odd build request

[PKMN12]

i am not very good at building characters in this game, so i was wondering if someone could help me

i am looking for a 18 wizard/2 fighter build that is either a melee pale master human, elf, or warforged
i was also wondering if this would be a hard build to play and if it was gear dependent. i am a vip and have only 28 point build unlocked, also do not have a lot of access to tomes, though i could get some at the later levels if absolutely required. I give many thanks to anyone who can help or truthfully tell me that it would be a horrible idea.

i did see the elven bladesinger build on the wiki, but it does not seem that great.

[aradelothion]

Right off the bat I'd have to say that, from experience, gish/battle casters of pretty much any flavor are among the most gear intensive builds I've ever played, because you pretty much want every piece of good gear for both blue bars and melees. Of course you can get by with subpar gear, but it'd be hard to justify a spot sometimes, particularly in difficult content. There -will- be pug/raid leaders who will take a look at your build and decide that a pure arcane, or a more dedicated DPS build, or a bard (which is like a battle arcane almost), will be better for their chances of success.

When that happens, don't take it personally, it is what it is; pure casters have a very real advantage over a multiclass in a casting role, and more dedicated DPS builds will out DPS you, given equal gear. The Wizard capstone is among the best for what it gives you (basically +1 DC to all spells, and cheaper casting), and the prestige enhancements (PM/AM, also Sorc Savant lines) offer powerful cheap/free spell damage/utility.

Usually, having the optimal build/gear isn't necessary, a lot depends on skill also, and battle arcanes are often more than the sum of its DPS parts. There's a lot you can bring to the table; the key, IMHO, is making sure that you make up in other ways for everything that you lack in straight-up DPS or casting ability.

Taking all that into account, I'd suggest a WF Pale Master 18Wiz/2Rog. Play mostly like a Wiz with very good trap skills and you'll do -some- melee DPS. First level as a Rogue for skills, then Wiz until you get Wall of Fire at least, then take 2nd Rogue for evasion. For a 28pt build your starting stats, since you want to melee, would be 18 Int, 14 Str, 16 Con. Or 15 Str/14 Con. Feat-wise you'll get 2 epic feats, 7 general feats, and 4 caster feats from 18 Wiz. I'd suggest for your Wiz bonus feats: Maximize, Heighten, Quicken, SF: Necro. Round that up wit GSF: Necro, Spell Pen, Greater Spell Pen, Toughness, Power Attack, Insightful Reflexes, Imp Crit: Slash (because you'll want an Epic Antique Greataxe, at least). This was my main's first life after I LR'd from 17Wiz/2Rog/1Ftr (back when you could take Lich form @12). Key gear: best 2hander you can find/craft, GS concordant opposition, Torc if you can get it, Docent of Defiance at least in Heroic levels, and a bunch of guards - radiance is awesome (until you cast a mass hold or disco ball).

Hope that helps.

[Claver]

Try this build

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=385905

Not what you asked for but one of the most fun spell swords I have ever played.

Sure, you are a druid splash...but you run around blasting things with icestorms, firewalls and lightning while beating every thing with longswords of khopeshes in both hands.

Great fun and highly versitle i.e. take lead on kill count or help support a bit with healing and buffing.

[legendlore]

i am looking for a 18 wizard/2 fighter build that is either a melee pale master human, elf, or warforged
i was also wondering if this would be a hard build to play and if it was gear dependent. i am a vip and have only 28 point build unlocked, also do not have a lot of access to tomes, though i could get some at the later levels if absolutely required. I give many thanks to anyone who can help or truthfully tell me that it would be a horrible idea.

I wouldn't say that it is a hard build to play, since if you are pale master or warforged arch mage you will have very reliable healing. But it is definitely harder to play than an conventional wizard since simply avoiding enemies by not standing next to them is probably the best defense there is in ddo. It also in my experience requires a greater deal of attention since you're juggling both casting and melee at the same time.

Build wise, first thing you'll need to decide is if you're going to be mainly casting focused with some melee and go int as main stat (I'm guessing this since you want 18 levels of wizard). Or be a melee build with self healing and dots and go str as main stat.

I'm guessing that you'll want to wear armor since you mention elf and warforged? Otherwise rogue is as aradelothion mentioned a popular choice with a number of builds on the forum, since there is a greater synergy between robes/outfits/light armor and wizards casting abilities. Monk is also a popular choice partly due to this.

Ability points wise I wouldn't worry to much, a melee wizard is more stat intensive (just like bards) than other builds but if you build it mostly like a normal wizard (ie focus on int & con rest in str) it is one of the least ability points costly builds around. Try to invest in an +2 int tome (or get it by 1750 favor) and if you like the play style you can later resurrect as a 32 or 34 point build.

As for being a horrible idea or not, I say it most definitely isn't, play what you find fun. You will likely encounter some that don't understand the choice however. With the new epic system at endgame (if you enjoy the build) there is also an option now to play at a variety of difficulties suitable for the build and play style. I'm currently playing what could be considered a flavor build and I enjoy versatile characters so I built a character that focused on versatility in epic hard (and for me more fun) rather than being built for one thing in epic elite (since I'd estimate that only roughly 5-10% of my gaming takes place in epic elite).

Right off the bat I'd have to say that, from experience, gish/battle casters of pretty much any flavor are among the most gear intensive builds I've ever played, because you pretty much want every piece of good gear for both blue bars and melees.

This is very true, playing any type of melee caster (bards included) is very gear and click intensive. You will also most likely get a few tells when you keep a piece of melee gear for yourself when raiding (some people only see the icon at the health bar it seems) but don't let that bother you.

[PKMN12]

Taking all that into account, I'd suggest a WF Pale Master 18Wiz/2Rog. Play mostly like a Wiz with very good trap skills and you'll do -some- melee DPS. First level as a Rogue for skills, then Wiz until you get Wall of Fire at least, then take 2nd Rogue for evasion. For a 28pt build your starting stats, since you want to melee, would be 18 Int, 14 Str, 16 Con. Or 15 Str/14 Con. Feat-wise you'll get 2 epic feats, 7 general feats, and 4 caster feats from 18 Wiz. I'd suggest for your Wiz bonus feats: Maximize, Heighten, Quicken, SF: Necro. Round that up wit GSF: Necro, Spell Pen, Greater Spell Pen, Toughness, Power Attack, Insightful Reflexes, Imp Crit: Slash (because you'll want an Epic Antique Greataxe, at least). This was my main's first life after I LR'd from 17Wiz/2Rog/1Ftr (back when you could take Lich form @12). Key gear: best 2hander you can find/craft, GS concordant opposition, Torc if you can get it, Docent of Defiance at least in Heroic levels, and a bunch of guards - radiance is awesome (until you cast a mass hold or disco ball).

Hope that helps.

thanks alot, in what order should i take the feats. in that order that you listed them? and what should i put the level up points in, i was thinking strength? thanks again for the help

the one +2 int tome should be obtainable, but at what level should i use it. thanks

[aradelothion]

thanks alot, in what order should i take the feats. in that order that you listed them? and what should i put the level up points in, i was thinking strength? thanks again for the help

the one +2 int tome should be obtainable, but at what level should i use it. thanks

Use the tome as soon as you are able, which would be 7th level iirc.

I suggested this split because in my experience with these kinds of builds (my main's 3 Wiz past lives are all battle arcanes, as was my Sorc and FvS life), this build is the easiest to get into groups with, and the least gear intensive, relatively speaking. A 2 monk splash using 2-handers is also solid and will have more wiggle room in terms of feats, but is less versatile skills-wise, and slightly less DPS (no mini haste boost, no mini sneak damage).

Feat and level order may vary depending on what you want first, but off the top of my head:
1R - Toughness (general)
2w - Maximize(wiz bonus)
3w - Power Attack or Insightful Reflexes (general)
4w
5w
6w - SF: Necro (wiz bonus), whatever you didn't take at 3 (general)
7w
8w
9r - GSF: Necro (general), you get evasion at this point
10w
11w
12w - Heighten (wiz bonus), Mental Toughness (general) for Wraith Form
13w
14w
15w - Spell Penetration
16w
17w - Quicken (wiz bonus)
18w - Improved Crit: Slash or Extend (general)
19w
20w
21 - Greater Spell Penetration or Cleave
24 - Cleave if you didn't get it at 21, Great Cleave or whatever you didn't take at 18

You can then swap out Mental Toughness and reorder your feats so you can take Epic Spell Penetration, but that'll take a while.

For a first lifer, I'd strongly recommend all levelups in Int and play as a DC caster primarily; you won't have enough melee DPS to justify not casting instakills or cc without good gear; at the very least, a Min2 Greataxe and an HP/Conc Opp accessory. Particularly pugging, people will see the Wiz icon and expect you to do some cc at the very least. Do this until you get the melee gear you need. Ultimately, you're just 1 DC and 2 Spell Penetration behind a similarly geared WF first lifer, and 2 DC behind human if I did my math right. Your cc/instakills will still land with the right debuffs on most things, even epic hard; you'll have to spend a little more sp to prep them, but that's true for first lifers in general. Also leverage the fact that you can do traps better than just about anybody, and can more easily reach 39 UMD, which is the sweet spot for level 6 divine spells like Heal.

A word of caution as Legendlore said: you might end up needing to justify looting certain BtC items that you pull; some won't take kindly to that, it is what it is. Explain that you're a battle arcane, and hope they understand, and move on.

Note that I'm purposefully not including Epic Destinies here because you can switch these any time. LD with Wild Weapons (if they haven't fixed that yet) or Sense Weakness twisted in is fantastic soloing most quests where you can maintain Master's Blitz, but still ok otherwise. Fury is fun as well, though I found it hard fitting in Sense Weakness and Wild Weapons. Magister and Draconic obviously help out your caster side immensely.

Hope that helps

[unbongwah]

The problem with playing a melee gish in DDO is pure arcanes put out so much caster DPS these days that you're basically condemning yourself to flavor territory by "watering" it down with melee. It's even tougher if you've only got 28-pt builds and no twink gear or plat to speak of.

When Turbine finally finishes the Enhancement overhaul they've been promising for ages, we might see new possibilities open up. [I'm hoping to be able to make some interesting Dwarven Defender / caster tanks someday. ] But until then, there's just not much incentive to playing an old-school gish, IMHO.

I would definitely recommend a melee bard instead. You don't get the caster DPS of an arcane, but you do get plenty of buffs, heals, and CC via Fascinate. Bards tend to be less stat-dependent than other melee casters and multiclass better, IMHO. Plus to be frank, most people only seem to expect bards to be buff bots, so anything you can do beyond that is a perk rather than an expectation.

[PKMN12]

thank you guys very much, at one point soon i am going to roll the build.

also, i was actually thinking of rolling a melee bard (there is a bunch if those builds i found while lurking around the forums) instead and decided i would try both out, and once finished with korthos isle on both, would choose one that seems better and go with it while keeping the other one for a later time.

thanks again for all the help