Dr. Chant - intimitank warchanter WCII/SDI

[Bardicus]

What's the problem with sword & board? You're not super useful in the content that doesn't call for it. But what if you could intimitank when needed and in other situations provide bard songs and swing a big 2-hander? That's what led me to this:

Dr. Chant (Warchanter II/ Stalwart Defender I) Damage Reduction based intimitank
Warforged
14 Bard / 6 Fighter
36pt Build

Str 17 + 5 levels + 6 item + 2 fighter enh + 2 tome + 2 exceptional + 2 rage = 36 sustained
Dex 8
Con 16
Int 9
Wis 6
Cha 16 + 3 bard enh + 3 tome + 6 item + 2 exc = 30 cha --> +10 modifier

Levels: 1-7 Bard, 8-13 Fighter, 14-20 Bard

Feats:
1 Extend
3 WF: Slash
6 Power Attack
8 THF (Fighter)
9 Toughness, Shield Mastery (Fighter)
11 Imp Crit: Slash (Fighter)
12 SF: Intimidate
13 WS: Slash (Fighter)
15 Bullheaded
18 Improved Shield Mastery

Intimidate DC:
23 Ranks
15 Item
6 Shroud
4 Warchanter II
2 Stalwart Defender I
3 Skill Focus: Intimidate
2 Bullheaded
2 Head of Good Fortune
2 Fighter Intimidate
4 Greater Heroism
1 Focusing Chant
10 Cha Mod
-------------------------
74 Intimidate Self
2 monk
2 Inspire Competence
1 Guild Airship Cha
1 Guild Airship Skills
--------------------------
80 Buffed

Sources of Damage Reduction:
Docent of Defiance DR 20/-
Shield Blocking = 15 (Levik's) + 6 (Imp Shield) + 10 ([BAB/2]+2) + ? (Stalwart Defender I, assuming 2) = 33?

DR 33/- when blocking, DR 53/- during DoD proc

HP
84 Bard
60 Fighter
20 Heroic Durability
21 Toughness Feat
20 Fighter Toughness
40 Racial Toughness
10 Argo Favor
20 Minos
45 Shroud
30 GFL
20 Rage
10 WC II
180 Con (16 + 6 item + 2 tome + 2 racial + 2 exc = 28)
-------------------------
560hp

Weapon Sets:
Conc-Opp 1hndr 30% Healing Amp + Shield
Epic SoS, Antique Greataxe, etc for when not intimitanking

Items of Note:
Docent of Defiance (DR 20/-)
Levik's Defender (DR 15/- and possible Heal on damage)
Madstone Boots (+8 con = +80hp when turtling)
Scourge Choker (+8 con = +80hp when turtling)

Hope to compile and post both a DPS gear set and Turtling gear set soon

[Valindria]

Focus chant will give you another +1 to intim.


Disadvantages:
- ASF with shields
- Low natural Hit points of a bard (d6 compared to d10 of pally/fighter)
- Could be tricky to level
- Little gain from WC II - I am not thrilled with WCII though as WF you could keep %5 DS
- Harder to heal than no WF. Though you can UMD Reconstruct and most teams can handle it.

Things that could be fun:
- Hitting Intim followed by fascinate. All trash groups up and stands there. Too bad you cant block and sing at the stame time.
- Groups that need a tank also get added DPS of bard songs.

[voodoogroves]

This is similar to one of my next life plans for Macksheen, though I'll have some past life goodiness to throw in the mix.

My weapon sets will be different for sure; If I'm going to DPS, I'm going to DPS. If I'm going to turtle, I'll use an absorber:
- GS 2-hander (Min2)
- GS 2-hander (Lit2)
- GS 1-hander (amp / absorption) + shield (likely light/dark, though Leviks wouldn't be bad)

[maddmatt70]

Although I am not a fan of intimidate in general I acknowledge this is a potentially very successful build concept in the future. A bard that successfully pulls off the intimidate skills represents less loss of dps then using a quote unquote melee spot in a party to do it. Warforge is likely a good way to go for the additional dr so your overall race choice is good as well.

Edit: one question is what is your hit points going to be at for end game.

[voodoogroves]

14*6 = 84 bard
6*10 = 60 fighter
I'd actually start CON at 18 + 2 tome + 6 item + 2 enhance = 28 base (rage, exceptional con, etc. would add) = 180
Racial / Class toughness enhancement 40
Toughness feat 21
Minos 20
Heroic Durability 20
Dragon Favor 10
Greensteel 45
Greater False Life item 30

What is that, 510 standing? Rage, short term buffs will push the base and temp HP higher.

[Baahb3]

One thing to note, if I am not mistaken you cannot use Inspire Competence on yourself.

[rest]

I love having intimi on my bard!

16/2/2 bard/fighter/barb. Warforged. I didn't go the DR route you went with here, as I generally intim and keep swinging, counting on displacement/stoneskin/conc opp procs/mass heals to keep me going. Fully raged, I'm hitting 761 'stunt' hp(double madstone). Not bad for a d6 hit dice class ;)

Screenshot or it didn't happen: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/rest_rsx/DDO/ScreenShot00394.jpg (picture is pretty large so I didn't hotlink it)

I'm only hitting 60 self buffed intim. Still working on those epic gloves of the claw to hit 65. I also have a lot less charisma than your guy.

Cool build, and I really love badass bards :cool:

[voodoogroves]

Yeah you can't and I wouldn't assume a 2nd bard is hanging around to help you out.

One thing of note - this also works with Dwarf - you lose a bit of DR from the DoD proc'ing, but you get racial enhancements to shield blocking and full healing amp. You also lose the ability to be reconstructed, which is actually pretty handy in VoD.

[Bardicus]

Focus chant will give you another +1 to intim.

Good catch, +1 rep!

Matt - will update post with HP but I show them to be 560hp

You can't IC on yourself, that's why it's listed in the buffs section.

[voodoogroves]

I love having intimi on my bard!

16/2/2 bard/fighter/barb. Warforged. I didn't go the DR route you went with here, as I generally intim and keep swinging, counting on displacement/stoneskin/conc opp procs/mass heals to keep me going. Fully raged, I'm hitting 761 'stunt' hp(double madstone). Not bad for a d6 hit dice class ;)

Screenshot or it didn't happen: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v162/rest_rsx/DDO/ScreenShot00394.jpg (picture is pretty large so I didn't hotlink it)

I'm only hitting 60 self buffed intim. Still working on those epic gloves of the claw to hit 65. I also have a lot less charisma than your guy.

Cool build, and I really love badass bards :cool:

You should be able to go all the way w/ the AP enhancement for the skill to rank 4 in the future; the other trick this would use is the +2/tier bonus from the Prestiges (WC 2 and SD 1). That's a half dozen more on you right now.

Intimitank/turtling is not something you should ever build around as your singular focus ... but there are a few builds that, I think, lose less than others when switching to that mode.

[Irinis]

Very pretty. What past lives do you have?

[Bardicus]

This is similar to one of my next life plans for Macksheen, though I'll have some past life goodiness to throw in the mix.

My weapon sets will be different for sure; If I'm going to DPS, I'm going to DPS. If I'm going to turtle, I'll use an absorber:
- GS 2-hander (Min2)
- GS 2-hander (Lit2)
- GS 1-hander (amp / absorption) + shield (likely light/dark, though Leviks wouldn't be bad)


This is a good point - if turtling the 1hndr should certainly be a Con-Opp +30% healing amp. With that said I should probably drop Prof: Khopesh and pick up THF in it's place.

[Bardicus]

Very pretty. What past lives do you have?

I went Bard --> Paladin and will TR back to a Bard. Would be great to have a Fighter PL for another +2 intim to be available.

[voodoogroves]

Good catch, +1 rep!

Matt - will update post with HP but I show them to be 550hp

You can't IC on yourself, that's why it's listed in the buffs section.

And there's tons more you can add in the 2nd section if you need it. Potions, etc. Some are easy to get (the Influence/whatever from house D collectible turn ins) others less so.

[voodoogroves]

I went Bard --> Paladin and will TR back to a Bard. Would be great to have a Fighter PL for another +2 intim to be available.

It hurts you by one on intim, but the active bard PL feat nets a +1 to UMD and perform as well (and some extra songs). Fighter and/or Barb PL either would be great.

Docent-wise and GS wise I'm looking at either an amp/absorption set and an active damage set (corrosive salt, lightning guard, disintegration guard, etc. etc.) to swap between.

Greensteel is slow (as I'm working on stuff for multiple toons right now) and DT is just something I've resolved won't be in a good place until the update. Some of my chars got insanely lucky quickly, others are just languishing in the mire which is Reaver-lotto.

[rest]

You should be able to go all the way w/ the AP enhancement for the skill to rank 4 in the future; the other trick this would use is the +2/tier bonus from the Prestiges (WC 2 and SD 1). That's a half dozen more on you right now.

Intimitank/turtling is not something you should ever build around as your singular focus ... but there are a few builds that, I think, lose less than others when switching to that mode.

I'll also grind out 400 coin lord favor for the +2 intim. Couple that with the WCII +2 intimi and and theres another 4, taking me to 69 (including epic claw gloves). I'm almost tempted to grind out a fighter life to get +2 more. But I'll never be an epic intimi tank. But having enough for most stuff on normal/hard and maybe a few on elite should be enough for me :D

I wouldn't change my class split, unless when WCIII comes out it's super over the top awesome.

[Humperdink]

Having a high intimidate and blocking DR is nice. I personally went WF 16bard/2ftr/2rog. I've intimi-tanked Sulo in VoD and ToD with no problems, don't have high enough intim for Epic DQ but that's okay as this is a secondary function. Blocking DR of 47 when my DoD procs and using Lorikk's shield from the Hound. I recommend Lorikk's as the arcane spell failure is only 15% versus 40% on Leviks. You may already know this but remember to keep your BAB at 20 with Madstone boots or divine power as your DR is based off of BAB. Intimidate doesn't just have to be used with shield blocking, there are other scenarios where it is valuable. Quickly remove agro off of a party member if they currently don't want it or can't deal with it. Use it to move mobs away from the party if that's part of the strategy in a quest and fascinate them off in the distance. This works much better if you have the ability to heal yourself. In other quests I sometimes use it to draw attention to myself while attacking with dual weapons as

1)everyone else's sneak attack damage starts going off (Tharne's goggle, class, racial, etc)

2)it quickly fills up my mana with Torc necklace and Concordant Opposition goggles

3)I can heal myself and the party members while under attack (high concentration skill + scrolls + maximized mass cure moderates with superior potency necklace or Amara's belt)

[Kintro]

This is a good point - if turtling the 1hndr should certainly be a Con-Opp +30% healing amp.

A lifeshield returner will help mitigate some of the damage until you get that made.

[Samadhi]

I played a similar build for around a year (although I focused on AC i.e. definitely didn't skip Inspire Heroism like this build does). Ultimately, I found I had better survivability from my bard with quickened/maxed self-healing, and LR'd him into straight DPS when constantly switching my shield on and off to avoid ASF drove me insane. Good luck. It's a concept I still approve of and hopefully it won't drive you as insane as it did me ;)

[Kintro]

I played a similar build for around a year (although I focused on AC i.e. definitely didn't skip Inspire Heroism like this build does). Ultimately, I found I had better survivability from my bard with quickened/maxed self-healing, and LR'd him into straight DPS when constantly switching my shield on and off to avoid ASF drove me insane. Good luck. It's a concept I still approve of and hopefully it won't drive you as insane as it did me ;)

I'm debating picking up Max/Quicken on my intimibard. Now that I have the parts for the Epic dragon shield it should work fairly well. You could also use Seven Fingered gloves/Hound Shield/DT 5% arcane sigil if you can figure out how to fit in the rest of your gear (gear slots are a bit of a pain on this kind of build).

[Bardicus]

What are you wanting to cast while you have shield equipped? I assumed that in situations where I'd have the shield out of my backpack I'd be turtled up in a raid situation being healed by others. That would let me ride out Madstone without worry while tanking as well.

[Kintro]

What are you wanting to cast while you have shield equipped? I assumed that in situations where I'd have the shield out of my backpack I'd be turtled up in a raid situation being healed by others. That would let me ride out Madstone without worry while tanking as well.

Haste, Focussing Chant, Displacement, Rage. I'm not entirely sure I would be able to heal myself, I'd have to see how well it works out. I'll probably pick up those feats anyway so I can pretend to be a backup healer when needed :)

[herdisleah]

The good news is, I can tell you focusing chant and displace you can cast without any arcane failure. I can also tell you the Light and Dark shield is AMAZING, and for a dex-based intimi-bard like mine, is a little better. I still use Levik's like for DQ, where the AC doesnt matter, but you probably have more DR...I have higher ac and evasion with saves a lot higher. I'd be tempted to see yours, though, if I didnt use the two rogue levels so much, and I'm rather fond of keeping GH and Irresistable Dance on my spell lists. I went human, too, for a boost to con/cha through enhancements, and I'm maxed on the healing amp. I'm probably less survivable but more of a full bard in a party.j

EDIT again: Consider the House D dragonmark too - its a free Protection +5 spell, plus the enhancement gives a total of 3 more intim, one over Bullheaded.

[ConnorMacLoad]

I am tossing this around as well, and have been for some time with a few guildies. I think this build will become a bit more successful once he can cast in "full plate of the defender."

HP's are always an issue, but I have found that with dwarf it is tolerable.

I have not been able to get it all down on paper, but I am pretty sure a 74 AC is possible post U7. And if the WC chain pre moves as it looks to be moving, there will be even better options in the future.

"can I hear no spell failure with a shield?" :D

[Dark-Star]

When intimidating use a Scourge Choker for up to 8 more con (80 hps).

Nice build concept.

[Bardicus]

When intimidating use a Scourge Choker for up to 8 more con (80 hps).

Good point, Dark! +1

[Bardicus]

By the way, does anyone know for sure what increase Stalwart Defender I gives to your shield blocking DR?

[Kintro]

By the way, does anyone know for sure what increase Stalwart Defender I gives to your shield blocking DR?

According to this post (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=179128) it's +2.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Hi, not sure if this got mentioned but guild airship House Phiarlan guy who gives +1 skills is a luck bonus that doesn't stack with VoM or HoGF afaik.

[Bardicus]

So I've been away from the game for a while and now that life has presented the opportunity to come back I logged onto Chantforged to see what I still needed before reincarnating into this build.

I saw the update to Shield Mastery and was excited but then saw the update to Intimidate and am wondering if turtling is a viable tank method these days. The way I read the update it sounds as if Intimidate likely will not generate enough aggro to maintain the mobs attention between Intimidate refreshes and you now need to be hate tanking along with intimidate to hold aggro. Is this the case?

[Valindria]

So I've been away from the game for a while and now that life has presented the opportunity to come back I logged onto Chantforged to see what I still needed before reincarnating into this build.

I saw the update to Shield Mastery and was excited but then saw the update to Intimidate and am wondering if turtling is a viable tank method these days. The way I read the update it sounds as if Intimidate likely will not generate enough aggro to maintain the mobs attention between Intimidate refreshes and you now need to be hate tanking along with intimidate to hold aggro. Is this the case?

I do not think turtling is viable. Not like the Hold shift + Press Intimdate days. You'll need to be doing damage to keep the aggro with others beating on the same monster. That said if you get your threat up there and the changes to intimidate you might be able to hold aggro the whole time. I'm not sure. I played with the shield mastery feats a little awhile back on Lam. I liked them. It's better since in your case it can just be passive. You could trade THF for improved shield bash and it might increase damage output a little when in S&B mode. Basically intimidate every time it is up and then attack when it is not letting the passive DR help. Maybe actively shield block a little? I am not sure.

It might not be better than the DR of the DoD, but for theat the new pack could be interesting. The Fleshapers Docent (http://ddowiki.com/page/Fleshshaper%27s_Docent) with the chance to do 100% more threat for 15 seconds mod it it could really help. It would give the 10% healing amp to help with being a WF.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Insanity

[Bardicus]

If shield blocking is out then I guess the build is toast. As it stands I would only have the DR from DoD when it procs and 25% reduction from Shield Mastery to mitigate damage and would need to keep pace with DPS builds with only a single weapon, fighter stance, WF brute fighting, and intimidate bonus to make up the difference.

That's disappointing. Will have to figure something else out for Chant I guess now.

[Symerith]

I don't think I saw that added to your DR calculations : as WC2, you get Ironskin Chant for 5 more DR.

Also, Healing yourself shouldn't be a problem. My 36pt WF bard (currently lvl 14) has 95% healing amp. at lvl 14 - I do have a paladin PL.

With a superior healing clicky (lvl 6 & lower healing spells increased by 75%), the mace of healing & tier 4 enhancements, I have quickened heals that hit for 50-70 & crits for over 170.