Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

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homunculus88
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Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by homunculus88 »

I´m currently having a blast with TQ:IT. My Assassin just hit Lv 30. I´m looking for a website like Arreat Summit for Diablo II with good Character Build/ Skill-Combos. Any suggestions? What builds do you use?
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Post by paulbaxter »

I've been playing a lot lately too. My Diviner is mid-Egypt on legendary now.

I play a caster-diviner. Mostly this means fully maxed Liche King, Nightmare (who doesn't actually need maxing) and Ternion, plus all the buffing skills. As long as I send the pets ahead of me, it's really quite easy, even on legendary. As long as I don't run around with my sacrificial amulet on, I don't usually have any problems. The pets pretty much never die, but they don't kill things superfast on their own.

(Sacrificial amulet, if you haven't seen it, has massive -health and -health regen in exchange for a big boost in xp)

I don't know if I could handle going back to play a completely different build. It might be fun to try a warrior type to try out some of those big weapons.
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Post by Hyena »

I have become addicted to the Dream archetype. I have a 24 Dream/Spirit, a 48 Dream/Defender and a 17 Dream/Warfare. The Dream/Defender started out good, but has since fallen to the wayside. I know that Defender is one of the best builds, or at least that is what I have heard, but I have zero points put into the defense skills and I seem to still be DESTROYING everything. I figured if I am going to be a melee fighter, I might as well go all the way and be a pure melee fighter. I have no points in any pets, and am working up the dual-wield tree. My plan is to get the PBAoE skills maxed out, so I can shadow-step in and hit mobs with the stunning attacks, then mop up the rest.

I also found a ridiculously powerful item fighting the Overlord's Cavern, a snowball named *. It functions as a staff, hitting 105-115 with cold damage, causing 200 frostburn over 4 seconds and launching a 6-balled mini-blizzard in a fan-shaped blast as a second attack. NO REQUIREMENTS. That's right, you can give this thing to a first level character and have him burn through everything with one hit. It is my power-leveller in a bottle.
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Post by Vesper »

I never finished Titan Quest (got maybe halfway through). Is it worth picking up this expansion pack for me? Sounds like there are some new skill/class types.. so woudl that require a new character anyway? Been thinking abotu firing this game up again lately, so maybe now is a good time.
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Post by Hyena »

I would say pick it up for sure, but then again, I am a junkie for this game. Loot whore to the extreme, basically. :)

Does not require a new character, but I would suggest one to try the new class. It depends on why you stopped to begin with. If you didn't like the gameplay or graphics or anything like that, don't bother because not much has changed there. If it was real life intervening or some such, try it again.

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Post by Vesper »

Nah.. I really enjoyed the game. It was just game ADD and real life getting in the way. Anyone know of a good deal on it now? Seems like everywhere I've checked is around the $27.99 - $29.99 range.
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Post by Vesper »

Ended up picking this up. Having a blast! I forgot how fun this game is. I made a new Dream character, and so far have been using the basic attack at the Wave-area attack.. Very fun. Not sure what to take for my secondary mastery yet.
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Post by Butterknife »

I'm trying a couple odd builds:

1) Evoker (Earth/Dream), concentrating on aura-killing everything. Essentially this character will just walk next to stuff and it will die. So far so good, but I haven't quite gotten high enough level to really come in to my own yet (about level 18 now). Skills I am focusing on are Ring of Flame, Earth Enchantment, Brimstone, and (soon) Trance of Wrath and Soften Metal. I can't wait to get to Trance of Wrath -- that will be a core skill for this build. This build has been surprisingly effective so far, mowing through everything and even doing OK with bosses (I just try to stay behind them). I've put points into Distort Reality to use them up until I have enough to get to buy Trance of Wrath.

2) Prophet (Storm/Dream), concentrating on retaliation-based damage. I haven't had a chance to get this character far at all, but I'm planning on retaliation-based damage, and pumping up strength (and possibly health) enough to be able to wear decent armor to stay alive. I tried a retaliation-type Paladin (Storm/Defense) build before, but I think a Prophet has an even better selection of retaliation skills so it could be even better. Core skills will be Storm Surge (of course), Static Charge, Reflection, Trance of Empathy, and Distortion Field. If this character is anything like my Paladin was, he will be a potion-chugging machine.
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Post by tswright »

I'm almost through the third act as an Illusionist (Nature/Rogue). I spent the first two acts as a Summon/Melee hybrid with Wolves, Heart of Oak, Blade Honing, Calculated Strike, and Nightshade. I was getting seriously pwned in the third act so I have since respecced my points in Wolves into Traps and Flash Powder, and what a difference. I throw down a couple of traps, suck in a mob, toss some powder, and then mop up the leftovers. Once I have the first two legs of the trap branch maxed out, I'm thinking of trying out a little Plague and Fatigue from the Nature mastery.
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Post by qp »

My Templar is sick on normal. I went straight up the DM and Defense Trees cherry picking the DM powers I wanted (I think I only took Colossus from Defense), now I've maxed the top of the distortion powers (the wave and the AOE) with lots of burn damage. I've also been powering up the cloak attack. The average group of mobs doesn't stand a chance. The cloak attack is really nice for getting in on bosses. Usually I only needed that cone attack power then a few chops.

I choose the Templar route because I'm hoping later one when things become tough (haven't started epic yet), the defensive capabilities will at least allow me to survive. Unlike my poor Champion trying to do chapter IV on Legendary...just pointless.
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Post by marcusjm »

I just got the basic version. I'd like to ask about recommended character builds for first run through.

Can you build a pure summoner? Ie, someone who can summon hordes of monsters.

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Post by qp »

Well Nature, Spirit, and Earth have decent summoned creatures. You could start with one of those, and if you hold off until you get the expansion (I highly recommend it...for the caravans if nothing else), you can add Dream Master which has another pet that actually powers up your other summons (plus Immortal Throne also has various pet powering up magic items)
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Post by marcusjm »

qp wrote:Well Nature, Spirit, and Earth have decent summoned creatures. You could start with one of those, and if you hold off until you get the expansion (I highly recommend it...for the caravans if nothing else), you can add Dream Master which has another pet that actually powers up your other summons (plus Immortal Throne also has various pet powering up magic items)
Can you mix summons? I mean like Diablo2 where you could have a few of each type.


I am definately going with some nature type then. Thank you for the tip, will get the expansion too if this turns out well.

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Post by qp »

Oh yes, Nature for example you can have I think 3 wolves plus the Nymph. It will take a lot of skill points to max them out though!

Earth's Fire Elemental is a powerful pet as is Spirit's Lich. Spirit also has "the outsider" which is like an uber-pet on a limited clock with a very long recharge time.
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Post by Austin »

qp wrote:Oh yes, Nature for example you can have I think 3 wolves plus the Nymph. It will take a lot of skill points to max them out though!

Earth's Fire Elemental is a powerful pet as is Spirit's Lich. Spirit also has "the outsider" which is like an uber-pet on a limited clock with a very long recharge time.
The wolves and the nimph are all Nature though iirc. To better answer the question, yes. You can summon a pet from the fire line and wolves from the nature line. ;)
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Post by Big Jake »

I have a conjurer (Earth/Spirit) in Act 4 entirely based around fire content. All but one of my accessories has a +% to fire damage on it, and the ternion attack staff I use is of course fire based. The problem is, at level 38, he has 1500 hp, and boy he goes down the instant anything survives his first attack or two. My Templar had a much easier time getting into Act 4 then he did. My assassin is in Act 2, and was looking like a stud...right up until I tried a Dreamkiller (Rogue/Dream). He is coasting right now in Act 3. A question for everyone: what kind of damage/damage per second do you guys do? For reference, my Conjurer does ~600 per shot, and was one hitting monsters in Act 3 and the beginning of Act4.
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Post by qp »

DPS is at around 300-400 I think at level 38 (finished normal, no epic)...but that's just with the sword (purple item)...the DPS against a group of mobs is hard to calculate but usually involves a pile of corpses in about 0-2 seconds for anything that isn't yellow.

This time around I've built my character (equipment wise) paying careful attention to my resists and I managed to get most of the main ones maxed and a few secondaries up a bit...but I haven't started Epic yet.
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Post by marcusjm »

Thank you for the tips. I went with Storm for first level (female). Couldn't help thinking of X-Men so I took that one to start with. :).

A bit dissapointing that you can't customize the look of your hero though. I'd have wanted a white haired woma for this build.

Some say that Titan quest isnt good for more than one run through but how else are you supposed to try the higher difficulties? So far I am loving it, even though the Greco-English is a bit ridicilous, sounds like the stupid guy in Mummy.

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Post by qp »

I've run one hero through Legendary (pre Immortal Throne), and probably another three or four in Normal (one finished IT as well). I've played it on and off for well over a year now. I can see why Diablo II was a big hit even though I've never really played it myself. Now that they have caravans (allowing transfers between characters) I may just see a complete armor set...maybe...someday. But yeah you need to run through it more than once my first long term character need to go back to Epic for a bit to work on some equipment to survive Legendary (A Champion - or Nature/Warrior...bad build IMO...for awhile he owned as I was abusing refresh to keep my summoned warriors around most of the time, but once they kick that crutch out from under me it was one challenging build)
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Post by Torfish »

Yes, the Champion build is not the best. It took me many many trips to kill the final boss in Act III (Typhoon). My second character (Dream) rips through everything including the bosses.

I highly recommend the expansion, just for the new ability of transferring items between characters... it made the game so much more fun to play. I actually have one complete item set, from playing three characters.

I love the game. Not quite as good as Diablo 2, but pretty close.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Paingod »

I was looking for this thread, and shall summon it to ...

1. Say Titan Quest Gold is just $20 on Steam - OR - $7.50 with Shipping on Amazon from a number of retailers. It felt damn good to get a physical copy of a game cheaper than a digital one. I didn't really feel like waiting until Christmas to get it for $5 on Steam.

2. I've got my wife interested in this and bought two copies. I had the original, but not the expansion. I'm looking forward to playing through with her, but am wondering if anyone thinks she'll run into any pitfalls in trying a Nature/Warrior build. For our game-through pair I'm going to run a Hunter/Rogue with bows as a specialty and using weapon buffs for maxed bleeding, poison, and piercing damage.

I've played a number of class combos in the time I had it, and found Warrior/Defender (Champion?) to be absolutely brutal between Dual Wield, passives in both trees, and Onslaught. He ended up a virtual blender. Foes run in, cash falls out. If I recall correctly, though, he was also a massive potion drinker.

I tried out a Defender/Earth (Juggernaut) first time getting back in but found it to be a painfully slow build - something I'd certainly call late-blooming. I've laid him to rest in favor of a soloing Spirit/Storm caster (Lich from Spirit, Damage from Storm) - plan is to get the Lich ASAP and then start focusing on Storm.

Based on comments here it almost seems that Dream/* is overpowering, which I find dismaying. Looking through the skill trees, nothing in it really appeals to me.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by silverjon »

Paingod wrote:2. I've got my wife interested in this and bought two copies. I had the original, but not the expansion. I'm looking forward to playing through with her, but am wondering if anyone thinks she'll run into any pitfalls in trying a Nature/Warrior build. For our game-through pair I'm going to run a Hunter/Rogue with bows as a specialty and using weapon buffs for maxed bleeding, poison, and piercing damage.
Bleed and poison damage lose efficacy over time as enemy resistance grows. General consensus is that bleed becomes absolutely worthless on higher difficulties, and the poison tree should be managed to only distribute the necessary pre-req points into the poison damage tiers, but max out the disabling ones (slow and confuse). I love my bow-wielding Brigand, but my approach with this game is shameless in the min-maxing (not like it rewards roleplay, so WTH).

Nature is a solid complement to pretty well any other skill tree as well as a good addition to any party. So your wife should be fine with that. Plus she can have wolves.
I've played a number of class combos in the time I had it, and found Warrior/Defender (Champion?) to be absolutely brutal between Dual Wield, passives in both trees, and Onslaught. He ended up a virtual blender. Foes run in, cash falls out. If I recall correctly, though, he was also a massive potion drinker.
I've not combined those two because all my character with Defense use shield skills, and my Warriors dual wield. I don't recall either tree having a good skill-based boost to healing, so potions would be a must, yeah.
I tried out a Defender/Earth (Juggernaut) first time getting back in but found it to be a painfully slow build - something I'd certainly call late-blooming. I've laid him to rest in favor of a soloing Spirit/Storm caster (Lich from Spirit, Damage from Storm) - plan is to get the Lich ASAP and then start focusing on Storm.
The problem with combining Earth and more combat-oriented tree is that the bonuses aren't super-complimentary. Earth seems to work better as a caster combination. Oracles are pretty neat, though I haven't played with mine nearly as much as some other builds.
Based on comments here it almost seems that Dream/* is overpowering, which I find dismaying. Looking through the skill trees, nothing in it really appeals to me.
Like Nature, Dream can complement anything. My Harbinger is quite the meatgrinder, and I started at least one character that was a caster with Dream. A Diviner for sure. Maybe an Evoker as well? Is it the overpowering that doesn't appeal to you, or just that the skills don't sound fun?

This site is fun for pissing around with different builds "on paper". http://titancalc.com/" target="_blank

Make sure you install the fan fixpack.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Paingod »

silverjon wrote:This site is fun for pissing around with different builds "on paper". http://titancalc.com/" target="_blank

Make sure you install the fan fixpack.
This is exactly why I post things like this. I might never have known about the fan fixpack, and certainly hadn't looked for a character builder. Very cool points on both go to you, sir!

Dream just looks like a wierd mish-mash of lots of skills, but without solid focus - at first glance - like it can't decide between spellcasting, pets, or melee. I've also never been a fan of overpowering builds. I find that if I'm just a mega-unstoppable-juggernaut, games get a tad dull a lot faster.

My Brigand was planning on going heavy into Study Prey in order to lower defenses and resistances on harder foes. Maybe that doesn't work too good in Legendary, but I'm sure I'll do okay damage aside from that. I also don't highly anticipate my wife wanting to play all the way through Epic, let alone Legendary, so I'm not overly worried. I'll be pleasantly surprised if she does, though, and will do what I can to stay alive.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by silverjon »

Paingod wrote:Dream just looks like a wierd mish-mash of lots of skills, but without solid focus - at first glance - like it can't decide between spellcasting, pets, or melee. I've also never been a fan of overpowering builds. I find that if I'm just a mega-unstoppable-juggernaut, games get a tad dull a lot faster.
The counter is that Dream, as the tree introduced in the expansion, works well with every core skill tree. Whether that's balanced or unbalanced is, I suppose, a matter of taste. With any given Dream/* build, some skills are more worth using than others, depending on if you want a caster, melee, ranged, or pet-based build. That's what ended up holding my interest in this game, is figuring out what syncs best. None of my characters have quite the same strategy.
My Brigand was planning on going heavy into Study Prey in order to lower defenses and resistances on harder foes. Maybe that doesn't work too good in Legendary, but I'm sure I'll do okay damage aside from that. I also don't highly anticipate my wife wanting to play all the way through Epic, let alone Legendary, so I'm not overly worried. I'll be pleasantly surprised if she does, though, and will do what I can to stay alive.
Study Prey is actually even more highly recommended later than earlier, but you'll see how potent it is when centaurs use it against you.

Stuff I wished I had known about the expansion: If you die, a tombstone spawns at the location. Touch it and some of your lost XP will be restored. (If you keep dying, new stones spawn with less and less restoration.)
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To be fair, adolescent power fantasy tripe is way easier to write than absurd existential horror, and every community has got to start somewhere... right?

Unless one loses a precious thing, he will never know its true value. A little light finally scratches the darkness; it lets the exhausted one face his shattered dream and realize his path cannot be walked. Can man live happily without embracing his wounded heart?
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Paingod »

That FanPatch is impressive.

I never knew the game was so flawed - I just played through and didn't see a thing wrong. This makes it look like I was missing 1/4 of the game due to bugs. Broken skills, missing effects, flawed math... I just had no idea. Thanks again for that!

We just beat Borderlands together last night (I can play solo now if I want! She asked me not to play without her so the content would be new to both of us as we went through) so Titan Quest may be up next. I hope the two copies of TQ Gold show up soon so we can play Immortal Throne together.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Peacedog »

I actually downloaded the Paths mod for TQ/IT yesterday. I am having trouble getting it working. But it basically re-does the whole masteries thing. I am looking forward to seeing it in action.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Peacedog »

Ok, This is Paths + Lilith.

I have now played with just Paths and LiliPaths. First, Paths. . .

9 entirely new masteries. You gain 4 skill points (and 16 ability points, but now the exchange rates are 1/1 for abilities and 1/5 for health/mana) per level, to account for the fact that many skills have high max levels and you can sink 100 points into a mastery (at 100, you get a unique boost).

I am playing V-something-something. It's a "force magic user". Each path tends to have strengths and weaknesses that get magnifed as you invest in the actual path (nee mastery) skill. For me, I get a larger mana pool and lots of mana regen, but smaller health and shit for poison resistance. Anyway, so far I only have 5 active skills (at 24, I sprinted up the tree). But I also have like 5 auras, and most aurs and most skills have quite a few compliments.

Bread and butter are Force Bolt: shoots out a line of force that goes through enemies. It slows and has a small stun chance (thanks to a compliment skill). I also have a high level 16s cooldown skill that does a tremendous amount of damage (potentially; it's highly variable). I have an insta heal like skill on a long cooldown, a cool shield spell (absorbs damage and at level 2 reflects 125%), and my many auras. I get a lot of buffs from them but seeing as I only have 1 point in each, and a point in a compliment here and there, I'm not getting much out of them.

The heal actually adds crazy crazy crazy boost your health regen but only for 1 second. More point sadds to the duration, I'll have to consider that. Because Paths is nasty. The first Centuar Boss in TQ? I couldn't come close to killing him. He decimates me in about 3 seconds, so I had to leave him behind. I've died a goodly amount, in fact. It's a much more dangerous game. PAths allows you to chose which monster DB you want to install, so you can opt for harder/easier. I went with normal. Normal is much harder now. And with potions being on a cooldown. . . it's a dangerous world.

Lilith is a total reworking of the game world. Act 1 alone has enough portal spots to start in the top left corner of the portal map interface and wrap around clockwise to the bottom right. Additionally, there are "rest points" in dungeons. When you find one a little stature appears next to the related waypoint. YOu can thus teleport from their into a dungeon/area. Sort of a mini way point. There are quite a few of these and you'll need them. Dungeons are long. If you're sick of basic TQ, this mod is worth considering, with all new areas/quests/bosses/etc. It's definitely difficult (again, using normal monsters).
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Zurai »

The mechanical aspects of the Paths trees were really interesting and fun. The problem I had with them was conceptual: there are only two "good" paths, but like six "evil" paths, and the two "good" paths are both very passive.

Berserker? Not evil, but not generally considered good guys either.
Sekhmet? Not exactly good, but close enough. Chock full of passive abilities with very few actives.
Mind? See above about Sekhmet.
Khloros? You're a herald for the Horseman (as in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) of Pestilence. 'Nuff said.
Poseidon? All about wreaking (un)natural disasters all over the place.
Dokkaebi? Think Loki and you've hit the mark.
Tartarus? You make pacts with demons. Yeah.
Venefici? Literally means "poisonous"/"harmful".
Lichdom? Do I even have to explain it?

So really, unless you want to play Sekhmet/Mind, you're at least partly a bad guy (or at least a walking disaster area via Berserker or Poseidon), and Sekhmet/Mind is an incredibly boring class to play because you'll have a left click skill, a couple buffs, and maybe a right click skill. Your attacks will be awesome and you'll have good defenses, but you're going to have very little variety in your play experience.

If you don't care about the flavor, though, and Titan Quest isn't exactly a role playing heavy game, then Paths is excellent.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Paingod »

I don't think we'll try any real mods to the game until after my wife's experienced the game as it is. The FanPatch installed flawlessly over a clean install of Immortal Throne.

I'm having an interesting time explaining the game mechanics to her. She wants to learn it, but is finding it daunting. She's a very smart woman, but she's never ever played a game like this before. I'm trying to introduce her to each element in turn without overwhelming her or making her feel like she's ruined her character. For example, the first two hours of play were strictly us doing very basic things - click and hold to attack kind of stuff - and I eased her into her chosen skill tree by offering advice on what to get based on what she wanted to do.

By the end of the night I tried explaining item requirements, resistances, buffs, and other core mechanics. When we'd go back to town to sell things, she'd spend 10 minutes mulling over the assortment of mundane items she had collected - where I had my weapon chosen, and was in and out in seconds. I'd just open a portal to a new area and stand there waiting while I fiddled with myself.

She was even, at one point, slightly annoyed that I had more experience than her and leveled to 5 four kills before she did. I had to explain that when she dies, she looses experience. Since I hadn't died yet, I hadn't lost anything.

Of course, she's now decided she wants to be a pure caster with a lot of pets, so we'll reasses where she is then and I'll explain the classes and abilities to her once we're there. This also means I might need to remake my character. I had planned on being her backup as she wanted to go Healing/Warrior - and I was going to be Hunter/Rogue, but now I'm thinking I can keep the heat off of her - or maybe make my own pet caster and just have an overwhelming number of pets between us.
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by silverjon »

You can eventually respec skill points but not mastery points, so unless you decide you wanted to be a different class, it's hard to ruin a character.

I would recommend not being 100% pet-reliant. In my opinion, a character needs at least one good offensive skill as well. Of course, some people beef up the pets, then respec when their pets get outclassed (later chapters), then respec back to pet skills on higher difficulties (when pets are boosted again). Respec gets expensive, but gold is easily enough obtained.

Depending what you took first, there are some fun things you can do with melee builds using Hunting or Rogue, if you decide to go that route. Either mixes well with Defense, and spear and shield is a great weapon combination in this game.
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Paingod
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Paingod »

I haven't gone "heavy" in any direction for Hunter - We're level 5 right now and I've mostly invested in the Mastery over skills. I think I've got 1 point in Wood Lore and 1 in Marksmanship, and 10 points in the Mastery. I just wasn't planning on tanking, but can shift to spears as easily. Good call on that. I might rethink making myself in a Spear/Defender. Hadn't considered it at all.

She just wants to have fun, and I'm willing to take a harder class combo or do more of the work in combat if it means she's enjoying herself and not getting stressed out by it (until she gets used to the game, and then I'd expect her to pull her own weight).

*Edit: Working that kind of Build in TitanCalc means a lot of hard choices between damage and defense. Hm. Maybe something like this?
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Re: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Character Builds?

Post by Peacedog »

Made real progress last night. I've now hit 40 path points, and I have a couple of points in the highest tier abilities. I braved the fire swamps and entered the land of the dead. And I sort of hate Paths a little bit right now (more on that in a second).

It was challenging, which is good. My Venesomething character is very vulnerable to poison (a couple of choice drops during the affair put me at -18%, a big improvement from the -50something% I was at). That's sort of relevant when the swamp features several monsters who shoot poison stuff at me. One of them - rare and slow, thankfully - could 1 shot me.

For the swamps I debuted a new skill. It's a timey wimey ball of force that rolls slowly along the ground. Think the D2 sorceress' ice ball, but sans shards and slower. And instead of being ice being timey wimey force. It's a great skill. It does less damage comparable to Evulse (my awesome "leash the enemy and watch him melt skill") if Evulse does about average damage. But it keeps on rolling and it'll hit anything in its path. That's terrific. Except the Swamp sort of defeated this seemingly at random. See, thee are lots of subtle slopes and obstructions in the swamp. For seemingly no reason at times the bubbles would frequently pop (or worse, pop on cast and do nothing). When it was working it was fantastic. It worked like half the time. Sheesh. Anyway, I didn't get my improved Poison Resist until the swamps were almost done, but I welcome it. Still, I wish my bubbles O Doom worked more consistently. It's an ineresting skill because they're slow as christmas, making them unsuited for ranged exchanges. I don't need phantom hurdles on top of that. IMO.

That then put me in the land of the dead. I think I would probably run through Act 3 in Diablo 2 100 times in a row than have to do this again. To make it all "land of the dead!" the area was given no textures. Only subtle changes in lighting. So the background is either black, almost not black, or vaguely gray but largely black (note: you can see yourself and enemies just fine). There are lots of slopes and curvy walls in the land of the dead, so you'll frequently be checkikng the map to get a feel for where you are going. Worse, there are zombie things that shoot green bolts that put all of your skills on something like a 6+ second cooldown.

I'm a mage. What this means is that I frequently spend time either just auto attacking or milling about waiting for my skills to reset. These guys can hit me from off the screen, mind (playing as zoomed out as I can; I think there are mods that allow more zoom out but I'm unsure about combining them with lilipaths).

This represents my big beef with lilipaths so far. This is an ARPG. The "A" doesn't mean the game can't or shouldn't have strategy. However, I find myself frequently having to pause to wait for some form of healing to get primed (typically the red potion timer), because I'm either really hurt and need to get full before wading back in, or I know I'm about to face an unpleasant group and I will have to heal at some point during the fight (my awesome invulnerability shield has a 4s cooldown). As such, I find the pacing in the game to be somewhat erratic. And I don't care for it. I don't like having to stop and wait for cooldowns, or worse head back to town.

I appreciate the idea behind adding tactical challenges, but I'd rather the zombie fire green bolts of "your skills do less damage and cost more mana" or something like that. It's no fun to sit there shooting staff bolts repeatedly. The Iron Maidens of Diablo 2 represented an interesting tactical hurdle. These guys did not.

But I'm through that part. I did get like 4 blue and 1 green drop from the last portion of the swamps through the land of the dead, after having seen something like 2 or 3 greens tops for the entire game prior to this.
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