SDK-Chains Build Review/Help

[svenofnein]

Down to 4 Iconics left to play and I'll have my first wave of classes done - Need a rogue life and an Shadar-Kai, so figured I'd wade into a chains build with the minimum amount to get the rogue life. Mostly solo, just level and start over unless I enjoy how it is playing at end game then I may stay there for a week or so.

I do have daggers for days, no real hand-axes - but can look around if it is a deal breaker on anything. Absolutely tied to nothing with the build - this is just my best guess on what information I could find coupled with my limited (but increasing) idea of exactly how things tie together and my deep desire to have very few buttons to push.

Started building it based on Dexterity, but seemed to make more sense to go strength - stuff like that I may totally screw up (still).


Classes: 9 Rogue, 8 Dragon Lord, 3 Bard, E10, L4
Race: Shadar-Kai Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Start Tome Final HP: 1698 Displacement: 50%
Str: 18 8 36 Unc Rng: -360 Incorp: 0%
Dex: 10 8 19 PRR: 56 AC: 35
Con: 18 8 26 MRR: 37 +Healing Amp: 16
Int: 12 8 20 Dodge: 11/25 -Healing Amp: 6
Wis: 8 8 16 Fort: 0% Repair Amp: 6
Cha: 6 8 14 SR: 0 BAB: 21

Class and Feat Selection

Level	Class	Feats
1	Rogue(1)	Standard: Single Weapon Fighting
		Class Skills: Balance(4)
2	Dragon Lord(1)	Minor Draconic Aura: Thraxata's Instinct
3	Dragon Lord(2)	Standard: Precision
		Fighter Bonus Feat: Dodge
4	Bard(1)	Strength: +1 Level up
		Class Skills: Balance(3)
5	Bard(2)
6	Bard(3)	Standard: Mobility
7	Rogue(2)
8	Dragon Lord(3)	Strength: +1 Level up
9	Dragon Lord(4)	Standard: Improved Single Weapon Fighting
		Fighter Bonus Feat: Tactical Training
10	Dragon Lord(5)
11	Dragon Lord(6)	Fighter Bonus Feat: Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
12	Dragon Lord(7)	Standard: Offhand Versatility
		Strength: +1 Level up
13	Dragon Lord(8)	Major Draconic Aura: Velah's Fury
14	Rogue(3)
15	Rogue(4)	Standard: Greater Single Weapon Fighting
16	Rogue(5)	Strength: +1 Level up
17	Rogue(6)
18	Rogue(7)	Standard: Tactical Combatant
19	Rogue(8)
20	Rogue(9)	Strength: +1 Level up
21	Epic(1)	Epic Feat: Overwhelming Critical
22	Epic(2)	Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Single Weapon Fighting
23	Epic(3)
24	Epic(4)	Epic Feat: Eerie Aim
		Strength: +1 Level up
25	Epic(5)	Epic Destiny Feat: Crush Weakness
26	Epic(6)
27	Epic(7)	Epic Feat: Patience
28	Epic(8)	Epic Destiny Feat: Harbinger of Chaos
		Strength: +1 Level up
29	Epic(9)
30	Epic(10)	Epic Feat: Epic Damage Reduction
		Legendary Feat: Scion of Arborea
31	Legendary(1)	Epic Destiny Feat: Deific Warding
32	Legendary(2)	Strength: +1 Level up
33	Legendary(3)	Epic Feat: Epic Fortitude
34	Legendary(4)	Epic Destiny Feat: Shield Mastery Specialty

Enhancements: 80 APs, Racial 3, Universal 2
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Shadar-Kai - Points spent: 19
Core1 Grit
Core2 Ability I: Dexterity
Core3 Shadow Phase
Core4 Shadow Jaunt
Core5 Empowered Jaunt
Tier1 Vicious Chain
Tier2 Forceful Chain
Tier2 Guile I
Tier2 Ghostly Essence - 1 Ranks
Tier3 Guile II
Tier3 Ghastly Chain
Tier4 Greater Spiked Chain Attack
Tier4 Winter Favored
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Assassin - Points spent: 14
Core1 Knife in the Darkness
Tier1 Venomed Blades - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Sneak Attack Training I
Core2 Dagger in the Back
Tier2 Toxin Affinity - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Sneak Attack Training II
Tier3 Sneak Attack Training III
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Dragon Lord - Points spent: 36
Core1 Draconic Soul: Soul of the Black Dragon
Tier1 Battlefield Tactician I
Tier1 Martial Superiority: Dragon Lord: Martial Superiority: Strike Twice - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Dragon's Protection I
Core2 Draconic Arms
Tier2 Battlefield Tactician II
Tier2 Action Boost: Action Boost: Haste - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Dragon's Protection II
Core3 Reckless Devotion
Tier3 Ability Score I: +1 Strength
Tier3 Might or Outburst: Might in Order - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Dragon's Roar
Tier3 Battlefield Tactician III
Tier3 Dragon's Protection III
Tier4 Battlefield Tactician IV
Tier4 Untouchable Soul
Tier4 Ability Score II: +1 Strength
Tier4 Dragon's Protection IV
Tier5 Soul Scales
Tier5 Tactical Commander
Tier5 Improved Dragon's Roar
Tier5 Conqueror - 2 Ranks
Tier5 Flight of Kings
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Swashbuckler - Points spent: 6
Core1 Confidence
Tier1 Blow By Blow: Blow By Blow - 3 Ranks
Tier1 On Your Toes - 1 Ranks
Core2 Swashbuckling
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Thief-Acrobat - Points spent: 3
Core1 Staff Control
Tier1 Fast Movement
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Vistani Knife Fighter - Points spent: 7
Core1 Knife Expertise
Tier1 Mist Stalker I
Tier1 Rapid Attack
Tier2 Mist Stalker II
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Epic Destinies: 75 Destiny Points
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Legendary Dreadnought - Points spent: 33
Core1 Fearless
Tier1 Push Through The Line - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Epic Tactics - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Shrug Off Punishment - 3 Ranks
Core2 Weaponmaster
Tier2 Extra Action Boost - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Esoteric Touch
Tier2 Life and Death - 2 Ranks
Core3 Thick Skinned
Tier3 Strike Twice - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Armor of Dusk - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Epic Power & Precision - 1 Ranks
Core4 Unparalleled Accuracy
Tier4 Carry On
Tier4 Strike with Fear
Tier5 Overpower: Lacerator
Tier5 Legendary Rally: Legendary Rally (Melee)
Tier5 Action Hero
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Fury of the Wild - Points spent: 21
Core1 Die Hard
Tier1 Strength or Swiftness: Quick Cutter - 1 Ranks
Tier1 Mantle of Fury - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Enduring - 3 Ranks
Core2 Die Harder
Tier2 Gird against Demons
Core3 Die Harderest
Tier3 Sense Weakness - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Wild Weapons: Doublestrike - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Embrace the Pain - 2 Ranks
Core4 Be the Whirlwind
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Shadowdancer - Points spent: 21
Core1 The Darkest Luck I
Tier1 Assassinate - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Cover of Darkness - 2 Ranks
Core2 Step Through Shadows
Tier2 Epic Strike: Shadowstrike (Melee)
Tier2 Dance in the Dark - 3 Ranks
Core3 The Darkest Luck
Tier3 Epic Strike Upgrade I: Dark Imbuement
Tier3 Shadowcaster: Shadowstriker
Tier3 Grim Precision - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Epic Strike Upgrade II: Improved Meld
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[Cellador/Syfa]

How did things go with your build? I was going to do something similar but concerned that competence bonus to crit multiplier from swashbuckling kukuri won’t stack with Dragonlord tier 5

 

[kemton]

Hand axe is what you want to use at cap. However you can just use forest hook to lvl even without proficiency feats. Run the quest chain on heroic and choose it in the end reward. On feats I would pickup WWA, spring attack instead of offhand and tactical feats.

 

[FaustianBargain]

Doing something like the above, but with a bit more investment in swashbuckler to use a buckler for the 10% boost to dodge (at least for now until I can raise it otherwise). STR based and using the brush hook plus a Lamordia buckler with guardbreaking - critical range is bananas, and has guardbreaking proc a lot, but I haven’t hit enough tough content yet to give it a test of how much that matters. Still that 5 second daze goes off a lot.

Sacrificing tactical feats and offhand versatility in favor of WWA for extra AOE and finesse for additional fortification bypass in lieu of opportunist. Figure I can use a lesser heart if I find I miss tactical boosts on Roar (although that seems irrelevant based on how often I’m not facing the enemy that’s…checks notes…right in front of me by all appearances.)

 

[FaustianBargain]

Revisiting this - I did vary things a bit. Same level split, but key differences include:
11 points in Thief Acrobat to get haste boost and sly flourish in addition to movement speed and threat reduction
11 points in Swashbuckler to get to skirmisher plus blow by blow
Dropped WWA after all in favor of one of the tactics feats. Between Quick Cutter and two chain attacks there was enough AOE damage that WWA didn’t get much use.
Epic destinies I dropped LD and ran Fatesinger - the mantle procs often and bonus HP were very reliable as a buffer plus the heal on song was nice between fights.

From level 24 on I used Devourer’s Reaping - basically the same critical range as the Brush Hook but with one less multiplier, but without the Kama feat tax and since you can’t make the Brush Hook sentient it’s a no brainer. I also switched buckler to a Hexbreaker because it simplified gear a bit (plus I had a reaper boost version)

The fun part of the build is that between Roar and Guardbreaking there’s a great deal of crowd control built in.

Blow by Blow and Sly flourish function well to reduce threat generated from sneak and imbue damage in the rare occasions I group.

Honestly this has been one of the more fun lives - plays slightly differently from a more typical melee. Unfortunately, as with many light armor builds it’s really dodge dependent and there are some fights where you just get shredded quickly. Still a really nice switch.

 

[HallowedHill]

I saw someone with a 11 Sacred Fist / 8 Dragon Lord / 1 Rogue build. They were SDK with a chains build and the last 4 levels were SF. This was a STR build. This seemed to be one of the fastest builds I've seen since my return, with the ability to constantly sprint forward, skipping a LOT of mobs on reaper, and finish a lot of content quickly.
My question is that, as a returning player, I don't understand the importance of the sequence of taking the levels.

I think the feats are:

Priority	Feat
Core	Single Weapon Fighting
Core	Improved Single Weapon Fighting
Core	Greater Single Weapon Fighting
Core	Improved Critical: Slashing
Core	Precision
Mobility	Dodge
Mobility	Mobility
Mobility	Spring Attack
Strong candidate	Offhand Versatility
Possible	Whirlwind Attack

Any/All help appreciated trying to reconstruct this build!

 

[woq]

11 sf gets you prayer + two lvl 2 spells - righteous command + one of angel skin / sacred flame empowerment + 11% movement speed/exa smite from sacred fist tree and gets you WWA from tier 2 without requiring you to take whirlwind attack feat which is nice and exalted smite adds to more AoE; 8 dl gets you 3rd core and 2nd aura from dragon lord + access to DL t5, 1 rogue is mandatory from shadarkai unless you use a heart and qualifies you for improved feint if you like using animation cancel active attacks for more dmg.

Jumps from spring attack + eladrin chaosmancer past lives + dragon lord leap t5 + Shadarkai leap + possibly falconry for sprint boost.

I assume your feat selection would do fine.

Enhancements:
t3-t4 sacred fist t5 dl t4 vistani if using kukri type setup with possible dips to ravager and falconry (sprint boost: doesn't stack with dragon lord leap action speed, but if all you need is speed and you run heroic r1, why not). With the next big patch you could run exact same setup without vistani but instead dip in harper for morale doublestrike, but kukris are still great and vkf is still great.

End setup could be 8-18 sf, 23 vkf, 36 dragonlord, 1-6 ravager, 8 falconry (much faster than 41 vkf, less damage stats, more aoe attacks) - catches up in damage if you have sanctified fervor lvl 20 sentient weapon (or swap)
or
41 vkf, 36 dragon lord, 7 sacred fist (requires 4 universal tome points and a lot of racials): gets you that 11% passive ms that stacks with dl leap and a lot more damage stats from getting vkf capstone (but you could just drop the sf stuff too - it's a lot of jumps anyway).

If you don't have racial points, then you'd sacrifice points from sacred fist / vkf / falconry to get the shadarkai jump & chains: but keep t5 dragonlord and the +20 mp while swf:ing from vkf at minimum, unless you're using a scimitar: then move points from vkf to the other trees mentioned before.

With 0 universal 0 racials, it'd probably look like...

36 dragon lord, 23+ vkf, 17 shadarkai, 1 ravager, 1 harper or something like that to grab the t5 dl (haste + strtrance +2 multi, +leap, +hp +displacement), shadarkai goodies (chain + leap), vkf goodies and just use sacred fist spells for the mp/prr/mrr: goal is go fast so don't bother wasting time casting sacred flame empowerment, but you might wanna fit in quicken just to buff faster anyway.