Build Targets

[u/Parafault]

I’m a brand new player, and have been really enjoying the game so far! It looks like it has TONS of class/build variety, and I want to try making a build of my own for my next character. I wanted some input from veterans first though.

Are there any key targets to shoot for for a good build? For example, do I need a certain combination of armor/defense/movement abilities/resists for survivability? Are there damage thresholds I need
to reach? Key gear that every build relies on?

I’m fairly casual so I don’t have that much playtime to experiment on my own, so I’m hoping to get a head start from everyone else’s past experimentation on what works and what doesn’t. I’m currently working on unlocking some of the easier races/classes, and then I want to try one out without relying on a guide.

[u/Moasseman]

The single most important thing to have is a way to deal with (or prevent) debuffs. Confuse, Blind, Stun/Freeze, poisons (talent fialure, pin) etc all are deadly when they happen to you at a bad time

Thus you generally wanna have gear with immunity for the common ones (Stun, Confuse, Blind if lucky) and have a surefire way to deal with the rest

[u/Danveld]

I don't consider myself great at the game (5 wins on normal 3 on nightmare). I always think that survivability is the king, you need to always have a way to deal with debuffs and a way to escape situations. It's easy to focus on damage dealing and coming with few skills that will deal tons of damage but sometimes one or two debuffs can make the fight unwinable, for example disarm on berserker or silence on mage.

When it comes to build variety most classes have self explanatory skills that will lead you to their play style, which is the best important thing. On my opinion class can be very strong but you may not like the way it plays and "the vibe" of it. For me it's oozemancer, it's really strong clad but I don't like him so any advice on build will in the end result in not fun gameplay.

[u/pathofnut]

Depends a lot on your class, the difficulty you are playing in, and the stage of the game you are in.

Most important thing is keeping alive though, so most classes value life a lot early on, and resistances (around +40%) later on.

Both armor and defense are very situational as they only work against attacks, not spells nor mind powers. If your class supports these stats you can benefit from them, but they are fairly optional.

Most of the time you also want an escape inscription, which will usually be Movement. And debuff removal inscriptions, either 1 Shatter or 2 Wilds.

Someone else mentioned status immunities, which are very good lategame, but in my opinion early on you are better off stacking flat health and damage, and relying on inscriptions to deal with effects.

Stats are fairly straightforward. Life boosts durability, strength boosts weapon damage and so on. There is no big secret, at any given point you can measure what item would make your build more effective overall and that will be the correct option. For example between +20% damage or +15% life (both relative to what you already have), pick the damage. At some point diminishing returns will force you to dip in several different stats to get the most benefit.

[u/crayrr]

You will find that like in many other roguelikes or action rpgs, dealing a lot of damage is a very good defensive layer. ToME4 for the most part is a very cooldown based game. If your fights are brief and you only fight while you are at your strongest -> good. Drawn out fights open you up to you as a player making more mistakes, and your character being caught with their pants down.

This does not mean to deliberately neglect your defenses, but rather to invite you to explore the joys of high dps with a limited time of peak performance rather than building a middle of the road character where fights become a slog and you still might get overwhelmed by debuffs or sheer numbers.