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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Victim" data-source="post: 4455539" data-attributes="member: 78">As mentioned, if the defender's AC is too much higher than other characters, then it's worth it for the monsters to attempt to bypass him no matter what, since they won't to damage if they don't.  Since Combat Challenge and Divine Challenge work against OA, the rest of the party is free to move around more against normal monsters.  Either the monster gives up its OA, or it takes some damage (or the chance for damage).  A solo monster or some elites will have the defenses and HP just to suck it up, but it's usually not worth it for normal monsters.  So even when the monsters will happily attack the defender, you can still make use of the mark.Usually, there's a leader in the group, so the defender's lack of powers to use his own huge surge total isn't that big of a drawback.  Combat Challenge punishes shifting.  A number of monsters, especially at low levels, have shifting powers that can be rather annoying or dangerous.  At the very least, it should usually mean it takes an extra round to flank the fighter.  Even when all the marked creatures will want to beat down the fighter anyway, the anti shift power often gets them to do so from an inferior position.The paladin can have Bolstering Strike as an at will; so he have often take significantly more damage than his normal HP and defenses indicate.</blockquote>