Tempest based TWF monk build. Feedback requested.

[Ligraph]

Been working on a TWF build for main, finally got a prototype. Looking for any feedback, including "reroll" if needed.
Build Goals:

High DPS.
Moderate self-healing.
Movement.

DPS is by far the priority, defenses and healing can be sidelined. Goal is to make a LE dps toon, shouldn't be getting hit if played right (with a tank).

Build:
Build
12/6/2 Ranger/Monk/Warlock
Lawful Good Bladeforged


Level Order

1. Ranger . . . . .6. Ranger . . . . 11. Monk. . . . . .16. Ranger
2. Warlock . . . . 7. Ranger. . . . .12. Monk . . . . . 17. Ranger
3. Ranger . . . . .8. Monk. . . . . .13. Monk . . . . . 18. Ranger
4. Ranger . . . . .9. Monk. . . . . .14. Ranger. . . . .19. Warlock
5. Ranger . . . . 10. Monk. . . . . .15. Ranger. . . . .20. Ranger


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 17. . . .+6. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . 11. . . .+6. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 17. . . .+6. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . .8. . . .+6. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . 14. . . .+6. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+6. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . R. W .R .R .R .R .R .M. M .M. M .M. M .R .R .R .R .R .W. R
. . . . . 1. 2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Spellcr . 2. 1 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . 1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2. 2. 23
UMD . . . 2. . .½ .½ .1½ 1½ 1½ 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1. 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1 .1½ 23
Tumble. . 2. . . . . . . . .½ .2. 2 .2. 2 .2. . .1 .1 . . . . . . . . 14½
Jump. . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Swim. . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .20. 1 .5 .5 .5 .5 .6 .4. 4 .4. 4 .4. 4 .6 .7 .7 .7 .7 .3. 7


Feats

.1. . . . : Power Attack
.1 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Human
.2 Warlock: Pact: Fey
.3. . . . : Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Slashing
.6 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
.8 Monk . : Whirling Steel Strike
.9. . . . : Maximize Spell
.9 Monk . : Dodge
10 Monk . : Path of Harmonious Balance
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
13 Monk . : Mobility
15. . . . : Master of Forms
17 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoid
18. . . . : Grandmaster of Forms
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Quicken Spell
26 Destiny: Pierce Damage Reduction: Silver
27 Epic . : Power Critical
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Harbinger of Chaos
30 Epic . : Wellspring of Power
30 Legend : Scion of: Plane of Air


Spells

Ranger
Resist Energy, Jump
Cure Light Wounds, Spike Growth
Cure Moderate Wounds, Remove Disease
Warlock
Expeditious Retreat, Nightshield, Obscuring Mist

Enhancements (80 AP)

Tempest (41 AP)
Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows
Improved Reaction I, Improved Defense III
Improved Parry III, Bleed Them Out III, Haste Boost III
Storm Dancer, Critical Mastery III
Storm Tempest, Elaborate Parry III, The Growing Storm III
Dual Perfection, Evasive Dance III, Cuts: A Thousand Cuts III, Dance of Death III

Deepwood Stalker (28 AP)
Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike, Advanced Sneak Attack
Favored Defense I, Increased Empathy II, Tendon Cut III
Survivalist, Empathic Healing II
Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III
Survivalist, Killer III, Merciful Shot

Shintao (9 AP)
Bastion of Purity
Deft Strikes III
Fists of Iron

Enlightened Spirit (1 AP)
Eldritch Aura

Soul Eater (1 AP)
Inhuman Understanding


Destiny (24 AP)

Divine Crusader
Interrogation, Purge the Wicked, Strength
Consecration III, Flames of Purity I, Strength
Sacred Ground, Blessed Blades, Strength
Crusade, Charisma
Heavenly Presence, Celestial Champion

Twists of Fate (20 fate points)
Imp. Power Attack (Tier 2 Dreadnought)
Running with Wind (Tier 2 Flowers)
Dance of Flowers (Tier 1 Flowers)
Hail of Blows (Tier 2 Flowers)



Summary:
Strength based, twfing with longswords, in wind stance.

Getting as much doublestrike as I can, because of LGS effects and Scion of Air. Also trying to get a good amount of spell power. Need to run some detailed calculations, but haven't had time lately, will port them once I do.

Notes:
Deepwood Stalker up to Killer and MS, and Tempest t5s eat most of my AP, extremely tight.

Main Questions:

Monk levels worth it? Without them, I lose ~13% Doublestrike. Unless I go 18 Ranger I also lose 10% offhand strike chance. But I can use Khopeshes and Light Armor.
Race: going bladeforged for Reconstruct while leveling, and -10% Slashing damage is nice. I am also very averse to starting at level 1, but could be talked into it Human may be worth is for the Action Boost though. Anything else worth it?
Anything better to splash 2 in than Warlock? Aura is kinda-sorta nice, Tainted Spellcasting will be nice for boss fights, Emperyan Magic should proc.
Epic Destiny. Mainly DC vs LD vs FW, not sure which is best.
Wind stance vs. Earth. This is more a case of me needing to run detailed calcs that anything.
Anything and Everything else.

[Ligraph]

Also considering a 12 Ranger, 2 Monk, 6 Pal split, think AP will be too tight though.

[Grailhawk]

20 Ranger is more DPS, monks and monk splash kind of sucks right now, other then on a Kensei, but Kensei kind of sucks right now too...

[Ligraph]

Monk would be 13% Doublestrike, 1.5[W], +1 Crit Mult and Range attack every 3s. Ranger is +5 Doublestrike, +25 Offhand Doublestrike, +10 Melee Power.

Wait... idk how I missed that, ty.

Doublestrike is mainhand only, right?

And Tempest capstone over DWS?

[unbongwah]

Monk would be 13% Doublestrike, 1.5[W], +1 Crit Mult and Range attack every 3s.
Where are you getting +1.5[W] from? That only applies to unarmed atks.

Doublestrike is mainhand only, right?
Yes.

You're also forgetting to factor crit profiles: w/rgr bonuses, longsword is 16-20/x3; scimitar (or Oathblades) is 14-20/x3; khopesh is 16-20/x4.

[Ligraph]

Where are you getting +1.5[W] from? That only applies to unarmed atks.


Twisting A Dance of Flowers from GMoF. Which won't work with Khopeshes or Scimitars





You're also forgetting to factor crit profiles: w/rgr bonuses, longsword is 16-20/x3; scimitar (or Oathblades) is 14-20/x3; khopesh is 16-20/x4.

True. That clinches it. Which would you say is better, Khopeshes or Scimitars?

EDIT: thinking Khopeshes because +1 Mult on 19-20 isn't affected by crit range, but makes mult better.

[Ligraph]

Is there any multiclass splash that would out DPS a TWF pure Ranger? I don't really like being pure, but... seems very worth it atm. Waiting on the monk and EK passes:(.

[unbongwah]

Is there any multiclass splash that would out DPS a TWF pure Ranger?
If there is, I don't think anyone's come up with a build yet. The new capstones are all pretty strong. Even if you "gimped" yourself with DWS capstone instead of Tempest, you'd probably still out-DPS any multiclassed TWF build.

[Grailhawk]

If there is, I don't think anyone's come up with a build yet. The new capstones are all pretty strong. Even if you "gimped" yourself with DWS capstone instead of Tempest, you'd probably still out-DPS any multiclassed TWF build.

Lol how sad but true.

3d6 sneak attack, +4Dex, and +20 power. Is the gimp choice.

[unbongwah]

3d6 sneak attack, +4Dex, and +20 power. Is the gimp choice.
I KNOW RITE?!1! :cool:

The real issue with, say, 41 DWS / 39 Tempest, IMO, is you can only afford to spend 8 APs in T5 Tempest; and Dual Perfection + DoD + Whirling Blades + Many / Thousand Cuts is 10 APs. So even if you're willing to give up Evasive Dance, you still have to ditch some DPS. So I think 42 Tempest / 31 DWS comes out ahead on melee, leaving 7 APs to spread as you see fit.

[Ligraph]

I KNOW RITE?!1! :cool:

The real issue with, say, 41 DWS / 39 Tempest, IMO, is you can only afford to spend 8 APs in T5 Tempest; and Dual Perfection + DoD + Whirling Blades + Many / Thousand Cuts is 10 APs. So even if you're willing to give up Evasive Dance, you still have to ditch some DPS. So I think 42 Tempest / 31 DWS comes out ahead on melee, leaving 7 APs to spread as you see fit.

Yeah, that's probably what I'll end up doing. Hope TWF gets some compelling multiclass options soon though.

[unbongwah]

Hope TWF gets some compelling multiclass options soon though.
Frankly, I wouldn't count on it, at least not in terms of out-DPS-ing pure builds. The general trend of the last few class passes has been to really beef up the lvl 18/20 cores, to the point where even a lite splash (i.e., 18/2 or 18/1/1) involves giving up a significant chunk of DPS. The Tempest capstone is not as strong as, say, Storm's Eye, IMO; but I can't think of anything you can splash which makes up for what you're losing DPS-wise.

MCing these days is about trading minmaxing to shore up class weaknesses or greater versatility. E.g., a barb 18 build like Cetus (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/458025-U25-Cetus-Barbarian-with-Manyshot) trades the melee DPS of Storms Eye for a decent burst ranged DPS option (although the changes to Manyshot may have rendered it obsolete); while rgr / pally hybrids such as Noyellowbar 1.0 (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/430998-Noyellowbar-a-100-monk-free-U19-Build-(15Ranger-4Paladin-1Fighter)), NYB 2.0 (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/466161-Noyellowbar-2-0-a-Tempestadin), or my Faithsworn Hunter (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/451302-Revisiting-the-TWF-Drow-Paladin-for-New-Players-(U23)?p=5468602&viewfull=1#post5468602) seek to combine the best of both classes (i.e., less squishy than a pure rgr, not as feat-starved as pure pally).

[Ligraph]

What would you do for ED?

Leaning DC, breakdown of DC and LD below:
DC:
Zeal: comes out to ~16 doublstrike, MP, and SP
Cores: 12 Melee Power
Sword of Justice: 4 Damage.
Purge the Wicked: 2 Seeker
Celestial Champion: +1 Crit Range, +10% Doublestrike.
Maybe ~4 Str.

From Consecrated Ground:
+10% Damage.


LD:
Cores: 18 Melee Power
Action Hero: -33% AB CD, which means 100% uptime.
Combat Brute: +1[W]
Critical Damage: +6 Damage on crits
Advancing Blows: +5 Damage
Devastating Critical: +1 Crit Mult on 19-20.
Blitz: 70 Melee Power.

The reason I didn't include Improved Power Attack is because I would twist that if I was in DC, making it a non-factor.

Also, not sure whether to take Momentum Swing and Lay Waste. Since I have to use Cleaves to get rid of the CDs, seems like it would be a net loss, just not sure.



Could really go either way, seems like Crit Range and Doublestrike from DC might be better than just Melee Power, but 70 Melee Power is a lot. Also, having 100% AB uptime is nice.

[Saekee]

6 monk opens up 10K shuriken chucker for ranged instead of using bows in which case you will be feat starved to fit in WSS (you could do zen archery and have bow/star chucker as an option). 6 monk is a nice defensive option too with shadow veil. I would go 2 fighter (for feats) instead of warlock and use short swords, ToEE set so shuriken benefits too from it (the bow would not) and run in Fury.

Ninja sting is a nice DOT--you need 13 AP in ninja to get it with shadow veil. 7 in shintao for deft, 1 AP in human (although you mention bladeforged), rest in ranger lines to get crit range buffs and multis.

edit: you will be dex based to max the stat for shurikens

[Ligraph]

6 monk opens up 10K shuriken chucker for ranged instead of using bows in which case you will be feat starved to fit in WSS (you could do zen archery and have bow/star chucker as an option). 6 monk is a nice defensive option too with shadow veil. I would go 2 fighter (for feats) instead of warlock and use short swords, ToEE set so shuriken benefits too from it (the bow would not) and run in Fury.

Ninja sting is a nice DOT--you need 13 AP in ninja to get it with shadow veil. 7 in shintao for deft, 1 AP in human (although you mention bladeforged), rest in ranger lines to get crit range buffs and multis.

Would be fleshy without monk levels. Not enough AP for Ninga Sting, and not planning on any ranged. Working on a shuriken build for an alt though, so thanks.

[unbongwah]

The reason I didn't include Improved Power Attack is because I would twist that.
Sorry, you cannot Twist something from your active ED.

[Ligraph]

Sorry, you cannot Twist something from your active ED.

Meant when I was in DC, so it would be a non-factor for comparisons. Fixing the OP lol.