Strange Question RE: 4e.

[Ahrimon]

• Crippling Crush - When you immobilize or slow with a hammer or mace deal +con mod damage
• Crushing Guardian - +2 damage w/ hammer or mace in guardian form
• Sudden Roots - Enemy hit by opportunity attack is slowed (kicking off crippling crush)(Don't know how often wardens get OA's)

I was looking at this.

I already have Crippling Crush, and I use a Warhammer... how often does the +Con damage thing proc? Is it every single turn?

Hopefully someone else can help out with a more warden specific answer. Looking at the feat it's every single time you immobalize or slow with a weapon attack. And Sudden Roots slows whenever you hit someone with an opportunity attack.

Going through the compendium I see:
Weight of Earth - AW1. 1W+Str and the target is slowed. (Would trigger Crippling Crush on every strike. Strikerish damage levels)
Strength of Stone - AW1. 1W+Str and gain THP = con mod
Tempest Assault - AW1. 1W+Str and you do Con mod damage to a seperate marked target. Situational, but close to striker lvl damage if you have a high con. Weight of Earth would be better IMO.

Tremmor Slam - Enc1 - 1W+Str+different marked creature takes thunder dam = str and becomes immobilized (Triggering CripCrush)
Earth Spikes - 1W+Str and creates a burst 1 zone that does 5 pts to every enemy starting their turn or entering the zone.
Gale Strike - 2W+Str and other marked targets take con damage.
Roots of Stone - Close Burst 1, 1W+Str (EarthStrength - Con damage to enemys that leave the zone)
Wildblood Frenzy - Enc1 - 2 attacks 1W+Str(+Wis if your a Wildblood)
Rough Strike - Enc3 - 2W+Str+Slow(triggering CripCrush)(+Con for Earthstrength) - That's 2x con for earthstrength w/ CripCrush

You'll probably never match a pure striker in damage, but some of the above should help you get close. Don't think in terms of single target lvls either. Earth Spikes or Roots of Stone can really dish out a lot of damage against large groups. I particularily liked Earth Spikes.

Hope some of this helps

 

[Obergnom]

I'm currently playing a 10th level human wildblood warden... it is an awesome class and my character kind of does what you want. During an avarage battle he takes about 150-200 points of damage without minding that to much.

His AC is abysmal though... usualy, if an enemy wants to hit my character, he does. But a huge surge value (and a Cloak of the Walking Wounded), self healing utility powers and of course forms make him look as tough as our groups paladin... his AC is 4 points higher than my wardens.

Wildbloods (or my specific wildbood warden) are very strikerish... moving fast, positioning, deal very good damage. That was intentional when I build the character, he has to fit in between our paladin and ranger, and he does that well.

What kind of Warden is your character? I do not know Wilden, but their stats seem to suggest, they could be good as any of them. I think Wildbloods are rather fragile strikers compared to the others (if you use the Great Spear, at least. Having no shield hurts),

Earthstrenght wardens are extremly tough and (after gaining a couple of levels) nearly unkillable. So I guess Earthstrenght is what you are looking for.

Wardens marks are great, but having a second defender in the group, you need to be carefull not to override his marks all the time. The paladin can do good stuff with his, too.

 

[DEFCON 1]

In answer to your first question... no, there's not much more you can do to make you more durable and deal more damage. That's the point of being a defender... you usually have to forsake one if you want to buff the other. A Greatweapon Fighter can dish out striker-like amounts of damage... but because they aren't wielding a shield, their AC is always at least 2 points less than a sword 'n board fighter.

Same thing with the warden. The warden is designed to be the most durable defender class, as one of the main attributes is CON... thereby raising your HP to the highest base level of any class, plus gaining the use of CON for your AC for two of the builds. Add in a heavy shield... and you have the highest HP, one of the highest AC classes at its level.

The downside of course is that you aren't going to do (or really even approach) striker-level damage with your weapon. 1d10+5 sounds about right for a 2nd level warden wielding a warhammer. While there are some powers that might be able to up that damage a little... you pretty much are going to stick about that level. And barring spending your feats on damage-dealing ones (like Weapon Focus), you need to pretty much accept that this is your damage potential.

As far as the warden Marking... here is pretty much all you need to know:

At one point during your turn (either at the start, in the middle while moving, or once you've arrived at your destination) you can use a Free action to Mark every enemy adjacent to you at that specific point you use it. Usually you'll use it when you are already engaged with one or more enemies ior when you use your Move action to move adjacent to one or more enemies. The idea of Marking while in the middle of a Move action *IS* possible... but you will of course usually be subject to Opportunity Attacks if you do so. This is because you will moving from an adjacent enemy (that you moved adjacent to so you could Mark him) to another space on the battlefield (and thus triggering the OA as you leave a space threatened by that enemy).

Like all marks, this gives the enemy the Marked debuff... if they attack someone instead of you (or don't include you in a multi-target attack), they take a -2 to each of their attack rolls against those that they attack that round. That's the basic Marked condition that you and the DM need to remember, and the one that all defenders get to use.

Now as a warden, you also have two powers that you can use. One is used against someone within melee range that attacks an enemy that does not include you... and one is used against someone within 5 squares of you that attacks an enemy that does not include you.

The melee power (Warden's Fury) is an Immediate Interrupt, meaning that your use of this power occurs before the attack your enemy makes that triggers the power's use. You make a STR vs Fortitude attack, and if you hit, you do 1[W] + STR mod damage, plus the enemy grants Combat Advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn. Provided that this Warden's Fury attack doesn't knock the enemy dead... the enemy's attack against one (or more) of your allies still goes off... but they do still take the -2 to the attack roll because of the Marked debuff.

The ranged power (Warden's Grasp) is an Immediate Reaction (meaning it occurs after your enemy completes the attack he makes against any ally(ies) that trigger the power's use). When you use the power (and so long as that enemy is within 5 squares due to it being a Close burst 5 power)... you slide the target 1 square, and the target is Slowed, and cannot Shift until the end of its turn. You cause no damage against this target at range... you only can slide it and slow it down. This power is meant to be used when you Marked an enemy that had been next to you, it moved away to go after the archer or wizard instead... and you then pull the enemy off of the archer or wizard and make it so the enemy can't shift back to attack him again.

That's *it* so far as what you can do with your Marking ability. Add the -2 debuff for the enemy's attacks... hit a Marked enemy within melee range... or slide and slow a Marked enemy within 5 squares.

Hope this helps.

 

[the Jester]

DEFCON 1 gave you a good answer on warden marking, but I just want to add a tactical note.

You really get the most out of your mark if you arrange it so that one enemy that you marked actually does attack someone else. Otherwise, that -2 attack penalty doesn't kick in, and you get to use neither of your "Ha! You're marked!" immediate actions.

Because you only get one immediate action per round, it's often best if you can contrive to absorb the rest of the attacks. They'll still suffer that -2 penalty if they attack your buddies, but you only get one shot with warden's fury or warden's grasp.

That said, the very best warden ability IMHO is that damn "make a save at the start of your turn" class feature. Ugh! I had a pc warden suffering ongoing 10 damage, ongoing 5 poison damage and 17 points of combined aura-damage at the start of his turn last game... that saving throw saved him 10 hit points at the start of his turn (and again, several times, when I got it inflicted on him again). Durability? The warden's durability is as much from that cute lil ability as it is from his high hit points.

I'd stick with the warden if I were you- I'm fond of the class (from watching people play it), and although you might not do top damage, you're certainly going to do respectable damage.

 

[Neonchameleon]

It sounds as if you want either the Knight or the Barbarian from that description. Knights are the most intuitive defenders - with an aura surrounding them rather than marks. And Barbarians are big wild hitty things that people can't knock down.

But the cliff notes version: All a mark does is gives someone -2 to hit if their attack doesn't include you. Nothing more. (If they breathe fire over you and the rest of the party, that's fine - no penalty because they are paying attention to you as well as everyone else). Once per round, Wardens get to punish someone who is taking that to hit penalty either by hitting them before they get their attack in on someone else, or by entangling them after. If it's not an attack roll, the mark does nothing. If it's an attack that gets you the mark does nothing. If they are marked and turn their back on you to go for someone else that's when they are in trouble

 

[Minifig]

~Snip~

Something that upset me greatly is that the Goblins we were fighting last night kept shifting and even though I marked them, they wouldn't trigger my Mark triggers..

I felt that that was wrong and it SHOULD trigger them because I kept standing by while things that were marking.. were shifting and I couldn't do anything about it.

Shifting should count as a movement.

 

[frogged]

I'm looking for a class that can have a ridiculously high survivability, and yet, deal out a fair chunk of damage as well.

I like being in the thick of combat and saying "HIT ME!", and letting things.. attempt to hit me..

My suggestion to try to meet your goal of a Wilden with both high damage and high survivability would be an Iron Soul Monk (from Psionic Power). The Iron Soul is a Striker with secondary role of defender and with its primary Dex, secondary Con it fits the Wilden pretty well. Since you will probably have a reasonably high Dex, along with the Monk Unarmored bonus and the Iron Soul's class ability granting a +1 shield bonus, you would have almost the same AC as your Warden and probably higher than the Warden if you invest in the Unarmored Agility feat. Even the Iron Soul's Flurry of Blows power helps your higher damage defendery goal by both dealing an extra 2 + Con damage a round as well as preventing the target from shifting.

Take a look at the Iron Soul, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Maddach Urquhart]

Something that upset me greatly is that the Goblins we were fighting last night kept shifting and even though I marked them, they wouldn't trigger my Mark triggers..

I felt that that was wrong and it SHOULD trigger them because I kept standing by while things that were marking.. were shifting and I couldn't do anything about it.

Shifting should count as a movement.

What do you do that marked creatures trigger an action when they move? Sorry, not familiar with the Warden.

 

[Minifig]

What do you do that marked creatures trigger an action when they move? Sorry, not familiar with the Warden.

If they're marked and don't attack me .. during any movement (.. and I thought shifting counted as a movement! ), I can slide them 1 square as long as they're within a close burst of five or if they're near me, I can do my Warden's Fury attack as long as they're within range of my attack which is (currently!) 1[W] + Str Modifier (which is currently +4) and the target then grants combat advantage to me AND my allies until the end of my next turn.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

If you really want to be able to hit adjacent enemies who shift, you need to be a Fighter. If you are willing to settle for doing it once per encounter, take Battle Awareness.

I'm a bit confused by your original statement "I'm doing 1d10 damage +5 with my Frost Warhammer +1 and the Crippling Crush Feat." Assuming your Strength is 16, you should be doing a minimum of d10 + 9 any time you use an attack that slows. Are you adding the Crippling Crush bonus properly? The at-will power Weight of Earth, for example, should give you that +5 every single time you hit with it -- I would expect it to be your bread and butter at low levels.