warrior equipment guide level 1 to 16

[AidanRyuko]

To give some advice on what to get as you level up pre end-game I'm making this list of equipment. For higher level advice check arjiwan's thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=317445). This guide will however focus on levels 1 to 16 for those leveling up or getting multiple lives. I also made free to play items orange. Feedback is welcome, I doubt I listed all items worth getting

Disclaimer: there are a lot of combinations you can make and this list isn't necesarily the best of the best, for example when I hit level 4 I used a handcrafted weapon with icy burst and force crit and it beats the maelstrom by far in actual damage), also remember that the same stats don't stack in general so try to puzzle together what works for you.

*items with a star in front are the ones that you really want to get if you have access.

Level 1
Ring of feathers - feather falling
*Feather falling boots (this can be found at almost any level range)
Angers step - +3 jump and expedious retreat clickie + Angers gift - +1 str, +1 resistance (set adds +2 to hit)

Level 2
*Maelstrom - Anarchic, Frost
*nightblade - Byeshk, Keen (30% crit rate at level 2!)

Level 3
Phiarlan mirror cloak - Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spell Resistance (17)
Brawns spirits - rage clickie

Level 4
*carniflex - 11.9 base damage rating, 20% crit rate and 3x crit modifier
bold trinket - Exceptional Seeker +2, +1 competence bonus to damage, Shocking Blow (event)
stalwart trinket - Earthen Guard, Stacking 10% Bonus to Fortification, +10 stacking HP
nimble trinket - Attack bonus +1, Dodge Bonus +1, Blurry (event)
Totemic Staff of Splinterskul - summon monster III clickie
Diabolist robe - has a summon monster III clickie on it
Timeblade - Slowburst, Feather Falling, Doublestrike 3%
Hellstroke greataxe - Double strike 3%, Keen
Infested armor - Disease Guard, Spell Resistance (19), Light Fortification
Antique greataxe - adamantine, force
Full plate of the ringleader - Adamantine Full plate: Command
spare hand - Riposte, Exceptional Combat Mastery +1, Disable Device +5, Open Lock
+5
*Bracers of wind - Magnetism +36, Lesser Lightning Lore, Blurry
*Ring of the stalker - Sneak Attack Bonus +1, Seeker +1
Ocean's wind gem - Greater air elemental summon, can only be obtained during crystal cove

Level 5
Visor of the flesh render guard - deathward clickie
Envenomed cloak - Poison Save +2, Poison Guard, Might of the Abishai, Constitution +3 (3 items give +1 to natural armor and +1 to strength)
Charged gauntlets - Shocking Blow, Might of the Abishai, Strength +2, Lightning Resistance (3 items give +1 to natural armor and +1 to strength)
Goggles of time sensing - haste clickie
Mask of comedy - good hope clickie
*voice of the master - switch it out when finishing quest objectives for a 5% bonus to xp
*mantle of the worldshaper - 5% bonus to xp, regeneration and 5 charges of spell absorbt (restores 1 a day), together with voice of the master it gives true vision, but the xp does not stack.

Level 7
Sacred Helm - Deathblock, Divine blessing and Eternal faith
*beholder optic nerves - has 8 charges/day of absorb beholder spells

Level 8
Gorgon Armor - 17AC, Gorgon Breath (CL:10, 3/rest), Constitution +4, Earthen Guard

Level 9
Nightforge armbands - improved false life, heroism
*Nightforge gorget - heavy fortification
Belt of mroran - Strength +6, Moderate Fortification
*Planar gird - Greater heroism clickie
*Silver flame pendant - negative energy absorbsion 5/day (great against beholders)
*The blood stone - +6 seeker

Level 10
Bloody cleaver - Bleed, human bane, bodyfeeder
Blade of fury - Medusa Fury, Demon Fever, Wounding, Fusible
*Sword of shadow - (high base damage rating, has additional crit multiplier compared to regular greatswords)

Level 11
*Minos legens - heavy fortification, toughness
*Greensteel equipment - you can put 3 traits in, usually when you use the same element you get an additional effects. The list of this is too big to put in here, but if you wish to read extensive info on it you can check the greensteel overview (http://ddowiki.com/page/Green_Steel_Item) on the ddo wiki. technically you can make your own tier 3 without owning the pack but expect to pay millions of plat. -- examples of proper equipment is adding +45hp, or +5 Will Save (Resistance) , Immunity to Fear, Proof against Poison - Horrid Wilting (2/day), Deathblock --
Cloak of ice - fire shield (ice) clickie


Level 12
Bracers of wind(t1) - Magnetism +66, Major Lightning Lore, Blurry, Dodge Bonus 2%
Spare hand - Riposte, Exceptional Combat Mastery +3, Staggering Blow, Disable Device +10, Open Lock +10
Ring of the stalker - Exceptional Sneak Attack Bonus +1, Seeker +3, Manslayer
*Greensteel weapons - also too extensive, check the following for abase stat comparison (http://ddowiki.com/page/Green_Steel_weapons)
*Cloak of Night (12) - Deathblock, dusk, invisibility guard
Maenya's fist - +5 strength, +10 intimidate (can upgrade it to +6 strength, +15 intimidate, turning it to a level 13 item)
Brutish cuirass - 18AC, staggering blow, +5 fortitude saves, adamantine
Crimson chain - 10AC, +5 Mithral Chainmail: Haste Guard, Reflex Save +5
Garments of equilibrium - Heavy Fortification, Concentration +13, Reinforced Fists
Docent of quickening - Striding 25%, Melee Alacrity 10%, Ranged Alacrity 10%

Level 13
Head of good fortune - Good Luck +2, Moderate Fortification (heavy fort, +2 dodge upon upgrade)
Madstone boots - Dexterity +4, Potency +48, Striding +20%, Madstone Rage (upgraded +6 dex, +52 potency, 30% striding)
Tharne's goggles - Sneak attack +5, true seeing, spot/search +15
Levik's bracers - +6 strength, +20% healing amp
*Tumbleweed - +6 dexterity, +2 attack, +10 tumble
Stormsinger cloak - +4 resistance, perform, sonic guard, anthem (not recommended)
Night hag's heartstone - Nightmare Guard, Disease Immunity, Deep Slumber
Belt of tongue - Spell Resistance (19), Enchantment Saves +6
Bluefire necklace - fire shield (fire) clickie
Electric haze - Heavy Fortification, Greater False Life

Level 14
Black dragonplate armor - 24AC, haste guard, armor-piercing 10%, relentless fury, greater acid resistance
White dragonplate armor - 24AC, heavy fortification, protection +5, shield bonus +4, greater cold resistance
Beholder plate armor - Antimagic Spike, Telekinesis Guard, Trace of Madness, Metal Fatigue
Full plate of the defender - 29AC, mithral, heavy fortification, attack bonus +2, protection +4
Breastplate of destruction - 36AC (max), mithral, protection +4, destruction

Level 15
Shard of xoriat - trinket that summons xoriat monsters (IE beholder, mindflayer)
Sustaining symbiont - Greater False Life, Suppress Madness, Exceptional Constitution +1, Exceptional Fortification (10%)

Level 16
Ring of the stalker - Exceptional Sneak Attack Bonus +1, Seeker +4, Manslayer, Ethereal
Bracers of wind (T1) - Magnetism +78, Major Lightning Lore, Blurry, Dodge Bonus 2%, Air Guard
Dragontouched armor - +22AC and 3 traits of your choosing, http://ddowiki.com/page/Dragontouched_Armor

Also look into guild-slot items. An example I'm wearing is a necklace: +6 constitution, +6 enchantment save, large guild slot gemmed with +20hp and at level 7 I wear a +19 spell resistance belt with large health gem.


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Explanations and * in front of effects you should get.
*absorb negative energy/beholder spells - though deathblock removes the chance of instant death, monsters can still cast nasty harm/disintegrate spells for well over 200 damage, this absorbs those spells for limited time.
alacrityincreases attack speed, but does NOT stack with haste.
*blurry basicly the majority of enemies receive a 20% additional miss chance when you are under the effect of blur
bodyfeeder bodyfeeder grants temporary +15hp, with a high crit-chance weapon this can be useful during heroic levels.
clickie a clickie is any effect on an item you own that can be effected by clicking on it, an example is the korthos featherfalling ring where you have to equip and click the item to get feather falling cast on you as a spell.
*deathblock This makes you immune to instant death spells
demon fever this is a status effect that gives 1d8 Constitution damage to enemies on a critical hit.
dusk enemies receive a 10% miss chance due to concealment
ethereal you no longer miss 50% when you or your weapon is ethereal.
exceptional stats These are ability points that stack with regular stat bonusses (IE +6 strength and +2 exceptional strength will make +8 strength, whereas +6 str and a +2 str item would still be +6 str due to restrictions in stacking)
false life This gives extra hp, depending on the item you can get +5hp to +40hp and the effect acts like it's permanent hp rather then a temporary buff.

*feather falling Feather falling makes you fall down slower, making it easier to reach some places and you will not get any fall damage. Feather falling can be found in spell type and equipment (permanent) type
fire shield fire shield ice and fire is basicly an aura of fire surrounding you, anything that hits you will get hit by the element of shield you are in (unless the enemy is immune to that element)
Good hope a spell that grants +2 morale bonus to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls.
*Greater Heroism a spell that grants +4 morale bonus to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks and weapon damage rolls.
Guards a guard is an item effect that has a chance to trigger when you are being hit, examples of this is the air guard that occasionally knocks enemies down or grants the player haste when hit or earth guard which occasionally casts stoneskin on the wearer.
healing amplification Healing amp increases the amount of hp restored when you are being healed.
*heavy fortification this gives a 100% protection against critical hits and sneak attacks made by the enemy. There are exceptions of monsters that can still sneak attack you despite of this and monsters that can reduce your fortification, but this is at high level quests.
keen This basicly doubles your chance to critical hit. IE if you have a greatsword your chance to crit is normally only when you roll a 19 or 20 (10%), keen doubles this range to 17, 18, 19, 20 or 20%. This does not stack with the improved critical feat.

manslayer manslayer has a 5% (vorpal) chance on killing humans, or in the case of powerful humans it will deal 100 damage.
riposte riposte is a counter attack.
combat mastery Items with this property raise the chance of succesfully using skills like trip, sunder and stunning fist.
*seeker seeker adds the number to critical hit rolls and to critical hit damage before modifier, this means that if you have a monster with 40AC and you normally roll a 38 in your combat window, with +6 seeker you would now roll 44 and thus hit the monster. the damage multiplier means that if you were to use a greataxe with a x3 multiplier and you normally crit 210 damage, a +10 seeker item would turn that damage into 240 damage (10 x3).
sneak attack you get extra damage for attacking enemies that didn't spot you, are focussing on someone else or is in any way helpless.
*spell resistance this is a resistance against non-damaging spells like hypnotize and command
slowburst enemies are slowed upon critical hit
staggering blow knocks the enemy down on a vorpal/roll of 20
striding this increases your run speed
toughness (on equipment) equipment toughness generally adds 20hp, but does not stack with the same effect on other items.
true seeing you automaticly see hidden doors, you can also see through blurred monsters, increasing your hit chance quite a bit.




~Aid

[Jsbeer]

Thanks for this it should be very useful.

I noticed that you have linked arjiwan's thread but have you considered including your suggestion (in the same format as the rest of the post) in this thread for levels 17+?

[AidanRyuko]

Thanks for this it should be very useful.

I noticed that you have linked arjiwan's thread but have you considered including your suggestion (in the same format as the rest of the post) in this thread for levels 17+?

do you mean adding 17+ items to my own thread? I'm not really considering that at the moment. For one I don't want to steal the thunder of a great thread, because arjiwan's thread has some awesome gear explained and concrete reasons why (not only in the main thread but also in the replies like sirgog, that's valuable information and more in-depth then I'm offering.

I understand making the list 1 to 25 would make it a nice favorite for all the gear you could and should collect and I also understand that people new to the game/class want to know what gear is good for them and why. My goal is to make a clear leveling gear list that's easy to read. Because a proper player will have pretty much an entirely different equipment set on epic levels I seperated the ending of heroic equipment and beginning of epic gear. In my opinion the true cut between heroic and epic starts at 18 when you have easy access to things you might wear from level 18 to 25 like TOD rings or cannith propulsion boots.

I will be adding an explanation of item effects and maybe I'll shortlist the *items with explanations of why you need them.

[Daggerswan]

Excellent list! I only have one add.

Carnifex from Delera's. Greataxe +2 and Keen (doubled, making the crit range 17-20).

[whomhead]

Level 5 should really have the entire Abishai set listed. I can't think of any character that would not want to wear at least 3 pieces of it at that level and for at least 2-3 beyond.

ETA: level 5 should also include the Visor of the Fleshrender Guards (from Splinterskull) that have a deathward clickie. Very handy to have a few of these for basically all levels.

[Brennie]

Excellent list! I only have one add.

Carnifex from Delera's. Greataxe +2 and Keen (doubled, making the crit range 17-20).


Level 5 should really have the entire Abishai set listed. I can't think of any character that would not want to wear at least 3 pieces of it at that level and for at least 2-3 beyond.

ETA: level 5 should also include the Visor of the Fleshrender Guards (from Splinterskull) that have a deathward clickie. Very handy to have a few of these for basically all levels.

This and this. While reading your list, these are the two that stood out the most to me.

Carnifex is hands down the best 2hander from 4 til 10 (Against enemies who are vulnerable to critical hits, anyway), so much so that even my non-two-hander-focused characters usually use it during those levels.

Charged Gauntlets are great, but they really shine when combined with the Cloak and one of the other peices (none of which are particularly relevant to a fighter, unfortunately. i usually do bracers or helm, as my boots tend to be slotted with striders). More armor, more strength, and a +3 con item with poison guard (Which I don't think i've ever seen work, but its there)

Additionally, Sword of Shadow has a lot more going on for it than its base damage. Its crit profile (18-20/x3) means that it acts as a multiplicative force for your base damage. The higher your bonus damage gets (From strength, feats, rage, bardsong, etc), the better this sword performs for you (Same goes for carnifex, but SoS takes it to the next level, especially since a fighter ought to have improved crit by level 10!)

Other Suggestions:

Mirror Cloak (http://ddowiki.com/page/Phiarlan_Mirror_Cloak) (min level 3) - Near immunity to nondamaging spells. It gets replaced somewhat easily at level 5 by the abashi cloak, but could be usable for a few more levels if one doesn't have that.

Lifeshield of Invulnerability (no link/variable min level) - Crafted on armor, invulnerability make syou..well...fairly invulnerable up to level 10ish. Once you get into better base armors, you can craft a new set with lifeshield on it too, for some added protection. Invulnerability alone is min level 1, lifeshield of invulnerability is min level 7, or min level 5 if you can get the cannith mark thingy.

Bold Trinket (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Greater_Bold_Trinket)/Stalwart Trinket (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Greater_Stalwart_Trinket)/Nimble Trinket (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Greater_Nimble_Trinket) (min level 4) - Nimble and Stalwart are my favorites out of this bunch, since bold doesn't stack with ship buffs or charged gauntlets, so if you have both it is essentially only exceptional seeker +2. Stalwart is purely defensive, while nimble is mostly defensive but also have some bonus tohit (Cause whynot!). These are seasonal items though, so new players won't have access to these til 2013 at the earliest.

Angers Step (http://ddowiki.com/page/Anger's_Step) + Angers Gift (http://ddowiki.com/page/Anger's_Gift)(min level 1) - Fantastic for new fighters. Expeditious clickies that now last for a total of 10 minutes (woo!), +2 to hit, +1 strength, and +1 to all saves.

Necklace of Contemplation (http://ddowiki.com/page/Necklace_of_Contemplation) (min level 1) - False Life and +1 to hit. Cause whynot!

Greensteel Hitpoint Item (no link/level 11) - With multiple different variations, it's difficult to boil this down to much more than "+45 hitpoints and also stuff". MinII is popular for AC, heavy fort, and stoneskin clickies. Popular cheap versions are triple earth and triple air. SmokeII might start becoming more popular now that Displacement is self-only (you do mention greensteel "items", but hitpoint items are/will probably be the most popular for melee types)!

Gloves of the Claw (http://ddowiki.com/page/Gloves_of_the_Claw) + Bracers of the Claw (http://ddowiki.com/page/Bracers_of_the_Claw) (min level 7) - These are pretty light in the stat department, to be perfectly honest, but they do cover moderate fort and give +2 damage per hit!

Sirens Belt (http://ddowiki.com/page/Siren's_Belt) + Sirens Charm (http://ddowiki.com/page/Siren's_Charm) (min level 7) - Sirens charm is the real gem of this set, giving +4 con and some minor sonic resist. The belt doesn't offer all that much to a fullplate fighter, but the set bonus does help boost saves and AC so I'd say it's worth it.

Silver Flame Talisman (http://ddowiki.com/page/Silver_Flame_Talisman) (min level 11) - Upgrade to Silver Flame Pendant, with the same purpose, but better at it.

Ring of the Stalker (http://ddowiki.com/page/Ring_of_the_Stalker) (Specifically the level 12 (http://ddowiki.com/page/Ring_of_the_Stalker_(Level_12)_(Tier_1))version) - Sneak attack that stacks with Tharnes, Seeker (Which doesn't stack with anything, but can free up the trinket slot if you don't mind a small downgrade) and the awesome Mandslayer, turning all attacks into vorpal attacks against humanoid targets (including reptilians, goblinoids, gnolls and the like)! Tier 2 gives 4 seeker instead of 3, and tier 3 lets you Cannith Craft it down to min level 10, or add fun stuff like Mobility (2% dodge and 2 higher max dex bonus... pretty awesome craftable!). the level 20 version of this ring is amazing too, but outside of teh scope of your OP.

Mantle of the Worldshaper (http://ddowiki.com/page/Mantle_of_the_Worldshaper) (min level 5) - it is unfortunate that everything about this particular cloak is weaksauce except 1) it functions as a backup to voice of the master for the 5% xp (incase you need your trinket slot free), and 2) it gives you what essentially amounts to True Seeing if you wear both the Voice and the Mantle. Alternately, this can be stored in a backpack and only brought out for fights where baddies use big nasty spells that you really want to avoid (like in Tower of Despair). The recharge on the spell absorption is awful for fulltime use, though. And regeneration is a bad joke.

There are far too many weapons to get into, and all are entirely dependant on what type of focus a character is going for, so I'll skip those suggestions entirely!

[AidanRyuko]

main list is edited.

Stuff I did add:
carniflex (and starred for suggestion)
bold trinket
stalwart trinket
nimble trinket
angers step + angers gift
necklace of contemplation
envenomed cloak

stuff I didn't add
the rest of the abishai gear, personally I don't even use abishai at those levels, let me know if there is any good third item for the abishai, currently I got the gauntlets and cloak up, but for set bonus you would need 3, I do recognize the set bonus would be nice, but the third item slot could be spent better as far as I know.

Visor of the fleshrender, a better alternative is the sacred helm at level 7 with deathblock, it cant be dispelled and you shouldn't need a deathblock item before level 7. This can be combined with the beholder optic nerve necklaces that absorbs spells.

mirror cloak was already on there

I added greensteel hp and immunity as examples rather then listing it seperate.
I also changed the challenge gear from level 4 with an explanation to listing it at lvl 4, 12 and 16 (if they had a useful addition at those levels).
editing SOS description to give it a little more credit

This list is there to give people an idea what to get, that's also why I star good items. I'm trying to keep it compact and to weed out items that aren't that good. The risk is putting too much up for too small of a reward, IE an item with 1 charge of haste on it, technically its useful to have haste but such an item is not worth putting on here just for that. For that same reason im pondering wether the anger step + gift should be on there.

[Brennie]

main list is edited.

Stuff I did add:
carniflex (and starred for suggestion)
bold trinket
stalwart trinket
nimble trinket
angers step + angers gift
necklace of contemplation
envenomed cloak

Cool!


stuff I didn't add
the rest of the abishai gear, personally I don't even use abishai at those levels, let me know if there is any good third item for the abishai, currently I got the gauntlets and cloak up, but for set bonus you would need 3, I do recognize the set bonus would be nice, but the third item slot could be spent better as far as I know.

Honestly, the last 3 abishai pieces (boots/helm/bracers) aren't anything special, or particularly helpful for a fighter on their own. however, if you look at that as +1 stacking strength and +1 natural armor, they are pretty decent (And not much else contends for boots/bracers/helm at that level imho). However, it honestly don't have that much of an impact overall, especially if you have an even strength score before the set bonus.


Visor of the fleshrender, a better alternative is the sacred helm at level 7 with deathblock, it cant be dispelled and you shouldn't need a deathblock item before level 7. This can be combined with the beholder optic nerve necklaces that absorbs spells.

Flesh Render guards are very important, in my opinion. Note that Death Ward the spell/clicky, and Deathblock the item enhancement are different, although they do overlap. Important reasons why one should have Death Ward (Although cleric/FvS teammates and hirelings can also cast this): 1) it doesn't take up a gearslot, 2) it blocks negative energy damage, and 3) it blocks negative levels (VERY important in some circumstances!). Reasons to also carry deathblock: 1) unlimited duration, and 2) is nondispellable (Essential for some beholder fights!)

[AidanRyuko]

well, can't say no to good arguments like that in why to put up the flesh render visor.

also added worldshaper, forgot that last time.

[Ancient]

Great List!

Level 1 - Anything of Invulnerability mitigates a very large amount of the damage you receive at low levels.

You are missing a few good caster items:
Level 1 - Apprentice's Robe/(whatever the docent is) helps boost damage early on.
Level 2 - Robe of duality helps fleshies at level 2
Level 4 - Cunning trinket (event) provides 50 stacking sp.
Anything with a guild slot can provide a significant SP boost at low levels

Crafting Goodies
Screaming of Bleeding with masterful is ML1, ML3 without masterful
A +1 Ghost Touch flametouched maul of undead bane is ML5 with masterful, ML 7 without. Even if you don't like this item, it would be good to list what your generic undead beater is.
A Melee Alacrity 10% trinket is great at low levels. ML1 with masterful, ML 3 without.

[whomhead]

stuff I didn't add
the rest of the abishai gear, personally I don't even use abishai at those levels, let me know if there is any good third item for the abishai, currently I got the gauntlets and cloak up, but for set bonus you would need 3, I do recognize the set bonus would be nice, but the third item slot could be spent better as far as I know.


What is better than either the Scorched bracers or Helm of frost for those equipment slots at levels 5-7? Especially if you're already wearing two pieces of the set, that just makes those even better. You have the Bracers of wind listed at level 4, but nothing in the list for helm anywhere before level 7. I mean, I know it is level 5 so everything is pretty much a walk in the park, but I can't think of anything I would wear over a 3 piece abishai (and I have TR'ed my main character 6+ times).

[AidanRyuko]

@cs, I would love to have someone make a thread on good stuff to craft at level, it's a world on it's own and you can get good properties on gear every few levels with crafted gear, IE at level 17 (would be 15 but did eldritch ritual on it doh) I got a +6 con, +6 enchantment save necklace with a 20hp health gem in it, but early levels have some nice stuff too, it's a pretty wide range of possibilities though. As for caster items I hope you will read the title of this thread:)

@whom,

Like you said I use wind bracers that give 20% blurry at level 4 instead of scorched bracers, for a helmet I usually use mask of comedy for the good hope clickie or chimera's crown for 15 spell resistance and +1 to natural armor. But any helmet with additions would do really, +10 to frost resistance is the only useful property on it besides helping to get that +1 to natural armor and str. I can add the option to get a third item for set bonus behind the two items I did list I suppose.

if you craft a helmet you can get +5 reflex save or +5 will save at level 3
+10 intimidate or +10 jump or +10 bluff or +10 tumble or +4 resistance at level 5,

[Ancient]

as for caster items i hope you will read the title of this thread:)

doh!