D&D 4E Martial Style Feat Handbook

[MwaO]

Overview
The Martial Student Style feats and their additional Greater Style feats are an interesting, if often weirdly balanced option. This is a handbook to clarify their values. Most of the Greater Style feats tend to be bad, but there are some useful options.


So Why Use Them?

Some of the greater style feats do give some interesting options when they're not overvaluing a corner case scenario — things that can work most of the time >>> than things that might influence say Combat Challenge, that if you're playing correctly, you probably use that good power before Combat Challenge comes up anyway!



The guide will use the following rating system
Gold - A must have. You're literally hurting your character if you don't take this. None of the Greater Style feats work this way.
Sky blue - "Very Strong" - An exceptionally strong choice. Again, no, Blue is the strongest.
Blue - "Strong"- A solid choice but nothing awe-inspiring.
Black - "Average" -This is generally a fairly mediocre choice, or an otherwise good power with a noticable drawback. Optimizers will try to avoid these, but in most games you won't notice a discrepancy in power level if you go with a few of these.
Purple - "Weak" This option is weak, underpowered, or very situational. These choices won't show up in most optimized builds.
Red - "Very Weak" - Either totally overshadowed by another option, or just completely bad. These kinds of choices are generally avoided.

Green- "Too variable to rate"- Sometimes something is so variable that giving an overall rating is impossible or misleading.

Glossary
The guide will use the following abbreviations

CA= Combat Advantage
MBA= Melee basic attack
NAD= Non-AC defense

 

[MwaO]

Dark Blue:
Harrowing Swarm Student — any bow or crossbow, great benefit, good powers, ok skill
Harrowing Swarm Captain — good benefit(no OAs from target), good modification for powers, powers not great unless Inspiring, Inspiring doesn’t get Longbow, so Hand Crossbow or additional feat.
Harrowing Swarm Scout — good benefit(no OAs from target), good modification for powers, Quick Throw great power for an Archer Ranger 13+
Harrowing Swarm Stalker — good benefit(no OAs from target), good modification for powers, not great powers until maybe the level 27th one

Longhand Student — good weapons, decent skill, great benefit, decent powers. Could be Sky Blue on a Polearm Gamble/Heavy Blade Opportunity build
Longhand Bravo — good benefit(push with polearm momentum weapon and +1 to AC), decent, intriguing paragon/epic powers with the right presences.
Longhand Guardian — bad benefit(+1 to AC for a feat essentially), horrible power modification on not great powers.

Midnight Blade Student — good weapons, great skill, good benefit, solid powers
Midnight Blade Brawler — ok benefit(shifting after hit is often difficult), ok modification to power(+2 damage), one good power in Storm of Blows(13th) that benefits multiples times from each benefit.
Midnight Blade Marauder — ok benefit(shifting often difficult), potentially great modification to power but probably conflicts with Student, lots of sky blue powers
Midnight Blade Whisperer — decent benefit that works with power modification, powers solid, but not great, potentially great modifications to powers with the right build.

Rending Chains Student — great weapon, decent skill, great benefit ok powers, though benefit given Flail Expertise
Rending Chain Flayer — interesting 2nd damage ping, modification conflicts with Student feat and Dex-based builds, though good selection of powers. Not sure why you take this, though maybe on a very weird build.
Rending Chain Grappler — interesting 2nd damage ping, great modification to powers, powers not great, but Chains of Sorrow is solid.
Rending Chain Warmaster — interesting 2nd damage ping on bad secondary stat, sky blue mod to powers, but powers not all that good.

 

[MwaO]

Black:
Adamant Arrow Student — longbow, push. Good for archer Warlords, mostly bad for Rangers. Good skill.
Adamant Arrow Commander — do some extra damage at a penalty to attacks against a 2nd target, bad powers
Adamant Arrow Hunter — do some extra damage at a penalty to attacks against a 2nd target, bad powers

Hunting Spear Student — ok weapon, great benefit, not great powers, great skill. Huntmaster Paragon Path is a bit weird, but interesting.
Hunting Spear Chieftain — possibly ok benefit, good power modification, not great powers though charge build with Fury of the Sirocco is something on top of a charge build
Hunting Spear Skirmisher — possibly ok benefit, good power modification, beast ranger only limited powers, so not at all good.
Hunting Spear Warder — possibly ok benefit, good power modification, not great powers

Ironstar Student — good weapon, great benefit, not great powers, great skill
Ironstar Bravo — benefit mostly meaningless, but power modification is great — Provoke Overextension on a charge against a marked target by your Defender! Pincer Maneuver is weird, but also good.
Ironstar Crusher — benefit and power modification both mostly meaningless
Ironstar Marauder — benefit mostly meaningless, but lots of shifting with charging and occasionally multi-targeting…uij6

 

[MwaO]

Purple:
Arkhosian Fang Student — all mostly bad weapons, not great powers given bad weapons. Purple due to Arkhosian Blademaster Paragon Path
Arkhosian Fang Commander— decent benefit on a miss, maybe Death from Two Sides makes opportunity attack setup worthwhile?
Arkhosian Fang Duelist — an inferior version of Nerathan High Blade Duelist, though decent benefit on a miss maybe makes up for it.
Arkosian Fang Mauler — same benefits, not sure at all why we’re here

Desert Moon Student — potentially decent weapons, mostly bad powers. Zephyr Warchief is a solid Paragon Path, particularly the U12
Desert Moon Skirmisher — marginal benefit, shifting is nice, but the powers aren’t great
Desert Moon Swordmaster — marginal benefit, just bad stuff, but the powers aren’t great
Desert Moon Zephyr — marginal benefit, shifting is nice, but the powers aren’t great

Elsir Hammer Student — one-handed hammer/pick, good Ranger power but weird given thrown for benefit, good skill
Elsir Hammer Champion — bad benefit that conflicts with Combat Challenge, ok benefit, bad powers.
Elsir Hammer General — mostly bad benefit, free action on Hail of Steel = shifting after the free attack, not before. Other powers bad.
Elsir Hammer Stalker — mostly bad benefit, Quick Throw E13 might be something here

Kulkor Battlearm Student — mostly bad weapons, not great powers in weapons context, ok benefit, great skill
Kulkor Battlearm Captain — limited, possibly good benefit for allies, potentially interesting power modification, not great powers
Kulkor Battlearm Hunter — limited, possibly good benefit for allies, interesting power modification, sets up a charge build PC with great powers for charging
Kulkor Battlearm Rattler — limited, possibly good benefit for allies, uninteresting power modification, not great powers
Kulkor Battlearm Warrior — limited, possibly good benefit for allies, interesting power modification, sets up a charge build PC with ok powers for charging

Mountain Thunder Student — good weapon, decent skill, good benefit, ok powers
Mountain Thunder Avalanche— potentially useful party benefit, free movement is good with some solid powers.
Mountain Thunder Conqueror — potentially useful party benefit, prone is good, but powers not worth it.
Mountain Thunder Conqueror — potentially useful party benefit, rattling is good, but powers+mace or club not worth it.
Mountain Thunder Rampart — potentially useful party benefit, some decent powers, but invigorating not worth it.

Nerathan High Blade — good weapon, decent skill, ok benefit, not great powers
Nerathan High Blade Captain — decent always on benefit, marginal power modification with mostly not good powers. There’s a better feat to ensure no CA against you.
Nerathan High Blade Duelist — decent always on benefit, interesting power modification with some great powers. You want a throwable versatile heavy blade enchantment likely for Twin Strike.
Nerathan High Blade Soldier — decent always on benefit, extremely marginal power modification with mostly not good powers. There’s a better feat to ensure no CA against you.

Ninth Legion Student — mostly bad weapons, decent skill, bad requirements or bad powers — could potentially be much more valuable in a campaign with the right reading and lots of OA creation.
Ninth Legion Commander — limited defense benefit, marginal power benefit
Ninth Legion Shield — limited defense benefit, marginal power benefit

Ogremight Student — bad weapons, decent skill, ok benefit, ok powers. The greater feats might be worth it. The paragon path+Fighter could easily mean 3 close burst 1 charge powers.
Ogremight Bruiser — potentially interesting for a charging build, Anvil of Doom is a good power to charge with!
Ogremight Ravager— potentially interesting for a charging build, Thunderous Fury is a solid power to charge with for a Tactical Presence Warlord

Partisan Polearm Student — good weapons, bad skill, bad benefit, particularly in context with why you might have a polearm, bad powers. Partisan Polearm Captain might be worth it.
Partisan Polearm Captain — solid CA option for the polearm momentum build taking this, the power modification ought to be good, the powers make this not good
Partisan Polearm Captain — solid CA option for the polearm momentum build taking this, the power modification is good, Silverstep E13 is a great power to charge with

Red Cloak Student — ok weapons, decent skill, ok benefit, great power. Red Cloak Paragon Path is really the potential reason we’re here.
Red Cloak Rake — bad benefit, bad power modification, not sure why we’re here
Red Cloak Brute — bad benefit, storm of blows as potentially an OA power is interesting

Steel Vanguard — decent weapon, great skill, ok benefit, ok powers
Steel Vanguard Captain — bad powers being made slightly better
Steel Vanguard Shield — a couple of decent powers made slightly better. Not worth it.

Valenar Dervish Student — bad weapon, bad race given powers, ok skill, good benefit, good powers. Purple for Stalwart below.
Valenar Dervish Stalwart — benefit is fantastic. Race and bad weapon for Str, but shift 2 squares after every martial encounter power and slide a target that was hit? Seems exploitable.
Valenar Dervish Whirlwind — benefit is good. Race and bad weapon for Str, brings it down and the powers aren’t good enough to make up for it.

 

[MwaO]

Red:
Black Hood Student — all mostly bad weapons, not great powers given bad weapons
Black Hood Butcher — marginal critical hit benefit, marginal benefit on mostly not great powers
Black Hood Executioner — marginal critical hit benefit, marginal benefit on mostly not great powers
Black Hood Slayer — marginal critical hit benefit, marginal benefit on mostly not great powers

Leaf Runner Student — ok weapons, great skill, horrible benefit, decent powers
Leaf Runner Pathfinder — crossbows ignore cover anyway with crossbow expertise, the powers are bad
Leaf Runner Sneak — crossbows ignore cover anyway with crossbow expertise, the powers are bad
Leaf Runner Sniper — crossbows ignore cover anyway with crossbow expertise, the powers are bad

Moradin’s Forge Student — mostly bad weapons, decent skill, horrible benefit, bad powers
Moradin’s Forge Champion — possibly campaign relevant benefit, but usually bad, bad benefit for bad powers.
Moradin’s Forge Marshal — possibly campaign relevant benefit, but usually bad, bad benefit for a couple of decent powers, but still not worth it given two-handed weapons.



Reaving Axe Student — bad weapons, great skill, potentially 2nd damage instance benefit, probably bad in general, not great powers
Reaving Axe Brute — potentially interesting benefit, not particularly fond of the opportunity attack benefit in general, but maybe there’s a little synergy. Not great powers though
Reaving Axe Slayer — potentially interesting benefit, not particularly fond of the opportunity attack benefit in general. But mostly ranged attack powers for a benefit that requires being adjacent after critting.

Silent Shot Student — ok weapon, great skill, extremely bad benefit, bad powers
Silent Shot Hunter — mostly meaningless benefit, bad powers not made significantly better
Silent Shot Phantom — mostly meaningless benefit, the ability to make a stealth check is potentially interesting, a couple of good powers

 

[MwaO]

Paragon Paths (to be added)
Arkhosian Blademaster – Solid AP feature for encouraging focus fire, though anti-initial alpha strike. Good useful powers. If only it didn't require the entry feat
Arrowhead Commander — exploitable F11/F16, except Warlords at a base tend to not push/slide/pull with their good powers. Taking a -2 penalty for cover for the style feat and the various options though not great, particularly because none of the powers of this paragon path do forced movement.
Harrowing Swarm Archer — maybe if you have a consistent way of doing ongoing damage, the +2 to hit is beneficial. But mostly bad powers except the U12.
Huntmaster – Very good AP feature, F11, and U12. The problem is the build belonging to this paragon path and I suspect it is a Ranger|Warden hybrid with a Hungry Spear enchantment, so as to be able to throw a spear with twin strike.
Ironstar Mauler — +1 to hit is nice, maybe the -2 to saving throws is relevant, the AP feature is probably never getting sufficient use.
Kulkor Arms Master –– CA grant and AP features are solid, U12 is good, the attack powers do basic multi-attacking
Rampaging Brute — interesting F16, strong E11, particularly with the AP feature. Good U12. Probably not getting hit with OAs when charging because if you're doing this, you're a charge build and you likely have a Badge of the Berserker
Reaving Axe Savant — relatively easy +2 to activate, solid AP feature, assuming you can throw an Axe for Hurling Charge, goes well with E11. The problem is the rest of the path.
Red Cloak —ok AP feature, F11 interesting, F16 allowing multiple immediates on misses, E11 Dance of the Cloak is fantastic. This probably wants to be some sort of Defender|Rogue hybrid
Steel Vanguard Master — solid AP feature, decent F16, F11 ok, ok E11. Nothing super special
Zephyr Warchief — Strong U12 though limited burst size, good AP feature, solid F16, useful E11. Mostly getting to Dark Blue on the strength of the U12.

 

[darkbard]

Wowzers. Cool to see a new handbook, especially from you, after all this time.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I’ve had a lot of fun with these even though most of them are purple or red. They’re flavorful as hell!

 

[D'karr]

Very cool. Thanks for the analysis.

 

[Tigris]

I’ve had a lot of fun with these even though most of them are purple or red. They’re flavorful as hell!

This guide, like most of the "optimization guide" are way too narrow minded. And just focus on white room numerical optimization often.


Just as an example:

Purple:
Arkhosian Fang Student — all mostly bad weapons, not great powers given bad weapons. Purple due to Arkhosian Blademaster Paragon Path
Arkhosian Fang Commander— decent benefit on a miss, maybe Death from Two Sides makes opportunity attack setup worthwhile?
Arkhosian Fang Duelist — an inferior version of Nerathan High Blade Duelist, though decent benefit on a miss maybe makes up for it.
Arkosian Fang Mauler — same benefits, not sure at all why we’re here

Arkhoisan Fang student can be used with the Great Sword. Which is one of only 2 +3 proficency 2 handed military weapons. The other one being the Falchion, which has high crit, but does in average 0.5 damage less per W. (And on crits 2 damage less per W but +5 per tier. So depending on the weapon attack you do it might still deal less damage on a crit. (Like a level 9 3W attack deals still less damage on a crit.) And Bastard sword is together with Triple-headed lail the only +3 1d10 (highest damage) one handed weapon in the game and the only heavy blade at that. So if you want to play heavy blade 1 handed this is the best choice. (Sure some optimization guide might say "uh flail are better", but not everyone wants to use flail, and the flail feats have different properties than the heavy blade feat.


Also the powers are not "not great" footwork lure gives nice possibilities for different positioning and is blue (or heavy blue) in this fighter guide: Harder than a Rock: The Fighter's Handbook (By lorduskblade)


Marauder's rush also is blue because sometimes charging can be really useful and it gives extra damage (and with this feat even extra precision): Thrill of the Hunt: The Ranger's Handbook (by lordduskblade)

Even the warlord power is not considered thaat bad. It is now only black (in the past with less options it was higher), but letting an ally shift away from an enemy still can be really useful. And for example this guide still includes it in one of the builds: Rescued from WotC - Chasing Glory: The Warlord Handbook


And for the warlord being able to use encounter attacks as opportunity attacks means that they can use more at wills (like the powered up one in the feat before), which can be quite useful. And letting allies move (as 2 (and a half) of the encounter powers mentioned do) can help you protect your allies better, because now an enemy running past you has a really hard time to reach your friends behind.



So I think in general in such a guide it would be way more useful to highlight cool things you can do with these feats (like the above, letting allies run in safety when an enemy tries to pass you), giving you some great secondary defender power.