Slayer seems... meh.

[Vael]

That said, a slayer could grab some fighter utilities that mark, but he cannot punish those that violate the mark.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

The Thief build gets a +1 to attack rolls with all rogue weapons at level 2 and also gets a +2 to damage with the Weapon Finesse class ability that scales up with later levels.

Yeah, the Thief is an awesome striker. You surrender a bit of utility and condition-application for pretty huge damage, assuming it can get Combat Advantage...and honestly it should be able to just about all the time, assuming a good defender. I'd happily play one.

Brad

 

[ObsidianCrane]

The Slayer is definately underoptimised.

Human: 18 Str 12 Con 16 Dex 10 everything else.
Feats: Weapon Expertise: Axes, Weapon Focus: Axe
Use a Great Axe.
MBA: +8 vs AC 1d12+8 (Crit 20+1d12)
Battle Wrath: +8 vs AC 1d12+10 (Crit 22+1d12)
Berserker's Charge: +11 vs AC 1d12+8 (Crit 20+1d12)

You can go more accurate and use the heavy blade, but you really want to grab the Fullblade if you go that route for the d12 and high crit (you either get Fullblade & WF for same as above, or Fullblade and WE for +1 more to hit and -1 damagel)

 

[Marshall]

You can go more accurate and use the heavy blade, but you really want to grab the Fullblade if you go that route for the d12 and high crit (you either get Fullblade & WF for same as above, or Fullblade and WE for +1 more to hit and -1 damagel)

There are no superior weapons in Essentials, at all.

 

[The Little Raven]

There are no superior weapons in Essentials, at all.

That doesn't make them inaccessible if you have the books or CB.

 

[Marshall]

That doesn't make them inaccessible if you have the books or CB.

It does if you're playing encounters

 

[Tony Vargas]

The Theif, like actual Rogues, is a great damage-dealer and hits quite well (the rogue hits even better, with all it's non-AC-targeting powers), so yeah, it's a good striker and probably delivers higher peak damage than an indifferently optimized Slayer.

The Slayer is really quite tough, though, with Defender hps and surges, and heavy armor if he doesn't go in too heavily for DEX - that should count for something, too.

Most Rogues I've seen run into trouble not with getting CA so much as staying alive through a normal adventuring day. Maybe the Theif can establish CA at range a lot more easily, and thus stay out of the trouble most Rogues get into?

 

[nookiemonster]

Yes, the Slayer is built only using Essentials. In terms of damage, a Slayer with axe-pertise would beat the heavy bladexpertise slayer. If you're going with a heavy blade expertise Slayer, a better build would seem to be to take utilities and stances that synergise with the +2 to AC vs opportunity attacks and send the Slayer after controller and artillery monsters. Defensive Mobility would be another feat to take to get more out of that. A silly, but possibly fun, version would be a Halfling slayer wielding a longsword two-handed... heavy blade expertise and defensive mobility plus halfling bonus vs OAs gives you +6 AC vs OAs, and halfling second chance once per encounter.