CubeKnight
First Post
The miss damage comes from Hammer Rhythm, a feat, not from the power itself. A Ranger dual wielding hammers with that feat would also do 2*Con mod damage on a miss/miss.
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Battleminds: OK defenders, fantastic... strikers?
- Thread starter bganon
- Start date
Right, it's Hammer Rhythm that makes this powerful. But part of the advantage is that Hammer Rhythm is based off of CON... which is the Battlemind's primary ability score. Rangers can take HR or Scimitar Dance (which is similar), but neither key off of the melee Ranger's primary ability score.
In fact, off the top of my head the only build I know of which takes advantage of either of those feats for a class with CON/DEX as the primary ability score is the HexHammer, which has to go through a few contortions to make the whole thing work.
Anyway, I guess I'd forgotten how crazy optimized striker damage could get. What I'm hearing is that yes, a Battlemind can get decent damage (maybe on the low striker end) with one paragon feat, one level 13 power choice, and a maybe suboptimal ability score array. I think I'm OK with that.
In fact, off the top of my head the only build I know of which takes advantage of either of those feats for a class with CON/DEX as the primary ability score is the HexHammer, which has to go through a few contortions to make the whole thing work.
Anyway, I guess I'd forgotten how crazy optimized striker damage could get. What I'm hearing is that yes, a Battlemind can get decent damage (maybe on the low striker end) with one paragon feat, one level 13 power choice, and a maybe suboptimal ability score array. I think I'm OK with that.
What with to get that kind of damage at 15?
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Vorpal is an epic-level enchant so unless the DM is handing out +5 swords to mid-paragon characters...
I can't speak for his avenger crit, but I can give you a breakdown of our rogue's crit damage (with Sly-Flourish, his primary at-will). The avenger probably has something similar, but he's probably using an Executioner's Axe (so replace all [W] d4s with d12s):
4(1[W])+6(Dex)+4(Cha)+3(Enh)+2(Weapon Focus)+28(Sneak Attack)+3d12(Vicious Dagger)+1d12(War Ring)+1d10(Devestating Critical)+1d10(Flame Bracers)+2d4(High Crit weapon):
So, 4d12+2d10+2d4+47. Average damage around 90, though I don't think he's ever rolled less than 90 unless he (for some reason) didn't have CA for the attack. If he's hit a milestone, he can use his war-ring's daily to make the crit maxed at 121 damage; if not he can just add +2d12 to the crit.
He's aiming for a few magic items and feats to increase his crit damage:
+4 Bloodiron dagger(d12s go to d10s, but repeat ALL bonus crit damage next turn, add +1 to static damage).
Paragon Executioner's bracers(replace Flame Bracers 1d10 fire with 2d6 untyped).
Some type of Citrine.
I've told him to get TWF and TWO so he gets the +1 damage and an extra off-hand attack when he crits. He'll probably go that route if he doesn't multiclass bard to get a Lilting Songblade...
Also, if my Ranger gets the Bracers of Ice on his loot list, the rogue gets my Gauntlets of Destruction(reroll all 1 on melee weapon damage). Decent for his regular d4s, even more useful for that big handful of crit dice.
As a fun side note, he keeps all his crit dice in their own separate plastic dice container so when he gets a crit he pops the top off the container and vigorously plops them in the center of the table.
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Destil
Explorer
Yeah. Vicious +4 Ex. Axe with the feat to add the extra d10 and a paragon path feature to add +1d6 when attacking an opponent granting combat advantage when bloodied +painful oath + bard/paladin bonuses to damage + whatever other feats/abilities he's got. He's broken 100 on his at-will crits.
We don't have much in the way of magic items, a few misc peices and most of us have the 'big 3', but nothing that really adds to damage.
more on brutal barrage
So I'm getting up to Epic Level soon, and trying to find more fun at level 21 with Brutal Barrage.
I have a half-elf fighter/battlemind hybrid multiclass warlock (for eldritch strike) with a withering net. So when I action point, thanks to human-ness, background and armor, I believe the total is a +5 on my first Brutal Barrage, which generally means it hits, which means the target now grants combat advantage and has a -4 to his defense which means everyone is going to hit that target until he saves.
In that way, by giving my allies a +6 to hit against any target I choose, this guy becomes a leader.
He also slows, knocks out and prones targets, making him a good controller.
He also has a couple of great defenses, about 120 temps each combat and marks targets, making him a good defender.
And did I mention, his stats are maximized such that his brutal barrage damage is in the range of 88 per round at level 16 so he's a decent striker.
So what tricks can I add to my bag for epic level? Any suggestions?
So I'm getting up to Epic Level soon, and trying to find more fun at level 21 with Brutal Barrage.
I have a half-elf fighter/battlemind hybrid multiclass warlock (for eldritch strike) with a withering net. So when I action point, thanks to human-ness, background and armor, I believe the total is a +5 on my first Brutal Barrage, which generally means it hits, which means the target now grants combat advantage and has a -4 to his defense which means everyone is going to hit that target until he saves.
In that way, by giving my allies a +6 to hit against any target I choose, this guy becomes a leader.
He also slows, knocks out and prones targets, making him a good controller.
He also has a couple of great defenses, about 120 temps each combat and marks targets, making him a good defender.
And did I mention, his stats are maximized such that his brutal barrage damage is in the range of 88 per round at level 16 so he's a decent striker.
So what tricks can I add to my bag for epic level? Any suggestions?
Lancelot
Adventurer
I DM'ed a battlemind with brutal barrage, up 'til about lvl 19. Yeah, it's a good power. But let me tell you how it gets truly brutal.
He was in a party with a minotaur warden with several "knock prone" powers, and a cleric with the sever the source 17th level encounter power. The battlemind had taken the Headsman's Chop feat, for +5 damage against prone opponents.
The minotaur would knock an opponent prone and the cleric would use sever the source. For those who aren't familiar with it, sever gives a single target vulnerability to all damage equal to 10 + Wis mod. No attack roll needed, lasts until the end of the cleric's next turn.
The battlemind then comes in with brutal barrage, dropping the extra power point. 12 damage per hit, plus vulnerable 16 per hit. 4 attacks. Action point. Repeat.
Even with no crits, he was pulling over 200 points of damage in one round, per encounter. Note that this is without any special magic items, racial powers, or other strangeness. Using only 2 power points, 1 action point, and no daily powers.
Despite 4E's vastly better balance than previous editions, there are still some crazy anomalies out there. Brutal barrage, like most multi-attack powers, is quite vulnerable to exploitation. The biggest problem, as has been previously pointed out, is that it is "virtually" an at-will power due to the low PP augmentation cost.
He was in a party with a minotaur warden with several "knock prone" powers, and a cleric with the sever the source 17th level encounter power. The battlemind had taken the Headsman's Chop feat, for +5 damage against prone opponents.
The minotaur would knock an opponent prone and the cleric would use sever the source. For those who aren't familiar with it, sever gives a single target vulnerability to all damage equal to 10 + Wis mod. No attack roll needed, lasts until the end of the cleric's next turn.
The battlemind then comes in with brutal barrage, dropping the extra power point. 12 damage per hit, plus vulnerable 16 per hit. 4 attacks. Action point. Repeat.
Even with no crits, he was pulling over 200 points of damage in one round, per encounter. Note that this is without any special magic items, racial powers, or other strangeness. Using only 2 power points, 1 action point, and no daily powers.
Despite 4E's vastly better balance than previous editions, there are still some crazy anomalies out there. Brutal barrage, like most multi-attack powers, is quite vulnerable to exploitation. The biggest problem, as has been previously pointed out, is that it is "virtually" an at-will power due to the low PP augmentation cost.
