Anyone else feel like Fighter is almost completely useless?

[K0T]

I agree with Jad that fighter is amazing class.
In my last hardmode run he was main damage dealer, completely outdamaging barbarian and mino thrower.
I made insectoid fighter in a back row with quick and martial training traits, all stats into dex and willpower (because I need more energy for special attacks and don't want them to miss). Lizard fighter with fast metabolism can be good here too.
I skilled him acc 2 -> heavy 5 -> crit 5 -> more acc or con 3 for more mana.
I gave him archmages set + braclet with -15% cooldown (very good benefit on special attacks) + 50 energy amulet + bear gloves + shaman or fast energy regen cloak and all energy boosting books.
At the end he had about 300 enegry. For common fights my favorite weapon was Ancient Claymore (I rushed Pyramid early for it). Why not Bane? Let's compare them.
AC: special attack hits about 250-300, crits for 500-600 (enough to oneshot common mob), cooldown is about 5-6 secs with my gear, costs 30 energy
Bane: special attack hits about 300-350, crits for 600-700, cooldown is about 10 secs, costs 60 energy
As you can see, you can perform almost twice more specials with Claymore in the same time and same energy, each of them is only 15-20% weaker then Bane.
So you can start every fight oneshoting most dangerous enemy without trying to control or backstab it, and after 6 secs you can repeat it again.
Try it yourself and you may find it's very comfortable to play like this instead of trying to click many hits with light weapon and making many dodge moves.

Now balance breaking thing

SpoilerShow

boss fights with Rat boss or Dragon or Dungeon master

Just use Scythe, 10-15 rage potions and one speed potion, you will have more than 200-300 str.
Cooldown of Scythe special attack is less than 3 secs, it will be 1.5 with speed potion.
It's not very much damage if it doesn't crit (but enough to oneshot zombie or rat) but if it crits (with 25% chance) it does 2000-3000 damage.

In my playthrough both Dragon and Master were oneshoted with such crits.

[Dr.Disaster]

Now balance breaking thing

SpoilerShow

boss fights with Rat boss or Dragon or Dungeon master

Just use Scythe, 10-15 rage potions and one speed potion, you will have more than 200-300 str.
Cooldown of Scythe special attack is less than 3 secs, it will be 1.5 with speed potion.
It's not very much damage if it doesn't crit (but enough to oneshot zombie or rat) but if it crits (with 25% chance) it does 2000-3000 damage.

In my playthrough both Dragon and Master were oneshoted with such crits.

The only balance break i see here is the abuse of potions. Why Rage can be stacked is beyond me. This was not possible in LoG 1.

[Cronicler]

Fighter isn't a really viable choice for your primary dps source (basic attack spammer) but using the scythe in combination with a crit build (hybrid or specialist) provides a really nice burst capability that lets you to basically skip 1/4th of your fights via 1 hit kills.

[Neutronium Dragon]

I don't think the intended design of a Fighter is a glass cannon that melees from back row.

I don't feel that they have an "intended design" beyond using weapons. A light-armored (or even unarmored) duellist/swashbuckler/pikeman/linebreaker/etc is just as valid as the one running around in plate, especially considering that the knight represents the "heavy armor" feature set.

[Nexus]

Now balance breaking thing

SpoilerShow

boss fights with Rat boss or Dragon or Dungeon master

Just use Scythe, 10-15 rage potions and one speed potion, you will have more than 200-300 str.
Cooldown of Scythe special attack is less than 3 secs, it will be 1.5 with speed potion.
It's not very much damage if it doesn't crit (but enough to oneshot zombie or rat) but if it crits (with 25% chance) it does 2000-3000 damage.

In my playthrough both Dragon and Master were oneshoted with such crits.

The only balance break i see here is the abuse of potions. Why Rage can be stacked is beyond me. This was not possible in LoG 1.

you can stack rage potions? WTF? ok it was probably a design oversight, like instead of giving a status effect it justs gives +20 str. this can be fixed.

[1varangian]

I don't think the intended design of a Fighter is a glass cannon that melees from back row.

I don't feel that they have an "intended design" beyond using weapons. A light-armored (or even unarmored) duellist/swashbuckler/pikeman/linebreaker/etc is just as valid as the one running around in plate, especially considering that the knight represents the "heavy armor" feature set.

Fair enough. I still find the "backrow" builds of melee classes very suscpicious. And the most effective build of a reach fighter is wearing Mage clothing for energy? That's just wrong.

[CHALLENGER]

I think +1 Accuracy par level is good for Fighter as Knight is having +1 defense & Barbarian is having +1 strength.

For Alchemist +1 Dexterity
For Mage +1 Health
For Wizard +1 Energy

[MostlyHarmless]

For common fights my favorite weapon was Ancient Claymore (I rushed Pyramid early for it).

how do rush for Ancient Claymore early? I mean how do win the fight that unlocks the sword with low level characters? imo, it's one of the hardest fights in the game, harder than the desert fight, ratling bosses, or cemetery dungeon boss fights. i've done it a few times, but with level 11 or higher characters, and even then it took multiple tries (and a number of potions on hard).

[Cronicler]

It is extremely hard but if you are willing to reload, it is possible with Bombs for the DPS, Forcefield & Frost Bombs for control and massive amounts of consumable (potion) consumption.

[minmay]

or you can just use invisibility