Rockslide the Hammerhead [ Dwarf 15 ranger / 4 fighter / 1 monk ]

[Anthios888]

Rockslide the Hammerhead [ Dwarf 15 ranger / 4 fighter / 1 monk ]

I have been pondering blunt builds for a long while in order to end up with one that does not come up short in zerg zerg endgame content. With the relative boost to bludgeoning stat damage coming in mod 9 due to the omg w/p nerf, I think it's finally time to rethink the relevance of a good two weapon fighting warhammer build. Barbarians, kensai, monks, and acrobats are all great obvious platforms for a stunning build, but none of them quite had the versatility I was looking for with this build. Buffing and healing are high priorities for me as a player, and I found myself intrigued with building in a semi-high AC on top of the other goals. For the first time ever, I built something on the ranger base - and ended up with this mongrel mountain hammerer.

At heart a DPS tank build, this will excel with trash mobs and meet most standards for a good boss DPS. There are better stunners out there, but with a DC around 40, hammers will still outshine vorpals for reliability on this build. As for self-healing I tried to combine AC and items like the torc and concordant opposition in a way that Rockslide would be able to regain spell points at a reasonable rate, without taking so much damage that it would be overwhelmed. Manyshot, resists, freedom of movement, wands, etc give the build a lot more options than either a pure fighter or barbarian.

With several simultaneous build goals - healing, AC, and stunning - the build is gear intensive in the respect that there are a lot of great niche items for it, but not as absolutely dependent on wops or shroud items as many others around. Things like the torc and chattering ring will help enormously long-term, but Rockslide will be a good DPS long before then. One man's trash - a weighted hammer - is your treasure.

In a time when there are a lot of builds floating around that split around prestige classes, this is one build where the benefits of multiclassing - the nofail, robust self healing and good AC - overcome the loss of PrEs, at least in this builder's mind. Many reviews of Tempest III coming off of Lamannia have found it lackluster compared to the expectations that it would eclipse all other DPS configurations.

A silly theme. Good AC. Good saves. Evasion. Lots of self-healing and buffs. And you can even range things. How can you go wrong?

Lawful Neutral
12 ranger / 3 fighter / 1 monk @ level 16
15 ranger / 4 fighter / 1 monk @ level 20


Ability Score:
34 STR: 16 base + 3 tome + 1 litany + 6 item + 1 Ftr Str I + 5 levels + 2 ram's might
26 DEX: 15 base + 2 tome + 1 litany + 6 item + 2 Rgr Dex II
28 CON: 16 base + 3 tome + 1 litany + 6 item + 2 racial
14 INT: 11 base + 2 tome + 1 litany
22 WIS: 13 base + 2 tome + 1 litany + 6 item
14 CHA: 6 base + 1 tome + 1 litany + 6 item*

Skill points:
Intimidate, UMD, Jump, Balance, Tumble, Hide/move silently

Stunning blow DC:
10 base
13 STR (raged)
2 ftr enhancements
3 dwarven tactics
10 weighted 5% warhammer
2 madstone rages
DC 38-40 stunning blow

AC breakdown:
10 base
1 dodge feat
6 wisdom monk bonus
8 dex bonus
3 shield bonus (tempest II)
6 armor DT vestments
2 chaosguardes
3 chattering ring
4 insight DT armor
1 alchemical ritual
5 protection
5 combat expertise
5 barkskin
1 haste
60 self buffed

3 favored enemy
4 bard song
5 paladin aura
2 recitation
74 raid buffed

Feats (11)
Toughness
Dodge
Mobility
Spring Attack
Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
Stunning Blow
Combat Expertise
Power Attack
Maximize
Quicken
Extend Spell

Level Progression:
1-2 Ranger
3 Fighter
4-12 Ranger
13 Fighter
14 Monk
15 Ranger
16-17 Fighter
18-20 Ranger

Feat Guide:

1 Selected Feat: Toughness. Favored Enemy: Giant
2 Two weapon fighting
3 Fighter Feat: Dodge. Selected Feat: Mobility
6 Improved two weapon fighting, Favored Enemy: Undead. Selected Feat: Spring Attack
7 Tempest I, Manyshot
9 Selected Feat: Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
10 Evasion
11 Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
12 Greater two weapon fighting, improved precise shot. Selected Feat: Extend Spell
13 Fighter Feat: Stunning Blow
14 Monk Feat: Power Attack
15 Selected Feat: Maximize Spell
17 Fighter Feat: Combat Expertise
18 Selected Feat: Quicken
20 Favored Enemy: Construct

Creative assortment of weapons:

Bursting of weighted 5% warhammers
Mineral II dwarven axe and heavy pick (comes with Keen for boss DPS, use pick offhand with weighted)
Pos/pos/pos warhammer - Holy, good bust, healing amplification 30%
Banishing of weighted 3-4%
Keen rapiers/scimitars of smiting
Maladroit/bonebreaking warhammers
Runed Ogre Femurs
Greater banes, etc


Ideal gear for current level cap:

Dragontouched vestments: +5 resist / + 6 con / +4 insight AC
Bracers: Chaosguardes, Levik's swap for healing amplification
Goggles: Tharne's Goggles
Helm: Greensteel Mineral II 45 HP Heavy fort, 5 protection
Necklace: Torc of Prince Raiyum
Trinket: Litany of the Dead
Cloak: Greensteel 300 Spell points, +6 wisdom, Concordant opposition
Belt: Belt of Brute Strength
Gloves: Spectral Gloves, Bramble Casters, Gloves of the Glacier
Boots: Madstone Boots
Ring: Chattering Ring
Ring: Superior devotion IV

Swaps for silver flame, resists, feather fall, etc. to taste.

[Noctus]

Looks good.

[Shroonith]

Sadly, I think youll find your MAX DC a little wanting. I have a 38 unbuffed right now on my 16 WF and it still doesnt land as consistently as I'd like when running SoS.

[Nomical]

Looks like a neat build. You did mention a min II dwarven axe & heavy pick - changing that slightly to dual wield two min II dwarven axes on this tempest str build you would have really sick boss dps. Sounds fun!

[Dark-Star]

Maybe swap extend for empower healing for better burst healing.

[Anthios888]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been pondering extend, empower healing, and improved trip for that feat. Empower healing is very tempting just to give those cure moderates and criticals a bit more boost.

[Sydrik]

I unlocked the 32 point build and have tried to revisit this, as it seems like a fun build... I hit lvl 7 and ran into problems.

Listed above for feats is:

7 Tempest I, Manyshot

Problem is, Tempest seems to be an enhancement and not a feat and Manyshot has a pre-req which I have no picked up yet and is not on the feat list.

Thoughts?

[Emizand]

I unlocked the 32 point build and have tried to revisit this, as it seems like a fun build... I hit lvl 7 and ran into problems.

Gratz on your determination and sticking with it. Six months to unlock 32 point build so you could come back to this build. I doff my cap to you sir/madam.

+1 rep for kudos

[Balkas]

You get Manyshot for free with 6 levels of Ranger.

[Sydrik]

You get Manyshot for free with 6 levels of Ranger.

I didn't realize I could use it since one of the pre-reqs was not met. Lol.

Thanks. Now what to do with Tempest?

[Balkas]

I didn't realize I could use it since one of the pre-reqs was not met. Lol.

Thanks. Now what to do with Tempest?

What about it? Tempest I is an enhancement line that is unlocked at 6 levels of Ranger.

[Sydrik]

Maybe I was just mis-reading the template in the first post. It seemed to say that Tempest should come along with Manyshot at lvl 6.

I got something else and Manyshot (which seems to do nothing when I activate it) and Tempest seems to be purchased by action points now, that's all. Trying to figure out what else is going to change from the orginal write-up and when to spend the action points for Tempest.

[Balkas]

Manyshot
Cooldown: 120 seconds
Usage: Active
Target: Self
Duration: 20 seconds
By activating this ability, you can shoot multiple arrows simultaneously for a time. With a Base Attack Bonus of 10 and under you can shoot two arrows, from 11 to 15 you can shoot 3, and at 16 and up you can shoot 4 at once.

Also, Tempest was never a feat; he just put it like that so you don't forget to take the enhancement.

[Adrian99]

I'm fairly certain that the recent changes to stunning make this build rather pointless, and that the OP would agree. First change was that stunning no longer gives auto-hit or auto-crit. Second change was that Stunning Fist DC bonus is based on character level instead of monk level. Combine the two and the niche that this build occupies becomes relatively poor compared to other possible builds.

[Sydrik]

Ugh... really?

Are there any dual weapon DPS hammer builds out there you would recommend?

[Adrian99]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this is the best all-around DPS dual hammer wielding build. It's just that the build isn't what it used to be due to the changes in stunning. If you're into hammers, go for it though. It's all about having fun!