Post-U51 Tempest Epic Destinies

[Agr33n3]

Howdy all!

I am currently levelling my pure Dex-based Tempest Ranger through epics and have been having a tough time finding a primary epic destiny.

As a melee without Pally or Barbarian HP, and only light armor as well, I think at least a few points spent in HP and other defensive goodies. I have enjoyed playing with Fatesingers' 'The Sword Sings' and 'Blade of Discord', but I don't see myself using these into the latter half of epics.

I have a few ideas floating around but would love some other input on where to find a mix of damage and CC. My first instinct is to go T5 of Leg. Dreadnaught but I am not sure if another destiny provides more of what melee Rangers need as opposed to a traditional melee.


Here are some details about my specific build. Skip ahead if you just want to read about ED's, though this info might help us decide what we do and don't take.

20 True-Neutral Wood Elf Ranger (80 AP, 2 Racial AP, 42 Reaper points)
42 Tempest, 26 DWS, 14 W. Elf.

Strikethrough with Dance of Death: 220%
Standing doublestrike: 40%
In-combat doublestrike: 90% (20% comes from 4x Killer stacks, 30% from reaper boost)
HP at level 23: 1432
F.E.: Elemental, Undead, Human, Evil Outsider, Constructs.
Hit chance at level 23: low-mid 110's (I usually don't see misses on 2's up to R4 at-level)
Fortification bypass: 48% (25% from Precision, 15% from gear, unsure about where the last 8% comes from)

I am currently dual-wielding Epic Ethereal Scimitars (ML 20) from the Borderlands vendor. I also run heroic PotF until lvl 29, along with some heroic RL and epic Borderlands loot to boot.



Here are my ideas so far, from least to most investment of AP:

EITHER 3 AP in Primal for Rejuv. Cocoon or 8 AP in Sentinel for Renew and Core 2.

At least T3 (22 AP) in Shadowdancer for the epic strike and its upgrade to increase melee range, hopefully making Dance of Death more reliable at hitting 3 targets.

Aaand about there is where I kinda dissolve. I am not sure if T5 Shadowdancer or L.D. or maybe Fatesinger is more effective, I have not spent a great deal of time at endgame since U50.

One of my only takes is that FotW is probably not the top choice for this build as I am TWF and thus want more damage per hit rather than a single big hit with only my mainhand.
Edit: Does anyone know if Adrenaline can proc on your offhand weapon AND mainhand?

All help is appreciated!

[levy1964]

Howdy all!

I am currently levelling my pure Dex-based Tempest Ranger through epics and have been having a tough time finding a primary epic destiny.

As a melee without Pally or Barbarian HP, and only light armor as well, I think at least a few points spent in HP and other defensive goodies. I have enjoyed playing with Fatesingers' 'The Sword Sings' and 'Blade of Discord', but I don't see myself using these into the latter half of epics.

I have a few ideas floating around but would love some other input on where to find a mix of damage and CC. My first instinct is to go T5 of Leg. Dreadnaught but I am not sure if another destiny provides more of what melee Rangers need as opposed to a traditional melee.


Here are some details about my specific build. Skip ahead if you just want to read about ED's, though this info might help us decide what we do and don't take.

20 True-Neutral Wood Elf Ranger (80 AP, 2 Racial AP, 42 Reaper points)
42 Tempest, 26 DWS, 14 W. Elf.

Strikethrough with Dance of Death: 220%
Standing doublestrike: 40%
In-combat doublestrike: 90% (20% comes from 4x Killer stacks, 30% from reaper boost)
HP at level 23: 1432
F.E.: Elemental, Undead, Human, Evil Outsider, Constructs.
Hit chance at level 23: low-mid 110's (I usually don't see misses on 2's up to R4 at-level)
Fortification bypass: 48% (25% from Precision, 15% from gear, unsure about where the last 8% comes from)

I am currently dual-wielding Epic Ethereal Scimitars (ML 20) from the Borderlands vendor. I also run heroic PotF until lvl 29, along with some heroic RL and epic Borderlands loot to boot.



Here are my ideas so far, from least to most investment of AP:

EITHER 3 AP in Primal for Rejuv. Cocoon or 8 AP in Sentinel for Renew and Core 2.

At least T3 (22 AP) in Shadowdancer for the epic strike and its upgrade to increase melee range, hopefully making Dance of Death more reliable at hitting 3 targets.

Aaand about there is where I kinda dissolve. I am not sure if T5 Shadowdancer or L.D. or maybe Fatesinger is more effective, I have not spent a great deal of time at endgame since U50.

One of my only takes is that FotW is probably not the top choice for this build as I am TWF and thus want more damage per hit rather than a single big hit with only my mainhand.
Edit: Does anyone know if Adrenaline can proc on your offhand weapon AND mainhand?

All help is appreciated!

Ican say how I do, get helpness most of time is what u need, on normal mobs and on undead, get a improved trip feat and go LD T5 for improved feat by helpness on trip (work on undead), this is open combo twf AoE stun, DoD+AoE Trip=helpness...if use LD T5 legendary rally u kill em all,
Go t4 grandmaster and get lotus hand with t4 upgrade so u make AOE helpness again on separate coolddown. Mix LD t5 momentus ability and use thousend cut t5 tempest for extra 120mp.

Grandmaster and LD are really strong in twf even not be centered, u get two AoE stun on separate timer and this skill also are huge dps boos on bosses. Fight! start with sunder than Combo 20sec is melee power action boost (with prowless filigree) + reaper doublestrike is 80mp and 30% DS for 20sec, after use momentum t5 LD ability is again 80mp+30 DS for 40sec, after this or togather use thousend cut is another stacking 30mp and 30%DS...most bosses die in less in minute and u get in LD and Grandmaster nice melee power combo and DS for over one minute. And two AoE stun on separate coolddown.

Edit: my mistake, drifting lotus need Ki so only dire charge and trip are left

[Ganak]

Facing the same challenge on my dex tempest. Nothing feels like a great fit.

I *really* like Shadowdancer for many reasons, but the tier 5 and Epic Moment are **** for melee, and don't like the Shadowdancer Destiny Mantle. I prefer the Shadowstrike epic strike the best for my dex tempest TWF. Lengthening the attack range with DoD feels incredible.

I really like Bring Darkness with the First Blood feat so as to apply the Darkness debuff (no longer immune to Sneak Attacks and the PRR/MRR debuff), but going that route commits 23 destiny points (along with Epic Strike Upgrade II), limiting maxing out Tier 5 in another destiny.


I like the destiny mantle of Fury of the Wild, but not the epic strikes for my dex ranger. I like the destiny mantle. Not a fan of epic moment for this type of character. Don't feel get as much value as a TWF with Adrenaline and as for Quick, I've given it a go and not a fan of DoT in general, most trash dies really quickly, and find its a niche use for red named and Doom reapers.

Legendary Dreadnought has best epic moment, and the mantle is good. But not being tactics or action boost focused, feel don't get as much bang for the buck.

I haven't really given any others a go.

At this point in time with my 59 points, I'm trying 23 in Shadowdancer, 35 in FotW and 1 in Legendary Dreadnought. I would prefer to do 5 destiny points in a 3rd destiny for the +5 melee power.

[Pandjed]

Currently playing dex Tempest on my main. As I have some ETRs already, I went with SD for mantle and epic strike meld (to get as much avoidance as possible), and FotW as the main tree (also quick cutter for boss fights). This worked well overall, but at endgame r8+ I ultimately swapped FotW entirely with LD, as Great Leveler is a bit hard to use (refer to my post here), especially as a "going into the fray second" character.

Dire Charge is just easier to use in that regard, and LD needs less destiny points for a ranger in t5, which made me open up some for the "From the Shadows" enhancement. So now I start in sneak, use FtS first to hop into flanking position and then dire charge in, using defenses of Meld and the CC at the same time before using Meld when in the midst.
The displacement on Action Boosts is also nice, as I basically am in haste boost almost all the time, if not using my epic moment.

Overall, my biggest problem is being in melee alone, as being at 70% dodge still means that 30% will hit. OC, the other avoidance defenses aren't as big on r8+, but they do trigger occasionally. Biggest plus of the mantle is however the fast sneak, as it allows for better positioning when the battle starts.

[Pandjed]

After some more questing in r8+, I think the best tree is simply Legendary Dreadnaught, including the mantle, as the concealment of SD mantle doesn't stack with action boost displacement (though I believe to remember that a dev once said, that mantle concealment is meant to stack with other concealment).
Too bad to lose the sneak speed from SD-mantle, but that alone doesn't outweigh the pros of LD-mantle.

With Horizon Walker Battle Trance, Granbdmaster Stunning DC, and a stunning item, hitting the DCs for dire charge isn't that much of a problem, unless you run more skulls than you can provide for (i.e. too few ability score improvements and tactical DCs from reaper tree).

Btw, Dire Charge doesn't break stealth.

[Ganak]

https://imgur.com/a/63MhouW

Feeling FotW for Tier 5.

Reasons: Not insignificant survivability boost with Lore of the Wilds (Every 2 Wilderness Lore feat now grants a 1% Primal bonus to Maximum Hit Points) and Scarred by Chaos (+50 Hit Points and +10 Physical Resistance Rating. Doubled if you have the Embodiment of Chaos feat), with of course taking the Embodiment of Chaos feat.

Epic moment for FoTW...meh, way inferior to LD epic moment, but Epic Moment not in of itself a deciding factor in destiny choice.

LD's Legendary Rally is an awesome action with 30 sec cool down.

Choosing to not do any tactics, means I don't have to gear for stun/trip and value in LD is greatly negated when not using tactics.

Shadowdancer epic strike rules, and the other points spent feel well spent.

[Mindos]

I *really* like Shadowdancer for many reasons, but the tier 5 and Epic Moment are **** for melee, and don't like the Shadowdancer Destiny Mantle. I prefer the Shadowstrike epic strike the best for my dex tempest TWF. Lengthening the attack range with DoD feels incredible.

How big of a range increase are we talking here?

[Ganak]

How big of a range increase are we talking here?

That's a great question, and so happens I was testing the other night. I see a lot of fixes lately to ED's that aren't working correctly and I am skeptical of taking for granted anything works. Worse, I can't find any published data or discussion on it because the forums are so hard to search.

So I was testing on the airship dummy, doing a baseline of how far I am to hit the dummy normally, and then testing moving back with the epic strike active. I was surprised that it's a good distance. Apologies, I didn't take notes and was just marking my place using the wooden floorboards of the airship, but I'd say its a character size further than normal. More than I expected.

It helps with clearing trash mobs with DoD oh so nicely. Think it can be helpful for some boss fights to stay back (like VoD orthons) but have to be mindful of the duration and where you are in it, and moving back and forth.

It works and adds distance for sure, and gives a much bigger reach.