Intelligent Blademaster Feat confused :)

[afata5]

Hey all,

Hoping someone can shed some light for me.

Intelegent Blademaster:

I'm playing an Eladrin sheilding swordmage lvl2 and I came to understand that this feat is a "must have" for my class. I have played a few games and have never really used a basic attack. I'm pretty much always using my At Will...why is is supposed to be so awesome?

I could understand that it is a plus against AOO (i don't think you can use an at will in this case right?) but apart from that...I just don't see it. I find it a shame to use a feat for just that...Anything else?

(I have 12 of Str and 18 of Int btw)

Thanks,

Al

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I could understand that it is a plus against AOO (i don't think you can use an at will in this case right?) but apart from that...I just don't see it. I find it a shame to use a feat for just that...Anything else?

If you are an Assault Swordmage, then every time your Aegis of Assault triggers, you get a basic attack after teleporting beside your enemy. If you have a strength of 12, it is unlikely to hit.

If you are a Shielding Swordmage, then you generally want to act as a very "sticky" barrier to the enemies. You don't want the enemies to run past you to hit the Wizard. The idea is that once one enemy attempts to run past you and finds out that you have such low bonuses to hit with your AOO, that the rest will follow and then you aren't being very defenderish.

As well, when you charge(unless you have a power that can be used on a charge), you get the bonus. As well, whenever another member of your party gives you a free basic attack with a power, it is more useful(for instance, a couple of Warlord powers).

I mean, it isn't a HUGE benefit. But then again, no feat really is. It has a larger effect than taking many other feats, however.

 

[Milambus]

Warlords like to hand out Basic Attacks like candy also. =)

 

[SadisticFishing]

It's more for Assault Swordmages, in my opinion.

Very, very good if your strength is 12-14 and your intelligence is 18-20, and you're making basic attacks to punish people for attacking your allies - if you were just using Strength you'd keep missing! And if you put no more points into strength, the difference just gets bigger and bigger...

I don't like the feat. It makes Assault Swordmages need absolutely no strength, which seems silly. No other build can ONLY use one stat...

 

[DracoSuave]

I don't like the feat. It makes Assault Swordmages need absolutely no strength, which seems silly. No other build can ONLY use one stat...

This statement is only true if the Swordmage power list ended at 'Aegis of Assault.' Aegis of Assault's benefits don't even end at it's own description.

There's tons of powers that are better when Strength comes into play, and a lot of those powers are based on Aegis of Assault.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

It's more for Assault Swordmages, in my opinion.

Very, very good if your strength is 12-14 and your intelligence is 18-20, and you're making basic attacks to punish people for attacking your allies - if you were just using Strength you'd keep missing! And if you put no more points into strength, the difference just gets bigger and bigger...

I don't like the feat. It makes Assault Swordmages need absolutely no strength, which seems silly. No other build can ONLY use one stat...

Actually, despite that being the obvious thing to think, it actually works much better for Shielding Swordmages.

There are a number of powers that add extra benefit for having a high strength, most of which are good for Assault Swordmages. When your strength is 16 and your int is 18, it doesn't make that much of a difference. If you lower your strength, you really have no other stat that directly helps your build. You really have the choice of putting it into Con and taking the powers meant for the Shielding Swordmages or putting it into Dex in order to qualify for feats.

On the other hand, most of the Shielding Swordmage's powers that use Con are even more useful the more Con you have. The ability to dump Str entirely benefits them dramatically. The one thing that was stopping me from being a Shielding Swordmage was that I had nearly no chance of hitting with basic attacks, so I had to split my stats between Str, Con, and Int. The ability to drop Strength entirely so I only need 2 stats is very tempting.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Intelligent Blademaster seems like a pretty good feat for Wizards going into Wizard of the Spiral Tower.

Yes, the Paragon Path grants you an Int-based melee attack, but it's an encounter power. Using a basic attack can be done every round.

Not that you necessarily want to do that (you still have at-wills, of course), but you can.

 

[rowport]

Intelligent Blademaster seems like a pretty good feat for Wizards going into Wizard of the Spiral Tower...

I am planning to take it for my Infernal Warlock, after multiclassing with Swordmage. After spending some feats on Hide Armor and Light Shield Proficiencies, he will be a credible melee opponent using his Pact Blade. Stylistically, I think he will play like a Swordmage-- but less flashy. Sort of like a 3.5 Hexblade vs. a 3.5 Duskblade.

 

[SteelCoyote]

Intelligent Blademaster seems like a pretty good feat for Wizards going into Wizard of the Spiral Tower.

You'd have to multi-class as a Swordmage since the feat has Prereq: Swordmage, but that's also get you the Shielding to AC, which would be good.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Hmm ... I'm going to look into how feasible artificer/swordmage is as a build.