12 Artificer 6 Fighter 2 Monk Reaper Build

[slarden]

do you take Mithral Body as a feat any where in the build, if so at what level ? So its like having medium armor on?
How many points you put into Renegade Tree.

Yes it's definitely worth taking, but it's not a huge priority as it's based on BAB so it's lower at lower levels. I would take it as an artificer feat at your 8th level of artificer.

How many points you put into Renegade Tree.

I am probably going to just put 6 points into the tree this season so I can put more into bladeforged tree.

How many points for inquisitive? I am not sure if I will get a Fatal Flaw or not. I doubt I will..

So far it dropped for me both season so I didn't actually put anything into the tree. If you go the inquisitive route you want to get tier 5 so it will be a heavy ap investment. One of the reasons I like repeater for hardcore is it doesn't require much investment to effective giving me many more points for survivaility.

Side note, I am kind of disappointed with how much moderate repair is healing for. I mean, I have 22 skill point sin repair, +40 repair heal amp racial, +5 repair core 1 rmm, 20 more repair amp in tier 1 Rmm, and most of my casts are between 19 and 30 ish. once in a while I get higher if i crit heal.. Maybe because I my repair spell power is only 29 ATM. I dont think I have a repair spell power piece on. I am guessing if I do get a piece with it, then my heals should go up alot more. BUt I expected to already see bigger heals with all this amp.


also im assuming a typo,, you said your playing a 15 palidan / 3 palidan/ 2 monk

It's because of your repair power but also because of the class split since it's based on artificer levels. It will continue to improve each level. With bladeforged the racial reconstruct is really good and based on character levels so it's amazing healing. If you have an investment in UMD you can also use wands/scrolls with 4 points spent to get wand and scroll mastery in arcanotechnician.

[Fools_Gold]

Hello Slarden,

As the title says, long overdue considering the improvements the many nice nuggests of advice in your comprehensive build posts have brought me. Your inbox on the site is full apparently else i'd have directed this there instead I suppose it was logical I should run into you at some time or other, given that i've spent most of my time so far either in warlock or some form of ranged build - both of which you have great advice on in your threads. I tend to have to try alone as i'm not confident enough to play with others, or as another forum poster put it. 'yay anxiety'. On the warlock i did manage reaper in heroics, but never on epic (have to say I really didn't have much gear for him in epics), but on the ranged lives at present, i've been able recently to replace the mind numbing drudge that is EN with the satisfying challenge & feeling of accomplishment represented by EE. I was able to do plenty of R1 too in epic bladeforged lives thanks to the prodigious healing they have, but sadly cocoon and spring don't seem to cut it in reaper when the going gets tough on fleshies, despite my best efforts with positive spellpower and heal amp. I know your opinion on running anything other than reaper, but at least for now i've found dropping down (i said down - that in itself is a sign of progress!) to EE to be both more manageable & more fun. Think i have around 29 reaper points now - a morning's work for some of you by the sounds of it, but ground out over many lives for me. I did notice you stated something like 120k rxp were possible from 1-20 on R3 - that seems rather a lot to me, but maybe my own figures (perhaps closer 50k a life i'd guess) were skewed in the past by wimping out of reaper when the quests got a little tougher. It takes some learning that eg R3 in gianthold is nothing like an R3 in say archons quests. Crucible aside (tried but it's so solo unfriendly) i can r3-r4 most of heroic GH on the ranged build, but try that against the abishai and i get toasted in very short order.

I did take your advice re cannith crafting & have used that to great effect. As gear and indeed levelling quests 20-28 seem somewhat sparse (i guess better players run the legendary content below level but that's not something i'm comfortable doing unless dropping down to LH), i've used a full cannith set for my ranged character at 24, still with the old 3 piece set bonus from sharn as there doesn;t seem anything better until the level 29's come available. As an inquisitive i'm stuck with a borderlands weapon till 29 which is a bit of a shame, but i've done the best i can with it sentience wise. There seems some debate on wether ratcatcher might still be better through those epic levels with its improved profile, but i've put so much effort now into that borderlands weapon i'm determined to stick with it (currently 3 crackshot, 3 long shadow and 1 deadly rain iirc). I noticed you stacked your character with as many NHB charges as you could between fighter and BE trees. As silly as it sounds i'm overly precious with those, especially in heroics, tending too often to save them for oh **** moments (read reapers or champs). I've tended to use ranger 6 over fighter 6 - as a scourge i guess that's dictated to me, but i do rely heavily on the CC and low cooldown offered by sniper shot. The tree also offers around 50 positive power along with some sneak attack, so it's not the sizeable 11 AP investment for only that one shot as i'd previously thought. I'd never have thought of delving into monk without your input - the 2 feats are great allowing for eventual SOTR, evasion is unreal (ask the abishai in grim) and the cherry on top is that one you pointed out in shintao for the added healing amp I'd never thought to try artificer either before reading your post, but that too has brought some nice things to the table. Extra time on a variety of items is nice qol - as is the AP saving from the int to damage spell - i just wish there could be timers with those arti spells though... sigh. I try and do it through similar timed ones - eg when my rams might runs out, i refresh the int/damage one also, but it's not ideal. I love the fact they can have weapon enhancements too - i don;t normally splash enough to take deadly weapons, but the adamantine is really handy for golems and i noticed you mentioned cold iron in your post - must go back to that one as i can;t remember the opponent there. I have the elemental ones hotbarred too and eg on that one in the cogs where you get first fire then ice opponents it's nice to be able to change it on the fly - so yes, very fun class and i'm glad you prompted me to try it.

Enough waffle for now - you don;t need me i'm sure to remind you of what you posted here in the first place. I hope one day i might return with some kind of a warlock success story to share. Would be a pity not to try again one day - i have almost all the PL's for it. Total contrast aren;t they to the ranged playstyle? Ie. awesome CC but pretty rotten single target damage. With the inquis, i sometimes struggle through to the end boss and he's gone in seconds - i'm left pretty speechless Take care matey & keep up the good work!

[cdemeritt]

Thank you for posting this build. My main interest is a Arti past life for my main character, and a build that can solo it. I've had little interest in Reaper over the last few years, and over the last 6 lives I've managed to acquire a grand total of 1 Reaper point. Since TR'ng again, a couple days ago, I've run every quest at 3 skull Reaper, and have gotten 3 more points. There have been deaths, due to unfortunate spawn champion/reapers locations and or combinations, but over all 3 skull has felt like what Elite was 5 or 6 years ago, dangerous but doable.


Anyways, I did have a couple questions that I didn't see asked...

Bit silly, but I haven't done a repeating crossbow build in a very long time... It looks like you recommend Light Repeating Crossbows instead of Heavy Repeating. Is there a reason I missed for this, (faster reload speed, tree enhancement, fire rate) I missed? I picked up both a heavy and light ferrocrystal RCB from the Feywilds, and couldn't see any difference, but this is at Lvl 6. Or did I just misinterpret your comments?

Do you find the Rune arm actually useful as a weapon? It might be the arm I'm using Strinati's Hand Cannon, and find it almost useless except for triggering mobs I couldn't target.

I didn't see anything in your post about the Arti Pet... Do you use it at all or is it just a hindrance to you? I usually use the wizard skelli pet as a plate sitter, lever puller, cannon fodder distraction, but not much else.

I'm sure there were a few more, but I forget at the moment.

[slarden]

Thank you for posting this build. My main interest is a Arti past life for my main character, and a build that can solo it. I've had little interest in Reaper over the last few years, and over the last 6 lives I've managed to acquire a grand total of 1 Reaper point. Since TR'ng again, a couple days ago, I've run every quest at 3 skull Reaper, and have gotten 3 more points. There have been deaths, due to unfortunate spawn champion/reapers locations and or combinations, but over all 3 skull has felt like what Elite was 5 or 6 years ago, dangerous but doable.

Gratz on getting comfortable with reaper and making some progress! There is a significant snowball effect with reaper - keep on plugging away and your first 40 or so points come relatively fast and you will feel much more powerful in reaper at that point. There is some learning curve with reapers that you will get more comfortable with over time.

Bit silly, but I haven't done a repeating crossbow build in a very long time... It looks like you recommend Light Repeating Crossbows instead of Heavy Repeating. Is there a reason I missed for this, (faster reload speed, tree enhancement, fire rate) I missed? I picked up both a heavy and light ferrocrystal RCB from the Feywilds, and couldn't see any difference, but this is at Lvl 6. Or did I just misinterpret your comments?

I didn't intentionally recommend light over heavy repeating - generally heavy is better unless you have some better abilities or racial synergies with light. There are some specific crossbows I really like for abilities and I use those whether it's light or heavy. The main thing is like those vorpal procs with 3 chances per shot.

I put this together before inquisitive and repeater is definitely better at lower levels, but as you get higher levels you will probably get more dps out of inquisitive. My build hasn't been updated for inquisitive. For hardcore I stick with repeater all the way to 20 and put alot of my points into defensive and survivability options ( I also use 15/3/2 split on hardcore and go warforged for better self healing).

Do you find the Rune arm actually useful as a weapon? It might be the arm I'm using Strinati's Hand Cannon, and find it almost useless except for triggering mobs I couldn't target..

It can be good aoe damage when you get swarmed, but I find I kill stuff fast enough from distance I don't use it all that often, but I like the procs on damage for sure

I didn't see anything in your post about the Arti Pet... Do you use it at all or is it just a hindrance to you? I usually use the wizard skelli pet as a plate sitter, lever puller, cannon fodder distraction, but not much else.

I use it mainly as a lever puller. My guild leader uses pets more effectively than I do - I tend to find they die so quick I just don't want to deal with them - esp when multi-classing.

[C-Dog]

...There are some specific crossbows I really like for abilities and I use those whether it's light or heavy. The main thing is like those vorpal procs with 3 chances per shot.

Had you mentioned those fav's in this thread? You laud droploot vorpals for their 3x proc rate, and I see you mention a triple positive greensteel repeater (ML 12) for Undead (same principle), but saw no others named specifically (but just a quick skim, could easily have missed something).

I like to use:

o ML 2: the Sharn Syndicate repeater (2d6 Cold +3, +2% doubleshot) (or an ML 3 vorpal I found*)

o then, ML 4: a pair of CC'd repeaters:
1) a 2d6 Force + 2d6 Bludgeon (now w/ a Winter games freezing ruby)
2) a 2d6 Force + 2d10 Unnatural w/ a Mabar Ghostbane gem
Both do well into mid-heroics, and the latter is enough for most Reapers. The ghost-touch trinket from Housekeeping means I don't have to switch for Reapers, but still do for undead-heavy combat, and there are other things I'd rather have in the Trinket slot.

o Reprising these in ML 10 form would be a noticeable improvement, but I myself have not done so as yet.

Fatal Flaw (ML 14) is solid (tho' the "Keen" is wasted by that time), an improvement over most droploot vorpals.

Silver Slinger is great for late-heroic undead (ML 16), but that's a farm that requires a Stealth character in the group. (And good luck w/ an Epic version!)

Any others jump to mind?

(* For the first couple runs, I found it worthwhile to re-configure the order of classes so Artificer stays dominant through (at least?) Level 7**, sacrificing earlier feats so that end-rewards include repeaters to find a good vorpal.)
(** Arti/Arti/Ftr/Mnk/Arti/Ftr/Mnk - beyond that the repeaters are getting higher ML, and not as useful compared to other options.)

My build hasn't been updated for inquisitive.

Have you put any thought into doing so? Could we talk you into same?

(Couple suggestions in that direction in this thread, and I have one I toyed with, but that might be something that calls for its own thread?)

[slarden]

Had you mentioned those fav's in this thread? You laud droploot vorpals for their 3x proc rate, and I see you mention a triple positive greensteel repeater (ML 12) for Undead (same principle), but saw no others named specifically (but just a quick skim, could easily have missed something).

I like to use:

o ML 2: the Sharn Syndicate repeater (2d6 Cold +3, +2% doubleshot) (or an ML 3 vorpal I found*)

o then, ML 4: a pair of CC'd repeaters:
1) a 2d6 Force + 2d6 Bludgeon (now w/ a Winter games freezing ruby)
2) a 2d6 Force + 2d10 Unnatural w/ a Mabar Ghostbane gem
Both do well into mid-heroics, and the latter is enough for most Reapers. The ghost-touch trinket from Housekeeping means I don't have to switch for Reapers, but still do for undead-heavy combat, and there are other things I'd rather have in the Trinket slot.

o Reprising these in ML 10 form would be a noticeable improvement, but I myself have not done so as yet.

Fatal Flaw (ML 14) is solid (tho' the "Keen" is wasted by that time), an improvement over most droploot vorpals.

Silver Slinger is great for late-heroic undead (ML 16), but that's a farm that requires a Stealth character in the group. (And good luck w/ an Epic version!)

Any others jump to mind?

(* For the first couple runs, I found it worthwhile to re-configure the order of classes so Artificer stays dominant through (at least?) Level 7**, sacrificing earlier feats so that end-rewards include repeaters to find a good vorpal.)
(** Arti/Arti/Ftr/Mnk/Arti/Ftr/Mnk - beyond that the repeaters are getting higher ML, and not as useful compared to other options.)


Have you put any thought into doing so? Could we talk you into same?

(Couple suggestions in that direction in this thread, and I have one I toyed with, but that might be something that calls for its own thread?)

Yes it's mainly fatal flaw which in addition the improved vorpal has solid base damage for the level - [2.5] and another [.5] from weapon attachment and [.25] from ship buff.

Right now I am really focused on the upcoming hardcore league and will use a variant of this build. So I need to figure out if I want to swap to ratcatcher at 12 or stick with repeaters all the way to 20.

You don't get crit bonuses or tier 5 from inquisitive until level 12. So at least on Hardcore 12 is the point where using ratcatcher + inquisitive becomes clearly superior to repeater for dps. Before that they both take enemies down so quick I don't even care.

Right now I am planning for HC season 4 using a slight variation of this build. Given the big increase in some enemy spell damage I am considering bladeforged 15 arti/3 paladin/2 monk for the higher saves and the extra reconstruct. The potential for taking big spell damage will be much higher this season unless they adjust the damage which seems unlikely.

My hc gear farming character will be the same build and I likely will start with mostly level 5 feywild gear to start my reaper run - fey gear is so OP for the level and I like the necronimicannon with ghostly, trap the soul, profane lifeforce 12 on it even with the lower proc damage. I still like blademark docent for docent until invulnerability stops being useful.

The reason I really like repeater esp for hardcore is the dps gets the job done with minimal ap investment so I can focus my ap on survivability while still doing respectable dps - esp for low skull reaper runs on hardcore.

On hardcore unless I get lucky with random loot I do start with the sharn syndicate repeater which often drops for me first try. They fey crossbow looks good at 5 although not really any better than sharn syndicate repeater.

So if I swap to inquisitive I would do so at level 12 for the extra crits. With the increased spell damage this year I still want 6 pts in sacred defender for 27 PRR, 25 MRR, 6 hp, 4 fort. I still want 6 pts in RMM for 35 Hp and 20 repair amp, 2pts in BF for fort and eliminating the 5% arcane spell failure and 8 pts in harper if I take insightful damage. That leaves me with 24 pts for inquisitive and I won't be to tier 5 until level 14. So it's either that or put the points in bladeforged for the racial reconstruct, .5[W] and 5% hp and stick with repeater.

The other build I am looking at is gnome starting with light repeater and swapping to ratcatcher at some point. Basically for 75% scroll boosts + greater color spray + earlier crit boost + damage boosts to complement inquisitive at higher levels. It would rely on scrolls until higher levels at which point I would swap to reconstruct.

[cdemeritt]

Just some observations from 2 weeks of running this build. These are more for new people looking to use this build to get into reapers rather than those who are used to reapers.

1: 3 Skull Reaper isn't that difficult especially the older content. For new content such as the Feywilds, I had to drop to 1 skull. I probably could have pushed 2 skull, but I just wanted to finish the chain quickly. I do however, currently have a 25% quest failure at 3 skull reaper, mostly from seriously unlucky spawns of champions and reapers in tight quarters during difficult fights. I suspect as I build up Reaper points, the failure rate will drop. I do have a 100% success rate at 1 skull.

2: Reapers aren't as bad if you can keep out of melee range of them.

3: Thank the Host I had upgraded my Pale Lavender Ioun Stone and had a stack of Ruby of Ghostbane from the last Night Revels. I still need (ransacked multiple times over mulitple lives) a Jack Jibbers blade.

4: Silver Flame heal potions are far more useful in reaper than elite. Still not a good combat healing, but if you can find a quite spot for a couple minutes, 50-60 hp per is much better than 5-10hp. The debuff usually makes me save SF pots for emergencies, but are helpful here.

5: Yugoloth potions have been very helpful as well. At lvl 20 or so, +30 HP isn't much. at Lvl 4, +30 HP is a lot. Penalties can be an issue, but not too much of one.

6: The Artifacer pet is nearly useless, due to the class split. It is frequently 1 shotted, and is a major mana sponge. I did make it a box breaker, which is somewhat helpful, but due to AI bug out, it frequently becomes stuck on a single box, and doesn't smash it. I'm not sure how many more levels before I simple stop summoning it.

7: In spite of a Lawful Good alignment (yes, I know, There are better choices, but since the "Ring of the Ancestors" as a "good" alignment requirement... maybe this life I'll make a GS raise dead clickie), I actually play closer to chaotic evil... Sending my hires, pets, summons to their certain death while I stay safely out of range.

8: Newer content seems designed to quickly drain Ioun Stones, much like orthons drain stoneskin. A single pixie enchanter in the Feywilds Wilderness Zone will drain about 8-10 charges off an Ioun stone with a single magic missle. Better to take the Ioun Stone off and use Nightshield scroll until you get to your quest.

9: The past lives prerequisites of monk/ranger are not necessary, but I'm sure helpful. I would not recommend trying this build with anything less than a 36 pt build, but it works with my Wizard/Barbarian/Rogue/Sorcerer past lives, and a few Epic lives. Mainly, don't skip this build just because you don't have everything recommended.

10: This build is weak against anything with a DR/pierce, mainly Skellies and Zombies. Plan Accordingly. Example: The Catacombs chain, I did all of the quests on Reaper 3, with the exception of The Crypt of Gerard Dryden, as this is a very long quest with mostly skellies, A real PITA. For this one I dropped to 1 skull. Same with Deleras chain.

11: I miss having DDoor. Most builds I play either have it as a spell, or I take human + mark of passage. They really need to start selling DDoor scrolls again.

12: I'm sure there's more, but I don't remember them.




Now I do have one question, How would you rate the Barovian's Morninglord's HRC vs. Ratcatcher? While it seems with the better crit range Ratcatcher is the better weapon, I have the Morninglords HRC, I don't have Ratcatcher, and I really don't like the Threnal chain. Is it Day/night better, or just a little bit so? Just wondering how much farming effort I need to make.

[C-Dog]

...My hc gear farming character will be the same build...

On hardcore unless I get lucky with random loot...

Great summation, thx!


Another question - trapping gear. How does one keep it current (enough)? Search and DD, plus Spot (if you want to chase that). 2-3 levels, and it's obsolete. Droploot is scarce, and named is even harder to find.

[slarden]

Great summation, thx!


Another question - trapping gear. How does one keep it current (enough)? Search and DD, plus Spot (if you want to chase that). 2-3 levels, and it's obsolete. Droploot is scarce, and named is even harder to find.

As an int build I have a big advantage on trapping to begin with. I am also running 4 levels above vs. 2 so there is some benefit there.

I only really worried about 2 items for trapping - the raven's eye set and keylock ring. Beyond that I used whatever better random loot I could find for search and disable. At least on hardcore finding good random loot in the AH isn't too hard - I sometimes couldn't afford the best available item, but I could always find something - it's much tougher for a first-lifer to find good random loot on the AH on live.

Since I went repeater I didn't have the huge ap investment in inquisitive. Harper has +3 to all skills in tier 3 and +3 search/spot in tier 1. Battle engineer has +3 disable and open locks. There are heroism potions and find trap scrolls (with arti bonus caster level). I also get my drow mask from motu xpac which might not be available to everyone. I even kept 10 prayer scrolls in my inventory but never used them last season.

[slarden]

Just some observations from 2 weeks of running this build. These are more for new people looking to use this build to get into reapers rather than those who are used to reapers.

1: 3 Skull Reaper isn't that difficult especially the older content. For new content such as the Feywilds, I had to drop to 1 skull. I probably could have pushed 2 skull, but I just wanted to finish the chain quickly. I do however, currently have a 25% quest failure at 3 skull reaper, mostly from seriously unlucky spawns of champions and reapers in tight quarters during difficult fights. I suspect as I build up Reaper points, the failure rate will drop. I do have a 100% success rate at 1 skull.

2: Reapers aren't as bad if you can keep out of melee range of them.

3: Thank the Host I had upgraded my Pale Lavender Ioun Stone and had a stack of Ruby of Ghostbane from the last Night Revels. I still need (ransacked multiple times over mulitple lives) a Jack Jibbers blade.

4: Silver Flame heal potions are far more useful in reaper than elite. Still not a good combat healing, but if you can find a quite spot for a couple minutes, 50-60 hp per is much better than 5-10hp. The debuff usually makes me save SF pots for emergencies, but are helpful here.

5: Yugoloth potions have been very helpful as well. At lvl 20 or so, +30 HP isn't much. at Lvl 4, +30 HP is a lot. Penalties can be an issue, but not too much of one.

6: The Artifacer pet is nearly useless, due to the class split. It is frequently 1 shotted, and is a major mana sponge. I did make it a box breaker, which is somewhat helpful, but due to AI bug out, it frequently becomes stuck on a single box, and doesn't smash it. I'm not sure how many more levels before I simple stop summoning it.

7: In spite of a Lawful Good alignment (yes, I know, There are better choices, but since the "Ring of the Ancestors" as a "good" alignment requirement... maybe this life I'll make a GS raise dead clickie), I actually play closer to chaotic evil... Sending my hires, pets, summons to their certain death while I stay safely out of range.

8: Newer content seems designed to quickly drain Ioun Stones, much like orthons drain stoneskin. A single pixie enchanter in the Feywilds Wilderness Zone will drain about 8-10 charges off an Ioun stone with a single magic missle. Better to take the Ioun Stone off and use Nightshield scroll until you get to your quest.

9: The past lives prerequisites of monk/ranger are not necessary, but I'm sure helpful. I would not recommend trying this build with anything less than a 36 pt build, but it works with my Wizard/Barbarian/Rogue/Sorcerer past lives, and a few Epic lives. Mainly, don't skip this build just because you don't have everything recommended.

10: This build is weak against anything with a DR/pierce, mainly Skellies and Zombies. Plan Accordingly. Example: The Catacombs chain, I did all of the quests on Reaper 3, with the exception of The Crypt of Gerard Dryden, as this is a very long quest with mostly skellies, A real PITA. For this one I dropped to 1 skull. Same with Deleras chain.

11: I miss having DDoor. Most builds I play either have it as a spell, or I take human + mark of passage. They really need to start selling DDoor scrolls again.

12: I'm sure there's more, but I don't remember them.

Now I do have one question, How would you rate the Barovian's Morninglord's HRC vs. Ratcatcher? While it seems with the better crit range Ratcatcher is the better weapon, I have the Morninglords HRC, I don't have Ratcatcher, and I really don't like the Threnal chain. Is it Day/night better, or just a little bit so? Just wondering how much farming effort I need to make.

Hello, thank you for sharing your experience with the build. This build pre-dates ravenloft and any newer content. It also pre-dates inquisitive which provides better dps - esp at higher levels and pre-dates the doubling of rxp from level 30+ quests.

I posted this build originally because I found this to be a very friendly build for someone with 0 rxp to start earning reaper points and this is why I use a modified version of this build on hardcore (I still had delusions of getting rxp on all my alts at this time).

For magic missles you can also farm out 4 protective gloves from necromancer's doom - the chest has no ransack and can be repeated by simply looting and not completing and then resetting.

I didn't use the pet except for situational lever pulling or distraction.

I tended to use UMD heavily on this build for scrolls. In part because artificer has UMD as a class skill, but also because artificer benefits from increased caster levels on scrolls + wand and scroll mastery. There is also a quick draw augment (topaz of quick movements) in feywild wilderness that drops readily that can be used to improve scroll and weapon swapping. On hardcore my UMD is much lower so I just go warforged for easier self-healing.

As you noted some newer quests are more difficult compared to older quests of the same level. I tend to cherry-pick and run the quests I want. The basic premise of the build still works the same with the major changes being the availability of inquisitive which offers higher dps at higher levels and of course the improved precise shot nerf makes clearing high hp mobs at higher levels more difficult.

The main reason I haven't updated this build is that I rarely go from 1-20 any more - I either go from 1-30 or 15-30 and I tend to focus on builds that will perform optimally at 30 rather than leveling since my main has alot of reaper points that make 1-20 much easier. I've also given up on alt play and have all my alts parked at 30 for raiding so I really only tr to change builds or sometimes a 15-30 itr to reset reaper first-time bonuses.

Repeater builds are definitely weak at 30 and even inquisitive builds are sub-par at 30 so I only run this on hardcore now where I am still focused on 1-20 and on lower difficulties (R1 or elite).The slightly modified build has worked well for me on hardcore. At epic levels you want sniper shot from ranger to combine with hunts end or adren so you would always want to splash 6 ranger to any ranged build. That isn't necessary at heroic levels.

I am keeping an eye on the bow changes and the upcoming bow tree. It's very likely that a ranger bow version of this build will be a better option and scale better to epic levels and level 30 - plus ranger autogrants alot of feats without the dex prereq. Precise shot grants +1 crit multiplier on 19-20 but only on longbows and shortbows. There are some other benefits that only apply to longbows and shortbows. It all looks very promising.

[C-Dog]

S - To plan for the imminent HCL Season 4, I've been experimenting off my main server w/ variations on this build (esp your HC version), and I keep finding that the lack of AoE is, well, fatal - and once is all it takes in HC.

Without any AoE, how does one address a large group of mobs intent on reducing your hit points into the deep negatives, when your "gear" consists mostly of droploot and the (mentioned above) nicked crossbow from Sharn Syndicate?

For normal leveling and TR/RR, I love this build, but for HC... is it just play skills that need improving to keep one alive 100% of the time?

[slarden]

S - To plan for the imminent HCL Season 4, I've been experimenting off my main server w/ variations on this build (esp your HC version), and I keep finding that the lack of AoE is, well, fatal - and once is all it takes in HC.

Without any AoE, how does one address a large group of mobs intent on reducing your hit points into the deep negatives, when your "gear" consists mostly of droploot and the (mentioned above) nicked crossbow from Sharn Syndicate?

For normal leveling and TR/RR, I love this build, but for HC... is it just play skills that need improving to keep one alive 100% of the time?

I don't use nicked crossbow all the way to 20. I run into the mists on casual at level 9 to get my barovian heavy repeater by level 10 for level 6 quests. I have been lucky and my farming character has been able to get fatal flaw all 3 seasons which I Start using at 14 for level 10 quests.

At level 5/10/15 I will swap to fey/ravenloft/sharn gear farmed out by my farming character(s).

For reaper points I cherrypick my quests and repeat the easiest quests and I usually hit cap at 18 while running level 14 quests and then just tr skipping all the content 15 and above.

If I go for favor I use a different character and I group with friends or pug - groups just plow through elite and the only real risk there are some one-shot mechanics. Mobs are no problem with 3 or more people and especially not with a full group. This build did fine in favor runs in past seasons although I have been thinking of mixing it up for a favor run - if I do the favor run. The only thing I know I will do for sure is the 10 pt reaper run so far.

I might go fvs caster this season for the favor run if the mount is interesting. Simply because it got a nice boost and the bonus 10 hp/level and energy absorbs will help with some of the over-tuned spell damage that started with 48.4. fvs caster checks all the boxes for hardcore for sure.

[NemesisAlien]

I don't use nicked crossbow all the way to 20. I run into the mists on casual at level 9 to get my barovian heavy repeater by level 10 for level 6 quests. I have been lucky and my farming character has been able to get fatal flaw all 3 seasons which I Start using at 14 for level 10 quests.

At level 5/10/15 I will swap to fey/ravenloft/sharn gear farmed out by my farming character(s).

For reaper points I cherrypick my quests and repeat the easiest quests and I usually hit cap at 18 while running level 14 quests and then just tr skipping all the content 15 and above.

If I go for favor I use a different character and I group with friends or pug - groups just plow through elite and the only real risk there are some one-shot mechanics. Mobs are no problem with 3 or more people and especially not with a full group. This build did fine in favor runs in past seasons although I have been thinking of mixing it up for a favor run - if I do the favor run. The only thing I know I will do for sure is the 10 pt reaper run so far.

I might go fvs caster this season for the favor run if the mount is interesting. Simply because it got a nice boost and the bonus 10 hp/level and energy absorbs will help with some of the over-tuned spell damage that started with 48.4. fvs caster checks all the boxes for hardcore for sure.

You got hardcore farming character? Can tell us how you keep it?

[slarden]

You got hardcore farming character? Can tell us how you keep it?

I use this character build for farming and I also have a wisdom pure fvs human character on an alt account - depending on the situation I might swap which one I am playing with (only play with one at a time - I can't operate 2 accounts at once unlike some). I was thinking of going bladeforged but the dex penalty is too much. I am going warforged 15 artifcer / 3 paladin / 2 monk although I don't yet have my 3 paladin so I haven't confirmed the fear immunity protects from the fear dot champion but that is my main reason for trying it out. I doubt my char will be high enough to get a meaningful save bonus but at higher levels with gear it should be at least a small bonus. If not I will have to stock enough fear removal pots.

I farm mostly solo but have a guildy that is on the fence and may join me even if he doesn't play to loot mimic tokens and build up some good leveling gear.

[Aglabac]

Slarden, could u update this build? I am a noob with crossbows but I want to try an inquisitive build

[C-Dog]

Slarden, could u update this build? I am a noob with crossbows but I want to try an inquisitive build

Slarden has addressed Inquisitive in this thread - read the last few pages, enough is there to get the job done.

[Garix]

Anyone had any luck pulling a Vorpal xbow (of any type) on HC?

On the normal servers I'm seeing them constantly, just getting absolute junk on HC this time round. Had a lack of keen as well (Only one so far).

[slarden]

Anyone had any luck pulling a Vorpal xbow (of any type) on HC?

On the normal servers I'm seeing them constantly, just getting absolute junk on HC this time round. Had a lack of keen as well (Only one so far).

I haven't seen any vorpal, I am wondering if they were removed from the low level loot tables or reduced. They used to drop frequently.

At low levels this works well: https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Necronimicannon

I see alot of soul gems drop - was hoping to combine it with vorpal though. The season has alot of curveballs - I am thinking if I have to start over I am going pure 20 artificer or 17 artificer / 3 paladin to max out hp and mrr. Maybe even throw in some offensive casting since I am sure I can be successful without any feat investments.

It's a super fun season! So many scary encounters.

[slarden]

Slarden, could u update this build? I am a noob with crossbows but I want to try an inquisitive build

Are you looking to run this on live or hardcore?

[Garix]

I haven't seen any vorpal, I am wondering if they were removed from the low level loot tables or reduced. They used to drop frequently.

At low levels this works well: https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Necronimicannon

I see alot of soul gems drop - was hoping to combine it with vorpal though. The season has alot of curveballs - I am thinking if I have to start over I am going pure 20 artificer or 17 artificer / 3 paladin to max out hp and mrr. Maybe even throw in some offensive casting since I am sure I can be successful without any feat investments.

It's a super fun season! So many scary encounters.

Until they release Feywild for points that particular item is out of reach unfortunately. Still at least it isn't just me not seeing much in the way of random drops.

Certainly enjoying this season more than the last