If 2 land the first round, next round the opponent's AC is 4 less, it's actually VERY likely that by round 2 or 3 everyone will be hitting practically every turn as the monster's AC is now 8 less (with 4 players, 10 less with 5, 12 less with 6...)
Regicide said:
For instance, at level 1 if 4 characters use -2 AC until next round powers
And what first level powers would these be that can be used for at the beginning of the encounter, every single encounter in a given day and that the PCs of these four classes from the PHB have?
The strategy is actually to lower the monster's AC by round 2 and by round 3 to start unloading daily's on it 2 at a time. But whatever. It's a moot point because it does synergize better, and it's blatantly obvious. It's easier to lower ACs at higher levels especially with things like the rogue paragon path that gives a permanent -2 to AC on a crits and greater access to encounter powers that do it.
I could only find for level 24 PCs:
one Daily (Weapon of the Gods) and one Encounter power (Plague of Doom) for the Cleric
one Daily (Crack the Shell) and two Encounters powers (Griffon's Wrath, Chains of Sorrow) for the Fighter
one Daily (Feinting Flurry, but only helps the Rogue) and one Encounter power (Imperiling Strike) for the Rogue;
zero such powers for the Wizard;
Not all of these will work, they require everyone being able to attack the same target in the same round, and by the end of round one or two in most encounters, the PCs will be out of powers that can do this.
So, an average of maybe -6 or so to a single creature on round two (since some of these powers are not -2, but -stat mod) and an average of -1 to a single creature on round three unless the PCs start using Daily AC debuff powers.
Effectively what this strategy does is force the Rogue and Fighter on the same target and allows one target to be hit a lot early on. However, the PCs are at -3 to hit overall (compared to level 1) at level 24, so the +6 is not quite as potent as it sounds on the surface. One round of +3 vs. many rounds of -3.
And if a PC is stunned or (in the case of the Fighter or Rogue) restrained or otherwise incapacitated or too far away in round one, he might not be able to join in on the fun.
The best the group could do is save the Dailies for a solo once per day and whale on it a bit in possibly the first three or four rounds.
Course with no solo, the players would not know whether to use the Daily part of the strategy in a given encounter or save the Dailies (and effectively waste them by putting them on hold) hoping for a solo. So, 25% of the PC's 16 normal Daily attack powers could be in limbo.
No doubt. This is a cool synergy. It's a synergy that works for a few rounds in 10 to 20 or so rounds at high level and uses up 15% or so of Encounter attack powers and up to 25% or so of Daily attack powers (when needed). It also ups the chance to hit same level foes to about 80% for a round, higher level foes for a slightly less chance to hit.
