Damage against non-favored Enemies

[karl_k0ch]

I am currently contemplating about an AA build and I am nor sure if I want a pure Ranger AA or a Monsterish build (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=278181).
The main difference of the two builds is against whom they do damage. While a pure Ranger excels against FEs (+14 Damage against those), a more Fighter based build will deliver good damage against all Mobs.

The canonical choice of FEs is Undead, Giant, Construct, Evil Outsider and Elemental.

1. When will I meet Mobs which are not from this list?

2. If I do fight non-FE monsters, is the lack of DPS noticable?

[Jaid314]

i can tell you that on my level 7 ranger, i already notice a huge difference between fighting a favored enemy, and a non-favored enemy. the damage may not *sound* like it's a big difference, but it most definitely is.

there are some quests that don't feature those enemies, but in general you'll be covering a *lot* of content. perhaps the largest concern is for situations like epic VoN 6, where it's mostly just a dps grind until velah dies once you've got the bases taken care of. i would say that there are going to be very few quests where you won't meet *any* of those enemies, but there are a reasonable number where those enemies don't feature extensively (for example, it wouldn't be true to say that the pit doesn't have any of those enemies... but the handful of fire elementals are probably not quite what the average ranger with FE-elemental is hoping for). at a guess, probably less than 10% of the quests in the game can be said to have *none* of those things (even in the low levels, trolls and ogres are relatively common for example, zombies and skeletons as well, even constructs when you consider that the assorted 'defender' dogs are all constructs)

as far as how much of a difference is there? well, to be honest, i can't help you there since i haven't made a fighter. i doubt it's *quite* as big a deal is many people make it out to be (yes, you'll be dealing less damage, but if you build your character right and have good gear you'll stay close enough to be useful), but it is definitely there. in general, i would say that the higher your level, the more likely you are to face favored enemies from that list as it stands right now though (especially evil outsiders - demons, devils, quori, tieflings, efreeti, etc). the other upside is that it means you're really good at fighting the common enemies that most everyone else isn't as good at dpsing, because they lose their critical hits against them.

(on a side note, if you're worried about getting the maximum single-target dps possible, you should avoid ranged combat like it was leprosy)

[grodon9999]

Yes, the lack of DPS is noticeable, it works out to about 50 points a second difference. But trash is trash, even in epics it dies fast enough. I've picked my FEs to cover every BOSS in the game for this reason.

[Mercureal]

1. You'll meet lots of enemies not on that list in lots of places - too many to note separately.

2. There is a big difference in the damage output, but it's manageable.

At lower levels the enemy HP is so low it won't matter. At mid-high levels you have options like using paralyzers, Greater Banes or Vorpal (for melee, which you should still do even as an AA). And when ranging, Manyshot + Slayer arrows at the high levels will do a lot to fill in the gap.

[karl_k0ch]

Let me rephrase the initial question:
Against which non-FE do you wish you did more damage?

The difference in the two builds I am comparing is:
Pure: +14 Damage against every FE, melee and ranged.
Monster: Against every mob: +4 for Melee/+8 for Ranged, +4 burst via Power Surge, another +4 against Undead and Evil Outsider.

Both variants have +9 from 28 Str, +3 from Ram's, +2 Racial, +5 Weapon = 19 plus Weapon base damage and stuff like Holy et al.

Yes, the lack of DPS is noticeable, it works out to about 50 points a second difference. But trash is trash, even in epics it dies fast enough. I've picked my FEs to cover every BOSS in the game for this reason.

Do the Lieutenants in Shroud count as Boss? If yes, are they Evil Outsiders?

[Therigar]

The direction of the game is such that evil outsider and undead are the only critical FEs. The post that mentioned end-game bosses is on target. Think about end-game dungeons and raids and what the bosses are. From Shroud onward (and Shroud isn't really end-game any more) you are well covered with evil outsider and undead as your FEs.

If you are happy with that then go with the monster build.

[Therigar]

Do the Lieutenants in Shroud count as Boss? If yes, are they Evil Outsiders?

IMO, no. And, no.

They die easily enough to good DPS regardless.

[grodon9999]

Do the Lieutenants in Shroud count as Boss? If yes, are they Evil Outsiders?

Depends on the boss. The Cat, Orthon, and devil are evil Outsiders and I get FE damage.

They die easily enough to good DPS regardless.

Exactly.

[Mercureal]

Let me rephrase the initial question:
Against which non-FE do you wish you did more damage?

The difference in the two builds I am comparing is:
Pure: +14 Damage against every FE, melee and ranged.
Monster: Against every mob: +4 for Melee/+8 for Ranged, +4 burst via Power Surge, another +4 against Undead and Evil Outsider.

Both variants have +9 from 28 Str, +3 from Ram's, +2 Racial, +5 Weapon = 19 plus Weapon base damage and stuff like Holy et al.

Do the Lieutenants in Shroud count as Boss? If yes, are they Evil Outsiders?

The Shroud lieutenants count as whatever type they'd be if they were trash mobs, i.e. orc, gnoll, reptilian (the kobold or trog), giant (the troll) etc.

Of the various other monters types, the only one that I feel it's useful to have extra damage against is aberrations - beholders and mind flayers can be dangerous and often come in packs. But even with those I do fine for the most part, and none of the other monster types seem dangerous enough to need extra damage against. I say that for the normal level quests - I haven't run epics and can't comment on those fights. But as part of the normal leveling-up, the other monster types you see somewhat commonly are:

- reptilians
- orcs
- goblinoids (hobs and bugbears)
- gnolls
- animals
- vermin (spiders and scorpions)
- monstrous humanoids (minotaurs, wildmen and sahuagin)
- elves (drow)
- dwarves
- humans

Once you get past gianthold, in my experience you're seeing few of those monster types, other than animals, gnolls and vermin in the Vale.