ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Hi guys,

Already read the General Berserker guide - great guide on skill builds but less detailed on prodigies.

I selected flexible combat on my Shaloren Berserker expecting a huge damage increase but was dissappointed.

What do you guys think are the most important prodigies?

Don't underestimate the active prodigies.

Windblade is a game-changer; it turns out that despite the requirement you can use it with two-handers. Just find some wimps to practice dual wielding on. Radius four makes it much more than your everyday melee crowd control--you can use a movement infusion to get between a bunch of moderately spread-out casters and take them all out at once.

Also, Legacy of the Naloren--handy supplementary ranged attack, 10 levels of weapon mastery if you've done the right escort quest, and the best two-handed weapon in the game.

kalorful wrote:Hi guys,

Already read the General Berserker guide - great guide on skill builds but less detailed on prodigies.

I selected flexible combat on my Shaloren Berserker expecting a huge damage increase but was dissappointed.

What do you guys think are the most important prodigies?

I'm surprised you were disappointed by Flexible Combat since it is considered the best melee offense prodigy, although I guess it doesn't fit very well with Berserker's slow but powerful attacks (as opposed to dual-wielding classes with Flurry and Momentum). It's worth noting a good portion of Flexible Combat's benefit is the glove procs, which are almost as nice as the raw damage. For other prodigies, I Can Carry The World solves your stamina problems and gives you 40 strength, which might actually be better than Flexible Combat for Berserkers. Irresistible Sun seems very strong, I've never used it but Aluin the Fallen has it and he's terrifying. I Can Carry The World and Irresistible Sun would probably go well together since Irresistible Sun scales with strength.

My Shalore Berserker picked up Stone Alchemy and my plan is to make that my second unlock category (along with the unstoppable tree, naturally).

If I go the stone alchemy route, should I consider crafty hands? Is it good? Or is considering to unlock stone alchemy bad overall?

Mankeli wrote:My Shalore Berserker picked up Stone Alchemy and my plan is to make that my second unlock category (along with the unstoppable tree, naturally).

If I go the stone alchemy route, should I consider crafty hands? Is it good? Or is considering to unlock stone alchemy bad overall?

Crafty Hands is pretty good, I'd take it if going Stone Alchemy for sure.

Unlocking Stone Alchemy is far from a bad idea.

Ok, thanks to both of you!

I'm surprised that no one mentioned Steamroller. That's really an amazing prodigy. Rush is one of the most important talents for most melee classes and certainly for berserkers. Steamroller gives you instant cooldown reset on rush AND up to 100% extra damage. A game changer.

Superpower is very good if you're anti-magic.

Thats what I thought

Many of the times where I died it was due to a mage being out of reach... a low cd rush would definitely have helped there

Hi kalorful ^^

Firstly, good choice of class. Berserker no. 1~

Not gonna lie, I play a lot of Berserker. I have found over 10+ zerker wins (including nightmare) and playing on insane (lvl 50 stuck in prides -_-) that each game can vary completely depending on a multitude of factors. For example difficulty, race selection, what items you have so far, how you feel like playing, etc!

If you have stone alchemy (which is awesome, by the way, worth not going AM if you get the alch escort) then you should get crafty hands. You just really should. it's adds 200% more value to the 6 generics AND CATEGORY PT you had to pump to get imbue item to t5. That, depending on gem choice, can equate to an extra 10% spell/mental/phys crit and 20% all damage (2 fire opals). Orr if you're lucky, an artifact gem like Goedalath Rock which is just insanely good. Superpower can be good if you're AM, yes. Steamroller can be good if you're not rocking movement infusions (maybe you're undead!). Giant Leap is really good in my opinion, it's like an extra rush that does big aoe damage, that can double as an escape, also you can jump over stuff or out of summoning surrounds. Draconic will is awesome if you kinda know what each type of enemy is going to cast on you, especially on the higher difficulties. Also it works really well if you balance it with unstoppable. Other similar ones like unbreakable will and spine of the world are good if you're really lacking in those immunities. For zerkers I'd advise against draconic body, unstoppable negates the heal completely! I guess it's still ok to help prevent getting 1shot, but generally your hp pool will be high enough to prevent that. Irresistable sun is nice but is better if there's a lot of enemies around, which generally you'd be trying to avoid in favor of fighting them 1by1 in a corridor. Some people like it, but I am really not a fan of carry the world... you can EASILY get -fatigue on items, and even without that, your stam shouldn't be an issue by prodigy time unless you're not managing it properly. 40 str is great, sure, but that'd be it. The carry capacity won't do anything for your chances of victory (unless you're some crazy swift hands user that has 1000 items). Speaking of swift hands- if you have the patience for it, and have the right items, you will most likely win the game. BUT I find it boring to play that way. Maybe some people enjoy it though. One that's pretty cool (and quite underrated) is eye of the tiger: if you have a lot of crit, it can be really useful, especially in longer fights like the end bosses.

TL:DR- I don't think I have ever had the same 2 prodigies in all my playthroughs. Like I said, it depends on what other choices you've made, what you feel like, and what style of play you want.

That being said, I do prefer some over others. My favorites on the zerker are giant leap, draconic will, steamroller (for normal mode only; on nightmare+, lategame enemies usually don't die in the turns required to refresh the rush), crafty hands (if you picked up stone alch) and legacy of naloren (better if AM because of less weapon choice, also, MUCH better if you had a warrior escort and managed to get exotic mastery, 10/10 is awesome).

Good luck!

Thomas wrote:it's adds 200% more value to the 6 generics AND CATEGORY PT you had to pump to get imbue item to t5.

I haven't played around with Stone Alchemy for a long time, but I remember it being dependent on raw points invested, not talent level. Was that changed at some point?

laru wrote:

Thomas wrote:it's adds 200% more value to the 6 generics AND CATEGORY PT you had to pump to get imbue item to t5.

I haven't played around with Stone Alchemy for a long time, but I remember it being dependent on raw points invested, not talent level. Was that changed at some point?

I think he means it's locked when you get it from an escort.

Doctornull wrote:

laru wrote:

Thomas wrote:it's adds 200% more value to the 6 generics AND CATEGORY PT you had to pump to get imbue item to t5.

I haven't played around with Stone Alchemy for a long time, but I remember it being dependent on raw points invested, not talent level. Was that changed at some point?

I think he means it's locked when you get it from an escort.

Oh, right.. thanks for clearing that up (mucking around with different stone warden builds atm).

I just tested out Windblade... it's amazing. Wow. I regret not getting it in the past.

on flexible combat, what's are some good artifact gloves / ego gloves to combo with a berserker's 2h focused style of play?