Looking for build help

[Blank_Zero]

Tired of constantly feeling the need to TR to something better every time I come back from a break. Wanting to play endgame for a while on my main before girding myself for the TR grind again. I'll have to TR my current life into something else due to being gone a while again, and there's been so many changes I never caught up on that I'll need some assistance choosing a build.

My "needs" are:

1. Evasion. Preferably 2 Rogue path, but not against Monk. Just like to have trapping and lockpick when soloing, and UMD.

2. Melee TWF. It's what I started as and all of my gear is aimed towards it (with some choice Two Handers for early levels)

3. Probably not "Pure" 20. I've always found them boring

4. High DPS/High survivability. I'm not trying to be a glass cannon. Yes I want to kill things fast, but I'm not going for optimized speed kills.

5. Solo-play. I solo a lot, as high of difficulty as I can manage. I want to be able to handle Reaper 1 as a minimum, and EE when I get there.

And that's it! I'll have 36pt buy and a few PL feats to work with, but not Completionist. Thanks in advance.

[Selvera]

The best glass cannon builds are pure 20 afaik right now. But you don't want glass cannon...

Evasion + TWF builds are sort of glass cannon by nature (assassin and tempest are the big 2).
Note that glass cannon doesn't mean dies instantly if you build and gear it correctly. Displacement clickies; reaper points; LGS HP gear and some small investment in defense can go a long way on any build.

You could take something like my 6monk/6fighter/6ranger build into epics (good mix of damage and survablity); but it's built for heroics and you want to focus endgame.

My current theorycrafting for tanky-solo-reaper-at-cap build is based on swashbuckling with a shield for that extra survivability. That's not twf.

IMO; if you have evasion; you really don't need trapping, especially while soloing. You just ignore traps and if your hapless party dies to them; you raise them.

Your best option is probably just a dex-based aasimar TWF 20 ranger with a few defensive options picked up instead of going pure dps.
Or a 14/6 paladin/ranger could work; using heavy armor for tankyness or light armor for evasion as needed.
Or a pure 20 monk handwraps build. (Solid T2 damage, good defenses and some CC options)
Or an 18/2 fighter/monk split. (centered with khopeshes build, lots of dodge/use fighter feats to get grandmaster)
18/2 rogue/monk assassin sounds good; but also sounds like it's missing the AoE damage needed to solo well.

[Discpsycho]

These aren't particularly innovative, but a couple of things sprang to mind:

Dex-based 12 Ranger, 6 Fighter, 2 Rogue. T5 Tempest or Kensei, Core #4 of DWS, at least Core #3 of Kensei, 8 points in StD. This will give you great attack speed / doublestrike, +1 crit range and multiplier, PRR from Stalwart Defender, trapping. Also fairly flexible in terms of weapon types

Similar to above, but 12 Ranger / 6 Monk / 2 Rogue. Cloth rather than light armor, and you're much more limited in weapons, though you'll have sufficient AP for Ninja Spy Core #3 and Shintao's PRR buff. Speccing into VKF (at least 12 points) gets you doublestrike and centers you with daggers, if you have a few of those on hand

18 Cleric / FvS / Wizard, 2 Rogue. Evasion, buffs / heals / spellcasting. Cleric gets you Holy Sword if you want to skip the VKF route in favor of the healing aura. Wizard offers PM and EK which will both work well with Harper's KTA. FvS will require VKF and probably Falconer, but like Wizard only requires a single stat, and unlike Wizard lets you heal other people (and vice versa, if you're a PM). All three of these are on the hybrid-y side and will probably play pretty similarly

Edit: Oops, for some reason I thought you were looking for a heroic build. The first two will probably serve you better at endgame than the hybrid builds

[Blank_Zero]

Your best option is probably just a dex-based aasimar TWF 20 ranger with a few defensive options picked up instead of going pure dps.
Or a 14/6 paladin/ranger could work; using heavy armor for tankyness or light armor for evasion as needed.
Or a pure 20 monk handwraps build. (Solid T2 damage, good defenses and some CC options)
Or an 18/2 fighter/monk split. (centered with khopeshes build, lots of dodge/use fighter feats to get grandmaster)
18/2 rogue/monk assassin sounds good; but also sounds like it's missing the AoE damage needed to solo well.

That's a lot of options! Any merit to a 12 ranger/5 monk/3 pally build?

[Selvera]

12 ranger/5 monk/3 pali?

I guess there's some merit to that...

12 ranger -> This gives you evasion, Improved TWF for free, lets you take the valuable tempest T5's and gives you +1/+1 threat range, and +10% offhand strike chance with an investment of 61 AP in ranger trees. (21 deepwood, 40 tempest)

3 pali -> This gives you up to +14 all saves, 25 prr/mrr stance and fear immunity (although fear immunity is easy to get otherwise). At the cost of 9 AP (Or possibly better spent is 6 AP and only get +11 all saves).

5 monk -> 1 level monk gives you 10% offhand strike chance with 4AP. Above that means I suppose you're looking to go PJ's and centered; giving you nice large bonuses to dodge and AC, in exchange for lower-damage weapons and less PRR (you'd only be able to use shortswords/longswords/kamas/unarmed, all of which are way worse then khopeshes or scimitars). You could make up for some of the lost PRR by investing 8AP in the shintao tree, and 1AP in henshin.

21 + 40 + 9 + 8 + 1 = 79 AP; split is within the realm of possiblity.
I haven't checked feats yet to see if you can get grandmaster reasonably; but since you have 3 free ranger feats and 2 free monk feats; probably.
I'm imagining this as a dex based tempest split.

Missing the tempest capstone and KTA both will negatively impact the dps the build does; but I think it will still be able to solo R1 at cap with a decent set of gear, possibly R2/R3 with a top-tier set of gear and a number of useful pastlives (3x doublestrike, 3x monk, 1x rogue, and some defense).

Of course; I haven't tested such a build; pure theorycraft on my part.

[Blank_Zero]

My other idea was to forgo Monk and run 12 Ranger/5 Rogue/3 Pally to get the extra Saves, Trapping, full UMD, and SA dice.

Came up with this to start.

New Build
12/5/3 Ranger/Rogue/Paladin
Lawful Good Aasimar


Level Order

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


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 10. . . .+4. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 18. . . .+4. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 16. . . .+4. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . 12. . . .+4. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . 14. . . .+4. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Skills
. . . . .Rg Pa Pa Pa Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rg Rg Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn
. . . . . 1 .2. 3 .4. 5 .6 .7 .8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Disable . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . 4 . . . . . 4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spot. . . 4 . . . . . 4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Balance . 4 . . . . . . . . . .½ .½ .1 .1 .6. 3 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
UMD . . . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . .½ .1 .½ .½ .1. 4 .5. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. 19½
Jump. . . 4 . . . . . . .2 .3 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Tumble. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. . . . . . . . . . .5
Open Lo . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .36 .4. 4 .4 10. 8. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9 11 11 11. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9


Feats

.1. . . . : Toughness
.3. . . . : Precision
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Piercing
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Piercing
12. . . . : Weapon Finesse
15. . . . : Point Blank Shot
18. . . . : Stunning Blow
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Combat Archery
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: First Blood
29 Destiny: Harbinger of Chaos
30 Epic . : Two Weapon Defense
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea

.1 Aasimar: Bond of the Protector

.6 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
10 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
18 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Aberration

.2 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host


Spells

1. Ram's Might (9), Resist Energy (11)
2. Cure Light Wounds (16), Spike Growth (18)
3. Cure Moderate Wounds (19), Wild Instincts (20)

[Selvera]

Ok; let's look at this point by point. Keeping in mind that the goal of this build is to play at level 30, I may make some choices solely based on power level at cap; and not power level while leveling.

Race:
Well this choice has a lot to do with how many racial pastlives you have and/or what build choices you go for spending AP. If you don't have very many racial AP and plan to spend most of your AP in class trees (like I"m sort of assuming) Then your best choices are probably human (for the extra feat), Halfling (+1 AC, +1 all saves, +2 dex) or Elf (+2 dex and able to pick up +2 to damage with scimitars).

Leveling Order:
You probably want to end with a rogue level to fill in any missing skill points. Also level 4/5 rogue don't offer as much as level 12 ranger, so getting that earlier will make you more powerful faster.

Stat breakdown:
Given the swap out of monk for rogue (you're losing 10% offhand strike chance ) You don't need to spend a bunch of AP to make up for the lost PRR; so I'm imagining them going into Harper for Know the Angles. Given this; I've raised the priority of Intelligence in the build; and wisdom is essentially a dump stat, so get rid of that.

Skills:
Your important skills are: Use Magic Device, Hide, Search, Disable Device, Open Lock, Jump, Balance, in approximately that order.

Feats:
I typically dislike toughness if there are other better options.
Precision vs Combat expertise is an interesting choice to make (obviously it's a more damage vs more defense choice, but don't forget improved combat expertise that you'll be using if you use CE),
Weapon Finesse is unneeded (unless you're trying to force in rapiers into the build)
I'm assuming the use of Scimitars; as the go-to dex based tempest weapon. (Although the sinister handaxe does make a good offhand, lots of good scimitars at cap)
you get that for free in tempest.
Point Blank Shot/Combat Archer I'd only take if you plan on soloing shroud a lot.
I'm not too optimistic about your chances of landing stunning blow with a dex based build. (On anything that matters)
Scion of the Ethereal Plane typically out-dps's Scion of Arborea
You're missing the rogue pastlife feat from your list.
Your deity is literally useless no matter what you take.

Enhancements:
You didn't mention this; but it's rather important. So I did.

Here's a build you might want to consider:

DualWieldBruiser
12/5/3 Ranger/Rogue/Paladin
Lawful Good Halfling


Level Order

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


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .6. . . .+4. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 20. . . .+4. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 16. . . .+4. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . 14. . . .+4. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+4. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . 12. . . .+4. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Skills
. . . . .Rg Pa Pa Pa Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rg Rg
. . . . . 1 .2. 3 .4. 5 .6 .7 .8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Disable . 4 . . . . . 4 . . . .3 . . . . . 4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .23
Open Lo . 4 . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . .4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 4 .1. 23
Search. . 4 . . . . . . .5 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1. 23
Spot. . . 4 . . . . . . .1 .5 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1. 23
Balance . 4 .½. ½ .½. 2 .½ . . . . . 1. 2. . .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .3. 6 .23
Hide. . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 4. 1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .23
UMD . . . 4 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1 .1. 23
Jump. . . 4 .1. 1 .1. . . . 2. . .1 . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Tumble. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .40 .5. 5 .5 11. 9 10 10 10 10 10 12 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 12


Feats

.1. . . . : Dodge
.3. . . . : Precision
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Slashing
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Two Weapon Defense
15. . . . : Mobility
18. . . . : Past Life: Rogue
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Sap
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Pierce Damage Reduction: Cold Iron
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Blinding Speed
30 Legend : Scion of: Ethereal Plane

.6 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
10 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
16 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Aberration

.2 Deity. : Follower of: Silver Flame


Spells

Ranger

1. Ram's Might, Camouflage
2. Cure Light Wounds, Protection from Energy
3. Cure Moderate Wounds, Wild Instincts

Enhancements (80+2 AP)

Tempest (41 AP)

• Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest, Graceful Death, Deflect Arrows
  1. Improved Defense III, Whirling Blades
  2. Improved Parry III, Whirling Blades, Haste Boost III
  3. Storm Dancer, Whirling Blades
  4. Storm Tempest, Elaborate Parry III, The Growing Storm III, Whirling Blades
  5. Dual Perfection, Cuts: A Thousand Cuts III, Whirling Blades, Dance of Death III

Deepwood Stalker (25 AP)

• Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike, Advanced Sneak Attack
  1. Favored Defense III, Stealthy III
  2. Survivalist
  3. Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt III, Favored Hunter II, Dexterity
  4. Killer II, Merciful Shot

Harper Agent (8 AP)

• Agent of Good I
  1. Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness II
  2. Know the Angles III

Sacred Defender (6 AP)

• Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense
  1. Item Defense I, Durable Defense III

Halfling (2 AP)

• Halfling Luck
  1. Stealthy I

Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought

1. Legendary Tactics II, Extra Action Boost III, Attack Boost III, Constitution
2. Constitution
3. Critical Damage III, Haste Boost III
4. (none)
5. Advancing Blows, Devastating Critical
6. Master's Blitz

Twists of Fate (26 fate points)

1. Meld into Darkness (Tier 3 Shadowdancer)
2. Balanced Attacks (Tier 3 Primal)
3. Lithe (Tier 2 Shadowdancer)
4. Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)

Note:
Blinding speed is mostly there to free up gear slots for move/attackspeed if needed.
If elf; go undying court, and if you don't need blinding speed; replace it with child of undying court.
If human; the extra feat can be spent on something like toughness or combat expertise (having both can be useful for swapping roles if needed)
If you're a completionist; it's a good choice over many of these feats; such as weapon focus.

[Blank_Zero]

Awesome stuff here! Also, I forgot to edit when I made the changes but I plan on going STR based and possibly swapping to INT based later on with an LR. That might change up the Stunning Blow priority, yes?

I don't actually have the Rogue PL Feat or I'd slot it in there

I was thinking Aasimar Scourge as my Race of choice actually, since apparently LoH isn't hindered by Reaper penalties.

Edit: Also, I love that levelling order, and you're definitely on point about wanting Ranger 12 first. I also have +5 tomes across the board (can't believe I forgot that bit) so I could start DEX lower too.

Finally, why take Dodge and Mobility? Do you still need them for Tempest stuff like before?

[Propane]

12 Ranger 8 Bard Warchanter Knife fighter - some CC, decent buffs, decent DPS (no trapping) ...

[Selvera]

Awesome stuff here! Also, I forgot to edit when I made the changes but I plan on going STR based and possibly swapping to INT based later on with an LR. That might change up the Stunning Blow priority, yes?

I don't actually have the Rogue PL Feat or I'd slot it in there

I was thinking Aasimar Scourge as my Race of choice actually, since apparently LoH isn't hindered by Reaper penalties.

Edit: Also, I love that levelling order, and you're definitely on point about wanting Ranger 12 first. I also have +5 tomes across the board (can't believe I forgot that bit) so I could start DEX lower too.

Finally, why take Dodge and Mobility? Do you still need them for Tempest stuff like before?

If going Str based; swap sap out for stunning blow (since you're hoping to get workable DC's with it), and fit in exotic weapon proficiency: Khopesh in there somewhere early.
Your priority on the elaborite parry enhancement goes way down with strength based. (Strength is a higher dps lower defense version of tempest).

Haven't played scourge yet; but I can assure you that the paladin version of LoH is hindered by reaper penalties, it does still heal for a lot. Maybe Aasimar is bugged? idk.

You really don't need dex if you're doing a strength based build; except for reflex saves which are super important. If you can fit in the insightful reflexes feat it can let you consolidate your saves with your bonus damage/tactics dc's stat.

Mobility gives +2 max dex bonus on your armor; which means more then just +2 AC, it also means +2% dodge cap (as long as you don't go over the absolute dodge cap). These are possible feats you can consider swapping out if you find you need too many other feats. They also allow you to spec into improved mobility in the tempest tree for even more dodge cap increase if you wish.

[Blank_Zero]

If going Str based; swap sap out for stunning blow (since you're hoping to get workable DC's with it), and fit in exotic weapon proficiency: Khopesh in there somewhere early.
Your priority on the elaborite parry enhancement goes way down with strength based. (Strength is a higher dps lower defense version of tempest).

Haven't played scourge yet; but I can assure you that the paladin version of LoH is hindered by reaper penalties, it does still heal for a lot. Maybe Aasimar is bugged? idk.

You really don't need dex if you're doing a strength based build; except for reflex saves which are super important. If you can fit in the insightful reflexes feat it can let you consolidate your saves with your bonus damage/tactics dc's stat.

Mobility gives +2 max dex bonus on your armor; which means more then just +2 AC, it also means +2% dodge cap (as long as you don't go over the absolute dodge cap). These are possible feats you can consider swapping out if you find you need too many other feats. They also allow you to spec into improved mobility in the tempest tree for even more dodge cap increase if you wish.

Must have been an early bug cuz it does NOT heal for full in Reaper anymore lol.

My idea is to level in STR based, then switch to INT based at cap with KTA and Insightful Reflexes and pretty much dumpstat Dex (so weird on a TWF)

I'll look at my options for Feats as I level. Thanks for all your input thus far!

Just took 4 as a base Aasimar and this is definitely a good time already.

[cru121]

I thought this looked like a fun survivable build
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/496997
You could go down to 11-12 Ranger levels and pick up Warlock 7 for displacement and Rogue/Artificer for traps.

[psykopeta]

Go full ranger or full monk, ignore trapping cause traps won't do you anything noticeable, they aren't exactly glass cannons (200 pr and 28 dodge w/o investing much) some selfheal and you don't kill mobs, just delete em

Look for... Symbiont's monk or strimtom ranger, no need to copy their builds, but you have some useful info there, also pay special attention to drawinguy gear layout in these threads cause you will get lots of options (basically you will use bta gear in most slots and can be easily replaced)

[noinfo]

Tired of constantly feeling the need to TR to something better every time I come back from a break. Wanting to play endgame for a while on my main before girding myself for the TR grind again. I'll have to TR my current life into something else due to being gone a while again, and there's been so many changes I never caught up on that I'll need some assistance choosing a build.

My "needs" are:

1. Evasion. Preferably 2 Rogue path, but not against Monk. Just like to have trapping and lockpick when soloing, and UMD.

2. Melee TWF. It's what I started as and all of my gear is aimed towards it (with some choice Two Handers for early levels)

3. Probably not "Pure" 20. I've always found them boring

4. High DPS/High survivability. I'm not trying to be a glass cannon. Yes I want to kill things fast, but I'm not going for optimized speed kills.

5. Solo-play. I solo a lot, as high of difficulty as I can manage. I want to be able to handle Reaper 1 as a minimum, and EE when I get there.

And that's it! I'll have 36pt buy and a few PL feats to work with, but not Completionist. Thanks in advance.

Smrti good to see you back but no matter what build they give you it probably won't help

[Selvera]

I thought this looked like a fun survivable build
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/496997
You could go down to 11-12 Ranger levels and pick up Warlock 7 for displacement and Rogue/Artificer for traps.

5+ levels warlock on a melee build is essentially never a good idea. If you don't already have displacement; run heric shroud a few times on your real melee build; at level 30 you can easily solo it without displacement. Meanwhile taking t5 ES locks you out of dealing real damage on your build.

Go full ranger or full monk, ignore trapping cause traps won't do you anything noticeable, they aren't exactly glass cannons (200 pr and 28 dodge w/o investing much) some selfheal and you don't kill mobs, just delete em

Look for... Symbiont's monk or strimtom ranger, no need to copy their builds, but you have some useful info there, also pay special attention to drawinguy gear layout in these threads cause you will get lots of options (basically you will use bta gear in most slots and can be easily replaced)

In a lot of ways I agree, and my first reply post suggested both pure ranger and pure monk. OP didn't want any of that though; wanted to come up with some ranger/rogue/pali split.

Must have been an early bug cuz it does NOT heal for full in Reaper anymore lol.

My idea is to level in STR based, then switch to INT based at cap with KTA and Insightful Reflexes and pretty much dumpstat Dex (so weird on a TWF)

I'll look at my options for Feats as I level. Thanks for all your input thus far!

Just took 4 as a base Aasimar and this is definitely a good time already.

you may have been reading people saying it healed "to" full; which is certainly possible given how much it heals, how much positive spell power and heal amp are available in the game.

I really don't think you have the spare AP to go int based, it would take a 13 investment in harper instead of 8; and I don't see how you can remove 5 AP from any non-racial tree without crippling the build in some way.

Glad to hear it's going well so far.

Remember that feats/enhancements/level split/skills is only half of the planning to go into a build. More important is gearing, reaper points, and play.

Gearing: Look at the gear for Strintom's tempest ranger, get that gear, wear it.

Reaper points: First 4 points into the doublestrike boost, next 21 points into grim barricade for the +100 HP. Then probably just keep going in grim barricade.

[Blank_Zero]

Smrti good to see you back but no matter what build they give you it probably won't help

I mean at least I'm doing mostly Ranger levels right?

Just not Elf :P

[Thrudh]

5+ levels warlock on a melee build is essentially never a good idea. If you don't already have displacement; run heric shroud a few times on your real melee build; at level 30 you can easily solo it without displacement. Meanwhile taking t5 ES locks you out of dealing real damage on your build.

Actually 5+ levels of warlock on a Vistani build works pretty well. That's the one huge advantage of Vistani is that you can mess around with very different class combos because you're using level 18 and capstone from Vistani, not the melee class.

I agree that taking T5 ES would be too much, locking you out of other DPS T5 enhancements.

I'm still running that 14/6 ranger/warlock, and he does pretty well in end-game. I do plan to TR him soon, probably into a 18/2 ranger/barb.

The 130 temp hp every 4 seconds from t4 warlock aura works very well in elite and low reaper, but it locks you out of using the Epic Defensive Stance feat.

I think I'd do better with 2 levels of barb using Blood Tribute for 400 temp hp along with an extra standing 400 hp from Epic Defensive Stance feat.

I could go either Vistani or Tempest with a 18/2 ranger/barb build. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I'll probably swap between them week to week until I decide which one I like best.

[C-Dog]

Your deity is literally useless no matter what you take.

Well, mostly - Silver Flame would add +1 to hit w/ bows, if(?) those are ever used, and w/ Ranger you have all the basic Feats for that. But 99%, agreed (and when limited to the 3 choices for Aasimar Scourge, 100%).

I also have +5 tomes across the board (can't believe I forgot that bit) so I could start DEX lower too.

Cuz it was a Dex build - don't want to lower your primary stat if you don't have to (and w/ 36 points, you don't).

Finally, why take Dodge and Mobility? Do you still need them for Tempest stuff like before?

Mobility raises the Dex Cap, and that is (was) a Dex build. Also, +Dodge is a good thing in Epic.


Just a couple observations...

If you're doing Heroic leveling, Search (and also Spot, depending) are far more important skills to maintain at max than Disable Device - if you don't see it, if you can't find it, so you never even get a chance to try to Disable it. Otoh, if you're going Iconic, then splitting up the low Skill Point classes ~usually~ gives you better value for your skill points.

Either way, I think there's a better leveling order than suggested.

(Btw, gotta say, HATE the idea of a Str 6 Halfling - Oh, look, here's a butter knife, be encumbered, lose Evasion, have fun.)


Not sure what you're getting out of the extra Rogue Levels - no AP spent there, so... +2 SA dice??? Ranger gets Evasion (@ Lvl 9), so no gain there. I'd think it'd be better to grab those levels in Ranger, for the spells (FoM!), Saves, BAB and +2 extra Favored Enemy bonus - no? (It's also nice b/c after 15, Ranger all the way, no thinking involved. )

What are you gaining from Past Life:Rogue? Not an Assassin, so - forced to max Hide/Move Silent for 1 sneak attack shot? Must be a better Feat, I'd think, unless your plan is to Stealth around.

And if Iconic, might as well grab Ranger 11 by 15, since that's your combat style, so you have it all right out of the box.

Something like this?...

• BZ Ranger
  16/3/1 Ranger/Paladin/Rogue
  Lawful Good Aasimar Scourge
  
  Level Order
  1. Rogue . . . . . 6. Ranger. . . . .11. Ranger. . . . .16. Ranger
  2. Ranger . . . . .7. Paladin . . . .12. Ranger. . . . .17. Ranger
  3. Paladin . . . . 8. Ranger. . . . .13. Ranger. . . . .18. Ranger
  4. Ranger . . . . .9. Ranger . . . . 14. Ranger . . . . 19. Ranger
  5. Paladin . . . .10. Ranger. . . . .15. Ranger. . . . .20. Ranger
  
  Stats
  . . . . . . . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
  . . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
  Strength. . . . 17. . . .+5. . . .4: STR
  Dexterity . . . 14. . . .+5. . . .8: STR
  Constitution. . 14. . . .+5. . . 12: STR
  Intelligence. . 14. . . .+5. . . 16: STR
  Wisdom. . . . . 15. . . .+5. . . 20: STR
  Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+5. . .
  
  Skills
  . . . . .Rg Rn Pa Rn Pa Rn Pa Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn
  . . . . . 1 .2 .3. 4. 5 .6 .7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
  . . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
  Heal. . . 2 .2 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Disable . 4 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Open Lo . 4 .½ . . . . . . .½. . .1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 23
  Search. . 4 .1 . . 2. . .2 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Spot. . . 4 .1 . . 2. . .2 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  UMD . . . 4 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Balance . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
  Jump. . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
  Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
  Swim. . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
  Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
  . . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
  . . . . .40 .9 .5. 9. 5 .9 .6 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
  
  Feats
  .1. . . . : Dodge
  .3. . . . : Precision
  .6. . . . : Exotic Weapon: Khopesh
  .9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
  12. . . . : Two Weapon Defense
  15. . . . : Quicken Spell
  18. . . . : Mobility
  
  Spells
  
  1. Jump (8), Resist Energy (10), Merfolk's Blessing (18)
  2. Cure Light Wounds (12), Protection from Energy (14), Barkskin (20)
  3. Neutralize Poison (15), Remove Disease (16)
  4. Freedom of Movement (18), Cure Serious Wounds (19)

This mix has Heal (cuz Cure spells) plus Quicken for no-fail combat healz.

If you wanted Balance, you'd have to dump that plus some Open Lock (you don't ~need~ max ranks, if you're willing to re-roll). Sim if you wanted Hide/Move Silently.

High Wis* cuz A-Scourge LoH, but shift to Cha if you want to crush the Saves bonus.

(* Unless you have every last piece of gear planned out to be "even", starting w/ an even or odd value on a stat is the same 50/50 chance to end up even at the end, and certainly at any given level until then.)

You don't need (much?) more than 4 Jump, b/c by 15 you'll have +30 from the Jump spell, so +6 combined from Strength + Jump item + misc. skills buffs/boosts = 40, the cap, done.

Now, you're still missing Balance and the Hide/Move Silently pair, but you can't have everything, so you'd have to dump Heal and some starting Open Lock*. If(?) you can get Invisibility from somewhere, Move Silently is money. But even then, Hide is necessary against the many enemies that can see Invis. Balance is a great thing for any melee who might go toe-to-toe w/ anything that can trip them, so that's another consideration. Either way, it would be something more like this (where 1 Balance => 1 Hide + 1 Move Silently, if that's your pref instead)...

(* If going this way, consider dumping some OL for some Heal. 23 OL is overkill for 98% of locks in game.)

• Skills
  . . . . .Rg Rn Pa Rn Pa Rn Pa Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn
  . . . . . 1 .2 .3. 4. 5 .6 .7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
  . . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
  Disable . 4 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Search. . 4 .1 . . 2. . .2 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Spot. . . 4 .1 . . 2. . .2 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Balance . 4 .1 .½. ½. ½ .½ .1. 1. 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  UMD . . . 4 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
  Open Lo . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 14
  Jump. . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
  Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
  Heal. . . 2 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  Swim. . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
  Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
  . . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
  . . . . .40 .9 .5. 9. 5 .9 .6 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

[Selvera]

You seem to have missed the fact that the OP was asking for an at-cap reaper build; not a leveling build. Many of my choices were made with at-cap in mind; including maxing hide and taking pastlife: rogue. The rogue pastlife is the only pastlife feat outside of completionist I expect melees to take, and it is certainly good enough to get on any dual-wielder that plays at cap a lot, I could delve deeper into the issue but the OP said he doesn’t have it anyways, so it’s a moot point here.

Yep, I took silver flame because of the incredibly minor benefit to a weapon he’s not likely to use is better than getting nothing at all. If the OP decides they don’t need 5 rogue levels and reduces it to 1 like you suggest, then getting 3 more levels for a level 6 feat might make this more interesting, but taking levels in ranger is likely more optimal. (Depending on endgame saves values/targets, paladin levels might be viable)

Yeah, I’ve done multiple str 6 halflings; and while it was a pain initially; I realized that by simply socketing a strength augment anywhere (they’re white; go anywhere), you double or triple your carrying capacity. At cap (what this build is aimed at) it’s really a non issue unless you’re carrying multiple sets of plate armor.

Strength at level 30: 6 (base halfling) + 5 (tome) + 2 (guild) + 1 (exceptional augment) + 2 (profane armor) + 8 (strength augment) = 24
Which gives the halfling a heavy encumberance break-point of 1,748lb, meaning that such a build would lose evasion if they were carrying approximately 35 suits of plate armor.

Now in regards to to level 5 rogue vs level 1 rogue; let's look at the options here (assuming that the build wants rogue at all

4 levels rogue gets: +2 sneak attack dice (approximately 7 damage/hit before melee power), Uncanny dodge

4 levels ranger gets: +2 damage vs current favored enemies, +8 damage vs one type of new favored enemy, 45 extra spell points, 4 min extra duration on ranger buffs, +6 minute duration of freedom of movement and ability to recast it on death (compared with infinite FoM potion), and cure serious wounds

4 levels paladin gets: Charisma to saves cap increased to +23 (56 cha) from +11 (32 cha), a 1 min-or-so spammable buff for +2 damage against everything, an extra smite/remove disease, +12 damage on smite evil, and the ability to get a full-heal on a 10 minute cooldown which gives +1d6 all stats for 66 seconds.

All told; I'd probably go with rogue simply because +7 damage/hit is higher then +2 damage/hit and is passive (as opposed to only vs certain enemies or on a short duration buff), and uncanny dodge is a noticeable defensive buff that scales well into reaper difficulty. I can understand people who want those level in ranger or paladin though.

Note that there are many ways to proc sneak attack; and many endgame builds build towards it; since it isn't reduced in reaper as much as some other damage types. Ways to great sneak attack on this build include:
1) Dire charge
2) Exposing Strike
3) Deception items, or items which cause blindness
4) Having a tank (or anyone else) in the party pull agro
5) Having a caster hold or blind the target

Given that both dire charge and exposing strike are on fairly low cooldowns; I expect this build to get sneak attack quite frequently, even when soloing.
And yes, hide is important; move silently is not. Move silently doesn't give bonus damage with the Scion of: Ethereal Plane.

[C-Dog]

You seem to have missed the fact that the OP was asking for an at-cap reaper build; not a leveling build.

And you seem to have missed that there's nothing "leveling" about an Iconic build - starts at 15. Alternating classes simply assures that skill points are optimized at end (tho admittedly it may not be necessary here, depending which final skills are chosen). (If this were a "leveling" build I'd have prioritized Ranger more for better early DPS.)

The "+2 Damage" also equates to a number of other bonuses via enhancements, so I feel that's a wash w/ +2 SA dice that will not be full-time.

So I feel it comes down to Uncanny Dodge vs. FoM. OP's call on that.

Re-reading, he did also ask for something out of the ordinary, so that may be the tipping point toward Rog 4.