ShadowBlade (3Mk,7WM,50ShD)

[MurphysLawAgain]

My take on an Shadowdancer. It is designed to hand out pretty hefty damage and still retain reasonable defences. I designed it myself, then look at the forums and saw that Lastone had previously done a very similar build. I have found this build to be lots of fun in Hells, and certainly usable in the abyss.

Initial Stats (Elf Kyton)
Str 14
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 8

Stats & Saves at 60 in +14 gear

Abil: Str 28/14 (+9) | Dex 60/46 (+25) | Con 32/18 (+11)
Abil: Int 28/14 (+9) | Wis 28/14 (+9) | Cha 22/8 (+6)
Saves: Fort 61 | Reflex 74 | Will 61


1 Monk (20 HP) Hide +2, Tum +4 - Expertise

2 Shadowdancer (20 HP)

3 Shadowdancer (20 HP) - Darkvision - Uncanny Dodge I - Weapon Proficiency (exotic)

4 Shadowdancer (20 HP) (Dex +1) - Shadow Daze - Summon Shadow

5 Shadowdancer (20 HP) - Shadow Evade

6 Shadowdancer (20 HP) - Defensive Roll - Uncanny Dodge II - Weapon Focus (katana)

7 Shadowdancer (20 HP)

8 Shadowdancer (20 HP) (Dex +1) - Slippery Mind

9 Shadowdancer (20 HP) - Spring Attack

10 Shadowdancer (20 HP)

11 Shadowdancer (20 HP) - Hide in Plain Sight - Improved Evasion - Uncanny Dodge III

12 Monk (20 HP) (Dex +1) Conc +15, Disc +15, Parry +15, Tum +1, Intim +4 - Deflect Arrows - Whirlwind Attack

13 Weapon Master (22 HP) - Ki Damage - Weapon of Choice (katana)

14 Weapon Master (22 HP)

15 Weapon Master (22 HP) - Weapon Finesse

16 Weapon Master (22 HP) (Dex +1)

17 Weapon Master (22 HP) - Increased Multiplier - Superior Weapon Focus

18 Weapon Master (22 HP) - Improved Critical (katana)

19 Weapon Master (22 HP) - Ki Critical

20 Monk (20 HP) (Dex +1) Conc +8, Disc +8, Parry +8, Tum +8 - Monk Speed - Still Mind

21 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Epic Character - Epic Shadowdancer - Epic Weapon Focus (katana)

22 Shadowdancer (8 HP)

23 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Great Dexterity I

24 Shadowdancer (8 HP) (Dex +1) - Epic Prowess

25 Shadowdancer (8 HP)

26 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Great Dexterity II

27 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Ambidexterity

28 Shadowdancer (8 HP) (Dex +1)

29 Shadowdancer (8 HP) Lstn +32, Tum +9 - Epic Dodge

30 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Two-Weapon Fighting

31 Shadowdancer (8 HP)

32 Shadowdancer (8 HP) (Dex +1) - Great Dexterity III

33 Shadowdancer (8 HP) Lstn +4, Tum +4 - Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

34 Shadowdancer (8 HP)

35 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Great Dexterity IV

36 Shadowdancer (8 HP) (Dex +1) - Iron Will

37 Shadowdancer (8 HP)

38 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Great Dexterity V

39 Shadowdancer (8 HP) - Greater Weapon Focus (katana)

40 Shadowdancer (8 HP) (Dex +1) Lstn +7, Tum +7


Feats not associated with any level:
Armor Skin
Blinding Speed [0/1]
Great Dexterity VI
Great Fortitude
Legendary Fortitude
Legendary Weapon Focus (katana)
Legendary Will

LL Points Into skills ending up at
Craft Weapon 45
Disc 63
Listen 63
Parry 63
Tumble 63

[leid]

I've been thinking of redoing my 4 monk 6 pally 30 SD build to a build with 7 WM levels. im wondering how AC/AB turned out for this.

Also what are the skills? i imagine no LSA disc hurts. woudl you max parry and disc in crossclass, then max parry in able learner, and put the rest into disc able learner? doing it that way in test i got to 83 parry (with dex mod) and 35 disc. im thinking thats going to hurt

also also why start at 14 str? couldnt you start it at 8 to get some more dex in?

[fallenwizard]

If you go with 8 str you are gonna get disable a lot by all str checks, even 14 is a bit lowish for a tank imo. I think my ShD had 14 to begin with + demi + str arty, uses asmo belt and still have to watch out for geliarch's and kytons, str arty protects vs cornu stun thou. The +1 ac/ab you get by going 8 str isnt anywhere near worth the +3damage and 30% more resistance to str checks IMHO

[leid]

ok good point about the str.

I've been messing with this, and i was thinking of taking 5 WM levels and 5 monk levels, and since i use razor, i would only lose 1 crit range, but keep the increased multiplier, and also let me take bullheaded at level and get LSA Disc in LLs (and drop blinding speed for it.. it's nice to have but not necessary) this also requires dropping imp crit katana at level 19, but you can always use a imp/power katana aug to make up for that. the 5th monk level would also give disease immunity. this would however cost 1 ab.

[fallenwizard]

going 5monk/5wm costs you an attack, so highly not recommend

[leid]

oh. bleh. cant any way of doing this and keeping good disc and parry skills

[MurphysLawAgain]

I found some previous comments in this thread and though I might as well answer em now.

The AC is fine, and although the AB is marginal I found this character did plenty of damage.
For pity's sake don't drop the STR, you are going to need it. I used a DEX arti on this character and played it cleverly but needed every point of STR I had.
Elf gives Able Learner - you can max disc and parry in LL's.

[gandoron]

in addition to SD what are the other classes that don't get disc or other necessary skills and are likely to use elf for CC skills? Threader with cleric CC I guess. Any others?

g

[bobownsya]

AB is 16 (pre-epic BAB) +10 (epic BAB) +1 (WF) +1 (GWF) +1 (Prowess) +2 (EWF) +13 (LBAB) +3 (LWF) +25 (DEX mod) +20 (Magical AB cap) +5 (Shadow Step) -4 (Dual-wielding) = 93.

What did your ending skills look like? You only have them listed up to level 40.

[MurphysLawAgain]

There is an alternative approach to this char, swapping the 3 two weapon feats and Armor Skin out for 4 more dex feats and using a monk weapon. You lose Dev Crit on the Stygian razor and the Katana's superior crit range and multiplier but you would then keep the same 8 attacks per round (monk weapon) and gain more AB and also use the monk progression which helps further with AB. I haven't found it lacking on AB but I guess you could go that way. You could even keep dual wielding feats and go for dual monk weapons if you really want more attacks per round.

Bobownsya, also worth adding that the extra attacks (haste and SD bonus) don't get the -4 penalty for dual wielding. In effect it 4 main hand attacks at 93, 2 Off hand starting at 93 and 2 bonus attacks at 97. I used a Dex artifact so add +1 to those, and eventually you get another +2 from double demi.

I have edited the original post to include final skill levels.

[maljin]

So the +5 AB bonus after shadow stepping does not count toward the +20 cap?

I was always wondering about that but since the update notes said 'the sd enjoys a + 5 ab true strike effect for 3 rounds' or something like that, I assumed it wouldn't stack.

Maybe someone could remove the veil around another mystery: Does the shadow dancer receive the full benefits of Shadow Evade after stepping or just the greater sanc effect? Asking this because I was wondering if one could use the quick action stepping to reapply shadow evade after being dispelled.

mal

[Torin]

Oct 15, 2011 21:13:59 GMT FunkySwerve said:

Shadow step adds to base ab, not 20-capped - it stacks fully.
Funky

[bobownsya]

Shadow Evade is its own separate buff from Shadow Step. The best Shadow Stepping after being dispelled does is it allows you to reapply Shadow Evade without being pressured due to its GSanc.