feedback requested for my intimitank build

[der_kluge]

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Level 20 Lawful Good Human Female
(18 Fighter \ 2 Paladin) 
Hit Points: 392
Spell Points: 20 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 22
Reflex: 12
Will: 13

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(36 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             18                    28
Dexterity            13                    15
Constitution         14                    18
Intelligence         11                    13
Wisdom                8                    10
Charisma             14                    17

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 3
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 3
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 3
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 3
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 3
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               2                    13
Intimidate            6                    42
Jump                  6                    27
Swim                  4                     9
Use Magic Device      4                    14

Level 1 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword
Feat: (Human Bonus) Least Dragonmark of Sentinel
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Cleric
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Favored Soul
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack


Level 2 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Two Handed Fighting


Level 3 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons


Level 4 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons


Level 5 (Fighter)


Level 6 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Shield Mastery
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 7 (Fighter)


Level 8 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Combat Expertise


Level 9 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons


Level 10 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons


Level 11 (Fighter)


Level 12 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting


Level 13 (Paladin)


Level 14 (Paladin)


Level 15 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Force of Personality


Level 16 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Handed Fighting


Level 17 (Fighter)


Level 18 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Shield Mastery
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Intimidate


Level 19 (Fighter)


Level 20 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Superior Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost III
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost III
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Armor Mastery I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender I
Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender II
Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender III
Enhancement: Fighter Tower Shield Mastery I
Enhancement: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization I
Enhancement: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization II
Enhancement: Fighter Flanking Mastery I
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Deneith Intimidation I
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Fighter Item Defense I
Enhancement: Fighter Item Defense II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate III
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate IV
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength II
Enhancement: Fighter Strength III
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness III
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness IV

So, the build I have should be able to get a standing 58 AC. 10 + 15 (templar's bulwark; mithral tower shield) + 25 (epic cavalry plate) +5 (protection) +3 (stalwart defender) + 1 (paladin aura) = 58. In stalwart defender stance I'd get +4 dodge (62). Also, I can get a +4 natural armor bonus from madstone rage (66) and a +4 enhancement boost to AC (70) (for 20 seconds).

I need the Levik's set.

Oh, so I get a +5 from active blocking. So, that should be 75.

And human versatility. Another +2. But that's for 20 seconds. So, 77

I forgot combat expertise. 82 AC.

Endgame UMD should be around 21. 14 base +3 for a +6 item, +3 spyglass. +1 drow mask = 21 before ship buffs.

Questions: Looks like combat expertise stacks with stalwart stances, yes?

Are the Shield Mastery/Improved Shield Mastery feats worth it?

[vraelliott]

The Shield Mastery feats are practically required for a S&B tank. 25% damage reduction with a tower shield is definitely worth it.

I'd recommend dropping Force of Personality and some of the WF/WSpec feats for more toughnesses.

[der_kluge]

The Shield Mastery feats are practically required for a S&B tank. 25% damage reduction with a tower shield is definitely worth it.

I'd recommend dropping Force of Personality and some of the WF/WSpec feats for more toughnesses.

How useful is Skill Focus Intimidate?

I'd be hesitant to drop WF/GWF or Weapon Specialization...

[Carpone]

Are the Shield Mastery/Improved Shield Mastery feats worth it?

I tank eLOB with an 18 Paladin/2 Fighter build using Shield Mastery and a tower shield (20% DR). Shield Mastery is absolutely worth it.

[Varashad]

Fighter Action Boost and Human Versatility do not stack. Also the duration is too short to matter. 20 seconds of +5 AC isn't worth the AP investment. It's more useful as an "oh ****" thing to use when you see a healer die, and know that 20 seconds can save you.

Madstone Rage does not stack with Defender Stance. However, Barkskin(+3) Pots grant +3 natural armor. This is almost as good.

Active Shield blocking is only useful in my experience for LoB, and HoX, where the HP debuff used by the LoB is prevented with shield blocks, and in HoX the boss simply can't be damaged.

GWF is required to gain the +1 damage from Fighter Weapon Specialization II. Without Kensai, this enhancement is very useful to get your damage up to compete with dps speced toons.

If you're not taking shield mastery, then you should be splashing monk, not paladin. Monks add their wisdom bonus to AC, but only if they're not wearing armor(robes, docents(warforged only) or outfits) or shields. Because the previously mentioned items do not have a dex limit, you can get a very high AC with a monk splash and twfing. It's my preference over using shields since you keep more dps, and gain more hate.

Drop the Fighter Attack Boosts, critical accuracy tower shield mastery and armor mastery, and take Haste Boost IV and Human Versatility IV. Any fighter without Haste Boost IV is a gimp. Period.

Get rid of Superior Weapon Focus. It's worth very little for any fighter who's not a Kensai, and on third life you should not be having to hit issues.

Drop Force of Personality and Skill Focus: Intimidate for another Toughness. Epic Chimera's Fang is Keen as well, so swap this and Bastard Sword proficiency out at level 20 for more Toughness, Quick Draw, or Improved Trip.

That's about it.

[der_kluge]

Fighter Action Boost and Human Versatility do not stack. Also the duration is too short to matter. 20 seconds of +5 AC isn't worth the AP investment. It's more useful as an "oh ****" thing to use when you see a healer die, and know that 20 seconds can save you.

AC boost III is required for Defender III. I took the human versatility because I basically ran out of points anywhere else.

If you're not taking shield mastery, then you should be splashing monk, not paladin. Monks add their wisdom bonus to AC, but only if they're not wearing armor(robes, docents(warforged only) or outfits) or shields. Because the previously mentioned items do not have a dex limit, you can get a very high AC with a monk splash and twfing. It's my preference over using shields since you keep more dps, and gain more hate.

I was planning on going the shield route. What kind of weapons can I use with a ftr18/mnk2 build? Wraps?

Drop the Fighter Attack Boosts, critical accuracy tower shield mastery and armor mastery, and take Haste Boost IV and Human Versatility IV. Any fighter without Haste Boost IV is a gimp. Period.

Thought you just said the 20 second boosts weren't really worth it? I can't really drop the tower shield and AC mastery enhancements, because I've calculated how much of those I'd need in order to take advantage of max dex benefits from mithral armor/mithral tower shield. I can see dropping Critical accuracy and the attack boosts. That's enough to get me haste boost III.


Get rid of Superior Weapon Focus. It's worth very little for any fighter who's not a Kensai, and on third life you should not be having to hit issues.

Drop Force of Personality and Skill Focus: Intimidate for another Toughness. Epic Chimera's Fang is Keen as well, so swap this and Bastard Sword proficiency out at level 20 for more Toughness, Quick Draw, or Improved Trip.
[/QUOTE]

Can't really drop SWF since it's a fighter bonus feat. I could drop SF: intim or FoP out for toughness, if I needed to. Dropping FoP would lower my will save by about 7 points, which is pretty significant.

[Varashad]

AC boost III is required for Defender III. I took the human versatility because I basically ran out of points anywhere else.

~facepalm~ My bad, ignore that. Guess who doesn't have a Stalwart Defender up to level 18 yet?

I was planning on going the shield route. What kind of weapons can I use with a ftr18/mnk2 build? Wraps?

A fighter(18)/monk(2) would probably use khopesh just like any other twfing build. Wraps are only better than weapons when you hit around level 6 monk, though I couldn't tell you for sure. But for your build, khopesh for sure.

Thought you just said the 20 second boosts weren't really worth it? I can't really drop the tower shield and AC mastery enhancements, because I've calculated how much of those I'd need in order to take advantage of max dex benefits from mithral armor/mithral tower shield. I can see dropping Critical accuracy and the attack boosts. That's enough to get me haste boost III.

Technically I said that armor class boost wasn't worth it. A 40% attack speed bonus is 25% more dps and more hate. 25% damage bonus is another 25% dps boost and hate boost. Stacked, it's something super sweet and ultimately ensures you'll maintain agro.

The reason I say drop the armor and shield mastery boosts is primarily because the dexterity bonus you get to AC is only +2 for a lot of AP cost. Ultimately you'll be dropping AC for hate gear on the highest end bosses anyways. Normal ToD requires I believe an AC of 83 to be hit only on a natural 20. I'd be lying if I said I could give you an AC breakdown, but I know it can be done without AP you've expended.

Can't really drop SWF since it's a fighter bonus feat. I could drop SF: intim or FoP out for toughness, if I needed to. Dropping FoP would lower my will save by about 7 points, which is pretty significant.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Fighter_bonus_feat

That is a list of all the available fighter bonus feats. Quick Draw is better and Improved Shield Bash is amazing. Take one of those instead. Also, will saves are easily dealt with by buffs and gear. Very few will saves prevent damage in the same way that reflex saves do.

EDIT: Ahah! Sirgog has kindly provided me a very suitable AC break down which I have sneakily stolen from his Iron Defender build.

AC effects on gear:
Stone of Change AC rituals 2
Protection 5
Natural 6
Dodge 1
Dodge 2
Dodge 3
Profane 3
Insight 4
Shield 11
Armor 16 (both armors are the same here)
Stalwart Defender TOD set 2
Total - 55

AC effects as class bonuses/feats etc:
Baseline AC 10
Combat Expertise 5
Feat - Dodge 1
Stalwart Defender 3 Passive AC 3
Stalwart Defender 3 Defensive Stance Dodge Bonus 4
Total - 23 (78)

AC from stats
Dex 11 (15 base Dex, +4 tome, +1/2 exceptional, +2 alchemical, +6 enhancement, +2 Yugopot OR shipbuff - both required if you are missing the +4 tome)

Total AC in antimagic - 89

This will go up significantly if you have a party buffing you, probably to over 100.

[unbongwah]

Thought you just said the 20 second boosts weren't really worth it?

Haste Boost & human Versatility (Dmg Boost) can be activated at the same time, which is a pretty big bonus to DPS for 20 secs (minus activation delay). While I wouldn't go so far as to say a tank w/out Haste Boost IV is gimp (simply because you have a lot of demands on your APs that a Kensai does not), it is definitely worthwhile to take at least the first couple of ranks of both, IMHO.

A few other suggestions:

• You mentioned you figured out the MDB you needed, but it would help if you showed what your DEX will end up and how you got there. [BTW, don't forget epic Cavalry Plate can be slotted w/Greater Nimbleness; that might help out.]
• If you're going S&B on a ftr tank, I think all three shield feats are worthwhile; Shield Mastery & ISM for dmg mitigation, Imp Shield Bash for a little extra tanking DPS.
• Base CON 14 feels a little low for a 36-pt tank; I'd try to bump it up to 16. Maybe start something like 17 / 14 / 16 / 11 / 8 / 12?
• Instead of SWF:S and SF:Intim I'd consider, say, Dodge & Mobility for more AC; or Imp Sunder & Stunning Blow; or as a human, strongly consider acquiring an epic Chimera's Fang before TRing & taking all three Sentinel DMs.
• You can see my take on a (lowly 28 pt) human SD tank in my Sentinel Squire thread.

FWIW, I have a dwarven THF SD build with a pally splash & FoP - currently ftr 14 / pally 2 - and I definitely appreciated the bonus to saves & ability to use pally wands while leveling. But I kinda expect to feel a bit gimpy come lvl 20 (if & when I fully gear up), at which point I might LR into pure ftr or TR into my "real" tank build. YMMV, ofc...

[Shadowaras]

My suggestion is a bit different... first of all not a fan of ac ...because at cap u gonna have to gimp pretty much your toon as far as dps/hitpoints to achieve an ac capable to tank .. suulomades, norm/hard lob,horoth (at best)..u wont be able to ac tank epics ofc... most elite diffs ..so as far as i am concerned i prefer to build max heal amp/max hitpoints tanks ...even without ac an s&b tank has so much dr that with proper heal amp an clr or arti even with a scroll would not break a swet healing him(tested)..

Now since u want intim i would suggest half elf (2 intimidate cooldowns ,bbn dilletante more hp or monk diletante for +20% amp)

And u have maxed str which is not so important for a tank.. i prefer balance between str/con/cha ..here is my 2 tank builds below as ftr and pally.. both evasion helfs ftr stands at 1100 hp with yugo and pally at 1050 hp..

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=355427
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...43#post4318743

[Varashad]

My suggestion is a bit different... first of all not a fan of ac ...because at cap u gonna have to gimp pretty much your toon as far as dps/hitpoints to achieve an ac capable to tank .. suulomades, norm/hard lob,horoth (at best)..u wont be able to ac tank epics ofc... most elite diffs ..so as far as i am concerned i prefer to build max heal amp/max hitpoints tanks ...even without ac an s&b tank has so much dr that with proper heal amp an clr or arti even with a scroll would not break a swet healing him(tested)..

Untrue. A Stalwart Defender will be sitting at a comfortable 900 hp fully geared regardless of if he's AC or hate speced. His damage will also be reasonable, though sadly not as much as a Kensai or Frenzied Berserker. Any tank will want to have high healing amplification. This is basically a given that it will occur.

AC is also useful and effective in all content up to normal Lord of Blades. At 90 AC, if I'm not mistaken, the LoB only hits you on a natural 20. In other words, healers pike in most raids.

On elite or epic I agree with you entirely, but to say AC is not useful is the mentality of a 9 AC barbarian.

Now since u want intim i would suggest half elf (2 intimidate cooldowns ,bbn dilletante more hp or monk diletante for +20% amp)

Going half-elf purely for two intimidates is just not required. Dwarf gains more hp, human gains more heal amp and feats. Half-elf is a good choice if you get 13 base wisdom for monk dilettante, but that's a waste of build points. I would say human or dwarf are the only reasonable races for a tank build.

And u have maxed str which is not so important for a tank.. i prefer balance between str/con/cha ..here is my 2 tank builds below as ftr and pally.. both evasion helfs ftr stands at 1100 hp with yugo and pally at 1050 hp..

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=355427
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...43#post4318743

You just got through saying AC tanks have low dps. Why would you lower it further by not maxing strength? Even with a 6 cha dwarf you can get enough intimidate for no fail. His charisma is much higher than 6. Not maxing strength is not a good idea, since that tank needs damage to hold agro.

[unbongwah]

Half-elf is a good choice if you get 13 base wisdom for monk dilettante, but that's a waste of build points.

Base WIS 11 is 3 build pts. +2 tome, swap your original dilly for monk, and PRESTO! you can get +40% heal amp for the same APs as a human gets 30%. Is +10% heal amp not worth 3 build pts on a 36-pt tank?

[Varashad]

Base WIS 11 is 3 build pts. +2 tome, swap your original dilly for monk, and PRESTO! you can get +40% heal amp for the same APs as a human gets 30%. Is +10% heal amp not worth 3 build pts on a 36-pt tank?

I'm not sure it works like that. I think that feat changes require you to meet the requirements of said feat at the level you were changing it out. For example, you couldn't take Improved Critical at anytime before you have a Base Attack Bonus of 8, so pure melees have to be at least level 8 to take it. At the same time, you have to have at least 13 wisdom to take monk dilly, and since you have to choose a dilly at level 1, you need to have 13 wisdom at character creation.

[unbongwah]

I think that feat changes require you to meet the requirements of said feat at the level you were changing it out.

Normally that's true, but enough people have said that HEs who start base stat 11 and take a +2 tome can then swap their dilly to whatever requires that base stat 13 that I believe it. However, I've never tested it for myself, so I may be wrong. I look forward to hearing from someone who can afford to splurge a +2 tome just to test this for us, however.

[Shadowaras]

Untrue. A Stalwart Defender will be sitting at a comfortable 900 hp fully geared regardless of if he's AC or hate speced.

yep that wat im saying.. 900 hp..is not the same as 1100 (1200+ with with positive infusion) ..900hp is not comfortable to tank epic lob fast an easy without having to pause at all for mournlands ...

AC is also useful and effective in all content up to normal Lord of Blades. At 90 AC, if I'm not mistaken, the LoB only hits you on a natural 20. In other words, healers pike in most raids.

Agreed thats wat i said above... upto normal ,hard lob ....but my point is .. even if u r not ac specd .. a single scroll casting healer,bard,arti can keep u up if u have heal amp and imp shield holding a tower shield ...why let em pike ?:P ... anyway i planned my tanks aiming for wats best for the higher diff content (epic tanking ) ..if the healer is too bored to actually heal just a bit then fine w8 to find an ac tank np for me

On elite or epic I agree with you entirely, but to say AC is not useful is the mentality of a 9 AC barbarian.

I totaly get wat u mean i still have the ac gear made and rdy to use situational .. but i will not trimm stats or feats for it.... i use ac all the time .. but only when tring even on wiz lol

Going half-elf purely for two intimidates is just not required. Dwarf gains more hp, human gains more heal amp and feats. Half-elf is a good choice if you get 13 base wisdom for monk dilettante, but that's a waste of build points. I would say human or dwarf are the only reasonable races for a tank build.

You making an intimitank ? scnd intimidate is not usefull ? i lost u there ... i cant count the times the scnd intim cooldown saved the day... or tell casters,divines .... nuke away guys i have the cooldowns to pull him back watever happens epiclob,edq,tod ...everywhere ..u say go dwarf for more hp and above u say is ok to have only 900hp....choose your argument

You just got through saying AC tanks have low dps. Why would you lower it further by not maxing strength? Even with a 6 cha dwarf you can get enough intimidate for no fail. His charisma is much higher than 6. Not maxing strength is not a good idea, since that tank needs damage to hold agro.

im standing at 48 str on the ftr ...rly i dont need anymore hehe...there is nocase i have seen losing agro with him with the fang/obsession,circle,tod set equippped ... and have tested manytimes in tod part2 as i always ask for em to do the best on hate to get proper idea ..

Anyway is all about wat u like most at the end .. and wat u aiming to make..my focus is epic tanking .. if u want to tank vod and tod then by all means go ac focused or wateva ...i stand by wat i said ... helf evasion hp tanks

[Varashad]

yep that wat im saying.. 900 hp..is not the same as 1100 (1200+ with with positive infusion) ..900hp is not comfortable to tank epic lob fast an easy without having to pause at all for mournlands ...

900 hp is plenty of hp. A positive energy infusion will bump it up more. Also, I do not believe there is such a thing as an "easy" eLoB when everyone I've talked to agrees it is the hardest raid in the game, and almost impossible to PuG.

Agreed thats wat i said above... upto normal ,hard lob ....but my point is .. even if u r not ac specd .. a single scroll casting healer,bard,arti can keep u up if u have heal amp and imp shield holding a tower shield ...why let em pike ?:P ... anyway i planned my tanks aiming for wats best for the higher diff content (epic tanking ) ..if the healer is too bored to actually heal just a bit then fine w8 to find an ac tank np for me

Perhaps piking is the wrong word. I should have said they will be healing very rarely as opposed to a hate tank. Because resources are expensive, even a stack of 100 heal scrolls is about 11k, while Major Pots are over 15k, it is much better to have the healer not have to expend too many resources, especially since most pugs won't reimburse resources. In addition, any tank worth a **** will have all three things you mention regardless of his specification.

I totaly get wat u mean i still have the ac gear made and rdy to use situational .. but i will not trimm stats or feats for it.... i use ac all the time .. but only when tring even on wiz lol

See, the only feats you really need for AC is combat expertise anyways, maybe dodge on a first life, but even dexterity can probably be dumped. CE is good because tanks need balance and intimidate at least, not to mention other fun stuff, and only human tanks will have enough skill points for everything unless they put some points in intelligence. In other words, you're not really specializing your build for AC so much as tanking.

You making an intimitank ? scnd intimidate is not usefull ? i lost u there ... i cant count the times the scnd intim cooldown saved the day... or tell casters,divines .... nuke away guys i have the cooldowns to pull him back watever happens epiclob,edq,tod ...everywhere ..u say go dwarf for more hp and above u say is ok to have only 900hp....choose your argument

My argument is that you can hold agro just fine without the second intimidate. If your party is any kind of intelligent, then you will never lose agro in the first place. The half-elf intimidate only comes off timer once per minute if I recall right, so it's one extra intimidate for every three normal uses. If your party is necessitating the use of multiple intimidates, then they're doing it wrong. As for dwarf for hp, 900 hp is plenty. 5% of 900 is 45, so you're down to 855. So long as you have at least 600 hp you're good(though I'm not trying to say 600 hp is all you need for eLoB, but it's a safe number to start turtling at) and since Mornlands only procs on a critical hit, you're not going to be getting procced on every single time you're hit.

im standing at 48 str on the ftr ...rly i dont need anymore hehe...there is nocase i have seen losing agro with him with the fang/obsession,circle,tod set equippped ... and have tested manytimes in tod part2 as i always ask for em to do the best on hate to get proper idea ..

You could always use more strength. If you had 52 strength or so for example, then you might get enough damage and agro built up on the boss that the second intimidate is less useful.

Anyway is all about wat u like most at the end .. and wat u aiming to make..my focus is epic tanking .. if u want to tank vod and tod then by all means go ac focused or wateva ...i stand by wat i said ... helf evasion hp tanks

Agreed ultimately. Both tank types will work just fine, you prefer yours and I prefer mine, but ultimately, they do the same job equally well.

[Shadowaras]

900 hp is plenty of hp. A positive energy infusion will bump it up more. Also, I do not believe there is such a thing as an "easy" eLoB when everyone I've talked to agrees it is the hardest raid in the game, and almost impossible to PuG.

Yes the 900 hp is enough indeed provided u have a proper party that they know wat they r doing and r not making difficult for ya to tank.But because there r different tactics sometimes applied through pugs .. and not many pugs for epic lobs around in most cases u will have to compensate mistakes melee or casters do.As for the puggable i do make epic lob pugs .. when i use my tanks (provided key positions r filled with solid ppl i know i can count on ..caster,kiter,tank healer,1 solid dps) i can lead through ppl that r new to the raid if the listen to instructions ...agreed though not every pug will succed ..1 too many mistakes can wipe ya.

My argument is that you can hold agro just fine without the second intimidate. If your party is any kind of intelligent, then you will never lose agro in the first place. The half-elf intimidate only comes off timer once per minute if I recall right, so it's one extra intimidate for every three normal uses. If your party is necessitating the use of multiple intimidates, then they're doing it wrong.

Agreed the scnd intimidate with a proper party wont be needed ... but it gives u extra options ...allow your casters to nuke away from start ,allow u to compensate for agro mistakes (especially when pugging)..and at the very least having a 100% hate boost every 60 sec if u wanna utilize it that way. ...For example there is noway we could have done the run below if i didnt have 2 intim cooldowns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70k9Y_oKZ8

[sirgog]

yep that wat im saying.. 900 hp..is not the same as 1100 (1200+ with with positive infusion) ..900hp is not comfortable to tank epic lob fast an easy without having to pause at all for mournlands ...

The first ever speedrun of epic LOB reported in these forums was tanked by an AC stalwart with ~900hp. That was a sub-30 minute run.

[Carpone]

yep that wat im saying.. 900 hp..is not the same as 1100 (1200+ with with positive infusion) ..900hp is not comfortable to tank epic lob fast an easy without having to pause at all for mournlands ...

Having a massive HP tank won't prevent you from pausing for the Mourlands debuff, only reduce the number of times you have to pause. If you don't want to pause at all, then bring two tanks so you can do a tank switch.

In phase one of LOB and parts of phase two, the Mourlands debuff can be completed mitigated with the smart application of Pale Lavendar Ioun Stone.

[sirgog]

Here's the build I run at the moment (note I plan small changes to it, but nothing enormous): http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=355893

I'm Fighter 20 because I love the capstone (10% double strike is a lot of threat, and also lets you land To-Hit debuffs like Cursespewing more reliably). But I can see the appeal of a Pal2 splash.

Don't expect to see your AC work in Epics until you are fairly much Epic geared. Your AC will go up a lot (~15 points) when you go from pre-Epic gear to Epic gear, and those points are the difference between being hit on a 2 and being hit on a 12 by debuffed epic quest bosses. That does not mean you can't contribute in Epics - just the ability to Intimidate mobs with cleave attacks, run a little past them, and endure their attacks (with your HP, DR and Shield Mastery) can buy a lot of time if, say, a healer DCs and crowd control is lacklustre.

Expect to swap gear a lot.


Oh and half-elf is worth serious consideration - not only do you get 44% healing amp instead of a human's 30%, you also get more uses of Intimidate.

[Carpone]

Are the Shield Mastery/Improved Shield Mastery feats worth it?

Shield Mastery is absolutely worth it. I'm not sold on Improved Shield Mastery, but with 18 levels of Fighter you've got plenty of feats to burn.