Returning Player.. need help with arty

[Mecholi22]

Ok I've been away from DDO since like update 6 so I'm trying to relearn the game.. I've been looking everywhere for info on Arty.
Like gear I should be hunting down? What are the best feats and stats for Arty?
And most of all what should I be putting my skill points into?

So far I'm just confused. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[GlassJaw]

I've been looking everywhere for info on Arty.

Everywhere? Really? There are a TON of Art threads. I recommend starting with wax's breakdown of builds. Good thread, that.

[Drakesan]

Depends...melee? ranged? caster? mix and match?

On a general note, I just TR'd my main into Artificer, after getting another 1st time TR Arti to level 22...so, this is based on that as well as forum posts from memory...

I want my Dex to be 21 at level 20 for epic abilities, using +3 tome there, and used all other level ups into Intelligence. Con is always a good thing too.

Enhancement line to buff up trap finding, disabling, and the force line too, and don't forget the Battle Engineer. To me, a must have. Also, enhancing the UMD is great as well.

High intelligence as you level up gives you a plethora of skill points, as well as being the main stat for MY Arti. Different builds will emphasize different starting stats.

During level up, crafting a (for me) screaming of bleeding heavy repeater, and conjured bolts is plenty for damage dealing. I have an epic Calomel hvy repeater waiting when I hit 20. Oh, and the House C challenges has great stuff (Spare Hand and Ring of the Master Artifice is what I got before I TR'd). Also, DDO Wiki gives a list of named heavy repeaters to shoot for if you take that line.

And Rune Arms.... lots and lots of rune arms out there, only one I say is a *must have* is the Hand of the Tombs out of sands. However, DDO wiki gives a list of named rune arms, and they are all pretty darn good at their respective level.

Here is one build that does ok on some explanation, but don't look at just the first post, read through replies to get a feel for what and why of things. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...arti+artificer

LOTS of great builds on Arti's out there, check the posts for them, trying not to influence you on a direction to head into, but giving you places to go look at the possibilities.

Hope I was able to at least point you at a good starting point, but Arti's can do well in a variety of builds, depends on what you want and what your particular play style is.

[TheLordBear]

Arti's can be pretty fun, and there are several ways to build them.

The 'normal' way to build them is usually something like this:

Good Xbow skills/feats, and some sort of heavy repeater.
Add enhancement points to force line for the best blade barrier in the game. Make sure you get the PrE as well.
Dump dex and have good int for skills. There is a 1st level spell that lets you use int as your to-hit stat too. or buff dex if you want imp precise shot. (your biggest decision really)
Put skill points into unlock and trap skills.
Go WF if you can and you can self heal with repair spells.
Don't dump con.
Get lots of UMD




With a build around those concepts you can basically solo most stuff till near endgame. Self-healing, trap skills. decent dps and spells.

[Mecholi22]

Thx for the help guys..

[Loriac]

Arti's can be pretty fun, and there are several ways to build them.

The 'normal' way to build them is usually something like this:

Good Xbow skills/feats, and some sort of heavy repeater.
Add enhancement points to force line for the best blade barrier in the game. Make sure you get the PrE as well.
Dump dex and have good int for skills. There is a 1st level spell that lets you use int as your to-hit stat too. or buff dex if you want imp precise shot. (your biggest decision really)
Put skill points into unlock and trap skills.
Go WF if you can and you can self heal with repair spells.
Don't dump con.
Get lots of UMD




With a build around those concepts you can basically solo most stuff till near endgame. Self-healing, trap skills. decent dps and spells.

If ranged, then you can't dump dex at character creation if you want improved precise shot (and later on combat archery). I'd suggest starting dex of 16, so that a +3 tome gets you to 19 for IPS.

IPS is a huge (situational) dps boost whilst combat archery is a nice epic feat but it requires 21 dex (from pure stats, level ups, and inherent bonuses only).

Con is fine at 14 for a 32pt build imo (stats being 18 Int, 16 Dex, 14 Con).

Enhancements should be tailored as you level to the rune arm you're using. Rune arm usage is a must: get used to it duing levelling, it represents a major chunk of your dps at end game. Typically you'd use lucid dreams or archaic device for force damage vs. bosses, and toven's hammer for aoe electric damage vs. trash. End game enhancements will probably reflect this dual focus on force and elec lines.

Blade barrier is the only end game damage spell you'll be using, other apparent nukes will actually be used more for cc. Ymmv, but I find that my arti does not use nuking spells as such, but relies on xbow and runearm for damage mainly. Blade barrier is also only situationally useful at high level, but its very good for solo'ing. Int is however critical to the build, as it affects rune arm damage via higher saves, and xbow damage via insightful damage.

If you do go warforged, my advice would be to get adamantine body feat as you level up. Armor has been significantly changed with update 14, and it affords some protection now. You may eventually swap this out for mithral body if going shadowdancer, but if you only have composite armor you will be very vulnerable to damage.

Also, as a warforged arti you'll want quicken spell in addition to the various other feats you take. Theres no point being able to cast an emergency reconstruct if its not quickened.

[nibel]

Enhancements should be tailored as you level to the rune arm you're using. Rune arm usage is a must: get used to it duing levelling, it represents a major chunk of your dps at end game. Typically you'd use lucid dreams or archaic device for force damage vs. bosses, and toven's hammer for aoe electric damage vs. trash. End game enhancements will probably reflect this dual focus on force and elec lines.

Myself, my main Runearm is still Glorious Obscenity, from the Reign of Madness chain. Being acid, it gives you a higher imbue dice (2d8 acid against 2d6 force), and have a better runearm damage. It also hits evasive mobs by being a Fortitude save (that benefit on bosses by the ammount of melees spamming improved sunder), and have seeker +6 and enhanced spot +5 (stacks with the +20 spot from pirate spyglass).

I cover my potency with the bracelet of the hound raid (potency 52 with this runearm, arcane lore, and greater evo focus in a single slot). And of course, I carry a Lucid Dreams for acid-resistant mobs (devils in general. Demons take full damage from acid)

Toven may be awesome, but you still need to run Master Artificer a lot to upgrade it to the full power, and nowadays, only other artificers want to run this raid, for the same reason. I was amazed at how quickly this raid jump off from the usual LFM weekend groups. If you don't have Toven's, there is no reason to buff your eletric line, since your most used eletric endgame spell (Lightning Motes) is most useful to give eletric vulnerability than for the damage. And every other damage spell artificers use (Tactical detonation, Blade barrier, Prismatic Strike) benefits from force enhancements.

[Loriac]

Myself, my main Runearm is still Glorious Obscenity, from the Reign of Madness chain. Being acid, it gives you a higher imbue dice (2d8 acid against 2d6 force), and have a better runearm damage. It also hits evasive mobs by being a Fortitude save (that benefit on bosses by the ammount of melees spamming improved sunder), and have seeker +6 and enhanced spot +5 (stacks with the +20 spot from pirate spyglass).

I cover my potency with the bracelet of the hound raid (potency 52 with this runearm, arcane lore, and greater evo focus in a single slot). And of course, I carry a Lucid Dreams for acid-resistant mobs (devils in general. Demons take full damage from acid)

Toven may be awesome, but you still need to run Master Artificer a lot to upgrade it to the full power, and nowadays, only other artificers want to run this raid, for the same reason. I was amazed at how quickly this raid jump off from the usual LFM weekend groups. If you don't have Toven's, there is no reason to buff your eletric line, since your most used eletric endgame spell (Lightning Motes) is most useful to give eletric vulnerability than for the damage. And every other damage spell artificers use (Tactical detonation, Blade barrier, Prismatic Strike) benefits from force enhancements.

I agree on acquiring and upgrading Tovens - until you get it, theres no point spec'ing electric at high level; its easy enough to respec if you do get lucky. The upgrades to Tovens aren't really going to prevent you using it imo - the +2 Int is covered by the spyglass anyway, whilst transform kinetic energy is very nice but not something you need to fire the rune arm itself effectively.

If not using Tovens, my preference would be to dump 19 points into Force (7/6/6) and use only Lucid or Archaic 100% of the time. The additional damage from acid shots and the imbue is offset by the fact that almost nothing is immune to force, whereas acid will require you to have a backup capability.

Acid enhancements are usable only for the runearm, whereas force will help with BB, prismatic, and tactical. 7/6/6 blade barriers, along with the arcane lore from your bracelet, will give BBs a 15% crit chance along with 2.5x crit damage, which is very nice.

Lucid and Archaic are both will saves, which is even better than being fort saves; its not subject to evasion, and will tends to be a weaker save for most mobs.

My preference is for Archaic, simply because I find Lucid to be garish in design, but they're both great runearms.

Obscenity is also a great runearm, I used it at levels 15 and 16, but the greater flexibility of lucid dreams made it a much better option once I hit level 17 (masterful craftsmanship applied to all runearms to lower level requirements by 2).