So, erm....Stone Warden advice?

[NemesisZeru]

Mine just died(Longest living character yet, even with dumb deaths!), and gonna remake. Figured I'd grab some opinions as I mope

http://te4.org/characters/111153/tome/2 ... 803491adaa

I was trying to go for a pure tank Stone Warden, with EB for single targets and Spikes for groups. Sorta messed up some skill points(Was going to get Augur at first, changed my mind, so was stuck with lvl.1 Stone Skin), but in general I'm wondering...

Are Spikes/Eldritch Infusion worth it, or is the retaliation damage too low to really be worthwhile?

[Werekracken]

For my first Stone Warden I avoided Stone Vines because I really didn't like the sound of the 50% movement penalty. I forgot how far I got, maybe 30.

I rolled a few more Stone Wardens and found out that the whole Earthen Vines branch is very effective except against about half the bosses. Besides those bosses, the vines did most of the killing! The 50% movement penalty still was annoying and I had to mindful of it, but it wasn't crippling.

My winner Stone Warden (my first and only winner, so far) was an experiment that went the distance. I went antimagic. With Eternal Guard prodigy, Wild Growth from antimagic and investing in saves, she was nigh unkillable when turtling (blocking). Here's a link to my winner (even though it didn't update to show that I won...) Rudalima.

If I did it again, I think I would have not wasted the unlock of Harmony for Waters of Life because I ran into a number of shields with the effect. Similarly, unlocking Antimagic for Aura of Silence was minimally helpful since I had the Spellhunt Remnants already at Tier 5. Other than the vines, Shards and Eldritch Stone were quite helpful for dishing damage while turtled up.

Pro tip: You will be able to block damage based on the resistance types listed on your shields. The resistance percentage won't matter while blocking, it will block those damage types the same as if they were physical. So getting good shields that also have a variety of resistance types is very valuable.

Full disclosure: I've only played Normal difficulty.

I hope this helps.

[Marson]

I don't know if this helps, but here's mine: http://te4.org/characters/102240/tome/7 ... 170f8afd12

Lvl 45 so far on Roguelike, with one death that Blood of Life save me from. I've found the debuffs from Spikes to be handy, especially Silence, and Eldrich Slam can dish out some brutal AOE. If you have a decent amount of on-hit damage, Edrich Fury can decimate a single target.

[NemesisZeru]

I don't know if this helps, but here's mine: http://te4.org/characters/102240/tome/7 ... 170f8afd12

Lvl 45 so far on Roguelike, with one death that Blood of Life save me from. I've found the debuffs from Spikes to be handy, especially Silence, and Eldrich Slam can dish out some brutal AOE. If you have a decent amount of on-hit damage, Edrich Fury can decimate a single target.

Hm...interesting. Didn't think about both. I figured I was either going to go with spikes or Slam. At least as of lvl.19, I didn't seem to have a whole lot of points to throw around. xP

If I may ask, how many times does Fury hit? It says shields...is it like Flurry, with 3 hits from each shield? If so, it'll probably outdamage Blow. :3

I guess the problem would be the cost...I was having spell issues and mana issues(at least until I got a point in Eldritch Stone). Still, I suppose it could be worth a shot.

[Marson]

As I remember it, Fury does six total hits. I'm pretty sure it's my highest single-target damage dealer and regularly outperforms Blow. Blow is 2x425=850. Fury is 6x174=1044, plus 3x of the on-hit procs of Blow.

[NemesisZeru]

As I remember it, Fury does six total hits. I'm pretty sure it's my highest single-target damage dealer and regularly outperforms Blow. Blow is 2x425=850. Fury is 6x174=1044, plus 3x of the on-hit procs of Blow.

Ah...I'll try maxing Fury for my single target skill, then. x3

[Marson]

Just hopped into Vor Pride to get some numbers:
Slam: 600-1000, though just hit a cyromancer for 1200, and Salitta the orc summoner for 1868.
Fury: 600-1200 — Hard to test, as they die due to...
Retialiation strikes, just sitting there blocking: 600-900

[NemesisZeru]

Just hopped into Vor Pride to get some numbers:
Slam: 600-1000, though just hit a cyromancer for 1200, and Salitta the orc summoner for 1868.
Fury: 600-1200 — Hard to test, as they die due to...
Retialiation strikes, just sitting there blocking: 600-900

Hm...those seem pretty good, then. I'll go with Fury/Slam. I like the spikes tree, but it seems like a pretty heavy investment(20 points for the best damage), so I'm not entirely sure on it. Maybe I'll unlock stone alchemy instead, since I have tons of extra generic points, and the upgrades/extra gold seem nice.

[Darkmere]

Figured I'd add something, here's my clearing warden:

http://te4.org/characters/31725/tome/d6 ... acd6cac055

First one I tried, so the deaths racked up to noobery could have been avoided.

For what it's worth, I took stone alchemy immediately and had enough gold by endgame for 4 merchant randarts and full saves entering high peak.

The poison on spikes is pitiful compared to other stuff you could be doing, I'd recommend leaving it at 1 for the heal debuff, and because you need it to progress.

Slam will do ridiculous damage later on. I got by fine by focusing on it and using the spikes for debuffs in mid-game, maxed later.

That's all that's springing to mind, it's been a while since I finished on that guy.

[Marson]

The poison on spikes is pitiful compared to other stuff you could be doing, I'd recommend leaving it at 1 for the heal debuff, and because you need it to progress.

That's what I did as well.

[Mewtarthio]

You might be interested in my winner, as well. You'll note that I didn't invest in Vines at all; the class has terrible mobility without them, but I was surprised at how well I was able to compensate with a Movement Infusion and the occasional Stone Wall to trap fleeing archers.

Now, one thing I do regret was the heavy investment in Spell/Earth. I wanted to give myself some additional ranged options to help with the aforementioned terrible mobility, but Auger and Mudslide dealt such terrible damage that I might as well have not had them at all. They're only worth one point to help unlock Stone Wall (an excellent talent which anyone with Spell/Earth should get, of course).

Oh, and the Temporal Rift is an awesome shield, by the way.

[bpat]

Mine just died(Longest living character yet, even with dumb deaths!), and gonna remake. Figured I'd grab some opinions as I mope

http://te4.org/characters/111153/tome/2 ... 803491adaa

I was trying to go for a pure tank Stone Warden, with EB for single targets and Spikes for groups. Sorta messed up some skill points(Was going to get Augur at first, changed my mind, so was stuck with lvl.1 Stone Skin), but in general I'm wondering...

Are Spikes/Eldritch Infusion worth it, or is the retaliation damage too low to really be worthwhile?

You should 5/5 Pulverizing Augur in pretty much any Stone Warden build since it does more damage than any other beam attack in the game I know of. You should also pick up Stone Wall at 4/5 since it can remove yourself or an enemy from combat, giving you some breathing room. There is pretty much no reason not to go at least 5/1/1/1 in the Dwarven Nature tree since your halves are ridiculously good at both dealing damage and tanking. Eldritch Infusion is pretty bad, I would skip it and get points in the last two talents in the tree instead. Eldritch Stone is a neat tree because it's good at disabling enemies, 1/1/1/1 is good enough early. I recommend picking up Deeprock at some point since Throw Boulder is very strong with high Strength and it can remove multiple threats from the fight for a while.

[NemesisZeru]

Mine just died(Longest living character yet, even with dumb deaths!), and gonna remake. Figured I'd grab some opinions as I mope

http://te4.org/characters/111153/tome/2 ... 803491adaa

I was trying to go for a pure tank Stone Warden, with EB for single targets and Spikes for groups. Sorta messed up some skill points(Was going to get Augur at first, changed my mind, so was stuck with lvl.1 Stone Skin), but in general I'm wondering...

Are Spikes/Eldritch Infusion worth it, or is the retaliation damage too low to really be worthwhile?

You should 5/5 Pulverizing Augur in pretty much any Stone Warden build since it does more damage than any other beam attack in the game I know of. You should also pick up Stone Wall at 4/5 since it can remove yourself or an enemy from combat, giving you some breathing room. There is pretty much no reason not to go at least 5/1/1/1 in the Dwarven Nature tree since your halves are ridiculously good at both dealing damage and tanking. Eldritch Infusion is pretty bad, I would skip it and get points in the last two talents in the tree instead. Eldritch Stone is a neat tree because it's good at disabling enemies, 1/1/1/1 is good enough early. I recommend picking up Deeprock at some point since Throw Boulder is very strong with high Strength and it can remove multiple threats from the fight for a while.

Yeah, I know the Halves are good, Iunno...just doesn't feel like the way I wanna play. I wanna be the tank, not my Halves. Kinda worried I'll end up as a gimped Summoner, relying on my Halves to do anything.

I'll consider your other recommendations for my next Stone Warden, though. Seems more magey then taking, and I'm going more for the latter at this point, I think. Still, we'll see. :3

[bpat]

Mine just died(Longest living character yet, even with dumb deaths!), and gonna remake. Figured I'd grab some opinions as I mope

http://te4.org/characters/111153/tome/2 ... 803491adaa

I was trying to go for a pure tank Stone Warden, with EB for single targets and Spikes for groups. Sorta messed up some skill points(Was going to get Augur at first, changed my mind, so was stuck with lvl.1 Stone Skin), but in general I'm wondering...

Are Spikes/Eldritch Infusion worth it, or is the retaliation damage too low to really be worthwhile?

You should 5/5 Pulverizing Augur in pretty much any Stone Warden build since it does more damage than any other beam attack in the game I know of. You should also pick up Stone Wall at 4/5 since it can remove yourself or an enemy from combat, giving you some breathing room. There is pretty much no reason not to go at least 5/1/1/1 in the Dwarven Nature tree since your halves are ridiculously good at both dealing damage and tanking. Eldritch Infusion is pretty bad, I would skip it and get points in the last two talents in the tree instead. Eldritch Stone is a neat tree because it's good at disabling enemies, 1/1/1/1 is good enough early. I recommend picking up Deeprock at some point since Throw Boulder is very strong with high Strength and it can remove multiple threats from the fight for a while.

Yeah, I know the Halves are good, Iunno...just doesn't feel like the way I wanna play. I wanna be the tank, not my Halves. Kinda worried I'll end up as a gimped Summoner, relying on my Halves to do anything.

I'll consider your other recommendations for my next Stone Warden, though. Seems more magey then taking, and I'm going more for the latter at this point, I think. Still, we'll see. :3

You can skip halves if you want, but they're seriously the best talent you have as a Stone Warden, both for damage and defense. Their tankiness somewhat scales off yours so they can absorb even more damage if you're building tank. I guess if my suggestions seem magey it's because my Stone Warden winner actually used staves over shields and went as magey as you can get with this class, but double shield tanking is probably as good as my build, if not better.

[NemesisZeru]

Yeah, I saw your guide and actually used it a bit to figure out some things, but the build is a bit too magey for my tastes.

Iunno, maybe I'll try it on my next Stone Warden. Stone Wall at least seems like a good "Oh****" button, so might get that on this guy.