Critique my build - Acrobat / Druid / Monk (13/6/1)

[Ausdoerrt]

Hello forums,

I have a character with a bank full of staves and currently sitting in Henshin (ugh), and I want to reroll her to something more fun to play, but still using staves. Do y'all think the build below is workable (plan to keep her in epics, not do heroics TRs)? Or should I just give up and go pure rogue acrobat?

The druid levels are mostly for +2W from Shillelagh. Monk is for the stances (air offensive, water defensive).

Dr. Acrobat
13/6/1 Rogue/Druid/Monk
Lawful Neutral Shadar-kai


Level Order

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


Stats
. . . . . . . .34pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 15. . . .+2. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 19. . . .+2. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 16. . . .+2. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . 11. . . .+2. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+2. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . .6. . . .+2. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Skills
. . . . . R. M .R .R .D. D .D. D .D. D .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R
. . . . . 1. 2 .3 .4 .5. 6 .7. 8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Disable . 4. . .2 .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 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .23
Search. . 4. . .1 .2 .?. ? .?. ? .?. ? .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Spot. . . 4. 1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Tumble. . 4. 1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . .3 .3 .3 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
UMD . . . 4. 1 .1 .1 .?. ? .?. ? .?. ? .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .23
Jump. . . 4. 1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 18
Swim. . . 4. . .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .32. 5 .9 .9 .5. 5 .5. 5 .5. 5 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9


Feats

.1. . . . : Power Attack
.2 Monk . : Two Handed Fighting
.3. . . . : Cleave
.6. . . . : Adept of Forms
.9. . . . : Great Cleave
12. . . . : Improved Two Handed Fighting
15. . . . : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
18. . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
21 Epic . : Improved Sneak Attack
24 Epic . : Master of Forms
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic . : Grandmaster of Forms
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea

17 Rogue. : Improved Evasion
20 Rogue. : Opportunist

.6 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
.9 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Bear


Spells

Ram's Might (5), Shillelagh (5), Jump (6), Lesser Vigor (8)
Cure Light Wounds (7), Barkskin (7), Resist Energy (8), Lesser Restoration (10)
Cure Moderate Wounds (9), Sleet Storm (9), Vigor (10)

Enhancements (80 AP)

Thief-Acrobat (55 AP)
Staff Control, Stick Fighting, Tumbler, Kip Up
Acrobat Staff Training, Thief Acrobatics III, Sly Flourish III, Fast Movement
Acrobat Staff Training, Trip Focus III, Quick Strike III, Haste Boost III
Acrobat Staff Training, Improved Glancing Blows III, Shadow Dodge III, Sweeping Strikes III
Acrobat Staff Training, Staff Lunge III
Acrobat Staff Training, Staff Specialization, Spinning Staff Wall, Vault
Assassin (12 AP)
Knife in the Darkness
Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy III
Venomed Blades III, Sneak Attack Training
Critical Mastery I
Season's Herald (12 AP)
Child of Summer, Elder of Winter, Wellspring
Beguile III, Produce Flame III
Creeping Cold II
Autumn Winds
Henshin Mystic (1 AP)
Riddle of Fire

[Ausdoerrt]

No one plays acrobat / staff builds?

[drunkbarbarian]

One thing you may want to consider. Shillelagh only works on wood, so Bloom and Moonbeam are fine, but Light Unending, Sireth, Staff of Shadow, and the two stone ones (forgot names) are out.

Druid forms wont help much because of lack of natural fighting feats.

Maybe go pure Rogue, or 17/3 or 18/2 rog/monk split and ditch druid?

[Ausdoerrt]

Yeah I did consider that, thanks. I was concerned at first, but frankly that doesn't seem like much of an issue - there are a plenty of good wooden staves in the game. I could use the Stout Oak for epic leveling (making it at least 4[2d6] with Shillelagh!), and for the high epics / raiding there's also the staff from Baba raid in addition to the two you named. I'd also farm out a Broken Oar whenever Crystal Cove rolls back around.

The reason I don't want to split monk exclusively (or deeper) is because it doesn't seem to offer much outside of the stances. Henshin, sadly, doesn't have much synergy with TA - only the melee power and staff training is useful, but not stellar considering the AP cost. TA also eats up 55+ AP to get all the good stuff, leaving very little for other trees.

So the biggest question for me is pure (TA+Assassin) vs multi, as such. The last two cores of TA look really good. But I'm also seeing lots of posts on the forums about various multiclass acrobat builds. So I'm wondering if I'm missing something.


P.S. I just double-checked the epic wooden staves, and Moonbeam, Broken Oar and Stout Oak all have Impact on them. This means I could drop Imp.Critical and O.Critical from the build until I get my hands on Epic Bloom or the Baba staff. Not sure what one would take instead, though. Improved Feint?

[unbongwah]

Prior to the Henshin nerfs, monk 6 / rogue 12 was a solid MC for staff builds because you could pick up 30 Melee Power for 11 APs from Henshin cores. Plus Shadow Veil for another 11 APs which is a big buff for a squishy melee build.

Nowadays I don't know if that still makes sense vs pure Acrobat.

[Erofen]

No one plays acrobat / staff builds?

fwiw I've played both an acrobat with that class split (not that level split) and a pure. The many moons ago for the split one in heroics it was amazing to start out with. Not so much anymore at that level. In epics it is okay, but honestly, aside from the healing, I prefer the pure one. The 18+ cores are really good.

[Ausdoerrt]

Prior to the Henshin nerfs, monk 6 / rogue 12 was a solid MC for staff builds because you could pick up 30 Melee Power for 11 APs from Henshin cores. Plus Shadow Veil for another 11 APs which is a big buff for a squishy melee build.

Nowadays I don't know if that still makes sense vs pure Acrobat.

Yeah, I don't think it does, that nerf was really a kick in the nuts. One of the reasons why I'm blowing dust off my henshin staff user and TRing into something else. You only get +9 MP and +3 to hit / +4 to damage from the tree now, and the rest is all monk stuff you likely won't be using on a split like that.

fwiw I've played both an acrobat with that class split (not that level split) and a pure. The many moons ago for the split one in heroics it was amazing to start out with. Not so much anymore at that level. In epics it is okay, but honestly, aside from the healing, I prefer the pure one. The 18+ cores are really good.

For curiosity's sake, what level split did you use? And what changed since then? I'm not particularly set on this specific approach, if I have to lose/add a few levels here and there, it's not a big deal for me.

[psykopeta]

Before the enhancement pass (lol) 13 rogue 6 monk 1 druid was something, u took ram's and sillistick, before the henshyn mp boost (and further nerf) you were taking acrobat, shintao, shadow veil and racial, now you could go falconry instead

And wind grandmaster... Just because u had to spend feata lol now you could go improved feint

[Alled78]

Hello forums,

I have a character with a bank full of staves and currently sitting in Henshin (ugh), and I want to reroll her to something more fun to play, but still using staves. Do y'all think the build below is workable (plan to keep her in epics, not do heroics TRs)? Or should I just give up and go pure rogue acrobat?

The druid levels are mostly for +2W from Shillelagh. Monk is for the stances (air offensive, water defensive).

Dr. Acrobat
13/6/1 Rogue/Druid/Monk
Lawful Neutral Shadar-kai


Level Order

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


Stats
. . . . . . . .34pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 15. . . .+2. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 19. . . .+2. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 16. . . .+2. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . 11. . . .+2. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .+2. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . .6. . . .+2. . . 24: DEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: DEX

Skills
. . . . . R. M .R .R .D. D .D. D .D. D .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R .R
. . . . . 1. 2 .3 .4 .5. 6 .7. 8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Disable . 4. . .2 .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 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .23
Search. . 4. . .1 .2 .?. ? .?. ? .?. ? .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Spot. . . 4. 1 .1 .1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Tumble. . 4. 1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . .3 .3 .3 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
UMD . . . 4. 1 .1 .1 .?. ? .?. ? .?. ? .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .23
Jump. . . 4. 1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 18
Swim. . . 4. . .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .32. 5 .9 .9 .5. 5 .5. 5 .5. 5 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9


Feats

.1. . . . : Power Attack
.2 Monk . : Two Handed Fighting
.3. . . . : Cleave
.6. . . . : Adept of Forms
.9. . . . : Great Cleave
12. . . . : Improved Two Handed Fighting
15. . . . : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
18. . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
21 Epic . : Improved Sneak Attack
24 Epic . : Master of Forms
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic . : Grandmaster of Forms
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea

17 Rogue. : Improved Evasion
20 Rogue. : Opportunist

.6 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
.9 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Bear


Spells

Ram's Might (5), Shillelagh (5), Jump (6), Lesser Vigor (8)
Cure Light Wounds (7), Barkskin (7), Resist Energy (8), Lesser Restoration (10)
Cure Moderate Wounds (9), Sleet Storm (9), Vigor (10)

Enhancements (80 AP)

Thief-Acrobat (55 AP)
Staff Control, Stick Fighting, Tumbler, Kip Up
Acrobat Staff Training, Thief Acrobatics III, Sly Flourish III, Fast Movement
Acrobat Staff Training, Trip Focus III, Quick Strike III, Haste Boost III
Acrobat Staff Training, Improved Glancing Blows III, Shadow Dodge III, Sweeping Strikes III
Acrobat Staff Training, Staff Lunge III
Acrobat Staff Training, Staff Specialization, Spinning Staff Wall, Vault
Assassin (12 AP)
Knife in the Darkness
Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy III
Venomed Blades III, Sneak Attack Training
Critical Mastery I
Season's Herald (12 AP)
Child of Summer, Elder of Winter, Wellspring
Beguile III, Produce Flame III
Creeping Cold II
Autumn Winds
Henshin Mystic (1 AP)
Riddle of Fire

U suggest to go 20 rogue or 20 monk
The +2 to staff is not so important now.

2

[Saekee]

I believe that being in an animal form hinders some tier5 staff stuff in TA so test it out first

with just rogue and 1 monk or so you can have a water stance form build with insane max dodge, so think Dodge ‘tank’

[Alled78]

I believe that being in an animal form hinders some tier5 staff stuff in TA so test it out first

with just rogue and 1 monk or so you can have a water stance form build with insane max dodge, so think Dodge ‘tank’

Nice idea missed the part....fun to play

U can go 17 druid 3 monk centered if u have wisdom tree

If dont have falconer

17 druid 2 monk 1 cleric strength based. Superfun wolf form

[SpiritofAlba]

I have played both pure acrobat dex based, and a 13 FVS / 6 Monk / 1 Rogue stick build (wis based - no need for falconer). Both of them were reasonable melee (as melee goes), though both a bit squishy. The former is a simpler build, and easier to make a solid trapper obviously. I enjoyed the latter more, because much more of an all rounder, very solid party healer if needed and melee-based heals all the time, better HP and AC. Trapping a bit of a stretch at times with only one rogue level and not int based, but perfectly doable with reasonable gear.

I did a write up as I went along https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...light=caduceus

What I would say is that a druid level or two is definitely NOT worth having against pure rogue. As you suggest, the rogue capstone much more worthwhile. I don't know about other druid w rogue splash.

[Portibraf]

I started with the same premises, ended up with 18 drd / 1 rog / 1 mnk , wolf+falconry, natural fighting + ocean stance.

[Ausdoerrt]

Thanks for all the input.

I'll read up on Caduceus, sounds like fun. Though I already have an FvS in the stable, so I'm unlikely to roll another.

Also, the idea is definitely NOT to focus on the animal forms of druid - if I decide to do a wolf build, it won't be on this toon.

Looks like I should be going pure, then, after all. I'll still need to decide whether to put the extra AP in Assassin or in racials (Shadar-kai, maybe? or halfling), but that's an easier choice.

If anyone has any broad advice on where to focus in the acrobat tree, for example any enhancements I should definitely get or avoid like plague, those would be rather welcome. Last time I ran an acrobat rogue was before U19...

[Erofen]

For curiosity's sake, what level split did you use? And what changed since then? I'm not particularly set on this specific approach, if I have to lose/add a few levels here and there, it's not a big deal for me.

The heroic one I used a long time ago was Monk/Rogue/Fighter and I stopped that one at level 10 (Ftr 2, Rog 3, Mnk 5). I had used it back when double boosting with human worked and a bunch of low hanging fruit. I don't remember entirely, but it was good until the changes. I actually don't remember the specific changes to it aside from the removal of double boosting from human, sorry.

The epic one (my friend's) is 12 monk/5 rogue/3 druid. It gets up to No Mercy in TA, the right 3 T5s in Henshin (dark fists feat to get the aoe heal here), and shadow veil in Ninja Spy. It is only level 21 right now, so not the best judge of strength, but it does alright and has decent healing and defensive capabilities (run in water stance).

My only endgame acrobat is just a pure rogue, and that does pretty dang well for how neglected it is. xD