Help me polish my "Harassment" Swordmage?

[Nullzone]

I've started tooling with a Swordmage for LFR play, and thought I might share it here for feedback; for character concept, I consider her an arcane scholar who is highly attuned to and exploitative of Thunder/Lightning magics, being a Stormsoul Genasi...but having spent time in the City of Brass, she's more martially inclined than most, thus Swordmage. As such, I tried to steer toward those powers unless the alternatives were markedly better.

I wanted the character to keep making the monsters go "wtf!?" by interrupting a lot and reducing damage or redirecting attacks entirely (preferably to their own allies). Tactical strategy is to Aegis the melee baddies and let the strikers play with them while I go after the artillery/controller/lurker and make his life miserable with booming blade and white lotus effects, using my interrupts to keep the strikers alive if the melee guy chooses not to come after me. I feel this provides a lot of synergy for strikers like Pursuit Avengers or other classes who like to move around to get bonuses, and it really plays up the Swordmage's mobility as well (which is another thing I love about it).

So here's the build:

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Genasi, Swordmage, Academy Master, Sage of Ages
Swordmage Aegis Option: Aegis of Shielding
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Light blade)
Elemental Manifestation Option: Stormsoul
Genasi - Chaos Burn (+2 to Arcana)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 14, CON 24, DEX 15, INT 26, WIS 13, CHA 10

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 16, DEX 13, INT 16, WIS 11, CHA 8


AC: 41 Fort: 35 Ref: 35 Will: 34
HP: 213 Surges: 15 Surge Value: 53

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +38, Athletics +22, Endurance +29, History +34

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +17, Bluff +15, Diplomacy +15, Dungeoneering +22, Heal +16, Insight +16, Intimidate +15, Nature +24, Perception +16, Religion +29, Stealth +17, Streetwise +15, Thievery +17

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Genasi Racial Power: Promise of Storm
Swordmage Feature: Aegis of Shielding
Swordmage Attack 1: Sword Burst
Swordmage Attack 1: Booming Blade
Swordmage Utility 2: Channeling Shield
Swordmage Attack 3: Dimensional Vortex
Swordmage Utility 6: Armathor's Step
Swordmage Utility 10: Impenetrable Warding
Academy Master Attack 11: Learned Boost
Academy Master Utility 12: Refined Recall
Swordmage Attack 13: Hypnotic Swordplay
Swordmage Utility 16: Borrowed Confidence
Swordmage Attack 17: Surprising Transposition
Swordmage Attack 19: Planar Shock
Academy Master Attack 20: Master's Surge
Swordmage Utility 22: Giant's Might
Swordmage Attack 25: Bounding Lightning
Sage of Ages Utility 26: Trick of Knowledge
Swordmage Attack 29: Astral Thunder Blade

FEATS
Level 1: Intelligent Blademaster
Level 2: Versatile Expertise
Level 4: White Lotus Riposte
Level 6: White Lotus Hindrance
Level 8: Terrain Advantage
Level 10: Improved Swordmage Warding
Level 11: Greater Swordmage Warding
Level 12: Double Aegis
Level 14: White Lotus Master Hindrance
Level 16: White Lotus Master Riposte
Level 18: Greater Aegis of Shielding
Level 21: Total Aegis
Level 22: Rapid Aegis Reaction
Level 24: Epic Will
Level 26: Superior Initiative
Level 28: Strength Through Challenge
Level 30: Quickened Spellcasting

ITEMS
Longsword x1
Adventurer's Kit
Leather Armor x1
Potion of Healing (heroic tier)
====== End ======

I know I'm missing equipment, not really worried about it; I intend to take a Farbond Spellblade (just because I think it's cool) and Armor of Aegis Expansion (marked baddies still can't hurt my allies too bad even if they manage to catch us in burst or blast) for sure, hadn't looked into other equipment yet.

So I'm open to suggestions for it; I'm completely lost on a L20 feat (considered taking Skill Power and picking up something like Strategist's Epiphany just because it's so good for what it is), and don't really know what other equipment will go well with the build...

Also, I hate hate hate missing. I mean, who doesn't, but seriously. So ways to avoid that are good too if you see any obvious ones that don't require corner-casing with my attacks.

Feedback appreciated, feel free to yoink for your own toons of course

 

[Riastlin]

For your level 20 feat I'd seriously consider Superior Will or Superior Reflex or even just Improved Defenses. More protection is always good and as a swordmage you'll definitely be targetted a lot and you likely won't have the highest hit points around.

Otherwise, your build looks pretty good. Dimensional Vortex is awesome. I think there is another Swordmage power that acts similar to Vortex but pushes the target instead (and doesn't allow the attack on the target's ally). Not as good but does give you one more interrupt (you can push the target out of range of its attack). But yeah, Vortex always "annoys" me as a DM. "Ooooh that's gonna hurt as its a crit." "Uh, I'm gonna interrupt and make him thwack that nasty caster over there."

And by "annoy" I mean its really cool btw.

 

[RangerWickett]

Interesting build, but if I were the DM I'd probably get annoyed and just have everything gang up on you at the start of each fight so you wouldn't stick around long enough to use all your interrupts.

Also, the title gave me weird mental images of a swordmage walking up to a female cyclops and saying, "Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, but it's in the cyclops it's a little closer to chest-level. Why don't you come back to the tavern with me, and we can discuss other one-eyed monsters."

 

[Herschel]

It looks fine. Were I playing it I might change a couple of things, but that's more my playstyle than anything. Were I making it for my playstyle....

First, why Shielding? If you're solo defendering then it's fine, but if you're going to be in the backfield Assault offers more options for escape.

Second, you can do it with items but get some resistances because you're going to be in artillery/controller land. I'd skip the White Lotus Hinderance for Versatile Resistance.

Thirdly, why Stormsoul other than the encounter damage boost? Thematically Windsoul would give you good theme support but also give you another way to bypass the front line, leaving Armathor's Step for escape. Side note: A bit of accuracy cheese is Earthsoul + Earthshock Master Feat + Elemental Echo feat. Earthshock becomes a reliable, minor action attack that knocks prone and a d8 etc. damage and if you miss, well Elemental Echo still gives you +1 to hit, +2/4/6 damage on your standard action attack. (this is great when using the Elemental Tempest Paragaon Path, but that's not thematic). Sorry, got off topic there.

Fourth, skip the White Lotus Paragon feats and retrain out of the White Lotus feats late heroic. In LFR especially when you get to late heroic you don't use your at-wills much at all any more. They really become kind of dead weight.

Fifth, don't go character builder until updated for the new stat splits. Then go 16 post-racial Con, dump Dex down and get that Wisdom up to 15 sooner rather than later for Superior Will. You're going to be in status effect land which includes dazes early and stuns later. Your defenses need to be high because you're going to be a major sponge. That means balancing Fort and Will with Reflex. Also, I may go Host of Shields at Second level. again, you're going to be prime target for backfield fire and in a vice between the brutes and the artillery. Don't scrimp on defenses. Improved Defense should be in your feat list by Paragon.

Again, your build looks fine, if (for my tastes) rather heavy on the White Lotus stuff. I would suggest getting rid of that, especially the Paragon stuff.

 

[Nullzone]

I had the white lotus stuff and stormsoul because it was initially a "striker" build; buffing up Booming Blade and daring monsters to violate it. The more I toyed with it though the more I liked this harassing concept more. I'll look at the other manifestations and drop the WL feats, for sure; thanks for the insight!

 

[sigfile]

What are your level 1 (encounter), 5, 7, and 9 power choices? I suspect they were removed upon some later retraining, but it'll be helpful to see what's there during heroic and paragon play.

I disagree with Herschel a bit. As a swordmage with Academy Master you're going to get a bit of extra mileage out of your at-wills. Odds are good that most of your encounter powers are interrupts. That being said, I'm still not a big fan of White Lotus Master Riposte; you probably have more important things to do with your immediate actions. The White Lotus Hindrance / Terrain Advantage combo is cute, though.

In place of WLH and Terrain Advantage, you might consider Resourceful Leader (MC: Warlord, providing allies with a bonus upon use of an action point whether they hit or miss) and Novice Power, to swap out your level one swordmage ability with Vengeance is Mine. Your allies will love the action point buff, and you'll get to pull a nasty trick on an enemy that decides to obey your mark.

If you follow Herschel's advice to buff WIS and dump DEX, you won't qualify for Improved Swordmage Warding. That's fine. That makes your level 10 slot a great one to take (or retrain in to) Superior Will. I can't say enough good things about this feat for a swordmage. A dazed swordmage is just a sorry, sorry sight.

With the two paragon tier slots available, you could either grab a fun fluff feat or two (I do love familiars, extra Genasi manifestations are often helpful, or you could take one of the feats that improve your healing surge efficiency or grant resistances) or snag Arcane Admixture: Thunder on Sword Burst and use Resounding Thunder to nudge that up to a close burst: 2 enemies-only at-will power. That would seem to mesh well with your concept, doing bonus damage (and providing extra accuracy) from Academy Master while allowing you to further buff the damage with Promise of Storm.

 

[Nullzone]

Revised; the final stats are of course a bit off since the racial stat bonuses can't be adjusted yet, but the point buy is where it should be to make that happen.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Genasi, Swordmage, Academy Master, Sage of Ages
Swordmage Aegis Option: Aegis of Shielding
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Light blade)
Elemental Manifestation Option: Earthsoul
Earthshock Option: Earthshock Constitution
Genasi - Chaos Burn (+2 to Arcana)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 16, CON 22, DEX 13, INT 26, WIS 16, CHA 10

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 12, CON 14, DEX 11, INT 16, WIS 14, CHA 8


AC: 49 Fort: 42 Ref: 43 Will: 44
HP: 211 Surges: 14 Surge Value: 52

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +41, Athletics +23, Endurance +28, Heal +23, History +37

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +16, Bluff +15, Diplomacy +15, Dungeoneering +27, Insight +18, Intimidate +15, Nature +29, Perception +18, Religion +32, Stealth +16, Streetwise +15, Thievery +16

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Genasi Racial Power: Earthshock
Swordmage Feature: Aegis of Shielding
Swordmage Attack 1: Booming Blade
Swordmage Attack 1: Sword Burst
Warlord Attack 1: Vengeance is Mine
Swordmage Utility 2: Channeling Shield
Swordmage Attack 3: Dimensional Vortex
Swordmage Utility 6: Armathor's Step
Swordmage Utility 10: Impenetrable Warding
Academy Master Attack 11: Learned Boost
Academy Master Utility 12: Refined Recall
Swordmage Utility 16: Aegis of Lost Souls
Swordmage Attack 17: Surprising Transposition
Swordmage Attack 19: Planar Shock
Academy Master Attack 20: Master's Surge
Swordmage Utility 22: Giant's Might
Swordmage Attack 25: Invincible Rampage
Sage of Ages Utility 26: Trick of Knowledge
Swordmage Attack 29: Obliterating Blaze

FEATS
Level 1: Intelligent Blademaster
Level 2: Versatile Expertise
Level 4: Earthshock Master
Level 6: Elemental Echo
Level 8: Resourceful Leader
Level 10: Novice Power
Level 11: Superior Will
Level 12: Double Aegis
Level 14: Greater Swordmage Warding
Level 16: Greater Aegis of Shielding
Level 18: Stoneguard
Level 20: Superior Fortitude
Level 21: Total Aegis
Level 22: Rapid Aegis Reaction
Level 24: Strength Through Challenge
Level 26: Superior Reflexes
Level 28: Improved Swordmage Warding
Level 30: Epic Will

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit
Farbond Spellblade Longsword +6 x1
Starleather Armor of Aegis Expansion +6 x1
Amulet of Protection +6 x1
Philosopher's Crown (epic tier) x1
====== End ======

The replaced powers are Sword of Sigils, Vanishing Blade, Swordmage's Shielding Fire, Echoes of Sword Magic, Hellspike Assault, Hypnotic Swordplay, and Assault of Fiery Cuts.

I'm not a fan of Aegis of Assault because it's too much like other defenders; run in with the whole team, bash in the skull of one baddie at a time, move to the next. Even if I did mark and then go across the field to the back line, enforcing my mark means leaving my harassing target and giving them a free turn to get to a strategic position against me.

It has its place and the assault powers are awesome, but it's not what I was going for with the character. If I wanted to harass via damage, I'd play an Avenger or Weaponmaster

 

[Marshall]

Retrain Double Aegis, Total Aegis overrides it.