I will add my opinion about xbow nec.
Started as pure melee using
this guide, but after lvl130 i feel, that more DPS is required.
Tried to respec to jinn version - still, not so good. I also had smth like 80% pierce even without dedicated investment into gear. Then i got idea - why not pick tank, go fire dmg and get pierce elsewhere?
So, my build: Zakarum set (easy max att speed, fire pierce and MS), veil king as tank. Something like -120% pierce even with bad gear, most points into fire dmg, can farm fautzt eyes closed, scosglen - easy until i encounter druids (those are not hard, but poison druids manage to kill me 1-2 times anyway, others are easier); tested p4 labs until l3, nothing hard (cannot do blind teleports into mob packs, but if going slower - no problems).
Other gear not optimized, no UMO/relic, still using non-lotteried ripstars, etc.
With slightly better jewelry/body armor i will try p8 scosglen, should be easy.
VK has over half million HP, can tank most bosses for a while. Bonus trick - as i have zero minion dmg gear - even if he gets killed - he does not do anything bad
Really, can tank at least 4 (probably mode) hits from hostile VK - more than enough time to clear entire screen, including bosses.
1p skelly aura + SU wand = 90% free EWD with 14yard radius, not bad for 2pt investment. Can go for crafted war scepter and have at least +80% minion life and save 2 skillpoints. Not sure what is better.
Easy possible improvements:
- skip PR mastery (save 5 points), put them into fragshot, take one from talons - boom, additional 300+ fire dmg
- entire jewelry is so bad, same with body armor
- have close to 50K AR, so probably overkill, can switch to str jewels, or uniq lotteried for labs
- not sure how effective is investment into vitality. My rough calculation for now that each vit point gives 4HP with current setup, not so good. Maybe add something to scale vitality and go full life
- flameskin, maybe?
Items + skills + stats:
https://tsw.vn.cz/char/KaimoJurgisEDIT: up to lab6 it was fine and easy. Leech hurts, but tanks in front of me absorb all damage, so it's easy.
Lab6 was a disaster - assassin, navigator and gharbad straight at entrance, triple combo, died after minute