Phalanx Soldier feat selection Help?

[Voidstar01]

Right so i'm playing phalanx soldier fighter, which I believe gives me a feat every level when paired with natural feat gains (+1 for being a human), so what should I take? I'm going for a tanky build here.

What I have: Antagonize, Shield Focus, missile Shield, combat reflexes, standstill, disruptive and, bodyguard (thinking about changing this before the game starts)

What I was thinking: Spellbreaker, Ray shield, Greater Ray shield, Guarded Charge, improved Bullrush, Greater Bullrush, Tower shield Mastery, Two weapon fighting (let me explain)


Why two weapon fighting?: The DM made a list of bonus traits, the one I chose grants a 1 point reduction to ACP, and reduces the penalty to your main hand weapon when dual wielding by 1, meaning that since my class reduces the penalty from Tower shields to 0 at 11th level I can "dual wield" my halberd and armour spikes, a light weapon, better than someone not carrying a greatshield, giving me a boost to damage.


Thoughts?

[Kurald Galain]

Bodyguard is great, and with a build like this you should consider Smash From The Air.

[upho]

I'd also consider the Mobile Bulwark Style feat chain if you're aiming to use a tower shield. Ends with Mobile Stronghold (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/mobile-stronghold-combat/) (bab +7) netting you and adjacent allies swift/immediate action total cover.

If you're looking for a more active offensive shield style, I'd recommend you actually ditch the Phalanx Soldier for something like Mutation Warrior or maybe Siegebreaker and use a heavy shield with Shield Brace instead (allowing you to wield your weapon 2-handed).

[TheFamilarRaven]

What Upho said. The existence of Shield Brace, and the Mobile Bulwark Style feat chain makes the Phalanx archetype a bit outdated. Consider the following for more or less the same effect of what you're going for.

By 8th level, if you have a Masterwork Darkwood Towershield (-3 ACP), the Tower shield Specialist feat (-3 ACP, and enables the Armor Training class feature to apply to tower shields), and the Improved Shield Focus feat (-1 ACP), you can reduce the ACP to -3. Combine that with a Sash of the War Champion (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/r-z/sash-of-the-war-champion/), you can treat your Armor Training class feature as if you were 11th level (an additional -3 ACP) for a total ACP of -0.

Combine this with the Shield Brace feat, and the Mobile Bulwark Style feats and you have the full benefits of a tower shield along with the power of a two handed weapon with none of the drawbacks plus some of the phalanx fighter flare. You might decide that a whole feat to reduce your ACP by 1 is a bit much, in fact you might be better off with weapon focus to offset the penalty instead as that is usually a prereq for a lot of other offensive feats.

Edit: Also, I would backup Jurald by positing that Cut From the Air + Smash From the Air is better than Missile Shield + Ray Shield. Missile Shield can basically be done with an enchantment. as can the Ray shield IIRC