2 most important starter skill are 1. summon golem: for first level, these guys can really kill for you without you having to lay a finger on any monster, they can also act as a shield to escape. At level 3 summon, you can get wall spell, which blocks and prevents monster from chasing you. Very helpful against large armies when you're running out of health. 2. Astrology: this skill gives you the radiant aura that gives you a shield that prevent any damage unto you for 5 hits, best survivor skill. you can keep casting it as much as you have mana. Not only does it prevent monster from doing damage to you, but it also returns damage and stuns the monster.
I found (for me) Astrology - radiant aura Archaeology - to re-roll artifacts (until I got 6 life regen) for 1hp per turn Burglary for lockpicks and disarming traps/doors for xp Dodge - obvious reasons, but knights leap is awesome Perception to compliment Burg and Dodge as well as see through walls I also took Sword/Armour since counter attack seems to work even if you dodge I play pure melee
oh. According to steam I have 17 hours in this game now so I'll add what I think I learned so far. Any old summon does a world of good. If you aren't a mage even at level 2 shrooms you get a slime. Golems have mustaches flesh craft has zombies but they take a long time to get. (on the way though there is a pretty awesome offensive single target spell) If you are a warrior with high abso The item creation skills can't be underestimated. Not only do you find really really good recipes but if you find the right items you can get a great starting boost. My character who got the furthest got there because he was wearing aluminum armor and boots and one of his swords was a masterwork steel sword he made. If you plan on standing there and taking hits really high damage absorption is the the white one. It's pretty useful but if you focus on that prioritize anything with elemental damage because they still hurt. The anvil doesn't seem to curse items that aren't already enchanted but it sometimes curses sometimes blesses items that are already enchanted. So it's a good idea to spread the anvil over different pieces of gear. It doesn't hurt to keep an ace ready for the big attacks because they happen. Monster zoos happen on every floor past the first and if you aren't making it past the normal stuff with ease a monster zoo will kill you AoE is really helpful. The most fun build I had was wands, throwing, archery, mushrooms, tinker, archaeologist, and burglary. The idea was for damage to be themed on expendable items that go away when used. You die a lot so experiment with different things to find out what is fun for you. It turns out a lot of skill trees in this game are really good and well balanced and a lot of character ideas work really well.
