Greatsword DPS help.

[blazerules]

Hello everyone! I am currently unsatisfied with my current build due to its rather low survivability. Sure it hits like a truck but its essentially a glass cannon. I've been trying really hard alongside my friends to make something better but we honestly couldn't find anything that much better than my current build.

All I want is to use greatsword, because I love it, and be fairly viable with good DPS. It turns out that is way too much to ask for which makes me sad.... So here I am wondering if anyone here has any idea how to make a good build out of such an idea.

Don't mind being a gish, or something along those lines either tbh.

Current Yuri: http://nwn2db.com/build/?266820

Thanks for reading and any help you can provide.

[Deathgrowl]

Can't do much better with a greatsword, I'm afraid. Damage here should be more than fine. The fact that you're going SD is going to mess with your AB and damage a bit, though (since you need so much dex). But it should still hit pretty hard.

Indeed, the only way to make greatsword build more survivable, is to make a gish. But that will lower your damage a bit.

[aaron22]

you want to dish out damage but also be able to take a hit. all while using a greatsword. ok.

F14/AK4/FB5/WM7
Barb(ww)20/AK4/DC6
B26/BG4

Barb(ww)20/OWD5/FB5

these will do great

[chad878262]

I can't go on the builder from work, but here are a few general idea's as well as a few builds to consider for your greatsword (with or without gish)...

- Purchase the Beast Tower Shield from one of the Avernus vendors. It's a Tower Shield +3 that grants Monkey Grip. Thus it is +7 AC, -4 AB when needed (that is better than ICE).
- Mix in Annointed Knight/Warrior of Darkness and/or Divine Champion to your build in order to improve your otherwise crappy will/reflex saves. Dipping Rogue for evasion is great, but if your reflex save is 10 than it doesn't really help.
- Take the one weapon feat. always on +1 AC with a chance for +1-2 more AC or +1-4 AB increase. Any great weapon fighter type should have this.
- Take Luck of Hero's. Fighters get a ton of feats, even if it delays getting your PRC's it's worth it because your two biggest weaknesses are low AC and low saves.
- Get some +3 universal saves gear (or +2 if you can't afford it). In certain area's saves are more important than other abilities.
- Buy a 32 SR cloak. It's absurd how good this is all the way in to low epics for PvE.

As you can tell, any warrior type is very gear dependent. So it may not even be your build that is the problem, it may be that your focus has been only on getting the very best weapon and AC items, even with all of this your AC is going to probably cap at around ~40-44. That is where the Beast Tower Shield comes in which will push you close to or over 50, and don't forget you can get another +1 from a shield potion. Meanwhile, pumping your saves is huge as it is often something that warrior players fail to take in to account. Yes F14/WM7/FB5/R4 will do damage that puts about anything else to shame, but it very much is a glass cannon and without the absolute best available gear it is frustrating to play without having a party to support you. So here are some ideas for builds that maybe do less damage, but have increased defenses. The above general suggestions apply to all of the below builds.

1. F12/AK10(or WoD)/FB5/R3 - Still gets an evasion dip, awesome saves thanks to Anointed Knight or Warrior of Darkness and Attack Bonus will be good enough. While not as much damage as a Weapon Master, this build gets far better Will saves. If you don't want AK or WoD you could go Divine Champion for more feats and bonuses to saving throws as well.

2. F12/Dervish10/DC5/R3 - Dervish provides some bonus damage and AC options. Saves are going to be lower than the first build, but somewhat mitigated with Divine Champion. Investing in some Charisma will give some bonus damage from Divine Wrath as well which is on cooldown timer instead of 1/day.

3. B20/DW10 (or AK/WoD) - Barbarian during Rage is crazy good. Both rages are about equal, but there is synergy in the DC to standard Rage constitution bonus if you go Dragon Warrior.

4. W13/EK10/DS7 - CL30, BAB 23. If you want an Arcane Gish this one is solid. If you don't mind having CL28 (which is perfectly fine) you can increase BAB to 25, but Gish doesn't really struggle for AB as much as it does for damage. Power Attack and IPA are a must, but your defenses will be off the charts. Standard is to build for Auto-Still and wear Mithral Full Plate.

5. Favored Soul - It's pretty tough to mess up, just pick a god that has Greatsword as it's favored weapon. Add in 3 levels of rogue/monk or 3 levels of water cleric for evasion, cleric, paladin or blackguard for divine might and you're all set. Easy Mode.

6. Bard - Also pretty simple... You'll probably want either Fighter or Blackguard rather than burning a feat for martial weapons. May also still want Rogue for Evasion, but then you have max CL28 (though as stated above, is fine). Idea is either to go max STR or split STR / CHA to go the EDM route. Also Easy Mode.

[aaron22]

the gish route may be somewhat frustrating as the damage they deal is fairly low in comparison to a fighter model. you seem to prefer hitting hard and i can understand that. just want to not be so squishy. also understandable. in my opinion EDM FvS or the barb build is going to feel really nice. good mitigation and damage. they are both click and smash. click and smash. less gear dependent too. but only slightly. premium gish builds really need MFP and if you dont have that they can be expensive.

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

Go Barbarian 20/10 Anointed Knight. Great saves, good damage, very good AC.

[Valefort]

Your damage can go down a bit without problem while your AC could use more points so you can drop weapon spec feats for AC feats. Steadfast is also a luxury feat so I dropped it.

Rearranged the ability point buy to get more skill points, damage drops by 6, no big deal when it's that huge anyway.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?270869

[mrm3ntalist]

Its obvious that FB makes things difficult for you, due to the Cleave, Gr. Cleave. Two feats which you could have used for Defensive feats like Valefort suggested. When you do that, you lose Gr spec adn epic spec. So it is 4 damage you lose in order to get the Enchanced PA/IPA from FB. In my opinion it doesnt worth it.

To fit in all epic feats, one should aim to get F6-12 in the epics for all bonus feats and F12 should be at most at level 27, leaving the other 3 levels for a different PRC, in our case Dervish.

What i would suggest to you, is to scrap FB and take the Gr and epic spec ( making up somewhat for the damage lost ) andtake LoH, Armor skin and One hander instead of Cleave, Gr. Cleave and steadfast.

I play a similar build, which i opted for WM instead of FB. There is also the chance to take F16/SD4 or F12/DC4/SD4 for more feats, saves (in case of DC), skills. The extra feats can be knocdown/imp. knockdown to compliment the High STR.

Here is an example build, mostly to demonstrate the optimal - in my view - fighter level split in the epics - http://nwn2db.com/build/?160558

[Rudolph]

To add to the excellent advice above: there is also a very effective cleric route, namely this one:
http://nwn2db.com/build/?245346