How much AC?

[elsteveo]

Hi all as above I was wondering what is enough AC when moving into the epic areas?

I generally play Solo as my timezone means the server pop is very low. When I get a chance to party and get some RP as well as adventure its great!

My current main is a Melee Fighter\WM\AK who is level 21 currently has 45 AC but still gets hit a lot when I enter with a CR of over 16.

Am I aiming to high? I like exploring and often find myself running away when I find new places.

[Wyatt]

AC can be a fickle mistress to chase. I have found that straight ac is not all that useful for mitigating damage on its own. In order to truly thrive in epics you need a combination of high ac (45 - 50+) and some other defensive capability. This can be concealment, damage reduction, healing, etc. Rarely have I found AC on its own to be sufficient for soloing with the way the engine artificially raises the monsters die rolls. Alternatively you can go the route of defense through HIPS and extremely high burst damage with defensive roll and epic dodge.

[Rain]

AC 45 is good enough to venture in the lower tier epic area's. You can even try high loot areas like the Troll Claw's (Ogre Cave) nearby Soubar / The Lizard men cave near the water fall in the Cloud Peak south of Amn area / or if you are feeling a little risky you can attempt Durlag's Tower as well, near Gullykin. The main thing as a melee fighter though is since you have no survivability from spells I would stock up on a lot of healing kits and heal up in between fights.

Also i'm sure other people will give you some other advice in terms of areas to explore with your build. I'm not a melee fighter fanatic iv'e mostly only played druids / clerics and occasionally a mage.

[izzul]

at lvl 21 above, you starts to go places like

Troll claws
-hunter trolls
-inside cave trolls
-rock trolls(immune to fire)

reaching woods(CR 22-24)
-archer 27 AB, 29 if from behind. means you need 49 or 50 AC
-Gnolls Marauder 28-30 AB from behind. you need 50 or 51 AC
-Gnolls using hands 24-27 AB
-Gnolls caster (SOV, harm, death ward spells)

Frost Keep
-Mystics IGMS
-Frost Giants 32-35 AB
-Frost Drake 30-34 AB

you dont only need decent AC. you need to combine your 45 AC with mirror image/displacement/deez/premonition/stoneskin/DR/foundation of stone/stonebody/IMA/shield/barkskin/spiderskin, and whatever spell you can pump to your PC.(im just naming spells that his fighter cant cast. but might be able to get through UMD/buffer mage/cleric/druid)

[elsteveo]

Thanks guys for the replies and the suggestions for protecting my PC better.

One last question. Where are the Troll Claws? I see they are near Soubar but not sure where?

[Rain]

Go to the bridge nearby soubar and there should be a transition on the soubar side of the bridge not across the bridge from soubar.

[Steve]

I try and build with 50+ AC at Lvl 30. I prefer a build that can have 50 AC constantly with top gear—if that Character can find/acquire it—but has some form of short term/optional AC buff, like CE or UMD or a combat Feat.

Your melee build will always get hit, and plenty of times, because it is a non-magic build. Thus, you'll need lots of consumables to offset the damage, plus, spend generously on Heal Potions.

If your build doesn't have high CON or any regen feats, consider RCR'ing for such. DR is also your yuuuuge friend here.

Also remember that a CR 16 Area is for a party of 4-5 Level 16 PCs to succeed. A CR 16 Area for solo grinding is more like a CR 21-22, depending on your build.

If you're still looking for advice, do consider grinding in a low CR Area, because though your XP gain will be greatly reduced, you won't have to worry at all about your PC dying, and taking an XP hit to rez via Myrkul.

[elsteveo]

Thanks Steve for your advice.

I get the idea of playing the CR 15-17 areas and if I can RP at the same time it is more bearable.

I have some DR through the AK feat but my con is only 14 with a +3 item so maybe an RCR is in need.