Evil Islands: Character Builds
Although there are many skills and "perks" available to player characters, unfortunately there are not so many ways to resolve quests and advance the plot. Almost all the time you have to kill, and that isn't very diversed either. The are 3 paths: fighter, mage, and archer. Most important difference between these are perks, and the order they are taken in.
On every new Allod XP rewards increase exponentially, so theoretically you could re-profile after transition, but that would still mean gimping yourself considerably, basically throwing away a good chunk of XP. So make up your mind from the beginning.
Due to the way XP spending works, it's imperative that each taken perk is upgraded to level 3 before taking a new one. Otherwise, again - lost XP, gimped character.
Any character will need some points in Astral and Sensory magic for crafting and other purposes, but the amount of XP spent on that is negiligible.
At some points in the game, the main character is left without companions or even equipment, which further increases difficulty of being anything but a fighter.
Fighter
The easiest to play on Hardcore, (although still not easy). Pump Melee Combat and Health, then Regeneration, then depending on your playstyle preference - Actions, Backstab, some weapon specialization, or Carry Weight.
It's best to not specialize too early, because you'll switch weapons often enough:
- Sword - not really a fighter's choice. Very low damage.
- Axe - the most versatile, high enough damage and not many enemies are protected against it.
- Spear - highest damage, best backstab weapon (except for enemies protected from piercing weapons)
- Hammer/Mace - good against enemies vulnerable to blunt, otherwise passable.
- Dagger - increases attack somewhat, but the tradeoff is damage. Not really worth it.
Axe and Spear are your weapons of choice.
Mage
Being a mage is harder, because you don't have any combat spells in the first place, and to craft them, you'll have to find them first, then find runes, then combine all that (paying A LOT of money), only then you can actually start being a mage. So, most of the first Allod you'll be playing a wimpy fighter, crawling and backstabbing. You'll need a tank at least on Gipath, and probably on other allods as well.
However, if you do manage to survive the first allods and make it to the end without sharing XP with the party, the mage will make a stronger character at the end. Also, only a mage is able to kill the strongest enemies, such as dragons, on Gipath. A fighter or an archer just don't have enough damage for that.
Like with weapons, it's preferable to not specialize until Suslanger, because the best spells (Acid) are there, and spending XP on Fire/Lightning will be a waste. On the other hand, contrary to raising melee combat skill as soon as possible, there's no point in raising magic skills until you have all the components and money to assemble the corresponding spells. Let the XP pile up, don't spend it ahead.
Perks are, in order of importance: Stamina, Recuperation, Health, then probably Acid magic specialization.
Archer
Archers have 0 Defence rating, so every attack on them hits, and it's really really hard to survive in this case. You'll need a tank on every allod. There isn't really a point in being an archer in Evil Islands, although theoretically it should be manageable.
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