Order of Syncletica: Too Much Swash

[TeacherSyn]

So how much of the swashbuckler flavor so pervasive in movies and TV has come to the Bard class tree of the same name?

>>It depends on how you play it. There's great offensive abilities present, but a teeny bit of role-play may actually save your hide.

[Vargouille]

Interesting post!

[Saekee]

how are you finding the difference of the Swash from monks?

[Seikojin]

It is true: many people neglect deep-rooted defensive capabilities and complain when they die.

[TeacherSyn]

how are you finding the difference of the Swash from monks?

Bard buffs: Love 'em. Coming from a Light Monk background, they are handy.
Single Weapon Fighting: Holy **** on a cracker. I have rarely killed things as fast.
Charms: I love turning half a mob into my personal army.

In short, I love it! These would make a great complement to Monks since they share many of the defenses and certainly attack speed.

[TeacherSyn]

Interesting post!

Thanks. Your team did a great job not only in getting this new tree out the door but intently listening to all players that contributed notes and criticisms. The result is a class so fun that I haven't played my Monks in DAYS. And that's saying a LOT. Congratulations!

[TeacherSyn]

It is true: many people neglect deep-rooted defensive capabilities and complain when they die.

I can't blame them completely. Many DDO players haven't done true RPGs such as D&D. And the limits of the DDO GM system means repetition and predictability unless you choose other ways to complete. But DDO offers substantial defenses that actually make the game fun. Watching a spider flop down, knocked down indirectly by a Swashbucker, is one of the best new things I've ever seen.

[poltt48]

Personally I take shield mastery line with my swash and a buckler. Ended up when all said and done with a bard that has 138 prr and can hit 3k crits every 3rd hit while blitzing. Just insane having as much defensive skills as a tank with 50 times the damage. I have even Tanked a few of the thunderholme raids with my bard while putting out decent damage in US. Most are tanks are tring into bards hybrids. You get much more dodge, as much prr as tank if built right, tons of self healing, CC, almost as many hp as a tank, and more damage then 90% off melee classes in game. Is kind of funny though went from no bards in any raids to about 3-5 in every raid now.

[TeacherSyn]

Personally I take shield mastery line with my swash and a buckler. Ended up when all said and done with a bard that has 138 prr and can hit 3k crits every 3rd hit while blitzing. Just insane having as much defensive skills as a tank with 50 times the damage. I have even Tanked a few of the thunderholme raids with my bard while putting out decent damage in US. Most are tanks are tring into bards hybrids. You get much more dodge, as much prr as tank if built right, tons of self healing, CC, almost as many hp as a tank, and more damage then 90% off melee classes in game. Is kind of funny though went from no bards in any raids to about 3-5 in every raid now.

Nice!

I appreciate that Shield Mastery line, too. I'm more inclined to use Unyielding Sentinel, trained for better defenses, over Fatesinger, which is an additional level of effects I'm not yet understanding as a newbie Bard. If it helps my charms and Fascinates to land, cool. Shadowdancer's extra defenses and stealth would be second.

[DrawingGuy]

Good EDs for a Swash:

Fatesinger: Major boosts to your song length along with a rediculous number of songs, automatic vulnerabilities to Sonic (up to 50%), a nice Tier 6 ability (though nothing compared to Blitz sadly), along with some other nice innate abilities. Only reason I don't run this more often is it's a capped destiny in a capped sphere for me.

Divine Crusader: Celestial Champion is the #1 reason for this ED. No class in the game benefits from this ability more than a bard, and you can find yourself running around with a bonus 10% to doublestrike most of the time on top of the extra crits. Add in a clicky that can give you 50% more damage along with pushing you close (or past) 100% doublestrike chance on top of how nice Consecration is, and you'll see why this is one of the most popular EDs for Swash. Unfortunately the auras and size of consecration rules out Fascinate and even Enthrall.

Legendary Dreadnought: This ED is the king of melee DPS... assuming you can get a Blitz running. Cleaves are quick and smooth on a SWF, so the LD cleaves are amazing. Laugh maniacally as you watch 2-3k numbers fly everywhere. Add in the playstyle of gather while playing Fascinate and then melt the mobs at your leisure, and you can see why this is one of the easiest builds to solo with. I've soloed EEs that spawn red-alert levels of mobs.

Unyielding Sentinel: AC, Fortifaction, PRR, tons of HP, cheap heals - all along with gobs of hate that you can toss on - and you can turn almost any character into a tank. To be honest, that's the ONLY time I run this ED: For tanking. Though you SHOULD be twisting out Legendary Shield Mastery if you use a buckler.

Those are the four EDs I run on my Swash. I know many that like Fury of the Wild, but I personally think it adds little. A strong guaranteed crit every now and then on a build that doesn't struggle to crit I see as adding little. You do build your adrens quicker than most due to attack speed and vorpal range, so it's far from useless - but I still consider it vastly inferior DPS compared to LD or DC or not worth it over the utility of Fatesinger that also boosts DPS.

As for Shadowdancer - outside of Shadow Mastery and Lithe (which you can twist), how does this ED really help you? If you truly sneak around rather than just running and rocking your guitar, I see this as just slowing you down while adding little to your effectiveness; Mobs running to you to get in range of your CC is better in my book. Of course flavor play/fun takes precedence, but I consider Shadowdancer to be one of the worst EDs.