Dex Scimitar Tempest

[Ganak]

Synopsis:

Build for a pure Ranger Dex based scimitar TWF Tempest, laying out the basics and tactics with commentary.
This is a high DPS build best played as an 'off DPS' with high sneak attack damage and very high fort bypass.
The recently improved Dance of Death means 10 out of every 15 seconds you are hitting 3 mobs at once with a chance of 4 (220% Strikethrough Chance), so trash clearing is fun and effective. Plus many abilities work with Strikethrough such as Executioner's Strike and Merciful Strike.
Executioner's Strike and Consume work quite well on a Dex build and having success in R10's with these abilities against mobs with lower fort saves, and take down totems in reaper baba. Add +15 assassinate from gear, plus +8 from SD for easily over 100 assassinate dc.
I value survivability and team play in tough situations, so investments to this end such as healing.
This build is endgame high reaper/raid focused and not put together with an optimal leveling 'along the way' focus.
Not attempting to represent a perfect build from a min/max perspective; more about sharing what I'm doing, and giving and receiving ideas.
Consider it a living template/work in progress...and love feedback and questions!




20 Ranger Wood Elf

Commentary:

Wood Elf for a few reasons--bonus to Dex and no elven Con penalty, Elven Weapon Training enhancement bonus to scimitars, and I like Wood Elves (flavor).
Pure ranger for Tempest capstone.





Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8. . . .+6. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 20. . . .+6. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 18. . . .+6. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . .8. . . .+6. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . .+6. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+6. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Commentary:

Max dex and con, two points in Int and Wis. Get all the skill points I want with 8 Int, but could put 2 there instead of Wis.
I like having Str as a dump stat, and only have to worry about Dex and Con which helps with gearing.





Skills:
Max: Spot, UMD, Heal, Balance, Search

Jump to 10 (any more is a waste)
1 point in tumble
I have some left over points and put them in hide and move silently, and am a very capable sneaky player, though rarely use sneak.

Commentary:

Concentration skill not a priority due to having Quicken feat for healing casting. Concentration would be then left to help with scroll usage, which is limited to Res Scrolls in this build.
With the change (nerf) to Scion of the Ethereal Plane, Hide doesn't mean much to me anymore.



Feats:
1 Precision
3 Completionist
6 Toughness
9 Improved Crit: Slash
12 Maximize
15 Quicken
18 Dodge
21 OC
24 Epic Toughness
26 Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Blinding speed
28 Elusive target
29 Dire Charge
30 Epic Reflex
30 Scion of the Ethereal plane

Commentary:

I value having lots of HP, thus going against the general grain with Toughness/Epic Toughness. The combo adds 82 hp at cap. Need to be able to take some hard hits and survive.
Maximize vs Empowered Healing - I really value the ability to be a highly effective single target healer, and I've kept tanks and whole parties up on high reaper content and in raids. He can burn through SP, but have an Epic Ring of Spell Storing, and SP pots. I also make sure I have a devotion bonus on my gear. The ability to heal others is underrated and just a huge bonus with this build.
Quicken - Need to get those heals off fast!
Dodge - Can take it or leave it. I don't have any issues maximizing dodge with the help of items and enhancements, and maximizing dodge is a must on the build.
Elusive target - Can take it or leave it, and didn't feel anything else was better.
Dire Charge really helps as this build has no other crowd control which is a weakness that you have to be smart to work around.
Epic Reflex - It's not about the bonus to reflex saves as it is the no fail on a 1. This guy just doesn't fail reflex saves. Love dancing in the middle of traps in reaper.
Scion of the Ethereal plane - With the change (nerf), I'm still taking this over Scion of Arborea, though to be honest I could go either way. I like the Permanent Lesser Displacement and Ghost Touch. I like the Permanent Invisibility Guard too for flavor as it melds well with the playstyle.



Enhancements:

Tempest (to capstone):

Recommended for tempest:

Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows, Whirlwind, Dervish
Improved Reaction III, Whirling Blades, Improved Defense III
Improved Parry III, Whirling Blades, Sprint Boost III
Storm Dancer, Whirling Blades
Storm Tempest, The Growing Storm III, Whirling Blades
Dual Perfection, Many Cuts III, Whirling Blades, Dance of Death III



Commentary:

I take the passive Many Cuts vs the Thousand Cuts clickie because I value simplicity and not having too many buttons to click in combat. I like to keep my core combat button click options to 12-13 slots
They really nailed Dance of Death (DoD) with the recent changes to it. The change to a 10 second clickie from the on-it activation itself was wonderful, but the fact you can have this ability on for 10 out of every 15 seconds is just marvelous. 200% Strikethrough Chance (plus the default 20%) so you are hitting three mobs at once (with a small chance to hit four). Moreover, the fact that so many of the abilities can proc on a Strikethrough, gosh...Let's just say that Tempest is better than ever solely based on the change to DoD. In the last 3-5+ years Tempest have gotten respect for high dps but I'd say they've been overlooked in recent years with Inquis and now THF. I'm fine with that...




Deepwood Stalker (at least 30 AP for the 4th core Mark of the Hunted):

Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike, Advanced Sneak Attack, Mark of the Hunted
Stealthy III (for +1 additional Sneak Attack Die), Increased Empathy I
Survivalist, Melee/Range Power Boost III
Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III, Favored Hunter III
Survivalist, Killer III, Merciful Strike



Commentary:
Exposing Strike DWS clickie attack is huge for this build. When you get agro in it gives you 4 out of every 6 seconds of sneak attack and works on named bosses.

Merciful Strike - I really like and part of my core combat rotation - (+3[W] damage. On Sneak Attack: If the target is below 50% health, deal 500 damage. This damage scales with 100% Melee Power). You do have to manage that they are vulnerable to sneak attack when you activate.

Advanced Sneak Attack (T3 Core Ability): +1 Sneak Attack Die. +10 Positive Spell Power. You gain a +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Threat Range with your equipped weapons. (This does not apply to Shields or Unarmed). Your attacks now bypass 10% fortification.


Mark of the Hunted: Activate: Expend a use of Wild Empathy. Your currently selected enemy receives -25% Fortification, -10 Armor Class, -10 Spell Resistance, and suffers a -4 penalty to all ability scores for 3 minutes. This effect also works on bosses and Raid bosses.
Passive: Your attacks bypass an additional 10% Fortification. You also gain +2 Damage when attacking Favored Enemies.
Passive: +10 Positive Spell Power

Mark of the Hunted, for red named and bosses, lasts more than enough time and benefits the ENTIRE party.




Wood Elf:

Elven Accuracy I, Nature I: +1 Dexterity
Elven Weapon Training I:


I have (5) racial action points is the reason for this.

For any left over enhancement points, I pump dex.


Epic Destiny:
Shadow-dancer is the way.

+10 Melee Power per Innate ability (60 total). The special abilities use your Dex stat. DDoor is nice to have.

Some core ones to take:

T1 Stealthy (3 points) - For +6 Assassinate DC for use with Executioner's Strike and Consume
T2 Lithe (3 points)
T3 Meld Into Darkness (3 points) - This is like getting the flashy star in Super Mario Brothers for 15 seconds invulnerability. The 120 second cooldown timer is reasonable, and the ability is usually there when you really need it. Huge for survivability.
T3 Grim Precision (3 points) - 15% fort bypass and 3% dodge bypass.
T5 Executioner's Strike (2 points) - Install kill with dc based on character level + higher of Dex modifier + Assassination bonuses. 12 second cooldown. Works with strikethrough. Yes please.
T5 Sealed Soul (2 point cost) - I took this because who doesn't hate neg levels. Not essential.
T6 Dark Imbuement - I love this ability. 30 second buff and only 2 minute cool down. +15 Melee Power, +2 sneak attack die, 9d6 unholy damage, the effective range of your melee attacks increases dramatically. With the attack range boost, combined with Dance of Death, it's like a giant harvesting machine rowing down rows of crops.


Twists:

Martial Hymn
Critical Damage
A Dance of Flowers
Unearthly Reactions
First Harmonic Chord

Commentary:
For Unearthly Reactions, I value adding the +6 reflex saves (adding strength to strength), the +3 dodge, and I like the flavor of phasing out when tumbling (and the visual).
I'm not sold on Critical Damage as my T3 twist.
Impregnable Mind is a backup T1 twist I am tempted to add to help out my will saves (which stink).


Gear: (as of Update 46)


Armor: Legendary Wildcard: Fort 214% - PRR 54 - Heal Amp 85 - False Life 81
Necklace: The Family’s Blessing: Quality Assassinate +2, Insightful Armor-Piercing - 16%, Competence Deadly +17, Doublestrike 24%
Gloves: Legendary Hammerfist: Insightful Doublestrike 11 - Seeker 21 - Insightful Deadly 8 - Cannith Combat Infusion


Head: Legendary Umber Brim: Insightful Accuracy 16 - Insightful Deception 8 - Profane well-rounded - Improved Quelling Strikes

Goggles: Legendary Collective Sight: Con 21 - Insightful DEX 10 - Quality Resistance 4

Cloak: Legendary Cloak of the City's Champion: Parrying 10 - Insightful CON 10 - Quality PRR 13

Ring: Legendary Celestial Ruby Ring: INT 21 - Stunning 23 - Accuracy 33 - Ghostly

Wrist: Legendary Ironclad Armbands: Devotion +214 - Protection +17 - Parrying +10 - Equipped Healing Amplification +43

Ring: Ring of the Silver Tongue: Improved Deception - Insightful Deception +8 - Assassinate +9 - Insightful Assassinate +4

Belt: Legendary Belt of Sure Strikes: Magical Sheltering +54, Insightful Seeker 10, Quality Combat Mastery +5, Quality Accuracy +8

Boots: The Shrouded Steps of the Beyond: Dexterity +22 - Enhanced Ghostly - Insightful Dodge +10% - Quality Dodge +5%

Trinket: Legendary Bottle of Smoke: Quality Dexterity +5 - Smoke Screen - Speed +30 - Deception +17

Commentary:
Login/unbuffed/non-reaper stats:

80.02% doublestrike (Killer enhancement stacked 4 times will bring to 100% or use a reaper charge to add 30%)
Offhand hit is 100% with 41% doublestrike on off hand.
97% fort bypass
17d6 sneak attack
172 standing melee power - Not including Martial Hymn which adds 10 melee power and 2d6 sneak attack (19d6), and Dark Imbuement (every 30 seconds out of 2 minutes) which adds 15 melee power and another 2d6 sneak attack (to 21d6).
175 PRR and 97 MRR
2200 HP and 914 SP


Scimitars:
Nightshard
Vulkoor's Edge
The Fractured Elegance

Commentary:
Will circumstantially switch between Vulkoor's Edge and The Fractured Elegance in the off hand. Love my Nightshard. They are fixing Glass Shards, yay!



Playstyle:
A dex based scimitar ranger is best played as an off-tank and should always be focused on positioning to do sneak attack damage. Ideally others have agro, but the Exposing Strike DWS clickie (4 out of every 6 seconds of sneak attack) really helps when you have agro.

Maximize use of items giving sneak attack damage (Deception, Insightful Deception), and get three Sneak Attack Die from DWS tree, and six SA die from Shadowdancer (SD).

A focus should be on getting Fort Bypass as high as possible (over 100%), which benefits not only the sneak attack damage, but also the expanded crit range of the scimitar. This is a key of the build. With the advent of sharn content, we saw very high fort mobs and this character really, really shined in this regard.

Fort Bypass Passive Sources:

Precision feat (25%)
Armor-Piercing Item - The Family’s Blessing - Insightful Armor-Piercing - 16% (or 33% on Legendary Family Recruit Sigil)
Advanced Sneak Attack (10%) - DWS core 3
Mark of the Hunted (10%)
Grim Precision (15%) - from SD.
Can also Twist in Piercing Clarity (10%)
5% from Filigree
Etc.


Threat reduction:

I use the 50% threat reduction Treachery filigree, plus the inherent 20% from the Shadowdancer Shadow Training III Innate ability. This is useful to maintain sneak attack on end bosses, but also detrimental for the occasional instance you need to keep agro and be a main tank.



Entering a combat situation against trash, it usually Dark Imbuement > Dire Charge > Dance of Death > Executioner's Strike > MASS DEATH (and sometimes the mobs die too):)



The end result is a highly resilient, versatile and high DPS character.

[Rakehell]

That looks like a fun build. I am going to use some of those ideas in my next reincarnation. Thanks for sharing.

[Atwan]

Synopsis:

Build for a pure Ranger Dex based scimitar wielding TWF Tempest, laying out the basic build and playstyle tactics with commentary.
This is a high DPS build played as an off tank with high sneak attack damage and very high fort bypass.




20 Ranger Wood Elf

Commentary:

Wood Elf for a few reasons--bonus to Dex and no elven Con penalty, Elven Weapon Training enhancement bonus to scimitars, and I like Wood Elves (flavor).
Pure ranger for Tempest capstone.





Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8. . . .+6. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 20. . . .+6. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 18. . . .+6. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . .8. . . .+6. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . .+6. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+6. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Commentary:

Max dex and con, two points in Int and Wis. I get all the skill points I want with the 8 Int.
I like having Str as a dump stat, and only have to worry about Dex and Con which helps with gearing.





Skills:
Max Spot, UMD, Heal, Balance, Search

Jump to 10 (any more is a waste)
1 point in tumble

Commentary:

Concentration skill not a priority due to having Quicken feat for healing casting. Concentration would be then left to help with scroll usage, which is limited to Res Scrolls in this build.
With the change (nerf) to Scion of the Ethereal Plane, I don't put any points into Hide, nor move silently.



Feats:
1 Precision
3 Completionist
6 Toughness
9 Improved Crit: Slash
12 Maximize
15 Quicken
18 Dodge
21 OC
24 Epic Toughness
26 Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Blinding speed
28 Elusive target
29 Dire Charge
30 Epic Reflex
30 Scion of the Ethereal plane

Commentary:

I value having lots of HP, thus going against the general grain with Toughness/Epic Toughness. The combo adds 82 hp at cap. Although a glass cannon, still need to be able to take some hard hits.
Maximize vs Empowered Healing - I really value the ability to be an excellent single target healer, and I've kept tanks and whole parties up on high reaper content. He can burn through SP, but have an Epic Ring of Spell Storing, and SP pots. I also make sure I have a devotion bonus on my gear. One or the other is of value.
Quicken - Need to get those heals off fast!
Dodge - Can take it or leave it. I don't have any issues maximizing dodge with the help of items and enhancements, and maximizing dodge is a must on the build.
Elusive target - Can take it or leave it, and didn't feel anything else was better.
Dire Charge really helps as this build has no other crowd control which is a weakness that you have to be smart to work around.
Epic Reflex - It's not about the bonus to reflex saves as it is the no fail on a 1. This guy just doesn't fail reflex saves. Love dancing in the middle of traps in reaper.
Scion of the Ethereal plane - With the change (nerf), I'm still taking this over Scion of Arborea, though to be honest I could go either way. I like the Permanent Lesser Displacement and Ghost Touch. I like the Permanent Invisibility Guard too as it melds well with the playstyle.



Enhancements:

Tempest (to capstone):

Notable must haves for tempest:

Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows, Whirlwind, Dervish
Improved Reaction III, Whirling Blades, Improved Defense III
Improved Parry III, Whirling Blades, Sprint Boost III
Storm Dancer, Whirling Blades
Storm Tempest, The Growing Storm III, Whirling Blades
Dual Perfection, Many Cuts III, Whirling Blades, Dance of Death III



Commentary:

I take the passive Many Cuts vs the Thousand Cuts clickie because I value simplicity and not having too many buttons to click in combat.




Deepwood Stalker (at least 30 AP for the 4th core Mark of the Hunted):

Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike, Advanced Sneak Attack, Mark of the Hunted
Stealthy III (for +1 additional Sneak Attack Die), Increased Empathy I
Survivalist, Melee/Range Power Boost III
Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III, Favored Hunter III
Survivalist, Killer I, Merciful Shot



Commentary:
Mark of the Hunted: Activate: Expend a use of Wild Empathy. Your currently selected enemy receives -25% Fortification, -10 Armor Class, -10 Spell Resistance, and suffers a -4 penalty to all ability scores for 3 minutes. This effect also works on bosses and Raid bosses.
Passive: Your attacks bypass an additional 10% Fortification. You also gain +2 Damage when attacking Favored Enemies.
Passive: +10 Positive Spell Power

Mark of the Hunted, for red named and bosses, lasts more than enough time and benefits the ENTIRE party.

For when you get agro, Exposing Strike DWS clickie is huge in it gives you 4 out of every 6 seconds of sneak attack and as mentioned works on named bosses.


Wood Elf:

Elven Accuracy I, Nature I: +1 Dexterity
Elven Weapon Training I:


I have (5) racial action points is the reason for this.

For any left over enhancement points, I pump dex and will add additional dodge in the tempest tree.


Epic Destiny:
I go Legendary, but a case can be made for Shadow-dancer


Gear:

I haven't updated my gear since last year and I'm due to re-evaluate with update 46 coming out. So consider this a placeholder...


Part of the Family Set:
Armor: Legendary Wildcard: Fort 214% - PRR 54 - Heal Amp 85 - False Life 81
Necklace: Legendary Family Recruit Sigil: True Seeing - Armor Piercing 33 - Deadly 17 - Relentless Fury
Gloves: Legendary Hammerfist: Insightful Doublestrike 11 - Seeker 21 - Insightful Deadly 8 - Cannith Combat Infusion


Head: Legendary Umber Brim: Insightful Accuracy 16 - Insightful Deception 8 - Profane well-rounded - Improved Quelling Strikes

Goggles: Legendary Collective Sight: WIS 21 - Insightful DEX 10 - Quality Resistance 4

Cloak: Legendary Cloak of the City's Champion: Parrying 10 - Insightful CON 10 - Quality PRR 13

Ring: Legendary Celestial Ruby Ring: STR 21 - Stunning 23 - Accuracy 33 - Ghostly

Wrist: Legendary Hallowed Castigator: Devotion +214 - Healing Lore +31% - INS Sheltering +27 - Improved - Emp Heal

Ring: Sigil of the Triumvirate: DEX 22 - Insightful Accuracy 17 - Insightful Deadly +8 - Sonic Absorption 53%

Belt: Slavers Crafted: Wizardry 371 - Resistance 14 - Hide 22 - DEX 4 (Quality)

Boots: Cannith Crafted: Dodge 15 - Sheltering 38 (for the MRR) - Seeker (insightful) 7

Trinket: Echo of Ravenkind: E Holy Burst - True Seeing - CON 20 - Improved Deception


Scimitars:
Nightshard
Vulkoor's Edge/The Fractured Elegance

Commentary:
I looted The Fractured Elegance and then went into a long TR cycle, so I haven't really played with it yet. I'm concerned because it's been reported the Glass Shards effect is bugged. Vulkoor's Edge is a just very nice all around weapon. And I absolutely love Nightshard.



Playstyle:
A dex based scimitar ranger is best played as an off-tank and should always be focused on positioning to do sneak attack damage.

Maximize use of items giving sneak attack damage (Deception, Insightful Deception), and get three Sneak Attack Die from DWS tree.

A focus should be on getting Fort Bypass as high as possible, which benefits not only the sneak attack damage, but also the expanded crit range of the scimitar. This is a key of the build. With the advent of sharn content, we saw very high fort mobs and this character really, really shined in this regard.

Passive Sources:
Precision feat (25%)
Armor-Piercing Item (23% cannith crafting / 28% slave lord crafting / or other items or weapons with it.
Advanced Sneak Attack (10%) - DWS core 3
Mark of the Hunted (10%)
Can also Twist in Grim Precision (15%) or Piercing Clarity (10%)
There are more I'm not thinking off.



The result is a very resilient character with arguably the most under rated dps in the game when built and played right.

This is great and I am trying to follow this build - any chance you could give me a run down of what order to do the enhancements? Also I am not a completionist and would like to know what other feat you would recommend. I have been gone for 2 years and just coming back to play.

[Assassination]

Atwan,

By level 6 you would like to have 11 pts in tempest for dex to damage, also 11 pts in dws for exposing strike. From there you will be pouring pts into tempest to get core 4, and into tier 5's at lvl 12.

Tiefling assassin blades are nice at lvl 4, they are keen, and have dex to damage. I typically use those until 7, when I switch to a pair of TOEE crafted scimmies.

No completionist, consider the dodge/mobility/spring attack line. Spring attack has a long 20's or so cool down, is helpful for entering a fight... I find it less useful endgame.

You could also take point blank shot/imp crit ranged, if you like to have a ranged option.

[Saekee]

maybe for a few AP get the extra favored enemies from Falconer and VkF for stacking damage on all of them? What do you think?

[Kielbasa]

IF you're going dex based use flow and labrynthine edge for trash. Then swap to anything with fetters and dust offhand for big meat sacks. Nightshard is great but if you have it labrynthine edge is like an upgraded version of it.

Sadly glass shards does not proc as often as it should to make fractured elegance worth using.

[Assassination]

maybe for a few AP get the extra favored enemies from Falconer and VkF for stacking damage on all of them? What do you think?

Currently I did this for the 2 extra favored enemies. If you are still taking Know the angles, you will probably not have enough pts. to do this. Also will depend on the number of racial pts you have, and

what race you are. Some races have very nice racial trees that you will spend pts in, others are more meh... Currently in human i've spent 13 pts in racial, 43 pts tempest, 31 dws, 2 vkf, and 2 falconer. I think that adds up to 91...;)

You can also twist a favored enemy from Primal Avatar as a tier 2 twist, but there are better twists at tier 1 and 2 for melee's I think. Anyway you can get your favored enemy damage to around + 14-18 or so, which is very nice.

[Ganak]

This is great and I am trying to follow this build - any chance you could give me a run down of what order to do the enhancements? Also I am not a completionist and would like to know what other feat you would recommend. I have been gone for 2 years and just coming back to play.

Assassination was spot on when he said:

"By level 6 you would like to have 11 pts in tempest for dex to damage, also 11 pts in dws for exposing strike. From there you will be pouring pts into tempest to get core 4, and into tier 5's at lvl 12."

Dodge/mobility/spring attack is a great alternative for Completionist (and Toughness/Epic Toughness). Dire Charge at lvl 29 fills the need for me for a burst, rapid movement ability, and I felt the Spring Attack would be redundant, though in transparency I haven't tried the new Spring Attack active ability.

"Or fit in point blank shot/imp crit ranged for a ranged option." I myself don't use a bow unless absolutely necessary, but that is me and I'm probably shortchanging the potential of the build.

[Taxidiotis]

OP,
I tried a Welf Tempest, but the lack of self-healing LoH led me back to the master race.
I suppose Castigators are helping out your CSW.
Where is your doublestrike? And you're not taking DWS Killer III?
Do you have a INT swap item for KTA? Have you considered putting in INT on Ruby Ring, instead of STR?
Where is your Deception for SA?
Do you notice lack of Quality accuracy and damage? I guess Elven tree makes up for it.
Why do you consider this build a glass cannon? It looks tough. Are you missing heals? It looks like you have a lot of PRR/MRR, Dodge, AC...Or are you running Hi Rprs? (Almost everyone is glass in R10)

I think I would like to try this out, but making gear out a little more efficient. I am concerned about dblstk, seeker, LoH, SA and INT tho.

Nice build!

[Assassination]

Taxi,

Do you still it think it's necessary to take know the angles now that the damage does not stack with insightful damage? I always disliked the swapping garbage anyway....

There is also a new trinket in the new update that has stunning/insightful stunning that would help with dire charge dc and offset the tactical dc component from KTA's.

I'm on my last racial of human now, and can say that i definetly miss the LOH from aasimar. I do like having max dex though, so I will probably go back to Wood Elf.

Aasimar is really the best racial tree though..... so we'll see... Although too much self healing doesn't leave much for the Clerics and FVS to do...I like to consider their feelings. :)

[Taxidiotis]

Taxi,

Do you still it think it's necessary to take know the angles now that the damage does not stack with insightful damage? I always disliked the swapping garbage anyway....

There is also a new trinket in the new update that has stunning/insightful stunning that would help with dire charge dc and offset the tactical dc component from KTA's.

I'm on my last racial of human now, and can say that i definetly miss the LOH from aasimar. I do like having max dex though, so I will probably go back to Wood Elf.

Aasimar is really the best racial tree though..... so we'll see... Although too much self healing doesn't leave much for the Clerics and FVS to do...I like to consider their feelings. :)

I have static (no item swap) 66 INT in reaper = Insightful Dmg 14 using KTA (which is 6 points more than gear). It also goes toward combat DCs, that I would believe tempests do not have a good source of. Unless you can show that putting the 8AP required for KTA somewhere else to make up for 6dmg and 14DCs, I would think KTA necessary.
Unless that U46 trinket insightful stunning is greater than 14, I would not believe it a BIS item. The gear tetris alone to solve for what that trinket slot removes would not be worth any real gains.
I have not seen much in U46 that would improve DEX-based tempest. i.e Those U46 artifact boots look nice, but the tetris that comes with it is prob not worth one more DEX and 5% conceal. In the end, I am sure you would lose some quality acc/dmg from WIS artifact ring, armor piercing (or saves), relentless fury; or dropping Umber Brim for Wind Howler mask. I think U46 would introduce a mess.
Affirmation+LoH has saved me a lot...giving up LoH is tough. I would need a full time mommy-copter to run mid-hi rpr. That is one way of appeasing the hjealer's fee-fees tho :) But I am a big fan of Welf tempest. Hope it works out.

[Atwan]

I have static (no item swap) 66 INT in reaper = Insightful Dmg 14 using KTA (which is 6 points more than gear). It also goes toward combat DCs, that I would believe tempests do not have a good source of. Unless you can show that putting the 8AP required for KTA somewhere else to make up for 6dmg and 14DCs, I would think KTA necessary.
Unless that U46 trinket insightful stunning is greater than 14, I would not believe it a BIS item. The gear tetris alone to solve for what that trinket slot removes would not be worth any real gains.
I have not seen much in U46 that would improve DEX-based tempest. i.e Those U46 artifact boots look nice, but the tetris that comes with it is prob not worth one more DEX and 5% conceal. In the end, I am sure you would lose some quality acc/dmg from WIS artifact ring, armor piercing (or saves), relentless fury; or dropping Umber Brim for Wind Howler mask. I think U46 would introduce a mess.
Affirmation+LoH has saved me a lot...giving up LoH is tough. I would need a full time mommy-copter to run mid-hi rpr. That is one way of appeasing the hjealer's fee-fees tho :) But I am a big fan of Welf tempest. Hope it works out.

Ok which TOEE scimmy should i use for this build? i have the named one from the quest. If i am going to craft one of them too what do i put on it?

[Taxidiotis]

Ok which TOEE scimmy should i use for this build? i have the named one from the quest. If i am going to craft one of them too what do i put on it?

I would not use a TOEE scimmy, but if you have to go with one; Epic Leopards Chill. I messed around with it. Great for mob, but ending up abandoning it for bigger/better BDR scimmies like Frac Ele or Niteshard.

[Ganak]

Updated OP with Update 46 gear added in, and some polish overall.

[Taxidiotis]

Updated OP with Update 46 gear added in, and some polish overall.

I'm sure you will feel the lack of dps without a doublestrike item (or insightful/quality seeker! or Quality Deadly *smh tisk tisk*).

Why the silver tongue ring? Are you only using it for improved deception? Insightful deception is already on Umber Brim; and you are not assassinating (or are you?). The only net gain is improved deception, which the Sapphire ring has with extra stuffs to boot. (or abandon imp. dec. as I cannot ever tell its even working). You could put CON on Sapphire ring and dump dragon belt for something prettier say maybe Belt of Sure Strikes (since you need the MRR & Seeker anyway...oooh and some added stun DCs, too! With Q Accuracy for those pesky glancing blows!).

Why the push for WIS on a WElf? Because you do not have a Resist(Will) item?

City Champ cloak is such a prude...nice shiny insightful CON...rest is crapola. But everyone has to scream for more HP. Try the Balanced Cloak with crafted Q-CON; its a total net loss of 3 CON if you slot a +2CON augment, which is a good trade-off for the seeker and parry (IF... HP is your concern. My take is, if Lynabelle wanted us to have HP on a DPS tempest, her will would grant it to us! If not, thank her anyway and we still are obliged to pump out a DPS tempest, no exceptions).

As previously mentioned, those artifact boots look tasty, but they completely mess your up your tetris style in a negative way. They may be useful in later updates...
I believe you previously mentioned you nixed KtA...is that still so? Ever thought of gearing around Bloodsigil Ring artifact? It's pretty handsome. Don't get me wrong, tetris will still be your favorite game...but I think they may do better that the boots. I am currently trying to fit the ring in...but I also cry and have autistic fits.

Bravo on the Ironclad wrists, those are awesome and could probably keep you alive with only WElf's CMW/CSW/Cacoon/etc

Now for the bloodletting for the rest of aspiring Sexy Dexys that may be following this post...As-is OP, I would never advertise this gear-out as "high-end dps". I am not stating that to be demeaning or to diminish your efforts(which I laud), but simply an objective fact.

But keep going!
*Cue Tetris theme song*

[Ganak]

Why the silver tongue ring? Are you only using it for improved deception? Insightful deception is already on Umber Brim; and you are not assassinating (or are you?).

Yes:) Using assassinate (Executioner's Strike and Consume) and the ring adds +13 assassinate, and slotting the ring solely for this.



Love the idea about CON on Sapphire ring and going with the Belt of Sure Strikes. Also the cloak idea makes sense, as the City Champ cloak is just about the +10 con. I'm going to re-evaluate and I haven't committed to a final gear set as just finished a long TR cycle.


Certainly miss doublestrike, but not sure of a path forward to include it...

Tetris theme song indeed.


I put 2 points in Wis as don't feel I need another 2 points in INT. Will saves do suck on this build.

KTA I'm still undecided. Does it add to assassinate or just tactical feats?

Thanks Taxi, awesome feedback!

[Taxidiotis]

KTA I'm still undecided. Does it add to assassinate or just tactical feats?



I get it, I forgot you're running SD. I do not believe assassinate is considered tactical (but that has never stopped SSG from applying it even with no description added in the mouse-over display icon).
My gut tells me KtA does not add DCs to assassinate. I'm sure a helpful rogue can confirm this.

A much wiser player once told me..."don't fight the game". If tempests were meant to assassinate, they would be given abilities to do so in trees/feats/etc. If your goal is to assassinate, I believe you should start a rogue. Trying to get pure-builds to do something that is outside their scope only diminishes the output of the purity, and will never equal the output of it's alternate origin. I'm sure there are some exceptions (before the tanks of DDO fly in here and smash my teeth in). In this instance the former sentiment prevails.

Further, tempests do get SA abilities that I definitely recommend including in any tempest build.

Of course this is all subjective...if you tell me (in your best Gomer Pyle voice) "...but I wanna assassinate with my tempest because I enjoy the fun!", then disregard all above suggestion(s). Enjoying your game will always trump suggestive superiority. You can take that to the bank! And I will respectfully bow out of the conversation (and quietly roll my eyes at the absurd :)).

[Arlathen]

Yes:) Using assassinate (Executioner's Strike and Consume) and the ring adds +13 assassinate, and slotting the ring solely for this.



Love the idea about CON on Sapphire ring and going with the Belt of Sure Strikes. Also the cloak idea makes sense, as the City Champ cloak is just about the +10 con. I'm going to re-evaluate and I haven't committed to a final gear set as just finished a long TR cycle.


Certainly miss doublestrike, but not sure of a path forward to include it...

Tetris theme song indeed.


I put 2 points in Wis as don't feel I need another 2 points in INT. Will saves do suck on this build.

KTA I'm still undecided. Does it add to assassinate or just tactical feats?

Thanks Taxi, awesome feedback!

Personally, I would swap the Family Recruit Sigil necklace for the raid version, Family's Blessing. Fixes the Doublestrike issue at a cost of some lost Armour Piercing, which tbh I think you can manage considering the sheer amount you have. You'll also get Quality Assassinate +2 out of it.

[Assassination]

KTA does not apply to assassinate dc's. I think it currently stacks with insightful stun and trip items, but that may be adjusted with the coming update 46patch2.

I'm currently running a "Strength" based aasimar tempest to see how well i can do with tactics endgame.

Those new dex boots are really attractive for a dex bases tempest, i was able to fit them in on my last playthrough to cap on an assassin, but i do think if "dps" is your main concern then there are better artifacts to be had.

That intelligence ring artifact seems kind of awesome, quality tactics, quality deadly, and qual deception... that's some damage! and a nice boost to kta if you are using it.

Update 46patch2 note: apparently glass shards on our scimmie's is going to actually do something now... very nice.

[Ganak]

Updated gear set and minor tweaks...

[C-Dog]

Maximize vs Empowered Healing - I really value the ability to be a highly effective single target healer, and I've kept tanks and whole parties up on high reaper content and in raids. He can burn through SP, but have an Epic Ring of Spell Storing, and SP pots.
This is an important detail, and one that few enjoy. Without that reserve of ~1,000 Spell Points (https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Ring_of_Spell_Storing) (on average), Maximized Healing is not nearly as attractive as a full-time plan.

(@ newer players - the Heroic version of this ring is a rare drop from rare spawns, which then requires an extremely rare Scroll, Shard and Seal to craft the Epic version. Several factors more rare than a Jibbers Blade, and the drop locations far less accessible, if that gives you any sense of it.)

[Ganak]

Minor tweaks...


Looking for explicit feedback on my twists which are:

Twists:
Martial Hymn
Critical Damage
A Dance of Flowers
Unearthly Reactions
First Harmonic Chord


In particular, Critical Damage as my T3.

Balanced Attacks is tempting.

Balanced Attacks: Passive You gain a +[2/4/6] Primal bonus to Attack as long as you are shapeshifted into an animal form, wielding two weapons, or unarmed. Rank 3: Knock down enemies for 2 seconds on vorpal hit. Enemies knocked down by this effect are helpless.

I don't have any problems with to hit on high reaper, but the vorpal knockdown (and helpless) on a 20 is tempting. Why Critical Damage? Because I crit a lot with scimitars, but the x2 modifier mitigates the benefit.

[Question2005]

Some questions :

-How do you clear mobs fast when you have no AOE before you get dance of death?

-What did you use to bypass incorporeal at low levels before the book of spirits was added to the game?

-What weapons did you use for level 4+, since it doesnt look like there any good named scimitars at low levels?

-What did you use for oozes/rust monsters or to bypass bludgeoning DR?

-If you couldnt take completionist, what would you take instead?

-How do you heal effectively if you dont have extremely rare items like the ring of spell storing?

[Ganak]

Thanks Questions for the questions:)



-How do you clear mobs fast when you have no AOE before you get dance of death?

DOD has a cooldown of 15 seconds and and active time of 10 seconds, so for the 5 seconds when it's not running you do damage to just a single target. Not a big deal because after the initial blitzkrieg you are just putting mobs out of their misery:)



-What did you use to bypass incorporeal at low levels before the book of spirits was added to the game?

I've got ghost touch random loot and named items at various levels. Nothing specific comes to mind, but be active in collecting such items as it's essential to bypass incorporeal.



-What weapons did you use for level 4+, since it doesnt look like there any good named scimitars at low levels?

I have a bunch of random loot vorpal weapons at various levels through level 20. Easy to find these on the AH. The Ravenloft Barovian scimitar at level 10 is one to get.


-What did you use for oozes/rust monsters or to bypass bludgeoning DR?

Muckbanes at lower levels, Muckdooms at level 7, and bow/arrows further beyond that. The rare time I pull out a bow. For bludgeoning DR, I'll admit I'm lazy and haven't pursued anything, though if I did I'd look at named light maces.


-If you couldn't take completionist, what would you take instead?

I'd fill out the dodge, mobility, spring attack tree perhaps. Or maybe Weapon Focus: Slash. Mental Toughness is another option if you were to value having a lot of spell points.



-How do you heal effectively if you dont have extremely rare items like the ring of spell storing?

Take Empowered Healing over Maximize, and don't take Quicken to make the SP last.

[Question2005]

I meant, how do you clear mobs fast before you get dance of death? It doesnt look like there any good options.

I did try spring attack but it feels very gimmicky. The damage is pathetic and just tickles the mobs, and it doesnt work like dire charge so you end up having to waste time repositioning yourself after the spring anyway, which defeats the point of using it to get into melee range quickly. Not worth a feat slot at all.

I took empower healing + quicken with rejuc cocoon in epics, but i have to say that i dont see how you are healing people effectively. The main issue with any melee class trying to heal is that they are limited to touch range for spells. When a ranged/caster gets low on hp, they are going to start bunny hopping all over the place while being chased by mobs, are you really going to stop dpsing a boss/champ/reaper to chase them and try to heal them, while constantly getting the "target is out of range" message? Thats not a realistic option really. At best, its useful to self heal yourself while doing non-reaper content in epics.

How are you getting dex to damage with stuff like muckbane, which are not light weapons? You use bows to kill oozes in epics? How does that work? Do you just toggle EDF off for every ooze and pull out your bow, then toggle it back on?

You dont use anything to bypass bludgeoning DR? Is this the norm? Because bludgeoning DR in legendary content is going to drop your damage per hit to nearly nothing.

Shadow dancer : You dont take pierce the gloom? Is it not a big increase in DPS when doing legendary content since the mobs have very high AC there?

I got to level 25 and i have to say that im very dissapointed in TWF in general.

Main issues that I found :

-DPS is awful till you get to level 11 for 90% off hand strike.

-You clear mobs very slowly before you can get dance of death, and dance of death is not impressive now that THF gets permanent strikethrough The 5 second gap is a lot more significant than on paper unless you are stopping before every encounter to ensure that you have it up (this is obviously not a realistic option, nobody is going to wait for you). Even when using drow scimitars from level 21, clearing mobs is very inconsistent because you need constant crits to kill them fast as your regular damage is very low. Sometimes you get a string of 19-20 rolls and a mob drops instantly, but usually, you have to sit there for a few seconds DPSing a mob for them to die.

-THF massively outdpses TWF for both ST and AOE due to having 3x the attribute damage modifier which TWF does not get. Im surprised you did not mention this. Even THF paladins outdps me in heroics, let alone druid bears.

-A large portion of your damage is linked to your sneak attack dice, which you do not get against mobs immune to sneak attack like undead and when leveling in heroics where you usually have all the aggro (exposing strike is not AOE unfortunately). It looks like shadow dancer lets you remove the sneak immunity on vorpals at least, but thats not an option if you are in heroics or leveling another ED.

-Leveling from level 1 is awful, the bonuses that wood elves get dont make up for it. I totally forgot that iconic aasimar was an option to start with dance of death and greater TWF.

Biggest issue is that I cant find any reason to do a TWF ranger now. THF blows TWF out of the water with the 3x attribute mod and theres even a new epic past life stance that buffs THF damage, but doesnt increase TWF's damage at all. TWF ranger seems like a build that is only useful in optimal conditions at cap : when a tank has aggro and you can just stand there attacking with sneak attack dice. When you are leveling 1-29 and fighting stuff immune to sneak attack, its awful.

[glassesjr]

I meant, how do you clear mobs fast before you get dance of death? It doesnt look like there any good options.

I did try spring attack but it feels very gimmicky. The damage is pathetic and just tickles the mobs, and it doesnt work like dire charge so you end up having to waste time repositioning yourself after the spring anyway, which defeats the point of using it to get into melee range quickly. Not worth a feat slot at all.

I took empower healing + quicken with rejuc cocoon in epics, but i have to say that i dont see how you are healing people effectively. The main issue with any melee class trying to heal is that they are limited to touch range for spells. When a ranged/caster gets low on hp, they are going to start bunny hopping all over the place while being chased by mobs, are you really going to stop dpsing a boss/champ/reaper to chase them and try to heal them, while constantly getting the "target is out of range" message? Thats not a realistic option really. At best, its useful to self heal yourself while doing non-reaper content in epics.

How are you getting dex to damage with stuff like muckbane, which are not light weapons? You use bows to kill oozes in epics? How does that work? Do you just toggle EDF off for every ooze and pull out your bow, then toggle it back on?

You dont use anything to bypass bludgeoning DR? Is this the norm? Because bludgeoning DR in legendary content is going to drop your damage per hit to nearly nothing.

Shadow dancer : You dont take pierce the gloom? Is it not a big increase in DPS when doing legendary content since the mobs have very high AC there?

I got to level 25 and i have to say that im very dissapointed in TWF in general.

Main issues that I found :

-DPS is awful till you get to level 11 for 90% off hand strike.

-You clear mobs very slowly before you can get dance of death, and dance of death is not impressive now that THF gets permanent strikethrough The 5 second gap is a lot more significant than on paper unless you are stopping before every encounter to ensure that you have it up (this is obviously not a realistic option, nobody is going to wait for you). Even when using drow scimitars from level 21, clearing mobs is very inconsistent because you need constant crits to kill them fast as your regular damage is very low. Sometimes you get a string of 19-20 rolls and a mob drops instantly, but usually, you have to sit there for a few seconds DPSing a mob for them to die.

-THF massively outdpses TWF for both ST and AOE due to having 3x the attribute damage modifier which TWF does not get. Im surprised you did not mention this. Even THF paladins outdps me in heroics, let alone druid bears.

-A large portion of your damage is linked to your sneak attack dice, which you do not get against mobs immune to sneak attack like undead and when leveling in heroics where you usually have all the aggro (exposing strike is not AOE unfortunately). It looks like shadow dancer lets you remove the sneak immunity on vorpals at least, but thats not an option if you are in heroics or leveling another ED.

-Leveling from level 1 is awful, the bonuses that wood elves get dont make up for it. I totally forgot that iconic aasimar was an option to start with dance of death and greater TWF.

Biggest issue is that I cant find any reason to do a TWF ranger now. THF blows TWF out of the water with the 3x attribute mod and theres even a new epic past life stance that buffs THF damage, but doesnt increase TWF's damage at all. TWF ranger seems like a build that is only useful in optimal conditions at cap : when a tank has aggro and you can just stand there attacking with sneak attack dice. When you are leveling 1-29 and fighting stuff immune to sneak attack, its awful.

I don't blame you for hating leveling as a Dex based Tempest, it is partly why I am working on a STR one at the moment. If you ever want to take another stab at it, you could try a build the same or similar as to what I am doing now.

I am just level 8 currently, but single target DPS isn't bad at all (Nightforge Blades with the Knights Training feat are really good leveling weapons) and the build should do a lot of AoE DPS at Level 12 which I am looking forward to.

Good thing about the STR build is DPS will be a lot higher and you can use whatever weapons you want and leveling will be a lot smoother. I went THF till LV 6 to make the really early leveling less painful and then went full TWF. The Dex build seems really defensive and maybe at real high lv's it can do okay, but it isn't something I am interested in working on.

The only thing I am considering to do maybe is to not take Mobility and Spring Attack and instead take Improved Critical Bludgeon for when I am using War Hammers which benefit from the KT feat. Other feat could be Quicken/Mental Toughness/Toughness?

STR Tempest
Ranger 20
True Neutral Half-Orc


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 20. . . .+2. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . 12. . . .+2. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 16. . . .+2. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . 12. . . .+2. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+2. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .6. . . .+2. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Heal. . . 2. 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . . . . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Spot. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Swim. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Balance . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
Jump. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. 1½ .5½
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .28. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8


Feats

.1. . . . : Stunning Blow (Use THF till level 6 then swap to Stunning Blow)
.3. . . . : Precision
.6. . . . : Knight's Training
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
15. . . . : Dodge
18. . . . : Mobility
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Spring Attack
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Reflexes
28 Destiny: First Blood
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
30 Legend : Scion of: Ethereal Plane

.1 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
.5 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
10 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Giant
15 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Aberration
20 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Elemental


Spells

Ram's Might (4), Merfolk's Blessing (6), Jump (14), Resist Energy (18)
Barkskin (8), Cure Light Wounds (10), Protection from Energy (16), Summon Nature's Ally II (19)
Cure Moderate Wounds (11), Wild Instincts (12), Remove Disease (19), Neutralize Poison (19)
Cure Serious Wounds (14), Freedom of Movement (15), Summon Nature's Ally IV (19), Animal Growth (20)

Enhancements (80 AP)

Tempest (46 AP) Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows, Whirlwind, Dervish Improved Reaction I, Improved Defense III, Whirling Blades
Improved Parry III, Improved Dodge I, Whirling Blades, Haste Boost III
Storm Dancer, Improved Mobility I, Critical Mastery III, Whirling Blades
Storm Tempest, The Growing Storm III, Whirling Blades
Dual Perfection, Cuts: A Thousand Cuts III, Whirling Blades, Dance of Death III
Deepwood Stalker (26 AP) Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike Favored Defense III, Stealthy III, Tendon Cut I
Survivalist, Melee/Range Power Boost III
Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III, Favored Hunter III
Killer III
Harper Agent (8 AP) Agent of Good I Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness III
Know the Angles II

[Ganak]

Biggest issue is that I cant find any reason to do a TWF ranger now.


If the goal is to achieve the utmost min/max (which is truly a fine goal), well going THF makes a lot of sense now, at this moment in time.


Look, I've been around, and I'd say THF has been subpar more often than it's been optimal, and happy to see it have it's day in the sun. What you can count on is the meta will change...and change...and change.


My style is I don't chase the meta, preferring to pick a concept I like and then min-max within the concept. I enjoy creating awesome characters that are not cookie cutter, and curb stomping tough content. The keyword is enjoy, and to each their own in that regard.




Now, all that said, my skinny wood elf mops the floor with many a THF, because the true, unchanging meta in this game is Player > Build.

[Question2005]

I don't blame you for hating leveling as a Dex based Tempest, it is partly why I am working on a STR one at the moment. If you ever want to take another stab at it, you could try a build the same or similar as to what I am doing now.

I am just level 8 currently, but single target DPS isn't bad at all (Nightforge Blades with the Knights Training feat are really good leveling weapons) and the build should do a lot of AoE DPS at Level 12 which I am looking forward to.

Good thing about the STR build is DPS will be a lot higher and you can use whatever weapons you want and leveling will be a lot smoother. I went THF till LV 6 to make the really early leveling less painful and then went full TWF. The Dex build seems really defensive and maybe at real high lv's it can do okay, but it isn't something I am interested in working on.

The only thing I am considering to do maybe is to not take Mobility and Spring Attack and instead take Improved Critical Bludgeon for when I am using War Hammers which benefit from the KT feat. Other feat could be Quicken/Mental Toughness/Toughness?

STR Tempest
Ranger 20
True Neutral Half-Orc


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 20. . . .+2. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . 12. . . .+2. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 16. . . .+2. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . 12. . . .+2. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+2. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .6. . . .+2. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Heal. . . 2. 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . . . . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Spot. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Swim. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Balance . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
Jump. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. 1½ .5½
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .28. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8


Feats

.1. . . . : Stunning Blow (Use THF till level 6 then swap to Stunning Blow)
.3. . . . : Precision
.6. . . . : Knight's Training
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
15. . . . : Dodge
18. . . . : Mobility
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Spring Attack
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Reflexes
28 Destiny: First Blood
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
30 Legend : Scion of: Ethereal Plane

.1 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
.5 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
10 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Giant
15 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Aberration
20 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Elemental


Spells

Ram's Might (4), Merfolk's Blessing (6), Jump (14), Resist Energy (18)
Barkskin (8), Cure Light Wounds (10), Protection from Energy (16), Summon Nature's Ally II (19)
Cure Moderate Wounds (11), Wild Instincts (12), Remove Disease (19), Neutralize Poison (19)
Cure Serious Wounds (14), Freedom of Movement (15), Summon Nature's Ally IV (19), Animal Growth (20)

Enhancements (80 AP)

Tempest (46 AP) Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows, Whirlwind, Dervish Improved Reaction I, Improved Defense III, Whirling Blades
Improved Parry III, Improved Dodge I, Whirling Blades, Haste Boost III
Storm Dancer, Improved Mobility I, Critical Mastery III, Whirling Blades
Storm Tempest, The Growing Storm III, Whirling Blades
Dual Perfection, Cuts: A Thousand Cuts III, Whirling Blades, Dance of Death III
Deepwood Stalker (26 AP) Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike Favored Defense III, Stealthy III, Tendon Cut I
Survivalist, Melee/Range Power Boost III
Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III, Favored Hunter III
Killer III
Harper Agent (8 AP) Agent of Good I Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness III
Know the Angles II

Im confused as to how str is supposed to be better for tempest...its a lot harder to gear for str + dex when you can just stack dex for no fail reflex saves easily.

I dont get why you are giving up mark of the hunted for KTA either. And I think you also gave up something in the tempest tree to get the AP for that.

[Question2005]

If the goal is to achieve the utmost min/max (which is truly a fine goal), well going THF makes a lot of sense now, at this moment in time.


Look, I've been around, and I'd say THF has been subpar more often than it's been optimal, and happy to see it have it's day in the sun. What you can count on is the meta will change...and change...and change.


My style is I don't chase the meta, preferring to pick a concept I like and then min-max within the concept. I enjoy creating awesome characters that are not cookie cutter, and curb stomping tough content. The keyword is enjoy, and to each their own in that regard.




Now, all that said, my skinny wood elf mops the floor with many a THF, because the true, unchanging meta in this game is Player > Build.

Point is, when i started following your build, i got the wrong impression about it. After I tried leveling it from 1-30, i realised its got a lot of issues that would be easily solved by simply using aasimar scourge (which also gets favored enemy : undead for free).

With aasimar scourge, its probably the best way to get ranger lives at the moment since bow is still weak. Unfortunately, DPS on TWF is really sub par now compared to any half decent THF build.

I ran with night shard/vulkoor's edge and im thinking that for most content at cap, a LGS dust scimitar in the offhand is actually the optimal choice. Dust stacks with vul on hit and many people have raid weapons that provide vul on hit these days, and almost nobody runs with LGS dust weapons at cap. TWF is the only combat style that can afford to do so without gimping their main hand damage which is why people run their fancy 7w weapons at cap instead of LGS dust. Fact is, TWF ranger isnt going to be anywhere near top DPS, what with THF, inquis and thrower builds these days, so you may as well fill a niche that nobody else can and help debuff the boss with dust. Everyone will love you when they realise they are doing 2x damage to a boss compared to before. As a bonus, you can start using dust at 26 when you are doing r1 stuff for exp.

[pSINNa]

saved for later

[Taxidiotis]

Unfortunately, DPS on TWF is really sub par now compared to any half decent THF build.

I ran with night shard/vulkoor's edge and im thinking that for most content at cap, a LGS dust scimitar in the offhand is actually the optimal choice. Dust stacks with vul on hit and many people have raid weapons that provide vul on hit these days, and almost nobody runs with LGS dust weapons at cap. TWF is the only combat style that can afford to do so without gimping their main hand damage which is why people run their fancy 7w weapons at cap instead of LGS dust. Fact is, TWF ranger isnt going to be anywhere near top DPS, what with THF, inquis and thrower builds these days, so you may as well fill a niche that nobody else can and help debuff the boss with dust. Everyone will love you when they realise they are doing 2x damage to a boss compared to before. As a bonus, you can start using dust at 26 when you are doing r1 stuff for exp.

True, tempests' DPS are somewhat below the THFs of DDO...but...tempests get waaaaay more faster strikes than THF. THF get captivating DPS goggles; big, slow crit dmg numbers. Tempests will literally lag the instance with the amount of fast strikes with moderate front number dmg (along with SA to boot); and the utility of having 2x weps vs 1x wep is far superior as you noted; Dust + Vuln. Aasimar also supplies some Vuln in tree, at least enough to keep from deteriorating once applied; leaving a tempest to have a beater + Dust. I believe Scourge is a trap that may seem nice, but practically inferior to Aasimar.

My sexy dexy tempest is well over 20k DPS (dare I say close to 25k?) and can sustain that output with modest defenses (and a mommy-copter in high reapers). The THFs I've seen have big crits, but are dead a lot (i.e. do no DPS at all).

Not sure what server you are on, but most TWFs on G-Land have dust and/or vuln. Tempests should have as many as 6-8 golf clubs to swap between in any given quest/raid, depending on the situation; all for the utility.

Granted, tempests do not fully shine until cap, due to the awesome cap gear. H. and E. leveling gear is kinda crapola, but cap gear is god-like for tempests if you want to min/max a twf in general. Inquis and throwers are a scourge on DDO because they kite everything around, leaving any melee DPS running around all goofy-pants while the field is scattered with mob. But.. DDO is a free-market society...stop running with the little f@#^&s! Tempests need control of the field to be effective.

If you're running with Vulks / Niteshard, your gear may be outdated, which is why you are not satisfied with your tempest. I retired my Vulks / Niteshard once Sharn came out. Again, all due respect to OP, I do not believe OP's build is optimized for DPS output that you may be looking for. Slot all the gear that supplies every DPS source; dblstr, deadly, seeker, SA, KTA, etc...then worry about auxiliary defenses.

[Ganak]

This is a draft of my Feywild gear set.

I find that Assassinate functions in shadowdancer work very well for me in end game content, so the new VOD bracers work well, setting up having the Mantle set bonus. I was surprised at slotting the boots which only really doing for the dodge bonus. Tried to make a 7 piece Spring set work, but too many gaps and cannot get away from the family set bonuses. With this setup, the most obvious hole to me is insightful PRR, but overall I achieve most of what I look for as outlined at the bottom. I like having true seeing on an item, but just have to whip scrolls to compensate. Overall I am satisfied with this setup.



ARMOR* - Wildcard - Fort 214, PRR 54, HAMP 85, FALSE LIFE 81 - FAMILY
GOGGLE - Collective Sight - CON 21, INS CON 10, QUA RESIST 4, DECEP 18
HELM - Crown of Butterflies - HAMP 15, MELEE POWER 10, MRR 54, Winged Allure - SPRING
NECKLACE* - Family's Blessing - QUA ASSASS 2, INS FORT BYPASS 16, Deadly 17, DS 24 - FAMILY
TRINKET - Heart of Suulomades - QUA CON 5, RESIST 18, Fire absorb 31, Evil Absorb 31 - MANTLE
CLOAK - Cloak of Balance - FOM, INS SEEKER 10, PARRY 10, QUA DEX 5
BELT - Black Dragonscale - FORT BYPASS 33, Relentless Fury, ACID RESIST 81 - SPRING
RING - Celestial Ruby - STUN 23, ACCURACY 33, DEX 21, GHOSTLY
GLOVES* - Hammerfist - INS DOUBLESTRIKE 11, CCI, INS DEADLY 8, SEEKER 21 - FAMILY
BOOTS - Wind Riders - FOM, DODGE 21, Whirlwind Ward, SPEED 30 - AUTUMN
RING2 - Rockslide Ring - INS DEX 10, INS COMBAT MASTERY 9, Earthen guard - SPRING
BRACERS - Devilscale Bracers - IMP DEC, ASSASS 10, INS ASS 4, DECEP 18 - MANTLE


SET BONUS

FAMILY - +15% Artifact Doublestrike, +25 Artifact Melee Power, +15% Artifact damage vs Helpless, +10% Artifact Fortification Bypass

Eminence of Spring:
2 Pieces Equipped: +10% Artifact bonus to Missle Deflection
3 Pieces Equipped: +15% Artifact bonus to Helpless

MANTLE - +3 SA Die, +10% Artifact Doublestrike , +20 Artifact PRR/MRR


DEX - Celestial Ruby
INS DEX - Rockslide Ring
QUA DEX - Cloak of Balance

CON - Collective Sight
INS CON - Collective Sight
QUA CON - Heart of Suulomades

FORT - Wildcard
FALSE LIFE - Wildcard
HAMP - Wildcard
HAMP EQUIP - Crown of Butterflies

PRR - Wildcard
INS PRR -
QUA PRR -
ART PRR - MANTLE

MRR - Crown of Butterflies
INS MRR -
QUA MRR -
ART MRR - MANTLE

FORT BYPASS - Black Dragonscale
INS FORT BYPASS - Family's Blessing
ART FORT BYPASS - FAMILY

DEADLY - Family's Blessing
INS DEADLY - Hammerfist
QUA DEADLY -

DOUBLESTRIKE - Family's Blessing
INS DOUBLESTRIKE - Hammerfist
QUA DOUBLESTRIKE -
ART DOUBLESTRIKE - FAMILY

SEEKER - Hammerfist
INS SEEKER - Cloak of Balance
QUA SEEKER -

STUNNING - Celestial Ruby
INS STUNNING - Rockslide Ring
ART STUNNING -

RESIST - Heart of Suulomades
INS RESIST - Cloak of Balance
QUA RESIST - Collective Sight

GHOSTLY - Celestial Ruby
RELENTLESS FURY - Black Dragonscale
CCI - Hammerfist

ACCURACY - Celestial Ruby
INS ACCURACY -
QUA ACCURACY -

DECEPTION - Devilscale Bracers
INS DECEPTION -
IMP DECEPTION - Devilscale Bracers

TRUE SEEING -
PROTECTION -
DODGE - Wind Riders

ASSASS - Devilscale Bracers
INS ASSASS - Devilscale Bracers
QUA ASSASS - Family's Blessing

[Taxidiotis]

Not using Thorn Boots? Shame Shame!
And no Q-Deadly to boot?
RIP INT for KTA :(
However, this would be an awesome raid gearout for VoD and PN! Nice!

I am contemplating turning SD DEX Tempest into an SD INT Tempest. Any thoughts on that?
So far I can only efficiently get INT to 90; which is the same damage output of having 100 DEX with 70 INT for KTA(current). Could push to 94 INT with the +4 INT augment set bonus, but what a PITA.
The primary focusing being able to use any weapon, not just scimmies. (I believe the raid scimmy will be pretty inferior to the khopesh...if they ever release raid...:()

[Carpone]

Gearing for Spring bonuses doesn't net you anything important. You already get 15% helpless from the Sharn set. Missile Deflection is pointless when you already have 2-second deflect arrows.

I also wouldn't run in SD for questing. LD is more optimal. And I wouldn't gear for Assassinate unless I was running an Assassin. Wildwood Wrists are a higher DPS choice thanks to the +13 hit/+20 damage. Aim for slotting the Cruel Cut 3-pc augment set for the 3 SA dice.

Ditching the Suulo bracers, I'd use Family Recruit Sigil for the fort bypass, Cloak of Summer + Titania's Glory + Belt of the Ram for 3pc summer. You'll have a serviceable Trip DC with all that STR.

Lionheart Ring is too good not to use on a melee.

The top Tempest build is going to be dagger based, using Pain+Suffering at level cap, and going 24 AP into VKF rather than DWS. If you've got the AP, definitely go into DWS deep enough for the 3 SA dice and core 3.

INT-based Tempest is totally doable. The only thing you lose out on is Elaborate Parry. Picking up Insightful Reflexes is easy with all of the free Ranger feats. It also makes the Rockslide Ring redundant, which is good because it's a really poor choice. I'd also swap the Celestial Ruby ring for a Ring of Prowess. You'll be taking the Scion of the Ethereal Plane legendary feat.

[FengXian]

Hey,

nice build, I wanna ask for advice: which changes would you make for a non-completionist that doesn't have to be self-sufficient (i.e. I assume could skip quicken/maximize then)?

It would be for a new player I'll be duoing with, I'll be playing a b(e)acon of hope FvS for buffs/heals so that the ranger player can focus entirely on DPS. Would be mainly for heroics E/R1 as of now.

Thanks!

[Ganak]

which changes would you make for a non-completionist that doesn't have to be self-sufficient (i.e. I assume could skip quicken/maximize then)?

Thanks for asking.

Consider Mobility and Spring Attack, as well as Weapon Focus.