Infantry Hybrid

[King Hot Dog]

I just made a new character who is definitely going to be tier 3 Infantry but I can't decide whether to go tier 3 archer also or tier 3 X-bow

help1?!?!

[BlackSniper]

Depend. Do you want to do Archer for speed? Or do you want to do crossbowman to get xbow skills for the boss wave?

[Maroon]

Tier 3 archer has to be (imo) one of the worst classes in the game. An archer that isn't tier 4 yet is pretty useless in damage, speed, and available items. I'd go either for t3 crossbowman or t3 pikeman.

[clickeverywhere]

Maroon's right. T3 archer provides no synergy to T3 infantry. You're going to be terrible at range outside of the first 8 waves of normal mode and will be relying on your T3 infantry stats to dish out most of your damage.

Going into pikeman or crossbowman would be better because they would improve on many of the strengths of infantry while also allowing the use of ranged weapons. I think you would get the most benefit of out of the crossbow class -- especially if you play with others who bring in high-end crossbows. Your damage will not suffer, only your accuracy and reload speed.

[BlackSniper]

You should just go for tier 4 infantry. that is the best

[Leberkass]

I support the idea of BlackSniper.
T4 Infantery(Commando) and T2 Crossbowman is in my opinion the best way, because you can use the crossbows for Thor and get a bit 1 handed skill.
With the t4 Commando you can use Trans and all the other nice stuff. This is a pretty nice gear for rag and so on.
In my opinion a t3 inf is not even usefull for a server and you will regret making 2 t3 chars in one account
Hope that helped a bit.
Greets Tarrod

[clickeverywhere]

You should just go for tier 4 infantry. that is the best

Of course it's the best, but OP seems set on having a 3-3 hybrid. The introduction of hero classes should already scratch any hybrid-itch that players might have.

Pavise Champions are crossbowmen who have the shielding ability of commandos and the pew pew abilities of crossbowman. They lack only the two handed abilities of the commando. Legionnaires are essentially commandos + t3 pikeman (without the polearm abilities of a pikeman). There is even a shielding capable archer hero (it was probably the sentinel). They might not fit the exact specifications that OP wanted, but they are much better than a 3-3 hybrid because there isn't as large of a sacrifice in usefulness.

[King Hot Dog]

I have tier 4 in all classes but want to just make a tier 3-3 hybrid as a 5th char, that's all

[Winter]

[quote author=CC_BlαcĸSɴιper link=topic=25209.msg174115#msg174115 date=1397506636]
You should just go for tier 4 infantry. that is the best

Of course it's the best, but OP seems set on having a 3-3 hybrid. The introduction of hero classes should already scratch any hybrid-itch that players might have.

Legionnaires are essentially commandos + t3 pikeman (without the polearm abilities of a pikeman).

There is even a shielding capable archer hero (it was probably the sentinel).
[/quote]
3-3 Hybrid is stupid, at least get a 3-3-1 Hybrid.  They can be just as effective as some heroes and allow for a very broad playstyle if made properly and the correct gear is available.  I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to build the stats and have the proper equipment, which can be VERY expensive.

The WPF is also lower on Legionnaire, so you have terrible accuracy.

The shielding archer is the Ranger (6 Shield, somewhat decent).

I did a lot of experimenting with Hybrids back in the day and did a lot of math on character stats.  Once good builds were identified, I built the characters and equipped them to their fullest to have some fun (I respecced them into some of my heroes ).  I posted the math somewhere (I think), but I don't recall where and I don't feel like hunting it down for you.  The following is generalizations and some of the exact numbers given might be a little bit off.

The best combination in my experience is 3 in Pikeman, 3 in Infantry, and 1 in Crossbowman.  Another option is 3 in Crossbowman, 3 in Infantry, and 1 in Pikeman.  Both of them have access to decent gear *and* at least one good legendary weapon.  The Crossbowman oriented one has little loss in WPF, fine Power Strike, decent all around stats, and can run into battle with Aurora Blade (Worm Bane), Swadian Kite Shield, Bolt Tosser (Powerful Crossbow), and Onyx Bolts (Heavy Bolts).  The armor set would be (Ornate) Hourglass Gauntlets, Banded Mail Armor, Highlander Boots, and Grinder Helmet for best effect.  Your slashing power is similar to a Royal Guard, I think you have a slightly lower 2h WPF (20 or less points) and the same Power Strike (it may even be higher, I don't recall).  Your Shielding Skill is a decent 7 (may be 8 now, stats have changed).  The Pikeman oriented one has the same armor set, but can use Dragon Halberd/Thunder Pike (or German Poleaxe), Swadian Kite Shield, and some form of throwing weapon, possibly Craftable Javelins for the accuracy.  I do remember, though, that you are actually more effective with polearms than Halberdier and Master Peltast with this hybrid as well as having far superior armor.  The loss in throwing capability isn't overly significant, the real detriment is the inability to bring in the very good throwables, but you can always pick those up off of other pikeys.  Your Shielding Skill is 7 or 8.

I'd still have my hybrids if the Fearsome Knight Helmet was still usable at Tier 3 Infantry.  Grinder + Banded Mail is fugly.

Edit: I should probably mention that the Heavy War Hammer is usable at Tier 3.

[King Hot Dog]

thanks a lot winter, I think I will go tier 3 infantry, tier 3 x-bow and tier 1 pikeman