First Staff Build - Looking for Advice

[Maxxcore]

I was looking through the classes the other day, and decided to make a staff build, using rogue/monk/fighter. Any advice or tips are welcome, and here is a feat/class/stat breakdown.

Level 20 Human (10 rogue/ 6 monk/ 4 fighter)

Level Order:
1. Rogue -2 cleave, power attack
2. Rogue
3. Rogue - combat expertise
4. Monk - dodge
5. Monk - mobility
6. Monk - spring attack,
7. Monk
8. Monk
9. Rogue - great cleave
10. Rogue
11. Monk - whirlwind attack
12. Rogue - Two handed fighting
13. Fighter - improved crit bludgeon
14. Fighter - weapon focus bludgeoning
15. Rogue - master of forms
16. Rogue
17. Rogue - improved evasion
18. Fighter - grandmaster of forms
19. Fighter -improved two handed fighting
20. Rogue
21. Greater two handed fighting
24. overwhelming Critical
26. Perfect two handed fighting
27. Blinding Speed/ Epic Damage Reduction
28. Pierce DR

Will be fighting epics in Dreadnought, not sure with what twists though. Build is based on as many hits per second as possible for maximum crits. All help is thanked .

[Discpsycho]

First off, well done squeezing in those feats. I've been trying to come up with a decent staff build and never thought of using Whirlwind Attack (in addition to Cleave and Great Cleave) to trigger Momentum Swing resets.

My main question is with regard to the level split. Since you haven't listed enhancements, please feel free to correct my wild assumptions on what you do or don't want in this regard :)

You're currently using 10 Rogue for Improved Evasion (which I approve of over Opportunist), which is also granted at Monk level 9 for free. If the dodge cap inherent to Acrobat 6 is important to you, you could potentially lose 4 levels in rogue. If not, you could drop 5 or even 4 with no problem. In terms of class abilities, losing 5 levels of rogue would set you back a bunch of skill points (not counting cross-class skill penalties, which aren't super important in heroics with decent gear and tools), +2d6 sneak attack, +1 trap sense, and improved uncanny dodge. The latter loses you 1% dodge for rogue 6 and 2% for rogue 5.

In return, you could get some pretty nice bonuses. Bumping Fighter to 6 would give you 3% doublestrike from the kensai core (you'll probably be using this tree to enhance your dodge and mobility feats), a few extra hit points, and a free feat. With the remaining 3 levels in Monk, you'd get back your Imp. Evasion and earn Wholeness of Body and a 5% movespeed boost.

Alternatively, don't bump up Fighter. Taking 11 monk instead gives you +3 AC and disease immunity. Take Monk 12 to get another 5% movespeed boost (+20% total) and Abundant Step. You get Master of Forms for free to make up for losing your fighter bonus feat, 1d6 SA from Rogue 5 and the +2 dodge cap from the Acrobat level 6 core ability.

With these modifications in mind, here's a rough character plan of my inclinations:

Human Monk 12 / Rogue 4 / Fighter 4

1. Rogue: Cleave, Power Attack
2. Rogue:
3. Rogue: THF
4. Monk: Dodge
5. Monk: Mobility
6. Monk: Combat Expertise
7. Fighter: Spring Attack
8. Monk:
9. Monk: Great Cleave
10. Monk: Whirlwind Attack
11. Monk:
12. Monk: IC Bludgeoning
13. Monk:
14. Monk:
15. Monk: ITHF
16. Monk:
17. Fighter: GTHF
18. Rogue: Grandmaster of Forms
19. Fighter:
20. Fighter: Improved Trip
21. Overwhelming Critical
24. Improved Martial Arts
26. Perfect THF
27. Blinding Speed / Epic Damage Reduction
28. Pierce DR

Like yours, this build requires 17 Str, 13 Dex and 13 Int. Trapping will be difficult due to cross-class skill penalties, but not impossible. Since you're stacking strength anyway, I swapped Weapon Focus for Improved Trip, though you could just as easily go with Stunning Blow.

Build revisions in a nutshell:
- Improved Trip and Improved Martial Arts instead of Weapon Focus
- Abundant Step, 10% move speed, slightly better saves/HP/ki/AC at the cost of -3d6 sneak attack, -2 Trap Sense, -2% base dodge (and -2% dodge cap from Acrobat core ability), not to mention a bunch of skill points if you're trying to go the trapping route
- Shadow Veil (Ninja Spy Level 6 core) instead of Spinning Staff Wall. Depending on which route you go, you could get Ninja Spy's Shadow Double / Touch of Death / Crippling Strike or stay true to the staff tree with Henshin's Void Strike / Staff Specialization / Balance in Dawn. I would be inclined to go with the latter.