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View Full Version : I have no idea how to optimize this! (4E)



tenshiakodo
2010-11-15, 06:06 AM
While playing with the character builder, trying to come up with an interesting character for LFR, I came up with this combo, using a Hybrid Fighter/Seeker.*

*Someone has to have noticed this before, but I couldn't find any threads on the subject, which is why I'm posting this.

Basically, you take Deft Hurler. With this Feat, when you use Cleave, instead of dealing damage to an adjacent enemy, you are allowed to make a RBA with a thrown weapon against another target, without provoking an Opportunity Attack.

Seekers have several At-Wills (and a few Encounter Powers) that can be used as RBA's, so the road to profit seems clear to use two Powers at the same time...I think.

While trying to put a build together, however, I found that taking the combo at level 1 proved to be problematic; the AC is woeful on this build, thus necessitating Hybrid Talent to get Fighter Armor Prof.

I guess I could do it as a Human, but I really think 18 Str/Wis is the best way to go. Since this is an LFR game, I can take the Impiltur Background, and make up for my woeful Con, since I also need 13 Dexterity.

But I have no real way how to optimize this build past the first few levels; I'm not very familiar with Seekers in general, or how Hybrid Fighter Marking will interact with Deft Hurler/Cleave/Seeker RBA's.

Things I've been considering-

Wary Fighter for a nice init boost, perhaps combined with Improved Initiative?

Javelin + Shield (perhaps getting an enchanted Weapon/Shield so I can inflict more melee damage or pick up Fighter powers that use two melee weapons).

Dwarven Thrower weapons (such as the Maul) to greatly boost damage, at the cost of range.


I appreciate any comments/advice anyone can give me!

Kurald Galain
2010-11-15, 06:28 AM
I would strongly suggest playing a multiclass Fighter/Seeker instead.

Fighters are defenders, seekers are not. Fighters key off strength, seekers do not. Their synergy is pretty bad for a hybrid.

Reverent-One
2010-11-15, 07:33 PM
I would strongly suggest playing a multiclass Fighter/Seeker instead.

Fighters are defenders, seekers are not. Fighters key off strength, seekers do not. Their synergy is pretty bad for a hybrid.

And yet a mutliclass character wouldn't be able to do what he wants to it to, since the goal is to effectively use a fighter at-will to trigger the use of a seeker at-will. Without a seeker at-will power to use, that really doesn't work out.

As for advice, here's what I've got. The stat situation isn't that bad for this combo, Wis is a useful stat for a fighter, and Str is useful to a Seeker, so you're not wasting points into an attribute half of you won't use. Play a human like you want and start with 16s in both Str and Wis, use the human boost on the str to make it an 18. Your seeker powers will only be slightly behind your fighter powers, which should be your main focus. For the seeker "half" I'd just grab somewhere about the minimum number of powers you need to, grabbing ones that can be used as RBAs or that otherwise stand out for some reason.

Armor is the real issue here, and you have a couple of choices. One is to stick a 13 in Con and get Chainmail training, then you're free to spend your Hybrid Talent feat on a useful class feature rather than armor. What I'd do instead though is take Hybrid Talent(Spiritbond) and get the attack bonus with throwing weapons and -here's the big thing- getting to add your str bonus instead of your Dex or Int bonus to AC in light armor. Your other first level feat could then be spent on shield/hide prof if you really want more AC, or anything else really.

With that, I'd leave weapon choice up to you, you could go the melee in one hand, throwing weapon in the other, one weapon to be used in both situations or whatever.

Urpriest
2010-11-15, 07:37 PM
It's not a horrible idea, sounds interesting. To answer one of your questions, even on a Deft Hurler RBA you won't be able to apply your fighter mark. But that won't really matter because you'll be putting down some ranged control anyway, just of a different sort.

Jaidu
2010-11-16, 12:00 AM
Another option would be to play a half-elf and take a Seeker power as your dilettante. At heroic, it would be a twice-per-encounter trick with the Martial Dilettante feat, but at paragon you could do the RBA at-will. Of course, this limits your choice of Seeker powers to at-wills, but Biting Swarm or Grappling Spirits is still useful for a defender. With the new Essentials book, half-elves can take Con/Wis as their bonus stats. You would, of course, miss out on having a bonus to Strength. The Seeker power would mark in this case because the normal Fighter combat challenge says any attack, vs. the hybrid one which must be a Fighter power. Also, the Dwarven Thrower enchantment means you could throw any axe or hammer with the attack, range 6/12.

tenshiakodo
2010-11-16, 01:25 AM
Thanks for the replies, I'm still debating whether or not this build will function right at low levels. Human would let me take Hybrid Talent and Deft Hurler at first level; taking Spiritbond with Hybrid Talent can still give me an AC of 16, which, while very light for a Defender, isn't too bad.

Of course, as has been pointed out, even though it's a Hybrid Fighter, this build isn't very good at Defending, as even though it uses ranged attacks, it can't mark at range. So any group this build sees play in will need either a primary Defender or a good Leader.

From what I've been told about the LFR environment, there's no guarantee I'd see either. It does look like this is a better Paragon build, however, since at that point you could go with a traditional multiclass and/or Half-Elf shenanigans to get all the powers you want on a Fighter chassis, as well as all the Feats and magic item support of a higher-level character.