I love to theorycraft and min/max. I would like to share some of my thoughts given the current state of the game. Also, with the game still being developed, everything is still subject to future balance changes.
Besides AIEW and ADET, here are some thoughts of interesting builds;
ASOW The highest total str+dex is only possible with Elf and Orc warrior(24+8 total), and of these obviously the Orc gives a better balance when you want Str main stat. Compared to the giant, you lose 3 str, but gain 4 dex. When you factor in the importance of Dexterity for hit/critrates, dodges and shrugs, as discussed in a different topic (https://realmserver.com/forum/general/dexterity-melee-2hander) recently, ASOW can easily become the new ASGW.
ADOT With the new melee dex lifesteal weapons available such as Imp Talons and Thiebs Plade, the most important stat combination for this type of build would be the sum of Dex+End. The only build that can reach 24 (+8) Dex+End is the Orc Thief. This build is also strong enough to be able to wield heavier armor compared to the elf dex toons, at the expense of spell strength. This would be my choice of melee dex toon. I call this the "evasion tank", where the strategy involves staying alive through dodging and stealing life, rather than just soaking damage.
ADEW This is already well known I suppose, but given that Int now affects your chance to crit, you are interested in the least amount of "wasted stats". In this case - compared to ADET - you will give up 3 str and 1 end for a lot more int, making you a very strong caster as well. I call these builds (and variants, such as 20dex/20int) the "Battle Wizard".
Do you have any other suggestions?
I make a specific kind of toon for when I'm coming back to the game solo and don't want to have another account to double time it. What I do is make an adventuring elf wiz that has higher intell, but good str and dex. Like my base stats are 10 str, 15 dex, 18 intell, 5 endur. The reason I do it this way is because for a solo who wants to make a chanter, you know your chanter will be too weak to lift anything till you can get chants. But also, you want this more well rounded toon so you get the best of both worlds for everything but the higher caves. I do this toon first and make my second the chanter. An adventuring elf wiz has pretty good casting and once you get weapon skills, they can hit well, too. So after you get all the spells, med, a few weapons and crit strike, you find you have a great toon for low and mid level caves. And you can usually chant a 3x real well, too. So I do this, then when I get to around level 200 to 300, I make my AIEW for chanting. My third toon will be my tank, my fourth will be any odd combo. Like an all intel high dex thief or something. I always like to mix it up. Yeah, my current endur is awful without endur items, but in the end it really pays off. You find later on that you're strong enough and it doesn't matter that much by then, especially if you summon and stay invis. And when you're tired of casting and feel like hitting, with a good permed weapon, you really do well. I'm all for making all different stat toons. I think it adds so much more fun to the game than just making the same old boring AIEW or a full str tank toon.
I love my asgw and aiew team. I want a solo guy too and I just made an all strength human wizard I am messimg around with. I didnt know int factors in crit so he might do decent.
Like my base stats are 10 str, 15 dex, 18 intell, 5 endur.
This is interesting,(Almost) All str elf wiz, especially with the new 2h weapons that add to magic damage. Most elf wiz builds add more dex and use throwers to deal physical damage, and with this build I feel like the high dex is a bit wasted. Do you think an all int human adv (10/10/18/10) or a 10/11/18/9 human wiz would be better rounded?
I want a solo guy too and I just made an all strength human wizard I am messimg around with.
Another pretty classic 14/14 build, but the human wiz is unique in that it can "drop" 1 end into 1 dex. How does this feel, compared to say, a 14/7/14/13 giant wiz?
Alot of people think Dex is a waste, but Dex makes you harder to hit and helps give more combat rounds. You move faster, too. To me, it's never a waste.
My human adv wiz did well years ago. It really depends on where and what you're fighting. Most adv hybrids will do very well in mid to low caves. The problems start when you try to do the harder stuff and you find you might not be strong enough or your spells aren't sticking enough. And this is why high Dex with GM acrobatics might just save your life. If you can dodge well, you might survive, but without it, that might mean dying. If you wear BoD for an extra dodge, that helps, too.
You want as much as possible in your "main stats". For adventurers using melee weapons, this is mostly str and int. To me, it seems odd to have that much focus on a secondary stat. If the point is to have minimum waste on endurance, then I can totally understand (and even support) this choice.
"The history" behind 14/14 is that legacy Realm was about breakpoints. Traditionally, adventurers would wear one RoI, one RoE and AoC/AoFW to get the most out of the items. At 17 int (just above 100% SDM), there was a huge breakpoint in myst duration, freeze shrugs, etc. From 14 int, 17 is easily obtainable. (And then they added DP gear, allowing a fully geared adventurer to reach 17 int from 10 base, but I digress.)
With the current changes in myst and SDM, we don't have these "hard breakpoints" anymore, meaning you are more flexible in distributing your stat points. With the new weapons, even more interesting builds are viable. I think this is great. However, this simple fact remains: You cannot get more than 28 combined base str+int - ranging all the way from 3/25 to 26/2.
I feel weaker on this server than the Mistwalkers server. I had pretty much identical stats to what I have now, and my spells are weaker. I'm GM Med, right now I only have 129 SDM, thats with one roi. The only difference I had on the other server was one more roi and a Mageblade. We'll see how that goes when I get those, but I feel my spells are weaker here, where I was rockin with it over there.
I have an 16/16/4/12 orc warrior using imp talons/shield poi/bod as my tank. He dodges/blocks very well, and does reasonable damage, while healing him for about 1k a round. In retrospect I could have dropped 4 points off str and put him at 20 dex, but overall I'm pretty happy with where he is at.
Ok so first off Orc warrior can not hit 20 dex, it caps out at 19. The thief can hit 21.
This seems like a very solid and versatile hitter in general with str base weapons though, but you wasted an awful lot in str if you wanted dex main stat toon. Should be a very nimble sword and board tank, for example.
An All Dex Orc Warrior I think may be interesting as a sword/board tank. You won't need more than 13 Str for wearing heavy armor, and you end up with 2 less "wasted" points in Int compared to going with a Thief. Gain +1 End for the 2 Dex trade off. Seems worth it to me. There's a greater utility to the +3 str (even if using Dex as main stat/weapon) than +2 int, even at the 2 Dex trade off to avoid the wasted int points.
Or, something I may want to try someday is avoid all waste int stats for a sword/board hitter, and going with a Giant warrior at 4/4 str Dex (base stat 20/11/2/15) you lose 1 str vs and ASOW, same base dex, and gain 3 endurance. No wasted int points. And SoT with this char would be very interesting, +1 Dodge (and enough dex to actually use it), and +25% Thaum will make up (some) for the lack of Int and give the char at least some modest healing ability.
