Pros and cons of different specializations

To be honest, I started out as polearm/heavy armor because very early in the game I found Theo in Owl's Head, and a halberd was the best weapon gold could buy, and plate was the best armor gold could buy.

Wearing a full set of plate armor pretty well closed the door on being a fire or moon mage because the best spells in those trees have about a 99% fizzle chance while wearing plate.

I never really considered or investigated air, chaos or death magic. To be honest, the whole time I've been playing the game I'm not sure I've ever cast a single spell in those trees. Now that I think about it, I've never experimented with barding or archery either.

The life tree doesn't seem like a good choice for a solo player - too much defense, not enough offense.

Sun and Earth have decent offensive spells, and Earth has crystal shield.

I eventually settled on water mainly due to fire resistance - between fire warding, douse and ice shield I'm pretty much completely immune to fire, and fire magic seems to be the #1 destructive magic you see in this game and it's not even close. I like the water elemental a lot too, especially his healing. Ice Fist, Ice Arrow and Cone of Cold are a passable combination of offensive spells.

If I do decide to make a change away from polearm/heavy armor/water mage and remain a primarily solo player, what other combinations might I consider, whether they be just for fun or as a potential permanent change?

 

Weapon specializations are decent, but are easily surpassed by other specs, so unless there is a specific buff from the weapon perk I need, U always skip those.

Armor specs (light and heavy) are super good, Heavy spec makes you super tanky, and makes body slam one of the best stuns in the game, while Light armor spec gives you draw speed (amazing in dynamic decks!), buffs up your resistance to critical hits (I always confuse Shield and Loght armors effect on crits, but either you get crit less, or crits hit you for less, whichever is for Light armor, Shield takes the other). One effect of light armor spec that is not mentioned is that this crit reduction effect from Evasion scales with spec!!! Get that 70% crit reduction!

Magic specs are good especially if you use that magic school to fight. Extra attunement along with extra effects on your spells is great. Life is much more rewarding than you give it credit for, you nearly instant cast your life spells and they get that much more increase in power without any gear investment for it, so you can self sustain very well (much better than with water). Meanwhile death spec has the benefit of reducing fizzle chance for death spells, meaning you can wear heavy armor and cast them! Earth is an amazing choice for melee players, it will make you strong and tough big time.

Meanwhile Tactics spec for its effect on berserkers stance is an amazing choice, I wouldn't be surprised if Tactics spec is the most picked spec, or a top contender beside air and taming specs.

Focus spec is good, but better if you have focus issues, wouldn't recommend it to anyone though, I think you pick focus spec on your own when you realize that's what you need.

Taming spec makes pets insanely stronger, and Bard Spec... Bard is still OP, but the spec is far from a requirement to use it, the benefits are great, but not necessary for any build.

Subterfuge is... wait you can spec in subterfuge?...

Also, one tip I received a while ago is that you do not need to spec in whatever your offense is, sometimes speccing in support schools is better, such as how most swordsmen you will see will be specced in Tactics + something else instead of Sword, you can also do the same thing for magic schools.

 

When I start taking a lot of heat then I switch from Berserker's Stance to Passive Stance and the reduction in move speed penalty is a bonus.

 

The critical hit reduction is there even without specialization.

 

It's there, but it scales with Specialization!

 

Ah, got it. That's not listed in the tooltip.

 

"One effect of light armor spec that is not mentioned is that this crit reduction effect from Evasion scales with spec!!! Get that 70% crit reduction!"

That was my favorite discovery about Light armor spec! When I saw my Evasion give me about 70% critical hit defense, I knew Light armor spec was not only my favorite spec now, but clearly underrated. Pairing Light armor with a shield (when you can) means you barely get crit, and when you do, it barely hurts more.

 

I agree with everything that's already been said, but I would also say that bludgeon spec is a lot more of a difference maker than other weapon specs. The boost to damage is pretty modest, just like all the other schools, but the added stun duration is huge. At high level, the stun duration on crushing blow is ridiculous, which can be very important since body slam is less of a staple for bludgeon due to heavy armor not synergizing so well with berserk. The added stun component to ground pound also makes it a much more powerful skill. Not that you necessarily have to use bludgeon spec if you use bludgeon, but it's a lot more viable relative to other things than other weapon schools are.

 

If you use Berserker's Stance, Tactics Spec will help you A LOT. It will enable the sickest big crits your character will ever experience!
If you want to increase your survivability, Bludgeon is great with very good CC.

So for soloing, I would say tactics spec'd heavy armor + shield + bludgeon.
The second spec? Probably bludgeon or Earth, which one will increase your damage output the most.

Well, at least that is the build I'm hoping to try one day when I'm sick of arrows.

I know you said you wanna do solo stuff, but Bludgeon is very desirable in any group, especially the higher level ones in which we fight super dangerous mobs that can wipe the group out if not properly handled.