Choose a Wolcen build that gives you an early advantage. Before ploughing into a new ARPG it's important to spend some time thinking about your build. After making your selections in the character creator, wading through the tutorial, and sitting through a few cutscenes you're ready to make some important decisions. Let's take a look at the available skills and find a build that suits your personal preferences.
Finding the best Wolcen build can be tricky to begin with thanks to its large skill library and class system. To help avoid confusion while you find your feet, I've shared my top character templates to help you get started.
- How Wolcen skills work
- Which of the Wolcen classes to choose
Here's a Wolcen build for each starting class
The aim of the following builds is to serve as a gateway into building your own; that’s where the real fun lies. However, my suggestions should help you get stuck into the action without digesting reams of menus, just in case you prefer playing over planning. Here’s one here for each of the main classes: Melee, Ranged, and Magic.
Wolcen Archer build
Needless to say that the aim for any archer is to stay out of the way. Or take everything out before it can get close. It also helps to be able to take the heat off yourself sometimes, so this build provides something for that, too.
Active
- Mark of Impurity: Curse a target to take more damage.
- Wailing Arrows: Unleashes a volley of arrows in a circular area.
- “Avenger” Autoturret: Summons a turret to cover you, but you can also wield it as a weapon.
- Phantom Blades: Throws a spinning dualblade forward to damage foes.
- Duskshroud: Drop a shadow cloud to reduce your threat and grant invisibility.
Provided your Archer doesn't get hit all that often, you can go all in on Ferocity and Agility as your main stats. You can invest a few points in Wisdom and Toughness, but they’re far less important when your aim is to deal high, quick damage.
Passive
- The Wild Card from Soldier: Increases the chance of critical hits.
- Merciless Lethality from Assassin: Increases critical hit damage, but normal hits deal less damage.
- Tethered Shade from Duskglaive: Dodge roll damages enemies and leaves a decoy.
- Safe from Afar from Ranger: Projectiles deal more damage if you are 15 metres away from the target.
- Meditative Focus from Ranger: Deals extra damage when six metres away from all enemies.
Wolcen melee build
This is quickly becoming one of the most popular melee builds, and it's all about spinning axes around yourself to decimate those foolish enough to come anywhere near you. Here are the skills you need:
Active
- Bladestorm: Summons a huge greatsword which you can spin with to maintain momentum.
- Bleeding Edge: Throws a spinning axe in a circle around you that deals rend damage.
- Juggernaut: Summons a damage-absorbing shield that explodes when it breaks.
- Sovereign Shout: Buffs the attack and cast speed of you and nearby allies.
- Wings of Ishmir: Summons a giant spear and lets you leap with it, which is great for mobility.
Complement these skills by pumping a lot of points into Ferocity—keep it as your primary. Also put points in Toughness as your secondary and Agility as your tertiary.
Passive
- The Wild Card from Soldier: Increases the chance of critical hits.
- Merciless Lethality from Assassin: Increases critical hit damage, but normal hits deal less damage.
- Backline Raider from Sentinel: Buffs attack speed.
- Gods Amongst Men from Warmonger: Increases material damage, but renders you unable to do other forms of damage.
- Feast for the Crows from Warmonger: Boosts global life leech.
Wolcen mage build
The magic users in Wolcen can feel a little squishy, so it’s best to balance your spells between damage and protection, or just ones that help you escape danger entirely. And that’s precisely what this all-rounder build is designed to do.
Active
- Consuming Embers: Summons a fireball and launches it forward.
- Arctic Spear: Hurls an ice shard forward.
- Aether Jump: Teleport to a different location.
- Annihilation: Channel a beam of damaging aether.
- Bulwark of Dawn: Heal those within a casted area.
One of the most important things for a mage is cast speed, so focus on Agility as your primary stat. Make Ferocity your secondary stat—because everybody loves a bit of damage—and Wisdom as your tertiary to help your status effects.
Passive
- Attrition Strategist from Scholar: Increases the chance of inflicted.
- Reining in the Darkness from Warlock: Massive boost to critical hit chance when your willpower is over 75%.
- Safe from Afar from Ranger: Projectiles deal more damage if you are 15 metres from the target.
- Come what May from Ranger: All projectiles pierce every target within a six-metre radius.
- Omnitempest from Oracle of Trinity: Spells have a chance of launching an extra one.
Wolcen Gunmage build
This Gunmage build from Vulkan offers short and medium-range abilities, paving your way to a nice, comfortable endgame. The key to success with this Wolcen build depends on you stacking ailments with the intention to deal notable burst damage. For best results, use it with a Trial Belt.
Active
- Gunslinger’s Brand: Channel multiple shots and select targets by hovering over or clicking them. Shots are released when channeling stops, or maximum number of shots is reached.
- Anomaly: Cast a vortex that has two AoEs (areas of effect). The first, smaller areas deal damage over time, and after a short time the larger one pulls enemies into the center.
- Solarfall: Channel a damaging AoE from the sky that follows the cursor.
- "Avenger" Autoturret: Summon a turret to provide covering fire. Can be detached and wielded by holding the skill.
- Tear of Etheliel: A mass of ice forms above your enemies. After a short delay, it falls from the sky for huge damage.
- Havoc Orb: Target an area and launch an exploding device, dealing fire damage in an area of effect.
Invest points in Toughness as this is your primary. In addition, place points in Wisdom as your secondary and Agility as your tertiary. Ferocity rounds things off as your quaternary.
Passive
- Dire Juncture from Time Weaver: A portion of the damage you receive is delayed. This damage doesn't interrupt Force Shield Regeneration.
- Which Time Cannot Heal from Time Weaver: When you damage an enemy that is afflicted by Stasis, they take the damage again after a few seconds.
- Grievous Afflictions from Cabalist: Hits usually only apply to one ailment type. Now two different ailments can be applied with the same hit.
- Immortal Offering from Cabalist: Killing an enemy that is inflicted with ailments gives you a temporary damage increase buff.
- Insidious Decay from Cabalist: When inflicting ailments, the number of stacks inflicted on an enemy is increased. Damage dealt from sources other than those dealing damage-over-time is decreased.
- Feast For The Crows from Warmonger: Boosts global life leech.
- Attrition Strategist from Scholar: Increases the chance of inflicted.
- Merciless Lethality from Assassin: Increases critical hit damage, but normal hits deal less damage.
- Safe From Afar from Ranger: Projectiles deal more damage if you are 15 metres away from the target.
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