Pumping physique, like many builds do, ensures your DA is always high enough and the Shaman issue with a lower amount of base OA/DA doesn't really come into play until late-game gearing min/maxing. Wendigo's flat health early on is massive which means your character just heals faster than anything can damage him, even while mostly ignoring armor and resists. And one of the first things I did immediately think of was that Shaman is one of the faster/easier masteries to level through the lower difficulties. Ya know, after the last post about Shaman it got me thinking to what the Shaman IS good at, which somewhat lead to this thread.

Originally posted by raubrey:FWIW My Shaman playthrough has been a lot easier than Occultist or Demo ? Inquisitor Well, one thing is for sure, it will be nice being able to dual-pistol without sacrificing an item slot for it. Personally, I don't like some of the limitations of pet builds, so I'm hoping the non-pet stuff is interesting or viable enough to carry the mastery. A lot of aether/vitality, which seems awkward now, but with all the new gear and devotions, the combination may be more comfortable in the expansion. ? Necromancer A mystery! On the one hand, spooky skeletons. Overall, has a lot of downsides and you spend a lot of your devotions, augments, and gear just trying to compensate for them rather than enhancing. Wendigo Totem gives out massive constant %-based heal over time. Primal Strike is one of the most visually impressive attacks in the game. Slow speed, low base OA/DA outside of Savagery-specific builds, 2-handers in general are not as good. Shaman Considering my other recent post, to no surprise I'm putting Shaman at bottom. Like it is almost top tier, but just not quite there.Д¦. The entire mastery often feels like it is running at 80% efficiency. Panetti's, while decent with absolutely perfect gear, has this awkward elemental/aether split and gearing for that is surprisingly difficult (gear with only elemental or only aether is effectively half a bonus). Inner Focus gives a decent OA% boost, however the mastery has low base OA so it only breaks even. Iskandra's, as a weapon buff, requires heavy focus on all elements to be worth (if only using 1 out of the 3 elements, you are essentially using a third of the skill). No speed boosts except for cast speed, which is already the easiest to cap. However, this mastery comes with some drawbacks. Albrecht's Aether Ray does massive single target dps. Maiven's, and the conversion to boost those odd secondary resists, is good. Arcanist I suspect I will get quite a few who disagree with Arcanist being ranked this low, but I have my reasons. All of which have less-than-desirable reputations.ДҐ. It also needs to be mentioned that, while all of these have gotten buffs since release, this is also the mastery which has Doombolt, Raven, and Pox. However, Occultist tends to be a bit more focused, with pets and chaos/vitality needing specific builds to truly function well. Occultist This mastery shares a similar set-up to Demolitionist with decent OA boosts, relatively weak defenses, and some resist reduction. Even so, many Nightblade combinations end up with dual-wield badassery and perform well.Д¤.

However, the damage types and reduction tend to be a bit more niche and perform best in melee range, so I had to rank behind Demolitionist which has more utility and options. Decent speed, self-heal, some resist reduction, ability to dual-wield without trinket and various procs for doing so, movement skill. Nightblade Similar to Demolitionist, this mastery adds some significant offensive capability.

Many of the top dps builds feature Demolitionist.ДЈ. Fire is arguably one of the better supported damage types, but that aside the mastery also brings massive OA, decent passive speed boost, and the best default weapon replacer. What Soldier brings in defense, the Demolitionist brings in offense. Demolitionist It was a close tie to Nightblade, but the number two spot goes to Demolitionist. Even when ignoring the Crucible DLC, the Soldier is a solid backbone to any other mastery.Дў. While other masteries bring more offensive capability, when it comes to pushing both offense and defense simultaneously the Soldier mastery is a clear favorite.

Soldier I had to give the top spot to the Soldier mastery. Because I can, and because lists are funДЎ. In this thread I will rank the masteries.

Grim dawn class list