Solo repeater fleshy build?

[marspr]

I'm looking to play my first ranged character build. Here are my requirements:
!. I want to use repeating x-bows.
2. Not a fan of WF.
3. I only solo so, I have to self-heal.

Thanks...

[MartinusWyllt]

human
18 artificer, 2 rogue or monk

self-healing by heal scrolls
I recommend against construct essence as lower repair and lower positive heals I found annoying.
You'll want IPS

Those combos are pretty easy to level.

deeper rogue splashes with some ranger is good, too, but can be more challenging solo past around lvl 12 quests...lots more kiting.
11 ranger/5 rogue/6 arti works, too, for ranger lives, but similarly involves more kiting that 18 artificer...8/8/6 works, too.


At least in my experience.

[assimilateur]

My arti is level 26, give or take, and was able to solo heroic stuff on hard (second life, no subscription) reasonably well. I'm not saying that this is even remotely an achievement, just that you shouldn't be afraid to go full arti and use the construct essence feat. The numbers may be discouraging - I hit myself for 200+ on a non-crit with reconstruct - but it's still far more convenient and viable in a crisis to have a quickened spell ready for this thing than to have to switch to scrolls. This gives you -25% healing amp but that's hardly a high price to pay for quickened reconstructs, and divines will still be able to overheal the hell out of you in raids.

I'm unable to give you an exact "build", just a basic outline: max int plus level ups, high dex (16 at least, more if you're using a race that gets a bonus), rest in con. All relevant ranged feats, quicken for reconstruct and I think I was able to fit in maximize and empower, or at least one of those, for blade barriers. I think I also took augment summoning. The dog gets chewed up in more difficult content but is otherwise usually able to deflect some aggro off you, especially if you take his intimidate enhancements. With augment summoning it's surprisingly well-suited for lever and even rune duty (I'm reasonably sure I've seen arti dogs do the wisdom rune in Tear of Dhakaan at level 9, which requires around 20).

[Fedora1]

I'm looking to play my first ranged character build. Here are my requirements:
!. I want to use repeating x-bows.
2. Not a fan of WF.
3. I only solo so, I have to self-heal.

Thanks...

Half elf (any class that can self heal) with arti-dilly. Gives you proficiency with all xbows and some decent arti scroll/wand usage and umd.

Halfling rogue mechanic build with dragon marks.

[marspr]

All of the info, is most appreciated. I should add. The character will be played solo permadeath. And, she can't purchase any healing. She can trade in collectables for healing. I'm thinking human or helf Artificer 18 Rogue 2 but since Ive never played artificer, I'm wondering if Construct Essence will provide enough healing, even with healing amp? Also, I don't see the benefits to Arty levels 17, and 18. Is there another splash besides the two rogue that I'm taking, that would assist me? Thanks again.

[marspr]

And, can I start off with a strength of 8, if I'm soloing? Won't there be doors I won't be able to smash though, and other stuff like that. I've always played strength based characters so, it was never an issue.

[Fedora1]

I'm thinking human or helf Artificer 18 Rogue 2 but since Ive never played artificer, I'm wondering if Construct Essence will provide enough healing, even with healing amp? Also, I don't see the benefits to Arty levels 17, and 18.

Perma death? Don't worry about anything past L11-12. :)

[assimilateur]

I'm wondering if Construct Essence will provide enough healing, even with healing amp.

You said something about not purchasing any healing. Since that means not buying scrolls construct essence is pretty much all you have, since collectable trade-ins are hardly a sustainable or even realistic source of self-healing. The people recommending against construct essence hardly have much of an argument in the first place, and this is doubly the case for the purposes of someone not using heal scrolls.


And, can I start off with a strength of 8, if I'm soloing? Won't there be doors I won't be able to smash though, and other stuff like that. I've always played strength based characters so, it was never an issue.

Your dog will take care of levers, valves, etc., that require strength. It is going to have a higher strength than anything you could reasonably be expected to achieve on a ranged, mostly pure arti regardless of whether you start with 8 points in it or more. You can also destroy doors with some fire-based runearms.

[marspr]

Perma death? Don't worry about anything past L11-12. :)

If I make it to 12, I'll consider it something of a minor miracle...

[marspr]

[QUOTE=assimilateur;5250684]You said something about not purchasing any healing. Since that means not buying scrolls construct essence is pretty much all you have, since collectable trade-ins are hardly a sustainable or even realistic source of self-healing. The people recommending against construct essence hardly have much of an argument in the first place, and this is doubly the case for the purposes of someone not using heal scrolls.



Your dog will take care of levers, valves, etc., that require strength. It is going to have a higher strength than anything you could reasonably be expected to achieve on a ranged, mostly pure arti regardless of whether you start with 8 points in it or more. You can also destroy doors with some fire-based runearms.[/QUO

Forgot about the strength of my pet. Thanks

[MartinusWyllt]

Yeah, permadeath and not able to buy scrolls are kind of pertinent. I'm guessing that includes not being able to buy/shared account runearms and other stuff?

Maybe you can live without evasion? If you know what traps to avoid, I suppose.

[marspr]

Yeah, permadeath and not able to buy scrolls are kind of pertinent. I'm guessing that includes not being able to buy/shared account runearms and other stuff?

Maybe you can live without evasion? If you know what traps to avoid, I suppose.

I allow myself to buy two AH items each level.

[Panzermeyer]

Don't let the hype mess with you.

Going Pure Arti or 18/2 rog would be great for you.

I have a first life pure human arti. lot's of fun to play. I have construct essense and carry a ring of the master artifice. Repair power somewhere near the 200 range. A reconstruct will hit me for average of 400-500. I am sitting on 700ish hp and 1800 sp. So it generally always tops me off. I have never considered getting rid of construct essence. I personally will not do warforged either.

I am not sure House C Challenges fall in your scope or not, but the gear offered there is spectacular for Artis. My capped arti still uses 5-6 items from there. If that is acceptable nothing beats Ring of the Master Artifice from there for a construct essense fleshie.

On heroics especially you wouldn't have any problem at all soloing anything on Elite. Epics all depends on your gear and skill level.

There are 4 super super useful 6th level arti spells. Reconstruct, Tactical Detonation, Blade Barrier and Deadly Weapons. Going 18 arti you only get 2 6th level spells which is hard with needing reconstruct. Also 18 arti and you delay when you are getting BB which works wonders on most higher Heroic Elite content. But you get evasion which can be very useful. So definitely a personal call.

There are very very few traps that you need evasion to be able to disable. Any arti build you want to be int based and have insightful reflexes (my first life 20 arti had better reflex saves then my rogue did)

My dog is evasion and strength based. Using the trip line. Even in epics it is a very surprising source of good ghetto CC.

Got int based, max it out all level ups. Good con and dex high enough to eventually get IPS.

[marspr]

Don't let the hype mess with you.

Going Pure Arti or 18/2 rog would be great for you.

I have a first life pure human arti. lot's of fun to play. I have construct essense and carry a ring of the master artifice. Repair power somewhere near the 200 range. A reconstruct will hit me for average of 400-500. I am sitting on 700ish hp and 1800 sp. So it generally always tops me off. I have never considered getting rid of construct essence. I personally will not do warforged either.

I am not sure House C Challenges fall in your scope or not, but the gear offered there is spectacular for Artis. My capped arti still uses 5-6 items from there. If that is acceptable nothing beats Ring of the Master Artifice from there for a construct essense fleshie.

On heroics especially you wouldn't have any problem at all soloing anything on Elite. Epics all depends on your gear and skill level.

There are 4 super super useful 6th level arti spells. Reconstruct, Tactical Detonation, Blade Barrier and Deadly Weapons. Going 18 arti you only get 2 6th level spells which is hard with needing reconstruct. Also 18 arti and you delay when you are getting BB which works wonders on most higher Heroic Elite content. But you get evasion which can be very useful. So definitely a personal call.

There are very very few traps that you need evasion to be able to disable. Any arti build you want to be int based and have insightful reflexes (my first life 20 arti had better reflex saves then my rogue did)

My dog is evasion and strength based. Using the trip line. Even in epics it is a very surprising source of good ghetto CC.

Got int based, max it out all level ups. Good con and dex high enough to eventually get IPS.

Ugh. Now I'm torn between the two builds. I've always been a fan of evasion but, if it's not necessary...

[cru121]

I would recommend a dragonmarked halfling arcanotechnician, focusing on SLAs. Very strong in heroics.

[assimilateur]

I have never considered getting rid of construct essence.

This guy knows what he's talking about. That construct essence is even remotely a controversial feat on this forum blows my mind.

[Livmo]

Don't let the hype mess with you.

Going Pure Arti or 18/2 rog would be great for you.

I have a first life pure human arti. lot's of fun to play. I have construct essense and carry a ring of the master artifice. Repair power somewhere near the 200 range. A reconstruct will hit me for average of 400-500. I am sitting on 700ish hp and 1800 sp. So it generally always tops me off. I have never considered getting rid of construct essence. I personally will not do warforged either.

I am not sure House C Challenges fall in your scope or not, but the gear offered there is spectacular for Artis. My capped arti still uses 5-6 items from there. If that is acceptable nothing beats Ring of the Master Artifice from there for a construct essense fleshie.

On heroics especially you wouldn't have any problem at all soloing anything on Elite. Epics all depends on your gear and skill level.

There are 4 super super useful 6th level arti spells. Reconstruct, Tactical Detonation, Blade Barrier and Deadly Weapons. Going 18 arti you only get 2 6th level spells which is hard with needing reconstruct. Also 18 arti and you delay when you are getting BB which works wonders on most higher Heroic Elite content. But you get evasion which can be very useful. So definitely a personal call.

There are very very few traps that you need evasion to be able to disable. Any arti build you want to be int based and have insightful reflexes (my first life 20 arti had better reflex saves then my rogue did)

My dog is evasion and strength based. Using the trip line. Even in epics it is a very surprising source of good ghetto CC.

Got int based, max it out all level ups. Good con and dex high enough to eventually get IPS.

This is good advice.

I prefer pure human arty with construct essence. I pump my repair spell power past 140ish depending on build. Evasion is for gimps, however if you really want to use evasion as a pure arty, then use the Shadowdancer ED. Real trap avoidence is a deft touch at the keyboard and timing. Splashing weakens your arty dog.

[Panzermeyer]

I would recommend a dragonmarked halfling arcanotechnician, focusing on SLAs. Very strong in heroics.

This would potentially be a viable option. Used in conjuction with infused potions for healing.

Given the restrictions the many has placed on himself for playstyle, I would be very concerned with viability having only 4 heals. Not sure this would compete with a Human with construct essence.

[marspr]

Ok, gonna try going pure. Thanks for all of the advice. Truly appreciated. I'm thinking human with 18 I, 16 D, and 14C, for my 32 points. Assuming I need to put points into reconstruct?

[Livmo]

Irestone Inlet drops Hobble's xbow. Nice to have as a lowbie. I also rock an acid repeater with pure good at low levels. Take the Thought Spike force run arm when leaving Korthos. Keep in mind you can craft onto the rune arm to make it and you more buff.

BTW for solo you can make an EE viable dog. Also, look at the Enhancements. You can use your dog as a repair stand. The dog is great for parties too. Park dog and you can use it to retrieve stones and take to shrine.


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Edit ~ here is the link to the xbow. Use the augment slot on first life to buff the stat you need increased most at low levels.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Hobble%27s_Crossbow

--

Edit ~ Search is your friend. Search is INT based and only search can find a trap box, not spot. You will learn where all the boxes are, so don't waste points on spot. Also, I put at least one point in each skill, so I can use or buff with gear. For example, 1 perform skill for when I'm using Fatespinner ED.

[Panzermeyer]

Ok, gonna try going pure. Thanks for all of the advice. Truly appreciated. I'm thinking human with 18 I, 16 D, and 14C, for my 32 points. Assuming I need to put points into reconstruct?

Points would be into repair. That will boost the healing of your repair/reconstruct spells. Keep a look out for items like that as well that will boost your repair/reconstruct. The official name of them escapes me off the top of my head.

Being an INT build you will find that you have skills points to burn. At the start you should have enough points to put into every class skill that an arti has, with maybe even a few left over for something else. If you have any shortfall, keep your concentration, umd, repair, and trapping skills maxed. You should have more than enough to do that at least.

I personally like the battle engineer tree for my arti. I make heavy use of rune arms, and I cannot stand how slow you rune with a charging rune arm. Battle engineer solves that. Others swear by the archnotechnican but I don't have a ton of experience with that tree.

At lower levels I only use the run arm as a freebie space to hold extreme equipment effects and the bonuses to weapon damage. I wait till at least higher striding items later before I start using the rune arm in any charged teirs. YMMV depending on your play style. But definitely equip rune arms.

Since you allow yourself to buy 2 items from the AH per level, make sure and pick up a Hand of Tomes. They are pricy but there sell regularly on there. It is a ML 11 and turns all your weapons into disruptors. Very very handy for the necro and orchard series.

[marspr]

Lots of great advice. Feel free, to keep it coming...

[cru121]

This would potentially be a viable option. Used in conjuction with infused potions for healing.

Given the restrictions the many has placed on himself for playstyle, I would be very concerned with viability having only 4 heals. Not sure this would compete with a Human with construct essence.

If he stacks metamagic feats (also needed for SLAs), the CLWs and CSWs are not useless either. CLW in the 40s, CSWs 130ish.

[Panzermeyer]

Feats



Insightful reflexes you can take a bit later as a feat since you will start with a high dex.
Augment Summoning would help your flame turret and dog, but could be of marginal utility. If you take, I would generally swap out for something later.
On my arti I took dragonmark of passage for DD. That of course is a style preference.
Don't really bother with Heighten or Extend. Since max Arti levels are 6th, and the best spells are 6th it doesn't do much unless you go deep in the archno tree. Extend doesn't work on most arti buffs. Learned that on the hard way first time through.
Since I hear shot on the run is fixed now that is an interesting on to work towards
I am not sure how tomes fit into your playstyle, if they don't you'll need 3 ability points into Dex to get IPS, otherwise I might suggest the +2 tome from the favor grind (what is it 1750 favor) put towards your dex and then 1 ability point into dex gets you IPS.
Another consideration as far as ranged combat is needed 21 Dex to get Combat Archery. This may seriously compromise your putting points into Int which in epic levels will effect the DC's of your spells. But it is an attractive option for a ranged primary toon.


1 Point Blank Shot
1(H) Precise Shot
3 Rapid Shot
4 (A) Construct Essence
6 Dodge
8 (A) Maximize
9 Mobility
12 Shot on the Run
12 (A) IC: Ranged
15 Insightful Reflexes
16 (A) Quicken
18 Precision
20 (A) Improved Precise Shot

In this list I would consider Precision, Shot on the Run, Mobility, Dodge the optional feats. You can swap different ones for flavor. If you want Empower and Mental Toughness lines for more casting. Dragonmark of Passage or something else. But the rest I would consider vital.

Skills

18 Starting Int will give you 9 skill points a level. More than enough for Concentration, Disable, OL, Repair, Search, Spot, UMD, and 2 others. I would go Spellcraft and start putting into Balance. I think spot is a bit less optional than prior poster given the quests that have random traps, and being able to see hidden creatures. I find spot very useful. But I could see how someone would consider it optional.

[LOOON375]

You can make any of the fleshy races viable on an Arty. You can scroll heal like a mother or use construct escense. Super survivable.

I run a first life Dwarf and he kicks ass in all content. 18 Arty/ 2 rogue for evasion.

Edit: my plan is to do a 2nd life and make it a drow so I can get higher Intel for more damage. But I would basically build it the same.

[Panzermeyer]

You can make any of the fleshy races viable on an Arty. You can scroll heal like a mother or use construct escense. Super survivable.

I run a first life Dwarf and he kicks ass in all content. 18 Arty/ 2 rogue for evasion.

Edit: my plan is to do a 2nd life and make it a drow so I can get higher Intel for more damage. But I would basically build it the same.

yep yep

I have been planning on making a dwarf arti that uses dwarven axes and rune arm. Haven't gotten around to it yet during my grinding of my two TR projects.