Titan Quest Anniversary Edition

[Sarathiour]

I played it a bit recently (tried out two builds, a Storm/Nature one and Rogue/Nature one based on poisons) and it's really easy to demolish any sense of difficulty by farming the medusa queens for half an hour and then the first Telkine for half an hour. I got to somewhere in Egypt and haven't really booted the game up since then. I'd say there's something missing that Grim Dawn has but I can't put my finger on it.

Normal is piss easy until act 3, where some potential dangerous encounter start to appear.

 

[Cael]

I played it a bit recently (tried out two builds, a Storm/Nature one and Rogue/Nature one based on poisons) and it's really easy to demolish any sense of difficulty by farming the medusa queens for half an hour and then the first Telkine for half an hour. I got to somewhere in Egypt and haven't really booted the game up since then. I'd say there's something missing that Grim Dawn has but I can't put my finger on it.

Normal is piss easy until act 3, where some potential dangerous encounter start to appear.

There is a jump in China with the tigermen and dragons, and then a psycho jump in Hades that made it harder than anything up to Babylon the next difficulty up.

 

[Sensuki]

yeah usually the Yeti Chieftain in Chapter 3 with the stun + instagib cold meteor swarm is the one that often gets me my first death

 

[Cael]

yeah usually the Yeti Chieftain in Chapter 3 with the stun + instagib cold meteor swarm is the one that often gets me my first death

The first time I ran into that, I was wondering what that flashing thing wa-SPLAT!

After that, I found out that if you stayed as far to the top right as possible, you can basically shoot him to death for free. The falling meteor thing can't go further to the top right than a line on the ground.

 

[Sensuki]

Most of my characters have been melee, I don't think he has killed any of the handful of Bow characters I've made - didn't know about that tip though, thanks

 

[Cael]

Most of my characters have been melee, I don't think he has killed any of the handful of Bow characters I've made - didn't know about that tip though, thanks

Yeah. The basic Attack/Defend combo is so strong it is absurd. Just get a shield bash combo with any melee weapon (other than spear) and beat things to death. It is one of the only characters I have that can eat an attack from Hades Vindis (the ones with the wave attack) and not die (every other character I have bought it just getting touched by the thing).

 

[Hobo Elf]

I wouldn't say no to a spear. Defense + Hunting was one of my most flat out ridiculously OP characters. But then again, all the melee/physical masteries in this game are turbo powerful and they all have their own I-WIN buttons that can be mixed, matched and used on top of each other.

 

[Cael]

I wouldn't say no to a spear. Defense + Hunting was one of my most flat out ridiculously OP characters. But then again, all the melee/physical masteries in this game are turbo powerful and they all have their own I-WIN buttons that can be mixed, matched and used on top of each other.

Just that spear don't get a boost from that particular combo. Hunting is the spear centric class.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I wouldn't say no to a spear. Defense + Hunting was one of my most flat out ridiculously OP characters. But then again, all the melee/physical masteries in this game are turbo powerful and they all have their own I-WIN buttons that can be mixed, matched and used on top of each other.

Just that spear don't get a boost from that particular combo. Hunting is the spear centric class.

Spear itself doesn't, but it doesn't have to. There's lot of good utility in Defense that anyone would want. Pulverize is a good passive to have for crowd control since Spears don't have much of that on their own, apart from Spear Dance (if you have Atlantis) and that skill is pretty meh. Colossus Form is great for any kind of physical damage dealer regardless of weapon type. Defense is such a heap of utility that it makes practicaly any kind of character good.

 

[Cael]

I wouldn't say no to a spear. Defense + Hunting was one of my most flat out ridiculously OP characters. But then again, all the melee/physical masteries in this game are turbo powerful and they all have their own I-WIN buttons that can be mixed, matched and used on top of each other.

Just that spear don't get a boost from that particular combo. Hunting is the spear centric class.

Spear itself doesn't, but it doesn't have to. There's lot of good utility in Defense that anyone would want. Pulverize is a good passive to have for crowd control since Spears don't have much of that on their own, apart from Spear Dance (if you have Atlantis) and that skill is pretty meh. Colossus Form is great for any kind of physical damage dealer regardless of weapon type. Defense is such a heap of utility that it makes practicaly any kind of character good.

I just like the damage bonuses in Attack. Stay away from the Dual Wielding tree, though. That is a trap. The Shield Bash tree is just better.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Paladin (Storm + Defense) is another interesting character that utilizes Defense and doesn't necessarily have any immediate synergy. Use Ice Shards to rip enemies apart from close range while being built like a brick shithouse. Very Energy intensive, so you'll want -% energy reduction items, like the Golden Fleece. Really strong when you get it going.

 

[Sarathiour]

I just like the damage bonuses in Attack. Stay away from the Dual Wielding tree, though. That is a trap. The Shield Bash tree is just better.

Dual Wielding has it perks, but shield + weapon is clearly a better deal. The real problem of dual wielding is all the "advanced technique" suck ass.

Paladin (Storm + Defense) is another interesting character that utilizes Defense and doesn't necessarily have any immediate synergy. Use Ice Shards to rip enemies apart from close range while being built like a brick shithouse. Very Energy intensive, so you'll want -% energy reduction items, like the Golden Fleece. Really strong when you get it going.

My main was a thane ( Storm + War), and i kind did the opposite : using warfare for dps purpose (onslaught/dual wield/war wind) and storm for defensive one (Thunderball, Storm Surge and Squall)

 

[axx]

https://www.gamebanshee.com/news/124588-handygames-teases-a-new-titan-quest-project.html

(The image is a composition of Anniversary edition + Atlantis + Ragnarok cover art, so looks like we're getting some sort of Legendary edition)

 

[Hobo Elf]

It's just an announcement that they're coming to mobile. As if anyone cared.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

Never played this before and just finished Act 1 with a Seer (Dream) on my second attempt. First attempt was with a Warrior/Rogue build and stuffed it up. Deleted the character and tried again with a different build. Haven't died yet. I know I can get a second mastery but not sure which one to go with or just use the one mastery. I'm mainly using:

Left mouse button: basic attack (now Psionic Touch. I don't know if it's doing anything)
Right mouse button: Phantom Strike with Dream Stealer (both maxed) [This is like a teleport bomb killing up to 6 enemies]
Skill Quickbar: Distort Reality (helpful to kill groups of enemies and is like a second bomb going off)

Every level up I alternate between:
1 HP and 1 STR
1 HP and 1 Dex

Skills:
1 Level (Up to ~18) [adds HP, STR, DEX, INT]
1 Phantom Strike
1 Dream Stealer

Then:
2 Distort Reality
1 Psionic Touch

Not really sure if I'm playing it right but I'm finding the increase in STR (physical damage) and DEX (offensive/defensive) working well and no need to put anything in INT as leveling up the Skill Mastery already puts points in INT. But I'm finding this mastery really OP with a sword + shield build.
I will say it helps to read the manual before playing this game as I just figured out now how to put relic pieces together and putting them on weapons/armor after I've finished Act 1.

 

[4249]

Dream is probably the best and easiest mastery to pair with anything tbh. If you like sword&board then going Templar with the Defense mastery is a pretty no-brainer choice. And a very potent combination.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Never played this before and just finished Act 1 with a Seer (Dream) on my second attempt. First attempt was with a Warrior/Rogue build and stuffed it up. Deleted the character and tried again with a different build. Haven't died yet. I know I can get a second mastery but not sure which one to go with or just use the one mastery. I'm mainly using:

Left mouse button: basic attack (now Psionic Touch. I don't know if it's doing anything)
Right mouse button: Phantom Strike with Dream Stealer (both maxed) [This is like a teleport bomb killing up to 6 enemies]
Skill Quickbar: Distort Reality (helpful to kill groups of enemies and is like a second bomb going off)

Every level up I alternate between:
1 HP and 1 STR
1 HP and 1 Dex

Skills:
1 Level (Up to ~18) [adds HP, STR, DEX, INT]
1 Phantom Strike
1 Dream Stealer

Then:
2 Distort Reality
1 Psionic Touch

Not really sure if I'm playing it right but I'm finding the increase in STR (physical damage) and DEX (offensive/defensive) working well and no need to put anything in INT as leveling up the Skill Mastery already puts points in INT. But I'm finding this mastery really OP with a sword + shield build.
I will say it helps to read the manual before playing this game as I just figured out now how to put relic pieces together and putting them on weapons/armor after I've finished Act 1.

I'd advise against putting in HP, at all. Energy is similarly a waste of points. The game becomes very stingy with stat requirements and the way you're distributing your stats sounds like a disaster in the making and you might find yourself starved for stats to equip anything useful sooner rather than later. Act 1 & 2 are cakewalks and can give you a false sense of security, but during and after Act 3 it becomes a whole lot different. Health isn't all that important and you get enough from your Masteries + gear. Mitigating damage with armor (raw armor is very valuable) and resistances are the only way you'll truly build up your survi, along with any class abilities that you may have available. 2 STR: 1 DEX is also a safer way of distributing stats to ensure that you'll have enough for the heavy strength items but enough OA to hit things. Since you're Dream you have Premonition available to you, so this is less of a problem and you only really need as much DEX to equip the items you want.

2 DEX: 1 STR is also possible if you're using piercing weapons such as spears, swords and bows. All of these weapons have a pierce ratio (seen on the item) and this means that the X% of the physical damage it does gets converted into pierce damage. Physical damage scales with STR, but pierce scales with DEX. Pierce conversions happen before STR and physical damage bonuses are applied to the attack, so adding more STR won't help with the pierce damage.

 

[Cael]

I found War/Def to be my most survivable character, hilariously enough. TQ really turns the whole "wizard = supermen" trope on its head. Sword and board with shield bash all the way and just plow through things.

I never found out why Dream mixes well with physical attackers, to be honest. I think I only used Dream for magic users (Nature, I think. The one with all the summons)

 

[axx]

The harbinger build (dream+warfare) is supposed to be one of the strongest, I tried it years ago but failed miserably, probably misleveled, if you get the stat & skillpoint distribution wrong the game becomes a slugfest. I just do the lazy thing and try leveling according to online guides now.

 

[Cael]

I sometimes wonder how Def/Hunter focusing on Dex, spears and shields would work. It is likely to lock me out of most of the best armours, though, due to insufficient Str.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Warden (Defense+Hunting) is pretty much on equal footing with Warfare when it comes to being stupidly strong. The only weakness is that it has poor AoE and so clearing packs of enemies is slow, but bosses blow up pretty fast. With Defense you shouldn't have too much of an issue hitting strength reqs for gear since you'll want to take Armor Handling for the -20% strength req on shields and armor.

 

[Cael]

Warden (Defense+Hunting) is pretty much on equal footing with Warfare when it comes to being stupidly strong. The only weakness is that it has poor AoE and so clearing packs of enemies is slow, but bosses blow up pretty fast. With Defense you shouldn't have too much of an issue hitting strength reqs for gear since you'll want to take Armor Handling for the -20% strength req on shields and armor.

Yeah. It is the bow guys that has a psycho AoE damage. What is a good partner for a bowman anyway? I think my previous one was a Dream? I can't remember now. I only know it blew up stuff pretty quick. And Typhon was a pushover because I was nuking him for free outside of his range.

 

[Cyberarmy]

What is a good partner for a bowman anyway?

Rogue for bleeds and poisons. You'll lack any real defences though.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Warden (Defense+Hunting) is pretty much on equal footing with Warfare when it comes to being stupidly strong. The only weakness is that it has poor AoE and so clearing packs of enemies is slow, but bosses blow up pretty fast. With Defense you shouldn't have too much of an issue hitting strength reqs for gear since you'll want to take Armor Handling for the -20% strength req on shields and armor.

Yeah. It is the bow guys that has a psycho AoE damage. What is a good partner for a bowman anyway? I think my previous one was a Dream? I can't remember now. I only know it blew up stuff pretty quick. And Typhon was a pushover because I was nuking him for free outside of his range.

Hunting/Dream is good for bows. Hunting/Rogue is nice, too. Rogue has a lot of nice synergy with bows and pierce damage in general. Envenom Weapon is good on bows now that poison and bleed are actually worth a damn in the Anniversary Edition. Rogue also has a passive for more damage against constructs and devices which happen to be one of the enemy types that pierce damage struggles the most against, so it helps a lot to overcome that weakness.

For ranged attacks I much prefer using throwing weapons, however. If you have Ragnarok and the Rune mastery, it's pretty beastly. Just combine it with any other caster (Storm or Earth, for example) and you have a pretty powerful character. The range on thrown weapons is shorter than on bows so keep this in mind.

 

[Cael]

I have the old Deluxe Edition. I didn't want to get into the hp bloat nonsense that is Ragnarok. Hades was bad enough as it was...