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“Get past me? You might as well try to push the mountains aside.”

Quite a few of the warden's dailies grant additional reach for the entire encounter. And when I read their feats, well, that was when I thought this was the obvious thing to try. We're talking about reach 3, 4 or even 5, Footwork Lure as your at-will OA, shift WIS squares when an enemy attacks and doesn't target you, and slowing with every retaliative action you take, maybe knocking down with Polearm Momentum. All in all, you're a master at manipulating the battefield, and it looks really fun to play.

Build sketch:

Half-elf Warden/Fighter/Polearm Master (or Bloodwrath Guardian)/Eternal Defender

Starting Attributes
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 13+2
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 8+2

Feats you might want:

Heroic: Action Surge, Martial Freedom, Polearm Momentum, Stubborn Survivor, Sudden Roots, Weapon Expertise, Wildblood Cunning

Paragon: Armor Specialization (Hide), Enhanced Font of Life, Heavy Blade Opportunity, Paragon Defenses, Polearm Gamble, Uncanny Dodge, Versatile Master, Vexing Flanker, Wildblood Speed

Epic: Epic Fortitude/Reflexes/Will, Enduring Font, Unfettered Stride

Multiclass: Student of the Sword, Acolyte Power (Howl of Defiance)

Interesting power picks:

Dilettante power: Footwork Lure

At-will powers: Weight of Earth, Thorn Strike (retrain once you get Versatile Master)

Encounter powers:
Level 1 - Wildblood Frenzy
Level 3 - Burst of Earth's Fury
Level 7 - Stalker's Positioning
Level 11 - Leveraging Strike
Level 13 - Creeper's Grasp
Level 17 - Call Forth the Harvest
Level 23 - Guardian’s Wrath
Level 27 - Weight of the Mountain

Daily powers:
Level 1 - Form of Winter's Herald
Level 5 - Hail of Thorns
Level 9 - Form of the Oak Sentinel
Level 15 - Form of the Rowan Sentinel
Level 19 - Thundering Bolts
Level 20 - Polearm Sweep
Level 25 - Form of the Displacer Beast/Form of the Jungle Lord
Level 29 - Form of Spring Renewal

Utility powers:
Level 2 - Mountain Lion Step/Nature's Abundance
Level 6 - Windborne Step/Bear's Endurance
Level 10 - Shield of Stone
Level 12 - Reaching Stance
Level 16 - Primal Leap
Level 22 - Howl of Defiance (Fighter) is sick for this build, burn a feat on it.
Level 26 - Implacable Destruction

Any comments or suggestions? I'll try to post a full build with a few snapshots during the weekend.

LordofLeapin wrote:

I don't have my PHB2 yet. But I'm glad to read this about the Warden. It'll help wash out the bitter taste I have for the Avenger.

Question: Even though you get greater reach can you still only mark enemies adjacent?

Rowan Sentinel lets you mark enemies within 3 squares for an entire encounter, but yes, you're restricted to adjacent enemies otherwise. That's why Footwork Lure is such a good addition.

Bumping with a level 11 snapshot.

Level 11 Half-elf Warden/Fighter/Polearm Master

HP 103 HS 14

AC 24 (+5 level +3 WIS +3 Hide +3 Enhancement)
Fort 23 (+5 level +4 STR +3 Enhancement +1 Class)
Ref 20 (+5 level +2 DEX +3 Enhancement)
Will 22 (+5 level +3 WIS +3 Enhancement +1 Class)

Background: Mariner
Skills: Acrobatics, Nature, Perception, Athletics

Attributes
STR 19
DEX 15
CON 16
INT 11
WIS 17
CHA 11


At-will powers:
Weight of Earth
Earth Shield Strike
Footwork Lure

Encounter powers:
Wildblood Frenzy
Burst of Earth's Fury
Stalker's Positioning
Leveraging Strike

Daily powers:
Form of Winter's Herald
Hail of Thorns
Form of the Oak Sentinel

Utility powers:
Nature's Abundance
Windborne Step
Shield of Stone


Feats:
Sudden Roots
Weapon Expertise
Martial Freedom
Blade Opportunist
Durable
Heavy Blade Opportunity
Versatile Master


Melee attack: +11 (+5 level, +3 enhancement, +2 proficiency, +1 Weapon Expertise)
Footwork Lure OA: +13 (+2 Blade Opportunist)

Equipment:
+3 Predatory Glaive
+3 Magic Hide Armor
+3 Amulet of Protection

Sorry, small bump.

Seems to me the ideal combo might be to go wildblood + pit fighter. Not seeing the huge draw to go pole arm master really. I agree with an MC to fighter. Some of their stances are plain sexy, come and get it beats similar encounters, yadda yadda. Pit fighter lets you add your wis to damage, which helps compensate the wardens meh damage.

I guess the perk to a polearm master is the free melee attack if they 'shift' within 2 squares of you? I can see where that + heavy blade oppurtunist is good.

So my thought though is..

Goliath vs Longtooth Shifter
Since its wild blood, by and large the +2 con bonus isnt used heavily, although it will help with some of the fighter stuff we pick up. Frankly I prefer unyeilding avalanche to similar powers a warden gets at that level. Free damage to targets around is well..sexy...

No..encounter powers, i again prefer the shifter. Regen while bloody + damage bonus for the enounter seems better than 1 round of DR to me.

Now...feat wise Goliaths get the a weapon booster that gives them a greatspear prof and weapon focus in it for one feat. Our wildblood shifter will likely use a glaive, so effectivly will be down 1 to attack, although will be up 1 to damage once they hit pit fighter. The attack of course is ideal, although if we go heavy blade oppurtunist, the goliath sorta looses that advantage (unless there is an uber glaive i dont know of?)