Reccommended Runearms?

[kmoustakas]

For a melee artificer I think you should aim for tira's splendor or lucid dreams. Craft +10% melee alacrity on it

For race, I would expect bladeforged or dwarf to be the best.

[-Samaka-]

For a melee artificer I think you should aim for tira's splendor or lucid dreams. Craft +10% melee alacrity on it

For race, I would expect bladeforged or dwarf to be the best.

I don't have Bladeforged at this time and was thinking of going with Drow for the +2 Int and +2 Cha as I plan to use UMD with my Arti. Why Dwarf?

[kmoustakas]

They get free dwarven axe proficiency and runearm damage also happens on glancing blows so usually melee arties either go bastard sword or dwarven axe. Can't blame you for going drow on a ranged artificer because that +2 dexterity is actually a lot of difference in the end run as you'd need epic combat archery aka dexterity 21 eventually but on a melee artificer wouldn't the -2 con hurt you more than +2 cha would benefit you?

Arties get ton of bonuses to umd anyway.

[Livmo]

Do either of you have any suggestions for a melee based artificer build?

Should I go pure Arti, or maybe splash another class for versatility? I have all classes unlocked, not all races though; missing Gnome, Half-Elf, Warforged and Bladeforged.

I am a total Artificer newbie so any suggestions or advice is very appreciated!

I've had fun with both pure and splash. If you go melee you may wish to splash some fighter. Since you don't have BF and wanted to make an iconic, PDK and 2 levels of fighter is fun with the rest arty. You will get your arty melee stuff from the Battle Engineer tree, but the fighter trees are great as well. Regardless if you go human or PDK to start you can get action boosts to hit and to damage from different enhancement trees that don't share the same cool down.

Also you may wish to go just far enough into the Harper enhancement tree to get to hit and dam from INT. Grab Know the Angles from this tree as well.

[Maelodic]

usually melee arties either go bastard sword or dwarven axe.

I was under the impression that SWF was a lot better DPS than THF on artis, even though they have the enhancement line. Khophesh is usually the weapon type of choice for that...

[-Samaka-]

They get free dwarven axe proficiency and runearm damage also happens on glancing blows so usually melee arties either go bastard sword or dwarven axe. Can't blame you for going drow on a ranged artificer because that +2 dexterity is actually a lot of difference in the end run as you'd need epic combat archery aka dexterity 21 eventually but on a melee artificer wouldn't the -2 con hurt you more than +2 cha would benefit you?

Arties get ton of bonuses to umd anyway.

Ah yes, I did notice that Arti's do get a lot of UMD bonuses so that +2 Cha from Drow isn't as important as I was thinking it might of been. Dwarf might be a fun option as well, sadly I have not been collecting Dwarven Axes so my only option for those will be coming from the new loot system... and while I do like the new loot system overall, I am not so much of a fan of the new loot weapons!

As for the -2 Con... well yes, I suppose less health is not as desirable, but honestly, I am used to not having maxed Con, also at level 20 I twist in Consecration along with Sacred Ground, so I have a nice healing circle I drop down frequently. My partner also twists in both of those as well, so we often do not lack for healing. Heck, we've even stopped bringing hirelings along because their AI is so amazingly stupid these days. We still summon them, but 99% of the time they stand at the entrance of the dungeon and we only summon them if things start going sideways... even then they often just die anyways!

I've had fun with both pure and splash. If you go melee you may wish to splash some fighter. Since you don't have BF and wanted to make an iconic, PDK and 2 levels of fighter is fun with the rest arty. You will get your arty melee stuff from the Battle Engineer tree, but the fighter trees are great as well. Regardless if you go human or PDK to start you can get action boosts to hit and to damage from different enhancement trees that don't share the same cool down.

Also you may wish to go just far enough into the Harper enhancement tree to get to hit and dam from INT. Grab Know the Angles from this tree as well.

I don't believe I mentioned wanting to go Iconic, though I was thinking of splashing another melee class, but haven't played with the character generator yet to find good synergies to splash in.

My current life has 32 points in the Harper tree, including KtA and Int to Hit/Damage... something I would also invest in for my Artificer. Though don't I only need Int to hit from Harper as Arti has a spell for Int to Damage (well, both but you can only cast one at a time I believe?).

I was under the impression that SWF was a lot better DPS than THF on artis, even though they have the enhancement line. Khophesh is usually the weapon type of choice for that...

Bastard Sword and Dwarven Axes are single-handed weapons, not two-handed weapons... so THF wouldn't apply to either anyways? Wait, unless you mean using THF and Bastard Sword to increase glancing blows? Does that also work for Dwarven Axes?


Also just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your feedback in this thread, I really appreciate it and am looking forward to my Artificer life. When I have a character built in the chargen program I will post it here for additional feedback, if that is okay!

[Maelodic]

Ah yes, I did notice that Arti's do get a lot of UMD bonuses so that +2 Cha from Drow isn't as important as I was thinking it might of been.

You may consider Warforged just for easy mode self healing. 16 levels for Deadly Weapons+Reconstruct is advisable for this...

I don't believe I mentioned wanting to go Iconic, though I was thinking of splashing another melee class, but haven't played with the character generator yet to find good synergies to splash in.

Bard for swashbuckling or figher for feats/defensive stance or paladin for defensive stance/saves are all good options. You'll probably want at least 15 levels of arti for Deadly Weapons, so be aware of that.

My current life has 32 points in the Harper tree, including KtA and Int to Hit/Damage... something I would also invest in for my Artificer. Though don't I only need Int to hit from Harper as Arti has a spell for Int to Damage (well, both but you can only cast one at a time I believe?).

With the arti spell, you can only apply int to to-hit OR damage, so you'd still need at least one of the INT enhancements.
For raw melee damage, the harper tree is much better than battle engineer, but the runearm movespeed penalty removal as well as the runearm enhancements are basically a requirement for any arti that uses runearms... and particularly melee artis.

Bastard Sword and Dwarven Axes are single-handed weapons, not two-handed weapons... so THF wouldn't apply to either anyways? Wait, unless you mean using THF and Bastard Sword to increase glancing blows? Does that also work for Dwarven Axes?

THF feats work for bastard sword and dwarven axes because they both have glancing blows when held in one hand - however as said previously, usually the SWF route with a khopesh is better.

[-Samaka-]

Here is my Artificer/Fighter as built with the DDO Character Generator:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 4.30.002
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Samaka 
Level 30 Neutral Good Drow Female
(4 Fighter \ 16 Artificer \ 10 Epic) 
Hit Points: 396
Spell Points: 1605 
BAB: 16\16\21\26\26
Fortitude: 13
Reflex: 8
Will: 12

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 30)
Strength             12                    16
Dexterity            10                    14
Constitution         14                    18
Intelligence         19                    38
Wisdom                8                    12
Charisma             15                    19

Tomes Used
+4 Tome for all Ability Scores


                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 30)
Balance               2                    20
Bluff                 0                    15
Concentration         4                    33
Diplomacy             0                    15
Disable Device        4                    51
Haggle                0                    15
Heal                  0                    12
Hide                  0                    13
Intimidate            0                    38
Jump                  2                    37
Listen                2                    14
Move Silently         0                    13
Open Lock             4                    39
Perform               n/a                  n/a
Repair                0                    25
Search                6                    50
Spellcraft            4                    48
Spot                  2                    14
Swim                  0                    21
Tumble                n/a                  n/a
Use Magic Device      4                    38

Level 1 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Single Weapon Fighting


Level 2 (Artificer)


Level 3 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Cleave
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack


Level 4 (Artificer)
Ability Raise: INT


Level 5 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Great Cleave


Level 6 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Spell Focus: Evocation


Level 7 (Fighter)


Level 8 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Single Weapon Fighting


Level 9 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons


Level 10 (Artificer)


Level 11 (Artificer)


Level 12 (Artificer)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Selected) Power Critical
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons


Level 13 (Artificer)


Level 14 (Artificer)


Level 15 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Single Weapon Fighting


Level 16 (Artificer)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons


Level 17 (Artificer)


Level 18 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons


Level 19 (Artificer)


Level 20 (Artificer)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Point Blank Shot


Level 21 (Epic)
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Overwhelming Critical


Level 22 (Epic)


Level 23 (Epic)


Level 24 (Epic)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Master of Artifice


Level 25 (Epic)


Level 26 (Epic)
Feat: (Epic Destiny) Martial Sphere: Perfect Single Weapon Fighting


Level 27 (Epic)
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Blinding Speed


Level 28 (Epic)
Ability Raise: INT
Feat: (Epic Destiny) Divine Sphere: Holy Strike


Level 29 (Epic)
Feat: (Epic Destiny) Divine Sphere: Guardian Angel


Level 30 (Epic)
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Epic Spell Focus: Evocation
Feat: (Legendary) Scion of the Plane of Air


Enhancements
Drow - Spell Resistance (Core 1)
Drow - Drow Intelligence (Core 2)
Drow - Spell Resistance (Core 3)
Drow - Drow Intelligence (Core 4)
Drow - Arcane Fluidity (Tier 1: 3/3)

Arcanotechnician (Art) - Arcanotechnician (Core 1)
Arcanotechnician (Art) - Energy of Creation (Tier 1: 3/3)
Arcanotechnician (Art) - Uncaring Master (Tier 1: 1/1)

Battle Engineer (Art) - Battle Engineer (Core 1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Infused Weapons (Core 2)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Infused Armor (Core 3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Infused Weapons (Core 4)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Field Engineer (Tier 1: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Thermal Venting (Tier1: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Item Defense (Tier 1: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Wracking Strike (Tier 2: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Damage Boost (Tier 2: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Thaumaturgical Conduits (Tier 2: 3/3)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Arcane Capacitors (Tier 3: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Intelligence (Tier 3: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Rune Arm Overcharge (Tier 4: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Arcane Capacitors (Tier 4: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Intelligence (Tier 4: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Rune Arm Overcharge (Tier 5: 1/1)
Battle Engineer (Art) - Tactical Mobility (Tier 5: 1/1)

Harper Agent - Agent of Good (Core 1)
Harper Agent - Intelligence (Core 2)
Harper Agent - Agent of Good II (Core 3)
Harper Agent - Intelligence (Core 4)
Harper Agent - Traveler's Toughness (Tier 1: 3/3)
Harper Agent - Strategic Combat I (Tier 1: 1/1)
Harper Agent - Magical Endurance (Tier 2: 3/3)
Harper Agent - Know The Angles (Tier 2: 3/3)
Harper Agent - Harper Leadership (Tier 2: 1/3)
Harper Agent - Strategic Combat II (Tier 3: 1/1)
Harper Agent - Intelligence (Tier 3: 1/1)
Harper Agent - Vigor of Life I (Tier 4: 1/1)
Harper Agent - Intelligence (Tier 4: 1/1)

I built this character with melee combat in mind, which is why I splashed 4 levels of fighter and took the weapon focus and critical feats. I plan to use long swords which is why I took slashing focus, I took ranged focus as well because it was available as an Artificer 'bonus feat' and I do plan to use a repeater for mobs that are out of melee range. I also took a number of feats that increase the DC for Evocation spells, which since Update 29 also affect rune arm use.

For enhancements I focused mostly on the Harper Agent tree and the Battle Engineer tree. The latter for the bonuses to Rune Arm use and the former for the INT to hit/damage without requiring me to buff myself as well as Know the Angles and a little extra healing amp. I decided not to go with the living construct feats as I really like to twist in Consecration and Sacred Ground at 20 and being a living construct would really negate that, plus I only have so many feats!

I am open to any feedback or suggestions about this build, thanks to everyone for your feedback so far, it is really appreciated!

I am looking forward to trying out Artificer... soon as I clear out my TR cache that is!

PS: Has anyone else noticed the current version of DDOCharGen.exe crashes frequently? It must have crashed a good dozen or so times while I was creating this character... so word of advice, save your character often!

PPS: I currently have only reached level 5 in one destiny in Divine and two in Martial, hence my choices for Epic Destiny Feats. My partner and I decided to eTR/TR once per life and we also did not wish to try to pre-level each destiny up to level 5 so right now my choice of feats at cap is limited!

PPPS: I plan to use long swords simply because I have a lot of them from the older loot system. I have literally no Khopeshes and I am not a huge fan of the current loot-gen weapons so thought it would be a waste of a feat to take Khopesh.

[kmoustakas]

I was actually checking for a good single handed weapon for a sword and shield build. The choices are remarkably similar to the ones with sword and runearm. If you have challenge ings, a minimum level 12 khopesh of water upgraded to tier 3 and then crafted upon with holy and bleed will do WORK.

Right now I'm using axe of adaxus because it's crystal and doesn't break much but I'm pretty sure the best choice would be the pdk sword at low epics? I unfortunatelly don't have any pdk coms left to get and test but the crit range is sick and has vorpal to boot.

[-Samaka-]

I was actually checking for a good single handed weapon for a sword and shield build. The choices are remarkably similar to the ones with sword and runearm. If you have challenge ings, a minimum level 12 khopesh of water upgraded to tier 3 and then crafted upon with holy and bleed will do WORK.

Right now I'm using axe of adaxus because it's crystal and doesn't break much but I'm pretty sure the best choice would be the pdk sword at low epics? I unfortunatelly don't have any pdk coms left to get and test but the crit range is sick and has vorpal to boot.

If you mean the Oathblade then I have one of those waiting to be used!

What do you mean by "challenge ings"? The only challenges I have done are the ones in Eveningstar, I really have not done any of the Cannith challenges at this point... actually the Cannith Challenge Pack and Delara's Tomb are the only two remaining packs I need to buy.

I have rolled up my character and currently I am at level 5 (3 Arti, 2 Fighter) and am having a lot of fun. Already addicted to coffee as having a noticeably faster rune arm recharge rate is worth pressing a hotkey every 90 seconds!

Also, thanks again bru for the advice about lowering the ML of a rune arm by two via Cannith Marks, that worked wonderfully!

[-Samaka-]

Just an update to my build above... the DDOCharGen.exe program has some errors in what it allows for Artificer Bonus Feats. It allows Spell Focus as bonus feats and it does not allow Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons nor Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons.

In accordance with these errors the following changes to the build were made:

Level 6
=======
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons

Level 9
=======
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Evocation

Level 16
========
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 18
========
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons

Essentially I swapped the Slashing and Ranged order for both Weapon Focus and Improved Critical as I tend towards melee combat more than ranged. I also had to move the Greater Spell Focus: Evocation feat as it does not qualify as an Artificer Bonus Feat, however, the good news is the rearrangements really don't affect the build that much and I didn't have to lose any of my choices either.

Just thought I would provide an update as the build in my original post won't work quite as listed! I will also send an email to the creator of the DDOCharGen.exe program!