(RE)Introducing Blades - Competionist Melee. 14FTR|4PAL|2ROG 100% Awesomesauce

[Fratricide]

Purpose of this thread is to showcase MY main character of Blades on Cannith server. Many people ask about my build and its much easier to point them to a single resource. Additionally I know many others would enjoy the playstyle I embody.


Disclaimer, Blades is an advanced build. He is a completionist and epic destiny / gear dependent. Your results may vary if trying to emulate.

Background:
My goal for when I achieved completionist was to create both a solo and raid capable player who excelled at nearly everything. I can tank, I can DPS, I can UMD, I can disable traps and open locks.. Every stat is valuable, as well as most skills... Therefore the completionist feat of +2 to all attributes and skills really shines.


So, what do my completed stats look like? Well I'll give you 2 sets of stats; The first are my normal everyday solo stats (i.e. ship buffs and long self casting abilities). The 2nd set of stats are when I need to maximize myself (normally for show); they include yog pots, tensor's transformation, etc.... they are shown screen captures below. Note: This character requires no items to swap in/out to achieve these stats and skills...


Notable Normal Stats:
Str: 76 Dex: 32 Con: 48 Int: 24 Wis: 26 Cha 36
Saves: Fort 74 | Reflex 62 | Will 55
1318 Hit Points, 414 Spell Points, 112 AC with 96 PRR
164% Heal Amp, 28%/53% Doublestrike
58 UMD, 78 Search, 79 Open Locks, 84 Disable Device.

Reasoning:
People ask why 4 Paladin? Answer: It allows me to take the Empowered Healing feat (for hard hitting cocoons) , and have 22 charges of Divine Might (CHA Modifier added to STR score for 2min per use) As a Fighter I always stay in Stalwart Defender Stance, which means I'm limited to using a shield. To make up for this I'm currently using a thunder-forged bastard sword, with high doublestrike chance (53% with block and cut), greater two handed fighting feat (for splash damage), and perfect two handed fighting epic feat for even more aoe. I can easily sustain a blitz thru most quests (portal bug not withstanding), and normally hit for ~ 400+ per hit probably 6 times per sec (though I haven't counted). Crits, which are often, hit for 2-3k. My high AC, PRR, Ghostly, Blur (or displace if using a clicky), and 20% Dodge means I don't get hit often... but when I do I can pop a cocoon that ticks for about 140 (non crit) or further reduce damage with Thick Skinned Action Boost (25% less damage from all sources for 30sec).


My saves and evasion make beholders and other casters a joke, and its most efficient for me to run into a group of 5 or 6 mobs and cleave, greater cleave, etc... as they all die around me... rinse / repeat.


Traps are not a problem... Thanks to my upgraded Manual of Stealthy Pilfering with a Search +15 augment It a one stop shop to detect, disarm, open, spot, etc... any problem EE dungeons throw my way. Other notable gear choices I currently include EE Jeweled Cloak with Diamond of Vitality and Draconic Soul Gem, Upgraded Necklace of Mystic Eidolons with Eldritch Resistance and Globe of True Imperial Blood, Black Dragon Armor and Helm with +40HP Augment, Heavy Fort, and Topaz of Power +250 augments... Healing Amp 30% bracers of Parrying VIII and various random gen loot to give me +10 con, Str, resistance, dodge, natural armor, etc...

Regarding Tactics... Originally Blades had Improved Trip and Stunning Blow. this required specific gear as high STR and enhancements alone were not sufficient for EE content. After some reflection I gave up tactics and put those feats into greater two handed fighting for increased splash damage... The reason for this is as follows: In EH and EE content 1v1 on trash mobs isn't much of a problem, in fact its a waste of time... normally you end up with groups of 4 or more so being able to manage 4 mobs at once is ideal. I don't die often to trash so my defense keeps me alive while my "AOE" melee damage / blitz takes care of the trash. Most challenges are the bosses anyways and they are immune to tactics. I may consider switching them back in if new named gear becomes available that incorporates decent trip / stun mechanics that I can work into my gear build... That said I recognize that other people in the party / raid may use mass hold monster, stuns, etc... for that reason, and the extra boss damage it does, I keep Sense Weakness loaded on tier 4.


My gear is not perfect, but its sufficient to farm for the few upgrades I need.


Starting Stats
(this is from memory, hope I didn't get anything wrong)
STR 16 + all but 1 level ups
DEX 12
CON 15 + 1 level up
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 15
+5 Supreme Tome and +2 from Completionist


Feats (in no particular order)
Toughness, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Dodge, Empower Healing, Exotic Weapon: Bastard Sword, Two Handed Fighting, Improved Two Handed Fighting, Greater Two Handed Fighting, Mobility, Spring Attack, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, Improved Crit Slashing, Completionist, Epic Toughness, Overwhelming Critical, Blinding Speed, Perfect Two Weapon Fighting, Perfect Two Handed Fighting, Epic Past Life: Doublestrike


Where to go from here:
Well, I really like being the solution to the problem, and that's what Blades is... a Batman build if you will... Moving forward I would probably continue epic past lives, eventually gaining epic completionist and a new twist, which if I had to pick today would either be Unearthly Reactions (+3 dodge and 6 reflex saves) or Brace for Impact (40% fortification +2 to all saves). I consider Doublestrike Epic Past Life Feat the most valuable, however there are very benificial things in each sphere. As for Heroic TR's... I don't really feel like playing a different class, I have Roboto for that... If I were to make a change it would be the minor 3 past lives paladin for the extra heal amp... but so far this hasn't been a big issue. I plan on continuing to craft my Thunder-Forged Alloy Bastard Sword... Eventually putting 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree Burns on it. I feel this is good balance for trash and boss DPS. I may slot it with a Devotion 138 gem making it a Spellcasting Implement giving an additional +36 Universal Spell Power, but that has yet to be decided. The big thing I'm looking for right now is a nice Heavy Shield with Flurry on it (Doublestrike). I'm hoping a named one comes out soon, as I'd love to eventually get my doublestrike when using block and cut over 66%...

By the way, have I mentioned It rocks Stacking Haste Boost (30% action boost to attack speed), Human Versatility: Damage Boost (20% Action boost to weapon Damage), a 66% doublestrike, with an 83 Strength, +10 Seeker, x4 Critical Multiplier, and Master's Blitz giving +250% damage boost on a mob that has 20% vulnerability (due to sword)? I can sustain this level of damage through most boss fights with a little Master Blitz preparation.

Anyways...

Photo's below will hopefully answer other questions. I'll come back later to edit this post and try to answer any questions / comments that pop up.

In addition if people want I'll create and link a game play video of Blades in action.

[Nightmanis]

Interesting setup. I wouldn't make it (I don't have the patience to get completionists) but it does seem to work fairly well.

Few things I would comment on:

You don't have much in the way of tactics from the look of it, so I would think Grim precision would be better than Sense weakness. It stacks with the black scale (and dragon's edge) so you'd have more crits more often.

Also, if you lower the ranks on Divine Might it coincides nicely with Power Surge, so you would just activate both at the same time.

For another weapon you could use (to help aid both defense and some offense) is Celestia. It says shortsword, but it's typed as a bastard sword meaning it gets glancing blows when using a shield. This+high doublestrike+lots of cleaving means it's very good at offense, while also having a chance to blind your enemies giving you another 50% miss chance on their attacks. Also being a near universal DR breaker makes it an awesome weapon to use against undead who also happen to dislike light. You could then upgrade it, and use the planar focus for a bit of extra PRR and whatever stat you might be missing. The Manual then becomes a swap in item.

[unbongwah]

Always good to see another S&B build; being the redheaded stepchildren of DDO, we gotta look out for each other! One minor correction / clarification, though:

As a Fighter I always stay in Stalwart Defender Stance, which means I'm limited to using a shield.

The Imp Stalwart Defense bonuses (+PRR/saves/threat) work w/out a shield equipped; it's the Gtr Stalwart bonuses (+CON/STR/HPs) which require a shield.

[Nodoze]

...
In addition if people want I'll create and link a game play video of Blades in action.
...

Good to see a S&B combo that someone likes playing. I like build diversity.

You don't seem to currently be using much out of the Human tree with only 8 AP invested though it looks like you are using the extra Feat and skill points. Curious if you considered BladeForged (11ap to get the full self repair). Likely Human is indeed better for a jack-of-all trades with the extra feat and skill points plus heal amp is much easier to get than Repair amp but curious none-the-less as 2 healing options sounds kinda nice.

Would be good to put a clearer current gear section broken out by slot with what swaps you use plus list any upgrades you are currently seeking...

I for one would like to see any videos. Epic Devil's Assault is one where people could see play style differences compared to other builds though some dungeons where traps/locks are valuable would be good as well.

[unbongwah]

You don't seem to currently be using much out of the Human tree with only 8 AP invested though it looks like you are using the extra Feat and skill points.

It's the first 5 APs which are the most important, IMHO: Dmg Boost, +1 STR, and +10% heal amp. Anything else is just a perk. And the extra feat & skill pts clearly help, esp. since OP wants trap skills.

Curious if you considered BladeForged (11ap to get the full self repair). Likely Human is indeed better for a jack-of-all trades with the extra feat and skill points plus heal amp is much easier to get than Repair amp but curious none-the-less as 2 healing options sounds kinda nice.

One drawback to BF for a build like this is Mithril Body still sucks b/c MDB doesn't scale up automatically the way the actual light armors do. So you either ditch a body feat and give up on AC (and some PRR); or you take MB and accept the lower MDB (which also caps your max Dodge); or you rejigger things to take Addy Body & get decent-ish AC & PRR (but lousy Dodge & no Evasion).

[Nodoze]

It's the first 5 APs which are the most important, IMHO: Dmg Boost, +1 STR, and +10% heal amp. Anything else is just a perk. And the extra feat & skill pts clearly help, esp. since OP wants trap skills.

One drawback to BF for a build like this is Mithril Body still sucks b/c MDB doesn't scale up automatically the way the actual light armors do. So you either ditch a body feat and give up on AC (and some PRR); or you take MB and accept the lower MDB (which also caps your max Dodge); or you rejigger things to take Addy Body & get decent-ish AC & PRR (but lousy Dodge & no Evasion).

All very good points and I appreciate the details as you are a mountain of knowledge. I was pretty sure Human was the better option but even more convinced now. Most of the builds I have played thus far have had at least a full Heal/Reconstruct with multiple cure/repair spells to supplement though on the BladeForged only having one SLA option to heal is kinda scary sometimes when waiting for the cool-down to finish. So far I haven't personally played a build that only relies on Cocoon for healing. Be interesting to see some EE solos on this build as I would love to see an Evasion S&B in action period and as a bonus I would also like to see how only Cocoon fares when swarmed in a recorded environment so I can observe the combat logs/sequence.

[Fratricide]

All very good points and I appreciate the details as you are a mountain of knowledge. I was pretty sure Human was the better option but even more convinced now. Most of the builds I have played thus far have had at least a full Heal/Reconstruct with multiple cure/repair spells to supplement though on the BladeForged only having one SLA option to heal is kinda scary sometimes when waiting for the cool-down to finish. So far I haven't personally played a build that only relies on Cocoon for healing. Be interesting to see some EE solos on this build as I would love to see an Evasion S&B in action period and as a bonus I would also like to see how only Cocoon fares when swarmed in a recorded environment so I can observe the combat logs/sequence.

Thanks Unbongwah for your analysis... spot on. Nodoze, in addition to cocoon I can scroll heal (though I rarely do) and as I stated in my original post if it gets tough I can pop thick skin (just before the cocoon) and reduce all damage sources by 25%... Combine this with a shield block (if necessary) and most / all of my cocoon ticks will resolve while in combat.

I mostly solo Haunted Halls these days on EH. but I can run harder stuff. I'm taking a short break from DDO for 2 weeks to properly "evaluate" ESO, so the gameplay video will have to wait.

[Nodoze]

Thanks Unbongwah for your analysis... spot on. Nodoze, in addition to cocoon I can scroll heal (though I rarely do) and as I stated in my original post if it gets tough I can pop thick skin (just before the cocoon) and reduce all damage sources by 25%... Combine this with a shield block (if necessary) and most / all of my cocoon ticks will resolve while in combat.

I mostly solo Haunted Halls these days on EH. but I can run harder stuff. I'm taking a short break from DDO for 2 weeks to properly "evaluate" ESO, so the gameplay video will have to wait.

LOL I hope that ends up being a short evaluation. It is awesome how Unbongwah thinks about so many things from so many perspectives and remembers all those interacting abilities/combos.

For those times that the SLA repair on my Blade Forged doesn't seem enough when solo'ing I thought about twisting Cocoon but figured with the incoming damage I wouldn't get enough ticks to really help anyway. The idea of incoming damage taking Cocoon ticks away has always scared me away from relying on it as my primary healing thus I have pretty much always had either a quicken'ed Heal/Reconstruct (or SLA Reconstruct). Great input on the Cocoon utilization as I sadly missed the finer points of Thick Skin/Shield Block when I read your initial post. That is one advantage that a S&B has over other builds as on THF/TWF builds I don't think blocking would help much.

Regarding a video, the best one I can think of at the moment would be Epic Elite Devils Assault as it would give a good comparison of how a S&B DPS build with Block & Cut handles it compared to other more traditional THF/TWF DPS builds...