Inquisitive 8 Ranger 4 Arti 6 Rogue 2X Heroic Racial TR Build feedback requested

[Swimms]

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert builder so please be gentle, the majority of the inspiration for this build came from this thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/504706-Inquisitive-class-race-synergy-brainstorming

primarily with the input of Xyga and others on the thread. The thoughts build have been pieced together from better planners than myself and I followed a few simple rules to try and make it my own. I did not do an exhaustive search for a similar build so for all I know this is not unique. My ideas for the build were simplistic and largely taken from Slarden's 12 Arti/6 fighter/2 monk reaper build in that I am looking to build primarily for heroic levels and to accelerate feats for faster killing in low reaper heroics. My priorities were to get Improved Precise Shot ASAP (by level 12), allow for full trapping at level 1, maximize "free" feats at key level breakpoints while leveraging the power of the Inquisitive tree. Secondary goals were to make the build work with virtually any class and race. I am fairly certain that this goal can be accomplished since my current build is a dwarf (int based) running 9 barbarian, 4 Arti, 1 Rogue and I have exactly zero points in any of the class trees. All my points are in Race, Harper and Inquisitive, with a Ratcatcher equipped I am mowing through low reaper content. This is the first time I have tried exporting from Maetrim's planner so not sure how it will look. I realize my past lives do not make this a "starter" or "new player build" but I would imagine that given the power of the inquisitive tree that it could still be run successfully with newer characters.


Character name:
Classes: 10 Epic, 8 Ranger, 8 Rogue, 4 Artificer
Race: Halfling· · · · · · ·Alignment: Neutral

· · ·Start Tome Final
Str:· · ·9· · 8 · ·22 · · ·HP:· · · · 751 · · ·AC:· · 61
Dex:· · 14· · 8 · ·28 · · ·PRR: · · · ·32
Con:· · 17· · 8 · ·30 · · ·MRR: · · · ·14 · · ·+Healing Amp:· · 30
Int:· · 18· · 8 · ·43 · · ·Dodge: · 13/25 · · ·-Healing Amp:· · ·0
Wis:· · ·8· · 8 · ·20 · · ·Fort:· · · 15% · · ·Repair Amp:· · · ·0
Cha:· · ·8· · 8 · ·21 · · ·SR:· · · · · 0 · · ·BAB: · · · · · · 22
DR:
Immunities:

Heroic Past Lives
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Past Life: Artificer(3)
Past Life: Barbarian(3)
Past Life: Bard(2)
Past Life: Cleric(3)
Past Life: Druid
Past Life: Favored Soul(3)
Past Life: Fighter
Past Life: Monk(3)
Past Life: Paladin(3)
Past Life: Ranger(3)
Past Life: Rogue(3)
Past Life: Sorcerer(3)
Past Life: Warlock
Past Life: Wizard(3)

Racial Past Lives
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Past Life: Drow(3)
Past Life: Dwarf(3)
Past Life: Gnome(3)
Past Life: Half-Elf(3)
Past Life: Half-Orc(3)

Iconic Past Lives
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Past Life: Aasimar Scourge(3)
Past Life: Bladeforged(3)
Past Life: Deep Gnome(3)
Past Life: Morninglord(3)
Past Life: Purple Dragon Knight(3)
Past Life: Shadar-Kai(3)

Epic Past Lives
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Past Life: Arcane Sphere: Enchant Weapon(3)
Past Life: Arcane Sphere: Energy Criticals(3)
Past Life: Divine Sphere: Block Energy
Past Life: Divine Sphere: Brace(3)
Past Life: Divine Sphere: Power Over Life and Death(3)
Past Life: Martial Sphere: Doublestrike(3)
Past Life: Martial Sphere: Fortification(2)
Past Life: Martial Sphere: Skill Mastery(3)
Past Life: Primal Sphere: Colors of the Queen(3)
Past Life: Primal Sphere: Doubleshot(3)
Past Life: Primal Sphere: Fast Healing(3)


Special Feats
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Falconry Tree
Harper Agent Tree
Inherent Fate Point(3)
Inherent Magical Resistance(2)
Inherent Melee Power(2)
Inherent Physical Resistance(2)
Inherent Racial Action Point(2)
Inherent Ranged Power(2)
Inherent Spell Power(2)
Inherent Universal Action Point
Inquisitive Tree


Class and Feat Selection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
1 · · Artificer(1)· · ·Standard: Point Blank Shot
2 · · Artificer(2)· · ·
3 · · Ranger(1) · · · ·Standard: Completionist
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Favored Enemy: Favored enemy: Undead
4 · · Ranger(2) · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
5 · · Ranger(3) · · · ·
6 · · Ranger(4) · · · ·Standard: Precision
7 · · Ranger(5) · · · ·Favored Enemy: Favored enemy: Evil Outsider
8 · · Ranger(6) · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
9 · · Ranger(7) · · · ·Standard: Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
10· · Ranger(8) · · · ·
11· · Artificer(3)· · ·
12· · Artificer(4)· · ·Standard: Insightful Reflexes
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Bonus: Improved Precise Shot
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
13· · Rogue(1)· · · · ·
14· · Rogue(2)· · · · ·
15· · Rogue(3)· · · · ·Standard: Dodge
16· · Rogue(4)· · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
17· · Rogue(5)· · · · ·
18· · Rogue(6)· · · · ·Standard: Mobility? Toughness? Something Else?
19· · Rogue(7)· · · · ·
20· · Rogue(8)· · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up


Granted Feats
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slippery Mind
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Automatic Feats
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
· 1 · Artificer(1)· · ·Arcane Lore
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Sunder
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Trapfinding
· 2 · Artificer(2)· · ·Arcane Lore
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Craft Mastery
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Knowledge: Potions
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Rune Arm Use
· 3 · Ranger(1) · · · ·Bow Strength
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Heavy Armor Proficiency
· 4 · Ranger(2) · · · ·Rapid Shot
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Two Weapon Fighting
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
· 5 · Ranger(3) · · · ·Diehard
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
· 6 · Ranger(4) · · · ·Precise Shot
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
· 7 · Ranger(5) · · · ·Improved Heroic Durability
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
· 8 · Ranger(6) · · · ·Improved Two Weapon Fighting
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Manyshot
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
· 9 · Ranger(7) · · · ·Improved Wild Empathy
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Wilderness Lore
10 · Ranger(8) · · · ·Wilderness Lore
11 · Artificer(3)· · ·Arcane Lore
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Knowledge: Wands
12 · Artificer(4)· · ·Arcane Lore
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Craft Mastery
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Artificer Knowledge: Scrolls
13 · Rogue(1)· · · · ·Sneak Attack
14 · Rogue(2)· · · · ·Evasion
15 · Rogue(3)· · · · ·Sneak Attack
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Trap Sense
16 · Rogue(4)· · · · ·Uncanny Dodge
17 · Rogue(5)· · · · ·Improved Heroic Durability
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Sneak Attack
18 · Rogue(6)· · · · ·Uncanny Dodge
19 · Rogue(7)· · · · ·Sneak Attack
20 · Rogue(8)· · · · ·Improved Uncanny Dodge
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Uncanny Dodge


Enhancements: 80 APs, Racial 7, Universal 1
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Halfling - Points spent: 7
1 Core ·(1) Luck I
2 Core ·(2) Dexterity I
3 Core ·(1) Luck II
4 Core ·(2) Dexterity II
5 Core ·(1) Luck III
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inquisitive - Points spent: 41
1 Core ·(1) Inquisitive
2 Tier1 (2) Dual Shooter
3 Tier1 (2) Law on your side
4 Core ·(1) Hit the Streets
5 Tier2 (2) Crossbow Adept
6 Tier2 (2) Improved Law
7 Core ·(1) Mind Like Iron
8 Tier2 (1) Wand and Scroll Mastery
9 Tier2 (1) Wand and Scroll Mastery
10 Tier2 (1) Wand and Scroll Mastery
11 Tier3 (2) Ability Score I: Intelligence
12 Tier3 (2) Crossbow Adept II
13 Tier3 (2) First Things First: Ask Questions First
14 Tier4 (1) What Later?: Shoot Later
15 Tier4 (2) Crossbow Adept III
16 Tier4 (2) Greater Law
17 Tier2 (2) Observation
18 Tier3 (1) Improved Observation
19 Tier4 (1) Inquisition Style: Martial Inquisition
20 Tier4 (2) Ability Score II: Intelligence
21 Tier5 (1) Inquisitor's Path: Vigilante
22 Tier5 (1) Diplomatic Immunity
23 Tier5 (2) No Holds Barred
24 Tier5 (2) Arresting Assault
25 Core ·(1) True Seeing
26 Core ·(1) Undaunted
27 Tier1 (1) Inquisitive Skills
28 Core ·(1) Master Inquisitive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harper Agent - Points spent: 6
1 Core ·(1) Agent of Good I
2 Tier1 (2) Strategic Combat I
3 Tier1 (2) Harper Enchantment
4 Tier2 (1) Know the Angles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deepwood Stalker - Points spent: 11
1 Core ·(1) Far Shot
2 Tier1 (1) Stealthy
3 Tier1 (1) Stealthy
4 Tier1 (1) Stealthy
5 Tier1 (1) Favored Defense
6 Core ·(1) Sneak Attack
7 Tier2 (2) Survivalist I
8 Tier2 (1) Action Boost: Melee/Ranged Power Boost
9 Tier2 (1) Action Boost: Melee/Ranged Power Boost
10 Core ·(1) Called Shot: Sniper Shot
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Mechanic - Points spent: 23
1 Core ·(1) Arbalester
2 Tier1 (2) Sharpshooter I
3 Tier1 (1) Mechanics
4 Tier1 (1) Mechanics
5 Core ·(1) Tanglefoot
6 Tier2 (2) Sharpshooter II
7 Tier1 (1) Mechanics
8 Tier1 (1) Awareness
9 Core ·(1) Targeting Sights
10 Tier3 (2) Sharpshooter III
11 Tier3 (2) Ability I: +1 Intelligence
12 Tier3 (1) Wrack Construct: Wracking Shot
13 Tier3 (1) Wrack Construct: Wracking Shot
14 Tier3 (1) Wrack Construct: Wracking Shot
15 Tier1 (1) Awareness
16 Tier1 (1) Awareness
17 Tier4 (2) Ability II: +1 Intelligence
18 Tier4 (1) Fletching
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[cru121]

Looks like you wouldn't lose much by going rogue 10 / ranger 6 / artificer 4.
- lose ranger lvl 2 spell, gain rogue bonus feat

And if you could lose a feat, you could also go rogue 12 / ranger 6 / artificer 2.
- pick up lvl 12 mech core

Now I have had decent success with starting as Artificer 2 / Ranger 11. This gets IPS for free, without the dex - at level 13. Then I grab 1 Barb level for run speed. I wrap this up with as Barb 1 / Artificer 4 / Ranger 15, picking up CSW and FOM, and I spend my spare AP in DWS for 4th core, Killer, Merciful Shot...

[Swimms]

Looks like you wouldn't lose much by going rogue 10 / ranger 6 / artificer 4.
- lose ranger lvl 2 spell, gain rogue bonus feat

And if you could lose a feat, you could also go rogue 12 / ranger 6 / artificer 2.
- pick up lvl 12 mech core

Now I have had decent success with starting as Artificer 2 / Ranger 11. This gets IPS for free, without the dex - at level 13. Then I grab 1 Barb level for run speed. I wrap this up with as Barb 1 / Artificer 4 / Ranger 15, picking up CSW and FOM, and I spend my spare AP in DWS for 4th core, Killer, Merciful Shot...

IPS by level 12 was a design goal which means no more than 4 levels of .75 BAB classes (Arti/Rogue) out of the first 12 and 8 levels of full BAB classes in the first 12 (I debated Ranger and Fighter). I do like the idea of free IPS and dex dump on with your 2 Arti/11 Ranger build.

[Xgya]

Thanks for giving me credit!

As for the build, the AP split is pretty much what you'd expect.

Not a huge fan of how the information's displayed, however.
The planner gives too much details - a lot of the feats displayed aren't useful, for example.

I tend to do "snapshots" of my builds at various levels, usually important ones.

That character builder is pretty awesome at figuring out endgame builds, but if you're just planning a quick heroic TR, you'll be spending most of your life without all that AP spent, so some ordering of the AP priorities is in order.

On a good note, I noticed this way of doing it allows you to take Improved Critical at level 9. That's pretty neat.
You switched the order of Precision and Completionist of my own build, but that's probably up to personal preference.

Any insight into why you took Vigilante instead of one of the other two? I think it's probably up to personal preference, but I want to hear your personal judgement.

[Swimms]

Thanks for giving me credit!

As for the build, the AP split is pretty much what you'd expect.

Not a huge fan of how the information's displayed, however.
The planner gives too much details - a lot of the feats displayed aren't useful, for example.

On a good note, I noticed this way of doing it allows you to take Improved Critical at level 9. That's pretty neat.
You switched the order of Precision and Completionist of my own build, but that's probably up to personal preference.

Any insight into why you took Vigilante instead of one of the other two? I think it's probably up to personal preference, but I want to hear your personal judgement.

I agree on the way the information is displayed, I will have to play with the output to try and distill it down to the key pieces of information. I wish I could say I had a good reason for going Vigilante but I don't. At the time I was thinking....chaos damage, that's neat, i'll take that one. My main focus was laying out the feats and feat breakpoints since the enhancements can more easily be tweaked and experimented with once the build is up and running.

Between and Arti and Ranger granted feats and the regular feats you can get the vast majority of the important feats pretty quickly which I like for a fast out of the gate heroic leveler. Thanks again for your help and input.

[droid327]

Since you're not really drawing anything from class enhancement trees, then I think a better build strategy would be:

1 Arti
2-12 Rgr
13-15 Arti
16-20 Rogue

Ranger, I think, offers the most outside of Enhancements, so front-load that. You'd be losing Evasion early on (well, get it at L10, still plenty early), but it would still hit IPS by 12 - as an autogrant too, freeing up a feat. You'd get your Arti feat at 15, then just round out to 20 with Rogue for more Sneak die and incremental passive bonuses in Mech. You'd lose Runearms early on too, but...meh, Inqui is not hurting for damage die. Also you get CMW earlier on, though that's less of a positive if you're running exclusively in Reaper.

Jaded is definitely the best choice. Universal damage is always preferred over specialty damage, for anything you cant readily swap out (ie weapons).

Mobility is the best choice for your last feat, I think.

[Oliphant]

Unless you are already overkilling your dps, the more dps the better on hard content. You could give up some non-dps feats for the crossbow speed feats, I think they are called Rapid Reload and Rapid shot. Those little reload delays are chances for confusing UI interaction issues to emerge as well. With the speed feats, my interacting with the hotbars and combo is much much smoother. Without the speed feats I feel like some big combos fail sometimes because cool downs are not quite ready when you are hitting buttons, basically me and the UI glitching out. Also does not hurt to minimize those little cool downs during laggy bits. Consider that your BAB also contributes to combat speed and the description says the effect is more pronounced for ranged attacks compared to melee. I wonder the pros and cons if you went 2 Arti/12 Ranger/6 Rogue (+1 BAB and free IPS on the upside, for starters). Good luck!

[Xgya]

Unless you are already overkilling your dps, the more dps the better on hard content. You could give up some non-dps feats for the crossbow speed feats, I think they are called Rapid Reload and Rapid shot. Those little reload delays are chances for confusing UI interaction issues to emerge as well. With the speed feats, my interacting with the hotbars and combo is much much smoother. Without the speed feats I feel like some big combos fail sometimes because cool downs are not quite ready when you are hitting buttons, basically me and the UI glitching out. Also does not hurt to minimize those little cool downs during laggy bits. Consider that your BAB also contributes to combat speed and the description says the effect is more pronounced for ranged attacks compared to melee. I wonder the pros and cons if you went 2 Arti/12 Ranger/6 Rogue (+1 BAB and free IPS on the upside, for starters). Good luck!

Arti 1 already gives Rapid Reload. Ranger 2 gives Rapid Shot.

[Swimms]

Unless you are already overkilling your dps, the more dps the better on hard content. You could give up some non-dps feats for the crossbow speed feats, I think they are called Rapid Reload and Rapid shot. Those little reload delays are chances for confusing UI interaction issues to emerge as well. With the speed feats, my interacting with the hotbars and combo is much much smoother. Without the speed feats I feel like some big combos fail sometimes because cool downs are not quite ready when you are hitting buttons, basically me and the UI glitching out. Also does not hurt to minimize those little cool downs during laggy bits. Consider that your BAB also contributes to combat speed and the description says the effect is more pronounced for ranged attacks compared to melee. I wonder the pros and cons if you went 2 Arti/12 Ranger/6 Rogue (+1 BAB and free IPS on the upside, for starters). Good luck!

As Xgya stated, all the key ranged feats are either taken or auto-granted by Arti or Ranger levels. The build is solid, in heroics and so far low reaper epics it feels very effective. It has a very solid mix of killing power and survivability combined with the ability to auto detect traps for faster runs with trap bonus. Right now she is sitting at level 25 and running in Shadowdancer using a 5 slot deadly rain diplomancer and stuff is dying pretty quick.

I am still using the level 10 silent avenger set and swapping out gloves/helmet/necklace/goggles at key breakpoints. My person preference on ranged builds is to run with a shimmering arrowhead and tendon slice/ insightful tendon slice. It is almost comical with the high rate of fire how slowed everything is. I will definitely be running this split on future racial lives.

[Oliphant]

I see now there's a separate list of autogranted feats. That's a long list seeing it all written out like that!

[Swimms]

I see now there's a separate list of autogranted feats. That's a long list seeing it all written out like that!

Yeah the output is a little different, I am not sure I am a fan of the default settings so I will have to try and play with it. Would be nice to see all the taken and granted feats at each level break consolidated.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Whar is Ranger 6 getting you in this build? Ranger 5 has a few nice perks, but I don't see what you're getting with Rogue 12/Ranger 6/Arti 2 that you wouldn't get with Rogue 12/ Ranger 5/ Arti 3.

Arti 3 gets you 2nd level spells and Ranger 5 doesn't lose any spells. Manyshot doesn't work with crossbows (unless it does now?), so that seems like an easy change.

[droid327]

Whar is Ranger 6 getting you in this build?

Sniper Shot

[Swimms]

Whar is Ranger 6 getting you in this build? Ranger 5 has a few nice perks, but I don't see what you're getting with Rogue 12/Ranger 6/Arti 2 that you wouldn't get with Rogue 12/ Ranger 5/ Arti 3.

Arti 3 gets you 2nd level spells and Ranger 5 doesn't lose any spells. Manyshot doesn't work with crossbows (unless it does now?), so that seems like an easy change.

Sniper Shot as stated but also I took 8 Ranger to accelerate getting IPS from 15 to 12. In my opinion, IPS is such a huge game changer and getting it 3 levels earlier is worth it. I took 8 ranger because I needed the BAB so that I could take IPS at 12 (minimum level 11 BAB for IPS). Right now I have the character parked at 30 for Sharn farming and it is still quite effective, I will see about posting a video of it a little later. The build was not designed for end game but for racial TRing, nonetheless, it managers to hold its own at cap. I changed up my enhancements to get Killer from Deep Wood Stalker and I like it quite a lot. Enhancements are sitting at: 41 Inquis, 22 DWS (Sniper Shot plus Killer level 2), 11 Mechanic (Targeting Sights (int to dam) core 3), 7 Harper (int to hit plus 2 points into KtA), 7 Racial.

[jskinner937]

Looks like you wouldn't lose much by going rogue 10 / ranger 6 / artificer 4.
- lose ranger lvl 2 spell, gain rogue bonus feat

And if you could lose a feat, you could also go rogue 12 / ranger 6 / artificer 2.
- pick up lvl 12 mech core

Now I have had decent success with starting as Artificer 2 / Ranger 11. This gets IPS for free, without the dex - at level 13. Then I grab 1 Barb level for run speed. I wrap this up with as Barb 1 / Artificer 4 / Ranger 15, picking up CSW and FOM, and I spend my spare AP in DWS for 4th core, Killer, Merciful Shot...

100% concur. Heroic and even going into epic, so many underestimate the SA die from mechanic, and stack that with DWS....you have reaper DR bypass in a can....and its called whoop ass.

[Swimms]

Here is a video of the build soloing R1 Grim, sorry the quality sucks, its my first attempt at uploading so maybe I can get a better copy but this will give you the gist of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ui_kCcjT7Q&feature=youtu.be

Edit:. Just realized I neglected to run blitz in that run too :)

[Swimms]

100% concur. Heroic and even going into epic, so many underestimate the SA die from mechanic, and stack that with DWS....you have reaper DR bypass in a can....and its called whoop ass.

One of my build requirements was IPS by 12. That means 8 of the first 12 levels have to be Ranger, Fighter,or Barbarian. If you don't care about IPS at 12 then yes you could probably make some minor improvements but I'm more than happy with the trade offs to accelerate IPS and the dps is still top notch.

[Ordinary]

Yeah the output is a little different, I am not sure I am a fan of the default settings so I will have to try and play with it. Would be nice to see all the taken and granted feats at each level break consolidated.
I'll have a look at getting that implemented

[Swimms]

I'll have a look at getting that implemented

Thank you and thanks for your efforts in creating and maintaining the planner, I appreciate it.