Optimal Class Builds
- Thread starter Gammerick
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Full phys and reflex with the spare going into willpower or whatever you prefer. Pick every ability that boosts melee attacks. You are now capable of steamrolling every encounter except for some bullshit bosses that you're not supposed to be able to beat anyway.
Building classes in this game is a no brainer. Just pick everything dedicated to guns or everything dedicated to melee depending on which you wanna do. Though I would recommend just sticking with guns as they're far better, or even really the only thing the class actually supports much at all if you're not a merc.
Like for merc perks you grab everything related to guns and the AOE grenade skill if you wanna use ranged abilities and do the opposite for melee but also grab the single target bomb because melee gets cleave. Smugglers are more focused on ranged than melee so grab all the ranged perks and the defense oriented ones as the other options don't really feel like they're much good. Techs can choose between more shields or drones, though shields seem to be better atm. Also at the moment most would agree that techies are the weakest class and while they do have a bit more in the way of choice for what perks you personally want to take, it's more of a choice between two things that aren't all the great. Plus they have no innate energy recovery abilities.
Like for merc perks you grab everything related to guns and the AOE grenade skill if you wanna use ranged abilities and do the opposite for melee but also grab the single target bomb because melee gets cleave. Smugglers are more focused on ranged than melee so grab all the ranged perks and the defense oriented ones as the other options don't really feel like they're much good. Techs can choose between more shields or drones, though shields seem to be better atm. Also at the moment most would agree that techies are the weakest class and while they do have a bit more in the way of choice for what perks you personally want to take, it's more of a choice between two things that aren't all the great. Plus they have no innate energy recovery abilities.
You can always farm more phys and reflex. Max willpower first for now.
I'd rather not recommend slow stat grinding to anybody. Sure, your character is stronger, but not in a very noticeable way and it's not really what I'd call fun. It also feels like TITS is not as build for slow gains like COC is, so it really feels like you're working against/abusing the system.
If you really want to max out, just straight up cheat instead. I think there was a mod on the forums somewhere, otherwise cheat engine will probably work fine.
Some perks are always better than others, not just on a situational level, I can't imagine how riposte can be that great compared to take cover even if you weren't fighting against ranged heavy enemies as a melee merc. Cluster grenades are also far better than thermal, as you are already well equipped for any single mob encounter. As for being ranged, you have to remember that the blind debuff affects your shoot attacks far more than it does your melee attacks, then you have bullshit encounters like cunt snakes and dollmaker who will avoid almost all of your shots.
The cuntsnake is a least so low of level that it doesn't matter and you can just headbutt the Dollmaker to stun it so you can shoot it.
My tech specialist has the optional class perks of:
Shield Booster
Volley
Deflector Regeneration
Gravadic Disruptor
Gun Tweaks
Weapon Hack
Second Shot
Shield booster as it scales with player level, giving massive shield bonuses that make the difference in fights, unlike drones, which fail to do more than twenty damage at all levels and take up the accessory slot, which could otherwise be used for massively helpful items like the Lightning Duster and the Light Jetpack, which reduce electrical damage by 50% and increase evasion by 10 respectively.
Volley as it stacks with Second Shot, allowing for three shots total, at a potential 300% damage increase, double the increase of overcharge's 150%.
Deflector Regeneration as it allows for more shield health recovered overall.
Gravadic Disruptor as it deals unresistable damage, as opposed to burning damage. Tech specialists will find themselves using, almost exclusively, energy weapons, the majority of which will deal at least some burning damage, leaving you vulnerable to enemies that resist burning. Unresistable damage is also helpful against enemies that rely on very high resistances against every weapon in the game. Namely Amara Faell.
Gun Tweaks I chose over Weapon Tweaks as tech specialists will always rely on guns with the way their perks are set up. The boost to melee weapons would be helpful in the situation that guns are useless, but those are so few and far between (There are literally only two, the dollmaker, which can be dealt with through EMP spam, and the cuntsnake, which can be one-hit by anyone over level 4) that the skill is dwarfed in usefulness by the boost to energy gun damage.
Weapon Hack and Shield Hack are perhaps the two most useless perks in the game. The damage done by shield hack can easily be doubled at higher levels, and cannot continue to damage physical health if the target shield is destroyed. You are better off just shooting them. Weapon hack is only useful in extremely limited situations, but it is useful, so it is what I picked.
Second Shot is a no-brainer, a constant chance for double the damage per turn, stacked with all of the other perks your gun has received.
Wrong. Base drones do not take up a slot, and boost your shields. Other drones (like tamwolf) do take up an accessory slot, but are not necessary. Useful for an extra bit of damage in combat, as well as attacking no matter what status effect you have.
You're right, I forgot that the default drone doesn't take up the accessory slot. That said, the default drone is even more useless than the other drones, as it deals less than ten damage, half that of the other drones, and provides a shield boost that is minuscule in size compared to that of the shield booster perk.
While it could use some tweaks to boost damage, it is still very useful, on par with shield tweaks in usefulness. By the time you hit level 8, you're probably already sitting on about 100+ shields, the extra from shield tweaks is a little redundant at that point if you've got your reflexes at a decent level. And I just did some play testing, and my drone does 10-14 damage against most enemies. While it's not the 60-70 I normally output from my gun, that extra 10-14 can be the difference between a 2 round fight, and a 1 round fight (or 3/2 etc). The less energy/time you spend working on trash mobs the better when you get to the boss ones.
Also the beautiful little bastard has saved me multiple times while I've been blind/stun locked. *cough* dollmaker *cough*
The booster grants you 80 more shield points at level eight. That's massive. It may mean that that trash mob takes another round to defeat, but that extra turn is irrelevant if all that's damaged is your shield, something that recharges in a single step.
Also, the dollmaker can easily be beat through EMP spam+volley with Kahn's Arc caster and the Jolthammer, for when its dodges got annoying. It never touched me (aside from the sacrifice save that I used to get the quest's bad endings). The drone may have saved you in that case, but it was entirely avoidable.
I'd love for drones to be overhauled and made into a viable skill path for techs, as the versatility would be great, but they aren't currently worth the trade-offs.
For me they are. I have literally no issues with anything really. I'd love a rework, but to me it is definitely viable, and preferable.
I've literally had no issues with attack drone, and it's worked for me better than the shield boost.
I'm going to start assuming the tech specialist distaste is a meme soon.
Its not unviable, endgame bosses like frostwyrm aside, but its far, far inferior to shield boost.
Trust me, it's not. You are the only person that I've seen on the forums who thinks that 10-14 damage more per turn is worth more than 80 additional shield points.
I've killed frostworm with it though....
It seems to be when I have yet to run into this problem.
Just curious, but have you done an entire play-through with the shield booster? I believe that you beat the frostwyrm with the drone, the wyrm isn't all that hard with the right gear and a little luck.
I see.
Well then, since all of my arguments so far haven't worked, let me give you a bit of perspective. TiTS is an incredibly easy game. There is no class with any combination of perks that will find any boss impossible to beat. There are bosses that will require you to have at least a tenuous strategy, but unless you are underleveled, nothing more then that. After all, the game is not built from the ground up to allow players to experience its unique and challenging (that's sarcasm right there) combat system, but its extensive library of written porn.
When players switch from having a sheer powerhouse of a shield to having a drone that does 10-14 damage instead, they are underwhelmed and disappointed.
When players switch from having a drone that does 10-14 damage to having a sheer powerhouse of a shield, they go "Wow, that's a massive shield".
It's not because the drone is bad, because it is lackluster compared to the other option. Picking the drone perk won't condemn you horrible battles where you struggle to beat anything, but it will make things harder. Harder than they should be, by nearly all accounts.
As such, the majority of the player base do have a legitimate distaste of the drone perk, and drones in general. It's not a meme, but a symptom of the overall lack of power and versatility in the tech specialist, and especially drones, compared to the smuggler and mercenary classes.