Endgame Gear Theory

[Sheikra]

Hello,

Recently I made a post asking for ideas for endgame characters that are relatively gear-lite, in order to be able to participate in endgame content without being a detestable leech.

Today, I am hoping to pick the brains of the people that dream and breath DDO. How in the world do you start your gear tetras for a given build, and what are the lines of thinking you use to make determinations?

Sure, I can go on the wiki and look at the set bonuses and all of the items possible, but I feel like the tetras is too big for my brain. I'm hoping to be able to split it into reasonable steps, so that I can apply the same reasoning to any build I need to gear.

Please, bestow upon me your gear tetras wisdom. Thanks!

 

[DBZ]

Still using sharn feywild and a few twink sss items and sets waiting for another stat squish maybe or level cap n real gear next xpac

And farming chrono sets for bta profane for alts

 

[Monkey_Archer]

1) Establish non-negotiable stats. For example, on a melee build its going to be melee power/doublestrike set bonuses, Enhancement/Insight to main stat+ con, deadly, accuracy, seeker, etc...
2) Rank order negotiables. ie. things that would be nice to have but not absolutely necessary: artifact PRR/MRR, MRR cap, some quality or artifact bonuses, etc
3) Figure out which set bonus combinations can fit in everything in step one
4) Choose a combination that includes as much of step two as possible
5) Augments or craft anything that's still missing
6) Repeat steps 4-5 until you find something you still aren't happy with but will settle for in order to not drive yourself crazy

 

[Ying]

End-game and gear lite without being a piker are mutually exclusive.

You don't need raid gear to be effective. Here's an example of a first life paladin I recently geared out, specifically not using raid gear:

Note the set bonuses at the bottom. The set bonuses are really what drive gear tetris. When you start including raid gear and raid gear augment sets, that's where you start playing 4D chess. Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with Vecna Unleashed 5pc Forbidden Knowledge and the 3pc set applicable to whatever build you're playing. Nukers will typically use the Dino artifact because you can craft 35% spell critical damage for your primary element.

 

[Sheikra]

End-game and gear lite without being a piker are mutually exclusive.

You don't need raid gear to be effective.

I should clarify what "gear lite" means to me:

1. Sentient jewel is not full (7/10 currently)
2. Filigrees are not rare version
3. No reaper bonuses on anything (and few mythic bonuses)
4. Largely no raid gear, a few items so far but not much (not ready to slot 5 LGS pieces or whatever tanks do these days haha)
5. No special cool kid augments (have some festive and insightful stat bonus, but not all)

I have or am capable of acquiring most of the expansion non-raid gear, but I feel like (it seems especially for melees) that you need every reaper bonus and mythic bonus and rare filigree to be able to perform at a high level.

I like the idea of finding sets that work well, then filling items from there. Everytime I have overlap in my items, it gives me a little OCD ping, but I think that is a personal issue I need to get over haha!

 

[DBZ]

Hyper focus your build thats all those small boosts don't matter much same with chasing butterflies not wasting time on it yet

 

[Altra]

@Ying I don't understand why double the rings? The augments stack but the rings themselves don't.
(Just trying to get gud ) and need to understand why.
Thanks

 

[Ying]

I don't understand why double the rings? The augments stack but the rings themselves don't.

For the 3pc set bonus.

 

[Ying]

I should clarify what "gear lite" means to me:

1. Sentient jewel is not full (7/10 currently)
2. Filigrees are not rare version
3. No reaper bonuses on anything (and few mythic bonuses)
4. Largely no raid gear, a few items so far but not much (not ready to slot 5 LGS pieces or whatever tanks do these days haha)
5. No special cool kid augments (have some festive and insightful stat bonus, but not all)

Thanks for clarifying. Essentially, you're talking about ultimate hardcore-server gearing. Our guild is gearing up to do some first lifer short-man raid challenges using similar parameters: 60k sentient XP (7 slots), 0 Reaper XP spent, 80 Enhancement AP, 61 Epic Destiny AP, One +2 stat tome, One +5 stat tome, +3 skill tomes are ok, no gear from raids or anything crafted using Threads of Fate, and no past lives of any kind. Rare filigree (but not raid filigree) are allowed. No mana pots or other rare consumables (forcefield, rising fury, etc) are permitted, but bauble and epic/legendary RoSS are allowed. The paladin gear I posted as an example is for that challenge. With a recent server move and the holidays, the challenge has been pushed back a bit. But expect to see some builds posted to the forum that follow this gearing strategy in late Jan. @rabidfox already posted his bubble dwarf healer. I'm working on a paladin and alchemist guide.

 

[DBZ]

I'd be very interested in the alchemist guide long time since anything news been posted

 

[saekee]

here I did this for assassins:

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/cheapo-rogue-endgame-gear.3328/

It works well. Am now using IoD and working towards more raid gear like the Labyrinthine Edge which is key for my setup

 

[Sheikra]

Would you wear a useless (or almost useless) item to complete a set bonus? And if so, how many useless items would you be willing to wear -- i.e. would you wear necklace/ring for IoD profane bonus on a non-caster? It feels... yucky.

 

[dur]

End-game and gear lite without being a piker are mutually exclusive.

You don't need raid gear to be effective. [snip]

Ah. Yeah, being/having a crafter helps too. **Fills in the holes til RNG doesn't hate you one day.

And what Monkey-Archer said.

 

[DBZ]

The droam set with max reaper bonuses and mythic can get u 2 set bonuses and reaper xx and u can raid aug it for a 3rd set

And a 4 filigree bta artifact 1 run farm fast n ez

Throw in some chrono bta profane u got a working alt set with legendary gomf abishia and xx elders or whatever

 

[Grunndi]

Would you wear a useless (or almost useless) item to complete a set bonus? And if so, how many useless items would you be willing to wear -- i.e. would you wear necklace/ring for IoD profane bonus on a non-caster? It feels... yucky.

While not ideal, yes I personally have used an IoD caster ring in a few melee DPS sets.

Sometimes that’s just how the set items work out, and you need to look at the whole picture to decide if that useless item or 2 is worth it.

If you think of it as the item essentially giving you all the IoD set effects, it feels less yucky lol. (And at least IoD items give you 2 Aug and 1 dino slot usually).