The town of Torchlight needs the aid of fearless heroes once again, as Torchlight 2 sets you up for yet another journey, this time taking the battle against evil far beyond the mining town.
The character development system in the new gameplay is much more refined than its predecessor, with all-new classes that range from elemental damage dealers to steampunk gadgetry.
Torchlight 2 Classes Explained
The following are the trees of each character:
Class | Strengths | Tactics | Trees |
Berserker | Despite possessing skill, this still remains the weakest Class | Ranged DPS attackers that use shoot-and-scoot and battlefield control tactics | Hunter, Tundra, Shadow |
Embermage | Heavy hitters with powerful spells | RPG artillery wizards that use elemental attacks | Inferno, Frost, Storm |
Engineer | Being heavy hitters with thick armor, this is a powerful class | Melee DPS characters that run fast | Blitz, Construction, Aegis |
Outlander | Skilled manipulators with crowd control abilities | Melee tanks that use 2-handed melee weapons and 2-handed cannons | Warfare, Lore, Sigil |
Trees
Each class comes with 3 trees that are completely unique to them. These trees inhibit 10 different skills.
7 of these skills are Active Skill, while 3 are Passive Skills.
This makes a total of 21 (7×3) Active Skills, and 9 (3×3) Passive Skills for each character.
All skills can have 3 Tiers. Each Tier requires 5 points. Thus, the maximum amount of points required for a Tier 3 version of a skill is 15.
The following are the trees of each character:
Berserker
Hunter, Tundra, Shadow
Embermage
Inferno, Frost, Storm
Engineer
Blitz, Construction, Aegis
Outlander
Warfare, Lore, Sigil
Stats
Apart from Trees, which give you direct skills, there are also stats for developing your character. Stats are basically attributes for your character to increase variables such as Weapon Damage, Critical Strike Chance, Mana and Elemental Damage, and Health etc.
There are 4 stats in the game:
Strength
- Increases all Weapon Damage
- Increases Critical Strike Damage
Dexterity
- Increases Critical Strike Chance
- Increases Dodge Chance
- Increases Fumble Recovery
Focus
- Increases maximum Mana
- Increases all Elemental Damage
- Increases Execute Chance
Vitality
- Increases maximum Health
- Increases Armor
- Increases Block Chance
Point Distribution
Points in Torchlight 2 are earned whenever a player levels up, which is done after a certain amount of experience has been gained.
Whenever a player levels up, he/she gains 1 Skill Point, which can be invested into any skill in any one of the three trees.
Whenever a player levels up, he/she also gains 5 Stat Points, which can be invested into the stats.
The maximum level of the player is 100, which means 495 conventional stat points and 100 conventional skill points.
Fame
In addition to the skill points, the player also gains Fame by defeating tougher Champion Enemies or Bosses. When a player gains enough Fame, he she can obtain a Fame Level. Each Fame Level gives the player 1 additional skill point.
Thus, it is possible to have more than 100 skill points at Level 100.
Builds
Because of the large flexibility offered by the stat points and the three trees for each character, there are numerous ways to play one class. It is extremely essential to understand the role of each tree for a class, along with the skills that they offer and after how many skill points the skill becomes effective.
Thus, for a single class, you can have a huge set of combinations.
Each of our Class Build guides contain 4 builds at level 100 – the idea of how to progress from level 1 all the way to max is generally quite evident. Do note that these are subject to change, and can vary according to player play-style.
Best Builds and Skills for Each Character
Class | Build | Build Playstyle | Important Skills | Gear Stat Priorities |
Engineer | Summon-Focused | Uses a construction tree to summon bots while enhancing power | Healing bot, gun bot, sledge bot, spider mine, fire and spark | Focus on increasing damage or armor of pets and minions along with Mana Recovery |
Defensive-Focused | Takes little damage than other DPS-oriented builds | Supercharge, seismic slam, onslaught, sword and board, aegis of fate | Focus on improving resistance or increasing the health and defences | |
Berserker | Dual Wield | A high-speed melee fighter who leverages critical hits to boost their otherwise modest damage output | Howl, Blood Hunger, Executioner, Shred Armor, Cold Steel Mastery | Focus on stats that boost critical hit chance, critical hit damage, attack speed, and life steal. |
Frost Damage | Transforms the Berserker into a mid-range caster using Permafrost and other frost-based abilities | Permafrost, Glacial Shatter, Shatter Storm, Wolf Shade, Rage Retaliation | Focus on stats that boost damage, critical hit chance, and casting speed to maximize frost damage potential | |
Outlander | Dual Wield Pistols | Low AoE output but great at single-target midrange pistol damage | Venomous Hail, Long Range Mastery, Akimbo, Master of the Elements | Maximize single-target damage with dual pistols using critical hits, life steal, and poison |
Ranged Bow/Crossbow | Low attack speed but long-ranged damage dealer with both ranged bows and crossbow | Rapid-Fire, Long-Range Mastery, Shadowling Brute, Venomous Hail | Focus on critical hit and damage, life steal, and poison-type damage | |
Embermage | Fire-Focused | Uses burn damage and other Fire-type spells | Blazing pillar, firestorm, elemental boon, magma spear, charge mastery | Focus on elemental damage and casting speed and bonus |
Electricity-Focused | Uses shock damage to increase AoE | Thunder locus, shocking orb, lightning brand, elemental boon, charge mastery | Focuses on electricity damage, all damage, and casting speed |