Reaper Check List

[LordOfSorrows]

This is a check list designed for new and veteran players.(I'M not including ETRS, Pastlifes or gear )


1. UMD (use magical device) not a dump skill for reaper its a requirement if you don't have spell heals or raises.

2. Scrolls, wands, pots, (heal,cure serious,raise dead,shield etc). In my opinion you are not a valued member of a reaper grp without these.

3."Know the quest" reaper is not the time to learn that is what normal,hard and elite is for.

4.Tactics (holding doors,jump spots,mob spawn points,trap places)

5.Alternate heal types example ,if you are a warforge you may carry repair for yourself but most likely the grp will not carry repair same with Undead wiz. This does not help the grp and in most cases becomes a burden. Be prepared to have a alternate way to heal or save those races for other difficulties. If you choose to want to run these types for racial lives in reaper set up a static grp so you can work together it will help.

6."Teamwork " I know we all zerged elite and EE but now is the time to get back to basics team effort will make reaper much easier.

7.Have a way to hear in reaper verbal instructions may save your life. Hard to type "Carnage Reaper to your left" in time before you here the death ding.

If I missed anything please add to this list this is designed as a tool .

[bls904c2]

have ghost touch or simular for reapers

[Khalibano]

Hi everyone

I just wanted to add a few suggestions for melee characters to survive a bit better in reaper. I've posted this in another thread, but I think it might be useful for this thread too:

Firstly, I don’t believe it is possible to build for max avoidance with all melee builds. I’m not here to argue that one specific melee class (e.g. monk) is better than all others either. Instead, I will try to argue that in order to deal with reaper as a melee, it is important to consider how you build your character and how you play it.

I play a few melee classes and builds:
- Pally/Ranger tempest TWF kopeshes, ranged bows
- Pally tank S&B dwarven axe, ranged throwing axes
- Bard/fighter/rog swash buckler & short swords, ranged most throwers
- Bard/fighter warchanter TWF Bast swords, ranged most throwers
- Monk henshin THF staves, ranged shurikens
- Monk Ninja Spy TWF short swords, ranged shurikens
- Druid/monk non wolf Wraps, ranged shurikens
From my experience playing reaper 5+ at endgame with most of these chars, this is what I would suggest:


Build with some defense in mind
Being 100% offense focused normally results in very quick and frequent deaths, and soulstones do zero damage Certainly focus more on dps gear, enhancements, feats, epic destinies and epic twists, as this is the main role of a melee dps character, but make sure you also boost your defense: PRR, MRR, and dodge are must haves on all dps builds; saves nice too whenever possible.
When a class does not provide enough heroic enhancements for defences, try balancing this by taking a defensive epic destiny. I chose to go mostly offensive with the heroic enhancs of my Swash bard while running in Unyielding Sentinel to boost my defenses. I can easily change to Dreadnought or Divine Crusader for more dps depending on the quest I decide to do, so no major issues with that approach.

Have as much dodge as possible
In high reaper skulls, most mobs will kill you with one hit. PRR that isn’t as high as a dedicated tank (300+) cannot stop/reduce that enough, but dodge can prevent it entirely. Therefore, any dodge% is essential, and always preferable to PRR (if/when you can’t get both). On most of my melees (incl my dwarven pally tank) I reach around 30% dodge 100% of the time. There are three things that need to be considered to achieve this amount of dodge:

1. Dodge cap (base 25%)
- ship buff ‘Fencing Master’ gives +2 Dodge cap + 25% base = 27% Dodge cap that all classes with a guild can achieve
- some class enhancements (not all classes) can raise this further
- Scion features (Air/ Astral Plane) can add +4 to Dodge cap

2. Max DEX bonus from armor (this value also caps your Dodge, so you want it to be as high as your Dodge cap)
- wear armor that has the most max dex bonus, and hence dodge: on many chars I found wearing medium armor better than heavy. This is normally not an issue for rangers, rogues and monks as they wear light armor/cloth
- class enhancements to max DEX bonus (pallies, fighters, bards, rangers, rogues all offer that)
- racial enhancements to max DEX bonus (Dwarves come to mind, can’t think of other races now)
- blue augment on armor for +2 max DEX


3. Dodge bonuses
- cannith craft a 22% Dodge item (15% enhancement bonus + 7 insight bonus). A nice item can be +15 enhancement Dodge, +45 Sheltering, +7 insight Dodge. Features such as dodge and mobility are good too, but with an item like this, I did not need them
- class/racial enhancements for dodge% & increase to max DEX bonus
- Scion features (Air/ Astral Plane) can add +4 to Dodge%
- there are many epic twists that can help add dodge%. I like tier 1 Magister Unearthly reactions: 3% dodge, +6 reflex saves and tumble that lets you pass through mobs
- an excellent twist I use on all my melees is the tier 3 Shadowdancer ‘Meld into Darkness’. This gives 100% dodge that ignores dodge cap and is added to your current dodge value for 15 seconds. Very handy, 2 min cooldown not too bad, depending on # skulls, practically able to use once per combat encounter.

Always get concealment bonus (though some mobs have true seeing, which negates this)
Blur gives 20% concealment. This can be obtained through items (Bracers of wind, heroic shroud etc.); wands via UMD or through kindly asking a caster in your group :-D

Displacement (50% concealment) is available for bards (which in my view, makes them a very strong class for reaper), bur for the other melee classes, I tend to twist tier 4 Shadowdancer ‘Improved Invisibility’ in some quests. It gives invisibility that is not broken by attacks nor spells for 30 seconds, so during this time you deal extra dps through sneak attack (Leg Executioner's Helm comes to mind), and once the invis is over, you receive a displacement buff for 1minute 30 secs with a 4 minute cooldown. When used wisely in between uses of Meld into Darkness, it can really help your chances of survival.

Always wear a ghostly item for incorporeality bonus (separate roll from concealment, so extra chance of avoidance)
A ghostly item is a must: 10% incorporeality is the best one can hope for without having to splash 6 monk levels for ‘Veil’ (25%), 12 wizard for ‘Wraith form’ (25%) or having to run in Shadowdancer destiny for ‘Shadow Form’ (25%).

Focus on some type of CC, and invest in the dcs for them
- Dire charge is usable by all classes as it uses the modifier of your highest ability, and in my opinion it is a must for all melee classes. Although investing in stun dc (bonuses: enhancement, insight, quality) may seem like a loss in dps, as it uses a couple of gear slots, it actually isn’t. Stun makes enemies helpless, which means they receive 50% more damage from all your attacks (even more if you twist ‘Sense weakness’ or have class/racial enhancements like ‘No mercy’). On top of that, while they are stunned you will stay alive, which means dps (once again, soulstones deal zero damage)
- Stunning blow is a great option for characters that have high strength. In my case, it is only one of my melees (Pally/ranger). Improved trip can be very useful for builds that focus on strength and take Combat expertise: putting a single target out of combat for a full 60 seconds is not a bad thing!
- Some class enhancements have debilitating attacks that help with cc: warchanters Mass & single target freeze stuns, Swash ‘Low Blow’, monks ‘stunning fists’, ‘jade’. Not all melee classes have that available in enhancements though (fighter, ranger, rogue and pally come to mind), though these normally have very powerful attacks that can almost insta kill mobs


Don’t run ahead of the group drawing agro from an entire group of mobs hoping that cleaves and great cleaves will do the job
This suggestion, in my opinion, is the biggest game changer for many melee players. Since melees are a minority in reaper groups, your group members (ranged and offensive casters) will most likely draw agro. Therefore, that ‘agro drawing role’ should not be part of the role of a ‘dps melee’ character. Instead, move strategically around/behind enemies, mass stun with dire charge, use dps attacks, cleaves, etc. Once the mobs are no longer stunned (and while dire charge is on cooldown), use another form of singe target cc (feats/enhancs suggested above) combined with meld into darkness (or if that is on cooldown Improved invisibility) to up your defense.
Even when both ‘MID’ and ‘Impr Invis’ are on cooldown, if you have focused on achieving higher dodge (as per advice above), you will be deflecting damage far more often than if you were 100% dps focused.
The bottom line is while alive, you may deal a bit less damage, since you took so many defensive feats, enhancs, etc., but you will do so for longer than if you are simply a soulstone in someone’s backpack.

It has certainly helped my melee characters be more useful in reaper, while making me feel far less frustrated while playing them.

Apologies for the length of my post and I hope these suggestions are useful. Thank you for reading this

[LadySorrows]

Hi everyone

I just wanted to add a few suggestions for melee characters to survive a bit better in reaper. I've posted this in another thread, but I think it might be useful for this thread too:

Firstly, I don’t believe it is possible to build for max avoidance with all melee builds. I’m not here to argue that one specific melee class (e.g. monk) is better than all others either. Instead, I will try to argue that in order to deal with reaper as a melee, it is important to consider how you build your character and how you play it.

I play a few melee classes and builds:
- Pally/Ranger tempest TWF kopeshes, ranged bows
- Pally tank S&B dwarven axe, ranged throwing axes
- Bard/fighter/rog swash buckler & short swords, ranged most throwers
- Bard/fighter warchanter TWF Bast swords, ranged most throwers
- Monk henshin THF staves, ranged shurikens
- Monk Ninja Spy TWF short swords, ranged shurikens
- Druid/monk non wolf Wraps, ranged shurikens
From my experience playing reaper 5+ at endgame with most of these chars, this is what I would suggest:


Build with some defense in mind
Being 100% offense focused normally results in very quick and frequent deaths, and soulstones do zero damage Certainly focus more on dps gear, enhancements, feats, epic destinies and epic twists, as this is the main role of a melee dps character, but make sure you also boost your defense: PRR, MRR, and dodge are must haves on all dps builds; saves nice too whenever possible.
When a class does not provide enough heroic enhancements for defences, try balancing this by taking a defensive epic destiny. I chose to go mostly offensive with the heroic enhancs of my Swash bard while running in Unyielding Sentinel to boost my defenses. I can easily change to Dreadnought or Divine Crusader for more dps depending on the quest I decide to do, so no major issues with that approach.

Have as much dodge as possible
In high reaper skulls, most mobs will kill you with one hit. PRR that isn’t as high as a dedicated tank (300+) cannot stop/reduce that enough, but dodge can prevent it entirely. Therefore, any dodge% is essential, and always preferable to PRR (if/when you can’t get both). On most of my melees (incl my dwarven pally tank) I reach around 30% dodge 100% of the time. There are three things that need to be considered to achieve this amount of dodge:

1. Dodge cap (base 25%)
- ship buff ‘Fencing Master’ gives +2 Dodge cap + 25% base = 27% Dodge cap that all classes with a guild can achieve
- some class enhancements (not all classes) can raise this further
- Scion features (Air/ Astral Plane) can add +4 to Dodge cap

2. Max DEX bonus from armor (this value also caps your Dodge, so you want it to be as high as your Dodge cap)
- wear armor that has the most max dex bonus, and hence dodge: on many chars I found wearing medium armor better than heavy. This is normally not an issue for rangers, rogues and monks as they wear light armor/cloth
- class enhancements to max DEX bonus (pallies, fighters, bards, rangers, rogues all offer that)
- racial enhancements to max DEX bonus (Dwarves come to mind, can’t think of other races now)
- blue augment on armor for +2 max DEX


3. Dodge bonuses
- cannith craft a 22% Dodge item (15% enhancement bonus + 7 insight bonus). A nice item can be +15 enhancement Dodge, +45 Sheltering, +7 insight Dodge. Features such as dodge and mobility are good too, but with an item like this, I did not need them
- class/racial enhancements for dodge% & increase to max DEX bonus
- Scion features (Air/ Astral Plane) can add +4 to Dodge%
- there are many epic twists that can help add dodge%. I like tier 1 Magister Unearthly reactions: 3% dodge, +6 reflex saves and tumble that lets you pass through mobs
- an excellent twist I use on all my melees is the tier 3 Shadowdancer ‘Meld into Darkness’. This gives 100% dodge that ignores dodge cap and is added to your current dodge value for 15 seconds. Very handy, 2 min cooldown not too bad, depending on # skulls, practically able to use once per combat encounter.

Always get concealment bonus (though some mobs have true seeing, which negates this)
Blur gives 20% concealment. This can be obtained through items (Bracers of wind, heroic shroud etc.); wands via UMD or through kindly asking a caster in your group :-D

Displacement (50% concealment) is available for bards (which in my view, makes them a very strong class for reaper), bur for the other melee classes, I tend to twist tier 4 Shadowdancer ‘Improved Invisibility’ in some quests. It gives invisibility that is not broken by attacks nor spells for 30 seconds, so during this time you deal extra dps through sneak attack (Leg Executioner's Helm comes to mind), and once the invis is over, you receive a displacement buff for 1minute 30 secs with a 4 minute cooldown. When used wisely in between uses of Meld into Darkness, it can really help your chances of survival.

Always wear a ghostly item for incorporeality bonus (separate roll from concealment, so extra chance of avoidance)
A ghostly item is a must: 10% incorporeality is the best one can hope for without having to splash 6 monk levels for ‘Veil’ (25%), 12 wizard for ‘Wraith form’ (25%) or having to run in Shadowdancer destiny for ‘Shadow Form’ (25%).

Focus on some type of CC, and invest in the dcs for them
- Dire charge is usable by all classes as it uses the modifier of your highest ability, and in my opinion it is a must for all melee classes. Although investing in stun dc (bonuses: enhancement, insight, quality) may seem like a loss in dps, as it uses a couple of gear slots, it actually isn’t. Stun makes enemies helpless, which means they receive 50% more damage from all your attacks (even more if you twist ‘Sense weakness’ or have class/racial enhancements like ‘No mercy’). On top of that, while they are stunned you will stay alive, which means dps (once again, soulstones deal zero damage)
- Stunning blow is a great option for characters that have high strength. In my case, it is only one of my melees (Pally/ranger). Improved trip can be very useful for builds that focus on strength and take Combat expertise: putting a single target out of combat for a full 60 seconds is not a bad thing!
- Some class enhancements have debilitating attacks that help with cc: warchanters Mass & single target freeze stuns, Swash ‘Low Blow’, monks ‘stunning fists’, ‘jade’. Not all melee classes have that available in enhancements though (fighter, ranger, rogue and pally come to mind), though these normally have very powerful attacks that can almost insta kill mobs


Don’t run ahead of the group drawing agro from an entire group of mobs hoping that cleaves and great cleaves will do the job
This suggestion, in my opinion, is the biggest game changer for many melee players. Since melees are a minority in reaper groups, your group members (ranged and offensive casters) will most likely draw agro. Therefore, that ‘agro drawing role’ should not be part of the role of a ‘dps melee’ character. Instead, move strategically around/behind enemies, mass stun with dire charge, use dps attacks, cleaves, etc. Once the mobs are no longer stunned (and while dire charge is on cooldown), use another form of singe target cc (feats/enhancs suggested above) combined with meld into darkness (or if that is on cooldown Improved invisibility) to up your defense.
Even when both ‘MID’ and ‘Impr Invis’ are on cooldown, if you have focused on achieving higher dodge (as per advice above), you will be deflecting damage far more often than if you were 100% dps focused.
The bottom line is while alive, you may deal a bit less damage, since you took so many defensive feats, enhancs, etc., but you will do so for longer than if you are simply a soulstone in someone’s backpack.

It has certainly helped my melee characters be more useful in reaper, while making me feel far less frustrated while playing them.

Apologies for the length of my post and I hope these suggestions are useful. Thank you for reading this

Great info for melee builds -- but from reading the OP your response has absolutely nothing to do with the point he was making. He was making the point that to be prepared for reaper you need certian things such as umd, healing, tactics, clickies - proper weapons for the mobs. I would like to add that your informations is nice and super informative, but it is completely based around epics -- folks aren't really running epics now and builds absolutely need to be made heroics (atleast for the folks running heroics) right now since a majority of the server is doing 1-20 turnarounds racial trs - not epics.

I would add on to original posters information some points as well:
1. Build for heroics if you are doing 1-20 turnarounds building for epics is meaningless
2. If you are in reaper run and find yourself in over your head step back take a support role in the group. Use your wands to heal the group, buff your group if you have the capability, if you are taking too much damage even as a melee pull out your ranged weapon and drop back with everyone else and do some ranged dmg.
3. Some builds take several levels for them to come together and that is alright - make sure if you have one of the builds you are still able to contribute to your reaper groups.
4. Don't just use one thing for your defense in reaper don't rely on just EVASION DODGE or PRR AC MRR or BLUR DISPLACEMENT or SPELL ABSORPTION ITEMS -- use them all together in concert - you can never have too many coatings of defense.
5. UMD BEATS ALL!!!!!!!
6. If you are rocking only barely 100hp or just bit over it and you are above lvl 4 stepping into a reaper (especially anything above R1) run is going to be painful for you and for the group who has to carry your stone.
7. Fortification is ABSOLUTELY NEEDED - as much as you get as soon as you can get it. Fort is the difference between living and dying when being critted by a mob.

[DrawingGuy]

I don't really like reposting stuff, but this thread is much more relevant than the other thread I put this on. Expanded on it anyways.


Checklist of Consumables you should try to get:

Places you can find Scroll Vendors:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Scrolls

Places you can find Wand Vendors:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Wands

Places you can find Potions:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Potions


- Displacement: While there is an Endless potion that allows for level 1 access, it is 60 seconds on a 5 minute cooldown. That cooldown is too long for any active use, so GS Clickies are the best way to get this at level 11. You can get Bracers of Wind at level 7 for perma Blurry. As these bracers can also provide dodge and Air Guard at higher levels, this is a strong Heroic level item. The soonest access to blur is Level 3 from a Wizard or a Light Monk (though Monk you have to be right next to and only lasts 60 seconds). Warlock, Bard, and Sorc get it at Level 4. Wands of Blur exist, but are random drop only, so can only be found in chests or off AH/ASAH. However working on Displacement Clickies is a goal you should have to better handle Reaper Mode.
- Haste: Haste helps anyone that does not have a run speed item (Quiver of Alacrity ftw!) and movement speed is important to avoid attacks (the OPness of kiting...). They also give 15% attack speed for ranged and melee making them as good or better than any heroic item you'll be using. 30 second potions are sold at pretty much every single potion vendor. GS clickies can give you longer access. You can get longer (2 minute) versions from the Wizard comm vendor in E*. Level 15 (1.5 min) and 20 (2 min) also can come from dice rolls, so you can find these on AH on occasion.
- Resist Energy Potions/Wands: You could safely ride Ship buffs on Elite and low level reaper, but death is pretty inevitable in higher level Reapers, and that will make your Ship Cargo resists vanish. ML 1 wands (10 resists) are available in Marketplace and House K. ML 1 (10) potions are available in Marketplace, ML 6 (20) are available in the Twelve, ML 10 (30) are available as collectables trade-ins (see Potions Wiki page). Crafting Resists on equipment is also recommended, Light and Poison being high on the list as they are common dots and are not covered by buffs.
- Yugo Potions: Every non-melee should be using Yugo CON potions. If you keep getting 1-shot, then even as a melee you should use it. Others are useful for raising DCs to handle the harder content or saves.
- Shield wand/scrolls: Can be found in Marketplace or House K or Nightshield Clicky: http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Nig...d_clicky_items
- Greater Heroism: This can be done by scroll from House J or Portable Hole. Verisgante in House J sells 10 minute potions that can be used at level 1 by trading in Amulets of the Lost Empire, or you can trade in Purple Knight comms in E* for a 20 minute version. These also can be obtained off Dice Rolls and AH/ASAH. Planar Gird can cover you from 11+: http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Planar_Gird
- Fire Shield: Scrolls in House J or Portable Hole. Half fire or ice damage (scroll can cast either) as well as web immunity. Can also be obtained via potions with Festivault event.
- Deathward: Clicky is the best way to get this, and is found on http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Visor_o..._Render_Guards. You can also get potions traded for with Mikela Ravenspear in Necro for Abbot Rings, Cleric Comms in E*, or an Endless potion for 10k Remnants
- Freedom of Movement: Endless potion is my suggested method. There are multiple items that provide this such as http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Kundarak_Delving_Boots
- Stoneskin: This can be found in House 12 in wand form or J/Portable Hole as scroll form. Clicky form from a GS items is another classic access
- Tenser's Transformation: This is for non-caster's obviously, but +6 AC, +4 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, and max BAB is a big boost. Can be found in House P or Portable Hole
- Petrify Runestones: If you're on a class that can't CC a reaper or there are more than you can handle, use these: http://ddowiki.com/page/Runestone Note these work well in Heroic, but are useless outside of it
- Air Elemental Gems: You can only get these during Crystal Cove, but farming a ton of these during the event can make your Heroic Reaper questing easier: http://m.ddowiki.com/page/Item:Great...cean%27s_Winds
- Cure/Repair/Inflict Wands: You can get them from Cure Light to Cure Critical. Buying ones from outside of the Guild Vendors in House K means you could pass them out to people with UMD so you can support each other more strongly than you could self-healing. Repair and Inflict wands are not going to be needed as much, but having one on hand to help the WF/BF or Necro in party can help. If you are one of those, carrying some (especially if you're tanking) to hand out is a good idea.
- Heal/Raise Dead/Resurrection Scrolls: The obvious ones to get, though getting unbound versions to share with party members when needed can really help.
- Restoration/Greater Restoration Scrolls: Reaper nerfs dice rolls, making the classic Lesser Restoration potions often recover no stat points or only 1/2 on a lucky roll. This means you need to carry Restoration to recover lost stats. You can also get Restoration potions from the E* Druid vendor, though obviously plat is easier to farm than comms, so should only be used when a scroll cannot be.
- Teleport Scrolls: They give you access to Portable Hole - a central location to get many of your scrolls - as well as able to save you a lot of running.
- DDoor Scrolls: These are only obtained as rare drops or off AH/ASAH, but NEVER leave these behind in a chest. Being able to reach safety or a past unused shrine can be important.
- Fireball Wands: Fireball ignores wall clipping, so can allow you to kill things in safety or make certain mechanics easier, so you should always have one on you. Unbound versions can be found in Marketplace, House J, and House P. House K sells bound versions that go up to 8th level. 10th level Fireball wands are random drop only.
- Adamantine Weapons scrolls: These scrolls can be found in House C. While expensive, they can help give an important DR bypass to non-caster toons if they don't have it handy. Petrification Runestones are a powerful CC in heroics that anyone can use to help control crowns and reapers, but comes with Adamantine DR. LGS Freezing Ice also has a ridiculous Addy DR, and of course certain mobs and targets will have this DR. It can be cast on others allowing people with two handed weapons to benefit and saving TWF builds from having to use two scrolls.
- Lucky Cape scrolls: These scrolls can be found in House C, and provide +1 Luck bonus to all saves.
- Rare Arty scrolls: Artificer scrolls can provide every bypass possible boosting the party's DPS or even +1[w] from Deadly Weapons. There is also Armor of Speed which gives a longer duration attack speed boost than Haste provides. However most bypasses as well as Deadly and Speed are drop only making them tough to collect and a goal for helping specific content rather than a standard carry. But due to reduced damage, it's much harder to just ignore DR, so should indeed be a consideration.


As for raising your UMD, the UMD Wiki gives a ton of detail on UMD sources: http://ddowiki.com/page/Use_Magic_Device

Key pieces:
- Greater Heroism: It is a must for saves as well as UMD use
- Persuasion: Can be crafted from level 4+... or can be obtained by the DDO Store's Bunny Hat
- Big Top hat: it's only +1, but that's a 5% greater chance when you're struggling
- Greensteel +6 Exceptional: This is a big deal, and is what lets me use Heal Scrolls and other big ticket UMD items 11+
- Charisma items: This should be obvious, but so many people don't carry CHA items when that is not a class stat. I actually perma-wear CHA throughout heroics to make UMD easier to use on the fly, but you should always have it as at least a swap
- UMD Skill Tomes: If you have the store points available, watch for a sale and snag these over any other skill tome.
- Action Boost: If you have access to this via race or class and are low on UMD, use this. For example take it on a Human over the Power action boost to start with.
- Epic Past Life: This is an active option from the Martial Sphere. Either remember to switch to this, or don't use Doublestrike/Fort until your UMD is high enough on its own. Martial also raises AC - so completing 3 of these before a racial/heroic TR train is a good idea to raise both survival as well as UMD use.
- Guild Buffs: If you're in a low level guild, don't be afraid to ask a party member in a higher level guild for a ship invite.

UMD can be raised to usable levels no matter the class. And if you're only doing 1-20, you may even want to consider dropping a skill from 18 to 16 and putting those 6 build points into CHA. Being able to use a Shield right off the bat to save yourself from Magic Missiles that can be deadly in Reaper could be a bigger deal than maxing your main stat. As LadySorrows said, "Build for Heroics" if that's all you're doing. If you plan on high-level Reaper in heroics, you may want to build for heroics even if you're doing Epics as you can always feat swap or LR later. UMD is a must if you want to properly contribute to the party or even just help yourself.

[Khalibano]

Great info for melee builds -- but from reading the OP your response has absolutely nothing to do with the point he was making.

All the information I posted aimed at doing what you suggested the OP had in mind:

He was making the point that to be prepared for reaper you need certian things

Thats exactly what I tried to say: you need certain things, such as to build some defence as a melee (vs only offense) and re-think tactics. Hardly irrelevant

I would like to add that your informations is nice and super informative, but it is completely based around epics -- folks aren't really running epics now and builds absolutely need to be made heroics (atleast for the folks running heroics) right now since a majority of the server is doing 1-20 turnarounds racial trs - not epics

I did not aim my post at epics, I aimed it at reaper (both heroic and epic). Building defense (dodge, PRR, etc), doesnt start at epics, it starts at leve 1 with choices of features, enhancements, etc. Yes, my post also covered some useful choices at epic levels, but Im sorry to say I dont find that irrelevant, as all characters will eventually reach epics According to Sev, in their last DDO podcast, reaper xp at end game will be raised, so those who find themselves forced to run heroics to level reaper trees, may have more options soon. Also, not everyone is on board of the racial TR train, many like me would like to be able to stay at endgame and have fun.

4. Don't just use one thing for your defense in reaper don't rely on just EVASION DODGE or PRR AC MRR or BLUR DISPLACEMENT or SPELL ABSORPTION ITEMS -- use them all together in concert - you can never have too many coatings of defense..

This exactly what I tried to say in my post, but you thought it was irrelevant. Im confused...



In any case, I still hope the info is useful to new and veteran players (as per OP) reading this thread

Thanks

[PsychoBlonde]

Shield/nightshield, wands or clickies, are absolutely mandatory. One champ with a single magic missile will destroy you utterly.

If you're highly reliant on a single damage type (piercing/slashing/bludgeoning), you're going to run across mobs that are virtually immune to your damage. Have a backup.

Lesser restoration potions often do nothing. Get restoration scrolls as soon as you can, they'll actually clear your stat damage.

GET A STRIDING ITEM. If you can't get away from mobs because you crawl like an overweight potato, guess what, you are dead.

Learn how to physically dodge ray spells.

Staying alive > a little more damage. Dead toon has DPS of zero.

When you start getting reaper points, put ALL of them initially into the GUARDIAN tree. The extra HP makes up for a lot of problems. You can move them later.

If you have lousy situational awareness, Reaper is probably not for you.

Sometimes all you can really do is die strategically, that is, close to the shrine. Dying is part of Reaper.

[LadySorrows]

Drawing Guy Great list....Super Informative

Can I add a couple things to one spot that you didn't have --- elemental resists I know it's been forever as veteran players since we used them but House J and House P -- I believe ithey have elemental buffs you can buy after you get favor having recently been leveling a low lvl guild up I resorted to old school measures and bought my resists there until we were high enough to get them on the guild ship. Also, the other day I was in House C at the artie scroll vendor I went to pick up some ablative armor scrolls and lucky cape scrolls -- there is elemental resists scrolls at that vendor I guess I never noticed it til that day -- but puti in the memory banks so I could get them for toons who can't put their own resistances on through spells.

[LadySorrows]

Khalibano -- I think maybe you misunderstood me -- I think what you wrote for Melee builds was great and super informative - I agree with everything you wrote. What maybe I didn't get across is I didn't see the relevance to putting builds in a thread that isn't about builds -- but items, and skills, spells needed for Reaper Runs.

If I offended you that was not my intent. I do think everything you said is Relevant - just not in this thread I believe any information for melee to help them in Reaper is needed as Melee's are having the hardest time in Reaper runs from everything I have seen. I just feel like your information would be more useful in a thread dedicated towards reaper builds than a thread dedicated towards resources needed to survive and thrive in reaper groups.

[LadySorrows]

PSA......

If you are in a group reaper or otherwise and you see a fellow group member go down and they are in the pink -- and you can't pop something on them to get them back up because you have the agrro -- please don't run over the top of their prone body with the mobs. Take the mobs away from that group member they can maybe get up and help you if they come back -- running mobs over their prone body will probably kill them.

[mons]

PSA......

and you see a fellow group member go down and they are in the pink -- and you can't pop something on them

This went from DDO to something much more interesting real quick just sayin...sorry Jerry, I had to.

[acdcrocks]

i play on sarlona, but this is some good info. will bookmark

[DrawingGuy]

Drawing Guy Great list....Super Informative

Can I add a couple things to one spot that you didn't have --- elemental resists I know it's been forever as veteran players since we used them but House J and House P -- I believe ithey have elemental buffs you can buy after you get favor having recently been leveling a low lvl guild up I resorted to old school measures and bought my resists there until we were high enough to get them on the guild ship. Also, the other day I was in House C at the artie scroll vendor I went to pick up some ablative armor scrolls and lucky cape scrolls -- there is elemental resists scrolls at that vendor I guess I never noticed it til that day -- but puti in the memory banks so I could get them for toons who can't put their own resistances on through spells.

You can indeed get the buffs via House P or J favor, though I don't believe any persist through death, so you're back to the square one of losing your Ship resists. Though in case you missed it, I did cover Elemental Resists in my post:

- Resist Energy Potions/Wands: You could safely ride Ship buffs on Elite and low level reaper, but death is pretty inevitable in higher level Reapers, and that will make your Ship Cargo resists vanish. ML 1 wands (10 resists) are available in Marketplace and House K. ML 1 (10) potions are available in Marketplace, ML 6 (20) are available in the Twelve, ML 10 (30) are available as collectables trade-ins (see Potions Wiki page). Crafting Resists on equipment is also recommended, Light and Poison being high on the list as they are common dots and are not covered by buffs.

As for Arti Scrolls, didn't think much about those since as awesome as Arti buffs are, much of the good ones are either not freely available, or can't really be self cast... but old habits don't think about casting expensive scrolls on party as not used to the quests being tough enough to bother. That said, both Ablative and Lucky Cape are good ideas. However Ablative falls flat as it is only a level 1 scroll, and thus only prevents 5 damage period - Stoneskin is much better in that regard. Lucky cape, however, is +1 Luck to saves, lasts 5 minutes, and can be used from 1 until 12 when you can slot a +1 luck augment. Adding some arti scrolls to my list.

[Khalibano]

LadySorrows: no offense taken, apologies if I came across as being annoyed

Great info in this thread!