Siren: She Who Calls You to Your Death
"Draw near ... illustrious Odysseus, flower of the Achaean chivalry, and bring your ship to rest that you may hear our voices. No seaman ever sailed his black ship past this place without listening to the sweet voice that flow from our lips... and we have foreknowledge of all that is going to happen on this fruitful earth."The SIRENS to Odysseus. Homer, Odyssey 12.184).
I rarely post here, and almost never post builds. However, a friend of mine and I were proud of this one, and decided to see what CharOp thought. I could not find a similar build with the search function, or on any of the Fighter Handbooks, so hopefully this is an original.
Let me explain the general concept, post the build, and then explain all the little details.
The basic idea is to use Warrior's Urging as many times as possible in a combat, to consistently draw enemies away from your allies, mark them, and force them to waste actions to get back to attacking your allies.
Note: The khopesh has been chosen to get all the benefits of Swordmaster, while being able to drop Dex completely to focus on Con, and axe feats. Dragonborn has been chosen over Dwarf to increase the base surge value, and to allow for mass marking with the dragon breath.
The build:
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Siren, level 30
Dragonborn, Fighter, Swordmaster, Legendary General
Fighter Talents: Battlerager Vigor
Invigorating Exploit: Warrior's Urging
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 26, Con 24, Dex 13, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 12.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 16, Dex 11, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.
AC: 48 Fort: 41 Reflex: 38 Will: 37
HP: 228 Surges: 16 Surge Value: 64
TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +24, Endurance +23, Perception +22, Intimidate +23
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +12, Arcana +16, Bluff +16, Diplomacy +16, Dungeoneering +17, Heal +17, History +18, Insight +17, Nature +17, Religion +16, Stealth +12, Streetwise +16, Thievery +12
FEATS
Level 1: Enlarged Dragon Breath
Level 2: Student of Battle
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Axe)
Level 6: Weapon Focus (Axe)
Level 8: Improved Vigor
Level 10: Toughness
Level 11: Daunting Challenge
Level 12: Iron Will (retrained to Epic Will at Level 22)
Level 14: Lightning Reflexes (retrained to Epic Reflexes at Level 23)
Level 16: Combat Anticipation (retrained to Epic Resurgence at Level 21)
Level 18: Armor Proficiency (Plate)
Level 20: Armor Specialization (Plate)
Level 21: Axe Mastery
Level 22: Martial Mastery
Level 24: Invigorating Exploit
Level 26: Triumphant Attack
Level 28: Distracting Shield
Level 30: Reckless Attacker
POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Crushing Surge
Fighter at-will 1: Tide of Iron
Fighter encounter 1: Passing Attack
Fighter daily 1: Knee Breaker
Fighter utility 2: Pass Forward
Fighter encounter 3: Dance of Steel
Fighter daily 5: Dizzying Blow
Fighter utility 6: Settling the Score
Fighter encounter 7: Come and Get It
Fighter daily 9: Fighter's Recovery
Fighter utility 10: Menacing Stance
Fighter encounter 13: Scattering Swing (replaces Dance of Steel)
Fighter daily 15: Quicksilver Stance (replaces Knee Breaker)
Fighter utility 16: Iron Warrior
Fighter encounter 17: Vorpal Tornado (replaces Passing Attack)
Fighter daily 19: Devastation's Wake (replaces Dizzying Blow)
Fighter utility 22: Inspired Resurgence
Fighter encounter 23: Warrior's Urging (replaces Scattering Swing)
Fighter daily 25: Fighter's Resurgence (replaces Quicksilver Stance)
Fighter encounter 27: Cruel Reaper (replaces Vorpal Tornado)
Fighter daily 29: Force the Battle (replaces Devastation's Wake)
ITEMS
Dwarven Godplate Armor +6, Battlemaster's Khopesh +6, Shield of the Barrier Sentinels Heavy Shield (epic tier), Greaves of Maldeen (paragon tier), Lightning Reflex Gloves (paragon tier), Crown of Eyes (paragon tier), Torc of Power Preservation +6, Ring of the Dragonborn Emperor (paragon tier), Ring of Protection (paragon tier), Cord of Foresight (paragon tier)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
So, here is how all of that works together, optimally:
The build is based around regaining, and consistently using Warrior's Urging. The primary way to do this is through the Swordmaster PP 16th level ability Steel Blitz, which allows you to regain a spent righter encounter power when you crit with a light or heavy blade. While you also have Epic Resurgence, Steel Blitz is vastly superior. Epic Resurgence only works if you crit with the first attack roll. Steel Blitz doesn't care what attack roll you use, only that you crit with a heavy or light blade. You have many other ways to regain this power, though, as you will see below.
The benefits of using Warrior's to you and your party are legion. You hopefully mark a decent number of the opposing force(or eliminated them if they are minions). Any foes still standing have to waste a shift to get away from you and attack someone squishy, often leaving them with charge as about their only option(eliminating the use of most nasty encounter powers for now...), unless they want to waste a round just moving. In which case, you have done your job admirably. Otherwise they attack you(win) or try to get to get to someone by using regular movement(win). In which case, you lay the "don't move" Combat Superiority smack-down on them.
Here is the opening of a standard combat:
When combat starts, move to a place where you can call as many mobs as possible with your use of Warrior's Urging. You get X many attacks, hopefully at least 3, which is that many chances to get a crit, to recharge Urging. Note: You are also hopefully flanked at this time, because you are actually harder to hit when surrounded. Your Crown of Eyes negates the CA enemies get from flanking you, and your Shield of the Barrier Sentinels says you gain a +3 to AC and Reflex while flanked. These together are full of awesome, since being surrounded by mobs is your bag.
Now, in all likelihood, you probably didn't get that crit to recharge Warrior's Urging you were looking for, unless you had at least 6 or more mobs around you. Not to worry. Martial Mastery is here for you. Next round, spend an action point first thing, recharging Warrior's Urging. Then use Warrior's Urging again, followed up by Cruel Reaper.
Now, at this point it is very likely that you have recovered one, if not two powers. But even if you haven't, you have all the back-ups you might ever need. Fighter's Recovery and Fighter's Resurgence both recharge an encounter attack power once you are out of them. Crescendo Sword, the Swordmaster daily attack, allows you to recharge one daily or encounter, depending on a hit or miss. If you hit, recharge Fighter's Resurgence and get yourself another Warrior's Urging. If you miss, go straight for Warrior's Urging(Unless of course you want to recharge something else. Though this build is focused around Warrior's Urging, you need to adapt to whatever situation you find yourself in.)
You also have the Torc of Power Preservation, so use it wisely.
At 26th level you will get the Legendary Exploits daily utility from Legendary General, which can also be used to recharge Warrior's Urging(or just about anything else you want).
As well, keep Come and Get It from earlier in your career as a weaker, though still useful version of Warrior's Urging, to help you do your job and recharge Warrior's Urging.
Plus you get some good action out of Ring of the Dragonborn Emperor for re-using Warrior's Urging, so long as you have reached a milestone(and since most of your encounter powers are close attacks. Boo-yah).
The key to this build is always positioning. Making sure you can call the baddies away from your buddies who are squishy or in trouble is why this build is worth assembling in the first place. If you need to take an OA or three to get to a position where you can pull the bad guys off of your buddies who don't necessarily want to be toe-to-toe... do it.
Now, since you will optimally be attacked a whole lot, Battlerage Vigor makes the most sense, and you should frequently have 20 thp at the end of a round, thanks to being attacked a lot, and having used Invigorating Exploit on Warrior's Urging. You also have Force the Battle in a tough spot, to allow you to use Crushing surge on every adjacent enemy at the beginning of that enemy's turn. In addition, you should start the first battle each day with 64 thp by using the Cord of Foresight. If all of those aren't enough, you have Dwarven Armor, Iron Warrior, Inspired Resurgence, and Inspiring Word to help you out if things get rough, so you have resources to keep yourself going if for some reason the rest of the party can't get your back.
If your enemies still aren't enraged enough at your dancing them all around the battlefield to want your head on a platter, and keep attacking your allies anyway, that's the time to break out Menacing Stance.
This build shines in groups, but lacks a little oomph in Solo battles. In Solo battles, remember that you can still play around the with BBEG, drawing him away from you allies. Your ability to re-use such powers will be more limited though, so act more sparingly in your use of Warrior's and Come and Get It.
In any case, your level 30 ED ability should rock the house when nothing else will. As long as you have 1 or more hit points, your party should be good to go. Look out for Orcus' Touch of Death.
Comments welcome.