Rich (BB code):
Character name: U72 Frost Tank
Classes: 18 Druid, 1 Dark Hunter, 1 Fighter !! DH = Traps, Fighter = Heavy Feat
Race: Human Alignment: True Neutral !! Human for Skills & Feat
Start Tome Final HP: 3491 Displacement: 0%
Str: 8 8 30 Unc Rng: -250 Incorp: 15%
Dex: 10 8 42 PRR: 333 AC: 142
Con: 17 8 58 MRR: 209/10 +Healing Amp: 252
Int: 14 8 35 Dodge: 19/28 -Healing Amp: 45
Wis: 16 8 84 Fort: 271% Repair Amp: 45
Cha: 13 8 50 SR: 0 BAB: 20
Immune: Poison, Spawn Undead, Level Drain, Fear, Blind,
Most Knockdowns, Death Effects, Drowning, Freedom of Movement
| Fortitude | 83* | Disintegrate Horrid and others |
| Will | 88 | CC .. mostly OK/short if it sticks |
| Reflex | 67 | Halves most direct damage spells |
Marked with a* is no fail on a 1 if required DC met
| Energy | Resistance | Absorbance | Comments |
| Acid: | 50 | 56% | DOV |
| Chaos: | 0 | 23% | KT (glowballs) |
| Cold: | 50 | 85% | KT (shadows) |
| Electric: | 50 | 56% | KT MA RTSO |
| Evil: | 0 | 31% | |
| Fire: | 50 | 78% | Threats 2H2H FOTP |
| Force: | 0 | 0% | |
| Good: | 0 | 23% | |
| Lawful: | 0 | 23% | |
| Light: | 0 | 0% | |
| Negative: | 0 | 25% | Dryad Strahd |
| Poison: | 0 | 27% | DOV |
| Sonic: | 50 | 48% | Skele |
Class and Feat Selection (Consolidated)
| Level | Class | Feats | |
| 1 | Druid(1) | Human Bonus Feat: Maximize Spell | bonus feat is required |
| 2 | Dark Hunter(1) | Favored Enemy : Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoid | trapping & 2s deflect |
| 3 | Druid(2) | Standard: Quicken Spell | |
| 4 | Druid(3) | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 6 | Druid(5) | Standard: Shield Mastery | HP & PRR |
| 8 | Druid(7) | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 9 | Druid(8) | Standard: Past Life: Arcane Initiate | DCs |
| 10 | Druid(9) | Automatic: Venom Immunity | fake immunity |
| 12 | Druid(11) | Standard: Extend Spell | some buffs v.short, punt if OK recasting |
| | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 14 | Druid(13) | Wild Shape: Wild Shape: Fire Elemental | |
| 15 | Fighter(1) | Standard: Enlarge Spell | VERY nice for raiding, meh for questing |
| | Automatic: Heavy Armor Proficiency | for Hruits |
| | Fighter Bonus Feat: Improved Shield Mastery | |
| 16 | Druid(14) | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 18 | Druid(16) | Standard: Greater Shield Mastery | |
| 19 | Druid(17) | Wild Shape: Wild Shape: Water Elemental | Finally Frosty! |
| 20 | Druid(18) | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 21 | Epic(1) | Epic Feat: Bulwark of Defense | 10 PRR in US |
| 22 | Epic(2) | Epic Destiny Feat: Epic Spell Power: Cold | |
| 24 | Epic(4) | Epic Feat: Intensify Spell | |
| | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 25 | Epic(5) | Epic Destiny Feat: Epic Spell Power: Force | |
| 27 | Epic(7) | Epic Feat: Watchful Eye | makes trapping fun |
| 28 | Epic(8) | Epic Destiny Feat: Deific Warding | 5% qHP via US |
| | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 30 | Epic(10) | Epic Feat: Embolden Spell | |
| | Legendary Feat: Scion of Celestia | HP & Heals |
| 31 | Legendary(1) | Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Shield Mastery | |
| 32 | Legendary(2) | Wisdom: +1 Level up | |
| 33 | Legendary(3) | Epic Feat: Epic Damage Reduction | |
| 34 | Legendary(4) | Epic Destiny Feat: Legendary Toughness | (15% L.HP via gear) |
Code:
Skill Points 28 10 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 10 10 10 10 10
Skill Name 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Ranks Tome Buffed
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Balance 0.0 5 47.0
Bluff 0.0 3 53.0
Concentration 0.0 5 56.0
Diplomacy 0.0 0 50.0
Disable Device 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 23.0 5 63.0
Haggle 0.0 0 50.0
Heal 4 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 23.0 3 106.0
Hide 0.0 0 38.0
Intimidate 4 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 23.0 5 104.0
Jump 8 8.0 0 74.0
Listen 0.0 0 66.0
Move Silently 0.0 0 44.0
Open Lock 1 1.0 5 45.0
Perform 1 1.0 2 53.0
Repair 0.0 0 35.0
Search 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 23.0 5 67.0
Spellcraft 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 23.0 5 63.0
Spot 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 23.0 5 98.0
Swim 1 1 1 1 1 2 7.0 0 62.0
Tumble 1 1.0 1 44.0
Use Magic Device 2 2.0 5 57.0
Enhancements: 80 APs, Racial 3, Universal 2
Human - Points spent: 5
Core1 Versatility I: Skill Boost
Core2 Adaptability: +1 Wisdom
Tier1 Improved Recovery I
With more racial AP, I'd buy more Hamp. Maybe fill with intim, trap skills, and shield bonus, but Hamp would be the target.
Nature's Protector - Points spent: 6
20 MPRR for 6 AP? Sold!
Season's Herald - Points spent: 26
Core1-3 Summer, Winter, Wellspring
The deeper cores are junk. It's not that the abilities are bad, but a 20s and 120s CD are just plain too long to bother putting it on an already overcrowded hotbar, much less finding it and pressing the button.
The rest is all chosen for DC, Damage, & Efficiency. Why no SLAs? They're single target and weak. Why no Beguile, it looks v.tanky? It's either bugged or ineffective (didn't notice any difference using it).
Why no T5 for Winter's Heart? It's 60s CD and T5 has no 25% HP node.
Spring's Resurgence? The heal is unnoticeably small. It's not worth the time it takes to cast.
Vistani Knife Fighter - Points spent: 41
This is likely a big surprise. Why not Falconry for more WIS and 5% qHP? And, why full capstone 41!?
Tier4 Mist Stalker IV
This is why. I like my tanks in particular to have solid drain immunity in case I forget Death Ward, died and haven't rebuffed, or had it dispelled. If you're OK using DW, I'd use Falconry. The other choice is 4x Purity Filigrees. The Hamp those bring is nice, but it really eats into DCs and Power.
VKF has some nice AP-efficiency, too; 6 AP is mandatory for deflect arrows. There are other ways to get deflect, but they end up with worse results.
So, VKF = more DC due to nicer filigrees than Falcon.
Tier5 Throw or Hold the Grudge: Grudge Bearer
Tier5 Mist Stalker V
The 25% HP is why T5. StalkerV brings 20 Dodge & 30 MPRR @ 60s. It's a nice tanking bonus. It's not nice enough to chase, but it did help me feel better about choosing VKF over Falconry.
Core6 Blade Master
We're already at 35 VKF with pretty much all the other DCs and Powers mined that we can reach. So, the extra 6 AP buys us 1 DC and some HP. I thought MP might be nice for Guard-Up, but as usual with tanks that are not built for strong melee DPS, there's not enough MP to make it worthwhile.
There are other things to buy that might be nicer, such as 4 AP for 2s Deflect via Tempest, which I had to steal for force weaponry in FI. The DCs are pretty low already from other tank choices -- am loathe to give up even 1+DC.
Tempest - Points spent: 3
Core1 Shield of Whirling Steel
Tier1 Improved Defense - 2 Ranks
Short CD on Deflect Arrows is very nice, but while this is the reason for 1 DH in the build instead of another trapping class, it had to be sacrificed due to the chosen shield being steel instead of crystal.
Instead, the build puts this 3 AP in Feydark Illusionist for Illusory Weaponry, which changes the shield to Force materiel and unbreaks the oath. Re-cast every log in or death, re-equip shield, re-enable water elemental.
Stalwart Defender - Points spent: 4
Core1 Toughness
Tier1 Stalwart Defensive Mastery - 3 Ranks
Dodge is capped by both MDB and Dodge-Cap. Extra MDB makes a big difference.
Epic Destinies: 75 Destiny Points
Unyielding Sentinel - Points spent: 34
Tier2 Commanding Presence - 3 Ranks
450% Incite-All is fairly well required to hold agro with spell damage and heals. I have yet to pull agro off an intimidating tank with this when playing as support, probably because I'm really worried about that and mostly heal and work adds rather than tempting the boss to flip on the dps pack.
Tier2 Knight's Challenge
Tier4 Throw the Boom
It holds agro quite well, but now and then someone will pull it off. These help with that.
Tier2 Renewal
Heart Mantle's Cocoon will proc on renewal. Solo Test on R1 KT with Sky Mantle, renewal was enough for a VERY easy and boring test. The biggest danger was forgetting to renew renewal.
Tier? Other Stuff
The rest mostly explains itself, but why no mantle? Evergreen is too important for SP efficiency and I haven't needed the extra HP and absorbs on the raids we do (max R1). IMHO, this build is pretty much limited to max R4 for raiding. It can do R6 solo quests and probably R8 with outside heals.
If pushing this build further than what I tank now, US Mantle might be very nice, especially if you're willing to chug SP potions. Heart Mantle is another choice. The cocoon procs are frequent.
Primal Avatar - Points spent: 18
Core1 This is your Nature: Sky
Core2 Now Grow: Heart
Cold Force Devotion are the powers we want. Heart first for more healing. I prefer Cold.
Tier1 Nature's Friend: Spider of the Deeps
I like picking this one to match the raid content I'm doing. At present, it's DOV and thus poison absorb is nice. When Hunt was the regular thing, this would be Bat for Sonic. If you don't care about absorbs, spend elsewhere.
Tier2 Mantle of Nature: Sky or Heart - 3 Ranks
Sky only procs on cold for us, we don't use electric or sonic. It's the DPS/hate choice. Heart only procs on heals for us (free cocoon. We don't use fire or light spells.
Tier3 Evergreen - 3 Ranks
This gives 100 temporary SP quite often. It's the go-to choice for sp-strapped builds.
Tier3 Shared Mantle (quests with pets & hires)
Tier3 Natural Shielding
These two are great in quests, but pretty much do nothing in raids -- unless your raid doesn't mind tar babies. I'd skip shielding in raids unless you twitch the trees around to drop US and take T5 in Primal. Then it's nice for avatar. Why? Tars resummon fast and there's no way wolf lives for more than 6.626s.
Tier3 Transmutation
This helps ice-flowers hit for full damage. It's what to buy when not running pets, hires, & summons or even if you are and you have enough DP.
Draconic Incarnation - Points spent: 23
Core1 Draconic Bloodline: Draconic Bloodline: White
Tier1 Dragon Breath: White Dragon Breath
Tier4 Improve Dragon Breath: Energy Vortex
This is why we're in Draconic at all: 5x ticks of breath per strike that follows us around. It's wonderful for tanking. It's not so hot with a glassy caster. BTW, there is a last tick, but no initial tick (I'd have preferred other way around).
Other choices are all taken as filler in support of the build in general. Pick whatever suits.
Tier1 Dragonhide - 3 Ranks
No-Fail-on-One (NFOO) Fortitude is essentially mandatory for a tank. Some things can indeed one-shot kill you if you roll a one. It's very embarassing. :(
Tier3 Scales of the Dragon
This is where old Energy-Sheath ended up. It still has the 50% absorb of the original, which is rather pointless with the ultra high cold absorb of a water elemental. But, it now also has 510 "ablation" points.
Ablation points are essentially temp HP, but does not show on the UI as temporary HP. Instead it gets a tiny little number up on the buff icon. It absorbs ALL damage, not just cold.
Why not Draonic Mantle? Actually, I'd love to run in draconic mantle, BUT the SP demands of tanking with this build are pretty huge. Evergreen is fairly essential.
If removing the tanking feature, I'd drop US for EA. Then it's likely Draconic Mantle T5 for DPS, EA T5 for heals, or Primal T5 for Frog. Magus T5 for Time Stop works, too, but after the nerf, I found TS is too short to bother using. If you're making it pay, fantastic, but that's why I no longer use Magus.
Reaper trees:
Dire Thaumaturge - Points spent: 41
Grim Barricade - Points spent: 41
If you have 82 reaper points, you know how to spend them. If you don't, there are two main routes to take: Grim for survival or Dire for damage. If Grim is your first desire, it's usually 21 Grim for early big gains in PRR, HP, CON (and maybe some or a lot of dodge depending on build) and then start working your other tree.
Back when I had few points, I did Dire first, but that was because it was a Wizard back then and badly needed DCs and Penetration. Druid has VERY little need for spell penetration, particularly with this build. The spell power and spell points in the tree are "nice", but not huge. I'd likely do Grim first if I had played this from zero.
Dire desires for this build: DC > WIS > Power and only take penetration as a filler.
| Power | Base | Chance | Multiplier | Comments |
| Acid | 695.0 | 38% | 20 | |
| Light | 904.0 | 48% | 25 | sunburst |
| Cold | 986.0 | 71% | 65 | Strike flowers tsunami sleet/ice storm, creep |
| Electric | 730.0 | 44% | 20 | |
| Fire | 678.0 | 30% | 20 | |
| Force | 826.0 | 45% | 30 | flowers storm salt quake tsunami |
| Negative | 718.0 | 21% | 20 | |
| Poison | 685.0 | 21% | 20 | |
| Positive | 939.0 | 57% | 55 | Strong self heal is handy for tanking |
| Repair | 632.0 | 21% | 20 | |
| Sonic | 710.0 | 36% | 20 | |
