12 rogue a must for a stick build?

[pelaaja]

Just throwing this here. Is it really a must to have 12 rogue in order to be a stick build?

the Acrobatic's attack speed bonus is tempting, but... I just find it losing still DPS compared to what you could get from those 12 levels. Fine, you get SA (minimum of 6d6), but if soloing, you don't benefit from it.

Reason I ask is that I have 16 druid/2 monk at the moment, and planning to take a druid and a fighter lvl in the end. I'm in wolf form at the moment, but I don't have that much of good sides for it because of lowish WIS (24), so Stunning Fist doesn't hit that often (DC 36), nor many of my spells are saved (Knockdown, Jaws of Winter and Cold Breath comes into my mind first). I also don't have space for maximize in my build for Word of Balance and Greater Creeping Cold damage (plus Ice Storm). If I was a stick build, I'd have the full THF line plus the enhancements for it, and maximize (would switch all Natural Fighting feats and Stunning Fist for them)

How much DPS do I lose if I go for a stick build instead of wolf form and not being 12 rogue?

[FuzzyDuck81]

There are a few possibilities.. my personal preference for a stick user would be a 12monk/6rogue/2fighter (either half orc for 2hander damage boosts or helf for cleric dilly), then sit in tier 3 earth stance once you get there.. you'd lose some sneak attack damage but get a whole load of other nice abilities (go dark monk to make up some of the SA difference & get shadow fade) & earth stance would give an extra +1 crit multiplier too - then when you get to epic levels any of the 3 martial destinies would work well depending on personal play preferences, or you could work your way across to fury for the boosts to 2hander styles etc. from there.

As a druid stick build.. not really sure sorry, i prefer the fighter-splashed wolf form with 3xnatural fighting plus sword & board with shield mastery for more doublestrike chance & dragonplate for PRR.

[LordTigerDawn]

I am on my 6th life using only stick builds, and I find rogue 7 is plenty for a stick build. You can actually make some very powerful builds with just 7 lvls...



In the case of druid, 13 druid for fire elemental form and body of sun was a fun life...

[t0r012]

Bluff is your friend soloing.
Occasionaly I also bring a hire along just so that I can sneak it catches initial agro and I murder.
Those extra levels of rogue you miss bring a bit more than a boatload of Sneak damage. Opportunist, improved evasion , immunity to knockdown , haste boosts.

It really is a whole boatload of damage and goodies.

Nothing says you have to do 12 rogue for a stick build the 10% speed plus dex added to SA from acroI is a lot on its own.
Build how you want and wait the couple months for the enhancement pass and then decide.

[unbongwah]

There are only two DDO bonuses specific to staves - the atk speed bonuses from Acrobat and the Shillelagh spell - which is why my Horcrobat is specced to take advantage of both. It also takes advantage of the fact sneak atks will proc on Cleaves but not on glancing blows, so I get more mileage out of my 7D6+9 sneak atks. And it's still "just" a flavor build; but I did my best to maximize the benefits and minimize the shortcomings so it's fun & effective.

Everything else is either generic bonuses which favor weapons with better dmg / crit specs or monk bonuses which are most effective with handwraps. Plus if you're going Primal Avatar, notice that several abilities only apply to unarmed, animal-form, or TWF; THF (or S&B) is excluded.

So, bottom line, I see no real advantage to using staves on a monk-splashed druid (apart from Shillelagh) and several disadvantages.

[Tobril]

Radiance guard, summons, other people, etc.

Plenty of ways to get ridiculous amounts of damage
from your cleave/great cleave/etc.

[pelaaja]

There are only two DDO bonuses specific to staves - the atk speed bonuses from Acrobat and the Shillelagh spell - which is why my Horcrobat is specced to take advantage of both. It also takes advantage of the fact sneak atks will proc on Cleaves but not on glancing blows, so I get more mileage out of my 7D6+9 sneak atks. And it's still "just" a flavor build; but I did my best to maximize the benefits and minimize the shortcomings so it's fun & effective.

Everything else is either generic bonuses which favor weapons with better dmg / crit specs or monk bonuses which are most effective with handwraps. Plus if you're going Primal Avatar, notice that several abilities only apply to unarmed, animal-form, or TWF; THF (or S&B) is excluded.

So, bottom line, I see no real advantage to using staves on a monk-splashed druid (apart from Shillelagh) and several disadvantages.

Using Shillelagh would be fine - but Crown of Summer/Fires of Purity is better than that. And those don't stack.

And Primal Avatar just sucks. Probably the worst ED of all. I'd go for Legendary Dreadnaught with GMoF twists or vice versa. Lay Waste would be great with sticks, as animal forms can't use them.

If you don't see benefit of sticks, what about other THF until I get Sireth? like goign with Maul or Greatsword or something?

[cdbd3rd]

Just throwing this here. Is it really a must to have 12 rogue in order to be a stick build?...

Lot of stick build info here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=158960

[pelaaja]

Lot of stick build info here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=158960

A bit outdated first page. Need to scavenge through the whole thing then ><

[ElbionTcob]

For a Semi-Flavor Build lately I have been tossing around the idea of a 12 Rogue/7 Monk/1 Druid. 12 Rogue for TA 2 as well as it lets me take Improved Sneak Attack, 7 monk for Ninja Spy 1 which gives shadow fade, and +1d6 sneak attack, and Wholeness of Body (which isn't that great, but I love the ability), and 1 Druid for Rams Might as well as Shillelagh which is essentially Deadly Weapons for Staffs only.

Just an idea.

[voodoogroves]

For a Semi-Flavor Build lately I have been tossing around the idea of a 12 Rogue/7 Monk/1 Druid. 12 Rogue for TA 2 as well as it lets me take Improved Sneak Attack, 7 monk for Ninja Spy 1 which gives shadow fade, and +1d6 sneak attack, and Wholeness of Body (which isn't that great, but I love the ability), and 1 Druid for Rams Might as well as Shillelagh which is essentially Deadly Weapons for Staffs only.

Just an idea.

With all that UMD, is Wholeness of Body worth losing Improved Evasion or Opportunist and another 1d6 sneak? And you can wand lots of cures w/o a check even due to the 1 Druid ...

[unbongwah]

With all that UMD, is Wholeness of Body worth losing Improved Evasion or Opportunist and another 1d6 sneak?

That was my view, hence my rog 13 / monk 6 / druid 1 build mentioned above; extra DPS (+1d6 SA & Opportunist) vs +10% heal amp & Wholeness of Body was no contest for a "gimp" melee build which needs all the DPS help it can get.

[zarthak]

my stick build atm is 13 rogue/6 monk/1 arti no fail heal scrolls, around 70 SA and doin 130 damage per swing. (at level 19)

[pelaaja]

*sigh* if stick isn't worth using it until going for epic sticks, would other THF be fine then? Talking about like Greataxes, Falchions and Greatswords. Or mauls if I found a good one due to IC:bludgeoning