So I've reached level 30 on my 3rd life Mech build. One life was the Paladin 14/Rogue 6 and the other 2 were Rogue 18/Arti 2 which is what I ended up going through epics with. DPS was insane. Epic normal felt like heroic casual(actually never tried casual, but my guess is it's like this) and EE was doable though red named were still pretty dangerous.

At this point I want to try something a bit different. Doesn't have to be the same level of DPS as a mech, but I just need a change. I already have a 3rd life Swash Bard for any melee cravings so I'm looking for another ranged option. Monkcher, Terror(xbow or shuri), etc.. I really want to try a bow, but are they as gimped as I've been lead to believe?

I've been playing with 2 other buddies and we're talking about rerolling one more time and doing something different. Dark Souls 3 is out in a few weeks so we have until then to mess around. Actually we're considering doing a fresh TR hardcore mode where we play until we die. Haven't worked out the rules just yet, not sure if that mean's we truly fail a quest or anytime we hit ghost form. Either way I'm interested in maybe something more survivable than just Rogue Mech.

I've been toying with the idea of doing something like Paladin 14/Ranger 6(or Ranger 5/something 1) so I can wear plate. Even though EE was doable, we're not big fans and are ended up doing most farming in N/H so keep this in mind. Doing one of the terror builds could be fun and since I don't care about EE I think a 4th life character can probably get enough DC's to handle EH.

So any ideas? Something fun, maybe something with some usefulness to the group besides just DPS? Being a trap monkey was very nice though I'm willing to give that up. None of us had DDoor this entire time and I miss it was so considering going human with a lesser dragonmark and spending the 6-7 points to get it if my build doesn't have the ability to do it innately. I really like having evasion so I can run through traps in EE though I'm not against going full PRR/MRR and just tanking them either. I enjoy bards but I can't seem to put together anything ranged that seems to be worth a shit as a bard so not sure how viable that is.

Just throw some stuff at me you think may be fun and can handle EH!

WeHaveLived wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 12:55am:

You haven't been to the motherboards lately, have you?

Bow DPS is substantially lower than it has been since the introduction of Epic Destinies.  Bow users make excellent crowd-control builds, which can self-heal, if they run Shiradi Champion.  DPS bow builds rely on Fury of the Wild or Legendary Dreadnaught, and since the nerf to manyshot/10k, the damage output does not match what you can achieve with a caster or a melee. 

I still think melees are strictly stupid since you can't survive long meleeing anything in EE or higher: keeping your distance is the smart thing to do.  Since the Shiradi shots (pin, dance, nerve venom, etc;) have no saves associated with them, the bow CC specialists fare far better at their chose task in higher level content than the best bards or wizes.  That tendon slice ring from the underdark is a must for those builds, and with a few other tweaks, you can achieve true best-in-game CC with a bow: but you'll never achieve best-in-game DPS with a bow anymore.  Turbine eliminated ranged DPS, on a whim, with what was it, less than two weeks notice?

DoRayEgon wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 1:56pm:

I'm probably missing something but why would 18 ranger be good compared to just 12 ranger?

Technomage wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 5:44pm:


That's it.

To clarify, the above two builds are probably best for a bow only user.  Best DPS with a bow (only used when manyshot is ready really) is likely a furyshuri....

manyshot was not nerfed,
if you don't wanna go monkcher (which with KTA / divine might can hit ~120k volleys)

go with forest's reccomendation
have played it---its fun---although I ended up going intbased and taking light repeater proficiency lol

[] wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 1:56pm:

[] wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 1:56pm:

You've posted a lot of stupid things in the past few months but this might actually be the worst.  Okay... probably not the worst but I generally ignore your drivel.  This just caught my attention when someone quoted you and it stood out even for the low bar you set.

A well-built caster can survive meleeing in EE these days if they chose to FFS.

There have been EE capable melee builds in DDO for years.  The list of capable builds is quite long.  A competently played pure Paladin is damned near unkillable in EE without mass amounts of stupid or the current lagapocalypse.

Have you tried a lower difficulty?  I'm thinking http://mylittlepony.hasbro.com/en-us/games might be more your speed at this point.

Thanks for all the responses, lots of good info here. I think in the end I'm either going to go with one of the Terror builds that just focuses on EH/EN(which I think is doable with a 3rd life hitting those lower DCs) or some sort of Monkcher/Furyshuri hybrid.

The terror builds are well laid out, not so sure about how to build the Monkcher hybrid. I decided not to TR my 3rd life Mech and instead TR my Bard which was on his 3rd. So this character will be going into 4th life with 2 warlock PL's and a Bard PL. Wondering if I should do 12 ranger/6 monk or vice versa.

I know the basic idea of a Monkcher though I know they've changed somewhat from what they used to be. Anyone have a solid link or a quick rundown on a hybrid build?

Technomage wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 5:44pm:


You don't need 20 ranger levels to get the AA capstone though (if you go elf.)

Elf 12 ranger/6 monk/2 fighter can get the same +1 range/multi the Holy Sword gives with extra feats for moar ranged power. 41 in AA, 24 is DWS, 14 in Elf.

TurdbineHater wrote on Mar 24^th, 2016 at 11:09am:


This is not only a horrible build that is all but useless in upper level content, it also has nothing to do with DPS; you failed it.

[] wrote on Mar 28^th, 2016 at 12:09pm:


Are you still spouting 6 month old build concepts?  You are like that old grandpa that talks about how great vinyl records are and 8 track tapes and his betamax VCR.

Hey guys, don't forget to take Elven Toughness I and II for 20 extra HP on those elves.  But you need the toughness feat to unlock them.  This is great build advice.  From 2011...

Asheras wrote on Mar 28^th, 2016 at 4:54pm:



Burn.