Epic Destiny Question for Stick Rogue

[Franana]

Hey all,

I'm here to ask a question on what people think would be a good option for a mantle and epic strike for a pure Rogue 20 stick build. I've had a bunch of fun with this character but once I hit 20 it seems no destiny really fits it. I went with the shadowdancer and tried its epic strike with the level 23 added damage based on sneak attack dice (I am level 23 now) and that was... underwhelming. I tried the fatesinger epic strike (and discord) and they are decent but not amazing. I have another Monk stick build (I love stick builds haha) that runs the GMOF epic strike and that is amazing, however I 1. didn't want to do the same thing with this build, and 2. I don't know if I will have the ki with this build for it. Anyone got some suggestions? Thanks y'all.

-Franana

 

[Maze]

Have you looked into Fury of the wild at all? Could be fun with a Q-staff.

 

[Franana]

I did do fury of the wild first with my monk build a while back but didn't love it on that build. Might give it a shot with this one though. I did look at it for this build but was a bit apprehensive to try it as the tree has a bunch of stuff that just aren't useful for a rogue (Str bonuses, rage bonuses, etc.). Guess I could just go in for epic strike stuff?

 

[Maze]

Ah yeah. The strikethrough, epic strike stuff, etc would be useful. But I spose you're dex based instead of str based then? It may not cater as well to you.

 

[Franana]

yeah dex based personally (kinda hard to avoid with rogue build as cores 1 and 2 of the TA enhancement tree give dex to hit and damage for staves)

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

I ended up going with shadowdancer as the primary destiny using it's mantle & strike (using the untyped damage proc from sneak attack dice is a great boost, be sure to slot force spellpower since it goes higher more easily than melee power) then fury as the secondary one with acute senses, savage takedown, boulder's might, embrace the pain, strikethrough, primal scream & the heal from using primal scream as the main things from that.

 

[Franana]

FuzzyDuck, were you struggling with the damage in the lower epic levels? For me I did the force spell power one and was doing 200-400(rarely) extra damage each hit which is alright but just seems a lot less than most other characters I have played at this level. Does the damage increase at later levels? Granted I don't have the best force spellpower (150ish) but idk how to get that higher as I have a decent item for it and there isn't much in the way of obtaining it in the rogue enhancements and you only get a few from the shadowdancer tree (like 15 or 20 at level 23). Is there something I am missing? being genuine as I loved the idea of that tree, just got kinda bummed with it.

 

[QuantumFX]

Dreadnought with Dire Charge and the regenerating Action Boosts. GMoF for the Stunning boost and Hail of Blows. Shadowdancer for the no fail reflex saves on a 1, and neg level immunity. On a Dex based character, using No Step Missed, your DC for Dire Charge should be pretty spectacular.

 

[Franana]

Sadly I don't have the horizon walker tree for the No Step Missed but I did think about dire charge for the stunning and helplessness damage bonus that it gives.

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

FuzzyDuck, were you struggling with the damage in the lower epic levels? For me I did the force spell power one and was doing 200-400(rarely) extra damage each hit which is alright but just seems a lot less than most other characters I have played at this level. Does the damage increase at later levels? Granted I don't have the best force spellpower (150ish) but idk how to get that higher as I have a decent item for it and there isn't much in the way of obtaining it in the rogue enhancements and you only get a few from the shadowdancer tree (like 15 or 20 at level 23). Is there something I am missing? being genuine as I loved the idea of that tree, just got kinda bummed with it.

More sneak attack dice through feats later on & more spellpower boosts it higher, I also made sure to invest 3 AP in feydark illusionist (magical training comes with shadowdancer) for the shadow imbue that turns your weapon into a spellcasting implement in addition to preventing durability damage, that's another chunk of spellpower there. Once you get higher doublestrike in there too it adds up pretty significantly. Being untyped, it'll also work reliably against everything which is a plus too.

 

[Franana]

Fuzzyduck,
that is a good idea with the feydark illusionist... I will do that. Thanks for the help. Think I just need to wait a bit for higher levels with this character.

 

[Franana]

Hmmm, the imbue with shadow doesn't seem to be making my staff an implement. Was that patched out? it is also no longer in the in game description.

 

[QuantumFX]

Sadly I don't have the horizon walker tree for the No Step Missed but I did think about dire charge for the stunning and helplessness damage bonus that it gives.

You can usually substitute Know the Angles on a rogue as INT isn't a dump stat to them. But, Horizon Walker's very easy to unlock if you run legendary quests.

 

[Bjond]

Yeah, SD strike is pretty weak. IIRC, you need something like 67'ish sneak dice for it to beat Adrenaline, which is why (IMHO) FOTW is quite nearly the only acceptable tree for all melee builds and for 2H in particular. If you go with anything else, you will have lower DPS, reduced Healing, less CC, and lower survivability.

However, just because you take a tree to T5 doesn't mean you have to use that tree's mantle. FOTW's T5 is decent but leveler is a waste of DP and the epic moment is weaker than I'd like. FOTW T4, though, is amazing and DP-wise continuing to T5 there usually beats other options, especially if you take Harbinger of Chaos.

My melee only use FOTW mantle for L20~22. Past that, others are much more likely to be more useful. My current stick build takes T5 in FOTW, but uses GMOF Mantle (primarily for KD immunity, but the extra 1W, Runspeed, and DR-breaking are nice, too).

DC Mantle is nice for it's BAB boost, which can be VERY nice for BAB<20. If yours is 21+, you'll notice less of a gain (or maybe not notice).

Primal Mantle has great procs, extra imbue dice for those with spell-power based imbues, and great elemental absorbs (v.nice for cloth & light in particular). Primal rather dies out past 14 AP for a melee, but those 14 can pay off VERY well on a spell-power imbue build.

LD Mantle is actually quite nice for tanking quest bosses or debuffing same to help whoever is tanking. And, it's got other nice features in the lower tree, too.

EA has a great heal-tick on it's Mantle (mostly only helps R4 and under), the Leap is fantastic, and the extra absorbs from T4 are v.nice for cloth & light armor builds (only my light-armor tanks take it to T4, though -- it blows US mantle away for tanking low reapers).

Avoid SD Mantle if you do high reapers: it has no effect unless you also have displace. If you can maintain displace 100% on your tank or off-tanky melee, and other mantles don't suit you, SD+Displace is really cool. It works even better in lower reaper.

My light & cloth builds almost always take a little SD or LD for extra MDB -- usually SD, since you can acquire MM immunity, Drain immunity, sneak dice, and DDOOR while there; ie. it wins for both DPS & Utility, but my AB builds love the extra action-boosts in LD.