FVS Build

[Candela90]

Simple question.
Is FvS better as an offensive caster or melee?
If caster I will be wasting my sp on spells, not on a healing and I love being a healer.
But on the other hand fvs melee will probably never be so good like e.g. fighter.
Whats better choice?
I have ideas for build for both, just dont now what start. Dont have so much time to go with 2 characters and see which is better at higher levels.
Im playing one fvs now, but just to test abilities.

[wootvenu]

Take a look at Impaqt's evoker fvs, very good healer and awesome caster.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=199266

[Candela90]

I read it. And its my first choice if i go a caster.
But still dont know if trying melee isnt a good idea.

But in this build id drop char 2 points, cause i really loves elves, and they cant have 8 dex ;p Shame.
And 12 char is still good enough I thinks. +2 tome and +5 or 6 Item and i have ability to cast all spells.

[Iwinbyrollup]

FvS is good at both.

In terms of SP, you'll have enough SP to heal and offensive cast and with AoV that's a good choice.

In terms of melee, no, you won't be as good as an equally geared Fighter or any other melee class, for that matter. But one doesn't go melee FvS for the purpose of being top DPS melee, one usually goes melee FvS for the purpose of being good DPS on top of being very self-sufficient and being capable of healing a party. It's a trade-off.

Basically, you can't go wrong either way. Both are significantly better than pure healing spec, which is particularly weak on FvS (at least with Cleric, if you were to go pure healing spec you could easily adjust to get good spell DCs).

[wootvenu]

But still dont know if trying melee isnt a good idea.



Generally WF fvs are good at melee, personally i wud love to have either pally past life or Healing amp DT armor from prev life for my Melee fvs, but its jst me.

Edit:A few references:
Impaqt's :http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=200561
Melkor's:http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=211596

[Candela90]

I think I will try melee first. If u think fvs can be a good melee I can try. And i like more to fight or to cast.

And... Just dont laught at me.
I still keep hearing "AoV I" AoV II". My Englisch is average, so... its an enhanecment, right? Whats the full name?
Th only thing that i have in head is "Avatar of Vulkoor" but it doesnt have sense with I and II then and good healing or casting offensive spells, so... xD Sorry for problem. Just this shorts get to me sometimes.

[wootvenu]

I still keep hearing "AoV I" AoV II". My Englisch is average, so... its an enhanecment, right? Whats the full name?
Th only thing that i have in head is "Avatar of Vulkoor" but it doesnt have sense with I and II then xD Sorry for problem. Just this shorts get to me sometimes.

AOV I, II : Angel of vengeance I, II and they are enhancements.

[Candela90]

Thank u all. I will try out melee build when a server will be up again.

[Bart_D]

My human FS is caster-ish (starting wis 16, all level-ups, enhancements) but without spell focus feats, and find that in harder Amrath/epics, heightened Destruction works sometimes but not reliably. If i were to change anything, I'd get better melee, kind of planning to TR to halforc or warforged for THF'ing.

Whatever you do, do not boost Cha for spell points, 12 starting is fine. Str or Wis for offense is much more satisfying and you'll have plenty sp for healing.

[Candela90]

Yeah i was thinking about starting with:
dex 10(id dump it, but i want to be an elf),
int 10(with 8 i would have just 1 skill point per level, so i want minimum 2 skill points per level),
char 12
con 14
For both.
For melee max str and maybe some more to con.
And for caster max wisdom.

FvS have nice sp and char is not giving much sp (know, cause i did this mistake at my first fvs ;] )

[Franinho]

I have an Elven melee FVS who i really like. You can try it if you like, it's got 2 monk levels for evasion and feats so I can fit all the TWF feats. Basically goes like this. 16 str, 16 dex, 14 con 9 intel 9 wis, 12 cha, 32 point build, the reason i went for 9 intel is purely to eat a +1 intel tome and allow it to invest 2 skill points from lvl 3 on. You put 1 in concentration and one in UMD as you lvl up. All lvl ups go into STR. Spell wise, pick all the buffs, Divine power and favor being your bread and butter. Damage spells are Blade Barrier, Divine punishment and cometfall (which is optional). Pick at least 3 mass healing spells ( i have mass heal, mass cure light wounds and mass cure serious wounds) and Heal. Get evasion as soon as possible, i started as 2 FVS 2 Monk with the veteran status. Elves also get benefits for scimitars, so invest the fvs feats and elf ench into that. My feat list is as follows: Toughness (monk bonus), TWF (monk bonus), Maximise spell, Empower spell, Improved TWF, Improved critical slashing (15-20 range on scimis!!!), Quicken spell, Greater TWF. I also opted for the AoV PrE, but hoping the melee one will bring more to the build. I hope you like this suggestion, as i enjoy it very much as i covers most heals, dps and some damage spells for the ultimate self relied build.

[Candela90]

I dont want to multiclass. Never really played a melee or a specialist so I dont think mutliclassing will be good for me.
Certainly I will stay pure fvs.
Earlier I played cleric, and now unlocked fvs, and i Like it more.
And I dont have monk unlocked :(
And Dex is not really useful for fvs - other stats are much more needed i think.

[Candela90]

It seems I will try caster first. Liek I said - I want to play elf, and dont really see elf's good melee enhancements.
Only
Aerenal Elf Melee Attack I and II
Aerenal Elf Melee Damage I and II
Is there more useful enhancements for melee elf? (besides FvS enhancements)

[PestWulf]

It seems I will try caster first. Liek I said - I want to play elf, and dont really see elf's good melee enhancements.
Only
Aerenal Elf Melee Attack I and II
Aerenal Elf Melee Damage I and II
Is there more useful enhancements for melee elf? (besides FvS enhancements)

Actually, I'm playing an Elf FSoul 12/ Paladin 6/ Fighter 2 That i'm having a blast with so far. Early on you get some much needed +hit from Elf and Paladin scimitar perks. I won't be taking a prestige until level 11, so there's plenty of time to pick up all the "nice to have" ap's instead of needing to rush to the PRE's. The level progression I use is
5 Paladin
6 FSoul
1 Fighter
1 Paladin
6 FSoul
1 Fighter

For stats on a 32 point build I chose
16 STR
16 DEX
14 CON
8 INT
8 WIS
14 CHA

For feats I chose:
Toughness
TWF
Maximize
IC: Slash
Quicken, ITWF
Empower
Toughness or Power Attack
GTWF


If you choose to go melee Scimitar with an Elf, no matter what build you choose, I would definitely suggest looking into getting some of the early +hit gear that you can get. Like one of the Korthos sets that you can quest for easily. Also the Sharn Syndicate Nicked Scimitars are very nice. They give you a d6 of acid, +1 hit and are also a base 1d8 instead of the normal 1d6 (though your friend is f2p I think you said, so no go there). If you have more resources or are a crafter, I find getting to a +5 Scimitar from auction or crafting as quickly as you can is better than getting damage mods on it for early game if you plan to play on Hard or Elite modes at all.

Also, to your comment of the Racial lines and wondering if there were more to it than that...keep in mind that +1 hit is about the best possible damage upgrade you can get in the game. A friend of mine did the math on it (his parents spent more on INT than mine did), even though it seems obvious that hitting is better than not hitting. The +2 hit that you can get from the Elf lines really is a very large deal. The only thing that would trivialize it is if you were an epic raider with capped out gear and could already hit everything in the game with a roll of 2.

[Candela90]

It seems im trying both at one time. I made 2 characters - one for caster one for melee ans trying.
For now playing melee is better. But its only 4 lvl.
Im not multiclassing - going to stay pure FvS. I couldnt hit on elite at lvl 2-3 but on 4 I can. No to good as barb, but can kill some.
Im going into two weapon fighting for sure. I picked longswords for mine weapon, so my class feat is follower of SH or sth like that (dont really remember, but its givbing u + for longswords and a capstone is healing moderate wounds).

I started with
Str 16
Dex 16
Con 14
Wis 8
Int 10
Char 12 (i will have +2 char form capstone, so...)

In skills im investing in Con and UMD for now. But dont know if i wont resin from UMD, and put points in spot and balance.

From feats i picked toughness and two weapon fighting for now.
For enhacements both Toughness lines first level, +1 elven dex and Life Magic.