082*NOR/News Dungeons & Dragons Online
Hail *NOR/!
Dungeons & Dragons Online’s 16th Anniversary has officially concluded, but you can still turn in your party favors for unique items and get your free daily colorful robes!
With DDO’s promise of Hardcore Season VI happening in quarter two of 2022, now is the time to get your character build ready for the permadeath server. Based on the wisdom of the five prior five seasons, I would recommend that you consider the following build tips:
- Disable device skill reigns supreme, as “misadventure” (death by trap) is the number one slayer of adventurers in Hardcore. If you are unfamiliar with trap locations in the game, then you may wish to also bolster your spot skill as well as have the ability to search the traps out. The Drow race and the Inquisitive enhancement tree have “auto find” trap box options which can be extremely helpful when questing.
- Skill points are very helpful to get all of your key skills leveled up. This makes Intelligence more than a dump stat, and gives more emphasis on classes that grant additional skill points per level, such as Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Monk, Wizard, and Artificer.
- Ranged damage is not essential, but it is helpful in order to avoid getting hit hard by melee class enemies. DDO offers many options in this regard, including thrower builds (returning daggers or shurikens), archer builds, Inquisitive builds (two handed crossbow user), and various spell casters (Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock, Favored Soul, Cleric, and Alchemist).
- Reflex saves are extremely helpful, as are Fortitude saves (and Will saves if you are made of flesh and blood). The Insightful Reflex feat allows you to use your Intelligence stat modifier instead of your Dexterity in the event that you are focusing on an Intelligence build (Inquisitive, Rogue, and/or Wizard)
- Hit Points are huge in Hardcore and you will want to make sure to have a high Constitution stat, a False Life item, a Vitality item, a Constitution item, and anything else that can help bolster your hit points, such as Wizard’s False Life spell, Stoneskin spell or wand, Blur and/or Displacement spells or scrolls, and a Fortitude item to avoid getting critically hit!
- Hardcore can be a bit of trial and error along with finding a marriage between some must-haves in your build and playing a race/class that you enjoy. I have had a lot of success playing the Bladeforged race (with a quickened Repair skill in the racial talent tree), 3 to 4 levels of Paladin, 1 to 15 levels of Wizard, and 2 to 15 levels of Rogue. In Seasons 1 and 2, I played a 3 Pally/15 Wizard/2 Rogue Inquisitive build; and in Season 5, I played a 4 Pally/1 Wizard/15 Rogue Inquisitive build. Each was durable in its own way and it really came down to how many spells I wanted to have to support the mostly-Wizard build versus the amount of sneak attack damage and extra skill points I could have with all the Rogue levels.
At the end of the day, if you’re engaged and having fun, you’re winning!
See you in-game!
Yavool Ramnoth
Lord and Branch Leader, *NOR/DDO – Ghallanda Server
