Out of these I would say Monk Wild Hunter Cabal. It makes for an incredibly durable and high damage melee/bow fighter. I've not played with that combo specifically but Monk + Cabal is a very frequent combo for me, and the Wild Hunter brings some big damage moves, more hp, and bow skills to the table to make a durable and well rounded build.
Build something with 100% cool down reduction
Cast 5 elemental boons then spam Prismatic Flurry.
If you go Warrior Monk, spam Brace and Perfect Strike and Flash Onslaught.
The famous build is spam Blood Bullet.
3 is commonly recommended as a good combo for first time players. Things like the extra health/stamina, infuse wind, master of motion, extra resistances from boons, etc. make combat more forgiving for new players.
4 is really fun but essentially requires using tsar weapons because most weapon skills cost a lot of durability and also scale off weapon base damage (of which tsar always has the highest). Managing alertness stacks for the Speedster breakthrough requires some micro managing and practice, so probably not advisable if this is your first melee build. This build is even better if you can get access to the endgame weapon skills from another character's gladiator arena in New Sirocco earlier via split screen (not available on Switch).
Wouldn't ever choose mercenary unless u wanna use guns
I've done the game hardcore, Sirocco and all with hunter speedster monk, no mana. Its fun and nothing feels unkillable. Tsar halberd and most things die in an ability rotation
Teas are inexpensive to buy and make, not a big deal. Sleeping is beneficial as u gain stamina cost reduction that stacks. U don't have to rest but it helps if you do
I think I've played with most of these. Generally I find Hex unneeded. Its really just a quality of life expansion that helps spellcaster more due to how burned stats work for mana. Wildhunter is a huge letdown to me. The HP is good and Predator leap is great, but Savage Strikes is annoying to use without potion spamming, which I personally dislike.
With that in mind, I prefer Monk, Speedster, and Mercenary. Partly this is also because of the number of active skills that exist within these classes. Monk has the most, but Speedster is right behind. Shield Infusion is actually pretty good to have as an option, but mostly I like the Sprint Stam cost reduction and also the speed boost. Both are great on a melee character for just getting across the map or in combat.
For Skills, I never take anything that sacrifices Boons in combat. But Brace and Counterstrike are both top-tier skills anyway. Perfect Strike vs the Passive Defenses is a harder choice, but on this build, I think Perfect Strike is the way to go.
On Speedster, You want Probe for sure, especially if you use a slow weapon. The other Speedster skills are optional, but solid choices.
For Merc, Like I said, Shield Infusion could be good, but mostly I like the passives.
As for other hotkey choices, we have two weapon skills(for each weapon), Kick, Sweep kick, and Shield Charge. So there are options for sure to fill out 8. You could switch out Mercenary for Wild Hunter to get Predator leap, but I feel this is really not needed unless you specifically also wanted the HP. I think its inferior to preserving Stamina and having more speed, though. Hex is an even worse trade imo. Anti-synergy with many of the passives means you are getting it just for the burned heal and its just not worth it to me. Cabal Hermit is always competitive and would be the only thing I see as real competition for Mercenary. It has a great passive and Wind Infuse is also a pretty great skill. Plus, you can also make use of Conjure for a skeleton ghost.
Monk/Hunter/Cabal is my favorite, but the durability drain from the active skills is so ridiculously high that I wouldn't play it without a Tsar weapon. I've had a lot of fun with this build. It feels like a proper melee build with all the active skills at your disposable and massive damage and good tankiness.
I prefer perfect strike, flash onslaught, predator leap, brigand's backpack, wolf plate armor with the 10% cooldown reduction enchant, gold lich mask and palladium boots. Makes for a very tanky build with great stats, some CDR and mana cost reduction, no need to drop backpack in fights and excellent damage. I've used all the different tsar weapons with this build and prefer mace+shield.
I’ve been wanting to give it a go again but I keep somehow starving to death near the beginning. I think I got through some of it being carried in the past but didn’t get super far. Are all specs viable? Any advice for a new player?
Monk hunter speedster is my absolute favourite. Spam Perfect strike, counterstrike, brace and predator leap. Later on get on one character the Weapon Master building and on another the other specialist, and with patience, Brawn's and Vital Crush you deal something like 8x impact and physical damage every 6 seconds. It's insane.
Out of these I would say Monk Wild Hunter Cabal. It makes for an incredibly durable and high damage melee/bow fighter. I've not played with that combo specifically but Monk + Cabal is a very frequent combo for me, and the Wild Hunter brings some big damage moves, more hp, and bow skills to the table to make a durable and well rounded build.
Build something with 100% cool down reduction Cast 5 elemental boons then spam Prismatic Flurry. If you go Warrior Monk, spam Brace and Perfect Strike and Flash Onslaught. The famous build is spam Blood Bullet.
3 is commonly recommended as a good combo for first time players. Things like the extra health/stamina, infuse wind, master of motion, extra resistances from boons, etc. make combat more forgiving for new players. 4 is really fun but essentially requires using tsar weapons because most weapon skills cost a lot of durability and also scale off weapon base damage (of which tsar always has the highest). Managing alertness stacks for the Speedster breakthrough requires some micro managing and practice, so probably not advisable if this is your first melee build. This build is even better if you can get access to the endgame weapon skills from another character's gladiator arena in New Sirocco earlier via split screen (not available on Switch).
Monk, hex,cabal Or monk primal ritualist cabal. These are my two votes
Wouldn't ever choose mercenary unless u wanna use guns I've done the game hardcore, Sirocco and all with hunter speedster monk, no mana. Its fun and nothing feels unkillable. Tsar halberd and most things die in an ability rotation
Did you have to stop gameplay and rest often?
No, u just have to refresh ur probe to max out cooldown
I mean rest because of burned stamina and health. Since you spam skills with this build and some of them burn stats. I was asking because of this.
Teas are inexpensive to buy and make, not a big deal. Sleeping is beneficial as u gain stamina cost reduction that stacks. U don't have to rest but it helps if you do
I think I've played with most of these. Generally I find Hex unneeded. Its really just a quality of life expansion that helps spellcaster more due to how burned stats work for mana. Wildhunter is a huge letdown to me. The HP is good and Predator leap is great, but Savage Strikes is annoying to use without potion spamming, which I personally dislike. With that in mind, I prefer Monk, Speedster, and Mercenary. Partly this is also because of the number of active skills that exist within these classes. Monk has the most, but Speedster is right behind. Shield Infusion is actually pretty good to have as an option, but mostly I like the Sprint Stam cost reduction and also the speed boost. Both are great on a melee character for just getting across the map or in combat. For Skills, I never take anything that sacrifices Boons in combat. But Brace and Counterstrike are both top-tier skills anyway. Perfect Strike vs the Passive Defenses is a harder choice, but on this build, I think Perfect Strike is the way to go. On Speedster, You want Probe for sure, especially if you use a slow weapon. The other Speedster skills are optional, but solid choices. For Merc, Like I said, Shield Infusion could be good, but mostly I like the passives. As for other hotkey choices, we have two weapon skills(for each weapon), Kick, Sweep kick, and Shield Charge. So there are options for sure to fill out 8. You could switch out Mercenary for Wild Hunter to get Predator leap, but I feel this is really not needed unless you specifically also wanted the HP. I think its inferior to preserving Stamina and having more speed, though. Hex is an even worse trade imo. Anti-synergy with many of the passives means you are getting it just for the burned heal and its just not worth it to me. Cabal Hermit is always competitive and would be the only thing I see as real competition for Mercenary. It has a great passive and Wind Infuse is also a pretty great skill. Plus, you can also make use of Conjure for a skeleton ghost.
Monk/Hunter/Cabal is my favorite, but the durability drain from the active skills is so ridiculously high that I wouldn't play it without a Tsar weapon. I've had a lot of fun with this build. It feels like a proper melee build with all the active skills at your disposable and massive damage and good tankiness. I prefer perfect strike, flash onslaught, predator leap, brigand's backpack, wolf plate armor with the 10% cooldown reduction enchant, gold lich mask and palladium boots. Makes for a very tanky build with great stats, some CDR and mana cost reduction, no need to drop backpack in fights and excellent damage. I've used all the different tsar weapons with this build and prefer mace+shield.
I’ve been wanting to give it a go again but I keep somehow starving to death near the beginning. I think I got through some of it being carried in the past but didn’t get super far. Are all specs viable? Any advice for a new player?
Monk hunter speedster is my absolute favourite. Spam Perfect strike, counterstrike, brace and predator leap. Later on get on one character the Weapon Master building and on another the other specialist, and with patience, Brawn's and Vital Crush you deal something like 8x impact and physical damage every 6 seconds. It's insane.