Ever since I saw the feat Fey Charge, I fell in love with it. The concept of teleporting around in combat is cool in itself, but you rarely get the ability to consistently do it in combat. Fey Charge basically allows you to use your Fey Step ability to replace 5 squares of your charge with teleportation. On the surface this seems like a mere conveniance to avoid attacks of opportunity against you, or to avoid difficult terrain. However when optimized, this feat allows you to make a flavorful, viable, versatile, and ultimately fun teleportation themed character. If the idea of teleporting around yourself, allies, and even enemies consistently around seems like fun to you, read on!
Level 1- Dual Strike, Brash Strike, Passing Attack, Villains Menace, Weapon Proficiency (Double Sword) Took damaging abilities here to properly fit the Striker role we will be taking in our career. Double Sword will be our weapon of choice for this build, giving us access to many conveniant powers, and feats.
Level 2- Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade), Pass Forward Weapon Expertise is pretty essential for hitting (which we will want to do lots of), Pass Forward will be redundant later on but it is pretty much the best choice at the moment.
Level 3- Rain of Blows Fortunately since we meet all of the requirements for this power, we will most certainly be using it. It is ridiculously powerful, and you will be using it your whole career for situations where it is difficult for you to charge.
Level 4- Nimble Blade One of the reasons we are using a Double Sword. The combat advantage condition may not come up often now, but it will be guaranteed later. Add +1 to Str, and +1 to Dex here.
Level 5- Rain of Steel Automatic Damage
Level 6- Improved Initiative (Retrained Later), Settling the Score Settling the Score is one of the tools we can use to keep hitting our target. The condition is relatively easy to trigger as a Fighter.
Level 7- Trip Up Anything that triggers off of something for a charge build is something we will want to be taking advantage of. This basically makes one of our charges a little better
Level 8- Surprising Charge Here is where charging starts to become a little more viable. At this point, it is more profitable for you to make charge attacks then Dual Strikes most likely (depending on your equipment). You will need to add +1 to Str, and +1 to Dex to qualify for Surprising Charge here.
Level 9- Jackal Strike Same reasoning as trip up, we want triggered abilities because most of our attacks will be charges in ideal situations.
Level 10- Sneak of Shadows, Defensive Resurgence Here is where we take Multiclass Rogue. This is important for several feats we will be getting in the next tier. Sneak Attack feature isn't bad either, and now you can practice Thievery to a decent degree.
SUMMARY- In Heroic Tier, you are not yet fully optimized for charging, so you will perform as an average Tempest Fighter. You will certainly be more then useful, but it gets much better at the start of Paragon Tier!
Level 11- Kensei Paragon Patch + Features, Fey Charge (!), Retrain Improved Initiative to Fey Gambit. Here is where it starts to get fun. You will now be able to use your Fey Step to change 5 squares of your charge into teleportation, as well as get Combat Advantage automatically when you Fey Step next to an enemy (the guy you are charging). With Nimble Blade and this feat, you effectively just increased your chance to hit by 4 this level (1 from Kensei, 2 from Combat Advantage, 1 from Nimble Blade). If you hit, you can retain your Fey Charge, and repeat this!
Level 12- Fey Step Trailblazer, Retrain Nimble Blade to Roundabout Charge Here is where we start to abuse Fey Charge. Now, when you use your Fey Step (when you charge), you can take an ally with you! Also now with Roundabout Charge, you will be able to be adjacent to enemies when you use Fey Charge (Just teleport behind them to satisfy the minimum of 2 squares requirement!) and you won't even provoke an attack of opportunity because you are teleporting!
Level 13- Assured Strike
Level 14- Nimble Blade We are keeping it for good this time . Add 1 to Strength and to Dex.
Level 15- Dragon's Fangs
Level 16- Heavy Blade Opportunity, Iron Warrior Why not use Dual Strike on opportunity attacks :P?
Level 17- Wild Strike Our first of very few powers we will be able to use while charging.
Level 18- Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade) Extra Damage!
Level 19- Devastation's Wake
Level 20- Agile Tempest We retrain this at 21 for Heavy Blade Mastery
SUMMARY- From the very start of Paragon Tier is where this character build begins to shine. You will now be able to charge with teleportation (and all of it's good effects) almost throughout the entire encounter (Unless you get very unlucky on dice rolls). In the case of unluckiness, you always have the Kensei Paragon re-roll to help maintain your Fey Step ability! By the end of Paragon Tier, you should be able to easily afford all of your teleportation modifying gear.
ITEMS Large Thundergod Double sword +6, Cloak of Distortion +6, Eladrin Ring of Passage (paragon tier) (2), Horned Helm (epic tier), Iron Armbands of Power (epic tier), Gauntlets of Destruction (paragon tier), Belt of Vim (epic tier), Eladrin Boots (paragon tier), Eladrin Pitmail Armor +6
Level 21- Demigod Epic Destiny (Str and Dex), Feywild Warrior, Retrain Agile Tempest for Heavy Blade Mastery) Get a little boost of hit at this level, and a bit more utility. Feywild Warrior is really, really neat if you got all of your teleportation themed items. When you use a daily, you can now teleport yourself and the target 14 squares away!
Level 22- Robust Defenses, Inspired Resurgence A boost to our relatively low defenses is a good idea.
Level 23- Manuevering Assault
Level 24- Feywild Protection A boost to all of our defenses whenever we Fey Charge. Ok!
Level 25- Ballista Charge Another power we can use while charging, and this one is actually pretty good!
Level 26- Epic Will A boost to our lowest defense.
Level 27- Blood Rush Another power we can use while charging!
Level 28- Agile Tempest Some extra damage
Level 29- Force the Battle Absolutely ridiculous.
Level 30- Sun Elf Grace A little more defenses to finish everything off.
SUMMARY- See below for detailed concepts/strategies and potential changes to the build you may find useful!
STRATEGY- Basically once you hit Paragon tier you start to get to having fun with Fey Charge. Upon activation of your Fey Charge, you will gain the following benefits:
-Replace 5 squares of your charge as teleportation, and retain the use of Fey Charge if you hit with the charge -Gain combat advantage against an enemy you Fey Charge adjacent to -Teleport an ally with you if he is adjacent when you use Fey Charge -Gain +3 to all defenses until the end of next turn
Basically you can charge into combat (very likely with Surprise since you are moderately stealthy ), teleporting an ally with you, and getting the jump on a guy. You can then procede to blow an action point, to use a daily and teleport yourself and your victim away (5 squares + whatever teleportation modifiers you have). Unfortunately your teleportation modifiers will not effect how many squares you can Fey Charge, but that doens't really matter much. In situations where you are already engaged in melee with an opponent, you can still charge them!
Check out my amazing diagram! e= Enemy u= You o= Potential square you can charge to
ooo xex xux
You can do this due to the magic of Roundabout Charge and Fey Charge without even provoking an attack of opportunity! Just teleport right through the poor guy, and pop out behind him to attack! The best part is, as long as you don't miss on your Fey Charge attack, you will retain the use of your Fey Step ability, and will be able to repeat these shenanigans over and over.
The thing to remember is, this build isn't just about doing damage. You are extremely mobile and useful in almost every situation. You can teleport past hazardous obstacles or lines of enemies to get to the guys in the back. You can fulfill the duties of a Rogue by disarming traps (just have someone else spot them for you haha), and being sneaky. You can move around your teleport your allies at will, and even teleport enemies occasionally.
NUMBERS: To Hit: 38 To Hit (Fey Charging): 42 Bonus Squares to Teleport: +9 Squares Average Charge Damage (At-Will): 80
BUILD ALTERNATIVES: Class- An alternative to this build would be to use Rogue as your main class and multiclass into Fighter. It would effectively be the same I think. I found that a lot more Fighter powers support the concept of charging, but that may be overshadowed by automatic CA and Sneak Attack feature of Rogues. Overall your to-hit would probably be lower then a Fighter though (and don't forget you REALLY want to hit!). I personally went with Fighter because I liked having the Eladrin Chain Armor available to me and it just seemed to fit better.
Here is the Rogue main class variant (pretty much the same thing as the fighter version)
ITEMS Thundergod Dagger +6, Cloak of Distortion +6, Battle Harness Starleather Armor +6, Horned Helm (epic tier), Gauntlets of Destruction (paragon tier), Eladrin Ring of Passage (paragon tier), Shadow Band (epic tier), Zephyr Boots (epic tier), Belt of Vim (epic tier), Iron Armbands of Power (epic tier), Wraithblade Dagger +6
You could actually get 3 higher AC if you wanted by snagging Two-Weapon Defense, Hide Proficiency, and using a Mage's Parrying Dagger in your offhand...but I went for more damage. After a Fey Charge however, you would have 51 AC with these, so it may be worth looking at. If you have concealment from Shadow Band, you effectively have 53 AC against melee attacks.
This build does a little more then 97 damage per round on average using only a basic charge.
Feats- I am sure there are some feats that could be swapped around as well, some of these are personal preference from play experience with other characters so I am unsure about the order of some things. The basic "KEY" feats should be pretty obvious though. Mobile Warrior, Unstoppable Charge, and Powerful Charge are good charge related feats you could consider. Weapon Focus, and Fey Blades are a good way to add additional damage if you want it.
Paragon Path- As an alternative Paragon Path, Sword Master can be very useful if you want to ensure landing hits (Via Surestrike). Be careful though, because you will be sacrificing a lot of damage for just +1 hit over Kensei. I am looking into the Fighting Styles now to see if there is something that offsets this (It looks like the Exotic Fighting Style will add +3 damage to your Sure Strike). Shocktrooper is a good altnerative PP for higher damage. If you go Eternal Defender with Shocktrooper you will end up with d12 Double Sword attacks!
Epic Destiny- As an alternative Epic Destiny, Demigod could be a good one. It was the original Epic Destiny for this character build, but I realized I didn't really need the Dex stat bonus, and the extra Weapon Size + Auto Hit at level 30 seemed to fit the character theme perfectly.
The Future- If they make Barbarian an available Hybrid class choice in any form, it will certainly be worth taking almost no matter what bonuses it confers. You will be able to snag the charge at-will power, as well as a plethora of charge freindly feats and powers from the Barbarian class (and possibly even pick up the class feature that lets you charge when you drop a foe with that feat!). Obviously you will still want to multiclass Rogue as well. There is nothing to lose here, only much to gain!
USEFUL ITEMS (Relevant to charging or teleportation): Vanguard Weapon Boots of Adept Charging Thundergod Weapon Eladrin Ring of Passage Horned Helm Eladrin Boots Eladrin Armor
Standard Melee Fighter freindly equipment will work, you don't necesarily have to go overboard with the teleportation boosting items. I would say that Thundergod Weapon, and Horned Helm are essentials for the build though.
I appreciate you taking the time to check out the Feycharger, and would further appreciate any input, suggestions, or corrections you may have about this character build! Thanks!
Ideally, after speaking to the DM, one might even opt for Swordmaster, provided said DM allows using any fighter at-will on a charge instead of just the original four. Because using Dual Strike on a charge is just too much fun.
However, I don't think even using Fey Charge will let you do the instant-charging you outline above. But the idea is fun even without that.
Ideally, after speaking to the DM, one might even opt for Swordmaster, provided said DM allows using any fighter at-will on a charge instead of just the original four. Because using Dual Strike on a charge is just too much fun.
However, I don't think even using Fey Charge will let you do the instant-charging you outline above. But the idea is fun even without that.
Swordmaster is a pretty good call. I would very likely charge with Sure Strike to improve my chances to hit with the charge! Thanks a lot for that idea, I am going to look into the fighting styles now to see if there is any additional benefit I could get with Sure Strike.
I don't think Sure Strike is worth picking up, even for the purposes of using it in charging. It simply doesn't compare well with the rest of the available at-wills.
With "instant-charging" I meant your idea of charging an enemy that you are already engaging.
FEATS 1: Weapon Proficiency (Double sword) 2: Fey Blades 4: Sun Elf Grace 6: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade) (retrained to Agile Tempest at Level 12) 8: Powerful Charge (retrained to Fey Gambit at Level 11) 10: Sneak of Shadows 11: Fey Charge 12: Roundabout Charge 14: Surprising Charge 16: Feywild Protection 18: Fey Step Trailblazer 20: Armor Specialization (Chainmail) 21: Mobile Warrior 22: Heavy Blade Mastery 24: Unstoppable Charge 26: Two-Weapon Fighting 28: Epic Will 30: Two-Weapon Flurry
POWERS 1, At-Will: Dual Strike 1, At-Will: Cleave 1, Encounter: Funneling Flurry 1, Daily: Villain's Menace 2, Utility: Pass Forward 3, Encounter: Rain of Blows 5, Daily: Rain of Steel 6, Utility: Settling the Score 7, Encounter: Twofold Torment 9, Daily: Thicket of Blades 10, Utility: Menacing Stance 13, Encounter: Dance of Blades (replaces Funneling Flurry) 15, Daily: Boulder Charge (replaces Villain's Menace) 16, Utility: Regnant Shout 17, Encounter: Skirmisher Pounce (replaces Twofold Torment) 19, Daily: Devastation's Wake (replaces Rain of Steel) 22, Utility: Unyielding 23, Encounter: Fangs of Steel (replaces Dance of Blades) 25, Daily: Ballista Charge (replaces Thicket of Blades) 27, Encounter: Stabbing Torrent (replaces Fangs of Steel) 29, Daily: Force the Battle (replaces Devastation's Wake)
ITEMS Eladrin Pitmail Armor +6, Subtle Double sword +6, Iron Armbands of Power (epic tier), Gauntlets of Destruction (paragon tier), Horned Helm (epic tier), Cloak of Distortion +6, War Ring (paragon tier), Fleet Hero Tattoo (epic tier), Solitaire (Violet) (epic tier), Belt of Mountain Endurance (paragon tier), Sandals of Avandra (epic tier), Ring of Dimensional Escape (paragon tier) ====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
When you charge, you can end your movement in any square adjacent to the target from which you can attack it.
Which supercedes the movement stipulations on charge in the PHB (in regards to the positioning, doesn't nullify the "at least 2 squares" clause I believe):
You must move at least 2 squares from your starting position, and you must move directly to the nearest square from which you can attack the enemy.
:D, good stuff.
Also, what do you think of the Eternal Defender Epic Destiny over Demigod? The extra DEX doesn't really mean much, but I guess the other Demigod powers are really good.
Well, my reservations about the idea -- which I love, don't get my wrong -- stems from the stipulation that you must move "directly", which I read as disallowing changing direction while charging. That particular part of the movement requirements of charging is only superceded, in my opinion, by an item like Planestrider Boots, which specifically allows changing direction while teleporting as part of the same action, thus ostensibly allowing a charge around corners. Even so, it's not a given that a given DM would allow it.
I like the extra DEX from Demigod because I like the combination of Roundabout Charge and Mobile Warrior, the latter of which requires an investment in DEX that the build wouldn't get if it weren't for the Demigod's boost. With both feats, you can charge, end the charge in whatever adjacent square you wish, and then shift 1 square, regardless of whether or not the charge hit. It's not quite Unstoppable Charge, but the build would never qualify for that in any case.
EDIT: D'oh, I really should look at my own build before posting. Of course it qualifies for Unstoppably Charge -- the extra DEX is there in order to qualify for Two-Weapon Flurry, which sets up a nice combo with HBO and Dual Strike.
For the charge thing, even if you ruled it that you couldnt change direction for some reason, you would still be able to charge directly behind them with a Fey Charge teleport, like so:
e = enemy u = you o = square you could teleport to
xox ^ xex | xux |
(The arrow is the direction of movement)
Just go in a strait line right through the guy, and you satisfy the condition of directly moving two squares. This would let you do it with your DM :D.
I was thinking of using Unstoppable Charge myself, but I couldn't think of too many scenarios where I would really need to make a move action or a minor action after my standard charge. I ended up going with the higher Reflex Defense (it is really lacking ), Initiative Bonus, and extra little bonuses on some of the Fighter powers (they are basically negligible though in most cases). Mobile Warrior is something I considered using until I realized I could charge while adjacent with Roundabout Charge and Fey Step/Charge.
You, sir, make a good point for the charge thing. :D
As for Mobile Warrior, remember that it triggers on any and every attack, giving it great versatility. Take, for example, a simple OA:
Enemy triggers our Opportunity Attack. Wielding a Double Sword and having chosen the feat combination of Heavy Blade opportunity, Two-Weapon Flurry and Mobile Warrior, get to hit him twice -- main and off-hand -- with a Dual Strike for the OA, can shift 2 (since we attacked twice), then Two-Weapon Flurry kicks in, allowing us to repeat the Dual Strike at a -5 to hit, and again shift 2, since Mobile warrior doesn't care about hit or miss.
We dance around the battlefield, can shift 2 after every Dual Strike and thus neatly set up new charges as necessary without ever triggering OAs. Not that we would have to worry about those, what with us Fey stepping everywhere...
Oh wow, good call on the Mobile Warrior thing with Dual Strike. This char build seems like it will be very mobile. I added some of your Paragon/Feat suggestions to the original post!
When you get Mobile Warrior, by the way, you can drop the Boots of Adept Charging for something else. While increasing teleporting distance is nice, I don't think we ever need more than the Eladrin Chain, since at +6 it adds 3 to all teleports. Boots of Teleportation are nice for at-will teleports, so we never have to expend Fey Step for something so mundane as getting around the battlefield, though Sandals of Avandra add +2 to speed, which means increases the range on charging. At this point, I'm no longer sure Planestrider Boots actually add that much to the build, so they drop in usefulness.
For the Neck Slot, there's the Amulet of Infuriating Elusiveness, or something to that effect, which adds +2 to AC and REF until the end of the next turn when we move more than 3 squares.
Horned Helmet is nice, but going by how the CB interprets it, could be said only to add its damage to melee basic attacks on a charge, which wouldn't apply to a Swordmaster build using at-wills.
Vanguard Weapon (or Thundergod, the "big brother") is probably a better choice for weapon enchantment than the Subtle weapon I originally picked. It's now obvious to me that there will be much more opportunity for extra charge damage than there will be for CA damage, even though every charge will automatically have CA. Hmmm. Wraithblade could work, though. I'll have to have a look at it again -- not sure if it works on a Double Sword, but if it does, dealing Sneak attack more than once an encounter would certainly be a nice leg up, damage-wise.
EDIT:
Okay, so Wraithblade would be nice, but it only triggers on a Crit, and I don't think even the improved crit range of 19-20 by LVL22 would really trigger it often enough to outdo Thundergod on damage. But then again, I'm not a math wiz.
Speaking of math and damage, assuming the best case scenario -- the DM allowing any at-will on a Swordmaster's charge --, we would do quite some damage, assuming a fully tricked-out Dual Strike:
. Add 1 to Strength and to Dex.
), Initiative Bonus, and extra little bonuses on some of the Fighter powers (they are basically negligible though in most cases). Mobile Warrior is something I considered using until I realized I could charge while adjacent with Roundabout Charge and Fey Step/Charge.
