THF soloist challenge

[Blind_Skwerl]

I am curious about the possibility of making a THF character and try to run him up the levels without ever grouping with anyone. Maybe a melee focused BC or a warforged wiz/fighter? Someone give me some ideas. 32 point builds will be available, but outside equiptment will not. No twinking this guy. What ya' got folks?!

[sigtrent]

I did this one in the request thread. I think it would solo pretty well.
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...46#post1297746

[skraus1]

Some THF warchanters can solo decently well. For example, my zhaffy build is ok in this department.
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=119776

One thing that many people forget is that, to solo, you MUST have good saves. One greater command and you can be toast pretty easy THFing.

[Grenfell]

I am curious about the possibility of making a THF character and try to run him up the levels without ever grouping with anyone. Maybe a melee focused BC or a warforged wiz/fighter? Someone give me some ideas. 32 point builds will be available, but outside equiptment will not. No twinking this guy. What ya' got folks?!

WF Wizard, hands down, is the single best soloist in the game today once you hit 14. The trouble is that early on, it's extremely difficult to solo your way through anything, especially without twinking.

Of course, I define "solo" differently -- meaning, able to complete the mission. It does NOT mean, able to complete the mission without dying, or recalling for more mana.

There is no need to splash fighter for martial weapons; indeed, THF'ing only becomes a nuisance when you get right down to it. Hold Monster + any sort of weapon will get the job done.

Self-healing, with many useful immunities, and the flexibility of spell selection to ensure that you will be able to customize to the need at hand all equal awesome soloability.

Second on my list, I would put Human Sorcerors with UMD.

/gren

[Taerdra]

Halflings and their Dragonmarks shouldn't be short-changed either. A 2 Fighter/2 Rogue/10 Wizard with all 3 dragonmarks would be a very fun build, and probably offers the best balance between all the aspects of solo play: fighting, healing, arcane power, and trapsmithing.

It may require more twinking than you're looking for, but I think it is up there.

My Rankings:
1) WF Warmage combo,
2a) Halfling combo (as above),
2b) Drow Pally/Rogue/Sorc combo,
3) Human Sorceror.

I don't doubt that Bards are good solo characters, but by comparison they lack the offensive clout in terms of arcane power that these have above while these don't really sacrifice much in the way of crowd control.

[Blind_Skwerl]

One thing that many people forget is that, to solo, you MUST have good saves. One greater command and you can be toast pretty easy THFing.

Oh I know that. Because of my hours, I solo quite a bit. I run a drow sorcerer and a drow wizard/rogue alot, used to run my evasion tank before the fixes. Kinda leaning towards WF because of the perks and I have never run one past level 3. I have no issue recalling for sp when neccesary, as long as I am completing the quests and getting some xp. I just miss soloing melee style. With the loot table adjustments and the changes to evasion and enhancements, my evasion tank is shelved. He gets beat on too harshly in GH and everything else seems to offer less that desirable loot. Maybe a WF 3paladin/11 cleric? What about a WF battlebard?

[Lifespawn]

warchanter bard is a great solo build.

1 barb/13 bard

260 hp's 620 sp's

28 standing str rage spell on all the time to 30 rage to 34
22 cha
20 con
14 dex with +6 item
16 wis with +4 item
8 int

ac is **** but perma blur and displacment is better than ac coupled with fearsome armor.

30 to hit fully buffed with power attack on and a +2 burst of pg weapon

fort is in the high 20's
reflex in the high teens 18 or 19
will is lowest at 17

Spell resistance scrolls stoneskin and warchanter songs and this build can do anything just got the titan gloves 37 standing umd so heal scrolls on a 3 or better hv boost is there for a pinch.Summon earth elementals run ahead facinate things let the ele grab them and insta crits every mob goes down in 1 earth grab.

[skraus1]

I don't doubt that Bards are good solo characters, but by comparison they lack the offensive clout in terms of arcane power that these have above while these don't really sacrifice much in the way of crowd control.

I have 2 capped sorcs with good umd, so I understand the power of arcane+ self healing.

However, a dwarven thf battlebard like my Zhaffy build doesn't need arcane firepower in most circumstances. It's dps is the same or just slightly lower than a thfing barbarian's, but with much better defensive capabilites. With 325-370hp, self-healing, good umd, good saves, trapsmithing, evasion, and great dps it really is a viable soloing build. If you draw too much aggro, use summon scrolls and send them in first and everything will be dead before your ele drops in most cases.

Truthfully, I never enjoyed soloing on my sorcs, so maybe I'm biased.

[Ann_Shadow]

I played DDO when it first came out but quit when all my RL friends went to another game.

I am downloading a years worth of patches right now and am looking to make a solo build.

I keep seeing this The Batman build mentioned but the person who had it has removed the build from his/her web site.

Does anyone have the build? I would like to give the game another try. I really enjoyed it and was sorry to have had to leave.


Thank you

[Arianrhod]

I played DDO when it first came out but quit when all my RL friends went to another game.

I am downloading a years worth of patches right now and am looking to make a solo build.

I keep seeing this The Batman build mentioned but the person who had it has removed the build from his/her web site.

Does anyone have the build? I would like to give the game another try. I really enjoyed it and was sorry to have had to leave.


Thank you

Don't know the specifics, but I believe the batman was a 2 rog/2-3 pal/X ftr or something like that. Evasion, good saves, DD, OL, UMD, and combat ability. Sort of a do-it-all build. Don't knw if it would work very well without 32 point builds, but a drow might be enough.

[Ann_Shadow]

I read that there were changes to the game that took away a lot of the builds usefulness.

I have been reading the builds.

I suppose I am looking for a build that can solo most of the content of the game.

I am not worried about how long it takes to complete an adventure/dungeon. I like to be able to do the rogue stuff. Not sure how good I am at the hand=eye fighting abilities. Ranged would probably be good for me.

Any ideas?

Rogue/ranger? I keep reading that Paladins are the best class to solo with. I play the PnP (played last night actually) and a paladin is not a good character class (no pun intended).

So it is kind of odd to hear how good the class is in Online D$D.

So many post to read.

[Blind_Skwerl]

The batman build was 2 rogue / 3 paladin / rest fighter. The changes to the enhancements nerfed it a bit (took away some ac, strength, etc., as well as alot of trapskills). The final blow for me was not actually a nerf, it was a fix. You used to be able to evade in heavy armor in ddo (not supposed to be able to, but you could). When they fixed this, I either had to let my ac drop even more by wearing light armor, or I had to give up evasion. I ran my "batman" as more of an evasion tank, not really paying attention to the rogue skills other than open lock. With a standing AC in the low 50's, evasion and paladin saves, I could turtle up and hack my way through nearly anything, stopping to wand up the hp once in a while. After the changes, I was struggling to get the AC back to the mid-upper 40's (even with 2 extra levels), I seemed to fail alot more evasion checks, and mob's would beat me down faster than I could return the favor. Had to shelf the guy.

More recently, I did end up starting a warforged THF warchanter battlebard (1fighter/13bard). Currently level 12 and great fun. Not a soloist to be sure (can only use enchantment so many times), but fun going against more traditional builds. Was doing VoN 5 in a pug and they needed someone to hit the strength lever. I said I had it and they all seemed confused because I was a bard. I love those moments.

[Blind_Skwerl]

For the ultimate soloists in this game, there are a couple routes you can go. An enchantment focused arcane is probably my #1 pick (don't bring a party, make one ). Second pick I would guess to be a battle cleric. Greater command, blade barriers, decent melee dps with divine power and outstanding survivability make them a force to be recognized. The only issue I have with a battle cleric is the fact that I pug a lot and people will expect me to be the group's healer instead of an off-tank that can heal once in a while. Maybe if I strictly solo with him. Hmm...

[LOUDRampart]

I read that there were changes to the game that took away a lot of the [batman] builds usefulness.

Depends. After the evasion nerf, I went to Mithril BP and shield, increased Dex a few more points and wow... now my AC is higher then when I wore heavy armor.

It still burns some people up to see my "batman" out there. I even get comments like, "that's so 2006 of you" until they find out that I can out rogue, out fight, out survive, and raise the otherwise wiped party. Grant it, I didn't build my batman as it was scripted here in the forums, but I used some of the the ideas and built a better batman... heh...

[VonBek]

Maybe a WF 3paladin/11 cleric?

Well, 32 points should help with the hit WF take in Wis and Cha. I overestimated how much Charisma I'd need with my 28 pt WF Paly build, and find his Str suffered too much. Don't pull too much from Str.

Cleric and Paly both get the LoB enhancements, but cleric gets Bladesworn a bit sooner (6 instead of 9). Since WF offers innate disease immunity, you would not need that from Paly-3. If you're mindful of it, you could cast Remove Fear from your Clr spells, or a clicky. You might be able to stop Paly at 2, for Divine Grace, instead of 3. This would let you trade an extra Cleric level for casting.

[Dworkin_of_Amber]

A Neo-Batman-like build (11 Pal/2 Rog/1Fgt) would make a great soloist for the game. Starting out Rogue for Trapsmithing, immediately into Paladin for Weapons/Armor/Self-Healing... then taking Rogue 2 around L8 for Evasion and catching up Roguely skills and UMD, then Fighter @ 14 for a little more offense. Think of a Rogue-Skills-Enabled Holy Avenger (I have a Holy Avenger @ 14, and a Rogue-Skills-Enabled version at L10), and with the right items, these guys can solo quite a bit!

The best way I can see to solo, depends also if you care about traps... if you don't care about them, then I would suggest, in no particular order:
1) Battle-Cleric
2) WF Wizard
3) Human UMD Sorc
4) Evasion Paladin
5) Warchanter Bard

If you care about traps:
1) Ranger/Rogue
2) Paladin/Rogue or Paladin/Rogue/Fighter
3) WF Rogue/Wizard
4) Bard/Rogue (Warchanter or Virtuoso)

[Yaga_Nub]

Or you could do a "Green Arrow" build, 11 Ranger/2 Pally/1 Rogue. Not as high on the AC but much better at the rogue skills because of all the skill points that Ranger gives. You can easily keep 2 or 3 skills maxed and the rest almost maxed. The ranged damage can keep you from a lot of fights and max UMD means you can keep GH, True Sight, etc. on yourself at all times and be able to use heal scrolls. Plus the reflex saves are much higher than the "Batman" build.

[Kalanth]

I made a WF Cleric / Paladin who fought with greatswords and uses Bladesworn Transformation. I didn't make it to 14 solo, but I made it up to lvl 9 with having only grouped three or four times. It's possible, just very hard to complete certain chains without groups (i.e. One quest in Lit. Prt. 1 requires minimum four).

Now at 14 the character is a Cleric 12 / Paladin 2 and will be 17 / 3 at 20. So far so good and enough strength and wisdom to do the lever and rune in Von 5.

[MrCow]

It's possible, just very hard to complete certain chains without groups (i.e. One quest in Lit. Prt. 1 requires minimum four).

Depending on your build and level it is entirely possible to solo Tomb of the Burning Heart. The trick is you need to get two wights to be on switch panels in the east wing while you summon something on the west wing. If you run into the west wing with two wights still on the platforms then you are in the clear and they won't move (with the current AI, being wights won't chase you into the west wing). Abilities like Halt Undead, Music of the Dead, Improved Trip, really swiftly done Order's Wrath, etc. work to take care of the east wing setup. Summon (anything) or Create Undead (any) while standing on a platform in the west wing allows you to take care of those two platforms and providing you have everything in place you are off to the races.

More on the topic, I recently made a Two Handed Ranger/Bard (currently 5/4) who has very few issues soloing content and plays very similar to most of the battle bards at the moment. I never realized how absolutely dominating Fascinate was for soloing until I made this character (that and combining fascination with ranger sprint boost means if I do group I can ensure that the next nasty room is usually all set and fascinated for the rest of the group).

Edit: I just realized that you won't be allowing outside equipment for this solo character and I can say that you will probably run into issues on a character that is melee reliant for damage output. I'd put my money on the battle cleric type of build with a single martial class level (fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin) for two-handed weapons.

[Ann_Shadow]

Someone posted a build Ranged Specialist Elf - Rogue1 / Ranger 10 / Paladin 3

With all the improvements to ranged coming in Mod6 Will this be a viable solo'er?
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=122142&page=1

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.65
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 14 Lawful Good Elf Male
(3 Paladin / 1 Rogue / 10 Ranger)
Hit Points: 150
20 Heroic Durability
80 L10 Ranger
30 L3 Paly
6 L1 Rogue
42 CON
20 Improved False Life
---
198 Hit Points Standing (208 w/ Greater)

Spell Points: 160
85 RangerL10
75 Mental TOughness
38 Wisdom Bonus Ranger
24 Wisdom Bonus Paly
100 POP/Magi
----
322

BAB: 13/13/18/23

13 BASE
12 DEX
1 Paly Silver FLame
1 Weapon Focus Ranged
2 Elven Ranged Enh
3 +3 Arrows or Bow
---
+31 Before any Buffs w/ Longbows

AC
10 BASE
12 DEX
5 Bracers
4 Sheild Wand/Clicky
4 Barkskin
4 Protection
2 Paly AUra
----
41 AC Bow In Hand Self Buffed


Fortitude: 15
Reflex: 22
Will: 8
7/7/3 L10Ranger
0/2/0 L1Rogue
3/1/1 L3Paly
3/12/2 Attribute
4/4/4 Dicine Grace
2/2/2 Paly AUra
------
19/28/12
4/4/4 Reistence Item
4/4/4 Greater Heroism
------
27/36/20
+5 Against Enchantments
Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Stats Modified Stats
Abilities (Level 1) (Level 14)
Strength 10 10 +4 Item =14
Dexterity 18 26 +6 Item +2 TOme = 34
Constitution 12 12 +4 Item =16
Intelligence 12 12 +4 Item=16
Wisdom 10 10 +4 Item = 14
Charisma 12 13 +5 Item = 18

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 14)
Balance 8 12 +10 Item =22
Disable Device 16 Ranks +2NF +1ENH +10Item +3INT +7Tools =39 Boost +4GH =47
Open Lock 6Ranks +12DEX +7 Tools +2nf +1OItem+1ENH =38
Search 16Ranks +2Elf +2ENH +10Item +3INT +4 Boost =37 +4GH =41
Spot 16Ranks +2ELf +2ENH +10Item +2WIS =32 +4GH=36
Use Magic Device 17Ranks +4CHR +3Cartouse +3SF=27 +4Boost +4 GH =35

Level 1 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Nimble Fingers

Level 2 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead

Level 3 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons

Level 4 (Paladin)

Level 5 (Ranger)

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Use Magic Device

Level 7 (Ranger)

Level 8 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Construct

Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons

Level 10 (Ranger)

Level 11 (Ranger)

Level 12 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness

Level 13 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant

Level 14 (Paladin)
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost II
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost III
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost II
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity II
Enhancement: Elven Enchantment Resistance I
Enhancement: Elven Enchantment Resistance II
Enhancement: Elven Enchantment Resistance III
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack II
Enhancement: Elven Perception I
Enhancement: Elven Keen Eyes I
Enhancement: Follower of the Silver Flame
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Lay on Hannds I
Enhancement: Rogue Disable Device I
Enhancement: Ranger Search I
Enhancement: Ranger Spot I
Enhancement: Paladin Charisma I
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity II
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity III

************************************************** ****

I have started playing this and it is fine. I seem to get into hand to hand a LOT and was wondering if Combat Expertise would be better to take instead of Nimble Fingers - advantage of high Dex and low strength to hit better. I suppose With an Elf Ranger I will be using TWF as my melee choice.

What is the advantage of going Ranger to Level 10 instead of picking up a level of Fighter for the feat Combat Expertise? or what ever the feat that trades Dex for Str as the To-Hit modifier?

Really exciting about the upcoming LOVE for Ranged combat.!!!!