AC question

[aldan]

I have a 12 barb 4 fighter ( kinda wish I had done 14/2 but my reroll will be that.

Stats at start:

18 STR
15 Dex
16 Con
9 INT
9 WIS
6 CHA

At level 4 I chowed some tomes at level 1

20 STR
15 Dex
17 Con
10 INT
10 WIS
6 CHA

At 4 I can rage to 26 STR fight like mad etc. This to me seems like a good build, I plan to take my 1750 tome and put that in CON.

My current high level build can get into the 50s AC and still fights hard and survives pretty well. So the concensus is a 30 armor class is like a 20 at end content, i got that.

Is there a link to AC that I can study?

My high level barb/fighter hp is around 422 without to much geeked out gear, i do have a GFL belt.

Do you all start with lower dex and give more to CON? I thought higher DEX reduced the incoming damage?

Any help would be great. At what AC do you start getting the benefit in higher content, mid 50s? And what does that do for you, make it harder for them to hit you? TOTAL NOOB question I know.

[rawfocat]

As a barb, damage mitigation is much better than AC. If you are willing to grind out all of the raid loot, you can still get an OK, 50s AC, but end game players with AC builds get into the high 60s and low to mid 70s. (I think mid to high 80s is the highest possible, but only for a couple seconds and with a very exact set of buffs). IMO, you will notice an AC in the 50s versus an AC in the 40s, just not against elite end bosses.

Finally, I find tier 1 and tier 2 upgrades are fairly easy to get from the shroud. Nowadays, almost any PUG can beat parts 1-3. Most PUGs that fail, fail in part 4 against the pit fiend. You only need to get Mineral I or Smoke I to get the clickies. PUGing out the large ingredients will take longer, but is still doable, but takes much longer.

Use your barbarian DR to take less damage and kill quickly.

Some other things you can do to get hit less are Stoneskin, Displacement and Blur. You can get some of these effects from items with the following

Dusk Heart - Trinket found in the desert explorere chest (palumak), permanent 10% miss chance
Stoneskin - DR10 for 120 points of damage. Creating a Mineral I shroud weapon will give you 2 clickies of stoneskin per shrine. Additionally, you can buy wands of stoneskin in the Twelve and ask a caster to buff you with this.
Displacement - Ask a caster, Creating a Smoke I shroud weapon will give you 2 clickies per shrine.
Ring of Shadow - Ring, +10 Move Silently, +10 Hide, 10% Blur - Prison of the Planes - Level 14, (Mabar Room)
Dusk - +4 Docent, Dusk (10% blur) Shadow Crypt - Level 9 (Big Chest)
Cloak of the Zephyr - cloak, Blurry (20% perma blur), invisibility 1/day - ADQ raid
Seal of the Earth - Ring, Natural AC +3, Acid Resistance, Stoneskin (level 12 caster, 3/day, self only) Titan raid

I am sure I am missing a couple more options. I would really recommend upping your survivability by upgrading your weapons and killing faster. Try using tactics and effects insead of upping your AC

[rawfocat]

Here is a max ac thread

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=155087\\

One thing to remember also for stats is if you want to TWF you will need a 17 base DEX (including tomes and level up) to take greater TWF.

[Cedwin]

I just pulled the Dusk docent from the shadow crypt, it's pretty friggin sweet looking

With or without the helmet?

edit: boo, can't post pics in here.

[tihocan]

I thought higher DEX reduced the incoming damage?

Will help your AC at low level only, and your reflex saves all the time (which isn't such a bad thing).

Don't worry about AC on a barb, it's pointless. I know cause I tried

[Humperdink]

Here's some general guidelines on effective AC:

-Level 7 to 10 content 30-35
-Gianthold/Desert 45-50
-Vale/Reaver 50-60
-Shavarath 65+

Edit: Bah, just noticed thread was necro'd. Oh well, still good public info.