Wizard Acrobat Staff

[KoobTheProud]

Wizard Acrobat Staff

Human

Str 15, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 8 Cha 8

L1 Rog 1 - Two Handed Fighting, Dodge (Human)
L2 Wiz 1 - Extend Spell (Wizard)
L3 Wiz 2 - Mobility
L4 Wiz 3 - Dex +1
L5 Wiz 4
L6 Rog 2 - Toughness
L7 Wiz 5 - Quicken (Wizard)
L8 Wiz 6 - Dex +1
L9 Wiz 7 - Spring Attack
10 Wiz 8
11 Wiz 9
12 Wiz 10 - Dex +1, Improved Two Handed Fighting, SF: Evocation (Wizard)
13 Wiz 11
14 Wiz 12
15 Rog 3 - Improved Crit: Bludgeon
16 Wiz 13 - Dex +1
17 Wiz 14
18 Wiz 15 - Whirlwind Attack, Spell Penetration (Wizard)
19 Rog 4
20 Rog 5 - Dex +1

Thief Acrobat - 43

Staff Control, Thief Acrobatics 3, Sly Flourish 3, Acrobat Staff Training
Stick Fighting, Quick Strike 3, Acrobat Staff Training
Improved Second Strikes 3, Shadow Dodge 3, Sweeping Strikes 3, Dexterity, Acrobat Staff Training
Staff Lunge 3, Dexterity, Force's Point, Acrobat Staff Training
Staff Specialization, Vault, Acrobat Staff Training

Eldritch Knight -23

Eldritch Strike, Improved Mage Armor 3, Arcane Siphon 3, Toughness 1
Spellsword, Improved Shield 3
Imbue the Blade, Arcane Barrier, Critical Mastery 3, Dexterity
Subtle Force I, Knight's Transformation

Pale Master - 14

Dark Reaping, Negative Energy Conduit 3, Spell Critical: Negative Energy I
Pale Shroud: Shroud of the Wraith, Spell Critical: Negative Energy II, Cloak of Night
Undead Augmentation I: Ghost Wind, Negative Energy Adept 3

The build needs at least +2 Str tome.

The Wizard feats SF:Evocation and Spell Penetration might be Mental Toughness and Imp Mental Toughness if it seems quixotic to take the former with just 15 levels of Wizard in a Dex build.

The idea overall is to leverage the good EK stuff with the great Thief Acrobat stuff and fight in favorable area of effect spells to add damage. We're taking just enough PM to keep a constant pulsing heal going and to get 20% incorporeality from Wraith.

We'll use Draconic Incarnation and Shadowdancer to improve the AoE's and to give us 3 independent Abundant Step abilities to get around (Spring Attack, Vault and Spread Your Wings all have separate cooldowns and so they can be chained 1-2-3)

[Arsont]

Looks like a fun build. I recently finished a pure EK, an 18/2 Apostate/Monk, and I'm looking at TRing my main into a similar build to what you posted here, but with Dark Apostate. What difficulty are you planning on running with this? I haven't raided much in the past few years. I mostly just solo R1-3s up to cap until I get bored, then TR; my input will be based on that difficulty. That being said, a couple of thoughts:

As you mentioned, you're going dex based, and 15/5; In which case I'd suggest swapping out SF: Evo as you noted. Spell Pen can still be useful for a couple of no-save spells, but your DC's are going to be miserable without moderate investment. Some spells, like Web or Otto's ball, might be okay on specific mobs - but overall not great. Similarly, your Sweeping Strikes DC will be pretty low, at least if the DC is still based on rogue level and not character level. That being said, I found trip to be easier to slot on this kind of build than spell DC's.

I'd suggest trying to pick up the Cleave line, especially with your 3 dashes; Being able to vault into a pack, smash cleaves, and vault away is both really fun and pretty effective. I'd probably drop Extend, SF: Evo, and Spell Pen to fit the feats in.

Dropping Extend brings up another thought, something I noticed playing my EK: The two lower Death Auras really are meh for self-healing; Lesser Death Aura almost felt like a waste of sp in just R1. I ended up relying more on Negative Energy Burst than the auras while leveling, until I could get the PM capstone. In which case, you'd really want Maximize and Empower for the burst.

If you don't mind deviating from your posted build, I'd suggest going from 15/5 to maybe 13/5/2 Wiz/rog/ftr. I don't have my builder, so I can't double check the feats right now, but that should give you enough BaB/feats to take THF, ITHF, Cleave chain (3), Spring Atk chain (3), Imp. Crit: Bludgeon, Maximize, Emp, and Quicken. This gives you WWA, Great Cleave, and more reliable healing with a boosted Neg burst (You could still use the auras, but you'd have to recast them more often. Also, Max+Emp effect the aura, so you'd have a stronger, albeit more expensive aura). I didn't include Spell Pen since you'd lose lv 8 spells (Otto's and Powerword: Stun). You can't pick up GTHF with 5 rog and 12+ wiz levels until lv 21 (Not enough BaB), so I'd take WWA in its place.

Personally, I'd probably drop to 12 wiz and go 3 fighter for Stalwart Defense, but I just like doing that on most of my builds.

Anyhow, that's my input. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.

[Trillea]

A staff build without Swords to Plowshares? Or am I missing something?

[Coffey]

A staff build without Swords to Plowshares? Or am I missing something?

Swords to Plowshares feat was added to the Thief Acrobat enhancement tree core 2.

[KoobTheProud]

Trying this first with my EK/PM THF Greatsword build shifting over to TA/EK/PM THF QStaves.

Staying with Int/Str instead of Dex for the moment. I want to see if the DC's are manageable at 15 Wiz with a real investment in Int. Going with Qstaves with Int to hit and damage at level 20 just to see if everything holds together in early epics. There's no room in the build for Harper Agent so the build is dependent on weapons that let me hit/damage with Int. Strength is currently just 40 and I have no really good way to raise it.

Arsont: definitely looking at reconfiguring feats as you suggest if the high Int does not work out and I need to switch to Dex after the ETR. One thing that is clear is that the TA attacks except for Quickstrike and Sweeping Attacks would be better as cleaves in the rotation. Arcane Siphon is good enough for the rotation if the DC's turn out to be workable at 15 Wiz. With Eldritch Strike likely becoming a mandatory every other rotation strike due to the EK changes on Lammania there are going to be too many attacks to really fit in Sly Flourish except when the aggro reduction is necessary in groups.

[Trillea]

Swords to Plowshares feat was added to the Thief Acrobat enhancement tree core 2.

Ahh ok. Been a while since I took a good look at TA.

[Hafeal]

Wizard Acrobat Staff

I have not thought of doing this before but it is intriguing.


I am curious to know if you thought of going INT based and using 10 points in Harper to get INT to hit and damage. This would also help your trapping and wizard DCs.

[KoobTheProud]

I have not thought of doing this before but it is intriguing.


I am curious to know if you thought of going INT based and using 10 points in Harper to get INT to hit and damage. This would also help your trapping and wizard DCs.

It's 12 pts in HA to get Int to damage. At the moment just using Qstaves that give int to hit and damage as an experiment in low epics. DC's should be ok. Spell Pen is the possible issue for a 15 Wiz. We'll see. Helpless damage would be great if I can find a way to immobilize mobs.

I really want to try the first build but that will take an ETR and I guess I will know about the Int/Str build by 30.

[Arsont]

It's 12 pts in HA to get Int to damage. At the moment just using Qstaves that give int to hit and damage as an experiment in low epics. DC's should be ok. Spell Pen is the possible issue for a 15 Wiz. We'll see. Helpless damage would be great if I can find a way to immobilize mobs.

I really want to try the first build but that will take an ETR and I guess I will know about the Int/Str build by 30.

You can mitigate a lot of the spell pen issues with PM and Magus of the Eclipse; The Magus mantle is really nice for a melee build like this. I went T5 Grandmaster and T4 into Magus for a similar Apostate build, and it really helped a lot. Depending on your EDP, you could go 21 Magus (Or 23 for Nullmagic Strike/Protection) for the lv 30 core and 31+ Draconic (Spread Your Wings), then run in the Magus mantle. If you focus negative and cold, you could get some great synergy with those trees and your build.

[KoobTheProud]

This is what I am doing for the Str/Int build. I'm taking points out of TA and PM to make the room for 12 in Harper Agent for Int to hit and damage. In Heroic leveling this is likely to be using Str for hit and damage because every other tree is more important to the build. In Epics it will be Int to hit and damage.

Wizard Acrobat Staff

Human

Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 8 Cha 8

L1 Rog 1 - Two Handed Fighting, Dodge (Human)
L2 Wiz 1 - Extend Spell (Wizard)
L3 Wiz 2 - Mobility
L4 Wiz 3 - Int +1
L5 Wiz 4
L6 Rog 2 - Toughness
L7 Wiz 5 - Quicken (Wizard)
L8 Wiz 6 - Int +1
L9 Wiz 7 - Spring Attack
10 Wiz 8
11 Wiz 9
12 Wiz 10 - Int +1, Improved Two Handed Fighting, SF: Evocation (Wizard)
13 Wiz 11
14 Wiz 12
15 Rog 3 - Improved Crit: Bludgeon
16 Wiz 13 - Int +1
17 Wiz 14
18 Wiz 15 - Whirlwind Attack, Spell Penetration (Wizard)
19 Rog 4
20 Rog 5 - Int +1

Thief Acrobat - 36

Staff Control, Thief Acrobatics 3, Acrobat Staff Training
Stick Fighting, Quick Strike 3, Acrobat Staff Training
Improved Second Strikes 3,Sweeping Strikes 3, Shadow Dodge 2, Acrobat Staff Training
Staff Lunge 3, No Mercy 3, Acrobat Staff Training
Staff Specialization, Vault, Acrobat Staff Training

Eldritch Knight -23

Eldritch Strike, Improved Mage Armor 3, Arcane Siphon 3, Toughness 1
Spellsword, Improved Shield 3
Imbue the Blade, Arcane Barrier, Critical Mastery 3, Intelligence
Subtle Force I, Knight's Transformation

Harper Agent - 12

Agent of Good I, Harper Enchantment, Strategic Combat I
Harper Training I: Int, Know the Angles 3
Strategic Combat II

Pale Master - 9

Dark Reaping, Negative Energy Conduit 3, Spell Critical: Negative Energy I
Pale Shroud: Shroud of the Lich, Spell Critical: Negative Energy II