Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="jontherev" data-source="post: 4934402" data-attributes="member: 1451">Some basic rules:1. Always bump strength no matter what.  Most of your powers are not about damage, but rather to boost your allies (indirect damage).  That means that you need to hit to make use of those effects.  I started with a 16 strength on my TacLord because I wanted 4 good stats (Charisma to use Intimidate and Diplomacy, Con to stay alive).  An 18's great, but I stand by my choice.  Warlords are worse than most other classes I think about needing high stats in a lot of abilities, so I disagree with the advice to focus on two stats (I presume that to mean starting with 18's in your main stats). I also suggest boosting either Intelligence or Charisma (depending on your presence) every level you can as well.  Dex and Wis are your dump stats (10 and 8 go here, almost no exceptions).  Gimping Con makes you vulerable (you go through your surges quickly because enemies don't like you boosting AND healing your allies), and gimping charisma means you aren't that great at being a leader in the skill department, not to mention it's a key ability that gives bonuses to certain powers.  If you pick a presence and only powers that key off of Charisma, you might be able to pull off gimping Int and taking Dex...for this you are most likely trying to wield a heavy blade in order to qualify for a feat.2. Use a +3 proficiency weapon to help you hit. My favorite is the great spear, which helps out your Commander's Strike.  You can still flank to get the hit bonus when you need it.  Reach makes you quite effective while standing behind a defender.  On the other hand (literally), you might want to use a shield.  So, if you aren't keen on using a reach weapon, stick with a one-handed weapon (as long as it's +3 prof.) and use a shield to boost that AC, as enemies really hate you.  Using a 2-handed melee weapon without reach is a total utter waste on a warlord.3. You must take the weapon expertise feat. Did I mention how important it is to hit?  Everytime I miss with Lead the Attack, my agonizing shriek can be heard in a 2 mile radius.4. Don't worry about taking feats that allow you to do more direct damage, like weapon focus. Leave those to the strikers and defenders.  An exception might be hammer's rhythym, but it has steep prerequisites as well.  If you're stuck on using a hammer, you probably want to build towards getting this feat in paragon level.5. TacLords take the feat Tactical Assault probably by level 2 or 4.As far as race goes, you have plenty of options, so think about what you'd like to roleplay the most and run with it, but ability bonuses in your non-dump stats are key.  Don't pick a race that gives bonuses to wisdom and dex.  Dragonborn are great taclords, but humans are too.  The dragon breath is awesome because it's a minor action for one, and an ok minion killer for two...makes a great first round charge combo.  Unfortunately for you, you've gimped dex, so you tend to not go first in the round.  You MUST take the Hurl Breath feat if you are Dragonborn..don't bother increasing the damage of your breath or extending the close blast to 5...HURLING is so much better. If you want to really play up your Intimidate skill and try to force foes to surrender, you need to start from Impiltur (Forgotten Realms only) and take the feat New Sarshel Enforcer.I'm a bit biased towards the dragonborn taclord, just because that's all I've played, so that's why I have so much specific advice on that....but like I said, plenty of other races work just as good.  I tend to not like bravura because the warlord is already asking for punishment...using powers that grant free attacks against you or bonuses to hit are more likely to make you a party drain on healing.  Heck, I wind up using my healing on myself most of the time as it is as a Taclord....but that's just my personal idea of what's good for a warlord.  There's plenty of viable builds for bravura I'm sure. I think resourceful and inspiring are also really good builds. It's a matter of personal taste, but I suggest you look at all of the paragon paths and see if anything really catches your eye...because some of them require a particular kind of warlord presence. Warlords are not the easiest class to run...be prepared to measure the value of your character to the rest of the party by how much more damage your allies deal or how much less they take....not by how much damage you yourself deal.Hope this helps...</blockquote>

Verification