WF Warchanting Barb: Just a build for sharing / critque /etc.

[Delt]

I rolled up this guy about two months back and I really enjoyed how he turned out (minus a few minor mistakes I made, namely starting dex at 14).

Note: I'll include my actual ingame stats first, since it's important to see what I am working with. These are in-game stats, with equipment (noted below) and no buffs unless otherwise mentioned. Also I did this by hand, please point out any errors.

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Lubed's current stats (April 19, 2009):

HP: 483 (610 self-buffed)
SP: 560

STR 28 (36 self buffed, 40 2x madstone rage)
DEX 22
CON 28 (36 self buffed, 44 2x madstone rage)
INT 8
WIS 18
CHA 22

Tomes Eaten: +2 Con, +2 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CHA, +2 WIS

Fully self buffed attack: +36 to hit, +50 dmg
Fortification = 100%

Buffs: Good Hope (18:00), Focusing Chant (2:00), Remove Fear (20:00), Haste (1:48), Blur (18:00), Displacement (1:48), Rage spell (3:48), Inspire Courage +5 To Hit/+6 dmg (5:36), Inspire Greatness +2 To Hit/+20 Hitpoints (5:36), Barbarian Rage +6 STR / +6 CON (2:00)

Note: Greater Heroism easily scrolled (umd or caster level check, whichever is higher). I use them whenever I know I'll likely need to self heal.

Saves (self buffed):

Fort 34
Reflex 25
Will 24

UMD (self buffed) = 41

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Class progression can be taken in any order you want (i'm just throwing it together quick below). I'd probably suggest Bard 1st level, Barbarian 2nd level - after that, whatever.

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Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.85
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Lubed
Level 16 Chaotic Good Warforged Male
(7 Barbarian \ 9 Bard)
Hit Points: 302
Spell Points: 286
BAB: 13\13\18\23
Fortitude: 14
Reflex: 7
Will: 8

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 16)
Strength 18 22
Dexterity 8 8
Constitution 16 22
Intelligence 8 8
Wisdom 10 10
Charisma 12 14

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 1
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 1

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 16)
Balance 3 10
Bluff 1 2
Concentration 8 17
Diplomacy 1 2
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle 1 2
Heal 0 0
Hide -1 -1
Intimidate 1 2
Jump 8 23
Listen 0 0
Move Silently -1 -1
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform 5 18
Repair -1 -1
Search -1 -1
Spot 0 0
Swim 4 6
Tumble n/a n/a
Use Magic Device 5 24

Level 1 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+4)
Skill: Concentration (+4)
Skill: Jump (+4)
Skill: Perform (+4)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+4)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Spell (1): Focusing Chant

Level 2 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 3 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Perform (+2)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Spell (1): Grease

Level 4 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Spell (1): Expeditious Retreat

Level 5 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Spell (2): Blur
Spell (2): Rage

Level 6 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
Spell (1): Remove Fear
Spell (2): Invisibility

Level 7 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 8 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Spell (2): Heroism
Spell (3): Displacement
Spell (3): Haste

Level 9 (Bard)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Perform (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Spell (3): Good Hope

Level 10 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 11 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 12 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 13 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 14 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 15 (Barbarian)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Use Magic Device (drop when 40+ is attainable)

Level 16 (Bard)
Skill: Perform (+4)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage II
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song I
Enhancement: Bard Extra Song II
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack I
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Attack II
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery I
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Bravery II
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage I
Enhancement: Bard Inspired Damage II
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song I
Enhancement: Bard Lingering Song II
Enhancement: Warchanter I
Enhancement: Bard Charisma I
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution I
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution II
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness I
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness II
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness III
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery I
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery II
Enhancement: Bard Wand Mastery III
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution I
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution II
Enhancement: Warforged Inscribed Armor I
Enhancement: Warforged Power Attack I


Description: So as I mentioned, I made one fairly large mistake on my build by starting DEX at 14...I overestimated the need for marginal AC (I planned for Mithril Body...which I quickly realized was a mistake but worked out well for levelling). The corrective action would be to start Dex at 8 and then dump the additional points into STR (18)...or maybe even charisma wouldn't hurt. Other than that, this guy was a blast to level and still holds his own on end game elite content. Fully buffed (stacked rages, songs, hasted, displaced, PA and chant) he sports 500+HP and a +36 ToHit, +48 Dmg with a +5 weapon. STR and CON shoot up to 40/44 if the madstone boots kick in. UMD is at 36 with GH. Saves are fairly decent, even with just GH...but the WF immunities help immensely.

The goal of this build was just to make a beefy melee that brought party buffs and backup healing/ressing, but do it in a way I hadn't seen before (I know people naturally get nervous at builds that include more than splashed multiclass). I love bards and had never made a Warforged before - so this seemed like the right build. All choices made compliment each other - Warchanter compliments Barbarian (extra rage, songs useable when raged, feats), Barbarian compliments Warforged (exhaustion immunity, double dip CON and power attack enhancements).

Downsides: If you are in a quest that's long enough to leave ya without mana or songs, it can get a little rough...you should have a full 10+ minutes of full buffage (limited only by x5 rages), still with plenty of mana and songs left over, so it should rarely happen. Also, you need to work hard to get your UMD up to Reconstruct scroll level (Gloves, Head of GF and Shroud raid gear)...but once you can cast em reliably, you actively have to *try* and die on anything but red/purple names.

Future: I'm aiming for 11 Barb / 9 Bard and I don't see that changing. The expanded crit range at Barb 11 is too good to pass up. Thanks to the people in this thread who helped me decide to go 9/7 split for 16.

Something about this build is just alot of damn fun for me...and I'm not sure what it is. Is it because I like playing a toon that feels like the Hulk (arg, Lubed mad and smash!)? Maybe. Is it that I pretty much can't die unless I decide to? Could be. Or mebbe it's because I enjoy the fact that I always have something to do (buffer, tank, dps, cc [fascinate], healer) and I'm slowly getting better at doing all of them when needed. Whatever it is, I really like this gu and I hope anyone who tries it likes it too.

So that's it. Any questions or critiques, let me know. I haven't seen any builds similar to this one, but maybe that's because this build isn't as "optimized" as others (I don't know, I suck at number crunching).

[Delt]

Come on ya slacker Bard experts...if ya won't trash/compliment the build, at least gimme some ideas where I should take him after 14

There is little reason to stay bard from this point on (future announcements aside).

[maddmatt70]

Nice build. Going bard in the future levels does not look like it makes much sense for you. You should probably go pure barbarian from here in out (nice level 8, level 9 enhancements and of course crit rage at level 11 is nice) although a fighter level or two for the feats would be good as you could get the two handed fighting feat line...

You could do the following when the cap is raised to 15 swap out toughness (you would still have about 350 hp (when raged) in current level 14 hp terms which is more then enough) for the thf feat, with 15th level bonus feat take improved two handed fighting, at 16th level take a fighter level instead of a barbarian where you take greater thf. When the cap is raised to 18 you take two barbarian levels and at 18 you take superior two handed fighting, 19 and 20 more barbarian levels. To recap at level 20 you would have a 8 bard/ 11 barbarian / 1 fighter character with crit rage 1, superior two handed fighting, 8th level bard songs and buffs, and warchanter 1 which would be very nice.

Just out of curiousity I am guessing you self buff and then rage - how does that work for you? Also do you do much umding when in battles?

[Delt]

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

Nice build. Going bard in the future levels does not look like it makes much sense for you. You should probably go pure barbarian from here in out (nice level 8, level 9 enhancements and of course crit rage at level 11 is nice) although a fighter level or two for the feats would be good as you could get the two handed fighting feat line...

That's what I was sorta thinking 8bard/12 barb...but the 1 fighter level makes sense if 12 barb isn't special (and if I recall, crit rage 2 was Barb 13 - which made going Bard 8 a little hard, but ultimately level 20 is too far off to even worry about it).

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

You could do the following when the cap is raised to 15 swap out toughness (you would still have about 350 hp (when raged) in current level 14 hp terms which is more then enough) for the thf feat, with 15th level bonus feat take improved two handed fighting, at 16th level take a fighter level instead of a barbarian where you take greater thf. When the cap is raised to 18 you take two barbarian levels and at 18 you take superior two handed fighting, 19 and 20 more barbarian levels. To recap at level 20 you would have a 8 bard/ 11 barbarian / 1 fighter character with crit rage 1, superior two handed fighting, 8th level bard songs and buffs, and warchanter 1 which would be very nice.

I like your progression ideas but am a little confused about the swapping out toughness part (edit: either you added the "when raged" part later or I spaced out and missed it ). To get the standard 337 I have now, I have Toughness (+16HP), Barb Toughness I & II (+15HP) and a G. False life ring (+30). If I kept going in the Barb line, giving up the enhancement would mean losing an additional +35HP (Barb enhancement pools). So altogether, I'd be losing a potential 66HP [72 @ level 20] (132+ equivilent displaced)...that's pretty significant I think, not sure I could do it. If I want to get tricky and add temp hit points (aid, GH, etc) to theoretical maximum self-buffed HP and minos helm, I can close onto 500 @ 14 when fully raged (1000 equivilent displaced!)...that's a big thing to give up, even for a feat and a large chunk of action points.

Edit: I corrected the toughness math. Had a brain fart @ work and wrote the WF had a toughness line. Looking at the 66HP bonus (as compared to the 112HP I originally wrote), giving up that feat and enhancement line makes more sense at next level cap. It's still a trade off, but definitely worth considering.

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

Just out of curiousity I am guessing you self buff and then rage - how does that work for you?

Depends what you mean? Gameplay-wise (ie: enough buffs between shrines) it works out perfect. I usually have songs left over and spare mana before my rages run out (and it's rarely more than 10 minutes between shrines). The only problem I have is moving away from the tendancy of my other bards and trying to heal other players mid-fight only to remember I'm raged and can't Timing-wise, it's nearly perfect @ 14, but efficiancy will drop as I level. IC is 5:00+, DR/5 is ~2:30, rage spell is 3:00 or so, chant is 2:00, haste/displacement is 1:46, madstone boots clickie is around 2:00 I think (+ a second rage when hit) and the barb rage is around 2:00 as well. That's the order I buff in and, minus songs, only takes a few seconds to hotkey. I can bump output higher with scrolls (stoneskin, DP, etc) but usually don't bother.

Edit: You added this as well:

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

Also do you do much umding when in battles?

No, but that's a good question. I assumed you are asking mainly for self-healing and secondly for party healing. When raged, I can't use scrolls or wands. What I can do is if my health gets low:

a) Dismiss rage w/ no exhaustion, then cast what I need (but you can't dismiss the madstone rage...so it's a choice between +2/4 STR & +4/8 CON additional stacked rages OR not using the boots and always be able to UMD "in case"...simple choice but I like the boots. It's cost some party members their life, once or twice, but never my own.)

b) facsinate while raged and back off/pot up/wait out madstone rage (mostly only a solo option)

The truth is, I rarely run into the need to emergency self-heal, even on elite content in a pug. Usually it's option b for me and only an issue when soloing.

[maddmatt70]

Originally Posted by Delt

That's what I was sorta thinking 8bard/12 barb...but the 1 fighter level makes sense if 12 barb isn't special (and if I recall, crit rage 2 was Barb 13 - which made going Bard 8 a little hard, but ultimately level 20 is too far off to even worry about it).

Yeah, the only thing barbarian 12 gets is power rage 4 enhancement which is +1 to your strength when raging, but fighter gets you the feat and a couple of nice cheap enhancments (fighter haste 1 is especially nice +15% attack speed for 1 enhancement, fighter crit accuracy 1 +2 to crit confirm for 1 enhancment and fighter item defense 1 never hurts).

Originally Posted by Delt

I like your progression ideas but am a little confused about the swapping out toughness part (edit: either you added the "when raged" part later or I spaced out and missed it ). To get the standard 337 I have now, I have Toughness (+16HP), WF/Barb Toughness I & II (double dipping ehancements for +30HP) and a G. False life ring (+30). If I kept going in the Barb line, giving up the enhancement would mean losing an additional +70HP (WF/Barb enhancement pools). So altogether, I'd be losing a potential 116HP (200+ equivilent displaced)...that's pretty significant I think, not sure I could do it. If I want to get tricky and add temp hit points (aid, GH, etc) to theoretical maximum self-buffed HP, I can close onto 500 @ 14 when fully raged (1000 equivilent displaced!)...that's a big thing to give up, even for a feat and a large chunk of action points.

I did not do the math regarding the hp lazy I guess, but you would still have a ton of hp as you would be more of a barbarian then a bard and already have alot of con. I am not advocating you change it now, but when the cap raises. If you are in the 300s right now you are pretty much good for everything right now. low 400s are nice but if you start approaching 450ish hp range why bother in my opinion.. Everything that I have heard (I dont have a thf character) about the thf feats is that it is more of an all or nothing feat chain. You get the most benefit if you have gthf. That is why I would advocate swapping out toughness and taking that fighter level. When you hit level 18 you can determine whether toughness or superior thf makes more sense, but I am betting on sup thf.

Originally Posted by Delt

Depends what you mean? Gameplay-wise (ie: enough buffs between shrines) it works out perfect. I usually have songs left over and spare mana before my rages run out (and it's rarely more than 10 minutes between shrines). The only problem I have is moving away from the tendancy of my other bards and trying to heal other players mid-fight only to remember I'm raged and can't Timing-wise, it's nearly perfect @ 14, but efficiancy will drop as I level. IC is 5:00+, DR/5 is ~2:30, rage spell is 3:00 or so, chant is 2:00, haste/displacement is 1:46, madstone boots clickie is around 2:00 I think (+ a second rage when hit) and the barb rage is around 2:00 as well. That's the order I buff in and, minus songs, only takes a few seconds to hotkey. I can bump output higher with scrolls (stoneskin, DP, etc) but usually don't bother.

Yes, it was definitely a gameplay question. I also have that issue on occasion about the healing in battle with my new bard who is a battle bard and not built to heal so I should leave the healing to others, but I am getting better at it. i.e not healing. Raising the dead in battle is one thing which would be a negative of your build because of the barbarian rage I suppose if you have to you could end rage and raise, but the mechanics would be wierd then regardless, but regardless nice build. We can't have everything I suppose.

[EinarMal]

Inspire greatness at level 9 Bard is probably worth getting, +2 to hit plus some temp hit points for the entire group is never a bad thing. I would take that over the fighter level, plus more spell points, longer buffs etc...

[maddmatt70]

Originally Posted by EinarMal

Inspire greatness at level 9 Bard is probably worth getting, +2 to hit plus some temp hit points for the entire group is never a bad thing. I would take that over the fighter level, plus more spell points, longer buffs etc...

I would also agree that another level of bard is better then that 12th level of barbarian. What it comes down to is personal dps vs. +2 party to hit and a little bit easier personal buffing. From everything that I have heard the feat Greater thf is a must and if you don't get to that there is really no reason to take either thf and ithf (you should ask this question on the barbarian forums - they are the experts on this). I don't know what superior thf will mean in the larger scheme of things because it is not out yet but it might very well be awesome and you would have a shot at it with your build and still have pretty good bard buffs, nice barbarian ability and crit rage 1. This is a question for when mod6 comes out. You should certainly take level 15 barbarian just to be safe and see what people think about sthf if they think it is great and your observations are they are accurate then take that level 16 fighter if they dont think it is then you have another decision on your hands in my opinion...

[EinarMal]

Well I don't think you would need toughness at some point you could drop that as you should have plenty of hit points.

So, feats would be at level 18:

WF Slash
IC Slash
Extend
PA
THF
ITF
GTHF

So, I guess if you wanted the new superior two handed fighitng you would go 1 level of fighter, or you could take inspire greatness for a little less personal damage (assuming you don't need the +2 to hit ever) for better party buffs and longer lasting buffs for yourself.

I would probably go Bard 9/Barbarian 11 but the fighter level would add a little DPS from better glancing blows.

Every Bard level adds 12 seconds extended to Haste/Displacement and you can also cast it a couple more times. Combined with inspire greatness I would think to me that is worth more than the extra bit of DPS you would get from superior two handed fighting. But some people *must* have max DPS at all costs so I can see taking the fighter level if that is the case.

[maddmatt70]

Originally Posted by EinarMal

Well I don't think you would need toughness at some point you could drop that as you should have plenty of hit points.

So, feats would be at level 18:

WF Slash
IC Slash
Extend
PA
THF
ITF
GTHF

So, I guess if you wanted the new superior two handed fighitng you would go 1 level of fighter, or you could take inspire greatness for a little less personal damage (assuming you don't need the +2 to hit ever) for better party buffs and longer lasting buffs for yourself.

I would probably go Bard 9/Barbarian 11 but the fighter level would add a little DPS from better glancing blows.

Every Bard level adds 12 seconds extended to Haste/Displacement and you can also cast it a couple more times. Combined with inspire greatness I would think to me that is worth more than the extra bit of DPS you would get from superior two handed fighting. But some people *must* have max DPS at all costs so I can see taking the fighter level if that is the case.

Fighter haste 1 is a nice little cheap enhancement as well and he could have gthf at level 16 for the next cap whereas he would not be able to get gthf until level 18 which are the other nice things about the fighter level, but fair enough.

[EinarMal]

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

Fighter haste 1 is a nice little cheap enhancement as well and he could have gtf at level 16 for the next cap whereas he would not be able to get gtf until level 18 which are the other nice things about the fighter level, but fair enough.

Yeah it just seems to be dilluting the intent of the build to eek out a little more DPS. It wouldn't be terrible, but I don't think you really need to do it.

Assuming there isn't another Bard in the party (which would greatly reduce the benefit of the Bard buffs), in terms of party DPS the inspire greatness is going to get you more as long as you have at least 1-2 more melee type people in the group.

Plus to me this build is going to need buffs to last as long as possible and try to get as many spell points as possible as well. Otherwise spell points would seem to be at a premium especially as dispel happens more and more at higher levels. I mean my level 10 Bard has ~660 spell points and that can get tight sometimes keeping myself constantly displaced/hasted/raged etc...

[Delt]

You guys have a good arguement on the bard level (assuming I don't take fighter). I do have a THF Dwarven Fighter and I can confirm that it is when you get GTHF that those glancing blow #'s really take off. The problem I'm having is the question whether that is REALLY the role I want to fill (I am after all a lower AC, lower HP [especially if I give up toughness] barb with buffing and healing). On my dwarven fighter, I can keep the ALL aggro I want, but even he takes a pounding on elite content.

I've been strongly convinced Toughness can go next level raise on this build (thanks).

I'm waffling on whether I want the 3 feats needed to grab loads of aggro with GTHF (thus the fighter level).

I like the bard level 9 idea (moreso for the extended 12 second buffs than anything), but am not sure what I would take feat-wise in that case (probably SF:UMD in the place of toughness for more reliable self-healing)...

I guess I have two viable options here so far, it'll just come down to playstyle preference.

[A_Sheep]

I've done the math on the THF feats and the first feat is worth very little on its own (only a to-hit increase on glancing blows, which only occur on your first attack), but Improved starts to be worth it (~40% base damage on glancing blows on standing still first attack). Greater increases the instances that glancing blows are applied to targets (while moving and on 1st and 4th attacks in a chain glancing blows are applied).

I plan to release a first version of my fancy calculator soon so folks can take a look at how these feats would help their characters.

[maddmatt70]

A_Sheep, Codog in codog's new thread says that sthf will be like gthf (page 2 of his thread). The difference is sthf will apply glancing damage to the 5th attack in addition to gthf applying glancing damage to the 4th attack. I don't know if I am quoting him exactly so you should double check my statement. What this does indicate is you probably can estimate Sthf's impact on your calculator as well. From what I can gather from this information Sthf may well be worth the price for this OP down the road if it is like Gthf......

[A_Sheep]

Originally Posted by maddmatt70

A_Sheep, Codog in codog's new thread says that sthf will be like gthf (page 2 of his thread). The difference is sthf will apply glancing damage to the 5th attack in addition to gthf applying glancing damage to the 4th attack. I don't know if I am quoting him exactly so you should double check my statement. What this does indicate is you probably can estimate Sthf's impact on your calculator as well. From what I can gather from this information Sthf may well be worth the price for this OP down the road if it is like Gthf......

Well, GTHF with 4 attacks = +40% base damage * 50% of swings while standing still = +20% base damage (no critical/effect damage included) and glances while moving, compared to ITHF with 4 attacks = +10% base damage, no glances while moving.

STHF, if it doesn't include an increase in glancing blow damage (only in occurance), will not be as attractive, although it will still be nice: STHF with 5 attacks = +40% base damage * 60% of swings while standing still = +24% base damage.

Now GTHF with 5 attacks = +40% base damage * 40% of swings while standing still = +16% base damage.

This obviously highlights a problem with the attack system in DDO, that your DPS goes down when you gain more BAB-granted "attacks" without also taking feats. This is especially bad for TWF, where you go from 66% of your attacks getting both hands to 50% when you go from BAB +9 to BAB +10.

[Delt]

So, I've played the new mod, risen from 14 to level 16 and learned a few things. Thought I'd take a second to revisit this thread and share my thoughts.

- Updated and revised original build/post.

- Thanks for those who helped me out with choosing a 9/7 split - working great!

- I ended up NOT dropping toughness because there was honestly nothing better to take it's place. Going the THF route was an option but with a lot of the new content being blinkers (devils) or better off being vorpal'd (orthons on elite), there just wasn't much reason. Plus, STHF and STWF didn't make it in Mod 6, so no worries there. Single target DPS works fine for Mod 6 content.

- Revisiting maddmatt's comments: I didn't use to do much UMDing during battles and I thought that was OK. Truth was, it wasn't. I was severely limiting my utility by not abusing scrolls. To that end, yes, I now UMD a LOT mid-battle (soloing anything but the gnoll, fire ele and orthon in Raid 2 lately has me relying on self healing. Part 4 has me keeping the tanks and myself up when the other clerics bit it). So while I still have Madstone Boots in my top end calcs, I do NOT recommend using or wearing them unless you know you don't need to UMD.