Maximizing AC on a non AC build

[Forzah]

Hey all,

I'm trying to maximize my AC on my dwarf barbarian (just for fun, don't complain about suboptimality). He has 26 dex. What gear setup would give me the most unbuffed AC? Could you break it down for me? Attainability of the loot is not an issue (I might TR him into something AC based later on). I'm willing to use a shield.

Greetings,

Forza

[MRMechMan]

+Icy raiments (maybe heavier armor, not sure if 26 dex makes it worth it)
+Eswashbuckler shield
+Ebuccaneers ring
+Enight cloak
+Ewind bracers
+Dodge +1 trinket
+Eseal of the earth
+prot+5 somewhere (+6 ring? +6 sup stability?)

+bard song
+alchemical rituals
+pocket pally
+recitation

-a billion for rage

[Forzah]

+Icy raiments (maybe heavier armor, not sure if 26 dex makes it worth it)
+Eswashbuckler shield
+Ebuccaneers ring
+Enight cloak
+Ewind bracers
+Dodge +1 trinket
+Eseal of the earth
+prot+5 somewhere (+6 ring? +6 sup stability?)

+bard song
+alchemical rituals
+pocket pally
+recitation

-a billion for rage

Guess I'm a sucker for skipping half the gear when crystal cove was up, but this gives me a good idea. Should really get me that shield; I do have the ring.

I'm missing out on the 3 piece abishai bonus with your setup. Thinking of going with cloak, bracers, random item and a grims bracelet for +3 dodge. Then +2 dodge on my head of good fortune. I could buff dex to 28 with +2 exceptional dex, btw (and more when using shipbuffs/yugo pots).

[voodoogroves]

Guess I'm a sucker for skipping half the gear when crystal cove was up, but this gives me a good idea. Should really get me that shield; I do have the ring.

I'm missing out on the 3 piece abishai bonus with your setup. Thinking of going with cloak, bracers, random item and a grims bracelet for +3 dodge. Then +2 dodge on my head of good fortune. I could buff dex to 28 with +2 exceptional dex, btw (and more when using shipbuffs/yugo pots).

Most AC builds are doing the T3 Wind/Air bracers from the challenges, crafted with +1 dodge so they have +3 dodge (native) and +1 dodge on the bracer. Then fit a +2 from somewhere (Head of GF, epic Mabar, Buccaneer Ring, etc.) and dodge 4 somewhere else (Icy, Epic Duelist's Raiment). The Duelist's can go up to a 14 or so DEX bonus (since it grants mobility) which may be something you can hit if you're TWF with DEX gear anyway.

Anyway, that'd get you all 10 of dodge.

[cru121]

Here's an idea: Wear armor instead of rags!

Parasitic breastplate offers easy 13 AC and max.dex bonus +8
Epic Cavalry Plate offers 16 AC with max dex 3; if you slot greater nimbleness and take dwarf armor mastery III, max.dex. is 8. (Or slot mobility in boots,rings,trinket with cannith crafting)
(+1 ritual)

Wear a +5 shield of superior stability (+1 ritual)

Get +4 insight AC (GS weapon, Omniscience ring, watcher's blade, challenges cloak...)

Natural armor: +5 cove hat

Dodge: posters above me covered that. challenge bracers are particularly nice
Another source of +4 dodge is epic staff of nat gann. Obviously, cannot be used with shields.

I know you said unbuffed, but don't forget Improved Uncanny Dodge. Yes, that's actually an ability that all barbs have. +6 dodge bonus to both AC and reflex saving throw for 30 seconds.

[HungarianRhapsody]

If you end up TRing into another Barbarian life, you can get a shockingly good AC with a Mithral Full Plate with Greater Stability (ML 1 with Masterful Craftsmanship) and then Superior Stability (ML 3 with Masterful Craftsmanship) and a Mithral Large/Tower Shield with just the biggest "plus" you can fit on it.

I did that for a while and I was amazed at the damage that I avoided well into the early teens levels even on Elite.

[Forzah]

Here's an idea: Wear armor instead of rags!

Parasitic breastplate offers easy 13 AC and max.dex bonus +8
Epic Cavalry Plate offers 16 AC with max dex 3; if you slot greater nimbleness and take dwarf armor mastery III, max.dex. is 8. (Or slot mobility in boots,rings,trinket with cannith crafting)
(+1 ritual)

Wear a +5 shield of superior stability (+1 ritual)

Get +4 insight AC (GS weapon, Omniscience ring, watcher's blade, challenges cloak...)

Natural armor: +5 cove hat

Dodge: posters above me covered that. challenge bracers are particularly nice
Another source of +4 dodge is epic staff of nat gann. Obviously, cannot be used with shields.

I know you said unbuffed, but don't forget Improved Uncanny Dodge. Yes, that's actually an ability that all barbs have. +6 dodge bonus to both AC and reflex saving throw for 30 seconds.

Thanks for your advice. The armor idea is pretty good, but doesn't it prevent evasion?

I noticed parrying (+4 insight) is on the swashbuckler shield as well, and on top of it +2 exceptional dex . Heh, now I actually really look forward to crystal cove in the future . Gonna keep my eyes open for cl12 barkskin wands too.

Gear will probably be something like this:
Weapon: anything good (eSirroco probably)
Shield: swashbuckler, superior parrying, exc dex +2, +1 AC ritual
Helm: helm of frost
Neck: epic grims bracelet, +3 dodge
Cloak: envenomed cloak
Boots: boots of corrosion (setbonus +3 stacking natural armor)
Bracers: claw
Gloves: claw
Trinket: HogF +2 dodge
Armor: icy with +4 dodge and +1 AC ritual (alternatives: duelist or cavalry plate)
Ring: eseal of the earth, +6 natural; buccaneer, 5 protection (alternative: barkskin)

Do i need +8 armor bonus on anything now or does it not stack?

[cru121]

Parasitic Breastplate is light armor, i.e. you can use it with evasion.
Epic Cavalry plate is medium, i.e. no go.
Also consider (coming soon with update 13):
Epic Rakshasa Hide - Light Armor (Hide) - AC 11 (Including enhancement), Max Dex 10 (including Nimbleness). +6, Rough Hide (stacking +3 AC), Heightened Awareness 4, Superior Nimbleness, Roar, Attack Bonus +2, Blue Slot

to your gear set: yes, you still need to fit in armor bonus somewhere.
I'm not sure if you can apply armor ritual to robes.

[Forzah]

Parasitic Breastplate is light armor, i.e. you can use it with evasion.
Epic Cavalry plate is medium, i.e. no go.
Also consider (coming soon with update 13):
Epic Rakshasa Hide - Light Armor (Hide) - AC 11 (Including enhancement), Max Dex 10 (including Nimbleness). +6, Rough Hide (stacking +3 AC), Heightened Awareness 4, Superior Nimbleness, Roar, Attack Bonus +2, Blue Slot

to your gear set: yes, you still need to fit in armor bonus somewhere.
I'm not sure if you can apply armor ritual to robes.

Understand all of it now. I've reached 68 AC yesterday (buffed and with uncanny dodge), and got room to improve it to about 74 in its current form.

[Forzah]

My short term plan will be this:
Weapon: anything good (eSirroco probably)
Shield: lorriks defender with +1 AC ritual
Helm: helm of frost
Neck: epic grims bracelet, +3 dodge
Cloak: envenomed cloak
Boots: boots of corrosion
Bracers: claw (my heavy fort,+2con and eldritch resistance item)
Gloves: claw
Belt: eSirensbelt, 8 armor bonus, protection, setbonus:+4 insight
Trinket: Gem of many facets
Goggles: Raven's sight, setbonus: +4 attack, alternative: haste guard +3 reflex item
Armor: icy with +4 dodge and +1 AC ritual
Ring: Frenzy berserker (+exc str), +2 dodge cannith crafting
Barkskin pots while I try to find a blue slot somewhere

This will net reasonable AC (70'ish with uncanny dodge) , reasonable saves (reflex save bit less than 40 before uncanny), and reasonable dps (can use shield wand + esos at a loss of 5 AC).

[CoasterHops]

I am going to build an AC Barbarian once i finish one of my current TR's.

Im not going pure though.

Looking at 12 Barb/6fighter/2rog - Human with Dragonmarks. Epic Fang, Epic Deneith helm etc. I think it will be fun, doing it just to mock my guildies really lol.

Edit:
Gear set up will be something along the lines of:
Epic Chimeras Fang
Epic Duelist Leathers
Epic Chimeras Crown
Light and Darkness (True Neutral Character) Until i get a better Shield
Lvl 16 Bracers of Air (+3 and + 1 dodge)
Thraak Bracers + 2 dodge and Toughness
Epic Ring of buccaneer
Greensteel Goggles of some description (what would be best here)
3 Piece Epic Abishai - boots/cloak and gloves
Epic Brawns spirits
Maybe Frenzied Beserker set. For other ring and belt slot.

Should be fun, will have full THF line and likely use an Epic Elemental Axe of Fire for general dps.

The build may suck but mainly making it as a challenge from guildies.

[MRMechMan]

My wf (duh ) fvs hit 61 AC once, totally unspecced for it. Was seeing some misses in normal TOD, was weird. My torc wasn't a fan of that


Something like...
10
7 dex:12+2tome+7ring+2exp+2ship=25
9armor
8 shield
4insight
5 prot
=
5 barkskin
3 shipbuffs
4 bardsong
5 neighborhood pally
=60

[Forzah]

I am going to build an AC Barbarian once i finish one of my current TR's.

Im not going pure though.

Looking at 12 Barb/6fighter/2rog - Human with Dragonmarks. Epic Fang, Epic Deneith helm etc. I think it will be fun, doing it just to mock my guildies really lol.

Edit:
Gear set up will be something along the lines of:
Epic Chimeras Fang
Epic Duelist Leathers
Epic Chimeras Crown
Light and Darkness (True Neutral Character) Until i get a better Shield
Lvl 16 Bracers of Air (+3 and + 1 dodge)
Thraak Bracers + 2 dodge and Toughness
Epic Ring of buccaneer
Greensteel Goggles of some description (what would be best here)
3 Piece Epic Abishai - boots/cloak and gloves
Epic Brawns spirits
Maybe Frenzied Beserker set. For other ring and belt slot.

Should be fun, will have full THF line and likely use an Epic Elemental Axe of Fire for general dps.

The build may suck but mainly making it as a challenge from guildies.

DPS wise I guess it will be pretty poor, because you miss out on death frenzy. Death frenzy adds a lot of dps (more than rage in most situations, depending on your to-hit), and it doesn't come at an AC loss. My plan is to walk around unraged and only use frenzy

[voodoogroves]

What's your DEX?

Epic Duelist's Leathers useful to you instead of Icy? you can slot those at least

[Forzah]

What's your DEX?

Epic Duelist's Leathers useful to you instead of Icy? you can slot those at least

Using all sorts of shipbuffs and pots I can get 32 dex. Unfortunately I need to do crystal cove first before I can get those duelist's leathers, but I'm quite sure they are way better for me than Icy rayment (saving many gear slots, and having relevant stuff on it besides +4 dodge). Not to mention they can be slotted with +4 natural armor .

[Viisari]

(I might TR him into something AC based later on)

You what?! :O

[Forzah]

You what?! :O

Might .. got enough gear now to make almost any melee build work out properly.