So, first off I want to open up by saying that I'm fairly new to Dungeons of Dredmor. If that helps you, I've got something like 16 hours played. Lately I got interested in Polearms but I couldn't find any good builds. So I tried to go with Polearms, Master of Arms, Smithing, Communism, Berserker Rage, Perception and Big Game Hunter. If it would be possible I would be so happy to recieve any ideas of how to improve or to include skills such as Battle Geology or Clockwork Knight since I'm interested about the first one, meanwhile the second one is 'cause I heared good things about it. So yeah, it would be nice if anyone could help. (English is not my native language but I hope I made this post decent D: )
OK, so Polearms is all about three things: knocking enemies away, paralyzing them, and boosting your Melee Power at the expense of your defensive skills (and critical). As it turns out, the damage in Battle Geology's two big attack skills (Seismic Uppercut and Quake) both scale to Melee Power, so Polearms + Battle Geology is a sweet combo. Now then, Polearms' tendency to knock enemies away and paralyze them clearly combos well with some form of ranged attack, and as it turns out, thrown weapons add their melee power to the damage they deal -- so Polearms + Battle Geology + Thrown is a great way to get a wide variety of offensive options that all work together. The downside is that you won't get much by way of defensive skills (block//counter both get nuked by the Inevitable Victory Stance), so you'll want to use at least one of your four remaining skills to get your defenses back up. Personally, I suggest Smithing, because it lets you forge more weapons to throw and guarantees you'll get decent-to-great armor early-on and the extra Burliness means even more Melee Power. And if you're going to be Smithing, you might as well take Clockwork Knight -- not only does CK add more Smithing to your Smithing, but some of it's attacks scale to Smithing and so will be nicely damaging and CK gives a few unique recipes that let you build badass Clockwork armor...if and only if you have Tinkering. So, then, Polearms, Battle Geology, Throwing, Smithing, Tinkering, and Clockwork Knight. Yep. Pick your seventh skill to fit your particular style: Dual Wield, maybe, or Shield Bearer, or if you want to go truly crazy, take Perception and use it to both extend the range on your Throwing weapons and get you more lewt with which to Tinker and Smith. Enjoy!
I agree with what Essence said, his setup will give you a VERY sturdy melee/throwing setup. However, you may have some trouble with resistances later on, so I suggest Psionics for the last slot. Cheap healing that's useful through the whole game for only 2 points invested is a good deal.
There's also the boosting of your defensive skills at the expense of your Melee Power (and critical). The Sensible Swiss Defensive Stance is +20 block and 10 counter, so a total of 22 extra block after just one level. If you want to go the tank route, using that instead of Inevitable Victory Stance easily lets you hit 100 block. Toss in Shield Bearer and Battle Geology for more block and 3 skills skills which either deal damage based on your block or activate when you block, and Master of Arms for 19 more. Smithing ensures the RNG doesn't screw you over and leave you without good equipment, plus it has some decent encrusts. Vampirism will work great on a tank as free healing. Don't bother putting any levels in it, just enjoy the immortality. Shield Bearer and Master of Arms give you plenty of to fuel it. That leaves you without anything to use your mana on, so take Warlockery. Its level 1 gives 1 of pretty much every resistance, and drains mana but doesn't actually require it, which makes it great as the only mana dependent skill in your build. So a defensive Polearms build would be something like Polearms, Shield Bearer, Master of Arms, Battle Geology (only to level 3), Vampirism (only the level 1), Warlock (also only to level 1), and Smithing. Now you're not only invincible, but you also stun and knock back everyone who looks at you funny.
Thank you guys! Helped out so much, going to try them both. Just another small question: for the build of Essence, what woulòd be the lvl-ing up order or is just about me choosing? Same for Nacho, since I'm still struggling in when to choose what.
The build order is something like this: Warlock 1 (with that, you shouldn't be taking any damage at all until floor 3 at the earliest) Master of Arms 1 (fuel for Vampirism) Shield Bearer max (more block and something to do with it) Polearms 1 (lots more block) Battle Geology 3 (more block and something to do with it) Smithing 1 After that keep alternating polearms and smithing until you max them both, then finish Master of Arms, then Battle Geology. But really, after the first 2, the rest is up to you. Those are the only ones it's important to take early on. Just don't take more than 1 Warlock, or more Smithing than you can use at the moment with your limited resources (without perception, it's a tad random).
For the record, I was apparently on crack when I said Clockwork Knight has skills that scale to Smithing. It doesn't, they all scale to Tinkering. As to level order, I'd go... 1) Clockwork Knight 1 for the Rocket Fist (great for getting items off of islands, opening secret walls, and so on.) 2) Polearms 2 for the +4 Melee Power (this and Plutonic Fist alone will carry you through DL3) 3) Throwing 1 for the Monster Toss 4) Battle Geology 2 for the Seismic Uppercut 5) Clockwork Knight 3 for Clockwork Threshing 6) Polearms max 7) Smithing 4 8) Clockwork Knight max 9) Tinkering max 10) Go from there.
And also for a very powerful attack=1 skill that knocks back the target and deals triple melee power. Seriously, this thing is nuts - one of my favorite skills in the game, at least if you're stacking , which on a polearms/CK/Battle Geology build, you are.
Only problem with my build is it's kind of boring. You'll never die, but it takes ages to kill anyone else either. It would probably be better with Berserker Rage instead of Polearms.
3. Lifestealing, stunning AoE. Wow. 4. Confusing melee hits to help you kite stuff. Wow. 5. Turn into a flying bat with an incredible amount of dodge and summon batties. Wow. Vampirism is actually a pretty good skill to level.
Vampirism is a great utility skill for hard melee builds, but the no-eating part is a pretty big trade-off
If you guys had waited another month, you could have had a full-year necro! Narrowly missed the target....