Theorybuild - Nature's Song & Dance

[Arlathen]

I just love this build. Will definitely TR my ranger to this or something similar at some point. Cudos for great synergy all around and going for some fun.

+1

Ahhh thank you thank you

Unfortunately my play time is going to be limited this week, but hopefully I can cram a level or two in at the weekend. Choltuzz did meet his demise in Hard difficulty Ghosts of Perdition last night, but it was a bitter, bitter fight to complete the quest. A 5 charge Silver Flame Necklace just isn't enough before the Negative Levels start racking up....

Still, it was another 20K XP in the bank as I march on to level 16...

[Dielzen]

Still struggling for a build name.... but my current thinking is the 'Robin Hood' build.

Thunderstruck?

[Arlathen]

Thunderstruck?

Oooooh.... you just hit the right nerve..... I think you might be onto something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYWZZlVlFb4

Sound of the drums
Beatin' in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been - thunderstruck

[Arlathen]

Quick Update Level 16 - Ranger 12/Bard 3/Fighter 1
Next Levels - Bard to 20.

Levelling has slowed right down as I have a new side project to play solo while the missus is not playing as we've joined up again.

That said, I got to 16 a couple of days agao and ran through a decent set of questing last night to pick up another 150K-ish XP and am fast closing in on 17. Hoping to reach 18 by the weekend at the latest.

Bring Forth the Fury!
Well, finally level 16 and pulled the Fangs of Siberys out of the Bank. Oh what joy!

Little bit of a quandry though - I'm firmly grinding out Orchard for XP at the moment, and so my Pos3 Longswords and Spectral Gloves are better bet vs. the deadites.

So I took a spin around the Vale Explorer area instead. Holy C*** do Cleaves & the Fangs make for a great deal of fun! Double Proccing Cloudburst when I Cleave a pack of Mobs is horrendously good fun, and quite effective to say the least.

In other news...
Update 15. Real mixed bag for my build here, but in summary:

Overwhelming Critical will no longer need Weapon Focus as a pre-requisite. This is quite interesting, as it means I can still pick up Overwhelming Critical alongside going Virtuoso instead of Warchanter. It also means that if a new super-weapon comes along with a better 'Weapon Proc' I only need to change my Improved Critical Feat to change focus.

There's also been a Fatesinger Nerf to Tailwind. From what I can tell, it now adds +1 To Hit and +1 To Damage per rank instead of +2 Damage per rank. Meh. It was a bit good, but oh well.

There's also slight nerf to Fragment: Valor - From 4% to 3% Competence bonus to Attack speed as I read on Lammania.

there's other slight changes, but nothing that impacts my build in any realway apart from what's listed above.

Marching on ....
Well, time to stop warbling on (and stop fiddling with my new side project) and get on with the levelling. Another Million XP to go to Heroic cap or so, then the fun work of Fatesinger begins.

Oh the Joy

[InfraRiot]

Sounds like a lot of fun so far, waiting for you to get fatesinger now.

Was thinking that all this build needs now is that they drop the stupid Combat Expertise requirement for Whirlwind Attack (and fix the feat so it's good instead of bad) so that can be fit in. Means losing Warchanter and probably a bard PrE alltogether unless the enhancement pass changes things, but at least Overwhelming Critical stays. Whirlwind Attack would bring even more spinny, thundery goodness. With Whirlwind Attack, Cleave and Great Cleave I think Thunderball would be a suitable name.

[NovaNZ]

Hail Arlathen!! Looks like an absolute blast to play!

Am playing a TWF bard16/fgt2/rog2/fatesinger4 and will TR at lvl 25 (close to it now).

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this build but as a Dwarf. I have good Daxes but would would grind for Fang of Sibery (x2) if significantly better.

I enjoy playing Bard so have most of the gear goodies already.

Really hoping to hear (or even see) your ideas re this build in Dwarf.

Tx and really well done! Inspiring indeed

[Arlathen]

Hey guys - time for a quick check in and update.

Build is currently holding level 18, marched through the vale without much problem. He has unfortunately now gone on hold for about two weeks, as some friends I've been levelling with has now go on Holiday so will pick up the build when they get back.

I'm really looking forward to getting the Warchanter & Fatesinger aspects of the build.... so much goodness there to look forward too.

Sounds like a lot of fun so far, waiting for you to get fatesinger now.

Was thinking that all this build needs now is that they drop the stupid Combat Expertise requirement for Whirlwind Attack (and fix the feat so it's good instead of bad) so that can be fit in. Means losing Warchanter and probably a bard PrE alltogether unless the enhancement pass changes things, but at least Overwhelming Critical stays. Whirlwind Attack would bring even more spinny, thundery goodness. With Whirlwind Attack, Cleave and Great Cleave I think Thunderball would be a suitable name.

Heh, nice name. And yes, Whirlwind would definitly be nice but it's a tight squeeze to fit everything in anyway - there's not much feat chaff to chop away, so to speak. It could maybe be done if you 12 Ranger/6 Bard/2 Fighter, lose the Bard Pre and thus gain two feats slots for Combat Expertise and Whirlwind, but I'm really think this build wants Virtuoso to get maximum effect out of Entrall and AoE Damage.

Hail Arlathen!! Looks like an absolute blast to play!

Am playing a TWF bard16/fgt2/rog2/fatesinger4 and will TR at lvl 25 (close to it now).

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this build but as a Dwarf. I have good Daxes but would would grind for Fang of Sibery (x2) if significantly better.

I enjoy playing Bard so have most of the gear goodies already. Really hoping to hear (or even see) your ideas re this build in Dwarf. Tx and really well done! Inspiring indeed

Hmm, Dwarves. That could be an .... difficult, but I guess interesting.

Suffice to say one of the key aspects works around the Sneak Attack Damage that Half-Elf brings to the table, and the potential 5D6+13 damage that can be built up through FateSinger and a Seal of Avithoul is quite difficult to ignore.

Also, I think it would be re-miss of you to pick Dwarf as your race and not use your very tasty racial weapon!

However... that said..... you could look at your own totally crazy ass build in the form of a heavy Favoured Soul splash instead. Why? Templar's Justice, and its Epic variant.

A 12 Ranger / 8 FvS would be able to pick up Tempest 2 and Angel of Vengeance 1, giving you the Light & Alignment vulnerability debuff when you get hit. This would work really well with the above two weapons, especially against Raid Bosses and in higher difficulty content where you'll spend alot more timer attacking mobs and getting hit alot more often in combat. With Name Champion, you can always transfer the Crown to that armourless Barbarian as well and benefit from his lack of AC.

The extra two levels of FvS don't really do much apart from giving you some extra SP and a level 4 spell slot. Your not looking for anything in the way of DC spells - only self-healing and buffs. With both versions of Ranger & FvS CMW & CLW you have access to alot of quick, cheap, efficient healing, or use your level 4 slot to pick up CCW instead of say Deathward for more oomphy healing.

The Ranger 12 here with Tempest 2 would still be a solid platform to work with. Defensively, the build would work well in Light armour and saving throws would be a good solid base to work on with full Fort & Reflex and a half decent will save.

Another alternative you could go for is a Ranger 12/7 Druid/1 xxx build where you look to stay in Dwarf from TWF with your Axes and pick up the Nature's Warrior and Fatal Harrier enhancements. Fatal Harrier allows you to stack up a buff to give you a really nice 25% Enhancement bonus to Attack Speed.

Trying to stick with FateSinger though is going to prove difficult without the original build's split, but there's not much synergy to pick up on with Dwarf and Dwarf Axes for this build.

Good Luck!

[Juggle]

Anyone know what race he ended up going with?

[Arlathen]

Anyone know what race he ended up going with?

Being Sneaky
Take the build to Half-Elf, with Rogue Dilletante........

There we go...

The Rogue Dilletante for Sneak Damage really is a key part of the build, so Half-Elf really is the best race for this build. Halfling could work in some fashion as well I suppose, but I'm not a fan of the short ones.

One angle that might be interesting though is with the rumours surrounding Halfling getting Assassin as there racial prestige, then that could be a viable option although Assassin3/Tempest2/Warchanter1 might be just a bit tight on AP

[NovaNZ]

Hmm, Dwarves. That could be an .... difficult, but I guess interesting.

Suffice to say one of the key aspects works around the Sneak Attack Damage that Half-Elf brings to the table, and the potential 5D6+13 damage that can be built up through FateSinger and a Seal of Avithoul is quite difficult to ignore.

Also, I think it would be re-miss of you to pick Dwarf as your race and not use your very tasty racial weapon!

However... that said..... you could look at your own totally crazy ass build in the form of a heavy Favoured Soul splash instead. Why? Templar's Justice, and its Epic variant.

A 12 Ranger / 8 FvS would be able to pick up Tempest 2 and Angel of Vengeance 1, giving you the Light & Alignment vulnerability debuff when you get hit. This would work really well with the above two weapons, especially against Raid Bosses and in higher difficulty content where you'll spend alot more timer attacking mobs and getting hit alot more often in combat. With Name Champion, you can always transfer the Crown to that armourless Barbarian as well and benefit from his lack of AC.

The extra two levels of FvS don't really do much apart from giving you some extra SP and a level 4 spell slot. Your not looking for anything in the way of DC spells - only self-healing and buffs. With both versions of Ranger & FvS CMW & CLW you have access to alot of quick, cheap, efficient healing, or use your level 4 slot to pick up CCW instead of say Deathward for more oomphy healing.

The Ranger 12 here with Tempest 2 would still be a solid platform to work with. Defensively, the build would work well in Light armour and saving throws would be a good solid base to work on with full Fort & Reflex and a half decent will save.
Good Luck!

Hail Arlathen!

Have taken up the challenge of Dwarf TempestII/AoVI/Rog1 for UMD.
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=390491

[Juggle]

Ahh yes, re-read and found you said half-elf. I decided to try this character out on my AA 12brd/6rgr/2ftr virtuoso build. Hopefully he will be a bit more effective with some CC, and damage output plus evasion. Already had the greensteel bow collection and dual fangs so thought I'd give this a try. I did notice the nerf to the fangs when I last played him, though it can be kind of troublesome when solo'ing epics with fascinated mobs and the fangs, but I assume in that case just a weapon swap to something else for individual damage would take precedense there.

[Juggle]

Was wondering an enhancement breakdown? Or a general one if any if its not too much trouble (just wondering)

[Arlathen]

Ahh yes, re-read and found you said half-elf. I decided to try this character out on my AA 12brd/6rgr/2ftr virtuoso build. Hopefully he will be a bit more effective with some CC, and damage output plus evasion. Already had the greensteel bow collection and dual fangs so thought I'd give this a try. I did notice the nerf to the fangs when I last played him, though it can be kind of troublesome when solo'ing epics with fascinated mobs and the fangs, but I assume in that case just a weapon swap to something else for individual damage would take precedense there.

Nerf?! You mean Buff!

This is why I'm strongly thinking of Virtuoso, as Enthrall would work much better I'm thinking. The alternative is to just pull out alternative weapons - its not like there's a shortage of good weapons out there

Was wondering an enhancement breakdown? Or a general one if any if its not too much trouble (just wondering)

Absolutely - I'll post something up when I get home from work.

[Viciouspika]

I have a similar build that is currently lvl 23 with epic levels in fatesinger. I went a dwarf with a level split of 11ranger/8bard/1rogue. It is a great solo build and contributes a lot to a group. Crowd control, trapper, and decent DPS what is not to love.

I went with virtuoso( i see thats what you are taking misread a post) to increase soloiblity(enthrall>fascinate). I took lvl 8 bard for increased number of spells because(ircc) you can no extra spells for leveling up from 6 to 7. Invis, displacement, fascinate, bluff, kill awesome combo.

I see that you chose to level up ranger first. I went rogue(first lvl), ranger(second lvl), bard(next 6 levels), ranger(next), bard(2 levels), and rest ranger. I found this to be a nice split for leveling since lower levels are more forgiving for relatively low DPS.

DPS increases significantly with the epic destany(fatesinger). Siren song is great when facing multiple caster(wizzies) and when maxed is enough to kill them without having to attack them on epic normal. On epic hard, it reduces them to 1/3 hp and you can beat on while the song is inaffect. Dirge is nice if your running with a Hard CC Wizzy since damage doesnt break crowd control.

Enjoy your build its a lot of fun and has become my favorite build.

[Arlathen]

Was wondering an enhancement breakdown? Or a general one if any if its not too much trouble (just wondering)

This is my current planned enhancement list, with 2AP still spare:

Human Adaptability 2
Bard Charisma 2
Ranger Tempest 2
Bard Warchanter 1
Ranger Dexterity 2
Bard Inspired Attack 1
Bard Inspired Damage 2
Bard Inspired Bravery 1
Fighter Haste Boost 1
Human Versatility 2
Ranger Favoured Damage 2
Improved Dilletante 2
Bard Lingering Song 2
Bard Extra Song 3
Improved Bluff 2
Improved Perform 2
Racial Toughness 2
Fighter Toughness 1
Ranger Devotion 3
Bard Song Magic 2
Human Improved Recovery 1
Ranger Sprint Boost 1
Bard Wand & Scroll Mastery 2

[Arlathen]

I have a similar build that is currently lvl 23 with epic levels in fatesinger. I went a dwarf with a level split of 11ranger/8bard/1rogue. It is a great solo build and contributes a lot to a group. Crowd control, trapper, and decent DPS what is not to love.

I went with virtuoso( i see thats what you are taking misread a post) to increase soloiblity(enthrall>fascinate). I took lvl 8 bard for increased number of spells because(ircc) you can no extra spells for leveling up from 6 to 7. Invis, displacement, fascinate, bluff, kill awesome combo.

I see that you chose to level up ranger first. I went rogue(first lvl), ranger(second lvl), bard(next 6 levels), ranger(next), bard(2 levels), and rest ranger. I found this to be a nice split for leveling since lower levels are more forgiving for relatively low DPS.

DPS increases significantly with the epic destany(fatesinger). Siren song is great when facing multiple caster(wizzies) and when maxed is enough to kill them without having to attack them on epic normal. On epic hard, it reduces them to 1/3 hp and you can beat on while the song is inaffect. Dirge is nice if your running with a Hard CC Wizzy since damage doesnt break crowd control.

Enjoy your build its a lot of fun and has become my favorite build.

Thanks for the feedback.

Just as a note, level 7 Bard is when you open up level 3 Bard spells, gaining two slots. My build leaves me with a choice between Haste, Displacement and Cure Serious Wounds, and at present it will be the first two I pick up.

I'm positively itching to get on with this build but another side project has my attention at the moment due to a running partner being away on holiday. When he gets back I'll pick this guy back up and continue on down the path. He was left just shy of level 18, so not much farther to go to cap out Heroic questing and get to work on Fatesinger.

Looking forward to 20 though - Bard Prestige, Self-hasting and my final Heroic enhancements

[Juggle]

Whats your gear looking like end game? Kinda of want to compare it.

[Arlathen]

Whats your gear looking like end game? Kinda of want to compare it.

That's a very good question, and its not something I've purposely tried to map out at present (everything else is pretty much decided upon!).

Its more along the lines of I want certain effects to be included in my gear setup, such as:

Str, Dex, Con, Wis, Cha items

Seeker
Exceptional Seeker
Sneak Attack Bonus
Exc. Sneak Attack Bonus
Manslayer

Perform +15
Bluff +15

Deflection AC
Insight AC
Primal Natural AC

Resistance
Insight Resistance
Good Luck +2

Ghostly - 10% Incorporeal
Dodge 4%
Dodge 3%
Dodge 2%

Greater False Life
Toughness
Elemental Energy +45HP

So, for starters my Gear will probably be based around something like this:

Armour: Epic Duellists Leathers (Tier 3) - Slot Toughness
Ring 1: Epic Ring of the Stalker - Slot GFL
Ring 2: Dex +6 Ring of Bluff
Goggles: GS Mineral 2 Goggles
Gloves: PDK Gloves
Helmet: PDK Helmet or ???...
Bracers: SunSoul Bracers
Belt: SunSoul Belt
Boots: Druid Boots or Cannith Rocket Boots
Cloak: Drow Piwafi
Neckalce: Random-Loot Cha Necklace of Bluff
Trinket: Cannith-Crafted Devotion 66 Trinket of Dodge 2%

I already have the armour banked from a previous Cove Event and the GS Goggles from his previous life, and the rest of the gear is nice and easily farmable without needing lots of Raid runs. I purposely didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount of time grinding out gear for this character as I've trapped myself into uber-optimised item setups before and then proceeded to spend months grinding out gear which I hated.

Oh weapon wise, I have a decent set of weapons already in:

Dual Fangs of Siberys
Dual Pos3 GS Longswords
Dual Earthshatter Warhammers
Lit2 GS Longbow
Earth3 GS Longbow

I can Cannith-craft some specific DR breakers for any Raid boss, and I'd like to give a pair of the Stars of Day a try if I can get a nice set of Radiance ones.

Although that gear setup is fairly well tuned, I've not settled exclusively on it just yet. I may score lucky and get a Seal of Avithoul when I flag for CitW, which means I might go for Seal of Avithoul & Drow Smoke Goggles instead of the Ring of the Stalker and the Drow Piwafi.

[Juggle]

Hey man. Quick update on my liking/disliking of the build.

So I am quite undergeared outside of dragontouched healing amp armor and my fangs of siberys, however, reached level 20 and just started fatesinger. I know it's still pretty early on based on when it will really become powerful (fatesinger 5/and cap) but atm am experiencing high problems with self surviveability. I really like the idea of the build, but want to even more maximize the idea. Without quicken, its just (right now anyways) not doing enough for me. Will eventually go back to regear him and cap him and I'm sure he will be more of a joy to play. However, upon making this character and searching for more self-sufficiency and wondering just how good this AOE damage could be, I couldn't help to theorize these options:

12 Druid / 7 Bard / 1 Ftr

Benefits: Dire Bear (increased ac/threat/and most importantly REAVING ROAR AOE!!!)

More benefits include: Self healing, still some CC (let's face it, personally I have trouble counting fascinate as CC, unless solo'ing, always people breaking and not knowing when it's being played etc...)

Basically the same build, but working to maximize hps with animal form, immunity to poisons, Reaving Roar for AoE damage, pick up Cleave/Great Cleave and if not fangs of siberys twf, then wield a +5 Pandemonium (thundering, roaring, screaming weapon) of "fill in the blank". Screw virtuoso for the enthrallment, more damage with warchanter. Still retain fatesinger 5 as end build ED. You're able to maximize the AoE melee damage with high intimidate. One thing I found in groups is that you don't always end up with all the mobs around you, or others or fooling around fighting one. You want all of them right next to you to get hit with that aoe, but once again when that happens, they all aggro on you as well. So high HPS and surviveability is a MUST.

So in conclusion, I want to make bat ideas back and forth with you about this as a potential improvement or worsening of a build idea.

Maybe a thf/ithf/gthf line of cleaving/great cleaving with the pandemonium weapon to ensure glancing blows on enemies, or otherwise the twf line with fangs (not sure actually which would be more dps in some cases given the proc rate on the fangs which seems to be maybe 10-20%??

AC on the other hand, not sure how viable it would be to try and squeeze it in. Perhaps screw it altogether and just focus on how much your regen/quickened heals would be. Definitely must go healing amp regardless...

Losses:

Lose attack speed from tempest lines
Lose improved evasion
Lose manyshot/bow abilities

Gains:

Reaving Roar
DoT Heals
Dire Bear stance for more hps/ac (and you don't have to look like a helf )
Level 6 Druid Spells! (deathward, ice storm for more aoe, maul attacks for more dips, firewall, panacea, stoneskin, and sleet storm [always nice with masked ball fom ability on epics for EVEN MORE cc than a silly fascinate, everything will be slippin around and not hitting you as much] , etc.)
Better all around self-sufficiency

Let's bounce this around eh?

[Arlathen]

Let's bounce this around eh?

Absolutely!

Hey man. Quick update on my liking/disliking of the build.

So I am quite undergeared outside of dragontouched healing amp armor and my fangs of siberys, however, reached level 20 and just started fatesinger. I know it's still pretty early on based on when it will really become powerful (fatesinger 5/and cap) but atm am experiencing high problems with self surviveability. I really like the idea of the build, but want to even more maximize the idea. Without quicken, its just (right now anyways) not doing enough for me. Will eventually go back to regear him and cap him and I'm sure he will be more of a joy to play.

Hmmm, interesting. I've not had these problems significantly although my build is paused at toting around the Vale on Hard difficulty (knocked off Coal Chamber without a problem).

What I will say is though I have decent gear as a 34pt TR from my previous life, and I think that maybe what the difference is here. So items like an unlocked Parasitic Breastplate with +10 Will save, Min2 +45HP Goggles with Prot +5/Heavy Fort, Cannith crafted Melee Alacrity, Devotion and Dodge items. I have very good AC for my level, 400+ HP, 10% Dodge and a small amount of PRR so healing becomes out-of-combat topping up instead of in combat emergency healing.

Anyways, onto your build idea...

However, upon making this character and searching for more self-sufficiency and wondering just how good this AOE damage could be, I couldn't help to theorize these options:

12 Druid / 7 Bard / 1 Ftr

Ooh, potential. I like.

Benefits: Dire Bear (increased ac/threat/and most importantly REAVING ROAR AOE!!!)

More benefits include: Self healing, still some CC (let's face it, personally I have trouble counting fascinate as CC, unless solo'ing, always people breaking and not knowing when it's being played etc...)

Basically the same build, but working to maximize hps with animal form, immunity to poisons, Reaving Roar for AoE damage, pick up Cleave/Great Cleave and if not fangs of siberys twf, then wield a +5 Pandemonium (thundering, roaring, screaming weapon) of "fill in the blank". Screw virtuoso for the enthrallment, more damage with warchanter. Still retain fatesinger 5 as end build ED. You're able to maximize the AoE melee damage with high intimidate. One thing I found in groups is that you don't always end up with all the mobs around you, or others or fooling around fighting one. You want all of them right next to you to get hit with that aoe, but once again when that happens, they all aggro on you as well. So high HPS and surviveability is a MUST.

Firstly, I think there's room for manouver here on the animal form.

I do like the idea of Reaving Roar from Dire Bear. That's great synergy right there. Also, I think this might be Spellpower boostable? That's worth checking out.

If you go Wolf instead, does the wolf form Sneak Damage stack with Rogue Dilletante? that's one interesting possiblity, for potentially as much as 7D6 base Sneak Dice at Fatesinger 5. Dual bluff timers still as well. The other interesting enhancement on the Wolf side is Fatal Harrier, allowing you to get 25% Enhancement bonus to attack speed.

If you do have alot of Sneak Damage on your build, don't forget you can toss out the FoM Buff and Sleetstorm combo, gain auto-sneak damage inside the Cloud and having effective Displacement for defense purposes. That tactic in particular is heavy reaon my next build will be Monk12/Druid 7 based. But that's for another Theorybuild.

In either case, I do no that same effects on two weapons don't stack when in Animal form so 2 Fangs would be a bit pointless. Instead, go for a Fang and a Pandemonium Shield if you can get one. You also want to building alot of doublestrike into the build.

As for Doublestrike, you could build an unholy amount:

18% 3x Natural Fighting Feats
08% Improved Shield Mastery
06% Item Bonus (Random-Loot Gloves/Ring)
07% Legendary Shield Mastery - T2 Twist from US
03% Hail of Blows - T2 Twist from GMoF
= 42% Doublestrike!

So in conclusion, I want to make bat ideas back and forth with you about this as a potential improvement or worsening of a build idea.

It's practically a new build in all honesty! It would be wildly different to the original, in terms of playstyle and capabilities.

Maybe a thf/ithf/gthf line of cleaving/great cleaving with the pandemonium weapon to ensure glancing blows on enemies, or otherwise the twf line with fangs (not sure actually which would be more dps in some cases given the proc rate on the fangs which seems to be maybe 10-20%??

I think with going S&B in either Animal Form your feat list is pretty much going to be:

3x Natural Fighting
Shield Mastery
Improved Shield Mastery
Toughness
Quicken
Maximise
Power Attack
WF: Bludgeon

10 Feats, so would need to give up on being Half-Elf and go Human instead along with a 12 Druid/6 Bard/2 Fighter split.

Hmm, you could even wait for patch 15.1 (Fix for Monk unarmed damage overwriting Druid Animal form damage) and pick up Monk instead of Fighter. Same feat slots, ignore being uncentered with S&B and wear Light armour. Get to have your Evasion then and still pick up a decent bit of PRR

AC on the other hand, not sure how viable it would be to try and squeeze it in. Perhaps screw it altogether and just focus on how much your regen/quickened heals would be. Definitely must go healing amp regardless...

Heal Amp is very nice but don't over do it. 200% would be more than enough, extreme even. Anymore than that and you start getting into gear/build sacrifices I think. I wouldn't wear Dragontouched past 20ish, I'd find a better light armour instead. Even Tor Dragonscale would be prefereable I would think as you could go Blue to squeeze in some overall Potency & Greater Arcane Lore or go Black for the Relentless Fury and Haste Guard, or go for Parasitic breastplate and +10 Reflex Save. Past 20, there's more options as well - Cove Duellist Leathers, for starters.

Losses:
Lose attack speed from tempest lines
Lose improved evasion
Lose manyshot/bow abilities

Gains:

Reaving Roar
DoT Heals
Dire Bear stance for more hps/ac (and you don't have to look like a helf )
Level 6 Druid Spells! (deathward, ice storm for more aoe, maul attacks for more dips, firewall, panacea, stoneskin, and sleet storm [always nice with masked ball fom ability on epics for EVEN MORE cc than a silly fascinate, everything will be slippin around and not hitting you as much] , etc.)
Better all around self-sufficiency

I think you have a great deal of potential here, even with the loss of overall DPS (42% DS doesnt stack up to TWF and 100% Offhand attacks) you gain a great deal of survivability and some funky spell slinging into the bargain.

Hopefully thats all given you something to think about.

Would love to see the animation of a Bear using a Lute though....