Help with Swordmage feat selection please

[afata5]

I have a Lvl 2 Eladrin Swordmage (Sheilding). There is a Warlord, Wizard, Ranger , SM(me) and a Rogue in our party. We alternate dm's so in any given game, one of the characters will be missing.

I already selected some feats, but I find them to be....missing somehting, so mabey i'm heading in the wrong path.. Can anyone shed some light on to mabey something better? The build is already done, so i can't change that, but since I just got to Lvl 2, i can swap out a feat and add a second one no prob.

Here is what I have:
Eladrin SM (Sheilding) lvl 2

12 Str
16 Con
14 Dex
18 Int
10 Wis
8 Cha

At will:
Booming Blade
Sword Burst

EP:
Fey Step
Flame Cyclone

Daily:
Dimensional Thunder

Util:
Dimensional Warp


Feats:
Intelligent Blademaster (not sure if this is a good choice)
Double Aegis (personally like to be able to mark 2 at a time..its useful)

I looked at the Eladrin Soldier option, which is nice cause is give +2 dmg, but is it that important for a feat?

Also looked at Moon Elf Resilience (interestng use healing surge when using fey step, but you have to be far away from your buddies to do so).

I was considering Swapping out Intelligent Blademaster with something else because it comes from my first lvl choice....

What do you recommend considering my build?

Thanks,
Al

 

[Cryptos]

If the wizard's player takes his turn at DMing, I would recommend picking up Ritual Caster as a feat at some point. It's not essential, but it will but some options back on the table when the wizard PC is not available because his player is running the game.

 

[Milambus]

What type of Warlord is it? Does he use Commander's Strike (which gives lets an ally perform a melee basic attack)?

Eladrin Soldier may be nice at some point, but damage isn't your biggest concern. Sure you want to do some, but thats really the job of the strikers.

Do you find that you are tanking alot? Toughness and Durable seem like good feats for a defender.

 

[DracoSuave]

Well, you're swapping out Double Aegis, for one. It's a paragon feat, you doth not qualify.

Retributive Shield is pretty decent.
As said above, Durable is decent, given you have less surges than other defenders.
Pact Initiate (star or infernal pact) might be an intriguing choice, as both at-wills synergize well with marks and key off of Constitution.

 

[Rechan]

Improved Initiative never hurt anyone.

 

[DracoSuave]

Improved Initiative never hurt anyone.

Except for your enemies.

Oho!

 

[Palladion]

Do you have a particular idea or theme you want to have for this character? For example, I play a tiefling swordmage in a home game that I acts as a teleporting striker more than a stand-and-deliver defender. This dictates my feat selection somewhat (feats and magic that add to mobility and damage, like Weapon Focus or Power Attack if I qualified).

Since you are the only defender, it might be feasible to concentrate on feats that improve that aspect of your character. Toughness (everyone benefits from Toughness) or Armor Proficiency (Hide). If you want to be silly, Weapon Proficiency (spiked shield) instead of wielding a longsword will raise your AC too.

 

[WalterKovacs]

A few notes:

a) Pact Initiate is out, it requires 13 charisma, even if you were going into a con based pact

b) The spiked shield would still require proficiency in light shields to get the AC bonus, and that requires 13 str

c) As mentioned, you need to replace the double aegis, it's not available yet

d) Your intelligent blademaster is useful for charging, Attacks of Opportunity and especially warlord powers. If the warlord isn't using any powers that would give you basic attacks [the ranger is the only other likely target unless the rogue is strong] than you can probably afford to lose intel blademaster

e) Retributive Shield, as mentioned, is quite good. Bonus to attacks are hard to come by and as a defender that isn't hurting enemies directly, getting to hit them on the following turn is good. As a sheilding you may get to use your aegis more often than normal, especially if you target one person, and engage another one, perhaps "sticking" that guy with booming blade.

f) Student of Sword Magic might be interesting if you feel you might want to change your mind about daily powers from day to day [could be useful if you know you are going into an area with a specific monster type that is resitant to the energy type you've chosen]. However I think that thunder/lightning shouldn't be a problem resistance wise.

g) You could multiclass into Wizard if you want another ranged attack option, although you don't get a skill out of it. If you are looking for more damage, and perhaps another skill, you can multiclass into ranger and you'd get a couple turns of quarry damage out of the deal.

h) Considering that at least half your powers aren't based on weapon damage [1 at-will and your encounter] your choice of weapon isn't as important, so eladrin soldier would only apply so often. If you get rid of intelligent blademaster even less weapon attacks will get made.

I would definitely say retributive shield is a must. Other than that, it depends on the group, but you can always grab a wizard multiclass and basically get an extra encounter power out of the deal. Otherwise you have some ways to do some extra damage with some of your powers. If nothing else, durable, toughness and improved intiative are always good options [as a swordmage, quickdraw may not be used that often].