AC Discussion

[Azelous]

I know there are hundreds of AC threads and all but most of them are years old.

This is what I would like to know of the people out there that actually know this:

What is the best AC armor, take away Feats/ENH/Stats needed, what's the best armor to wear?

I read one forum that is about 4 years old that I came to the conclusion that Light Armor was the best... well, from what he had listed as examples. (Though there were very few and AC has changed a bunch from what I hear)

Back on topic: The spoken-of post was this - http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=900785

In that post he states:

Moved from Class Discussion Thread DDO Armour Selector


AB=Armour Bonus DB=Dex Bonus SCP=Skill Check Penalty
ASF% = Archean Spell Failure % AC=Max Armour Class (+5)=+5 Version

. . . . . . . . . . /AB /DB /SCP /AC /(+5) /ASF
Light Armor
Leather Armour....../ 2 / 6 / 0. / 8 /(13) /10%
Studded Leather...../ 3 / 5 / 0. / 8 /(13) /15%
Chain Shirt........./ 4 / 4 / -1 / 8 /(13) /20%
Padded Armour......./ 1 / 8 / 0. / 9 /(14) / 5%
Elven Chainmal....../ 5 / 4 / -1 / 9 /(14) /20%
Mithral Chain Shirt./ 4 / 6 / 0. / 10/(15) /10%
Mithral Breastplate./ 5 / 5 / 0. / 10/(15) /15%

Medium Armor
Chainmail.........../ 5 / 2 / -4 / 7 /(12) /30%
Hide Armour........./ 3 / 4 / -2 / 7 /(12) /20%
Scalemail.........../ 7 / 0 / -3 / 7 /(12) /25%
Breastplate........./ 5 / 3 / -3 / 8 /(13) /25%
Brigandine........../ 5 / 3 / -3 / 8 /(13) /35%
Darkleaf Bandedmail./ 6 / 2 / -3 / 8 /(13) /30%
Mithral Splintmail../ 6 / 2 / -3 / 8 /(13) /30%
Mithral HalfPlate.../ 7 / 2 / -1 / 9 /(14) /30%
Mithral FullPlate.../ 8 / 3 / -2 / 11/(16) /25%

Heavy Armor
Splintmail........../ 6 / 0 / -6 / 6 /(11) /40%
Half Plate........../ 7 / 0 / -4 / 7 /(12) /40%
Banded Mail........./ 6 / 1 / -5 / 7 /(12) /35%
Full Plate........../ 8 / 1 / -5 / 9 /(14) /35%

Based upon this table: If you have a high enough Dex for the bonus, Light Armor is the best for AC if using the +5 version of the Mithral Breastplate compared to the +5 Mithral Fullplate, by 1 point only though.

I am just curious of what path should I take for the best AC: Light Armor with a heightened DEX stat, Medium Armor with a decent DEX stat, or Heavy Armor with a lower DEX stat.

I am planning to take at the least, Stalwart Defender I, and Fighter Armor Mastery II, as well as, Fighter Tower Shield Mastery II... all that said I will get +3 DEX bonus to Tower Shields and +2 DEX bonus to my armor. So even with the Heavy Armor my goal for DEX would be 16 + the DEX bonus needed to fill the standard DEX Bonus on the gear for a total of 18-20 (I'm guessing) and even greater for Light Armor, which would be more like a DEX of 26+

With that said as well, what would be the best path to take for me, not reliant on buffs but base AC of the gear I have at hand, and of course the Enhancements listed above.

I plan on cross-classing with bard for the buffs, songs, and heals. To better capabilities to survive in questionable situations and groups

[Jakarr]

Best AC(for someone wearing armor)= Mithral FP along with all the goodies that a fighter has and about 22 dex if I remember.


Overall if I play a AC class I am going with robes and monk splash.


Also Fighter w/bard splash=bad idea....Bard with a splash of Fighter=Good Idea

If you want some good AC and Survivability I would suggest 18 paladin/2monk TWF you can reach 90+ AC without sacrificing DPS and have Resistances/Buffs and Heals.

[Azelous]

Thanks then I'll keep that in mind as I fine tune this build. It is however Bard over Fighter but it's a deep splash to get the 7 levels of Fighter I want. I obviously am going Warchanter as my CHA is so low, I'll have 2 level 5 spells so I capped it at 15. I got WCII and all the Bard Attack/Damage/Bravery maxed for my Inspire Courage. I wanted to stay in Med armor for that reason - Being an AC Warchanter, the shield ASF will be bad enough, but since WCII gives Medium Armor a 0% ASF I figured I could do it from what I've read.

I know, I know 13/7 is a BIG splash... more like a dive (haha). I figured the DR-5 from WC and the added ATK and DAM would fit me well being an "off-tank" type of build. As well as, giving me that extra something to get by from my heals and being able to buff the party, so I wouldn't have to just be the "off-tank" role in one.

[Jakarr]

Thanks then I'll keep that in mind as I fine tune this build. It is however Bard over Fighter but it's a deep splash to get the 7 levels of Fighter I want. I obviously am going Warchanter as my CHA is so low, I'll have 2 level 5 spells so I capped it at 15. I got WCII and all the Bard Attack/Damage/Bravery maxed for my Inspire Courage. I wanted to stay in Med armor for that reason - Being an AC Warchanter, the shield ASF will be bad enough, but since WCII gives Medium Armor a 0% ASF I figured I could do it from what I've read.

I know, I know 13/7 is a BIG splash... more like a dive (haha). I figured the DR-5 from WC and the added ATK and DAM would fit me well being an "off-tank" type of build. As well as, giving me that extra something to get by from my heals and being able to buff the party, so I wouldn't have to just be the "off-tank" role in one.

Naw the 13 Bard/7 Fighter works you miss out on a few things but does well...my suggestion thou if you are looking for a bard that can tank and solo is a...

16 Bard/2 Fighter/2 Rogue....Reasoning is...

Evasion and rogue skills
16 Bard gives you pretty much all the songs and spells along with a Great Single Target CC Touch spell basically you hit 1 target with it and it has no save at all it dances for 30 seconds. Also have access to all your Cure Mass spells and a few good buffs.
2 Fighter gives ya a couple feats and such

Now you focus on Intimidate with this build and if you go human you can reach 78+ Intim which is all you need for anything in the game. While I am sure you can reach a decent AC on this build my suggestion though is Displacement+Stoneskin is great AC, also there is a shield from the hound raid with 37 Blocking DR you grab that baby and intim it all and bam they may be hitting you but they are not doing any damage.

Role wise in a party you can Tank, Off-tank, Buffage, DPS, Bit of CC, and Even Heal.

[NaturalHazard]

Best AC(for someone wearing armor)= Mithral FP along with all the goodies that a fighter has and about 22 dex if I remember.


Overall if I play a AC class I am going with robes and monk splash.


Also Fighter w/bard splash=bad idea....Bard with a splash of Fighter=Good Idea

If you want some good AC and Survivability I would suggest 18 paladin/2monk TWF you can reach 90+ AC without sacrificing DPS and have Resistances/Buffs and Heals.

which paladin enhancement line do you take with this build?

[Kinerd]

If you use a tower shield your DPS will not be good.

Mithral Tower Shield is base 4 Max Dex. Mithral Full Plate is base 3 Max Dex and you get +1 Max Dex on shields with SD I, so you wouldn't spend anything on Tower Shield Mastery. You could also wait for Dragontouched Plate (15 +1 dex vs. 13 +3 Mithral Full Plate) and have less AC-need for dexterity.

[Kinerd]

Something else to keep in mind: you're going to need a lot of buffs and gear to reach useful levels of AC with this build, and even then you'll only have situational use.

[Azelous]

Well I figured above average AC and decent DPS along with buffs would be a fairly good build.

Let me ask this question then... I know the Cleric path was mentioned for 90+ AC... but what is the absolute best possible AC class pure/cross. Just you and your buffs with gear that you don't need to grind for?

[Kinerd]

If you're using a shield you won't do decent DPS, though, that's the thing.

As to AC, the trouble with AC is that if you have 40 AC and the monster has a 40 to-hit, you are quite literally no better off than if you had an AC of 5. As a result, the AC distribution for characters is not normal but bimodal - you can be above the average of the people who don't care about AC without being any better off for it.

With your build you can quite easily get to:

10 base
13 armor (+5 full plate)
1 alchemical armor
9 shield (+5 tower shield)
1 alchemical shield
5 dex
5 deflection (protection item)
3 natural (+3 barkskin potions)
1 SD
2 insight (greater parry)
2 SD stance
=
52

You can pretty much get this by level 10, and 52 AC at level 10 is very good. Unfortunately, from here there's not much room for growth. You can get another 2 natural from maxed barkskin cast by a ranger, 2 luck bonus from recitation, dodge from haste and super-grindy items, another 2 insight from a greensteel item, 3 from guild buffs, putting you around the low to mid 60s. Meanwhile there are 18 paladin / 2 monk builds that have TWF, high 80s AC, evasion, much better saves, slightly better HP, and better ability to hold aggro.

The "best possible" AC build is not recommendable because you have to let Strength and Constitution suffer to max Dexterity and Wisdom, and doing so will make the character very very useless. The 18/2 build I talk about above is here. You'll have to do some modifications to make it non-TR and you won't have all the rare gear right off, but I think it will better allow you to accomplish your goals.