New TR and Arty

[kyleann]

I returned to the game after a year, and rather than figure out what my full bank/shared bank/inventory mess means for my level 20 Tempest RNG/ROG/MNK finesse build I decided to TR her into an Arty. I had been planning a TR before I left, so I figured why not relearn the game leveling up a new character. Plus, they had a sale on the experience tomes so the grind hasn't been noticeable yet.

Anyway, playing the Artificer for the first time I'm wondering what route I should take. Melee is out since I dumped STR. What other options are there? Caster and Repeater I'm assuming, but are there any links to some good builds or guides to running an Arty. I went with WF and all my stats are at base except INT maxed at creation, 17 CON, and 16 Dex for my 34-point build. I also ate a +3 supreme tome in my past life that should carry over.

Playstyle is pretty diverse. I have played Ranger, Rogue, WF Sorc and Cleric mainly and loved them all, so I'm open to range or caster or even melee though I doubt that's possible now...

I'm at level 3 and I've taken Toughness and Augment Summoning for feats thus far. This early, I'm doing a large part of my damage with a G. Axe and Masters Touch but I use my Rune Arm/X-bow at range if I need to soften up particularly tough guys.

Looking for some advice from some veteran Artys on how took get the most out of my character before I get to far and have to LR

Thank you!

[droid327]

Well you can just play the class pretty much "straight", ie according to the archetype. Repeaters, runearms, and your dog, with lots and lots of buffs. You dont have to worry about melee, take Point Blank Shot and use your repeater at close range. As you get better and better runearms (dep. what packs you can access) more and more of your damage will be from your RA, you wont want to trade it for THF, and Repeater+RA does better damage than 1HF+RA for a non-melee-specialized arty.

Stats, you can pretty much get everything out of Int. You'll use Int as your repeater damage stat, Int is your spell DC stat, and your RA DC stat. Take Insightful Reflexes to get a decent Reflex save, using Int. Dex is your to-hit, but if you follow the conventional wisdom you only need 16 to start, and +3 tome to hit 19 by L15 for Improved Precise Shot, as you've done.

The only glaring deficiency for Arties is the lack of Evasion, so you can splash Rogue or Monk for that. Monk probably makes more sense since you already get traps and UMD as an Arty and 1 sneak dice on a ranged char isnt incredibly useful. Otherwise just stay pure, for the awesome capstone and maxed RA damage. You're WF, so you can enjoy full self-healing goodness. Dont worry about Arcane Spell Failure either unless you're using Wiz/Sorc spell scrolls, ASF doesnt affect Arty spells (infusions).

Featwise, you'll want to max your Repeater output, so PBS (also a prereq for the PrE), Precise Shot/IPS, IC: Ranged, and Rapid Shot. You'll want the usual stuff like Toughness, and you'll want metas like Maximize and boosts to Evoc DCs, which is the spell class for everything Arty that involves a DC. Not Heighten or Extend, as those have no useful applications for Arties, though.

[Draksel]

I would also add quicken spell to the list, especially if you solo alot. The flame turret can hold alot of agro while you plink away with a repeater. And you'll likely need to cast it in a hurry alot.

[Sonos]

You'll pretty much be a solo machine. Your flame turret is your "firewall" and your Blade Barrier will be your... Blade Barrier. Prismatic strike and Tactical Detonation are your Greater Commands + dmg. Look up rare artificer scrolls and take those that appeal to you at level, buy and inscribe the rest. You get a free unseen slot for all of your repair spells so go ahead and inscribe them all(again, they do not take up a slot that could otherwise be used for another spell).

Take and/or inscribe all of the Weapon buff types(adamantine, silver, deadly weapons, etc.), this will come in handy, especially at end game when you are relegated to being a buffer mostly.

I find that an Arti is like a Sorc in reverse. A Sorc starts out pretty crappy but by endgame(and certainly before) it is a force to be reckoned with. The Arti comes out one shot bursting everything on elite from Repeater right out of the box. You'll be able to solo content with ease till mid-to-end game. At end game it's survivable and does some pretty decent damage but it feels less god-like to be certain :P even in Shiradi. Buffing will be your most appreciated skill :P

I know there are Artis that want to throw tomatoes at me right now, but no denying there is a feel of diminishing power returns as one approaches end game from god mode lowbie-land.(this is in reference to the runearm/repeater style, cannot comment on end-game juggalo.. er juggernaut style yet but it looks pretty sweet at end game).

A really nice Runearm I started using this life is http://ddowiki.com/page/Strinati%27s_Hand_Cannon

Easy and fast to farm(may take an hour or two, depending on how many toons you have, or you may get lucky; took me ransacking on 6 toons :P). Add Masterful Craftsmanship on it and you have a miniture meteor swarm at level 3.

[patang01]

[QUOTE=kyleann;4870511]I returned to the game after a year, and rather than figure out what my full bank/shared bank/inventory mess means for my level 20 Tempest RNG/ROG/MNK finesse build I decided to TR her into an Arty. I had been planning a TR before I left, so I figured why not relearn the game leveling up a new character. Plus, they had a sale on the experience tomes so the grind hasn't been noticeable yet.

(snip)QUOTE]

You will find that Arti is the easiest way to level to 20 (after 20 is a whole different matter).

Concentrate one 3 things; repeaters, rune arms and high int. Then add in stuff that boost your rune arm and whatever spell you fancy. As it turns out you'll do flame turret early on and later BB and Tactical detonation (moreso detonation).

WF arti is the easiest. Self healing. You don't even have to bother adding anything to repair since with the ring of the master (challenge ring out of Cannith) you'll have all the repair boost you need). Then concentrate on two elements. You can switch those later. But early on it can be fire and impulse (force and untyped for BB) and later on acid and impulse. Max them out.

As the mechanics works gear with spell power and lore will together with your enhancement spell power and lore boost rune arms. It's like having the ability to 'fire' off a spell every so often (as it charges up) for free and the power of that spell is quite nice. Just as an example; acid and force based rune arms fire as many bolts as you can charge up to. So if you have a charge level of 3 its 3 bolts. Each bolt have a separate crit chance. And to add a further example a level 5 charge level will have you crit from 500-1000k with all the enhancements and gear. Moreover they also 'home in' on something that is targeted. Then you have the rune arms that fire one single fireball like AOE, note that will only hit a critter once but more can be hit. But anything with AOE (such as exploding fire balls, breathlike effects and Toven's Hammer 4 electric spheres) also require a reflex save and you'll find that unless you invest in lots of Int you will have a hard time to break the reflex save.

This will sustain you through leveling. Adding gobs of easy DPS through rune arm and repeater and self healing through reconstruct. Even a human arti can self heal if you take a feat that allows you partial healing through reconstruct.

lastly pets. At the beginning they're not good, but you can boost them by giving them named docents (or even crafted) and you can make collars (their weapon) out of named wraps. That allows you to make great pets that can maintain aggro but also do some good. And since Arti's can unlock stuff and disable traps they're ideal for soloing, even with just one single hireling (such as a cleric).

Level 21+ is different; you'll notice that there's no true super benefit of any particular Destiny - sure the ranger boosts your ranged and the wiz one boosts some of your spell features, but then the Arti is not the perfect ranger or the perfect caster. There was hinted that thre will be a specific Arti destiny and hopefully something that will boost rune arm DC so you can use any of them effectivly (anything with an AOE will suffer in epic quests due to reflex saves).

And for groups Arti remains as the best way to support a group with extra damage to their main weapons or even DR breaking features through spells.

[patang01]

You'll pretty much be a solo machine. Your flame turret is your "firewall" and your Blade Barrier will be your... Blade Barrier. Prismatic strike and Tactical Detonation are your Greater Commands + dmg. Look up rare artificer scrolls and take those that appeal to you at level, buy and inscribe the rest. You get a free unseen slot for all of your repair spells so go ahead and inscribe them all(again, they do not take up a slot that could otherwise be used for another spell).

Take and/or inscribe all of the Weapon buff types(adamantine, silver, deadly weapons, etc.), this will come in handy, especially at end game when you are relegated to being a buffer mostly.

I fine that an Arti is like a Sorc in reverse. A Sorc starts out pretty crappy but by endgame(and certainly before) it is a force to be reckoned with. The Arti comes out one shot bursting everything on elite from Repeater right out of the box. You'll be able to solo content with ease till mid-to-end game. At end game it's survivable and does some pretty decent damage but it feels less god-like to be certain :P even in Shiradi. Buffing will be your most appreciated skill :P

I know there are Artis that want to throw tomatoes at me right now, but no denying there is a feel of diminishing power returns as one approaches end game from god mode lowbie-land.(this is in reference to the runearm/repeater style, cannot comment on end-game juggalo.. er juggernaut style yet but it looks pretty sweet at end game).

A really nice Runearm I started using this life is http://ddowiki.com/page/Strinati%27s_Hand_Cannon

Easy and fast to farm(may take an hour or two, depending on how many toons you have, or you may get lucky; took me ransacking on 6 toons :P). Add Masterful Craftsmanship on it and you have a miniture meteor swarm at level 3.

You know, I just bought the acid and the force based blank rune arms from the store. Then lowered their levels. They might not boost your bottom line but they add tons of DPS at lower levels. Animus is pointless, just way to late for that rune arm, but Tomb of Hands is excellent for it's level. Fire based AOE and with disruption added to your repeater. I've never used the hand cannon, but it looks like something I'd consider for low levels and especially when TRing. The glass cannon is worthless however. I mean worthless is a strong word but the reflex save on it even in GH wilderness completely destroys it's functionality. I want to like it but because of the single hit AOE and reflex saves you'll be doing like 100 in damage and that's just not enough to give up better rune arms.

And you're right; unless you're doing the draconic destiny and can twist energy burst your average Arti will be left behind DPS wise compared to almost all other classes. Where you might be nailing ONE monster with a good rune arm hit, the Sorc will nuke a whole group with minimal SP cost.

[droid327]

Does Adrenaline work with EF or regular repeater triplebursts like it does with MS? Fury might be the destiny for pure repeater DPS, like Shiradi is for CC and Drac for casting and RAs

[kyleann]

You get a free unseen slot for all of your repair spells so go ahead and inscribe them all(again, they do not take up a slot that could otherwise be used for another spell).

CRAZY...Wish that was made more obvious because I've been making sure to have a healing spell in my list...Thanks for that tidbit +1...Oh, and the other stuff you said was good too

[kyleann]

Someone mentioned hitting 19 Dex in a previous post to qualify for Imp Precise...I started with 16 and am at 19 according to my char sheet (before buffs/items). Does that mean I'm already there? I know for sure I have at least a +3 Dex tome on my Arty since I was a finesse rapier Tempest in my previous life. When I leveled up to 4 it showed 19 on the level up screen, so I must have already reached that point right?

Just want to clarify so I know putting the points into INT wont screw me up later.

One more thing...How do you guys handle Spot? I can remember where a lot of the traps are in the staple instances (even a year later...) but I hate running into a trap and THEN finding the control box, and with basically no Wis (I think with Wis +2 item and Spot +3 I am maxed out at 11 right now) I can't spot anything on Hard or above at level quests...

Not a problem now, but as a trapper class I don't want to be dying in traps and leaving my party SOL later on when I'm hitting new content...

[Loriac]

Does Adrenaline work with EF or regular repeater triplebursts like it does with MS? Fury might be the destiny for pure repeater DPS, like Shiradi is for CC and Drac for casting and RAs

This.

I'm currently trying out FotW (level 3 atm) and I suspect that this could well be the DPS choice for artis. I haven't tried adrenaline with EF, but unless it is broken and applies adrenaline to the whole salvo, I don't really see those abilities working well together. Adrenaline does seem to proc at least twice on a 3 round burst (based on the damage shown for each bolt), but I really need the last two levels when you have pretty much automatic crits to be sure that it applies to all 3 shots.

I think there has been a strong focus on shiradi as the ranged ED, but in reality you need spells for that ED rather than missile weapons. If it was changed so that missiles had force spellpower applied to double rainbow effects (plus the other on hit procs) then I think it would be a very strong DPS destiny for an artificer, but at the moment the damage feels lacklustre. I doubt it will be changed in this manner however as druids and rangers can't invest in force.

Someone mentioned hitting 19 Dex in a previous post to qualify for Imp Precise...I started with 16 and am at 19 according to my char sheet (before buffs/items). Does that mean I'm already there? I know for sure I have at least a +3 Dex tome on my Arty since I was a finesse rapier Tempest in my previous life. When I leveled up to 4 it showed 19 on the level up screen, so I must have already reached that point right?

Hover your mouse over dexterity in the character sheet, and add together the base stat plus any 'inherent' bonus (this is the bonus that tomes apply). Together these need to be at least 19.

[droid327]

Someone mentioned hitting 19 Dex in a previous post to qualify for Imp Precise...I started with 16 and am at 19 according to my char sheet (before buffs/items). Does that mean I'm already there? I know for sure I have at least a +3 Dex tome on my Arty since I was a finesse rapier Tempest in my previous life. When I leveled up to 4 it showed 19 on the level up screen, so I must have already reached that point right?

Just want to clarify so I know putting the points into INT wont screw me up later.

One more thing...How do you guys handle Spot? I can remember where a lot of the traps are in the staple instances (even a year later...) but I hate running into a trap and THEN finding the control box, and with basically no Wis (I think with Wis +2 item and Spot +3 I am maxed out at 11 right now) I can't spot anything on Hard or above at level quests...

Not a problem now, but as a trapper class I don't want to be dying in traps and leaving my party SOL later on when I'm hitting new content...

Like he said, ONLY base/tome/level-up points count towards feat reqs. Temporary buffs like spells, equipment, and enhancements do NOT.

If you have 16 base +3 tome, then you're good, though. Any extra dex (gear, enhancements, etc.) will only be for reflex saves and to-hit.

Spot really isnt about traps, but about ranged damage. A Cleric hireling will have enough WIS to spot traps for you, solo, if you need one...but traps are always fixed, so you can usually just get a walkthrough online that tells you where all the control boxes are. Search is the skill that's important for trappers.

Spot, though, is still important for Arties because it lets you detect unseen mobs, so you can start shooting them with spells and xbows before they know YOU'RE there Nothing worse than having a stealthed Wolf pop up right next to you and trip you right after you just fired off an EF or action boost or something...

[kyleann]

Lots of great information so far. Thanks for clarifying Loriac and druid, and I'm happy I made the right choices so far!

Continuing on with an earlier mention of some useful lowbie gear...What sort of items should I be getting for my character early on that will make the leveling easier? I have full abishai set from Chrono for level 5...Voice of course...Blademark Docent...working on getting Strinati's and Wind Howlers.

Are there any staples that I should be considering?

[droid327]

Lots of great information so far. Thanks for clarifying Loriac and druid, and I'm happy I made the right choices so far!

Continuing on with an earlier mention of some useful lowbie gear...What sort of items should I be getting for my character early on that will make the leveling easier? I have full abishai set from Chrono for level 5...Voice of course...Blademark Docent...working on getting Strinati's and Wind Howlers.

Are there any staples that I should be considering?

Cannith Challenge items are great...Ring of Master Artifice of course for WF Artis gives you proc heal and Repair bonuses...Bracers give you 20% blur and bonuses to your Electric spells, which are all your early-level options...Boots for the Flesh to Stone proc are also pretty nice, its essentially an instant-death proc since they stay stoned till everything else dies and you can finish them off.

Dont forget to get decent pup gear too...a Lifeshield docent with a Bodyfeeder (of Vampirism) weapon works nicely to offset the damage he's taking, and you can Cannith Craft those. Or stack the debuffs, with a Destroying docent and a Cursespewing collar or something.

Fearsome is also a useful defensive mod for you, because they just stop attacking and run away and you can shoot them in the back. But you have to be careful because when the Fear effect wears off, the monster "re-aggros" as though you just attacked it again, and any other un-aggroed monster nearby will aggro you. I've had it bite me in the butt a couple times when a monster runs the wrong way and brings back a pack of casters...

[Singular]

This.

I'm currently trying out FotW (level 3 atm) and I suspect that this could well be the DPS choice for artis. I haven't tried adrenaline with EF, but unless it is broken and applies adrenaline to the whole salvo, I don't really see those abilities working well together. Adrenaline does seem to proc at least twice on a 3 round burst (based on the damage shown for each bolt), but I really need the last two levels when you have pretty much automatic crits to be sure that it applies to all 3 shots.

I think there has been a strong focus on shiradi as the ranged ED, but in reality you need spells for that ED rather than missile weapons. If it was changed so that missiles had force spellpower applied to double rainbow effects (plus the other on hit procs) then I think it would be a very strong DPS destiny for an artificer, but at the moment the damage feels lacklustre. I doubt it will be changed in this manner however as druids and rangers can't invest in force.

Hover your mouse over dexterity in the character sheet, and add together the base stat plus any 'inherent' bonus (this is the bonus that tomes apply). Together these need to be at least 19.

Shiradi claims to work on both ranged attacks and offensive spells. Is it broken and not doing that?

http://ddowiki.com/page/Shiradi_Champion

Second, yes Adrenaline affects only one or two missiles. It certainly doesn't affect the entire EF - that would be a ridiculous overkill! (but fun).

[Singular]

Lots of great information so far. Thanks for clarifying Loriac and druid, and I'm happy I made the right choices so far!

Continuing on with an earlier mention of some useful lowbie gear...What sort of items should I be getting for my character early on that will make the leveling easier? I have full abishai set from Chrono for level 5...Voice of course...Blademark Docent...working on getting Strinati's and Wind Howlers.

Are there any staples that I should be considering?

Hand of the tomes turns any undead quest into a killfest of happiness.

I strongly recommend some Expeditious Retreat clickies - they will speed up the speed at which you move while you're charging your rune arm. If you like to move around a lot while fighting, like I do, it's a must have on.

[Loriac]

Shiradi claims to work on both ranged attacks and offensive spells. Is it broken and not doing that?

http://ddowiki.com/page/Shiradi_Champion

Second, yes Adrenaline affects only one or two missiles. It certainly doesn't affect the entire EF - that would be a ridiculous overkill! (but fun).

Shiradi procs off both ranged and spells, but the difference is that procs from spells get boosted by spellpower whereas procs from missiles don't.

Considering that you can easily hit 250 spellpower in your chosen school unmeta'd (SC adds 25 from various abilities), a shiradi proc off a spell will hit for 3.5x the same proc off a missile. I think (but am not sure, as I never ran my old sorc in shiradi) that if you empower / maximise, it may take the adjusted spellpower when determining damage from the proc, which would mean you could push to up to about 6x vs. a missile proc.

This is a known 'issue'; the developers have said that they're fine with it affecting spells, and they'd like to have the same thing for missiles but its difficult to code properly. I don't have the link to this, I think it was in the discussion thread on shiradi in the old Lammania Epic Destinies sub-forum.

[droid327]

I strongly recommend some Expeditious Retreat clickies - they will speed up the speed at which you move while you're charging your rune arm. If you like to move around a lot while fighting, like I do, it's a must have on.

Second that...I usually pick up 2-3 Anger's Steps, the Korthos ER clicky boots. Each one gives you 10 mins/rest of ER, and they're super easy to farm.

[patang01]

Second that...I usually pick up 2-3 Anger's Steps, the Korthos ER clicky boots. Each one gives you 10 mins/rest of ER, and they're super easy to farm.

I even use them now on my WF Arti, since he use fully upgraded Epic Rock Boots to boost acid crit chance along with EN corruption of nature. Excellent combo. And with Epic GH I will eventually slot in 30% striding. And that's really the beauty of Arti end cap. Treat all clickies like level 20 so my anger's steps become 20 minute 25% striding and my ML 3 jump cloak becomes 20 minute jump boosts. Or 20 minute blurs from wands, 20 minute shield clickies against magic missiles etc. Or the deathward clicky for 20 minutes. It's easy to solo when a WF Arti can be so self reliant. And with the new augment system it'll be even better.

[droid327]

my anger's steps become 20 minute 25%

Actually from what I understand, Expeditious Retreat is actually the same as 30% striding. Striding provides less bonus than suggested; 30% striding provides a 24% runspeed boost, while EF provides 25% (according to DDO wiki)

[Singular]

Actually from what I understand, Expeditious Retreat is actually the same as 30% striding. Striding provides less bonus than suggested; 30% striding provides a 24% runspeed boost, while EF provides 25% (according to DDO wiki)

They fixed that. Striding 30% is now 30%. It's in one of the update notes. I was pretty happy to read that.

Here:

"The amount of increased movement speed granted by Striding equipment was incorrect, and has been increased to match the percentages displayed in Striding item descriptions."

from:

http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Relea...te_16_Official

Woohooo!