Torchlight II Skill Guide by tiomasta
<https://www.gamefaqs.com/community/tiomasta>
Version 1.0.1, Last Updated 2014-11-30
Table of Contents
1. General Game Mechanics <#General Game Mechanics>
2. Engineer Skills <#Engineer Skills>
1. Blitz tree <#Blitz tree>
2. Construction tree <#Construction tree>
3. Aegis tree <#Aegis tree>
3. Berserker Skills <#Berserker Skills>
1. Hunter tree <#Hunter tree>
2. Tundra tree <#Tundra tree>
3. Shadow tree <#Shadow tree>
4. Outlander Skills <#Outlander Skills>
1. Warfare tree <#Warfare tree>
2. Lore tree <#Lore tree >
3. Sigil tree <#Sigil tree>
5. Embermage Skills <#Embermage Skills>
1. Inferno tree <#Inferno tree>
2. Frost tree <#Frost tree>
3. Storm tree <#Storm tree>
6. About this guide <#About this guide>
General Game Mechanics
With a maxed character, you have a total of 132 skill points (Level 100,
plus 32 points from Fame). With 15 being the highest amount of points
for a skill, this is enough to max 8 skills and have 12 points left.
* There are two kinds of skills: *W**eapon-Based Skills* (saying /"X%
of Weapon DPS"/), and *F**lat Damage* *Skills* (saying /"X
damage"/). Skills that don't do any weapon-based damage will*NOT*
inherit other attack effects from your equipment (extra things to
happen on hit or kill, such as /"-X Armor per hit"/, /"5% chance to
cast Firestorm on hit"/, etc). Only Weapon-Based Skills inherit
these attack effects, but each Weapon-Based Skill has its own list
of effects it can or cannot inherit. And *for Flat Damage Skills,*
*all* *damage* *is* *based on your Focus stat*, never your Strength
stat or weapons. So a Flat Damage Skill, like Glaive Throw, is
intended for characters with a Focus build.
* Your Dodge unfortunately only works against the enemies' standard
melee attack and not monster skills. It is capped at 75% chance.
Your shield block works against everything (except certain things
like some ground effects), and has its own cap of 75% block chance.
Note for Engineers: blocking while you have a barrier active will
/still/ drain from the barrier.
* Want good equipment? Be sure to wear parts that gives you *+HP.
Seriously.* It's easy to assume they're weak, but they're a very big
deal. +HP effects are far more efficient than the alternatives of
+Armor or +Vitality. The one you want is +HP. You can get more than
/double/ your natural HP this way. Increasing your max HP can be
much more useful than using these equipment slots to only slightly
improve your damage. There's also the rarer/"-X% All Damage Taken"/
effects, which are like Armor except actually worthwhile, extremely
good to stack up. Note that this Damage Reduction is capped at 75%.
o Also, blue helmets can come with +14% Cast Speed. That can be a
great help to a lot of characters, even if compared to fancy
rare equipment. Blue gloves can come with +8%, too.
* *Here's the rundown on what stats to put points on:*
o *Vitality* is not actually nearly as useful as you would imagine
and should be ignored entirely, unless you want the extra shield
block chance it gives, if you do use a shield.
o *Dexterity* can be a must for most builds, as you'll have almost
zero chance to score a critical hit or a dodge without putting
points in it (I recommend ending at around 50, 100 or 200
points). But for Focus builds with Flat Damage Skills (like a
Glaive Throw Outlander), it's better to not invest in Dex at all
and use these points for more Focus, as the damage from the
more-Focus build will be better even if counting a crit from the
Dex build. Minion builds have no use for Dexterity.
o Then it's *Strength* and *Fo**cus*: chances are you'll want one
of the two, and spend most of your level-up points on that,
though mixing these two isn't out of the question. Choosing
between them is about what skills and weapons you will be using:
basically, *Weapon-Based Skills want Strength* (Strength boosts
both Physical and elemental weapons, and increases crit damage
for everything), and *Flat Damage Skills want Focus* (Focus
doesn't boost Physical damage from weapons, but only Focus
boosts Flat Damage effects, and Focus also increases your Max
Mana for skills).
+ Note: some Weapon-Based Skills will convert your damage into
one particular element (like the Embermage's Magma Spear,
saying /"X% of Weapon DPS as Fire"/). Skills like that will
get the bonus from Focus for being elemental even if your
weapon is purely Physical, and these skills always benefit
the same from Strength and Focus.
+ If a skill has both Weapon-Based Damage and Flat Damage,
then Focus ends up being better than Strength. Endgame items
lean towards all kinds of weapons being at least partially
elemental, if not fully elemental, so Focus boosts the
Weapon-Based part as well as the Flat Damage part.
* *When dual-wielding, the weapon on the* *left slot of the inventory
screen is your main weapon*. Weapon-Based Skills will calculate
their power from only this left weapon, and won't inherit any extra
attack effects from the ignored weapon. Flat Damage Skills will
ignore all weapons. Ignored weapons can still help with passive
character bonuses, like +Strength and +Focus, or /"X% chance to cast
___"/, or /"+X% Weapon Damage if dual-wielding"/, or /"X% Faster
attack/cast/ /speed/", or/"+X% Bonus to Critical Damage"/, or /"+X%
Critical Hit Chance"/, or /"+X% (Element) Damage/" and such. But
weapons that aren't Weapon-Based will *never* trigger on-hit effects
(on-kill still works).
* *"+17 Fire Damage"**-type effects from equipment:*
o Several socketables and a few armor pieces will have these
effects. *They don't increase your damage of that element, they
ADD exactly that to your weapon. *So if you have a sword that
deals Physical damage, and put a gem that adds Fire damage, it
will now also deal that shown Fire damage on your autoattack and
skills that inherit weapon effects (Flat Damage skills don't
benefit at all). Added damage from multiple sources will stack
with each other and scale with Focus, but the entirety of added
damage is separately reduced by enemy armor so they can't give
you big increases, and added damage does *not* boost your
WeaponDPS skills from the increase in calculated DPS. Added
elemental damage can be useful by allowing you to cause the
elemental status effects that your weapon doesn't already deal
damage as.
+ There's also the/"X Damage over time"/ effects from weapons
or socketables. These come in much higher damage, and
they /do/ go through armor, and also improve with
Focus. /This/ is the one you want for pure damage.
* *All elemental damage dealt from any attack can cause the respective
status effect of that element* (excluding DoTs and damage
reflection, which never cause them). *Fire* can burn, applying a DoT
for extra damage. *Ice* can freeze, slowing down movement and
actions. *Poison* can poison, reducing Physical and Elemental armor
by one third, as well as lowering the damage the poisoned target
deals by one third. And *Electric* shocks enemies, making them
release bolts when hit that may strike other nearby enemies for damage.
o Burning damage is Fire-elemental and Focus-based. You can't
stack multiple burns, but burning is guaranteed to happen
whenever you crit with Fire-elemental damage. The shock bolts
calculate their damage as a certain percentage of your Weapon
Damage, rather than Weapon DPS, so they can be very weak if you
don't use 2-handed weapons.
* Some skills generate charge, but most don't. It is probably for the
best to make sure that your build does have a main attack skill that
can build charge.
* You can hit destroyable map objects with charge-building attacks to
gain charge, or just stop yourself from losing it. You can also proc
on-kill effects by stepping on critter.

Engineer Skills
It is recommended for every Engineer to max Healbot and Forcefield.
Lacking attack skills that generate charge can be fixed with the Charge
Domination passive, which makes all attacks (excluding minions) have a
chance of instantly giving a full charge upon any kill.
As an Engineer, the general builds you can make are:
* Melee, primarily using Emberquake. 2hand is recommended over
sword-and-shield ^(suggested stats: Strength and/or Focus, plus some
Dexterity)
* Cannon and minion-summoning, dealing low attack damage but having
easy crowd control for minions ^(suggested stats: Strength and some
Dexterity)
* Shield Bash Engineer, being the closest thing there is to a tank
^(suggested stats: pure Focus, and Vitality if you want)
* Pure minion summoner, primarily using Spider Mines. Shield
recommended ^(suggested stats: pure Focus, and Vitality if you want) 
Blitz tree

* Flame Hammer* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in the
main hand)
Rating: 4/5
Basically, this is a good primary attack skill, but is completely
outclassed by the final skill of this tree, Emberquake.
If these are of your interest, it is recommended that you use Flame
Hammer as you level up, and then respec for Emberquake after level
42. (This can be done without mods by keeping only one point in
Flame Hammer, removing that point with the town respec NPC to dump
points on other skills except one point, then putting that single
point back in Flame Hammer)
Also, the splinters of Flame Hammer scale with WeaponDamage instead
of WeaponDPS, being weak if used with fast 1-handed weapons, and
better if with slow 2-handed weapons.
* Seismic Slam*
Rating: 3/5
Crowd control skill. Stomps the ground, instantly hitting 360
degrees around you, dealing minor damage and having 64%-92% chance
to stun each enemy hit for 2 seconds. Range goes from 4 meters away
to 10 meters away, with 10 being over halfway across the screen.
Less notable for Engineers with two-handed weapons, they already
have an innate stun chance for attacks.
The damage itself of this skill is not notable as it's Focus-based
and mostly from a DoT, and skill DoTs do not stack with each hit.
[Does not generate charge]
*Ember Hammer* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in the
main hand)
Rating: 1/5
It's meant to be a good melee attack skill, but isn't. The reach is
decent, but it only hits once with roughly your DPS and the
animation takes way too long, so its real damage isn't good. And
staying still with that animation next to enemies like that is just
begging to get hit yourself.
The damage multipliers mentioned in its tooltip sound good, but are
actually applied in damage calculation in the worst possible way, to
the point of people claiming this skill must be glitched. The
bonuses that actually happen are not even notable.
This skill is guaranteed to break shields, so it can be used, kept
at rank 01, just to first-hit a strong shielded enemy and nothing
else. Not at all necessary, but may be convenient at times.
[Does not generate charge]
*Onslaught* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in the
main hand)
Rating: 4/5
Debuff skill. Jumps to targeted spot and deals a medium AoE that
applies a slow. The damage is not notable as an attack compared to
better skills, but the 50% slowing is GREAT, especially on bosses.
It lasts 16 seconds at max rank and the tier bonuses make the mana
cost stay the same as you increase the rank.
This is also the Engineer's teleport skill, easily getting you out
of trouble, as you go through enemies during this skill. You can
even use it just to walk faster.
[Generates charge at a reduced rate, but can be faster due to AoE]
*Ember Reach*
Rating: Variable/5
This is basically a force pull. It drags one target closer to you,
which has little use in singleplayer but might be useful for
multiplayer. Each cast attempts to pull by a set amount, with
heavier monsters being pulled much less.
The weakness to Physical damage that this adds at higher ranks isn't
particularly useful, except for ShieldBash-spamming Engineers, and
minion-summoning Engineers, as Shield Bash and most minions deal
damage purely in Physical. Ember Reach can/should be used for these
builds because of the debuff, drastically increasing the damage
output, with enough points in Ember Reach.
[Does not generate charge]
*Storm Burst*
Rating: 2.5/5
This is a secondary attack skill for melee builds. A 6-meter dash
attack with added knockback, 2sec cooldown. The idea is to use this
for the dash to hit enemies that are packed together, applying the
knockback to them, giving you some room to attack an enemy without
immediately getting ganged up on. But the dash follows some
physics/logic and can sometimes stop dead in place for no apparent
reason.
Also, each enemy hit by the dash will slightly refill your mana
pool, giving you a small profit in mana if the dash hit multiple
enemies, so this can be used at opportunistic times just for that.
But note that the mana cost raises with higher ranks. Also, sparks
are released on hit for minor damage on more enemies, but the sparks
don't count towards the mana refill, only enemies you hit with the dash.
[Does not generate charge]
* Emberquake* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in the
main hand)
Rating: 5/5
An excellent primary attack skill, the go-to for weapon builds. It
works similarly to the starting Flame Hammer, but Emberquake is
simply better. The homing projectiles from Emberquake pierce through
enemies, unlike Flame Hammer's, and casting Emberquake never expends
any charges, which is great as you should be keeping them for
Forcefield, as an Engineer.
Emberquake, like Flame Hammer, does not generate any charge outside
of the Charge Domination passive skill. Getting it is a must.
Emberquake can be kept at rank 10 to not increase the mana cost further.
Emberquake has a 0.8sec cooldown, not being able to take advantage
of CastSpeed bonuses.
Works much better 2hand due to the innate stun chance from Heavy
Lifting.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Heavy* *Lifting *(Weapon requirement: a 2hand melee weapon, or a
cannon)
Rating: 5/5
This is a "2hand mastery" passive. Works with any 2hand melee and
cannons. Maxing this is a must for these weapons, this is the point
of using them. Ends at +30% Stun Chance (which applies to
autoattacks and WeaponDPS skills) and +30% Attack Speed (which does
factor onto your DPS calculation for WeaponDPS skills, increasing
their damage).
Lacking a shield is not as big of a change as you would imagine, as
Engineers use Forcefield a lot, and Forcefield gets hit even if you
score a shield block. So having a shield to block is meaningless
whenever your Forcefield is up.
* Supercharge* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon, in the main hand)
Rating: 3/5
For melee builds. Requires a melee weapon equipped in the main hand
in order to activate. This skill adds a chance for your autoattacks,
and WeaponDPS skills, to give you a 10-second buff on hit. When this
buff is active, all autoattacks you do trigger an instant additional
swing. The damage of the extra swing is 25%-95% of your normal
weapon damage.
Also, when this buff is active, you have a bonus to charge obtained,
for all attacks that build it (3%-45% more).
While this makes autoattacks more decent, this does not improve the
damage of skills themselves. The bonus to charge obtained is useless
to skills that don't have it (such as Emberquake), and can be
redundant since it is recommended to use the Charge Domination
passive. Supercharge can be dispensable.
*Coup de Grace*
Rating: 5/5
Recommended for any build that uses Strength, worthless otherwise.
Coup de Grace will deal Strength-based damage every time you hit a
stunned enemy, proccing from any autoattack or skill you do
(excluding minions). Coup de Grace won't proc on the same enemy more
than once per second.
Excellent for 2hand melee Engineers or cannon Engineers as they have
an innate stun chance from Heavy Lifting.
Coup de Grace gets boosted by the "Fire and Spark" passive.

Construction tree

* Healing Bot*
Rating: 5/5
Summons a helper that lasts forever and doesn't get attacked by
enemies. It follows the Engineer that summoned it and will
automatically restore HP to all nearby players, and even mana after
rank 05. Every Engineer should max this skill. Simple as that.
[Does not generate charge]
*Blast Cannon* (Weapon requirement: cannon)
A must for cannon Engineers, and not even available without a
cannon. This is an alternative to using the cannon autoattack. Your
autoattack hits wide but short, Blast Cannon goes the full screen in
a line, piercing through enemies. Blast Cannon can be freely aimed
when held if you start when not highliting an enemy. Blast Cannon
benefits a lot from +CastSpeed bonuses.
While the weakness it adds is practically ignorable, the blind is
great, affecting even bosses. Blast Cannon can be kept at rank 10
(mana cost 20) instead of rank 15 (mana cost 34), if you prefer.
[Does not generate charge]
* Spider Mines*
Rating: 5/5
Summons three spider minions that follow you around, are invisible
to enemies, and will immediately suicide bomb on the first enemy
they see, instantly killing the spiders and dealing AoE damage to
enemies. They deal minion damage, not scaling from any of your
stats, only the minion bonuses from your equipment.
Has a short cooldown (3sec at rank 01, and 1.6sec at rank 15). The
spiders will live and follow you for up to 15-29 seconds. Since they
follow you, and most of their damage comes from their unstackable
DoT anyway, Spider Mines can be useful in any kind of build by
throwing them between rotations. And you can summon them when there
are no enemies on the screen, between fights, so they do an instant
damage spike to the next group of enemies that appears. 9 spiders
can be summoned at the same time.
[Does not generate charge]
* Gun Bot*
Rating: 3/5
Summons a temporary minion. It follows you around, is invisible to
enemies, and automatically fires at any enemies at around half the
screen away. It always lasts 1 minute, with the summon cooldown
being 2 and a half minutes at rank 01, and 1 minute and a half at
rank 15. Deals minion damage, not scaling from any of your stats,
only the minion bonuses from your equipment. A must if you wanted a
minion build, can be dispensable otherwise.
[Does not generate charge]
* Shock Grenade*
Rating: 2/5
This skill is largely unnecessary. The damage is extremely small,
the notable effect is the stun chance. If you use a cannon, you
already have great odds of stunning with any attack, and Engineers
about Emberquake can already stun from Heavy Lifting and don't need
to get close and dangerous either, though Engineers might find the
particularly long stun of this skill useful.
This skill will expend charge points to arc-fire two more grenades,
which might not be convenient.
But can be good for minion builds, to assist them with this AoE
stun, as they'll be your source of damage anyway. Better than
Seismic Slam in this aspect.
[Does not generate charge]
* Fusillade* (Weapon requirement: cannon)
Another must-have skill for cannon Engineers that also can't be used
without a cannon.
The cannon autoattack is a short cone, Blast Cannon pierces in a
straight line, and Fusillade specializes in everything beyond
halfscreen. Fusillade continuously fires projectiles slightly
upwards, which will then descend and home in on enemies. They go
about halfway across the screen before getting low enough to hit
enemies at your height, so there's a dead zone close to you, but
Fusillade will easily hit enemies farther than that, even around
corners or over holes or walls. Fusillade becomes much more reliable
after the second tier bonus, where the projectiles explode even if
they hit the ground, and deal their damage as AoE.
[Does not generate charge]
* Sledgebot*
Rating: 4/5
Summons a temporary minion. It will fight enemies and can tank
aggro. It's a strong minion and even learns some skills of its own.
It lasts 30-72 seconds depending on rank, and the cooldown is 90sec
in all ranks. Deals minion damage, not scaling from any of your
stats, only the minion bonuses from your equipment. A must if you
wanted a minion build.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Bulwark*
At max rank, gives +16% Damage Reduction to Physical, and adds 30%
to Physical armor. Not too small, but not at all big either... You
can skip out on this for the points.
* Fire and Spark*
At max rank, adds a +75% damage bonus to your Fire and Electric
damage. This affects everything except minions. Most builds will
have skills that warrant you maxing this.
* Charge Domination*
Gives a 3%-10% chance to instantly get your charge to full whenever
you kill an enemy. This applies to all attacks and skills, except
minions. This is a must for every Engineer, excluding pure minion
summoners that never attack themselves. Charge Domination is useful
even if you keep it at a low rank.

Aegis tree

* Shield Bash* (Weapon requirement: shield)
Rating: 4/5
Shield Bash is a low-cost "get off me" skill that raises a hitbox
360 degrees around your character and then does a step forward,
easily hitting every adjacent enemy. It's a safe melee skill, being
fast, dealing a bit of knockback, briefly slowing enemies, and
having a 60%/88% chance to stun for 1sec/3.8sec, shoving non-heavy
enemies away and giving you a time advantage. Shield Bash also
generates a lot of charge.
The damage itself is no big deal, but a build can center around it
to make it good as your primary attack too. It scales with your
Focus and the armor value of your shield. With a Focus build, and
keeping an eye out for high-armor shields and +Armor socketables for
them, Shield Bash can work as a primary DPS as well, working as the
only tank build in the game, being able to mantain ground instead of
having to run for space. For extra damage on this skill, consider
Ember Reach and Tremor. Your weapon's power is irrelevant for this,
you should use weapons that give you +CastSpeed, easier to find on
blue wands.
[Generates charge, and very quickly]
*Forcefield*
Rating: 7/5
Basically, this is the best thing in the entire game. Every Engineer
should max this. When cast, it puts a barrier on you, which protects
you from a certain amount of damage. It starts off weak, but only
gets stronger and stronger, later covering for several times your
Max HP (meaning you would have to take enough damage to die multiple
times for the thing to even wear off). Every other player nearby
also gets their own barrier when you use it (with half its normal
HP, or normal after rank 10+).
Forcefield will expend your entire charge bar when cast to
strengthen the barrier. You WANT it to do that. The usefulness of
this outweights the usefulness of expending charges for any other
Engineer skill. After Forcefield begins to be decent, anyway.
Forcefield only improves with skill points and your level. No stat
matters.
Note that blocking with your shield while Forcefield is active will
/still/ drain HP from Forcefield. This is why you don't actually
lose out on a lot of defensiveness if you do 2hand over
sword-and-shield as an Engineer, and 2hand is recommended for melee
builds.
[Does not generate charge]
*Overload*
Rating: 1/5
Deals damage to nearby enemies at 360 degrees, applying massive
knockback to all. Overload will expend your entire charge bar to
boost the damage dealt, but this is not actually a good trade at
all, as Overload's damage is actually very low to begin with. It's a
lot like one hit from Emberquake, except Emberquake hits 8 times
instead of once. Overload is also locked at a 1.4sec cooldown.
The most mileage you can get out of this is using it exclusively for
the knockback it causes to everything around. But even that is
faulty because you still would need to watch out and not let it
waste your charges.
[Does not generate charge]
*Dynamo Field*
Rating: 1/5
This is a skill dedicated to building charge. Deals small damage to
nearby enemies at 360 degrees, with each hit building your charge a
set amount. This usually is just redundant to spend points on. But a
pure minion summoner Engineer can make good use of this, by using it
to charge for Forcefield which is otherwise very hard for a minion
build, and up this AoE damage to medium levels with a Focus build
(and also Fire and Spark).
[Generates charge, very quickly]
*Tremor*
Rating: 3/5
A debuff/crowd control skill with 10-sec cooldown, mainly for minion
builds, or a ShieldBash-centered build. Tremor affects nearly the
entire screen, doing some knockback to monsters and applying a
10%-38% weakness to Physical damage, and a few other small effects.
If you have one full charge available, Tremor will expend it to deal
WeaponDPS damage too. If it deals the damage, it will inherit all
weapon/attack effects. Very good at proccing hit effects if you use
it against a huge number of enemies.
[Does not generate charge]
*Fire Bash* (Weapon requirement: shield)
Every build should ignore this, except ShieldBash-centered builds.
For a ShieldBash-spamming build, this is an AoE skill with a rare,
good DoT damage, assisting in damage as you more safely use Shield
Bash. The DoT does not stack. Boosted by the Fire and Spark passive.
Fire Bash is way too weak if not mantaining shields for the sake of
shield armor like as with Shield Bash, and normal melee builds will
have Emberquake stronger than this could be in any way.
[Does not generate charge]
*Immobilization Copter*
Rating: 4.5/5
Summons a permanent minion that is invisible to enemies and follows
you, like the Healing Bot. The Copter will stay nearby enemies and
slow their movement and actions, more with more skill points (-20%
movement and -30% actions in rank 1, and -46% movement and -58%
actions in rank 15). The later tier bonuses will make the Copter
also do minion damage and potentially Interrupt enemies in place.
If you're not maxing this, it still is recommended to have it at
rank 01. Still slows, still lasts forever.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Sword and Board* (Weapon requirement: shield)*
*
This skill basically is glitched and does not help. Pretend this
does not exist.
The tooltip says that it adds the number directly as weapon damage,
which is incorrect. The only thing it actually does is add an "+X
Physical damage" effect to your character, just like an iron gem,
but this effect does not influence damage calculation as to your
weapon, and is individually reduced by enemy armor, easily resulting
in this effect adding only 1 damage per hit. Putting points in this
skill shows an increase in your DPS in the stats page, but this
effect does NOT translate into WeaponDPS skills dealing more damage
because of that increase in calculated DPS. Do not spend any points
in this skill.
* Aegis of Fate*
Points here are dispensable.
Adds a 2%-16% chance to cast an Aegis barrier on yourself whenever
you're hit, that protects you from a bit of damage. It's free and
instant but not strong at all. The chance to activate it is only
rolled for when you actually take HP damage; absorbing with
Forcefield/Aegis, or blocking with a shield, has no chance of
activating Aegis. This and the low chance makes Aegis not very
appealing, especially for the endgame, where getting hit without the
Forcefield is guaranteed to hurt.
* Charge Reconstitution*
Bad.
Heals you slightly whenever you expend any charges. This would
synchronize well with attacks that spend one charge at a time, but
Charge Reconstitution isn't actually very good at all (at max rank,
it heals you at the same rate as a standard 8-second potion, but is
activated for only 2 seconds at a time, and also with a 2-second
cooldown). And relying on sponging and regenerating damage is not
viable at all outside of the earlygame/easier difficulties, as
enemies simply hit way too hard per hit. You'll want to be near full
health at all times instead of leisurely refilling it during battle,
and having your Forcefield trivializes the use of this, as you'll be
mileaging it instead of your health bar, and you already passively
heal thanks to the Healbot, and you can always heal yourself faster
from the cheap standard potions anyway.

Berserker Skills
Do check out what I say about the passives. Some of them don't explain
themselves too well on the in-game tooltips.
As a Berserker, the general builds you can make are:
* "Autoattack, melee skills like Raze, and Wolf Shade" melee Berserker
^(suggested stats: Strength and Dexterity)
* Ranged Berserker, via Wolfpack with Storm Hatchet, equipping a melee
weapon to trigger passives, taking a lot of levels to shine but
being pretty OP ^(suggested stats: Strength and Focus) 
Hunter tree
* Eviscerate* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in the
main hand)
Rating: 2/5
Uses your WeaponDPS to do a wide sweep bigger than an autoattack.
The sweep has an added DoT, but the DoT is Focus-based, unstackable
and weak. Builds charge, but only at a smaller rate than normal. The
final skill of this tree, Ravage, is more or less a better version
of Eviscerate, hitting 360 degrees with a longer reach, and standard
charge generation.
[Eviscerate generates charge at 1/3 the normal damage-to-charge rate]
* Howl*
Rating: 5/5
Great. Get it. Debuffs enemies at 360 degrees, slowing their
movement and actions by 15%-43% (stacks with other slows), and also
makes them take 15%-43% more damage from /everything/ while it
lasts. The debuff lasts 6-13 seconds, which is enough. Howl has a
very fast animation and no cooldown.
This is very useful for everything! It even boosts the damage that
other players do to those monsters, and the slow applies even to
bosses. The range grows to be good even for ranged builds. You would
have to be struggling for points so much in order to /not/ max Howl.
[Does not generate charge]
*Raze*
Rating: 4.5/5
This is a great melee attack. If you're doing a melee Berserker, GET
THIS. Raze does a fast swing in a narrow cone in front of you,
borrowing a big amount from your WeaponDPS, and adding a guaranteed
attempt at an Interrupt on hit. So a lone enemy can be locked still
as you spam Raze for damage. And every cast of Raze gives a 5%-75%
addition to damage for you, to all elements, for 2 seconds, so Raze
gets stronger every time, and once you've finished off the enemy,
you keep the buff for the next enemy.
Raze can hit multiple enemies at once, if you cast it while not
highliting an enemy. Do make use out of this. The damage bonus is
still only applied once per cast.
Note that each enemy has its own chance of resisting the Interrupt.
Raze itself does fairly high damage.
[Does not generate charge]
*Wolfstrike*
Rating: 4/5
A secondary attack for melee builds. A 6-meter dash attack with
added knockback, and a good stun chance too. With multiple enemies
close to you, just dash to scatter them and possibly stun each,
giving you some leeway to attack one without immediately getting
ganged up on. Has a VERY fast animation, and a cooldown of half a
second. This is an useful utility for any melee build.
This skill deals your WeaponDPS as pure Physical, so the Focus stat
can't boost the damage of this skill from having elemental weapons.
[Does not generate charge]
*Battle Rage*
Rating: 3/5
A 60-second self-buff with a 50-second cooldown. Every melee build
will be interested in this, meh for ranged builds.
Battle Rage gives a 3%/10% addition to damage of all elements to
you, for every enemy within 4-6 meters. At max rank, you also get 7%
Damage Reduction to Physical for every enemy. If we say 4 enemies,
that a +40% damage bonus to you (stacked additively to other such
bonuses) and +28% Physical Damage Reduction added.
Berserkers (and Engineers) start the game with 25% Dmg Reduction
(cap: 75%). With a 25% reduction, you get hit for 75%. By adding
this +28% Physical Reduction, your Physical Reduction goes to 53%,
so you get hit for 47% damage instead of 75% damage, cutting 1/3 of
all Physical damage you would take with only the natural 25%
reduction. Though anything elemental still hits just as hard.
[Does not generate charge]
* Rupture*
Rating: 2/5
Ignore this skill.
Shoves only one enemy for a little knockback while taking one step
forward (the knockback might not save you from a strike). A second
afterwards, an explosion comes from the enemy to deal AoE damage
(can't re-apply until after the explosion finishes). But the
explosion only deals Focus-based damage; It's worthless for builds
that don't mostly do Focus, and builds that /do/ use Focus will use
Wolfpack instead, which is straight-up better.
[Does not generate charge]
* Ravage* (Requires a melee weapon equipped, in the main hand)
Rating: 3.5/5
Basically an AoE melee. Has a fast animation with no cooldown,
reaches 4/5 meters away, hits at 360 degrees, is stronger than
autoattacking, and deals damage in three separate hits to improve
attack effects/procs.
The problems are that Ravage still doesn't deal very high damage for
each enemy, and eats through mana fast. And if you're at this level
already, you can try out Wolfpack which is overall better for all
situations, after Wolfpack's first tier bonus, although Wolfpack
does not generate charge.
Ravage has a much reduced crit chance as it is the same as the
WeaponDPS displayed. A 40%WeaponDPS means it has 40% of your crit
chance; if fully charged to have 100% crit chance, Ravage will have
only 40% crit chance instead of 100%.
[Builds charge, at the normal rate, very well due to AoE]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Blood Hunger* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in
either hand)
Heals 5%-12% of your max HP, over 1 second, after scoring any crit.
What the game doesn't tell you is that you can't stack this by
scoring a lot of crits very fast: you can only heal up to that
amount per second, making this skill far less useful than it should
be. Points more than one point in this skill is not usually recommended.
The in-game tooltip lies: Blood Hunger works for any attack, but
only works if a melee weapon is equipped (in either hand).
*Executioner *(Weapon requirement: dual-wielding)
A "dual-wielding mastery" passive of sorts. Increases the chance to
execute (which is, autoattacking with both weapons at once when
dual-wielding) by 2%-30%. Also, successfully executing at all will
give you a 2-second buff that increases the amount of charge you
generate at that time, by 6%/48%.
While obviously a neat addition if you're intending to do a
dual-wielding, autoattack-happy build, this can be pretty useless to
anything else. This does not increase your damage in any way aside
from the extra execution chance.
*Rampage* (Weapon requirement: a melee weapon equipped, in either hand)
A must. The most fun thing about Berserkers. This adds a 5%-33%
chance to activate a buff upon any kill. This buff increases your
walking speed by a lot, and gives a +25% speed bonus to AttackSpeed
and CastSpeed. Lasts for 5 seconds but can proc again while active,
resetting the duration, easily keeping it active in a fight.
The CastSpeed bonus is a huge deal for any skill that doesn't have a
cooldown, making recasts much faster and killing enemies quicker.
The AttackSpeed bonus is just as useful for autoattacking, but the
faster AttackSpeed also increases your DPS, and this /does/
translate into WeaponDPS skills dealing more damage per hit because
of that increase.
Rampage helps just about everything.
The in-game tooltip lies: Rampage works for any attack, but only
works if a melee weapon is equipped (in either hand).

Tundra tree

*Frost Breath*
Rating: 2/5
This is an active support skill to help you melee hit enemies more
safely, but it's not that reliable.
It attacks in a long and wide cone in front of you, with a 80%
chance to attempt to cause immobilization, in all ranks, for 4
seconds. Immobilized enemies simply can't walk, but most enemies
have a slightly shorter melee range than players, so if you go to
autoattack an immobilized enemy, it won't be able to attack back,
just being a sitting duck. But each enemy has its own chance to
resist the immobilization attempt every time it is successfully
rolled for. Using this skill can often result in nothing receiving
the status effect.
The weakness effect is too short, and the freeze chance is too small.
[Does not generate charge]
*Stormclaw* (Only affects the autoattacks of melee weapons)
Rating: 2/5
This self-buff makes your melee autoattacks trigger a chain
lightning... But autoattacking isn't all that great before this, and
still not much better after this.
Lasts 40 seconds with a 20-second cooldown, 50% chance on hit in all
ranks. The lightning does 40%-82% of WeaponDamage.
From what I can tell, the only attack effect inherited by the chain
lightning is ArmorReductionPerHit.
[Does not generate charge]
*Storm Hatchet*
Rating: 3/5 in general, 5/5 for utility at max level
This is a fullscreen single-target attack that is below average as
an attack, planting the enemy in place for 1.6seconds/3.4seconds, so
you can melee them safely if their reach is smaller than yours.
But this also has the added effect of giving a set amount of charge
per hit. The early amounts are very low and don't make this skill
very notable, generating 5% at rank 01, and 9% at rank 14. But rank
15 changes that to 91% per hit (the tooltip reads 19% but that's a
typo, 91% is what you get from it), and the second tier bonus makes
you throw three hatchets per cast, so you easily fill the whole bar
in one cast. This is an insanely good utility, letting you be fully
charged 90% of the time to spam your strongest attacks (aka Wolfpack).
[Generates charge well, can fill in one cast at max rank]
*Northern Rage*
Rating: 3/5
A secondary attack skill for melee builds. Fires a few projectiles
from the ground that go in completely random directions, only
reliably hitting enemies within melee range. The projectiles deal
medium damage and have an added knockback and a high chance to
freeze (80% chance in all ranks, for 3-10 seconds depending on
rank), with this common frost slowing enemies by 33% (stacks with
Howl) and acting as an easy way to proc the Shatter Storm passive.
The damage itself can't be made very high (or reliable), and all
hits from Northern Rage have a reduced crit chance, even during the
charge bar effect.
[Does not generate charge]
* Ice Shield*
Rating: 5/5
A must for every Berserker. This self-buff lasts 10 seconds and has
a cooldown of 8, and what it does is give you a chance to reflect
all reflectable projectiles. At rank 10, it is /guaranteed/ to
reflect anything that can be reflected, so you're practically
invincible to them permanently. Just remember to cast it when you
see a fireball coming your way. The casting animation is fast.
It's recommended to have it at 10, and no more than 10, where the
chance becomes 100%. Putting more points will increase the mana cost
like any skill, and the other increases past this point are
practically meaningless.
[Generates some charge upon reflecting a projectile]
*Permafrost*
Rating: 2/5
A debuff skill. Permafrost instantly hits everything up to 16 meters
away from you, which is almost the entire screen. This Focus-based
damage is pitiful without a Focus build, and still not notable even
with specialization. This skill could only be notable to melee
builds, for the small chances to immobilize and freeze entire groups.
[Does not generate charge]
* Glacial Shatter*
Rating: 5/5
A targeted AoE skill: casts geysers around the target area, dealing
AoE damage once and having good chances to blind enemies for 5
seconds, where they refuse to follow or attack anything that isn't
touching feet with them. Melee builds can use this too for the
useful blind, but you can use this as a primary damage skill as well
if you use a Focus build and max the Cold Steel Mastery passive.
Though Wolfpack is still better in terms of damage output.
Any build at all can take Glacial Shatter to use against bosses,
blind-locking is very very good.
Glacial Shatter has a cooldown of 1 second so it can't benefit from
+CastSpeed. Glacial Shatter has a reduced crit chance, not getting
much better damage from the full charge bar.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Cold Steel Mastery* (Weapon requirement: one melee weapon
equipped, in either hand)
Gives an additive bonus to Physical damage (+30% at max rank) and
Ice damage (+90% at max rank). This is a go-to for every Berserker,
as every Berserker build can benefit from at least one of these.
The in-game tooltip lies: Cold Steel Mastery works for any attack,
but only works if a melee weapon is equipped (in either hand).
*Shatter Storm*
It's recommended for every Berserker to put a point in this. With
just one point you already get 100% chance to activate Shatter
Storm, automatically done so whenever you kill an enemy that was
frozen, which happens where the enemy was and attempts to inflict
the immobilization status effect to every other nearby enemy for 3
seconds, so you can safely hit them for free.
Even if you don't use Ice skills, any Ice damage can freeze, even if
it's just a little Ice damage coming from your weapon.
With more points, you slightly increase the duration of the
immobilization (3s/4.4s) and add a chance to freeze these enemies as
well, easily proccing it again (5%-75% re-freeze chance). It also
adds a weakness to ice damage (5%-75%).
Shatter Storm procs from all attacks except minions.
* Rage Retaliation*
It's recommended for every Berserker to put a point in this. Rage
Retaliation will automatically do an instant free attack on any
enemy that succeeds a strike on you at close range, hitting for 120%
of your WeaponDPS (160% at max rank, inherits effects).
At rank 01, it has a cooldown of 2 seconds between strikes, with the
cooldown lowering with more points, eventually having no cooldown
between targets, but won't ever activate more than once per second
on the same enemy. Leaving it at rank 01 is already good enough for
most of the time, with only dedicatedly melee Berserkers getting
more use out of that.
You need to actually take HP damage to proc Rage Retaliation.
Blocking with a shield or absorbing with an Engineer's Forcefield
won't ever proc Rage Retaliation.

Shadow tree

* Shadow Burst*
Rating: 3.5/5
A melee attack that leeches HP. Might be a godsend for
earlygame/easier difficulties, not so much for endgame where you
just get hit too hard.
Does a quick 9-meter dash forwards and goes through enemies, dealing
very low damage but healing some HP per hit, increasing with every
rank. The heal is 5%-12% of your max HP over 1 second, stacking with
each hit. Can heal even more per cast if you hit multiple enemies.
It is recommended to not put points in Shadow Burst past the 10th.
Rank 10 heals 9.5% and costs 22 mana, while rank 15 heals 12%,
barely more, and costs 37 mana.
Shadow Burst is also the Berserker's teleport skill to get you out
of trouble even if just at rank 01, and can even be used just to
walk around faster.
[Does not generate charge]
* Wolf Shade*
Rating: 4/5
Summons a temporary minion. It has a cooldown of 1 minute and lasts
15/30/45/60 seconds depending on rank. This is a relatively strong
minion, and a portion of the damage it deals is instantly given as
HP to you. This skill is a must for melee Berserkers, as it can even
tank some aggro for you.
[Does not generate charge]
* Shadowbind* (Requires a melee weapon equipped, in either hand)
Rating: 4/5
An area debuff that makes enemies take more damage. Marks enemies in
the targeted area for a good amount of time. Each time you hit any
enemy with autoattacks, or any WeaponDPS skills, all marked enemies
will instantly take damage. The more you land hits, the more you
proc Shadowbind damage. This damage does not seem to inherit most
attack effects, but does inherit ArmorReductionPerHit, doubling the
rate at which you inflict it.
All marked targets take damage, and you don't need to hit another
enemy that's also marked. Hitting a marked enemy will deal damage to
even that enemy, working even if there is only one enemy. Shadowbind
will only proc by attacks done by the player that cast it.
The in-game tooltip lies: you don't transfer the damage dealt to the
marked enemies, you simply do an instant strike on marked targets
for the listed percentage of your WeaponDPS (which goes from 15% to
43%).
Shadowbind does *not* work with the following skills: Rupture, Frost
Breath, Stormclaw, Northern Rage, Permafrost, Glacial Shatter,
Shadow Burst, Savage Rush.
[Does not generate charge]
*Savage Rush*
Rating: 0/5
Useless. Pretend this doesn't exist.
This deals damage by a small number of your Weapon/Damage/, so it
isn't notably good even with 2-handed weapons. This skill scores
hits very fast, but does not inherit most attack effects so that is
meaningless. The DoT is Focus-based and doesn't stack with multiple
hits. And the armor debuff seems to be intended as the big draw, but
is largely redundant, as a Berserker will already be reducing armor
with almost any attack done.
This would've been useful just to run faster with that walk speed
bonus, but holding left-click and using Shadow Burst makes you go
even faster.
[Does not generate charge]
*Chain Snare*
Rating: 0/5
This skill pulls all nearby enemies even closer to you. /You don't
want this./ What you want at all times is to /not/ lose HP.
The damage is very low, there's a cooldown of 1 second, and stuns
can be resisted, on top of the chance of them not being successfully
rolled for, so you can't reliably stun or stunlock enemies with the
added stun. Especially with this stun barely lasting at all when it
does work.
[Does not generate charge]
*Battle Standard*
Rating: 4/5
Marks a 18-meter-wide circle on the ground, which buffs all players,
pets and minions within it. The mark lasts for 25 seconds (50 at max
rank). The effects, depending on rank, are +12%/40% Dodge chance,
+70%/98% Knockback Resistance, +12%/40% charge generation, and
constant mana regeneration (a good 12 per second at max rank and max
level, covering for the cost of this skill in 4 seconds).
The mana regeneration is useful to everything, and melee builds
might appreciate the extra dodge and charge.
[Does not generate charge]
*Wolfpack*
Rating: 7/5
A primary attack skill, the best there is. You can skip the rest.
Can do close-range and long-range, single-target and AoE, straight
lines and around corners. Has the best damage out of anything the
Berserker can do. The only problem is that it costs almost as much
mana as Ravage, it's not very reliable to but it's possible to get
enough mana regeneration to make it viable for frequent use.
Wolfpack releases a set of wolves forward, which work as homing
projectiles that move along the ground. It's a lot like Emberquake,
even when comparing the damage of each projectile, but Wolfpack is
even stronger, is guaranteed to land all projectiles from
point-blank, and the wolves are much more reliable to land, missing
zero released wolves at a full-distance enemy.
Wolfpack has no cooldown, getting the full benefits from increased
CastSpeed. Starting at rank 05, Wolfpack projectiles will pierce to
hit multiple enemies, and starting at rank 02, Wolfpack will get
WeaponDPS, inheriting all attack effects and procs. After these,
Wolfpack also becomes the best method in the game to score procs.
Wolfpack generates no charge, but Wolfpack itself is the best attack
to spam after getting full charge. You can max Storm Hatchet, using
it to fill the charge bar just to spam Wolfpack. This has the
highest base damage for a Berserker, but Wolfpack also works with
every buff and passive the Berserker even has, since they require
melee weapons but not actual melee attacks, being able to do
everything at once. (Weapon with Ice damage = freeze = Shatter Storm)
You can get the damage to ridiculous levels by using a number of the
following: Howl, Shadowbind, Raze's buff, Shred Armor, Rampage and
Cold Steel Mastery
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Frenzy Mastery*
Usually recommended for every Berserker. This extends the duration
of the charge bar effect from 6 seconds to 13.5 seconds at max rank.
* Shred Armor *(Requires a melee weapon equipped, in either hand)
Maxing this is a given for any Berserker.
Adds a natural ArmorReductionPerHit effect to your weapons. A good
amount of it, too (-687 at max rank and max level), and it stacks
with more of such effects. This affects autoattacks, plus all
damaging skills, except the following: Rupture, Permafrost and
Glacial Shatter.
It also gives you a set amount of Physical armor points per hit
dealt, stacking, with each individual stack lasting 3 seconds (each
giving +227 armor at max rank and max level). This excludes the same
skills as above, but also Frost Breath, Stormclaw, Northern Rage,
Shadowbind and Savage Rush.
*Red Wolf*
It's recommended for every Berserker to have a point in this.
Whenever you score any crit, Red Wolf will activate and instantly
deal a bit of damage to up to 2 enemies within melee reach of you,
with Red Wolf having a cooldown of 1 second. The good thing about
Red Wolf is that it itself can crit, and crits have an innate
Interrupt, so Red Wolf may Interrupt an enemy that was about to hit you.
More points do nothing but increase this Focus-based damage. Usually
dispensable.

Outlander Skills

If you're using a bow/gun build, do consider using
/"ArmorReductionPerHit"/ and /"X Damage over 5 seconds" /socketables and
weapons.
As an Outlander, the general builds you can make are:
* Pistol/bow, or Shotgun, Outlander using gun skills, being a little
weak before getting Venomous Hail ^(suggested stats: Strength and
Dexterity)
* Focus and glaives Outlander, pairing a shield with high ranged skill
damage ^(suggested stats: Focus, maybe some Vitality if using a shield)
* Minion summoner Outlander, using Bane Breath and Repulsion Hex
^(suggested stats: Focus, maybe some Vitality if using a shield) 

Warfare tree

* Rapid Fire* (Weapon requirement: a bow/pistol/shotgun in the main
hand)
Rating: 4/5
Works as a primary attack skill for gun/bow builds, and can keep
particular kinds of monsters at bay as a hard counter. Continuously
fires short-range projectiles that go in a straight line, piercing
through mobs. Inherits all attack effects/procs and adds a bit of
ArmorReductionPerHit and knockback, dealing about decent damage and
keeping packs of lighter enemies away from you or pinning them
against the wall. Can be aimed freely if you started the cast while
not mousing over an enemy.
Gets a big range increase at rank 10. Rapid Fire can be kept at rank
10 instead of 15 (rank 10 costs 29 mana p/s, rank 15 costs 44 mana
p/s, and the rank 15 burn is unstackable and too weak).
Rapid Fire does not benefit from +CastSpeed. And works awkwardly if
used with shotguns due to the immense knockback, you'll want to use
it against a wall. If casting Rapid Fire with two pistols, the
animation shows the Outlander alternating between guns while casting
it, but this is a lie, it is only based on your main hand pistol.
[Generates charge at the standard rate, well with the AoE]
* Rune* *Vault*
Rating: 4.5/5
An escape skill that doubles as a blinding move. Very useful. You
jump backwards to get out of danger, doing an AoE at your starting
point that can blind enemies. 50%-92% chance, lasting 3-6 seconds.
You can throw this out for free when enemies are getting nearby,
avoiding any strikes and potentially blinding them to be sitting
ducks for your attacks.
Can be casted just to cause the blind. Works even on bosses.
This is the Outlander's teleport skill to get you out of trouble, or
just walk around faster.
[Does not generate charge, unless at rank 15, where it generates a bit]
* Chaos Burst* (Weapon requirement: a bow/pistol/shotgun, in either
hand)
Rating: 2/5
Overall not good. Intended as a primary attack skill but not good
enough. Fires three piercing projectiles forward that go off in
random trajectories, randomly bouncing from walls once or twice.
They won't reliably hit anything unless in awfully specific places,
and the damage isn't even good. Doesn't generate charge at all, too.
The cast speed will change to match the attack speed of your
gun/bow, being slower with shotguns.
[Does not generate charge]
* Cursed Daggers*
Rating: 2/5 for the damage, 4.5/5 for the debuff
Has no business being in this tree. Debuffs enemies in a huge cone
to deal less damage for 8 seconds (20% less/34% less), and deals a
Focus-based, unstackable DoT, dealing only low damage if
unspecialized. Could be used for a Focus Outlander, to help minions
while doubling as a medium-low AoE.
Can still be taken for any build merely to cast on bosses and
peskier enemies, to take less damage from them. This affects the
damage they deal to other players too.
As Cursed Daggers deals poison damage only as a DoT, it has no
chance of causing the real poison status effect (which lowers armor
and damage dealt) aside of this special 8-second poison (which deals
damage and lowers damage dealt).
The later ranks give some 2-second stat bonuses on hit, but these
are way too small/short to really count for anything.
[Does not generate charge]
* Vortex Hex**
*
Rating: 0/5
Marks a small 6-meter-big area with the Vortex Hex for 15 seconds,
which does basically nothing. It tries to keep pulling enemies to
the center, but each enemy resists it a certain amount and it never
ends up being useful at that. The Focus-based damage is too low, the
stun chance is too low, and the mana regeneration is too low, not
even comparing to the cost of casting it.
[Does not generate charge]
* Shattering* *Glaive*
Rating: 0/5 for earlygame, 5/5 for max level
This is meant to be a crowd control skill of sorts but isn't good at
that. All that damage is Focus-based, and not notably high for
anything. A Focus build will be better off just using Glaive Throw
instead of this every time.
Although this has a completely different and extremely notable use,
for Focus builds that got to max level: the final tier bonus of
Shattering Glaive gives its explosion fire splinters that spread out
to hit another enemy, and they can senselessly do a 180 to hit the
first enemy again, with everything rounding up at very high,
/single/-target DPS.
[Does not generate charge]
* Venomous* *Hail* (Weapon requirement: a bow/pistol/shotgun in
either hand)
Rating: 5/5
The real bow/gun skill. Does a lot of damage, does a big AoE, does a
lot of hits, applies weapon effects and procs, actually has a good
crit chance inheritance, and even poisons enemies to lower their
armor/resistances. Generates a ton of charge, too.
Has a cooldown of 2 seconds. The worst thing is how it takes to
level 42 to be able to use this, really.
[Generates charge, very very well]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Long Range* *Mastery*
Adds a +30% Damage Bonus to ranged weapons (including shotguns and
wands) which improves WeaponDPS skills too, and increases the
autoattack range for pistols/bows/wands. A must if you're going to
use any of that, unless you're going to do a Focus build with zero
Weapon-Based Skills.
The range bonus eventually makes all ranged weapons have fullscreen
autoattack range, but doesn't apply to shotguns.
*Shotgun Mastery *(Weapon requirement: shotgun)
The point of using shotguns. Possibly broken to be even better. At
max rank, adds 90% chance to blind for 3 seconds, and 60% chance to
stun for 2 seconds. Adds even more knockback to the shotgun too. All
of those effects go to Weapon-Based Skills too.
The big part is the crippling blind: it lasts 3 seconds and claims
to only be a 66% blindness, but re-applying with another hit will
reset the timer on the blind so you can easily blindlock something
forever, and stacking the blind seems to make it 100% blindness, so
instead of merely not seeing as far, enemies refuse to acknowledge
or attack anything that isn't touching feet with them during that
period.
What happens is, if specializing in attack skills that inherit the
blind (I recommend Shadowshot and Rapid Fire and Venomous Hail), you
cripple mobs and even bosses after you manage to apply the blind to
each, being the best debuff character in the game, short of
instantly killing the poor bastards. Although it still only lasts 3
seconds if not constantly re-applying it, and you can't choose to
equip a shield.
All this applies to autoattacks and the following skills: Rapid
Fire, Rune Vault after the second tier, Chaos Burst, Venomous Hail,
Glaive Sweep, Burning Leap, Flaming Glaives and Shadowshot. Even the
knockback, so watch out.
*Akimbo* (Weapon requirement: dual-wielding pistols)
Your "dual pistols mastery" passive. Increases your chance to
execute (which is, autoattacking with both weapons at once when
dual-wielding) by +30% at max rank, and also adds that much as a
Weapon Damage bonus when dual-wielding pistols. This bonus makes
WeaponDPS skills do more damage.

Lore tree

* Glaive Throw*
Rating: 5/5
Primary attack for Focus builds. Useless for others, only serving as
an unnotable mana dump that doesn't inherit attack effects.
The damage may not look big, but it has a very fast recast speed,
scales with Focus and the Master of the Elements passive, and then
improves greatly with +CastSpeed bonuses, and Glaive Throw itself is
likely to poison enemies to lower enemy armor. This will do
all-purpose single-target and multi-target damage, while also having
bonuses to interrupt and slow walkspeed on hit, and generating
charge as well, functioning well as a primary attack.
By the start of the game, you won't have enough mana regeneration to
use this often, but you eventually get enough to spam it while at a
mana profit; You're supposed to keep this at rank 05, as it starts
costing too much mana and the improvements aren't actually very
important. If you're getting much bigger levels of it later, you
could risk setting it to rank 10.
Focus attack builds can also bring Sandstorm to use in tight paths,
and Cursed Daggers to pierce a whole mob.
[Generates charge, well]
*Tangling Shot* (Weapon requirement: a bow/pistol/shotgun equipped,
in either hand)
Rating: 2/5
Support skill. Attempts to cause immobilization on the target for 3
seconds/5.8 seconds, with a weaker effect on those around it stuck
at 3 seconds. Both may fail due to status effect resistances.
This skill can be just redundant, as Bramble Wall is more reliable
if you just want to separate mobs, and good attack setups may kill
too fast to make any of this very important, and you may already
achieve enough control by simply running or using Rune Vault.
The actual damage of Tangling Shot is extremely small.
[Does not generate charge]
*Glaive Sweep*
Rating: 2/5
This is a "get off me" skill that attacks around you for a bit of
damage, pushes enemies and has a chance to stun. But it makes more
sense to simply use Rune Vault instead, its blind lasts more, and
stuns are easy to be resisted.
The bleed added at tier 1 is unstackable, Focus-based, and too weak
to note.
[Generates charge, but so does Rune Vault later]
*Sandstorm*
Rating: OK for Focus+Glaive builds, bad otherwise
This Focus-based skill can be spammed in a glaive build (preferrably
at rank 05) to deal high damage within tight hallways and very small
rooms due to the piercing and unlimited ricocheting, being able to
hit the same enemies multiple times while hitting an entire mob,
though Glaive Throw will be better most of the time.
Discounting the Focus build and helpful terrain, you might as well
just use Rapid Fire for a line attack with minor crowd control.
[Generates charge, slowly]
*Bramble Wall*
Rating: 3/5
A support skill that summons a wall can't be walked through by
anything until destroyed, placed in an arc, blocking paths to stall
enemies and have you attack from the other side. But minions and
players can't get past the wall either, making this awkward for a
minion build.
Without a Focus build, the damage gotten later is low and the skill
shouldn't be maxed, to avoid raising the high mana cost.
With one, the damage is worthwhile for its cast and can sort of be
an AoE skill, but Glaive Throw remains your primary attack.
[Generates a little charge from the tier 1 bonus, and you can hit
the wall yourself for charge, too]
* Burning Leap*
Rating: 0/5
I don't understand why this exists. Pretend it doesn't.
Rune Vault performs better as an teleport skill with added effects,
as well as a faster-movement skill.
This doesn't work as safely as other dash skills or teleport skills
due to Burning Leap's slower progressive movement instead of a
practically instant snap, and this skill phasing through enemies as
it causes knockback means that you can land close to where/they
/did, taking a melee blow from enemies before you recover, as the
computer will start swinging early and perfectly turn to face you.
This doesn't work well as any sort of attack as the direct damage is
too low for anything, and the DoT wouldn't have done much but is
actually bugged into not dealing more than double-digit damage. The
mana cost is also unexplicably high over ranks.
[Does not generate charge]
* Flaming Glaives*
Rating: 2/5
The damage is too small to work as a primary attack, with most of
the damage being the Focus-based DoT, which is unstackable, and
slightly weaker than Cursed Daggers', making Flaming Glaives not
notable compared to good attack skills.
The real point is the weakness it gives at rank 10+ (level 67+), a
6-second weakness to non-DoT Fire and Poison damage, significantly
increasing the damage of Venomous Hail and Glaive Throw.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Dodge Mastery*
Gives +4-32% Dodge chance. But you can only score dodges against
standard melee blows, most attacks are undodgeable... It's really
not mandatory to put points here.
*Poison Burst*
Intended for gun/bow builds. Gives a chance for an explosion on the
enemy whenever you kill one. Only affects autoattacks and WeaponDPS
skills. Also, if Poison Burst procs, Shadowling Ammo won't proc.
* Share the Wealth*
Increases your charge bar bonus, adding +2/+7.6 to Dodge chance,
crit chance, AttackSpeed and CastSpeed, and also makes all other
players and pets/minions receive that bonus.
The bonus to AttackSpeed adds raw damage to WeaponDPS skills, and
the crit chance is always good. Also makes minions have a chance to
Dodge and crit.

Sigil tree

* Blade Pact*
Rating: 4/5
Marks a 7-meter-radius circle on the ground, which slows enemies'
movement and actions by 15-36%, and lowers their Physical armor by
8-36%. Lasts for 7/9/11/13 seconds.
The armor reduction makes this mandatory for minion builds, but also
good for bow/gun Outlanders.
[Does not generate charge]
*Shadowshot* (Requires a bow/pistol/shotgun equipped, in either hand)
Rating: 3/5
Fires a single bullet that spreads after the hit to strike other
nearby enemies. About decent as a primary attack for groups, but
doesn't generate charge.
Good for shotgun Outlanders to easily apply the Shotgun Mastery
bonuses as AoE and from any range.
[Does not generate charge]
* Bane Breath*
Rating: 3/5
Worthless without heavy specialization, this is the main thing for
minion builds. All this Focus-based damage is only a close-range
cone, but if this move finishes off an enemy, a shadowling fiend
minion is spawned from it. They deal minion damage, not scaling from
any of your stats, only the minion bonuses in your equipment, and
the Death Ritual passive.
Repulsion Hex is a must for this, and can be kept at rank 01, for
the smallest knockback, to not overdo it.
[Does not generate charge]
* Repulsion Hex*
Rating: 4/5
Summons a familiar that stays on top of your head and automatically
shoves nearby enemies away, so you can stay in place and keep
attacking. Has a duration of 40 seconds and a cooldown of 35
seconds, also increasing the duration per rank (~96 seconds) without
changing the cooldown.
Works very well when enemies come from only one direction or only
one is even left, shoving enough for the enemy to never get close
enough for a melee attack, letting you stay put and attack however
you want. But heavier enemies resist some knockback.
[Does not generate charge]
* Stone Pact*
Rating: 4/5
Marks a 7-meter-radius circle on the ground to slowly regenerate HP
of all players, pets and minions within it. Doesn't actually
regenerate enough to help players stay in place and sponge damage,
but is convenient in general and cuts a lot of need for HP potions.
Also, this is the only healing-type skill for multiplayer aside from
the Death' Bounty of the Embermage, if you were wondering about that.
Later also applies a damage reflection effect, but this is very
innefficient for players (because games always make monsters have
several times more HP than the player characters, for some reason).
The real point of the damage reflection is to apply it to your
minions, which have more total HP and are always happy to throw
themselves on a sword. This is a must-have for minion builds, if you
couldn't put two and two together yet.
[Does not generate charge]
*Shadowmantle*
Rating: 2/5
Buffs yourself with a chance to reflect projectiles, but the chance
starts low and doesn't become guaranteed (33%-75%), and it lasts 10
seconds with a longer cooldown (30/16). It doesn't even guarantee
the reflection.
The in-game tooltip claims it can also blind enemies that attack
you, but this seems to be bugged, never works.
[Does not generate charge]
*Shadowling Brute*
Rating: 3.5/5
Summons a temporary minion to fight, able to take hits for you. Has
a cooldown of 30 seconds and lasts 10-32 seconds depending on the
Death Ritual passive. This is a relatively strong minion and learns
some skills of its own. This deals minion damage, not scaling from
any of your stats, only the minion bonuses on your equipment, and
the Death Ritual passive.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Master of the Elements*
A must for every Outlander with that +60% Poison damage, as you'll
probably use a Poison skill as a primary attack, be it Venomous Hail
or Glaive Throw or Bane Breath.
* Shadowling Ammo *(Requires a wand/bow/pistol/shotgun equipped, in
either hand)
Gives a chance to spawn a shadowling bat on kill (weaker than a
shadowling fiend). Can only happen from autoattacks and WeaponDPS
skills. In order to activate, a ranged weapon must be equipped in
any hand. The bats deal minion damage, not scaling from any of your
stats, only the minion bonuses from your equipment, and the Death
Ritual passive.
Bats can draw aggro to themselves, but have low HP and may get
killed easily, and do worthless damage without specialization.
If Poison Burst procs, Shadowling Ammo won't proc.
* Death Ritual*
Extends the summon time of your shadowling fiend/brute/bat from 10
seconds to 32 seconds at max rank. Also gives an additive minion
damage bonus to you, +75% at max rank.

Embermage Skills

Get Frost Phase, this is the Embermage's teleport skill. Also be sure to
put a point in all three Brands. Ice Prison is also good for everyone.
As an Embermage, the general builds you can make are:
* Prismatic Bolt & Frost Wave Embermage, stacking +CastSpeed and being
everyone's favorite ^(suggested stats: pure Focus, and maybe
Vitality, but do use a shield)
* Wand Chaos Embermage with Flame Spear and Shockbolts, casting for
powerful procs on hit ^(suggested stats: pure Focus, and maybe
Vitality, but do use a shield)
* Fire Embermage with Blazing Pillar and Infernal Collapse and
Firestorm, stacking equipment with +%Fire through the fire and
flames ^(suggested stats: pure Focus, and maybe Vitality, but do use
a shield)
* Shocking Orb Embermage wielding two-handed weapons, stacking
+%Electric and taking a lot of levels to become interesting
^(suggested stats: Pure Focus) 
Inferno tree

* Magma Spear*
Rating: 4/5
Continously fires piercing projectiles with a decent hitbox, dealing
low damage per hit but applying an unstackable DoT that has actually
good damage. Can be aimed freely if you started the cast while not
highliting an enemy. Magma Spear inherits attack effects/procs, so
it can work as a primary attack skill too if with Wand Chaos (if so,
pair it with Shockbolts). Magma Spear doesn't benefit from +CastSpeed.
[Generates charge, a little slowly]
*Magma Mace*
Rating: 0/5
Bad all across the board.
The animation is slow and unsafe for a melee skill. Has a stun
capability, but stuns can be resisted with enemy-specific chances,
so the stun isn't very reliable, inviting enemies to punch you in
the middle of the skill. The damage isn't high either, with the DoT
not even stacking, giving no good reason to use this melee skill in
the first place.
The later shield break bonus is too small of a chance and such
bonuses aren't important anyway.
This skill can trigger Staff Mastery and Wand Chaos, but is the
worst choice for that.
[Does not generate charge]
*Firebombs*
Rating: 1.5/5
Places a fire carpet, which lasts a very short amount of time and
deals low damage, but has a chance to cause Fear on enemies... For
only two to three seconds. The Fear can also be resisted with
enemy-specific chances, with bosses being virtually immune.
[Does not generate charge]
*Blazing Pillar*
Rating: 4/5
An active skill with a cooldown of 9 seconds (5.5 at max rank) that
releases relatively strong homing Fire projectiles for a damage
spike, being an OK skill to throw in for any build. The pillars can
both spread out for a group of enemies or all charge onto a single
enemy to stack the damage.
Generates some charge, though not as much as the tooltip mention
would have you believe. About merely generating charge, Infernal
Collapse and Frost Wave are better.
[Generates a medium amount of charge]
*Infernal Collapse*
Rating: 5/5
A primary AoE Fire attack with a minor cooldown (2.5sec in rank 01,
and 1.1sec in rank 15). Deals very good damage and hits a large area
(4/5/6/7 meters wide). Generates an extreme amount of charge, from
any range, potentially filling the entire bar with one cast with
multi-target damage.
[Generates charge extremely well]
*Immolation Aura*
Rating: 0/5 for damage purposes, 4.5/5 for max level buff
A self-buff that lasts 30-58 seconds with no cooldown. Constantly
does damage to enemies within melee range, but this damage is
actually pretty small, and the idea of not dying is that you /don't/
sit within melee range of enemies.
But after the third tier bonus (level 97+), having the buff active
will give a +15% Damage Reduction to all elements (aka the best
defensive stat in the game), and you can keep the buff active
constantly, making this great for every Embermage. The only problem
is how this isn't just a passive skill, really.
[Does not generate charge]
* Firestorm*
Rating: 5/5 with fire, irrelevant/5 otherwise
A 7-meter-radius AoE, that does medium-low unstackable DoT damage,
that also debuffs enemies to take more damage from Fire damage
excluding DoTs, meaning this boosts Infernal Collapse and Blazing
Pillar.
Other than that, Firestorm has no use. The splinters at later ranks
are too weak, and Hailstorm is straight-up better if not counting
Firestorm's added fire weakness. Also, Firestorm does NOT
significantly help Prismatic Bolt.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Charge Mastery*
Gives big bonuses to charge generation and slows the charge decay.
Sounds convenient but can be very dispensable later, especially if
you use Infernal Collapse or Frost Wave.
*Elemental Attunement*
Every Embermage should put some points in here. This passive does
two things:
a) It extends the duration of Burn/Freeze/Shock/Poison by 1-15
seconds more of what it would normally be. So at rank 4, a 3-second
Freeze will stay for 7 seconds instead. Always put at least a few
points in this skill for this, this can be decent in general,
helping you proc your Brands.
b) This skill gives you an invisible aura effect that affects any
enemies within 7 meters of you (1/3 of the screen away from you),
and this aura rolls every second for a 1%-15% chance to inflict any
of Burn/Freeze/Shock/Poison on enemies. This effect only gets
notable at higher ranks. This is meaningless for Prismatic Bolt
builds because Prismatic Bolt already inflicts all of these, but
maxing this can be good for all other builds, as this allows you to
inflict the status effects of elements you don't use, lasting around
18 seconds when procced on max rank. If you don't freeze, this will.
If you don't poison, this will.
*Fire Brand*
Minimum 01 for every Embermage, this deals a small AoE on the enemy,
every time you land a hit on a burning enemy. Each individual Brand
won't proc more than once per second on the same target. More points
will increase the damage.

Frost tree

* Icy Blast*
Rating: 2/5
A support attack skill, not a very good one. Better with Wand Chaos
though.
Fires a few non-piercing projectiles forwards with random deviation,
which ricochet but only once. A cast will often miss completely
outside of close range. They deal low damage and have an added
chance to freeze and immobilize. But for a mere freeze, it's done
better by Hailstorm or Frost Wave, and while immobilization can be
good, this status effect can still be resisted on a succesful roll
and the general unreliability of the skill itself coupled with low
damage make this unnapealling, and the Frozen Fate passive can apply
immobilization automatically.
Icy Blast has a cooldown of 0.8 seconds, and so does not benefit
from +CastSpeed. Icy Blast can trigger Staff Mastery and Wand Chaos,
but the other choices are more notable for that.
[Generates charge, just a little bit]
*Hailstorm*
Rating: 5/5
Pretty much just a different version of Firestorm. Still hits for
the huge area, also gets zero charge gain, and applies the weakness
but for both Ice and Electric non-DoTs this time. And Hailstorm has
more general-minded utility as it also gets a good chance to freeze
and even stun, both still in that huge area.
Hailstorm's weakness effect is useful for the damage of: Frost Wave,
Prismatic Bolt, Thunder Locus and Shocking Orb.
Hailstorm is costy to spam and generates no charge, but if already
fully charged, Hailstorm also doubles as a medium-DPS spammable AoE
nuke, as it has a Freeze chance to proc Ice Brand by itself.
[Does not generate charge]
*Frost Phase*
Rating: 4/5
A teleport. The best skill in the game to escape from a bad
situation and also just walk around faster, every Embermage should
put a point in this.
Also leaves a shockwave with a freeze chance. Putting more points
will increase the explosion range and the chance to inflict the
Freeze, up to a good 6 meters and 80% chance, which is
well-thought-out as freeze is a slowing debuff and they'll have to
walk back to you. But this part can get redundant if you already
constantly Freeze with your attacks.
[Does not generate charge]
*Elemental Boon*
Rating: 3/5
A party-wide buff that lasts 15 seconds with a cooldown of 30. It
mainly gives a +10%/38% damage bonus to the four elements. Due to
how everything works, this does a much smaller difference for DoTs,
and multi-elemental damage, and hits with low individual damage. The
skills that benefit notably from Elemental Boon are: Blazing Pillar,
Infernal Collapse, Hailstorm, Frost Wave, Thunder Locus and Shocking
Orb. Not actually Prism Bolt, no.
The mana regeneration mentioned is 20, with this costing 28.
[Does not generate charge]
*Frost Wave*
Rating: 5.5/5
Great damage. Works as a primary attack. Fires decently-large
piercing projectiles along the ground. Deals very high damage at
close range, tight hallways, and against enemies next to the wall.
Great as AoE and even single-target DPS depending on distance and
terrain. Very good at generating charge. Benefits a lot from +CastSpeed.
[Generates charge, very well]
*Ice Prison*
Rating: 4.5/5
Utility. Every Embermage should put a point in this.
Summons a destructible wall, forming a circle. Has an extremely fast
cast animation. You can use it to block a path, as enemies can't
walk through it and will attack it first, while you can freely walk
through it and even fire through it. You can also cast it to
surround an enemy, and it can even block projectiles. At max rank,
the cooldown changes from 8 seconds to 2, allowing you to easily
re-imprison that enemy, even for bosses, though some enemies have
skills that move them through the wall. Re-imprisoning also does
free damage to that enemy thanks to the tier 1 bonus, dealing
somewhat more damage than one cast of Infernal Collapse, and
surrounding an enemy also places a weaker DoT, and each wall also
has damage reflection that becomes good against area attacks, making
this utility worth the while all the way.
[Does not generate charge]
*Astral Ally*
Rating: 3/5
Summons a temporary minion to fight. Lasts 20/30/40/50 seconds with
a cooldown that starts at 60 and lowers to 32. It has low HP and
attacks from a distance. Can be thrown in for any build, but doesn't
do particularly high DPS and costs a whopping 100 mana at max rank.
It deals minion damage, not scaling from any of your stats, only the
minion bonuses from your equipment.
[Does not generate charge]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
* Staff Mastery* (Requires a staff equipped)
Used to be bugged and senselessly good, got fixed to be normal but
now isn't good anymore.
It applies to the same skills as Wand Chaos, making that better by
default. You can even get this ArmorReductionPerHit with socketables
or weapon enchantments onto these same skills anyway.
*Frozen Fate*
A must for every Embermage. This gives a 20-76% chance to attempt an
immobilization on enemies up to 7 meters away from you, every time
you kill an enemy. This can proc from absolutely any attack and
skill, except minions.
* Ice Brand*
Same deal as Fire Brand, but on freezing enemies. Minimum 01 for
every Embermage.

Storm tree

* Prismatic Bolt*
Rating: 5.5/5
A spammable primary attack. Reliable in any range.
The damage is intended as single-target and doesn't hit entire mobs
very well, but is perfectly consistent and reliable for any scenario
and distance, practically not even costing mana. Can be taken by any
build at rank 01 for a cheap spammable fullscreen attack. Prismatic
Bolt continuously fires extremely fast projectiles along the air
with near perfect homing, going over holes, around corners, doing
180s, and even changing altitude to hit a target.
In the earliest levels, Prismatic Bolt deals low damage and is heavy
on mana consumption, but both of these are improved with level-ups
alone.
It is recommended to leave Prismatic Bolt at rank 01, as most of the
benefits are the status effect chances, which are redundant as the
mere damage can trigger them (and the duration is already boosted by
the Elemental Attunement passive). If you use Prismatic Bolt mainly,
and have the mana regeneration or some other setup to firmly back it
up (like Death's Bounty), you can choose to leave Prismatic Bolt at
rank 10 or 15.
For a build centered on this: Prismatic Bolt benefits a lot from
+CastSpeed and can inflict the necessary status effects for all 3
Brands, being good to constantly proc them as well, and the damage
is improved with Hailstorm (not as much from Elemental Boon, or
Firestorm, or Staff Mastery). To fix Prismatic Bolt's lack of AoE,
Prismatic Bolt can be paired up with Frost Wave, as they both want
+CastSpeed, and Frost Wave offers good mob damage and can outdamage
Prismatic Bolt against even single targets if with proper terrain,
and generates charge well, and both Prismatic Bolt and Frost Wave
benefit from Hailstorm. Or for a safer and more ranged kind, you can
use Infernal Collapse instead of Frost Wave, with Infernal Collapse
dealing very high and reliable AoE damage regardless of terrain, or
distance, and also generating charge well.
[Generates charge, at a slightly slow rate]
*Shocking Burst*
Rating: 0/5 for earlygame, 5/5 for max level
A short-range channeled attack that deals pathetic damage with a
laughable stun capability while forcing you in place with enemies
easily surrounding and attacking you, while costing relatively high
mana just to throw salt in the wound.
On the lower ranks, that is. On the highest ranks, the stun is
actually good, and can reliably stunlock enemies that aren't very
resistant to stunning, all the way to zero HP. But it managed to
cost even more and requires another skill just to generate charge or
mana for it. Other than that, can be tossed in for any max-level-ish
character if you want a laugh, for how silly the stunlock is for
/actually working/.
Actual damage output from this is only medium-high (with Brands and
some others), and again, the stunning only works on specific monsters.
Benefits greatly with +CastSpeed, dealing hits more often. Does not
inherit most attack effects/procs, only ArmorReductionPerHit and
on-kill effects.
[Does not generate charge]
*Thunder Locus*
Rating: 3/5
Basically a planted turret on the targeted spot, Thunder Locus is
invisible to enemies, attacking enemies close to it every second
(affects a 14-meter radius). Starts with a short duration but grows
well (14 seconds/42 seconds). Damage is decent and based on Focus.
While this can be thrown in for any build for it to periodically
deal AoE damage, even proccing the Brands for you, it won't move off
its spot unless you cast it again, has a cooldown of 10 seconds, and
the casting animation is notably slow, taking some two full seconds
while you stand in place.
[Does not generate charge]
*Arc Beam* (Requires a staff or wand equipped, in either hand)
Rating: 1.5/5
A secondary attack, for specific scenarios/monsters. Just not
actually good...
This channel-casts a wide beam that constantly deals damage and goes
through enemies, can be aimed freely if you started the cast while
not highliting an enemy. But Arc Beam deals very little damage and
does not inherit most attack effects/procs. It deals a little
knockback and can keep /certain/ lighter kinds of monsters at bay,
but Arc Beam also happens to cost much more mana than other skills
while generating no charge itself.
The range increases with higher ranks. Arc Beam benefits greatly
from +CastSpeed to deal hits more often. From what I can tell, the
only inherited attack effects/procs are ArmorReductionPerHit and
on-kill effects. The "explosion effect" mentioned in the tooltip is
just a cosmetic feature. The mentioned splitting beams deal damage
from a small percentage of WeaponDamage, making them weak with a
two-handed weapon and even weaker without one.
[Does not generate charge]
*Death's Bounty*
Rating: 4/5
Debuffs enemies in a 12-meter wide circle so that they restore HP
and mana to any player after being killed. A pack will always be
enough for a full refill (at max rank, the total from one enemy is
3000 HP and 105 mana, across players). Pretty neat, the bad thing is
the inconvenience of having to re-cast this on different groups of
enemies, really...
Can cover for mana-heavy skills.
[Does not generate charge]
*Shockbolts*
Rating: 1.5/5 in general, 4/5 if with Wand Chaos
Unremarkable without Wand Chaos, but the best thing to proc Wand
Chaos, scoring a lot of hits against packs. Magma Spear is more
reliable against a single target or from a big distance, these two
should be paired.
Shockbolts can be kept at rank 10 to not raise the mana cost too
much. Inherits all attack effects/procs. Benefits a lot from +CastSpeed.
[Generates charge, very slowly]
*Shocking Orb*
Rating: 1/5 in general, 5.5/5 if specialized as your primary attack
Way too weak and useless, unless you make your character entirely
around this.
This does damage from WeaponDamage and requires two-handed weapons.
Doesn't even inherit most attack effects/procs, only
ArmorReductionPerHit, +Knockback, and on-kill effects. But if you
wait for the tier bonuses, and use slow two-handed weapons, and
socket with ArmorReductionPerHit, and socket with +Knockback, then
it works as an all-purpose primary attack. You even get to stack
+%ElectricDmg, since this happens to deal damage in pure Electric.
Does not benefit from +CastSpeed as there is a cooldown of 0.8sec,
the same as its cast animation. The best weapon in the game for this
skill is the level 105 staff called "Ophidian's Endgame".
[Generates charge, at a medium rate]

PASSIVE SKILLS:
*Prismatic Rift*
A great passive to have. Gives a 15-85% chance when hit to instantly
teleport the enemy away, and inflicting any of
Burn/Freeze/Shock/Poison on it for free.
Doesn't seem to work on all monster skills.
*Wand Chaos*
Either this is your build, or it probably will be just a waste for you.
The chance applies only to autoattacks plus Magma Spear (take),
Shockbolts (take), Icy Blast (maybe take) and Magma Mace (don't take).
When procced, will randomly do one of several effects. These include
several AoE effects with decent damage (Focus-based), an effect with
a blind chance, an effect that teleports the enemy away, and an
effect that spawns a 10-second minion.
* Lightning Brand*
Same deal as Fire/Ice Brand, but for shocked enemies. Minimum 01 for
every Embermage.

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