Theorybuild - The Avenging Angel

**Arlathen** · 09-03-2013, 09:55 AM

Theorybuild - The Avenging Angel v1.1 - U19

"To Decimate, To Destroy, To Devastate - To Exterminate, To Eliminate, To Eradicate"

Overview
The historical Solar & Divine Phoenix builds have always had an impact on me, and with the new Kensai enhancements providing access to centered weaponry for any monk willing to go that route, I wanted to put together a fun new Theorybuild that could accomplish some great Damage & Self-sufficiency for EN/EH content but then change and grow into a EE capable character through later progression (read: Gear!).

Thus, I've mutated my Dark Inquisitor into the following new U19 enhancement flavoured build.

Despite many attempts to try a build that utilised TWF, I could never achieve the DPS output that I wanted to give the build, until I sucked it up and went the centered Monk route with Heavy Blades. Then, THEN, the build finally opened up and started giving out the kind of numbers I wanted to see.

I've added on surety to the build in the form of Crowd Control and also tried to ensure the defensive side is covered as well. This will scale into EE through Fury of the Wild, but provide solid Stunning Blow for EN/EH as well.

Finally, I've now split this into two distinct builds - a Air Stance flavoured version for running EN/EH content, and then an easy-to-adapt too Earth Stance EE version should you choose to step up to the increasingly difficult content.

As always, this is a template for you to adapt and implement your build around, including your level/class choices along the way.

Main Goals
- Devastating THF Damage Potential
- High speed strike rate & Doublestrike potential
- Crowd Control
- High Dodge, Saves & Evasion
- Self Healing & Healing Amplification
- EE Viability through adaptation

Credits
Some credits are due here, for original builds that have given rise to my own theory build.
SolarDawning: Solar Phoenix
Whomhead: Divine Phoenix 2.0 & Divine Phoenix 1.0
Carpone: U19 Kensai Cleaver Monk

Core Build
Human
- Additional Feat & Skill Point

Fighter 8
- 5 Bonus Feats

Paladin 6
- Divine Grace
- SP Pool & Meta-Magic Access

Monk 6
- 3 Bonus Feats
- Evasion
- Adept of Forms
- Buy access to Grandmaster Forms

Kensai / Knight of the Chalice / Human / Nina-Spy Enhancements
- Centered access to Heavy Blades through Kensai
- Divine Might Insight bonus to Strength
- Exalted Smite Evil Tier 3
- Vigor of Life & Improved Recovery Healing Amp
- Kensai Haste Boost

Fury of the Wild Epic Destiny
- No-DC Crowd Control through Overwhelming Force
- Large DPS Increases to baseline THF Damage
- Massive DPS Boost to Exalted Smites via Adrenaline

Character Build
- 36pt Human, 3 Fighter Past Lives
Str: 18 Base, 60 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs
Dex: 12 Base, 34 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs
Con: 14 Base, 36 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs
Int: 08 Base, 14 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs
Wis: 12 Base, 30 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs
Cha: 14 Base, 34 with Gear/Tomes/Ship/Self Buffs

Strength Potential
18 Base +7Lvl +4Tome +10Item +12Insight(DM) +1Racial +1Exc +5Rage +2Ship
= 60 Str

Heroic Feats
7 Standard, 5 Fighter Bonus, 3 Monk Bonus, 1 Human = 16 Feats
- THF, ITHF, GTHF
- Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, IC: Slash
- WF: Slash, WS: Slash, GWF: Slash
- Stunning Blows, Improved Sunder, Master of Forms, Grandmaster of Forms
- Dodge, Empower Heal

Epic Feats
- Overwhelming Critical, Quicken, Blinding Speed*
- Perfect THF, Tactician

* Despite being in GM Air stance primarily, taking this gives you stance flexibility - maybe you need to swap into GM Water for a moment or two while you deal with some nasty casters? It's also still there for an eventual 'upgrade path' to the EE version of the build.

Enhancements
Kensai - 33pts
C WF: Heavy Blades, Spiritual Bond, Strike with No Thought
1 WS: Heavy Blades, Haste Boost 3, Extra Action Boost 3
2 WS: Heavy Blades, Kensai Tactics 3, Weapon Meditation
3 WS: Heavy Blades, Shattering Strike 2
4 WS: Heavy Blades
5 Keen Edge, Deadly Strike, One with Blade

Knight of the Chalice - 25pts
C Hunter of the Dead 1, Courage of Heaven 1
1 Extra Smite 2, Extra Turning 3
2 Extra Smite 2, Divine Might 3
3 Exalted Smite 3, Vigor of Life 1
4 Vigor of Life 1

Human - 11pts
C AB: Damage, Strength
1 Improved Recovery 1
2 THF Fighting Style 3

Ninja Spy - 11pts
C Ninja Training 1, Ninja Training 2, Shadow Veil
1 Sneak Attack Training, Acrobatic 3
2 Sneak Attack Training, Agility 1

Fury of the Wild
1 Primal Scream 3, Tunnel Vision 3
2 Acute Senses 3
3 Malicious Weapons 3
4 Sense Weakness 3, Overwhelming Force 3, Wild Weapons 2
5 Fury Eternal
6 Unbridled Fury

Destiny Twists
1 Dance of Flowers - GMoF Tier 1
2 Legendary Tactics - LD Tier 1
3 Rejuvenation Cocoon - PA Tier 1

Offensive Potential - Grandmaster of Air & Breach, Dividing Blade
Two Handed Fighting - Speed Overview
- Grandmaster Air Stance for Permanent Haste
- 30% Kensai Haste Boost & 20% Human Damage Boost Dual Boosting
- 8 Action Boosts per rest

Potential Doublestrike
10% Grandmaster Air Stance
06% Doublestrike Item
03% Artifact: Flawless Black Dragonscale
01% Enh: Strike with No Thought
= 20% Doublestrike

Two Handed Fighting - Damage Overview
- Full GTHF Line
- Full Human Enhancments to THF
- Perfect THF Feat
- FotW Destiny: Malicious Weapons 3, Wild Weapons 2
- 66% Glancing Blow Damage
- 34% Weapon Effects Proc

Crowd Control Overview
- No Save 10s Crowd Control with Overwhelming Force
- DC65 Stunning Blow with +3DC Improved Sunder Leader
Potential Stunning Blow
10 Base
25 Strength
10 Stunning item
06 Exceptional Combat Tactics
03 Enh: Kensai Tactics
06 LD: Legendary Tactics
03 Past Life: Fighter
02 ED Feat: Tactician
= 65DC

Potential Damage - Breach, Dividing Blade

Two Handed Fighting - Base Damage with Breach
28 Breach Avg Damage = 2.5[2D6] + 1.5[W] Dance of Flowers
08 Magic Weapon
10 Weapon Bond
37 Strength (Strength 60)
10 Power Attack
06 Kensai Enhancements
02 WS: Slash
10 Deadly Item
04 Artifact
06 FotW Innates
= 121 Damage Per swing, +66% Glancing Blows (3 in 4) = 180 Per Swing Avg

Two Handed Fighting - Adrenaline Exalted Smite Critical Damage with Breach
121 Base Damage
025 Smite Evil Damage (Paladin Level 6)
010 Seeker +10 Item
005 Exc Seeker +5 item
= 166 Damage
x4 Adrenaline Multipler
= 644 Damage
x2 Base Crit
+2 Exalted Smite Crit
= 2,576 Damage

'Perfect' Smite Evil on a natural 19/20 with Breach
644 Base Damage
x2 Breach Base Crit
+2 Exalted Smite Crit
+1 Overwhelming Critical
= 3,220 Damage

'Stars Aligned' Potential (Max Base Damage on Breach, natural 19/20)
= 141 Base Damage per swing, 181 after Smite/Seeker Effects, 724 with Adrenaline
x5 Critical
= 3,620 Damage

Hmm, there's something kind of satisfying when you have to use comma's in your weapon damage calculations!

I'd also like to see the screenshot that beats this 'stars aligned' damage with this build through buffs or other +damage that I've missed off....

**Arlathen** · 09-03-2013, 09:55 AM

Defensive Potential

Saves
Ft/Rf/Wl
06/02/02 Fighter 8
05/02/02 Paladin 6
05/05/05 Monk 6
04/04/04 Epic Levels
13/11/10 Con/Dex/Wis
12/12/12 Charisma
08/08/08 Resistance Item / Aug
04/04/04 Insight
00/02/00 Ninaj-Spy Agility
02/02/02 Good Luck
01/01/01 Resistance Ritual
01/01/01 Aura of Good
04/04/04 Greater Heroism (Self Buff!)
= 64/58/55 Saves + Evasion

PRR - Grandmaster Air
015 Planar Focus of Prowess
016 Blue Augment
= 31 PRR, 17% Physical Resistance

Dodge
06% Monk 6
03% Dodge Feat
10% Item
03% Acrobatic
= 22% Dodge

Incorporeal
25% Shadow Veil

Hit Points
040 Base
364 Constitution Bonus @28
080 Fighter 8
060 Paladin 6
048 Monk 6
080 Epic Levels
100 Fury of the Wild
010 Draconic Feat
045 Greensteel HP Item
020 Vitality Item
040 Enhancement Item
= 887 HP

Healing Amp
1.00 Base
1.10 Human Improved Recovery
1.20 Paladin Vigor of Life
1.30 Item (PDK Gloves)
1.20 Item (Convalescent Bracers)
1.10 Guild ship buff
= 227% Healing Amplification
= +2 / +4 Fists of Light Self-Healing

Devotion
023 Heal Skill Ranks
015 Heal Skill Item / Aug
008 Epic Skills
004 Skill Tome
010 Wisdom Bonus (30)
138 Devotion Item
030 Implement Bonus
075 Empower Healing
= 303%

Rejuvenation Cocoon
= 5D6 Base * 3.03 * 2.27 = 120 Avg Tick

**Arlathen** · 09-03-2013, 09:57 AM

Changing the Build into Epic Elite Mode

Perhaps most significantly, after some of great feedback I've received in this thread so far, is the potential to mutate the build into a EE version of the build gaining significant defensive advantages as well as potentially improving DPS.

You can make a simple change in the form of the following enhancements:

Monk Stance: Change to Grandmaster Earth stance from Air Stance.

Kensai Enhancements
2 - Change Kensai Tactics 3 to Improved Dodge 3,

Destiny Twists
1 Standing with Stone
2 Rejuvenation Cocoon
3 Dance of Flowers

Net Results
+1 Crit Multiplier on natural 19-20
-10% Doublestrike
+6 Con = +84 HP, +3 Fort Saves, -3 Reflex Saves (loss of Dex)
+15 PRR from Stance, +15 PRR from Twist, reaching 61 PRR and 30% Damage Reduction
+3% Dodge, thus and reaching 25% Max Dodge

Moar HP!
If you truly want to dedicate the character to the most difficult content and running EEs without the Stunning Blow and Improved Sunder options, then it could well worth respeccing the feats of the character. Instead of the two Heroic feats, take a pair of Toughness feats instead, swap Quicken in the epic levels to Epic Toughness and also choose to take Guardian Angel instead of Tactician as the final Epic Destiny feat. You'll need to drop two level up points into Con with a +4 Con Tome to achieve this.

That will however, net you a massive additional +104HP as well as a strong Defensive buff when you dip under 50% HP, and in total will inflate your HP to 1,075HP.

Yummy.

Do you go ahead and use an ESOS??..

Potentially. If you have one, then try it out. Its a net loss of PRR and +4 Artifact Damage from loss of the Planar Focus set, but it does gains with an additional +1 Crit Multiplier over Breach which along with GM Earth stance makes 'Perfect' or 'Stars Aligned' Smite Evil Adfrenaline Strikes super-smash-tastic fun numbers. Previous calculations put the 'Stars aligned' ESOS number at around 5.5K damage.

Equipment Layout

Still working on this, and to come. Breach and a Planar Focus are pretty obvious, as well as methods of achieving the necessary Seeker/Exceptional Seeker and Artificact Doublestrike (Flawless Blackscale Robe). Most of the requirements in gear should stand out, but I'll puzzle this out later on.

**Takllin** · 09-03-2013, 02:00 PM

I'm leveling a 10 paladin/8 Fighter/2 monk variant of this, and its going to be awesome.

But a few problems with this. I count at least 6 twists you have listed in your stat calculations. Your using overlapping gear items to calculate statistics as well(healing amp and artifact bonus). And the use of Earth and Air stance to calculate critical and double strike statistics.

I also noticed that for your "Stars Aligned" at the bottom, you bumped up your base damage from 120 to 149, and you added in 40 seeker to your base damage, which is way too high. Seeing as you only have +10 and +5 exc in your math.

And where is the 25 damage coming from with Smite Evil? It should only be 6 as your only 6 Paladin.

Also the eSoS is 2.5[2d6] with a base damage of 35.75.

Without seeing the actual gear layout and how your getting your stats, it is hard to make other comments.

**Arlathen** · 09-03-2013, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Takllin

I'm leveling a 10 paladin/8 Fighter/2 monk variant of this, and its going to be awesome.

Mmh, I hope so. I'm levelling a pretty fresh TR through. Will take me a few weeks to get up there, and I'm doing it a fairly painful way - won't be swinging a Greatsword/Falchion until 18, so Quarterstaves for me until then. And no Acrobat Alacrity bonus lol!

Originally Posted by Takllin

But a few problems with this. I count at least 6 twists you have listed in your stat calculations. Your using overlapping gear items to calculate statistics as well(healing amp and artifact bonus). And the use of Earth and Air stance to calculate critical and double strike statistics.

Ok, yes, this is definitely a template build of possibilities from a particular Class-Split . Hence my 'Theorybuild' prerogative. Some players may go for GM Air, some may go GM Earth - depending on preference. My listing shows the upsides/downsides of each direction. Personally, my heart is saying go GM Air, my head is saying go GM Earth and get the **** PRR/Crit Multiplier. Time will tell.

As for Twists, yes totally there's too many listed. Again, its something to experiment with at this stage, Rejuvenation Cocoon is pretty definite but the other two are 'up in the air' at this point. I'll think through it more when I get to my Epic Destiny.

Originally Posted by Takllin

And where is the 25 damage coming from with Smite Evil? It should only be 6 as your only 6 Paladin.

I'll answer this question first as it directly relates to the 'Seeker' potential. Smite Evil damage bonus is calculated at 7+(3*Paladin Level), and is not just Paladin Level. Thus, 7+(3*6) = 25 Bonus Damage on Smite Evil attacks.

Originally Posted by Takllin

I also noticed that for your "Stars Aligned" at the bottom, you bumped up your base damage from 120 to 149, and you added in 40 seeker to your base damage, which is way too high. Seeing as you only have +10 and +5 exc in your math.

Hence, since I'm only using my Exalted Smites to power my Adrenaline Strikes, I'm effectively adding +10 Seeker, +5 Exc Seeker and +25 Smite Damage to base damage before the Adrenaline Multiplier hits home and then the Crit Multiplier effect on top.

Originally Posted by Takllin

Also the eSoS is 2.5[2d6] with a base damage of 35.75.

I'm centered, and with Dance of Flowers from GMoF and Improved Martial Arts Epic feat that 2.5[2D6] becomes 4.5[2D6], effectively 9D6 base damage or 31.5 Avg Damage per swing before any other modifiers. Ignore the Base Damage Rating on the weapon itself, it doesn't make sense when calculating Avg Damage per hit.

Originally Posted by Takllin

Without seeing the actual gear layout and how your getting your stats, it is hard to make other comments.

Also true, but this will come with time and more thought.

I do appreciate the feedback however, always keeps me honest!

**Nodoze** · 09-03-2013, 06:58 PM

In my case I plan to level a duo up from 15 with a PDK Cleric/Fighter (self-healing S&B Cleaving Initimi-Tank). I was thinking this build may be a good partner to duo with.

In dungeon runs I plan to run the Tower-Shield Heavy Armor Battle Cleric in first to grab aggro and have the second character follow behind and pick off adds to mow down & then help with bosses.

What changes & what starting classes would you recommend if I were to do this build with a 32 point PDK (essentially human) and be able to come out of the chute swinging at level 15 (have to start with Fighter1)?

EDIT: Also, what Tomes are required for this build (any minimum dex, wisdom, etc)? I was originally planning on dropping up to a set of +3s if needed. Later, if I really like the build, I can look to add higher...

EDIT2: What skills besides Heal do you consider must-haves for the build?

**Takllin** · 09-04-2013, 11:34 AM