Questions from a confused leveling GWF.

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• adhal81 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 115 Bounty Hunter

  June 2013 edited June 2013

  Personaly after leveling 1 and now working on a second, im prefering sticking to a defensive build leveling. My first was offensive and I was chugging health pots like a mad man, since the second was made for a sentinel build, I stuck with that theme and honestly havent noticed much of a difference in kiling speed, but a large excess of health pots.
  
  Really its up to you though, as long as you stick to a method it wont make much of a difference which one till 60. Leveling a gfw is by no means hard, just have to deal with slow kills.

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• realbo Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User

  June 2013 edited June 2013

  If I remade my GWF at this point, this is what I would do: Don't worry about your build. Experiment and see how things work out because we all get free respecs at the 20th. By then, hopefully, the theorycrafters will have figured out builds that are most efficient and you can just model your build from theirs.

  

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• kyuubiil Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 59

  June 2013 edited June 2013

  synfoola wrote: »

  Hey, gang.
  
  So I've checked the GWF builds and have been confused by the different advice given on which PP to take as well as stat priorities and at-wills. I know the end-game will always be important but my GWF is at lev 36 and I'd like to make her time leveling a little easier and I have some questions:
  
  1) Stat priority. With Trickshaw's revelations on AP, does this apply effectively during later level leveling as well or is this just the goal once you've reached the cap? Is ArP > Rec > Crit > Pow truly the way to go even while grinding up?
  
  2) I have my PP points spread out a bit so far with a a couple in SoTS in Sentinel tree and Great Weap Foc in Destroyer tree. If ArP is the new heezy, should I take both Disciple of War AND staying Power?
  
  3) At-Wills...this really confuses me. I'm hearing people bash Sure Strike but am seeing it in the stickied builds. Right now I have WMS and Wicked Strike slotted but I'd hate to lose effectiveness while leveling quests and in the Delves on the way up. Is there something else I should be using or should feat up later on as soon a it's available?
  
  4) Encounters. Right now I have Not So Fast, Roar, and Flourish slotted. Should I be using Daring Shout even though I lose some minor CC and the dmg from it? Does the Buff/Debeuff make up for that in a leveling scenario?
  
  Sorry for all the questions but I would love some input on this. The GWF has been a fun ride as an alt and hasn't been as difficult as was initially made out on the forums so far (I switched to my panther as soon as I capped the Cleric Comp many levs ago and I just chug an extra pot every now and then), but building her has been the most confusing out of all the classes for me so far. Thanks in advance.

  
  To answer your questions.
  
  1.) Ignore ARP till cap (If I remember Trickshaw's math right, it "ignores" DR, doesn't actually decrease it, so once the enmy hits 0%, it stops doing anything, and since mobs while leveling have less DR than endgame bosses, you need significantly less while leveling); That said, it's a matter of opinion on stats, power doesn't do much for GWF's, we have horrible power scaling, but it helps, likewise with the right passives, stats, and feats, you have respectable crit before stats (I sit at 20% with 5 stacks of weaponmaster before gear on my GWF)
  
  Leveling, the most important thing is survival, Regen, Lifestyle > all, I'd use the priority Regen(or lifesteal, one or the other)>Power>crit while leveling.
  
  Though! the weapon damage stat is the MOST important, 1 weapon damage = 43 power, roughly. Make sure you always have the highest damage weapon you can find.
  
  2.) ARP "caps" at 2200; trying to focus on building around it is a silly idea; AS for build, SotS (defense debuffs apply AFTER ARP, so while arp stops at 0%, defense debuffs will push them below 0%) and Deep Gash (bleed on crit) are universal in almost every build, two of the most powerful feats we've got. (though if you are going instigator, ignore deep gash shince you have great weapon focus)
  
  The reset depends on your build; Destroyer? look to one of the guides, Instigator, Execution's guide is solid, I used it for the longest time -- just swap out deep gash for great weapon focus since you've got it.
  
  3.) At wills are based on build, Weaponmaster's strike is universal, weaving it in enough to keep the debuff up will do more dps than just spamming one at will.
  
  Otherwise? While leveling you want to use either Reaping strike (Executioner's style in destroyer) or Sure strike (The other two builds) -- Wicked strike is amazing for instigators, BUT you don't get the feat to make it awesome (group assault) until really late (54-59 for me, 44-49 at the earliest), and weaponmaster's strike handles AOE well enough on it's own, so you might as well just keep sure strike for the DPM on single targets -- reaping strike however will outdamage it with executioner's style, so YMMV.
  
  4.)Drop roar for Restoring strike, honestly, and IBS will replace flourish when you get it (unless you want to replace restoring strike with it -- as noted, while leveling, weaponmaster's strike handles your AOE, you want to focus on making your single target damage as respectable as possible through your encounters as single big targets are what will give you the most trouble.
  
  NSF is fine, mostly because post-patch, it'll hit like a truck ANd do bonus damage against single targets.
  
  As for Daring Shout, the debuff is worthless, marks drop as soon as you take a hit, so they'll usually drop almost immediately when in a fight; The buffh owever is VERY strong, 3 minion-tier drow netted me about a 20% dr buff.
  
  However, unless you are struggling with survivability, again, not worth it.
  
  
  

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  Hope that helps.

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• synfoola Member Posts: 198 Arc User

  June 2013 edited June 2013

  Thanks for the input, all. I'll start making use of these tips right away.
  
  And I made sure to pick up a Shadowfell Greatsword @ lev 31. Love that weapon damage. You get a good 11 (10 if you get the next Shadow GS @41) levs out of it before a replacement comes along.

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• kwazi Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User

  June 2013 edited June 2013

  Save disciple of war for when you have actual recovery. Disciple is an amazing feat that gives you the stat you need for 5 feat points.
  I'd stay away from staying power even though it's good; destroyer tree has a lot more to offer unless you can't really handle RS. I'd also recommend learning how to sprint cancel WMS properly since it'll raise your kill time by a decent amount.
  
  Sprint cancelling is extremely important if you want to get the most out of GWF since the damage without it is quite pitiful. You can sprint cancel almost every animation to move quicker and attack sooner.

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