Building A Utlity Melee Temple Guardian

[Elwin 2]

Hello

I am starting an Utility TG, a softcore one and I am new to TG

The toon is level 9 right now

I have taken:

 

sword lore

tactics lore

devout guardian focus

black smith

 

next planned skills are:

bargianing

concentration

armor lore

toughness/constitution - cant decide which will be better

warding energy lore

enhanced perception.

 

The thing which bother me most is rune eating for him.

Dedicated blow/ battle extension - leave at level 1 to spam?

T- energy shield, combat alert - leave at 1 or rise level?

 

Next thing as I see TG lacks nice Area of Effect DD (like inqisitors CM+LA+RM), I would like to have a lttle bit Area of Effect for killing some pesky large number enemies like kobolds and such. I intiate battle with turning on charging grid and run around group of enemies.

Would be a good idea to eat as much runes as possible in it to rise its damage as much as possible? I see it has static 30 sec long cooldown anyway so it isnt spammable . Or maybe some other aoes for initiating ? That flamethrower from Source warden aspect:?. I am not expecting strong Area of Effect killing without specing source warden but for at least some weaklings Area of Effect could be handy.

[Woody 24]

Your skill choices sounds good.

I'll just modifiy :

 

Concentration --> take constitution

Constitution/Toughness --> take toughness too

 

Why not concentration ?

Battle aura is much more efficient if it's not a buff. You'll get better chances to reflect melee and defense/attack value.

 

If you find rings with Regeneration per hit +xx seconds, then you can pump 200 runes in battle aura and T-energy shroud to get max values. Regeneration times of battle aura and battle extension will be regenerated by reg. per hit after each successfull hits.

 

You can read my Area of Effect TG build, and some other TG builds here : http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showforum=378

 

[Dobri 55]

Our fair and just admin in the other forum is switching from Kings' Bounty to Sacred 2 I see... Nice

 

The build setup is solid, I can confirm that based on my own experience. You need to make sure that all offensive combat arts are spammable - unless your left-click damage is higher than your CA damage, because swinging a weapon is always faster than executing a CA at early levels.

 

Toughness or constitution - I would venture to say toughness is better for a TG. To compensate for the lack of constitution, simply start with Warding Lore and master it by level 75 to get a decent shield that will protect your HP's all the time.

 

What worries me is the sword lore skill. There are some really good swords, but there is no 1-handed sword (apart from tom felde's voice, which is unlockable) with life leech % bonus, which is one of the best life-saver modifiers on items. Hafted weapons are better for TG in my opinion (solely because of Kal'Dur's Legacy, albeit extremely rare drop), but still, Sword is always a decent weapon choice.

 

Buff levels are based on striking a balance between buff usefulness and regeneration times. If you kill fast with your main hand weapon, there is no danger in eating a few extra runes in it. In general, regeneration times balance themselves on their own from level 60 till 75 if you don't go rune-crazy, and any character can get there without dying.

 

The biggest problem with the Utility TG is that he's pretty much left at ground zero with his Area of Effect skills. They may look decent in the early game, but without any aspect skills to support and improve them, they will become obsolete around level 45-50 or so. Unfortunately, playing a utility TG requires a lot of patience, because you have to finish your enemies one by one - unless you luck out with a life leech % weapon early on and go on a boss killing spree, I'd say...

[Elwin 2]

I heard TG can be built in massive Area of Effect killer, but I am building melee one.A little Area of Effect only for the weakest pest like rats kobolds and such. The idea which came up to me would be pump much runes in his Area of Effect skills like charging grid, something like god spell ^^. Anyway I see hes Area of Effect's have static cooldown and its pretty long so it will not be ever spammable. I am not sure if my way of thinking is right tough ;p

 

yep its me Dobrev

Edited January 3, 2011 by Elwin

[Barristan 14]

Heya,

 

without corresponding Lores, Area of Effect spells will wither and die.

 

Reading your buildplans, there is one option that is very good too Deathly Spears. Mod for Gore/Singe/Jab, and you'll have your melee mobkiller.

 

At high lvls, the spears will strike ~10 times, not much mob that lives after that.

 

Nice bonus for DS: Cast and start hitting again with other Combat Arts, the Jabs will continue!

 

HF, Greetz

 

Edit: Battle Extension can be left at 1 rune read, and unmodded. When riding mount it will double hit 100% on the left click

Edited January 3, 2011 by Barristan

[Elwin 2]

Hmm DS didnt looked nice at first, probably will be better later ;p

I admit its realy hard start compared to inquisitor ... I have bargain but no money lol Furian gave me lots but I cant trade it to SC :D

[Elwin 2]

What modifications for dedicated blow are best?

[essjayehm 58]

What modifications for dedicated blow are best?

Yeah.. they got some good mods available on that CA, for sure!

 

Bronze - Bedazed (chance to stun) is my choice. I take a "defensive" mod here as at higher-levels, the conversion is high enough (for me), and if I want more elemental damages in the lower-levels, a damage converter can be socketed into my weapon or battery.

 

Silver - Intent gives you higher chance for critical hits, and Confident gives you a better chance to hit by adding 15% (flat value) of the modifier "chance that opponents cannot evade". If you consider that Combat Alert gives you massive improvement for your chance to hit, so my choice here is always Intent. Also, Intent improves as the levels go up, whereas Confident is a flat 15%.

 

Gold - Impact (chance for deep wound) is my choice. Enforce gives ~16% overall improvement to weapondamage, which is underwhelming in my opinion. PC users' answer may differ as I play on console, and we have a feature (bug) where the "deep wounds" effect can be stacked, whereas on PC only 1 deep wound can be inflicted at a time.

 

All in all, this is one of the Combat Arts that actually has 6 good modifiers, and no really incorrect choices, well not ones that will break your toon in half.

[Elwin 2]

So my knowledge about putting points into skills end at keep 3 skill at your level and master them first

So I spend points at devout gardian focus, tactics lore and bargaining. Since level 50 and 5 points per level I have them all at level and can spend 2 points in other skill,I guess the one who master next. I am not sure what should be next but I put some point into warding energy lore, and thinking about blacsmithing as next.

As I noticed level 200 character has over 900 points total so it leaves with 740 points to master all 10 skills, and around 200 left for further increasing. Which skills should I push further?

 

One other thing which bothers me, even with focus at my level as a char around level 50 I cant have skiils higher than 30, further rune pumping would result in something like level 30.2, 30.5 and such. Does focus mastery change that so I can have skill at my level otherwise pumping 200 runes would be senseless? I would like to push deathly spears as much as possible

[essjayehm 58]

So my knowledge about putting points into skills end at keep 3 skill at your level and master them first

So I spend points at devout gardian focus, tactics lore and bargaining. Since level 50 and 5 points per level I have them all at level and can spend 2 points in other skill,I guess the one who master next. I am not sure what should be next but I put some point into warding energy lore, and thinking about blacsmithing as next.

 

Warding Energy Lore, definitely, can use next mastery, IMO. Typically, I will master 1 offensive-type skill, and either 2 defensive skills or 1 def/1general skill(ie Barg or EP) for Level 75.

 

As I noticed level 200 character has over 900 points total so it leaves with 740 points to master all 10 skills, and around 200 left for further increasing. Which skills should I push further?

 

That is typically decided when I play out your character and recognize the weaknesses, so the extra points can go into those skills.

 

One other thing which bothers me, even with focus at my level as a char around level 50 I cant have skiils higher than 30, further rune pumping would result in something like level 30.2, 30.5 and such. Does focus mastery change that so I can have skill at my level otherwise pumping 200 runes would be senseless? I would like to push deathly spears as much as possible

 

The "highest CA level without penalty" is what you are referring to, and the focus mastery will raise that by a small amount, but it will never be equal to your character level. As you level further, the HCALWP:charlvl ratio will continue to decrease; it is just how the game works

IIRC, someone here posted a little while back that Ascaron had recommended to keep combat art levels at about 1/4 of your character level. Personally, I have found that to be a little low... and the wonderful innovation that "buff suits" has brought makes it quite easy to keep your buffs cast at roughly 1/2 of char. level, and attack spells at 1/3 of my character levels. As you have already found out, you can have even better (ratios) than that, but it leads to high regeneration times and you cannot spam the Combat Arts as often.

[Elwin 2]

so I hit level 65 and tried my character strength at gold bosses. Guardians gave me really hard times. Next step is try if I can farm plat colous and octagolamus

[Elwin 2]

So I found the new set parts, gonna do big upgrade from 15-45 to 60-90 set.

Now I am asking what do u recommend to socket? I am at level 83 and grinding in plat so I think its start to get real socketing with direction at niob.Should I stay at niob defense socket or its right time to go for class sockets, absorption %, +% shield:? dot protection ? At my level I can have around 7-8% of absorption and around 20-22% shield increase, or around 10% dot protections. I have some item stored but I can shop for them if nessessary. I am using CC modules set.I have pretty moch most parts of other sets to0 but thinking to stay at CC since it has LL%.

I would like to hear how do u socket at this part of game.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Elwin

[essjayehm 58]

So I found the new set parts, gonna do big upgrade from 15-45 to 60-90 set.

Now I am asking what do u recommend to socket? I am at level 83 and grinding in plat so I think its start to get real socketing with direction at niob.Should I stay at niob defense socket or its right time to go for class sockets, absorption %, +% shield:? dot protection ? At my level I can have around 7-8% of absorption and around 20-22% shield increase, or around 10% dot protections. I have some item stored but I can shop for them if nessessary. I am using CC modules set.I have pretty moch most parts of other sets to0 but thinking to stay at CC since it has LL%.

I would like to hear how do u socket at this part of game.

Sorry, Elwin, I cannot give you the greatest advice on this topic, as I play on the console (Fallen Angel only, no Ice and Blood). Ice and Blood brought about signifigant changes that forces players to get the most out of their sockets. From what I understand, you will want to have eveerything you listed!

 

It will depend on how you are playing your TG. IIRC, you are pure melee, so some -opp. chance to evade, chance that opponents cannot evade will be your best mods to add if you are having troubles with your chance to hit. If your CtH is OK, then possibly consider adding some +damage or Regen per Hit to increase your damage output (more RpH = higher CA levels = more damage). If you are happy with your offense, then concentrate on your defenses. I cannot help at all with defenses on shield characters, again because of the console version missing some information and the upgraded enemies in Ice and Blood. As a final note, if you are happy with both your offense and defence, then you can add some fun / non-combat things like increasing your chance to find valuables, experience per kill, etc.

 

Hopefully someone who plays TG on PC will chime in on what they generally do!

[Elwin 2]

My chance to hit is fine on mount but in dungeon is a bit problem of course without combat alert on ;p, my defenses are mostly fine but I suffer from nasty dots, and well niob orcs trashed me, but I consider that they were 40-50 levels above ^^ IN platinium everything were fine till great machine, I had big troubles with Nimnouil and guardians, and temple guardians chmapions in guardian room.

 

Kist fought with holos and he couldnt scratch me, I can that I have warding energy lore mastery, next one I wanna go for toughness.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Elwin