Solid nontwink, exclusively-solo class?

[Iljushka]

Hello,

I am a returning player, after about a year-and-a-half long break, and I'm looking for advice and tips on what to play as an alt character.
The situation happens to be this: we play as a 2-man group and we decided to start anew, on a different realm from my previous one. In order not to get ahead on xp and levels, I can't play when my mate is not online. He plans to keep reincarnating and trying different stuff every time, so staying at max lvl and playing whatever, whenever is also not an option. Thus I'd like to have an alt that I can switch to when the usual "brb 20min walking the dog" happens or when I feel like playing at odd times, stupid o'clock in the morning, grinding dungeons, gathering stuff, making money and so on.

My previous toon was a melee bard which I loved, TRed into a weird warforged archmage which I played rather like a sorcerer/nuker. But that was also fun.
Currently, I play a half-orc acrobat, slowly getting to 20, so far so good.

My idea is that this alt character:
- Will not have tome of learning, will not have tomes (* at least not on 7 and 11; it likely will have the funds later if the tomes bring some valuable improvement and are worth it).
- 32pt build, quite possibly staying on first life for ever (including epic destinies, but that takes a while I guess). No gear prepared in advance, no clickies for switching, no airship etc.
- Most importantly, should be self-sufficient with little effort. I know anyone can be self-sufficient with lots of money and imba gear, but that's not available to me. I liked both the bard and wizard being able to selfheal, get some buffs done, knock a chest or door.. Hirelings are okay, as long as they are only an added bonus, or their purpose is to pull a lever or something. On my current rogue, I don't last very long without divine hireling throwing heals on me, even in very low content the mobs sometimes get lucky and land a hit or ray or something, and with no means to get the hp back, it just slowly dissipates. I know, pots, wands, scrolls.. but other toons can do well even without those.
- This goes with the previous, should be able to solo almost any dungeon on normal/hard. That being said, what are the new, 20+ dungeons like? So far, I have seen only some of the challenges (in vaults of artificers) and on lower CR. Is it possible to solo the content from the expansion, underdark and elite dungeons, just as easily as the old stuff (= with only little preparation required), or does it get much harder?
- Melee, ranged or caster doesn't really matter much. Artificer would have to be bought, FvS would have to be grinded from favor.
- So far, I was looking at bard (again; possibly something unusual, AA maybe, if it works? melee otherwise), the usual suspects of (wf) sorcerer and (pm) wizard, (thf/a bit tankier) paladin, and (light) monk. Also, Mr.Cow playing his druid looked incredibly amazing, but so does everything he plays.
- Playing it should be at least a bit fun

So, any advice or tips on what is currently in, what is still good, and what to stay clear of?

[cidchronic]

I am in a similar situation, so i made a batman, pally/rouge for a solo class. traps, self healing, dwarf (for axe), S & B for ac, Umd for scrolls, DoS and US. Great fun, can solo, works good in group. But it might not be for everyone, hope this help, good luck and welcome back.

[t0r012]

Human healing amp monk, light path
First grind , jidz'tek bracers , pretty easy(level5 so easy not even a "grind")
Second grind vampiric stonedust wraps (level 11-12-13ish or buy on AH)
Last grind DT healing amp armor (levels 15-16-17) this one is a bit of a grind but I ground out mostly solo over a 2week period so not like 20 raid completions.

Amp + lesser vampirism + FoL + healing ki + stuns on demand + jade tomb + super saves + ect, ect.
Darn near unkillable

Sure you don't get traps, but that only looses you bonus xp as traps aren't a problem for a monk. Your ranged is way weak but there are few things you can't get to.

Biggest issue I have is running other toons after going monk. Other toons need shrines and stuff but I think I could run a monk life and never touch a shrine.

[Iljushka]

Well I don't mind the grind, it's what you do to get what you need.

My biggest concern with the monk is the lack of aoe. I remember how annoying it was when I was trying out some dualwielder and I had to explicitly target every single of the mobs in the waterworks But I guess with solid kill speed it does not matter much.

What are the lvl20+ areas like? When solo, are players still able to easily breeze through?

[t0r012]

Well I don't mind the grind, it's what you do to get what you need.

My biggest concern with the monk is the lack of aoe. I remember how annoying it was when I was trying out some dualwielder and I had to explicitly target every single of the mobs in the waterworks But I guess with solid kill speed it does not matter much.

What are the lvl20+ areas like? When solo, are players still able to easily breeze through?

Farmed rusted blades (matron chest for stun ring and end chest for drow weapkns to sell/rrade) as a level 20 without any issues Grand master of flowers has just made things easier.

No hireling soloed all the quests up to and including that one. And that is without fancy ship buffs (no 30 resists or +2 stats for me) truth be told I don't even bother grabbing the few buffs that are on my boat. The heal amp one is nice though just enough to bump me up to 3 on my lesser camp wraps (yes I still use stonedusts when soloing epic)

I still haven't gotten this toon a holy ToD ring yet.

-----
Edit:add
That dragon in the kings forest did make me his 3!t(#. A few times.
So there is some stuff you can't do solo

[byzantinebob]

Human healing amp monk, light path
First grind , jidz'tek bracers , pretty easy(level5 so easy not even a "grind")
Second grind vampiric stonedust wraps (level 11-12-13ish or buy on AH)
Last grind DT healing amp armor (levels 15-16-17) this one is a bit of a grind but I ground out mostly solo over a 2week period so not like 20 raid completions.

Amp + lesser vampirism + FoL + healing ki + stuns on demand + jade tomb + super saves + ect, ect.
Darn near unkillable

Sure you don't get traps, but that only looses you bonus xp as traps aren't a problem for a monk. Your ranged is way weak but there are few things you can't get to.

Biggest issue I have is running other toons after going monk. Other toons need shrines and stuff but I think I could run a monk life and never touch a shrine.

Could not agree more. Wholeness of Body even allows you to shrine without a shrine if needed. Also, improved evasion + stupidly high monk saves also should not be left out.

[unbongwah]

If you don't mind the repetition of playing another arcane, WF sorc would probably be my vote (acid+fire or acid+cold are good combos for leveling): plenty of survivability & DPS, decent CC w/spells like Web, does fairly well with modest gear. I find the earliest levels to be the most annoying on arcanes, when you've got low HPs + low caster DPS; in fact I often just use Master's Touch + decent 2H weapon + Bull's STR to take out mobs that way. [EDIT: or grab a Moonhowl Axe if you can, since it uses CHA for to-hit & dmg.] Once you get over that hump and hit lvl 6 / Savant I, though, it gets easier. At that point, if I bother with hirelings at all, it's either a Spellsinger for Spellsong Trance or a cleric w/DV for a portable SP battery.

[MalkavianX]

Human healing amp monk, light path
First grind , jidz'tek bracers , pretty easy(level5 so easy not even a "grind")
Second grind vampiric stonedust wraps (level 11-12-13ish or buy on AH)
Last grind DT healing amp armor (levels 15-16-17) this one is a bit of a grind but I ground out mostly solo over a 2week period so not like 20 raid completions.

Amp + lesser vampirism + FoL + healing ki + stuns on demand + jade tomb + super saves + ect, ect.
Darn near unkillable

Sure you don't get traps, but that only looses you bonus xp as traps aren't a problem for a monk. Your ranged is way weak but there are few things you can't get to.

Biggest issue I have is running other toons after going monk. Other toons need shrines and stuff but I think I could run a monk life and never touch a shrine.

I agree with this choice as well. That being said, if you're open to it not being a pure class, I would suggest one of Thanimals builds: The Quad H.

It's a Halfling Fighter 12/Monk 7/Wizard 1 split. Super fun to play and more healing than I know what to do with. And yes, the 1 level of wizard is necessary for the metamagic feats to fuel the halfling healing dragonmarks (among other things). Give it a look, I promise you won't be disappointed.

[voodoogroves]

Clonk. Monk for the stunning fist, cleric for the AoE badassery.

[Kinerd]

WF sorcerer is the ultimate in low resource power.

-the arcane's incredible spell book and enhancement palette
-immunity to level drain
-exorbitantly large SP pool
-extremely cheap and extremely powerful direct damage SLAs
-potent self healing from level 1
-dungeon scaling keeps direct damage viable for much longer
-dungeon scaling also keeps trap damage from becoming unmanageable, plus you have resists on command

Monks with supercharged healing amp are great, but you don't get handed Vampiric Wraps at level 12. A sorcerer does get handed Reconstruct.

[Iljushka]

I agree with this choice as well. That being said, if you're open to it not being a pure class, I would suggest one of Thanimals builds: The Quad H.

It's a Halfling Fighter 12/Monk 7/Wizard 1 split. Super fun to play and more healing than I know what to do with. And yes, the 1 level of wizard is necessary for the metamagic feats to fuel the halfling healing dragonmarks (among other things). Give it a look, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Now this looks mighty interesting and out of the ordinary. Having never played anything like it, I guess I will try it at least a little bit to see what happens

The clonk is also verry appealing. But there are so many variations of it :s Decisions, decisions.

[Daemoneyes]

Monks with supercharged healing amp are great, but you don't get handed Vampiric Wraps at level 12. A sorcerer does get handed Reconstruct.

Actually you can get them handed
+0 Acid of lesser Vampirism is minlvl7 with cannith shard minlvl5
Sure no stun, but its cheap and fast

[Uska]

human or halfelf light path monk

[MalkavianX]

Now this looks mighty interesting and out of the ordinary. Having never played anything like it, I guess I will try it at least a little bit to see what happens

The clonk is also verry appealing. But there are so many variations of it :s Decisions, decisions.

I'd also like to add that you get 3 or 4 level one wizard spells. This would allow you to ignore (for a while anyways) clickies that'd normally give you Shield, Detect Secret Doors, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, and Jump.
By level 7 (assuming you have Vet II status) you're 3 Fighter/3 Monk/1 Wizard. That gives you Evasion, Fists of Light (healing), and Least and Lesser Dmark of Healing with Maximize (and possibly 2 extra uses of Dmarks through enhancements). That's 5 clw and 4 csw.

• LessDmark - 5*((1d6+2)+5)*1.5 for Maximize*1.1 for monk recovery = (assuming 3 average roll) = 16*5 uses = 80 health
• LeastDmark - 4*((3d6+2)+15)*1.5 for Maximize*1.1 for monk recovery = (assuming 9 average roll) = 43*4 uses = 172 health

And you've got maybe 130-ish health (not including items/tomes) at level 7. That's enough healing to get you through to any shrine.

I rolled up a vet II Quad H and rolled through Co6 to get into the Brotherhood of BYOH. Did it on norm and here's the resulting screenshots. I had a few items that I bought with hand me down cash, but not very many. Imho I think it could easily be done with starter gear.



I really can't help but push this build, it's just so... so... FUN!

[EnjoyTheJourney]

A caster druid that makes routine use of the "spring resurgence" enhancement on self, pets, and teammates seems likely to solo well.

Spring resurgence cuts down a lot on SP expenditures for healing, allowing a caster druid to focus SP use mostly on buffs and offense.

My guess is that over time multiclass characters that incorporate spring resurgence will become quite popular, when players have more time to think through the possible synergies.

[Snapdragoon]

hard to compete with Helf Light Monks.

however i find that BFS build is also fairly easy to solo. my own version is 1 druid, 13 rogue, 6 monk. the 1 druid also gives you access to cure serious wands at level 1, and rogue +wand% helps it even further. very nice early on before you get a high UMD

[jeremyt]

Not meaning to outright trash other people's advice. And to who that applies to, i am sorry in advance.

Anywho, I disagree with folks leaning towards anything that moves away from a class that heals itself from a blue bar. Blue bars can heal while AVOIDING enemies. Nuke large groups/AOE CC and damage.

There is no comparison. A WF sorc will be figuring out ways to squeak through EE content solo. A solo monk really has very few options for timely completions at EE difficulties. I think a solo-mostly undergeared monk can be downright challenging. With low DPS in many situations soloing on elite difficulties is out of the question. Once gear and PLs stack up I believe monks really fire up in performance and then you have a really good self healing contender..still not as outright powerful as a sorc/wiz/fvs/cle obviously. but very capable and FAST toon.

For what this guy describes: wf sorc, wf archmage. human/horc or helf monk splash fvs with some limited melee. Or a human pure caster fvs.

The wf sorc stands out in brutal simplicity and effectiveness with the room to grow into a very complex and effective toon. Really the sky is the limit, and the gear is pretty easy to gather. With air savant's immunity to knockdowns it in my opinion is very nearly the best balance of performance/survivability and utility available. The very large added benefit of fvs like leap of faith to help speed up farming runs is tremendous for feeding resources to less powerful alts/projects. A sorc's ability to completely max nuke power to solo bosses is the very best in game, with a few situational exceptions ofc.

The wf archmage option is solid, easier to fill effective CC or insta rolls in EE content than the WF sorc. i liked archmage significantly less than savants but everyone has a dif opinion on this.

monk fighter and/or barb splashed fvs with melee. With current ED setup a fvs with moderate investment into melee can be effective in both casting and melee. With monk splashes the huge synergy with high wis DC caster specced builds and grandmaster of flowers EiN is huge. Gear to set up a caster fvs is basic, widely available and very normally passed to the divine in raids.

Played cleric few times. a clonk, flonk and pure. Decent. I perfer fvs personally. But cleric is still deffinately a more capable/easier to gear and be effective than a monk/any melee.

A WF arti is a very solid option and the ranged/runearm aspect to combat can be fun/different. The blade barriers are brutal, and the reconstructs are great. Blast rod and tactical det are both very solid spells. I have only played arti to cap twice, and both times I had availability of twinkage, so my view on them might be a little inflated. I do know SP capacity was always an issue and SP management was a constant deal.

In easy content where chugging a cure serious pot with semi decent amp is all you need to maintain the HP bar with vamp/heal curses rollin. Awesome..but no way is an under geared monk a viable choice for gaining capability fast and attacking harder content. Any blue bar/self healing build will be better.

PS not meaning to bash monks. My fav class, have a completionist one even

[Aashrym]

I'll put another vote in for clonk. If you were a bard and wizard before clonk would be a similar but different choice. It will take you a while to grind out FvS if you don't wish to purchase it but they do make strong solo characters.

[Mellkor]

For soloing, nothing beats a WF FvS Lord of Blades. IMO.

And I have tried most of the builds described here at one time or other.

The WF FvS was the best soloer out of the bunch, with a pure WF wizzy a close second.

[jbleargh]

If you "know the quests" WF Sorc is unbeatable. Easy self healing and till mid lvls a heightened/maximised Niac's cold ray slas one shot stuff all the time for 2 sp.

The problem is the spell selection and different playstyle. You need plan the spells and learn to zerg a little.

You need to avoid entering a quest with mobs immune to all your spells and know the amount of mobs that you can herd through your CC/AoE without dying.

Also, consider Human Palemaster. Wizards have a bit more complex playstyle (nuking like a sorc = run out of sp), but you can learn to use all the arcane spells.

If want to go the slow and steady way... Helf light monk with cleric dilletant. You can go at your own pace... DPS is not uber, but mobs will have a really hard time trying to kill you.

If you don't mind running with a hireling... Full ****** pure horc barbarian. Kills things much faster than a monk. Big damage numbers are fun.

FVS, Clonk, cleric with fighter splash, etc. They are all soloable (I never made a cleric with fighter splash), but if, eventually, you want to join a pug you need to learn to heal or deal with drama.

My personal taste... Full ****** barbarian with hireling. It is powerful from lvl 1 till 25, faster to solo things than a monk and you don't have to worry about a blue bar, DCs, immunities, etc

As a rule, new content is easier to solo. There are no plates, levers, runes that need other players to complete.