Dual-box openers

[EllisDee37]

Was fired up for the Level 7 repeater, but the lowbie quests you assume are bought early include Sorrowdusk Isle (not typically a "first buy"*). Without that, no House D returning ammo. ("Sentinals" won't quite get you there.)

(* Other quest packs around that same level are, generally speaking, more attractive early on (Delara, Devils), and then other levels are crying for love all too soon.)

Hardly a dealbreaker, just sayin' before other non-VIP start down this path.

Other than that, awesome possum!

Sorrowdusk is a good early pack to get on a dual-box account thanks to its good favor:tp ratio and lack of popularity (so it's harder to group for it).

If by "devils" you mean devil assault, I still don't own that on my dual-box account. It will be one of the last packs I buy for it.

[C-Dog]

My early dual-box goals revolve around TP for perks there - shared bank helps a lot w/ why I have mine (mostly mules). So limited to FTP content, sadly, at least for the immediate future.

btw...

Level 3
Design Goals:

• General
  
  • Disable Device 25+ (yes)
  • Spot 17 (yes)
  
  
• Stealthy Repossession
  
  • Hide & Move Silently 20+ (yes)
  
  
• Swiped Signet
  
  • Wisdom rune: 15-18 (no)

.................................................. .....

Level 7
Design Goals:

• General
  
  • Disable Device 30+ (yes)
  • DDoor (no)
  
  
• Tomb of the Shadow King
  
  • Wall of Fire (no)
  
  
• Partycrashers
  
  • Range DPS for marks (yes)
  • True Seeing for mark in trapped hall (yes)
  • Paladin level(s) to identify the Tiefling bosses (yes)
  • Diplomacy ? (?) <== wiki says 8, but initial testing shows much higher is needed
  • Bluff 16 (yes)
  • Intimidate 14 (yes)
  
  
• Xorian Cipher
  
  • Intelligence 24 (yes)
  • Wisdom 22 (no)
  • Charisma 20 (no)
  • Pet (no)

...why Level 3 for Level 3 Elite opener and Level 7 for Level 5 (Partycrashers) Elite? If leveling another toon, you can get away with base Quest Level +3 (or QL+4 with only 10% xp loss). And "powerleveling" penalties don't kick in until Char Lvl +4. So you could get away with a Level 4 opener for Level 1-4(+) quests, and a Level 8 for the Lvl 5 Partycrashers (so long as you wait until toons you're leveling are level 5 - which should be doable via the prev Lvl 4 quests, no?)


And on that subject, and re "lack of Pet" for Xorian Cipher - if you glom 1 Level of Wiz in there, you get:

o Wiz feat: Augment Summoning? (better Hirelings, too!)
o 3 Spells:

• Summon Monster 1
• Exp. Retreat
• Jump
• (or variously substitute Shield, Nightshield, Feather Fall, Grease, etc etc., depending on projected needs.)

ASF is not a big concern as none of those are in-combat castings, and you have plenty of SP and few demands for them.

o And for 1 AP...

• AM 1 core: Invisibility as SLA
• +3 AP elsewhere

o +1 Char Level => key Rogue skills +1
o Level 8 Stat +1 bump

Just theory-crafting, but wouldn't that help solve several of the problems, or at least make some of the non-problematic quests that much easier? (Might(?) even allow your Level 11 to bump up to 12 for another Feat there?)

(I actually expect you considered this - more curious why you chose to not go this route, what I'm missing in thinking it "better" - thx!)

[Hobgoblin]

at c-dog -

its for the bravery bonus which is QL +2

[C-Dog]

Ah, check. Derp.

[EllisDee37]

Yep, bravery. There's no reason you can't roll up a 5, 9, and 13 to complement the 3, 7, 11 and 15, though. There's even some utility to doing it that way. Not sure how much utility the 5 would bring, but the 7 could stay as-is, then set up the 9 specifically for ToEE and Xorian Cypher.

Really the main idea was to cover bravery for all heroic levels, using as few characters as reasonable. The choice of a four-level spread is largely arbitrary, but sort of not. Level 3 is the obvious first level if you want bravery from Korthos (I do) and level 7 is the strongest you can be for Phiarlan Carnival, so I started with that and expanded upward at the same progression to 11 and 15. For comparison, going with 4, 8, 12 and 16 would leave you with either a level 4 in Carnival (ouch) or not getting bravery.

[EllisDee37]

Reminder that cove is back open if you want to grab hats for your dual-box openers. My 15 was squared away last cove, but now I'm going to make hats for my 3, 7 and 11. The hats listed cost:

Level 3: 0 greens
Level 7: 200 greens
Level 11: 450 greens
Level 15: 600 greens

That's a total of 1250 greens, which isn't too bad. You'll also need a boatload of doubloons, but since you don't actually need gems to make hats the doubloons are mostly an afterthought. I may or may not pug it; I found last cove that dual-boxing it with my challenge farmer running torches while the level 15 mechanic sits at the start works quite well. A quick alt+tab to clear out any incomings then switch back to the torch line and you're good to go.

But then again, 10th anniversary feels like a social event, so I might just pug it with my level 15 opener. My main account doesn't really need any greens anyway.

EDIT: Note that even if you don't have shared bank, you can pass greens and doubloons via the shared collectable storage. Premium accounts get 12 free slots to work with, which is more than enough.

EDIT 2: I saw a pug of 14-17s, so I joined on my fully decked out 15 opener. Turns out they didn't have a torch runner so I ran torches both instances, and they wanted to run 20s which was fine by me. 389 greens the first run without any reqs, then 451 greens the second using tele/torch/worker reqs. Sucks not having a barrel req, but whatever. Two runs and done, now to pass my mats and buy some hats. Woohoo!

[Whitering]

Maybe it's the way I play, Spot doesn't help me, I've tried, the wiki does, because it shows me where the traps are, otherwise I just run full speed forward and jump all the time. I don't even look at the wiki anymore in EH unless I get lost because traps can't kill a heavy armor person with a good reflex mod outside of HE/EE.

Search, I lurves it though.

I am on the cusp of opening a second account, probably a bard with 3 past bard lives on switch, and maybe 2 rogue levels to do the trapping and unlocking. I can't keep taking 2 rogue on every character but **** I hate leaving chests behind.

[EllisDee37]

While buying hats I realized that a cunning trinket (no upgrades needed) is a fine addition to the level 11 pale trapper. Just for an extra 50 spell points for buffs as a shrine swap.

EDIT: Since I have extra greens, I'm thinking of tossing an aura on the 15's hat. The idea is that she stays at the foreman while the challenge farmer runs torches. With kobolds passing through the aura every time they return crystals, I'm wondering which would be a better aura to have: healing or haste? My first thought was healing, but then full-health kobolds get no benefit. With haste aura every kobold would get a tiny boost in speed for drop off and embark.

[JacynWindwore]

Hi Ellis,

Many thanks for all your great threads. I've learned much from reading them. I didn't quite get all the Cove stuff I wanted, but I got a good start. I could only average about 150 shards per run.

Any thoughts on the optimal 10th anniversary loot, both free and party favors, that will enhance these builds. I'm thinking Quiver works well, especially because of the ml. But, it will probably take a bit to get the upgraded version. Boots may be good for challenge manor runs. Those darn elementals can get tough after a knockdown or two.

Still looking into it more, for now.

[EllisDee37]

I just went with quivers for everybody. The only exception is my epic challenge farmer, since an epic pale master with extended haste has literally no possible use for either ranged alacrity or striding. While it will take a very, very long time to upgrade my quivers, at least it's easily doable.

My heroic challenge farmer limps along with expeditious retreat, so he's really looking forward to 30% alacrity. Another option for him would be Madstone Boots, but I stuck with quiver.

Any character who didn't choose quiver (like my mules) took Minos Legens, because extra unbound vitality augments are the bee's knees.

[EllisDee37]

Story time:

In this final weekend before U32, I'm crafting up all the BTA lowbie gear I can think of with the old cannith crafting. Turns out I didn't have any marks of cannith for masterful, and unfortunately none of my alts currently have 50 house c favor. But my cleric was close, with 48, so I hopped into Buying Time with the cleric and the level 15 opener, the great crossbow rogue. Since I only needed 2 stars, I just went in on CR12 (the minimum) aiming for 100 crystals, no teleporters and not buying any time.

I don't think I've ever run a CR12 challenge on a level 15 character before, so I'm not entirely sure how weak the mobs are. But I was blown away by the rogue. She annihilated devashta in four shots. Four! Plink plink plink plink dead. It was insanity.

After killing devashta there was 48 seconds left in the run, so I figured why not try to find and kill the dragon just to give me something to do. There wasn't nearly enough time left, but it's better than staring at the wall, y'know?

So I checked east first, and lucked out: dragon! There were a bunch of mobs in the way, but once I managed to hard target the dragon I could use movement to get clean shots. It took approximately ten shots to kill the dragon, easily accomplished before time expired. I then killed all the trash while waiting for the challenge to boot me.

The regular mobs were almost universally one-shotted, except the reavers and renders who took two shots each to kill. It was totally nuts. I mean, I get that CR12 challenges are full of weaklings compared to my overbuilt rogue, but this was way beyond anything I expected.

[C-Dog]

Dual-box Opener (Level 3)

• 2/1 Rogue/Barbarian
  True Neutral

Design Goals:

• General
  • Disable Device 25+ (yes)
  • Spot 17 (yes)
  ...

( Link to full Build here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5701827 )


Was wondering where you got these two specific "design goals".

Why the Spot 17? What's the (literally) hidden goal here? Something specific, or is this just from the Wiki Level 4 Search/Spot survey?

What level (Elite) quests is he able to trap with +25? If from the wiki, 25 is reported only up to Level 3 Elite, Level 4 wants something closer to 27-30. Does 25 seem to be getting the job done consistently in Lvl 4 Elite, or just "most of the time"?

o Wiki Level 3 traps/locks
o Wiki Level 4 Traps/locks

(Playing w/ a build for an Elf/Falchion version of this, with DM Shadow. Almost there, a lot to shoehorn in, which is why I'm asking. Will report back if/when.)

[EllisDee37]

Was wondering where you got these two specific "design goals".

No need for irony quotes. They are actual design goals.

Why the Spot 17? What's the (literally) hidden goal here? Something specific, or is this just from the Wiki Level 4 Search/Spot survey?

What level (Elite) quests is he able to trap with +25? If from the wiki, 25 is reported only up to Level 3 Elite, Level 4 wants something closer to 27-30. Does 25 seem to be getting the job done consistently in Lvl 4 Elite, or just "most of the time"?

Boxes don't blow up unless you fail by more than 5, so having 25+ means no-fail (ie: endless retries) on 30 or under. (Or maybe 29 or under? I forget.) Either way, she also has Skill Boost (+4) for the traps of concern.

The traps I care about the level 3 opener actually disabling are, in order of how much I care:
- Bookbinder Rescue: DD 25
- Repossession: DD 30
- Proof Is In the Poison: DD 25-29 (for the xp)

Everything else I mostly just ignore. At that level, taking the time to disable traps mainly just slows me down. I'm certainly not stopping anywhere in the Depths chain to do traps; those are like my Olympic speed runs.

Spot 17 was taken from wiki, yes.

EDIT: For all of these builds, it's kind of tricky getting everything I wanted in a single F2P build. For the level 3 in particular it was rough reaching skill goals for all of hide, move silently, disable, search and spot. So I tried to identify the absolute minimum values that would suffice and build for those. I was particularly happy that what I ended up with requires no gear swapping.

EDIT 2: Looking more closely at the build, you can get another +2 disable essentially for free with fox's cunning pots:

6 ranks
4 int mod (16 base +2 ship buff)
3 enhancements (mechanics III)
3 gear (troubleshooter's set)
2 heroism (pot)
7 tools
----
25 disable device as written
2 fox's cunning pot
----
27 easily attainable, sustained

[C-Dog]

Cool, makes sense, thanks.

No need for irony quotes. They are actual design goals.

No ironic comment intended, I guess I was just emphasizing them as such and lazy with how I did it. o/

[EllisDee37]

I'm going through and updating the builds for the cannith crafting update. I'll post the old versions here for posterity.

Level 3:

No changes.



Level 7:

Dual-box Opener (Level 7)
6/1 Rogue/Paladin
Lawful Good Human


Level Order

1. Rogue           6. Rogue
2. Paladin         7. Rogue
3. Rogue
4. Rogue
5. Rogue


Stats
               28pt     32pt     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength        11       12       4: INT
Dexterity       13       14
Constitution    12       14
Intelligence    18       18
Wisdom           8        8
Charisma         8        8


Skills
          R  P  R  R  R  R  R
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7
         ---------------------
Disable   4     2  1  1  1  1  10
Open Lo   4     1  2  1  1  1  10
Search    4     2  1  1  1  1  10
Spot      4     2  1  1  1  1  10
Bluff     4     1  1  2  1  1  10
Diplo     4  1  1  1  1  1  1  10
Intim     4  1  1  1  1  1  1  10
Jump      4     1  2  1  1  1  10
Swim      4           2  3  1  10
UMD       4     1  2  1  1  1  10
Concent      5  ½  ½  ½  ½  1   8
Balance   4                 1   5
Tumble    4                     4
Haggle    4                     4
         ---------------------
         52  7 13 13 13 13 13


Feats

 1        : Insightful Reflexes
 1 Human  : Point Blank Shot
 2 Deity  : Follower of: Sovereign Host
 3        : Rapid Reload
 6        : Rapid Shot


Enhancements (28 of 28 AP)

Mechanic (18 AP)
Arbalester, Tanglefoot, Targeting Sights
Sharpshooter, Mechanics III, Awareness III
Sharpshooter
Sharpshooter, Wracking Shot III
Human (6 AP)
Saves Boost, Intelligence, Damage Boost
Improved Recovery
Thief-Acrobat (3 AP)
Staff Control
Fast Movement
Knight of the Chalice (1 AP)
Slayer of Evil

Gear

Helmet  : Cove Hat: Greater False Life of Spot +10
Goggles : Clever +4
Necklace: Deadly IV
Cloak   : Mantle of the Worldshaper
Bracers : ML3 Bracers of Wind
Gloves  : Resistance +4
Belt    : Health +4
Boots   : Boots of the Mire
Ring    : Ring of the Mire
Ring    : Feather Falling of Moderate Fortification
Trinket : Voice of the Master
Armor   : Leather of Hammerblock III

Weapon  : Screaming of Pure Good
Ammo    : +3 Returning Bolts (150 House Deneith Favor)

Swaps & Consumables

Rings: Search +10, Disable +10, Open Lock +10, Bluff +10, Intimidate +10
Potions: Cure Serious, Heroism, Haste, Jump, Curse, Blindness, Poison, Lesser Restoration
Visor of the Flesh Renderx3

This is a Light Repeating Crossbow mechanic build using House Deneith returning bolts for the +3, allowing us to skip fletching. The AP saved get spent on fast movement (+6%) which combines with the Mire set for 30% total run speed. Not great, but not terrible.

We get True Seeing from the Voice/Mantle set bonus, but note that you must turn Post Processing on in order to properly reveal the mark in the trapped hall with True Seeing.

Trapping gear must be swapped to for everything: Search, Disable and Open Lock. I suggest putting these on rings and swapping with Ring of the Mire. That way you'll know immediately if you forget to switch back since you'll be running in slow motion.

Until cove rolls around, craft a Spot +10 hat and wear a False Life belt instead of Health +4. You can carry Bear's Endurance pots for the +4 con if you like.



Level 15:

Dual-box Opener (Level 15)
13/1/1 Rogue/Barbarian/Fighter
Human


Level Order

1. Rogue           6. Rogue          11. Rogue
2. Rogue           7. Rogue          12. Rogue
3. Barbarian       8. Rogue          13. Rogue
4. Rogue           9. Rogue          14. Rogue
5. Rogue          10. Fighter        15. Rogue


Stats
               32pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength         9                4: INT
Dexterity       13                8: INT
Constitution    14               12: INT
Intelligence    18
Wisdom           8
Charisma        12       +2


Skills
          R  R  B  R  R  R  R  R  R  F  R  R  R  R  R
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
         ---------------------------------------------
Disable   4  1     2  1  1  1  1  1     2  1  1  1  1  18
Open Lo   4  1     2  1  1  1  1  1     2  1  1  1  1  18
Search    4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  18
Spot      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  18
Bluff     4  1     1  1  1  1  1  1     1  2  2  1  1  18
Diplo     4  1        1  1  1  2  2     1  2  1  1  1  18
Intim     4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  18
Jump      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  18
Swim      3  1  2     1  1  1  1  1  1  1  2  1  1  1  18
Haggle    4  1     1  1  1  1  1  1           1  3  3  18
UMD       4  1     2  1  1  1  1  1     2  1  1  1  1  18
Balance   4  1        1  1  1  1  1           1        11
Concent   2  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½   9
Tumble    1                                             1
         ---------------------------------------------
         52 13  9 13 13 13 13 14 14  8 14 14 14 14 14


Feats

 1        : Insightful Reflexes
 1 Human  : Least Dragonmark: Passage
 3        : Rapid Reload
 6        : Point Blank Shot
 9        : Rapid Shot
10 Fighter: Improved Critical: Ranged
12        : Precision
12 Rogue  : Improved Evasion
15        : Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
15 Rogue  : Opportunist


Enhancements (60 of 60 AP)

Mechanic (42 AP)
Arbalester, Tanglefoot, Targeting Sights, Improved Detection
Sharpshooter, Lacerating Shots III, Mechanics III, Awareness III
Sharpshooter, Wand and Scroll Mastery II
Sharpshooter, Use Magical Device III, Intelligence
Sharpshooter, Fletching III, Intelligence
Sharpshooter, Rapid Fire III, Sniper, Mechanical Reloader
Human (15 AP)
Saves Boost, Intelligence, Skills Boost
Dragonmark Focus: Orien I, Skill Focus: Awareness I, Improved Recovery
Lesser Dragonmark: Dimension Door, Skill Focus: Nimble Fingers I
Skill Mastery, Improved Recovery
Thief-Acrobat (3 AP)
Staff Control
Fast Movement

Gear

Head   : Cove Hat: Superior False Life of Swim +15
Eyes   : Deadly VI (Feather Falling)
Neck   : Stolen Necklace of Accuracy V (Strength +4)
Back   : Cloak of Invisibility (Heavy Fort)
Wrist  : Guardian's Bracers
Hand   : Guardian's Gauntlets
Waist  : ML15 Spare Hand
Feet   : Speed VI (Vitality +20)
Ring   : Intelligence +6 ring of Persuasion
Ring   : Resistance +6 (Underwater Action)
Trinket: Eagle's Eye (Good Luck +1, Wisdom +4)
Body   : Black Dragonhide or Assassin Initiate's Leathers (+8 PRR or -5% ASF)

Weapon : Divine Artillery (Improved Acid or Vampire Slayer) w/Force Critical ritual
Ammo   : Acid / Silver / Cold Iron / Byeshk / Adamantine

Swaps & Consumables

Bluff +13, Diplomacy (Eloquence) +13
Visor of the Flesh Renderx3 or 4
Scrolls: Heal, Greater Heroism, Teleport, True Seeing, Displacement, Fire Shield, Raise Dead, Greater Teleport(?)
Potions: Cure Serious, Haste, Blindness, Poison, Curse, Disease, Lesser Restoration, Jump
Wands: Fireball, Ice Storm

This is a Great Crossbow mechanic build with fletching, which frees us up to use any kind of ammo we want. Mostly focus on metal bolts for DR breaking, but you might also want to check the ah for useful (greater) banes.

The +2 cha tome is from the 1750 favor reward, which gets us perfectly to 39 UMD with greater heroism. (Use Human Skill Boost before UMDing a GH scroll for no-fail GH, which in turn grants no-fail True Seeing and Heal scrolls.)

The trinket can be placeholdered with an ML12 Treasure Hunter's Spyglass, Tier 2, which is what mine is currently using since my dual-box account doesn't yet own The Devil's Gambit.

Until Cove rolls around for making the hat, use a False Life belt instead of Spare Hand. You'll need swaps for Disable Device, Open Lock and Swim. Use hats for those swaps since it'll be open anyway.

Ammo to consider:
- Acid for general use
- Silver for Temple of Vol (unless you use Vampire Slayer augment, in which case Acid)
- Cold Iron for Ghosts of Perdition (Acid for end fight)
- Adamantine for Fleshmaker's Laboratory
- Byeshk for Harbinger of Madness

The idea here is that Divine Artillery works for everything. Math says it does more damage vs undead than a crafted +4 Acid Burst of Undead Bane, so it's pretty clear that it's a one-size-fits-all weapon. Given that, it makes sense to add a force ritual to it with the stone of change. While Force Damage is slightly better, Force Critical is almost as good for a 15-20x2 weapon and it's much cheaper. (Deadly Feverblanch instead of Fragrant Drowshood.)

[EllisDee37]

I added a level 21 build to the first page. Essentially a devil assault token farmer, I figured also go with an epic challenge farmer just because.

EDIT: The build originated here.

[Fedora1]

Design Goals:

• Challenges
  • Run very fast (yes)
  • Sprint Boost (yes)
  • Dimension Door (yes)
  • CC for Sunset Ritual (yes)
  • Pet to leave at center to defend incomings (no)
• Epic Dailies
  • Trap skills (yes)
  • Reach 80 Open Lock (yes)

[code]Dual-box Opener (Level 21)
16/2/2 Bard/Barbarian/Rogue, Epic 1
Human


Level Order

1. Bard 6. Bard 11. Bard 16. Bard
2. Rogue 7. Bard 12. Bard 17. Bard
3. Barbarian 8. Bard 13. Bard 18. Bard
4. Barbarian 9. Bard 14. Bard 19. Bard
5. Rogue 10. Bard 15. Bard 20. Bard

Been up since 4:00AM so maybe I'm just tired, but:
1. Why did you take the Bard level first, instead of rogue?
2. What's with the L6 Feat exotic weapon "Kama"?

[EllisDee37]

Been up since 4:00AM so maybe I'm just tired, but:
1. Why did you take the Bard level first, instead of rogue?

Taking rogue at level 1 means I need to take two of these feats as a level 1 rogue:

Single Weapon Fighting (valid choice)
Extend Spell (can't cast spells)
Precision (BAB 1, but rogue 1 has 0)
Exotic Weapon: Kama (BAB 1, but rogue 1 has 0)
Improved Single Weapon Fighting (BAB 6)
Improved Critical: Slashing (BAB 8)
Shield Mastery (Requires Shield Proficiency, which rogues don't get)
Greater Single Weapon Fighting (BAB 11)
Improved Shield Mastery (Requires Shield Mastery)

Meaning if I take rogue @ 1, I have to drop a feat I actually want. So I take bard @ 1, sacrificing a couple skill points but getting all my feats. (Not even that many skill points, since bard gets lots and the build wants some skills rogue isn't proficient in.)

It's a solid question, though, and made me go back and verify that the feat issue still exists. (The build has changed a little since I first decided on bard level first.)

2. What's with the L6 Feat exotic weapon "Kama"?

For using Forester's Brush Hook.

Brush Hook's 18-20x3 crit profile becomes a juicy 13-20x4 in the hands of a swashbuckler, which is pretty much as good as it gets. A tie with Axe of Unseen Blow's 15-20x5, actually: 24 "extra" hits for both of them. But brush hook gets more crits, which means more resonant arms procs.

Brush Hook is an awesome weapon, but has fallen behind the power curve due to subsequent updates. This static build is a nice excuse to give brush hook some relevance.

[Fedora1]

Taking rogue at level 1 means I need to take two of these feats as a level 1 rogue:

Single Weapon Fighting (valid choice)
Extend Spell (can't cast spells)
Precision (BAB 1, but rogue 1 has 0)
Exotic Weapon: Kama (BAB 1, but rogue 1 has 0)
Improved Single Weapon Fighting (BAB 6)
Improved Critical: Slashing (BAB 8)
Shield Mastery (Requires Shield Proficiency, which rogues don't get)
Greater Single Weapon Fighting (BAB 11)
Improved Shield Mastery (Requires Shield Mastery)

Meaning if I take rogue @ 1, I have to drop a feat I actually want. So I take bard @ 1, sacrificing a couple skill points but getting all my feats. (Not even that many skill points, since bard gets lots and the build wants some skills rogue isn't proficient in.)

It's a solid question, though, and made me go back and verify that the feat issue still exists. (The build has changed a little since I first decided on bard level first.)

For using Forester's Brush Hook.

Brush Hook's 18-20x3 crit profile becomes a juicy 13-20x4 in the hands of a swashbuckler, which is pretty much as good as it gets. A tie with Axe of Unseen Blow's 15-20x5, actually: 24 "extra" hits for both of them. But brush hook gets more crits, which means more resonant arms procs.

Brush Hook is an awesome weapon, but has fallen behind the power curve due to subsequent updates. This static build is a nice excuse to give brush hook some relevance.

By the time you could use the Forester Brush Hook, you could replace one of your L1 spells with Master's Touch. Save a feat (allowing you to possibly take rogue at L1, I didn't step through it to verify) and that way if Brush Hook doesn't drop (I personally have never seen it despite running that quest/chain on elite every life) you haven't wasted a feat. By "you" I mean anyone using this build, as I am guessing you already have one.

[EllisDee37]

By the time you could use the Forester Brush Hook, you could replace one of your L1 spells with Master's Touch. Save a feat (allowing you to possibly take rogue at L1, I didn't step through it to verify) and that way if Brush Hook doesn't drop (I personally have never seen it despite running that quest/chain on elite every life) you haven't wasted a feat. By "you" I mean anyone using this build, as I am guessing you already have one.

I don't have one yet; I just started leveling this alt last night, got up to level 4. She won't actually be using anything until she hits 21; until then she's running around in starter rags, or random loot if I happen to pick up something good in a chest. My archer life is the one actually running the quests while the opener just sits at the start causing dungeon scaling while she picks up xp and favor.

Master's Touch doesn't grant exotic weapon proficiency.

EDIT: Aside from the fact that I'll just keep farming the chest with multiple epic alts until I pull a heroic elite brush hook, what feats would you recommend at level 1 as a rogue? SWF for sure, but what would you take as the human bonus feat?