cn Kensai have a meaningful AC at level 20?

[Bolo_Grubb]

and is so, how?

[Ulf]

Yes they can but its usually gear specfic.

10 (base) + 15 (FP) + 1 (dodge feat) + 2 (dodge, chaosguarde) + 3 (dodge, chatt ring) + 4 (insight, shroud) + 4 (nat armor, DT) + 8 (shield) + 4 (dex) + 5 (CE) + 1 (armor alchem) +1 (shield alchem)
= 58 unbuffed, no pots

Easily high 70s with full raid buffs and pots.


Notes:
1. Requires going S&B other wise -8 AC (9 from shiled + alchem - 1 TWD).
2. Lot of kensai without CE, so -2 AC (defensive stance instead of CE).
3. dex bonus of 4 is with 3 armor masteries and of course 18 or higher dex. If say dwarf, could better at cost of AP.
4. combo of S&B + CE will significantly reduce dps.
5. Epic gear would rasie a bit more.

[Bolo_Grubb]

ok thanks that does help a lot.

I understand my DPS will drop when going S&B but that will be situational. Most of the time I will be TWF but having the option of going tank when needed is nice. I have some of the equipment you mention and working on the rest.

[MrWizard]

You will be at 7 ac less than a stalwart....and possibly not get as much max dex bonus either by a point or two.

That being said, yes, you can get a good AC. The more gear you have the better.

A stalwart, all buffed and such at end game, with a lot of gear can get in the low 90s, which means you could get to the mid 80s. (with a tower shield on).

I do not think you will get the Damage reduction they would get (I have 39 right now on mine while blocking), but kensai has many pluses too.

10 base
15 dragon touch armor
5 max dex bonus (could be higher?)
4 insight (heightened awareness DT armor)
2 chaos bracers (easy to get, Lawful or UMD needed)
5 combat expertise (would require turning off Power attack)
1 dodge feat
1 alchemical armor bonus ritual
3 chattering ring (extremely hard to grind for)
(9 Tower Shield)
(1 shield alchemical ritual)
(2 blocking)
--------------------------------------
46 unbuffed, no shield (58 with shield, blocking)

(stalwart would have 3 from PrE, 4 from stance, +3 blocking, +1/2 max dex for 11/12 extra)

5 ranger barkskin
1 haste
5 pally aura
4 bard song
5 ac boost (short duration)
2 recitation
--------------------------
68 no shield, 80 shield blocking

You could get two weapon defense feat to make that 69 two weapon fighting.

There may be other kensai things that add to max dex bonus, ac extras, etc, I do not know.
Also, the new mod allows the fighter armor boost to be on separate timer with things like human versatility would could add 5+5 for 10 more ac in short boosts to get you at 78/90.


Your Damage reduction, should you need to turtle for an end boss could still be significant.
15 leviks defender tower shield
6 regular and improved shield mastery
? kensai or other enhancement buff?

at least 21, probably a bit more, not sure of what is standard. My stalwart has 11 DR when two weapon fighting and not sure where all that comes from (vast and mysterious)

Just as a stalwart can be dps with proper feats and kensai can go AC, both will not be as good as the other in the other's field of expertise.

Stalwat just keeps getting access to extra ac boosts, while kensai keeps getting access to extra to hit and damage items/boosts.

It can go both ways...I am respeccing my stalwart to go DPS and hope to come near compare to kensai, but it will always be short.

[Seikojin]

The max I see for dex bonus is +6 in FP given the right enhancements.

[Emili]

Old build but Shugar had built such... Kensai/Tank and really was not something we did not know before PrE - intimitanks did know was quite plausible. A good bulk of AC be in items.

[Bolo_Grubb]

Old build but Shugar had built such... Kensai/Tank and really was not something we did not know before PrE - intimitanks did know was quite plausible. A good bulk of AC be in items.

what does PrE stand for?

and I have decided to use the Shugar build with minor changes. I had seen that build before bu tlost the link to it.

The main change I am making is to put a few points into Cha and use the Force of Personality feat so that several thing will benefit from higher Cha. The downside is slightly lower COn but the result is only 20 points less health point at level 20

[Rusty_Can]

what does PrE stand for?

Prestige Enhancements (e.g. kensai).

[Emili]

what does PrE stand for?

and I have decided to use the Shugar build with minor changes. I had seen that build before bu tlost the link to it.

The main change I am making is to put a few points into Cha and use the Force of Personality feat so that several thing will benefit from higher Cha. The downside is slightly lower COn but the result is only 20 points less health point at level 20

Prestige Enhancements as stated ... Kensai and arcane achers etc... in DnD are what are known as prestige classes. In DDO they added them late - past lvl 10 - thus decided to implement them (not all aspects) as enhancements.

Shugar noted something I did when 32 point builds were introduced... a fighter could be spec'd to fluctuate enough to take on typically differing roles we used to hard press them into before 32 points and +3 tomes. Shugar poised and double geared his character to serve both an AC/intimidator (not the max but enough) and still maintain max fighter DPS... Highly gear intensive but I knew could be done. Fact is those starting stats are akin to my last three year old reroll except for one point disbursement between Con and Int...

See in the past had an Intimidating/tank and rerolled it as a tactical and DPS build a few times out of boredom with the use. Then when they introduced 32 points and added feat respec I thought screw it am just going to build something I could manipulate by simple respecs. So I set stat abilities close enough to be able to take any feats available to a fighter, max'd str and set for tomes to take care of pre-reqs.

[TheDjinnFor]

Here's a build I found:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=171420