Update: R.I.P. (May 5 Update - Arcane Feychargers fortunately still work, but they don't get any special synergies from feycharging. Last working build was Long Night Feycharger with about 948 DPR)
Arcane Feycharger (R.I.P.)
This is a obsolete thread (nerfbat). Check out AlphatheGreat'sArcane Slasher if you want a teleporting crazy damage guy...
I always liked the idea of the an eladrin teleporting at-will all over the battlefield, dropping enemies left and right. ZephyrTempest did a great incarnation of this idea with his Feycharger. For a little inspirational video, check out Nightcrawler (first 3 minutes)
The power of a Feycharger can be increased greatly by going arcane, decreasing the charge miss chance to only 0.25% (1:400) and dealing a buckload of damage (436DPR for five encounters/day, healing 31hp) since the second half of the inspiration for this build is stick128'sCold Sorcerer. Also a big thanks to Kryx, Ytterbium_Dragon, deathmaster35 and borg285 for improvements and error hunting. The builds works like a normal warlock/paladin in heroic, and are great as early as paragon lvl 11 with 4 full at-will attacks per round. Oh, and take a look at the new Divine Arcane Feycharger (494 DPR for five encounters/day, 616 DPR 1enc/day).
AlphatheGreat has written a great summary about how feycharging works, so you don't have to read the whole thread (originally posted here, used with permission ): Feycharging HowtoShow
Just to explain what exactly gets so powerful about a feycharger, the current top damage-per-round build is the Long Night Feycharger, an Arcane Feycharger variation.
The arcane feycharger is a Warlock hybrid Swordmage, Multiclass Fighter, Multiclass Rogue (windrise ports allows 2 Multiclass feats).
Important Elements: Fey Charge(fighter) allows you to use Fey Step as part of a charge Fey Gambit(rogue) gives combat advantage whenever you fey step next to a target Roundabout charge(rogue) lets you go wherever you want on a charge, as long as you end up next to your target. Eladrin Swordmage Advance(swordmage) gives you a free melee basic attack when you use fey step to teleport next to an enemy. Eldritch Strike(warlock at-will): an arcane at-will that counts as a melee basic attack Planestrider Boots(level 18 item): when you teleport with a power, you can split the teleport into two teleports whose sum is the total distance allowed.
The process: 1. Charge the target, activate Fey Charge 2. Split the fey charge teleport so you end the first teleport next to the target, which grants an MBA with ESA with combat advantage. 3. Finish your teleport to end next to the target again, triggering another ESA mba, and then take your Fey Charge mba. That's three arcane at-will melee attacks in one charge. By comparison, Twin Strike does only two attacks that don't benefit from your attribute bonuses, whereas Eldritch Strike does. That's powerful enough. It gets worse, because Eldritch Strike being an arcane at-will means you can tag in a lot of extra stuff.
Added stuff: 1. Arcane Admixture lets you change the damage type of Eldritch Strike to frost(for use with Lasting Frost), or Thunder(for use with other things, like Echoes of Thunder). 2. Lasting frost adds static damage in the form of frost vulnerability. Need I elaborate? 3. Echoes of Thunder gives a stacking +1 bonus to hit until the end of your next turn whenever you hit with a Thunder power. 3 attacks from fey charge means you get a +3 if you hit with all three. Next turn you keep stacking, for a potential +5 on your actual fey charge. It gets worse if you add a Dancing Weapon. 4. Dancing Weapon. Not exclusive to feychargers, but if you have 5 of them you will get another melee basic attack(albeit less accurate one, as we can only afford 5 +4 versions at level 30), which is cumulative with and benefits from Echoes of Thunder. That's 4 arcane melee attacks each turn. 5. White Lotus Riposte and White Lotus Master Riposte. Requires you to hit with an arcane at-will attack power. Combined with Aegis of Assault, your opponent is forced into choosing between attacking you and triggering Riposte(stat damage) and Master Riposte(hit them with the same arcane at-will, in this case Eldritch Strike), or making a break for one of your allies and take an Assault mba(eldritch strike), which benefits from Echoes of Thunder... you get the drift. 6. Radiant vulnerability exploitation. There's a whole mess there. Suffice to say it can stack up fast. Rod of Starlight, Pelor's Sun Blessing(divine boon), etc. 7. Arcane Slasher tactics(see my sig). The Long Night Feycharger takes the Long Night Scion PP and the Radiant One ED. Whenever he teleports he does a "slash" which deals con cold damage which benefits from lasting frost, which triggers Radiant One's int radiant damage, which benefits from radiant vulnerability.... You can see how that would be intense with the Arcane Feycharger. *Start with a move action split-teleport(Ethereal Sidestep) to slash them twice, ending the teleport 2 squares away. *Sustain your Dancing weapon with a minor action. *Fey Charge, activating the first ESA attack *finish your teleport which gives another slash, and triggers another ESA *Your dancing weapon attacks *on their turn they either attack you and take Riposte Damage+Riposte Attack, attack no one and be effectively stunned for the round, or shift and charge an ally. In the last instance you can split your Aegis of Assault teleport to get another slash in before you hit them with your Eldritch Strike. It turns out that the Riposte does the same expected damage as the Assault total.
It gets well over 500 expected damage per round.
In sum, the arcane feycharger gets all the benefits of a multiattacker, all the static-damage bonuses that arcane attacks give, gets a catch-22 worth up to 100 damage per round, all the benefits wizards has built in to combo off teleporting, and can "plug in" to a high percentage of the more cheesy CO tactics. It's absurd that one build can abuse so many different tactics at the same time.
Arcane Feycharger (436DPR)
Since Reapers Touch is Shadar-Kai only as of Dragon Annual, only the melee arcane feycharger still works (unless you allow War Wizard). Very nice from a dpr standpoint, but i really wish the more balanced old wizard build would still work...
damage normal mba: 0.85*(45)+0.1*(161) = 54.35 two: 0.1*0.85*(44)+0.1*0.1*(160) = 5.34 total normal mba = 59.69
damage dancing: 0.85*(42)+0.1*(82) = 43.9
Attacks: 1xCharge+2xESA+1xcatch22+1xdancing
total DPR 5 attacks: 313.154 + 112.776 (echoes of thunder*) + 10.5 (curse) -> 436 DPR
Additional damage echoes of thunder [Feat, PHB2]
per hit: charge: 0.9775*3(normal)+0.19*0.95*3(two) = 3.474 0.95*3(normal)+0.1*0.95*3(two) = 3.135
after first hit: 3.474 after second: 3.474 + 3.135 after third: 3.474 + 2*3.135 after forth: 3.474 + 3*3.135 -> + 12.879 at start of round 2, after fifth: 3.474 + 4*3.135 -> + 16.014 at start of round 2,
Ok, here is the Divine Feycharger modified for double Eladrin Swordmage Advance. Deals 451 DPR now...
Divine Arcane Feycharger (494 DPR)
This build uses a little tidbit in the wording of Eladrin Swordmage Advance: If we get adjacent to the target via Fey Step, we get a free mba. If we now split the Fey Step in two via Planestrider Boots, we get adjacent to the target, with Fey Step, twice, for two ESA mbas per round. This however requires Roundabout Charge in order to still qualify for the charge requirements. Due to the use of Ankhmon's Gauntlets, the new version also heals itself each round. The current numbers are 5enc/day 494 DPR and 29 hitpoints/round healed, and 1enc/day 616 DPR with 34 hitpoints/round healed.
I. Punishing Radiance & Font of Radiance Punishing Radiance adds stacking vulnerability 10 on a crit until the end of the next round, font of radiance will trigger 3d6+vulnerability damage. With 5 attacks/round, chances to crit are about 0.5/round.
5 attacks: 1-(0.81*0.9^4) = 0.468559 (chance for one crit in round n-1)
damage font of radiance: 3d6+27 (39) 0.468559*(39) = 18.273801
round n damage: charge:0.468559*(0.9975*10) = 4.673876025 normal:0.468559*(4*(0.95*10)) = 17.805242
total: 22.48 + 18.27 = 40.75
6 attacks: 1-(0.81*0.9^5) = 0.5217031 (chance for one crit in round n-1)
damage font of radiance: 3d6+27 (39) 0.5217031*(39) = 20.35
round n damage: charge:0.5217031*(0.9975*10) = 5.203988423 normal:0.5217031*(5*(0.95*10)) = 24.78089725
total: 29.98 + 20.35 = 50.33
II. Echoes of Thunder per hit: charge: 0.9775*3(normal) = 2.9325 normal: 0.95*3(normal) = 2.85
after first hit: 2.9325 after second: 2.9325 + 2.85 after third: 2.9325 + 2*2.85 after forth: 2.9325 + 3*2.85 after fifth: 2.9325 + 4*2.85 -> + 14.3325 at start of round 2, assuming 5 attacks -> + 17.1825 at start of round 2, assuming 6 attacks
Feychargers work from level 11+, but they do have some pitfalls early on. The biggest one is the increased probability of missing the charge, thus loosing fey step. Some ways to avoid that and generally do well in paragon (thanks to borg285):
The daggermaster build can use an AP for a reroll.
Items: cloak of translocation -> daily item use: regain teleportation power (fey step) dice of auspicious fortune -> daily item use: 3d20 rolls -> encounter power: swap current roll with stored one after dice are used up: potion of clarity (50gp): minor action spend healing surge for one reroll in encounter
Other Between lvl 19 (Akhamon's Bracers) and lvl 26, Runic Armor doesn't make sense, since the high arcana check is only required from lvl 26+. Salubrious Armor adds +2 item bonus when healed, which happens all the time due to bracers.
Build Options: More Feychargers
1. Cleaving Feycharger
Similar to ZephyrTempest's build, but with swordmage & swordmaster. With five attacks on a charge (and 5/day 6 attacks, using daily item powers, but no salves), there is a high chance to get at least one critical hit per round, recharging a fighter encounter power via the Swordmaster lvl 16 feature. A good candidate for that is Trip Up, adding another attack about every other round.
Gear: hand1: Radiant Longsword+6 [AV] hand2: Drow Long Blade+6 [AV] armor: Agile Chain+6 [PHB] neck: Cloak of Translocation+6 [AV2] hands: Gloves of Destuction head: Horned Helmet [AV] arms: Barrage Bracers [AV2] feet: Planestrider Boots [MotP] belt: Belt of breaching [AV2] ring1: Shadow Band [AV] ring2: Ring of Giants misc: 5x Dancing Longblade+4 [PHB]
Attacks: Use Throw and Stab, substitute the charge with cleave (possible due to Swordmaster), modify the cleave with deft hurler style -> total of 3. Add 2x ESA -> total 5, with dancing weapons its 6.
2. Crushing Surge Feycharger
Almost the original feycharger. Uses Cruhing Surge on charge for marks and reckless attacker.
Class: Fighter|Swordmage(MC Rogue)/Kensai/Sage of Ages
3. Vadalis Griffonmaster Feycharger
Uses the griffon companion for lots and lots of attacks. 1xcharge + 1x catch22 + 2x ESA + 1x Dancing + 1x beast command + 1x beast charge = 7 attacks. If your DM doesn't allow Windrise(FR)+Eberron, loose mc rogue and thus the second ESA attack.
Warlords are a natural fit for feychargers, due to trailblazer and fey tactics, which allows a feycharger warlord to take one ally along for the ride (ends adjacent), and teleport another ally (ends anywhere). DPR is nowhere close to the striker builds, but more than 100 DPR is still considerable for a leader.
base pack: a good MBA, Race: Eladrin, fighter mc or hybrid + fey charge, swordmage mc or hybrid swordmage + eladrin swordmage advance (-> 2 mbas per round, one of them charge)
arcane booster 1: white lotus riposte, white lotus master riposte, hybrid swordmage with aegis of assault (-> catch 22 situation, basically another melee basic attack)
hit booster: try to get stacking +1 to hit per hit: e.g. Academy Master, Barrage Bracers, Power of Skill etc.
usability booster: rogue MC, roundabout charge, fey gambit, sage of ages (->+4 to hit +2 to all def, roll twice, i.e. very unlikely to miss, charge is always possible, )
Would you mind doing a level by level eventually? Be nice to break down when this build starts peaking (I imagine not till Paragon)
In heroic, the fey feats are not available (fey charge+gambit are paragon feats), so its a normal wizard with 1 encounter per day magic missile as a minor action
In paragon its a high crit wizard (all wizard powers have a critical hit range of 18-20) with the option to use magic missile on a charge, and also magic missile as a minor action 4 encounters/day.
So in paragon, it would probably work like this: minor action: magic missile (melee or ranged) standard action: feycharge magic missile (melee)
The real damage kicks in at epic, when we can do 3 attacks, and all on or after the charge....
I've been wondering about the feat Multiclass Mastery, can you explain this one? I assume its how your Wizard was able to Multiclass multiple times but I'd just like the clarification of how it works.
I've been wondering about the feat Multiclass Mastery, can you explain this one? I assume its how your Wizard was able to Multiclass multiple times but I'd just like the clarification of how it works.
Thanks!
Ok, i'm just using it the way it was described to me, since i don't have the book myself. Its a epic feat. You have to be a bard or MC bard, no other requirements. When picking Multiclass Mastery, you get to pick two multiclass feats (fighter and swordmage in this case).
The Wizard|Rogue is from Dragon 374 (hybrid multiclassing), and also the reason why i have a useless at will power and horrible hitpoints. Unfortunately, there is no hybrid bard description right now, otherwise i could go wizard|bard mc rogue...
Can you give us a snap shot of your stat progression? And with the hybrid requirement that about half your daily/encounter/utility be from the rogue class do you end up with at least 1 daily and encounter and a few utility that is useless? But this is a very intriguing build.
Very cool build. Glad I was able to inspire at least a little bit.
Thank you, glad you like it !
Basically the whole high damage mechanic is stolen from you . The first incarnation was actually even closer to your build, a eldarin sorcerer/academy master/sage of ages with MC Bard->fighter+swordmage. It had just two attacks and i couldn't sneak in MC rogue for daggermaster, and it was a mess to get the high stats necessary for unstoppable charge, charisma was a little low, but it might get even higher damage if i could find a way to make ends meet.
And as soon as there is a hybrid version of sorcerer, it could be a eldarin sorcerer|wizard for the full three attacks, using Combat Virtuoso for the magic missile, with all the fun you get from Fury of the Storm and Ruthless Spellfury.
By the way, do you think a rending weapon would work ? I'm thinking swordmage implement+rending kopesh...
Edit: Btw, what about high crit weapons, would they add the weapon high crit dice, or the spell dice... ?
): 
. The first incarnation was actually even closer to your build, a eldarin sorcerer/academy master/sage of ages with MC Bard->fighter+swordmage. It had just two attacks and i couldn't sneak in MC rogue for daggermaster, and it was a mess to get the high stats necessary for unstoppable charge, charisma was a little low, but it might get even higher damage if i could find a way to make ends meet. 