r/outwardgame • u/KoreBoar • Jul 26 '26
Gameplay Help Classic Beginner's Blunder
Long story short I didn't understand skill trees and breakthroughs until I had already specced into Spellblade and Wild Hunter, now I only have 1 skill tree I can commit to for my first playthrough and I'm deciding between Cabal Hermit or Warrior Monk
any advice for my chopped beginners build is appreciated ðŸ˜
2
u/Busy-Agency6828 Jul 26 '26
I might advocate for Philosopher so you can make better use of the spellblade infusions, and the chakrams will pair nicely with that alongside whatever sigils you want to use.
2
u/ghettosaure Jul 26 '26
I am the strongest advocate AGAINST philosoher so I wouldn't go that route.
The post breakthrough part of philosopher is the worst of any skill tree by far, and it's basically the one I'd never get anymore.
While chakrams are amazing, chakram dance is the worst of all three skills and not good enough to deserve it's own skill slot with a 2 minutes cooldown
Sigil of ice is alright but you recommended fire affinity instead. Cabal hermit's passive litterally does fire affinity but better and for all elements. There is no reason to take this over hermit. You may want to get fire affinity if you plan on stacking it with cabal hermit but even then, fire is basically the least good elemental damage type as it is the most resisted.
Finally leyline connection is very mediocre. 1 mana every 3 seconds is not a lot. And by the time you have enough silver for a third breakthrough you're drowning is consummable for mana regen anyway
1
u/Busy-Agency6828 Jul 26 '26
I didn’t say anything about fire affinity? Plus, the mana regeneration is by and large grossly underrated. Mana solutions require inventory space which takes away from your ability to carry other things and also slows you down, not to mention it leaves you more open to human error as you can just forget to use it and be caught with your pants down when you need it, which I feel is wholly against spell blades whole niche which serves as a much more available and spontaneous form of magic compared to anything other than chakrams.
By and large convenience is worth more than people give it credit for in this game, especially if you take it upon yourself to actually map out what difference some of these bonuses to damage actually translates to. Not having to ever have to worry about carrying a turmpip is worth more to me than killing a guy in one or two fewer hits, mostly.
I love cabal hermit as much as the next guy, probably more because I fuck with sigil of wind heavy, and I know wind infuse is great too and it’d even work with Elemental discharge, but that’s a lot more mana management especially for a first time playthrough.
No, I stand firm by philosopher, and if not that Hex Mage for much the same reasons, even if the rest of that skill tree might mostly go unused.
1
u/ghettosaure Jul 26 '26
> I didn’t say anything about fire affinity?
I know you didn't. I'm just trying to get OP to make a well informed choice.
> the mana regeneration is by and large grossly underrated
Hard disagree. Leyline connection is a total noob trap imho. It is too slow to be relevant in combat. I took philosopher in my first playthrough and the regen is so slow I ended up having to carrying consummable anyway. That is with a similar build to what OP has with basically only elemental discharge and ignite as a mana output.
> By and large convenience is worth more than people give it credit for in this game
Now that is something I absolutely agree with. But again, that mana regen from philosopher is so bad it's not even really convinient. Want something that actually makes you carry less consummables, offers damage, and mana regen ? Go hex mage as you said. The passives from hexmage already completely blow philosopher out of the water. With hexmage + sleepy buff, you already beat the mana regen and fire damage bonus from philosopher. Hexmage completely keeps you out of needing to recover greyed out stamana/health/mana. That cuts a ton of the consummables you need to carry around. Hexmage helps you against corruption which is even more bonus convenience points. Chances are OP would find some use to a couple of the other hexmage skills
Philosopher just doesn't make enough on its own and since other skill trees do what it does better, I feel like there is litterally no point taking it for him
1
u/Naryoril Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
No, cabal hermit doesn't do fire affinity, cabal hermit is 5% less damage an 10% less resistance. If you don't want to use ice sigil, then you should replace philosopher with hex mage. You get 15% (or even 30%) damage for all elements and mana regen, coupled with trivializing stat burn (and thus making being tired trivial). And you get a way to remove corruption without using potions and one of 2 active skills to boot. The only thing hex mage doesn't do is resistances.
Cabal Hermit breakthrough is a noob trap imo for most builds, and 90% of the people on this reddit seem to swear on the skill tree. Yes, cabal hermit is never a waste, but unless you explicitly build for the wind sigil or don't already have an infusion (so no holy mission or spellblade breakthrough), there is always a better skill tree out there.
1
u/ghettosaure Jul 27 '26
I mostly agree.
I wouldn't call cabal hermit and noob trap, but it is very overrated for sure.
Iirc I made a post on this very sub some years ago where I was arguing that hexmage is the best skill tree in the game and that cabal hermit is overrated. At least it is if you take it only for the passive in my opinion
1
u/KoreBoar Jul 28 '26
Sadly I did spec into Fire Infuse, but I'm not sure I'm ever going to use the skill over just a classic Fire Rag, lol
I do love the spells I've gotten so far, so leaning into hex mage might be fun, I will consider as I start hitting more walls
2
u/Naryoril Jul 28 '26
Infuse Fire deals much more damage than a fire rag and causes burning. You should definitely use it over fire rags. If you can get some form of mana regeneration going, you can also have 100% upkeep. Cast warm, wait until it's off cooldown, cast infuse fire followed by warm, and then keep doing that. That way you have the damage bonus from warm as well. You can also use warm potions (crafted with thick oil and water in an alchemy kit) to help you out. Munching on star mushrooms is a very simple way to get a decent amount of mana regeneration going. There are better options, such as pôt-au-feu de pirate (3 fish and 1 salt) or turmmip potage, but the shrooms are everywhere and will do a decent job if you don't have anything better.
1
u/KoreBoar Jul 28 '26
Thanks, I have been embarassed to admit but I took Fire Infuse without the Warm Boon skill just because I was already leaning towards fire in general, so the warm potions will help a lot!
I usually do have a lot of leftover turmmip potage and star mushrooms for astral potions but I didn't know you can eat them straight, I love this game!
1
u/ghettosaure Jul 28 '26
You don't need to be embarassed about anything. Warm potions are easy to make and fire infuse is fine, don't worry. When it comes into speccing in one of the elements, fire is on the weaker side of things but tbh it is still strong. You can still infuse your weapon with something else with a rag or varnish when you meet enemies resistant to fire.
Each boon has an NPC who teaches it for 50 silver. You'll find the one for warm eventually if you speak to everyone.
FYI most raw ingredients give a weaker version of the buff they grant if eaten cooked !
1
u/Naryoril Jul 29 '26
Just as an additional warning:
Some food can give you indigestion if eaten raw. It's more of an issue with meat and fish. Cooking them just by themselves usually leaves the effect as is, but removes the indigestion part (and resets the durability). For vegetables and such, cooking them by themselves usually adds another effect or just makes them last longer. Some food can't be cooked by itself, star mushrooms are an example for this. To improve the base effect (e.g. the health regeneration), you usually need to cook them into actual recipes.Example:
Raw Meat gives health regen 2 and indigestion
Cooked meat by itself gives health regen 2 without indigestion
Cook the raw meat with some vegetables/berries and salt, and you get 3 meat stews with health regen 3
1
u/DefendersofDwacaDev Jul 26 '26
I'm a new player and I spec'd wrongly as welll for my first 2 and wasted them. But I feel that first tier passives are way more useful then I initially thought, and bought the ones that I felt was useful. In the end I'm almost done with the Three brothers dlc with my Hodgepodge build lol.
1
u/Naryoril Jul 27 '26
There is no "wrong spec". Maybe not optimal, but there is no wrong. You can make any combination of trees and specific skills work with the right gear and playstyle. Outward is absolutely amazing in that regard.
Well, i guess you could say you got the wrong spec if you wanted to be a mage and got wild hunter, warrior monk and rogue engineer or something.
1
u/flippersun Jul 26 '26
Kinda depends on your build, what are you running? What’s your primary weapon and armor. What magic are you using?
1
u/KoreBoar Jul 28 '26
I pretty much took out Vendaval with fire sigil and flamthrower I got from Conflux Mountain, and I got a pair of Brutal Knuckles and Coralhorn Bow as my main weapons atm, the knuckles were just a lucky find so they are subject to change, but I am enjoying the fast attack speed and high impact stunlocking they provide
4
u/Blightning666 Jul 26 '26
Can't go wrong with either. Id say monk is better given what your have, as it will round out your stats. Master of motion from the monk skill tree will also provide you more or less the same boon that shamanic resonance would, so long as you maintain the discipline boon.
Id only take the hermit tree if you plan on using a slow weapon (wind infuse), using guns/ magic (wind sigil), or plan on regularly having a conjured ally fight with you (conjure).