pure fighter for soloing

[tsan]

I heard with the changes in U31 pure fighter builds might be worth considering. Any build ideas

[Enderoc]

I heard with the changes in U31 pure fighter builds might be worth considering. Any build ideas Past life Cleric feat and dragon marked halfling...

[Discpsycho]

I actually ran my pure fighter life between u29 and u31 (doh!) and it was plenty powerful as a Vanguard with a couple of the Heavy Armor feats, Shield Mastery, tactics feats, etc. I didn't have stellar dps, but I also didn't die particularly often. I tried to pump up UMD for rez and heal scrolls, but most of my heroic healing was with CSW pots, later switching to Rejuv Cocoon in epics.

The main question is what combat style you want. S&B? If so, I'm not actually sure whether Kensei cores or Vanguard cores are going to grant the highest dps, but I'm betting it's Kensei. I guess theoretically you could go 41 in Kensei, 30 in Vanguard, 8 in SD (stance and extra PRR), 1 in human, but this will require a bunch of WF and WS feats to make the most of Kensei, especially given the % scaling of the new T5 enhancements. THF or TWF? Kensei all the way, but then you'll have the points to sink into SD for the T3 and T4 SD boosts, as +6 Str and +20% HP are nothing to sneeze at.

The closest build I could find was unbongwah's fighter staff build (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/475645-Staff-Critter-(Level-30-build)?p=5829671&viewfull=1#post5829671), which will have most of the pertinent feats. He includes KTA, which would work better for a THF or TWF because they don't have to invest in Vanguard.

[unbongwah]

S&B? If so, I'm not actually sure whether Kensei cores or Vanguard cores are going to grant the highest dps, but I'm betting it's Kensei. I guess theoretically you could go 41 in Kensei, 30 in Vanguard, 8 in SD (stance and extra PRR), 1 in human, but this will require a bunch of WF and WS feats to make the most of Kensei, especially given the % scaling of the new T5 enhancements.
I've been wondering about that too. For simplicity's sake, let's presume we're comparing S&B builds which spend at least 21 APs into both Kensei and VG for +1 crit multiplier, Power Surge, and +10% atk speed. So it becomes a question of which upper-tiers and lvl 18/20 enhancements are better:

Kensei pros: +40 Melee Power, +1 crit range, +"0.25"x crit multiplier (One Cut clickie), +15% doublestrike, +4 action boosts (which means 4 more mins. of Power Surge)
VG pros: another +10% atk speed, +5% doublestrike, +10 MP, +1 crit range & multiplier to shield, +10% shield bash chance, free stun attempt on 5% of shield bashes, Shield Charge (has the DC been fixed yet?)


I definitely feel like the S&B Kensei will win when it comes to Cleaves, since most VG bonuses only apply to regular atks. It probably still wins when it comes to single-target / boss DPS; +15% DS vs +5% DS +10% atk speed is kind of a wash, but +1 crit range +30 MP is a big perk. I still feel like the VG capstone is more "tank-y," though...

Hmmm, now I'm almost tempted to see what happens if you skip defensive stance and take a 41 Kensei / 31 VG / 7 Harper / 1 human S&B build into FotW; use Adrenaline + Good Death with at least +50 MP and +50% DS (EDIT: 15% capstone + 15% LSM + 3% Hail of Blows + 17% Celestial Avenger armor - more if you've got Martial EPLs). :eek:

[vyvy3369]

Hmmm, now I'm almost tempted to see what happens if you skip defensive stance and take a 41 Kensei / 31 VG / 7 Harper / 1 human S&B build into FotW; use Adrenaline + Good Death with at least +50 MP and +50% DS (EDIT: 15% capstone + 15% LSM + 3% Hail of Blows + 17% Celestial Avenger armor - more if you've got Martial EPLs). :eek:
As another alternative, the capstones are not tied to taking Tier 5s in a tree. You could get all of the T5 Kensei goodies and still get the Vanguard capstone for example, as long as you're OK with that being basically all of your AP in those two trees.

[BigErkyKid]

For soloing, and playing like a "fighter", I recommend 12 bard / 8 fighter, or if you want 12 bard / 6 fighter / 2 rogue. The rogue version is soloers' dream.

[Jiirix]

I heard with the changes in U31 pure fighter builds might be worth considering. Any build ideas

Yes it is. Qustion is what do you want to solo? Just getting a fighter past life 1-20 with Elite Bravery Bonus? Epic/Legendary hard to 30? Stay at cap and solo legendary elite? Dire Charge is great with a pure figther but no use if you don't stay at cap.

[Lorianus]

For soloing, and playing like a "fighter", I recommend 12 bard / 8 fighter, or if you want 12 bard / 6 fighter / 2 rogue. The rogue version is soloers' dream.

He asks if pure Figthers are an option now and you tell him to play a Bard. You know how to forum man. But perhaps he already knew about Bards and just wanted some input about pure figthers?

My porblem with CC solobuilds (Bard, Shield-Stunner, Dire-Charge, Balanced Attacks etc.) is that they solo trash easily but have a hard time soloing Reds/Bosses/CC-Immunes. Therefore I prefer high PRR + high DPS and a pure figther can do that now.

To bad the Kensai capstone gives doublestrike and not melee power. Doublestrike does nothing when you run in LD and circle between Cleave, Momentum Swing and Lay Waste. Guess the Kensai capstone is better with S+B or TWF. THF pure figthers could go for 41 Stalward/34 Kensai?

[BigErkyKid]

He asks if pure Figthers are an option now and you tell him to play a Bard. You know how to forum man. But perhaps he already knew about Bards and just wanted some input about pure figthers?

My porblem with CC solobuilds (Bard, Shield-Stunner, Dire-Charge, Balanced Attacks etc.) is that they solo trash easily but have a hard time soloing Reds/Bosses/CC-Immunes. Therefore I prefer high PRR + high DPS and a pure figther can do that now.

To bad the Kensai capstone gives doublestrike and not melee power. Doublestrike does nothing when you run in LD and circle between Cleave, Momentum Swing and Lay Waste. Guess the Kensai capstone is better with S+B or TWF. THF pure figthers could go for 41 Stalward/34 Kensai?

He asked for soloing on a fighter. That's a bad idea, it is not a good solo build. But if he wants the "kensei" feeling and still be able to solo, the builds I listed deliver. Massive damage, good mitigation, useful buffs and you can build for tactics. It plays like a fighter with some tricks.

On the other hand he could follow your bad advice and think that high PRR+ high DPS pure fighter is somehow better at soloing because of bosses...

My advice is implicit: don't turn to the fighter thinking it is like paladins or barbs when they got revamped. No, it is not an easy button. In top end content it is challenging and gear dependent. You can go blade forged for heals but still will need displacement clickies, could easily run out of SP, and the rest of issues associated with fighter. On a human the self heals will be clunkier than on a paladin, bard, ranger or even barb.

[unbongwah]

As another alternative, the capstones are not tied to taking Tier 5s in a tree. You could get all of the T5 Kensei goodies and still get the Vanguard capstone for example, as long as you're OK with that being basically all of your AP in those two trees.
I thought about that, but I think you have to take too much filler from the VG tree in order to hit the capstone if you're not going for VG T5s. VG is one of those PrEs where I think the mid-tier stuff is fairly blah, but the T5s are solid (tho not as strong as Kensei's).

[the_one_dwarfforged]

Hmmm, now I'm almost tempted to see what happens if you skip defensive stance and take a 41 Kensei / 31 VG / 7 Harper / 1 human S&B build into FotW; use Adrenaline + Good Death with at least +50 MP and +50% DS (EDIT: 15% capstone + 15% LSM + 3% Hail of Blows + 17% Celestial Avenger armor - more if you've got Martial EPLs). :eek:

skipping defensive stance, and particularly tenacious d wont matter too much for most content, but is going to make the build not worth it in legendaries.

also the heavy armor is +4%, legendary warriors focus is +7%, and then random gen is 15% (or better?), and the kensei cores is actually 19%, so youre looking at more like 72% standing dstrike. which i mightve counted wrong or something, cause on the u31 preview on lamma i was at ~61% (i remember it was at least 60) dstrike on a thf kensei build with only an 8% dstrike item so...yea idk.


Yes it is. Qustion is what do you want to solo?


To bad the Kensai capstone gives doublestrike and not melee power. Doublestrike does nothing when you run in LD and circle between Cleave, Momentum Swing and Lay Waste. Guess the Kensai capstone is better with S+B or TWF. THF pure figthers could go for 41 Stalward/34 Kensai?

the kensei capstone is fine for every combat style. kensei has enough mp in the rest of the tree that your damage on cleaves is already going to be retardedly good, honestly the double strike is better because it enhances your single target damage so much and will work with the mp instead of just causing increased diminishing returns. so yea, so making the boss fight argument...you dont really do a great job of it...

41/34 std/ks is simply idiotic. just...smh...


He asked for soloing on a fighter. That's a bad idea, it is not a good solo build. But if he wants the "kensei" feeling and still be able to solo, the builds I listed deliver. Massive damage, good mitigation, useful buffs and you can build for tactics. It plays like a fighter with some tricks.

On the other hand he could follow your bad advice and think that high PRR+ high DPS pure fighter is somehow better at soloing because of bosses...

My advice is implicit: don't turn to the fighter thinking it is like paladins or barbs when they got revamped. No, it is not an easy button. In top end content it is challenging and gear dependent. You can go blade forged for heals but still will need displacement clickies, could easily run out of SP, and the rest of issues associated with fighter. On a human the self heals will be clunkier than on a paladin, bard, ranger or even barb.

actually i think sufficiently high dps and prr, which fighter now provides both of in spades, is a very good platform for a solo build. is fighter more dependent on gear or metagaming than another class? perhaps. again it really depends on what the op wants to solo. if he wants to solo high level ee and legendary elite on a brand new pure fighter, yea, hes setting himself up for failure. if hes got some decent gear and good game knowledge, pure fighter is very strong for a lot of content.

heres the thing about heals. this will sound weird, but theyre overrated. if you are killing things fast enough and using your cc properly and whatever metagame tricks there are to be used when appropriate, you actually need a lot less healing than youd think for a vast majority of the content in the game. so the fact that fighter doesnt have built in heals, not really a major thing. you just have to be willing and capable of building for it through umd and cocoon, or recon sla, or the halfling thing (i dislike this idea... -2 str, short, and a feat/ap tax gtfo), or paying for it with sf pots or store pots. outside of that, fighter is very capable of killing things quickly and ccing well enough, and the very high prr potential means you have a lot more wiggle room when it comes to healing and making mistakes. obviously healing is still important especially when you are definitely going to be taking more damage in legendaries, but otherwise, not really a top top top concern.

so, fighter i think is a very case specific class when it comes to recommendations, and the op doesnt really provide the necessary information to give good advice. i dont agree with the blanket statement that pure fighter is bad advice though.

[Enderoc]

Ever notice the +6 rated weapons in Epic level...and realize this just will not work in a depleted power cell? Off topic...but yeah Intermission or something...

[Jetrule]

I dont think pure fighter is terrible But to be honest I would have to spend t.p. on gold seal healing potions or run with a healer. I just play to aggressively and love charging to attack like a Ravager can. That said I would go human or pdk. Two handed weapon fighting cleaving focused. I think vanguard is best left to pali now. The good news is this will allow you to get pretty tanky for a guy with no shield. I dont know if I would go harper or not. To be honest probably not. I would spend any spare points in human for more heal amp.

Another possibility is the old classic dragon marked elf dual wielding rapiers. With a twist going strength based and picking up stunning blow and improved trip.

Pure fighter dragon marked halfling is hard. No access to metas for the marks and no way to max out heal skill makes for weak healing. 18 fighter 1 wizard 1 cleric or fvs would fix the weak dragon mark issue, make cocoon very good and add divine might and a invis clickie, it also opens up single weapon fighting with a orb in the off hand without spending a feat on mag training. But you want pure..

Halfork would be ok I just hate that the cores require you to be so hurt to get the strength boosts.

Con based dwarf? Love the idea just not great if you want tactics. So dual dwarven waraxes or great axe with primary tree being kensai. Splitting the rest between defender and the 17 ap to the dwarf tree needed for con to damage. I think it would be decent.