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[Mod 10] Lia Knowles' GWF Destroyer DPS for PVE build.

rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
edited November 2016 in The Militia Barracks
Now fully updated for Mod 10 - New gear, boons, changes in companions, mount bonuses, new numbers & explanations section, enchants and artifacts. Will be updated to mod 10.5 with the new weapons and vivifed gear as soon as I get my hands on them! Thank you for the support and stay tuned.

Updated - Oct 11, 2016.


My latest vid:

Hs8NRYF.png

So basically

Mod 6 kindly granted the GWF's with new tools, allowing the class to regain the long lost former glory ever since. I will say upfront, the build is not cheap. Might get very expensive to an extent, but will most definitely do the job DPS wise. Please keep in mind that gear isn't everything! You don't need to be best in slot or geared as I am to do well with the build, all you need to do is follow the routine instructions, feats and boons and invest some time in learning your character. Feel free to take my gear suggestions and tweak them according to what you can or cannot afford - the build, by all means, is friendly to all type of players even if you're not keen on investing too much time, energy or resources into your GWF. If you do it correctly, lead paingiver will be no stranger to you, and yet, there's no magic to make it all happen other than hard work and understanding of the class and its core. So with no further ado:

On what we're going to achieve

• Swift trash clearing/single target abilities.
• Up to 100% crit chance.
• Plenty of mobility/off-tanking if needed.
On what we're not going to achieve
• Turtle tanking abilities.
• PVP viability.
• Utility/buff machines (the buff export to others will be minor)
A few more words about the build

The Great Weapon Fighter is one of the highest (or the highest) single target DPS'rs there are as for now among with SW's. Thanks to our abilities and powers, we're able to assist the party with AOE's to clear the critters and trash mobs extremely fast, and of course, we excel at single target due to heavy hitting encounters and self-buffs. Elite mobs? Bosses? All of those are our primary duty and contribution. Our burst damage allows the GWF to do the job of multiple utility classes in a quicker, more efficient way. The two core ingredients for high single target DPS +AOE are high crit rate (chance and severity) and bonus damage. Buff/Debuff are also a core ingredient, on which I'll elaborate later on. Of course none of these will be achieved without proper mechanics and decent understanding of the class and its feats.

Race Choice

Since a GWF's core abilities are both DEX and STR, the best choice for a race would be an Half Orc for +2 DEX/STR, and 5% more crit severity (which will play a big role later on).
Another good choice (and mine, personally) is human. +2 to any ability (a loss of 2 if compared to an orc), but +3 heroic feats and +3% defense.
I believe both race bonuses balance each other out eventually, (like the extra feats are mostly equivalent to the +2 ability an orc gets), but it's a matter of choice. Orc is by all means superior due to the Crit Severity.

Ability rolls

It's important to balance our crit chance with our bonus power as to not lose eventual damage. So, if human, roll 16 STR and 18 DEX.
If Orc, then basically 18 STR/DEX for max results.
We're going to add +1/+1 to DEX/STR every 10 levels.
Why Swordmaster?

Swordmaster is hands-down the best path if you want both strong single target and AOE's (given we're using WMS, which is the most efficient way to take down multiple enemies at the moment). Iron Vanguard is mainly designed for PVP at this point, and can be utilized for decent single target only damage (by double marking with Threatning Rush and Daring Shout), yet it counters the ultimate DPS "god" figure this build suggests, therefore why we're going to be SM.
The routine pretty much fits everywhere, either for clearing trash mobs and single target bosses. There's hardly need to change it, but if you need a little bit of CC or healing, the options are vast (however not listed, you can swap to Restoring Strike if you feel squishy or Flourish if CC is needed along with extra damage).

At wills: Sure Strike/Weapon Master Strike
EncountersHidden Daggers, Daring Shout or Battle Fury, Indomitable Battle Strike.
Dailies – Crescendo and Slam/Spinning Strike/Avalanche of Steel
Class Feats (that'll rarely leave your tray): – Destroyer and Wrathful Determination/Weapon Master if you don't have 100% crit or near that.

*An ideal routine would consist of - Hidden Daggers, Daring Shout, IBS.

*Since we have 3 options of an AOE daily, you can easily swap them out according to the situation. Avalanche is great if you're interested in going ahead and pulling mobs without dying/waiting for your support classes to heal/tank for you. I personally mostly use Slam at this point since most dailies are a waste of time and DPS as far as trash mobs go (since they die so fast), and slam will pull the aggro to me and allow me to do a litle bit of damage without having to completely stop my routine.

*Do NOT slot Wrathful Determination if you're still low on crit, Weapon Master will be a better option for you until you reach 100% or close to.

A little bit on my choice of encounters

Hidden Daggers - Great AOE. The charges are flexible and the damage is also decent. The 40% melee damage buff is very useful, try to use it before you use IBS or Crescendo. Must never leave your tray!
Daring Shout – Is our greeting to mobs. Great buff/debuff encounter for the party and for yourself. Generates Combat Advantage. Also since feated, 15% more damage to marked targets + 20% extra damage for the mark caster (us) + 8% more damage to allies in addition to whatever CA bonus damage they have.
Indomitable Battle Strike – Our best friend and strongest encounter. Should be used wisely (will elaborate in a bit). or
Battle Fury - Can be used for quality of life purposes, a nice buff to your party + self damage boosting. Can be used on single target bosses (Demogorgon, dragons, etc.) if someone else is already marking the enemy (instead of Daring Shout) and overall great for solo content/trash phases in dungeons.

Although all we want is to rush into battle and smack everything with IBS, our feats and encounters allow us to do more damage over time. Keys for correct entrance to battle and mechanics throughout:

• As soon as you rush into a pack of mobs, use Daring Shout. If more than 3 mobs around (and even if not, we still have a 25% chance since it's feated) our Destroyer class feat will proc and start stacking, plus all the damage benefits DS gives us in addition to the combat advantage buff for ourselves and our party.

• After Daring Shout, when we finally use IBS we want it to be 100% effective and possibly high critted. For this to happen, we'd want to provide our companion sufficient time frame to get its bonding proc up (and Camaraderie stacks), thus getting us over 100% crit chance by spamming Weapon Master Strike, debuffing the mobs for our next Sure Strike spam.

• Since feated to build determination by both getting hit by mobs AND hitting mobs back (and of course Daring Shout), by this stage our Determination bar will be full, and then we can go unstoppable.
Post edited by rinat114 on
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    • While finally unstoppable, we're going to cater for a properly buffed IBS for max damage thanks to Destroyer's Purpose that'll grant damage bonus for each stack and 20% more damage for our encounters. To make this effective, and due to our WMS feat, the following order is crucial to buff yourself properly - Mark, WMS, Hidden Daggers, and only then IBS. Only use IBS while you have stacks ready and full (10 Destro Purpose, at least 1 Destroyer). Make sure you build up to that by using just your at wills for a few seconds during Unstoppable. Please note, using IBS outside of unstoppable is negative DPS for the most part, and while it'll get your determination up, there are better ways to get the same result. IBS, for the most part, is meant for use only during unstoppable.

    *Since we're using Wrathful Determination, very precise mechanics are required to utilize this class feat. Since we get the most amount of bonus damage when our Determination is just starting to drain (up to 12.5% extra damage), we'll try to use the pre-IBS buff routine BEFORE we go unstoppable. That means that once we go Unstoppable we're already fully buffed and can use IBS right away, while the Determination bar is still almost full and gives us the most damage. This routine only works after a first regular routine while in combat that'll grant you all the buffs beforehand.

    • From then on, rinse and repeat. Try not to waste time on marking/using dailies while unstoppable, they can be used after. Every second counts!

    • As far as dailies go, as the current content of the game is extremely easy and mobs die fast, I'd refrain from using anything but Slam (unless like I explained above, you're interested in pulling mobs by yourself, in which Avalanche of Steel will be better suited) just before going into combat, any unnecessary casting/channeling time will contribute to negative DPS.

    • Crescendo is also best when all the above is activated (aka; buffs). Try to use Hidden Daggers before every major strike, such as Crescendo and IBS. Crescendo is best used when your Determination bar is either half-full or empty, so that by the final strike the Determination bar will be full and you'll get 25% off of Wrathful Determination, doing massive damage as you go. Always eye your buff bar to see if Destroyer's Purpose, Destroyer and Staying Power are all fully stacked while the boss is marked before pulling Crescendo in order to maximize your damage.

    A few important things that'll help you along the road -
    • At-wills are your main source of damage and the core of the build. Use them wisely! (much more effective during Unstoppable as they are faster.)
    • Your encounters come secondary and two of them actually serve to cater and buff your at-wills and IBS.
    • Dailies can sometimes be a waste of time. For example (and this is very situational), sometimes it's better not to use Spinning Strike and WMS all the mobs down instead as it'll do more damage overall and be quicker. Spinning Strike is a must-use during Unstopabble, most mobs will try and CC you, hence interrupting your daily if you're not already CC immune.
    • Foot work is important! Learn how to use your Stamina wisely, prevent from sprinting between a batch of mobs to another to maintain your stamina high enough to maneuver between mobs and avoid one-shot type attacks.
    Gear
    Armor set

    Best in slot - The current best in slot set is the t3 empowered Relic Headsman's Raid pieces, they all have the exact same stat distribution (Power/Crit/Defense) which will easily benefit us for the long run. This will also drop our Armpen to the bare minimum, as such it's important to make sure you make up for the armpen loss via your companion or other sources. The set is obtainable from completing Fangbreaker Island. If you don't feel like empowering your gear every now and then and farming voninblood, Adamant (Masterwork) gear is your best choice for now (although beware, mod 10.5 will bring vivified Relic gear, which will increase each piece of the set to IL 160, and when absolutely not empowered will drop down to 150 as opposed to now, in which when it's fully empowered it only goes up to 150 and drops to 140 when it completely drains out. As a result, Relic gear will be best in slot no matter what and even if you don't want to farm Voninblood and empower it at all times, the base gear will be better than Adamant.)

    Please note - that stat alternation is important, and while once piece can be a direct upgrade for you from an old piece of gear, the very same piece will be extremely bad for another GWF who chose to to build up their stats differently, yet is following the same build. How is this possible? While the final result will often be similar, playing with your stats to get a beautifully organized result is not easy. You will find yourself alternating between pieces of gear often, and it's enough to follow my suggestions but do one or two pieces wrong to completely fail altogether and lack important stats such as armpen. My way of using my gear to complement the rest of my build is unique to my views as a player - as long as you, as your own person, get to a similar results in your own way and your own puzzle pieces - you're doing it right! The build and gear suggestions are meant to give a general outline to help the GWF playerbase out.

    Alternatives - These sets take quite some time to achieve, so in the meantime, if leveling between 60 - 70, you can use the pieces of armor you get while doing the Elemental Evil campaign. Delving into 70 dungeoneering, you can mix between the Raid and Assault t1 and t1.5 sets, try to pick relevant pieces for your need (if you lack armpen, then armpen comes above all. Remember, you're doing absolutely nothing compared to your potential without the sufficient amount of of Resistance Ignored, which should be 60%), and of course, critical strike. For tier 2 equipment you can go for the Elven Ward set. (You obtain it by doing T2 dungeons, gaining Protector Seals and buying the pieces from the vendor in Seven Suns Coster Market.)
    As far as Underdark goes - Dusk and Drowcraft are valid alternatives for Dragonflight (the next best if you don't have Adamant or Relic gear) if you can't obtain it, pieces with crit and power are a priority.
    Mainhand and Offhand

    Best in slot - shall be the artifact set, in this case Twisted Labrys (+the sure strike/WMS bonus, I change mine frequently) and it's matching offhand: Twisted Sword Knot. As far as the offhand stat increase and class feat of choice go, choose Wrathful Determination (or Weapon Master if you're not using WD as of yet) and Combat Advantage for stat increase. The set can be obtained via Epic Demongorgon and is currently the best choice for a DPS GWF since the stacks are easy to maintain on the offensive side, and even if that doesn't go well - extra defense always grants us double values in the form of damage resistance and power (due to our feats).

    Alternatives - While leveling, you can use either dragon bone weapons or Ensorcelled Mulhorand weapons. If you don't have the funds to get either, just normal weapons are fine. After finishing the Spinward Rise area you'll obtain the Elemental Fire weapons. It's recommended to use them in the meantime (since getting the Twisted set takes time), however - refining them to max is not beneficial and they can stay at epic level at most.
    Belt

    Best in slot - Demogorgon's Girdle of Might to complete our Orcus set.

    Alternatives - You can simply wear whatever, the Lostmauth set is fairly cheap these days and should serve you well until you can get your hands on the Orcus set.
    Jewlery

    Best in slot - 2x Personalized Adamant Ring of Recovery/Piercing. I own two sets of ring since my armpen dependency changes according to gear frequently. The choice is individual and a sight for the long-run is needed including pace of evolving gear wise, etc.

    *Note (about the Underdark rings) -Ideally, a combination of Ring of Brutality +5 and a Ring of Sudden/Rising Precision would benifit most GWF's, but If you reach over 100% crit chance without the crit rings, feel free to change the ring for a Rising Power +5.
    Neck

    Best in slot - We'll go for Baphomet's Infernal Talisman again, to complete our Orcus set.

    Alternatives - You can go for Elemental Alliance Assault Necklace in the meantime, recovery is never bad in addition to power. Or again, the Lostmauth's Hoard Necklace to complete the set until you get your hands on the Orcus one.
    Post edited by rinat114 on
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    Weapon and Armor enchantments

    For weapon a Vorpal is the best choice for us by far up to 100% of our hits in will crit, severity is important for increased DPS. For armor you can easily go with a simple Soulforged, or if you can afford a well ranked Negation (+ confident you're not dying easy).


    Ugh, why switch to the Orcus set? - So here's the thing, those who know me or followed me and my guide for a long while, know I was against the lostmauth set as I believed it was overpowered and did not work as intended, resulting in me even refusing to use it for 3 months until I had no choice but to switch in order to remain competitive. I welcomed the fix to the set as it allows everyone and me in particular to have more flexibility. We don't need the 100% crit chance anymore, it's nice to have but not necessary as we don't depend on one artifact set to be 30% of our damage, hence why I switched out Weapon Master for Wrathful Determination. As far as numbers go, the Orcus set is an increase of 10 - 15% than the fixed Lostmauth set, despite the loss of valuable stats. If you're unable to afford the switch, the Lostmauth set is still a decent choice, however not BIS.


    Artifacts
    I went with -

    • Lantern of Revelation - Crit/Armpen/CA
    • Shard of Orcus' Wand - Power/Movement/AOE resist
    • Wheel of Elements (Primary!)/B] - HP/Power/Stamina gain + 30% more damage over 28 seconds (Fire buff).
    • Sigil of the Controller - Power/Crit/Control Resist

    @YYou may switch out to the Lantern as primary when the scenario justfies it (wise to use it in Tiamat, DragonFlight, etc. since it it's a shared damage buff and not just personal.)
    Companions

    iSf6wyq.png

    Augment – I believe every Ioun with 3x offense slots shall be best for a GWF. Radiance, might, Black dragon, etc. This is a valid option if you can't afford bonding runestones or you have no intention of getting your character geared too much.

    The Fire Archon is the perfect wife! Why?. There are multiple reasons the Fire Archon is best in slot for a Great Weapon Fighter at this point. Some of them are:

    - It has a very low cooldown (given Protector's Camaraderie, it still needs to stack and you want something fast to proc it).
    - It is ranged, therefore a faster bonding proccer given we're a melee class and it's going to attack once we get to the mobs immediately.
    - The Archon has a good bonus.
    - It has 3x offense slots.
    - Does not die often since you're the one taking all of the aggro for the most part.

    Other noteable choices - Blink Dog (slightly slower than the Archon given it's melee, but has a good bonus and fairly cheap to get).


    The key in using these companions is basically equipping greater (or above) bondings in their Runestone slots. Those (r12's) provide 95%x3 of the companion stats to you in combat. This requires a slightly different playstyle, you have got to be aware of your companion, make sure it's not left behind, not too far off or dead for too long (you can always use Liira's Bell to res them)

    Current Enchantments on the companion gear - 4x Brutals (Offense) / 2x Azure (Defense).

    *Note (about the companion gear) - A nerf to the Loyal companion gear is subject to happen soon once they come back to the game (since the Gateway got shut down). Depending on the scale of the nerf, I'll make additional changes to my companion gear. Right now 1x Adorable Bites and 2x Loyal Avengers is the best setup that complements my stat and builds, but it's subject to change due to the adjustments coming.

    For Xbox/PS4 players - Your best choice at the moment (since you don't have the Loyal gear) is Personalized gear from Jewelcrafting. It has 2 slots and a variation of stats and will serve you well. Other options are Rosegold rings from Masterwork and Fangbreaker Island rings once the mod is released on Console. If you can afford Adorable Bites you may also use a combination of those + the mentioned above.

    Why not Underdark Rings? - I've been testing for a couple of months and while the combat time might not be long these days (since we're dealing insane amounts of damage), Underdark rings are providing high burst damage for a period of time, but low sustained damage. I find sustained damage more suitable for my playstyle and my GWF, and while I can't argue the sudden rings work better for other classes, I did not like a Brutality ring in my setup. If you'd like to experiment with the Underdark rings, my recommendation is to slot just 1 Sudden ring of either power or crit according to what you're lacking, anymore than that with the FIre Archon is a waste and will gimp your damage (Rising rings are not an option, the Fire Archon does not excel at proccing them and by the time it gets full stacks everything will be dead).

    Other companions -

    Epic Erinyes of Belial – For 10% extra crit severity.

    Epic Young Yeti/Cambion Magus– for extra 10% damage for me upon taking damage (procs very well and been tested.) / or 10% crit severity (more of a constant buff instead of a proc, yet very very expensive to get.)

    Air Archon – for +5% to any target not at full health (0.5% more because we have the fire archon).

    Blink Dog – for +5% Combat Advantage
    Post edited by rinat114 on
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    Mounts

    Starting Mod 9, mounts got added value and can now provide quite the DPS boost if you utilize them correctly.
    For the Insignia bonuses, I went forProtector's Camaraderie, Friendship and Assassin's Covenant..
    The Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship bonus stacks very quickly (since my companion in particular attacks very fast), is not dependant on anything I do (since I'm very busy perfecting my own routine) and is quite passive. It grants an additional amount of around 10k power overall and a very nice amount of Defense with it. Going with 3x Camaraderie and 1x Friendship will grant you a little bit more stats due to the nature of the stacking mechanic of these bonuses.

    Assassin's Covenant can be extremely benefitial depending on how much Defense you have. With maxed out guild boons and R12's, it's an addition of ~2k power and works in synergy with the Camaraderie/Friendship bonus.

    List of mounts I'm using - Guard Drake, White Tiger, Apparatus of Gond, Medium Black Horse, Bay Zakharan Horse.

    sQY2Klm.png



    Combat Power - The current BIS Combat Power is the Tenser's Transformation. If you don't have a Tenser's just lying around then don't sweat it, it's not much of a significant boost mainly because the channeling time is quite long already and you might have a hard time to combine it within your rotation without having to stop it mid-combat, thus resulting in loss of DPS. The best way to utilize this Combat Power is to use instantly after entering combat, just before engaging in actual combat.


    Equip Power - This varies according to what you have. My personal recommendation is either 4k Recovery from the Tenser's or 4k Power from the Blackice Warhose. As opposing to popular belief, the 4k from the Imperial Rage Drake isn't needed and you can easily skip it. You can always take lesser versions of recommended bonuses, however I don't believe 2k Recovery is anywhere as good as 2k power, so you can easily just take the power instead in the form of Guard Drake, Heavy Giant Spider or Heavy Twilight Nightmare.
    If you're undergeared and still lacking mass amounts of Crit, feel free to take a Crit mount such as Heavy Howler or Rage Drake.

    MM3wCwb.jpg


    Enchantments

    Offense slot – Azure Enchantments/Brutal Enchantments
    Defense slot – Azure enchantments.
    Utility Slot - Dark enchantment/Hoards/Fey blessing.

    [Note #1] – At first you're going to have to balance your stats a lot, will lack a good amount of armor penetration and will need to have dark enchants in your offense slots. As your gear improves you'll gain more armpen and can begin swapping the darks for azures. Keep in mind the game changes often and you'll find the need to periodically re-balance.

    [Note #2] – If you're undergeared, I still recommend stacking HP rather than Defense. Since Defense stacking goes along very well with having a Trans Negation (which, let's be honest, most people don't have), your survivability might be in jeopardy, therefore unless you're very confident of your skills and you don't die often at all, feel free to ditch the Radiants for Azures as they provide extra power in addition to maxed out damage resistance in combat.
    Stats


    Power – While we don't invest in this stat heavily in a direct way (except for Brutals, pieces of gear and artifacts), it's still important and a healthy amount is needed. Endgame goal should be around 2 times your crit pre-buffs. For lower geared players (under 3k), try to not stack crit to a point you have no power or crit severity to support it, a ratio of 1:1 or slightly higher power is healthy in that point.

    Critical Strike – Our best buddy in the build. We will work to stack as much crit as we can from gear, enchantments and companions to eventually reach 100% chance in combat to make the build viable.

    Armor Penetration – Post change to the Orcus set, you may be a little bit short with your resistance ignored. At this point I choose to rely on my companion to complete the missing margin of Resistance Ignored for me, if you want to play it safe then you can always have around 50% on your character itself and let the companion complete the rest up to 60%. It's entirely up to you!

    Recovery – Since I run Battle Fury quite often, I found Recovery being great at a decent rate since it shortens the very long cooldown of the encounter. +4k from the Tenser's Disk bonus it should be around 6 - 7k, yet these amounts are optional and fit my personal playstyle and will be switched often according to what I'm doing.

    Combat Advantage – Since Daring Shout will generate flank for us, this is an important stat for increased damage. Around 1k should be enough for 8 - 9% bonus damage.

    Defense – We'll have a very high amount of defense that should result in around 60% damage resistance pre-buff (that would be around 20k Defense at BIS including guild boons).

    Regen – Not really something you need for PVE. If you have jewelry on your augment and have some extra AD, +100 regen kits will contribute for some incoming healing, not more than 1 - 2% though.

    Deflect – Not needed for PVE whatsoever..

    Life Steal – Depending on the situation, lifesteal can be great for a GWF. As a fast attacking class, we can regain health very quickly using a high amount of LS or stacking it. However, due to current content being quite easy, it's not needed.

    Feats

    NjCjboh.jpg

    *
    Powerful Challenge is a major key in this build to build up our dps. Both of the options to get to this feat (Scale Agility and Unstoppable recovery) are decent. I personally like my deflect chance higher, but if you're feeling squishy espeiclaly in solo content, 5/5 in Unstoppable Recovery can also do.

    [Note][/B]
    – for non-human heorics -

    jFK5lO1.jpg

    Boons

    UFTYyNA.jpg

    Stronghold - As for guild boons, since I'm the GM of my guild our choice of boons was convenient for the guildies and for me as well, yet the good boons are quite popular in most guilds, hence why I don't believe anyone would have a hard time finding a guild with the best ones. BIS boons for this build would be +8k power (according to my testing, it's similar and slightly inferior to +15% crit severity at high rates of already existing crit sev) and +8k defense.

    [Note] - Unless you have reached the armpen cap of 60%, refrain from choosing both the deflect boon from Dread Ring and defense from Tyranny of Dragons. Once you have though, choose the defensive boons.

    Numbers & Explanations


    In this section I'll elaborate on how certain powers and feats work to provide more insight for players who are interested in knowing how the class works in-depth.

    Daring Shout (Encounter) - The mark caster gets 20% damage automatically on the marked target + 15% more from Powerful Challenge + 2% debuff on the initial DS effect + 15% base CA damage + the amount of % bonus damage you have + 8% to allies + CA + bonus CA damage to allies.
    Total (personal) - ~62% extra damage.
    Total (allies) - ~33% (in both calculations the assumption is that all party members have around the 10% bonus CA damage from the stat alone, not including companions).

    Hidden Daggers (Encounter) - the 40% damage buff applies once, using Hidden Daggers more than once in a row is unnecessary.

    Destroyer (Class Feat) - 36% base + 6% from the feat = 42% increased damage total.

    Wrathful Determination (Class Feat) - 25% damage at full bar, once it starts draining it drains from 12.5% damage down to 0 when the bar is fully drained.

    Weapon Master Strike (At-Will) - 30% debuff for Sure Strike, 10% debuff to encounters (Staying Power).

    Student of the Sword (Feat) - Dispelling a popular belief - debuffs in Neverwinter do NOT count towards your Armpen. Debuffs are a different layer. So, in this scenario, assuming you have 60% resistance ignored and you're attacking a Polar Bear, you will shred their armor down to 0 (the Polar bear for example does not have 60% resistance, it has less, but even if you have more armpen than its resistance, you will never shred more than the minimum). Now that the monster's DR is down to 0, your Student of the Sword debuff get into effect and will take the monster's DR into negatives, in which case it'll be -5% and act as a damage multiplier instead.

    Mighty Blade (Feat) - Only works with powers that have the 'burst' tag on them, does not count for any of the other AOE's we actually use.
    Post edited by rinat114 on
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    Why don't you spec into Battle Awareness? - with my amount of base power the feat gives me ~9k power, which in reality is around 10% actual damage increase, the uptime of the daily does not jutify 5 points in it especially since Student of the Sword is a 5% damage multiplier with no conditions other than crit which is A. passive B. you get all the time as you have 100% chance in theory. Even if Battle Awareness was better than what it is, you need some sort of solid AP gain to ensure it's worthy, in which case you'll be losing offensive stats no matter how you do it (either by investing in Recovery, replacing your active mount for a Snail or your primary artifact back to a DC sigil).

    When should I switch Daring Shout to Battle Fury? - Don't be selfish, if you're waiting for a Guardian Fighter to mark for you all dungeon long so you can run BF, you're depriving the party of a second mark, which is another ~8% - ~12% damage to the ENTIRE PARTY. Your marks stack with other marks from different powers. My choice and my suggestions it to only use BF when another GWF is marking, your mark does not stack with theirs thus redundant. Keep in mind it's also semi cheesing, the GWF who will end up running BF will have a significant advantage over the GWF who's running DS and being used as a buff machine.
    Final stats


    (With a summoned companion/not in combat)

    EdcLw2v.png

    (In combat + a stack of Companion’s Gift + Protector's Camaraderie)

    aXTrdoD.png

    And there we go! Hope you enjoyed the build. I would appreciate feedback of any kind. I apologise for any mistakes done (mainly language wise. English is not my first language) and would like to thank my super supportive guild - The Holy Crusaders for being awesome.

    Feel free to contact me in-game (Queen Lia Knowles@rinat114) for any questions or ask in comments, I'll make sure to answer them all.
    Post edited by rinat114 on
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    smokemk6smokemk6 Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    So this is a carbon copy of the build that Lazalia posted and you claim that is yours? It is very obvious that you followed Lazalia's advices for your own GWF lol
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    smokemk6 wrote: »
    So this is a carbon copy of the build that Lazalia posted and you claim that is yours? It is very obvious that you followed Lazalia's advices for your own GWF lol

    Heh. I have tried Lazalia's build before, I admit, but I didn't like the results. I went on and experimented to find a better build for me, and ended up with this one. Just because both builds are based on high crit does not mean one bit it's copied. I have very different views on my gwf than Lazalia. I don't believe in dailies, and I don't trust CA that much. I also prefer to be much more tanky and half viable for PVP. I think his build guide is well formatted, and so I went the same route. You done being snarky?
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    smokemk6smokemk6 Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    rinat114 wrote: »
    Heh. I have tried Lazalia's build before, I admit, but I didn't like the results. I went on and experimented to find a better build for me, and ended up with this one. Just because both builds are based on high crit does not mean one bit it's copied. I have very different views on my gwf than Lazalia. I don't believe in dailies, and I don't trust CA that much. I also prefer to be much more tanky and half viable for PVP. I think his build guide is well formatted, and so I went the same route. You done being snarky?

    Ok so you admited that you followed Laz's guide, you could have posted in your guide: Based in Lazalia's build (because he was the first who posted the crit build) I ended up with this build, bla bla bla... give him some credit.
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    smokemk6 wrote: »
    Ok so you admited that you followed Laz's guide, you could have posted in your guide: Based in Lazalia's build (because he was the first who posted the crit build) I ended up with this build, bla bla bla... give him some credit.

    You know how many builds I have tried? I was a senti, insti, destro in like 5 different ways. I kept doing respec until I found what's best for me. Obviously I tried lazalia's build as well. I used the dex belt because it's the only one I managed to farm. So please don't put words in my mouth. I will surely give him credit for formatting and general ideas if that puts you at ease.
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    ortzhyortzhy Member Posts: 1,103 Bounty Hunter
    edited December 2014
    ohh so you get too much arpen if you use templar, i c. Tho i still think that bonus trumps aow in group situation.

    Update: draconic set bonus does multiply over arpen: Tested it with intimidation that has a fix dmg and at the same power lvl and it adds the 5% extra dmg.
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    ortzhy wrote: »
    ohh so you get too much arpen if you use templar, i c. Tho i still think that bonus trumps aow in group situation.

    Really? good to know. I'm well over 24% now, will have to work on reducing that and balance myself once again. Not easy with everything already legendary, sadly.
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    pandapaulpandapaul Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 424 Bounty Hunter
    edited December 2014
    Hey it Pandapaul here.. I haven't tested the new destroyer build.. mostly because I still feel Intimidation Hybrid build will give better results in both PVE and PVP.. I would be interested maybe running something with you as a test to see how the preform head to head..
    I'm still a firm believer current intimidation is the Best build for any power stacking GWF
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    pandapaul wrote: »
    Hey it Pandapaul here.. I haven't tested the new destroyer build.. mostly because I still feel Intimidation Hybrid build will give better results in both PVE and PVP.. I would be interested maybe running something with you as a test to see how the preform head to head..
    I'm still a firm believer current intimidation is the Best build for any power stacking GWF

    Heya Paul. Call me a sinner but I respec to senti/hybrid at least twice a week for pvp sake. I do a couple of dungeons and respec back to my original build. I can fully understand the benifits of Intimidation, but with that said, my single target damage flatly dies. Sadly, it's either this or that. And sure, feel free to contact me in-game, we'll run :)
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    kolatmasterkolatmaster Member Posts: 3,111 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    pandapaul wrote: »
    Hey it Pandapaul here.. I haven't tested the new destroyer build.. mostly because I still feel Intimidation Hybrid build will give better results in both PVE and PVP.. I would be interested maybe running something with you as a test to see how the preform head to head..
    I'm still a firm believer current intimidation is the Best build for any power stacking GWF
    I'd be happy to do a few runs with you both as I have some knowledge of the class. :)

    If you two don't mind having me 'tag along' of course... :cool:
    va8Ru.gif
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    I'd be happy to do a few runs with you both as I have some knowledge of the class. :)

    If you two don't mind having me 'tag along' of course... :cool:

    Ran elol today with Paul. Was fun :) Feel free to contact either of us in-game and we can run.
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    kolatmasterkolatmaster Member Posts: 3,111 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    rinat114 wrote: »
    Ran elol today with Paul. Was fun :) Feel free to contact either of us in-game and we can run.
    PandaPaul and I go way back... He knows how to find me! ;)
    va8Ru.gif
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    urbancity104urbancity104 Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Hello..! Great and very helpful guide thank you I already did respec on my gwf and I like the damage

    Just a quick little question.. you took the potion boon in the sharandar campaign and not Elvish Fury.. was wondering why? thank you!!
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Hello..! Great and very helpful guide thank you I already did respec on my gwf and I like the damage

    Just a quick little question.. you took the potion boon in the sharandar campaign and not Elvish Fury.. was wondering why? thank you!!

    Glad the build helped you and thank you for the kind words!

    As for the boon - After a little bit of testing and running with different formations of parties, Elvish Fury won't proc enough and stack to my taste. As a single target GWF, even though I hit very hard, the final shot is likely not to be mine. Any class with decent AOE's will eventually take the kill and prevent my stack of Elvish Fury. Also since I didn't take 'Endless Consumption' as last boon in the Dread Ring campaign (like a lot of people do), Redcap Brew will compensate and help me heal better.

    I will also say this - if my deflect chance was a bit higher, I would take Fey Thistle for extra dps instead. Tested it a few weeks ago and it procs great. Also a recommended choice :)
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    urbancity104urbancity104 Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    thanks for the answer!! i did as you wrote in the guide but i wanted to make sure.. cw's will always steal my kills indeed ;))
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    olafthegreatolafthegreat Member Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Hello. I have a 17k GS GWF (my main at the moment although I love my HR hehe) and I think I saw you in Tiamat fight yesterday. You were using Restoring Strike on both adds and heads. Flourish is more damage so why Restoring Strike? I like your build... happy new year!
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    blackylukeblackyluke Member Posts: 261 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    First off, really nice that you posted a build on the forums. I understand it took you some time and effort.
    Theorycrafting and finding your own personal setup that works best for you is not easy and sharing it all this hard work
    for free is a very kind thing.

    Now I'd like to add some critique:

    First off I like the 20STR 13CON 15DEX 10INT 8WIS 10CHA Roll,
    in my mind its the only viable option besides 18STR 12CON 18DEX 10INT 8WIS 10CHA.
    Both of these roll require Half-Orc (or Dragonborn).
    Now some people choose Human or Dragonborn, this should be a cosmetic decision.
    Half-Orc is superior and there is no discussion about that, I do understand though that these tooth
    are not appreciated by everyone :p

    While reading through your build it looked like somebody read through all 22 Pages of Lazalias Build and
    this is what he wrote on his notepad.
    However, you do certain things different. Most of them seem like your copying the answers in a school test
    from your neighbour, but you do some mistakes copying them. Some of them are personal preference.


    One might say that not getting stack on Elvish Fury means you just can't hit with IBS, but that is
    pretty offensive I guess. Redcap Brew is interesting since I would go with Elven Resolve, I read
    multiple threads, tested and played all classes even before Sharandar and as far as I know its common
    knowledge that people take Elven Resolve over Elvish Fury if they are not a DPS class since its better to
    dodge the incoming damage and not get hit in the first place. Secondly you have lifesteal and a difference
    of 850 HP from a potion doesn't seem like a big difference when Flourish/Restoring/IBS/Crescendo heal you to
    full HP anyway.
    On the other hand you mentioned you don't run Deep Gash, but you take Rampaging Madness which not correctly
    only adds 1 stack per seconds. Seems weird since it only procs at the full stacks while Elvish Fury adds 20 Power
    per Stack right away.
    I guess there is a deeper though, that I cannot access. So lets leave the Feat/Boon section.

    Powers and Gameplay seems to be exactly what Lazalia wrote in her thread.
    You forgot to copy her option on WMS vs WS though.

    Now to your gear: You have a really overwhelming equipment.
    Nearly everything is maxed. Im sure you spent a lot of mon... I mean time farming this.
    Then again this looks like a copy to Lazalias build which is frankly a pretty close if not the best way to
    build a single-target-spec-GWF. Although you have some minor adjustments, your stats end up to be
    vastly inferior.
    13.2K Power this is fine, but you have 2x 300 Power companions. It should be archievable with one to get around 13.5k.
    Over 4000 Crit is ridiculous, even when going full Critical Severity in boons and +15% from Companions you should never even
    stack up to 4000 Crit.
    Your Armor Penetration is messed up. This is worse than overstacking for example Crit, since it doesnt work like DR, every single point in
    Armor Penetration over the perfect 24% is doing nothing. Nothing at all. If your items align in a way that you have 500 to much or something like that, shouldn't be a big deal, but 2,1k not speaking of your stone isnt upgraded yet and you dont use Gemmed Rings on it.
    While your other stats are pretty much capped/overcapped it seems like you didnt try to gain some Auxiliary Stats.
    The difference between 700 and over 1000 Combat Advantage is very minor and since you can get whatever you want from your
    Artifact Offhand there is a viable option to bring in personal flavor: Do you want more AP Gain or more Sprint? Maybe AoE resist since you don't dodge and rather chug potions.

    I know this seems like a hatefull post, but I like each and every of my GWF fellows. It's just sad that you have among all those GWF players the money in real life or the time to gear your character to this very limit and what you did with it seems like a waste to me.
    I hope not everybody will straight follow this build. Lazalias build is a great piece of work and rather than following your build I have to advise everybody to rather choose his. I don't have anything against personal adjustments, hell I run a totally different GWF spec myself.
    I hope you understand my opinion, please don't be sour over this. I just cannot approve.
    I would like to see you changing your build. You stated you have to adjust you're stats and I really hope to see you doing that and then update this thread.

    Thanks for reading, BlackyLuke
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Hi Luke, Thanks for taking your time and reading everything so you can yell 'COPY' from your high *** rooftop. If you don't mind, I'll just disregard the entire thing since I already answered about that to another person.

    As for the rest of your post -
    Half-Orc is superior and there is no discussion about that, I do understand though that these tooth
    are not appreciated by everyone

    Kill me, the teeth are horrible. I agree that Orc is the very best choice for a GWF. But I'm a chick, and blame genetics, I prefer looks over stats sometimes.
    I read
    multiple threads, tested and played all classes even before Sharandar and as far as I know its common
    knowledge that people take Elven Resolve over Elvish Fury if they are not a DPS class since its better to
    dodge the incoming damage and not get hit in the first place.

    I don't run. I stay and kill. This is an excellent choice for pvp though. So no. Also thanks for not trying to be offensive, but I hit with IBS very, very well. If I infact ran Deep Gash, Elvish Fury would be a decent choice. A single target GWF will have less kills than a cw or most AOE classes in a multi-mob dungeon, thus less chances of Fury stacks. This is a fact and since you're such a dor... fan of the game I'm not supposed to tell you that.
    You forgot to copy her option on WMS vs WS though.

    *Yawn* There IS no choice if you didn't notice. I run WS only for already said reasons. Other people can do whatever.
    Although you have some minor adjustments, your stats end up to be
    vastly inferior.
    <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> I should have spent a lot more money to get better. You're so right. Inferior why, because I don't run r10's? Because my Ioun isn't purple? (for no actual reason btw). Because I have to run 2x 300 power companions to maintain my power due to the fact I don't have perfect bondings? well **** I gotta open my wallet and get myself shiny things ASAP. Because I never spent 5 hours killing dragons last mod to get that **** belt. Nah, it just landed on me with the rest of my gear. You got me right there, buddy.

    Anyways, if you do care (and clearly, you don't), my current stats are slightly different. Less than 3.8k crit, 2.1k ap, 13.1k power, one less 300 power companion for an epic blink dog, 2x Archmage's on my ioun, Heart of the Blue Dragon instead of my Lantern.
    Your Armor Penetration is messed up. This is worse than overstacking for example Crit, since it doesnt work like DR, every single point in
    Armor Penetration over the perfect 24% is doing nothing.

    Oh my god really? MY ARMOR PENETERATION IS A MESS. correct. Sadly I favor my 1800 HP on my GWF sigil more than you can guess, so that's not going to change. I have no other way to lose armpen.
    what you did with it seems like a waste to me.

    lol. Waste how? Inferior DPS? Zero understanding of the class? Derp, I'm probably a scrub in good gear. Got me there twice, buddy. Grab your fancy, much better GWF and run with me if you're so certain this build is bull****.

    Cheers.
    Hello. I have a 17k GS GWF (my main at the moment although I love my HR hehe) and I think I saw you in Tiamat fight yesterday. You were using Restoring Strike on both adds and heads. Flourish is more damage so why Restoring Strike? I like your build... happy new year!

    Happy new year to you too :) I won't deny I run flourish only in PVP and in some seriously rare cases. I like my survivability rate higher, in Tiamat especially since the mobs hit hard. Losing a little DPS > staying alive for me. Also Restoring can crit up to 120k easily when buffed. It's not too bad after all. But whatever works for you!
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    blackylukeblackyluke Member Posts: 261 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    As expected your furious...
    At last I question usefullness, is this usefull?
    Obviously your taking this personal, like I critizise you as a human being and not
    of what your doing in a video game.
    Then don't listen to me, listen to somebody who gets his money from analysis:
    http://youtu.be/twlZ3C9kP-c
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    lewel555lewel555 Member Posts: 616 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Not impressed. Of course when you pile up the gs and avoid the hard caps on the stats, you're bound to get better results with your char than the average char of the same class. Where is the use for a newcomer? And for someone who has the 100 millions AD needed, isn't he able to figure out his own build? Where is the chart proving that, for the given aim (single-target during group dungeons, if I read well), it works significantly better than, say, the Lazalia's build?
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    ortzhyortzhy Member Posts: 1,103 Bounty Hunter
    edited January 2015
    I want to say that DS provides much more than 15%: Marks puts for you 20% at base dmg * CA (15% * extra from CHA * CA bonus ) (hope my memory serves me well, i am still searching for the patch where that mark change was as I was trying to understand my 40% base bonus i got when i was testing the DT set bonus and remembered that marks got a buff), the 15% from feats multiplies after with the said set buff.

    But for crits it works differentely where they are adding instead of multiplying.

    Quote from Kaelac;s guide:

    Equation 2.3. CA damage calculation for non crit hits:

    Total damage when CA is granted = base damage * (1+ 0.15) * (1+ CHA bonus%) * (1+ CAbonus %) * (1+ blink dog %) * (1+ intellect devourer%)



    Equation 2.4. CA damage calculation for critical hits:

    Total damage with CA and CRIT = base damage * (1+ 0.75 + sum of all crit severity bonuses + 0.15 + CHA bonus + CAbonus) * (1+blink dog %) * (1+ intellect devourer %)


    Also for the nice guys saying that this is a copy build:

    Laz - is a destro/instigator,
    Lia - is a destro/sentinel

    there are many other things different so please at least read the guides... and no, i am not playing with any of them, but i do like to read all GWF/GF guides to better understand my own chars even if my GWF gameplay style is very much different than theirs.

    Edit: Laz was right, Devourer and Blink Dog seem to be the best dmg companions... even at green lvl they should provide better dmg than the 300 power guys (is a rly cheap test for you).
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    lewel555 wrote: »
    Not impressed. Of course when you pile up the gs and avoid the hard caps on the stats, you're bound to get better results with your char than the average char of the same class. Where is the use for a newcomer? And for someone who has the 100 millions AD needed, isn't he able to figure out his own build? Where is the chart proving that, for the given aim (single-target during group dungeons, if I read well), it works significantly better than, say, the Lazalia's build?

    Thank god I don't live to impress you. What kind of chart do you want me to screencap? My DPS in Tiamat? lol. I run with enough elite GWF's with the same gear and I am more than happy with my results. Also get over the **** orange gear. I've head this build long before I even had anything close to orange, and it worked greatly then as it does now. I suggested replacements for achieveable things since this build IS expensive. Not everything has to be legendary. I don't run r10's and p.bondings. It's just minor **** that won't get me results. So get over it.

    I've made some changes with my gear and companions. Will post soon.
    I want to say that DS provides much more than 15%: Marks puts for you 20% at base dmg * CA (15% * extra from CHA * CA bonus ) (hope my memory serves me well, i am still searching for the patch where that mark change was as I was trying to understand my 40% base bonus i got when i was testing the DT set bonus and remembered that marks got a buff), the 15% from feats multiplies after with the said set buff.

    But for crits it works differentely where they are adding instead of multiplying.

    Quote from Kaelac;s guide:

    Equation 2.3. CA damage calculation for non crit hits:

    Total damage when CA is granted = base damage * (1+ 0.15) * (1+ CHA bonus%) * (1+ CAbonus %) * (1+ blink dog %) * (1+ intellect devourer%)



    Equation 2.4. CA damage calculation for critical hits:

    Total damage with CA and CRIT = base damage * (1+ 0.75 + sum of all crit severity bonuses + 0.15 + CHA bonus + CAbonus) * (1+blink dog %) * (1+ intellect devourer %)

    That's interesting. I'm half ignorant when it comes to numbers and such. I know how to caculate most things but this is new to me. I skipped the devourer for now since it's apparently broke and bugged, but I managed to farm the Repentant Dragon Cultist instead. Should be amazing when epic, currently still blue in my bag.

    Thanks for the insight, I learned :)
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    olafthegreatolafthegreat Member Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    thanks for answering!!! I think flourish is good but too slow sometimes and it causes me to miss :SS if you don't mind can you run something with me and my friend? he's not a gwf but he wants to start one soon and mine just hit 18.2k. I think my damage is decent now after the changes :D
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    rinat114rinat114 Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    thanks for answering!!! I think flourish is good but too slow sometimes and it causes me to miss :SS if you don't mind can you run something with me and my friend? he's not a gwf but he wants to start one soon and mine just hit 18.2k. I think my damage is decent now after the changes :D

    Sorry for the late reply! Sure, we can run, no problem :) Contact me in-game - Lia Knowles@rinat114. Glad you're liking the dps. Don't we all? :P
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    isaintify1isaintify1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 414 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    The biggest things I think the GWF needs is a rework on the encounters and the way we build up our damage. Like what they did with Dest, Purpose. Increase the damage, decreased the amount of stacks we needed, and last longer. We need more of this overall and as well as a way to add our own debuffs and buffs to ourselves and others more. Also the encounters/at wills that get weaker for more targets hit? This is such a joke and like a big ole shackle on the gwfs wrists. Come on Cryptic release the GWF shackles and let him rampage like he was designed to do.

    But I think a GWF rework is coming in the next module but well who knows.... Getting out dpsed by TRs with 15k gearscore or barley keeping up with a 20k cw, or a "DPS DC" That is trailing behind you makes you feel like the class has really fallen behind, with more nerfs than buffs. (except Dest. Purpose, cause that was truly awesome)
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    effectensteineffectenstein Member Posts: 1,031 Bounty Hunter
    edited January 2015
    i wonder if feythistle with drow destroyer will deal more damage , than the 5% of AOW . hmm
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    koalazebra1koalazebra1 Member Posts: 1,173 Bounty Hunter
    edited January 2015
    TshTChs.jpg

    EXTREMELY HOT character! 9.5/10.

    Old skin, those marks, the hairstyle, the eye shape and color, the hair color and the eyebrows.

    would demolish

    would be better if she was half-orc LMAO
This discussion has been closed.