Thoughts on Thor

[Montegue]

I'm sure this isn't a new idea, but I wanted to toss it out there before I ITR'd my Paladin and tried this out. I was considering a Thor-style build. Right now, debating between a PDK Sorcerer (EK) or Cleric (Onatar) with a sorc splash (?), or a Air domain FVS/Cleric. The needs are - lightning attacks, sonic attacks (thunder), melee, and some control (he is charming, after all).

Curious if it's been done before, and how it played out.

[Snarglefrump]

I don't think of Thor as a caster, so I'd focus on melee (mostly Fighter levels) and rely on weapon effects to produce the lightning/sonic. To most closely match Thor's mode of operation, I'd take the Single Weapon Fighting line and wield a single War Hammer. Alternately you could use a Maul and take the Two-Handed Fighting Line.

Thematic feats to aim for include:

Great Cleave
Stunning Blow
Dire Charge
Knight's Training


Some relevant gear could include:

Ruby Eye of the Tempest: 2% Chance On-Hit to cause a bolt of lightning that deals 1 to 20 points of electrical damage per minimum level of the upgraded weapon to all nearby enemies.
Charged Guantles / Epic Charged Guantlets / Gauntlets of the Stormreaver: lightning damage on vorpal hits
Echo of Whelm / Stormreach Guardian's Hammer (and their legendary versions) have a Shockwave effect on vorpal.


Taking some Paladin levels would let you put some Charisma to good use and pick up the Onatar bonuses. Paladin fits more in a melee-focused build than Cleric or Favored Soul.

You could take some Monk levels and use Wind Stance and Storm Strike and pick up the Perfect Pinacle ring (and later the Legendary version) for the +3d6 Electric damage on each hit in Wind Stance, but then you have to forego armor. I feel like Thor wears armor, but you could glammer that. ;-)

Alternately, I'd make a Thrower build around Dagan's Mallet (https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Dagan%27s_Mallet).

[Montegue]

I thought about the melee focus a lot, and then realized the thing you *can't* do with a build like that is actually throw lightning bolts around. And then I was like "hmmmm, Eldritch Knight?"...

The gear suggestions you make are things I definitely want to look into, especially the gauntlets. I have the Legendary Echo of Whelm, and I might even have the augment you mention buried in my bags somewhere.

[Saekee]

check out arcanotechnician & renegade tree too. The rune arm will not look good though.

Another melee option is upgraded ToEE electric weapon. Not worth it in epics but ok in lower heroics. Better on TWF offhand but hey this is all fun.

Of course there could be harder to grind thematic heroic weapns like a Lit2 hammer or alchemical Air. Also you could lottery grind a Lit2 Cormyrian but will be junky compared to other options at that level. However you could add filigree for Storm Sentience (electrocution) easily enough (3 slots only). Just for theme.

[Discpsycho]

Once upon a time, the Zeus (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/435435-Zeus-God-of-Thunder-and-Lightning) build was pretty popular. It would probably hold up even better now with EDF, as the original build ran in light armor. Seems to meet a lot of your requirements, though it uses staves rather than hammers

[Vish]

Hey,
I ran a 20 ek build lately
I dubbed my Thor build
It was swf with hammer and used lightning spells
Check it out in Gnumber 17 in wizard forum

I also ran a 18/2 split with rogue for evasion,
Which I took into epics
Hard to gear a hybrid,
But doable

Anyways it was a fun build
And reminded me of Thor
Used whelm

[drunkbarbarian]

A few other things you could try.

Twist Reign from Fatesinger
Twist Stormrage from Primal Avatar.
Full electrocution filigree set. (gets you cool lightning effects and shield)
Scion of Air. (gimps melee but might work for hybrid build)
Maybe splash bard or cleric for soundburst. (if you decide to go fighter levels instead)
Storm in a Bottle. (Trinket from Strahd raid)

Good luck.

[Kutalp]

Thor would be (if)

Purple dragon knight left column abilites (Has nothing to do with Hammer and Charisma to attack and damage but other abilities.) Swashbuckler/Sorcerer Eldricht knight Electricity toggle allways on/Barbarian occult slayer T5; wearing Medium armor wielding Melee and throwing light hammers. (There is also Artificer but roleplaywise has nothing to do with semi gods nor brave barbaric warriors. About hammer there is also Chaos hammer spell from Cleric.Once again has nothing to do with Thor.)


Single weapon fighting. Improved critical Throwing and Blunt weapons. A returning throwing and a melee lightning hammer.(To roleplay Thor's Light hammer; Mjolnir.It is certainly not a warhammer but a light returning throwing hammer with other magical abilites.-Btw sadly Light hammers are that bad compared to most other weapons at DDO)


The light hammer should have Lightning strike abilites as well as electric vulnerability. May add some sonic (although not lightning) aoe spells as bard. Max jump skill,jump spell allways on and Jump items with featherfall (as if flying).


This may not be the best of anytihng but fits the original Mjolnir empowering Thor story.My humble opinion.:cool:

[Arkat]

If you ain't using Reflection of Whelm (or possibly Overwhelming Impact), you ain't anything like Thor.

[banjo174]

If you're hell bent on being Thor, I would recommend this warhammer as a cosmetic. https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Hammer_of_the_Leaden_Clouds_(Level_14) I personally think its the closest you are going to get to his hammer

[Arkat]

If you're hell bent on being Thor, I would recommend this warhammer as a cosmetic. https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Hammer_of_the_Leaden_Clouds_(Level_14) I personally think its the closest you are going to get to his hammer

That's an awful model, just AWFUL.

Try the Earthshatter Warhammer (https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Earthshatter_Warhammer).

The picture in the wiki page doesn't really do it justice. It's the size of an actual Large warhammer. Glamer it and apply the Lightning effect cosmetic to it and you have something VERY special-looking!

[banjo174]

That's an awful model, just AWFUL.

Try the Earthshatter Warhammer (https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Earthshatter_Warhammer).

The picture in the wiki page doesn't really do it justice. It's the size of an actual Large warhammer. Glamer it and apply the Lightning effect cosmetic to it and you have something VERY special-looking!

Which one looks more similar to this
https://i.imgur.com/46tvQO4.jpg

[Arkat]

Which one looks more similar to this
[img]

DDO =/= MCU

The Hammer of Thunderbolts (https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/SRD:Hammer_of_Thunderbolts) IS D&D, however, and it was the original version of a Mjolnir analog for D&D.

You'll note that similar to how Thor in the Norse myths had to wear a girdle (belt) of great strength to lift Mjolnir and a pair of magic iron gauntlets to wield it, the wielder of the Hammer of Thundrbolts has to wear a Girdle of Giant Strength and a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power to lift and wield such a large weapon properly as well.

[Kutalp]

Both hammers have nice specs there.


As the third one Hammer of Thunderbolts which doesnt exist at DDO seem to be the closest one.


Sadly none of those hammers is a Cursed Returning throwing hammer with 'Uber' specialities that makes 'Thor', the god of thunder himself. ( Thats why I thought of Swashbuckler PDK with Occult slayer weapon bond and Eldricht knight magical weapon/Transformation lay out tbh...Favored soul or cleric doesnt fit since Odin cursed Thor with the Light hammer since he left his father's laws and domain. )

Without the bond and the magical light hammer Thor gets back to gimped commoner form anyways.


It is just hard to justifiy the build that fits the original story and the weapon ...Oh well...:cool:

(Inserts Manowar-Thor music track)

[DrawingGuy]

Really, Whelm I think looks the closest being one of the most solid-block of all the named hammers. There may be a random gen somewhere that is closer, but haven't looked.

SWF with a warhammer, Arti is probably strongest. Battle Engineer has a line specifically for warhammers giving extra damage, crit profile, and a Thundershock attack (which does lightning damage). Renegade has a sonic attack with Battlefist and another cleave. Arti also has lightning spells, the ability to imbue lightning damage, and while rune arms may not fit the part, they can give you even more lightning attacks. A melee arti is extremely strong in heroics (I'd still start with a vorpal repeater for the first few levels until you have a few melee feats and a Nightforge though if you want to go for effectiveness over flavor), though compared to the meta they fall behind a bit in epics. With rune arms not scaling well beyond 20, cleaves being DPS losses, and SWF being less DPS than TWF, you go from an A class to a B class in DPS. Though flavor and fun trumps meta, and I still enjoyed my melee Arti at 30.

If for some reason a Rune Arm is a deal breaker, you either just give up that free DPS and the Battlefist attack and run without, or consider other builds. There are many splits and build options that you could do to mix in melee and lightning. While Arti has that built in, other split can net you better lightning damage if you lean more towards caster, or something like a 14 Cleric / 6 Arti in War Domain could give you an Onatar god worshiper that can still grab the main things I mentioned for Arti (including the Lightning Bolt spell).