Never tried melee, please help me find out what kind of dps/tank I am

[Jaysun]

I have played cleric my entire DDO career. (6 of them). But now I am changing the roles a bit as my wife is playing a healer (vice a sorc). She will either be a FOS or cleric but either way she will have healing me covered.

What I would like help with is finding out whats out there now? I want to be an endgame epic melee with great dps and survivability. If that's a ton of HP or a lot of AC, that's fine but want to be able to do a lot of dps. When I left the game (when cap was 16) Barbs where the best tank/dps classes out at the time. I do not know how well monks are in this aspect. I know with capstones and prestige everything has changed so please give me a crash course on what I should look for.

My main goal is to clear mobs fast and still take some hits. High saves would be great since if what i've seen AC is pointless at the elite/epic quest (to a point) and like I said I have a healer. I don't care or have a preference on Two handed fighting or Two weapon fighting. I want to be able to cut thru mobs as we thru our TR's together over the next few months. I grouped with a monk last night on a hard mission and he seemed great, but no idea what he was doing. So, please fill me in as I am clueless

Thanks

Jaysun

[allaanon]

If I were starting a melee not knowing exactly what I wanted later I would definitely make a half elf or human 20 fighter. No matter what at the "end game" you will only be a lesser res away from whatever you want to do.

Want to be an AC tank for non-epic raids? Lesser into it.

Want to be a dps great-axe wielding kensai? Lesser into it.

Want to be a high hit point healing amp tank? Lesser into it.

Get a 20 fighter up and start gearing.

[AylinIsAwesome]

Want to be a dps great-axe wielding kensai? Lesser into it.

No.

Falchion if you don't have eSoS, Greatsword if you do.

With Kensai 3 the crit range is expanded by 1. With a Greataxe, that means critically on a 18-20 at 3x, which is an "effective" extra 6 hits over the long term (assuming the mob has 0 Fort).

With Falchion, you'd crit 14-20 at 2x, which is an "effective" extra 7 hits over the long term (again assuming the mob has 0 Fort).

The only time Greataxe is better is if your damage modifier is terrible, but on a Fighter that should never be the case.

[wax_on_wax_off]

No.

Falchion if you don't have eSoS, Greatsword if you do.

With Kensai 3 the crit range is expanded by 1. With a Greataxe, that means critically on a 18-20 at 3x, which is an "effective" extra 6 hits over the long term (assuming the mob has 0 Fort).

With Falchion, you'd crit 14-20 at 2x, which is an "effective" extra 7 hits over the long term (again assuming the mob has 0 Fort).

The only time Greataxe is better is if your damage modifier is terrible, but on a Fighter that should never be the case.

Logic fail, kensei 3 improves DPS of greataxe more than what it does falchion.

However, falchion is probably the better weapon still for different reasons.

[Munkenmo]

I want to be an endgame epic melee with great dps and survivability. If that's a ton of HP or a lot of AC, that's fine but want to be able to do a lot of dps.

My main goal is to clear mobs fast and still take some hits. High saves would be great since if what i've seen AC is pointless at the elite/epic quest (to a point

I grouped with a monk last night on a hard mission and he seemed great, but no idea what he was doing. So, please fill me in as I am clueless

Fortunately you've already found the answer to your question.

Unfortunately i'm on an island with my linux laptop and don't know how to get rons character generator to work with wine.

It seems to me though, what you'd like is a half elf, pure monk. get the cleric dilletante and you can heal scroll yourself with a 95% success rate, or go for the rogue dilly for even more sneak attack dice.

Id advice going light monk, with the finishers you can maintain 1minute blurs (aoe, same range as haste) 1 mine align the heavens (25% less sp costs, should be usefull to help introduce your wife to casting)

There's ~ 3 ways to build a monk atm, all are viable for leveling and epic, though, only 2 are easier to become epic ready.

#1 main stat strength, be in earth or wind stance for max dps depending on how well you're hitting enemies.
#2 main stat wisdom, secondary focus str - be in water stance, ideal for stuns, quivering palm, shintao finishers.
#3 ac build (hard to pull off for epic, but possible) max dex / wis, levels in dex, be in wind stance. you'll hit like a wet noodle when leveling, but it's amazingly survivable, and honestly doesn't take much gear to maintain elite level ac through to cap.

If you mostly care about killing stuff fast, i'd advice sticking with a helf STR build, earth stance, monk, go with cleric dilly whilst leveling just to be able to wand and top yourself off easily. talk with fred at cap and swap to rogue dilly to do more damage then.

[Dartwick]

18 barb 2 rogue fits your request to a t.

But as noted you might be happy with a pure monk.

[Such755]

Pure fighter, hElf with rogue dilettante? TWF with khopesh? Just thowing ideas.
You'll have enough feats to fit both PrE, if you ever decide to switch.

[Aaxeyu]

Logic fail, kensei 3 improves DPS of greataxe more than what it does falchion.

Reading fail...

[unbongwah]

There are several options available to you that I can think of:

• the classic S&B tank - the ftr & pally tanking PrEs have recently been improved significantly, as have the shield feats, making an ol'-fashioned S&B tank both easier & more rewarding to play. Unfortunately, AC gear is still (A) a PITA to grind up and (B) useless in the toughest endgame raids.
• the barb "tank" (aka the brute force approach) - relies on lots of HPs and barb DR to keep it alive while it focuses on DPS. Still effective, but an...inelegant approach, IMHO. Though the silver lining to not caring about AC is, well, not having to grind for AC gear; all you care about are DPS, HPs, threat bonuses, and healing amp (not necessarily in that order).
• the monk tank - Earth stance has recently been tweaked so it adds dmg reduction & threat bonuses, making this approach more viable. The +1 crit multiplier from Earth III/IV stance is the icing on the cake. And monk AC gear is a bit easier to acquire than traditional S&B gear.
• the FvS tank - something like Soul Survivor, which combines DPS (both melee & magic), threat bonuses, and self-healing. I haven't run one before, so you should check the thread if you like the idea (and see if it's still viable after a year and a half).
• the drow sorcerer tank - ...okay, I made up that one just to see if anyone's reading.

EDIT: once you pick an approach, it'll be easier to make recommendations for a build.

[Riggs]

If you have a guarenteed healer standing behind you the whole time - forget endgame ac(but mid game ac is possible and useful).

Just take a Kensai dual khopesh user, find a good stunning off hand weapon for when you really need to stun something, and just go pure fighter with max str and max stun enhancements. And a few extra Toughness feats maybe.

Then if you are planning on TRing multiple times over months - spend a few hours reading builds on the forums planning for your next life.

'Give me the cliff notes to the best dps/survivable build' is not going to happen in short form. Survivability requires gear - and any melee you have will have none since it will be a first life first melee. And gear also requires a path and a plan - there are too many options to just pick one at random and say that is best.

By the time you cap the first time - you should have read enough to figure out where you want to go with the rest of it.

[paraplegic]

ill like to see the aproach of a drow sorc

[Jsbeer]

ill like to see the aproach of a drow sorc

Motto: Everything is easy to tank if its dead before it gets to you (or un-undead)....