DPS pally build?

[zarthak]

hey guys im looking for a paladin DPS build, i know there's far and few between but i need to get rid of a pally life so,
and idea's?
im looking for a EE capable/ self suffiencent / decent DPS build

[brickwall]

Dps pally don't exist there not in the top Dps class list.

[zarthak]

Dps pally don't exist there not in the top Dps class list.

i know but somthing thats atleast decent dps? im not looking for fully ******** dps just somthing to tide my dps crave for 1 life so i can get the PL

[bergeau09]

14 Pally/6 dark monk using wraps, never did it myself, but I heard it's pretty great for dps and self-sufficiency purp ose, evasion will be awsome aswell. Hope this helped.

Hoss~

[Viconiax]

18 pally splash 2 monk or rogue for evasion with fury of the wild thf, thf is for dps, 2 monk for extra feat and evasion or 2 rogue for evasion and trap ( for xp bonus! ) and you should be able to self-heal/self-sufficient enough in pally.

[sigtrent]

Generally you want to go TWF for paladin DPS.

Monk, rogue and fighter splashes help with DPS in various ways. Pure paladin doesn't do so much for you DPS wise.

Unarmed is good with monk, otherwise you want slashing weapons with good crit ranges like scimitar, rapier, or kopesh.

[SealedInSong]

Generally you want to go TWF for paladin DPS.

Agree with Sigtrent here since you're talking about as past life. Viconiax is of course making a very valid point about THF when it comes to epic content (and you being in Fury or Dreadnought), however.

Personally, I'm guessing unarmed will give you the most bang for your buck for many reasons (alacrity, Divine Might + full off hand bonus, presupposition of having 2 monk levels for evasion, etc)

[zarthak]

im lookingat the 14 pally 6 monk, its decent i have lots of wraps, il most likely TR asap when i cap

[wolfy42]

im lookingat the 14 pally 6 monk, its decent i have lots of wraps, il most likely TR asap when i cap

That is an option. It's gets you evasion and h2h..which is nice.

Another option though is 9 pally/9 ranger/2 fighter.

P is before R so it gives you the pally past life.

9 ranger gives you evasion and ITWF (so you don't need a 17 base dex). Ranger gives you Ram's might as well...and quite decent ranged combat (including precise shot and manyshot.

Fighter gives you +1 str, and 2 bonus feats (not to mention haste boost etc).

I'd say get 2 pally levels asap then go straight for the ranger levels (having 9 ranger levels by 11), then 2 fighter levels, and finally all the rest of your pally levels.

You can even take Tempest as a ranger and if you do go for 17 dex....you could get GTWF..for 90% offhand chance. Snag khopesh if you want (you'll certainly have the feats for it) and your rockin pretty hard.

If you go h-elf with monk dilli....you'll get quite a bit of healing amp as well...and go with the undead pre for pally to pump the healing amp a bit more.

Damage should be quite decent that way. Not optimized...but still quite good. You'll have quite good DPS with ranged as well when manyshot is ready...so you'll be versatile (not to mention good at taking down spellcasters from range etc).

I'm guessing it's not your first TR (since your just trying to get your pally life down) so stats could be something like this:

H-elf pally 9/ranger 9/fighter 2

Str 17 (13)
Dex 14 (06) +3 tome for GTWF
Con 15 (08)
Int 08 (00)
wis 11 (03)
Cha 14 (06)

Should get quite nice saves along with evasion with that setup. Your strength isn't optimized but all level ups go into strength, so it'll be pretty decent.

GTWF + Tempest 1 gives you 90% offhand attacks.

You'll have a freaking ton of bonus feats and free feats (TWF/ITWF/Rapid shot/Manyshot/Die Hard/Precise Shot) and 9 total feats to select (2 from fighter and 7 base).

No movement speed boosts does blow if your just rushing through a life though...but other then that it should get the job done DPS wise and be quite good solo.

For solo I look for:

Decent self healing.
Ability to either disarm, or ignore traps (high saves + evasion)
Decent max health (you'll have that)
Decent to high melee DPS (Aoe is also great..but you won't have that).
Mid to high ranged damage (important in so many places)
Some form of speed boost. (ranger does have sprints at least)

I'd love to somehow get a boost from barbarian/monk levels in there. you could ditch the fighter levels and take 2 monk...but you still wouldn't get a movement speed boost. Going h-elf with monk dilli will actually get you more healing amp then taking 2 monk levels..and 9 ranger already gives you evasion.

So yeah, I'd go 9 pally/9 ranger/2 blah (probably fighter).

You could throw rogue in instead of fighter...but you'll need to boost int then instead...and if your soloing your saves + evasion will just let you ignore traps anyway. You won't need UMD..and your already getting evasion..so rogue doesn't seem worth it.

You can't go barbarian and paladin.

So doesn't seem like many other choices really for the 9/9 split.

[Therigar]

Str 17 (13)
Dex 14 (06) +3 tome for GTWF
Con 15 (08)
Int 08 (00)
wis 11 (03)
Cha 14 (06)

I agree with the stat distribution except in one area: I would not put points into WIS but would instead continue to raise STR to 18.

The reason is this, Paladins top out with L4 spells. An 8 starting WIS with any common +6 WIS item enables full spell use. With the overabundance of augments on equipment as of the last update it should be trivial to slot a +6 WIS. You could even work a combination of tomes (likely at least +3 on any TR already) with gear to easily meet or exceed the WIS requirement.

Keep this in mind as well, if you splash you are likely not going to even get L4 spells -- making WIS even less important.

Regarding feats and combat styles, THF is generally considered dominant at the moment. Splashing Ranger for access to TWF and bow feats is clever but probably does not increase DPS.

Instead, I would probably look at 12 Paladin/8 Fighter. This surrenders evasion but many characters do without evasion. Evasion in and of itself should not be the deciding factor on the build.

Taking 8 fighter levels gives 5 feats that can be directly linked to combat. In particular things like Stunning Blow and giving a tactics approach to the build.

If evasion is important to you then 6 figher/2 monk gets you 6 feats to work with. Given the changes to the AC system I'm not sure that you benefit from the monk levels and evasion. But, that is up to you to work through.

[nni]

Keep this in mind as well, if you splash you are likely not going to even get L4 spells -- making WIS even less important.

Regarding feats and combat styles, THF is generally considered dominant at the moment. Splashing Ranger for access to TWF and bow feats is clever but probably does not increase DPS.

Instead, I would probably look at 12 Paladin/8 Fighter. This surrenders evasion but many characters do without evasion. Evasion in and of itself should not be the deciding factor on the build.

15 levels of paladin gives you 2 lvl 4 spells (Zeal and CSW). 12 gets you none. If you're giving up the lvl 4 spells, you might as well reverse the splash and take only 2 paladin.

[Therigar]

15 levels of paladin gives you 2 lvl 4 spells (Zeal and CSW). 12 gets you none. If you're giving up the lvl 4 spells, you might as well reverse the splash and take only 2 paladin.

Maybe I'm missing the point of the build. But, it seemed to me that OP asked for a paladin that could function in epic elite but was primarily intended to get the paladin life out of the way.

So, I have to ask what is the difference between a fighter and a paladin in terms of overall build. By this I mean, what feats and enhancements do fighters get that make them better at DPS (the title issue for the thread).

As far as I can tell there are only a couple of things that give fighters an advantage. One is their abundance of feats allowing them to use a wide variety of tactics (stunning blow, sunder, trip, etc.). Another is the stat enhancements to STR. The third is their selection of action boosts.

So, the objective is to maximize those fighter qualities while still maintaining the paladin identity. Action boosts can be compensated for via human versatility. The added feats from 8 fighter levels can be used to focus on tactics. The lack of fighter STR enhancements puts the paladin build down a maximum of 3 STR which is 1 or 2 points of damage -- a necessary consequence of maintaining the paladin as the dominant class.

When I ran my cleric I almost never used CSW -- CMW was powerful enough to meet almost every healing need. The loss of CSW isn't that important to my way of thinking.

Zeal might be. But, the idea is to compensate via tactics -- primarily stunning blow. This is essentially the way my monk operates (and, yes, I know stunning blow has a longer cool down -- but the overall concept is the same).

[Loriac]

Regarding feats and combat styles, THF is generally considered dominant at the moment. Splashing Ranger for access to TWF and bow feats is clever but probably does not increase DPS.

You don't splash ranger for access to TWF, but for cheap bow strength and rapid shot. This opens up manyshot, which is huge burst damage in FotW. There is a strong argument that only builds with manyshot can really call themselves dps in today's game.

I'd completely ignore the TWF you get as a ranger 2 and stick with 2H weapons.

[drowrogue]

im lookingat the 14 pally 6 monk, its decent i have lots of wraps, il most likely TR asap when i cap

^^

[Bacab]

The best DPS pld in involves a heavy splash.

I suggest 16Arty/2MNK/2PLD. Just splash 18 levels of something else.

Also 18MNK/2PLD.

The problem...2 PLD accomplishes the main thing a PLD has going for it.

On a more serious note. I think PLD is a great class.

They can be tough as nails and nearly impossibly to kill.

If a PLD is good DPS...
*it is the ED working
*it is the Gear working

Example...
A Warchanter Bard in LD smacking things with an ESoS could lead you to the conclusion that Bard is the BEST DD around.
A Juggernaut in LD smacking things with an ESoS could you lead you to the conclusion that a Juggernaut is the best DPS>..

Now there are lotsa of ways to to play this game.

You can have 6 like-minded people doing very very good DPS and be able to take care of themselves. These groups work very well (6 Juggernauts)

You can have the standard rolls... (Healer, Crowd Control Specialists, DPS, Trapper/DPS, Ranged DPS, Tank). Those parties work well if everyone knows their roll.

A PLD can be in either of those parties. They just must know what they are bringing to the table.

[wolfy42]

The best DPS pld in involves a heavy splash.

I suggest 16Arty/2MNK/2PLD. Just splash 18 levels of something else.

Also 18MNK/2PLD.

The problem...2 PLD accomplishes the main thing a PLD has going for it.

On a more serious note. I think PLD is a great class.

They can be tough as nails and nearly impossibly to kill.

If a PLD is good DPS...
*it is the ED working
*it is the Gear working

Example...
A Warchanter Bard in LD smacking things with an ESoS could lead you to the conclusion that Bard is the BEST DD around.
A Juggernaut in LD smacking things with an ESoS could you lead you to the conclusion that a Juggernaut is the best DPS>..

He's trying for a paladin past life, so he needs at least as many paladin levels as any other class he takes, and the other class he takes has to start with a letter after P (so sorc, ranger, wizard etc).

[Kilbar]

I've been doing pretty good with my dwarven pally and dwarven axes so far.

[wolfy42]

Breaking down the class combo a bit more.

Level breakdown would be:

Lvl 1-4 ranger (Getting rams might asap and using Two handed weapons for these levels)
lvl 5-6 paladin (getting grace now that you might actually need saves a bit)
lvl 7-8 ranger (Get tempest 1 at ranger 6...now have 70% offhand hit chance..switch to two weapon combat).
lvl 9-11 ranger (gets you evasion asap..with your high saves you ignore traps now)
lvl 12-13 fighter (two bonus feats at a good time...and +1 strength/haste boost)
lvl 14+ paladin

H-elf monk dilli gives you 10% more healing amp...but Human gives you +1 feat, skill point and the ability to boost strength 1 more point as well. Also gives you human versatility for the damage boosts..which might be worth snagging (human can go +1 str/+1 con for another toughness enhancement too).

Feat wise....You'll want toughness/GTWF/improved crit slashing/dodge/mobility/spring attack/power attack which leaves 2 feats left.

Tons of options on those feats, I'd get Khopesh probably....and possibly magical training as the other (+80 mana and eachos....with your healing amp would be pretty nice)

Would have been nice to sneak in resilience in there...just for over the top saves when running through traps...which you can do if your human (since you'll have another bonus feat). Or you could go with stunning blow I guess.

I like resilience better then lightning reflexes...but if you don't want to bother switching between power attack/resilience etc...lightning reflexes can work as well. Your saves are going to be pretty wicked anyway, so you could just go with stunning blow or something else instead.

[Bacab]

Wolfy has a solid build laid out for ya.

Another build to consider...

9MNK/11 PLD (if you are TRing right away).

1-9 MNK for Touch of Death and improved Evasion.

Then just roll with PLD from then on out.

[drowrogue]

Wolfy has a solid build laid out for ya.

Another build to consider...

9MNK/11 PLD (if you are TRing right away).

1-9 MNK for Touch of Death and improved Evasion.

Then just roll with PLD from then on out.

This^
I did this for my pally PL and it worked great..you can even throw in a Fighter level at 10 if you want an extra feat.
So 1-9 Monk
10 fighter
11-20 Pally
TR