ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Anyone got some advice for a shadows and/or darkness specific Doomed build? I can't seem to get a viable build based upon these trees that could survive the first couple of dungeons. And please, don't tell me to use force of will/punishments build, I am quite tired of that.

This is like asking for a viable Anorithil build that doesn't use Moonlight Ray or Searing Light for the first few levels. Shadows and Darkness can be very powerful once you've invested a lot into them, but at the beginning of the game they really aren't useful. I suppose you could try to Gesture of Pain your way through everything, but you only have 4 class trees - you're going to have to put points into Force of Will and Punishments no matter what, and you might as well do it when they're going to compose almost the entirety of your offense.

You're right. I've invested some points into Willful Strike and Reproach and I steamrolled through almost anything without dying from the very beginning and with shadows aiding me, it wasn't that hard.