Bunch of questions

[delsoboss]

Planning a TR, going for human pure fighter kensai and i have some questions regarding feats and equipment:

A) - FEATS:

1) I plan on taking the 3 TWF feats, toughness (x1), power attack, cleave, great cleave, improved sunder, stunning blow, khopesh proficiency, the whole weapon focus/specialization line and improved critical. This leaves me with 3 free heroic slots and i'm evaluating 9 candidates: dodge (with some equipment to get some kind of defense), TWDefense (5 more PRR on a non-tank without shields may help?), oversized TWF (is the +2 attack bonus given by this feat of any use with the new system?), quickdraw (i always see this recommended), power critical (on a kensai with a khopesh this is worth 1.5 damage/swing, little more with OC, worth taking?), past life: berserker fury (20 hp and a 30 seconds rage), past life: soldier of the faith (3 times/day up to +3 damage/swing), sap (no save stun) and more toughness. Help me decide.

2) 2 epic feats, one will be OC but i'm unsure on the other, is Epic Toughness a must for a melee? If so then i'll need to reshuffle stat points to get to 21 Con. If not what do you recomment between Great Str/Cos or one of the heroic feats above?

NOTE: I don't plan on tanking anything and i don't plan to play EE content (maybe once for favor for some quests but nothing more, no farming, no zerging, no setting speed records)

B) - EQUIPMENT:

1) I'm still searching for some good random-gen trash beaters khopeshes to use when i get all the feats (THF until about level 10-12, then TWF with khopeshes) and i'll make 2 GS khopeshes, what do you recommend? What suffix/prefix should i look for for general trash beating? Is lit II still the best all around DPS mutation in the GS family? How good are Epic Elemental Khopeses of Water any good? Keep in mind i still dont own many packs so some named items may be out of my reach (this includes alchemical weapons).

2) How much is it worth Festival Icy Burst-ing random-gen weapons? I don't have the time nor the Mario skills to get the coins, so i'm asking what's a fair price to pay to get an "icy burst kit"? I have a +2 Acid Greatsword of Lacerating that i'm going to use from level 6 to level 11-12 as all around beater, is it worth applying the kit to it or if i decide to acquire one or two is better to use them on higher level weapons?

3) I've got a T3 Epic Cavalry Plate, i'm probably going to get the Purple Dragon Knight Armor, but still the best armor i have AC-wise is the good old Full Plate of the Defender ... ?!?!? I'm kind of puzzled by this, and my search-fu has failed to reveal any insight on the matter or any information about planned changes, any news?

[shadereaper33]

Planning a TR, going for human pure fighter kensai and i have some questions regarding feats and equipment:

A) - FEATS:

1) I plan on taking the 3 TWF feats, toughness (x1), power attack, cleave, great cleave, improved sunder, stunning blow, khopesh proficiency, the whole weapon focus/specialization line and improved critical. This leaves me with 3 free heroic slots and i'm evaluating 9 candidates: dodge (with some equipment to get some kind of defense), TWDefense (5 more PRR on a non-tank without shields may help?), oversized TWF (is the +2 attack bonus given by this feat of any use with the new system?), quickdraw (i always see this recommended), power critical (on a kensai with a khopesh this is worth 1.5 damage/swing, little more with OC, worth taking?), past life: berserker fury (20 hp and a 30 seconds rage), past life: soldier of the faith (3 times/day up to +3 damage/swing), sap (no save stun) and more toughness. Help me decide.

2) 2 epic feats, one will be OC but i'm unsure on the other, is Epic Toughness a must for a melee? If so then i'll need to reshuffle stat points to get to 21 Con. If not what do you recomment between Great Str/Cos or one of the heroic feats above?

NOTE: I don't plan on tanking anything and i don't plan to play EE content (maybe once for favor for some quests but nothing more, no farming, no zerging, no setting speed records)

B) - EQUIPMENT:

1) I'm still searching for some good random-gen trash beaters khopeshes to use when i get all the feats (THF until about level 10-12, then TWF with khopeshes) and i'll make 2 GS khopeshes, what do you recommend? What suffix/prefix should i look for for general trash beating? Is lit II still the best all around DPS mutation in the GS family? How good are Epic Elemental Khopeses of Water any good? Keep in mind i still dont own many packs so some named items may be out of my reach (this includes alchemical weapons).

2) How much is it worth Festival Icy Burst-ing random-gen weapons? I don't have the time nor the Mario skills to get the coins, so i'm asking what's a fair price to pay to get an "icy burst kit"? I have a +2 Acid Greatsword of Lacerating that i'm going to use from level 6 to level 11-12 as all around beater, is it worth applying the kit to it or if i decide to acquire one or two is better to use them on higher level weapons?

3) I've got a T3 Epic Cavalry Plate, i'm probably going to get the Purple Dragon Knight Armor, but still the best armor i have AC-wise is the good old Full Plate of the Defender ... ?!?!? I'm kind of puzzled by this, and my search-fu has failed to reveal any insight on the matter or any information about planned changes, any news?

feats:

1-keep in mind that your dodge chance is capped by the max dex bonus of your armor/shield, so if you plan on wearing full plate you won't get much dodge. Power critical is really nice now, it is basically a stacking seeker +2. I would stay away from OTWF, especially as a fighter, you shouldn't have any trouble hitting things without it. TWD might be useful, but I don't know if it would be better than just another toughness though.

2-I would probably just take a stat feat to balance out, unless you can qualify for epic toughness without otherwise hurting your build. It isn't necessary by any means, but more HP are always nice to have.

equipment:

1-Lit 2 is still generally the best of the GS damage effects, as is very useful for most of the game. For low level stuff, I usually just go with cannith crafting screaming of bleed or something similar. If that isn't an option, I would look for lacerating weapons for really low level, and then pandemonium when you get a bit higher. Pandemonium of lacerating is a really, really good combo IF you can find one. Not idea about the water khopesh, never bothered to grind any out.

2-For icy bursting, I would recommend picking weapons that you can re-use. I have a set of really old acid of pure good handwraps that I bursted a few years ago, ml4 with no alignment restriction. Fantastic for leveling as a monk. So, if you have similar weapons, I would recommend bursting those first.

3-Keep in mind, the full plate of the defender, and the epic cavalry plate, are both medium armors, so they provide less PRR than actual heavy armors do. Takes a bit of grinding, but the white and black dragonscale armors out of gianthold are both really good for melees. white is more defensive and black is more offensive, depending on what you want.

[Kinerd]

Regarding dodge, you have a little wiggle room as a fighter in heavy armor, but for a DPS character I wouldn't bother. If you are lukewarm, you will be spat out, embrace your hotness.

oversized TWF (is the +2 attack bonus given by this feat of any use with the new system?)

No.

power critical (on a kensai with a khopesh this is worth 1.5 damage/swing, little more with OC, worth taking?)

Sure.

past life: berserker fury (20 hp and a 30 seconds rage)

Definitely not, always take another Toughness instead. A once per rest 30 second clicky is not worth the effort, and 27 > 20.

sap (no save stun)

This is pretty sweet, you may as well try it out.

is Epic Toughness a must for a melee?

Absolutely not. I would go with more of the heroic feats personally, the Greater Stat abilities are mechanically weak and what's worse, boring.

.

1) I'm still searching for some good random-gen trash beaters khopeshes to use when i get all the feats (THF until about level 10-12, then TWF with khopeshes) and i'll make 2 GS khopeshes, what do you recommend? What suffix/prefix should i look for for general trash beating? Is lit II still the best all around DPS mutation in the GS family? How good are Epic Elemental Khopeses of Water any good? Keep in mind i still dont own many packs so some named items may be out of my reach (this includes alchemical weapons).

I lucked into a Coruscating of Superior One-of-the-new-u16-suffixes. They are not absolute elite, but they are pretty easy to drop, and 19 * 7 + 4 * 13 * 4.5 = 367 over 20 or about 18 per hit, which is very respectable. If you're running very high level content there are even more interesting combos, but of course the trick is finding them in khopesh flavor.

The epic water khopeshes are very helpful if you're running in a low/no CC group for whatever reason, but add one wizard and they are pretty much garbage.

3) I've got a T3 Epic Cavalry Plate, i'm probably going to get the Purple Dragon Knight Armor, but still the best armor i have AC-wise is the good old Full Plate of the Defender ... ?!?!? I'm kind of puzzled by this, and my search-fu has failed to reveal any insight on the matter or any information about planned changes, any news?

Don't worry about small increments of AC. PDK armor is nice for multiple reasons: set bonus, heavy fort, super false life, DR, good AC and heavy armor.

[delsoboss]

Thanks for the replies, helped clear some confusion up.

So, only things still not addressed are TW Defense and Past Life: Soldier of the Faith, as anyone anything to say on these 2?

[unbongwah]

I didn't see it listed, so I recommend squeezing in Precision somewhere; there will be times (particularly boss fights) where -25% Fortification is more useful than +5 dmg from Power Atk. Since you seem to like tactics, you may wish to squeeze in CE+Imp Trip somewhere, though that does require base INT 13.

[delsoboss]

I didn't see it listed, so I recommend squeezing in Precision somewhere; there will be times (particularly boss fights) where -25% Fortification is more useful than +5 dmg from Power Atk.

I love precision on my rogue, but on a fighter i need to run some math to check if the gain is worth it against 80% fort bosses or 100% fort trash.

Since you seem to like tactics, you may wish to squeeze in CE+Imp Trip somewhere, though that does require base INT 13.

What i don't like about Imp Trip (on top of the fact it needs another feat i'll probably never use on a DPS character) is that monsters at higher levels tend to get up really really quickly and that kind of defeats the purpose of the feat.

[Inouk]

Planning a TR, going for human pure fighter kensai and i have some questions regarding feats and equipment:

A) - FEATS:

1) I plan on taking the 3 TWF feats, toughness (x1), power attack, cleave, great cleave, improved sunder, stunning blow, khopesh proficiency, the whole weapon focus/specialization line and improved critical. This leaves me with 3 free heroic slots and i'm evaluating 9 candidates: dodge (with some equipment to get some kind of defense), TWDefense (5 more PRR on a non-tank without shields may help?), oversized TWF (is the +2 attack bonus given by this feat of any use with the new system?), quickdraw (i always see this recommended), power critical (on a kensai with a khopesh this is worth 1.5 damage/swing, little more with OC, worth taking?), past life: berserker fury (20 hp and a 30 seconds rage), past life: soldier of the faith (3 times/day up to +3 damage/swing), sap (no save stun) and more toughness. Help me decide.

Despite what others say, I discovered running elite content on my (at the time) 40 STR rng/ftr 12/6 (full BAB) that I was getting misses (glancing blows) on tougher mobs with low rolls (3ish). I eventually felt the need to take OTWF to correct this since the difference is +6 to hit (tested vs one-handed before buying feat). I haven't been missing since and it opened up more PA enhancement options for me.

I have yet to find room for quickdraw, but from what I hear it very worth it.

2) 2 epic feats, one will be OC but i'm unsure on the other, is Epic Toughness a must for a melee? If so then i'll need to reshuffle stat points to get to 21 Con. If not what do you recomment between Great Str/Cos or one of the heroic feats above?

NOTE: I don't plan on tanking anything and i don't plan to play EE content (maybe once for favor for some quests but nothing more, no farming, no zerging, no setting speed records)

B) - EQUIPMENT:

1) I'm still searching for some good random-gen trash beaters khopeshes to use when i get all the feats (THF until about level 10-12, then TWF with khopeshes) and i'll make 2 GS khopeshes, what do you recommend? What suffix/prefix should i look for for general trash beating? Is lit II still the best all around DPS mutation in the GS family? How good are Epic Elemental Khopeses of Water any good? Keep in mind i still dont own many packs so some named items may be out of my reach (this includes alchemical weapons).

2) How much is it worth Festival Icy Burst-ing random-gen weapons? I don't have the time nor the Mario skills to get the coins, so i'm asking what's a fair price to pay to get an "icy burst kit"? I have a +2 Acid Greatsword of Lacerating that i'm going to use from level 6 to level 11-12 as all around beater, is it worth applying the kit to it or if i decide to acquire one or two is better to use them on higher level weapons?

3) I've got a T3 Epic Cavalry Plate, i'm probably going to get the Purple Dragon Knight Armor, but still the best armor i have AC-wise is the good old Full Plate of the Defender ... ?!?!? I'm kind of puzzled by this, and my search-fu has failed to reveal any insight on the matter or any information about planned changes, any news?

If you plan to solo at all and can do the grind, get a couple of level 12 water khopeshes and add master craftsmanship to start using at level 10. They are TERRIFIC crowd control when combined with the cleave feats. As you level up you can slot roaring in one to improve even more (or just go holy/screaming/bleeding for more damage). I only recently got the Epic version (just hit 20 this life), and so far am underwhelmed by the DC against Epic mobs. I strongly recommend making a 3xpos GS also for undead (khopesh, or maul, or even warhammer) and yes, lit II. Consider making Min II also for DR at lower levels. Nice thing about dual wielding is you can mix and match all these.