Requesting help with a Warforged EK Build

Hireling

Well-known member
I am requestion help with a WF EK WIZ build.
I have run WF WIZ (and Sorc) a lot in the past as pure casters or the old school 18WIZ/2ROG for evasion and traps and open locks, but still just played as a caster.
I want to try EK.
I am mainly considering going Pure 20 WIZ
or 18/2 or 17/3 Split with ROG
I was looking to use Two hand fighting and either using Staves (I have basically all the Named Staves until 29) if using ROG splits or a Martial Weapons: Carnifex then SoS and ESoS then Black Razor to Cap (I do have slime beaters too) I also would keep Staves hand in case a quest has Beholders etc.
I have 2 Universal AP and 6 Racial AP.
I was mainly looking for someone to give me the pro/cons on staying Pure WIZ vs splashing some ROG.
I am mainly looking to solo this on R1 to maybe R3 (I have 45ish Reaper Points)
I was going to heal strictly with Repair/Recon. No palemaster.
AP was mainly planned for:
Most in EK (I think 41 for all Tier 5 and some others) Can do more if going Pure.
Harper to get KtA adn INT to DMG (and hit?) 12
Thief-Acrobat (if taking 2-3 ROG levels) I would go after the Staff Attack Speed and the Double attack Attack and Haste Boost. So either 9 to 12 to 15 AP (unsure what would be optimal)
Warforged Tree I would spend 10 (total of 16) for Memories of Warx2 and Repair Amp etc

The AP gets super tight and I am sure I will have to sacrfice some stuff.

My playstyle was going to be use Crowd Control like Web or Mass Hold etc and the EK Knock Down and Clean up with Spells.
Going Pure WIZ opens up a lot of AP because I would forgo the TA stuff obviously.
I am not really looking to raid on this build, mainly just wanting to try something new to me (melee WIZ). I have a ton of Mele Artificer lives and think they may play similar?
Feats: I would want Two handed weapon line, Max/Empower/quicken, Insightfull Reflexes.
All advice adn thoughts are certainly welcome :)
 

Vox

Well-known member
Fun build, pure or rogue dip.

I'd dip feydark at least 7ap (got my back - the sheltering stacks with shield SLA from EK), or 11 for GCS if you can afford it.

Yeah it plays pretty much the same, some different spells & effects, sometimes easier sometimes a little more challenging. Doesn't have double reconstructs until Scion of Mechanus.

~39 ap in EK (5th core, t5's), 12 in harper (int to hit/dmg/trance), 16 WF, 11 feydark (got my back t2) = 78, so not a lot of wiggle room but it all fits with pure for EK capstone if you wanted to go that route.

You don't need a slime beater with feydarks shadowblades/imbue with shadow as it makes your weapons immune to damage
 
I currently have an 18/2 Wiz/Rog that I wish I went pure 20 with. EK scales well with class levels, and the fifth core is pretty good.

2 Rog doesn't really give me anything, if I'm honest. I don't use any of the enhancement trees, and although I put points into them, I hardly ever use the rogue skills. If I want Evasion I could just put some points into Shadowdancer.

That being said, the split build is still solid, and maybe going with qstaves and TA would help make up for some lost damage for not going pure 20.
 

unbongwah

Well-known member
Pure wizard pros: getting wizard capstone, not giving up any caster levels nor your last bonus caster feat.

Multiclassing pros: diversifying your build by -
  • adding trap skills (rogue, Artificer, or Dark Hunter)
  • adding Evasion (rogue or monk 2) which becomes Improved Evasion in epics (SD's Darkest Luck)
  • adding Runearms in heroics (Artificer 2), goes well with SWF EK or Inquisitive wizard
  • +10% run speed from barbarian splash
  • hitting BAB 11 (e.g., barbarian 1 -> wizard 1-18 -> fighter 1) so you can take your Greater combat-style feat @ level 20, freeing an epic feat slot
Basically, they're all good options, it's just a question of what you want your focus to be.
 

Frantik

Well-known member
I have been thinking about a similar build but different, just to add some food for thought.

Shadar-Kai 18/2.
SDK 18
Harper 12
EK 6 (min)
Feydark 3 (min) for Illusionary Wpns as mentioned above
Pale Master the rest taking the greater form (Vampire iirc) with a combo of chain attacks, imbues and cc.
If you had some racial AP you could splash Assassin for another +3 imbue at tier 2.

PM can bag you +2 to both Ench and Necro DCs. I would start SWF. The Fey Shadow short sword is fabulous in heroics once the Nightmare feature is added... 6 chain cycles generally takes out some mobs via the insta-death. I know it doesn't get sentience but my current test build is at lvl 24 (SDK pure Warlock) and with 8 Light die and the insta-kill effect proccing 10% of the time (ish) the chain attacks are starting to become very fun. I'm aiming for 16 imbue without items/filigrees and a Wiz version could easily get that too if not 3 more from Assassin.

Good luck and tell us how it goes!

EDIT i had to check (on Mobile and can't multitask).... Vampire Ascendant Shroud adds +1 Ench DC and weapon attacks have 10% chance to paralyze... you see the possibilities of hitting a group of mobs 6 times in quick succession? Mmmm!
 
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Arsont

Well-known member
Melee wizard is pretty fun, especially if you have a bit of gear or some defensive padding from PL/EPL/etc to make the early levels less of a slog.

Pure Wiz EK is really strong; the capstone is one of the best out there. I'm a big fan of multiclassing, and EK is one of the few trees that will push me to stay pure. While you do lose out on evasion in heroics, you can just slap on a heavy shield and tank the traps/spells while healing through them. Doubly so if you take Insightful Reflexes.

Pure forgie Wizard will get 12 feats through heroics (7 base+5 class). Assuming you're wanting as much casting ability as possible while still being melee, you're looking at:

Maximize, Empower, Heighten, Quicken, Two Handed Fighting, Improved THF, Greater THF, and Improved Crit, and Insightful Reflexes as your baseline feats (9 feats).​

You'd likely want Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus for your primary CC type (11 feats total; Conjugation for Web, Enchantment for Mass Hold/Otto's, or Necro for death. Evo or Illusion could work too if you wanted a bit more variety, but the CC there is less reliable). Or, instead of SF/GSF, you could take Dodge/Mobility/Spring Attack for a bit of dodge and utility (12 feats total).

Something to note: Hybrid builds tend to lean pretty heavy on maximizing their DC's. Your spell DC's won't change with low-level splashes (2-3), but you will lose damage off some spells, particularly those that scale past caster level 20 (lv 9 spells, ED spells, etc). To get the most bang for your buck, you really want to make sure you're landing as many of your spells as possible. Also, if you're going in to melee, it helps if you can lock mobs down first with a high DC CC like Web or Mass Hold.

That being said, there are a couple of multiclass splits that I've found fun, and can provide enough utility or flexibility to warrant consideration over pure.
  • 2 rogue: The classic split. Lose 1 feat but pick up Evasion and the bonus atk speed with staves from Thief Acrobat. Also picks up UMD for fleshies if you ever wanted to help someone out. If you were wanting to specifically play with staves, you could go 3 rogue, which is the same total feats as 20 wiz, but you lose the lv 18 EK core and +1 dice from levels. Either split gives you class access to Haste Boost, if you don't have Vistani.

  • 2 monk: Evasion and 2 martial feats (Likely Two Handed Fighting and Power Attack or Precision, although Dodge, Mobility, and Swords to Plowshares are options as well). If you don't take a body feat and are using staves, you can also use one of the monk stances. There's a couple older builds that focused on this, using things like the old Sun Soul set, Jidz Tetk'a, or Perfect Pinnacle. This is one of my preferred splits for melee forgie.

  • 2 paladin: You don't see this much anymore, since Divine Grace caps based on paladin level (+8, or +11 with 3 Paladin). 2 Sacred Fist is the better version of this now, since it also grants Evasion. 3 Paladin gives you access to the defender stance though, which is +25 PRR/MRR. Either way is really solid for leveling, but is a bit weaker in endgame dps.

  • 2 fighter: Similar to monk; 2 feats, but no evasion. Gives you class access to Haste Boost. 2 Dragonlord doesn't make a real difference vs standard fighter but 3 DL gives you a Melee Power scaling Imbue. 3 fighter of either type opens up Stalwart Defense for +25 PRR/MRR.

Or you could always do something whacky, like taking 1 Warlock for the Aura and 1 level of Fighter/Monk for an extra feat, or 1 level of Rog/Dark Hunter/Arti for trapping skills.
 

unbongwah

Well-known member
Shadar-Kai 18/2.
SDK 18
Harper 12
EK 6 (min)
Feydark 3 (min) for Illusionary Wpns as mentioned above
If you've got a bunch of extra racial APs and Vistani Knife Fighter, you can do something like:
  • 17 SDK for Greater Chain Attack
  • 41 VKF for capstone & tier-5s
  • 12 Harper Agent for INT to damage
  • 11 Pale Master for 3rd core (Inflict Weariness)
  • 6 Eldritch Knight for Spellsword Imbue
  • Optional: 8 Assassin for +3 Imbue dice
+35% attack speed from GSWF + VKF capstone; as well as +40 Melee Power & +30% doublestrike from VKF; 15-20/x3 critical threat range with kukris which becomes 14-20/x4 while Vendetta is active (use it just before chain attacks).

I'm not sure if there's a good reason to do this instead of just play a caster, but hey, it's fun to theory-craft. :)
 

wreck

doing Wreck stuff
18 wiz 1fighter 1 barb
THF line
int hit/dmg from harper with KtA
can still cast and self heal as int scaled
super easy build
 
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