need ideas for bf arti

[Makkuroi]

I need ideas for a bladeforged arti build on my road to completionist.

Current ideas:
3 pally for saves and stance
int based harper for ranged+casting
adamantine plating

Problems:
TR cache consists mainly of staves, shuriken and caster gear. No good crossbows/non-centered weapons, although i have a Pinion.

[Sehenry03]

I never found much use in taking a Paladin splash personally.

2 Lvls of monk maybe for evasion but even then your reflex may never be enough even with Insightful Reflexes to be useful for EE content. EN and EH sure but EE will be tough.

I personally just stay pure Arty as they have a lot to offer as a pure class.

Repeaters...well there are a few fairly easy to farm in the 18-20 range. Silver Slinger comes to mind. You don't need an optimal repeater to be good. Your buffs will make you effective. GS repeaters offer a lot if you have shards and ingredients.

Stats max Int and Max Con rest into whatever you want. I normally do dex but that's just for lvls 1-5. you will be starting at lvl 15 so that's not needed. Maybe Wis for spot but you should be able to get gear for that if you want to be a trapper.

[elcagador]

I need ideas for a bladeforged arti build on my road to completionist.

Current ideas:
3 pally for saves and stance
int based harper for ranged+casting
adamantine plating

Problems:
TR cache consists mainly of staves, shuriken and caster gear. No good crossbows/non-centered weapons, although i have a Pinion.

Artificer 16/Paladin 4 sounds good. You can get great defenses, 20% more hitpoints, +6 con, +10% running speed, 25 extra Mrr/Prr and saves that might be useful on ee. You trade a little casting power but i think its worth if you dont want to spent a heart of wood and also if you play Elite and EE, having the paladin defenses and running speed could be very helpful. Repeater Crossbows will be your main dps source and could go in dreadnought destiny for dps brute force with master blitz or other ed when casting support.

If you dont want to use repeater crossbows could try for example a 14 Arti/4 paladin/2 rogue using staves or a variation of the artichucker http://www.ddovault.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1405903270, for example a Arti 13/monk 3/paladin 4 if trying with shurikens. Or can play as a juggernaut Arti 16/Pal 2/ranger 2, etc. Artificer offers a lot of multiclassing options and with pally splash you trade some offense for defenses, that could be useful if playing on EE content.

[Wh070aa]

Okay. BF offers nothing for arti past life, as artificer falls off really hard at epics. you are better off doing war forged up to 20 and TRing. You have way easier time getting up to 20, than up to 28.

What is your builds objective? Quick leveling for TR? Epic play?
If quick leveling, consider doing caster-ish build, as the arti SLA's do pretty decent damage and stuns. Up to level 17-ish, it's better than rune arm bullcrap.
If epic play, sacrifice all the spell casting and get some ranger and get dobleshoot, and sniper shot clickie (+2w, and +2 crit range/multiplier(? not shure if it applies) every 10 seconds, combined with adrenaline its pretty beast). Getting 6 ranger for sniper shot is not the best idea tho, as you don't get spell casting stuff.


Also the sad truth is that artificer trees are garbage. 40-ish point investment gets you +5 repeater damage, and about 100 extra damage from rune arm active, if you break your finger tapping the button. Or you get 4 SLA's, that give 100 to 800-ish damage, and some stuns. And possibly 0.5 weapon damage that does not stack with racial/costs feat.

I personally did pure fleshy artificer, because you get really reconstruct at level 19, and waiting 1 level for cocon (witch is better healing, by the way), was no brainier. Also you can heal yourself just fine with potions/infusions in heroics anyway, as long as you trow the infusions on walls and stuff (the targeting does suck). BF has reconstruct SLA tho.

Right now I am doing int based repeater 4arti/11ranger... framework (6arti/12 ranger/2barbarian) in epics, which has been going pretty good.

I am planing on doing 2 to 5 bard/15 artificer or something like that after this (when I finally test out ranged Coup de Grace, if it works, then massive lulz because +30% dobleshot, arti stuns, and IPS sounds like fun.)

Anyhow, to me it seems that you are better off with non iconic pure caster artificer. Spam those SLA's to 20, and TR. (Getting IPS, is worth it tho, combined with decent repeater (Doublecross Bow, Slaver's Hand, or stunning/thunder forged/green steel), its just AoE CC+ damage.Only problem is getting god spell power, and critical items in non weapon slots.

Otherwise, if you do Epic artificer play, you need to get archery items, and rune arms(that Towens hammer) as spell casting artificer falls off way hardcore in epics. Although artificers generally fall off in epics. They have no archery skills, dobleshot , or nothing that can give you damage bursts to clear high HP enemies.

If not going pure artificer, you probably want to go 16 artificer, as level 17 and 18 are empty levels for artificer. Maybe do 2paladin/2rogue(or monk)/16arti for cha to saves(kinda pointless, as no cha investment), and evasion or something? The stance does not seem to be worth it, unless you are planning on tanking with it? Heavy armor+arti armor enchants seem good at first, but you cant really use scrolls in heavy armor, and you wont have tower shield(unless you don't want to do damage?) and arti HP (in my opinion) don't really support melee combat.
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For additional research, I can offer my ramblings
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/447347

and Dubbell O'Seven
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/386775-Dubbell-O-Seven-casting-ranged-focused-artificer

[Enoach]

I recommend the 16/2/2 Artificer/Paladin/Rogue as a build idea.

As a Bladeforge unless you have a LR+1 Rogue will not be your first Level so you will miss out on some skill points but you will be able to recover it will just be tighter.

While some find Artificer Repeater falls off in DPS in epic levels I found that IPS and an assortment of Repeaters (Paralyzer, Poisons, weakness effects) went a long way in making the build a deadly force on the battlefield.

The 2 Paladin are for the saves

The 2 Rogue is for the Evasion and Skill Points. I found Rogue to be a better choice than Monk due to not being centered with X-Bow/Rune Arm

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My suggestions - Get an assortment of Rune arms that do different damage types. This is valuable as it gives you the opportunity to have extra damage and possibly more chance for Purple (Weakness) Damage.. Also bring the autocharge for Runearm feat to your hotbar. Learn to use this when you are in fights where you can stand still - Boss Fights or because you have a party member that can hold the mob(s) off of you (Some people I have run with have been successful with their Pet for holding agro, it takes practice and gear)

Have enough Dexterity with Tomes to have access to Improved Precise Shot DEX 19. This combined with extra effects of weapons makes it deadly as you aim for the back and hurt everything in between. This is one way to increase your personal DPS and based on the effect of your weapon possibly increase your entire parties DPS.

[Makkuroi]

Im really considering going heroic instead of iconic for arti... spellpower items arent really a problem, I got a several bracers of wind from cannith challenges, so Id go repeater. Without bladeforged, I dont need pally, and could go either pure warforged with adamantine plating (repair moderate is still self-healing) or 18/2 monk splash. (free dodge+precision if nothing else).

[unbongwah]

18/2 monk splash. (free dodge+precision if nothing else).
You don't really need the extra feats from monk if you're just doing a straight repeater build. And with the changes to PRR/MRR, Evasion is no longer a must-have, particularly on a build with so-so Reflex saves.

Have a look at this thread (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/453216-Good-leveling-weapons); some discussion of appropriate weapons for arties and other HTR builds.

[Makkuroi]

Reflex saves are fine with max int, insightful reflexes, and +5 reflex from PLs

[adrian69]

And are you set on being an xbow arty? Melee bf/wf arties are better beasts in heroics and epics when splashed/did right. The thing is I've saw people run 12 artificer 6 barb/ranger 2 rogue/barb, and use xbows&cannons for ranged situations and axes/dual wield. If it's just a TR life and you don't want to run epics, you can get creative.

Before 23 came out, my last Arty ran BF 16 arty 2 monk 2 pally swf+rune arm focused on melee/rune arm/casting stuns.

I started something like 11 str 13 dex 16 con int max (as much as I could get in there 17 if I recall) 9 wis 12 char

I ran with a nightmare or TF bastard and epic elite corruption of nature until I got St. Mu'Ray's Fire from 3BC (which makes all the Thunder and Lightning spells that much better)

The paladin is only for saves. You could trade it out for barbarian and be better damage, but you'd never solo EE w/o being super geared I think.

Anyway, if you're going for a TR, you can do just about anything as long as you have more arty levels than other class in the end.

Oh, and don't forget to cast lightning motes before other lightning based spells, and cast it equipped with a thundering weapon and/or rune arm (Sentinals chain reward in house d has one) for lots of extra damage.

[Makkuroi]

And are you set on being an xbow arty? Melee bf/wf arties are better beasts in heroics and epics when splashed/did right. The thing is I've saw people run 12 artificer 6 barb/ranger 2 rogue/barb, and use xbows&cannons for ranged situations and axes/dual wield. If it's just a TR life and you don't want to run epics, you can get creative.

Before 23 came out, my last Arty ran BF 16 arty 2 monk 2 pally swf+rune arm focused on melee/rune arm/casting stuns.

I started something like 11 str 13 dex 16 con int max (as much as I could get in there 17 if I recall) 9 wis 12 char

I ran with a nightmare or TF bastard and epic elite corruption of nature until I got St. Mu'Ray's Fire from 3BC (which makes all the Thunder and Lightning spells that much better)

The paladin is only for saves. You could trade it out for barbarian and be better damage, but you'd never solo EE w/o being super geared I think.

Anyway, if you're going for a TR, you can do just about anything as long as you have more arty levels than other class in the end.

Oh, and don't forget to cast lightning motes before other lightning based spells, and cast it equipped with a thundering weapon and/or rune arm (Sentinals chain reward in house d has one) for lots of extra damage.

Im tending towards a heroic only arti life right now, so warforged only and only levels 1-18 (or 19 maybe). I also wanted to try the casting aspect, and I thought it pairs up quite nicely with ranged. Ill also have the ranger PL when I go arti. I might use chimeras breath (BS proficiency) with a bastard sword now and then, but I wont especially spec for it.