Greetings Foreign Warrior. Who says that again? A merchant somewhere in act 5? Ok, so I've longed for a collection of builds updated to AE/R. I think the admins of this forum still remember me pleading for a page dedicated for updated character builds
. I'm happy with how the forum is right now, and since more and more players of the community are sharing their builds, i figure why not share another one? But at this point, i really don't see myself creating another character. So i just dug through my retired characters i haven't played since ragnarok. This one happens to be my very first character in TQAE. Longtime members of this forum probably know I've mentioned this build before.
Being my first character in AE, this was played self-found and just vanilla. Me and my nephew started AE as LAN multiplayer. Him as prophet and me as bonecharmer. It was years ago since we last played TQIT and we already lost all our saves. I started this the usual str + dex melee build. Just the usual spear + shield build but with Lich King. Nothing special. And indeed, if played as a self-found str + dex spear build, it's probably the most optimal way. But every time I've played this i kept saying i should've created a Warden instead. Possibly better survivability and better kill speed because of shield attacks. The one advantage spirit has over defense (Lich King) isn't much of an aggro and it's damage isn't much either. But months after i created this character, i thought maybe I'm just building this like how i would a Warden. I finally decided i can't keep wishing my character was a Warden instead. I have to come up with a Bonecharmer build that i think would at least be on par with the best Wardens, so i would finally be content. That's when i came up with a bit of a curveball build. More gear dependent, but one that i think could be just as good as any spear + shield builds.
This is not a guide btw, i just want to show the finished product. An alternate way of building a Bonecharmer
So i also play non-caster characters lelz. But i only created this character because my nephew said he was gonna play a caster so i should play a melee toon. And he told me to play a spear melee. It's probably because back from TQIT, we weren't fans of spear melees (probably because scatter shot was so OP back then that 1 or 2 hits of bow marksmanship can kill a whole mob). We started AE as LAN multiplayer and of course he ended up as the killer and me the aggro. We also played PvP, this and the prophet and he always beat me it always looked like a bully beating up a younger kid. Caster Prophet is just too difficult to beat in PvP. I also plan on writing a thread of it if i can write it good enough.
So this was started as a spear + shield build with a bow on secondary. When ragnarok came though, i decided to go with throwing weapon + shield, and a bow on secondary. I treat throwing weapon as a melee weapon for this build. I don't even press shift as i do with my ranged builds. When mobs get to me, i don't kite. I play this like a melee character. I tried this with all 3 weapons. Spear deals the most single target damage. Bow is of course the longest range and is AoE. Throwing weapon is like the in-between, it's like a ranged melee. I fell a little short of my target 1k DA, but still close enough.
spear is also good. it's just single target bums me. the only difference aside from weapon is the shield. for throwing weapon, i use blacksteel bulwark of annihilation. for spear, blacksteel bulwark of alacrity. ring is hale of adroitness with demons blood.
Please ignore the death count, this was played self-found with no proper strategy build in mind. Back then i still didn't have trackers hood and myrmidon's pendant. So iirc, i went with pelaron and polaris. Of course i also didn't have those ragnarok items. Talisman of the jade emperor may be the best artifact for this build
Pros and Cons of this build:
Pros:
* permanent call of the hunt, permanent unearthly power, study prey spam, can abuse monster lure, can summon outsider more often
Cons:
* casting call of the hunt every minute and unearthly power every 30 secs can make you crazy
* this is a melee character and melee characters are always at a disadvantage imho. many players will probably disagree with me but the ability to attack monsters before they even get close to you is always a big advantage. throwing weapons can do that but the range is not much, it's nowhere close to the range of a bow or long range spells
Bonecharmers were known as great archer builds back in TQIT. It's still good in AE/R, but i recommend you get a shield on your secondary. 1k DA is not nearly enough to keep you alive anymore, but if you use a shield and have ADCtH, you should be ok especially that spirit has deathchill aura. Marksmanship has big energy cost for a LMB skill but mana shouldn't be a problem because of Dark Covenant. Yes i recommend maxing dark covenant for energy gain and the longer duration of Unearthly Power. At 10/6 Dark Covenant, It's just enough to keep Unearthly Power permanent with 65% CDR. The health cost isn't noticeable when your HP is already above 5k and your life steal will be doubled by Necrosis. Herbal Remedy is also there to counter some of the health cost. But yeah, i don't recommend maxing Dark Covenant early. Hunting has too many better skills. Also don't ignore monster lure, it becomes very good at 10/6. It's great against archers but is also useful when mobs get too heavy. Just step back a little after casting it.
Gear:
As mentioned above, 65% CDR is the target. 65% also happens to be the right amount of CDR needed to keep CotH active all the time. I only have 64% but it's enough. And like all characters, having at least +4 to all skills is very good.
Stat distribution is str + dex. Veteran players can play this hybrid, after all necrosis boosts vit damage greatly and flush out reduces elemental resist. But shhh no. Unless you know what you are doing, don't. But hey, i won't be surprised if veteran players can make a superior build by going hybrid. With ragnarok, it may also be possible to play this int + dex with just enough str to equip rings of the rhine, then converting your damage to elemental. Interesting? I'm thinking blessed of the moirae + 1 eitr + gambanteinn. You lose on the pierce damage though.
My skill distribution at lvl 74:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc239e239e239e.html?mastery=BoneCharmer&master1=2&master2=7&sa=21&m1=32-6-0-0-8-0-1-0-6-16-1-0-8-0-1-8-1-0-1-13-16-0&m2=32-0-0-6-1-12-6-0-8-0-6-8-12-1-8-10-1-1-6-1-6-0Don't know why it says 75. I lack the 6 skill points quest rewards from normal and epic act 5. Flush out is worth maxing even if you don't deal bleed damage. For spear builds, it will make you crit more often. But even if you don't use a spear, it's very good with Lich King - Arcane Blast. The lich now cast it more often than it does in TQIT. And together with perma unearthly power, Lich King noticeably does better damage, even in legendary. Also, Outsider deals elemental damage. And you can summon outsider more often for this build.
A funny thing happened. While i was seeing how this fares in act 5 legendary x3, and while i was still writing this article, this spear dropped:
Is the game still telling me i should've played a warden instead?
dem that DA boost. combined with wood lore and battle awareness, that's a whole lotta DA
bonus info:
* one of the great things about a bonecharmer is it's great against undeads and beasts/beastmen. and there are many undeads and beasts/beastmen in the game
* i chose jagged silk because it has been tested by at least 2 members of this forum that volley from items seem to stack with volley from skill
* dark covenant is an aura that your pets and allies also get but without the HP drain penalty. so with all these auras and debuffs, it's not hard to picture that this build is great for multiplayer. doesn't matter if your buddy is a caster or a weapon user