So I'm pretty inexperienced. Anyone have some thoughts about how to build things? AFAIK, VH2 extends existing classes to higher levels, so it's probably best to treat this as a combined discussion and to take the two different campaigns into account somewhat.

It seems like active skills have a pretty strong all-or-nothing bent to them. Overall, that's the main thing I see about the skill trees at first look.

The Hunter class seems pretty starkly split in two incompatible directions - the incentive to mix melee with ranged seems really poor at first look, unless I'm missing something. There is a passive subtree starting with Fury bonuses under "ranged", but the rest has no crossover. I'm also disappointed that Lifesteal shows up over and over again, but tied to individual skills. You basically get Lifesteal for free any time you major in a skill, rather than having to major in Lifesteal itself and reap benefits across the board. A more passive-heavy skill set would've enabled more hybrid guns-and-swordplay builds. Also, Bash looks pretty redundant with your starting melee basic attack. The biggest issue is probably whether %health or resistance bypass is more important., which is hard to know in advance. I'm also highly skeptical that anything scaling with Spellpower is going to have a snowball's chance in hell of scaling up to anything worthwhile, but I'd love to be wrong. My spider senses definitely scream that Spellpower Hunter builds are 100% hard mode. I mostly don't want to bother with ranged attacks or spellpower, because both of these have their own dedicated classes already. I could go back and see how well Gunner actually plays out some other time, I guess.

Thaumaturge seems fun, maybe my favorite so far. But you still have to decide carefully what's just a pre-req one-point, what skills do you max, and what skills do you pick up one or two Rage enhancers as a CC one-point wonder. Your starter skill actually seems pretty good as a point sink this time around, unlike Hunter which almost immediately picks up another left-click replacement. I also like how mana costs are real and significant, but feels nice and impactful as you use it.

Arcane Mechanic, I'm sort of at a loss. I Flame thrower is fun, but some other skills seem to play a similar role.


Katarina is pretty handy for solo play. Sometimes you need a tank, sometimes you need DPS. And Ghost mode looks pretty handy too, especially if you just want to stack passives and Luck, but it seems to me like you need to commit to whatever your choice is.

Yes a beginner easily rot his build. Is there some mean of respec'?

When You reach Croakwood there is a Gypsy leader, and he is also later in game resident of your hideou. He can respec Your skills and stats for gold (1k for skill and 0,5k for stat point).
I can not speak for thaumaturge and mechanist (as i brought them both just to lvl 10 and deleted them) but as for Hunter i think i am pretty exoerienced (two Not-hardcore melee characters - Normal and Hard and Hard Hardcore shooter).

For Hunter (both melee and ranged) best way to have HPSteal is using HPSteal aura (at least 3 lvls of it), melee build is in other means way easier than ranged for beginners, as ranged require alot more kiting and knowledge of some game mechanic.

To say it short and simple: Melee - All Body build, either focus on Lightning strike and Strike either on Strike+Cleave. Passives are a must (max all of them). As for auras Hunter Rejuvenation (HPSteal) and Thrilling Heroics are best choice. Katarina is best to use as melee char (2str 1 willpower per level, focus mainly on blue blood tree of skills) or if playing harder than normal difficulty melee until Borgova and then respec for Support Spirit (full BODY!! for Spirit Guardian survivability). In eq Focus on DPS with your selected skill (cleave/Lightning) and on getting Diamond Essences in as many eq points as possible (it makes You regain received dmg as mana points means more they hit You more mana You have!) In skills you should aim for 60% of Melee skill tree (for bonuses). Just turn on Auto-Powerups Click and hold LMB and watch them die. Simple as this.
DPS on my char (Hard) are: Strike 1475 DPS and Lightning Strike 1119 DPS

Ranged is a bit more tricky in terms of build, bcs there are two ways either 2Bd 3Dex each lvl either full dex. On Hard i went full dex and i am kiting as hell - but it is Hardcore so i am afraid of being hit. Killed Main enemy today and am having fun with Single scenarios but will definitely avoid NG+ (also called Neverending Story). In auras i went for HPSteal and MPSteal (Hunter Rejuvenation and Power for Blood) 3 lvl each. Focused on Shoot+Explosive shot and since i have anough HP/MP steal from equipment Changed Shoot for Icicle Shot. In case of ranged Equipment should go for Attack Speed, Crit chance, Resistances and DPS so it is harder than Melee to complete good equipment but still possible (i did it around lvl 17). I Suppose than on higher difficulties putting more points into Bodymay be inevitable but on Normal even for newbie 1 per level or even none at all should be sufficient if eq is picked properly. Katarina from beginning should go for Melee support (as above), despite fact that i always keep her as Support Spirit (i just like that option). Of course all Passives are nice thing but only Elemental Damage is obligatory and worth maxing, Of course having 60% of skill tree is nice thing to have due to fantastic bonuses.
DPS on my char (Hard Hardcore) are: Icicle Shot 2516 DPS and Xplosive Shot 1334 DPS.

One more thing, Keeping Ghastly Shape at lvl 1 is great way to avoid being killed in hard clash (you can slash out of siege kite and heal via potions and get back to fight), but i would advice resetting all other Tricks asap as their points can be used elsewhere.

Of course these are just draws of overall builds and best way is to play to lvl 10-12 both melee and ranged and work on your own build (it is the best fun!).