While most of the powers in 4e are pretty darned balanced, there are a few that give considerably more bang for the buck than they probably should. This thread is intended to be a place to collect, examine, and list those powers.
Blade Barrier(Cleric Attack 9, Daily) Given the sheer number of powers that allow you to push around an enemy in 4e, you absolutely want something nasty to push them through. Blade Barrier fits the bill nicely...and you can shove them through it over and over and over again.
Consecrated Ground(Cleric Attack 5, Daily) Harms enemies, heals allies, and only requires a minor action to sustain; excellent for supporting the group's defender.
Divine Power(Cleric Attack 9, Daily) Buffs that last for the entire encounter are rare. This power gives your entire party an AC buff and you Regeneration, both for the duration of the encounter.
Seal of Binding(Cleric Attack 25, Daily) Coupled with a high rate of healing/regeneration, this power amounts to a guaranteed kill against one enemy.
Spiritual Weapon(Cleric Attack 5, Daily) An extremely reliable means of getting and keeping combat advantage against a single target, while doing some damage as well. [/SBLOCK]
Certain Justice(Champion of Order Attack 11, Encounter) For the level, this is a remarkable control power. As long as the target remains marked, he is both weakened and dazed--no save possible. Hitting the boss with this in the first round of combat cuts his effectiveness by more than 50%. The fact that it's an encounter power means you can use it against the biggest threat in every encounter.
True Nemesis(Paladin Attack 15, Daily) It's effectively an ongoing damage effect which the target can't get rid of, and one capable of doing a lot of damage. [/SBLOCK]
Blade Cascade(Ranger Attack 15, Daily) The potential of this power to do unlimited damage has been noted and used in several builds already. Powers with no upward ceiling are rare in 4e, and well worth exploiting. The power can also be formidable against a group of enemies, though, especially in conjunction with Follow-up Blow. [/SBLOCK]
Destructive Salutation(Blood Mage Attack 20, Daily) A good-sized burst, solid damage, ongoing damage, and stunning. An excellent power for crowd control.
Maze (Wizard Attack 25, Daily) There are a number of "Take the enemy out of the fight temporarily" effects, but this one is unusual in that it doesn't get a save. Instead, the target has to make an Intelligence check against your Will defense. The check is made with a +5 each time, so the target WILL eventually get out...but it could take a low-Intelligence target a while.
Sleep(Wizard Attack 1, Daily) How much more old-school can you get? We're right back to the days where every first level wizard uses Sleep. The difference is that it remains useful throughout the wizard's career now.
Time Stop(Wizard Utility 22, Daily) It was broken in first edition. It was broken in second edition. It was broken in third edition. It's still broken. Two extra standard actions, during which you can't actually attack an enemy--but you can plunk down powers that don't require an attack roll. Not a bad choice for an Archmage's Archspell.
Wall of Ice (Wizard Attack 15, Daily) Highly useful for battlefield control, particularly since it can be formed into a square, effectively becoming a cage. Wall of Fire has similar merits, particularly if other powers can be used to restrict movement out of it. [/SBLOCK]
I'd like to start off by putting the following power up for discussion:
Certain Justice(Champion of Order Attack 11, Encounter)
Is this power really as good as I think it is? It's not super flashy like some of the dailies, but consider: it weakens and dazes the target. Most powers that weaken or daze the target have a save attached--this doesn't. The target stays weakened and dazed as long as he stays marked. Hit the boss with this, and his bonus to saves doesn't matter--he's restricted to one action per round, and his damage is cut in half.
And all of this comes from an encounter power, which is what I find really remarkable. This isn't a one-per-day ace in the hole; this can be the opening gambit of every fight.
I'd like to start off by putting the following power up for discussion:
Certain Justice(Champion of Order Attack 11, Encounter)
Is this power really as good as I think it is? It's not super flashy like some of the dailies, but consider: it weakens and dazes the target. Most powers that weaken or daze the target have a save attached--this doesn't. The target stays weakened and dazed as long as he stays marked. Hit the boss with this, and his bonus to saves doesn't matter--he's restricted to one action per round, and his damage is cut in half.
And all of this comes from an encounter power, which is what I find really remarkable. This isn't a one-per-day ace in the hole; this can be the opening gambit of every fight.
Thoughts? Comments?
It is quite good. Its only real weakness is that you have to stay adjacent to or attacking that foe, which means that if another monster stuns you (or possibly even dazes, immobilizes, or restrains you) it might be possible for the other monster to get out of it.
Someone pointed this out in a defender thread; it was a fighter/paladin build who used this to cripple a foe. It is quite the nasty power.
It is quite good. Its only real weakness is that you have to stay adjacent to or attacking that foe, which means that if another monster stuns you (or possibly even dazes, immobilizes, or restrains you) it might be possible for the other monster to get out of it.
Someone pointed this out in a defender thread; it was a fighter/paladin build who used this to cripple a foe. It is quite the nasty power.
I suspected I couldn't be the first person to have spotted it...and, yes, I was toying with the idea of a fighter multiclass using it. Weirdly, Champion of Order seems to have more synergy with Fighter than with Paladin.
Ah, well.
I'd be curious to get your additions to the write-up for Blade Cascade--particularly its potential synergy with Follow-up Blow.
I suspected I couldn't be the first person to have spotted it...and, yes, I was toying with the idea of a fighter multiclass using it. Weirdly, Champion of Order seems to have more synergy with Fighter than with Paladin.
Ah, well.
I'd be curious to get your additions to the write-up for Blade Cascade--particularly its potential synergy with Follow-up Blow.
Follow-Up Blow really isn't that amazing with it. Blade Cascade is likely to singlehandedly kill all adjacent foes anyway, and as written, Follow-up Blow would give you only one additional attack against each of them - while solid if for some reason your cascade didn't kill them all, I don't find that a particularly likely thing to happen and +1 attack against each of them is solid but not broken in any way.
Not that Follow-Up Blow isn't good - you can use it to amp up the deadliness of any of the many Whirlwind or multitarget attack powers that Rangers have. But Blade Cascade seems so likely to kill all adjacent foes that it doesn't really seem all that synergistic, and by the time you get it you can pull off the full Blade Cascade cheese.
One odd note is that Follow-Up Blow doesn't actually state that it has to be a foe you struck with a melee attack power this turn (just in general), though I'm not sure if the game "keeps track" of such things from round to round.
My reading of Rain of Blows (Fighter Enc. 3) is that you get 2 attacks, both of which can proc an extra hit if you fulfill the weapon conditions. This ability is superb even if you don't fulfill the conditions, and flat out amazing (competitive with No Mercy, which is admittedly very weak but still a lvl 29 Daily) if you do.
Any of the Paladin 27 encounter powers except for Blinding Smite are awesome.
For STR-based Paladins, Stunning Smite is king. AoE stuns as an encounter power are awesome. A Paladin/Demigod 30, with hardly any optimization or help, is potentially able to leave the Tarrasque in perpetual stun (since the Tarrasque's Will defense is awful).
CHA-based Paladins are no slouches at this level either. Restricting Smite is one of the best "for the team" powers in the game. Deific Vengeance is an immediate reaction (which is always good) that weakens, has good range, comes with a bonus to hit against Fortitude and does decent damage. Brand of Judgment does a lot of damage by itself if you have a Holy Avenger, and its rider effect can be quite useful against a hard-hitting monster.
Well, I made a "powers of interest" list for each class. I don't know how good they are, as they were back when I was still reading through the book for the first time, but I guess I can post 'em. Not all of these are actually stand-out powers, and not all stand-out powers are listed because I had seperate lists for powers to watch for dipping for if you multiclassed.
Clerics get pretty decent hit points and armor, and given that they don’t care about dex or int, wearing heavy armor isn’t really disadvantageous. They can’t use shields, but as they use holy symbols for many attacks it may not really matter – conversely, taking the feat to wear heavier armor or use shields doesn’t seem like it’d negatively affect them too much.
NOTE: Longtooth Shifters get +2 Strength and +2 Constitution, PLUS their special ability is a healing ability. Does regeneration benefit from the cleric’s ability to add their wisdom modifier to all healing abilities? If so, then they could benefit from potentially outrageous regeneration from their racial power.
Potentially useful single class powers
At Will – All?
None of the at-will powers are actually bad. You have some okay ranged and melee attacks (which is a decent mix if you’re aiming for a gish!) but pretty much all of them are quite nice from time to time, though Lance of Faith does not exactly wow me compared to Righteous Brand. However, Lance of Faith is ranged, which is a pretty important perk. Honestly, I can see taking any of them, through it seems unlikely you’d ever want both Lance of Faith and Righteous Brand.
Encounter 1 – Divine Glow, Healing Strike
Divine Glow is an area of effect ability which is very handy for pretty much any cleric; it deals damage to foes and makes your allies better.
Healing Strike is good because an extra heal per encounter is quite solid and the damage is pretty good.
Daily 1 – Avenging Flame, Guardian of Faith
This power has a lot of damage-dealing potential for a level 1 daily. While its base damage is unremarkable, its lingering effect means that its actual damage will be quite solid, as good as or better than many 3[W] powers. Highly effective against solo foes, it is only really ineffective against minions, but who blows dailies on them anyway? Downside is that its miss is pretty weak, but its pretty solid for a cleric, whose damage is not that awesome generally. Not really worth splashing for though.
Guardian of Faith is great in conjunction with a fighter; by sticking foes to them, and having the guardian next to them, they’re ALWAYS going to be attacked, EVERY round, no matter what they do – either move and provoke an AoO from the fighter or stay put and take an attack from the Guardian. A highly effective power as it can potentially give the cleric an extra action EVERY round.
Utility 2 – ?
These powers seem utterly unremarkable to me. Cure Light Wounds is handy but eats up a standard (!) action to do something you can do a lot more often and largely better. The benefit is nice but unless you’re constantly on the edge of your life I don’t see wanting it. None of the others jump out at me either; they’re all basically minor buffs which aren’t all that remarkable, and one of them is an encounter power version of an at will power (though I suppose I could see some clerics taking it if they aren’t using the at-will).
Encounter 3 – Split the Sky, (Blazing Beacon, Command)
Split the Sky is excellent. It doesn’t really require backup and it can basically disable a foe for a round while dealing them some damage. This beats the heck out of Command, but unfortunately is only useful against people who need to be in melee (or at least within 2 squares) to attack you. That said, it still is massively better in my eyes due to the additional basic attack.
Blazing Beacon is pretty unremarkable due to its extremely low damage, and while its secondary effect does somewhat make up for it, you really need to have a lot of ranged allies for it to be valuable - your allies need to be dealing 30 damage on average with ranged attacks per round (assuming they would hit) for this to be worthwhile in my eyes, by my calculations, as compared to even level 1 damage powers (and this really is a damage power, make no mistake), which means you’re looking at them also having to blow their encounter powers on the same foe or you’re looking at a 5+ man party with three ranged attackers. That said, if you are in a very large party with 4+ ranged attackers, then this power may well actually be worthwhile, but outside of that I can’t see taking it.
Command trades your action for an enemy’s, meaning it is meh in general, but solid against elites and devastating against solos. Seems highly situational for an encounter power, though, which makes me think Daunting Light is the best choice for this level if you’re focusing on ranged, which is okay if you’ve got a rogue in the party.
Daily 5 – All
Consecrated Ground seems absolutely excellent if you have a fighter in the party, as then you don’t really have to worry about fiddling around with it, it helps fix the fighter, and you don’t have to spend move actions on it.
Rune of Peace is worse than Split the Sky in my eyes because it is a daily and not an encounter and Split the Sky often has a similar effect. This has the edge of working on any foe, though, so is still worth looking at.
Spiritual Weapon is quite solid on any sort of cleric, especially with a rogue in the party, as it plus the rogue can threaten anyone they want. Like Consecrated Ground and Guardian of Faith, is great because it gives you extra actions. Consecrated Ground seems better with a fighter in the party, whereas this power seems better if your party is lacking one.
Weapon of the Gods is good because, again, you’re basically gaining extra action (again) via extra damage, and you’re making yourself and others more likely to hit.
Utility 6 – Bastion of Health, (Divine Vigor)
Bastion of Health is basically an extra Healing Word per encounter. Not really earth-shattering, but certainly handy.
Divine Vigor is another minor action, but this restores people’s second winds but is only a daily power. This power is very swingy in a desperate situation and is probably roughly comparable in power to Bastion of Health, but is very much a one-shot boost for a bad encounter rather than a continuous boost across the day. Its value probably depends on whether the DM is throwing powerful encounters at you or lots of encounters at you, but I think Bastion of Health is generally better.
Encounter 7 – Searing Light, Strengthen the Faithful
Searing Light is a pretty potent debuff, probably wasting a single foe’s action per encounter while dealing decent damage at range.
Strengthen the Faithful is just a generally useful power which, again, gives you extra healing in combat.
Blade Barrier seems better in every way than Astral Soldiers; it is a decent line damage effect which can also substitute for defenders in a pinch. It is great with a fighter who can trap enemies in the blades and it can act as a substitute defender. Better still, even if you DON’T have a fighter, you can still get attacks of opportunity as they are forced to flee the blade barrier, and anyone with powers that can shove people back in are extremely good with it. I can’t see taking Astral Soldiers with this power available.
Divine Power is also excellent; it is an area of effect attack which doesn’t deal as much damage as Blade Barrier but has the advantage of forcing enemies off you, allowing you to make a run for it, move to help an ally, or whatever. All nearby allies are buffed AND you gain regeneration, making it quite potent.
Flame Strike is a decent AoE damage dealing spell which works at range.
Utility 10 – Mass Cure Light Wounds
Mass Cure Light Wounds cures everyone nearby without healing surge usage; powerful, but it does cost a standard action, so not THAT great. That said, you lack good alternatives at this level; Shielding Word is a useful encounter power but it seems like such a short duration buff won’t help as much as healing.
Encounter 13 – Mantle of Glory, Plague of Doom
Mantle of Glory, while it uses healing surges, still seems better than its companion Inspiring Strike because it always works, deals more damage, and can heal multiple allies all at once. AoE effects are pretty solid, especially when they have useful dual effects such as this.
Plague of Doom targets Fortitude, something few cleric attacks seem to do, and debuffs them pretty significantly for a round. Very potent against elites and solos, but unlike some other powers isn’t useless against normal enemies.
Daily 15 – Purifying Fire, Seal of Warding
Purifying Fire deals good damage to a group of foes, plus can heal your allies. Not much to say about this; it is a generally solid power.
Seal of Warding is more situational as it impedes your allies somewhat. However, it deals a large amount of damage to an area of foes AND it protects your allies’ defenses to ranged attacks, potentially for a good long while. It can also trap foes in place, especially with a fighter nearby.
Utility 16 – Divine Armor, Hallowed Ground
Divine Armor costs a standard action it gives everyone significant protection in a tough encounter. However, as Astral Shield can be used every encounter, I’m not sure that Divine Armor is always better; however, it seems to be a bit more flexible and less annoying to set up.
Hallowed Ground is all kinds of awesome, but unfortunately it also uses a standard action. However. its big area of effect combined with the large bonuses it gives you probably make it worthwhile, though it is pretty poor against some foes.
Encounter 17 – Enthrall, Thundering Strike
Enthrall deals more damage than Blinding Light, is ranged, deals psychic damage (something few priestly powers seem to do), and can completely cripple a number of opponents by freezing them in place at range (or possibly near you and no one else).
Thundering Strike deals damage to a group of foes, has a pretty large AoE, and can clear them away from you. It also allows for repositioning of a group, so if the wizard (or some other character) got isolated or otherwise out of position you could help fix that. It does have the wonderful tactical use of throwing away some opponents while surrounding others with the shifting.
Daily 19 – Fire Storm, Holy Wrath, Indominable Spirit
Fire Storm deals pretty massive damage to a very large area, dealing considerable damage to enemies, not hitting your friends, and dealing damage over time to enemies (but not allies!) in the area. PLUS it can be sustained. All in all, a very potent offensive spell capable of dealing a lot of damage. Excellent at all times, selective, highly synergistic with fighters, and very tough on melee foes who will probably be forced to take the damage to attack the party. It even deals as much damage as most of the other daily powers of its level on a MISS (more if you include the continual damage). Altogether wonderful power.
While it seems hard to imagine the others compare to such a great power, they do. Holy Wrath deals meager damage to all nearby foes, but it gives you huge regeneration and the power bonus to attack rolls is not minor.
Indominable Spirit is at a disadvantage because it hits only a single foe, but it heals your entire party as per Mass Cure Light Wounds hit OR miss. The damage is mediocre, and outright poor compared to Fire Storm, but the healing is excellent.
Utility 22 – All
Angel of the Eleven Winds gives you the ability to fly once per day for an encounter. It can also give your allies the ability to fly, and gives a defensive bonus. Quite potent all around.
Clarion Call of the Astral Sea is basically four free healing surges. It fixes someone to full and teleports them, and protects them until their next turn. While it can screw up positioning somewhat, it is an altogether excellent power in most every way.
Cloud Chariot is a somewhat different kettle of fish from Angel of the Eleven Winds; while it lets you bypass many an encounter, encounters you DO get in while using it you’re at something of a disadvantage because your defenders are probably nearly useless. This is essentially an overland transportation spell, and a pretty useful one at that. It does negate all non-flying, non-ranged creatures at level 22 though, so at this point and later you can no longer use them at all as a DM. Sad. But very powerful from the standpoint of a player, though not necessarily strictly better than the Angel.
Purify is powerful because it simply ends any status ailment that can be ended with a successful save. Period. The AoE is quite nice, and while not as flashy as flying or Clarion Call, it is quite potent as it can fix your entire party of pretty annoying ailments.
Spirit of Health is another healing spell which allows gradual healing over the course of the entire encounter; while again not flashy, it can potentially allow more healing than Clarion Call over the life of a nasty encounter, basically giving you access to ALL healing surges, albeit at the rate of only one per round.
Encounter 23 – Healing Torch (Haunting Strike)
Healing Torch is the winner at this level. AoE damage roughly comparable to one of the melee attacks with a large affected area, which hits only enemies, and which can heal you and your allies and gives you a decently large AC boost as well, assuming you have sufficient Charisma.
Haunting Strike is a medium damage single-target attack which gives you a bonus on your next attack roll. While far from powerful, it is more likely to hit (having that attack bonus does help) and it makes your next attack more likely to hit as well, making it a decent if unremarkable melee power.
Daily 25 – Sacred Word, Seal of Binding
Sacred Word stuns large groups of enemies nearby and deals a good amount of damage; while not quite Nimbus of Doom level, it still deals pretty good damage and it does half damage on miss.
Seal of Binding is a rather bizarre power which disables a foe for a round, but protects them from anyone else; you can keep it up by frying both yourself and that enemy, which disables both of you and effectively removes you both from the fight - though I suppose you could still heal while keeping them disabled. While seemingly mediocre, this power can swing fights in your favor by disabling your most powerful foe, allowing your party to kill everything else then fight that foe later. Basically a defender power with a twist, its biggest flaw is its lack of a miss effect, but it is still quite strong.
Encounter 27 – Sunburst
You’re taking Sunburst. This may seem presumptious, but really, there isn’t any other good option at the level, and this power is actually ridiculous. It is a better version of Mantle of Glory; while it doesn’t heal quite as much as Mantle of Glory would by this point, and doesn’t have quite the range, it doesn’t use healing surges, can hit foes at range, deals more damage, and gives everyone a bonus save. However, it is really the healing which renders this power ridiculous. You see, if you carefully read the power, you’ll realize the healing is listed as an –effect-. Let that sink in for a moment. That’s right, given sufficient time, you can heal your entire party to full hit points outside of combat without using a single healing surge. And “sufficient time” isn’t all that much; you’re probably healing on the order of 21-25 hp per use of the power (depending on your stat distribution), so with about a half hour of time you can heal everyone in your party to maximum hit points from very low hit points, and from moderate hit point levels it doesn’t even bear thinking about.
Daily 29 – Astral Storm
Astral storm is by far the better of the cleric’s level 29 powers; on average, 6d10 actually deals more damage than 7d8, so unless you’re using a weapon which deals at least 2d4 damage, you’re better off with Astral Storm, and even then, Astral Storm is a ranged area of effect spell which deals damage, ignores a lot of elemental resistances, exploits elemental vulnerabilities excellently, AND can be sustained to deal extra damage to foes on subsequent rounds. Additionally it is discriminatory, attacking only enemies. Why you wouldn’t choose this power over the inferior Godstrike is beyond me.
Fighters get to wear pretty heavy armor, but oddly lack plate proficiency (though you could spend a feat on it to get basically +1 AC). Your dexterity probably isn’t high enough to really take advantage of light armor, and you use wisdom (of all things!) as a bonus to your opportunity attack rolls. You also can have a better attack roll than most other people thanks to fighter weapon talent and access to +3 proficiency weaponry which deals quite a bit of damage.
Annoyingly, they want good strength (above all else), dexterity (if they’re using flails, blades, or spears), wisdom (in general, though polearms bizzarely use it as well, though they ALSO use dexterity…, and constitution (which not only provides HP but is also useful for other things, PLUS is needed for axes, hammers, maces, picks, and staves).
Yeah. Fortunately, you can get away with only really boosting two, if you set up your attributes properly.
Useful Powers:
At Will – Cleave, (Tide of Iron, Reaping Strike)
Fighters have four at will powers, but I can only say nice things about three of them in general.
Cleave is handy for felling multiple minions simultaneously and allows you to get in a bit of extra damage in melee. Nothing exceptional but generally handy, pretty much every fighter is probably stuck with taking this ability due to the general specificity (and suckiness) of fighter at-wills. I may be underestimating this power; if you can add your feat damage bonuses and enhancement bonuses (among other things) to the damage you dealt with your cleave this could be potent indeed as you’re probably dealing more damage with that than with your dice!
Tide of Iron is nice for repositioning foes, but unfortunately requires you to use a shield to use it. Pushing people around is handy, and all sword-and-board fighters will probably take this because of it and the lack of other real options.
Reaping Strike is pretty awful; the damage it does on a miss is pretty marginal, and misses can’t kill minions. Its real strength is that if you’re using a two-handed weapon, you deal your full strength modifier on a miss, which means if you have 4+ strength you’re in the realm of it actually mattering – essentially it is as if you cleaved into them, and while far from awesome, at least you’re doing –something-. Please note, however, that I may be underestimating this power – if you can add your enhancement bonus and various feat-based damage bonuses to your miss damage, this power goes from sucky to pretty solid. You are, again, pretty much stuck with this and cleave if you’re a double-handed weapon fighter.
Sure Strike sucks because the amount of damage you do with your attack is so very terrible due to not being able to add your strength modifier. The +2 to hit really isn’t sufficient to make me want to take this power.
Encounter 1 – All
To make up for the sucky at-wills, fighters have an excellent array of level 1 encounter powers to choose from.
Covering Attack is probably the worst of them, but is highly synergistic with rogues and pretty much instantly enables flanking. The damage is also pretty decent.
Passing Attack is like Cleave, but better because it deals considerably more damage and lets you move for free. Plus you get a bonus on your second attack, which is always welcome.
Spinning Sweep is excellent; knocking people prone is a time-honored pain in the rear, and while it doesn’t do overmuch damage, it gives a rogue combat advantage to poke him and if you take a step back (and no other ally is within his reach) the foe is forced to waste a turn pulling himself to his feet. He COULD crawl after you to stab you in the foot, but he’s pretty unlikely to succeed and he’s giving you a pretty big to-hit bonus for free as well.
Steel Serpent Strike just makes it impossible for your opponent to get away from you; you prevent them from shifting so they have to provoke an opportunity attack if they want to get away from you, and if you hit, then they’re still stuck with you anyway, have taken extra damage, and are generally unhappy. Even if they do manage to get away, they are still slowed for that turn, meaning it is easy to engage them again.
Daily 1 – All
Brutal Strike deals extremely large amounts of damage and, being reliable, isn’t used up if you miss.
Comeback Strike allows you to self-heal and still deals decent damage and is again reliable; while the heal only activates on hit, you’ll never waste it.
Villian’s Menace is probably the worst of the lot, not being reliable, but the massive to-hit and damage bonuses it grants for the rest of the encounter mean that it is excellent against foes which you’re likely to attack multiple times – solo foes and elites. While not universally useful, it is still handy, and as a daily is probably acceptable.
Utility 2 – Boundless Endurance, (No Opening)
This is hard to evaluate because I haven’t seen sufficient combat scenarios to accurately evaluate them, but I think these two are the good ones, on the basis of the other two seeming largely unusable unless I’m missing something (or you’re a kobold, in which case you can actually use Get Over Here to flank, an otherwise generally useless ability which probably would be bad if it was an at-will unless I’m missing something).
Boundless Endurance can heal you as much as two healing surges (or potentially more, if your HP fluctuate during a combat, and with a large constitution modifier it certainly could happen) but only works once a day and can only fix you up to bloodied, so unlike the others actually gets much –better- as you level up more – that said, at low levels it can probably make you nearly impossible to kill as with a constitution modifier of +4 you’d probably heal as much damage as you take from a normal hit.
No Opening is the only competition with Boundless Endurance, and it is odd. It is an encounter ability, which is handy, and it means that when you get flanked (not that uncommon an occurrence nowadays) you can negate it once per encounter. Handy, but not useful every encounter, and it really just gives you +2 AC against one attack. I’d say this is just bad and be done with it, except I know there are monsters with sneak attack and other nastiness which they can pull out against a foe they have combat advantage against. If there are enough of these (and I haven’t looked too extensively yet) then this could actually be viable. However, I suspect that Boundless Endurance is the only real choice here.
Encounter 3 – Crushing Blow, Rain of Blows, Sweeping Blow
Crushing Blow deals considerable damage as a hammer or axe wielder. It is always useful, unlike Sweeping Blow, but on the downside it just lacks the power of Sweeping Blow and Rain of Blows.
Rain of Blows seems to completely blow Armor-Piercing Thrust out of the water. Two attacks base is pretty good already (you’re unlikely to miss both times, and if you hit both times, something which probably happens a bit less than half the time, you deal more damage than a 3[W] attack) but if you’re wielding a light blade, spear, or flail this is the power for you; you get even more attacks, meaning you’re dealing more power than any other power of comparable level, and really more damage than any attack for a very long time. An overall outstanding power but unfortunately requires you to use one of the poorer weapons, though a Heavy Flail user can deal truly outrageous amounts of damage with this power.
Sweeping Blow is essentially Whirlwind Attack from the previous edition, and if you aren’t using a light blade, spear, flail, or hammer, you’re taking this power. If you are using a flail you have a real choice, as this and Rain of Blows are roughly comparable in power; Rain of Blows is more useful against single powerful foes, whereas this is pretty bad against those but considerably better against groups of foes. Rain of Blows is bad against minions, and Sweeping Blow is bad against solo monsters. This power has a good chance of hitting all nearby foes, and AoEs are never bad; combined with your marking powers, this is quite potent.
Daily 5 – All
All three of the level 5 fighter dailies are worthwhile. Crack the Skull deals solid damage, as much if not more than dizzying blow (depending on your weapon), and it penalizes your foe’s AC. This is very painful and useful.
Dizzying Blow deals as much damage and immobilizes a foe for at minimum one round, and often two, making you even more effective at protecting the squishies.
Rain of Steel is excellent as well; it has the potential to deal more damage than both Crack the Skull and Dizzying Blow, and is at its best against groups of foes, particularly minions, capable of dealing out many times more damage. It is not quite as effective against any single foe but it remains a wonderful ability, and being a minor action you can even add another attack on top of it.
Utility 6 – Unbreakable
Unbreakable is a very reliable ability; with a decent constitution score you can prevent yourself from taking a pretty large amount of damage every day, and potentially prevent yourself from taking falling damage or similar in a bad situation where not taking that damage’s secondary effect is important.
Encounter 7 – (All)
All of these powers are decent but none are outstanding.
Come and Get It allows you to pull enemies off of allies while dealing an okay AoE attack. Amazing against minions and pretty much never bad, as even against solo monsters you can draw them off your allies. Probably the best option at this level because it sucks them into your threatened area and marks them all, keeping them in place for at least a turn.
Griffin’s Wrath opens up a single foe to being killed by someone else more easily; this power is best in the hands of a fighter who has other people attacking AC on his side. A melee cleric or warlord plus a ranger or rogue really help to deal extra damage and fell the foe from the AC opening you create.
Iron Bulwark is decent in the hands of a shield fighter, making them more difficult to hit while dealing decent damage. The AC bonus is a bit too marginal if you aren’t using a shield.
Reckless Strike deals more damage than the 2[W] attacks even despite the -2 to hit, and with a 2-handed weapon which deals 2d6 the difference is all the more marked. Overall, great for power, but it doesn’t have an added effect and is slightly less reliable, though it is more powerful unless you are fighting foes you have a hard time hitting.
Sudden Surge is pretty much the worst of the lot as it is only useful if you have a reach weapon, as otherwise it will cause you to be attacked. If you are using a polearm then it is still not all that hot, but you could use it.
Daily 9 – Thicket of Blades, Victorious Surge
Thicket of Blades deals a lot of damage and slows everyone who is hit and, if somehow you miss, you still get to use it again. It is even useful against solo monsters because it deals pretty decent damage, though obviously it is best against groups of normal monsters and elites.
Victorious Surge deals good damage but only to a single foe, but by giving you a free healing surge it is still worth considering. I think it really depends on whether you want to mow down people faster or to be tougher.
Utility 10 – Stalwart Guard, (Into the Fray)
Stalwart Guard is a solid buff, but only if you’re using a shield. If you are using a shield, though, it does give your allies a good bonus without costing you anything.
Into the Fray is interesting, but only really useful if you have some other action you can spend your move actions on.
Encounter 13 – All but Talon of the Roc
Anvil of Doom is really, really powerful if you’re using a hammer or a mace; stunning every encounter is quite nasty. Even if you don’t use a hammer or mace, dazing is still excellent.
Chains of Shadow deals good damage and has a solid secondary debuff effect; it is even better if you use a flail and have at least 16 dexterity. Overall a very powerful power and can be worth taking even if you don’t use a flail due to the high damage.
Giant’s Wake is an AoE which can deal quite a bit of damage, but it really is only worth using if you use an axe.
Silverstep deals more damage than Giant’s Wake, but can only hit two targets; against packed foes Giant’s Wake is better, but this is great for messing with foes and dealing still decent damage. If you use a spear or polearm, you can mess with foes all the more effectively.
Storm of Blows is only usable if you’re wielding a light or heavy blade and have a good dexterity modifier, but it is capable of dealing a considerable amount of damage.
Daily 15 – All
Dragon’s Fangs is capable of dealing massive damage to a single foe yet scales well for encounters with multiple foes. While not reliable it still deals half damage on a miss, and the total damage if both blows hit is greater than some level 29 daily powers!
Serpent Dance Strike is incredibly powerful but unfortunately not very good against solo foes; that said, it is amazing against groups of foes your size or smaller. While limited in what it can knock down, what it CAN knock down it can devastate.
Unyielding Avalanche deals decent damage to groups of foes and makes you tougher. It can deal good damage to groups of foes, though not as much as Serpent Dance Strike, and it can help you tank a solo foe, though it won’t do near as much as Dragon’s Fangs would to take it down. Ultimately this power is pretty much always useful.
Utility 16 – Surprise Step
Surprise Step is wonderful as it prevents foes from shifting away from you; by following them, it prevents them from shifting away and then charging someone else, the only real gap in the fighter’s defense.
Exacting Strike actually deals more damage than 3[W] attacks, and by a considerable margin; while this may seem counterintuitive at first, in general [W] is small compared to your bonuses, so even though you do [W] less, because you are so much more likely to hit you ultimately deal more damage on average.
Vorpal Tornado requires some initiative order finagling to pull off. As they’re prone one square away, you can’t be charged by them, and if your allies move far enough away that they aren’t within charge range, then the foes struck will effectively lose their turns entirely. Synergizes very well with a rogue in giving them lots of foes to attack with combat advantage.
Warrior’s Challenge deals good damage and marks a large number of foes, as well as allowing you to reposition a foe pretty well.
Exorcism of Steel is only situationally useful, but when it is useful it can really hurt an opponent. Great if you fight lots of foes which use weapons, nearly worthless otherwise.
Daily 19 – Devastation’s Wake
Devastation’s Wake is essentially a 3[W] attack stapled onto a Sweeping Blow, with the added bonus of hitting any additional foes who join in. Great for marking lots of foes and hurting a single foe a decent amount.
Don’t take Reaving Strike unless you already have Dragon’s Fangs; Dragon’s Fangs is, sadly, the better power of the two, dealing more damage.
Utility 22 – Either
Both abilities basically do the same thing: fish you out of a bad situation once per day. Which you take depends on how desperate situations with the party go; if you’re most likely to go down first, take No Surrender; if an ally is most likely to go down first, then Act of Desperation is the way to go.
Encounter 23 – Cage of Chains, Fangs of Steel, Paralyzing Strike, Skullcrusher, Warrior’s Urging
Cage of Chains deals great damage and it attacks reflex, something you don’t have too many attacks targeting. Take this power if you use a flail, as the debuff, restraint, is quite solid and this is the only fighter power which grants that particular debuff.
Fangs of Steel deals a decent amount of damage to two adjacent foes, and is your power of choice for this level if you use a light or heavy blade.
Paralyzing Strike is the way to go if you use a pick, polearm, or spear; critical damage on an 18-20 is a huge region, and if you use a reach weapon you can effectively negate the ability of many opponents to take an action at all on their next turn.
Skullcrusher is the way to go if you use a hammer or mace; you daze AND blind them, AND deal great damage, probably wasting their next turn.
Warrior’s Urging is basically the “I don’t like my weapon power” ability for this level; it is an AoE which deals decent damage and can pull foes off your allies, and mark lots of foes simultaneously. It is quite solid, but unless you use an axe, you’re probably better off with your weapon-appropriate attack. It can wipe out tons of minions very well on its lonesome, though, but at some point you simply stop seeing many minions (the highest level one in the MM is 25) so this is on the top end of when you’d use powers like this.
Daily 25 – Reaper’s Stance, Supremacy of Steel
Reaper’s Stance allows you to crit more often and deals mediocre but free damage to any foe hapless enough to end up next to you. Because it lasts a long time, it can end up dealing a large amount of damage. Very solid.
Supremacy of Steel is good if you are fighting magic using or similar foes with devastating special attacks; this ability deals huge amounts of damage and more importantly shuts down special attacks, thus greatly diminishing a foe’s capacity to hurt the party for a turn.
Encounter 27 – Cruel Reaper
Cruel Reaper is an excellent AoE effect; it allows you to reposition yourself for an area of effect without worrying about opportunity attacks, plus it allows you to hit a primary target TWICE. Marking a large number of foes is as handy as always.
Daily 29 – Force the Battle, Storm of Destruction
Force the Battle is a remarkable stance which doesn’t seem so hot for people who multiclass into fighter, but a single-classed fighter can use this power to devastating effect. The extra damage on all your attacks is quite nice, but what is really devastating is the ability to make at-will attacks as a free action against adjacent foes who start their turn next to you – you can move yourself around with Tide of Iron and in general deal huge amounts of extra damage off your extra at-will attacks.
Storm of Destruction simply does a lot of damage to two targets; while No Mercy does more damage to a single target, I think the huge extra damage to a second is worth far more than +2[W] to a single target (not to mention the inconvenient fact that Dragon’s Fangs can actually deal MORE damage than No Mercy does when both attacks hit, though that isn’t all THAT likely at this point).
Paragon Paths
The Iron Vanguard is wonderful for a fighter who uses a shield; Trample the Fallen works when you push people around and does add some value to some of the abilities which push people around which I somewhat neglected above, and it lets you use an at-will which deals + strength + constitution damage. Ferocious action makes you all the harder to kill, and enduring warrior is wonderful for keeping yourself chugging along with minimal healing surge usage – especially if you get to use cleave against minions, they’re like little bags of hp! This paragon path is good if you want to be a hardcore tank. The capstone ability is also quite potent and just adds more to your defender abilities.
Kensei is pretty solid in general; it deals quite a bit of extra damage. It emphasizes the striker secondary role the fighter has, and makes you altogether a more effective offensive combatant. The ability to spend AP to reroll attack rolls is very nice; it means you can avoid wasting encounter or even daily powers by missing, and the fact that it can be used on various other things is also quite nice – skill checks in particular seem a bit odd but certainly welcome.
Pit Fighter is basically an uberfighter; they have a higher AC and deal more damage. Unlike the Iron Vanguard and the Kensei, they take a balanced approach to the class. One interesting perk of this class is that you can provoke an opportunity attack from a foe then use Deadly Payback to gain a bonus to your attacks against that foe for both this turn AND the next turn.
Swordmasters are exactly that; their encounter ability is solid AND can be used as an OA, which makes it all the better. However, it is Steel Grace and Crescendo Sword which really make the class shine; regaining powers is very strong, and you can simply spam Cresendo Sword until you get unlucky enough to miss everything.
, and constitution (which not only provides HP but is also useful for other things, PLUS is needed for axes, hammers, maces, picks, and staves).
