With Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred in the rear-view mirror and Path of Exile 2 imminent, my mind is always on the next great ARPG, and Titan Quest 2 is high up my most-anticipated list. The 2006 original remains a classic of the genre, and one of the reasons it still stands out today is its distinctive class system, as you fuse two ‘masteries’ to create a huge number of potential combinations. Grimlore Games is building on this system for the sequel, and in a new blog post it explains exactly what to expect from Titan Quest 2 masteries when the early access launch arrives.
Like its predecessor, in Titan Quest 2 you combine two masteries to determine your class. You’ll take these early on in your adventure, Grimlore explains, “as we want you to experience the possible synergies between them without much of a gap between the two unlocks.” Each mastery unlocks a range of spells and modifers to choose from, with the ability to slot up to ten skills in total into your hotbar. This should ensure you have an impressive selection of builds at your disposal – providing the freedom and room to experiment with your loadout that makes the best games like Diablo shine.
As mentioned during my Titan Quest 2 preview, you’ll also have the ability to adapt and modify your two global skills – the basic attack and your dodge – allowing you to tweak them to suit your chosen approach. With ten slots to play with, you’ll have the freedom to choose what you fancy. Want to go all-in on a singular damage skill and supplement it with support? Or mix together a variety of different attacks to fit each situation as it arises? Titan Quest 2 lets you do whatever feels right.
You’ll earn separate active and passive points within skill trees, and the active abilities can further be adjusted by modifiers. When the Titan Quest 2 early access arrives, you’ll have the Earth, Storm, and Warfare masteries at your disposal, but expect that to expand over time – The original featured eight choices in the base game, with three more coming in expansions. Grimlore gives us some examples of the theming of each mastery.
First up is Earth, which much like the first game’s equivalent is actually a blend of fire and physical earth magic. You can opt for a more controlled use of flames, embrace earthquakes and fissures, “or completely let go of any regard for safety and sacrifice your own health in favor of maximum destruction.” Take the Fissure skill, carving open a line of earth before you to deal damage, then supplement it with a Lava modifier to deal additional fire damage, or an Additional Fissures modifier for a spread of three slightly weaker impacts.
You dominate the battlefield with ice and lightning with The Storm mastery. It favors AoE abilities with repeated damage bursts and elemental infusions to your skills. Freeze and electrocution allow you to lock down enemies altogether. Equip Cyclone to place a wide circular storm dealing cold damage, then add the Blizzard modifier to deal more damage and apply chill and freeze effects, or the Personal Storm modifier to also create a smaller, secondary storm that follows your character around.
Finally (for now) we have Warfare, which focuses on sheer combat expertise. The mastery tree includes attacks designed to suit all weapon types, including ranged weapons, offering plenty of freedom of choice. It also grants support abilities that are ideal for closing distance or overwhelming opponents with stuns and staggers.
Among the Welfare skills, Leap is a classic ARPG favorite letting you quickly jump across the battlefield – Cooldown Charge lets you use two stacks at the cost of a longer cooldown, while Seismic Leap deals a heavy impact around your landing point. Combine the two modifiers, and you can quickly obliterate a group of foes with a double dose of damage.
Of course, the real magic of Titan Quest 2 will be how you combine these masteries together. To help find the secret sauce, Grimlore has “global mechanics that all masteries will feature in some form – sometimes via base abilities, other times via modifiers.” As a simple example, you might be able to use Warfare skills to build up stacks of a status effect that can then be consumed with a Storm spell. “Different masteries will offer different global mechanics,” it explains, “allowing for unique interactions between specific mastery pairs that not all others can cover.”
Titan Quest 2 is planned to launch via Steam Early Access in the winter, either in late 2024 or early 2025. Grimlore promises more gameplay footage “soon,” so keep your eyes peeled for more details in the near future.
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