|
2 years ago ::
Aug 28, 2011 - 8:23PM
#1
|
Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2011
|
Combo of AC, defenses, tricks, and healing, which are the 3-4 most survivable melee strikers? Which classes can get in there and mix it up and survive?
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 28, 2011 - 9:03PM
#2
|
Date Joined:
Jul 15, 2010
|
#1 by a mile is the blackgaurd, huge ability to stack temps, plate from the get-go defender HP 19+ con surges and a natural +1 to all NADs
the other mentionables are artful dodger rogue, slayer, iron soul monk and barbarian, you have to spec for them to be as survivable but they can do it well.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 28, 2011 - 9:17PM
#3
|
|
|
I'd rate Avenger over AD Rogue. Like the Barbarian, it has Defender level HP and can be built to exceed normal Defender defenses. Unlike the Barbarian, building the Avenger for high defense is fairly intuitive. Avenger has access to some solid survival utilities and can access temp HP through the Religion skill power Deliverance of Faith.
Vampires are highly survivable as well--but as this is basically the only thing they're good at (by CharOp standards), I don't recommend using one.
t~
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 11:40AM
#4
|
Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2010
|
Blackguard > Slayer > specific Warlock builds that manage perma-invisibility > specific Rogue builds that manage perma-stealth.
The Vampire is an honourable mention as it's probably the most survivable class in the game, but does ghastly damage.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 12:33PM
#5
|
|
|
Artful Dodger Rogues?!?! Really? I personally consider Brutal Scoundrels to be the most survivable if Riposte Strike is used frequently because it provides a huge incentive for the enemy not to attack you. Enemies that do attack you go down twice as fast, and killing stuff quickly is a great way to prevent incoming damage.
Artful Dodgers can skirt around OAs, but I'm not seeing how they can reliable avoid standard action attacks.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 5:00PM
#6
|
Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2011
|
To narrow it down a bit, how about between the strikers in PHB, PHB2, and PHB3, so:
Ranger
Rogue
Avenger
Barbarian
Sorceror
Monk
Warlock
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 6:17PM
#7
|
Date Joined:
Jul 27, 2009
|
Sorc has NO right being on this list. XD It's a great damage output, but low defenses in everything but Will (the least attacked defense) it is the archetypal "Glass Cannon"
In terms of mixing it up, its always going to heavily depend on on support. Barbarians can go for HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS with a good leader, but on their own they can be pretty meaty meat shields. I had an big encounter where I killed one thing, and spent the encounter soaking up fire from most everything in the room.
Back when Hide Armor prof was still a decent choice Barbs could get SOLID AC with a hefty temp AC boost while still supporting what should be for them their 2ndary stat. It left them a little weak in Reflex and will still (what with having your eggs in one NAT basket of Fort) but you normally had time to deal with that.
These days they are still tough, and hopefully the Heros of the Fey Wild will FINALLY bring them some new options (it's only been 2 years Wizards, if you'd stop Mearls from essentially pleasuring himself with the martial class we might actually have some more effective classes. @_@ FIVE DIFFERENT BOOKS for Martial stuff... I know 2 of them were essentials... barbarians have had all of 2 to draw from from their book pool and you errata'd 2 of the things that made barbarians REALLY tough and left us with a poor Paragon selection.)
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 6:27PM
#8
|
Date Joined:
Jul 27, 2009
|
*is still really saddened by the Hide Armor debeef.*
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 7:28PM
#9
|
Date Joined:
Feb 27, 2010
|
Hybrid monk/cleric.
Battle cleric's lore lets you wear scale armour and have a +2 shield bonus on top of that. You gain an additional +2 to AC by wielding a parrying dagger (the defenive property provides and untyped bonus) with the rhythem blade enchantment (which let you increase your shield bonus by 1). Once you reach paragorn, you increase your AC even further by going warpriest (level 11 feature is +1 AC, and its level 11 powers contains an Effect: You and and all bloodied allies can spend a surge) and choosing armour special isation scale and I believe there were some monk AC-boosting feats that might be of interest.
Being half-cleric, you can take a number of encounter utility powers which let you spend a surge as a minor, meaning that you can take as much, if not more, damge than most defenders. If you have wisdom as a secondary ability, you get can a level 3 cleric encounter attack power which has Effect: You or an ally can spend a healing surge. (And no, you don't need to hit with this one.) There are even more of these powers up at level 13.
Naturally though, you'll never have the surges of a defender. But wait! You also have access to surgeless healing utility powers, which will serve just as well. Also, being half-monk you can use monk mobility powers to get out of trouble as well.
Really, the only drawback to this class is that it really isn't the strongest in the single-target striker department. But in terms of survivability, it rocks!
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 29, 2011 - 7:44PM
#10
|
Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2005
|
Dwarven cleric/ranger is my current top pick for melee striker. BCL + Scale + defensive off-hand (gauntlet axe ftw) is crazy good AC, and Str+Wis means Reflex is the lowest defense, which in reality isn't very far behind the others. Between cleric healing word/utilities and minor action second wind, you don't need to slow down the dps much, and the ranger off-action attacks (love those immediate interupts), and now you have a very durable striker (with decent off-leader capabilities).
Magic Dual Color Test
Show
|
|
|
