... (Juggernaut) so my question: do i start as str + dex first or int + dex first? anyone can give their opinions but
@CrocMagnum
@Firebrand
@Benitot
i want you guys to chime in
Man! You're haunted by Hybrid Builds (says the guy who wrote an Avenger Hybrid guide).
To answer your question I never had much success with a Juggernaut, I've tried two of them and gave up on both, way before the ending. Allow me to explain:
As far as I'm concerned the Juggernaut is one of the hardest Hybrid to build. You could make pure melee and use Earth as support (so not a Hybrid anymore) but even then you'll have a hard time putting things right. Here're the problems you'll face:
Basically when you build a Hybrid you'll try to have a characters that can make 2 opposite things: Physical + Spells, but:
You'll hardly find any synergies between Earth and Defense. The only thing worth of notice is the armor bonuses you can gather:
Armor SynergiesBattle Awereness (base skill) +
Rally (conditional: you have to cast it) +
Quick Recovery (% Armor Absorption, conditional too )+
Stone Skin (Earth Enchantment tree)
Even with all these bonuses to Armor I never achieved much, my Juggernauts always struggled damage-wise. To be fair I really don't know if all these Armor bonuses are additive of multiplicative, so it would be nice if a Veteran could clarify this,
Stat DistributionHere's another headache, so you have STR, INT, DEX. With a Hybrid Juggernaut you'll be very tempted to spread your Skill Points into those 3 Stats.
And knowing you, botebote77
, you'll probably be gunning for Stonebinder's Cuffs in the Minoan Labyrinth at the first opportunity.^^ An quite frankly I would do the same, Hybrids badly need this. But:
Every point you put into DEX [for Stonebinder's Cuffs] is less points you can allocate into INT, at least that's how I see it,
About your question on when to allocate Stats:
Personally I
always dump points into
INT late (around Epic to be clear). Why? Because I always play untwinked (self-drop) and only allow myself to transfer Artifacts ( 'cos it's time-consuming), so I never know what kind of items I'll get. Sometimes I cannot get Archmage's Clasp for instance. Another crucial point: I feel when you're serious about going Hybrid
INT>DEX. In other words INT takes precedence over DEX.
I also put points in INT late because all these bonuses in % start to make sense later when you have items and skills that give you a noticeable bonus.
One last thing about
Defense:
Defense has not much to offer to Hybrids, unlike Hunting:
- Study Prey+Flush Out: Hunting has a strong debuff that make your Spell way much damaging,
- Call of the Hunt boosts your Spells too,
- Herbal Remedy is good for your Pets: HP Regen and Poison Resists,
...
In other words Defense+Earth is not to my liking because it's like you're building the 2 Masteries separately, Defense for Physical and Earth for Spells, without real synergies. Not to say Defense is bad for Hybrids! I'm just saying Defense+Earth is not efficient. For instance:
Defense+Storm [Paladin] is way better: the basic thing to remember is that most Storm Skills do Stun Damage, so you'll benefit much more than any other Class from the Skill
Concussive Blow.
Note: Still I remember Benitot, with his excellent
Juggernaut The Master Armorer Guide, who used this Class to good effect.