Halfling Tempest Defenses

[scipiojedi]

I'm currently working on a Halfling tempest ranger at level 10. My plan was to do 12 Ranger/4 Paladin/4 fighter for extra defenses. Invest in charisma for saves, run in sacred defender stance for saves, and get extra action boosts and feats from fighter.

What you say? drop tempest capstone? Well because I haven't played much in epic or at least not EE content I am worried about the defense capability of a pure tempest, so I brainstormed this build up. I also see a lot of tempests running with Khopeshs but then you have to do str and not dex to damage and on a 1st life build it just is too many stats, so I am planning on doing scimitars and hand axes with dex to damage.

So what I really want to know is the viability of defenses of a pure tempest. Either way I'll probably end up going my way but I'm curious about your input on the matter.

[Irongutz2000]

I'm currently working on a Halfling tempest ranger at level 10. My plan was to do 12 Ranger/4 Paladin/4 fighter for extra defenses. Invest in charisma for saves, run in sacred defender stance for saves, and get extra action boosts and feats from fighter.

What you say? drop tempest capstone? Well because I haven't played much in epic or at least not EE content I am worried about the defense capability of a pure tempest, so I brainstormed this build up. I also see a lot of tempests running with Khopeshs but then you have to do str and not dex to damage and on a 1st life build it just is too many stats, so I am planning on doing scimitars and hand axes with dex to damage.

So what I really want to know is the viability of defenses of a pure tempest. Either way I'll probably end up going my way but I'm curious about your input on the matter.

By not taking at least 14 ranger u miss out on some of the best defenses that a ranger offers, alot of dps , freedom of movement and cure serious wounds. TBH I play with alot great pure tempest rangers ( alot of them have multi past lives though ) . If ur dex based u should have a good enough reflex , will save will be low but who cares if u have fom and fort is con based so just don't dump con.

though the split u posted will work i would suggest at least 15 lvls of ranger for lvl 4 spells , or try pure and see if u like it.

Also displacement ( found on scrolls , shroud clickies and flasks) and healing amp r very important for any melee class.

[unbongwah]

I've been running a PDK variant on the original Noyellowbar for a while now. It's an old alt I only play occasionally, so I haven't gotten around to LR/ITRing it. I appreciate the big boost to saves from Divine Grace, but in terms of physical defenses I think it's kind of a wash: pure Tempest gets +5% Incoporealty (which stacks with gear or SD Shadow Form) and +11 PRR/MRR from last two cores; rgr 15 / pal 4 gets +25 PRR/MRR from defensive stance. So I get hit more frequently than a pure Tempest but take a bit less damage.

The real issue IMO is AP shortage: after the ranger pass made DWS a lot better, giving up APs from there to invest in Sacred D. and KotC feels like a significant DPS loss. Plus since I'm still using light armor (for now), I don't gain +20% HPs from Tenacious Defense, which is the other big advantage of SD. But if I switched armor, I'd have to shift 7 more APs into SD from...somewhere.

Honestly, pure or mostly-pure rangers are glass cannons these days, so if you think it's too squishy, you'd probably be better off with a rgr 6 / pal 14 build like NYB 2.0; or a 15/5 split like my Faithsworn Hunter in my drow paladin thread. You give up Evasion and a lot of Dodge in hvy armor, but it seems like PRR is more important anyway in current endgame.

[Mr_Helmet]

Two rules regarding being a tempest:

1. Go pure
2. Don't be a halfling.

[Mr_Helmet]

Honestly, pure or mostly-pure rangers are glass cannons these days . . .

With quickened cures that can get up to really high numbers, and a theoretical max PRR of 260ish in light armor.

Oh wait, I forgot the party line. Tempests are weak and need buffs!

[unbongwah]

a theoretical max PRR of 260ish in light armor.

Of which at most 30 comes from the armor itself and another 42 from ranger enhancements which is less than 30% of the hypothetical max. The rest is gear, feats, past lives, etc. Since OP is discussing a first-life toon which they want to make viable in current endgame, the inherent squishiness of the ranger class is definitely a factor. And it's not just about PRR; HPs are also a factor since a pure rgr doesn't get anything nearly as nice as Tenacious Defense and a first-lifer isn't going to have all the gear etc. granting extra HPs that a multi-life toon does.

[boredman]

How about splashing monk instead fighter for earth stance for prr, ac and few con or water stance for dodge cap and saves plus iron skin and knock on the sky and fists of light, also meele power from henshin cores, something like Ranger 14/monk 3/paladin 3, so can get fom spell.