Preparing my Warchanter for Vale/Shroud Completions

[AltheaSteelrain]

Pimp my Toon!~

As much as I really try to slow down my gained experience while grinding for plat or +6 generic equipment (ransacking mired in kobolds, grinding stormcleave outpost, running tempest spine) and finding better weapons (paralyzing, vorpal, silver/transmute falchions of good etc.. etc..) I am six levels short of level 20. I am f2p, so please don't mind the quest choice. To help w/ you guys giving advice, here is my adventure pack list so far:

Catacombs
Delera's Tomb
Vale (not yet buying, still waiting for discount to squeeze in Sands, but can already buy one if need be)

Here is my current Toon and equipment load-out

8 bard / 4 fighter / 2 barb
True Neutral

OMG no AC song? The reason why is because I dont have enough Songs per rest to AC song to begin with, and opt to maximize the overall DPS of the group through Fascinate (yes I use them alot more than the ironskin Chant) and Bard Melee Songs. Though I know it'll be problematic later on, I'll be running mostly w/ my guildies or PUGs, so its kinda irrelevant. I chose more HP, Combat DC's for Trip/Stunning Blow, Weapon Specialization since I crit alot (falchion), more To Hit and Extra Feats. I like to use trip/stunning blow simply because its cost effective to disable casters first as melee and mash away rather than swinging madly at them (they jump around, and cast defense buffs more often in my experience and I don't like tough casters). My current Combat DCs for both Stunning Blow and Trip are 24, in rage + barb rage mode.

HP (unbuffed): 266
HP (spell rage): 274
HP: (spell rage + barb rage): 307
SP: 245 (this is to be discussed below) + 100(magi) = 345

Str: 21 +1 (Fighter) +6(item)+2 (rage) +4(barb rage) = 34
Dex: 10+2(item; working on it) = 12
Con: 14+1 (barb) + 3 (item; working on it) = 18
Int: 8 (dump stat)
Wis: 8 (dump stat)
Cha: 10 + 1 (tome) +2 (item; I don't know if Bard's cloak is BtA or BtC, if not then I might beg for one from my guildies running one :P) = 13

AC: 23 (problematic, i need serious help here)
Saves: +17 fort, +14 Reflex +11 Will

Current Gear

Weapon: Main weapon - +5 Icy Burst kit Holy Falchion of Goblinoid Bane (flavor LOL) w/ Force Critical
Undead Masher - +1 Anarchic Greataxe of Greater Undead Bane (I hate mummies :P) / +3 Holy QStaff of PG
Vampire/construct - +3 Metalline Greataxe
Ranged - +2 Returning Silver Throwing Axe

Head: Divine Power (5x CL:7) Headgear (until I can find better ones or another DP googles)

Goggles: Goggles of Divine Power (3x CL:7)/ Goggles of Insight

Armor: Elemental Mithral Breastplate (I wont bind and attune this for +1 dodge since I plan to reuse this for my other toons, though I noticed its becoming rather obsolete, or am I mistaken?) / Deathblock Robe of Spell Resistance 17 (beholder mashing)

Bracers: Ogre Power Bracers +6 / Iron Manacles (for Deathblock robe mode)
Rings: Ring of Stability (left), Charismatic Ring +2 of Acid Resistance (I don't like Melf's arrow)

Boots: Featherfall Boots; still farming for Remlin's Step

Gloves: +2 Dexterous Gloves of Perform +11 / Linen Handwraps (mummy rot @_@)

Belt: x2 Planar Girdles / Belt of Divine power (5x CL:7)/ Health Belt of Balance (Can't find a better Health Belt of Imp. False Life yet)

Cloak: Cloak of Resistance / All Greater Energy cloaks

Trinket: Voice of the Master / Tharaak's Fang (if I know I'll fail my save) (Kardin's eye is so expensive )

Amulet: Nightforge Gorget (never letting this go since I cannot afford Necro Series)

So I think you know by now my current problems, but what I really want to focus on would be my self sufficiency through item heal versus mana heal; If i do the former, I drop my DPS, switching shield + wand healing, while if I do the latter I don't think I have enough SP up until I craft a Concord Op item w/c is irrelevant seeing I'm not even there yet. My solution would be to drop my Stunning Blow Feat and my Second Toughness Feat and re-spec it to Mental Toughness and Imp. Mental Toughness so taking Emp Heal/Quicken spell later would be more efficient.

AC is also a problem, which somehow is related to my SP pool problem. I don't really have problems with AC ,seeing I can use Blur and Displacement. But having SP management problems in the first place, already eliminates the perma displace/haste strategy unless during key portions of any quest (boss fights, lots of shrines, boredom, zerg...). So I'm down to just blur. And this blur is a glass wall waiting to be broken as soon as I get dispelled. I really don't know how to bump my AC up to acceptable level unless I go Icy Raiment + Armor Bracers. Or is there another way?

For my weapon, yeah its **** LOL. I'm still looking for vorpals, paralyzers, Shattermantles, Mettaline of Pure Good. Where can I find them? Do they Drop in The Vale?

I need to prepare myself a lot since I brand my Bard as Melee Specc'd. I need to live up to that name or else reroll :P

Any other ideas, concern, feedback, criticisms are welcome.

PS: Can anyone show a link for Shroud videos? like from part 1 - part 5. TY (browses youtube while I wait)

[Noctus]

AC: 23 (problematic, i need serious help here)

Nope, all fine here ...

You wont be able to reach anything working in these levels anyway, so not wasting resources into this is best.

Keep Displacement up 24/7 and Stoneskin Chant and you have a nice, working defense.

[sweez]

Just did my first Shroud on my splashed Warchanter (16 bard, 2 fighter, 2 barbarian), she did fine, could've done better but that was more of a player's fault than a toon's fault.

Don't worry about AC, mine is non-existant, I get by fine with Displacement/Stoneskin wands (not saying it's impossible to have a relevant AC on a bard, not saying that AC isn't useful, just saying unless you've built your toon to have a meaningful AC from the beginning, you should just ignore it).

Get some mana-increasing items to help you have Displacement/Haste up most of the time (I have 765 mana at level 20 without Mental Toughness with modified charisma of 22, no idea how that compares to other Warchanters but it's enough to keep the party perma-hasted and myself perma-displaced, throwing spot displacements/empowered mass cure mods on other melees).

~440 unbuffed HP, ~500 with temp HP self-buffed (I wouldn't recommend going into Shroud until you break 300). Don't forget Heavy Fort item (seems like you have that covered, although I'd still recommend getting Necro4 for Minos Legens, the stackable boost to HP will help you break 300/400 HP faster). Weapons - for the most part you can get by with just vorpals/DPS (you'll need a boss beater for Harry too, metalline/silver pure good/holy).

Don't forget mass cure mod/heal/fireshield scrolls if you can use them.

Hope some of that helps, I'm relatively new to the game myself.

[sirgog]

All you need on a Bard to be worth a party slot in the Shroud is the following:

Buffs:
Inspired Damage 2 or better (3 is worth taking)

Defenses:
Any ONE of the following if meleeing Harry:
350+ hp
300+ hp and Firestorm Greaves
300+ hp and the ability to cast Fire Shield - Cold on yourself
Plus, of course, the mandatory Heavy Fortification.

Offense:
Any ONE of the following:
A weapon that breaks Harry's DR
A Greater Lawful (or Evil) Outsider Bane weapon (easier to obtain than a DR beater, and much better value - don't use these above Normal, however)
A way to put out meaningful healing in part 4-5 (100% Heal scrolls, or Maximize, both Mass Cures and Superior Ardor 6) - having the bard heal in these parts slows the completion down slightly, but is a little more resilient if things go badly wrong.

[78mackson]

All you need on a Bard to be worth a party slot in the Shroud is the following:

Buffs:
Inspired Damage 2 or better (3 is worth taking)

...
A way to put out meaningful healing in part 4-5 (100% Heal scrolls, or Maximize, both Mass Cures and Superior Ardor 6) - having the bard heal in these parts slows the completion down slightly, but is a little more resilient if things go badly wrong.

Always max out inspired dmg, your song is the only unique thing about the class...

I doubt that this bard will be a healbot enough to solo heal shroud; not getting mass moderate kinda gives that away, so no need to worry about healing for other purposes then keeping your own scrawny behind intact... casting heal scrolls in raids as a form of healing is surely a tactic that would be considered "the last way out"/"The Alamo".. OP's bard will probably be more usefull then an average PUG fighter anyway so stand infront of the big chicken and absorb the healing from the dedicated healer, just like an ordinary f*ck up...

[Irinis]

Bard's Cloak is BTC, the good news is that by getting Vale you will also have access to the Subt raids. Until you get it (which should be pretty quick, it drops a LOT and for the most part nobody wants it!) just grab a +6 cha cloak of whatever.

To get Minos helm as F2P, buy the tapestries on AH or from guildies then ask in trade channel to buy a 30-min guest pass to Necro 4 for plat. Go in and get your helm, then bum around in slayers for a bit (especially if you can get an arcane caster friend along) and get some extra xp for the remaining time. Well worth it.

[AltheaSteelrain]

Nope, all fine here ...

You wont be able to reach anything working in these levels anyway, so not wasting resources into this is best.

Keep Displacement up 24/7 and Stoneskin Chant and you have a nice, working defense.

So I should start hoarding those stoneskin wands now? :P

[AltheaSteelrain]

Just did my first Shroud on my splashed Warchanter (16 bard, 2 fighter, 2 barbarian), she did fine, could've done better but that was more of a player's fault than a toon's fault.

Don't worry about AC, mine is non-existant, I get by fine with Displacement/Stoneskin wands (not saying it's impossible to have a relevant AC on a bard, not saying that AC isn't useful, just saying unless you've built your toon to have a meaningful AC from the beginning, you should just ignore it).

Get some mana-increasing items to help you have Displacement/Haste up most of the time (I have 765 mana at level 20 without Mental Toughness with modified charisma of 22, no idea how that compares to other Warchanters but it's enough to keep the party perma-hasted and myself perma-displaced, throwing spot displacements/empowered mass cure mods on other melees).

~440 unbuffed HP, ~500 with temp HP self-buffed (I wouldn't recommend going into Shroud until you break 300). Don't forget Heavy Fort item (seems like you have that covered, although I'd still recommend getting Necro4 for Minos Legens, the stackable boost to HP will help you break 300/400 HP faster). Weapons - for the most part you can get by with just vorpals/DPS (you'll need a boss beater for Harry too, metalline/silver pure good/holy).

Don't forget mass cure mod/heal/fireshield scrolls if you can use them.

Hope some of that helps, I'm relatively new to the game myself.

So I should not drop my stunning blow and second toughness feats and instead try to find those SP suffix items? I suppose I'll work on getting at least 500 SP @ 20.

[AltheaSteelrain]

Buffs:
Inspired Damage 2 or better (3 is worth taking)

I have all song enhancements maxed up to the most possible at my given bard level (bard 14)

Defenses:
Any ONE of the following if meleeing Harry:
350+ hp
300+ hp and Firestorm Greaves
300+ hp and the ability to cast Fire Shield - Cold on yourself
Plus, of course, the mandatory Heavy Fortification.

350 HP = can do
300 HP w/ Firestorm Greaves = I don't have sands yet, so can I get away with wands or scroll casting Fire Shield fire/cold?

Heavy Fort = Got this covered

Offense:
Any ONE of the following:
A weapon that breaks Harry's DR
A Greater Lawful (or Evil) Outsider Bane weapon (easier to obtain than a DR beater, and much better value - don't use these above Normal, however)

I would invest in long term so I'll work on getting a harry beater that works even on epic.

A way to put out meaningful healing in part 4-5 (100% Heal scrolls, or Maximize, both Mass Cures and Superior Ardor 6) - having the bard heal in these parts slows the completion down slightly, but is a little more resilient if things go badly wrong.

I don't think Superior Ardoring my Mass Cure Light Wounds w/ healing enhancements would be efficient but I'll keep this in mind on my future shroud runs.

[AltheaSteelrain]

Always max out inspired dmg, your song is the only unique thing about the class...

I doubt that this bard will be a healbot enough to solo heal shroud; not getting mass moderate kinda gives that away, so no need to worry about healing for other purposes then keeping your own scrawny behind intact... casting heal scrolls in raids as a form of healing is surely a tactic that would be considered "the last way out"/"The Alamo".. OP's bard will probably be more usefull then an average PUG fighter anyway so stand infront of the big chicken and absorb the healing from the dedicated healer, just like an ordinary f*ck up...

Let me get this straight if I understand you; I will do fine w/ max songs and be a better than nothing Fighter, keeping a relative distance between the "cleaving" attacks and trying my best to flank the boss while watching for my HP bar to not reach the Delayed Blast Fireball Death Range?

[AltheaSteelrain]

Bard's Cloak is BTC, the good news is that by getting Vale you will also have access to the Subt raids. Until you get it (which should be pretty quick, it drops a LOT and for the most part nobody wants it!) just grab a +6 cha cloak of whatever.

To get Minos helm as F2P, buy the tapestries on AH or from guildies then ask in trade channel to buy a 30-min guest pass to Necro 4 for plat. Go in and get your helm, then bum around in slayers for a bit (especially if you can get an arcane caster friend along) and get some extra xp for the remaining time. Well worth it.

Oooh is that so? So I really can get Minos as F2P! Wow

As for the Bard's Cloak, how early can I get them? I like the + to perform since I use fascinate a lot.

[Junts]

So I should start hoarding those stoneskin wands now? :P

stoneskin can be purchased in the twelve

make sure you work in at least a 100 sp, if not a 150 sp, item so you have enough sp to keep up displacement. It should be your 2nd lv 3 spell, and its absolutely necessary.

From the vale and onward, only people who have built from level 1 onward for armor class will typically have enough to matter. Defense for everyone who isn't a monk splashed ranger/cleric/rogue, a monk, or a ac based paladin/fighter is now about dr and displacement. The required ac to not be hit in the Shroud is around 65 starting for trash mobs. You'd never achieve it without a reincarnation.

[AltheaSteelrain]

stoneskin can be purchased in the twelve

make sure you work in at least a 100 sp, if not a 150 sp, item so you have enough sp to keep up displacement. It should be your 2nd lv 3 spell, and its absolutely necessary.

From the vale and onward, only people who have built from level 1 onward for armor class will typically have enough to matter. Defense for everyone who isn't a monk splashed ranger/cleric/rogue, a monk, or a ac based paladin/fighter is now about dr and displacement. The required ac to not be hit in the Shroud is around 65 starting for trash mobs. You'd never achieve it without a reincarnation.

Ohh thanks!~ I'll go check right now

I'll get magi or power X items on my trinket then, instead of Kardin's eye.

[Junts]

Ohh thanks!~ I'll go check right now

I'll get magi or power X items on my trinket then, instead of Kardin's eye.

Well, have both!

For now, a POPX is fine. Wear it going to the quest;/entering, buff, then swap; you'll spend 100 sp easily on buffs.

In time, though, you'll want to look for a larger SP item, and it'll go on another slot. Particularly easy ones to acquire drop from the Hound raid, which you can also run at shroud level (they are lv 17 raid quests). One is a wizardry 6 necklace with some other effects, and the other is a wizardry 7 ring. Neither is very wanted by endgame players, but they are both very effective bridge gear. The hound also drops a few other items you could look for, especially Levik's Bracers: This is a set of +6 str bracers that also give you 20% incoming healing amplification. This really helps keep heal scroll numbers high and makes you easy to heal by others, or yourself if you have the metamagics to actually be a viable healer. Especially as a human, because amplification is multiplicative, these effects get very powerful. All of my humans wear a 20% amplification effect somewhere in their gear.

Especially since you have more feats than other bards (4 fighter instead of just the standrad 16/2/2 splash, or even a pure build), you should make sure you have extend. The shortage of bard levels will shorten your hastes and displacements, and those are your key to your own success. You need to not only attack fast, but be able to dodge monsters quickly, and the 50% miss from displacement will cover you against nearly all non-raid boss monsters. Just hotkey displacement somewhere you can easily hit it fast when you get dispelled. Being dispelled by a caster in melee is one of the easiest ways for a young melee bard to die: you don't have the hp of other tanks, so if you stoneskin and displacement are gone, and you have any aggro, you're going to die very fast.

Remember to keep warsong chant up even if you are using stoneskin. It is very effective insurance against stoneskin wearing out when you're knocked down or being dispelled.


Remember that displacement is also good for nearly every other melee. If they're a two handed or two weapon fighter that isn't using monk robes, there's a really high chance that they have no AC and your displacement will make keeping them alive a lot easier for whoever's got that job.

[AltheaSteelrain]

Well, have both!

For now, a POPX is fine. Wear it going to the quest;/entering, buff, then swap; you'll spend 100 sp easily on buffs.

In time, though, you'll want to look for a larger SP item, and it'll go on another slot. Particularly easy ones to acquire drop from the Hound raid, which you can also run at shroud level (they are lv 17 raid quests). One is a wizardry 6 necklace with some other effects, and the other is a wizardry 7 ring. Neither is very wanted by endgame players, but they are both very effective bridge gear.

w/c + SP items stack? o.o

Especially since you have more feats than other bards (4 fighter instead of just the standrad 16/2/2 splash, or even a pure build), you should make sure you have extend. The shortage of bard levels will shorten your hastes and displacements, and those are your key to your own success. You need to not only attack fast, but be able to dodge monsters quickly, and the 50% miss from displacement will cover you against nearly all non-raid boss monsters. Just hotkey displacement somewhere you can easily hit it fast when you get dispelled. Being dispelled by a caster in melee is one of the easiest ways for a young melee bard to die: you don't have the hp of other tanks, so if you stoneskin and displacement are gone, and you have any aggro, you're going to die very fast.

Since I'm Elf (flavor), I lose 1 feat (human). I have 11 Feats total, most fighter feats went into 2nd toughness, stunning blow, Wep Focus/Spec, and bard stuff gets the entire extend + quicken + empower Healing package, and among other things (toughness, imp. crit, power attack...) Although If I go Human I'd get another toughness feat since I didn't get the entire THF chain (I'm doing fine w/o it)

Remember to keep warsong chant up even if you are using stoneskin. It is very effective insurance against stoneskin wearing out when you're knocked down or being dispelled.

So I should stop using fascinate @ shroud then? Am I not effective fascinating in the Shroud?

[Junts]

Fascinate is very effective but you can almost always count on your group to tell you when they want it used. They are not going to have you fascinate a pack of 6 trash mobs and kill them individually..if they did, the whole raid would take like 5 hours. Fascinating when it isn't requested will almost always be ineffective, since the mobs will be broken again almost immediately.

As you get into hound and vod, some mobs are immune to fascinate. However, even in epic quests it is potent: but in specific siutations, where you'll almost always be told to do it.

SP items don't stack (Outside shroud sp bonus, which is different). The two items I sugegsted both give more total SP than the pearl X, therefore giving you many slots on which you can acquire your SP item.

Maximize is far, far better for a healing bard than Empower healing, starting as soon as you have a good SP bar. You don't, because you don't have enough bard levels yet. Expect to swap those two feats in the future. It isn't feasible to expect emp healed mclw and mcmw to keep a raid party up. The heals are for less than 120ish even at endgame and empower healing alone simply isn't a viable healing strategy if you don't have mass cure crit, mass heal, or the radiant servant bonuses. Even most clerics/favored souls run maximize as their only healing-spell-boost feat. Empower healing is something they may take afterwords, but only radiant servants can really afford to heal with only empower healing in content of any kind of challenge.

2-3 toughness feats is unnecessarily high, even on an elf. There are more effective ways to extend your longevity.

Similarly, while stunning blow is an absolutely phenomenal feat, unless your strength is very, very high I think you'll find that it's soon inadequate in terms of DC. More importantly, a str-based warchanter (especially with 6 splash levels!) is probably never, even with the best items, have enough SP to support devoting 3 feats to raid healing. Bar longevity is a problem for 20 bard, cha based raid healers at times. I can't see stunning blow and the healing setup both being feasible on a 28 or 32 pt build as you move into the endgame and you want your stun dc to be, at minimum, 37 or so for epic content.

My guess is one of those two things is less than ideal for you going forward, where more specialization is required. You could use those feats and a 900ish sp bar to support using cure critical to self-heal, but if you're not a charisma build, I think you're gonna be hard-pressed getting the spellpoints to actually use mass cures and raid heal. I'm not sure that 2 feats is justified on using CCW to do something you should be able to nofail with heal scrolls.

Note: more specific advice is hard to get due to the my.ddo bug about your character.

[AltheaSteelrain]

Fascinate is very effective but you can almost always count on your group to tell you when they want it used. They are not going to have you fascinate a pack of 6 trash mobs and kill them individually..if they did, the whole raid would take like 5 hours. Fascinating when it isn't requested will almost always be ineffective, since the mobs will be broken again almost immediately.

As you get into hound and vod, some mobs are immune to fascinate. However, even in epic quests it is potent: but in specific siutations, where you'll almost always be told to do it.

SP items don't stack (Outside shroud sp bonus, which is different). The two items I sugegsted both give more total SP than the pearl X, therefore giving you many slots on which you can acquire your SP item.

Maximize is far, far better for a healing bard than Empower healing, starting as soon as you have a good SP bar. You don't, because you don't have enough bard levels yet. Expect to swap those two feats in the future. It isn't feasible to expect emp healed mclw and mcmw to keep a raid party up. The heals are for less than 120ish even at endgame and empower healing alone simply isn't a viable healing strategy if you don't have mass cure crit, mass heal, or the radiant servant bonuses. Even most clerics/favored souls run maximize as their only healing-spell-boost feat. Empower healing is something they may take afterwords, but only radiant servants can really afford to heal with only empower healing in content of any kind of challenge.

2-3 toughness feats is unnecessarily high, even on an elf. There are more effective ways to extend your longevity.

Similarly, while stunning blow is an absolutely phenomenal feat, unless your strength is very, very high I think you'll find that it's soon inadequate in terms of DC. More importantly, a str-based warchanter (especially with 6 splash levels!) is probably never, even with the best items, have enough SP to support devoting 3 feats to raid healing. Bar longevity is a problem for 20 bard, cha based raid healers at times. I can't see stunning blow and the healing setup both being feasible on a 28 or 32 pt build as you move into the endgame and you want your stun dc to be, at minimum, 37 or so for epic content.

My guess is one of those two things is less than ideal for you going forward, where more specialization is required. You could use those feats and a 900ish sp bar to support using cure critical to self-heal, but if you're not a charisma build, I think you're gonna be hard-pressed getting the spellpoints to actually use mass cures and raid heal. I'm not sure that 2 feats is justified on using CCW to do something you should be able to nofail with heal scrolls.

Note: more specific advice is hard to get due to the my.ddo bug about your character.

Yah. Still showing my Gimped Cleric :P

So what feats then should I invest on for my next two feats? I still have a free feat exchange to remove my stunning blow (I'm starting to feel the lacking DC), so I have at least 3 feats that I don't know what to put good use on w/ my current setup :|

[Junts]

Yah. Still showing my Gimped Cleric :P

So what feats then should I invest on for my next two feats? I still have a free feat exchange to remove my stunning blow (I'm starting to feel the lacking DC), so I have at least 3 feats that I don't know what to put good use on w/ my current setup :|

The thf feats are ok. With a feat surplus you also have no reason you can't keep the healing just for yourself. Are you str or cha based?

I would check around for posts about the 16/2/2 build. Those are genearlly human so have identical feats to you (though, also, they are generally TWF which is why they want the extra feats .. THF feats are less necessary and so thf bards end up looking different and avoiding the splashes).

Its hard to give you advice that's that specific without knowing your build in more detail. Barb 2 is also a really unfortunate splash, since you managed to go 6 levels and 3 classes without picking up evasion. /2 rogue is generally a lot better.

In the short term, focus on this:

Make sure you have a 6 con and gfl item as well as a minos legens. Kardin's eye is probably the worst slot in the game to get resist 5 on (since it competes with bloodstone), but you have an eye and you have no bloodstone: Keep using it most of the time. Resist 5 is really beneficial since you have no evasion. You really want to make as many reflex saves as possible

After you do those things, get a SP item (better than a POP 10 if you can, like wiz 6-7 caliber if possible) for more displacement, your strength item, and your charisma item. if you have the slots, get a dexterity item (think of it as +3 reflex). Reflex saves are the most important, most common and most devastating to fail for most of the rest of the game.

Once you've done these things, you should be set for the Vale. You'll be fine in Vale flagging, and you should be cautious in your first raid-level melee experiences. Look for construct bane weaponry for shroud 1 (really .. do). Don't be afraid to stay out of the melee on your first run of shrouds 4 and 5 if you don't feel like you have the survival ability yet: if you're below 330 hp or so, stay out and watch and see how the melee works before you try to live through it. No one will object to a new bard who does very little in these two fights besides sing to learn how they work. It feels pikish, but trust me, it's better than dying.

Grab fire shield scrolls and use them to cast the blue shield in heavy fire situations. Its 50s of taking 1/2 fire damage after resistances apply: it'll save your life. It really will. You had better have the 32 umd required to use them with buffs by this point; you'd have to be trying not to.

Use your empower healed cure critical (when you get to lv 4 spells) to heal yourself or single other targets. Use scrolls. Don't bill yourself as a healer, though, bill yourself as a warchanter. From this point on, healer means 'mass cure spells', and you don't have em yet. Let people be pleasantly surprised at your healing ability, instead of expecting more than you can provide. If you don't advertise as a healing bard, people will be surprised at naything more than a heal scroll.

Displace yourself constantly and anyone who seems particularly squishy. Then own things.

edit: at lv 14 you shouldn't really be in the vale. I appreciate as a free player you have pack access issues and may need to do so, however. The vale pack does include both hound and VOD, which are great raids for you to run for loot as well.

Here's a rough sketch of how to try and pull off your equipping for the timebeing:

headgear: Minos Legens. If you must buy 20 taps and a guest pass to get this item, then do it. Seriously. It's that good and that necessary (stacking 20 hp and also covers your heavy fortification item)

neckwear: A good constitution slot. A cartouche is good here. Lorikk's necklace from the Hound is good here. Con necklaces are often a cheaper source of con6. In the long term, other slots are superior for the con stat, due to the competing items

cloak: Mostly dead. Bard's cloak from VoD will probably work for a long time (cha 6, perform 15). For now, use this for charisma. You can only really get cha or resist on this equipment slot, and you have kardin's eye

belt: The cheapest place in the game to get greater false life. Also a good place to get con+6. Using neck+belt for gfl/con6 will avoid you havign to purchase a ring of either, which are far more expensive. However, doing for one of the two lets you use the neck on the cartouche: its generally way better to do that, if you can afford it.

hands: A good source of dex. A good source of strength. Since you have str6 bracers, use dex gloves. If you have the desert pack, go run offering of blood! The spectral gloves are outstanding and drop at a decent rate. Offering on elite is still good exp at level 14, too!

feet: Striding is nice, since you're low on SP, you don't want to rely just on expeditious retreat. Otherwise, boots are mostly a place for expensive utility items (kundarak delving boots, firestorm greaves, etc) or resist 5 from the boots of the innocent. Golden greaves are great for other characters, but irrelevant since you have warsong chant for dr/5 already.

wrist: Str 6. Levik's bracers in time (str 6, 20% amp). Also a potential way to get a lot of spellpoints via the bracers of the glacier (archmagi item), but the bracers are a fairly competed-after VOD item, and will be harder for you to get any time soon.

body: Your ac is done and over. No breastplates. No pretending. Look for deathblock robes of the magi (get 100 sp this way, intead of swapping) or deathblock robes of greater x resistance, especially fire, electric and acid. You can swap between robes depending what element is common in your quest. If you run the hound, look for the breastplate of destruction. It's probably the best, easily available armor for you in the game, and pretty much no one ever wants it when it drops.

Rings: common effects on rings are expensive. However, this is a great place to get high sp bonuses (rings of wizardry 5, 6 and 7 are available in random loot, and the ring of thelis from hound is wiz7 and few people really want it). being able to move con or false life down here will free up your neck slot to hold your cartouche, which is the single most important novelty item for you to wear regularly right now.

Ideally, you would use some kind of wizardry ring and a gfl or constitution ring. The ring of thelis is probably the best ring for you to search for in the nearterm. There are 4-5 good items for you out of the Hound of Xoriat. You should run this quest immediately and timer for it every 3 days. The bard has a fiarly easy job in the raid, and is critical to easy completions of its higher difficulties. Tell people you are new and they will ease you into it. Your single most important duty is singing for and hasting the charmed puppies. If you do this and don't die, the raid is probably ok with you doing little else, freeing you up to observe what others are doing as long as you don't wander away from the party.

In hound, look for:

breastplate of destruction (almost always vendored)
ring of thelis / lorikk's necklace (rarely wanted, so just speak up, most people will give these immediately to a new player who wishes to use them)
levik's bracers (people still use this item in endgame equipment, so you'll probably have to roll d100 against others interested in it if it drops)

Vision of Destruction is a much harder raid in the subterrane (also in the vale pack) that drops higher quality loot. In it, you'd want:

the bard's cloak (cha 6, perform 15 cloak, people will almost surely give you this as a bard on first completion)
tharne's goggles (the best melee dps goggles in the game: Expect half the melee in the party to roll on this item if it's available)

depending how you choose to gear, you could also make use of either set of bracers from this raid (bracers of the glacier for 200 sp, or tharne's bracers as a dex item). However, leviks is a superior option to both for your kind of character, so I wouldn't take these items unless no one in party wishes them. That's reasonably possible with tharnes, but unlikely with glacier, though it does happen sometimes.

even if you don't go immediately to the vale and start on shroud flagging, purchase the pack as soon as you can and start doing these raids. Make sure you have minos legens and at least a con4 item (melri's breath is cheap on the AH) and an improved falselife item before you start (greater is better, but improved will do). That should put you around 300ish hp. The raids are short but the paths to them are long, and no flagging is required. Be honest about your newness and enjoy. Bards are the most welcome raid newbies in ddo, especially to these raids.

[AltheaSteelrain]

The thf feats are ok. With a feat surplus you also have no reason you can't keep the healing just for yourself. Are you str or cha based?

I would check around for posts about the 16/2/2 build. Those are genearlly human so have identical feats to you (though, also, they are generally TWF which is why they want the extra feats .. THF feats are less necessary and so thf bards end up looking different and avoiding the splashes).

Its hard to give you advice that's that specific without knowing your build in more detail. Barb 2 is also a really unfortunate splash, since you managed to go 6 levels and 3 classes without picking up evasion. /2 rogue is generally a lot better.

I'm a 14/4/2 Warchanter Str Based. I chose elf for the Falchion Enhancements and Flavor, and mostly focused on melee and spike DPS w/ crits. On character creation I went for 18 str 14 con 10 Cha and my skill point allocation went into perform, umd, balance, intimidate (for the situational wizard aggro)and concentration.

Although Rogue is a much better splash, I'm still a 28 pt build, hence I cannot afford a high dex to TWF efficiently (I'm kinda new and f2p, no +2 or higher tome luxuries :P). Plus, I don't think a Reflex of less than 25 would warrant a consistent evasion check especially with a 10 - 16 dex :|. If I can TR (hopefully), I might go 2 rogue / 4 fighter route. I like the 4 fighter for the weapon specialization :P Or if experience tells me, go the standard 2/2/16 build. But I don't really see the point of an AC song if good AC tanks come rarely especially in pugging. :|

I went barb for the Rages, since I can UMD lesser restore wands, the 3 barb rages I have makes meleeing and tanking better even without evasion due to the much higher hp pool. I haven't had any difficulty surviving w/o evasion, since I can self heal and have alot of HP (even clerics sometimes ask how much hp I have and they comment in disbelief seeing I got higher HP than a random dwarf in pugs :P).

As for the feats, I could probably just get quicken + maximize spell just incase I would healbot even at my melee specialized state, other than that if SP is really problematic to consider not heal by SP, i'd put a lot of toughness feats just for the HP overkill to compensate for the lack of evasion (though I am aware having more than 2 has a diminishing value, but then again 4 toughness feats = 92 more hp )

[Junts]

I'm a 14/4/2 Warchanter Str Based. I chose elf for the Falchion Enhancements and Flavor, and mostly focused on melee and spike DPS w/ crits. On character creation I went for 18 str 14 con 10 Cha and my skill point allocation went into perform, umd, balance, intimidate (for the situational wizard aggro)and concentration.

Although Rogue is a much better splash, I'm still a 28 pt build, hence I cannot afford a high dex to TWF efficiently (I'm kinda new and f2p, no +2 or higher tome luxuries :P). Plus, I don't think a Reflex of less than 25 would warrant a consistent evasion check especially with a 10 - 16 dex :|. If I can TR (hopefully), I might go 2 rogue / 4 fighter route. I like the 4 fighter for the weapon specialization :P Or if experience tells me, go the standard 2/2/16 build. But I don't really see the point of an AC song if good AC tanks come rarely especially in pugging. :|

I went barb for the Rages, since I can UMD lesser restore wands, the 3 barb rages I have makes meleeing and tanking better even without evasion due to the much higher hp pool. I haven't had any difficulty surviving w/o evasion, since I can self heal and have alot of HP (even clerics sometimes ask how much hp I have and they comment in disbelief seeing I got higher HP than a random dwarf in pugs :P).

As for the feats, I could probably just get quicken + maximize spell just incase I would healbot even at my melee specialized state, other than that if SP is really problematic to consider not heal by SP, i'd put a lot of toughness feats just for the HP overkill to compensate for the lack of evasion (though I am aware having more than 2 has a diminishing value, but then again 4 toughness feats = 92 more hp )

I edited a lot with more specific equipment suggestions.

IMO your hp are a bit low but its due to your lacking what is really necessary gear for you to have, like minos legens. You need to get a necropolis 4 guest pass and 20 tapestry pieces and go turn in and pick up the helmet ASAP. YTou then have the pass length-60 seconds to enjoy the necropolis 4 area, which is actually a better leveling zone than the vale for you at the moment. Consider guest passing it and looking for a group at your level that's farming desecreated temple of vol: its the fastest, easiest exp quest of the 4, and you could mine the guest pass for the most exp. It can also drop the boots of the innocent, though they are precious rare. buy 20 taps on the AH, then go for it. The tattered tapestries quest cna be completed via the AH without ever actually entering the necropolis explorer zone, but to access the questgiver you need to have a guest pass to the pack.

SP will come with time, as you have no cha item, a bad sp item, and very few bard levels. Adding 6 more bard and the associated action points and a full charisma item and tome etc will get you into the 800ish sp range eventually, which is definitely enough for buffing nad emergency self-healing. use scrolls when you can and save your sp for hastes, displaces and quickened cure crits for when a scroll is too slow to save you or someone else.

As someone who hasn't played past the desert, please don't talk about surviving without evasion. The nature of boss behavior and quest behavior in general changes gigantically after gianthold, and from the vale forward you should expect both regular and boss mobs to spam the hell out of evadable attacks. The raid boss in shroud 4 and 5 does nothing but melee for 70 pts a swing and spam meteor swarms (4x reflex save for 50ish fire damage, 4x unavoidable bludgeon damage) and delayed blast fireballs (which do 220 damage on a failed save, 110 on a successful one).

You can expect this boss to cast fireball meteor fireball meteor in succession ..several times. Being a low-hp character without evasion is a serious risk, and it's one you need to actively work to compensate for. Its not a crippling problem, but you need to keep your hp up and look for ways to ensure you make the reflex save (failing vs delayed blat twice in a row, or failing it when you are at half hp due to melee, etc, are pretty much guarnateed death).

For you the most important part of buying the vale and starting to, at least, do hound and vision and explore the vale explorer zone, is that the value of equipment drops in these zones is far, far higher, so you should be able to start making platinum much more quickly and be able to stock 100 fire shield + 100 heal scrolls on your person at all times, and purchase the tapestries for minos legens (about 20kpp or so is normal) with relative ease.


I also suggest you look for a cheap vorpal weapon for vale and later content. For many raid mobs in these quests, and some quest mobs on hard/elite, even high-end dps characters will just vorpal. especially pugging, its likely that all trash mobs in all 3 raids are killed via vorpal weaponry and not dps. Get your hands on one, a ml 12 or 14 vorpal with no other good modifiers will run you pretty cheap and may even be available at a broker. If you can get a vorpal of pg that bypasses dr/good, you're in even better shape.

evil and lawful outsider bane effects are also your friends.

please, god, look for brokered construct bane weaponry. Trust me. Holy or anarchic if possible, though those tend to be AH fodder and spendy. At least regular construct bane, if not greater. It really is that important. Please.