Dashing Daring Dwarven Diva! (24 Bard/ 16 DD)

[sabregirl]

Lets face it, based on party buffs, Bard based warchanters have a lot to offer. If a new player builds one of these he or she is sure to get an invitation to a party.

Full level bard song, curse song, Chant of Steel (Girding of the faithful) and Chant of Battle (Instruments of Faith) plus the chant of the fallen which can pull players out of limbo. This particular build makes for a high ac tank with high conceal and party buffs. The downside is somewhat mediocre AB and relatively low damage.


Build at level 60, self buffed in URs, nondemi, non-artifact. A reasonably attainable goal for a skilled player of this build.

Warchanter Quasiclass: Requirements.
- To qualify for Dwarven Warchanter the character must have 10 levels of Bard, 16 levels of Dwarven Defender, Still Spell, and Weapon Focus (Light Mace OR Light Hammer OR Heavy mace OR Heavy Flail) before level 28.

Warchanters Receive
- Dwarven Warchanters receive 2 Epic Auto Still Spell feats for free.

- Warchanters get the Draw Foes ability. When this swift action is on untaunted foes will be drawn to attack the Warchanter. Turning it off will not cause foes to stop attacking however.

- Bardsong from a Warchanter with Bard control class removes Fear and grants feat-level Fear immunity for 5 rounds.

- Warchanters receive the a free Weapon Specialization in one Warchanter weapon.


Base Race: Dwarf (Required for dwarven defender)
Subrace: Derro
CON -2, CHA +3

Starting Stats (After Derro is applied)
Strength 8
Dexterity 16
Constitution 16 (14)
Wisdom 8
Intelligence 14
Charisma 13 (16)

Stat points
All dex (Dexterity increases your AC AND AB so you want it to be as high as possible on this build)


Lvl
1 Bard(1): Strong Soul (Improves will and fort saves, qualifier for legendary hardened soul)
2 Bard(2)
3 Bard(3): Weapon Finesse
4 Bard(4): DEX+1, (DEX=17)
5 Bard(5)
6 Bard(6): Toughness
7 Bard(7)
8 Bard(8): DEX+1, (DEX=18)
9 Bard(9): Dodge
10 Bard(10)
11 Dwarven Defender(1):*Alignment Change*(You must change from Neutral to lawful) To do this, visit the Crypts, level 3 which are next to the docks area where you arrive on the server. Make sure you bring gold.
12 Dwarven Defender(2): DEX+1, Weapon Focus: Mace/Light Hammer, (DEX=19)
13 Dwarven Defender(3)
14 Dwarven Defender(4)
15 Dwarven Defender(5): Still Spell
16 Dwarven Defender(6): DEX+1, (DEX=20)
17 Dwarven Defender(7)
18 Dwarven Defender(8): Improved Critical: Mace/Light Hammer
19 Dwarven Defender(9)
20 Dwarven Defender(10): DEX+1, (DEX=21)
21 Dwarven Defender(11): Great Dexterity I, (DEX=22)
22 Dwarven Defender(12)
23 Dwarven Defender(13)
24 Dwarven Defender(14): DEX+1, Armor Skin, Epic Prowess, (DEX=23)
25 Dwarven Defender(15)
26 Dwarven Defender(16)
27 Bard(11): Curse Song, *Alignment Change* (you must change from lawful back to chaotic or neutral)
28 Bard(12): DEX+1, (DEX=24)
29 Bard(13)
30 Bard(14): Great Dexterity II, (DEX=25)
31 Bard(15)
32 Bard(16): DEX+1, (DEX=26)
33 Bard(17): Great Dexterity III, (DEX=27)
34 Bard(18)
35 Bard(19)
36 Bard(20): DEX+1, Epic Weapon Focus: Mace/Light Hammer, (DEX=28) (Epic weapon focus is required for legendary weapon focus and increases your AB by 2)
37 Bard(21)
38 Bard(22)
39 Bard(23): Metamagic: Extend Spell, Lasting Inspiration, (DEX=28) (Lasting inspiration multiplies your bard song duration by 10x, Extend spell doubles the duration of your buff spells)
40 Bard(24): DEX+1, (DEX=29)


Legendary Feats
Legendary weapon focus mace/light hammer (Increases your AB by 3)
Great Dex IV - VI
LSF Illusion OR ESF Discipline
Legendary Hardened Soul (Improves Will and Fort Saves)
Greater Weapon Focus (Improves AB by 1)

Skills
Max Discipline, Tumble, Perform, Listen, Parry, put 30 points in Concentration, 45 points in UMD

When you get a spell focus book from Ssith, try to get Illusion before you hit lvl 60 so you can take legendary illusion for another +5 to conceal. If you choose not to do this you will still have 80% conceal.

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This build in URs, self buffed at lvl 40.

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Shown in BURs, self buffed with +14 dex, wis, con and str (saves include epic will from dim mak robes).

Stats at lvl 60( nondemi and nonartifact) with +14 dex items
Max AB - 93
AC - 137
Saves: Fort- 59, Reflex 68, Will - 62


Spell Selection -at lvl 40+[/b][/color]
lvl 1 Mage Armor, Expeditious Retreat, Sticky Fingers, Insidious Rythm, Joyful Noise (For a warchanter grants immunity to silence for a short time)

lvl 2 Clarity, Ghostly Visage, Endure Elements, Deafening Clang

lvl 3 Haste (For a warchanter, grants an extra attack per round), Remove Disease, Displacement, Remove Curse, Greater Magic Weapon

lvl 4 legend lore, War Cry (gives bonus to KD checks and critical hit immunity), Neutralize poison (Gives feat level poison immunity for a warchanter), improved invisibility cure critical wounds

lvl 5 Healing Circle, Illusory Pit, Wail of Doom, greater dispelling, Improved Heroism (Brings AB up to that of a fighter)

lvl 6 Mass Clairaudience & Clairvoyance, Shades, energy buffer, Mass Haste (Is equivalent to a Cleric earthquake spell for a warchanter)

Song Point allocation
Bard songs are customizable and should be customized on HG.

To modify your bardsong and curse song simply use the !bardsong command in a non-pvp area. You can add and subtract points to different parts of the song using the menu system.



Remember that Bard song is the song you use to buff yourself and your party. Curse song is the penalty you apply to monsters when cursing them.

Suggested song point allocation At lvl 40.


Bard Song
Attack Level: 41 (+3) (Increases you and your party's attack bonus up to the +20 cap)
Armor Level: 44 (+3) (Increases you and your party's Dodge AC, also covers AC penalties)
Damage Level: 40 (+6) (Adds a small amount of physical damage to you and the melee members of the party's attack damage)

Saves Level: 0 (0F/0R/0W) (Gives a save bonus within the +20 cap from gear) Because this is normally covered by gear, I did not spend any points here. If you are light on save gear you could spend more points here instead of skills or somewhere else.

Skills Level: 50 (+15) (Increases all of you and your party's skills up to the +50 skill bonus cap)

Curse Song
Attack Level: 21 (-2) (Decreases the Enemy's attack bonus, making it harder for them to hit you and your party members.)
Armor Level: 44 (-3) (Decreases the Enemy's AC, making them easier for the party members to hit)
Damage Level: 12 (-3) (Reduces the amount of damage the Enemy can do when it strikes a party member)
Saves Level: 50 (-3F/-3R/-4W) (Reduces the enemy's Saving throws) This is probably the most important thing a bard can do since it allows instadeath and other types of disabling abilities.
Skills Level: 50 (-15) (Reduces the enemy's skill levels, especially discipline, parry and concentration) This enables your party members to KD, disarm and even mortal strike monsters they otherwise could not.

You'll want to modify your bardsong as you level, especially when you hit 60 since you can only hit bardsong/curse song ten levels over your actual level.


Suggested song point allocation At lvl 60.

Bard Song
Attack Level: 41 (+3) (Increases you and your party's attack bonus up to the +20 cap)
Armor Level: 44 (+3) (Increases you and your party's Dodge AC, also covers AC penalties)
Damage Level: 57 (+8) (Adds a small amount of physical damage to you and the melee members of the party's attack damage)

Saves Level: 37 (2F/2R/3W) (Gives a save bonus within the +20 cap from gear) Because this is normally covered by gear, I did not spend any points here. If you are light on save gear you could spend more points here instead of skills or somewhere else.

Skills Level: 50 (+20) (Increases all of you and your party's skills up to the +50 skill bonus cap)


Curse Song
Attack Level: 41 (-3) (Decreases the Enemy's attack bonus, making it harder for them to hit you and your party members.)
Armor Level: 44 (-3) (Decreases the Enemy's AC, making them easier for the party members to hit)
Damage Level: 0 (-1) (Reduces the amount of damage the Enemy can do when it strikes a party member)
Saves Level: 60 (-3F/-3R/-5W) (Reduces the enemy's Saving throws) This is probably the most important thing a bard can do since it allows instadeath and other types of disabling abilities.
Skills Level: 60 (-20) (Reduces the enemy's skill levels, especially discipline, parry and concentration) This enables your party members to KD, disarm and even mortal strike monsters they otherwise could not.


Notes on Play
One of the issues with playing this type of chanter is the Chant epics will freeze your character for a few seconds making you completely vulnerable to attack during that time. Make sure you use Chant of Battle and Chant of Steel BEFORE combat begins. It will also strip your expeditious retreat so you'll want to cast that AFTER you cast your chants.

This particular build functions much like a bard but also can function as a dex tank and hold off monsters from the rest of the party. You can help doing this by using your "Draw Foes" Ability. Cursing as much of the spawns as possible should be your first priority. Using HG enhanced is very important for this function since it gives visual signals in the form of red circles around the feet of monsters to tell you they have been cursed.


^Visual effects of curse song^

How to Buff
Buffs are very important for this kind of a bard.
Buffs that are critical to keep up:
Displacement (Gives you 80% + concealment which is better than AC)
Improved Heroism (Brings your AB to that of a fighter)
Haste (Gives you 1 bonus attack per round. Keeps Your damage halfway decent)

All of these last around 10 minutes at level 60 so keep that in mind as you play.

The KD check part of warcry appears to last a considerably shorter time, even extended, around 2 minutes. So, it's best to cast it when a kd monster appears, to find out which those are (which are basically only in hells) you simply have to wait for the party to say "uuu" or "kd".

-S

[tyranlthixis]

Warchanter bard control class has become rather decent as of late. Arguably this is the new "battle bard" along with the rapier using charisma bards. I'm not crazy about the formatting here but it is not bad either. Bard song breakdown and spell list are especially valuable to new players. I'm glad you did this build.

[tyranlthixis]

Just a final note on this one. I'd like a feat list. Otherwise the information component is pretty good. Things like ESF Discipline could be confusing to a new player especially since you didn't write them out in full. A reference list would take care of that issue.

[nimrock]

I've been playing this build and I have a couple of questions if I may.

I'm confused my how to gain concealment. There seams to be three ways;

ghostly visage - which doesn't grant so much, and doesn't last very long

Displacement - which grants a lot with this build I gather. But should I be wearing a shield? Also I'm only level 29 and it doesn't seam to last very long. I'll never keep it up all the time with resting every 2 seconds. Is this spell more for later on and an "oh shite" button for now?

Ethereal visage - which this build doesn't recommend taking (confused), seams to stay up much longer with 20 bard levels which I would get, or don't my bard levels count once I'm a warchanter? Again I assume I need to loose the shield? But mostly I don't understand why this spell is skipped? Is it to do with using displacement instead?


My other question is I should have the draw foes ability? I can't find it anywhere/figure out how to use it. Do I not have it yet at level 29?

[Vichya]

Ghostly Visage (GV) is not used for concealment but for the sanctuary effect it provides at higher caster levels (CL).

Etheral Visage can be used for concealment, but it is not a warchanter spell and thus only uses your bard levels for calculating caster level. It also only works well if you use only robes and no shield, but it lasts 1 real time minute per CL.

Displacement should be used instead since the warchanter version of it grants the same concealment as EV, but you can you use a light armor or shield then. The duration is only 6 real time seconds per CL though, so it would be best if you use extend spell for it if you have that feat.

I think you get draw foes at level 41.

[nimrock]

So at level 40 say, that's caster level 40 for displacement and haste. They would last 4 minutes, extended to 8.

Will that be long enough for the higher level runs without just annoying everyone having to stop and rest all the time? Or will a lot of builds/people be trying to keep up buffs of that length? As I understand it resting isn't even always an option !!

I only have my other char, a bane knight in the 30s to compare to, and his buffs last for much longer than that, except tensers. Working on the idea of having tensers up all the time is much the same way would rock I guess.


Second question. From the documentation
- Displacement
- The concealment granted to the Warchanter by this spell will be lost if the Warchanter equips anything in their offhand. When casting this spell, Warchanters gain an extra 5% conceal if their offhand is empty, and lose 5% if it is not.

I take that to mean casting displacement with a shield on costs me 10% conceal. Is that worth the small shield I would be using, so that level 30 that would be say 10AC from my shield and some dex and spell resist? And more importantly will it be worth it post level 40.

I have a noted that casting displacement the equipping a shield doesn't seam to make the concealed buff drop off. I seam to get 50% conceal from it no matter what at the moment. Does this not kick in till higher level perhaps?

[sabregirl]

Jun 25, 2012 1:35:00 GMT nimrock said:

So at level 40 say, that's caster level 40 for displacement and haste. They would last 4 minutes, extended to 8.

Will that be long enough for the higher level runs without just annoying everyone having to stop and rest all the time? Or will a lot of builds/people be trying to keep up buffs of that length? As I understand it resting isn't even always an option !!

I haven't really had a problem with duration of buffs on this build (granted I'm playing as a bur race rather than the open version but that won't change CL.

Second question. From the documentation
- Displacement
- The concealment granted to the Warchanter by this spell will be lost if the Warchanter equips anything in their offhand. When casting this spell, Warchanters gain an extra 5% conceal if their offhand is empty, and lose 5% if it is not.

I don't believe this is correct anymore. I get full conceal, shield or no.

I have a noted that casting displacement the equipping a shield doesn't seam to make the concealed buff drop off. I seam to get 50% conceal from it no matter what at the moment. Does this not kick in till higher level perhaps?

What level are you?

[nimrock]

29 at the time of writing. If your correct that shield has no effect now that would make sense, EV conceal for CL 29 is 50%. I'll try play tonight and let you know if it changes

Also thanks for the help guys.

Edit* At level 32 still only granting 50% conceal shield or no. I'm guessing the warchanter version hasn't kicked in yet for some reason perhaps? Especially if it's working for you Sabregirl.

[sabregirl]

The conceal may not hit until post 40. iirc there are quite a few spells that work that way. I don't think I tested it before that point to know for sure.

-S

[Chaotic Theory]

I am building this with one big change, going STR instead and taking heavy mace.

Let me know how this looks:

Dwarf: Derro
STR:14, DEX:14, CON:14, INT:14, WIS:8, CHA:13

Max CA, Disc, Perform, Listen, Tumble, 30 CONC, 45UMD, Rest to CW

ALL STR STATS!

Pre-Epic (IN ORDER)
Strong Soul
Curse Song
Dodge
Toughness
WF Heavy Mace
Still Spell
Improved Critical Heavy Mace

Epic (IN ORDER)
Great STR I
Armor Skin, Epic Prowess
Great STR II
Great STR III
Great STR IV
EWF Heavy Mace
Extend Spell, Lasting Inspiration

Legendary (IN ORDER)
LWF Heavy Mace
LL Hardened Soul
LSF Illusion
Epic Reflexes
GWF Heavy Mace
Great STR V
Great STR VI

Will have 40 base str at 60.

[desocupado]

amazing build.

About going Str
Don't go with Str, unless you are DWD with DD control class (DDs get +1% phy immunity per str mod)
Besides that, The high concealment only works for Light/Robe Armor and shield.

Even if you want to make a Uni tank, focus on dexterity instead of Str.

[Hercules]

does anyone have a slight idea about the gear setup on this ?
I tried it all but cant get more than 130's atm.
( if I switch from Dim Mak to bard BUR armor I can get 132 AC. I see SG listed 137 AC :-p with Dim Mak)


Anyhow,I am rebuilding this using Shard.
My first thought was to go uni, which would make me have to invest in strength at the cost of som Dex, but I am unsure about that.
How would a dex tank with only 28 str after x2, survive against f. example PitFiends?
(I know i can use the asmo belt and upp the str checks by 4 but it won't matter that much with my low Str.)



Herc

[Chaotic Theory]

I am sticking with STR until I can find a build to go uni and get a little more dex out of it, sticking with STR I don't like the low damage of dex tanks so unless this gets crazy damage as a dex tank, which I see is mentioned as low damage then I will stick with strength and geta little more damage

[Torin]

Feb 25, 2013 12:30:22 GMT Hercules said:

How would a dex tank with only 28 str after x2, survive against f. example PitFiends?
Herc

You want to hit STR 40 with buffs and everything to stand hells STR checks.
40 = 16 (Asmo gear) + 4 Belt +4 Paragon feat + 4 Double demi +2 Paragon + Base STR
=> Base STR of 10 would work for a double demi. Better more i.e 12 (not needing the +2 from Paragon)

[cashox]

sorry when i saw this image i thought of this build am going to give one a shot too