Drow Nuker build

[Begineizer]

I wish to create a Drow Nuker, and I am considering to follow this build:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...&postcount=373
(Reproduced hereafter Drow-oriented)

Since the build is somewhat old, your comments regarding it are welcomed!

Mainly, objective #1 is damage and #2 is crowd control at lvl 20.



If you have a better build to suggest, it will also be appreciated.
(I am not interested in other races, since I havent unlocked 32-pts yet, and I dont own the WF race neither.)

I have some experience playing DDO (Lvl 20 Healbot and a Lvl 16 Assassin).

Thank you very much for you assistance.


Arcane Cannon (Drow Sorcerer)

True Neutral

STR: 8
DXT: 10
CON: 14
INT: 12
WIS: 8
CHA: 20 (Increase every 4 levels)


Skills
Max out Concentration and UMD.
At character creation also get one rank in Tumble and spend the rest into Balance, and on next levels spend your extra point into Balance

Feats (by level)
Toughness (1)
Empower (3)
Maximize (6)
Extend (9)
Heighten (12)
Spell Focus: Evocation (15)
Spell Penetration (18)


Sorcerer Enhancements:
Bloodline of Power (capstone)
Charisma II
Elemental Manipulation IV
Energy Manipulation III
Energy of the Dragonblooded II
Improved Empowering II
Improved Maximizing II
Improved Spell Penetration I
Lineage of Deadly Elements III
Lineage of Deadly Energy II
Lineage of Elements III
Lineage of Energy II

Drow Enhancements
Racial Toughness II


Spells

Spells followed by brackets may be swapped for the spell given in brackets, at the character level also provided. Swapping spells is often a non-mandatory minor optimization, so you may decide not to do it if it is too expensive for you (you can also directly pick the spell that should be swapped to, but be careful that you may wish you had the other spell while leveling up).

Level 1 Burning Hands [Jump at Level 7] / Niac's Cold Ray [Ray of Enfeeblement at Level 10]
Level 2 Magic Missile
Level 3 Nightshield
Level 4 Scorching Ray
Level 5 Blur
Level 6 Haste
Level 7 Fireball [Rage at Level 15] / Resist Energy
Level 8 Wall of Fire
Level 9 Acid Blast / Dimension Door / Web
Level 10 Cone of Cold
Level 11 Displacement / Enervation [Fire Shield at Level 19] / Prismatic Ray [Cloudkill at Level 17]
Level 12 Disintegrate
Level 13 Chain Lightning / Hold Monster [Break Enchantment at Level 20] / Stoneskin
Level 14 Finger of Death
Level 15 Acid Fog / Delayed Blast Fireball / Protection from Elements
Level 16 Polar Ray
Level 17 Horrid Wilting / Prismatic Spray
Level 18 Wail of the Banshee
Level 19 Energy Drain / Otto's Irresistible Dance
Level 20 Hold Monster, Mass

[Jaid314]

hmmm... still not convinced drow is better than human, particularly if you just want to nuke.

imo, bonus feat is *way* better than +1 cha, and also humans can spend APs on things that are actually worthwhile (like healing amp to boost your UMD'd heal scrolls) when drow are stuck with useless junk to spend APs on.

but, setting that aside for a moment, it really isn't that hard to be a nuker. make sure you have empower and max, invest fully in a damage line (probably fire/cold, although electric/acid may be something to consider also... heck, if you ditch a few other enhancements you might be able to get both to max or near max at some point).

if you want CC to be your secondary function, you're going to need to max your cha as much as possible. it's going to involve farming a lot of gear, though.

at any rate, that build looks pretty reasonable. personally, i'd probably dump spell focus: evocation and take another spell pen, or maybe spell focus: enchant; some of your best nuking spells don't allow saves anyways. i would also probably keep enervate in at level 4 (scroll fire shield or wand stoneskin), to free up a level 9 slot for meteor swarm if your goal is nuker. it's something like a total of 32d6 damage, with something like 8d6 being single target but also non-elemental and no save (sadly, targeting can be a little off though) and when you just want to nuke stuff, it's a very strong choice.

also, you might even consider trying out electric loop instead of scorching ray. scorching ray is a great, low-cost nuking spell, but electric loop is nuke with a side of CC. only if you have really good DCs though... if stuff is making saves against your fireball spells, stick with the scorching ray.

but yeah, overall that build looks reasonably good.

you may also wish to play around with your level 5 spells, make room for cyclonic blast, and get rid of disintegrate for something else (lots of good options at level 6). then again, you're a nuker, so... maybe not :P

edit: forgot to mention, the biggest difference between a 'nuker' sorcerer and a CC sorcerer will actually be what spells they emphasise mostly. so really, if you decide you don't care about CC in the short term and don't care about nuking in the long term, you can pretty much switch from one to the other by swapping your spells, though it *will* be a very slow process (1 spell/3 days). you could probably get the main stuff fairly quickly, it's the support spells that you need to switch around to fill gaps that is the problem (for example, let's say you decide you wanted to drop disintegrate from that build to get flesh to stone. first, you would probably want to remove a level 5 slot to make room for cyclonic blast so that you can run quests with golems and not be completely defenseless. then, 3 days later, you could remove disintegrate and put in flesh to stone).

[Begineizer]

hmmm... still not convinced drow is better than human, particularly if you just want to nuke.

imo, bonus feat is *way* better than +1 cha, and also humans can spend APs on things that are actually worthwhile (like healing amp to boost your UMD'd heal scrolls) when drow are stuck with useless junk to spend APs on.

I see, but would a 28-pts human be better than a drow?

[Jaid314]

I see, but would a 28-pts human be better than a drow?

well, here's how i see it.

human: you get an extra feat. this is huge. (note: don't spend the feat on mental toughness, that's one thing i disagree about in the build you linked).

now, a drow has a virtual 32 points. but the thing is, a drow will have 32 points in "who gives a ****" land... seriously, you don't care about dex, and the only part of int that you care about (skill points) you get as a human anyways. in contrast, you *do* care about constitution.

so now, go look at the stats compared between drow and human. human gets 18 cha, 16 con, and 2 points elsewhere (the build recommends strength, which is a fairly solid choice). drow gets 20 cha, 14 con, and 2 points elsewhere (for some baffling reason, the build recommends int in this case... not sure why...). the human will have 2-3 points more of constitution than the drow, 1 point less in charisma. will probably be able to choose a third tier of racial toughness, and can take human healing amp. the drow gets... *drum roll* less spell resistance than can be gained from a cleric throwing a mass spell resistance spell. and uhhh... proficiency with shurikens or something equally exciting. oh joy. assuming you manage to get absolutely capped gear, your human will actually have the same DC as the drow, unless the human uses that extra feat for something like spell focus in which case it will be better. in the much more likely event of non-capped charisma, you'll either be equal or 1 point behind.

it's at least a *closer* competition between human and drow, but the human still wins imo... the bonus feat combined with the lack of penalty to con (and the potential bonus) puts human firmly in the lead for me. it may or may not be the best choice for you, however... you may find that drow is everything you ever dreamed of and more, i suppose.

oh, and there's also the small chance you'll luck out and loot a greater heart of wood from a chest somewhere to consider

in any case, i might suggest that you hold off a bit, and see what the upcoming elemental savant PrEs bring to the table. the choice is up to you though

[moritheil]

You don't really want spell focus: Evocation. If you're going to be throwing out CCs, you want to put your spell focus feat towards making those stick. (Spell focus: Enchantment, or Necromancy, maybe.)