Do certain classes attack more and/or faster?

[General_Jah]

Hi guys,

I'm still new to the game and would like to know if certain classes attack more often or faster? Such as a fighter attacking more often than a mage or even a barbarian?

If so is there some sort of resource that might explain this?

Thanks!

[Samadhi]

short answer - they all attack the same speed; but there are ranger, fighter, rogue (and soon monk) enhancements that do - so check out their enhancement lines in the compendium for details

[DoctorWhofan]

Dungeons and Dragons Player's Guide 3.5, which this game is based on. But if you look on the forums (I'm sure someone will post the actual thread link) there are guides for such stuff.

For melee attacks, look to fighters, barbarians, Paladins and rangers (clerics?) get more oppurntities to attack more often the higher level they get.

For casters, Sorcerer is the best.


Welcome aboard!

[General_Jah]

short answer - they all attack the same speed; but there are ranger, fighter, rogue (and soon monk) enhancements that do - so check out their enhancement lines in the compendium for details

What about # of attacks?

[Samadhi]

What about # of attacks?

number of attacks is straight off your BAB - so additional attack at BAB 1, 5, 10, 15 - so in that regard, any full BAB class (ranger, fighter, barbarian, paladin) will get additional attacks sooner than 3/4 builds (rogues, bards, clerics) and 1/2 builds (casters). There are items in the game, although somewhat rare, that will make your BAB maximized also.

one thing to keep in mind, though, that due to the dynamic combat, the additional attacks are not that beneficial from a speed standpoint. they are primarily beneficial because your later attack rolls get higher bonuses to hit.

[General_Jah]

number of attacks is straight off your BAB - so additional attack at BAB 1, 5, 10, 15 - so in that regard, any full BAB class (ranger, fighter, barbarian, paladin) will get additional attacks sooner than 3/4 builds (rogues, bards, clerics) and 1/2 builds (casters). There are items in the game, although somewhat rare, that will make your BAB maximized also.

one thing to keep in mind, though, that due to the dynamic combat, the additional attacks are not that beneficial from a speed standpoint. they are primarily beneficial because your later attack rolls get higher bonuses to hit.

why are they not beneficial really? I'm not understanding that

thanks

[GeneralDiomedes]

Clerics seem to attack much less than Barbarians on average.

[tihocan]

why are they not beneficial really? I'm not understanding that
Because the attack rate does not necessarily increase, the "extra attacks" are instead "new animations", that may be faster or slower than the animations for the previous attacks.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Clerics seem to attack much less than Barbarians on average.

LOL!

uhmm......anyway.
To cleri fy a few points.
In DDO, attack speed is mostly based on Base Attack Bonus (BAB).
Ftr, Pal, Brb, and Rgr start off with a 1 bab at lvl 1.
Everyone else starts with a 0 bab at lvl 1.
As you lvl up your bab increases, but for most classes it increases slowly.

So yes.....Ftr, Pal, Brb and Rgr do in fact attck faster than everyone else.

There is also the attack animation to take into consideration.
As the devs were creating the animation, for how an attack with a lonf sword looks and how an attack with a great axe looks, they actually made some a little faster than others.....but the difference is very minor, and most of us don't really worry about it too much.

Also ranged combat is purpossly ben made very slow to not give a ranged specced char too much of an advantage. But in doing so, they made ranged combat a disadvantage.......which maybe someday will change I hope.

Anyway, at low lvls.....say between lvl 2-5, I do not think there is any difference in attack speed of the classes. But after lvl 6 the martial warrior classes start to really take off from the others.

Divine Power spell (available to clerics, or on clickies) increases your attack bonus to the same as a Ftr of your char lvl.
So a cleric using divine power, or a wizard using a divine power clickie, attacks at the same speed as a Ftr of his lvl.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

why are they not beneficial really? I'm not understanding that

thanks

The animation for the fith attack (at lvl 15 or 16...can't remember which) is a verly slow animation compared to the others.
Many people complain about this.....
Also, most melee types can hit so well on their first attack, that the bonuses they give us on second and later attacks don't really help much.
People would rather just get as many attacks in as quickly as possible.

There has been a lot of talk about how to interupt the attack sequence and start over to avoid the slow fith attack animation.

I wouldn't worry about it yet.
For most players trying to squease that little bit extra advantage is not worth the trouble.

After you play awhile, you'll learn more about how to tweak you own char and playstyle......