]

For me melee is fun when it's working. I don't care how many active abilities I have, I just want my frontline figher to do the excellent job at what I built him to.

So, in PoE when I build Fighter or Paladin into full armored tank, he does just that: keeps bad guys busy, don't fall and lockdown area. When I build my Barbarian towards max DPS, I give him two handed sword or dual axes, spec his stats and ablilties accordingly, then I rush him into the fray, and if he manages to avoid heavy punishment I see gibbed guys all over the floor in a few seconds.

 

Many-many RPGs and semi-RPGs I played fail at this hard. Classes don't work, or working the wrong way. In PoE everything works as intended for me at least and I can easily build what I desire, and it'll work exactly the way that I desire. That's main fun point for me in combat anyways.

[Killyox]

TBH I think they should do "kits" for each class as well. So like Duelist for fighter with toggable fighting stances and skills focusing on it and so on. Really Liked kits in BG2

 

They should also make better UI for skills. I would like to KNOW what skills will I be able to choose from later on so I can plan around it instead of picking skills that don't mix well with skills I would like to pick later on.

Edited October 17, 2015 by Killyox

[Boeroer]

The last thing is important. I would love to see a complete ability/talent tree or something like that (I know most skills stand alone) when I level up. So I could plan what comes next and what requirements I have to meet (lvl, ability) and which skills don't work together (e.g. Swift Aim and Twin Arrows).

Edited October 17, 2015 by Boeroer

[QuiteGoneJin]

But that's the point: you can get all the gear I mentioned (sanguine plate, shod-in-faith, Tall Grass/Hours of St. Rumbalt) at the beginning of act 2. Most of them you just can buy. You can pick up Tidefall very early too - theoretically - the fight is quite tough when you just started into act 2... and you need mechanics 10 to discover the weapon. If you have all this, then a barb is really great, combining aoe dps, aoe cc and tanking. Monk is totally awesome nevertheless.

Tried to get this gear, im lvl 5 and have started defiance bay etc, both vincent agosi (the forgotten quest for the plate), and Dunstan in the crucible keep have nothing to say to me. ><

[QuiteGoneJin]

Wait, those were for the barb not the monk iirc. Durr.

[Ymarsakar]

Faction Merchants are unlocked by a quest. Just be sure to do all the faction quests before you start the end sequence.

Edited October 17, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[Nobear]

Tried to get this gear, im lvl 5 and have started defiance bay etc, both vincent agosi (the forgotten quest for the plate), and Dunstan in the crucible keep have nothing to say to me. ><

 

As Ymarsakar said, faction merchants are unlocked by a quest. You can only choose to align with one of three factions, and your main will get a different talent depending on which one you choose. However, before you make this choice, you can do (IIRC) one quest and one task for each faction. I recommend keeping a save from just before you start doing these quests, in case you accidentally do one that aligns you with a faction before you want to, although the indicators should be pretty clear if you're paying attention. You might want to check out the gear from each faction merchant and buy whatever you want from them, before choosing one to align with.

 

Also, Vincent Agosi didn't have any quests for me at first either. He eventually did as I kept going Defiance Bay quests and tasks in all the districts, but I can't tell you which one unlocked it.

[Boeroer]

You only have to do the first quest of a faction to unlock the shop. This doesn't lock anything. You can always unlock all three shops. It's the second quest for a faction that binds you.

 

The ambassador will only give you that quest if you solved the quest with Pallegina/Maestre Verzano in Ondra's Gift.

Help or kill Verzano and then speak to Pallegina. Then go to the ambassy in First Fires (don't forget to pick up the Obsidian Statuette there). Pallegina doesn't have to be in your party to get the quest. I'm not even sure if you have to pick her up at all - I think it's enough if you did the Verzano quest.

 

The gear is also great for monks. Frenzy plus Consecrated Ground - what's not to love? Although the 33% speed override the 25% from Swift Strikes. But you can turn that on when the frenzy expires or you add the lightning talent. Or you just skip swift strikes (saving an ability and a talent) and take something else. Or you give the plate to somebody else in your party. Barb, rogue - everybody without his/her own speed ability who goes melee works.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Boeroer

[Nobear]

You only have to do the first quest of a faction to unlock the shop. This doesn't lock anything. You can always unlock all three shops. It's the second quest for a faction that binds you.

 

The ambassador will only give you that quest if you solved the quest with Pallegina/Maestre Verzano in Ondra's Gift.

 

Thanks for the refresher. In that case, I believe the tasks (as opposed to quests) for factions don't have any effect other than whatever rewards and/or reputation they grant.

 

That sounds right. I was going to mention that it seems Ondra's Gift did the trick for me, but I had forgotten specifically which quest. It makes sense that it's the Verzano quest, as it ties in (not to spoil with any more specifics lol!)

[kanisatha]

Wow, this is a great thread!

 

Here's my situation. I'm a very casual gamer with only a little bit of time in any week to devote to my games. As such I don't like having to spend a lot of time and effort doing a lot of buffing etc. I love playing a melee character that can just dive right in and deliver a lot of damage while also being able to withstand some damage. And I don't care for playing monk or rogue.

 

So, what would be best for me? Fighter, barbarian, paladin, ranger?  Also, two-hander versus two-weapon? Build recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Stoner]

@kanisatha

I had TONS of fun with barbarian, you can go with two handed or dual-wield as you wish, he does both great. Paladin is also fantastic choice but I mostly used two-hander on him + he 's a bit tougher than Barb. Fighter is basically Jack of Trades, you can build him as you like, but I prefer this class as heavily armored tank, there are builds making him good archer even.

 

As for the build, since you are casual, I doubt you play on Path of The Damned difficulty, so on Normal or Hard you will be fine, build as you feel like, game won't punish you + with 2.0 update there's respec option so don't be afraid to experiment on your own.

[Boeroer]

Barb with Shod-in-Faith boots (plus moon godlike) gives you a char that can dive into battle, doing lots of damage and withstand even heavy punishment. He will be lots oft fun. I recommend either Tidefall (draining and wounding works with carnage) or a disabling weapon with a high acc bonus like Tall Grass or Hours of St. Rumbalt since these also work with carnage. Despite your comment I would also recommend a godlike monk with Force of Anguish. In my opinion there's no class that's more fun in melee. My melee dream team always includes a barb and a monk.

[AndreaColombo]

A high-dex Barbarian that sips a potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion can dual-wield battle axes with Vulnerable Attack and attack with no recovery time. The bar never appears overhead between attacks. Replace the battle axes with the Blade of the Endless Paths and you attack with almost no recovery time, but deal a ton of damage with 10 DR bypass (the downside is that you have no on-crit CC effect.)
 

[Boeroer]

Attack with single handed Spelltongue + carnage = +15% speed for over 60sec -> frenzy -> switch to dual wielding durgan refined Sword of Daenysis & March Steel Dagger for an overall speed buff of 103% for both weapons without any consumables or buffs from others. Nearly no recovery, great fun because of the constant interrupts with carnage! Blade of the Endless Paths is also great for less interrupts but a lot more dps. Most fun I had with a durgan refined Mabec's Morning Star and above Spelltongue trick. But I guess Tall Grass would be even better.

[kanisatha]

Thanks for all the great tips. You all are awesome! I've taken notes on everything you all recommended so that I can try out different combinations and see what I like best.

 

@Boeroer, I noted your comments about the monk class. All of my D&D experiences with monks really turned me off to that class, but obviously this is not D&D so may be I will give monk a chance as well. A big part of why I didn't like monks in D&D was that you get all that awesome weapons and armor treasure but cannot use any of it with a monk. But am I right in assuming in PoE monks can use all weapons and armor?

[AndreaColombo]

But am I right in assuming in PoE monks can use all weapons and armor?

 

Indeed you are. Another difference from D&D Monks is that PoE Monks have the same Accuracy as Fighters, whereas Monks in D&D (at least in 3.0 and 3.5) had a lower attack bonus than Fighters.

 

I too was lukewarm at best towards Monks but playing a Monk in PoE is all kinds of fun.

[Stoner]

@kanisatha

Well, you can give Monks weapons in PoE but it kills their effectiveness obviously, but regarding armor: I have a monk in gorgeos Heavy Armor, and at time he serves as better tank than my fighter in heavy armor and tower shield, so I wouldn't say type of armor has huge restriction on him, you can build him either way.

[Nobear]

@kanisatha

Well, you can give Monks weapons in PoE but it kills their effectiveness obviously

 

From what I've read, it doesn't necessarily kill their effectiveness. Rather, it's generally a tradeoff. Fists tend to do more damage (maybe there are some exceptions among really powerful weapons, IDK off hand), but some weapons have procs (e.g. on crit effects like stuns), which is the main reason some players use weapons on their monks, even if most prefer bare-handed.

[Boeroer]

The fists are the fastest weapons with great base damage AND there are sandals that boost unarmed damage even further (+2 base damage) and they are abolutely effektive BUT you can't have enchantments like lashes or affliction-thingies and durgan steel - and that's the main reason why weapons are better. On the other hand the fists upgrade themselves to superb so you don't need to waste sky dragon eyes for them to get +12 ACC and +45% damage. For wearing heavy armor dual wielding is the best option: the recovery time is only 20 frames when dual wielding. That's 30 in plate armor. A two hander would go up from 30 to 45 frames. So a dual wielding monk with heavy armor is actually a smart guy.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Boeroer