Arcanum Most overpowered builds in Arcanum?

[JohnSmith24601]

One of the most OP combat builds, I've found, is a melee mage.

Get the +Str and +Dex spells. Get your magic aptitude high enough to have 100% on the Warboots of Speed (which you can buy in Tarant) and the Dagger of Speed (any mage shop, IIRC). Getting backstab up is icing on the cake.

At max aptitude for the dagger, your attacks cost 1 AP. With 20 Str, you get +20 damage. With 20 Dex, you get 20 AP. With max aptitude Warboots, you get +5 AP. Remember that the buffs stack, so if you have enough sustain slots, you can get +8 Str/Dex or even higher. Use that to shore up your weak stat.

You are basically looking at 25 attacks/round at 1d6+20 damage per hit by about level 8, IIRC. Anything else, including Haste and other AP boosting shenannigans available to mages, is just pure icing. Just carry a second weapon in case of golems...

With this build, I don't usually even bother with armour. You will usually kill everything before they even move and any retaliation would be pretty neutered (due to large number of dead enemies).

Wtf did I just read?? How are the Cowled Wizards not popping up and arresting your ass?

 

[Cael]

One of the most OP combat builds, I've found, is a melee mage.

Get the +Str and +Dex spells. Get your magic aptitude high enough to have 100% on the Warboots of Speed (which you can buy in Tarant) and the Dagger of Speed (any mage shop, IIRC). Getting backstab up is icing on the cake.

At max aptitude for the dagger, your attacks cost 1 AP. With 20 Str, you get +20 damage. With 20 Dex, you get 20 AP. With max aptitude Warboots, you get +5 AP. Remember that the buffs stack, so if you have enough sustain slots, you can get +8 Str/Dex or even higher. Use that to shore up your weak stat.

You are basically looking at 25 attacks/round at 1d6+20 damage per hit by about level 8, IIRC. Anything else, including Haste and other AP boosting shenannigans available to mages, is just pure icing. Just carry a second weapon in case of golems...

With this build, I don't usually even bother with armour. You will usually kill everything before they even move and any retaliation would be pretty neutered (due to large number of dead enemies).

Wtf did I just read?? How are the Cowled Wizards not popping up and arresting your ass?

Weakass mages get wrecked by knives to the kidneys especially when struck multiple times by a guy they can not even see moving.

 

[Phinx]

I had a Gunslinger build where I created the best gun in the game. I also went down the mechanical tree. Been awhile so can't remember which city. But pretty sure it was the shopkeeper in the Tarant store that keeps restocking small steam engine. The trick was to exit/re-enter town or sleep (also can't remember which one) and he'd restock the engine.

As long as you have gold, you can keep building automatons. I managed to create 13 automatons and only stopped building them because the game got too laggy. I don't think there is a limit to how many you can have on your party, as it doesn't count against your charisma.

7 on screen plus 5 party members kinda pushes the engine to it's limits unfortunately and the game begins to lag pretty badly beyond that. This build also gives you an abundance of satisfying thumping sounds as your army of automatons wreak havoc upon your enemies.

One thing to note with this build, if you keep selling unwanted goods to the same shopkeepers it lowers the selling price. So you have to be very careful with gold as the engine is very expensive.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I had a master stealth / throwing build was pretty ridiculous. If I was a certain distance away from whoever I was attacking, they'd never retaliate because they couldn't see me. Everything became a practice dummy.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

One of the most OP builds in Arcanum is simply a melee dude with max melee + dodge + backstab and a Stun spell (which doesn't depend on MA). It could be considered boring but boy will you wreck everything, level up very fast too.

 

[fantadomat]

There is no op build really,the game is pretty easy. People thinking that harm is op have clearly not played the game enough and just parrot something that they have read somewhere lol. Because you found a good strategy to beat the game in your first playtrough doesn't mean that it is op. For harm to become really powerful you need to pump mana,int and wis,thus you will need like 20ish levels lol.

There is plenty of powerful builds,you could go full char build and have a horde of companions killing everything before you could act. You could become a sword master with mastery in melee and dodge,you could become a firearm master pretty early on. Also the firearm guy has the best or one of the best rifles in the game,it could one shot most enemy. You need to just stack ammo and go out there clearing shit. You could also do a fucking throwing master alchemist and bomb the shit out of your enemy. Also you could do a trap build lol. Or fucking Arcane archer with max dex and haste.

The game is filled with a shitton of character building options,that is why it is the best RPG ever made.

 

[jackofshadows]

People thinking that harm is op have clearly not played the game enough and just parrot something that they have read somewhere lol. Because you found a good strategy to beat the game in your first playtrough doesn't mean that it is op. For harm to become really powerful you need to pump mana,int and wis,thus you will need like 20ish levels lol.

Second that, it's more like a meme than "OP build lul". You've mixed up something a bit mate tho, int is irrelevant for that and there's no such stat as wis in Arcanum. To make harm "build" powerful player have to max magick aptitude by learning any other spells and maybe pump some mana/CON (or rely on potions). Also people "forget" to mention that it's gimmicky only in real-time mode, it's fairly balanced in turn-based actually and for work there mage have to pump some dex as well otherwise he might get overrun fast. The only "OP" about harm spell is its mana-efficiency potential. 40dmg/2 mana is no joke but in late game with things like arcanum stuff (+80 free mana)/grand blessing(+100 mana)/any number of potions mana becomes irrelevant and you'd want use more powerful spells like joint/disintegrate, not to mention fireflash for AoE. So basically it's just convenient spell for levelling a mage, nothing more.

 

[pidstuff]

As the others have said, there is no one single OP build. The game is pretty easy to break with certain combinations of skills like thievery and sneaking which makes money no problem at all, melee + magick which allows the player to increase their physical attributes by 4 via spells or even blinding enemies and getting invisibility through Phantasm school of magick, or even just getting Dog is enough to get you through the game most of the time. It really is part of what makes Arcanum fun.

 

[Soul_Venom]

Now it has been nearly a decade since I last played but without question the easiest class to play is a dark necromancer. As others have stated that Harm spell is nothing to scoff at. Get the sold your soul trait for extra juice off the jump. Get ahold of the Bangellian Scourge and max your fighting skills. You will be almost unstoppable.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Guys, keep in mind that multiverse edition ......

I don't recall this edition.

 

[DeltaForceOperator]

Dont play with overpowered builds. Do a character that you like. Enjoy the game with lore and play something interesting.
I have the Multiverse edition too and have started to play. . Im at the crashed blimp site and killed some wolfes and other smalll creatures.

 

[coldcrow]

Half-Ogre + Ran away with Circus + 2 Str = 20. Buy the fastest weapon (Rapier I think). This is pretty much the OP build right from the start.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

V1.7.1.0 (2gigs) via steam link?

https://www.reddit.com/r/arcanum/comments/a8byar/how_to_apply_multiverse_edition_patch_on_gog/

 

[Ol' Willy]

Now it has been nearly a decade since I last played but without question the easiest class to play is a dark necromancer. As others have stated that Harm spell is nothing to scoff at. Get the sold your soul trait for extra juice off the jump. Get ahold of the Bangellian Scourge and max your fighting skills. You will be almost unstoppable.

That was the build at my first run, lol

 

[JohnSmith24601]

Half-Ogre + Ran away with Circus + 2 Str = 20. Buy the fastest weapon (Rapier I think). This is pretty much the OP build right from the start.

As I recall, you could also do half-orc. Can't remember the specifics, but half orc warrior mage at Str 20 was the bomb.

 

[Humbaba]

Arcanum's combat system broken as it is does not really warrant any kind of in depth build crafting. Just go melee half-ogre, build yourself a fire axe in the early game and you're good to go.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Everyone knows The Real Man way to play Arcanum is Tech + Guns.

If there even is a real man's way to play it because tech + guns is also extremely easy.
Icing on the cake, it's the most fun way to play Arcanum.
And golems don't break your weapons.

The only drawback is no teleportation, i want a mod where you can build a mobile teleporter if you can master 3 or 4 tech skills.

 

[Mauman]

The only drawback is no teleportation, i want a mod where you can build a mobile teleporter if you can master 3 or 4 tech skills.

Seriously.

The first time I played this game I went gunslinger/tech and loved it, but getting around was unbelievably BORING.

Every other time I've played this game I've gone mage or at least heavily into mage JUST for teleport as I can't live without it.

 

[Rafidur]

Tech + charisma is also extremely strong, you get a bunch of dudes and gear them with fancy swords and dexterity rings and what have you.

You just have to be not-evil and not-retarded, otherwise there is much less frontline meat you can recruit.

 

[Daemongar]

You CAN create a shit build in Arcanum. First time I played pure STR + DEX and was an annihilator early on - except for Black Mountain and such. Second time out, I didn't take any combat skills and low STR, high BEA - was a miserable experience. So many reloads, barley got out of Shrouded Hills, a nightmare. Was a slog making it to level 10 and could only do it by cranking up combat. So, 100% focused on any area (Magic, tech, combat) is a way to steamroll. Anything else may get tricky.

 

[Cael]

Just a tip, guys: The +4 stat spells are independent of your magic aptitude.

And there are enough tech skills to go around that other than a couple of skill points, you can be a full tech guy and still gain access to 20 Str/Dex without putting a single point towards either.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Its one of the least extremely easy ways tho, guns suck hard at the start.

Oh hey, I just remembered what may be the hardest way to play Arcanum:

DWARVEN MAGE
Your spell cast fatigue cost is doubled. You are the worst mage ever. You are definitively NOT cut for this. The abomination lying in wait for you in the void wants your ass to be grass. All your racial bonuses are pretty much useless here. You suck and you must save the world anyway.

Enjoy

Sure, early guns are lame but you get to Tarant extremely quickly and with a destiny point so...
There's 2 nice guns to steal, at least, in Tarant.

Also, early poor guns are enough to get rid of wolves and you get molotov cocktails and explosives...

Dwarven mage, hum, i like difficulty when there's a reward somewhere, Dwarven mage looks more like plain masochism.

 

[Shadenuat]

I'd say in terms of pure killynes most op is Backstab + Temporal college.
My favorite damage spells are Fireflash and Lightning Bolt, they work on anything and also can break stuff.
1st level Shield of Protection at magick aptitude 100 is the strongest defensive buff.
The strongest summon in the game is Succour Beast (Nature) at max Magickal aptitude.
Invisibility from Phantasm is for clean pacifist runs.
Tech is all about stacking stat points using other stats. Basically, everything in Theurapetics stacks with each other, and lasts hours, and you stack equipment on top of that, which allows you to stat more into other things and by juggling buffs around have high combat stats, high int, high speech, many companions, everyone equipped with best crafted gear, and also do damage with things like Tesla Staff, Hand Cannon, LGR, Elephant, and in the end, Droch's Warbringer.
Melee is quite ez, can always roll half-ogre that speaks gibberish but has perk that makes all the ladies cuddle him, and beat everything with fists.
Throwing is funny, and viable, Bows are idiotic in real time (basically similar to Blasters in M&M).

 

[Jason Liang]

You don't even need CHA and max followers. You can permanently enslave pretty much any NPC in the game with the Dominate Will + Reflection Shield trick, as many as you'd like. Then you can gear your harem with balanced swords or whatever. Silly broken game.

I refer you to https://terra-arcanum.com/forums/threads/super-mega-meta-magic-abuse.16678

If you want to fight yourself, you can just turn yourself into an immortal beast with Therapeutics and/ or toss Molotovs.

 

[Gregz]

Hey guys! I've just started playing Arcanum again! I'm using the Multiverse Edition for the first time.

O'great lords of the Codex!! I beseech thee! Enlighten me with dishonorable builds so I may slay mine enemies with stale cheese!!

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