Swordmage- Assault or Shielding?

[mischa84]

I thought about a swordmage as alternative if my wizard gets killed.
I read about that one feature that would be a reason to multiclass it to warlock but I had to search for a while to find it again: The feywild wake feature of the Evermeet Warlock. It makes you invisible when you telport to those who where adjacent to you.
So even when the enemy can't move like fba said the swordmage gets some CA.

But then i realized that a pure warlock with a pact blade would o much better at this job and swordmage paragon pathes have much more to offer so: Multiclassing still doesn't work for me and I would take shielding, too.

Don Incognito: Why the hell should I Multiclass to Warlock Infernal and does your DM always grant you every Magic Item you want?

 

[mischa84]

While we talk about Aegis of Assault: when I (not swordmage) make a raged attack against the marked enemy it provokes oppotunity, but his attack is then interrupted by the swordmage and perhaps he uses blastback swipe with it: can i make my ranged attack if the enemy is still in range or will i hit the emptied square?

 

[yesnomu]

While we talk about Aegis of Assault: when I (not swordmage) make a raged attack against the marked enemy it provokes oppotunity, but his attack is then interrupted by the swordmage and perhaps he uses blastback swipe with it: can i make my ranged attack if the enemy is still in range or will i hit the emptied square?

I'd rule you targeted the creature, not the square, so you'd "track" it and could still attack.

 

[renau1g]

I'm playing a shielding one right now and love him, twice now he's prevented 8 damage (5 + 3 CON) from the ranger, earning much thanks from my new RL group.

Part of the reason is that I loved being able to soak up the damage from the kobolds we were fighting. Note I'm the 2nd defender of the party.

 

[chaotix42]

Playing a stormsoul genasi assaultmage w/broadsword and I love it. I've been taking every teleportation power I can get my hands on so that I can mark one dude and make my way over to another group and cover two fronts at once. I've got a +1 Vengeance broadsword (Adv. Vault), so when that marked dude attacks a bloodied ally he gets one hell of a counterattack from me.

Shielding looks like a lot of fun too though. The same tactics I use for my assaultmage would make him a nightmare for whoever he marked with his aegis. I think both types are quite viable, but shielding is probably "safer."

 

[Tellerve]

Well, I'm playing an Assault swordmage and I thought it would be great to bounce around the battlefield but so far not so much. When I mark something it also tends to be what I'm fighting or something close enough that it comes to fight me, Close burst 2 just isn't to far to mark. I have run away to another place thinking it would be great 'cause I could come back and cover two fronts. But really that doesn't work well. And of course the enemy has to hit the ally for you to get a chance to hit him.

I'm going to be switching to Shielding Aegis with DM's approval.

Tellerve

 

[Herschel]

Well, I'm playing an Assault swordmage and I thought it would be great to bounce around the battlefield but so far not so much. When I mark something it also tends to be what I'm fighting or something close enough that it comes to fight me....

Which is very much the idea behind the Defender, especially if playing with a rogue. The baddie comes to attack you, the rogue moves up to flank and *stab*. Or, the baddie ignores you and attacks the far squishier rogue, hits him, you auto-flank and swing, then the rogue goes *stab*.

It's a beautiful thing.

 

[Tellerve]

Which is very much the idea behind the Defender, especially if playing with a rogue. The baddie comes to attack you, the rogue moves up to flank and *stab*. Or, the baddie ignores you and attacks the far squishier rogue, hits him, you auto-flank and swing, then the rogue goes *stab*.

It's a beautiful thing.

I agree, but our rogue is slowly learning his role. Still think the other mark was a better idea having played Assault.

 

[Ryujin]

I thought about a swordmage as alternative if my wizard gets killed.
I read about that one feature that would be a reason to multiclass it to warlock but I had to search for a while to find it again: The feywild wake feature of the Evermeet Warlock. It makes you invisible when you telport to those who where adjacent to you.
So even when the enemy can't move like fba said the swordmage gets some CA.

But then i realized that a pure warlock with a pact blade would o much better at this job and swordmage paragon pathes have much more to offer so: Multiclassing still doesn't work for me and I would take shielding, too.

Don Incognito: Why the hell should I Multiclass to Warlock Infernal and does your DM always grant you every Magic Item you want?

I've gone the path of Feylock, with Swordmage multi. Unfortunately our party is light on defenders and controllers (our cleric thinks that he's a striker), so I need to pick up some close up attacks/defence. I didn't maximize my CHA (never being the best at what my class does seems to be a theme with me), but ran my INT up to 18 when creating the character so that I had a good Arcana skill. One feat for multi and one feat for Intelligent Blademaster, and the +2 dagger that our fighter has been taunting enemies with ("You aren't worth my sword, so I'm going to kill you with THIS"), and I'll be doing basic melee attacks at +14 when I hit level 8.

Then I might dip into power swap feats to pick up Swordmage teleport powers. The Feytouched Paragon Path and teleporting around the battlefield sounds like a satisfying way of doing a little annoying damage to a lot of enemies, plus engaging in a little minion clearing.

I'm hoping to find or buy a Pact Sword at some point, but up until now I've been using longsword in one hand, Rod of Corruption in the other. There's a note in the Player's Handbook about having a melee weapon in each hand only permitting you to attack with one, so this is a house rule expansion on that. The Swordmage Shielding ability gives a +1 to AC if both hands are occupied, so that's all that I get. That Pact Sword would improve things considerably, once a day. Great for that boss killing battle.

*EDIT* Oh, in case it wasn't obvious I was saying to go for Assault Swordmage. More fun

 

[Don Incognito]

Don Incognito: Why the hell should I Multiclass to Warlock Infernal and does your DM always grant you every Magic Item you want?

Shielding swordmages use int and con. Infernalocks use con and int. Sounds like a good combination to me.

Also, if the DM isn't giving you the items you want, you could always buy it.