I’ve been reading a lot on the forums, catching up on the trends/sets/classes etc (Last i played Kreig DK was a god level build)
So it got me thinking… Shamans outnumber soldiers for endgame builds by a decent margin, is there a reason for that?
I have a few ideas on it- cadence 3rd strike not affecting WPS.
shaman having better 2h trees
soldier vs shaman in terms of damage builds etc. (shaman seems to have more in terms of style)
I think it’s just that Soldier is less fit for a support class. Very limited damage support for other builds, especially for DPS focused builds theorycrafters on this forum prefer
Wheras Shaman has Cold, Fire, Lightning, Bleed and Vit RR
Also Savagery is better than Cadence, more universal.
Soldier is mostly a main mastery… When do you take it as secondary? Almost never. Whereas Shaman is both main and support.
Oathkeeper vs Soldier - the same situation.
That’s what I assumed. I levelled as Primal Strike, So Idk much about savagery vs cadence, but if the third hit doesn’t proc a WPS and you’re stacking them, i could see that being an issue alone.
Forcewave was easier to get online since A1 Had a ton of FW stuff drop, but overall Shaman seems like a beefier 2h build I didn’t even pick a second mastery on either yet.
Ironically, one of the mastery combos im considering is going savagery warder or archon. haha. but they’re the only two that I could really think of other than odd balls.
yeah, because it’s supported by Avenger
Forcewave is just a single skill. They are more good Primal Strike build than Forcewave
Shaman offers more flexibility, class rolling % Elemental RR ( which means fits every light/cold/fire setups) , bleeding and vitality and is just overall better synergy with most masteries . Soldier is also really powerful just lack synergy with most damage types outside Physical and Pierce ( bleeding soldiers are ok not amazing but still fine )
also Fire Blade Arc / Forcewave and some retal builds.
There’s Vit Blood Knight. Ok it’s tanky but Ritualist has like twice the damage
that’s what I assumed.
I was planning on attempting a phys to void conversion witchblade but realized quickly it’s really outside my scope since I don’t have a farmer haha.
Commando rent free in my heart , such a fun class and fantasy
Guys, compare the diversity of damage types in beginner builds:
Also Shaman builds above are more skill diverse, whereas Soldier is Blade Arc and Cadence Physical builds for the most part 
I honestly just figured i have a shaman problem lol, but you’re right.
But just a warning that I have a bias against Soldier because I’m a contrarian in nature and never play popular things Soldier being tanky safe choice puts me off
Shaman supports a lot more build archetypes than Soldier, I would say. Melee, ranged, totems, pets. Soldier is much more limited in scope.
I’m a big smash or tank guy. Barb d2- present in d4. same in POE/POE2, LE and pretty much every MMO and ARPG. I try casters or “finesse” rogue archetypes, play them for a little bit, and get bored. but big smash or tanks always keeps me rolling
I found a helm that gives war cry damage… oh boy.
Nice, I’m the opposite, I mostly play casters hence my bias.
There’s so much that doesn’t work great with soldier. There’s plenty for you to play 
If anything Soldier feels a bit generic and point hungry to me. It has some all damage modifiers and flat phys for two handers which can usually be converted. But to make it good you want all the skills and you never have enough points for all the (passive) skills. While at the same time it only has a mediocre (or just plain bad actually) RR skill. So unless you go for something mainstream it quickly feels like a struggle.
Now for the moment of truth-
Druid, Warder, or Archon.
Which would be easiest to build into an endgame beast for all content including bosses? I’m thinking archon for the Debuffing with the pets. But druid and Warder have high OA buffs too…
(I’ll probably swap off primal strike and go savagery soon)
tough choices.
Warder is the tankiest so the easiest for this purpose. I assume you want to play melee.
With Menhir’s Bulwark especially.
yeah 2h most likely.
Lightning or Physical though? There’s also Lightnig Retal Warder omega tank
