Fighter tips & tricks for new players Q&A

[Drunknmunkey]

Well making a post for some simple info about fighters, I've come to see there are a LOT of different styles and builds for fighters and just want to lay down some questions to find out info for some of us new players that may get hung up on a few issues.

I'd like to start with reminding that new players will not have access to 32 pt builds or tomes or even good equipment, I know that tomes will be available for purchase in the new in-game store at certain levels, so please include when it would be an optimal time to pick one up for certain feats ect. if you need to use it for a certain build.

1. What do people expect out of fighters?

2. What races make for exceptional or mediocre fighters?

3. What is a good starting build?

4. 2 weapon or 2 handed fighting? Can people have both? Is one better than the other?
(I know 3 questions but still in the same category)

5.Are there certain equipment/weapons to look for and what would be good to focus on?
(Things like weapons/armor/clothing that has certain bonuses)

6. What can do people expect out of fighters in a group?

7. Multiclassing thoughts?

8. Must have skills/feats/enhancements for fighters?

This is just to gather information for a SAFE and RELIABLE build, and while someone may not agree with another person's ideas please put down exactly why you disagree or agree instead of saying "man that build sucks!" without an explanation along with why it does and how to improve on it.

[monkeypoopie7]

Well making a post for some simple info about fighters, I've come to see there are a LOT of different styles and builds for fighters and just want to lay down some questions to find out info for some of us new players that may get hung up on a few issues.

I'd like to start with reminding that new players will not have access to 32 pt builds or tomes or even good equipment, I know that tomes will be available for purchase in the new in-game store at certain levels, so please include when it would be an optimal time to pick one up for certain feats ect. if you need to use it for a certain build.

1. What do people expect out of fighters?

You are expected to kill stuff and not die a lot.

2. What races make for exceptional or mediocre fighters?

Personally, I think only dwarves, warforged, and human make good fighters, and maybe a halfling if made right.

3. What is a good starting build?

Max strength, rest in constitution, and anything that may be left in dexterity(for AC) or wisdom(for will save). Some will say you should have 13 int to get Combat Expertise.

4. 2 weapon or 2 handed fighting? Can people have both? Is one better than the other? (I know 3 questions but still in the same category)

Two weapon supposedly does more damage, but I think at 20, things like vorpal will proc off glancing blows off a two hander. I don't suggest getting both. Also note that it is a lot easier to make a good two handed build. For two weapon you need strength AND dexterity, plus constitution if you actually want health. This is hard to do with just a 28 point build and no tomes.

5.Are there certain equipment/weapons to look for and what would be good to focus on?(Things like weapons/armor/clothing that has certain bonuses)

Fighters are easy to play at the beginning, just go with what you know. It is obvious not to get stuff with charisma on it.

6. What can do people expect out of fighters in a group?

Kill stuff, don't die, and some will say intimidate. (My warforged only had 4 points to start with though so I went with jump because....it is fun.

7. Multiclassing thoughts?

I personally think fighters should stay just that, fighters. More feats and a pretty good capstone.

8. Must have skills/feats/enhancements for fighters?

Some will say you need intimidate, I don't really care all that much about it. Definately get the full line of either THF or TWF. Get power attack, cleave, improved crit. Rest is just up to you. Enhancements, well, you can't really go wrong with fighter enhancements.

This is just to gather information for a SAFE and RELIABLE build, and while someone may not agree with another person's ideas please put down exactly why you disagree or agree instead of saying "man that build sucks!" without an explanation along with why it does and how to improve on it.

Responses in green, note that these are only my opinions.

[sigtrent]

1. What do people expect out of fighters?

Most often that you can kill monsters quickly and effectively. Some fighters are expected to intimidate and pull agro away from other party members and survive this, but that is more the exception than the rule.

Generally if you run around with a shield, they expect intimidate and high defense, anything else and they expect you kill things a lot.

2. What races make for exceptional or mediocre fighters?

All of them are good although Elves and Drow are probably the least popular due to the lower constitution. Dwarves, Warforged and Humans are the most popular races. Halflings are perfectly good but require a little out of the box thinking.

3. What is a good starting build?

16+ Str 14+ con. If you want to TWF you will want 16-17 starting dex. If you want to intimidate I'd recommend at least 10 charisma, otherwise go minimum. Int and Wis are just whatever you have left over, they each have uses (skills/saves) but rarely would you see them much above 12.

4. 2 weapon or 2 handed fighting? Can people have both? Is one better than the other?

A pure fighter could easily do both but very few will specialize in both styles. Two Weapons is probably better damage, but two handed is superior in some situations (facing many monsters at once or very high Damage resistant targets.) It's easier to dabble in Two Handed than Two Weapon because Two Handed feats mostly add special bonuses, as where Two Weapon feats are more about removing penalties. So with no feats, Two Handed is a far better fighting style. However each Two Weapon feat adds significant benefit to the style (extra attacks and accuracy).

5.Are there certain equipment/weapons to look for and what would be good to focus on?

The list is too long. Look for good weapons, usualy you will want a large collection of different weapons for different opponents. For defenses look to increase armor class and saving throws as well as hit points and your prime combat stats (str usualy).

6. What can do people expect out of fighters in a group?

Killing monsters and not dying easily.

7. Multiclassing thoughts?

Fighters are arguable the kings of multi classing, although a pure fighter is a great character with mod 9. They are easy to splash into other builds and many other classes can add some benefits to a typical fighter.

8. Must have skills/feats/enhancements for fighters?

I'd say the must have feats are Toughness, Power Attack, and (weapon style). Skills are intimidate and balance. Jump is also popular and UMD if you want to get fancy with your build. Enhancmetns tend to go into Strength and anything that adds to damage, AC, or HP.

[Twerpp]

Learn about armor bonuses and which ones stack to make highest AC.

[captain1z]

There are plenty of people that will lend great ideas/info on what best makes a fighter.
One thing I'd rather the new players know is that you and your enemy are not tied at the hip.

Once you build the perfect engine of destruction, you've gotta learn how to drive it.

- sidestep straight line attacks
- circle behind a lunging opponent
- jump or roll just out of reach and dart back in
- attack from a higher postion
- force you enemies into choke points
- use one opponent as a barrier against others
- never let them get behind you
- you dont always need to kill ever opponent...... sometimes the group only needs you to distract them


In short....... move strategicly but not so much that onlookers would say u r running and gaining a -4 penalty to hit.

[Aranticus]

This is just to gather information for a SAFE and RELIABLE build, and while someone may not agree with another person's ideas please put down exactly why you disagree or agree instead of saying "man that build sucks!" without an explanation along with why it does and how to improve on it.

the resources are in my sig

[William_the_Bat]

Two weapon fighting does a good bit more damage than two handed, but the downside is you have to find twice as many weapons, and build your character with higher dex.

Khopeshes are especially nice for a two-weapon fighter with the exotic weapon proficiency and oversized two weapon fighting... as a fighter, you have lots of feats to spend to increase your damage.

Stupid but true: if you go two-handed, use greataxes and mauls, as greatswords actually have a slower attack animation that will make you do less damage. I really hope they fix this, as I really like greatswords and falchions, but hate having people taunt me when I use them in PUGs.

If you want to go two-weapon, make -sure- you start with a dex of 16 or 17, as it takes a dex of 17 to take the later two weapon fighting feats. (a +1 dex tome before level 6 is not too hard to get if you shop for bargains in the auction house)

Also, if you take a weapon focus feat first, you can take weapon specialization, a fighter-only feat that adds directly to your damage with the specified category of weapon. You can take weapon specialization at 4, so take weapon focus early.

Toughness and power attack are also very important feats. Toughness looks mildly useful, adding 3 HP at level 1 and 1 HP every additional level, but much more importantly it unlocks the toughness enhancements which will net you LOADS more HP. Power attack lets you trade attack bonus for damage, and once you get up a few levels you'll turn it on and leave it on except for a few hard to hit monsters, which you will learn to recognize as long as you pay attention to weather or not you are hitting.

Oh, a hint about weapons to look for, some people swear by their elemental damage weapons so much that they are still using a +1 greataxe of pure good at level 8. If they switched to a +5 greataxe, they'd gain +4 to hit and on average do more damage per hit (except against highly damage resistant monsters, like ghostly skeletons), and if the added attack bonus meant they could turn on power attack and still hit reliably, then a whole load more damage. This is why I almost always prefer a "righteousness" weapon (+2 attack and damage vs evil opponants) to an elemental or pure good one.

For someone who is just starting out and has no cash to shop the AH with except what he earns, I'd probably go with the two-handed approach, you'll need half as many weapons, and you won't be scrambling to try to afford a +1 dex tome before you hit level 6 or spending the attribute points for 17 dex.

Good luck and remember to have fun!

[Drunknmunkey]

Very fine information, bookmarked the page with the templates will help a lot but some people, like me, jump straight into a class forums for info hehe. Honestly this is a pretty big jump from auto-attacking and spamming about 3 buttons, to having to think outside the box on fights and solving the occasional puzzle.

I didn't even check the new players forum yet, mostly because I (and I'm betting a lot of other people will or already have) started looking at class forums first for information, but I'll be sure to pass along that info if someone asks.

Also another question popped in my mind, what is the best way to deal with fear effects due to fighters low will saves? Ugh I still remember the first time I ran into a 25second fear followed by some fear chains with me and my friend doing waterworks.

[monkeypoopie7]

Very fine information, bookmarked the page with the templates will help a lot but some people, like me, jump straight into a class forums for info hehe. Honestly this is a pretty big jump from auto-attacking and spamming about 3 buttons, to having to think outside the box on fights and solving the occasional puzzle.

I didn't even check the new players forum yet, mostly because I (and I'm betting a lot of other people will or already have) started looking at class forums first for information, but I'll be sure to pass along that info if someone asks.

Also another question popped in my mind, what is the best way to deal with fear effects due to fighters low will saves? Ugh I still remember the first time I ran into a 25second fear followed by some fear chains with me and my friend doing waterworks.

Well, I'm not sure if this is the best thing to do, but it is what I do, just get behind a wall where whatever caster feared you can't hit you. Chances are they won't move to hit you.

[William_the_Bat]

Remove fear potions, unfortunately, can not be used on yourself while you are feared. (kinda dumb, huh?) but you can use them for a temporary boost to your saves vs fear, or better, use one on a friend who has become feared.

[Uska]

Well lets see,

all races can be good fighters

I like my human an extra feat was nice and extra skill points dont hurt.

I gave my fighter a 13 int so he could take combat expertise and improved trip and at mid lvl tripping trolls, giants and ogres sure saves me a lot of pots and the cleric some sp.

[DemonMage]

as greatswords actually have a slower attack animation that will make you do less damage.

This is supposed to be fixed for Mod 9 at least.

[Uska]

Remove fear potions, unfortunately, can not be used on yourself while you are feared. (kinda dumb, huh?) but you can use them for a temporary boost to your saves vs fear, or better, use one on a friend who has become feared.

get a helm of free will or a reavers ring very useful for nonpaladin weak will save types

[Aerendil]

Well lets see,

all races can be good fighters

I like my human an extra feat was nice and extra skill points dont hurt.

I gave my fighter a 13 int so he could take combat expertise and improved trip and at mid lvl tripping trolls, giants and ogres sure saves me a lot of pots and the cleric some sp.

Yep, and with the Kensai benefits, most Fighters will be even more adept at using their combat tactics.

Another option is stunning blow for auto-crits. Very nice with big crit weapons, such as khopesh or picks.

[gfunk]

I'll just make sine comments on Race, or else this post will get too long

Dwarf: more HP and more con (2 higher initial + 2 enh), tactical enhancements, racial weapon enhancments (Dwarven axe), higher AC (armor mastery.. if you can fit in the dex and enhancements to take advantage of it). Dwarves make nice durable fighters. You could easily get over 600 hp with one. It makes sense to go with dwarven axes (higher +to hit and +2 damage), even though khopesh would be more dps in most cases. Its too bad they don't get racial weapon enhancements for warhammers or I would strongly consider making a dwarf stunning blow tactics fighter. I would think about making a dwarf that would use a weighted warhammer in one hand and a vertigo DA in the other (for trash, just Daxe's for red names)... or you could go THF and switch between maul / great axe. Dwarves also make great tanks.. if you are into that sort of thing. With the defender Pre, you could reach an very high AC wtih an armored dwarf.

Elf/Drow: more dex (2 higher initial + 2 enh), racial weapon enhancements [+2 hit/damage for rapier,scimitar, falchion, longsword (elf) shortsword (drow)]. Kind of tough to see what to do with an elf fighter (imo). The new racial enhancements for falchion might make an elf a decent THF build, esp if you are using weapon effects that are crit range dependant. Alternatively you might consider a stat damaging TWF rapier build. Even with the changes for mod 9, it should be an effective way of disposing of trash.

Human: extra feat, healing amplification, +1 to 2 stats of choice (likely str and con), human versatility enh. I would definately go khopesh for a human and max out healing amp for improved surviveability. I might also consider building in a bit extra UMD as a human can achieve no-fail numbers for heal scrolls if they include human versatility. I would likely choose TWF for human fighters.

Warforged: PA enh, immunities, tactical enhancements. I would consider making a bludgeon spec warforged with maxed out stunning blow enhancements. Such a build should be very effective vs. trash and have decent damage vs. red names (mauls and warhammers aren't that bad for fighters when you consider the enhanced crit range). I would consider either TWF or THF for a warforged fighter. THF might be nice to better handle the decreased to hit from the WF PA enhancements (assuming higher AC's for mobs in mod 9).

Halfling: more dex (2 higher initial + 2 enh), +8 sneak attack damage (halfling guile), halfling healing marks. I would consider making a halfling fighter with max healing marks, and guile. I would probably choose rapiers (and craft radience II asap) to take advantage of the greater crit range (or khopesh for max dps). A halfling Kensai would blind opponents on rolls from 14 to 20, so they would be very likely to get alot of sneak attack damage vs. trash. Halfling healing marks would make them quite surviveable. For halfling I would go TWF.

[malaky]

This is supposed to be fixed for Mod 9 at least.

It has definitely been fixed in mod 9. I have tested it on beta.

[Uska]

Yep, and with the Kensai benefits, most Fighters will be even more adept at using their combat tactics.

Another option is stunning blow for auto-crits. Very nice with big crit weapons, such as khopesh or picks.

Yeah I plan on getting the stun thing going as well plus kensai