Most offensive non-WM/FB fighter build

[Zkenic]

The name of the game is in the title. I am having trouble finding any build that even gets close to doing the type of damage that Fighter/wm/fb/(fill) does. I get that the super damage crits is the top dawg, bit I am curious what other fighter builds can do powerful offense.

I am good with 2handed, or duel-wielding. The main focus is no casting, no HiPS, high AB.

[mrm3ntalist]

I was fooling around with a duelist build. Fighter/Duelist can stack up a lot of damage. This should do a 76 Damage per hit. 44AC. The build is not optimized yet and begs for rogue for evasion/ew. http://nwn2db.com/build/?297240

Alternatively, ditch the FB, go for SB, max INT, weapon focus Rapier +ICE ( instead of IPA ) and deadly defense

[Steve]

Bardzerker, when calculating all possible dmg per round, is darn good!

[chad878262]

Crusader 30 with EDM (note with no spell casting UMD is really needed) can hit pretty solid numbers. Below is what the minimum such build ends up with (no feats considered) based on 21 STR/CHA and 13 WIS with +3 items for those stats. Note that things like IPA or NH can have a significant benefit to damage. Also note another option is to go max STR for better AB and always on 1.5 damage per hit. However, the ask was for most offensive so EDM will pump damage a bit more than max STR build.

30 (BAB) + 7 (STR) + 5 (Holy Sword) + 4 (Epic Weapon Focus) = 46

Damage: ~7 (Great Sword) + 5 (Holy Sword EB) + ~7 (Holy Sword) + 10 (STR) + 3 (WIS) + 14 (EDM) = 46 damage per hit

AC: 10 + 11 (Mithral Full Plate) + 16 (Armor/Deflection/Dodge/Natural) + 6 (Cursader defence) = 43

Whirlwind Frenzy Barbarian 20/AK10. Again, no feats considered. Note that you are getting 7 APR while raging.

30 (BAB) + 15 (Rage STR) + 4 (EB) = 49

Damage: ~7 (Great Sword) + 22 (STR) + 4 (EB) + ~2.5 (AK) = ~35.5

AC: 10 + 10 (Mithral Chainmail) + 16 (A/D/D/N) + 5 (WW Frenzy Dodge AC) + 3 (Tumble)= 44

At first glance the numbers don't look good here, but such a build will have Icetroll Berserker for more AC and again, UMD for things like IMA/Shield. Additionally, you would certainly be using Power Attack or Northlander Hewing and could still use FB to drive up damage if you want. B20/FB5/DC5 is a nice option for max damage, but AK/WoD adds Tumble, Spellcraft and some free feats. However, since you're going max damage and not using shields, having EIPA and Divine Wrath is a really great option. If you don't want FB at all B20/DC10 is a great option, but in general is more beneficial when going for a STR/CON barbarian since DC epic feats can be used for epic DR.


F12/BG3/DC5/WoD10 (Fighter specific WF/WS/MM feats are considered, but no other feats)

AB: 30 + 6 (EWF and MM) + 4 (EB) + 7 (STR) = 47 (+3 from Divine Wrath, lasts 1 minute, cooldown 5 minutes)

Damage: ~7 (GS) + 4 (EB) + 10 (STR) + 8 (WS + MM) + 14 (EDM) + ~2.5 (WoD)= ~45.5 (+3 when Divine Wrath is up)

AC: 10 + 11 (MFP) + 16 (A/D/D/N) + 3 (Tumble) = 40

Again, IPA and/or NH is going to be used which will pump damage further, both will do roughly the same bonus to damage, but IPA is taking away 6 AB while NH is taking away 2 AC, 2 AB and 2 attacks. Beast Tower Shield can be used when you need to pump AC, as well as IMA/Shield wand.


To be completely honest, as you can see from the AC of these builds, the boost to damage is minor when you consider the MASSIVE difference there is between having 50 AC and having less than 50 AC for a melee front line build. Thus M@A26/BG4 (or Paladin), Standard Rage Barbarian (with 22 STR/CON and using a shield), Paladin 30 (no kit or divinate) or the same Fighter build, but using a medium weapon and shield are simply going to perform better. They loose a bit of damage (.5 STR and ~1.5-2 damage from non-large weapon), but whereas Power Attack is better for using a weapon 2 handed, Northlander Hewing bonus is static, so shield users can grab that for damage boost. Even with fewer APR, the bonus damage can make up for it. Otherwise, for EDM builds again, damage bonus is static and thus rewards using a shield for added defense.

As M3nt says, you can do some interesting things with INT/DEX builds which tend to be able to have good AC AND good damage, but often struggle with saves. F12/SB5/D10/R3 is a decent split which can avoid XP penalty if R/SB is kept in sync. With ~14 DEX and max INT you'll still end up with decent attack bonus while having really high damage and AC. Conversely, you could go 19 DEX, max INT and switch Rogue for Shadow Dancer to have HiPS for breaking spell lock.

Nothing is going to approach the glass cannon damage of F/WM/FB/X because that type of build is a glass cannon. It needs massive amounts of UMD to stay upright or a very good partner that can tank for it. Much like the Rogue/Assassin type builds recently discussed it is THE damage dealing build and pays for it in defense. In fact it will out-damage rogue/HiPSters, and it should since it lacks the HiPS defense you get from those sneak attackers.

[Deathgrowl]

So, neither WM or FB?

I mean, either of those are pretty good on their own. Especially FB.

Beyond that, paladin or blackguard dips for EDM are good. Dervish can be pretty good to put into builds for more damage.

But all of the other variants of melee PRCs that aren't WM or FB that increase your damage significantly, have use-abilities to do so. Most of them even run out of those use-abilities eventually. WM/FB can just keep going.

[The Whistler]

swash10/dervish10/wm7/sd3 is the highest damage build I've been able to make with what's available on the server. the build's name may be slightly offensive

[Zkenic]

So, neither WM or FB?

I mean, either of those are pretty good on their own. Especially FB.

Beyond that, paladin or blackguard dips for EDM are good. Dervish can be pretty good to put into builds for more damage.

But all of the other variants of melee PRCs that aren't WM or FB that increase your damage significantly, have use-abilities to do so. Most of them even run out of those use-abilities eventually. WM/FB can just keep going.

No I am fine with either, just not both together.

[Deathgrowl]

In that case, weaponmaster goes well with a lot of things. Weaponmaster and anointed knight or warrior of darkness is decent, for instance. I mentioned dervish either, and the potion for EDM builds. Critting with that divine damage is pretty cool.

Frenzied berserker is just generally brutal. Go for a high strength build, fighter12/fb5 and whatever else for the remaining 13 levels, and you're going to have a hard hitter. Anointed knight or warrior of darkness works well here also. Same goes for dervish. EDM a little bit less, since you want to have high strength to really get the most out of that enhanced power attack.

FB10 is usually not as great of a path to take, but fighter12/fb10, filling the remaining 8 levels with something is certainly going to make you hit hard.

Another high damage per round kind of build is fighter/tempest/weaponmaster/rogue or whirling dervish (or shadowdancer, maybe). This is a dual wielder with high AB and strength behind its hits. Scimitar or kukri likely works best here (probably kukri, since you can go for deadly defense). Handaxe or battleaxe probably works too. Someone did calculations on this kind of build some time ago, and in many cases this is equivalent to a wm/fb in damage per round, even if it has lower damage per hit. It means it can't quite keep up with the wm/fb in DR cases, but otherwise it's great.

[electric mayhem]

Bard3/DPirate10/Duel5/Swash 12

~54 AC from memory. Full gear, high tier, feats and skills allotment, buffs applied.
~33 dmg per hit, feats applied, high tier gear. PTWF so HEAPS of attacks per round.
AB up around 40 min, buffed.
Other Pros:
Heaps of skill points.


Cons:
Low saves (except for epic amount of reflex).
Low HP.
No DR/HIPS/evasion style of mechanics.

[Deathgrowl]

Bard3/DPirate10/Duel5/Swash 12

Kind of reminds me of Valefort's Mealir - Bard8/Swash5/duelist7/dread pirate10. Although his is a single rapier build.

Why that much Swash anyways? Evasion doesn't come before level 16. Weakening critical is at 14. You're not really getting much in the levels between 5 and 14.

And if you're going dual wielding, you might as well choose tempest or invisible blade instead of those 5 duelist levels. Weaponmaster is also an option.

[electric mayhem]

Bard3/DPirate10/Duel5/Swash 12

Kind of reminds me of Valefort's Mealir - Bard8/Swash5/duelist7/dread pirate10. Although his is a single rapier build.

Why that much Swash anyways? Evasion doesn't come before level 16. Weakening critical is at 14. You're not really getting much in the levels between 5 and 14.

And if you're going dual wielding, you might as well choose tempest or invisible blade instead of those 5 duelist levels. Weaponmaster is also an option.

Swash 12 gets ya Epic Precision free. Allows Int bonus dmg to crit immune.
Duel has High BAB and d10. InvisB only d6. Preferred the Duelist feats in 5 levels rather than IB.
Tempest nets you only +2 AC in 5 levels. 5 levels of Duel = 5AC (if Int modifier of +5).
AB isn't an issue for this build, so Tempest AB bonus not worth it.

[Invoker]

It largely depends on what you wish to fight.

For instance, if you were OK with suffering a low dmg output against critical immune enemies, you might be willing to consider Swash20/Duelist10, which not only deals a colossal amount of damage, but it also drains CON and STR at the same time (therefore dealing even MORE damage, while also ensuring its own safety by attacking the mob). This thing will delete mobs that can lose CON as fast (if not faster) than a WM/FB.

Swash19/WM7/WD4 used to be fairly good, and in fact, was what I played once upon a time (20..15?). But that was before Swashbuckler's rework, so against crit immunes with sizeable DR it was literally: *drink potion of flight. Relocate.*, since the damage was basically zero.