Grading Encounter Attack Powers
- Thread starter keterys
- Start date
I think most of them aren't worth that much. Who really cares what a C+ turns into. But...
Encounter 3: Mainly affects users of Hammers as pretty much everyone else gets one of the following two.
Rain of Blows: B-. As I noted, you get your non-stat bonuses twice. That's better than Crushing Blow. I don't know if it makes it all the way up to B, though.
Sweeping Blow: B-. Seems slightly better than Dire Wolverine Strike(Ranger 1) as you have the choice of wielding a two-handed weapon or using a Shield. Still good for marking and general minion destruction. But it is an Encounter 3, not 1.
Encounter 13: affects a wider range of weapon types - axes, light/heavy blades, spears, picks.
Anvil of Doom: B to B-. Daze isn't bad.
Chains of Sorrow: B to B+. While a -2 penalty isn't a -7 to 8, it isn't bad either, especially at 13th where it is a lot more likely to be only -4. I think a lot of wielders of those weapons should probably consider this one first.
Gradine
🏳️⚧️ (she/her) 🇵🇸
While I don't think Iron Vanguard is as good as Come And Get It or Griffon's Wrath, I disagree with your reasoning. I really don't think it's fair to grade a class's powers based on powers of other classes. Obviously a class like a Cleric is going to be much better than the Fighter at boosting AC, and is going to have access to that kind of thing a lot earlier. Iron Vanguard is, however, the first power a Fighter has access to that boosts his own AC, and it's something a sword & board fighter might be interested in.
I feel this thread shouldn't go into oblivion quite yet. There's still room for discussion on pretty much every power here and often such discussion expands our understanding and leads to new insights. So with that said, I'll give my long overdue analysis of the latest batch of encounter powers.
At this point we've gone beyond heroic tier play. We're just into paragon tier and this implies a few things for our heroes. First off, we're never going to be lacking for options. Between magic items and the other encounter powers, we have lot of tools in our bag of tricks. Secondly, the quality of our opponents has changed. Instead of goblins and orcs, we're starting to face real dragons, giants, drow, mindflayers and a lot more controller types than we've previously seen.
*CLERIC*
D+ / Arc of the Righteous
Not even as effective a 3W attack and the cleric would be hard pressed to get as much damage out of a 3W as a fighter or striker. Even a warpriest can't use his mark on this power as it's not an at-will. I find it very weak compared to Inspiring Strike Below
B- / Inspiring Strike
Suffers from MAD as it relies upon STR/CHR/WIS(healer's lore) to get its effect. It's better than it's counter part but the healing that it provides will be less than a surge value at this point.
A- / Mantle of Glory
I feel guilty giving this anything less than an A but I suspect at this level of combat that damage is going to be more concentrated than at the lower levels. Monsters are more likely to infect status effects on PCs and then focus their damage on one. Mantle of Glory heals all allies in the blast but I think this is going to be overkill most of the time. The damage won't do much to non-minions even though it attacks the will defense but it is also a very nice minion clearer in a pinch.
A / Plague of Doom
A devoted cleric has little reason to boost strength so I don't feel this attack suffers from MAD. And it's quite nifty granting +3-4 to hit to all of your allies as well as to your next attack. A solid A power.
*FIGHTER*
The fighter certainly has a ton of powers at this level. His choice is probably going to depend on his weapon so I'm going to assume that the fighter gets the weapon bonus in every case.
A / Anvil of Doom
A stun power? Yes please!
A+ / Chains of Sorrow
A bonus to hit that triggers off an encounter power is even more useful than you might think. This gives the fighter a chance to set up his dailies as well as letting the other party members go to down with a +3-4 bonus.
C/ Giant's Wake B- with halberd
Extra bonus damage isn't that hot but the nifty thing is being able to make more attacks. The problem is that the targets have to be adjacent to your first target AND within melee reach. If you extend your reach then you can cover all enemies that are adjacent which makes the power a decent minion killer if nothing else.
B- / Silverstep
Silverstep lets you shift around quite a bit. I'm uncertain as to the value but it seems like a handy power that can used quite a bit.
C+ / Storm of Blows
I rated this power a lot lower until I noticed that you didn't have to hit with the attack in order to gain the next one. However it does require 3 targets that are bunched together and reachable by three seperate shifts. You do get to add your strength 3 times and mark 3 targets if you do have this kind of situation which makes it slightly better than 3W but the rarity of this being fully utilized holds it back.
C / Talon of the Roc
At the point, we hope for better effects in our encounter powers than things we get from opportunity attacks.
This quick review took longer than I thought. I'll get around to the other classes when I can.
At this point we've gone beyond heroic tier play. We're just into paragon tier and this implies a few things for our heroes. First off, we're never going to be lacking for options. Between magic items and the other encounter powers, we have lot of tools in our bag of tricks. Secondly, the quality of our opponents has changed. Instead of goblins and orcs, we're starting to face real dragons, giants, drow, mindflayers and a lot more controller types than we've previously seen.
*CLERIC*
D+ / Arc of the Righteous
Not even as effective a 3W attack and the cleric would be hard pressed to get as much damage out of a 3W as a fighter or striker. Even a warpriest can't use his mark on this power as it's not an at-will. I find it very weak compared to Inspiring Strike Below
B- / Inspiring Strike
Suffers from MAD as it relies upon STR/CHR/WIS(healer's lore) to get its effect. It's better than it's counter part but the healing that it provides will be less than a surge value at this point.
A- / Mantle of Glory
I feel guilty giving this anything less than an A but I suspect at this level of combat that damage is going to be more concentrated than at the lower levels. Monsters are more likely to infect status effects on PCs and then focus their damage on one. Mantle of Glory heals all allies in the blast but I think this is going to be overkill most of the time. The damage won't do much to non-minions even though it attacks the will defense but it is also a very nice minion clearer in a pinch.
A / Plague of Doom
A devoted cleric has little reason to boost strength so I don't feel this attack suffers from MAD. And it's quite nifty granting +3-4 to hit to all of your allies as well as to your next attack. A solid A power.
*FIGHTER*
The fighter certainly has a ton of powers at this level. His choice is probably going to depend on his weapon so I'm going to assume that the fighter gets the weapon bonus in every case.
A / Anvil of Doom
A stun power? Yes please!
A+ / Chains of Sorrow
A bonus to hit that triggers off an encounter power is even more useful than you might think. This gives the fighter a chance to set up his dailies as well as letting the other party members go to down with a +3-4 bonus.
C/ Giant's Wake B- with halberd
Extra bonus damage isn't that hot but the nifty thing is being able to make more attacks. The problem is that the targets have to be adjacent to your first target AND within melee reach. If you extend your reach then you can cover all enemies that are adjacent which makes the power a decent minion killer if nothing else.
B- / Silverstep
Silverstep lets you shift around quite a bit. I'm uncertain as to the value but it seems like a handy power that can used quite a bit.
C+ / Storm of Blows
I rated this power a lot lower until I noticed that you didn't have to hit with the attack in order to gain the next one. However it does require 3 targets that are bunched together and reachable by three seperate shifts. You do get to add your strength 3 times and mark 3 targets if you do have this kind of situation which makes it slightly better than 3W but the rarity of this being fully utilized holds it back.
C / Talon of the Roc
At the point, we hope for better effects in our encounter powers than things we get from opportunity attacks.
This quick review took longer than I thought. I'll get around to the other classes when I can.
Actually Hesitation Slash makes a fantastic Novice Power for a Brawny Rogue multiclassing into Fighter.
But as a Defender power, I don't think it's quite as good as Rain of Blows or Sweeping Blow. It's about on par with Armor Piercing Thrust, maybe slightly better, depending on what weapon you are using, how high your dex bonus is, and how your opponent's AC and Reflex compare.
Branduil
Hero
What new power?
keterys
First Post
Latest errata should spark a couple changes - Dance of Steel and Shadow Wasp Strike can get actual ratings.
For ref, I've had lvl 17 graded for, uhh, two weeks... I just literally haven't had a whole hour I could type the explanations in while making sure things were sane. I may have time while I'm on my way to Gen Con depending on whether I just sleep on the flights, get together with how many groups of people Wednesday, or whatever.
I'd really like to get back to this, though.
For ref, I've had lvl 17 graded for, uhh, two weeks... I just literally haven't had a whole hour I could type the explanations in while making sure things were sane. I may have time while I'm on my way to Gen Con depending on whether I just sleep on the flights, get together with how many groups of people Wednesday, or whatever.
I'd really like to get back to this, though.
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