Drow Tempest in expansion

[Battlehawke]

For weeks I've been thinking tat Drow is going to be so uber in the expansion with the enhancement changes. I was really thinking that it would be a great playable melee race. However the more I think about it and try to figure out builds in my head, the more I think.... it's just not going to happen. The only thing I can think of is some kind of Exploit like build or perhaps a 20 Rogue, Dos or Stalwart build. But, they are still going to be gimped on HP.

Can anyone think of a great build for Drow if they could go Tempest today as a racial class?

The 1/2'ling is going to very awesome..... but is the Drow?

[Rydin_Dirtay]

Halfling racial prestige? Where?
And where is the info on the Drow Tempest racial prestige?

20 hp is only 20 hp...but the real issue is with Drow/Elf builds, is that the CON penalty takes bp's away from other stats -- so it is in essence a lot more damaging to a build than just a mere 20 hp in today's DDO. This game used to not be so hp-centric.

I'd rather have a Drow scorpion wraith racial prestige.

[Battlehawke]

Riyden. They have announced that during the Expansion Pack the the class prestige enhancement line for Drow will be Tempest (someone at Turbine is a hardcore Drizzt fan). The 1/2'ling racial will be Rogue.

So, if you pick say a Drow and make his class a Cleric, you could pick both the Radiant Servant (cleric) and the Tempest (Drow) treelines for enhancements.

For the life of me I can't think of any class to combine with the Tempest to ale me pick Drow over another race.

I can think of so many to combine with rogue (1/2'ling).

[Chai]

I have a drow dex/wis windstance monk - whose attack rate will be off the chain once that is all combined with tempest.

Fighters would be good as well - with the full str bonus to offhand attacks (another speculation from the enhancement thread).

Halflings speculation was assassin (not simply rogue) - they will not likely be getting 1d6 SA damage every other level or evasion. It would play more like whatever class you chose with the ability to assassinate and apply poisons and vorp with any weapon while qualified for sneak attacks. (speculation based on the abilities they have today)

I dont see them allowing us to make a 76 sustainable strength 20 BAB fighter with 19d6 SA damage +vorp on SA included, evasion, and all trap abilities and assassinate.

[redspecter23]

I'm thinking that monk will be a great way to go with tempest on a drow. Full offhand procs would be amazing. If they get that +4 shield AC bonus applying while you have handwraps on, that would be a nice AC bonus for a monk that usually has to rely on shield clickies for that. HP do become an issue, but the AC potential and Shadow Fade with improved evasion help out a bit there. As an added bonus, if the feat requirements remain the same, you're getting double use out of dodge as it's a prereq for ninja spy as well.

[Battlehawke]

Obviously they haven't even figured out what they (turbine) are going to do yet. I think that they have barely even begun to put the treelines together yet, but correct me if I'm wrong but under the current rules handwraps neutralize the tempest bonuses don't they? Making tempest and monk pretty much useless. That would be a nice change though if they let it happen...

[xoowak]

Fighter is the only class I can see drow being worth it. Pallies/Barbs/Rogues won't have the feats to spare. Monks are probably better off being halflings, imo.

[krogyy]

a drow rogue will have quite good synergy. more off-hand procs, more sneak attacks.

[voodoogroves]

Depends on the feat reqs and how they replace them, honestly.

If there are no feat requirements, anything could benefit including Zeal Pallies. Or Zeal Pallies with a monk2 splash in Wind stance. Or Pal 14 / Monk 6 thingies.

[unbongwah]

A drow pally or ftr (or pally / ftr) who can add Tempest to their build should see a nice boost to their DPS. Big question mark is what the pre-reqs for it will be; this post seems to suggest there will be at least some feat pre-reqs.

[Jaid314]

can't say i'm excited for drow tempest at all, unless tempest gets changed significantly.

frankly, there are not a ton of classes that want to be TWF *and* drow. monk, fighter, ranger, and barbarian all benefit very little from drow (not to say they can't be done, but you'd generally be better off with something else), rogues and drow at least work somewhat well together if you're making a dex-based build, but really... the classes where drow has something to offer? wizard, sorcerer, and to some extent rogue, bard, and artificer (i would personally but artificer in the list of classes that drow is very good for, but going with popular opinion, it seems to be a distant third or fourth to most people). i've also heard of some good drow paladin builds, but paladin + tempest again just doesn't seem to have much to offer from my perspective.

for a race that is really not used for TWF melee builds right now in the vast majority of cases, it seems really weird that drow would get such a focus on a TWF melee PrE.

most of the other races make sense: half-orc barbarian, elf arcane archer, halfling assassin, dwarven stalwart defender, WF stalwart defender (although this would also make sense to be kensei, it will have a lot of synergy for tanking casters as it stands), all at least make some amount of sense. drow as tempest is just really confusing for me, personally. at least scorpion wraith (which i always thought made more sense as a version of ninja spy rather than a rogue option, but whatever) would make some sense, even as a rogue PrE, because you can make a pretty solid rogue out of a drow (though usually you'll be better with something else, at least it doesn't have almost zero synergy at all, which is about what drow and tempest have).

so yeah, i agree... i want scorpion wraith back. or, better yet, scorpion wraith, but based on ninja spy; something that would actually have an appeal for the builds that drow typically use (shadow fade = good for all, sneak attack = good for many bards and artificers, all rogues, and a focus on debuffing would also be handy for many of those builds).

so that's my vote: forget about tempest. i want ninja spy.

[Rydin_Dirtay]

but correct me if I'm wrong but under the current rules handwraps neutralize the tempest bonuses don't they? Making tempest and monk pretty much useless. That would be a nice change though if they let it happen...

No, you can use wraps and get the Tempest bonuses currently.

I can see a TWF DM4 Drow rapier Paladin, with KoTC *and* Tempest. That might be kind of nice. Divine Might 4 + Tempest on a high-crit weapon like that.

[aristarchus1000]

We will see.

I'm not sure Drow will end up being the new DPS gods. We also don't know how the AP costs will play out. I imagine creating a full tier 3 Kensai/Tempest or Frenzied/Tempest will be pretty tight on APs.

[ThePrincipal]

I like the idea of a Tempest Kensei - ultimate master of blades. Fighter hp will tack a lot of the sting out of being a drow.

Tempest Monk can be cool if you roll Long Swords or Kamas.

[Maelodic]

I'm sorry, but I can't seem to find where these changes are coming from. Someone post?

[unbongwah]

In the Let's Talk: Enhancements thread, Eladrin mentioned that more racial PrEs are being added; drow are getting Tempest.

[WangoFett]

My virtual money is on a kensai II or III build, perhaps with 6+ monk for ninja spy and ki short swords and wind stance.
Although, a frenzied berserker with full strength to off-hand attacks from the new tempest capstone would be pretty savage.

[Maelodic]

Well that's freakin sweet. I can actually make a viable halfling non-rogue melee class now.

Ninja Spy with assassinate? Yes please.

[BoolZ]

Yeah the Drow Tempest builds are really going to be dependent on what they do with the feat prerequisites. And changes to AP cost.

Without Ranger the Drow would need TWF, ITWF, GTWF, Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack just to qualify and make use. That's on top of the Dex 17 to qualify for ITWF/GTWF. That would leave 1 slot for Toughness/IC/Power Attack or anything else.

I think that would really limit Drow to Fighter/Monk/Wiz/maybe Arty. Something with bonus feats with Fighter being the most obvious choice. Monk could be useful with the double useful dodge, and maybe even good with the heal amp to compensate for the CON penalty.

An Arty might make good with Insightful Damage and Weapon Finesse to ease the Stat build stress.

I've personally been playing with Wizard Pale Master. Load of buffs/debuffs, scimitars to help debuffing instead of damage, and instant death spells. AP cost seems rough though and Greater Spell Focus and Spell Pens don't seem to be Wizard bonus feats... leading us back to being completely dependent on what Turbine does with the feat prerequisites for Tempest.

Real winner for racial PRE's it seems at least so far is a Human Fighter. Racial Healing Amp, Human Versatility, Power Surge, Fighter Haste IV all on top of Tempest III.

[Ayseifn]

Could be some nice synergy with AC focused twf 18/2 DoS paladins as there will be a defensive Tempest line for having dodge and mobility.