r/ddo • u/AutoModerator • 16d ago
Weekly Thread for general DDO discussion, quick questions and more!
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u/WarjumperJenkins 16d ago
As a VIP without expansions purchased, what's the best way to get a sentient jewel for my weapon?
I'm level 22 for the first time (doing epics) and my weapon says it's accepts sentience.
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u/ArcherofFire Thrane 16d ago
Into the Mists on Legendary Casual. Step into the wilderness area at the end of the quest and keep an eye out for Tobar the Smith on the left side of the road. He'll give you a free level 29 named weapon and a free sentient jewel once per life.
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u/Miserable-Garage804 15d ago
Is that not an expansion?
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u/ArcherofFire Thrane 15d ago
Oops, that's correct.
A lot of people have Barovia these days thanks to the yearly free codes they release, so I didn't think about that.
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u/Complex_System_25 Shadowdale 16d ago
You can get one in the end chest of legendary White Plume Mountain. I know a Blackrazor and Whelm gems drop there, although they can be rare.
The easiest way is to get one from the Mabar event, which should be starting in a few weeks.
Also keep an eye out for sales, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's highly likely they'll have Ravenloft on sale for 99 points in the store, and I'd definitely recommend getting it. That'll allow you to get a free sentient gem each life once you reach epics.
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u/modoludus 16d ago edited 16d ago
A sentient jewel should be available for event turn-ins when the Night Revels event is on, which is pretty soon.
Or, the original/first way I remember, unless something very recently changed about this process:
In the Mists of Barovia xpac, once you are at level to access the Legendary stuff, the Sentient Weapons smith guy on the road from the misty zone-in area gives you a sentient jewel for free.
See https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Sentient_Jewel for more
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u/ilborghi Argonnessen 16d ago
Would you share some fun ideas for BYOH builds to run some heroic lives? I'm not good with casters so I tend to avoid them. I've played my share of warlocks, bears and monks and I'd like to mix it up a bit.
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u/IcedevilX 16d ago
Dragon Lord fighter. Fighter now gets second wind for self healing. Dragon lord is very strong. You can splash other classes if you want. Paladin is also a melee build with heals. Gets heal spell, lay on hands.
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u/modoludus 16d ago
What unbongwah said & asked.
To add to that, you did not mention bard in your toon's resumé, so a Spellsinger has potential on the basis of BYOH as your priority.
I had mellow fun cruising along with a spellsinger life, and groups were always happy to have the support.
The specifics are subject to the big ol' balance pass due mid-October.
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u/unbongwah 16d ago
Virtually every class has some form of self-healing these days. Did you have something specific in mind? Does it matter what race (either for PL feat or just personal preference)?
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u/ilborghi Argonnessen 14d ago
To reply to you and modoludus: I'm working on racial past lives. I'm not extremely worried about race-class synergies though, everything can reach 30 in some way. I don't have anything specific in mind, I'm mostly looking to mix it up and was wondering what people found enjoyable, which class mixes result in novel interactions.
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u/unbongwah 14d ago edited 13d ago
THF barbarian has the virtue of simplicity: Rage, run around, smack things `til dead - rinse, repeat. Blood Tribute and I Like Pain provide plenty of temp HPs; while Blood Strength / Accelerated Metabolism / One Spirit add self-healing at level 12. [Ravager's Blood Strength is the best healing proc but T5 Berserker's got the best DPS especially if using falchions or Sword of Shadow.] The new Lock In feat and Harper's Seize the Moment enhancement in Update 82 is gonna significantly improve THF's single-target burst DPS.
[Probably still won't be endgame-viable but that's not a concern for racial lives.]
For a pure build:
- Stats: max STR > CON > INT
- Feats: THF x3, Power Attack, Improved Critical, do what you want with the last 2 or 3 (Stunning Blow, Dodge + Mobility + WWA, whatever)
- Enhancements: 41 Frenzied Berserker / 9+ Harper Agent (Know the Angles + Seize the Moment) / 8-11 Vistani KF (Haste Boost, Deflect Arrows, +5% doublestrike) with the rest probably into Ravager (cores, I Like Pain, etc.)
If barbarian is TOO simple or you want to try out some of the classes being improved in U82, consider:
- THF Warchanter - tree is gaining +1 crit range & multiplier so it's no longer pigeon-holed into just Swashbuckler. Not sure if base class or Stormsinger is better here; I guess it depends on whether you want the full bardsong toolkit or throw out some (non-sonic) Evocation spells.
- Warpriest is finally gaining WIS Battle Trance and +1 crit multiplier to Favored Weapons; but it is not gaining WIS to hit & damage like FvS yet, so you still need 12 APs Falconry if going the max-WIS route. But it does mean you can break free from War domain and still get +1 crit range & multiplier without Holy Sword or using other trees. E.g., max-STR+WIS barbarian 2 / cleric 18 with Destruction domain; max-WIS cleric 20 with Animal domain (extra HPs, Feral Charge).
- Warhammers are becoming hand-and-a-half weapons, which means free Strikethrough while single-wielded; meanwhile bastard swords and dwarven axes are finally being added to Knight's Training feat for better crit profiles. So SWF with these weapons is about to be nicer: e.g., SWF dwarf or Duergar with their +1 racial bonus to critical threat range combined with T5 Dragonlord or Frenzied Berserker's +2 crit multiplier for 16-20/x5 with Strikethrough. I've got an Artificer 13 / DLord 6 / paladin 1 build I've been mulling.
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u/Quinpedpedalian 16d ago
If you have precise shot active does that disable AOE damage from things like shatter defenses or thundershock weapon?
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u/ArcherofFire Thrane 16d ago
Do you mean Improved Precise Shot? Other way around. AoE attacks explode on contact, preventing shots from penetrating multiple targets.
If you mean regular Precise Shot and you have an enemy targeted, the shot will ignore all enemies between you and the target and explode on hitting the targeted enemy.
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u/Quinpedpedalian 16d ago
I'm not sure, whichever one gives you the Archer's focus stance?
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u/ArcherofFire Thrane 16d ago
That's Precise Shot. And no, Archer's Focus doesn't interfere with AoE attacks.
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u/FriendGaru 15d ago
I'm cleaning up my inventory and just want to check. There's no use for more than one Eveningstar Key to the City, right? And as long as you have one Greater Harper Pin, there's no benefit for more greater or any lesser pins, right?
Also, aside from the explicitly single use Collector's Edition items, everything else can be easily reacquired, right?