Starting Astral Build - Intelligence or Strength ?

[CyprienKydasMarchand 3]

Hi, so I started a buid but I'm stuck on a question. Should I start on 100% intel and carry a magic stick or balance it with strength and take a hammer with both hands? 

Obviously I'm willing to take any other advice ! 

 

Shadow Veil (Buff) A B A
Spectral Hand B B A
Skeletal Fortification A B A
Reflective Emanation (Buff) B B A
Grim Resilience (Buff) A A A

1-Astral Lord Lore 
2-Astral Lord Focus
3-Concentration
4-Discipline de combat
5-Tactics Lore
6-Damage Lore
7-Speed Lore
8-Hafted Weapons or Magic Staffs ?
9-Armor Lore
10-Ancient Magic 

100% Int or 50% int 50% str ?

Edited March 9, 2020 by CyprienKydasMarchand

[RavenLight 52]

Greetings! Sorry for the late reply, I hope it helps you. If you want to focus entirely on Astral Lord aspect and ignore 'melee' combat, then my advise is to only use magic staffs and pump up Intelligence in a 70% ratio and the other 30% goes into Stamina for some regeneration reduction. This applies for the first 25 levels.

After level 25 you should have enough regeneration reduction from items (I recommend learning Armor Lore skill early on, like at level 5 or 8 for more regeneration reduction) so instead of Stamina you will increase Vitality since you need some hitpoints as well. The ratio will be 70% Intelligence and 30% Vitality (you can alternate Vitality with Stamina as well after level 50 when you'll have 2 attribute points to spend if you feel like you need more regeneration reducton).

If you plan to go a hybrid Astral Lord and melee build that uses Strength-based weapons (hafted weapons, swords or certain pole arms) then you won't need Intelligence at all. Between level 1 and 30 increase Strength (70%) and Stamina (30%). After level 30 you can replace Stamina with Vitality and maintain the ratio (70% Strength, 30% Vitality). After level 50, the ratio will be maintained as well and we want to increase both Strength and Vitality (70%-30%).

Of course the approach is pure preferential, I just posted how I see the build from my perspective. Now it depends to your preference of weapons (Strength-based or Intelligence-based) because this will be the main thing that defines the attribute points spending. 

An other advice I can give to you is based on a personal pure Astral Lord Shadow Warrior Project I made some time ago. I just played Silver difficulty with it (up to level 70 or something like this) and I came to the following conclusions: interesting and fun to play type of Shadow Warrior and it can deal very well with both single targets (with Spectral Hand) and groups (with Rallied Souls and Neither Allegiance).

The skill build was:
Level 2 - Astral Lord Lore (75+, 1/1 ratio)
Level 3 - Tactics Lore (75+, 3/4 ratio)
Level 5 - Armor Lore (2/3 ratio)
Level 8 - Astral Lord Focus (75+, 1/1 ratio)
Level 12 - Concentration (75 point only, 1/5 ratio)
Level 18 - Death Warrior Focus (75+, 3/4 ratio, used to reduce the penalty level of Grim Resilience buff)
Level 25 - Combat Discipline (1/2 ratio)
Level 35 - Magic Staffs (1/2 ratio, I was using two-handed magic staffs only to maximize the damage of Spectral Hand)
Level 50 - Constitution (1/3 ratio)
Level 65 - Toughness (1/3 ratio)

Combat arts:
1. Spectral Hand (main combat art)
a) Clout (damage increase)
b) Intent (chance for critical hits)
c) Destruction (increase all damage types of the Spectral Hand)

2. Skeletal Fortification (mainly used against bosses)
a) Rapid Fire (fire rate increase)
b) Ice Shards/Arcane Power (adds ice/magic damage) - preferential option
c) Scatter Shot (adds one more projectile)

3. Rallied Souls (used when fighting groups after killing the first 2 or 3 enemies from it)
a) Armament (soldiers will receive armor bonus)
b) Demand (chance to animate more corpses)
c) Contagion (adds a chance to turn enemies into undead servants)

4. Neither Allegiance (Buff; main buff used)
a) Accomplice (summons an additional soldier)
b) Spectral Shield (equip the soldiers with greatly enchanted shields)
c) Elite Equipment (upgrades the soldiers' armor)

5. Grim Resilience (Secondary buff; our defensive combat art)
a) Rejuvenation (increases the hitpoints regeneration)
b) Discipline (reduces Grim Resilience's energy cost)
c) Safeguard (increases physical resistance)

*The other remaining combat arts slots can be filled with combos

Attribute points spent:

• level 1-25: Intelligence (70%) / Stamina (30%)
• level 26-50: Intelligence (70%) / Vitality (30%)
• level 50+: Intelligence (100%, one point each level) + Vitality (50%) / Willpower (50%); one level up Vitality and the next one Willpower and so on

I hope this mini-guide was helpful in any particular way.  

[gogoblender 3,069]

On 5/24/2020 at 7:22 AM, RavenLight said:

Greetings! Sorry for the late reply, I hope it helps you. If you want to focus entirely on Astral Lord aspect and ignore 'melee' combat, then my advise is to only use magic staffs and pump up Intelligence in a 70% ratio and the other 30% goes into Stamina for some regeneration reduction. This applies for the first 25 levels.

After level 25 you should have enough regeneration reduction from items (I recommend learning Armor Lore skill early on, like at level 5 or 8 for more regeneration reduction) so instead of Stamina you will increase Vitality since you need some hitpoints as well. The ratio will be 70% Intelligence and 30% Vitality (you can alternate Vitality with Stamina as well after level 50 when you'll have 2 attribute points to spend if you feel like you need more regeneration reducton).

If you plan to go a hybrid Astral Lord and melee build that uses Strength-based weapons (hafted weapons, swords or certain pole arms) then you won't need Intelligence at all. Between level 1 and 30 increase Strength (70%) and Stamina (30%). After level 30 you can replace Stamina with Vitality and maintain the ratio (70% Strength, 30% Vitality). After level 50, the ratio will be maintained as well and we want to increase both Strength and Vitality (70%-30%).

Of course the approach is pure preferential, I just posted how I see the build from my perspective. Now it depends to your preference of weapons (Strength-based or Intelligence-based) because this will be the main thing that defines the attribute points spending. 

An other advice I can give to you is based on a personal pure Astral Lord Shadow Warrior Project I made some time ago. I just played Silver difficulty with it (up to level 70 or something like this) and I came to the following conclusions: interesting and fun to play type of Shadow Warrior and it can deal very well with both single targets (with Spectral Hand) and groups (with Rallied Souls and Neither Allegiance).

The skill build was:
Level 2 - Astral Lord Lore (75+, 1/1 ratio)
Level 3 - Tactics Lore (75+, 3/4 ratio)
Level 5 - Armor Lore (2/3 ratio)
Level 8 - Astral Lord Focus (75+, 1/1 ratio)
Level 12 - Concentration (75 point only, 1/5 ratio)
Level 18 - Death Warrior Focus (75+, 3/4 ratio, used to reduce the penalty level of Grim Resilience buff)
Level 25 - Combat Discipline (1/2 ratio)
Level 35 - Magic Staffs (1/2 ratio, I was using two-handed magic staffs only to maximize the damage of Spectral Hand)
Level 50 - Constitution (1/3 ratio)
Level 65 - Toughness (1/3 ratio)

Combat arts:
1. Spectral Hand (main combat art)
a) Clout (damage increase)
b) Intent (chance for critical hits)
c) Destruction (increase all damage types of the Spectral Hand)

2. Skeletal Fortification (mainly used against bosses)
a) Rapid Fire (fire rate increase)
b) Ice Shards/Arcane Power (adds ice/magic damage) - preferential option
c) Scatter Shot (adds one more projectile)

3. Rallied Souls (used when fighting groups after killing the first 2 or 3 enemies from it)
a) Armament (soldiers will receive armor bonus)
b) Demand (chance to animate more corpses)
c) Contagion (adds a chance to turn enemies into undead servants)

4. Neither Allegiance (Buff; main buff used)
a) Accomplice (summons an additional soldier)
b) Spectral Shield (equip the soldiers with greatly enchanted shields)
c) Elite Equipment (upgrades the soldiers' armor)

5. Grim Resilience (Secondary buff; our defensive combat art)
a) Rejuvenation (increases the hitpoints regeneration)
b) Discipline (reduces Grim Resilience's energy cost)
c) Safeguard (increases physical resistance)

*The other remaining combat arts slots can be filled with combos

Attribute points spent:

• level 1-25: Intelligence (70%) / Stamina (30%)
• level 26-50: Intelligence (70%) / Vitality (30%)
• level 50+: Intelligence (100%, one point each level) + Vitality (50%) / Willpower (50%); one level up Vitality and the next one Willpower and so on

I hope this mini-guide was helpful in any particular way.  

Thanks for putting so much detail and thoughtful time into your helpful post Gabriel!

This game not only comes with the beautiful world of Ancaria but the world's kindest community as well!

gogo

[chattius 2,522]

I still have a bit sadness in me when reading astral lore builds. Because the handicapped person who was the reason for my build died 4 years ago at the age of 18...

Strength or Intelligence, for my build it would be intelligence because it was based on a spell: skeleton fortification.

 

 

[RavenLight 52]

6 hours ago, gogoblender said:

Thanks for putting so much detail and thoughtful time into your helpful post Gabriel!

This game not only comes with the beautiful world of Ancaria but the world's kindest community as well!

gogo

Thank you! I might even post it as a standalone guide someday when I'll have some spare time. Sadly exams taking all my fun at the moment  

[RavenLight 52]

5 hours ago, chattius said:

I still have a bit sadness in me when reading astral lore builds. Because the handicapped person who was the reason for my build died 4 years ago at the age of 18...

Strength or Intelligence, for my build it would be intelligence because it was based on a spell: skeleton fortification.

 

 

I'm sorry for your loss, Chattius... I'm sure the related person would've loved your Astral build from wherever he is right now, maybe in a better world than ours, without conflicts, pandemic and other disasters. You don't have to be sad, friend, you only have to be happy just because you'll carry his name within your build, remembering him somehow.