Looking for build advice for my tank

[Kinsume]

Currently I am making a Human - Fighter, 1h sword and tower shield Intimidate tanker. This is his build currently...

Stats
Str - 19
Dex - 15
Con - 15
Int - 10
Wis - 8
Cha - 8

Hp - 94
AC - 29
Block - 12

Saves
Fort - 7
Reflex - 4
Will - 2

Spell Resistance - 12
Fortification - 25%

Skills
Intimidate - 15
Jump - 0
Swim - -11
(The tower shield really owns my jump and swim despite my leveling them)

Feats
Bullhead
Dodge
Khopesh Proficiency
Toughness
Tower Shield Prof

I don't feel like typing out all of the enhancements, but I got the tanking ones for fighter that helped AC and hp and such.

Now my questions are as followed...

1. Is a 20 human fighter capable of tanking endgame bosses?
2. Should I mix my classes at all in order to improve my tanking ability? Or will 20 fighter suffice?
3. Should I stick with sword/shield or remake with a 2h axe? I've noticed most of the videos with tanks are 2h axes.
4. Was Human the best choice for intimitank?
5. How can I improve my balance without losing the tower shield? I notice when I get knocked down or held by a shaman I get owned very quickly.


In short I don't want to waste my time getting to level 20 with this build only to find out it can't do it. Is it a throw away character and I should remake, or will it work out? Thanks in advanced.

[Kinsume]

Bumping this topic, can any experienced players please reply?

[Stuttrboy]

Currently I am making a Human - Fighter, 1h sword and tower shield Intimidate tanker. This is his build currently...

Stats
Str - 19
Dex - 15
Con - 15
Int - 10
Wis - 8
Cha - 8

Hp - 94
AC - 29
Block - 12

Saves
Fort - 7
Reflex - 4
Will - 2

Spell Resistance - 12
Fortification - 25%

Skills
Intimidate - 15
Jump - 0
Swim - -11
(The tower shield really owns my jump and swim despite my leveling them)

Feats
Bullhead
Dodge
Khopesh Proficiency
Toughness
Tower Shield Prof

I don't feel like typing out all of the enhancements, but I got the tanking ones for fighter that helped AC and hp and such.

Now my questions are as followed...

1. Is a 20 human fighter capable of tanking endgame bosses?
2. Should I mix my classes at all in order to improve my tanking ability? Or will 20 fighter suffice?
3. Should I stick with sword/shield or remake with a 2h axe? I've noticed most of the videos with tanks are 2h axes.
4. Was Human the best choice for intimitank?
5. How can I improve my balance without losing the tower shield? I notice when I get knocked down or held by a shaman I get owned very quickly.


In short I don't want to waste my time getting to level 20 with this build only to find out it can't do it. Is it a throw away character and I should remake, or will it work out? Thanks in advanced.

You chose tower shield proficiency? That should be a freebie as a fighter.

I'm not sure what your base stats are but:

This will be fine for DPS but I think it may fall a little short on the tanking side. With a 10 int you will not qualify for CE unless you pull a +4 tome or use some of your level ups. Granted that's only 3 AC compared to defensive fighting, but every little bit counts.

1. 20 fighter can tank end game bosses, but intimidate is a function of skill even with max ranks you need lots of bonuses to get to the 60-70ish you will need to tank elite end game bosses, with charisma so low you will need to use extra feats and enhancements to make that up.

2. I like a 2 paladin splash to help with the saves, but since your charisma is low it may not be worth it. 2 rogue for evasion is used sometimes but again if you didn't plan for the MC it's probably not a great idea.

3. I like a certain amount of flexibility in my builds. If you aren't needed as intimitank you should be able to DPS so you aren't totally worthless the 90% of the game you aren't tanking. So having a S&B set and a two hander are probably a good idea. With update 5 bastard swords are supposed to get an update that gives them glancing blows like other two handed weapons. even while using it with a shield. this gives synergy with the THF feat lines and you can use a 2 hander and still get to use the feats while S&B with a bastard sword. You have a Kopesh proficiency and those are king for 2wf builds I wouldn't use it if you are going to be using S&B with THF feats.

4. Human WF or Dwarf are your best choices for initimitank. I prefer human because of the sentinel dragonmark line, opening up Denieth intimidate that stacks with fighter intimidate and gives a +2 intim.

5. Put points into balance on level up and fighter agility will lower the penalty for tower shields. I suggest using 2handers for a while until you can work past those penalties.

Personally I would reroll if you aren't too far in and it looks like you are still pretty low level if you are set on intimitank. like I said you look good for DPS. If you go TWF you will need a 17 dex but it looks like you can make that with a +2 tome.

If you descide to go with intimitank, I would suggest at least 12 int, a +1 int tome can be found pretty easy. I got one in hard Stormcleave, so a level 9 quest. to be eligible for CE. unless you are going TWF I wouldn't start with more than 14 dex, 12 is probably enough though. 14 con is a must and it may be a good idea to make chr 12 or so.

[Baahb3]

My main (Iryklaunavan) is a Human sword and board Stalwart Defender, so yes I would say this is a workable build :)

My biggest suggestion to you if you want to continue this path is to have some two handed weapons, or two weapon sets ready for when you don't need that shield.

There will come a time when you have either enough AC that you don't need the shield or your AC really is just not important at the time. You just have to come to the realization that there are parts of this game that no matter how much AC you have you will take damage, and in those cases it is better to kill quickly.

As for intimidating, you will want to get your intimidate into mid to upper 60s at the minimum, this is with buffs and items. If you can get to 70 you should be good for pretty much all the bosses on normal. The very top eschalon would be the 80 mark which would allow you to get the Demon queen on epic and the Hound of Xoriat on elite.

This build is gear dependant so get ready for grinding out the Titan raid for the Chattering Ring and runes for your Dragon Touched armor. You will also need to get a +3 Int tome as soon as you can so you qualify for Combat Expertise which is pretty much a necessity for this type of character IMO.

[Kinsume]

So Struttrboy is suggesting that I reroll and make my base stats...

Str : 16
Dex : 12
Con : 14
Int : 12
Wis : 8
Cha : 12

Now by WF do you mean whirlwind fighter? Are you suggesting that I go with one of the premade characters? Also when would I want to squeeze my level 2 paladin in? At lower or higher levels? And as for my 2hander, should I stick 2h for the lower levels of the game then start putting points into the shield skills later on or vice versa? As for my feats, should I keep with the ones I've currently selected for HP, AC and more intimi? I was considering going 18 FR/ 2 Pal when I first began but didn't know what all I should get for feats and enhancements in the paladin's tree. As for balance, it's not part of my class's skills, do I sacrifice jump and swim, and just level it and intimidate up? Also if I go two handed fighter then why is my dex only 12? You said I needed 17 in your reply for the stuff. Is it possible to get +5 in tomes?

Edit : Oh wait I get the dex thing, I'd put my points from leveling up into that right?

[Sleepingcap]

So Struttrboy is suggesting that I reroll and make my base stats...

Str : 16
Dex : 12
Con : 14
Int : 12
Wis : 8
Cha : 12

Now by WF do you mean whirlwind fighter? Are you suggesting that I go with one of the premade characters? Also when would I want to squeeze my level 2 paladin in? At lower or higher levels? And as for my 2hander, should I stick 2h for the lower levels of the game then start putting points into the shield skills later on or vice versa? As for my feats, should I keep with the ones I've currently selected for HP, AC and more intimi? I was considering going 18 FR/ 2 Pal when I first began but didn't know what all I should get for feats and enhancements in the paladin's tree. As for balance, it's not part of my class's skills, do I sacrifice jump and swim, and just level it and intimidate up? Also if I go two handed fighter then why is my dex only 12? You said I needed 17 in your reply for the stuff. Is it possible to get +5 in tomes?

Edit : Oh wait I get the dex thing, I'd put my points from leveling up into that right?

Quite sure, that by WF, they mean Warforged as the race.

As a tank-in-progress I swing my 2hander whenever the monsters are untauntable or are unholy. Balance might come more useful than swim or jump (though both are quite handy).

[Baahb3]

So Struttrboy is suggesting that I reroll and make my base stats...

Str : 16
Dex : 12
Con : 14
Int : 12
Wis : 8
Cha : 12

Now by WF do you mean whirlwind fighter? Are you suggesting that I go with one of the premade characters? Also when would I want to squeeze my level 2 paladin in? At lower or higher levels? And as for my 2hander, should I stick 2h for the lower levels of the game then start putting points into the shield skills later on or vice versa? As for my feats, should I keep with the ones I've currently selected for HP, AC and more intimi? I was considering going 18 FR/ 2 Pal when I first began but didn't know what all I should get for feats and enhancements in the paladin's tree. As for balance, it's not part of my class's skills, do I sacrifice jump and swim, and just level it and intimidate up? Also if I go two handed fighter then why is my dex only 12? You said I needed 17 in your reply for the stuff. Is it possible to get +5 in tomes?

Edit : Oh wait I get the dex thing, I'd put my points from leveling up into that right?

I believe he was refering to Warforge as a race 'Human WF or Dwarf are your best choices for initimitank.' in this statement.

I would suggest the following for stat distribution: All level up points into Strength.

28 point build: 16 str, 12 dex, 16 con, 12 int, 8 wis, 8 cha. This will only cost you a +1 tome on Int to get Combat Expertise and +1 tome on dex to get dodge.

32 point build: 16 str, 12 dex, 16 con, 12 int, 8 wis, 12 cha. Again you only have to get a +1 int tome to take CE. If you are willing or have access to +2 tomes you can drop int to 11 and put it into dex so you qualify for dodge right away.

For feats, I would say get the feats that you want early for your intimitank as at early levels the damage difference between Two Handed fighting and S&B is not as noticable. Then get your Two Handed Fighting feats later. Something like this:

1*-Fighter (1) EWP: Kopesh (F), Skill Focus: Intimidate, Least Dragon Mark of the Sentinel (+2 Intimidate) (H)
2- Fighter (2) Shield Mastery (F)
3- Fighter (3) WpF: Slashing
4- Fighter (4) WpS: Slashing (F)
5- Fighter (5)
6- Fighter (6) Dodge (F), Toughness
7- Fighter (7)
8- Fighter (8) ImpCr: Slashing (F)
9- Fighter (9) Force of Personality
10- Fighter (10) GWpF: Slashing (F)
11- Fighter (11)
12- Fighter (12) Combat Expertise (F), THF
13- Fighter (13)
14- Fighter (14) Improved Shield Mastery (F)
15- Fighter (15) Bullheaded
16- Fighter (16) Power Attack (F)
17- Fighter (17)
18- Fighter (18) GWpS: Slashing (F), ITHF
19- Fighter (19)
20- Fighter (20) GTHF (F)

You can change around the feats as you want or need them, this is just a rough outline.

For skills: With a 12 int you will be getting 4 skill points per level, 1 into Intimidate, 1 into balance, 1 into jump and 1 left over for whatever you want. In other words, yes you should keep balance maxed out, the second most important skill in this game (behind UMD) IMO.

I personally would not do the paladin splash, you can still get your saves in the 20s which is pretty good for a straight fighter, that and you won't miss out on the fighter capstone, which gives you a 10% increase to your attack speed.

[Kinsume]

What is WP?

And I noticed you skipped some levels in terms of Feats, is this in order to save the points for feats on the other levels? As for the low dex, don't I need 17 of it in order to get something with the THF?

Edit : Least Dragon Mark of the Sentinel, I don't see this feat at level 1 when making my character.

[Baahb3]

What is WP?

And I noticed you skipped some levels in terms of Feats, is this in order to save the points for feats on the other levels? As for the low dex, don't I need 17 of it in order to get something with the THF?

Edit : Least Dragon Mark of the Sentinel, I don't see this feat at level 1 when making my character.

Sorry, I forget my short hand sometimes. WpF would be Weapon Focus, WpS would be Weapon Specialization, GWpF would be Greater Weapon Focus, etc.

ImpCr: Slashing is Improved Critical: Slashing.

THF is Two Handed Fighting, wielding a large weapon in 2 hands, like a greataxe or greatsword.

The dex requirement that Stuttrboy was talking about would be for TWF or Two Weapon Fighting, wielding a 1 handed weapon in each hand. The feats I suggested were not these.

The levels that don't have anything in them, like level 5 just means that you don't get a feat at that level. The feats with the (F) behind them are taken with your Fighter bonus feats and the feat with the (H) behind it is taken with your Human bonus feat.

I beleive you have to complete the dragonmark quest once to open up those feats for your characters. If I am not mistaken this can be done by any character and it unlocks those feats for any of your current characters or future characters. The quest giver, Lokainia if memory serves, is in the Marketplace. It does not involve any fighting just reading some and then answering some questions.

So before you delete the old character you can go and complete the quest and the dragonmark feats should be available to you. If you did not do this before rerolling you can swap the least dragonmark with WpF:Slashing, take the weapon focus at 1st level, then just complete Locania's quest before level 3 and take the least dragonmark at level 3.

[Kinsume]

The marketplace in which town? I'm not familiar with seeing one. And is there a way to move my old fighter's stuff over to my new one? I have some gear, including of khopash that he can use. Same goes with the money I've saved up so far. As for that feat, I took shield mastery first. I rerolled before you were able to respond, will that hurt my build at all?

Edit : Well I found the lady, but failed her test twice now lol

[Baahb3]

The marketplace in which town? I'm not familiar with seeing one. And is there a way to move my old fighter's stuff over to my new one? I have some gear, including of khopash that he can use. Same goes with the money I've saved up so far. As for that feat, I took shield mastery first. I rerolled before you were able to respond, will that hurt my build at all?

Edit : Well I found the lady, but failed her test twice now lol

:) If you want the answers you can check out this website:

http://www.uoforums.com/dungeons-dragons-online-general-discussion/64118-spoiler-dragonmark-quest-questions.html

No, you won't ruin the build if you took Shield Mastery early, you will just have to move around some feats then, no big deal.

If you have access to a shared bank then you can put the equipment in there and then collect it with the new player, if you don't have a shared bank you can just mail it to him. You can also mail the money over to him as well.

[Kinsume]

Alright then, sounds good. Thanks a ton for the help, it's much appreciated.

Lame, mailed my stuff only to find out there is no mailbox in the first town lol.

[Stuttrboy]

Yeah, you'll have to get out of Korthos first.

Baahbs advice is good, though again I don't think Kopesh is good for a THF build I think bastard Sword would be better. I also like to have power attack by 6 and honestly you can wait to get Bastard Sword or even forgo it, it's a -4 to attack but you probably won't need it. Most people duel wielding have a -4 to hit too and you probably won't even be using it all that often.

[Baahb3]

No problem, if you are on Argonesson, look me up, I might have some low level Kopeshes laying around.

[MrWizard]

Bumping this topic, can any experienced players please reply?

use my cannonfodder build (in my signature).

it is built around a sword and shield, with a splash of two weapon fighting ...

There are stats for 28 pointer in there too...check it out.

[Kinsume]

MrWizard, thanks for the reply. I've looked over your cannon fodder build and I'm not all too fond of a dual wielding build.

[MrWizard]

MrWizard, thanks for the reply. I've looked over your cannon fodder build and I'm not all too fond of a dual wielding build.

cool. It is a sword and board tank. It just has chosen TWF over two handed fighting for dps situations...you could always select three other feats.

I usually go sword and board unless I am sure I won't take much damage going dps.

good luck and just enjoy the game, no matter what you build. It will be very fun and there is only one first time.

[Kinsume]

I was told taking toughness only counted for the bonus up to the level you took it at. For example in your Feat build you took it at level 6. This would mean that it gave 3+6 hp, is that actually how it works? If thats the case should I just wait to get it at level 20 for the maximum benefits?

[tihocan]

I was told taking toughness only counted for the bonus up to the level you took it at. For example in your Feat build you took it at level 6. This would mean that it gave 3+6 hp, is that actually how it works? If thats the case should I just wait to get it at level 20 for the maximum benefits?
No, this is incorrect, it doesn't matter when you pick Toughness (except obviously you get more HPs while leveling up if you take it earlier).
The thing to know about Toughness is that although it stacks when you take it multiple times:
- You only get once the bonus(es) from the Toughness lines of enhancements.
- If you want to respec out of Toughness, you can't pick which one you want out (I can't remember if you are forced to respec the first or last one you got, it's probably somewhere on the forums). It can make feat respec more cumbersome (and possibly costly).

[Kinsume]

Does the enhancement stack as well? Like if I have 2 toughness feats, when I get the enhancement for 10 hp does it give me 20?

[tihocan]

Does the enhancement stack as well? Like if I have 2 toughness feats, when I get the enhancement for 10 hp does it give me 20?
No, that's what I meant with the first point above.

[Kinsume]

Edit : I didn't notice there was a reply on another page. So is it worth wasting an extra feat for 23 more hp late game?

[Kinsume]

Hmm, have a bit of an issue here. I did the quest for my dragon mark on my level 4 fighter after having already made my new reroll. I then deleted my fighter after moving the stuff over. I just hit level 2 on my new tank and was going to put the point into the dragon mark but it's not an option. Do I have to start all over in order to get that option or what?

[UltraMonk2]

Hmm, have a bit of an issue here. I did the quest for my dragon mark on my level 4 fighter after having already made my new reroll. I then deleted my fighter after moving the stuff over. I just hit level 2 on my new tank and was going to put the point into the dragon mark but it's not an option. Do I have to start all over in order to get that option or what?

You mean the quest given by Lockania? That quest actually gives you a free feat exchange.

Also in regards to your queries about Toughness, because a fighter gets so many feats to select from it is possible for a fighter to choose Toughness about 7 times. This would give you over 150 extra hitpoints, my L20 Dwarven Fighter has 759 HP's (that includes gear and a Con of 34)

[tihocan]

Hmm, have a bit of an issue here. I did the quest for my dragon mark on my level 4 fighter after having already made my new reroll. I then deleted my fighter after moving the stuff over. I just hit level 2 on my new tank and was going to put the point into the dragon mark but it's not an option. Do I have to start all over in order to get that option or what?
At L2 on a Fighter you can only pick among Fighter bonus feats. I don't think any dragonmark is considered a Fighter bonus feat.