Attempted exploit of enhancement system! (Also known as trying to prove a point.)

[~Dark_Sable]

So... A lot of people have been complaining about the restrictiveness of the new enhancement system, and how one cannot make a unique build. Well, here goes:

This post is an attempt to do two things. First, it's to gain a little prestige by being the first one to break the new enhancement system (Ok, probably not the first, but one of the first.) Second, it's to prove that if one doesn't think about the old system and just looks at how to take advantage of the new system, it works just fine. Here's the build:


"Steamroller Engine." --It's built around abilities that gain advantages when a kill is gained.
Halfling 13 Monk / 4 Rogue / 3 Druid RMMMRDDDRMMMMMMMMMMR

Ending Stats: --Level 20, no stats, no buffs, +4 supreme tome
Str - 10
Dex - 24
Con - 20
Int - 18
Wis - 23
Cha - 12


Ending Skills: --Didn't go for any trap skills; this is pure dps with as much defense as possible. (At level 20, unbuffed, no items, no enhancements or EDs.)
Balance - 22
Bluff - 23
Jump - 20
Move Silently - 31
UMD - 23
Concentration - 29


Notable Feats: --No toughness. This is due to the build being feat starved because of the "mastery" feats, as well as it not being nearly as useful; 3 AP now gets you half the extra HP it used to. (Monk goodies, including abundant step, AC bonus, fast movement.)
Two Weapon Fighting - Level 1
Weapon Finesse - Level 2, monk 1 bonus
Active Past Life: Monk - Level 3
Stunning Fist - Level 3, monk 2 bonus
Fists of Light - Level 4, monk 3 path
Adept of Mastery - Level 6
Improved Two Weapon - Level 9
IC: Bludgeon - Level 12
Precision - Level 12, monk 6 bonus
Master of Mastery - Level 15
Greater Two Weapon - Level 18
Grandmaster of Mastery - Level 21
Vorpal Strikes - Level 24


Notable Enhancements:
Halfling (17 AP Spent)
Halfling Guile; 3d6 sneak attack
Bold; effective fear immunity
Halfling grants; +2 Dex, +2 saves

Druid - Nature's Warrior (13 AP Spent)
Fatal Harrier; 25% attack speed, steamroller.
Action Boost: Double Strike; 30% doublestrike clickie.
7 AP in non-notable abilities.

Monk - Ninja Spy (34 AP Spent)
Shadow Fade per Ninja Spy I, despite having fists of light.
Sneak attack tier; 3d6 sneak attack and Crippling Strike
Flash Bang; blind an entire room, with daze.
Subtley; 30% threat reduction
Shadow Double; 6 second 100% doublestrike clickie.
Misc other bonuses, all beneficial. --No filler in here.

Rogue - Assassin (28 AP Spent)
Dagger in the Back; allows me to apply dex mod to any finessed weapon as damage.
Sneak Attack Training; 4d6 sneak attack (making a total of 10d6 just from enhancements)
Venomed Blades; 1d8 poison / hit.
Killer; 20% Morale bonus to doublestrike, steamroller.
9 AP in non-notable abilities.

^Those are what I'd have in an ideal senario, minus the non-notable abilities. However, it totals at 92 AP, 12 over what I have to play with. That's pretty easy to take care of, however - six comes by dropping 1d8 damage from Venomed Blades, and the rest comes off either halfling grants or the first tier of Ninja Spy. (I maxxed out every abillity but one in the ninja spy first tier.)


Epic Destiny: Legendary Dreadnought
Action Boost: Haste; 30% haste clickie.
Advancing Blows; +5 attack and damage, steamroller.
Master's Blitz; the original inspiration for the phrase, +50% dodge, +250% damage, steamroller.
Twists will be 3% doublestrike from Flower Sniffer, Rejuvenation Cocoon from Primal Avatar, 15% fort reduction from Shadowdancer.


So as you can see, we've got a pretty formidable build on our hands here. When capped and geared, this thing is going to be a mountain coming down on enemies' heads; it starts out slow and gains momentum till it is nigh unstoppable.

While leveling, many builds like this struggle; this one won't. It'll use Reaving Roar, Jitz-Teka, Fire Stance, and Fists of Light to allow it to run up to one mob, stun it and gain HP back. When that mob is dead, it polishes off one or two more, killing the rest with Reaving Roar.


Is it as good as what we have on Live right now? I don't know... but you can't look at that and tell me it's not going to be good, or that it's being restricted as to playstyle any more than a build on live would be.

[Ironclans_evil_twin]

So... A lot of people have been complaining about the restrictiveness of the new enhancement system, and how one cannot make a unique build. Well, here goes:

Literally no one is saying you can't make a new build.

Enjoy that build when the class level requirements go up

What people are saying is that previously possible things are no longer possible, a few new broken nerf bait builds that are solely a result of previously impossible PrE combinations is not a replacement for the variety and freedom of choice that used to be inherent in the system but is eliminated in the new system due to arbitrary choices, lazy choices and poor game design.

But they have succeeded in getting at least a few of the playerbase to overlook what they are losing with the slight of hand trick that is the super low class level requirements.

[~Dark_Sable]

Literally no one is saying you can't make a new build.

Enjoy that build when the class level requirements go up

What people are saying is that previously possible things are no longer possible, a few new broken nerf bait builds that are solely a result of previously impossible PrE combinations is not a replacement for the variety and freedom of choice that used to be inherent in the system but is eliminated in the new system due to arbitrary choices, lazy choices and poor game design.

But they have succeeded in getting at least a few of the playerbase to overlook what they are losing with the slight of hand trick that is the super low class level requirements.

There's absolutely no need to get hostile, dude.

Yes, I realize that things will be changing, and I don't expect this build to be viable in anything near it's current state after a couple more releases of beta. All it was was a proof of concept - I'm not claiming I'm going to build this and be god.

There are a number of people who have seen the enhancement pass as something which is binding roles and classes into prescriptive formats; this post was merely to show them that it's still perfectly viable to take a concept and build around it.

No, I'm not real thrilled about the enhancement pass, but I'm also not going to wander around crying doom over something that's still in pre-alpha; I can pretty much guarantee you the live version of the pass, when we get there, will look very different from what we have now.

There's no need to be aggressive nor condescending. I wasn't saying that the enhancement pass is all-amazing, I was merely stating that it isn't quite as prescriptive as many are seeing it as.

[Postumus]

What people are saying is that previously possible things are no longer possible...

Nothing new. Every time there is a new race/class/skill/enhancement/level/destiny change this happens.

... a few new broken nerf bait builds that are solely a result of previously impossible PrE combinations is not a replacement for the variety and freedom of choice that used to be inherent in the system but is eliminated in the new system due to arbitrary choices, lazy choices and poor game design.

I don't think your definition of 'freedom of choice' is the same as my definition. From what I have seen so far from the enhancements, there are many new and interesting combinations that I would like to try. I am not alone.

I have 20 different builds now, I don't see that number decreasing after the enhancement pass.

[~adfsdasdaf]

Just glanced at it, but 17 wasted points in the worst race tree ever, and no one takes threat reduction as anyone that wants to tank has such utterly broken tools to keep aggro you have no need of reducing yours.

[~TuskCouncil]

Solid theme but the duration of Fatal Harrier makes it seem like a mostly untenable system.

Unless you're playing with very considerate party members or gimps with no DPS, most quests where a blitz will make a big difference (EE) make it difficult to maintain the ephemeral buff. Worse so with Fatal Harrier's new duration.

That said, I'm hopeful we will discover more combinations when things go live that may help you keep your harrier stack up.

[~Dark_Sable]

Solid theme but the duration of Fatal Harrier makes it seem like a mostly untenable system.

Unless you're playing with very considerate party members or gimps with no DPS, most quests where a blitz will make a big difference (EE) make it difficult to maintain the ephemeral buff. Worse so with Fatal Harrier's new duration.

That said, I'm hopeful we will discover more combinations when things go live that may help you keep your harrier stack up.

The tweak to Fatal Harrier is somewhat painful, yes, but here's the thing I'm counting on: Sneak attack + monk attack speed. Currently, even a monk with significantly lower dps than the party can end up leading in killcount, simply due to the fact that he attacks much faster, and thus is likely to sneak in there and grab kills.

I figure on a build that's designed for DPS and haste, the combination of sneak attack and attack speed should help out a little bit... and if nothing else, it'll work fine if running with a guild, where you can explain the build to them.

I dunno. It could end up being absolutely pointless; we'll see. Fact of the matter remains, though, that it at least managed to get people talking, which was my original point. :P

Just glanced at it, but 17 wasted points in the worst race tree ever, and no one takes threat reduction as anyone that wants to tank has such utterly broken tools to keep aggro you have no need of reducing yours.

I spent 17 points to gain immunity to fear and 3d6 sneak attack. Yeah, that probably could have been better spent elsewhere, but hey. *shrug*

As for threat reduction, it's not for bosses at all - it's to ensure that your 10+ d6 sneak attack die enable you to get kills.



Oh, and because I just read the comment again:

"a few new broken nerf bait builds that are solely a result of previously impossible PrE combinations is not a replacement for the variety and freedom of choice that used to be inherent in the system but is eliminated in the new system due to arbitrary choices, lazy choices and poor game design."

...aren't most of the exaulted builds on these forums broken nerf bate builds based off of the current system, which is restrictive in it's own right? That's certainly what I find interesting, anyways. The top builds are always going to be nerf bait, because they're designed to take advantage of game mechanics.