Not fully understanding the Epic Destinys

[SatansToupee]

I have a Half lvl 20 Bard (2 fighter 18 bard) 3rd Life (2 past lifes fighter). 2 weapon Kopeshes Max STR.

would like some advice on keeping him High DPS or any other suggestions.

[Potta]

I have a Half lvl 20 Bard (2 fighter 18 bard) 3rd Life (2 past lifes fighter). 2 weapon Kopeshes Max STR.

would like some advice on keeping him High DPS or any other suggestions.

What do you not understand about them? Is your trouble in deciding which is best, or just a general lack of understanding of the system in general?

Epic Destinies are, at their core, a fancy new Enhancement system that you can use at the same time as your old, heroic enhancements. You can have only one Destiny active on you at a time, but can switch between Destinies outside of quests/explorer areas. You earn XP for Destinies at the same time as you earn XP towards your Epic Levels. A 20k xp quest will therefore give 20k xp towards your next Epic Level, and 20k towards your currently active Epic Destiny. Each Epic Destiny, although available to any class, has a specific playstyle in mind, so some may suit you a lot better than others, depending on your character build. When you pick your first ED, you're restricted to choices that are relevant to the classes you have levels in. I think you needed 6 levels in a class to be given the option for relevant ED for that class. As you're 18/2, Fatesinger would be your only option initially, as it's a destiny that has been designed to be most suitable for Bards.

Based on your split, I'd guess you're a Warchanter. Fatesinger does offer good progression for that playstyle within it, but you may find you prefer something else. So you'd want to know how to move around and access another Destiny. Each Destiny has 6 levels, starting at 0 and maxing out at 5. When you get to level 3, you've given access to other Destinies inside your Destiny sphere. What's that? Well, EDs are grouped together into spheres with other EDs that have similarities with them. Fatesinger is grouped with Magister and Draconic Incarnation, the Wizard and Sorcerer choices respectively. So once you get to level 3 in Fatesinger, you have the option to switch to either of these. I doubt you'd be interested much in them however, as you're likely a melee. To access another sphere, you must get to level 4 in Fatesinger, which gives you access to Shadowdancer (rogue destiny) in the Martial Sphere. You can now level that up instead of Fatesinger. From this point, you can move around the Martial sphere by getting Shadowdancer to level 3 as well, offering Grandmaster of Flowers (monk destiny) and Legendary Dreadnaught (fighter destiny). If you press CTRL-E, and select the Map view, you can see how each Destiny is linked, and which spheres they all belong to. You need to be level 3 in a Destiny to move from one to another within the same sphere. If you want to move across a link between spheres, you need 4 levels in the Destiny that provides that link.

There's a further twist to all of the above in the form of Twists of Fate. Every 3 ED levels, you get 1 Fate point, which can be used to access abilities from other ED's that you've levelled, but do not have active currently. Drag the ability from that destiny into the Twist of Fate slot and you can use it even when you've moved on to a different Destiny.

As to which options are best for your build, that's a much bigger question. Fatesinger does offer good things for a Warchanter, but the relevant abilities are more sparse within the tree than they are for destinies purely focused on melee classes. In return, you'll find that the options that are relevant for Warchanters within the destiny give you more than the equivalent amount of points would get you in a different tree. This works out to a slightly less melee focused character than you'd get from a martial destiny, but with greater flexibility - much like the Bard class itself.

You do have other options though. Shadowdancer, Grandmaster of Flowers, Legendary Dreadnaught and Fury of the Wild are all good options for melee characters. Shadowdancer has rather weak ability choices if you're not Int based or care about Rogue skills, but it makes up for much of this by giving you +6d6 sneak attack for getting to level 5 in it. Legendary Dreadnaught is awesome for STR DPS that have focused in melee tactics feats. Cleave, Greave Cleave, Stunning Blow, Power Attack, Improved Sunder - if you have all/most of these and use them regularly, you should seriously consider LD. Without them however, the destiny is lacking. Grandmaster of Flowers is more of an unarmed combat style, for monks or monk splashes. Would not recommend taking it on a Warchanter.

Fury of the Wild is I think, the best option for a Warchanter who is not satisfied with Fatesinger. Primal Scream gives you +3 STR and CON over Rage without the AC penalty, as well as doing AOE damage. Tunnel Vision is a low tier ability that is awesome for dual wielders, +1d12 damage per hit stacks up pretty quickly when you're TWF'ing. Insult is a great debuff that will be sought after in raids, and you'll get access to Sense Weakness - the single most powerful ability for any melee that isn't an epic moment in any tree. This is +30% damage to helpless targets and a stacking bonus damage dice to enemies under a certain percentage of health, making it an awesome DPS increase to both trash mobs and bosses. Most DPS focused melee will twist this ability in, because it's so good. It'll cost them dearly though, because it's a tier 4 ability. Meaning they'll have to grind a lot to get it, and they'll only be left with enough Fate Points for two other tier 1 twists. The drawback of Fury? The end tier ability is not great for TWF'ing. It's good, but not as powerful as it would be if you were THF. On the plus side, on activation it gives you all the feats you need for THF, so you can switch weapons when using it to get the most from it.