Melee/spellcasting hybrid?

[TotallyKale]

Brand new to the game and I was curious.. are melee/spellcaster hybrids viable? Preferably Fighter, if not them, then anything else?

[slarden]

The best melee /spellcasting hybrid build for leveling is a wizard because of the bonus feats. The main question is whether to multiclass or not.

17 wizard/ 3 bard is good as swashbuckling gets you critical damage range and multiplier bonuses. 17 wizard / 3 fighter gives you 2 bonus feats and defensive stance for soloing plus all the proficiencies.

For self-healing you can either go palemaster or bladeforged/warforged with reconstruct.

Harper agent tree gives you int to hit and damage + an int-based trance.

I've also been running cleric melees with war domain. Quite effective for soloing with great self-healing.

[TotallyKale]

The best melee /spellcasting hybrid build for leveling is a wizard because of the bonus feats. The main question is whether to multiclass or not.

17 wizard/ 3 bard is good as swashbuckling gets you critical damage range and multiplier bonuses. 17 wizard / 3 fighter gives you 2 bonus feats and defensive stance for soloing plus all the proficiencies.

For self-healing you can either go palemaster or bladeforged/warforged with reconstruct.

Harper agent tree gives you int to hit and damage + an int-based trance.

I've also been running cleric melees with war domain. Quite effective for soloing with great self-healing.

So the 17 Wiz / 3 Fighter might be up my alley then. Is there a build you suggest, or should I just try and wing it? I feel like one wrong move and then I'd be forced to drop cash to respec haha.

[Deathmaster35]

So the 17 Wiz / 3 Fighter might be up my alley then. Is there a build you suggest, or should I just try and wing it? I feel like one wrong move and then I'd be forced to drop cash to respec haha.

Just get to 20 and then reincarnate, no need to respec

a really easy melee caster is just to be a level 20 wizard using eldrich knight. You are limited to touch range for your spells, but if you put Knights Transformation on a hotkey you can quickly turn it off when needed to throw a ranged spell.

The biggest issue with melee caster hybrids is their ability to function in epic levels(and some of the upper heroic levels) as saves on enemies get higher and higher and you have to choose between gear that helps you land spells and gear to help you in melee. The developers when designing gear specifically put the +DC gear in slots of the most important melee gear to make you choose one or the other, so no best of both currently.

Favored souls also make very good melee caster hybrids since they are full casters and have a tree that makes them fight well

[Hitstorm]

So the 17 Wiz / 3 Fighter might be up my alley then. Is there a build you suggest, or should I just try and wing it? I feel like one wrong move and then I'd be forced to drop cash to respec haha.

As mentioned, in epics there is the problem of gearing and you are pretty much forced to choose melee or caster in higher difficulties. It becomes even more difficult at level 30, where you really have to choose filigrees and a legendary feat
for either or. Feats and enhancements are also generally tight, and if you want to cast a spell that does more than just tickle if it hits, you need to invest more in casting feats.
My biggest gripe with trying to cast in melee range is latency. It's extremely annoying, and a failed cast puts the spell on cooldown. This becomes even more frustrating in groups, if you have someone take aggro and mobs
are just running past you while you are trying to cast a masshold for example. I did a wizard EK life, and i just had to do a lesser TR at 20 to full caster, it was so bad. If you have very low latency, your experience will likely be much better though

[archest]

Elven Eldritch Knight

[mikarddo]

17 clr, 2 mnk, 1 wiz can be very good as well. Also in epics.
Not my build so I dont know the details but I have seen it in action often.

[Hitstorm]

17 clr, 2 mnk, 1 wiz can be very good as well. Also in epics.
Not my build so I dont know the details but I have seen it in action often.

I havn't seen this on Sarlona yet, but i remember the Clonk was very popular back in the day. I never tried one, but did a druid version once (the Drunk)
I assume its taking War domain for holy sword and the tactics DC. Should be a great singletarget stunner, with additional epic strike 2-4 second stun
every 15 seconds. I assume 1 wiz is for the EK strike and +10% AC. Without having played it, i think that won't matter much at cap. Going 3mnk instead
won't get you much though, although its tempting for the +50% dodge from the epic moment in GMoF. For 30 seconds you would get dodge into
the high 80's to low 90's (25 base + 50 + 8 ocean stance + 3 race (DG) + reaper dodgecap). Enough time to take down any reaper or emergency tanking for a bit.
I might try it, just to check it out. I'm assuming getting DC's high enough for Implosion to work in harder content will be nigh impossible without using DC filigrees....
What difficulty content did you see it in?

[jasonayoung]

I play mainly melee casters and I've had a ton of them over the years. And a ton have been just horrid. Another ton were good but so precisely tuned around one ability, one item of gear, or one spell that they fell apart at the slightest update. I even had a melee arti. Egads!

Right now I have a pure wiz pale TWF dagger vistani which I posted in wiz forum, and a pure cleric thf "weird falconer" that I have not posted yet.

To me the key is getting your hp up with eDF and melee feats and only using caster stuff that's non targeting / centered on you. You need a lot of HP to get through burst damage. The next key is passive incoming healing due to combat.

----The dagger vampire has 3 sources of vampirism on hits and 2 auras. And does a lot of melee dps. He supplements that with Wail, eburst and NEB in rotation. Plays very smooth.

----The cleric is beefier and heals self and others for ~1K with an ampd ameliorating strike I passively heal the melees on the boss this way. Hes in warpriest T5 and shadiwdancer. He uses more AOE instakills. Implosion, weird, and shadow mastery get mass kills. And he swings a big stick for "just ok" dps. Bird attacks debuff and warpriest strike adds vulnerable so he's very useful all around.

He can also run through instakill things thanks to DI. Wall in shroud? Haha not today satan! Jello mold with a kobold inside? Let's touch it!
That freaks people out enough to be worth it by itself.

[unbongwah]

Brand new to the game and I was curious.. are melee/spellcaster hybrids viable?

SSG has just announced that Druid, Monk, and Warlock are about to become F2P. So if you like shapeshfting, anyone will be able to play a bear druid soon. [Or wolf, of course.] You'll also be able to use one of the soon-to-be-F2P races; half-elf, half-orc, and wood elf would all make good melee druids.

[KoobTheProud]

Elven Eldritch Knight

Or Drow Eldritch Knight. With a side of Palemaster thrown in.

It's hard for me to believe that the best hybrid melee/caster is not a pure Wizard with the EK Capstone and enough PM to stay up through any likely sequence of damage.

Among other things you give up nothing in terms of casting because Wizards get the 5 free spell casting feats.

[jasonayoung]

Or Drow Eldritch Knight. With a side of Palemaster thrown in.

It's hard for me to believe that the best hybrid melee/caster is not a pure Wizard with the EK Capstone and enough PM to stay up through any likely sequence of damage.

Among other things you give up nothing in terms of casting because Wizards get the 5 free spell casting feats.

+1 vote for going pure. Really no reason not too. Since the universal trees and some races solve the issue of using casting stats for hit/dmg, it's a no Brainer.

The question you need to answer first yourself is play style. Do you solo mainly or raid in groups. Soloing gives you tremendous freedom to enjoy the quirks of your masterpiece. Grouping means you sprint to clear trash and then chip in meaningful dps on the end boss, while staying alive and not annoying anyone. You can build for a raid role and be specialized or more general utility. Ed's, gear and filigree add 3 dimensions of customization now that it isn't just a Stat race to 100.

[jasonayoung]

To the OP, tell us how you like to play. And we can get you closer.

Instakill, CC, or direct spell dps? Or all 3?
Do you mind dying every now and then?
How many buttons can you tolerate pressing?
How many toolbars can you actively manage in combat?
Do you want to raid above r1?
Can you actively self heal well or prefer passive?

That'll narrow it down some

[Certon]

So the 17 Wiz / 3 Fighter might be up my alley then. Is there a build you suggest, or should I just try and wing it? I feel like one wrong move and then I'd be forced to drop cash to respec haha.

Maybe avoid hybrid altogether and go with a Warforged Eldritch Knight Wizard or Sorcerer. 100% caster 100% melee and self-heals too. You won't get the third tier of TWF THF OR SWF until level 21, but you'll get it.

Or you can do the same build with any other race and just invest in the Pale Master tree as well (on wizard, at least) and get Death Aura negative self healing and still be able to melee with the EK tree. There are enough points to go around to invest heavily into both. But if you want the melee feel, at least 41 points in EK for full spellsword dice.