As a new player I would like to ask for some tips for building my sword & board character.
My basic class would be the oathkeeper for sure, and I was looking at the soldier or the inquisitor tree to go with it. Now I am not sure if s&b can be a viable build in this game, but I really liked it in other games and I like to play characters that are tanky and have okay/good damage rather than playing a squishy but op glass cannon. Also, shields are cool!
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated, thank you!
It’s hard to give any specific build advice because sword n board covers a wide range of potential builds that will all work differently, but some general advice that’s helpful for new players:
Pick a main skill, figure out what damage type you want to build around based on what main skill you chose, and then get as much resistance reduction for that damage type that you can. Your final build will have a lot more considerations than just this, but this will form the core of your build that the rest will develop from.
Try and get capped resistances as much as possible. This is not just a suggestion for playing a tanky character, this is a basic level of defense that the game assumes you will have that the rest of your defenses will build on.
Armor absorption is a big deal for lowering physical damage you take. Without going into too much detail here, just putting two Scaled Hides (a fairly low level component that increases your armor absorption) into your gear effectively increases your armor by roughly 40% which is as big of an increase that you can get from absorption. There are other sources of absorption that you’ll get access to later in the game, but early on Scaled Hides are your best option.
Your 2nd class should either have support for the damage type you’re building around or offer strong utility that your first class doesn’t have access to. There is conversion gear that can make certain class combos more synergistic than they first appear, but as a new player you’re not going to have that gear available to help with that. Given what you’re looking for, Soldier is the 2nd class you’ll probably end up choosing because it has very strong defensive options and shield support, but if you decide to focus on fire damage, Aura of Censure from the Inquisitor is really good.
Shield characters can be good end game if you are focused around them. I am not fan of them for leveling, since they can slow your progress, but can be used.
For physical damage Soldier is your best bet. Warlords can be very sturdy. You can do for example either Righteous Fervor+weapon pool skills or Aegis/Forcewave build. Or even Eye of Reckoning.
For fire you can go either Inquisitor or Demo. Paladin with Judgement, maybe Aegis or EoR can be good I guess.
For acid you can select Occultist for Vire and Aegis, that will work but will be slow.
Acid and fire can also work as Warlord but you will miss valuable resistance reduction. I haven’t play retal, so can’t comment about it.
Hey Nery, i was looking at your begginer guides right now, and got interested in the conjurer build for 1.1.6.2, but i’m not sure yet about which one i’m gona do, maybe u can give me a help.
I like the idea of vitality, chaos, aether, poison, or lightning damage, preferably not a basic attack build, but i really want a build that can do a good AoE and single target damage, is the conjurer guide u made like this ? Or maybe has a better one for my case ?
You can ask about the build in it’s topic but Conjurer is perhaps the most suitable selection for first char. Vitality damage, huge life steal through devotions and Sigil, area damage from spells. Only minus is that before you take your vitality devotions your single target damage will be average, later it will skyrocket as well. Also easy gearing etc, you should check it out
Thank you for the fast answer =D
I was trying some spellbinder build, but after i realized that reap spirit and devastation has no synergy i flopped lol
thank u again, i’ll stay with the conjurer guide
Thanks for the info guys, as for the main skill I really like aegis and eye of reckoning. Physical and fire are the two types of damage I would like to go for or one of the two.
There is the Virtue’s Light set for Aegis. Stoneguard set for melee/retal. Eye of Reckoning is typically Warborn set, not sure which shield would be good. Markovian is another nice set for Soldier. Many options.
So based on your information guys @Nery@nuclearunicorn7 , my two ways could be the paladin or the warlord. I will probably try both of those combos. With the paladin a melee caster way, fire aegis and judgment. About the warlord, I saw physical retaliation, those are cool but I heard they are not good for lvling. And cadence physical builds, both would be good for a sword and shield combo I guess.
Which one do you think would be more effective as my first character?
