Guide to Melee Class
Forget about stacking armor, dodge, or block. They’re alright, but they’re not consistent. If you’re looking for defense, go all in on vigor. HP is where it’s at for most builds. It’s your best bet for staying alive. No complicated calculations or rolls, just check if your HP is high enough. Simple, right?
Now, don’t skimp on willpower either. Aim for over 10, but higher is better. Basically, you want to heal more than half your HP in a normal turn. If you’re not focusing on strength or dexterity, willpower is your friend. It boosts your healing, which keeps you going.
As for the rest, focus on dishing out damage and being fast. Most melee builds rely on one thing: killing stuff as soon as they get close. You don’t want to linger in melee range for long. Take out enemies before they can touch you. That’s the key to survival, especially for melee characters.
- Vigor is useful as Jack says but I’ve found that in general you can get away with just ~1000-2000 life (depends on the cycle, especially at 6+, stuff is generally balanced around cycle 1)
- Willpower can be good to get around 10 to make sure you get some enhanced healing
- I like using a Lochra Reaver with Gore Cleave + Technique, Bloodbath, then other stuff, usually either fire / death, bheith nochti for armor and some melee retaliation
- I’m usually always putting Strength into that, but dexterity is always useful. Having 100+ dodge on top of high armor / block can help with a ton of potential damage
- Alhaja Templar is very fun with Humbaba and prayer-focused things
- Mubarizun you can emphasize more DEX and on-hit / on-step stuff
- Warrior starts with inflexibility and a shield, you can raise a ton of Block and use Guard + on-hit stuff – Astrohunting is very useful on builds like this to get close to long-ranged enemies
- Having a familiar or a few summons also helps a lot just to absorb initial hits, as does applying things like entangle / freeze through retaliation to slow enemies down
- Always be careful around big groups of ranged enemies / people with corrosion. Certain lands generate wide-open spaces that you might want to avoid (dune sea, pink stars)
You can be a very buff melee fighter with no armor.Viable up to cycle 10 at least, based on my recent ape adventures.
- Start with a race/class strong without armor like Ape or Reaver. Warrior is great for just the starting sword and shield.
- First add 5 levels of Bheith Nocht + the awesome Bheith Nochti prestige class
- Gods: Dumuzi or Oros to have full heals, many prayers to upgrade weapons, and summons to tank some ranged attacks.
- Add enough strength to be unencumbered, then raise willpower for damage and healing.
- Healing: either no armor + Life chant, or the Emerald Helm + no healing skills.
- By the mid-game, you have high evasion, decent block, and decent armor, and a weapon+shield with 1000 base hit.
- Add extra attacks like Technique or Herja, and extra dodge with Mirror Image or Agility.
- Move carefully near endgame ranged attackers, they can still kill you with a few lucky hits on open terrain. Melee enemies don’t last long due to your many extra attacks.
How to Deal with Crystals
These guys are pretty awful for summon builds in general. I found that works the Valr culture (damages an enemy for 20% Block on ally death) and some way to boost your Block.
My usual tip for those who know they will be slower than enemies: retaliate blight cult, warlock, valr with punish them for killing your summons, for example master bleed/entangle/scorch will damage them from far away. Also, can try teleporting to them if you’re melee/close range, with transal spear or other means.
Without any armor, you could be a very strong melee fighter. 😀
viable—at least through cycle 10—according to my most recent ape experiences.
– Begin with a strong class or race like Reaver or Ape that does not wear armor. Warrior is excellent for just the initial shield and sword.
– Then, add five more levels of Bheith Nocht and the fantastic Bheith Nochti prestige class. The gods Dumuzi or Oros can be summoned to tank some ranged attacks, have full heals, and receive a lot of prayers to upgrade their weapons.
– Increase willpower for both damage and healing, then add enough strength to be unencumbered.
– Healing: the Emerald Helm + no healing abilities, or no armor + Life Chant.
By the middle of the game, your weapon and shield have 1000 base hit, you have good evasion, decent blocking, and decent armor.
– Increase the amount of dodge with Mirror Image or Agility and the amount of attacks with Technique or Herja.
Be cautious when approaching endgame ranged enemies because, in open areas, they can still kill you with a few well-placed blows. Your numerous additional attacks cause melee opponents to fade quickly.
I generally play warrior classes, but I prefer to avoid melee combat whenever I can. With Psifist, you can punch someone from a distance. Fighting allows you to strike repeatedly. Crazy things happen when you combine that with something that affects hit. You can also be extremely tanky because master repulsion raises your block, mesmer grants dodge, and certain items raise your armor. When two handing, Asi Malak also increases your range by one level. Additionally, many two-handed weapons strike everything within their range. When combined with Eris, the screen can be cleared fairly reliably.
I’ve got technique warrior into champion to work on the highest cycle if you really want to position yourself next to the opponents. It’s a fairly easy run, though you can still get screwed over by enough ranged enemies in the wrong places. Going all out in snake form can also be effective.
Melee is definitely a viable strategy. I would cross a few items off the list in Cycle 1, which is the cycle where the game is balanced for and is, in my opinion, the most played cycle by strong players.
1. Being sufficiently well. Vigor is sometimes perceived by newcomers to Achra as the “you’re losing so you picked this for a heal” option. It’s true that this button is among the strongest. I usually like to have more than 2000 health at the end of melee builds. As a general rule, make sure you have enough health to withstand the effects of the highest hit monster you can see for at least one hit. More if your recovery isn’t going well.
2. Building up a defense. At most, there is a 90% chance that armor, block, and dodge will all be successful. You now have a 98% chance if you have two of them. Although I don’t usually need to stack three defenses, you certainly can.
3. Effective recovery. Melee builds are vulnerable to damage, so allocate your healing resources wisely.
4. Quick speed. Melee builds necessitate moving around and approaching objects. Being within the 20–30 speed benchmark will enable you to close the distance without running out of life.
5. Melee builds need careful pathing; this may be the biggest sticking point. Certain enemies disregard armor and blocks. It’s crucial that you stay away from those adversaries. While not necessary, having some extra gear on hand to provide resistances to common armor and stop enemies’ piercings is also helpful.
Although the most dependable defense, health is also the least effective in many situations.
Personally, I’ve discovered that stacking several defenses is the best strategy.
Only about 10% of the damage can pass through because of Armor, Dodge, and Block. When you get all three to a high level, only 0.1 percent of the damage will reach you. Two together only allow 1% of the damage to pass through.
It will significantly increase your chances of survival if you can get one to a few thousand and the other in the 300–500 range. You don’t have to stack them all very high.
You can also stack survivability by reflecting damage, buffing yourself, and debuffing the opposition. Yes, health and healing are the most obvious, but other things can also be made to function.
The best strategy is, of course, to move so quickly and lethal that all adversaries perish before you can launch an attack. However, doing that is also not that simple.
I would advise you to just keep trying things out until you find something that suits and is enjoyable for you.