Titan Quest 2 ARPG

Titan Quest 2 Ashstalker Leveling Build Guide

In Titan Quest 2, players can combine two Masteries to make a unique class to play through the campaign with. While nearly everything in the game can be changed, your Mastery selection is the one thing that cannot and it is permanent. With that in mind, this leveling short guide will focus on the Mastery combination of Rogue and Earth to create the Ashstalker class!

The Ashstalker combines the quick and agile skill-shot gameplay of Rogue with the explosive fire spellcasting abilities of Earth to create a fun playstyle that’s flexible for all players, regardless of how they prefer to play the game. Because of the unique combination of Masteries, this class can take full advantage of all weapon types and armor types. This is due to the Ashstalker being able to fully utilize Resolve (Fire), Cunning (Poison), and Fitness (both Strike and Pierce damage types). Ultimately, it’s up to the player on how they wish to scale their character. This does make the Ashstalker the perfect Mastery combination for players who wish to experiment with different types of gameplay.

Keeping in mind that you can alter your build any way you wish for a small gold fee at any point in your playthrough, we are using these short guides as a way to provide players with a path of least resistance while leveling. For player’s used to more punishing ARPGs, you can rest easy with Titan Quest 2; the only decision that is permanent is Mastery selection. You will not be locked out of anything you wish to do later on, so there is zero downside to following a specific build early on.

Note: All builds have been tested at +5, even while leveling. You should not have any issues progressing the campaign while following the build on this page. If you’re at a gear deficit, lowering the enemy level may be in your best interest until you gain some upgrades.

Leveling Build: Exploding Trick Shot

This build is all about juicy crit damage and satisfying explosions from killing enemies afflicted by Burning. While Rogue will be the main driver for our skill usage, Earth plays a vital role in adding passive damage and supporting passives to make a visual appealing and feel-good build from start to finish of the campaign.

The star of the show here is Trick Shot; this is one of the most versatile skills in the game, as it is able to be converted to any damage type, but can function as both a high-damage skill and one that supports the player by disrupting channeling enemies. In this case of this build, it does both! By the end of Chapter 1, this build will already be capable of achieving 100% Critical Hit Chance and will be killing even the toughest monsters in a matter of seconds.

Strengths
  • High single target and multi-target damage.
  • Full ranged, this build will kill most enemies before they have a chance to get near you.
Weaknesses
  • Maximizing AoE potential requires you to line enemies up, as your AoE is a line attack.
  • Heavy Energy requirements, and not many ways to minimize the problem.

Video Showcase

Please check back later once Early Access starts and we have a chance to record footage!

Stat Priority and Gear Options

Upon leveling, you will be allotted two Attribute Points to spend as you see fit. All gear has specific requirements, and certain attributes increase specific types of damage that your character can deal. For this build, we’ll be focusing as many points into Might as we can. Vigor should have points placed into it, but just enough for you to feel comfortable with your health pool. This build doesn’t have a ton of access to sustain if you take damage; your only real option is drinking a potion. A decently sized pool of health will take you a long way.

Armor

Since Might is the attribute of choice, this build will be using Heavy Armor by default. This works out, as having a high amount of defense is the best way to ensure chip damage does a little as possible to us. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do much for us when it comes to Barrier. It can still be used, just don’t rely on it.

Weapons

This build offers two options. You can either run a heavy Bow or you can opt for a Heavy Spear and Shield. While leveling, I wouldn’t be too picky. However, when you get close to the end of Chapter 1, you should have enough playtime to know which one you prefer. Bows have slightly longer range on Trick Shot while the Spear and Shield offers higher defensive scaling. If you need to auto attack for any reason, the Spear will also force you into melee range, so that is another consideration you need to make. Both are effective, so make your choice based on personal preference.

Since Energy is a major concern for this build, Attack Speed is kind of a bait stat. Instead, try to find a weapon with Added Fire Damage and Critical Chance. While not necessary, Ailment Chance is also nice. Not so much for the damage Burning deals, but more-so for the fact we require Burning in order to make dead enemies explode.

Skills and Passives

Below, we will be listing out the list of skills and passives you should be taking. Anything highlighted in the table should be sought after as soon as possible, as it’s important for the build to work as intended. This build wants to start off with 6 Divinity in Earth, followed by 6 Divinity in Rogue. From here, focus on getting Rogue to 18 Divinity first.

Skill/PassiveNumber of PointsFeats and Modifiers
Trick Shot (Rogue Skill)17Ranged Weapon 1/1
Interrupt 1/3
Enhanced Damage 8/10
Arcane Abundance (Earth Passive)8Regen
Energy
Accuracy (Rogue Passive)12Critical Hit Chance
Critical Hit Damage
Deft Hands (Rogue Passive)6Critical Hit Chance
Preparation (Rogue Skill)7Enhanced Critical Hits 5/5
Mark for Death (Rogue Passive)1Weaken 1/5
Grenade (Rogue Passive)3Payload 1/1
Burning Ground 1/5
Earth Enchantment (Earth Skill)17Fire Imbuement 1/2
Stone Skin 5/5
Conservation 3/5
Earth Wielder (Earth Skill)4Critical Hit Chance
Earth Attunement (Earth Passive)8Weapon
Vanish (Rogue Skill)17Enhanced Critical Hits 5/5
Enhanced Duration 5/5
Dismantling Tactics (Rogue Passive)12Critical Hit Chance
Mark Resistance
Sleight of Hand (Rogue Passive)6Critical Hit Chance
Combustion (Earth Passive)8Chance
Radius

The above allotment will get you near Level 30, which is above the expected level where Early Access stops. Please check back at a later time when we get more content. If there’s a need to extend the leveling build, we will do so here!

Rotation and Build Mechanics

If you enjoy skill shots, you’re going to love this build. Everything revolves around Trick Shot and enabling it to deal as much damage as possible. You’ll notice how every single Critical Chance Feat or Modifier was highlighted in the table above. This is intentional, as you want as much Critical Chance as possible and it is not the easiest stat in the game to build up early in the game. As long as you focus it in your passives and you prioritize a weapon with the 6% Base Critical Chance modifier, you’ll be set.

Trick Shot is converted to a Ranged Weapon Skill, meaning we can convert it to the damage type of our choosing. In this case, that will be Fire! Additionally, a single point was invested in Interrupt. This was wildly more useful than we expected. Not only does it stop healer mobs from aiding their comrades, it can also stop certain dash or channeled AoE attacks aimed at you. The best part is the interrupt will be on your main damage skill, so you won’t need quick reflexes to stop the enemy; just keep dealing damage.

Marking Your Enemies

Mark for Death is an interesting mechanic introduced by THQ Nordic. Essentially it lets you pick one enemy where you can unload extra damage or gain specific buffs against them. Marking will not agro the enemy onto you, so feel free to do this at range if possible. You should almost always target the most dangerous mob in a group! This will ensure they die the fastest. There are edge cases where you won’t do this, such as when there is a healer in a group of enemies. Healers are always the top priority.

While we only have one point invested into this skill, that doesn’t mean it isn’t putting in work. It’s just you need another piece of the puzzle in order to make this skill shine. That puzzle piece is the Rogue Passive, Dismantling Tactics. This substantially increases your damage on the Marked target through reduced Resistances and extra Critical Hit Chance.

Vanish and Combustion

In the final stretch of Chapter 1, you’ll begin to gain access to very powerful skills. Vanish is a self-buff that allows you to essentially go berserk for a short period of time. While testing the build, I used this 6 second buff timer as a sort of race against the clock; can I kill everything before Vanish runs out? In most cases, the answer was yes. This skill will boost us near 100% Critical Hit Chance, increase our Critical Hit Multiplier, and significantly increase our movement speed. This allows us to zoom around enemies to move to a more advantageous spot in order to deal AoE damage with Trick Shot.

To add onto the combo of interactions above, and keep with the theme of a fire slinging bowman, Combustion has been added to the mix. In most cases, this passive was overkill. However, the passive feels amazing and also provides a generic boost to Fire Damage, so there’s no reason to pass this up if you level to the point of accessing this.

To fully enable Combustion, we’ll need a source of Burning. While any and all fire attacks can apply Burn, we have not placed the proper points into skills to increase the chance of it happening. Instead of doing this and losing out on precious critical hit damage, we’ll use Grenade to lay down fire puddles that apply the Burning DoT. This is specifically for large groups of mobs and shouldn’t be done on bosses.

Defensive Scaling

In order to deal as much damage as this build does, we needed to go back to basics when coming up with our survival plan. Heavy Armor and a large health pool will be all that is necessary to keep yourself alive. It might seem weird wearing full plate on a bow-user, but it works wonderful for this build. The high Armor Rating means any sort of chip damage, such as ranged attacks or DoT, is mitigated appropriately and any damage we take can be healed up simply by using a potion.

Leveling Tips

Check out our list of tips specifically for this build, and it may not apply to other builds.

  • This build is Energy hungry! If you need to, there’s nothing wrong with using your Primary Attack to keep damage up. Trick Shot will deplete your Energy quickly, so it’s something to be mindful of.
  • Focus on Critical Hit Chance. It is your top priority and will determine how quickly enemies die.

Some useful notes for all players, regardless of their build or class, are listed below.

  • Check Merchants for gear as often as possible. Merchants refresh stock on level up.
  • Make sure you’re bumping the level range of areas when you can do so comfortably for better experience and drop rates.
  • Utilize the DPS estimation on tooltips. It may not be obvious a new weapon is an upgrade.
  • Watch your Resistances. While these don’t need to be capped (60%) while leveling, it doesn’t hurt to try and keep them balanced.

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