Tempest Build - Please Review

[Niminae]

Hi all,

I've played a Ranger before, but it has always been as a primary bow user with the majority of my Feats and Enhancements going towards ranged capabilities. And I have never played a Two Weapon Fighter build before in any class. I'd appreciate a review and any comments on my proposed STR Tempest build.

I dusted off a bank mule for this, so there are some thing I cannot change. The character had been played to 7th level before I parked it, and I'd already taken a level of Fighter. And of course my race and alignment are locked in. Looking at the Ranger class it looks like the only thing I lose from taking a second Fighter level is 1/2/1 spells of levels 2/3/4, and looking at those spell lists it doesn't look like I'd miss the spells in exchange for the second Feat granted to Fighter 2. But I'm happy to listen to opinions to the contrary. I'm not terribly happy with Toughness in the 24th level Epic Feat slot, but I'm not sure what I could take in its place. I'm not planning to purchase any tomes for this character, instead I'll just use ones I find or earn via 1250 or 5k favor. The two tomes it has used already are ones I've had sitting in the bank unused for several years, so this idea appeals to me from a utilitarian point of view. Also non-negotiable is the use of kopesh.

I do have the free lesser heart still on hand, and I plan to use it to undo some of the poor choices I made while leveling to 7th several years ago, and I'd appreciate getting some feedback before I do so. From what I have gathered Cleave is not an ability that a Two Weapon Fighter uses, or at least builds that I've seen posted do not seem to use this, and even though Legendary Dreadnought seems to be the default ED as per usual for melee or ranged builds, I don't see Momentum Swing/Lay Waste in Ranger builds as that requires Cleave. I'd appreciate conformation of this.


The proposed build:

Camarillo
18/2 Ranger/Fighter
True Neutral Half-Orc


Level Order

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


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 18. . . . . . . . 4: STR
Dexterity . . . 14. . . . . . . . 8: STR
Constitution. . 16. . . . . . . .12: STR
Intelligence. . 12. . . .+4. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+5. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .6. . . . . . . .24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . F .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .F. R. R
. . . . . 1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Hide. . . . .3 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 1. 3. 23
Swim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 . . 3. 2. 1 .1 .1 .23
Search. . . . . . .3 .3 .3 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 1. 1. 22
Heal. . . 2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 1. 1. 20
Listen. . . .3 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 . . 1. 1. 20
Jump. . . . . . 1. . . . . .3 .3 .3 . . . . . . . . 3. . .1 . . 2. 1. 17
Balance . 2 . . ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½ .½ .½ .11
UMD . . . 2 .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½. ½. . .11
Tumble. . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .5. 9. 9


Feats

.1. . . . : Exotic Weapon: Khopesh
.1 Fighter: Precision
.3. . . . : Dodge
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Slashing
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Quicken Spell
15. . . . : Mobility
18. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
18 Fighter: Spring Attack
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Toughness
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Blinding Speed
28 Destiny: Elusive Target
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Epic Reflexes
30 Legend : Scion of: Ethereal Plane

.2 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
.6 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Plant
11 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Construct
16 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Human


Spells

1. Longstrider (5), Ram's Might (7), Merfolk's Blessing (15), Camouflage (20)
2. Protection from Energy (9), Cure Light Wounds (11), Barkskin (17)
3. Cure Moderate Wounds (12), Wild Instincts (13)
4. Freedom of Movement (15), Cure Serious Wounds (16)

Any feedback is appreciated!

[Fedora1]

Taking 2 levels of fighter causes you to also miss out on the L18 and capstone enhancements from Tempest.

Whirlwind: +5% melee double strike while dual wielding, +5% stacking incorp, and +10% offhand while dual wielding
Dervish: +4 Dex, +25% double strike offhand, +10 melee power, +10 PRR/MRR

You could still keep whirlwind if you only take 1 level of fighter. You can get haste boost in the tempest tree, so what else does fighter give you besides a feat?

Edit: I usually go for strength/khopesh tempests as well.

[Saekee]

Taking 2 levels of fighter causes you to also miss out on the L18 and capstone enhancements from Tempest.

Whirlwind: +5% melee double strike while dual wielding, +5% stacking incorp, and +10% offhand while dual wielding
Dervish: +4 Dex, +25% double strike offhand, +10 melee power, +10 PRR/MRR

You could still keep whirlwind if you only take 1 level of fighter. You can get haste boost in the tempest tree, so what else does fighter give you besides a feat?

Edit: I usually go for strength/khopesh tempests as well.

with two fighter, he can still get the level 18 core; he was stuck with one level of fighter due to pre-existing build.
Usually people toss in 1 rogue for traps (even if taken later, still not a bad option), 1 barb for movement speed as another option. You could even take one wizard and get EK cleave, magical training and a free arcane feat. I can't say anything more since it has been too long since I played one.

[Taxidiotis]

OP, I suppose it depends on your overall intentions of toon.
Taking him to cap and parking? Or going on the TR train?

My knee-jerk answer is re-roll to pure ranger ASAP as pure tempest is too good!

Tempest is not the best build to level with either, but once geared at cap 30, is unstoppable!

Depending on your resources, it may be prudent to take him to cap 20 and TR him fresh with a PL in hand.
For leveling, it may be worth it to take PA, then switch to Precision if you go to 30.
You should also consider your gearing options while leveling. As it is an old bank, you may not have amassed a lot of gear. But, (ML10/29)RL gear is BtA so maybe you can finagle something with your main/alts.

If you plan on parking at cap30, you're going to want IC: Pierce; Balizarde and Flow rapiers are way too powerful to ignore for any tempest (i.e. drop Spr Att; or your reluctant Toughness) (I would keep Toughness). Flow makes a great off-hand to your Calamity khopesh.
Drop Blinding Speed and pick up FOM boots from Death House.
Unless you have Celestia(s), I would drop Elusive Target for Pierce Adamantine; though I suspect an argument brewing over that advice. Alternatively, you can slot Deconstructor augments in your weps, but I prefer to have Good and Vamp Slayer slotted (E. Night if you have Molten Gloves).
I am assuming you do not have rogue PLs (or Completionist). Otherwise, definitely put Rogue PL: Sneak of Shadows in there.

Drop Wild Instincts spell for Poison Immune.
Consider Jump spell...for the pugs in your party.
Consider Elves and E. Outsiders as FEs.

Also, Rangers have an over-abundance of feats to accomplish very high dps, so fighter feat is not needed. But, it really makes no difference if you take that 2nd fighter level or not. Either way, you're out on Tempest capstone enhancement.

Yes, you should be in LD, No you should not be using cleaves/momentum, etc.

Take advantage of that +4 INT tome and spend 8 points in Harper tree for KtA.

I've never toyed with a Horc Tempest! That should be fun!!

[Fedora1]

with two fighter, he can still get the level 18 core;

Oh sure, go ahead and pull the old "math" card on me.

LOL

[Kaboom2112]

The capstone is too good not to take.

[LiveFast]

The only change I would make to your feats is to take combat expertise instead of spring attack since tempest are kinda squishy. switch between that and precision according to situation. someone suggested KTA and it would be a very good choice. Half-Orc STR build TWF khopesh is most likely the best dps tempest. Its unfortunate you cant get the capstone but you can get extra action boost from fighter which is good too to get a lot of haste boost. Improved dodge from kensai also stack with improved dodge from tempest so it might be worth it depending on how you spend your APs. I can see 7 points in harper, 10 in kensai, 26 DWS and 37 tempest.

[Niminae]

OP, I suppose it depends on your overall intentions of toon.
Taking him to cap and parking? Or going on the TR train?

My knee-jerk answer is re-roll to pure ranger ASAP as pure tempest is too good!

Thanks everyone for all the feedback!

I dusted him off to join a static group. We're running all R1s and pretty much cruising through content as you might expect. We're currently L11-12. My gear is both good and bad. I'm currently rocking 2 Ravenloft sets, plus a pair each of macabre and barovian khopesh backed up by a pair of Crushing Capital for oozes and such since I ran out of talismans. But as a first life char I'm missing a PLIS, and I don't have a striding item and no upgraded QOA. From my poor memory the group is 4 persons and has 2 Locks, a Paladin, and my Ranger. There has been a pug who has joined us twice, I dunno if he plays during the groups play time so he can join us or it's just been serendipity or whatever. And someone brings a cleric hire.

I'm not gonna re-roll, I already ate my spare tomes and I'd miss the Int a lot at least. Given the week in between sessions I really could just level up a new character but w/o the tomes that doesn't seem like a win. I will take the advice of Saekee and look into alternative classes for the second 'spare' level. Wizard would pretty much be a wash since I lose the Fighter feat but could take Quicken with the Wizard level. I'd get some more spell points, I'm not sure that matters at all, and access to Shield/Nightshield would be nice even at 5 mins duration. Plus maybe wand and scroll mastery. I'm not terribly interested in taking Rogue but it would be fairly decent considering that my Spot would be fairly high given the Wisdom.

I'm pretty sure we're going to cap and then TRing to do it again, but playing 2.5 hours per week minus holidays and whatever this is a long term side project.

The Locks seem to be more than capable of pulling all the aggro with their cone/chain blasts, so I haven't had to worry much about being the center of attention.