Oh, and thank you Runic Games for such a (highly addictive
) great and entertaining game. I like your concept of publishing Torchlight the way you did - and can't wait to hear more about a potential MMORPG-version!My english skills deteriorated somehow since school, but I hope I can manage to wirte this thread in a "readable" way
!I started the vhhc destroyer post 1.12, so no "overenchanted" items could be used. All the vhhc destroyer threads I read here drew the conclusion that dualwielding and using devastate could not be viable, at least when you start the endless dungeon. I am almost level 60 in endless dungeon's floor 19 now and played with two weapons and devastate as main attack since level 25, so: IMHO it IS possible and a lot of fun! I hope I can give you folks some advise to be successful on very hard/hardcore with such a build. The main idea is that a dead enemy does not hurt you
.1. Mods
RespecMod (I used it to switch from dualwild to 1h/shield in the time before 25 and to try a few things, with good planning skills you do not need it THAT much, but it's nice to have)
DestroyerSkillsDuration (atm I just use Frost Shield and Elemental Protection VI as buffs, but the 300s lasting buffs of this mod make it a LOT easier)
GemIconMOD (so I don't have to hover over every gem to know what combinations are possible right now)
2. Spells I used all the time:
a) Haste. I just love it. In combination with Def Spell Mastery it becomes even more great. You can hit and run, run out of most "oh shit" moments and are buffed with attackspeed and it works perfectly with devastate.
b) Dervish. Haste, Dervish, Devastate and you do not have to fear any champions or even bosses. The version VI of this spell lasts 20s on a 60s cooldown
c) Elemental Protection. With enough Resistance on your gear it might become obsolete but I think it's nice to have... I *could* use a heal spell, but I had no shortage on potions ever in the game.
d) Identify Item. Because it SUCKS to be out of scrolls and that shiny shiny sparkle purple is in your bag and nobody knows what it is
. Seriously, it's just another nice to have thing, it saves you some money but it is not THAT necessary.Pet Spells:
Summon XYZ. At the moment I use Zombies and Blood Skelletons, they perform great as meat blockers and heal you for a (really... small) amount.
2. The long way to Devastate
As I stated above, I played from like 10 to 25 with 1h/shield. I used Stampede and Slash as main skills, putting most points in Armor Expertise and Frostshield for defense.
Generally speaking, I highly recommend to be at least 3 or 4 levels above the mobs in the quest dungeon, I did some 1-10 maps with level ~12-15 and made some runs through those ruins you can access by taking the waypoint portal to the Overseer's old home. You maybe find an enchantment-shrine there and it gave great xp and money and pots.
This way there was really no need to spec into Shadow Armor or some Auras (but those Auras can be right handy, I just had no reason to spend points there).
When I "dingd" to level 25 I specced into something like this (I'm estimating 40 skill points to spend):
http://calc.torchlightinsider.com/index ... ,0,0,0,0,0
3. Here we go
At this time I was just curious if I could survive with devastating around on vhhc. Again, I made some runs through lower maps to get used to this new build. I enjoyed it pretty much and continued the main quest (3-5 levels over the mobs in that dungeon). Found a level 10 golden mace with 8 crit and some +crit damage, so my blood thirsty weapons hacked there way through most enemies without noteworthy resistance.
The "extra dungeons" from that guy in the south of the town turned out to be much more challenging because of the levels the mobs had (my level
). I had my finger over the healpot every time and used it when my life fell below ~75%, this way I never was close to die. Whenever I was afreid of getting overwhelmed by a Champion And His Friends combo I just Ran Away Featured By Haste and had no problems this way.The Ordrak fight took me like two minutes and four potions, I was around level 38 there.
4. Strategy in the "end game"
I tried to upload a small video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaaWyWeTH8I) to show my approach - and I have no freaking idea why this video is speeded up that much -.- this way it just shows... nothing.
Whatever, my core abilites are:
Devastate (don't keep the button pressed, push it very often!), Frost Shield, Elemental Protection, Haste (the last three should be up all the time), sometimes Dervish, Spectral Decay and sometimes Chain Vortex (and sometimes Heal Pots
). Right now I gather much more heal pots than I spend, though I use them liberally, whenever loosing health in a bigger pack of mobs.Build at level 59: http://calc.torchlightinsider.com/index ... 0,0,0,10,2
Most of the time I spent my points as 3str:2def, worked quite well so far.
On groups of easy mobs I just use devastate, if it's a bigger pack maybe standing there with their champion friend I trigger Dervish, use Devastate a few times, use Spectral Decay and finish them off. That's it.
I specced into Chain Vortex because I thought of that nice combo Vortexstun, Spectral Decay stun/knockback, Dev, mob dead. In "real life" I just never use vortex, maybe I should spend the point somewhere else, maybe shadow armor for that extra block - but right now, it does not seem to be "mandatory".
Gearwise:
My weapons have ~1000-1100 dps and are level 36 and 46, so nothing great. Until the mid 40s I had a level 8 unique mace that had just great stats (8 crit, some crit damage, 10 or 15% + damage), so I could ignore the poor 400dps. I try to keep a good balance in my gear between armor, +def/+str, resistances and crit/critdamage - I do not put too much effort in "theorylightning" def and resistances/armor are great, offensinve stats don't hurt either. Most of that gear is golden/purple but levelwise they are between 10 and 46, nothing special. I gambled a few times but had only luck once for some nice boots. I never send my pet to town, but portal out, sell everything and visit the blacksmith; I was lucky with that guy three or four times and he had some nice golden/purple or even blue gear with great stats, so it's worth sayin' "hello" to him often. I always buy all the gems and put them in my Stash to combine them later. Generally I put level V or VI gems in my gear - and again, I try to balance str, def, crit and resistances. I even have one dex gem because of the dex-requirement of one of my swords.
5. Conclusions:
I did not expect this specc working THAT good. As I stated above, it is just fun and you see a LOT of big numbers
! You can rush through most parts of the game (yay, haste 
) and have to fear almost nothing.Some final tipps:
1) Use your buffs and do not let them fall off
2) Pay attention to those charging mobs, try to let them charge into empty space by moving away in a 90° path
3) My pet is allways on aggressive... it is fleeing a lot but this way it has a kind of "initial aggro", just like it's summoned friends. They work as a meat blocker so you can easily devastate everything down
4) When running in a big pack have your healpot ready, sometimes I even used it just before I came in range of those evil minions of the dreaded ember, just to be safe...
The build is running very well at the moment, I am curious for how long. Honestly I would like to try something like Voj described in his great Spectral Echo Destroyer Survival Guide, but as long as it works I'll stick to devastate.
It's late right now and I'm too sleepy to improve this thread, maybe on Sunday. I definatly will keep you updated on how my little Karlchen performs as he (hopefully) devastates his way to the level cap
.
