This build will focus on the use of 2 loadouts total for now. It is meant as a reference, not necessarily best for you in all cases. My playstyle is extremely aggressive and my build will reflect that. Scroll down for Dreadnought. All of this can become more specialized with more loadouts.
Vanguard AoE Rotation At-Wills: Cleave & Threatening Rush Encounters: Anvil of Doom, Enforced Threat & Linebreaker Dailies: Second Wind & Bladed Rampart Class Features: Anvil of Challenge & Ferocious Reaction
Single Target Rotation At-Wills: Brazen Slash & Threatening Rush Encounters: Anvil of Doom, Enforced Threat & Bull Charge Dailies: Second Wind & Determination Class Features: Anvil of Challenge & Shield Talent
Feats
Boons
HP boons are currently bugged. Would use otherwise.
Enchantments
Weapon - Lightning, considering bronzewood
Armor - Elven Battle
Other - 3 Tenebrous Enchantments in offense slots
Everything else is whatever stats you need.
Gear
Most of this is good but I am undecided as of yet if it is the best I could be using. Active and second artifact will not be changing.
Companions
Any augment would do. I chose this one because I also use it's enhancement feature and purple ones are in tarmalune store.
Awesome! Thanks Ziek! I run an old IV Conq, by old I mean 4 Mods ago, that just isn't viable in today's game. I enjoy playing her, but right now I wouldn't take her into a run that meant something to the party. Have respec tokens though....
"The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why" -Mark Twain
"Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero"
This is very solid advice. While I agree with pretty much everything Ziek has to say, I thought it would be worth offering my thoughts on the class, since I've been maining a GF since beta.
Rather than give you my own build (which largely resembles the one Ziek posted), I'll explain how I play in-game and why, and work backwards from that to the specific feats, powers, and gear that complements that style the best. I'm going to focus on playing a GF in the specific context of endgame epic PvE content: epic dungeons, skirmishes, and boss fights.
Here are the goals I'm trying to achieve when playing a GF, in descending order of priority: (1) minimize the amount of damage the rest of the party takes; (2) stay alive myself; (3) contribute to the party's overall DPS.
For my money, there's no better way to achieve that in epic PvE content than going down the Swordmaster paragon path, with the following mix of powers (you need to be a Swordmaster to get some of these powers):
- Dailies: [Fighter's Recovery] and (either [Villain's Menace] or [Supremacy of Steel])
- Encounters: [Enforced Threat], [Knight's Valor], and [Into the Fray]
- At-Wills: [Tide of Iron] and (either [Weapon Master's Strike] or [Crushing Surge])
- Class Features: [Steel Defense] (your second choice depends on context)
You protect the party in two ways: (1) by leaving [Knight's Valor] on all the time (and I do just that in dungeons -- leave [Knight's Valor] on 100% of the time) in order to absorb half of the damage they would otherwise take; and (2) by forcing monsters to attack you instead of them.
Typically, I start a fight by casting [Into the Fray], TAB-marking my first target, and then raising my shield and (very quickly) crab-walking towards the enemy. This is important because the first wave of attacks from the mob tends to do an especially high amount of damage; every monster in the mob is targeting you and they all tend to hit you simultaneously. There may also be a bug or issue with your damage resistance stat not being effective until after the official start of combat. TAB-marking solves both problems because it signals the start of the fight while you are still some distance away, causing the mob to come charging at you and breaking up the coordination of their attacks.
Leading off with [Into the Fray], of course, helps the melee members of the party get stuck in more quickly, and it gives everyone a big damage boost. It also helps me get into position to do the next thing, namely...
...Once I've blocked the initial wave of attacks with my shield, I move right into the center of the mob and fire off [Enforced Threat]. That forces everything in the mob to target me exclusively for the next six seconds, and it marks everything in the mob so that they all take more damage from the rest of the party.
After that, the fight is mostly a matter of footwork. I keep my shield raised all the time, except when I have to drop it briefly to re-cast [Enforced Threat] or [Into the Fray], or to hit my chosen target with [Tide of Iron]. [Enforced Threat] keeps the monsters pointed at me and not my friends; [Into the Fray] helps my friends kill said monsters; and [Tide of Iron] debuffs the target's damage resistance, so it's just one more way to help the party kill the target that much faster. It also restores a chunk of your shield meter, which is nice. In the interim, I'm either SHIFT-left-clicking to stab over my shield to hold the target's aggro and contribute some modest DPS to killing it, or I'm SHIFT-right-clicking to shield-tap the target and restore a little bit of my shield meter.
If I'm feeling confident, I'll drop my shield and hit the target with [Weapon Master's Strike] or [Crushing Surge]: AoE damage and DR debuff for the former, sheer damage and self-healing for the latter.
And I'm constantly sidestepping and backing up to keep as much of the fight as possible in front of me (and therefore my raised shield). This is important because your shield reduces the damage you take from [Knight's Valor] hits, but only if it's pointed toward the source of the damage (i.e., the teammate who got hit). Keeping my shield up also keeps the mark from [Enforced Threat] on the monsters who are doing their level best to kill me. (That's because "normal" marks from a GF disappear when the marked target hits the GF, except if the GF has her shield raised. The special TAB-mark does not disappear when the monster hits you, even if you don't block it with your shield.)
Blocking attacks with your shield generates AP, and with the sheer volume of hits you take while doing this, you gain AP very quickly, so you can cast a lot of dailies during a single fight.
If I'm missing a significant chunk of my HP, I cast [Fighter's Recovery], followed immediately by [Enforced Threat] in the middle of as many monsters as possible. Since I have [Steel Defense] slotted, I'm invulnerable as soon as the [Fighter's Recovery] animation cycle completes (and it's only about half a second), and the [Enforced Threat] tends to heal me all the way to full in one shot. (That's because the healing from [Fighter's Recovery] is based on the amount of damage you do when it's active, and there's no better way to maximize the amount of damage you do at once than to hit a lot of things simultaneously with [Enforced Threat].)
Otherwise, I cast [Villain's Menace] or [Supremacy of Steel] to contribute to DPS. [Supremacy of Steel] probably contributes more DPS overall, especially if you take that Protector feat that causes it to debuff enemy damage resistance by 5%. It also has a shorter animation, which is nice when you're under heavy fire. On the other hand, [Fighter's Recovery] makes you immune to crowd control effects, which is really nice. AND -- very important -- you cannot gain AP while [Supremacy of Steel] is active. So your next chance to cast [Fighter's Recovery] will be delayed...be warned. (Why is this so, you ask? Because people were abusing perma-[Supremacy of Steel] in PvP. This is why we can't have nice things.)
Another nice thing about using these powers is that [Enforced Threat], [Into the Fray], and [Tide of Iron] all refill your shield meter when you cast them. This minimizes problems with running out of shield, even if you're not a Protector and/or you didn't slot [Shield Talent].
That's how I play. It seems to work pretty well.
Powers: if you read through all that, it should be pretty obvious which powers to focus on putting points into. My favorite second class features are [Guarded Assault] (I get a lot of mileage out of it, since I have my shield up pretty much all the time) and [Enhanced Mark] (helps me maintain aggro, since I try to mark all the monsters all the time).
Feats: the feats Ziek linked to work great for this build. I also really like Balanced Shield Fighter, since I'm hiding behind my shield most of the time. With Balanced Shield Fighter, one stab over the shield does between 15K and 30K...which isn't bad for a GF. Protector basically helps you keep your shield up all the time (and also helps you debuff the enemy's damage); Tactician basically helps you maximize party DPS (via [Into the Fray]) and AP gain.
Gear and stats: defense, deflect, regen, AC, maximum hit points, and CON are all important for keeping you alive through the storm of attacks you'll weather. (For my money, regen is better than lifesteal when you're a GF, since it boosts all incoming healing - such as from the party cleric and from your own [Fighter's Recovery] - and your personal DPS will never be more than mediocre anyway.) If you are willing to spend, negation is probably the best defense enchantment. If you're on a budget, a lesser soulforged helps you recover from the inevitable lag, BS, and mistakes.
Offensively, Plaguefire or Terror (to debuff enemy DR and therefore contribute indirectly to party DPS), Lightning (helps you generate and hold aggro), or Holy Avenger (big boost to party DR and healing 1/4 of the time, or 1/3 of the time if it's pure or transcendant) are all solid choices.
I hope you found this helpful. Sorry for the wall-o-text :-)
So Ziek, Tyr? Is there really any use for an IV GF? Like I said, I have an IV Conq that I do play, but I would like to make her somewhat viable, to fill in when needed. I will be revisiting this thread to retool and rework her.
Thanks you guys!
"The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why" -Mark Twain
"Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero"
I'm not sure about the viability of IV for the most difficult PvE content. That's mostly due to how much [Steel Defense] counts when the chips are down and you *really* need to be invulnerable for a few seconds while you rebuild HP with [Fighter's Recovery].
On the other hand, IV has much better mobility, thanks to the [Threatening Rush] at-will (which lets you pinball around the fight and has no charge limit, unlike the GWF version). It also has nice crowd control, thanks to [Frontline Surge] letting you knock a swath of adds on their butts like a bunch of bowling pins.
I would love to see you try IV and prove me wrong about its viability in endgame content. Best bet, IMHO, is Conqueror or Tactician. If I were to try that myself...I would probably *not* use [Knight's Valor]. Instead, [Enforced Threat] and [Lunging Strike] for sure. Probably [Frontline Surge] for fighting adds. Zip around the battlefield, grab aggro, knock things down, rinse and repeat. Or [Knight's Challenge] + [Anvil of Doom] to quickly knock down tough elites.
Boss fights: [Knight's Challenge] + [Anvil of Doom] + (either [Into the Fray] for more DPS or [Iron Warrior] for survivability + aggro). Use [Threatening Rush] to get back into the fight quickly when you get knocked back or have to dodge away. If you're a Conqueror, [Cleave] for DPS (feated, of course); if Tactician, [Crushing Surge]. The idea is to maximize your personal DPS, and hold aggro through the sheer expedient of being a royal pain in the ass to the boss. If that fails and the boss attacks the GWF or TR poking it in the rear anyway, [Knight's Challenge] will halve the damage the boss does to your buddy.
Oh, and if you're going to go IV Conqueror, go all the way: slot [Combat Superiority] and either [Trample the Fallen] or [Shield Warrior's Wrath] to maximize your personal DPS. I'd say [Trample the Fallen] for on the way to the boss, and [Shield Warrior's Wrath] for fighting the boss itself.
If you go down the Conqueror path, I suggest these feats: http://nwcalc.com/index.html#/gf?b=23ci ... &h=0&p=ivn Note that one of the Conqueror feats procs when you have temporary HP, so [Iron Warrior] would be key to making that proc as often as possible. You'd also probably want to use [Iron Warrior] a lot, anyway, since you'll otherwise be relatively squishy for a GF and you'll be relying on generating lots of personal aggro to protect the party (since you won't be using [Knight's Valor]).
Yep, I don't touch Knight Valor, I trust my healer (Pally or DC) to pick that end up. I can pop Enforced Threat and call enemies many a map away into the fight. I've alway been under the impression that my job is to get the enemies to like me so that they leave everyone else alone. Her threat gen. isn't an issue, I can gain the complete and undivided attention of the bad guys, its just that as a Conq spec, I feel that I am unprepared for that attention.
For a geared party, IV Conq would work, but how often do we run with 3.5-4k IL monsters?!
"The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why" -Mark Twain
"Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero"
I think IV would be better served in the PvP side of things at a high item level. I've been toying with the idea of no longer being dependent on steel defense but with knight's valor running it's such a lifesaver it's so far been irreplaceable. My goal once I get a mass of diamonds again and can scale my way past 3000 item level is to see if I can take a more aggressive build stance and still maintain valor. I think there is a lot of potential comboing trample the fallen, knight's challenge, front line surge and anvil of doom. Some serious 1 shot magic in pvp. That said, Supremacy of steel and Steel Defense comes in very handy when fighting off rogues and weapon fighters so it's still tough to want to switch.
I really like Tyr's addition as it very well portrays the execution side of the build. There are many options beyond that lineup for other situations but what he explained is basicay the bread and butter. Especially in a party.
I think Ziek's right: IV is better suited to PvP than PvE. Kind of like Whisperknife for a TR. No matter what you want to make for PvE, even Conqueror, you're probably better off as a Swordmaster. Not just for the [Steel Defense]; [Weapon Master's Strike] and [Steel Blitz] can really up the amount of damage you do to groups with [Cleave].
You know, Conqueror is really only 1/2 a tank. The other 1/2 is DPS. Again, kind of like how a Temptation Warlock is 1/2 DPS and 1/2 healer. You probably don't want to be the party's main tank as Conqueror, but you'd make a nice off-tank.
Some food for thought that I did not include in this guide. Armor enchantments. I used to run soulforged. Now I run Negation. I am considering the possibility that Negation is wasted in PvE. Frequently there is info suggesting 80% damage resistence is the cap (needs confirmation). Considering a GF frequently averages between 40-50% DR and is constantly running KV (+30% DR) there is a constant baseline of 70-80% thus making negation pointless. Souldforged would be great but if you go down you are likely going right back down due to all the aggro aimed your way making it also a waste.
This brings up some interesting options.
Briartwine: reflect % of all incoming damage. Does this proc through KV?
Barkshield: Bonus shielding most effective at the start of the fight when you usually take the worst hit.
Elven Battle: massive control mitigation and bonus stamina regen
The rest have internal cooldowns so while interesting options are not as consistent. Still worth consideration if someone has a good arguement for them.
*Further investigation and I realized I read Knight's Valor wrong. It does not apply +30% DR. It reduces the damage coming my way via KV only.
