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High DPS, monolith hosing glass cannons who either dodge/stop all boss mechanics & high threat mobs (bitterwings) or die to a one shot.
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Tank builds that belly crawl through timelines but just don’t die.
Getting bored =.(
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“Every build is either offense focused or defense focused”
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“two design philosophies” is not the same as “two builds”. There are plenty of builds under either design philosophy.
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offense vs defense is the fundamental dynamic in every combat game. If you don’t enjoy exploring that dichotomy, try Animal Crossing.
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Yeah, I mean, you’re both right. If the OP changed “builds” to “philosophies” that’d be fine. Though I don’t quite understand why he’s complaining about this because, as you say, that’s basically genre (do you kill them before they kill you or do you shrug it off as you remove your shiv from their intestines while screaming in their face).
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Yeah I guess there’s absolutely no room for a more balanced build because no game ever has achieved that. You can dither over semantics like “build” vs. “philosophies” but that doesn’t make what I said any less true.
Instead of going to play Animal Crossing, I’ll leave feedback on the feedback forum and try not to “correct” people who express an opinion I don’t share. It’s hard, but I’ll persevere.
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Hybrid builds tend not to be as effective at {a thing} than specialists, if the player’s skill can make up for the downsides of the build. That’s why you have the glass cannon’s blowing everything up while playing grade 8 keyboard piano to avoid the boss’s (or trash) indigestion from one-shotting them.
Can you please make an example of hybrid you have in mind? For me, summoners,which are already in the game, are hybrids (doesnt excel at anything, yet can do everything but not as effectively as specialist).
Sure thing. Summoners (I’m going to be referring to the more balanced builds, as the minion army-mega ward acolyte will obviously get nerfed) are still high DPS glass cannons in my eyes, as they’re still just as susceptible to one shots as any build that mostly ignores defenses (Most sorcerors, pet builds, shamans).
As for examples of hybrid builds I MAY have found one exception (haven’t gotten to play it myself yet) the Rive VK. Hoping it’s going to take at least 2 shots since it’s a Sentinel and appears to do decent (not stellar) damage.
Other than HOPEFULLY that one, I can’t find videos/guides of how I’m picturing a hybrid class because nobody is spending time on builds that don’t work. The best example I can provide is this; take a high DPS character (any sorc that isn’t perma-freeze, avalanche shaman, beastmaster-serpent fang), try moving some damage into defenses. As you drop your damage affixes/passives and replace them with defenses, you’ll find you’re still getting killed by all the same things while killing slower and slower, until you’ve replaced all/nearly all of your offense with defense… At which point you’re not balanced, you’re tanky and have slow kill times.
As it is, even “glass cannon” builds sacrifice DPS to build 100% GB, many also do dodge and/or crit avoidance, JUST to avoid being one shot by literally EVERYTHING else. There’s just too huge a gap in prot values required to move from “one-shot” deaths and “2 shot deaths.” It’s all-or-nothing, and results in unsatisfying gameplay during either mono-runs (if you build tank) or bosses (glass cannon).
Sure , summoners can be considered glass cannons when they are alone. However, you totally skipped one point of pet builds - pets can tank. Give them some leech, health and you have meatshields. You still can manually dodge AOEs and projectiles will be no problem bcs pets (melee attacks are fully on the minions). The only thing I am currently missing, compared to the POE summoners is deathmark (for specific targeting) and convocation (for protection, minion healing and regroup).
Press “A” to make pets attack something, it can also be used to target the ground to force them to move, but isn’t efficient in clutch scenarios
Or my personal favourite, tank builds that die to one shots.
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I think you mention the two extremes in a spectrum, and yes, all builds can be mapped onto that spectrum, and if you insist on dividng the spectrum in just two parts, then you may say there are just two, but I think that’s an unjust simplification.
Fortunately, there are other dimensions, which are independent of this ‘glass - tank’ axis, such as the character / class type. This might not be a ranked axis, but more of a collection of different classes/types, but nevertheless, adds another dimention to the choice you have in this game. This second dimention is whether you play a minion/summoner, totem, ranged, melee, DOT etc.
So I think there is more variety in LE than you say.
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I have to disagree with this post 
while I agree that both 1 and 2 type builds exist there are many more that can achieve both and some that can do neither.
If your looking for high damage and being a tank there are a few out there such as but not limited to turbo vengeance played as paladin or forge guard. Lich sacrifice can kill everything instantly and while in reaper you have a whole extra free life. The turbo vengenace does 10k crits 3x a second while not running any dodge wont die to a one shot (before wave 200 anyways) and doesnt have any boss stopping mechanics other than a stun now and again.
Youtube/forum is filled with alot of different builds.
Some dodge. Some ward. Some protections. Some leech. Some can 1 shot any boss. Some can take any hit. Some can do many of the listed above while some cant do any but there is by far more than 2 types of builds in this game. I have video evidence of that somewhere…
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Just because you’re a tank doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be able to stand in everything. It doesn’t work like that in MMOs, it doesn’t work like that in LE.
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IMO (& as I’ve said before), it would be nice if we could have a balance whereby the player gets to “experience” more of the health bar, we are not binary (in health terms) or quantum objects, we can exist in a state that’s not either full hp (alive) or dead.
Except this discussion is solely about that glass/tank axis & whether there are any/many builds that can work that aren’t at one end or the other.
So yes, you are correct, glass/tankiness isn’t the only metric to judge a class, that’s not pertinent to this discussion as we are solely discussing the glass/tank scale.
Sorry, I read the tilte that says “everything boiled down to 2 builds”, so I interpreted this ‘everything’ as the game. I will stay out of the discussion then, my apologies for interfering 
Don’t worry, though if you have any pennies to throw in regarding the initial assertion/postulate then you’re welcome to.
If your only going to give yourself option a and option b and you must chose one then sure, but just cause your limited yourself to two options doesnt means thats all this game has to offer.
E.x. I can claim that there is only 2 ways to gear. Offensively and defensively. Is that true? Sure you can throw me any piece of gear and I can sort it into either being a defensive piece or offensive piece but just cause I only made to options doesmt mean there are not pieces that can do both or do neither.
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Is it though?
I think the thread is overtly over from the title alone.
Is every build that’s successful 100% defences or 100% only damage?
Seemingly we all agree that every build needs or should have Glancing Blows - doesn’t that already remove the glass cannon statement?
Should every character be built exactly in the middle if the game ought to be well designed?
Where do you draw the line?
I personally don’t see the binary dichotomy presented here as a requirement for a successful build.
Further elaboration on the last line edit:
I think the axis provided by @LastBrat is very real and important to the discussion.
The fundamental premise set by @lonnieep84, that the game has boiled down to two kinds of builds is axiomatically wrong because the game inherently cannot consist of only these two kinds due to what I would call the “fun” axis - if the build isn’t fun, people won’t play it. I assume that this is also acknowledged by the OP with the “belly crawl” remark. I assume the fact that the OP is “bored”, also speaks for it.
The same story is demonstrated in every game where there are mind-numbingly boring OP builds/characters that barely anyone ever plays.
EDIT EDIT:
Goddamn I spent 3 minutes writing the post and 20 minutes editing it…
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Maybe it’s just me then, but what does a hybrid build look like? Maybe I’m confusing them with tanky builds?
IMO, a well designed game is one where many different types of build are “viable” (ie, can complete the content). Builds that are more towards the DPS end of the spectrum will require more dexterous movement from the player since they’re squishier, builds that are towards the tankier end of the spectrum will require the player to execute the mechanics of the fight for longer since they do less damage but should allow the player to **** up those mechanics more since they can take more damage.
As I said above, maybe I’ve just been conditioned to only see builds in terms of the binary tank/DPS & I can’t see the melange in between.
You want a build that is both hanky and good dps?
- vengeance paladin
- vengeance forge guard
- sacrifice reaper form lich
- low life werebear
All of the above can do both they are not just 1 or the other