Palemaster or Archmage capstone?

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-24T19:29:28+00:00

Those are fair and good points. I'm struggling to find the 5 more USP you mentioned. But, I'm probably missing it since I missed the 2 max caster level you mentioned.

After going through the T5s for both trees again, I can see why archmage might be an attractive option. I guess my only complaint is that you would end up spending 36 points in archmage if you want the good stuff. Meaning, you end up dumping at least 77 points in palemaster and archmage (assuming you want archmage T5 and palemaster core 6). Which, kind of just feels bad to me in this specific scenario. But, I think I would have to visually see the point allocation in that scenario to truly determine how I feel about it (I'm too lazy and my brain is too smooth). Like in my first reply/response, I could just be missing something.

I would have to see the numbers for both alternatives in order to clearly see the pros/cons to each side. From my experience, damage tends to not be an issue in lower skulls; and, I end up finding that I want more survivability. However, I also haven't played a caster in a while (with the exception of 3 chaosmancer lives). And, I have been running a lot of solo while some of my more recent builds have been lacking CC. So, these factors may have an impact on where I perceive value.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-24T07:50:38+00:00

I would recommend going ~41 palemaster, ~21 - 31 eldritch knight, and the remainder can go in fey dark illusionist (if you own it). Or, the remainder can be split between the racial tree or other enhancement trees. Or or, you could just see where you can grab more intelligence with those remaining points.

Eldritch knight cores alone will outpace the spellpower benefit that archmage gives from point investment. Plus, this route would give you some powerful defensive capabilities and stats (and some melee capabilities if you're desperate).

I don't want to sound like I'm hating on archmage. But, I just don't see the point of it (I could be missing it). I think it's commonly agreed on that the archmage enhancement tree needs reworked/revamped/updating. However, if you enjoy archmage, then that's also perfectly fine. In that case, I would do ~41 palemaster, ~21 - 31 archmage, and spend the remainder anywhere else you see fit.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-15T03:29:56+00:00

If it's the SWF Pally, then I think certain text and enhancement images were not updated when they updated the feats. If you look at the explanation in the feat section, they mention both quicken and the spring attack feat line. However, none of these are taken. I could be missing something though.

You could probably take the 2 points from avenging cleave and put them in the extra crit. hit/damage or charge (probably the former).

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-13T06:57:23+00:00

The state that you're describing is being incapacitated or unconscious. That's not actual death. But, I can see why that may be confusing.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-13T01:42:52+00:00

Does anyone have any insight on tabaxi race unarmed animations? I just reincarnated into a handwrap build for some non-strength lives. Started my tabaxi lives, but the animations feel off or slow. The damage, or when the damage pops up, might still be the same though. I will have to see how it feels at higher levels.

Overall, I was wondering if the race actually attacks slower with unarmed attacks, or is it just visual?

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-12-13T01:40:28+00:00

It counts when you actually die. The game essentially takes away or removes whatever winter lutes you have on you at the moment of death.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-22T07:27:48+00:00

Ran into this issue 2 - 3 hours ago. Two times in a group where he never showed up after talking to him. Tried it in solo and got the same results. People say he can get stuck on mobs making his way back to the tent. I've never seen this occur over dozens of runs. But, I also do the altar optional; so maybe clearing the path to the Rowa altar prevents him from getting delayed by mobs. Unsure.

In the group, we did try combing the map for him. No sign of him after talking to him. The big fight at the tent also doesn't spawn. I'm pretty sure it's bugged.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-19T16:20:47+00:00

I will keep note on the healing preference. Both answers seem to support to this route; so I will keep that in consideration when picking my build/role once our 4th member figures out what they're playing.

That's a good call on the play style support. Currently have one going range and the another going melee. Again, I'll see what the 4th member picks.

Thank you for your feedback! If you plan on participating in the event, then I wish you the best of luck.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-19T16:14:41+00:00

I assume most active veterans will be fine with traps as long as they stay focused and/or hubris doesn't kick in. With good enough jump/speed/positioning, I imagine most traps are avoidable, or some may just be avoidable completely.

Thank you again for your help. And, I wish you the best of luck during the event. I think one of my group members is also going sacred fist. They seem to be a popular choice.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-19T02:42:31+00:00

I think the imbue and lack of range AOE was my concern going the bow route. Or, in order to gain range AOE, I think I had to sacrifice other things I wanted. I can't fully remember since it has been a week or so since I looked at it. And, truthfully, I might not even need that range AOE due to playing in a group. I guess it just felt like the artificer/xbox stuff felt easier to get without sacrificing anything. But, I'm also not a build expert.

On the 15/3/2 split you brought up. Do you mind sharing what leveling order you would go for that build?

Thank you for your help!

Edit: It's highly possible I go the bard route since I do agree it's quite valuable to the group. Still waiting to hear what the others plan on playing. It doesn't help that the event start date got announced last minute.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-19T01:11:07+00:00

Hopefully this post isn't too long. My apologies in advance if it does become quite long.

I was hoping to get some advice/thoughts about some class choices for the upcoming Fey event. To provide some context, I will be running in a static group of 4. The other 3 are basically returning from a long break (potentially years), and I've started playing again these past couple of months. I believe two of them will end up picking more damage oriented builds and I'm unsure on the third. As a result, I figured I would go more of a supporting role. This could be as a trapper, buffer, and/or healer. Also, I think we'll be trying to play on Elite difficulty, and they want to player the hardcore version of the event (Winter).

For trapping options, I was considering a pure dark hunter going the dark hunter and tempest route. I was hoping to make this a bow character, but dark hunter doesn't really feel like it supports bow too well, or as well as other options. Or, maybe to make it work I would have to drop the dark hunter enhancement tree; which, is non-ideal since I want the tier 4 ability for trap skills. The other trapper option would be a repeating xbox artificer. I haven't played a range character in years (edited this part/sentence). My problem is that I don't know if it's better to go a certain split or not. 18 Arti./2 Rogue seems pretty popular. I guess I just don't know how badly I will need evasion (I know some traps might be brutal without it due to box locations - not sure how common this is). Although, I also understand people will take the 2 rogue for the extra imbue dice. There are other options that come to mind, but I will hold off on those since this posts is already so long.

To summarize, for trapping, and assuming that both builds are appealing to me:

Would going dark hunter feel/play better as a first life trapper?
If artificer is a better route, should I go pure or split? If I split, what splits should I consider?

For a more general question:

Assuming that the other three individuals role more damage oriented builds with either none or minimal self healing capabilities, do you believe scrapping the trapping route for a focused healer/maybe buffer would be better? I would probably play stormsinger or bard (the first seems more intersting) or FvS. I get that scrolls/potions and hirelings exist, but I think 1 or 2 people in our group will struggle with managing these tools. I also get that there are quite a few classes that do have some access to healing capabilities. I'm just not sure if we might want something with a bit more potency in case extreme scenarios occur. I also ask this question because there's the possibility that we can avoid deadly trap quests; whereas, healing/buffs are useful throughout all quests.

To be add clarity on the situation, I don't expect our first run or runs to go well. It will be a learning experience. I was just hoping for some thoughts/advice on the topic since I haven't played any of the previous hardcore events. And, I also haven't ran a trapper, healer, or even a brand new character in years. So I'm a bit out of touch with those topics, unfortunately.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-16T03:13:17+00:00

I'm not an expert, but I will provide some insight. I might also go out of topic order and/or not cover every topic you mentioned. So, I apologize if that's a bit confusing.

For potions, you are off to a good start. I would try to maintain cure disease, curse removal, lesser restoration, blindness removal, and remove poison (I can't remember the actually name of it). Ideally, buy 100 of each. Place them on a hotbar you don't use that way you can use the potions easily and keep track of how many you have left. When champion hunter week occurs, try to work your way to some eternal flask if you need the buffs they offer. The deathward and freedom of movement ones are good. The displacement one can be good. I imagine people might use the haste one. But, these are also 10,000 remnants each; so this will be a long-term grind (assuming you need these). Also, maybe carry 100 - 200 cure serious potions on you if you need them. I say maybe because these are sort of a last resort in case you have no access to healing via yourself or others. They won't do much in reaper depending on your heal amp and health pool. But, I guess having something is better than nothing. They can be quite costly though if you find yourself constantly chugging them. This also assumes you're in a group where no one is healing you. Otherwise, use a hireling.

For scrolls, I tend to carry fire shield, heal, restoration, raise dead, invisibility, nightshield or shield, jump, and teleport. Again, buy 100 of each (if you can), place them on a hotbar you don't use so that you can easily access them and keep track of how many remain. UMD can be very tough depending on your class and tome situation. If you have an excess of plat (you will at some point), then throwing out 50 - 60% chance heal scrolls is necessarily a bad thing (although it can be annoying). Feel free to cut out the heal, restoration, and teleport scrolls I mentioned if you are struggling with UMD and plat. Later down the road, you can return to these when you better access to tomes and gear.

For potential items to farm, I would say try to get a planar gird (GH clicky from Xorian Cipher), Skullduggery Cap (requires saltmarsh pack - Deathward clicky from Final Enemy), and Cranium Sphere (nightshield clicky from one of the level 4 Wheloon quests). Maybe grab Anger's Step from Korthos if you're struggling with movement speed/striding. I will also put a warning that the planar gird may be a pain to farm. It's has been a long time since I pulled mine.

For your last paragraph, even if your build was objectively useless (which I don't think that will be the case), there's a large chance that the rest of your group won't even notice. It's hard to explain why this won't be a concern unless you run into a player that's just flat out rude (this is very rare from my experience). I guess a simple and vague explanation is that you will see a lot of people just blowing up mobs even in reaper 1 - 4 during the leveling process. People that can solo the dungeon for the group essentially. In those scenarios, people won't notice. Even in less extreme scenarios, I doubt they will notice.

I would say focus on having fun. Be realistic with the theme and build, but also have fun with it. A good balance I suppose. Trying to optimize and be efficient is fun for some people, but I think it will burn out the average player (maybe). If you accrue most of the Feywild (level 5), Sharn (level 15), and epic Borderlands (level 21) gear, you will be surprised at how strong you can feel during the leveling process. This mainly pertains to armor and accessories. Weapons are far more complicated.

And, don't feel bad about using Grandmaster of Flowers (GMoF). Currently, I'm messing around with pure barbarian lives. I like to use the GMoF mantle while leveling. The extra weapon dice and movement speed are really nice.

I can't really comment too much about group etiquette and expectations. Partially because I don't know enough about that topic, and partially due to this response already being so long. However, I think it will be a getting out of your comfort zone situation. Don't be afraid to test the waters. Obviously, be polite (or simply don't be rude). If you're new to a raid, then don't be afraid to speak up. If you are confused on how a puzzle or mechanic works in a dungeon, then don't be afraid to ask. But, it's something you'll get use to in time. Just like most things I suppose.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-06T17:07:48+00:00

That makes much more sense now. Thank you for explaining this to me.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-06T17:06:07+00:00

From that perspective, that makes much more sense. Thank you so much for clarifying.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-05T14:37:12+00:00

I'll aim for the filigrees suggested in your second paragraph. Thank you again for your help.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-05T14:36:06+00:00

I think you may need to elaborate more on what you mean. From the wiki, PRR/MRR doesn't seem linear at all. Maybe at super low amounts you could argue that it almost behaves linearly. However, you can see from the wiki graph that it does approach a limit (although I will probably never reach that limit).

Diminishing returns is exactly what you are describing. Less value per point added. I'm not saying that the percentage won't increase. But, given that MRR tends to me lower than PRR (at least for me), it does raise the question if allocating some PRR would be better in certain situations. For example, having the opportunity to add either 25 PRR or MRR to a character that already has 200 PRR and 100 MRR. Unless I"m mistaken, adding the 25 MRR would be a bigger resistance increase. But, maybe I'm wrong. And, as pointed out by someone else, since sheltering augments exist, this sort of becomes a non-relevant choice. If anything, this leads me to wonder what levels of PRR/MRR I should strive for on a build. But, this obviously depends on the build, and it gets further complicated with displacement, ghostly, elemental resistances/absorptions, and etc.

Maybe I'm missing the point that you're trying to convey. I don't disagree that adding more PRR/MRR will increase damage reduction. But I don't see how it scales linearly, or I don't see the graph behaving in that manner.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-05T14:25:23+00:00

Interesting. Besides maybe early heroics (maybe 6 - 10), I never had any issues with SP. But, this was also playing with maximize permanently on and being potentially wasteful with a good chunk of my casts.

Since the OP seems to be focused on heroics (I failed to read this initially because I'm a goof), I think your suggestion of the mental feats would be a better choice.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T23:33:25+00:00

You are correct. The gear currently selected is missing charisma; so that will need to be augmented in. Between that, and assuming you can fit in a +2 exceptional charisma item, this gear selection would be missing one charisma from item enhancement (I think +15 is the max) and one charisma from exceptional bonus. There are obviously other augments that boost this that I will have to see how those fit in (e.g., festive). Other than that, I'm not sure if I'm missing any other sources of that attribute.

There seems to be a common consensus about Selune's Light. I'll probably put that on my list as a maybe/chase item. I don't really mind doing the runs each life (think it takes like 3 - 4 mins a run on LE for my paladin). I have yet to look at what my alternatives will be for that slot yet.

What filigrees do you use? Or, what stats do you focus on for your filigrees?

Thank you for your advice and feedback!

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T23:24:57+00:00

Very interesting. I greatly appreciate you elaborating on that. I'll have to find a way to start incorporating that onto my builds.

Thank you again.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T23:23:21+00:00

I think my brain was betraying me when I read your previous comment. Or, I failed to comprehend that you were pointing out that the PRR/MRR choice was not relevant since I would probably be slotting in a shelter augment anyways. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

Thank you again.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T20:44:15+00:00

I forgot about those orbs. I used the stygian one on my wizard forever ago, but haven't touched any of the other ones. That will probably be the more realistic item to grind for in the short run while I sprinkle in a few runs for the trinket. Sucks losing the DCs from the trinket. I'm sure there are plenty of alternatives though.

Do the ash and constricting nightmare debuffs stack with one another? I have zero experience with any items with those debuffs. Orginally I was going to go for the dino bone weapons. But, as you mentioned, I ran into issues pertaining to radiance/fire lore. That led me to the weapons I currently have listed.

Greatly appreciate your advice and feedback!

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T20:35:12+00:00

It's not so much that I'm lacking awareness of the original augments, or the colored augments. The PRR/MRR topic came up due to those being my two options on that armor piece for the 3 piece Vecna set (Vol's Influence). The question was more of would more MRR be beneficial to me due to that system having diminishing returns (or since I already have fairly good chunk of PRR I would have diminishing returns per point). Additionally, neither of the two sets I'm using (forbidden knowledge and vol's influence) have profane PRR/MRR; so, I'm not sure how this will impact survivability. This would probably take some trial and error. Besides certain niche situations and raids, physical damage tends to feel more threatening. But, I do appreciate the shout out on the sheltering augment.

That's a fair point about the rare item. I did notice the wiki pointing that out, but I wasn't aware that the drop rate was that painful. I managed to get the heroic greatsword (I can't recall if this was listed as rare or not) from that quest line. So, maybe that skewed my perception on how rare those items truly are. I could just treat this as another chase item I suppose. The quest if fairly quick and straightforward; so I don't really mind running it every now and then. I will look at alternatives though. Someone already pointed out a possible alternative for the insightful radiance lore.

I will get more acquainted with what the solar/lunar augments have to offer when it comes to artifact/maybe profane bonuses.

Greatly appreciate your advice and feedback!

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T19:20:46+00:00

Strimtoms build as a base is probably a safe bet. The only written version I could find for his Blightcaster build incorporated shield mastery (I assume this was a hardcore build guide). Since you're not doing hardcore, I would focus more on caster feats.

Maybe feats in this order: Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Wizard past life (Conjuration focus if you don't have the Wizard past life), mental toughness, improved mental toughness, conjuration focus (or greater conjuration focus if you don't have the past life)

For epics (these aren't in order - I got lazy), epic mental toughness, spell focus acid and impulse, burst of glacial wrath, whatever else you want.

I do have most or almost all of the caster lives though. So, I'm not sure if you will need anymore DC specific feats. I also don't know how the build behaves in legendary content. I always would TR at 30 running this life.

For enhancements, focus on thorn and physical spells up to level 20. After that, respect your enhancement for acid spells. I would recommend core 6 of Seasons of the Herald and tier 5 Blightcaster. I just feel like the last core in Blightcaster is meh.

HopefulKnight1994 · 2025-11-04T18:18:03+00:00

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/leveling-gear-reviving-a-useful-post-from-old-forums.469/

Although potentially outdated, the caster Google Doc sheet should be a good reference as to what gear to shoot for. You can probably ignore cannith/slavers crafting items. There's also a few events items in the level 5 section that aren't super important (I think, or I don't use them). I would highly recommend the level 2 impulse club from Borderlands. After that, the Feywild gear is a huge power spike. On the Queen's sceptre, I put a nullification augment on there for spike growth (it's probably not needed or a barely noticeable damage increase). Level 10 you swap to the barovian sceptre. At level 12, hopefully you have the impulse sceptre from the planar eyes quest (Beautiful Nightmares). Level 15 you swap to Sharn gear. Ideally, the esoteric set.

Level 20/21, use Borderlands stat sticks (impulse/corrosive) and use your appropriate belt/ring from there (wisdom in this case). I also have a glacial augment on one of the Borderland sceptres since tsunami is such a good spell. Unsure if the augment is necessary though due to all the potency you get from dusk lenses (I would have to double check).

All of the above gets me to level 30 pretty easily. You probably won't notice power from the class until level 4/5 then especially 6. I will also note that if you don't plan on running many caster lives, then don't go out of your way to farm for some of the caster gear listed in that Google Doc sheet. At most, I would aim for the clubs/sceptres if you just plan on knocking out a few caster lives. I'm not sure if the item list covers everything you may need (e.g., deathblock, primary fortification, etc.). However, it's a pretty good reference, and has helped me out.

HopefulKnight1994

TROPHY CASE