repeater kensei

[cru121]

Any suggestions for a Fighter using repeaters?

I am looking at Gnome Fighter 18 / something else 2.

Something else could be either traps and/or evasion/rune arms (arti/rogue), or run speed (barb), or something to unlock UMD.

AP probably something like
36 kensei
12 harper
7 gnome
11-14 stalwart
10+ free

Abilities:
Int, Con, enough dex to pick up the important feats (15+6 tome).

How to handle bolts?
What class(es) to dip?

[FuzzyDuck81]

I think if you want trap skills, the 2 artificer dip would be a better bet than rogue, since it'd be UMD, trap skills, a blue bar with echoes of power (and ability to take quicken spell for cocoon in epics), UMD-free use of a bunch of wands, summon bolts for convenience, and the rune arm for supplementary DPS & extra effects - rogue would get you UMD, evasion & improved traps (assuming you select the trapmaking feat), but lock out being able to take extra any greater stance bonuses from stalwart defender since you'd have to wear light armour for evasion, whereas with artificer you can have that nice, comforting layer of plate :)

If you're only really interested in UMD & not in trap skills, 2 levels of warlock will get you UMD as a class skill, and the 1st +5 bonus that warlocks get at 2nd level as well as the casty benefits from artificer. Add in the gnome dragonmark & just the 3 APs for the 1st tier there, that's a pretty hefty boost to your scroll & wand use. 2 levels of bard could also work, letting you have access to fascinate for a bit of crowd control and some low-hanging fruit from their enhancement trees.

[unbongwah]

I took a stab at 12/6/2 splits recently (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/475495-Adventures-in-Theorycrafting-Zhuge-Liang-Repeater-Master-(U31)). However, with the just-buffed One Cut (+20 MP/RP, +1 crit multiplier 15/60 secs), ftr 18+ becomes a lot more tempting suddenly. Staying pure gets you One Cut, +15% doubleshot (effectively +5% w/repeaters), +2 all stats, and +4 action boosts (which means 4 more mins of Power Surge). If you want to splash for trap skills, go for it, but it looks like you take a significant DPS hit for doing so.

The biggest downside to a pure ranged Kensei is you don't get the PBS range increases that DWS or Mechanic provide; although you could play a sun elf for the +4 INT and PBS core improvements. And that also opens AA bonuses up, depending on how you feel about bug exploits. Hmmmm... :cool:

EDIT: quick stab at ML Kensei - not a complete build.

ML Repeater Kensei
Fighter 20
True Neutral Morninglord


Stats
34pt 36pt Tome Level Up
---- ---- ---- --------
Strength 8 8 +6 4: INT
Dexterity 15 15 +6 8: INT
Constitution 14 14 +6 12: INT
Intelligence 20 20 +6 16: INT
Wisdom 8 8 +6 20: INT
Charisma 8 10 +6 24: INT
28: INT

Feats

1 : Exotic Weapon: Rpt Hvy Crossbow
1 Fighter: Rapid Reload
2 Fighter: Point Blank Shot
3 : Rapid Shot
4 Fighter: Precision
6 : Precise Shot
6 Fighter: Weapon Focus: Ranged
8 Fighter: Improved Critical: Ranged
9 : Weapon Specialization: Ranged
10 Fighter: Greater Weapon Focus: Ranged
12 : Insightful Reflexes
12 Fighter:
14 Fighter:
15 : Improved Precise Shot
16 Fighter: Superior Weapon Focus: Ranged
18 :
18 Fighter:
20 Fighter:
21 Epic : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic : Combat Archery
26 Destiny:
27 Epic : Blinding Speed
28 Destiny: Doubleshot
29 Destiny: Embodiment of Law OR Deific Warding
30 Epic :
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Plane of Water


Enhancements (80 AP)

Kensei (41 AP)


Kensei Focus: Crossbows, Spiritual Bond, Strike with No Thought, Power Surge, One Cut, Alacrity


Extra Action Boost III, Weapon Group Specialization, Exotic Weapon Mastery, Haste Boost III
Weapon Group Specialization, Ascetic Training: Conditioning III
Critical Mastery III, Weapon Group Specialization, Shattering Shot III
Weapon Group Specialization, Strike at the Heart
A Good Death: Range, Weapon Master, One with the Blade, Deadly Shot, Keen Edge



Harper Agent (19 AP)


Agent of Good I, Intelligence, Agent of Good II


Harper Enchantment, Strategic Combat
Versatile Adept III, Know the Angles III
Versatile Adept III, Strategic Combat



Stalwart Defender (13 AP)


Toughness, Stalwart Defense


Item Defense I, Durable Defense III
Resilient Defense III, Instinctive Defense I
Tenacious Defense III



Morninglord (7 AP)


Elven Accuracy, Sun Elf Intelligence, Elven Accuracy II, Sun Elf Intelligence II, Elven Accuracy III

[Nuclear_Elvis]

Repeater? What about The Great Crossbow factored into your plans? Then, you could go 4 levels of Rogue/Mech, up to 4 of Artificer (if you have that Class), remainder to Fighter/Kensei (for the feats especially). Depending on Harper's Tree access, you could go heavy INT build and use the additional Fighter feats to grant yourself the conversion of INT for reflex saves.

But, back to the Offense theory - if you take at least 4 levels of the three classes that raise up Repeaters and Great Crossbows, you then have a tremendous compounding play into the Enhancement Trees to raise up the weapon's power. Just a reminder, if you do try this, the Kensei tree has an additional enhancement for Exotic Weapon mastery.

[unbongwah]

What about The Great Crossbow factored into your plans?
For gt xbow, I still feel like T5 Mechanic (EDIT: +30% ranged alacrity, +2[W], 19-20 vorpal range are the biggies) and Expert Builder is the way to go, which basically locks you into rog 18+ builds. But I would have to mull it over some more before deciding.

[ishr]

what are folks thoughts on going halfling for dragon mark healing, and maybe cleric PL for some more healing?

would this be enough to make the build EE viable?

[Nuclear_Elvis]

I've made a Kensei/Mech mix on another server that uses Great Crossbows - very powerful hits that offset the differences in shots for the Repeater option. It's only worthwhile if you splash Rogue for free Great Crossbow proficiency, but you should give it some thought.

[boredman]

As Unb said, Pure 20 Fighter, or Fighter 12/rogue 6/arty 2 are solid repeaters fighter builds. (I guess a fighter 12/ranger 6 /arty 2 could work with fotw destiny as well).


I have an alt Fighter 8/rogue 8/arty 4 that was a repeater build more than a year ago, recently I respected enhancements to try kensei changes and went T5 kensai, T4 mechanic, using my old needle repeater and have to say feels pretty solid, especially for soloing or shortmaning where sneak attacks are not used so often. Actually I think kensai seems a bit better than mechanic tree for repeaters but you can take most of both trees if splashing rogue. Pure fighter gets really good benefits as well (doubleshot, ranged power, more feats for shot on the run, etc).

As asked about pure fighter halfling for dragonmark heal, sure that will work cool, you also can craft a lgs triple positive affirmation repeater for the hitpoints shield, i guess, if your concern is survivality but probably no even needed because you are ranged all the time, also with power surge(hitpoints) and heavy armor proficiency helps a lot with prr and mrr and if you get decent fortification and displacement clickies or even can make a elf race instead for displacement from marks (if no clickies) and play in divine crusader + cocoon for self heal. (If going pure fighter i would invest in umd for flame arrow/conjure bolts wands or scrolls and also invis/resto/teleport scrolls or even heal scrolls at end lvl)(LD and Divine crusader are both really good epic destinies for repeater builds).

As for great crossbow, i think it will work fine too, but as Unb said, mechanic t5 and rogue 18 lvls seems a better choice for that weapon type. (Maybe a 20 pure fighter can get enough doubleshot and ranged power along with harper tree, feats and damage boosts to compensate the lack of +1crit mult and sa from rogue variant, but really can't say without test)
(also a Fighter/ranger 6 splash could be interesting for great crossbows playing in Fotw with adrenaline+sniper shots for boss damage)