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Post by Balduvard on Aug 18, 2011 2:03:10 GMT
I have added a build variant to allow full searching unless I have managed to do some math wrong. Build Variant: SearcherHere are some feat adjustments you can make to the Shard build in order to enable it to perform searching (63 base + 50 item + 11 int mod + 3 SF:Search aug = 127). The preferred skill to drop for this would be Taunt. This variant is only recommended as a double demigod Shard, as you will be dropping 4 Great Charisma feats, leaving you with 60 charisma for maximum epic size in +14 gear. - Drop all Great Charisma in legendary and epic levels
- Move Alertness to epic levels
- Take Silver Palm as new first-level bonus feat, move all feats downward to fill gap from Alertness
- Take Armor Skin in epic levels
- Take LSA Search in legendary levels
- Take GWF: Rapier in legendary levels
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Post by Mudeye on Feb 22, 2013 15:49:09 GMT
The LBAB shown on the build is 15, but I think it's only 12 really. That would reduce all the AB numbers by 3. Can anyone confirm this?
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Post by Vichya on Feb 22, 2013 15:52:18 GMT
It would be 12 if it wasn't for Improved Heroism:
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Post by magecat on Feb 17, 2014 17:46:45 GMT
Is this build still viable?
I have not tried a bard in several years, and I know there have been a lot of changes since then.
My thought is a modified version of the Half-Satyr build using Undying (best all around that I have). I can hop the stats up (ST/De/Con 14, Int/Wis 12, Cha 20), and reclaim one of the G-Cha for an additional AB feat.
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Post by Raj on Feb 17, 2014 18:01:43 GMT
It's viable but you need some serious good gear and demi to get decent imms/ac, generally speaking the dmg output is not really noticeable so it doesn't shine over the typical ease of use support-only bard.
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Post by Balduvard on Feb 19, 2014 3:59:37 GMT
I'm not sure if much has changed to affect it, but the build was viable if you're looking for a challenge that fits a particular play style. If you prefer playing casters, a caster bard may be more useful to you. You can see from the run logs that this character can perform on par with your average soak tank (Dragon Disciple) or other Tier 2 damage classes. You won't be topping the charts, but you'll be making a difference--the biggest difference possibly in the heat that you can take off of other characters without much worry, but Raj is right in that equipment and bonuses play a key role in that, particularly the Asmo artifact and related demi bonuses. Some notes (circa 2010) from my testing process for the character (which followed a less optimized design than I eventually came to in this post; my first run through was not with a maximum epic radius, making it difficult to act as a primary bard): [/font][/b] [li]I think this is a nice build if you like bards and want to try and squeeze some damage out of the class...but I'm not sold on its sturdiness, and I like my characters to be sturdy. It's a fun bard to play in Abos. - This is a very nice backup bard in the Hells; it complements a caster bard well in being able to add extra epic time and cover curse/song when the other bard cannot. This is especially true before you reach demi, as your epic radius will be tiny. You could try and drop your str or dex to put more points into charisma to reach 60 earlier...but I've found that having the str/dex boosted slightly enables you to make checks nicely on occasion when you disable UUU (6 in a row once).
- This is very buff dependent (naturally); without conceal you will be dropping like a rock everywhere, and without your HS extra attacks or divine might you just will not be doing much damage. I've never really ran out of divine might, but keeping an eye on the HS bonus is really only possible with HGE enabled--and then it's impossible to miss.
- You are not a tank; your AC just is not high enough to wade into swarms of enemies and take them all on. You can last a few rounds, but your best bet is to relocate out of the action and attack in a more focused area. This is slightly alleviated once you reach demi, and is mostly a problem in the Hells due to AC penalties there.
[/li] Second Hells circuit: Handful of deaths per run at most[li]With the current AC and everything going right with the buffs, the bard dodges anywhere between 80-90% of the attacks thrown at it. That said, if you get hit by something mean you will likely be going down fast. Two of my three deaths in the latest Nessus run was against a pack of Pit Fiends and ichors in the Plag fight when my UUU and Dirge ran out. Always having your epics available (and timing them to be up before you get killed) greatly increases survivability. My only death so far on my x2 running through Hells was due to forgetting to check fire infliction and running into an elite spinarch. It definitely appears more sturdy than when it was first going through Hells, though playstyle may have an impact on that. If I'm standing next to any angry paragons I will relocate before they have a chance to kill me, and I'm doing more curse and run tactics rather than group the spawn and curse while hoping nothing gets a crit on me. I still think this is a great auxiliary bard, and when combined with a caster bard the carnage is just awesome. The tankbard is spawning and cursing up front, drawing the mobs in and wielding epics with the frontline tanks, while the caster bard in the back is cursing any backspawn or stragglers and is tossing spells into the fray, with backup epics that can be used if the tankbard is incapacitated. I tend to have more fun playing when there's a second bard in the party (though there's a bit of coordination that has to go on in that case with regards to song/epics management), but the damage capability of this build (or a good caster bard) doesn't make having two bards damagingly redundant to a party.[/li] Third Hells circuit: Deaths become RNG dominated[li]5 days later and back to immortal penalties now at x3, this character has torn its way back through to Cania. The only things that can take it down seem to be the instakills (most notably rachugon poison) and getting KD; having full use of epics throughout the entire Nessus run this time led to no deaths. This is hugely dependent on your party--if you're the only real viable tank and you're in a swarm of mobs, you'll end up chugging heal pots and come out with the most damage taken on the run.[/li][/ul]
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Post by Vichya on Feb 19, 2014 7:28:26 GMT
This fits with my observations. I played a similar build to 2x demi and being an immortal melee bard in hell was no fun, especially in high demi parties. Tank bards like this gain a lot of survivability from double demi.
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