Improving to-hit at level 20

[karl_k0ch]

For my pure Halfling Assassin, I find that I am having trouble hitting well in some epic quests.
My aim is not to squeeze out the maximal DPS possible, but to have a certain degree of versatility. This means in particular having 39 UMD standing (including GH, but with no gear swaps), being able to hit epic mobs with PA on, and having an assassinate DC of 37+ without using EMG.

My short-term plan on my gear setup is the following, but a lot of this is only preliminary, still. Atm, I am working on the ToD rings.

Head: Minos Legens
Necklace: Shimmering Pendant, slotted with GFL (this is mostly due to the fact that is was the easiest Yellow Slot I could get my hands on, but the +7 Cha helps greatly to )
Trinket: Cannith Crafted +2 Good Luck
Goggles: Tharnes/ Cannith Crafted Blindness Immunity/+4 to hit
Armor: Dt with Resistance, HAmp and Tharnes
Bracers: triple air 45 HP GS bracers
Gloves: Anything with +6 Dex, really.
Ring 1: Ravager (with +2 str, for a total of +9 Str)
Ring 2: +6 Int of Persuasion (Assassinate + UMD)
Belt: Ravager
Cloak: Epic Cloak of Night
Boots: Madstone/Anchoring/Cannith

I see that the greatest improvements in regards to to-hit can be made via the following things:

• Divine Power scrolls/clickies.
• Improved Destruction item attribute (I'm thinking of making a pair of generic debuffers, i.e. Imp. Destruction + Imp. Cursespewing and something similar one a Flametouched weapon. After all, an assassin deals decent damage when attacking with a wet noodle, still.)
• Raven's Eye set. This would occupy the Goggles slot, but +4 to hit is also craftable on a trinket.

Things which are likely not going to happen on that character:

• Vukoorim Fighting leathers (I didn't start with Desert Epics yet)
• Abishai set. While +3 Str and +3 Con is nice, the investment of 3 gear slots looks like a bit too much to me, especially considering the redundancy of some attributes (I am looking at you, +6 Str!).

Did I miss anything important? Any suggestions what to ditch?

[.Revenga.]

Consider:

epic spectral gloves ( +4 to hit, +7 dex, ghostly and a yellow slot is better then a +6 dex glove no? )

The shintao tod set: +2 to hit and damage, best melee tod set.

A DT armor set with destruction instead of tharnes. You don't always need the threat reduction and if you do need it, you can swap on tharnes bracers, you don't always need max hp. ( Keep the other set for occasions where you don't need the extra to hit ofc)

Good offhand light weapons for +2 to hit.

Use boosts ofcourse. Assasin poison gets you +2 to hit, rogue past life feat +5. Human versatility can net you another +5 situationally.

The vulkoorim fighting leathers are good, but DT sets offer so much more versatility that i'll never use it. The abishai set is very much worth considering even with redundant stats.
Divine power scrolls are very useful but tedious to use, madstone rage will give you full BAB aswell, i use both according to situation.

A last note: While having a standing UMD of 39 is really nice, again you don't need it at all times. When you're being babysitted by a healer you're job is to kill, not to scroll, having an umd item - to hit item swap slot shouldnt hurt. As when you need one, you shouldnt need the other.

[SupTyr]

Epic Ring of the Stalker with +6 INT slotted for exceptional sneak attack will increase your to hit for sneak attacks at least

[TheDearLeader]

Right now your Sneak Attack Item and your Competence Bonus to hit are in the same slot. That means you only either have one, or the other. Step one is fixing that.

I'd say at least initially swapping the Luck +2 Trinket for an Attack Bonus +4 Trinket, since the Luck trinket doesn't affect to-hit. Keep Tharne's on, of course.

Your gear is solid for a pre-epic toon. You've done a great deal of the "gearing up" that can be done before entering Epics that will benefit you. From here, you need to set your plans toward finding that "next level" of gear. It likely won't be swapping in just one item, but instead an amassing of gear to the point that one day, you will swap 5~6 slots or something at the same time to new things.

Simple Pointers -
The Cove, whenever it comes around, has several Rogue-Friendly items.
Minos is a great leveling tool - and was once "the thing to have". But it has by and large been outgrown. Either make Heavy Fort part of your GS (maybe you did? You didn't say) and slot Toughness, or slot both. They are both Blue Augments. Naturally, this means making two epic items with Blue slots to augment, and collecting 60 tokens.
Ring of the Stalker - Don't under-rate this item.
Cloak of Night - Don't over-rate this item. Or really, in general, don't get too attached to anything. But realize most of these abilities can be easily replicated, or are perhaps unnecessary.
Radiance Blindness - Yeah, people whine about it sometime. But it reduces Mob AC. It also guarantees that you *keep* that SA to-hit.

Good luck.

[karl_k0ch]

Thanks for the advice so far. Some of the things pointed out here are currently non-issues, but they may indeed become those with the gear set listed in the OP.

Currently, Meinir is using Epic Brawling Gloves (Tier 2), and the Assassin ToD set. This means that there are two non-goggles sources of SA bonus. However, when I manage to get a +9 Str ring, this will become an issue.

As Meinir is piercing-specced, her usual gear set is a Radiance Rapier + Epic Smallblade, ie the bases small weapon and radiance are actually covered.

Destruction DT is also something I am considering. But then, with u13 Improved Destruction seems to offer more.

Epic Spectral Gloves. It would be very nice to have those, and I am even thinking of using the non-epic ones. However, their to-hit bonus is not stacking with the to-hit bonus of a Cannith crafted item, or Shintao set; is that correct?

It looks like a Epic Ring of the Stalker is something I should try to get. I did not underrate that ring, I merely didn't bother to do the challenges so far.

Minos. Yes, I am aware of the fact that this is going to be replaced rather soon. However, I am not sure with what.

[.Revenga.]

Shintao and spectral gloves stack as it's a exceptional and a competence bonus.

Destruction and imp destruction should also stack, so get destruction on DT armor and imp destruction weapon if needed.

Ring of the stalker is an intresting item too, forgot about it.

[TheDearLeader]

Epic Spectral Gloves. It would be very nice to have those, and I am even thinking of using the non-epic ones. However, their to-hit bonus is not stacking with the to-hit bonus of a Cannith crafted item, or Shintao set; is that correct?

Cannith + Shintao Stack
Spectral + Shintao Stack
Cannith + Spectral do not.

But that's fine - the Spectrals can cover you for Dex, To-Hit, and another Yellow Slot (re-slot of GFL, Resist +4, whatever), allowing you to be more flexible on your usage of the Trinket and Goggle slots.

I'd go for Shintao over Ravager set, personally. Yes, you can have both, but that means opting out of the Ring of the Stalker.

[destiny4405]

I suspect you have trouble to hit when you're not getting SA bonus. Best way to fix it is using epic ravens goggles and epic gem of many facets (the +4 to hit stacks with everything) and using epic spectrals.

You can improve it more with verrik's or shintao set which stack with above bonuses. Even korthos wrath set stacks with everything. Wrath of Sora Kell also. The point is you need to swap around if you want to be versatille.

You can also use armor piercing weps, for having more sneak attacks (and with them SA bonus to hit), for enemies that don't have SA immunity.

Edit: you could also use light wep in the offhand if you aren't. Treson would be nice, as it has SA bonus and armor piercing.

Also, you can put destruction on your DT, and use greater banes.

[Memek]

Cannith crafted is competence bonus like Spectrals while Raven seems to be untyped. Sp Spectrals dont stack with Cannith crafted but Raven should.
So the most attack bonus would be eSpectrals+ Raven goggles + gem (or Raven set + crafted trinket).

Since you have Dex on your gloves anyways, the Spectrals would be a good choice.
But i'd consider going for Claw.

Trinket, Goggles, Bracers and Gloves are pretty tightly connected - either you go
Gem
Claw Gloves
Raven's Sight
Something else into Bracers

or you go
Litany/ Cannith crafted attack in Trinket
Claw gloves
Claw bracers
Tharne/ Cannith crafted attack in Goggles, depending on Trinket.

Good Luck you could slot somewhere if you toss out your trinket.

[krogyy]

other options that always work:
- morgana´s tod set for another +2 stacking to-hit
- fabricator set for yet another +2 stacking to-hit (and damage) plus the infusion.

for certain quests or packs the biggest help will come from a greter bane cannith crafted weapon with large guild slot. (gives a whopping +13 to-hit XD)

[goodspeed]

large slot would be good assuming you had a lv 70 guild or higher to be able to equip it.

Most are able to join any random lv 45 guild though, so better reaching.

Have you thought about epic midnight greetings? Pretty much just an all around badass weapon for an assassin. Ive farmed the ingredients for 1 so far myself.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Midnight_Greetings

Only problem is I havn't any rogues. Always think what else id be good for. Cause theirs just so much nice about the **** thing. Anyway should definitly help your to hit.

[karl_k0ch]

Again, thanks for the input. I am not quite there to write down a new equipment list, but I think it's converging to something.

My preliminary insights are the following:

• I want to have the Shintao set (as of now, I am doing this my #1 priority ring. The reason is that I didn't realize that it fits the build's needs much better than a Ravager set. And in theory, there is still room for either of Ravager, or Berserker Set.)
• I'm not going to touch the Claw set on this character. I want less threat, not more hate. For the same reason, I am sceptic of the Fabricator's Set.
• My guild is struggling hard to get to 69 atm. If I plan for guild slots, I will make use of medium ones.
• Morgana's Set looks a bit too redundant, but appealing.
• For equip rearrangements, I'm going to use an Electric Haze belt, and I am willing to craft a min2 HP item.
• 3piece Abishai has gotten more serious consideration, due to the sheer number of green slots.
• EMG is on my to-do list, but it's nothing more than a situational weapon. After all, we are talking about a Piercing-specced, not a Slashing-specced toon.

After some thinking and rearranging I found a setup which offers less UMD, but more to-hit and damage, compared to the current one. Items with a star are not easily accessible for me, so this is really a long-term plan.

Helmet: E Frost (GFL slotted)
Necklace: Shintao Cord
Trinket: Good Luck/+4 AB
Goggles: Tharnes
Bracers: GS 45 HP Airguard
Cloak: E Envenomend Cloak* (empty slot)
Gloves: E Charged Gauntlets* (Dex Slotted)
Belt: E Mroranon* (empty slot)
Ring 1: Shintao
Ring 2: EStalker (empty slot)
Boots: Madstone/Propulsion/Anchoiring
Armor: DT with Deathblock/Hamp/Tharnes

Suggestions how to fill the slots are much appreciated.

I'm a bit reluctant towards 3pc Abisha, since I have other characters which could use these items as well. I do consider the following skeleton to be a solid base, and any comment on that is appreciated, and you are welcome to fill it with usefull stuff as well.

Helmet:
Necklace: Shintao Cord
Trinket: Good Luck/+4 AB
Goggles: Tharnes
Bracers:
Cloak:
Gloves:
Belt:
Ring 1: Shintao
Ring 2: EStalker (empty slot)
Boots: Madstone/Propulsion/Anchoiring
Armor: DT with Resistance/Hamp/Tharnes

[karl_k0ch]

So, after throush thinking, I decided that I want to craft a Flametouched Iron Weapon of Improved Destruction. (Improved Cursespewing is an option to add as a prefix).

But I cannot decide if I want it to make it a Rapier, effectively being a main weapon, usually paired with either a Smallblade, Epic Midnight Greetings, and eventually a similar offhand weapon; or if I should make the debuffing weapon to be a Short Sword, effectively being paired with a Rad2, or a Fitting Boss beater in the main hand.

Any thoughts on this?

[wax_on_wax_off]

If you've given up on the Ravager set then I strongly recommend the Epic Spare Hand. It gives you +3% doublestrike making it comparable added DPS to the Ravager set and also gives +3 UMD, +15 disable device/open lock and a clear and blue slot.

I really appreciate never having to do gear swaps on my rogue (as time sensing goggles for spot/search).

[angelothethief1]

What are your stats?

It could be you are trying to maintain an equal footing between 2 stats and are not maximizing your main to-hit stat (be it STR, or DEX if you are a weapon finesse build). I myself don't like power attack. At level 20, its use is questionable.

[karl_k0ch]

What are your stats?

It could be you are trying to maintain an equal footing between 2 stats and are not maximizing your main to-hit stat (be it STR, or DEX if you are a weapon finesse build). I myself don't like power attack. At level 20, its use is questionable.

Without shippies or rage:
http://my.ddo.com/character/orien/meinir/


Str:
16 base (halfling)
5 level-ups
2 tome
7 item (eventually, this will be replaced by 6 enhancement, 1 exceptional and 2 exceptional)
2 rage
2 ship
---
34 Str


Dex:
15 base
2 tome
6 item
2 ship
---
25 Dex

Con:

15 base
3 tome
6 item
2 ship
2 rage
---
28

[arroyo]

I'm a bit reluctant towards 3pc Abisha, since I have other characters which could use these items as well. I do consider the following skeleton to be a solid base, and any comment on that is appreciated, and you are welcome to fill it with usefull stuff as well.

Helmet: E Helm of Frost with Fear Immunity
Necklace: Shintao Cord
Trinket: Good Luck +2 / Crafted +4 AB
Goggles: Tharnes
Bracers: E Scorched Bracers with possibly Hvy Fort
Cloak: E Envenomed Cloak with Toughness
Gloves: E Spectral Gloves with GFL
Belt: GS HP (MinII or your favorite guard)
Ring 1: Shintao with +2 Excep STR
Ring 2: EStalker with +6 STR / +1 Excep CON
Boots: Madstone/Propulsion/Anchoiring
Armor: DT with Resistance/Hamp/Tharnes

Suggestions in bold. Would require a few +3 Tomes for rounding up stats.

You said you're reluctant on 3pc Abishai, but IMHO there's a lot in there and I'm an Abishai addict. Also, I like MinII as GS HP, as it covers the equivalent of two epic slots (Hvy Fort, Prot+5 if you bother about AC). From the other gear, you get two green slots for Toughness/Heavy Fort if you don't like GS MinII Accessories; two yellow for GFL and Fear. Not exactly optimal neither my favorite, but gets you a +4 AB from Spectral. Seems you're looking forward for Epic Brawn to get +2 Excep CON, just mind the Incite +10%.

Stats:
STR: 40 = 16 Base + 3 Tome + 5 Level + 6 Item + 3 Excep + 3 Profane + 2 Ship + 2 Rage
DEX: 26 = 15 Base + 2 Tome + 7 Item + 2 Ship
CON: 30 = 15 Base + 3 Tome + 7 Item + 1 Excep + 2 Ship + 2 Rage
INT: 22 = 12 Base + 2 Tome + 6 Item + 2 Ship
WIS: 14 = 8 Base + 6 Item
CHA: 20 = 9 Base + 2 Tome + 7 Item + 2 Ship

Enhancements:
Assassin III
Halfling Cunning IV
Halfling Guile IV
Racial Toughness II
Subtle Backstabbing III
Haste Boost IV
Rogue Deadly Shadow
3 AP leftover

Did I forget anything?