ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Just started the game, and I'm level 24 in Dreadfell Tower as an Alchemist (Covered in heavy armor, made out of ice, and on fire). Being halfway to the level cap (and two of my Adventure lives down), I'm wanting to look at other classes for a second playthrough. Or perhaps another playthrough to mix between for varieties sake. However, there doesn't seem to be anywhere that gives me a good summary of each class. I can look at the guides, but they often assume a basic level of knowledge about the class, and are fairly lengthy. The wiki gives me the raw facts of the class, but nothing about how it functions in practice (and it's info is sometimes outdated). There just doesn't seem to be a good place to get an overview out of what each class does particularly well, how they feel when you play them, etc... I'm not opposed to a lot of reading, but most of what I find isn't well suited to me understanding the classes. So rather than just read a lot of guides and cross-reference the wiki when it doesn't explain something, I thought I'd ask if anyone could point me in the right direction. I don't mind if it's a couple patches out of date, once I get a basic idea as to how the classes play, I can then open up their skill trees in game and use the wiki and guide on a specific one I decide to play.

Bonus points to anyone who could recommend a class that plays differently from my tanky alchemist. Even more bonus points if the class (or the race that goes with it) is well suited to unlocking other classes. If needed, I was thinking about making a throwaway character to unlock Stone Warden and the Poison Tree (Since Stonewarden is an awkward unlock, and the Poison tree costs you a valuable merchant). But if I end up playing Temporal Warden (I got the Blade of the Past in the vault, hoping to find it's twin), then that can certainly wait.

I don't have any DLC right now, but I plan to pick it up before I start a new save.

I learned the game by basically following guides religiously, but now I can sort of figure out what to do now. What classes have you unlocked? I'll give an overview of the base unlocks:

Berzerker: Very basic weapon class that is more of a basic warrior than a berzerker. It is easy to learn with not too much build variaty. You basically build str, con, and dex/cun and get the blood thirst tree to be successful. Most races are probably fine for it, but ogre if you have that unlocked is neat for offhand stuff, and dwarf is cool to for it's low exp penalty and decent racials.

Bulwark: Even more simple than berzerker and can be quite powerful if built right. Despite what you may think, it's not particularly tanky especially against mages, but it's offense is great if you pick up the battle tactics tree due to greater weapon focus and step up. They want str, dex, and con/cun. Dwarf and ogre again would probably be my picks for race, but any race is workable really.

Archer: beginner friendly, but a little more complex than the previous two. The archer can fight at ranged, which gives a good advantage against melee enemies. It has a choice between bow and sling/shield, but bow is probably the best. Get sniper at 10 and never look back. They have good access to disables like silence, pin, disarm and they can be pretty good defensively even in light armor/robes due to the mobility tree which grants trained reactions. Dex, str for bows, and cun for slings perhaps mag for arcane might. Shalore has good synergy by letting you skip blinding speed from the combat techniques tree, or have more uptime.

Arcane blade: A difficult class that requires good knowledge of the game to play well, but has potentially some of the best damage per turn in the entire game. Has a special talent called Arcane combat which lets you cast spells from hitting enemies in melee, which has crazy potential if you hit the enemy a lot in a turn. Can go two handed, one handed and shield, or dual wieldng. Likes magic, cun, and dex the most, but you could go for a str build if you wanted.

Rogue: One of my favorites, they can be squishy and hard hitting dual wielders. Stealth is weird, where you can either invest minimally for the effects granted from exiting it, or you can play a tanky permastealthed throwing knife build that works surprisingly well. I hear people say that kind of rogue is tough on beginer players due to stat requirements of the main prodigy of mystical cunning, so just go with the regular kind I suppose. Having access to the dual techniques tree means they have a really powerful talent, flurry. Basically you hit 3 times from each weapon and that shreds most mobs. They have some interesting utility with traps and rogues tools, and an unlockable poison tree which is nice. They like cun, dex, and str/mag depending on weapon choice and prodigy. Can't go wrong with shalore, halfling, or anything really. You may even want to do ogre for twohanded + offhand

Shadowblade: Basically a rogue with a few magical touches. They have some more interesting bonuses from exiting stealth from the ambush tree, and they can be deceptively tanky if you stack a buff called "out of phase", which improves resist all, defense, and lowers incoming detrimental effects by a percentage after a teleport. add on some nice attack speed buffs and a good pull that both silences and disarms from 10 range and you get a really nice kit. Cun, dex, mag for the simplest stat spread.

That's all the classes you get from the start (besides alchemist, but you have a grasp of that I assume). If you want to unlock stuff, play shalore and go to the hidden halfling complex near zigur, or hit level 30 as a thalore and find the sludge nest. (didn't list it as one of the recommended races for any of the classes, but would work fine for any of them really. They would work for the psionic/wilder classes the best though)

I've got a host of things unlocked already. Off the top of my head (I'm at work), I've got Yeeks, Ogres, and am very close to killing the Master (He killed me once, but that was more due to being unprepared and incautious, and I've gained 3 levels since then) for an Undead race.

Classes I have unlocked are Temporal Warden, Reaver, Corrupted, Archmage, Skirmisher, Summoner and Wyrmic. I also think I'm close to unlocking Corruptor.

And thanks for clarifying on Berserker being more Fighter than Barbarian. That put me off a little at first. That's the kind of stuff I'd like to know, because it's hard to pick up through the wiki. I did just find out about TomeTips, which has the information much more readable, but it's still just an encyclopedia, not any kind of guide.

And I've heard conflicting things on the Poison tree. I understand you need to side with the Assassin Lord to get it (I saved the Merchant in my game), but does it unlock mid-game, or is it simply available for all fresh characters? I've heard both, mostly hearing that you don't get it until a new character. Class and Race unlocks are obviously not available until you make a new character, but talents are inherently different than that.

Anyway, I was kind of thinking of going for something very different on my next run. Specifically, I'd been eying melee classes, ideally those that supplement their melee with some kind of special power. I was looking at Cursed, and I also thought there was some fun in Arcane Blade (looks like I could build one with a lot of sustain powers, and mostly just use Stamina spenders, with magic only used when I really want range). Wyrmic also fits this category, and Temporal Warden looks like an insane bit of fun (and is required for unlocking what looks to be one of the nuttiest classes in the game).

I'm also somewhat interested in Stone Warden, but I'm not sure how they play, or exactly how they might be unlocked without just forcing it (i.e., an actual working build, not just playing a character who is doomed to deletion the second I qualify).

Here is a summary of those classes to:

Temporal warden: My all time favorite, Tw are a melee/ranged/summoner mix with the best of all 3 pretty much. They can have a bow in their main equipment and switch to their melee set at any time when using an ability and vice versa. They have good defensive options with guardian unity, webs of fate, along with good mobility with their instant teleport dimensional step. Where this class can really get bonkers is with their temporal hounds tree which is absolutely broken. Powerful auto summoned dogs that can be targeted, respawned, and quickened in one talent (command hounds: blink) gives you a really good offense and defense due to enemies having to deal with them and you at the same time. Check out Cathbald's post in the tw guide here to see for yourself how busted they are: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=5 ... 1&start=15 . Most important stats are mag and dex, but for your third stat you have a good case for literally any other stat depending on race and prodigy. Yeek, ogre, and shalore would be my top picks for race.

Archmage: Another one of my favorites, but some consider it a bit tedious. Their whole deal is that they have lots of sustains that you want to keep up so you can actually survive, but that makes your mana tight at early/midgame. for levels 1-11 you are as tough as wet tissue paper, but at level 12 you get disruption shield, an extra 100 or so health in the early game that skyrockets to very high numbers as you get it's talent level and your own spellpower up (One thing to note is that disruption shield gets unsustained if you go under half mana, so it effectively cuts your mana in half unless you are being super risky). add on the buffs you can give to damage shields through shielding and aegis and you get a sturdy (if disspellable) tank. You get various elements to use, but I like to focus on 1 or 2 as my main damage type. there are a few key skills to pick up no matter what element you run such as disruption shield, stone wall, and feather wind. Most of the advanced trees will have to be unlocked by getting achievements, but this will be removed in 1.7, so you can get the trees from the start. Mag and will need to be leveled in equal measure to keep damage up and have enough mana to sustain all the skills you need to survive and fight. Pick cun, dex, or con as your third stat for the extra bonuses they provide. For race, Yeek, shalore, higher, or even cornac can work out pretty well.

Cursed: I've heard this be described as the real berzerker which I somewhat agree with. They have some nice trees that work with any choice of weapons, be that two handed, one handed and shield, or dual wield, but the crown jewel of this class is the rampage tree. You get a huge boost to movement and attack speed on activation and it can trigger when getting hit for a lot. Take the tree at 10 and you will be a powerhouse. There is also an afflicted mechanic given once you pick up a weapon for the first time called curses, and if you accept you get the cursed aura tree. it can be worth heavily investing, but I don't usually do so that much when I play. The obvious stat spread would be str and will with dex or cun as the third stat, but it is possible to play by skiping will for the most part and only using gear for the requirements. You will struggle meeting stat requirments if you don't get lucky with those things though. Thalore and ogre would be my picks for race (from what you have at least )

I don't feel I am Knowledgeable enough about corrupter, skirmisher, summoner or wyrmic to give accurate advice. About the poison tree, I don't exactly remember if you get it upon siding with the assassin lord as a rogue, but I do believe you can be a non rogue and unlock it for them anyway. You are right about the unlock from tw as it is probably the strongest non adventurer/possesor class in the game (both of which are absolutely not balanced btw) For stone warden unlock, you can pick up the harmony tree on a spellcasting class (which is a pretty good tree), or you can play wyrmic and go staff combat for a meme build.

Yah, just went over Time Warden on the wiki. I was already leaning in favor of them, just because of the unlock, but looking at them... holy crap I want all their skills. Never seen a class I wanted to play Cornac on so much for extra build points (That may or may not be a good idea, but I think you get my point). That aside, may go for Yeek to get the Psiblade unlock.

Archmage is the kind of class I'd love, but I didn't want to play another Mage after Alchemist, so it can wait. Good to know about the unlocks for Archmage being removed... though I had based at least some of my Alchemist build on qualifying for Cryo and Pyro achievements...

I still don't get how the Cursed Aura tree works on Cursed though.

And Dwarf doesn't seem super-well suited to being a Mage in general... or perhaps they use their toughness racials to make up for the lack of armor? Well, maybe I'll make the eventual Archmage a Dwarf.

When I started playing the game I was also very keen for class summaries, but couldn't find much except for pro and con sections in some guides.
Just a Dood did a great job already, so I'll add two of my favs, Skirmisher and Corruptor.

Skirmisher: The Skirmisher is a very tanky Ranger. You'll have capped resistances long before endgame, very high defense, armor and Life regen. Also you'll be disabling talent usage of enemies, slow and keep them at distance. You won't have many buttons compared to other classes, especially early game. Skirmisher are not the most offensive class, but definitely strong enough to feel good and capable of killing everything. They also only have one big Aoe skill, but at least high attack speed to compensate a bit. Called Shots are special shots that go right to their target, ignoring enemies in their path.

Corruptor: High frontload damage, strong dots. Corruptors are not completelly frail but still mainly stand out for their huge damage potential.
The corruptor has long range spells as well as some short ranged stuff and strong debuffs.
Poison storm creates a long lasting Area that follows you around and deals massive damage/debuffs. Corrosive Worm infects the target for 6 turn, tracks the damage the target takes during that time and explodes afterwards for (massive) damage relative to the damage the target took during the infection.
Defensive wise there's Bone Shield, which absorbs 4 hits that deal more than X damage to you. Blood Grasp grants you max HP relative to the damage dealt, which will be huge later on. Then there's Diseases (Stat reduction), Hexes (Daze, higher Cooldowns, Mind Control). Fearscape transports you and your target to another zone, granting you big HP regen and only a single enemy to face.

Regarding Cursed Aura:
Defiling Touch dictates which Item Slots are having a Curse.
Dark Gifts dictates how many bonus levels you can get.
Wearing 3 nightmare items with only 2/5 in Dark Gifts, lets you only profit from the first 2 nightmare bonuses.
Defiling Touch 5/5 gives you the abilty to give a curse of your choice +2. So you could only be wearing 2 items of a certain curse, but up it to powerlevel 4 with the skill.
Check your buff bar for more information.


Cheers!

What class has a lot of good utility and/or abilities that disrupt the enemy? Playing through the first time as an Alchemist, I just throw bombs. I pretty much never have a tool like "Spell casters, use this" or "Heavily buffed, use that." Bonus points if it's a melee class, because I want to try one of them next as well. Wyrmic actually looks to have some interesting tools, but I'm not sure how much I can invest in them AND boost my actual damage and defense.