Doing ALL the quests: Arti-Bardi-Warlock Party

[Strimtom]

Hello and good morning, I am Strimtom. Today I bring to you a build I played on hardcore league that was able to easily and simply walk through adventures while disabling traps and dealing with packs of monsters. This build is designed to be able to easily clear 5k favor, especially while solo, since it gives you good options for AOE, defense, ranged, and dealing with traps. If you want to hear me talk about it, I do so in detail, right here!



The important note about this build is that while it isn't free to play, it doesn't require any gear to specifically work. No special items. It's also designed as mostly a levelling and favor clearing build, since it doesn't work super well at level 30 compared to a pure warlock or a more focused bard or artificer in terms of DPS. That being said, it would make a fantastic clearing character for doing EE at level 30 to farm out items, which will be really important in U50 when everyone started to revamp their whole gearsets!


Character name: Arti Bardi Warlock Parti
Classes: 15 Warlock, 10 Epic, 3 Bard, 2 Artificer
Race: Human · · · · · · · ·Alignment: Neutral

· · ·Start Tome Final · · ·Incorp:· · 10% · · ·Displacement:· ·50%
Str:· · ·8· · 0 · ·13 · · ·HP:· · · ·2094 · · ·AC:· · 88
Dex:· · 14· · 0 · ·19 · · ·PRR: · · · 175
Con:· · 14· · 0 · ·51 · · ·MRR: · 107/100 · · ·+Healing Amp:· ·160
Int:· · 14· · 0 · ·17 · · ·Dodge: · 26/31 · · ·-Healing Amp:· · 15
Wis:· · ·8· · 0 · ·13 · · ·Fort:· · ·229% · · ·Repair Amp:· · · 35
Cha:· · 16· · 0 · ·70 · · ·SR:· · · · · 3 · · ·BAB: · · · · · · 19
DR:
Immunities: Magic Missiles, , Fear, Charisma Damage, Blindness, Freedom of Movement, Magical Controls and Compulsion, Magic Missiles, Magic Missiles, Fear, Freedom of Movement, Death effect, Level drain

Class and Feat Selection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
1 · · Artificer(1)· · ·Standard: Maximize Spell
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Human Bonus: Force of Personality
2 · · Bard(1) · · · · ·
3 · · Bard(2) · · · · ·Standard: Single Weapon Fighting
4 · · Bard(3) · · · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
5 · · Artificer(2)· · ·
6 · · Warlock(1)· · · ·Standard: Precision
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Pact: Warlock: Pact: Celestial
7 · · Warlock(2)· · · ·
8 · · Warlock(3)· · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
9 · · Warlock(4)· · · ·Standard: Improved Single Weapon Fighting
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Celestial Awareness
10· · Warlock(5)· · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Soundburst
11· · Warlock(6)· · · ·Warlock Pact Ability: Warlock: Celestial Attunement
12· · Warlock(7)· · · ·Standard: Offhand Versatility
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
13· · Warlock(8)· · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Celestial Awareness
14· · Warlock(9)· · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Magic Circle against Evil
15· · Warlock(10) · · ·Standard: Improved Critical: Piercing Weapons
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Warlock Resistance: Celestial Resistance
16· · Warlock(11) · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
17· · Warlock(12) · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Celestial Awareness
18· · Warlock(13) · · ·Standard: Greater Single Weapon Fighting
19· · Warlock(14) · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Prayer
20· · Warlock(15) · · ·Warlock Pact Ability: Warlock: Ameliorate
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
21· · Epic(1) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Epic Eldritch Blast
22· · Epic(2) · · · · ·
23· · Epic(3) · · · · ·
24· · Epic(4) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Intensify Spell
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
25· · Epic(5) · · · · ·
26· · Epic(6) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Epic Arcane Eldritch Blast
27· · Epic(7) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Epic Damage Reduction
28· · Epic(8) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Single Weapon Fighting
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
29· · Epic(9) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Arcane Warrior
30· · Epic(10)· · · · ·Epic Feat: Embolden Spell
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Legendary: Scion of the Plane of Air

Skills
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skill Points· · ·28 ·9· 9 ·9· 7 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5· 5 ·5
Skill Name· · · ·01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20· Total Buffed
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance · · · · · · ·2· 2 ·3· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 7.0 · 38.0
Bluff · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 68.0
Concentration · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 47.0
Diplomacy · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 68.0
Disable Device· · 4 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· ·23.0 · 53.0
Haggle· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 68.0
Heal· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 28.0
Hide· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 36.0
Intimidate· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 68.0
Jump· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 58.0
Listen· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 28.0
Move Silently · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 36.0
Open Lock · · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 35.0
Perform · · · · · 1 ·1· 3 ·2· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 7.0 · 75.0
Repair· · · · · · 2 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 2.0 · 32.0
Search· · · · · · 4 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· ·23.0 · 53.0
Spell Craft · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 34.0
Spot· · · · · · · 4 · · · · · 2 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 6.0 · 34.0
Swim· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 28.0
Tumble· · · · · · · ·1· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 1.0 · 32.0
Use Magic Device· 4 ·1· · · · 3 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· ·23.0 · 90.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available Points· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enhancements: 80 APs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human - Points spent: 1
1 Core ·(1) Versatility I: Skill Boost
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enlightened Spirit - Points spent: 37
1 Core ·(1) Eldritch Aura
2 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
3 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
4 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
5 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Body
6 Core ·(1) Aura of Courage
7 Tier2 (1) Resist Energies
8 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
9 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
10 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
11 Core ·(1) Shape Vestments
12 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
13 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
14 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
15 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
16 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
17 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
18 Tier3 (2) Ability I: +1 Charisma
19 Tier2 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light I
20 Tier4 (2) Ability II: +1 Charisma
21 Tier4 (1) Brilliance
22 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
23 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
24 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
25 Core ·(1) Aura of Menace
26 Tier3 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light II
27 Tier2 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light I
28 Tier3 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light II
29 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
30 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
31 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
32 Tier5 (2) Shining Through
33 Tier5 (2) Displacement
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tainted Scholar - Points spent: 16
1 Core ·(1) Tainted Spellcasting
2 Tier1 (2) Strong Pact I
3 Tier1 (1) Feigned Health
4 Tier1 (1) Feigned Health
5 Tier1 (1) Feigned Health
6 Core ·(1) Tainted Lore
7 Tier2 (2) Utterdark Blast
8 Tier2 (2) Strong Pact II
9 Tier3 (2) Strong Pact III
10 Core ·(1) Stanch
11 Tier3 (2) Ability I: +1 Charisma
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feydark Illusionist - Points spent: 13
1 Core ·(1) Find Familiar: White Tressym
2 Tier1 (2) Illusory Weaponry
3 Tier1 (1) Study the Arcane
4 Tier1 (1) Study the Arcane
5 Core ·(2) Ability I: Charisma
6 Tier2 (2) You've Got My Back
7 Tier2 (1) Reality Bulwark
8 Core ·(1) Greater Color Spray
9 Tier3 (2) Ability I: Charisma
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swashbuckler - Points spent: 11
1 Core ·(1) Confidence
2 Tier1 (1) Blow By Blow: Blow By Blow
3 Tier1 (1) Blow By Blow: Blow By Blow
4 Tier1 (1) Blow By Blow: Blow By Blow
5 Tier1 (1) On Your Toes
6 Tier2 (2) Deflect Arrows
7 Core ·(1) Swashbuckling
8 Tier1 (1) Tavern Shanties
9 Tier1 (1) Tavern Shanties
10 Tier3 (1) Swashbuckling Style: Arcane Marauder
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renegade Mastermaker - Points spent: 2
1 Core ·(1) Renegade Defender
2 Tier1 (1) Easily Fixed
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Active Destiny Tree
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fatesinger - Points spent: 24
1 Core ·(0)· Repertoire
2 Core ·(0) Glitter of Fame
3 Core ·(0) Harmonic Resonance
4 Core ·(0) Intoxicating Presence
5 Core ·(0) Grandeur
6 Core ·(0) Majesty
7 Tier1 (1) First Harmonic Chord
8 Tier1 (1) First Harmonic Chord
9 Tier1 (1) First Harmonic Chord
10 Tier1 (2) Ability I: +1 Charisma
11 Tier2 (1) Second Harmonic Chord
12 Tier2 (1) Second Harmonic Chord
13 Tier2 (1) Second Harmonic Chord
14 Tier2 (1) Bound Fate
15 Tier2 (1) Bound Fate
16 Tier2 (1) Bound Fate
17 Tier3 (1) Grim Fate
18 Tier3 (1) Grim Fate
19 Tier3 (1) Grim Fate
20 Tier4 (2) Martial Hymn
21 Tier5 (1) Metamagic Attunement I: Extend
22 Tier5 (1) Bladesong
23 Tier5 (1) The Fith Chord
24 Tier2 (2)· Ability II: +1 Charisma
25 Tier6 (1) Turn of the Tide
26 Tier6 (1) Metamagic Attunement II: Quicken
27 Tier2 (1) Reign
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twists of fate - 22 of 25 Fate points spent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twist 1 - Tier 3: Shadowdancer: Meld Into Darkness
Twist 2 - Tier 3: Divine Crusader: Empyrean Magic
Twist 3 - Tier 1: Primal Avatar: Rejuvenation Cocoon
Twist 4 - Tier 1: Grandmaster of Flowers: A Dance of Flowers

Spells· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · School· · · · ·DC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artificer Spells
L1: Inflict Light Damage· · · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 30
L1: Repair Light Damage · · · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 30
L2: Inflict Moderate Damage · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 31
L2: Repair Moderate Damage· · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 31
L3: Inflict Serious Damage· · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 32
L3: Repair Serious Damage · · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 32
L4: Inflict Critical Damage · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 33
L4: Repair Critical Damage· · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 33
L6: Inflict Critical Damage, Mass · · · · · Transmutation · 35
L6: Repair Critical Damage, Mass· · · · · · Transmutation · 35
Bard Spells
Warlock Spells
L1: Bless · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Enchantment · · 57
L1: Feather Fall· · · · · · · · · · · · · · Transmutation · 57
L2: Soundburst· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Evocation · · · 60
L2: Web · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Conjuration · · 58
L3: Magic Circle Against Evil · · · · · · · Abjuration· · · 59
L3: Crushing Despair· · · · · · · · · · · · Enchantment · · 59
L4: Prayer· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Enchantment · · 60
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Equipped Gear Set : Standard
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armor · · · · Legendary Wildcard· ·Drops in: Quest: Security Detail
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Legendary Part of the Family
Belt· · · · · Legendary Direbear Belt · Drops in: U48 Quest: Quid Pro Quo
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Eminence of Winter
Boots · · · · Legendary Deepsnow Boots· ·Drops in: U48 Quest: A Frosty Reception
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Eminence of Winter
Bracers · · · Legendary Cold Iron Bracers · Drops in: U48 Quest: Immortality Lessons
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Eminence of Winter
Cloak · · · · Legendary Mantle of Fury· ·Drops in: Quest: Into the Mists
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Adherent of the Mists Set (Legendary)
Gloves· · · · Legendary Hammerfist· ·Drops in: Quest: Blown Deadline
· · · · · · · Blue: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Legendary Part of the Family
Goggles · · · Legendary Sight of the Sleepwalker· ·Drops in: U49 Quest: Beautiful Nightmares
· · · · · · · Blue: Empty augment slot
Helmet· · · · Legendary Crown of Snow · Drops in: U48 Quest: Legend of the Lost Locket
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Eminence of Winter
Necklace· · · Legendary Family Recruit Sigil· ·Drops in: Quest: House of Pain
· · · · · · · Yellow: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Legendary Part of the Family
Ring1 · · · · Bound Elemental Ring of Lightning · Drops in: U47 Raid: Legendary Master Artificer
· · · · · · · Blue: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Yellow: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Chained Elementals
Ring2 · · · · Stolen Signet of ir'Wynam · Drops in: Raid: Too Hot to Handle, Masterminds of Sharn Saga reward
· · · · · · · Blue: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Yellow: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
Trinket · · · Legendary Battleworn Medal· ·Drops in: U46: Quest: Heart of the Problem
· · · · · · · Blue: +32 Sapphire of Defense
Weapon1 · · · Esper, the Shadowblade· ·Drops in: U48 Raid: The Dryad and the Demigod - If you don't have this, simple use the shadowblade you summon until you get this. If you need a sentient weapon, get charisma to hit and damage from feydark illusionist.
· · · · · · · Red: Empty augment slot
· · · · · · · Orange: Empty augment slot
Weapon2 · · · Legendary Resplendant Fury· ·Drops in: Quest: Best Laid Plans
· · · · · · · Nearly Finished (Ins IWC): +10 Insightful Charisma
· · · · · · · Purple: Empty augment slot
Trinket2· · · Restricted by another item in this gear set
Trinket3· · · Restricted by another item in this gear set

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alternate Gear Set : Traps
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloak · · · · Legendary Greensteel Cloak· ·Drops in: Crafted from Legendary Shroud ingredients
· · · · · · · Equipment Tier 1: +22 Intelligence Skills, +151 Spell Points
· · · · · · · Equipment Tier 2: +11 Intelligence Skills, +151 Spell Points
· · · · · · · Equipment Tier 3: +6 Intelligence Skills, +75 Spell Points
Goggles · · · Legendary Acolyte's Lenses· ·Drops in: Quest: Lost at Sea
· · · · · · · Green: Empty augment slot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SpardaX]

So after watching the majority of your video (I'll watch the rest in a second) I notice the big key seems to be your Temp HP regeneration, and a remix of this idea occurred to me. You should still be able to do all the main Single Weapon stuff too, it'll just come out a bit weaker on the Eldritch blast side of things.

12 Bard / 6 Warlock / 2 X, so could be your 2 Arti for the do everything.

Taking Warchanter's 4th Core + All the Enlightened Spirit stuff for Charisma+Constitution Temp HP every 10s for bard Charisma score and 4s for warlock Constitution score. Both of which stack on top of each other, for a total of Cha+Con Temp HP instead of just the recharging Con Temp hp, and also both apply at x2 in epic levels. Add in Shining Through, and the "Feigned Health" out of Tainted Scholar for more Temp HP Madness.

[Strimtom]

So after watching the majority of your video (I'll watch the rest in a second) I notice the big key seems to be your Temp HP regeneration, and a remix of this idea occurred to me. You should still be able to do all the main Single Weapon stuff too, it'll just come out a bit weaker on the Eldritch blast side of things.

12 Bard / 6 Warlock / 2 X, so could be your 2 Arti for the do everything.

Taking Warchanter's 4th Core + All the Enlightened Spirit stuff for Charisma+Constitution Temp HP every 10s for bard Charisma score and 4s for warlock Constitution score. Both of which stack on top of each other, for a total of Cha+Con Temp HP instead of just the recharging Con Temp hp, and also both apply at x2 in epic levels. Add in Shining Through, and the "Feigned Health" out of Tainted Scholar for more Temp HP Madness.

You could definitely take more bard to be able to get better temp HP with inspire greatness, which is a cool option for group play for sure! The warlock levels are also to add a bunch of damage on the aura, which is really helpful as later in the levelling process the game likes to throw so many monsters at you at the same time and the AOE can be really handy.

[Wolfen719]

So, I'm really liking this build. When you posted this build I had just hit level 20 and was just finishing up some stuff before I TR'd again. Was going to do Pally as my class for racial completionist ... I've just started racial completionist, with 1 race behind me (and 7 classes behind me...7 single TR's not 7 x 3). Then I saw you post this build and thought it would be the perfect class/build to use for racial TR'ing since the racial enhancement points are not important with just 1 point in there.

And I am loving the build.

However, looking at your list of spells throws me off as the list you have for warlock spells is not warlock spells.

Also, what am I looking for on my gear? Are there gear sets that work well for this build? I mean for more than just max level...what about lower levels? If I know which gear sets are good for this build I can farm them before I TR again and be ready for next life!

I was away from the game for over 8 years and since I've been back I haven't really played any spellcasters...well never really played spellcasters before either. I mean I had some, but they never got up beyond like level 6...seriously. Until I saw your Tiefling Scoundrel Spellsinger Bard build... which I used 2 lives ago and loved that one as well. But I'm not familiar yet with casters.

A little more info would be greatly appreciated if you could? Thanks!

[Xgya]

However, looking at your list of spells throws me off as the list you have for warlock spells is not warlock spells.

I can at least help partially with that one. The spells listed under Warlock I see that might throw someone off are all Celestial Pact spells.

[Strimtom]

I can at least help partially with that one. The spells listed under Warlock I see that might throw someone off are all Celestial Pact spells.

Yep! Exactly this, the spells are granted from the Celestial warlock pact. You'll get them as you level up.

[Arctigis]

How high did you take this if you don't mind me asking?. I've tried this (SB warlock) a couple of times but I've
always found the DPS lacklustre. It seems to look better on paper than it actually performs. Can you explain
your pact choice as well - pacts with a reflex save can be prolematic in some content,

[rabidfox]

I love your naming choice for this one.

[Gnominal_Aphasia]

Hey Strimtom, thanks for this build and video. I was thinking (or trying to) that for HC, perhaps an alternative would be 16/3/1 Warlock/Bard/Arti could be also viable: lose the rune arm (and I know you are a fan) but gain 1 die for both EB and Pact damage plus being able to take one lvl 6 spell (I was thinking Hold Monster Mass). What do you think?

[Arctigis]

Hey Strimtom, thanks for this build and video. I was thinking (or trying to) that for HC, perhaps an alternative would be 16/3/1 Warlock/Bard/Arti could be also viable: lose the rune arm (and I know you are a fan) but gain 1 die for both EB and Pact damage plus being able to take one lvl 6 spell (I was thinking Hold Monster Mass). What do you think?

I'n not Strimtom but this sounds like a much better idea.

[Zretch]

This could probably be simplified a bit by just going 20 artificer.

Tier 5 in RMM gives a repair aura that works like brilliance, doesn't require the level 18 core to tick every 3 seconds, and scales with repair spellpower rathe than with constitution.
Tier 4 in RMM gives reconstruct which has a shorter cooldown than Shining Through.
RMM also has nice survivability things like repair amp, magic missile protection, extra hitpoints, etc.

For AoE, if you don't want to wait for level 15 and Tac Det (which is amazing), you can certainly go into arcanotech and use the lightning AoEs.
Use a repeater at lower levels until around 10, giving a ranged alternative to single weapon fighting in the bard/arti/warlock build.

Full artificer will give more skillpoints so you don't have to stop at 6 ranks in spot on a build that you've dumped Wisdom. This gives a fighting chance at actually spotting traps rather than having to have all of the memorized in every quest.

The arti class is pretty much built for hardcore.

[Gnominal_Aphasia]

This could probably be simplified a bit by just going 20 artificer.

Tier 5 in RMM gives a repair aura that works like brilliance, doesn't require the level 18 core to tick every 3 seconds, and scales with repair spellpower rathe than with constitution.
Tier 4 in RMM gives reconstruct which has a shorter cooldown than Shining Through.
RMM also has nice survivability things like repair amp, magic missile protection, extra hitpoints, etc.

For AoE, if you don't want to wait for level 15 and Tac Det (which is amazing), you can certainly go into arcanotech and use the lightning AoEs.
Use a repeater at lower levels until around 10, giving a ranged alternative to single weapon fighting in the bard/arti/warlock build.

Full artificer will give more skillpoints so you don't have to stop at 6 ranks in spot on a build that you've dumped Wisdom. This gives a fighting chance at actually spotting traps rather than having to have all of the memorized in every quest.

The arti class is pretty much built for hardcore.

Hi, pure Arti is ofc also valid for HC but I would (and have done) do things differently... there is a lot of content at higher heroic levels onwards that have electric immune monsters so I take tier 5 in Arcano-Technician so that rune arm damage can provide temporary bypass (10 secs) to immunity as well as getting access to better DCs, another SLA etc. Arti level 15+ gets you Reconstruct so the tier 4 SLA from RM is a waste of 6 AP... I put 11 or 12 AP into RM for CSW SLA which also gives you the required MM immunity from core 2 and 43 into Arcano AND go pure caster at later heroic level... A-T is a very strong tree and the core 2 ability should be used on cooldown as it can provide free spell points every 30 seconds. I also put 11 AP into Feydark for the Color Spray SLA which is fabulous. The level 24 epic feat Master Artificer is a huge DPS increase which this build really needs as most (all?) of the good SLAs are MCL 15... this makes Sharn / level 24 less enjoyable. To round off my solo HC build, I also took Human and the Dragonmark of Passage to get 4 uses of DD.

That said, I am playing (casually, to test) a slightly modified version of Strimtom's build here and am loving it... level 9 (1 Arti, 3 Bard, 5 Warlock) so my lvl 9 feat choice was SF Evocation for 2 reasons... firstly I wanted to be able to access the extra DCs provided in the Arcane EDs [a Twist] and secondly (forced decision) my BAB wasn't high enough at level 9 to take Improved SWF. So I'll take that Feat and lvl 12, dump <sniff> Offhand Versatility and plan to take ED feat Perfect SWF [at lvl 24] instead of Arcane Warrior.

So yes, I agree pure Arti is a valid alternative in that it can do most content solo on HC (and even on normal servers, just I'd stick to low reaper) but Strimtom's build is a totally different flavor, does what it says on the tin, and so far has been really enjoyable.

[Budders]

It's mentioned in the video that Empower is essential to the build, but yet I do not see it listed on the actual build layout. Is there a reason?

[Zretch]

Hi, pure Arti is ofc also valid for HC but I would (and have done) do things differently... there is a lot of content at higher heroic levels onwards that have electric immune monsters so I take tier 5 in Arcano-Technician so that rune arm damage can provide temporary bypass (10 secs) to immunity as well as getting access to better DCs, another SLA etc. Arti level 15+ gets you Reconstruct so the tier 4 SLA from RM is a waste of 6 AP... I put 11 or 12 AP into RM for CSW SLA which also gives you the required MM immunity from core 2 and 43 into Arcano AND go pure caster at later heroic level... A-T is a very strong tree and the core 2 ability should be used on cooldown as it can provide free spell points every 30 seconds. I also put 11 AP into Feydark for the Color Spray SLA which is fabulous. The level 24 epic feat Master Artificer is a huge DPS increase which this build really needs as most (all?) of the good SLAs are MCL 15... this makes Sharn / level 24 less enjoyable. To round off my solo HC build, I also took Human and the Dragonmark of Passage to get 4 uses of DD.

That said, I am playing (casually, to test) a slightly modified version of Strimtom's build here and am loving it... level 9 (1 Arti, 3 Bard, 5 Warlock) so my lvl 9 feat choice was SF Evocation for 2 reasons... firstly I wanted to be able to access the extra DCs provided in the Arcane EDs [a Twist] and secondly (forced decision) my BAB wasn't high enough at level 9 to take Improved SWF. So I'll take that Feat and lvl 12, dump <sniff> Offhand Versatility and plan to take ED feat Perfect SWF [at lvl 24] instead of Arcane Warrior.

So yes, I agree pure Arti is a valid alternative in that it can do most content solo on HC (and even on normal servers, just I'd stick to low reaper) but Strimtom's build is a totally different flavor, does what it says on the tin, and so far has been really enjoyable.

I think there's a difference in how you'd approach the build between HardCore and live. In HC, I don't think you give up the repair aura, and you can get that reconstruct SLA at level 8 vs the spell at 15 or potentially higher if you take Tac Det first (and you should). Arcano is a good tree, and for the Live server, I'd go T5 in it without hesitation, but Hardcore I'd go a different way. The reason for my original post was that Artificer gives many of the same advantages as the build in the thread, but it does so without splitting classes and all the complications that come with that. You also aren't fighting trying to trap on a platform that has very few skillpoints per level for the majority of its levels.

But of course you can play any build you want, including the posted one.

[josh.smith]

It's mentioned in the video that Empower is essential to the build, but yet I do not see it listed on the actual build layout. Is there a reason?

[Merfyn]

Yep! Exactly this, the spells are granted from the Celestial warlock pact. You'll get them as you level up.

Any reason not to use a Tiefling for this instead of a Human?

[KurtS]

I started this build after playing a little with the melee warlock build you made because I wanted to trap. It felt harder for me (as a not very skilled player) to level through Elite's solo with this in the earlier levels... so after reaching level 8 or so I decided to do almost the exact same build... but take the levels in a slightly different level. It worked out much better for me as a... well not newbie but just more of a lazy/not very skilled player. I did have more intelligence (was a 32 rather than 28 point build) which helped with getting more spot (which for those of us without great knowledge of traps is really helpful)

Still went artificer level 1 with 2 points in feydark for the illusionary sword and 2 in renegade mastermaker for the heal and hp.

Level 2 was warlock instead of bard., puting points in the enlightened spirit tree. This got me the somewhat underwhelming aura damage right away but got another 15 hp. I didn't really feel the loss of the bard level. It loses the single target higher critical attack... and a somewhat underwhelming spell choice... but honest it was kinda going to be the same choice either way... expeditious retreat. Running around faster just makes stuff easier... and it really fits better as a warlock choice since it scales up better as you go along. Lose some skills but can still keep UMD/disable/search maxed and up spot a point every other level (or go with spellcraft instead which is what I did... not sure which would be optimal)

Level 3 was warlock instead of bard again. Lost deflect arrows from bard, but added shield from the enlightened spirit tree. This felt like an overall win for warlock... the bard path would have to delve deeper into feydark illusionist to get that. It probably loses in single target as the build as written takes SWF here while I couldn't due to not having balance yet... took precision here instead. I also took resist elements here instead of jump. Jump requires you to kind of know where traps are and be agile with your play style. For chumps like me, knowing a quest has Kobold shamans and throwing a resist element - electricity on is more beneficial. Also gets bless at this stage which is handy. Same issue with skills as above.

Level 4 was warlock instead of bard again. Lose swashbuckling which is another ding to single target damage, but in my opinion this is MORE than made up for by getting eldrich burst as an AOE attack in terms of being easy to play. The bigger loss is the +4 skills from inspiration... but to be honest at this point I already had +4 or better spot/search/disable items from random loot. Didn't have any real trapping issues.

Level 5 was warlock instead of artificer. This improves eldrich blast and pact damage, which both helps the aura and eldrich burst hit harder and gets you blur, which helps with survivability a LOT. Lose the rune arm and the artificer skills topping off... but I kind of feel like early game rune arms suck anyway unless you get lucky and it helps more to top up skills (particularly spot) by taking artificer later with the extra intelligence I put in.

Level 6 I finally went bard. Original gets warlock. I kinda wanted to keep going warlock, but I wouldn't be able to get all the swf feats if I did that. Put some points in balance here to get SWF (where the build as written got precision which I took at 3). At this point I got to 20 points in eldrich soul... which got me a bit of light and universal spell power, all the defensive aura stuff and got me ready for level 7... which is where it became awesome earlier for a chump like me.

Level 7. Another bard level instead of warlock... but I got the ES enhancements for Brilliance and Retribution. WHAT a huge quality of life boost this is. What does 18 temp hit points every 5 seconds give you? Pretty much it means with a heal bot you can just gather up all the mobs and eldrich burst/aura them to death and not worry about dying with a healbot hireling. And your burst and aura do an additional 3d4 light damage... and your swf hits get that as well which at this stage of the game may make them come pretty close to having swashbuckling since you're not critting that often yet even with the swashbuckling bonuses. It's way better when you consider what burst gives you and having a better aura. Still hadn't found a rune arm worth anything yet, and was using an orb which was solid, so other than the passive swf damage boost (which is crushed by Retribution), I don't think the rune arm factored in a whole lot. Another bonus from brilliance... this effectively gives you underwater breathing (as long as you don't take damage underwater). You refill your temp HP well before they run out from being out of breath. Again... usefully for the improperly geared chumps like me who want to play through elites to get favor on easy mode.

Level 8. 3rd bard level. Finally started taking points in the swashbuckling tree. Original build finally gets eldrich burst... but I've had it since level 4. On the flip side I finally get +4 to skills from bard... but this is the point I kind of feel like the quests start needing it if you picked up basic skill items for trapping.

Level 9. 2nd artificer level. To be honest I wish I could have waited another couple of levels for this and gone to 6 warlock first, but had to take artificer to get enough attack bonus to take improved SWF (and thus all the other feats after this). At this point it converges back to the original build... but unless you respecced to get the tier 4 warlock enhancements at this point, this still feels like it would outperform the original if you left the points in swashbuckler until they even up.


Overall...AWESOME build. I just felt like for the lazy/not skilled/newer players, doing the levels in this order made it a ton easier. It basically plays more like your melee warlock build early on.. which is great for a player like me.

[KurtS]

I started this build after playing a little with the melee warlock build you made because I wanted to trap. It felt harder for me (as a not very skilled player) to level through Elite's solo with this in the earlier levels... so after reaching level 8 or so I decided to do almost the exact same build... but take the levels in a slightly different level. It worked out much better for me as a... well not newbie but just more of a lazy/not very skilled player. I did have more intelligence (was a 32 rather than 28 point build) which helped with getting more spot (which for those of us without great knowledge of traps is really helpful)

Still went artificer level 1 with 2 points in feydark for the illusionary sword and 2 in renegade mastermaker for the heal and hp.

Level 2 was warlock instead of bard., puting points in the enlightened spirit tree. This got me the somewhat underwhelming aura damage right away but got another 15 hp. I didn't really feel the loss of the bard level. It loses the single target higher critical attack... and a somewhat underwhelming spell choice... but honest it was kinda going to be the same choice either way... expeditious retreat. Running around faster just makes stuff easier... and it really fits better as a warlock choice since it scales up better as you go along. Lose some skills but can still keep UMD/disable/search maxed and up spot a point every other level (or go with spellcraft instead which is what I did... not sure which would be optimal)

Level 3 was warlock instead of bard again. Lost deflect arrows from bard, but added shield from the enlightened spirit tree. This felt like an overall win for warlock... the bard path would have to delve deeper into feydark illusionist to get that. It probably loses in single target as the build as written takes SWF here while I couldn't due to not having balance yet... took precision here instead. I also took resist elements here instead of jump. Jump requires you to kind of know where traps are and be agile with your play style. For chumps like me, knowing a quest has Kobold shamans and throwing a resist element - electricity on is more beneficial. Also gets bless at this stage which is handy. Same issue with skills as above.

Level 4 was warlock instead of bard again. Lose swashbuckling which is another ding to single target damage, but in my opinion this is MORE than made up for by getting eldrich burst as an AOE attack in terms of being easy to play. The bigger loss is the +4 skills from inspiration... but to be honest at this point I already had +4 or better spot/search/disable items from random loot. Didn't have any real trapping issues.

Level 5 was warlock instead of artificer. This improves eldrich blast and pact damage, which both helps the aura and eldrich burst hit harder and gets you blur, which helps with survivability a LOT. Lose the rune arm and the artificer skills topping off... but I kind of feel like early game rune arms suck anyway unless you get lucky and it helps more to top up skills (particularly spot) by taking artificer later with the extra intelligence I put in.

Level 6 I finally went bard. Original gets warlock. I kinda wanted to keep going warlock, but I wouldn't be able to get all the swf feats if I did that. Put some points in balance here to get SWF (where the build as written got precision which I took at 3). At this point I got to 20 points in eldrich soul... which got me a bit of light and universal spell power, all the defensive aura stuff and got me ready for level 7... which is where it became awesome earlier for a chump like me.

Level 7. Another bard level instead of warlock... but I got the ES enhancements for Brilliance and Retribution. WHAT a huge quality of life boost this is. What does 18 temp hit points every 5 seconds give you? Pretty much it means with a heal bot you can just gather up all the mobs and eldrich burst/aura them to death and not worry about dying with a healbot hireling. And your burst and aura do an additional 3d4 light damage... and your swf hits get that as well which at this stage of the game may make them come pretty close to having swashbuckling since you're not critting that often yet even with the swashbuckling bonuses. It's way better when you consider what burst gives you and having a better aura. Still hadn't found a rune arm worth anything yet, and was using an orb which was solid, so other than the passive swf damage boost (which is crushed by Retribution), I don't think the rune arm factored in a whole lot. Another bonus from brilliance... this effectively gives you underwater breathing (as long as you don't take damage underwater). You refill your temp HP well before they run out from being out of breath. Again... usefully for the improperly geared chumps like me who want to play through elites to get favor on easy mode.

Level 8. 3rd bard level. Finally started taking points in the swashbuckling tree. Original build finally gets eldrich burst... but I've had it since level 4. On the flip side I finally get +4 to skills from bard... but this is the point I kind of feel like the quests start needing it if you picked up basic skill items for trapping.

Level 9. 2nd artificer level. To be honest I wish I could have waited another couple of levels for this and gone to 6 warlock first, but had to take artificer to get enough attack bonus to take improved SWF (and thus all the other feats after this). At this point it converges back to the original build... but unless you respecced to get the tier 4 warlock enhancements at this point, this still feels like it would outperform the original if you left the points in swashbuckler until they even up.


Overall...AWESOME build. I just felt like for the lazy/not skilled/newer players, doing the levels in this order made it a ton easier. It basically plays more like your melee warlock build early on.. which is great for a player like me.

Other things I'm considering for a future play through this build.

-Going Acid instead of Electric for the warlock pact. Mainly for Knock... but I'm not sure that it can reach a high enough level with caster level + charisma mod. If that would work, it would take care of the "thief skill" missing from this build... but at the expense of several offensive benefits from going electric. Not sure where it would fall with that overall. I might not care enough about picking locks to lose the damage.

-Going 1 level of artificer instead of 2. This means no greater single weapon fighting (replaced getting empower at lvl 9) and shifting the other stuff back. Bonus is the one more damage die on pact and regular blast damage, and an additional 5th level spell. It would seem in looking at it that it shifts the build even further away from SWF and toward blasting for the focus.

-Trying other races that don't get the human bonus feat and action skill boost.

-I think for all of those, it might be a situation where it works fine for quickly running up to 20 to get racial reincarnations, but maybe not so much after that. We'll see how it goes. Like I said yesterday, I'm loving how easy this build plays for a slacker like me.