Does Mirrorblade Army work with Clockwork Cowl? I wouldn't think so, since it's "Swordmage Attack 29."
Doh! You're right, thanks!
There goes my "Despair of Zhudun"...
Hmm... Isn't it a bit strange that Mirrorblade Army is called an "Attack Power", even though it doesn't even have a target, an attack or a hit effect of any kind?
Well, I guess it's called an attack in order to fit with the rest of the rules' wording, but it feels kinda wrong...
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Spamming Demand Respect through Demigod isn't a bad idea, although it's sort of a level 30 only trick (besides Divine Mastery or crits + Epic Resurgence). But it wasn't the plan, as you'll notice that the "Royal Pain" is actually an Avatar of Storm, not a Demigod. And even if it had been a Demigod, I believe the awesome Hurricane of Blades would still have been a better choice, even though it means the defense co-op has to take a step back. HoB is just hilariously cheestastic when paired with the growing Echoes of Thunder and Barrage Bracers bonuses this build uses. Very striker-ish.
Ah, oops. I think I mixed the two builds up a bit there.
Yeah, I agree with you there - builds that need to wait until level 30 to be effective aren't really that interesting to me!
That said, and as a somewhat off-topic side-note, I think you could have your cake and eat it with demigod. Use demand respect, get hurricane of blades back, then on your turn use hurricane of blades, and get demand respect back. Yay demigod!
Yeah, I think my bard intends to make use of Divine Mastery to get Demand Respect back. And maybe a Violet Solitaire for some extra "luls" (unlike Epic Resurgence, any crit works, so you can crit-fish with big burst or blast powers, of which I intend to have at least a couple). Hmm, I think I'll post up my character's intended status at level 30 - provided that you promise not to laugh - it's a somewhat organic character and does have a few choices (such as ability scores) that I made very early on in my 4e career and so are a bit unoptimal (and I've become so attached to my dyslexic, street-smart bard that I wouldn't trade his wis out for int even if I could!)
He's the leader and also plays off-tank to our feycharger swordmage. A few tactics:
Combine Song of Storms with Blessed Psalmist's Radiant Song to make something I call "Song of Lightbulb" - enemies are made vulnerable to radiant, and allies are granted a number of d6 extra damage equal to the number of foes you hit.
Defend with: Divine Challenge. I haven't buffed the punishing power of this ability further with feats. As of level 12 I'm finding that enemies tend to attack me whenever I mark them anyway, and some encounters I don't even get to use the ability (I play second-fiddle to our resident swordmage). However, I did take Honored Foe, although I'm worried my wisdom may be too low to get enough out of this feat for it to really shine. Also, Demand Respect, Mocking Epigram and Discipline the Unruly are all mark-less defender powers. My swordmage ally will also have at least one mark-less defender power - Reaper's Challenge. My maximum punishment against a single attack would be quite staggering if I was to frontload it - target would automatically be blinded, weakened, and hit their ally or themselves with the attack and take 4d6+34 radiant damage straight away as well as being knocked prone and dealt another 2d10+1d6+17 radiant damage if I hit them; in addition I could reroll all damage dice (and they'd also take any damage due to vulnerability three times). Of course, it would be silly for me to combine all my punishment powers like this. A more reasonable scenario would be Bless Weapon+Demand Respect+Discipline the Unruly against a target that is marked by the swordmage already - and this would be blinded, knocked prone, and 2d10+5d6+34 radiant damage (rerolling damage dice).
I've tried to boost my defenses up to an acceptable level. One encounter per day they'll be great thanks to the epic tier shield (53(or 55 after hitting foe), 49, 48, 50). I don't have +3 item bonuses for every slot simply because I did the maths and it's impractical to expect level 28 items in every single item slot Honored Foe, Coif of Mindiron, and Ring of Focus make me a bit more difficult to harm or otherwise control.
I can do some pretty nifty things with action points. On easy fights (where I don't want to burn action points) I can use my Fatesinger level 21 feature to spend action points to grant allies attacks. If they hit, I get the action point back anyway. Between this, a symbol of victory and a violet solitaire I should be able to spend an action point every encounter consistently, plus anything that I get through the Solitaire. On harder encounters I can spend an action point to gain an attack (or two attacks during a nova round when I have Fragment of the Song up) and then regain a use of Majestic Word and a Divine Encounter power of my choice. I can do this twice if granted a Solitaire AP during an AP- This would mean 5 majestic words and 3 Demand Respects during encounters in which I crit.
My Majestic word targets two people, and grants the targets rerolls on all checks/saves/attack rolls until EONT, plus a saving throw and a slide 1. I should have enough uses of this ability to burn it during nova rounds even if one or both of the targets elect not to actually spend a healing surge.
Lastly, as noted earlier in the thread, if I wait until after a milestone to cast either Hero's Beacon or Discipline the Unruly, I can use the Ring of Radiant Storm to regain the power if I miss, even though missing doesn't stop me from enjoying the effect line of the power.
What do you think? Any suggestions would be welcome (I'm already level12 though so can't change my PP or ability scores).
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ====== Jareth D'Airelle, level 30 Half-Elf, Bard, Blessed Psalmist, Fatesinger Bardic Virtue: Virtue of Valor Eldritch Strike: Eldritch Strike Charisma Heaven's Favor: Heaven's Favor (Paladin) Background: Geography - Forest (+2 to Perception)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES Str 15, Con 24, Dex 12, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 26.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES Str 13, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 16.
AC: 48 Fort: 44 Reflex: 43 Will: 45 [+2 AC after hitting foe (Bloodiron Godplate); +5 to all defenses 1 enc/day (Shield of Ultimate Protection)] HP: 196 Surges: 14 Surge Value: 49
Utility Powers: Bless Weapon (paladin), Chord of Resilience, Illusory Erasure, Psalm of Succor (Psalmist), Song of Sublime Snowfall, Note of Aggression, Fragment of the Song
ITEMS Flute of the Dancing Satyr (heroic tier), Bloodiron Godplate Armor +6, Healer's Brooch +6, Piercing Songblade Longsword +6, Gloves of the Healer (epic tier), Shield of Ultimate Protection Heavy Shield (epic tier), Ring of the Radiant Storm (paragon tier), Ring of Focus (epic tier), Boots of Caiphon (epic tier), Stone of Light (paragon tier), Dust of Appearance (paragon tier), Anstruth Harp +5, Solitaire (Violet) (epic tier), Symbol of Victory +2, Salve of Power (heroic tier), Belt of the Witch King (paragon tier), Coif of Mindiron (paragon tier)
I think this build qualifies as an off tank because its high defense and weaker mark doesnt make it a effective deterant for enemies to not attack other teamates like optimized defender builds. However, its ability to control real-estate and decent defensive mark makes it an excellent supporter for a defenders with powerful single marks, such as an Assaulting Swordmage or Mighty Challenge Baladin.
The general plan is to wield a glaive to control the general area and mark lesser enemies the other defender cant. Should anything think to attack this build, its disembodied hand familiar's ability will let it switch to weilding the spiked shield one handed as a free action. Since it counts as shield and a light blade, you can apply your swordmage warding with the shield bonus to boost you defenses to 53 AC, 46 Fort, 50 Ref, and 46 Will. This isnt taking in to account the various power you can use to raise you defenses even further. Its very doubtful many creatures will want to attack you which will make it easier on the primary defender since it will have one less party member to worry about.
I'd like to point out the Polearm Master as a great way for a non-defender (or non-fighter defender) to gain a potent defender ability.
"Longarm Grasp (16th level): If you’re wielding a reach weapon, whenever an enemy within 2 squares of you and marked by you shifts or makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target, you can make a melee basic attack against that enemy as an immediate interrupt."
So, for a fighter it just takes something you do already (the punishment part of Combat Challenge) and increases the range. For a non-fighter it gives you an entirely new punishment ability (but it does require some way to mark consistently).
I'd like to point out the Polearm Master as a great way for a non-defender (or non-fighter defender) to gain a potent defender ability.
"Longarm Grasp (16th level): If you’re wielding a reach weapon, whenever an enemy within 2 squares of you and marked by you shifts or makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target, you can make a melee basic attack against that enemy as an immediate interrupt."
So, for a fighter it just takes something you do already (the punishment part of Combat Challenge) and increases the range. For a non-fighter it gives you an entirely new punishment ability (but it does require some way to mark consistently).
It's a good power (and a way for a non-defender to get a punishment mechanic to boot). That said, I've been focusing on mark-less defender powers in my list of powers, simply because only they can be used in tandem with another defender's mark.
That said, I'm thinking about revising this decision. Once I've finished listing mark-less defender powers, I might go back and add in any powers that grant marks (or a punishment mechanic riding off of a mark) too. It may take me a while though!
I off-tank as a quasi-striker/controller. I play a Warden with all encounter burst attacks. In a party where I'm the 3rd defender it's important to know your role. I attempt to handle the initial dog-pile to free our paladin. Our paladin does the heavy one-on-one boss work. Our fighter is a flyer,thus very mobile and capable of engaging the most elusive enemies. Sometimes the fighter exhibits a feeling that Wardens are better than fighters,but I marvel at his capabilities as well. I have more hit points and saves,but the fighter has some uncanny ability to stay up where I fall. The paladin has awesome,decisive lock-on power; once they're his they stay. I've just reached 22nd level and have acquired Keep Them Close and retrained a feat to Enduring Font. This compliments my 2nd level utility,Erupting Font,that keys off the typical Crippling Crush and World Serpents Grasp.WSG keys my Reincarnate Champion Epic aspect Dragonborn: Draconic Arrogance. This is my set up for paragon encounter Shake the Earth,Wardens Lure and Dragon Breath with an action point. I always allow the other two to supersede my mark since singling out is not my trade. I offer to keep my mark if I have regeneration going or the like.
I think your missing out on iron soul monks. They can be great off-tanks. Their flurry of blows prevents shifting, and if the target wasn't part of the triggering attack, then it can't make opportunity attacks. Since the FoB has riders in Con, Iron souls usually have a higher health than a good number of strikers. With mental arsenal, they also get a +1 shield bonus to ac, so they usually have defender high defenses(if they take unarmored agility).
Lvl 1 Iron soul monk: 18 dex, unarmored combatant, unarmored agility(feat), dagger(for mental arsenal) has 19 ac.
Honored Foe, Coif of Mindiron, and Ring of Focus make me a bit more difficult to harm or otherwise control.
