Tank build help for a returning player

[Replicant253]

Hi, After a ten year break from the game a few friends and I have returned to the game with the principal aim of enjoying the new content, starting with Ravenloft.

I have a level 8 fighter/1 paladin dwarf 32 point build who i was building as a tower shield/dwarf axe intimate tank build. Any advice on a build type or whether i should repsec him? I can see that i have a lesser wooden heart 'thing' in my inventory which i think will allow me to re-build if necessary.

Main questions are:

What enhancement tree should i be looking at to focus on?
The one level of Paladin. Should i expand on that or respec to go pure fighter? I think having one level of Paladin was a thing back in the day.


Not after the ultra optimised build but do want him to be able to perform his role within our casual little group.

[unbongwah]

The one level of Paladin. Should i expand on that or respec to go pure fighter? I think having one level of Paladin was a thing back in the day.
In the good old days, a paladin 2 splash was common for the bonus to saves from Divine Grace. However, since then the devs put a hard cap on how much DG can benefit your build: 2 + (paladin level * 3), meaning a paladin 2 splash gets at most +8 to saves (CHA 26). So: not completely useless, but not really worth giving up one's capstone (level 20 enhancement) for anymore, either.

If you've been gone a decade, then you should have a Heart of Wood +20 in your inventory from when the Enhancement revamp went live. This would let you Lesser Reincarnate (https://ddowiki.com/page/Lesser_Reincarnation) into pure fighter or paladin, so that you could use a typical S&B Vanguard build. A couple of examples:

fighter: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/494496-Strimtom-s-Vanguide-An-Endgame-guide-to-playing-Fighter-Vanguard
paladin: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/505952-A-Sharn-Ready-Paladin-Vanguard-for-all-seasons

Note that the Vanguard capstone was nerfed a while back (the proc chance on its shield stun was reduced from ~50% to 10%), so its trash-clearing DPS is lower than it once was.

OTOH you could keep your current class split and keep leveling into, say, fighter 14 / paladin 5 / wizard 1 (e.g., Steel Maiden (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/493593-The-Elven-Steel-Maiden-(-AC-Fighter-)-Ravenloft-Edition)). The upside is this build will hit higher AC than a pure paladin or fighter does; Eldritch Knight's Improved Mage Armor SLA adds +10% AC by itself. The downside to this approach is you are pigeon-holing yourself into the high-AC low-DPS tank role. A pure build has more flexibility with its Enhancements IMO; e.g., focus on the Vanguard tree if you want more S&B DPS, focus on the Defender tree if you want a tougher tank.

[Replicant253]

In the good old days, a paladin 2 splash was common for the bonus to saves from Divine Grace. However, since then the devs put a hard cap on how much DG can benefit your build: 2 + (paladin level * 3), meaning a paladin 2 splash gets at most +8 to saves (CHA 26). So: not completely useless, but not really worth giving up one's capstone (level 20 enhancement) for anymore, either.

If you've been gone a decade, then you should have a Heart of Wood +20 in your inventory from when the Enhancement revamp went live. This would let you Lesser Reincarnate (https://ddowiki.com/page/Lesser_Reincarnation) into pure fighter or paladin, so that you could use a typical S&B Vanguard build. A couple of examples:

fighter: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/494496-Strimtom-s-Vanguide-An-Endgame-guide-to-playing-Fighter-Vanguard
paladin: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/505952-A-Sharn-Ready-Paladin-Vanguard-for-all-seasons

Note that the Vanguard capstone was nerfed a while back (the proc chance on its shield stun was reduced from ~50% to 10%), so its trash-clearing DPS is lower than it once was.

OTOH you could keep your current class split and keep leveling into, say, fighter 14 / paladin 5 / wizard 1 (e.g., Steel Maiden (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/493593-The-Elven-Steel-Maiden-(-AC-Fighter-)-Ravenloft-Edition)). The upside is this build will hit higher AC than a pure paladin or fighter does; Eldritch Knight's Improved Mage Armor SLA adds +10% AC by itself. The downside to this approach is you are pigeon-holing yourself into the high-AC low-DPS tank role. A pure build has more flexibility with its Enhancements IMO; e.g., focus on the Vanguard tree if you want more S&B DPS, focus on the Defender tree if you want a tougher tank.

Thanks, that's really helpful.