What gives a character it's high AC

[Fleeona]

What is it that gives some "tank" types 45 plus AC and other tanks never reach that. Is it high dexterity, high strength for some reason, or is it mainly what feats you take? Does AC and DPS relate in that you have to sacrifice one to reach the "top" of the other?

Considering build wise (not so much items since any build could get the same items).

I thought it was pretty simple before, armor and dex combined to make the majority of your AC but it's not looking that way.

[Rentz]

hey fleeona,

try this thread and see if it answers your questions more clearly.
also, look at some of the fighter/paladin/ranger builds that have been posted (in their respective forums) to see what items and feats they've taken.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=30186

hope that helps

[Sojourner]

For the most part, when you hear people bragging about super-high AC, they are doing it under they assumption of getting buffs and uber gear. This example probably isn't the max, but should be close and give a good idea

In order to go with an AC build, you need to start with something similar to this:

Halfling
3/11 Pally/Fighter
Stats - 16 DEX to start, +2 Tome, +6 Item
Feats - Dodge
Enhancements - Fighter Armor Mastery II, Dwarf Armor Mastery II, Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Items
+5 Mithril Fullplate
+5 Heavy Shield
Invaders Ring
+4 Protection Item
Chattering Ring




10 -- Base
13 -- +5 Fullplate
7 -- 24 DEX with -- Mithril FP, Dwarf and Fighter Armor Mastery II
2 -- Pally Aura with Bulwark of Good I
7 -- +5 Heavy Shield
4 -- Protection +4 item or cleric Shield of Faith
2 -- Invaders Ring
1 -- Dodge
3 -- Dodge, Chattering Ring
1 -- Halfling
5 -- Combat Expertise turned on
----
55 Total before buffs


As you can see, it takes some pretty sill end-game items (+5 Mith FP, raid loot, etc) along with a noticable performance hit to your attack numbers (-5 from combat expertise) to get up close to the 60 number

[Grimlock]

And even with a 60 ac you will still be taking hits, receive damage from spells, and not be able to put out enough DPS to make a difference in the shift of aggro, or kills.

People focus a lot of their time and energy into AC. This is all well and good, but being able to put out damage as well as take hits is crucial to being any fighter type of character. Having your AC this high does not protect you from damage coming from spells which should be where the majority of your damage is coming from.

[Aranticus]

For the most part, when you hear people bragging about super-high AC, they are doing it under they assumption of getting buffs and uber gear. This example probably isn't the max, but should be close and give a good idea

In order to go with an AC build, you need to start with something similar to this:

Halfling
3/11 Pally/Fighter
Stats - 16 DEX to start, +2 Tome, +6 Item
Feats - Dodge
Enhancements - Fighter Armor Mastery II, Dwarf Armor Mastery II, Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Items
+5 Mithril Fullplate
+5 Heavy Shield
Invaders Ring
+4 Protection Item
Chattering Ring

As you can see, it takes some pretty sill end-game items (+5 Mith FP, raid loot, etc) along with a noticable performance hit to your attack numbers (-5 from combat expertise) to get up close to the 60 number

halfling dun get dwarf armor mastery :p

[Averroes]

And even with a 60 ac you will still be taking hits, receive damage from spells, and not be able to put out enough DPS to make a difference in the shift of aggro, or kills.

People focus a lot of their time and energy into AC. This is all well and good, but being able to put out damage as well as take hits is crucial to being any fighter type of character. Having your AC this high does not protect you from damage coming from spells which should be where the majority of your damage is coming from.

With 60 AC, less than 2% of the elite content hits you on better than a 20. Pretty much only charging ogres and trolls are a physical damage risk.

And the only time you should take significant damage from spells is when you fail a save to disintegrate... Improved resist items are cheap. They're plenty for almost everything.

The only real DPS sacrifice necessary to have a high AC is to be in Combat Expertise rather than Power Attack. So if you're comparing an AC build to a sword and board DPS build, you're down 5 damage per swing, 10 or 15 on crits. You're still hitting everything on a 2, except for a couple of elite bosses.


In any case, as has been noted, AC comes from build, enhancements, and gear. CE, Dodge, and your Dex bonus are all that you can from your build; Fighter/Dwarven Armor and Tower masteries are it for enhancements, and everything else is gear.

Here's mid-50s AC without anything particularly hard to find, situationally mid-60s:

10 base
13 +5 fp
3 dex (armor mastery 2, tower mastery 1)
9 +5 tower
=35
5 Combat Expertise
1 dodge
3 deflection (spec optics)
3 natural (barkskin potion, invaders ring)
2 dodge (chaosguard)
=49
1 personal pally aura for 1 or more levels of pally
2 ranger barkskin
1 cleric shield of faith
2 recitation
1 haste
=56
3 full pally nearby
4 fighter AC boost 3
=63

Without devoting feats and enhancements to armor, high 40s is about as high as you can get without boosting, and only that with really good gear.

[WilbyZ]

In order to go with an AC build, you need to start with something similar to this:



10 -- Base
13 -- +5 Fullplate
7 -- 24 DEX with -- Mithril FP, Dwarf and Fighter Armor Mastery II
2 -- Pally Aura with Bulwark of Good I
7 -- +5 Heavy Shield
4 -- Protection +4 item or cleric Shield of Faith
2 -- Invaders Ring
1 -- Dodge
3 -- Dodge, Chattering Ring
1 -- Halfling
5 -- Combat Expertise turned on
----
55 Total before buffs


Dwarven Armour Mastery on Halflings... come now, be serious :)

Is it Halflings or Dwarfs that you are trying to build?

[Fleeona]

All grat info everyone. Thanks! I understand now that the majority of it comes from special effects and buffish things, rather it be an item, enchancement, or spell.

[Sojourner]

Dwarven Armour Mastery on Halflings... come now, be serious :)

Is it Halflings or Dwarfs that you are trying to build?


There's a difference? I thought dwarves were just hairy halflings??

Lol, but yeah, remove that 1 point of halfling size from the number.

[iamsamoth0]

Pro. rings etc, didn't stack with that +5 plate....what gives?

So, what good is that +4 pro. thingy supposed to do for you, I mean I see the math and all, but, aren't they negating in a way?

[Averroes]

Pro. rings etc, didn't stack with that +5 plate....what gives?

So, what good is that +4 pro. thingy supposed to do for you, I mean I see the math and all, but, aren't they negating in a way?

With the exception of dodge bonuses, no bonuses of the same type stack. But all bonuses of different types stack.

Armor gives an armor bonus. So does the spell mage armor, armored bracers, and the bracers from waterworks.

Rings of protection give a deflection bonus. So do the spells protection from evil and shield of faith, and so do the spectacular optics.

And so on and so forth...

[binnsr]

hey fleeona,

try this thread and see if it answers your questions more clearly.
also, look at some of the fighter/paladin/ranger builds that have been posted (in their respective forums) to see what items and feats they've taken.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=30186

hope that helps

Bears quoting .. this thread is probably the single best resource out there for understanding how the different components that make up AC function together.

[iamsamoth0]

for the input....

[Fleeona]

So, I checked out that thread. (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=30186)

It is a good one. Something interesting i noticed is that you can keep a shield spell up and it basicly replaces using a physical shield. Not the higher ac ones but up to +4. Plus it won't affect your dex bonus. That's cool.