DR vs. Evasion FvS

[Seamonkeysix]

I am currently working a divine tank (FvS) build that has 2 monk levels. I am bouncing back and forth between doing a LR to full Fvs vs staying with 2 monk levels for feats and evasion.

I have a capped WF FvS. I have to admit, the 10 DR is extremely useful and nice. I also have to admit, evasion feels like in many situations it is at least as good as having 10 DR when you are getting decent DR from shields and other sources.

Over the course of the last 5+ years, I have been a big fan of evasion as a whole. However, I have never leveled a clonk or FvS with evasion. At level 18 with this TR, I still see evasion as an extremely useful facet of the build, even at the loss of the 10 DR.

I am wondering about the community as a whole. Do you find evasion balances out the loss of DR? If you were building an end-game divine tanking build, do you think evasion + feats would serve you better, or 10 DR?

[MRMechMan]

Get a docent of defiance and have 20/- when you need it. :)

Barring that...not sure. I went 2 monk, and enjoyed it immensly. Based it somewhat on this, with some tweaks:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=314478

5 Dr is very easy to get, against any type of attack. Invul item or hammer/axe/spear block item (research what creatures do what, usually its pretty obvious), bloodrage symbiont, many others. So capstone is really only +5 DR. Stoneskin guard is also easy to get and procs quite often, for DR 10 as well. So maybe capstone is 3-4 more DR on average. I didn't miss the capstone in the slightest (shield. spell. are. you. kidding. me?), but also had the aformentioned docent. Shield mastery is also easier to fit in with the extra 2 feats...which when taking big damage will do more for you then capstone anyway. Evasion is very nice on a fvs/monk, and with low 30s reflex

11fvs
3monk
5 from 20 dex (8+6item+2tome+2ship+2exp dex swashbuckler)
4 GH
3nightshield
4 holy aura (this NEEDS to be one of your 2 8th lvl slots)
4insight on swashbuckler
=34

I found it quite useful. Can save in epics often enough to make it useful, not so much against traps though. Can squeeze a bit more out of your evasion with saves action boost, more dex tomes/ex dex+1, build points into dex, a +5 item, etc...

The bigger issue with 18/2 was spell slots, and to a much lesser extent, a smaller sp pool. Missing 1 8th lvl slot and 2 9th level ones is tough. Energy Drain, Mass Heal and Implosion are all great. 36k plat to swap from solo mode (energ drain) to healing mode (mass heal) is a pain, and can only be done every 3 days anyway. Seeing some pure fvs at close to 3k sp when I was at around 2.3k was meh at first but...didn't make a huge difference...with torc etc have unlimited sp when soloing, and I never had any issues when raid healing either. So many sp regen items narrows the gap quite a bit.

18/2 can also be tougher to lvl as you don't get BB AND heal till lvl 15. Pure clerics get both at 11. Was jealous of my cleric friend BBing everything in sands, whereas I didnt get both till after GH really. If you want to lvl fast just for the pastlife, maybe pure is better...BB is that good.

But while leveling, and at cap, evasion saved my life countless times, and helped my suvivability way more then a few extra points of DR. It's certainly viable.

[Seamonkeysix]

But while leveling, and at cap, evasion saved my life countless times, and helped my suvivability way more then a few extra points of DR. It's certainly viable.

Kinda how it seems now. I really thought the 10 DR would be really hard to live without, since I already have a capped FvS. However, evasion seems to be more handy. I did use the feats for shield mastery feats and the damage I take seems to be less overall than the damage I take with the 10 DR. Evasion saves me, most of the time, from pesky elemental damage and enemy BB damage. I have stone skin clickies and other ways to get DR through items.

Overall, evasion seems to be viable and worth the trade off in a divine tank build. Hearing other people who have experienced both DR and evasion makes the decision easier.

[voodoogroves]

For me it isn't evasion vs. DR. On a WF DR is tremendously easy to get ... Blademarks, for instance, Defiance, etc.

It really is those missing spell slots. Harsh. I've done both an 18/2 and a pure 20 and I can tell you, the 18/2 was slightly better feeling in some content/situations but the capped 20 wasn't far behind. In the cases where the 20 was ahead, often it felt like the 18/2 just couldn't keep up. The melee it provided to make up for the spell differential just wasn't that impressive.

I TR'd my 18/2 very quickly after re-capping. My 20, even though it has basically all the raid gear, etc. is just more generally useful and so she's waiting until others re-cap before I TR her.

[Calebro]

It's a matter of preference, and nothing more. And as voodoo said, it's more about the loss of the spells slots that it is about the evasion/DR question.