Best Goliath defender build

[Lo-Kag]

So in my homebrew game i'm a lvl 13 Goliath Warden (earthstength) and I wanted to make a character that can take alot of punishment and protect the rest of my party from harm. My stats are:


1st lvl 13th lvl DEFENSES HP 142
STR 18 STR 23 AC 29 Bloodied 71
CON 16 CON 21 FORT 29 Surge Value 35
DEX 12 DEX 13 REF 25 Surges/Day 14
INT 12 INT 13 WILL 27
WIS 16 WIS 17
CHA 8 CHA 9

My feats are:

1st Toughness
2nd Great Fortitude
4th Iron Will
6th Lightning Reflexes
8th Weapon Proficiency (Waraxe)
10th Weapon Expertise (Waraxe)
11th Armor Specialization (Hide)
12th Wrathful Warrior (so I can take fighter feats to better my defenses with my heavy shield)

My equipment is:

WEAPON: Gaurdian's Call Waraxe +3
ARMOR: Lifefont Hide Armor +2
HEAD: Helm of Battle (heroic tier)
NECK: Abyssal Adornmet +3
RING: Grace ring of Salvation (heroic tier)



Did I make this character as good a Defender as it could be? Is there anything else I can do, like changing the Build/feats or even the class to make my character a better defender? Please let me know because I want to make the best Defender I possibly can.

 

[Aulirophile]

Since those stats aren't legal I'm assuming they are rolled.

Battle Awareness should be your Fighter MC Feat.

The new line of "Superior" NAD feats from Essentials should replace two of those, though honestly I'd take Improved Defenses till mid-Paragon.

Toughness is overkill on a Warden, especially a Con-Warden.

Get Expertise, a Defender with high defenses who never hits isn't much of an obstacle. On a similar note, there is no racial bonus for using axes, and no feat bonus. A basic Longsword will actually do more damage overall, because of the +3 proficiency. You can go up to a Bastard Sword if you want a superior version.

Guard of Stone should be in there (when you activate your Racial power, marked enemies taken an additional -con penalty to hit allies. That is -7 altogether atm for a round).

Sudden Roots will actually make your OAs sticky.

 

[Mengu]

Being able to take a beating doesn't really help your allies as much as you might think. Being a major threat on the other hand, is a lot more imposing on the field, and draws more enemy fire, which is what you want. All 3 FRW feats are a bit of an overkill, and somewhat one dimensional. I'd spend only 1 feat there.

Hammers seem to have more support for the warden than axes, so I'd stick with a warhammer (or upgrade to craghammer) rather than axe.

You want to toughen yourself up with resists and THP's where possible, and make yourself sticky with powers that slow or by creating rough terrain around you. You don't really need much in the way of feats to accomplish this since a lot of Warden powers will help in these areas, as well as giving you the occasional defense boost.

Also for a defender I find initiative is very important to get in position, so I'd try to shore that up, more so than defenses.

I'll recommend the following for a Goliath warden with a one handed weapon and shield.

1. Bludgeon Expertise
2. Sudden Roots
4. Crippling Crush
6. Improved Initiative
8. Battle Awareness
10. Crushing Guardian
11. Weapon Focus (Hammer)
12. Improved Defenses

For weapon, I'd go with Maw of the Guardian. For neck item, I'd go with something like Amulet of Life. You have plenty of surges, more ways to spend them is always good.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

The new line of "Superior" NAD feats from Essentials should replace two of those, though honestly I'd take Improved Defenses till mid-Paragon.

Hmmm. Normally, I talk up the benefits of Superior Fortitude and Superior Will every chance I get, but the Warden is a special case. Much of the ongoing damage that Superior Fortitude negates will be negated by the Warden's start-of-turn save. Superior Will though -- there ain't nothin' else that lets you save against Stunned and Dazed when they are "end of turn".

I think I still like the Superior feats better.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don´t agree with "a long sword does more overall damage than an axe"

if you are dealing 12 average damage while hitting 60% of the time already, +1 average damage is as good as +5% chance to hit. 13/20*12 = 12/20*13.

So the choice of weapons depends on the amount of extra bonuses to hit you gain from the leader and circumstances and most importantly how much you depend on actually hitting and how much damage you already deal.

If you do no damage and don´t depend on hitting, you can as well take the big axe, and if you connect, it at least counts, where as a rogue you deal so much damage, +5% to hit is more important than a higher damage die.

As a warden, as you need to hit to slow the enemy with sudden roots, a longsword is indeed the recommended weapon, but it has not a lot to do with dealing more or less damage...

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Warden + Greatspear + charge build could be a lot of fun. Sticky (and with reach!), but can charge to get to a new position when needed and hit hard in the process.

 

[Aulirophile]

I don´t agree with "a long sword does more overall damage than an axe"

if you are dealing 12 average damage while hitting 60% of the time already, +1 average damage is as good as +5% chance to hit. 13/20*12 = 12/20*13.

So the choice of weapons depends on the amount of extra bonuses to hit you gain from the leader and circumstances and most importantly how much you depend on actually hitting and how much damage you already deal.

If you do no damage and don´t depend on hitting, you can as well take the big axe, and if you connect, it at least counts, where as a rogue you deal so much damage, +5% to hit is more important than a higher damage die.

As a warden, as you need to hit to slow the enemy with sudden roots, a longsword is indeed the recommended weapon, but it has not a lot to do with dealing more or less damage...

If you had specific numbers, you could use the following equation to compare the situation.


(chance to hit without the penalty) > (penalty * average damage without the bonus) / (20 * bonus damage)

At his level, with those feats, Longsword would win.

 

[Lo-Kag]

That's very interesting. It's making my character more of a striker feel as a secondary role. And it would also give me an extra +1 to hit if I used a craghammer and changed only a few of your suggested feats. I'll take it up with my DM and see what he thinks of the idea. Thanks man.

 

[Lo-Kag]

Being able to take a beating doesn't really help your allies as much as you might think. Being a major threat on the other hand, is a lot more imposing on the field, and draws more enemy fire, which is what you want. All 3 FRW feats are a bit of an overkill, and somewhat one dimensional. I'd spend only 1 feat there.

Hammers seem to have more support for the warden than axes, so I'd stick with a warhammer (or upgrade to craghammer) rather than axe.

You want to toughen yourself up with resists and THP's where possible, and make yourself sticky with powers that slow or by creating rough terrain around you. You don't really need much in the way of feats to accomplish this since a lot of Warden powers will help in these areas, as well as giving you the occasional defense boost.

Also for a defender I find initiative is very important to get in position, so I'd try to shore that up, more so than defenses.

I'll recommend the following for a Goliath warden with a one handed weapon and shield.

1. Bludgeon Expertise
2. Sudden Roots
4. Crippling Crush
6. Improved Initiative
8. Battle Awareness
10. Crushing Guardian
11. Weapon Focus (Hammer)
12. Improved Defenses

For weapon, I'd go with Maw of the Guardian. For neck item, I'd go with something like Amulet of Life. You have plenty of surges, more ways to spend them is always good.

That's very interesting. It's making him more of a striker as a secondary role. If I changed only a few of your suggested feats I could get an accumulative +1 to hit with a hammer. Thanks man. I'll see what my DM thinks.