Vissarion wrote on May 27
th, 2011 at 2:24pm:
Thanks for weighing in, Junk. A couple questions:
1. Are the attack bonus problems for 12/7/1 solely due to missing the Tempest Set+Tempest III (+4 attack, if I do my math right)? I know the BAB is lower, but seems like sneak attack accuracy, and either Madstone or DP clickies would help mitigate it.
One would think? I don’t have the toons myself so I can’t say for certain. I’ve made a conscious effort to get my to-hit as hit as possible (Epic Spectrals, Tempest set, madstone, etc . . .) and they simply might not be geared as well. One of them was an 18/1/1 in his past life and said he didn’t have a problem then but does now. He did just TR and epics AC’d got raised by about 4 so that also could account for it.
Vissarion wrote on May 27
th, 2011 at 2:24pm:
Alternatively, would having something like Epic Raven's Sight + Epic Gem of Many Facets be an adequate remedy? Or would gearing become problematic with that setup?
My gear’s listed in this post.
http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=3813719&postcount=1215Keep in mind he’s my favorite toon and I spend too much time pimping him out. What I’m waiting for is the Epic Gem of Many facets change so I can wear Epic Spectrals with the Bracers of the Claw and still get the clawset bonus. I have everything ready to go except for shards.
I like to keep the eye’s free for Tharnes, +5 to-hit that stacks with +4 from epic Spectrals. I do have to turn off power-attack if I do have agro somethings but not that often.
Vissarion wrote on May 27
th, 2011 at 2:24pm:
2. When you say 'classic exploiter', do you mean the fairly even stat distribution, ala EinarMal? I have zero desire to grab CE, so Empower Healing would be an option, but was also thinking of taking advantage of the fact that Tempest only requires a 13 Dex, and do something like Max STR, minimum required DEX, High CON, and extra points into Int for skills. I assume that layout would fubar some of the traditional perks of an Exploiter, no?
I used that build for mine, 15-15-14-12-14-8. I had Combat Expertise for a while then dropped it for a healing meta-magic once we got airship buffs and I got a zillion epic items. When I TR him in a few days he be the same but with 16 starting STR.
I’m going to commit power-gamer heresy but I think starting max-STR on anything other than a barbarian (or a kensai who thinks he’s a barbarian) is foolish. Those extra two build points just cost too much for what they are worth. Starting at 16 STR as opposed to 18 costs you negligible DPS, not even a single % point, and robs you of some of the versatility. If you’re going to build something that just hits stuff why build a ranger? Other classes are better at that.
I like skill points so 12 INT is nice, it is nice getting traps in epic and having full UMD, the DEX and WIS give AC. With a starting 15 DEX and no level-ups in DEX he can break a 40 Reflex save buffed. All that stuff to me is worth more than +1 to-hit/damage.
Vissarion wrote on May 27
th, 2011 at 2:24pm:
My thoughts on AC have pretty much made it into a "nice to have while leveling" thing, and not something to really bother with beyond that. I have a Dex/Wis TR monk who will get to an 80 AC if she so much as sneezes, but it's pretty depressing to think that will be functionally useless in epics.
It’s useless in epics FOR NOW but this game is always changing, but the thing is with the 18/1/1 STR-build the AC is from gear, gear can be changed. Insta-kills work now, who knows what’ll be in epics a month from now.