Druid 17/2monk/1 rogue (or whatever) heroic leveling build
Race- Any (Halfling, Halforc and of course Aasimar strongest imo)
Stats (weighted)
Str- Med
Dex- Light
Con- Med
Int- Light
Wis- Max
Cha- Light
Personally i maxed Wis then did a pretty even spread between Str (for early power), Con and Int (quite a few skills are useful as I'll get into below).
Feats:
1- Quicken
3- Natural fighting
4- Rogue level (no feat but take rogue here)
6- Natural fighting
9- Natural fighting
11-Single Wpn fighting (First Monk level)
12-Adept of forms and Precision (Second Monk level)
15-Master of forms
18-Grandmaster of forms
Many will say "WTF no improved crit?" and the answer is nope, not on this build in heroics. Which leads me to talk a bit about the Sky Pirate's Dagger. This is a LEVEL 4 dagger that has a 17-20x3 critical profile, a red slot and the keen property. Since this will be your main weapon for most of the heroic levels improved crit feat is not necessary. Also let's look at the critical profile of this weapon.
Levels 1-11= 17-20x3
Levels 12-20= 16-20x4 no boosts
Levels 12-20= 15-20x5 using Vendetta
Levels 15-20= 15-18x5, 19-20x6 fire stance, Vendetta
That is a pretty dang good critical profile for heroics. Now boost up your Sky Pirate's Dagger (Ghostbane red slot, alchemical durability boost) and other buffs and you have an amazing weapon all the way from 4 to 20.
Why single weapon fighting feat? Vistani tier 4 Single Dagger gives 20 mp but requires SWF feat. It's worth it as the other monk feats aren't that great for this build.
Skills
This needs a mention because some random skills are useful. Early on you need to max Listen, as that combined with the Night Revels dodge cake gives you the dodge you need to hit 100% dodge at level 2. You don't need to keep maxing it if you have crafting skills as items and your wis bonus will quickly enable you to get your listen high enough to overshoot what you need at later levels.
Intimidate- Super useful to carry pugs through R levels they've never dreamed of when you can be damn near invulnerable to dmg and intim all mobs on to you. Less useful if you solo a ton like I do.
The rest are standard. Concentrate, UMD, Hide (if taking it to cap).
Enhancments:
41- Vistani- Heavy investment in this at level 12. Too many goodies to mention.
6- Nature's Protector- I switched in and out of this whenever i had 6 ap to spare to get the sweet defensive stance goodness
23+ Falconry- This gets you wis to hit/dmg and Deadly Instinct 50% wis boost, plus ranged helpless attacks based off your wisdom score. Oh all your bird strikes take away 50% fort of targets, combined with with Nature's Warrior core 2 you ignore 60% of targets fort.
8+- Nature's Warrior- Max dodge clickie, 3 cores for plus 3 dmg and 3 sneak attack die. 10% fort bypass.
1- Henshin mystic
Racial AP- The more the merrier. I have 11 right now which bought me plus 3 max dodge on halfing and 3 sneak attack die (at level 1 lol).
Why 17 druid? I like the spell casting ability. Since I am wis focused the spells are actually extremely useful even if they have a DC. One of the best melee characters I've ever played plus a useful earthquake spell? Yes please.
The healing you get all the way from 1 to 20 is nice too. Hit fire stance in Jedz-teka(whatever it's called) and build a greensteel HAMP item at 12 and you can self heal just fine even in R5.
Doublestrike level 12:
9 EPL
2 guild buff
3 Scourge past life
6 Mantle of Fury Ravenloft Cloak
10 Vistani core 3 and level 4 enhancement
12 Natural fighting x 3
42 Base doublestrike at all times
6 Wind stance
20 Rapid Attack vistani strike
30 Reaper dblstrike boost
98 Doublestrike fully boosted at level 12
* Please note that fully boosted i'm already capped for doublestrike so I often use Beacon of Magic RL set with Silverthread belt to boost my self healing WAY up. This also boosts MR cap to 60 in pajamas which is nice as magic dmg is really the only thing that can even hurt you.
Attack speed modifiers level 12:
30 Combat style attack speed (Winter wolf)
10 Enhancement (monk wind stance level 2)
30 Vistani haste boost action boost
70 Total attack speed modifier while at 98 dblstrike
Spell highlights:
Level 1-
Rams might (gets you that str bonus to carry you until you get wis to hit/dmg later on)
Takedown- Wolf spell with dc based on half druid level. Shockingly this level 1 spell works on reapers.
Jump- I always find this spell useful.
Level 2-
Fog cloud- 20% concealment at level 3.
Pack presence- Hit this spell and your pet will successfully intimidate everything within vision of you, no fail. Sure it won't live long but come level 12 with RL gear he can go negative 400+ dmg before he dies and that entire time literally all mobs will be solo focused on him, not you. Great oh shit button.
Level 3-
Salt ray- Quickened ranged helpless inducing spell.
Baiting bite- This x4 wpn dmg strike uses your spot score to bluff (spot is wis based). I'm not sure I ever failed this and, again it works on reapers. On this build the 2 seconds they turn around was all I generally needed to kill them up to R3 or 4. It is also a "quick" strike meaning it feels like it almost resets attack animation and increases speed rather than some slow spin attack animation (like Jaw of Winter).
Level 4-
FoM
Icestorm
Level 5-
Stoneskin
Animal Growth
Reincarnate
Cold Breath- This is a pretty decent AoE dmg spell that I would actually use as a I ran to a pack of mobs. Low cost.
Level 6-
Fireshield
Jaw of Winter- Wiki says this is a level 7 spell but it's really level 6.
Level 7-
Regenerate- All the healing you need.
Creeping Doom
Level 8-
Heal
Earthquake
Finger of Death- How pissed are people when you are getting every single melee kill and then that caster is on top of the pillar out of reach and instantly you finger the shit out of it (lol). It's almost unfair .
Howl of Terror-
9-
Snowslide- Makes you the fastest character in the game. The description on wiki doesn't mention but every time you use this spell not only does it have double the usual range of abundant step but it gives a 15 second (I think) speed bonus that is huge. Feels like 50% sprint boost.
Conclusion
Defense- Defensive stance, massive dodge, free deflect arrows feat, massive AC from wis, flexibility of massive AC or massive dodge using monk stances.
Offense- I'm hitting near 100% double strike using reaper boost at level 12. We already discussed the crit range you get with Sky Pirate's Dagger. Add to that 30% combat style bonus to attack speed from winter wolf form, 6d6 sneak attack die (available very early), haste boost from Vistani, monk strikes and you have some amazing melee offense.
Well anyway, I hope I didn't stray too far into Tilomere hyperbole but I have found it to be incredibly strong so far. Let me know your thoughts.
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