The Official Fighter Enhancements Discussion Thread!

[SqueakofDoom]

Fighter Enhancements are currently available on Lamannia.

Please share your thoughts on the Fighter Enhancement Trees!

[Buttkierownsmade]

Nice work squeak!

[Buttkierownsmade]

AC buff thingies!

Attack speed boosters that stack with existing abilities!!

[Taojeff]

Stalwart overall is better. However Kensai at first glance seems worse. These are lack luster compared to ninja spy and tempest. And yes I can access ninja spy. Not sure why. I got a view of all the monks.

[Viisari]

So did kensai lose the seeker bonus it got from weapon specs? I only see the separate seeker enhancements but nothing from the weapon specs.

[Gratch]

I like that you can go some Kensai and sneak some stalwart stance for HP's/AC. No requirement that you all or nothing either side.

I also like the grouping of weapons for Kensai instead of singular weapon. You could now push both khopesh and bastard sword (and long sword and great sword) with all the same benefits using Heavy Blades. Allowing one to wield say a drow khopesh main hand and a Nightmare Citw offhand with all the Kensai bonuses... plus some points in the defender tree...

Sort of sad that a lot of attack bonuses are still +1. Seems like a waste of AP with the new scaled to-hit system, especially given a lot of the boosts are now +8. I thought this updating would give them a chance to bump stuff up to meet with new AC/to-hit systems.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Stalwart Defender

For those who don't have a Llama client up. Note that you don't automatically get the Core Abilities enhancements. You have to pay for them after the first level.

Core Abilities row
Toughness (+1 HP per AP spent in this tree. +3% Fortification for each level of Core Ability in Stalwart Defender)
Overbalance (Fighter level 3) (Sheild gains Knockdown on Vorpal)
Stalwart Defense (Fighter level 6) (Shield defensive stance +10 PRR and +50% threat and -10% movement an immune to Rage while in this stance.)
Stand Fast (Fighter level 12) ( Shield action boost. +20 to saves vs. Fear and Knockdown for 20 seconds. Can be used while feared/knocked down to end that effect)
Defensive Sweep (Fighter level 18) (Shield action boost. +50% threat and your attacks strike 2 targets instead of 1 for 20 seconds)
Last Stand (Fighter level 20) (Passive +2 Con. Active Shield action boost: +50 PRR, +100% HP, heal 1d10 positive energy each time you are hit with a physical attack. Does not share a cooldown with other action boosts)

Tier 1:
Item Defense (25%/50%/75% chance to avoid permanent damage when repairing items)
Improved Stalwart Defense (+5/10/15 PRR *or* +??/??/??% threat *or* +1/2/3 Saving Throws)
Stalwart Defensive Mastery (+1/2/3 AC and Max Dex bonus)
Defensive Boost (+5/10/15 AC action boost for 20 seconds)
Threatening Countenance (+1/2/3 Haggle and Intimidate and +5/10/15% threat generation)

Tier 2:
Shield Striking
Improved Stalwart Defense
Stalwart Shield Mastery
Reinforced Defense
Instinctive Defense

Tier 3:
Improved Stalwart Defense
Greater Stalwart Defense
Reinforced Defense
+Str/Con

Tier 4:
Counterattack
Swift Defense
Greater Stalwart Defense
Shield Expertise
+Str/Con

Tier 5:
Reprisal
Block and Cut
Greater Stalwart Defense
Armor Expertise

[HungarianRhapsody]

Kensei


For those who don't have a Llama client up. I'll type up more details on each enhancement shortly. Note that you don't automatically get the Core Abilities enhancements. You have to pay after the first one.


"Autogrant" row:
Weapon Mastery (Pick your specialization weapon group called Focus weapons)
Spiritual Bond (Fighter level 3) (Each time you make a Vorpal hit, gain a +1 Insight bonus to the enhancement bonus of your weapon (the "plus). You get this up to the number of times that you have Core Abilities in Kensei. These wear off one per 10 seconds. This is the same bonus as the Weapon Meditation ability. The highest this stack can go is +10.)
Strike With No Thought (Fighter level 6) (1% Doublestrike with your specialized weapon group. This goes to 2/3/4% Doublestrike as you gain more Kensei Core Abilities.)
Power Surge (Fighter level 12) (action boost: +8 Psionic bonus to Strength for 60 seconds. +2 Ki per hit if you can generate Ki.)
One Cut (Fighter level 18) (Focus action boost: You Focused weapons (the specialized weapon group) gains the Vorpal trait for 60 seconds)
Alacrity (Fighter level 20) (+10% doublestrike or +bonus to attack rate with ranged weapons)

Tier 1:
Weapon Group Specialization (+1 To Hit and Damage with your group)
Exotic Weapon Mastery (Adds Khopesh or DAxe or Repeater, etc. to the appropriate group)
Attack Boost (Action Boost: +4/6/8 To Hit for 20 seconds)
Reed in the Wind (special attack: 30 second cooldown. +1W attack. Gain +3/6/9% Dodge for 6 seconds.)

Tier 2:
Tactics (+1/2/3 to the DC of your Tactical abilities)
Weapon Group Specialization (+1 To Hit and Damage for one handed weapons. +1 To Hit/+2 damage for two handed weapons)
Improved Dodge (+1/2/3% Dodge when wearing Light or no armor)
Weapon Meditation (Meditate for a while. Every 6/4/2 seconds, add +1 stacking up to +10 Insight bonus to the Enhancement bonus of the weapon. That drops by 1 every 10 seconds until it runs out. You can also get this same kind of bonus from Vorpal hits from the Spirital Bond Core Ability.)
Ascetic Training (+1 Concentration and your choice of +1/2/3 Reflex and +1/2/3 Dodge cap *or* +1/2/3 Fort and +5/10/15 HP *or* +1/2/3Will save and +0/0/1 passive Ki regeneration)

Tier 3:
Critical Accuracy (+1/2/3 to confirm critical hits)
Weapon Group Specialization (+1 To Hit and +1 Damage - no mention of +2 Damage for two handed weapons)
Improved Mobility (+1/2/3 Max Dex bonus and -1/2/3 Armor Check penalty in light armor)
Shattering Strike (Focus Melee Attack: +1/2/3 W attack. On damage: Target loses 5/10/15% fortification for 10 seconds. DC = 10 + half Fighter level + Wis mod)
+Str/Dex/Wis

Tier 4:
Critical Damage (+1/2/3 damage before multiplier on critical hits)
Weapon Group Specialization (+1 To Hit and Damage for one handed weapons. +1 To Hit/+2 damage for two handed weapons)
+Str/Dex/Wis

Tier 5:
A Good Death (Focused Melee Attack: melee attack with +1 critical threat range. If target is under 20% HP, they take 500 damage.*)
Keen Edge (+1 Critical Threat rage for your Focus weapons
One With The Blade (Your Focus weapons are considered centered for Ki stuff)
Deadly Strike (Focused Melee Attack: make an attack that is automatically a critical threat. On Vorpal, do 500 extra damage.*)
*no mention of whether the 500 damage is before or after crit.

[karl_k0ch]

Note that you don't automatically get the "autogrant" enhancements. I just don't know what else to call them.

SqueakofDoom called them "Class/Race Core Enhancements" in her pictures.

Also: Your effort is much appreciated.

[cyberglammie]

Edited

Cant be bothered to many things no longer available

[Ape_Man]

Anyone else feel some of the customisation has gone ?? or is it just me ??

They have to dumb things down to compete with Neverwinter.

[judgemonroe]

The Legendary Dreadnought ED Damage Boost previously was unavailable if you took a Damage Boost as a heroic enhancement. This is no longer the case (both damage boosts are obtainable). Working as Intended?

[Wanatuc]

Heavy defense II says it requires Improved SD II when really it requires resilent defense. Same for III. Other then that the tree looks good it will take some time to get use to and maybe so redo's, to get where I want.

[Ultramaetche1]

If you choose the Autogrant: Kensei Focus: Crossbows, the Tier one weapon group specialization DOES NOT show crossbows as an option to pick.

[HungarianRhapsody]

The Stalwart tree looks very bleh to me, but Stalwart looked fairly bleh to me before.

The Kensei tree looks interesting with the biggest difference being that you need just AP to pick up the high level Kensei abilities instead of needing 18 Fighter levels. A Kensei/Ranger split or a Kensei/Monk split or a Kensei/Ranger/Monk split looks very attractive to me at first glance. It's possible that I'll need approximately 150 AP to get all of the fun stuff I want with that split, however.

[DarkForte]

My comments on the Kensei tree (I've never played a defender so I won't try to meddle in that).

1. Where is haste boost?!?!
2. Fighter tactics has gotten hit with the nerf bat. Instead of +3 from kensei III/up to +4 from enhancements, we only get the +3 from T2 Tactics. Considering it's almost impossible to get stun at acceptable levels in the current endgame, consider changing the tactics bonus to +2/+4/+6.
3. Are the +8 seeker bonuses granted by Kensei III still there?

All in all, it seems to me kensei have gotten hit hard. I don't like this.

[Cetus]

I'm at work, so I can't sit on this for too long, but several things/quetions are standing out:

1. Power Surge is STILL a psionic bonus...This is bad.
2. Tactics line is removed. This is also bad
3. Haste boost gone? This seems like an oversight = bad
4. Can a kensei fighter that is centered with his signature weapon benefit from bonuses-when-centered without any monk levels? This would be good

On the positive side...

Are those useless feat requirements to qualify for kensei (e.g. weapon foci) finally removed or am I dreaming? This would be amazing

[Gratch]

3. Are the +8 seeker bonuses granted by Kensei III still there?

There's 2 new separate abilities to get +1/2/3 to confirm criticals and +1/2/3 to critical damage. So 1 down for single weapon damage and 5 down for THF damage weapons (which used to be +8 at Kensai Mastery 2).

The base kensai damage bonuses all seem to scale for THF though it seems to be left out of one of the descriptions (bug or intended?).

Wish there was a top tier kensai ability to have the offhand weapon deal full str damage instead of half. Though wonder what kind of interesting builds you could make by having a centered Kensai... Ultimate Wind Stance ESoS or Dual Khopesh.

Also taking things from singular weapon to group of weapons for Kensai bonuses opens up say main hand drow khopesh, off-hand Nightmare bastard sword.

The + to weapon bonus... from Spiritual Bond seems a better tradeoff for some of these other perceived damage losses. Also A Good Death has a good synergy with Master's Blitz... a for sure critical on that last attack... though 30s cooldown is a bit long... plus even judging if an EE mob is below 20% may be annoying. Plus 4% doublestrike from Strike With No Thought.

I guess Haste Boost will be in PDK if it ever comes out...or rogue tree if you have those levels or you'll have to use/twist the ED one for end game. Not sure what to do for leveling.

Only need 5 class levels to fully open up the nonCore of any PRE... pretty interesting in building terms. Also unlocking enhancement levels via total points in a specific PRE PANE vs. the current sometimes random enhancements you have to take... EXCELLENT. I see this as a lot more tools to combine with multiclass or even single class builds. It's gone the reverse of cookie-cutter to my eyes. Especially given they'll be adding more PRE PANES as things progress... some unlockable by race (like elven AA that they have or warforged Juggernaut or Dwarven Tossing).

Plus the UI for selecting and viewing enhancements is so much better now. I mostly worry about all the bugs associated with stuff stacking, things not locking each other out, lag caused by new abilities, etc.

[Arlathen]

My comments on the Kensei tree (I've never played a defender so I won't try to meddle in that).

1. Where is haste boost?!?!
2. Fighter tactics has gotten hit with the nerf bat. Instead of +3 from kensei III/up to +4 from enhancements, we only get the +3 from T2 Tactics. Considering it's almost impossible to get stun at acceptable levels in the current endgame, consider changing the tactics bonus to +2/+4/+6.
3. Are the +8 seeker bonuses granted by Kensei III still there?

All in all, it seems to me kensei have gotten hit hard. I don't like this.

1. In the Ranger Tempest tree
2. Agreed.
3. Yup, they've gone, but they've been replaced by a static +3 Critical Damage enhancement.

In comparison to overall effectiveness, Kensai did get roughed up a little.

And a couple more comments before I go to bed from my own testing:

1) One with the Blade - buggy, but I got it working in the end on a 12 Monk/8 Fighter Half-Orc with Grandmaster of Wind and SOS Greatsword. It was hell of a lot of fun testing that out It wouldn't activate when I took the enhancement and had a weapon equipped (not even after logout/login). Swapping to unarmed and back again allowed me to activate mys stances, use centered abilities etc etc.

2) Tactics do need increasing - +2/+4/+6 as suggested above would be fine imho. DCs are very hard to get into the working range at End Game/EE's as it is, don't make it harder.

3) Do the +Hit/Damage Bonus for the weapon focus *really* need the feat Pre-Reqs?.. I mean, I have to take 5 levels of Fighter to get One with the Blade on a Monk anyway, but there's a heavy AP investment with a series of two different lines to take before getting the ability. And every point spent in Kensai is one less spent in an actual Racial or Monk enhancement tree.

That's a seriously heavy cost for the benefits of wielding unusual weapons on a Monk.

[Gratch]

Are those useless feat requirements to qualify for kensei (e.g. weapon foci) finally removed or am I dreaming? This would be amazing

Partially removed. The max tier only requires Greater Weapon Focus (No more Greater Weapon Spec or Superior Weapon Focus). Though with the to-hit scaling change it's only Superior Weapon Focus that was insanely annoying waste of a feat. The other two focuses always felt like prereqs just to open the damage feats. Though this does mean you have to be at least Ftr8 (Greater Weapon Focus req) to get all the Kensai nonCore bonuses.