Torchlight 2

[Magnus]

The real sequel to Diablo 2 just went on sale on Steam. Already bought a four pack for some friends, and we're all planning on good times.

 

If you don't know why I say it's the real sequel, then you should pay more attention to the developers!

 

http://www.torchlight2game.com/media

 

On a side note, I adore the pet system in this game. Helping you out with combat, running back to town with stuff you told them to sell. Really keeps you in the game all the time you're playing instead of having to run errands back to town every now and then.

[supplice.]

yum

[Rachis]

Torchlight was a stupid easy game. I'm pretty sure these games are made for babies.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

So I started playing this again.

 

I originally did an Embermage but that eventually got really boring just spamming spells.

 

I tried a berserker and found it to be really fun, but I also decided to dick around with late game builds before actually working on a legit game, so I don't spec some dumbass shit. Here's what I've got.

 

Starting out, don't skill anything until you get to town and respec Eviscerate, it's a poopy skill, and you can use the points much better.

 

Stats = Strength and Dexterity, Focus and Vitality investment when you level up is pointless, you class really doesn't make use of either of them, Berserkers are physical damage based. Plus if you want to use the end-game gear, the level 105 armor set, you need 145 Strength and 291 Dexterity (139 Strength and 285 Dexterity if you have Armor Expertise VI, which I recommend). Once you've considered how many stat points you can get, and what you need to use the level 105 gear, you don't have much to do anything else, and investing in Strength to increase base and crit damage is pretty much the best thing.

 

Go 2 Strength and 3 Dexterity until you hit 285 or 291 Dexterity, and dump everything into Strength. You'll have more than enough Strength to hit the requirements for the level 105 berserker set w/ 240 or 234 Strength. However you won't hit the Strength cap for the weapon(s) you'll want to eventually use. But that's what Stat Enchantments are for, so hold up on worrying about that.

 

Skills, Berserkers get lots of skills with lots of different build potentials, here's what I recommend doing. Focus on a weapon damage build, Berserkers are not supposed to be spellcasters, you can do a Wolf Pack based build and do tons of AoE damage, but why not just build an Embermage? Build your Berserker to do what he/she is meant to do, kick dicks in with lumps of metal or whatever.

 

Eviscerate = 0/15

 

Make sure you don't skill into anything during the opening part of the game, get to town and respec this skill for the point. It's fairly damage:mana effecient at level 1 but it hits nothing, maxed it hits lots of stuff but costs a ton of mana. It's really rather pointless when you compare it to other skills.

 

Howl = 0/15

 

You have absolutely no need to slow enemies, again, unless you're doing some spellcaster build in which case, why aren't you making an Embermage? I will say this is a good skill if you want to do the Wolf Pack build, since the AoE is huge, and the slow is pretty good, but it'll be primarily for things you don't kill in 1-2 Wolf Packs, like bosses and shit.

 

Raze = 0/15

 

Single target spells are pretty dumb, as you're a single-target based melee character. Besides you don't need to interrupt things when you can get a core skill w/ 1 point that allows you to evade any big hits and heal yourself and break shields and do damage, while you're at it.

 

Wolfstrike = ?/15

 

This one is up for debate, it's mana intensive, but it does a boat load of damage, stuns, and knockbacks. This is one you can choose to spec into, but it's not my favorite since it's so mana intensive and damage really comes from just hitting stuff when it goes late game, spells are basically for AoE damage, steroids, and survivability. However, this one ain't bad, it's one of the more damaging spells.

 

Battle Rage = ?/15

 

This is another one up for debate. It's actually a pretty strong steroid, once it's maxed. I wouldn't bother with 1-point wondering this spell. But +10% all damage for all enemies in a 6 meter AoE for 60 seconds ain't bad for boss fights. Not my favorite since most mobs you just near-instantly blow up, hard to kill enemies are not very prevalent. It also reduces damage taken, but that's not that big of a deal, tbh.

 

Rupture = 0/15

 

Another single-target spell, basically pointless. It's neat to hit one dude and make him explode, but it's not worth the skill points or mana.

 

Ravage = 0/15

 

This one looks cool, but does piss-all damage and all it really does is reduce enemy armor, which you have a passive that does that much more effectively tbh. This one costs a ton of mana as well. Once cool thing you can do, although it's totally pointless is use this while using Wolfstrike or Shadow Burst, but still it's dumb.

 

Blood Hunger = 1/15

 

This one is a skill most people max out, but you don't need to, although one point is absolutely essential and putting more into it is a good idea. It's not inherently important to do so. 5% of your HP back per crit @ lvl 1 vs 12% @ lvl 15 is not that big of a deal. With good Dexterity investment, you'll be hitting crits non-stop, so it's not generally going to matter. Personally I would go 1 and done, it's good maxed but it's not necessary, when you land crits ~40% of the time and attack quickly with two weapons, you're constantly going to get HP back.

 

Executioner = 15/15

 

This one is essential to a weapon build, because it basically fills your charge bar up like crazy and gives you lots of Frenzies, which turn you into a monster on damage, attack speed, and makes you move faster too. Anything that makes you hit frenzies late-game in like 2-3 left-click hits, is a good thing. Max this, you'll be happy you did.

 

Rampage = 11/15

 

This gives you a mini-frenzy buff chance when you kill things. Max this out so it's always up when you're fighting. +25% attack and cast speed movement speed for 5 seconds is nice, having it all the time when you fight, is dope. You can skim a point or two out of this to make other things work. Any AoE spell that hits multiple enemies is almost guaranteed to proc this, and although 5 seconds isn't very long, it constantly reprocs when fighting. Speed kills with a berserker.

 

Frost Breath = 0/15

 

Like most of the Ice Spells this sucks balls. If you want to skill into this and spells like it, just go make a fucking Embermage and rape everything w/ magic.

 

Stormclaw = 1/15

 

Generally this is a one-point wonder or maxed skill. I'm not super sold on it, since elemental damage is resisted and @ 1 point, it doesn't do a whole lot all things considered, although it is cost-effective damage for that one point. It's an easy ass buff to manage too, with a really low cost @ 1 and 38 second duration at all levels. Maxed it does a bunch more lightning procs, but you have to invest 14 more skill points. I would do one-point or none.

 

Stormhatchet = 0/15

 

Another skill that you should build an Embermage if you want.

 

Northern Rage = 0/15

 

Embermage

 

Ice Shield = 0/15

 

A lot of people like this spell, but seeing as it's based on enemy damage not your damage, it's pretty shit. I skip this cuz it's not worth the trouble. Although this is decent enough as a one-point wonder as well. But even still, I don't want to bother with a 10 second buff to manage. Plus the end-game level 105 gear will do more than this spell does, generally speaking. And you can get a socket or two to this and not lose skill points.

 

Permafrost = 0/15

 

Embermage

 

Glacial Shatter = 0/15

 

Embermage

 

Cold Steel Mastery = 15/15

 

Max this out, and make this one of your early game priorities. It increases physical damage 2% per level, ending up buffing physical damage by 30%. It also buffs Ice Damage which is neat cuz it works great with the best weapon end-game, but doesn't really matter too much. Physical damage = bread and butter.

 

Shatter Storm = 0/15

 

Embermage passive, don't need it, don't get it.

 

Rage Retaliation = 11/15

 

Get at least 11 points into this, it means everyone who attacks you in melee range, every time they hit you, gets struck by 120% of your weapon DPS. Basically it's rape on wheels for farming and adding to your damage output. You can put more points into it, but 11 hits the 0 minimal time between procs, adding more just increases the damage, which ain't bad, but not really needed either.

 

Shadow Burst = 1/15

 

This is a one-point wonder, with no reason to invest more points, and every reason not to invest more points. Maxed out, it does shatter shields, heal more, and do a bit more damage. But it costs a lot more mana, level one it does plenty of healing, it can shatter shields, and it costs next to nothing. Meaning you can spam the fuck out of it, and use it to dodge shit, jump around quickly to get through an area if you don't have a frenzy/rampage buff up to increase movement speed. This is the best utility skill for a berserker.

 

Wolf Shade = ?/15

 

This is sorta Embermage-y but the 3rd branch of skills has all the best spells for the Berserker and this is no different. This is a max or don't get at all skill. If you max this skill, it's pretty baller, it'll do tons of damage, heal you, and always be ready to be up. But it costs a lot of mana.

 

Shadowbind = ?/15

 

This is one of the more interesting steroids. It binds enemies in an AoE and causes a % of damage caused to any to spread to all bound enemies. This one doesn't mix well with a Embermage type Berserker build. But it does fairly well with a melee smasher. This goes well with Battle Rage for a steroid based build.

 

Savage Rush = 0/15

 

This one is just plain dumb, I've tried it out, I see no reason to ever get this, aside from the novelty of running around as a purplish wolf thing.

 

Chain Snare = ?/15

 

This is another debateable skill, I like this one in particular. Because maxed it does a lot of damage, stuns for 2 seconds, has 100% chance to break shields, and does good damage in a large 360 AoE with low mana cost and very short cast animation and cooldown. Meaning you don't do quite as much damage as some of the other spells, but this one hits everything around you, does it quick, and is spammable. This also can work in conjunction with Battle Rage since it pulls enemies it doesn't kill into you, but Chain Snare maxes @ 9 meters, and Battle Rage is 9 meters maxed, so it's not really a worthwhile investment to improve Battle Rage if you wanna go that route. Don't one-point wonder this skill thou, it's best when maxed; with one point the damage is weak, AoE is smaller. Maxing this skill isn't mana costly either, lvl 1 it's 14 mana, maxed it's 30 mana.

 

Battlestandard = ?/15

 

This is essential if you wanna do a mana based Berserker build like using Wolf Pact or one othe Embermage skills, as it basically keeps your mana full, it gives other buffs to dodge %, knockback resist, and charge rate; but only reason to invest into it is for mana spam powers.

 

Wolf Pack ?/15

 

I won't say Embermage even thou this is an Embermage type skill. This actually does tons of damage, it scales well, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg as one would expect if you max it, the last level reduces the mana cost. If you wanna have a spam spell, this is it, if you want to follow my fundamental picks and want something to AoE with, this is far from a bad choice. It does apeshit damage compared to the rest of the AoE spells out there. Chain Snare can compete because of it's low cost, fast cast animation, low cooldown, and 360 AoE. Wolfstrike isn't a bad competitor either. Wolf Pack's weakness is the cast time, which means you'll basically wanna do the Embermage Berserker build, which is dumb IMO.

 

Frenzy Master = 15/15

 

If you want to do weapon based build, you want to put as many points into this as you can spare. Maxing it isn't really essential since it only increases 0.5 seconds per level, and passives don't get tier bonuses. But there's no reason to shy away from investing in this, it's good. Longer frenzies = more murder, and murder keeps you alive w/ Blood Hunger.

 

Shred Armor = 15/15

 

If you do weapon build, this is an obvious max it skill. Whenever you hit ppl they lose a ton of armor and you get a boat load in return. So when you're fighting you chew up the enemy armor, do more damage, and get an armor buff that helps you not die, should you not dodge vis Dexterity or Shadow Burst.

 

Red Wolf = 1/15

 

This doesn't scale too great w/ heavy investment, but one point does add a decent chunk of damage. You can max this, but there's really no reason to, the bonus physical damage doesn't scale and the base damage remains the same, although it scales with you; so just one-point wonder this and it'll increase AoE DPS by tons if you do melee or Berserkermage build.

 

So if you follow my recommendations you'll have the following skills with points into them.

 

Blood Hunger - 1/15

Execute - 15/15

Rampage - 11/15

 

Stormclaw - 1/15

Cold Steel Mastery - 15/15

Rage Retaliation - 11/15

 

Shadow Burst - 1/15

Frenzy Master - 15/15

Shred Armor - 15/15

Red Wolf - 1/15

 

And 45 points left over, which give you room to max 3 other skills, or 1-2 more and max Rampage/Stormclaw/Rage Retalitation. I know I recommend maxing Rampage but lvl 11 puts it at 25% and lvl 15 puts it at 31%, and it makes room for maxing 3 seperate skills. Once I would pick for a melee berserker are Battle Rage, Shadow Bind, and Chain Snare. You can do other things, as well, but the above is actually fine pretty much on it's own until you're like NG+5 on Elite. So I would make this above the focus of your skill investments. I like Chain Snare personally just cuz it's cool and works good, but I would combine it w/ Battle Rage, and possibly Shadow Bind, although once you start cruising through stuff, you won't need much more than the basics I maked out above.

 

 

^ Berserkermage is pretty legit too. If you want to do that, I would skill (end-game maxed) as follows.

 

Howl - 15/15 (Use this to slow enemies so you can kite them.)

Blood Hunger - 1/15

Rampage - 1/15

 

Storm Hatchet - 15/15 (EZ AoE damage that breaks shields)

Northern Rage - 15/15 (Helps freeze ppl in place)

Permafrost - 15/15 (Helps freeze ppl in place)

Cold Steel Master - 15/15 (Increases damage)

Shatter Storm - 8/15 (Increases freeze potential)

 

Shadow Burst - 1/15 (Core utility skill 4 lyfe)

Wolf Shade - 15/15 (Does damage, heals, and helps kite)

Battle Standard - 15/15 (Necessary for anything that doesn't die immediately, like bosses and shit)

Wolf Pack - 15/15 (Primary DPS spell)

Red Wolf - 1/15 (Value pickup)

[Clones]

I have this game, haven't played too much of it. I think I was the gunslinger? If that's what he's called. I should go play it again.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

I don't know jack about outlanders, but I tried starting one and just didn't like how they worked.

 

I say the same for engineers too, embermage is pretty boring as well but gets sorta fun mid-game ish.

[Clones]

Engineer just seems really weird. I tried it out and couldn't get into it.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

I should go play [nocturne].

 

fix'd

[Clones]

Lol. Aw man, I should get around to doing that. Soon man, very, very soon!

[Bakuhatsu Pengin]

i play engie

 

engies are broke

[Shirtless Crackhead]

I need to do a cheat game again to NG+++++(w/e the new end-game is) so I can test shit out vs the heavy duty mobs.

[Rachis]

You should download mods. Some of the mod classes are sick.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

I dicked around with some mods that let you put like 5-6 sockets on legendary gear and get 10 full power enchants.

 

I made a berserker that can do AoE 500k crits that have AoE procs.

 

Just with Wolf Pack.