Would a melee artificer with bastardswords work?

[Dragavon]

I have started playing with the idea of a melee artificer build, and wondered if bastardswords and dwarven axes work as twohanded weapons when you have THF feats on an artificer with a runearm on left arm instead of a shield?

The build would either be a human with bastardswords or a dwarf with dwarven axes. But would it work as I hope? Has anyone tried it already?

[Imatotalnoob]

yup, done both.
your rune arm proc's on all the glancing blows 100% of the time.
very nice

cheers

[Dragavon]

Ok, thank you for that. May I ask INT focused or STR focused?

[Imatotalnoob]

Ok, thank you for that. May I ask INT focused or STR focused?

i did str but that doesn't mean it was right.

[wax_on_wax_off]

i did str but that doesn't mean it was right.

Ya, int all the way.

[cdr]

There's oodles of meleeficier builds around, splashed and not. Wowo has done a few: http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...54&postcount=2

[wax_on_wax_off]

In my sig there is 2 melee artificer builds; Typhon (human) and Mechano (warforged). I played the Typhon for a fair few months before TR'ing for crafting purposes.

More versatile build than a ranged build, important to realise that just like a tempest ranger you still have a strong ranged option and to swap between the two as appropriate.

In the thread there is a rant on my experiences with a melee artificer somewhere.

Low levels it's better than a ranged build, you can still range almost as good but you have more flexibility with spell slots and so forth. In epics and raids I like melee better, more HP means I can stand up close and personal and lose less DPS to having to heal myself or such things and some damage calcs suggest that the melee build is in front except vs a half-elf (due to rogue dilettante).

In challenges its sadly not worth even pulling out the bastard sword in most cases as its all go go go, kite kite kite but that's fine too; with buffs I could generally run with insightful damage despite only 8 base dexterity.

[Dragavon]

Tnx for helpful replies. +1's will be handed out when the system allows me to hand out more rep

[Bacab]

Was going to refer you to WoWo build...but he already posted.

From what I hear and see on the forums...its viable.

From what I have seen in game...its great in a group...but not as good soloing.

While soloing, you can not kite with a bastard sword like you can with a repeater.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Was going to refer you to WoWo build...but he already posted.

From what I hear and see on the forums...its viable.

From what I have seen in game...its great in a group...but not as good soloing.

While soloing, you can not kite with a bastard sword like you can with a repeater.

Just like a ranger, you get the ranged feats; might as well use them. Never pulled out my bastard sword while running challenges for instance, higher DPS vs red names but the extra effort, SP and time involved in buffing it when I might have to kite anyway (depending on what boss in what quest) just resulted in me relying on the Epic Hellfire Crossbow 99% of the time.

In group quests and raids it was bastard sword all the time though unless I was doing something solo.

That was what I liked about the build; versatility: really wraps the artificer class up well

[Bacab]

Just like a ranger, you get the ranged feats; might as well use them. Never pulled out my bastard sword while running challenges for instance, higher DPS vs red names but the extra effort, SP and time involved in buffing it when I might have to kite anyway (depending on what boss in what quest) just resulted in me relying on the Epic Hellfire Crossbow 99% of the time.

In group quests and raids it was bastard sword all the time though unless I was doing something solo.

That was what I liked about the build; versatility: really wraps the artificer class up well

Gotya and nice.

I guess what I would suggest is: "know when to swing a sword and when to Pew pew pew".

[itraylor]

I swapped my Arti to melee just before I used some hearts to get a Ranger PL and did not like it much. I was a Half Elf with Mark of the Storm, Epic Chimeras Fang, Epic Chimeras Crown, fully upgraded Tovens Hammer, and maxed electric line. My hate of the Tovens Hammer targeting may have biased my decision. If you have a target selected you only damage that target, but if you soft target, then the AoE hits everything in range. I do not like soft targeting things while I melee. At any rate, it was cool, and I am sure I could improve on my premise (I didn’t even check the other builds because I did mine months ago) but for me the repeater is the way to go.