The Divine Cuisinart: A dual khopesh wielding pure tempest ranger in divine crusader

[CThruTheEgo]

Even at 66 you probably are still better off with Arborea but should you look at your hide skill and see it significantly higher then 66 you might think about Ethereal.

Thanks for doing the math Grailhawk. This is pretty much what I figured. If the build were dex based, then I'd probably be a lot more interested in ethereal. Definitely something to consider for anyone running a dex based tempest.

[RS-Makk]

I've been running the Dex based version but considering switching to Str based, and working in Dire Charge. That said.. on your stats.. no Primal Scream for the +5 boost?

Also, for your offhand ToEE weapon, slot silver for DR breaking on new content?

[LordPiglet]

I've been running the Dex based version but considering switching to Str based, and working in Dire Charge. That said.. on your stats.. no Primal Scream for the +5 boost?

Also, for your offhand ToEE weapon, slot silver for DR breaking on new content?

He doesn't appear to have the twists for it. I run primal scream though and it's good to have.

For the new content, the only thing you need silver for is Harry iirc. Most devils are good or silver. I have a lgs khopesh I was playing with that and only noticed yellow numbers on Harry and the portals.

The Rakshasa has either dr pierce or Pierce + Good. I'm not sure if the good is required since I don't have a way of not doing good damage.

The Codex is chaotic for dr (I'm chaotic good).

[relenttless]

He doesn't appear to have the twists for it. I run primal scream though and it's good to have.

For the new content, the only thing you need silver for is Harry iirc. Most devils are good or silver. I have a lgs khopesh I was playing with that and only noticed yellow numbers on Harry and the portals.

The Rakshasa has either dr pierce or Pierce + Good. I'm not sure if the good is required since I don't have a way of not doing good damage.

The Codex is chaotic for dr (I'm chaotic good).

Been using leopards chill scimitar in offhand ( need more mushrooms for TOEE khopesh) that has silver and chews through devils nicely, the ice procs a lot.

[CThruTheEgo]

That said.. on your stats.. no Primal Scream for the +5 boost?

You could twist primal scream instead of impregnable mind. I feel like the dps is high enough that I'd rather have the added protection of a solid will save. The other three twists - symmetric strikes/sense weakness (as preferred), balanced attacks, and extra action boosts - are must haves imo and I wouldn't want to give up any of them.

Also, for your offhand ToEE weapon, slot silver for DR breaking on new content?

As LordPiglet said, Harry is the only thing that requires both silver and good. You could swap in a DR breaker for Harry. Whether breaking DR or having the extra 20 melee power from the ToEE set offers more dps depends on the difficulty.

[CThruTheEgo]

I have a lgs khopesh I was playing with that and only noticed yellow numbers on Harry and the portals.

Shroud portals have unbreakable DR. Celestia will do full damage because it does light damage, that is, if you don't have one of the many many ability which breaks that.

The Rakshasa has either dr pierce or Pierce + Good. I'm not sure if the good is required since I don't have a way of not doing good damage.

EDIT: Confirmed by Hobgoblin below to be DR/pierce + good.

[adrian69]

kk what about the dorf v hummie?

and what about scimis?

Pretty much what I said before. Tempests got an update such that they will be powerful regardless of those kind of build choices. You can see from RS-Makk's and adrian69's posts above that they made significant changes and still had an effective tempest. unbongwah also offers an elf tempest. All of them are viable, powerful, and fun. But if optimal dps is your goal, then human with khopesh is it. Dwarf with dwarf axe, or something else with scimitar - both will do just fine, but they won't offer as much dps as human with khopesh. So it really depends on your priorities. If your priority is dps, as mine is, then go human with khopesh. If you don't want to bother farming weapons and don't mind the dps loss, go with whatever you have available. If you want a specific race or weapon for flavor, go for it. They will all make great tempests.

Khops do come out DPS wise due to the better lack of crit procs on TF weapons at lower tiers and such, but I am not sure that it's that noticeable in most content. On the dex build, I end up with higher reflex saves and armor class, which just makes certain quests easier, and I don't fail saves, much. My dmg stat doesn't lag that far behind since loot table pass either. However, he's right, Khops come out ahead in the long run.

Daxes and Hammers are nice when rolling 19s and 20s for those big hits, but why not hit for 70% of that 25% more often?

[Enderoc]

Yes: Emp Heal works with Cocoon, Renewal, and Light the Dark; Max works on none of them.

Not even consecrated ground?

[CThruTheEgo]

Not even consecrated ground?

No metamagics work on consecration.

[Hobgoblin]

Shroud portals have unbreakable DR. Celestia will do full damage because it does light damage, that is, if you don't have one of the many many ability which breaks that.



According to the wiki, it is only piercing DR.

i went and tested this -

paladin

+5 longsword - yellow numbers - combat log said blocked by pierce
+5 longsword of pure good - yellow numbers - still said blocked by pierce
Deathnips - w/o capstone making it good - yellow numbers -- said blocked by good
deathnips - w capstone - no yellow numbers

[unbongwah]

Not even consecrated ground?

Consecration & Sacred Ground are only affected by your base Spellpower; as CThru said, metamagics have no effect.

[CThruTheEgo]

i went and tested this -

paladin

+5 longsword - yellow numbers - combat log said blocked by pierce
+5 longsword of pure good - yellow numbers - still said blocked by pierce
Deathnips - w/o capstone making it good - yellow numbers -- said blocked by good
deathnips - w capstone - no yellow numbers

After my previous post about this, I found the general wiki entry for rakshasas does state that they have DR/pierce + good, but the entry for the new Shroud boss only states DR/pierce. I figured it was probably innacurate due to whoever entering the info already having the ability to bypass good DR. I meant to amend my previous comment but never got around to it. Thanks for confirming.

[Eth]

Scion of Arborea vs Scion of Ethereal based on what i see in your OP post.

Even at 66 you probably are still better off with Arborea but should you look at your hide skill and see it significantly higher then 66 you might think about Ethereal.

Shouldn't one of the 2d20 damage feats out-DPS both arborea and ethereal?
Considering ethereal adds 72 damage per hit in your example, you'd only need 342 spellpower to be equal, which sounds quite reasonable (I'm not sure if metamagics apply, since this build has maximise, but I can do some tests when I'm back home).
Not to mention those feats add much better additional stuff like PRR/MRR/Heal Amp/Spellpower, depending on which you chose (I guess feywild is the best for general use, since not much resists sonic).

[Vanhooger]

Shouldn't one of the 2d20 damage feats out-DPS both arborea and ethereal?
Considering ethereal adds 72 damage per hit in your example, you'd only need 342 spellpower to be equal, which sounds quite reasonable (I'm not sure if metamagics apply, since this build has maximise, but I can do some tests when I'm back home).
Not to mention those feats add much better additional stuff like PRR/MRR/Heal Amp/Spellpower, depending on which you chose (I guess feywild is the best for general use, since not much resists sonic).

I was thinking myself of those 2d20 that scale with spellpower when I accidentally hit the training dummy with my 20 spellsinger and saw a 320 sonic damge. If you put rank in perform and max out sonic (not that hard atm get a decent spellpower on a non caster) you may get better dps the arborea or ethereal.

[Basura_Grande]

We/re getting hide scores approaching 120, somebody page Grailhawk and get some numbers run.

[Eth]

We/re getting hide scores approaching 120, somebody page Grailhawk and get some numbers run.

That'd require a bit more than 500 spellpower. Would be doable if metas apply (like I said, need to test).
45 implement
75 spellcraft
138 augment
20 pot
15 ship
150 maximise
75 empower
40 from the feat itself
---
558

Requiring a slot probably sucks though.
Better against sneak immune targets, worse against targets that are immune to whatever element you chose.

Stuff like 20PRR is probably appealing for a ranger though (from scion of earth).
It's a tough choice I'd say.

[Vanhooger]

We/re getting hide scores approaching 120, somebody page Grailhawk and get some numbers run.

I'm not a math guy, but etheral only work on sneak attack while 2d20 scaling with spellpower is always on no matter what. Now, there is for sure some mob resistant or immune to sonic but not that many.
Yes you can use assassin trick & deception but still think 2d20 is better. As I said already I'n mot a math guy so you may prove I'm wrong.

[Vanhooger]

That'd require a bit more than 500 spellpower. Would be doable if metas apply (like I said, need to test).
45 implement
75 spellcraft
138 augment
20 pot
15 ship
150 maximise
75 empower
40 from the feat itself
---
558

Requiring a slot probably sucks though.
Better against sneak immune targets, worse against targets that are immune to whatever element you chose.

Stuff like 20PRR is probably appealing for a ranger though (from scion of earth).
It's a tough choice I'd say.

If you are a bard you can twist in aria 60 spell power + max perform and now we got insightful spell power so another 70-80(don't remember exact number), I know it's a ranger forum just saying.

[Basura_Grande]

Stuff like 20PRR is probably appealing for a ranger though (from scion of earth).
It's a tough choice I'd say.

Vamprism is actually very amusing on a Tempest and a wolf.

On my Tempest when I have Sneak of Shadows active and am boosting I've seen sneak attack numbers over 500.

[Kadrios]

That'd require a bit more than 500 spellpower. Would be doable if metas apply (like I said, need to test).
45 implement
75 spellcraft
138 augment
20 pot
15 ship
150 maximise
75 empower
40 from the feat itself
---
558

Requiring a slot probably sucks though.
Better against sneak immune targets, worse against targets that are immune to whatever element you chose.

Stuff like 20PRR is probably appealing for a ranger though (from scion of earth).
It's a tough choice I'd say.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the implement bonus cap out at ML since the U29 hotfix?