Trip, sunder, etc.

[kwanyin]

Here's an easy one for ya...

I've tended to not use trip, sunder, etc., but I'm beginning to wonder if that makes me a bad player... :S

In the past I've always been a drow rogue/ranger type, so since I didn't have much STR these attacks usually failed. And I was more concerned about sneak attacks, weapon switching, tumbling, all the other things that give DDO melee flavor.

Now I've got 32 pt builds and a brand new paladin, and as these effects are proving more valuable, I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong (TM).

If I understand correctly, these attacks don't break the attack sequence, so there's no down side there. They actually seem a little faster, using a hot key, than just keeping the button mashed and waiting for the next auto attack. So even if the effect is saved against, there still might be reason to do them.

Is there any reason not to do trip, sunder, etc.?

[Missing_Minds]

Once you have bab of 1, you are given basic trip and sunder for free.

Unless I'm specing myself for it I just ignore sunder.

However, trip is on the hotbars of any melee I have. Maybe you won't get that trip to work constantly, but it is darn handy when it does go off. Mobs roll low too.

[madmaxhunter]

When running melee lives, I tripped as a rule. A tripped opponent doesn't fight back. Sunder is good if you're having problems hitting it. I rarely used sunder.

[sebastianosmith]

As a melee, tactical feats are you're only source of CC. A mob stunned or on it's butt is a mob that can't hit back and a sundered mob is going down more quickly. Use your tactics whenever they are off timer and you have opportunity. As a pally feats are tight, but consider Improved Sunder at later levels. Those bosses are fortified with vitamins A and C!

Best of luck!

[xSeverinax]

I love them, I usually spam trip, sunder and stunning blow from hot keys. A fighter's very own version of CC. My other tactic is to hit intim to gather a group of trash mobs, then when they are all round me i hit the whirlwind attack that lets you hit everything in a 360 arc. I use vorpals and it is surprising how quickly you can clear a room of trash using that.

It takes a lot of feats to get those though so it probably isn't worth getting them all on a paladin as you have far less feats.

[Doxmaster]

Here's an easy one for ya...

I've tended to not use trip, sunder, etc., but I'm beginning to wonder if that makes me a bad player... :S

Pretty much, ya.

If you are in melee, trip is a chance at free CC. Nothing more to it than that.

[Varashad]

Trip is one of the best feats in the game because it is 100% free. Even my rogue has it on his hotbar, simply because he can occasionally knock a wizard or archer on their arse, and then polish them off with a knife to the throat.

Sunder by contrast is less useful. The AC debuff is usually not effective enough to matter since it only hits on one mob at a time, and has a fairly lengthy cool down. Improved Sunder however gives targets a -3 fort save per hit, up to -15, regardless of if the AC and fortification debuff goes through. This makes it the best debuff ability for melees without rogue levels, and easily on par with the Hamstring feat.

Stunning Blow is the ultimate melee CC. One punch, and that enemy can't make heads or tails of you. Have fun smashing his skull in for 50% damage from ALL sources, be it sneak attack, magic, or otherwise.

Sap is hit and miss; in a static group of players, you can effectively lock down up to six enemies at once, and then take them out one by one. The cool down for Sap is shorter than the duration, and it has no save. I use this sometimes on my fighters for early game, when I'm soloing, but by the end game most players aren't paying enough attention to not hit the sapped enemy.

Hamstring requires the sneak attack feat, and therefore takes rogue levels. However, a -50% movement debuff is amazing on bosses, because it translates to a -50% boss melee attack speed because monster attack rate is tied to their movement speed.