Unbreakable

[binnsr]

I started a pure monk when they came out, but he stalled out at lvl8. I found that I needed something more than the monk class was giving me to retain my interest level in the build.. Eladrins comments in Illuminati's Fuji thread sparked the build here.

With that, I give you: Unbreakable.. Spring Attack, gTWF, Improved Evasion, full trap abilities, 58 Beholder AC (61 with the Chattering Ring) - 79 potential, 32 intimidate (47 with intimidate ring), 39 UMD, 300 hp, 19/30/19 Beholder saves and a Very Potent Offense via gTWF, Adept of Wind, Tempest and Rogue Haste Boost I

Update 1/2/09 - PreMod 9 update. Brizavin has really outdone even my expectations of her. She's fast .. very fast! both at running and attacking. At stat-damaging and vorpalling, she's nearly unparalleled and I'm in the process of building out a pair of Lightning II kamas for her (holy/acid-burst/(+4AC and 30% healing amp)) that should be done in the next couple of weeks to augment her DPS for Raid Bosses. I'll include the +4AC in the below updates as that one will be done the next time I go into the shroud with her.

----------------------------------------
Drow Male
Monk 9 / Ranger 6 / Rogue 1

Stats:

	Base	Points	Base	Tome	Lvl	Enh	Buff	Stance	Final	mod
STR	8	6	14		0	0	6	0	22**	6
DEX	10	10	18	1	3	4	6	2	34	12
CON	6	5	11	1	0	0	6	-2	16	3
INT	10	3	13	1	0	0	6*	n/a	20	5
WIS	8	4	12	1	1	2	6	0	22	6
CHA	10		10		0	0	6	n/a	16	3

*Situational Item
**Rams Might

Feats and Classes:
1 Rogue 1 - Dodge
2 Monk 1 - Mobility
3 Monk 2 - Weapon Finesse / Combat Expertise
4 Ranger 1 - Favored Enemy: Undead
5 Ranger 2
6 Monk 3 - Spring Attack / Path of Harmonious Balance
7 Ranger 3
8 Ranger 4
9 Monk 4 - Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
10 Ranger 5 - Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
11 Ranger 6
12 Monk 6 - Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons / Toughness
13 Ranger 6
14 Monk 7
15 Monk 8- Greater Two Weapon Fighting
16 Monk 9
17 Monk 10
18 Monk 11 - Power Attack
19 Monk 12
20 Monk 13

Enhancements:
Elven Dexterity II
Elven Perception II
Adept of Rain
Adept of Wind
Disciple of Breezes
Disciple of Puddles
Fists of Light
Monk Improved Recovery II
Monk Spot I
Monk Wisdom II
Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Ranger Dexterity II
Ranger Favored Damage II
Ranger Favored Defense I
Ranger Item Defense I
Ranger Search II
Ranger Skill Boost II
Ranger Sprint Boost I
Ranger Tempest I
Rogue Disable Device I
Rogue Haste Boost I
Rogue Open Lock I
Rogue Search I
Rogue Sneak Attack Training I
Racial Toughness II

Saves:

Saves:			Fort	Rflx	Will
			20	31	20
Monk	9		6	6	6
Ranger	6		5	5	2
Rogue	1		0	2	0
Stat Bonus		4	12	6
Head of Good Fortune	2	2	2
Resist Item	+3	3	3	3
Greater Heroism		4	4	4

* Resist +3 comes from the Icy Raiments ..

Hit Points:

			Bare	Buffed	Max
Hit Points		300	300	398
Heroic Durability	20	20	20
Argonessen Favor	10	10	10
Constitution Bonus	48	48	48
Monk	9		72	72	72
Ranger 6		48	48	48
Rogue 1			6	6	6
Toughness x1		18	18	18
Racial Toughness	20	20	20
Aid		OFF			22
Virtue		OFF			20
Insp Great.	OFF			20
G Heroism	OFF			16
False Life (Sp)	OFF			20
False Life (It)	Grtr	30	30	30
Shroud Item	I+III	30	30	30
Minos Legens	ON	18	18	18

Armor Class:

			Stndg	Sbuff	Max
AC			58	66	79
Base			10	10	10
Armor			0	0	0
Shield Spell		0	4	4
Dex Bonus		12	12	12
Dodge Feat		1	1	1
Combat Expertise	5	5	5
Barkskin Potion			3	5
Recitation	OFF			2
Inspire Heroism	OFF			4
Protection +4	4	4	4
Paladin Aura				5
Haste	ON			1	1
Armor Bracers	7	7	7	7
Icy Raiment	ON	4	4	4
Tempest I		2	2	2
Alchemical Bonus	1	1	1
Insight Bonus (+4)	4	4	4
Monk Wisdom 		6	6	6
Monk AC Bonus		2	2	2

Attack / Damage:

								+Dmg 
Attack			28	28	33	33	33	13
BAB*			16	16	21	21	21	
Dex Bonus		12	12	12	12	12	6
+5 Weapon 		5	5	5	5	5	5
Combat Expertise	-5	-5	-5	-5	-5	n/a
Two Weapon Fighting	-2	-2	-2	-2	-2	n/a
TumbleWeed		2	2	2	2	2	n/a

* Using Kamas, BAB is full 1/1 - when not centered, BAB is 3/4.

Skills:

Skills			DD	OL	Srch	Spot	UMD	Intmd	Bal	Jump	Tmbl	Conc
			51	46	46	38	39	32	25	20	25	27
Ranks			14	4	13	5	19	18	4	4	4	10
Stat Bonus		5	12	5	6	3	3	12	6	12	3
Racial Bonus				2	2		0	0			
Feat(s) SF						3					
Enhancements		1	1	4	3	n/a	0	0	0	0	0
Item			15	13	13	13	3					
Thieves Tools	+5	7	7								
Ranger SB II* 	ON	3	3	3		3					
Greater Heroism	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Head of Good Fortune	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Way of the Tortoise						0				2
Shroud Item						2	2		1		3

* Ranger Skill Boost II can only be guaranteed for skills you can plan on using - Intimidate, Spot, etc. do not fit this requirement.

Potential Equipment:

Armor	Icy Raiment
Shield	n/a
Goggles	existential-stalemate (N/P/P - 10hp/1str skills + 50sp/2cha skills+ 20hp/3con skills)
Helmet	Minos Legens
Neck	Con +6
Trinket	Head of Good Fortune
Cloak	Charisma / Resist +4
Belt	Greater False Life
Gloves	Str +6 / 7Fingered Gloves
Boots	Striders / FireStorm Greaves
Ring1	Dex +6
Ring2	Chattering Ring / Skills (DD / Search / OL)
Bracers	Armor +7

Pros:
- Awesome AC
- Great Saves
- Improved Evasion!
- Incredible Attack Speeds - Haste + Tempest I + Adept of Wind + Rogue Haste Boost I combined with gTWF will be incredible..
- Decent Intimidate - not in the 50s, but not bad.. Note1: I switched SF: Intimidate to SF: UMD and stopped wearing an intimidate hat in favor of an easier equipment set and the hit points from Minos Legens. The current +32 is usually enough to get most trash mobs that I need to get and even with an item, I wouldn't have enough to reliably intimidate the end-game raid bosses.
- Built-In Disease Immunity - Frees up a slot
- Poison Immunity at Lvl18
- doesn't really have a weak zone for leveling even though the builds potential really comes together after Lvl13..

Cons:
- Gear Intensive - have fun farming 3 Items from the Titan and the Icy Vestments..
- Hit Points are a bit low, but at least they're around 300 and given the positives on this build, this shouldn't be much of an issue ..
- Attack and Damage are low - but then, with a good AC, good saves and Improved Evasion, it'll just take a bit of time to whittle them down.
- Limited to Kamas for weapon choices - I recommend finding a pair of weakening kamas of enfeebling, or pair a cursespewing kama of shattermantle with a weakening kama of enfeebling
- Low Concentration .. just not enough skill points to keep the rogue skills up and maintain a great concentration.
- Real DPS comes from shroud kamas .. this is an unfortunate fact of life for monks in most cases. I'm currently in the process of building a pair of Lightning II kamas.

[feynman]

Beautiful build, though I have a few suggestions:

Drop combat expertise for power attack, and skill focus for cleave. Take the point out of int and put it in con (either save you 2 +1 tomes, or ready you for 2 +2's ), and if you were really only taking the int for CE, drop it down to 10 and boost wis.

The power attack is critical; with that many monk levels, you won't want to give up your centered bonus by using non-monk weapons, but kamas have low damage and the worst critical profile. This would even let you drop str a little more, if you wanted, to boost wis instead of dropping int down to 10.

Don't get me wrong, it looks great; I'm just attached to a little more DPS

[binnsr]

Beautiful build, though I have a few suggestions:

Drop combat expertise for power attack, and skill focus for cleave. Take the point out of int and put it in con (either save you 2 +1 tomes, or ready you for 2 +2's ), and if you were really only taking the int for CE, drop it down to 10 and boost wis.

The power attack is critical; with that many monk levels, you won't want to give up your centered bonus by using non-monk weapons, but kamas have low damage and the worst critical profile. This would even let you drop str a little more, if you wanted, to boost wis instead of dropping int down to 10.

Don't get me wrong, it looks great; I'm just attached to a little more DPS

Those are interesting suggestions .. and potentially something to do after picking up some of the high-end AC gear so you wouldn't notice the loss of the 5 AC from CE, but the point of being Unbreakable is to collect the aggro, not get hit, not fail saves - and not take much damage when you do roll a 1 - and not have to turtle up to do it.
As an added bonus, this build can hit all the known trap benchmarks (with the exception of the Cabal trap)..

I might consider dropping str a point (and throwing a str tome at it) and either bump AC or HP by one via Wis / Con - and start looking for a +2 in one of those..


either way, I've got a bit of time to think about things I'm on the road for another week and when I get back, I'll still have to get drow on my second account since I'm all out of slots on my main account

edit: wouldn't want to drop Int any lower.. otherwise, the rogue abilities start to suffer.

[feynman]

wouldn't want to drop Int any lower.. otherwise, the rogue abilities start to suffer.

Understandable; that's why I put the option to drop STR in there. I guess I just dislike relying on CE for my AC. My tank uses it, but you can't use CE and PA at the same time, so I just don't use PA. Now, I still out-DPS any centered monk in existence, but I could have done better.

[binnsr]

I've got waaay too many skill points allocated here .. I'm going to have to go back and look at whats going to suffer... probably some of the DD/OL/Spot will suffer.. which means he'll be able to hit end-game stuff on normal, but probably not on elite..

I'll update it when I can .. I'm on the road this week so web time is precious

[feynman]

I've got waaay too many skill points allocated here .. I'm going to have to go back and look at whats going to suffer... probably some of the DD/OL/Spot will suffer.. which means he'll be able to hit end-game stuff on normal, but probably not on elite..

I'll update it when I can .. I'm on the road this week so web time is precious

Lol, ditch the spot; yea, it's handy to see stuff sneaking up on you, but that's minor at low level, and at high level, you get the cleric to give you TS

[Kaboth]

Lol, ditch the spot; yea, it's handy to see stuff sneaking up on you, but that's minor at low level, and at high level, you get the cleric to give you TS

Don't forget spot is used for locating traps via the warning too, and TS wont do that. Not neccessary if someone knows where all the trap boxes or spawn points are, but for unfamilar territory on new modules and quests, spot is quite neccessary. grated search is more important but you will still want a good spot check. However, if you dont plan on being a lead rogue on anything, then yea I guess ditch spot.

I wouldnt take drow as a race though, I am a human junkie, that free feat and 1 extra skill point per level comes in handy, by now in the game thats a free extra 16 skill points, not to mention the human attribute bonuses from enhancers and healers friend etc... but like i said i am partial to humans though.

[binnsr]

Don't forget spot is used for locating traps via the warning too, and TS wont do that. Not neccessary if someone knows where all the trap boxes or spawn points are, but for unfamilar territory on new modules and quests, spot is quite neccessary. grated search is more important but you will still want a good spot check. However, if you dont plan on being a lead rogue on anything, then yea I guess ditch spot.

I wouldnt take drow as a race though, I am a human junkie, that free feat and 1 extra skill point per level comes in handy, by now in the game thats a free extra 16 skill points, not to mention the human attribute bonuses from enhancers and healers friend etc... but like i said i am partial to humans though.

My second account has drow unlocked but not 1750 builds. I'd be hesitant to build this as a 28-point human because of the stat spreads.. You would also lose the Dexterity, search and spot enhancements by not being drow.

I built this character Sunday evening and at level 6, she really doesn't have any weak points that I've noticed. Hit Points are a little low, but with an AC in the 40's, not much is hitting her either. (aside: I don't typically level my characters nearly this quickly! but she's so much fun to play that they just flew by!)

I moved some of the class levels and feats around as I was leveling her yesterday and will update the OP with that breakdown as well..
In a Nutshell:
- I switched my Lvl3 and Lvl4 classes around, starting off Rogue/Monk/Monk/Ranger/Ranger to get evasion quicker.
- Switched the Lvl2 and Lvl3 feats around because starting with 2 BAB0 classes means you can't take Weapon Finesse for your Monk1 feat at Lvl2 (ended up being extra incentive to get to 3 quicker )
- Will be taking the rest of the Ranger levels in pairs to get Tempest and iTWF quicker (at lvl11 vs the previous lvl13)

Things that I've noted about the build thus far:
- Trap skills are solid - did STK Hard and TR elite at lvl4 and was able to get all of the traps with the exception of TR pt7. Similarly, Delaras at lvl5 worked pretty well also.
- I haven't been putting points into Concentration (only at 2 right now), so the low concentration initially was a concern for me, but now that I've picked up TWF and Rogue Haste Boost I, I often have more Ki than I can get rid of. Its enough extra that I'm considering squeezing in Fire stance just to have something else to burn Ki with I need to relook my skill point allocations in light of that because my Search and Disable numbers are going to be somewhat higher now..
- As previously noted, hitpoints are a bit low (82 at lvl6 with Wind I stance). This part will actually take a while to pick up -- i.e. Minos Legens at Lvl11, Argo favor at ~12, Greater False Life (lvl9 earliest), Toughness Feat at Monk6 (level 13) and a Shroud I+II hp item at lvl14..

[binnsr]

Was looking at equipment last night and realized that I don't want to have the protection and charisma items sharing a slot (the cloak .. that would be somewhat sub-optimal for combining intimidating with survival..

In order to rectify that potential issue, I took a hard look at the equipment she's going to be using and came up with a couple of alternatives.. unfortunately, in order to have both Heavy Fort and Greater False Life, it has to be an Electric Haze from the Abbot PreRaid.. so add one more thing to farm

Option 1

Armor	any robe
Shield	n/a
Goggles	existential-stalemate (N/P/P - 10hp/1str skills + 50sp/2cha skills+ 20hp/3con skills)
Helmet	Cha +6
Neck	Con +6
Trinket	Head of Good Fortune
Cloak	Protection +5 / Reaver Napkin for traps
Belt	Electric Haze (GFL/Hvy Fort)
Gloves	Str +6 / 7Fingered Gloves
Boots	Dex +6
Ring1	Chattering Ring
Ring2	Skills (Intimidate / DD / Search / OL)
Bracers	Armor +7/8 bracers

Option 2

Armor	any robe
Shield	n/a
Goggles	existential-stalemate (N/P/P - 10hp/1str skills + 50sp/2cha skills+ 20hp/3con skills)
Helmet	Intimidate +15
Neck	Con +6
Trinket	Head of Good Fortune
Cloak	Protection +5 / Reaver Napkin for traps
Belt	Electric Haze (GFL/Hvy Fort)
Gloves	Str +6 / 7-Fingered Gloves
Boots	Dex +6
Ring1	Cha +6
Ring2	Chattering Ring / Skills (DD / Search / OL)
Bracers	Armor +7/8 bracers

Frankly, I think that option 2 is the better since Intimidate Rings seem to be VERY hard to come by..

The only thing that changes with the build is the final hitpoints go down by 18 to reflect the loss of the Minos Legens.

[Notorious]

This is a sweet build. Very nice.

[rimble]

I don't see how you got Improved Evasion...? Evasion + Evasion doesn't result in Improved Evasion. You'll get it next level tho with Monk taken at 17.

[binnsr]

It was a leftover fragment from going 9/6/1 instead of 8/6/2 .. I've been looking at skill point allocations and think that I can still make the 9/6/1 split work, so Improved Evasion would be back in.

If I get some time this afternoon, I'll go back through the OP and update it to the 9/6/1 split


edit: found some time in between meetings

[binnsr]

Just a quick update on this young ladies progress ..

Brizavin slid into level 13 (6rgr/6mnk/1rog) by the skin of her teeth the other day (by sneaking through the last 2 explorers she needed in GH before I went to bed!) , is finally Reaver ready with 1 run under her belt and has done 3 of the 5 shroud flagging quests.

Her DPS is really coming together. Having finally picked up Tempest and the Wind II stance, she can really be a deadly little blender. She doesn't do well against high-DR mobs since I've not had any luck coming up with transmuting Kama's yet (although I did manage to find a GCB kama for the shroud), but with a +5 flaming kama of pure good and a +5 frost kama, she does ok for herself otherwise. For times when raw DPS isn't needed, she's got a pair of vorpals (and let me tell you, with her attack speeds, 20's come up more often than you'd think ), a pair of wounders and a pair of enfeeblers.

The flip side of that is that her AC is taking its time coming together -- right now it's 50 with CE on and a barkskin potion .
Making the jump to +6 stat items, putting on her +7 armor bracers at lvl15 and starting the quest for the Chattering Ring and Icy Raiments will make up the majority of the rest of her standing AC from this point, but for now, she's a fairly soft target and as a result, dies a lot more often than I'm comfortable with.

This percieved (or real?) squishyness has kept me from running her in her intended role in a lot of quests - that of an intimitank. If its not needed, I haven't been using her intimidate that much, although it is sticking pretty well when I do use it. (+34 base at lvl13 with a +11 item)

Late last week, I had an equipment epiphany and realized that making Mineral II goggles as soon as she's shroud ready (and can collect the stupid shards of course) frees up a couple of important item slots.

Her current equipment plan for lvl15 is:

Armor	robe
Shield	n/a
Goggles	mineral ii* (protection +5 / Heavy Fort)
Helmet	intimidate / veneer / +6 int
Necklace	Wis +6 (existential stalemate** after 20 shrouds)
Trinket	dusk heart
Cloak	cha +6
Belt	Con +6
Gloves	Str +6 / 7Fingered Gloves
Boots	Striding / Innocent
Ring1	Dex +6 / TumbleWeed
Ring2	Chattering Ring / Skills (DD / Search / OL)
Bracers	Armor +7

* - 10hp (e) / Improved Regen (p) / 20hp (e+p)
** - Blind/Disease Immune (n) / +50sp (p) / +100sp (a) - probably not bothering with a dual shard at tier iii for this.. just want the cha skill bonuses

As far as her trap skills go, she's done very well and has been able to disable everything she's come across - even doing Rainbow at lvl13 successfully.


As an aside, and because reading the TWF/unarmed changes made me think to update this .. I'm going to hold off on crafting green steel kamas for now as well, primarily because I'll be out of ingredients after the Mineral II goggles but also because if Tempest and Unarmed TWF stack in the post-Mod8 world, I might switch back to being a primarily handwrap using monk because I do like the unarmed animations

The last real drawback that I've noted while leveling her up is that when the going gets tough, she can't rely on buttoning up like my heavy intimitanks do. Not being able to use a shield really hurts in some situations and will keep me from running her as The Intimidator in Hound / VoD runs.

[Anthios888]

By the way, if you're doing mineral and then existential stalemate (for the wisdom and cha skills), you could break it down like this:

Mineral II:
tier 1 (pos): +1 cha skills
tier 2 (earth): 15 hp
tier 3 (earth): 20 hp
Protection +5, heavy fort, stoneskin, etc.

Existential stalemate (20th shroud):
tier 1 (neg): +10 hp
tier 2 (pos): +2 cha skills, +6 wis
tier 3 (pos): +3 cha skills

That lets you get the full +6 cha that you would not be able to get from each item on its own (assuming you're still into the intimitank thing at 20 shrouds)

[binnsr]

By the way, if you're doing mineral and then existential stalemate (for the wisdom and cha skills), you could break it down like this:

Mineral II:
tier 1 (pos): +1 cha skills
tier 2 (earth): 15 hp
tier 3 (earth): 20 hp
Protection +5, heavy fort, stoneskin, etc.

Existential stalemate (20th shroud):
tier 1 (neg): +10 hp
tier 2 (pos): +2 cha skills, +6 wis
tier 3 (pos): +3 cha skills

That lets you get the full +6 cha that you would not be able to get from each item on its own (assuming you're still into the intimitank thing at 20 shrouds)

That's a good idea .. I had played around with combining the hp on the two items, but never updated it in my planner.

[binnsr]

Warning: Thread Necro!

This is Brizavin's PreMod 9 update.

Briz has really outdone even my expectations of her. She's fast .. very fast! both at running and attacking. Currently, stat-damage and vorpals are her primary damage means. Weakening of Enfeebling have really made her more dependable - especially for soloing. I can enfeeble something and then hit it with my weakest weapon to fill back up on hit points if needed.
She is really a lot of fun to run and is my first melee who has been able to clear out all 3 sections of the desert without any worries. (the original Torgosh (my mod3 evasion-in-heavy-armor paladin) held his own, but it had the potential to get messy quickly) She can also solo the vale pretty easily, alternating between banishing handwraps and w/e kamas for the most part.

I'm in the process of building out a pair of Lightning II kamas for her (holy/acid-burst/(+4AC and 30% healing amp)) that should be done in the next couple of weeks to give her some serious Raid boss viability - I've included the +4AC in the above update as that one will be done the next time I go into the shroud with her.

With mod 9, her AC and/or attack speed might be impacted somewhat, depending on how Tempest I is adjusted, but even without them, she's a lightning-fast opponent with great AC so at the moment, I'm not too worried about how things will work out.

The reason that I'm just now crafting kamas for her is that my shroud-running slacked off for several weeks - have a host of new project characters - and she took a back burner for a while too. Getting the Icy Raiments from the subterrane was the real kick to get her going again.

[wonderwyrm]

update this for mod9?

was lookingt for a drow build and this one seems cool

[binnsr]

Check this thread -- DDO Forums don't support table tags, so I post most of my builds on the House Tharashk forums these days.

My new job really doesn't leave much time for forum-cruising so I haven't gotten around to updating this one either. Will try to as time permits over the next few days..

Basically, you'll take lvl17-19 as monk (12 total) and lvl20 as Rogue to catch up a few skills (rogue skills will be a bit higher than the link indicates as I forgot to update those based on my decision to take the 2d rogue level at 20 rather than monk13).

[wonderwyrm]

when does this build start to get "good"?

[binnsr]

when does this build start to get "good"?

depends on your definition of 'good' For me, its never a poorly performing build by any means. The initial intent to be an intimidator has fallen by the wayside as without the DR of armor or high hit points, that's not as viable. I've instead been putting more points into concentration to build the static ki pool.

Also, as previously stated, this is a pretty gear intensive build - Icy Raiment, +8 armor bracers, chattering ring, dual greensteel kamas .. lots of farming to be done for gear. I currently have everything but the chattering ring in her gear setup and honestly don't really miss it.

Picking up Tempest at ranger 6 (lvl13) also helps out quite a bit with the DPS. You could, conceivably front-load the 6 ranger levels to get that earlier, but you'd have to balance rogue skills a bit tighter as ranger gets a few more skill points per level than monks.