I have been seeing a lot of activity on discord asking about builds and guides so I wanted to post my thoughts since I now have characters in all 4 archtypes leveled up. This guide should get you through to the End of Time and to your mastery quest (around level 21-22).
General tips:
- Find a skill with good, spammable aoe damage and invest in that skill to start. You can always despecialize later on. At around level 50 your skill specializations level up quickly so dont be scared to invest in something early even if you dont use it later on.
- Use a shield. Unless you have twink gear having a shield is a good idea. Craft “damage reduction on block” and “block chance”. Block protection is another must have for end game.
- Invest in void protection for the first act. If there is one protection to invest in early it’s void. So many of the monsters have void damage types and they tend to hit the hardest.
- Do all of the side quests. There are 16 extra passive points in game currently and most of them are from side quests in the Ruined and Imperial Eras.
- 0.7.6 Update: Main and side quests also provide idol slots. This is taken from wowow2264’s list. Idol Slot Quests List
- Learn to craft ASAP. Press F in game and get comfortable with crafting. Keep AT LEAST your weapon up to around your level. If you dont know how crafting works, ask or search for a basic tutorial.
Starting out:
The skills you will use to level are Rip Blood, Summon Skeleton, Mark for Death, Wandering Spirits, Transplant. The reason for this is that for any leveling build you want as many damage types going at once for max overall dps. This build allows you to Spam Rip Blood, insta cast wandering Spirits and have your skeletons kill off whats left. Transplant and Mark of Death are great utility/defense skills.
Skills and Specializations:
- Your Main attack is Rip Blood. At level 4 you get your first skill specialization slot. Put Rip Blood in this spot and go down. This was taken from Servire’s post and is excellent. Follow this ! max out Eviscerate, Splatter, Crimson Flood and Revile.
https://imgur.com/a/Bm9mhaR - At level 9 you get your second skill specialization. Put Summon Skeleton in this slot. Go get the nodes Hollow Walkers, Marrow Walkers and Grave Walkers first. The just look for the damage nodes like Sweeping Strikes. and going back to max out Unholy rage and Necrotic conviction.
Passives:
- 8/8 Forbidden Knowledge
- 6/8 Blood Aura
- 1/10 Mania of Mortality
- 4/4 Unnatural Preservation
Note: Once you get 20 skill points in Acolyte click the button to UNLOCK the MASTERY TREES. This button is just above the passive skill tree you have been putting your points into.
Gear:
For gear, get a nice wand or sceptre for the base spell damage. Craft spell damage and crit where you can. For your other gear nothing is really mandatory. Health and dodge are always good. Protections also help. Minion damage and health are also quite good. 100% Glancing Blows are now easier to get and you should aim for this ASAP. Look for the prefix Set Chance Glancing Blows. Intelligence is nice for the damage and ward retention but just be careful having too much as your defenses may be compromised.
Uniques:
Required: none
Recommended: Exsanguinous
Playstyle:
- Cast Mark for Death on at least all rare and boss mobs. It increases damage taken by 30%…
- Spam Rip Blood. The skill is awesome for leveling once you get the AOE splatter nodes.
- Summon 3 skeletons to start. Dont forget that you get 3 at the START of the game. Summon more of them after you get the nodes and watch the destruction.
- Cast Wandering Spirits on cooldown if you can remember but honestly this is overkill.
- Transplant out of tough situations to regroup.
Enjoy the game ! It is a lot of fun.