5 Foot Step wrote on Jun 6
th, 2016 at 2:14pm:
There's lots of good options. It is hard to do wrong. If dropping Vanguard, I would be tempted to go empty offhand for the 10% DS and 6 base damage in Dashing Scoundrel.
I might be tempted there. That also frees up three feats. It'll definitely suck to miss out on guardbreaking though, especially with En Pointe essentially acting like a frontal cone daze.
So the tradeoff is:
1. Shield - 10% dodge, 8%ds (from SM feats), 15prr/7ds from LSM (1 twist), stats on the buckler
2. Nothing - 6 base dmg, 10%ds, 3 feats, 1 twist
Maybe the 10% dodge isn't such a big deal if you can find gear that gets you to dodge cap anyway, but without LSM you're DOWN 5 ds already. Those three feats turn into 6 MP. I guess we could take hail of blows for 3% ds instead?
Is 6 dmg and 6 MP worth more than 2 ds, 10 dodge, 15 prr, and stats on shield?
Well that to me sounds like the nothing in offhand is more damage, but the buckler will be substantially more survivable.
We could also go the route of dropping LD and going into DC, which would also free up the cleave feat slot; take dodge there. Swap precision in for PA, take TtN and imp dodge from kensei to make up some dodge since vanguard ap will be dropped.
That makes one more feat available and gives another 5 base damage on top of the LD->DC swap. Let's see what these enhancements look like....