Grading Encounter Attack Powers

[Gladius Legis]

Well actually feats like Lightning Reflexes etc already provide the +2 feat bonus to the defense in question, and Solid Sound doesn't stack with those...

Uh, actually, it does. Solid Sound's bonus is untyped, which means it stacks with everything.

It's feat bonuses like Lightning Reflexes that don't stack with other feat bonuses, which Solid Sound is not.

In any case, I don't mind the keyword inheritance at all. If you really want to marry yourself to one particular type of weapon, you're giving up feats you wouldn't need otherwise. And while Lasting Frost + Wintertouched is very good, it's not broken by any stretch, especially if your party is good at setting up combat advantage without it.

 

[toxicspirit]

The Keyword loophole has been fixed. You actually have to use an Item's Power (which contains a Keyword) in conjunction with one of your own Powers (which is pretty much anything) in order to 'inherit' the Keyword. It isn't just a passive inheritance, in that the item's Power must be used for it to have any effect.

 

[yu gnomi]

I didn't think Winter's Wrath would rank higher than Fire Blast, since Fire Blast does slightly more damage and doesn't grant concealment to your enemies (who presumably are the majority of the individuals in the blast).

As for the rogue stepping through concealment to hide, as far as I know he has to end his movement in the concealment to hide. This means he will take a small amount of auto damage as well.

 

[NorthSaber]

Uh, actually, it does. Solid Sound's bonus is untyped, which means it stacks with everything.

D'oh! I was sure it was a feat bonus - my bad.

Are there any items that add the thunder keyword to all of your attacks, though? I think there's one for cold, fire, and lightning, but not for thunder.

 

[keterys]

Fire Blast does less damage than Winter's Wrath, actually. 1.5 more on the initial blast, but Winter's Wrath does Int Mod additional damage guaranteed. So it's an automatic minion killer and does several more damage, especially if you have Lasting Frost... Int + 3.5 more damage more if you hit. And, of course, Int damage on Miss >> 0

Because it only damages at start of turn and only lasts 1 turn, the party can benefit from the concealment without taking damage. The monsters can too, of course.

 

[Crashy75]

Could we get a rating for racial/class encounter powers? Also, a utility thread would be great.

 

[keterys]

Well, if I keep momentum I'd hope to have encounter and daily done before racial/class. Utility at some point in the middle or later of that, Paragon at some point probably after all of that. So... maybe some day, but I'll admit they're real late on my list. I could make a thread and let folks at it, but I'm not sure it would go far without moderation and prodding.

 

[keterys]

Encounter 13 Analysis

*CLERIC*
C / Arc of the Righteous
B- / Inspiring Strike
A / Mantle of Glory
A / Plague of Doom

Arc of the Righteous is just okay. If you hit both times it's decent damage.
Inspiring Strike is surge free healing and that's always desirable. The amount it heals is okay when you get it, but doesn't scale to that high. You could easily have situations in which Healing Strike heals more, does the same damage, and marks.
Mantle of Glory is decent radiant damage to an area that hits enemies only, which sounds pretty good. And oh, all allies can take healing surges in the area. Wow.
Plague of Doom does decent damage, but mostly it sets up power plays for the group with a Charisma (little MAD) penalty to all defenses.

*FIGHTER*
A+ / Anvil of Doom
A / Chains of Sorrow
C+ / Giant's Wake
B- / Silverstep
B- / Storm of Blows
C+ / Talon of the Roc

Anvil of Doom stuns. Stunning rocks.
Chains of Sorrow sets up power plays with a Dex penalty to all defenses.
Giant's Wake is fine, but honestly a close burst 1 would be better than this.
Silverstep won't see much use, but if you're the build for it, it hits two targets, pushes Dex squares, and lets you shift Dex squares. That's very versatile and useful.
Storm of Blows lets you shift up to 3 squares and attack up to 3 targets you can reach in those. That's nice and versatile, though the damage is a little low.
Talon of the Roc Why, hello Steel Serpent Strike. Enjoying your +1W upgrade? Still decent for keeping an enemy nearby.

*PALADIN*
C+ / Entangling Smite
B- / Radiant Charge
C+ / Renewing Smite
B / Whirlwind Smite

Entangling Smite is against Will defense, which is good, and immobilizes. I'm starting to appreciate immobilize a little more due to the number of zones and how many monsters have little they can do about being immobilized.
Radiant Charge deals good radiant damage and allows you to fly short distances.
Renewing Smite is... just like Inspiring Strike, but 5 points less healed and potentially more MAD. That's not a good comparison.
Whirlwind Smite is your basic close burst 1 against enemies only with good 2W damage and it marks those it hits. Seems solid.

*RANGER*
A / Armor Splinter
C+ / Knockdown Shot
B- / Nimble Defense
B- / Pinning Strike

Armor Splinter is yet another huge powerplay. This one with two attacks and a Wis or 2 + Wis penalty to AC.
Knockdown Shot is vs. Reflex, which is good, does only okay damage and knocks prone.
Nimble Defense lets you get 2 + Wis bonus to AC while still doing decent damage. Good survival mechanism at least.
Pinning Strike is two attacks against one or two creatures that does lackluster damage unless combined on a single target and immobilizes. If you need to immobilize a specific target, being able to shoot both at it to have a double chance of immobilize is pretty nice though.

*ROGUE*
B- / Fool's Opportunity
A+ / Stunning Strike
B / Tornado Strike
C+ / Unbalancing Attack

Fool's Opportunity vs Will and uses the enemy's damage instead of your own. It mostly relies on what you're fighting to be cool, but if you fight lots of brutes and use a dagger, that's pretty solid.
Stunning Strike Stun still rocks, though the damage is a bit low here compared to Anvil of Doom.
Tornado Strike is a huge slide on up to two opponents, then a bit of a move after. I may have to revisit how I feel about pushes and slides now that I see that you get a save before every square that damages (and not just traps or falls, or something similar). The melee and/or ranged option can work out nicely here.
Unbalancing Attack is okay. At that point I think it mostly ensures the enemy chooses to not provoke. Combined with powers that force provokes like Cause Fear, this looks a bit cooler I suppose.

*WARLOCK*
D- / Bewitching Whispers
C+ / Coldfire Vortex
B- / Harrowstorm
C / Soul Flaying

Bewitching Whispers Way too easy for this to have no effect at all or just have enemies delay until after the target goes and the target goes to do its attack. At which point it may even get a bonus from this attack if it gets to OA any allies of the caster.
Coldfire Vortex So, if it hits it can be okay damage and the choice between cold and radiant is nice (though I suspect it would have done both cold and radiant if they'd had the errata-ed way of handling that in). Sorta like an upgraded Force Orb that does more damage. At shorter ranger. Without the 'enemies only'.
Harrowstorm That is a massive slide. You can probably effectively make an enemy lose its turn with this or put it in a really compromised location for it (like from all the way in the back lines to flanked by the fighter and rogue). If you got lucky on slides you could even have it run through all kinds of extra damage.
Soul Flaying does decent damage, the damage is necrotic (minor penalty), and it weakens for 1 round (which is fine, but still not all that great).

*WARLORD*
B / Beat Them Into the Ground
B- / Bolstering Blow
C+ / Denying Smite
C+ / Fury of the Sirocco

Beat Them Into the Ground That's... an awful lot of prone in some very versatile ways (like wizard magic missiling a far off person, rogue throwing a dagger, etc). It also can allow other effects like slides from rogue dailies that trigger whenever you attack, marks from fighters, etc. I'm not sure I'd take this personally but it's certainly interesting.
Bolstering Blow is a nice Warlord version of Inspiring Strike. Little more damage, lesser amount of temp hp (but less MAD) instead of regains.
Denying Smite actually feels like a defender power, but it seems great for just saying 'You will not attack this guy'. Of course, the enemy can then attack someone else for full effect so it's no stun or even blind.
Fury of the Sirocco is another generic 1W close burst 1 attack, but with a slide 1 on it.

*WIZARD*
B / Frostburn
B / Mesmeric Hold
A- / Prismatic Burst
B- / Thunderlance

Frostburn dealing cold and fire is a nice bump especially since most creatures that resist one won't have the other (and may even be vulnerable) and it deals automatic zone damage which autokills minions.
Mesmeric Hold is versatile for hitting up to 3 targets or having a very good chance to hit one and goes against Will, often the weak defense of the melee you're best off immobilizing.
Prismatic Burst does radiant damage and blinds an area. Quite powerful.
Thunderlance is eerily similar to Thunderwave (and it's interesting how long Thunderwave can compare to other powers) - at any rate, solid damage and solid push.

So, I've had really little time so I did those a couple at a time when I had a minute here or there, so I'm a little worried about internal consistency but... it's more than enough to get chatting.

 

[Mengu]

Fighter:
Between Anvil of Doom and Chains of Sorrow, stunning just seems superior. I'd give Chains of Sorrow an A- or B+.
I would also knock Silverstep to a C. It feels more like a utility power than an attack power.

Paladin:
I value healing a bit more than you I think, maybe it's just the kinds of experiences I've had, but I would push Renewing Smite up a knotch.
Whirlwind smite is very solid. it deserves at least a +. Marking that many enemies is a rare power for the Paladin.

Warlord:
I think Bolstering Blow is definitely better than Denying Smite. I would either increase one or decrease the other.

I pretty much agree with the rest.

 

[keterys]

Mengu, since you wanted Renewing Smite and Bolstering Blow higher, I imagine you also want Inspiring Strike higher?

Chains of Sorrow (and the other powers that decrease defenses at this level) vs. Stun - it's all about setting up other powerplays. That is to say, like giving a -6 defense then having the rogue use Knockout or the wizard prismatic spray. And presumably there are four other attacks coming in after that. The damage increase actually ends up pretty huge when you factor out 5 attacks at, say, 50% more likely to hit.

Of course, what you do is use powers that give defense penalties _then_ use stunning powers, so they're less likely to be wasted.

Seems likely I should decrease denying smite, regardless of anything else, that looks like an error.