How do people play Casters in this game ?

"Melees are very forgiving"

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Shagsbeard wrote:

IDK how people "just run around and everything melts within seconds". That would bore the socks off me.

Yeah, I feel that way about ZDPS.

Watching Quin's stream yesterday was like a trip to some alternate reality - ohh, that's why reddit complained about the new map bosses being too hard - they actually have mechanics and use skills... pretty cool stuff.

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moedexter wrote:

"Melees are very forgiving"

Damn this one made me laugh really good.

Well Casters/Miners are very good mana tanks or alternatively played as CI their damage scaling is almost unmatched and playstyle is uszally from safe distance.

Melee is usually low damage and low scaling with low ceiling, slams being the exception in damage although come with drawback of slow abd super clunky. On top close combat requires more defence and therefore forces even lower dps values.

If i had to recommend a starter a archetype it would be either minions, mines or spells. Melee would be the last thing i would recommend from objective perspective.

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xMustard wrote:

the most defensive aspect in this game IMO is mobility, and melee severely lacks that, and to me that feels like shit.

Yeah, they seldom explicitly mention it but I think you need at least 140+ movement speed to feel like not being cast under the truck all the time. People talk about defensive layers but +mv is one of the most important ones and often absolutely necessary.

Caster usually go MoM with archmage. Non-archmage/MoM caster is iffy right now. You could make it work with aura stacking or stacking a lot of crit but then your survivability will suffer without serious investment (going full crit is not cheap usually).

Traditional spell casting without archmage is largely niche right now, unless dot-based or as I said, via archmage, and using very specific uniques like Pledge of hands or Eternity Shroud.

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vmt80 wrote:

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xMustard wrote:

the most defensive aspect in this game IMO is mobility, and melee severely lacks that, and to me that feels like shit.

Yeah, they seldom explicitly mention it but I think you need at least 140+ movement speed to feel like not being cast under the truck all the time. People talk about defensive layers but +mv is one of the most important ones and often absolutely necessary.

i'd agree. thats why some of the most punishing and dangerous things are roots, MASSIVE delirium slow, and now ritual vines that also make it so you can't use movement skill

everyone says in this game if you stand still, you die. this is true. but this also implies a good way to stay alive is to stay moving.

just the way attacks and spells work in this game too, if you're moving, you're much more likely to not get hit. imagine a guy running up to you, then stops, then swings his club. if you're running super fast, by the time he stops and swings, you're already a screen away and you cannot be hit. same with spells. they fly across the screen and unless you stand still or run into them, moving is your best bet to avoid them totally.

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zzang wrote:

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moedexter wrote:

"Melees are very forgiving"

Damn this one made me laugh really good.

Well Casters/Miners are very good mana tanks or alternatively played as CI their damage scaling is almost unmatched and playstyle is uszally from safe distance.

Melee is usually low damage and low scaling with low ceiling, slams being the exception in damage although come with drawback of slow abd super clunky. On top close combat requires more defence and therefore forces even lower dps values.

If i had to recommend a starter a archetype it would be either minions, mines or spells. Melee would be the last thing i would recommend from objective perspective.

Yeah pretty much. I heard gladiators are doing okay with block build though. Berserkers kills everything before they do. Juggs can do fine, just without crit now the undeserved nerf.

I'm a caster and I do fine.

Problems are small areas or a larger number of mobs nearby you can't kill fast enough. Miners are safer than casters because they can stay farer away and "can shoot around corners".
(Ok when you can stop mobs by freezing or sth else like minions that's a different game.)
Some boss rooms are small, Rituals are small and very crowded.

And I think Heist and Rituals are not balanced well.
That makes them even more dangerous.
My caster needs good gear to survive -10 level lower Rituals or Heists.
And has to avoid the most dangerous map mods too.
She could do them (with a little risc) in open areas.

Last league my zombie + skeleton summoner hadn't this problem with Heists :-)
And most bosses were easy too.
You have huge dps and minions which tank for you.

As a (very) long time melee player, I actually agree with OP here.

Every time I play caster, I feel like it's all about the DPS, blowing up screens before anything can get close to you, while maintaining the minimum amount of defense in case of disaster.

As melee, I feel way more "connected" to the game, and feel like I'm interacting more with the environment. No, I don't necessarily kill screens, but I leech, I can take lots of hits and I have life gain on hit. I feel like I'm fighting, and not just deleting enemies.

Melee scales bad at first, but when you get it going, it really gets going. No problems with the 4xBreachlord fight, no problems with 100% Delirium maps (even though I haven't tried T17+ ones yet). Plating 100% Delirium maps as a caster? Haven't tried. Can't imagine. Don't have the knowledge.