Any pure pallies able to solo effectively?

[catalyst111]

Been reading through a lot of the posts, have studied junts build guide, but can't seem to find a solid answer. I prefer pure pally for the capstone, lean more towards 2HF, but its not crucial. Have 32 pt builds unlocked, VIP player, and drow. From what i've read I might want to roll a pally tank if i'm interested in more of a solo route? Sorry if i've missed another thread that goes more indepth into this subject, but i'm pretty terrible at searching forums other than going page by page lol. If someone could link a good thread that address the subject as well I'd greatly appreciate it!

[DToNE]

Unfortunately, being a pure paladin has too many restraints that prevent it from being able to solo. A few examples would be Traps, Locked Doors, Evasion, Beholders, and INT activation runes.

Oh well, that's what team play is for!

[lord_of_rage]

Pure paladins can solo lower lvl content fine. Depending on how you build your paladin mid and some higher lvl stuff. But its gear intensive at that point.

[SteeleTrueheart]

Pure paladins can solo lower lvl content fine. Depending on how you build your paladin mid and some higher lvl stuff. But its gear intensive at that point.

Yes I agree that higher level content really takes the right gear on a pure pally. With good gear things are hard. With great gear not so hard but not easy either. You will probably never see a paladin soloing DQ2 for instance.

Of course nothing will help if the player is bad. Like constantly forgetting holy sword components. Rushing down the final hallway in Sins after forgetting to chug an invisibility pot. Or thinking you can take a quick afk in a place mobs patrol.

Err .. I mean I have heard of these things happening!

[catalyst111]

Yeah, but I really don't want to derail into a "this game is more enjoyable with a team" thing. I realize that for most people it is. I am, however, a new dad and my play time is easily interupted by a fussing baby. I get to squeeze in quests when he is napping or wife is off from work watching him. There are other reasons besides introversion as to why people look towards solo.

That being said...I guess I have to look more towards the rogue splash builds for effective soloing?

[catalyst111]

awesome, thanks rage. I will go back to junts post and do more looking into the splash builds

[lord_of_rage]

Yeah, but I really don't want to derail into a "this game is more enjoyable with a team" thing. I realize that for most people it is. I am, however, a new dad and my play time is easily interupted by a fussing baby. I get to squeeze in quests when he is napping or wife is off from work watching him. There are other reasons besides introversion as to why people look towards solo.

That being said...I guess I have to look more towards the rogue splash builds for effective soloing?

Congratulations! Its really hard to get trap skills out of a paladin rogue. You are just really starved for skill points. The rogue lvls help with umd, provide evasion, and open lock is nice. But youll be pushing it for trap skills. Most traps on normal you can just time and run through. Same for hard. Elite hurts abit. If you can muster a solid armor class low lvl youll blow through quests fine. A dwarven paladin set up defender of syberis is amazing low lvl. Youll have 50 self buffed stanced ac at lvl 8 with the right gear. So nigh untouchable. You could splash fighter. There are options for solo friendly paladins it just takes some work and gear. Do you have 32pt builds avalible?

[DToNE]

Yeah, but I really don't want to derail into a "this game is more enjoyable with a team" thing. I realize that for most people it is. I am, however, a new dad and my play time is easily interupted by a fussing baby. I get to squeeze in quests when he is napping or wife is off from work watching him. There are other reasons besides introversion as to why people look towards solo.

That being said...I guess I have to look more towards the rogue splash builds for effective soloing?

Actually, it's already been derailed before, just that I haven't heard about it from Paladins yet. The only build I heard of that has actually derailed from the "this game is more enjoyable with a team" was actually Valiance's Cleric build ( http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=164323 ), which was built under similar situations to your own. Of course, this is only a viable choice if you're not dead set with Paladin with 2HF.

[unbongwah]

That being said...I guess I have to look more towards the rogue splash builds for effective soloing?

You don't need to be a rogue splash to solo effectively, though you do need it if you want to be able to deal with locks & traps, of course. I'm currently soloing a TWF drow rogue / paladin; only lvl 6 at the moment (rogue 2 / pally 4), but so far I do pretty good DPS with a pair of keen rapiers, have great saves & Evasion, and have been able to deal with every trap I've come across using decent-but-not-great trapmonkey gear. For a 32-pt THF version, I would do a human (or maybe dwarf) with less DEX and more INT.

Biggest problem I've had so far is LoH isn't sufficient healing by itself. Granted, if I were a pure paladin, I'd have more powerful LoH; but I suspect I would still need wands, potions, or a hireling. Other than that, I've been pretty pleased with this build; on a good day I even manage to solo n+1 Hard content, which is rare for me.

[Thrudh]

Yeah, but I really don't want to derail into a "this game is more enjoyable with a team" thing. I realize that for most people it is. I am, however, a new dad and my play time is easily interupted by a fussing baby. I get to squeeze in quests when he is napping or wife is off from work watching him. There are other reasons besides introversion as to why people look towards solo.

That being said...I guess I have to look more towards the rogue splash builds for effective soloing?

Traps are no big deal for a paladin/rogue or paladin/monk with evasion... just run through most of them.

Don't even try to get your disable skills up on such a build... Grab a few ranks in Open Lock on an 18/2 paladin/rogue, and that's about it...

[catalyst111]

Yeah, the rogue splash would be for evasion only. Don't really care about disabling the trap as long as it isn't a one shot kill sorta deal =).

[PopeJual]

Yeah, the rogue splash would be for evasion only. Don't really care about disabling the trap as long as it isn't a one shot kill sorta deal =).

I'll second that remark. I put points into Open Locks and I get a lot of use out of that skill. I put no points into Search and Disable Device and I'm okay with that on soloing because I can just sprint through the traps without taking any serious damage most of the time.

[SteeleTrueheart]

<SNIP!> A whole bunch of wrong stuff <SNIP!>

Usually I do not look at peoples join date, but this time it explains the incorrect statement that was just made.



Yes my pure paladins solo quite a lot. It is actually not too difficult if you are willing to put some resources into it and you get a decent UMD score. Learn your limitations and it becomes a challenge to yourself to try harder and harder things and really learn what the class can do.

[LongshotBro]

i've played ddo on and off for years. there's been times of abundant friends and groups and times of solitary with many characters. honestly, for me personally, the pally has been the best all around class that i've enjoyed the most for solo and grouping.

the high points for me :
1) lay on hands
2) smite evil
3) saves/immunities

most recently i've been using a drow twf. i should note i am not a strict optimizer. he's got two acidy shortswords, acid guard armor, and that big drow scorpion and i have no complaints.

to my knowledge, there is no shangri-la of solo builds that can sneak, dps, tank, ranged, spellcast, heal themselves, have top-notch ac, and a plethora of skills. that being said, i'd say no matter what your build, you're going to miss out on something when you solo.

at the same time, if you can survive the fights, maybe heal yourself a couple times, make it to a shrine then complete the quest, what are you really losing? a few chests, the drop on some mobs, and boasting of making it through unscathed?

in so many games both online, offline, and PnP we tend to get bogged down creating virtually indestructible characters only to use them and find out they can still bleed. all these adventure games are more fun to me when you get your butt handed to you but still survive and in that regard, i endorse the pally for solo play.

they can kill monsters. they can mitigate damage. they have good protection. all your choices in creation are variations on those themes.

[arminius]

Unfortunately, being a pure paladin has too many restraints that prevent it from being able to solo. A few examples would be Traps, Locked Doors, Evasion, Beholders, and INT activation runes.

Oh well, that's what team play is for!

Paladins are excellent soloers. They are the best until higher levels, when Sorcs (esp. with Force of Personality) and self-repairing Warforged Wizards overtake them. Paladins self heal, self buff, and have outstanding saves which allow them to overcome traps and especially Will save problems that can easily be the death of soloers.

I can't think of any quest that you are held back by any limitation in the above quoted post, at least any quest where one would be soloing to begin with (i.e. we ain't talking VON 5 here). No traps that are impassible. Locked doors hold optionals, not the main quest goals (except maybe, what, Tempest Spine? Any other class soloing that?). Evasion isn't necessary. Beholders are Paladin's sushi--Beholders attack with things that call for saves, and Paladins have the best saves in the game. I can't think of any quest that any other class could solo where an Int activation rune holds a main quest goal.

Oh and before anyone has a cow of omission, Clerics and Favored Souls can be excellent soloing classes as well.

[dopamine]

Unfortunately, being a pure paladin has too many restraints that prevent it from being able to solo. A few examples would be Traps, Locked Doors, Evasion, Beholders, and INT activation runes.

Oh well, that's what team play is for!

this isn't true at all, everyone of those things are nothing to a paladin. trap? zerg thru barlely getting scratched even without evasion. locked door? skip it, loot inside is probably not even worth it. beholder? hunter of the dead 2, or beholder optic nerves...hell even a paralyzer will take it down

[catalyst111]

hehe, well after all the discussion I now feel fairly safe that I can roll a pally and have it do what I want it to. Now just have to settle on a build =).

[PopeJual]

hehe, well after all the discussion I now feel fairly safe that I can roll a pally and have it do what I want it to. Now just have to settle on a build =).

Here's my 0.02 Plat:

Do you want to play this Paladin a whole lot? If you want to do lots of Epic stuff with a Paladin, go for a pure Paladin 20. Your choice for Two Weapon Fighting or Two Handed Fighting. Paladins get to add Good damage to all their attacks at level 20 with the Paladin Capstone and Epic weapons get an Epic augmentation slot that lets you put Silver on the weapon to make your super Epic weapon both a Boss beater and a trash beater at the same time. Most folks have to put away their Epic weapon when they fight the boss. A pure Paladin doesn't.

Do you enjoy leveling up more than you enjoy sitting at 20? If so, then play an evasion Paladin. Rogues can Open Locks and they get lots of Use Magic Device skill to make them well rounded. Monks get 2 extra feats and a couple of bonus tricks that are mildly amusing. With a Paladin's crazy high saves and Evasion, you can run through spells and traps without even blinking. Just don't try to do traps if you make a Rogue2/Paladin18. You get 2 skill points per level for being a Paladin. That's not enough for traps even if you are a super-smart Human.

[Kalldorey]

Hello guys !
You are advising to pick 2 lvl Rogue for Evasion feat, but if it doesn't work with heavy armor how it can be useful ? You always swap your armor ? Or You are wearing light armor ?
Thanks for the answer.

[catalyst111]

A challenge I'm fine with. Don't expect easy steam rolling like in other mmos since this game is more group orientated. As long as it is fesible and not a complete waste of time, I'm game =). Guess i'll just roll one out and see what I can do.