SWF or TWF Fighter build

[Jasparius]

Looking at going Str based Longsword but cant decide between SWF and TWF. Then do I go pure Fighter for the crazy number of feats? Or am I better splashing?

Havent played a Fighter in a VERY long time so really have no knowledge on any of this.

Also, is there a particular Race I should go?

If I splash Barb and Bard (maybe 12/5/3) I assume go Bard first for the skill points at level 1? Does it then matter what order? Im probably using Carnifex until level 9 or 10 anyway I guess. As long as I get my 5th Barb level by level 12 overall for the T5?

Cheers.

 

[Jasparius]

55 views but no thoughts?

I think I want SWF. Is it worth going for the Bard and Barb splash? Or is pure 20 Fighter very similar?

HOrc for race or is another more suited? Tempting to go Human just to get yet another feat and have Whirlwind Attack for AOE.

For SWF are you taking Power Attack over Precision? I assume the Barb levels means investing in Rage so its pots not scrolls ?

 

[Bjond]

3 Swash 8 DL 9 Rogue Hand Axe has 15x5 profile (15x6 with patience, but patience is mostly a bad pick) and nice DL tactics and IUD from rogue and nice sneak attack dice and can trap.

8 DL 11 Rogue 1 Warlock TWF (36 DL 41 VKF Kukri) has 15x4 profile, IUD, Sneak dice, Traps, fast attack rate, DL stuff (tactics, trance, roar), and more DPS & Debuff than SWF version.

In general, TWF will outperform SWF by a fair bit if you can stand still. SWF doesn't care if you move around.

If you have LOTS of racial AP, SDK and Shifter are a big win for either one. SDK chains gain more from SWF Haxen than TWF Kukri, though. Eladrin have tons of nice things for racials, too. Swash has more spare regular AP for racial than TWF. If you've never done an SDK Haxen chain build, you gotta try it. It's fun.

My melee's last build was the Swash Haxen SDK variant. I rebuilt to TWF for more DPS + debuffing. It still does great AE due to QQ + VKF, but it's not as wild fun as chains.

 

[Jasparius]

Thanks for this. I dont have any racial points. Only on my 5th life.

Im doing Fighter this life but I will for sure check out your Rogue ideas next life.

Cheers.

 

[Djoe]

18 fighter, 1 fvs for trance and 1 any other is always great. Lots of options for that last level, could go Monk and use trances (do monk first level and take feats as you go), barb for run-speed and earlier barb-rage, warlock for 20 melee power at cap, paladin for the trance, etc. I personally prefer single weapon fighting over two-weapon, either way take cleaves and whirlwind for AoE.

 

[Jasparius]

Do you take Spring Attack as well as Whirlwind Attack ?

 

[Djoe]

yeah spring attack is awesome. if pure fighter, you could have both feats by level four.

 

[Jasparius]

I have 4 Barb and 1 Fighter so far
Thinking for 6 I take Spring Attack and also SWF for my 2nd Fighter.
9 can be Imp Crit Slash.

 

[Djoe]

what were your first three feats? Dodge, mobility, whirlwind? If you take fighter for six you can (i think) take both swf and improved. swf, those will mean more for you because you can kill things faster. If not, do swf and spring attack at 6, imp. swf at 8 (assuming you do only fighter levels up until then), and imp. crit slashing at 9. Since you've already went 4 barb and that locks you out of the 5th core of kensei, you might as well do some weird stuff and go 5 barb, 14 fighter, 1 fvs or something. Could go tier 5 in Ravager and pick up the crit multi in kensei core 3, getting a +2 range +1 multi on whatever weapon you use

 

[Phoenicis]

yeah spring attack is awesome. if pure fighter, you could have both feats by level four.

*spring attacks at a mob
*looks at the mob who is now behind him hitting him in the tukus

I've found spring attack good for little but clearing gaps you aren't sure you can jump across.

YMMV.

(I freely admit I'm terrible)
(My wife thinks I'm great, don't let her in on my secret)

 

[Jasparius]

what were your first three feats? Dodge, mobility, whirlwind? If you take fighter for six you can (i think) take both swf and improved. swf, those will mean more for you because you can kill things faster. If not, do swf and spring attack at 6, imp. swf at 8 (assuming you do only fighter levels up until then), and imp. crit slashing at 9. Since you've already went 4 barb and that locks you out of the 5th core of kensei, you might as well do some weird stuff and go 5 barb, 14 fighter, 1 fvs or something. Could go tier 5 in Ravager and pick up the crit multi in kensei core 3, getting a +2 range +1 multi on whatever weapon you use

I think I went Power Attack, Dodge, Mobility.

I used Carnifex until level 9.

Levels were 3 Barb, Fighter, Barb, 3 Bard, Fighter.

I started the SWF feats at 9 and figure it should be good by level 11 when another Fighter level gets me ISWF.

I was thinking longsword would be my choice but I found a few nice handaxes.

 

[Djoe]

yeah if you're doing 3 bard for swashbuckling, you need to use light weapons like handaxes, rapiers, if you're elf then scimitars, etc. The eligible weapons are in the description of the lvl 3 core in swashbuckling.

The barb and fighter are redundant in this build, fighter is only getting you feats because you want to be using tier 5 in frenzied berzerker if you're swashbuckling, or dragonlord if you're doing the figher archetype. Unless you just want the fighter feat, you might as well go the rest in either barb, but trying to do both doesn't help you at all

 

[Jasparius]

Its for a Fighter past-life and I do like having a lot of feats so I think it helps. If I was doing Barbarian, I'd go 3 Bard, 17 Barbarian? Or maybe if Feat starved I could go 3 Bard, 4 Fighter, 13 Barbarian?

One question on Offhand Versatility does it work with a buckler if Im Swashbuckling, or does it still require an Orb or nothing?

 

[Supot]

(15x6 with patience, but patience is mostly a bad pick)

Why do you say it's a bad pick? Shouldn't it be giving about 7-8% more damage with that crit range? What are the cons?

 

[Bjond]

Why do you say it's a bad pick? Shouldn't it be giving about 7-8% more damage with that crit range? What are the cons?

It varies by the style of weapon and build. My thrower's rate dropped from 86/m to 84~85/m, which could actually be human error counting the shots; ie. 12~15% gain on weapon DPS with almost zero loss on non-weapon. Thrower is well-known to be so rate-capped that I bet every thrower was chuckling (chucking?) with glee over the new patience feat.

TWF nets about 3~4% weapon on paper after the -10% haste. BUT, when I tested in game it was far worse. Trash that I'd normally one-round in quests would take 2~3 rounds. Swings felt like taffy through molasses. This build is about 90% weapon. It should have been an easy net win. I was going to test the swing-rate data a little better after my play-trial, but it was so unpleasant I didn't bother, just reverted.

I have not tried patience with SWF or THF. After TWF, I'm not hopeful for either. The kinds of builds likely to reap a big benefit from it are going to be similar to thrower; ie. most of the damage from things that are not effected by haste reduction, like big-wallop adrenaline builds.

on Offhand Versatility does it work with a buckler if Im Swashbuckling, or does it still require an Orb or nothing?

Swash will permit SWF+Buckler, but all the other effects of using a Buckler also apply, such as not working with OH versatility. IMHO, the extra double + PPR + dodge from SWF+Buckler surpass OH Versatility. The only case where OH wins is when you can hit 100 DS without the buckler.

 

[Jasparius]

Hrmmm so I need to guess now what my DS (and dodge) will be at cap to decide whether OH is worth taking.

Ive noticed Im already dodge capped so Im wondering if a better option will be an Orb once Im in Epics (currently level 13 and 27% dodge cap).

Cheers.

 

[Djoe]

Hrmmm so I need to guess now what my DS (and dodge) will be at cap to decide whether OH is worth taking.

Ive noticed Im already dodge capped so Im wondering if a better option will be an Orb once Im in Epics (currently level 13 and 27% dodge cap).

Cheers.

A buckler wont affect your dodge cap, your armor will. You have to be in light armor to swash-buckle anyway (and it seems like you are, so no big deal here). If you're using a buckler or orb, don't worry about offhand versatility: the one imbue die is negligent and not the focus of your build. Methinks you should take enough levels of fighter to fit in all of the heroic feats you want. Which ones do you have left? being at level 13 means you would still get two more feats before epics (15, 18) if you just went the rest barb, but if you still need stuff like GSWF, shield masteries (because it seems like you're leaning toward a buckler, could also take the shield specialty feat at cap and save three feats), or what what have you, then take some more fighter. The big thing about this build is that you want your t5 in Frenzied Berzerker and swashbuckling.

 

[Jasparius]

I hadnt thought about Shield Mastery. I was thinking of Weapon Focus / Specialisation.

Also allows me to use an Orb if I want, or nothing, with no wasted feats.

As for Armor, Im wearing Robes because with Light the Dodge cap was 14% and Robes 27% with minimal difference in PRR MRR and AC. Im at 22% and 27% in Reaper.

I have T5 in FB, T3 in Swashbuckling and am starting on Kensei now. I assume I go T4 to get the full line of weapon spec.

 

[Bjond]

It's not precisely required, but many vets will lay things out in the builder or on a spreadsheet before even creating the character (levels, gear, etc). Maetrim's Builder is free and VERY useful for this. As far as "game time" goes, I might spend more time in the builder than actually playing.

If you plan things out in builder and farm the things you need in advance, game play is usually very streamlined without any need to dither over choices; just copy what you picked in builder.

 

[Purr]

Looking at going Str based Longsword but cant decide between SWF and TWF. Then do I go pure Fighter for the crazy number of feats? Or am I better splashing?

Havent played a Fighter in a VERY long time so really have no knowledge on any of this.

Also, is there a particular Race I should go?

If I splash Barb and Bard (maybe 12/5/3) I assume go Bard first for the skill points at level 1? Does it then matter what order? Im probably using Carnifex until level 9 or 10 anyway I guess. As long as I get my 5th Barb level by level 12 overall for the T5?

Cheers.

I did 12/6/2 dark hunter dlord monk. Was crazy fun after around level 12