The StormLash (BUR)

[starcore]

This build was heavily inspired by Tru's komodo, but adds in stormlord for some extra damage. 

This was built for limbo, but works everywhere. 

The number 1 goal, was to maintain the crazy tankyness of the original build, but keep up with the other tanks in terms of damage output. 

Divine power from stormlord gives this 7 attacks per round, and it can self buff electric, with bonus dice from stormlord. (Make sure you target electric weapon on yourself instead of your weapon, or you don't get the extra bonus dice)

The major drawback, is that you do a LOT less damage without divine power up, and you only get 6 casts, lasting 9 minutes each. With a death or 2, this runs out REALLY fast. (slot gear does not merge when shifted, so there is no way to get more)


Race:Gnome
Subrace:Spelljammer

NOTE ON ABILITIES: If leveling this from scratch, or reincarning before level 80, drop 2con for 2dex. You need 30dex in order for storm of vengeance to work, and this only reaches it with all paragon points.  

	Starting	Subrace	Demi+Para	Levelup + feat
Str	6	6	12	12
Dex	16	18	24	30
Con	18	22	28	40
Int	8	14	20	20
Wis	16	14	20	25
Cha	8	8	14	14

(Yes wis is odd for a reason, this is needed to take ESF illusion during legendary levels before demi stats)

Levels 1Rgr/26Drd/13Shft
Take exactly 8 levels of shifter before 20 to maximize saves
Take the ranger level at 40 for the skill dump

Abilites on lvl: 2 Wis, 6 Dex, 12 Con
Arti:STR
Pandect:Any (Energy Resist maybe) 

Feats:
FREE (gnome) SF Illusion
Level 1 slippery soul
Level 3 alertness
Level 6 weapon focus unarmed strike
Level 9 greater weapon focus unarmed strike
Level 12 blindfight
Level 15 metamagic: extend
Level 18 lightning reflexes

Level 21 imp crit OR epic wep focus (unarmed) - Note: use an augmenter for whichever you don't take
Level 24 armour skin
Level 27 heavy armour proficiency (skip this if you have the XR 1/2 kickback medium armor) ESF hide is a nice alternate
Level 30 great wis
Level 33 epic will
Level 36 epic reflex
Level 39 GSF Illusion

Bonus 1 (Shifter) Great Wis
Bonus 2 (Druid) Great wis
Bonus 3 (Ranger) epic prowess

Tome (Level 41) ESF: Evo
Level 42 LSA Listen
Level 45 ESF Illusion
Level 48 legendary form focus human 1
Level 51 legendary slippery soul
Level 54 legendary form focus human 2
Level 57 legendary form focus human 3
Level 60 legendary form defense

Level 63 paragon form focus human
Level 66 paragon form defense
Level 69 paragon balance
Level 72 environmental adaptivity 1
Level 75 environmental adaptivity 2
Level 78 environmental adaptivity 3


Skills:
Cr:A (Class) 63
Tumble (CC) max
Disc (Ranger) 43 <Dump at lvl 40
Listen (LSA) 63
Hide (Ranger) 43 <Dump at lvl 40
CR:W (Class) 63
Parry (Class) 63
Conc (Class) 20ish
Heal (Class) 63 (Or skip this and use paragon points for offsetting penalties on other skills)

Heal? Why?
Healing circle actually heals quite a lot! It doesn't last very long, but throw it up before spawning, and it'll negate most of the kickback from bashing alienists or white slaad, not only for you, but for all the melee tanks!

AC
Base 10
Dex 13
Wis 0
Armor 20
Shield 32
Dodge 20
Deflection 20
Natural 20
Tumble 8
Size 0
Other 5

Total 148

AB
BAB 15
EBAB 10
LBAB 17
Ability 38
WF 4
Prowess 1
CR:W 3
Magic (DP + Gmw) 20

Total 108


Note regarding gear:

Use the OCDC torch from Than. 

You need a source of evasion. 
The best option is the XR 1/2 kickback armor. 
Other good options are:

• Vestige boots (Not the breach ones, the other ones)
• Locathah Cloak

[bloodthirst]

I like it.
Will it still inflict?

[starcore]

Of course!

You use the lizard form most of the time for the inflict

[TJ]

To anyone coming here and reading this - the note at L39 about taking Exotic Weapon Prof isnt accurate unfortunately, EWP cannot be taken by druids or shifters, so theres no way to take it preLL as the ranger level is on 40 which does not meet the "every third level" requirement.

[TJ]

also this build assumes you are reincarnating at level 80, and not below. if you are below 80 you may ned extra wisdom point to hit 19 base, because you will not have the 2 points from paragon levels.

[kid]

Not only that TJ you need 30 base dex to become a stormlord and if the planets dont aline it might be 80 for that last dex.

[boroie]

Correct, you cannot take exotic weapon proficiency on a druid or shifter level. Having it on an item was not a good experience when I previously tested it (lots of weirdness). It is not a required feat though, but if you want to use an exotic XR (wind fire wheel ftw!) then you need to move Ranger to 39 and take it there instead of taking Ranger at 40. You lose 1 max skill from listen, hide, discipline but this is not insurmountable.

For this reinc you need to have 19 base in the spellcasting stat before reclaiming paragon/demi stats - this is the same for battle cleric, turner, etc as far as I recall - cannot remember if there is a wis requirement for ranger/paladin/etc. That means for this build you need to have 19 wisdom prior to 60.
For the stormlord requirement of 30 dex, you can hit 30 at any point in the build so paragon/demi stats will count towards it. You effectively need to have 24 dex before you reclaim your paragon/demi stats at 60. As mentioned by kid, if you are reincing at less than 80 there is a chance you don't get that 2nd point of paragon dex and will need to take a greater dex feat to balance it out. You can then fix this with another reinc when you hit 80 if you want.

[starcore]

Mine was a level 80 reinc... I definitely wouldn't recommend leveling using this build. It 100% relies on having the final paragon point of dex to activate storm of vengeance.

If using it for leveling I'd definitely drop 2 con for 2 dex, and then fix it with a reinc at 80.

If you want the exotic weapon prof, then take it earlier and flex metamagic:extend to the level 39 feat

[starcore]

Updating build to suggest Evo tome instead of Illusion.

After testing both in real runs for a while. I have personally found that having access to immute has been more useful than the extra AC from the illusion epic.
I wouldn't recommend de-shifting to use it, but casting it at the start of a boss fight before shifting seems to work really well.

Also updated recommendation around taking LSA listen

[starcore]

Updated build.

Decided on blind fight and LSA listen.
This is just too important for damage, so relying on an LSA aug and not quite maxed listen wasn't ideal.

Dropped Legendary weapon focus (AB is high enough with 108)

Dropped Legendary reflexes.
87 reflex saves was total overkill. There's nothing with a reflex DC this high. Even elite green slaad or Pyrophor dont get near this.

Dropped Iron will

This leaves saves at 81/80/80 (F/R/W)

The extra feats mean we can have both Immute and Veil of Mists epics!!

If you want some more flex in the build, you could potentially even drop all the wep focus, and cover it with a augments instead. Though I don't think there's much else useful in the pre legendary feats to bother doing this.