Fighter The Cannon Fodder Tank, The Kensai/Stalwart Build (2024)

FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS FEATS

Stat Requirements for build feats:
combat expertise: Int 13
Greater 2 weap / max AC: Dex 17
Force of Personality: Cha 13

19 total feats

34 point build, reincarnation will get 19 total feats. A 28 or 32 point build will get 18 and a 36 point will be 20 feats.
(the extra feats mentioned above are due to reincarnation. A reincarnation will get a certain number of free feats based on their previous class.)

This build is based on a human. A human gains a free extra selectable feat at first level. Other races gain one or more free granted feats instead. I went human to gain this extra selectable feat. I also wanted some of the optional enhancements a human can get.

This is how I built Cannon Fodder. After the listed feats I'll discuss why I selected them and some of the many different ways you could go with this build.

Reincarnation feats (2)
----------------------
Past life: Fighter (+1 to attack and +1 to combat feats like trip)
(This was free (granted) and came with the reincarnation)
Fighter past life student of the sword (+2 intim, +1 max dex bonus to armor and shields, three + 4 'to hit' clickies that last one minute). This feat has to be selected.

(if you are not a reincarnated toon, you will be able to spend one feat somewhere else and will not get the granted feat either. If you were not a fighter in your previous life, these feats will not be available either.
I suggest BULLHEADED to get the +2 intimidate skill and +1 will save instead)

Armor Class and Damage Reduction feats (4)
----------------------------------------------

combat expertise (+5ac/-5 attack)
dodge (+1 ac)
Shield mastery (+3 to blocking DR)
improved shield mastery (+3 blocking DR)
Combat expertise is a 'toggle' on/off for +5 to ac, dodge is always on. The Shield Mastery feats are always on. This build likes the +6 to AC. The extra damage reduction of 6 when blocking is essential.

Hit Point Feats (1)
---------------------

Toughness
(This feat will give you 22 hit points at 20th level (3 + 1 per level) and open up to 70 hit points in bonus enhancements.)


Saves and Skills Feats
(3)
-------------------------

Force of personality (charisma used for will saves instead of wisdom)
Skill Focus Intimidate +3
Skill Focus UMD + 3
(The skill focus will add a stack-able and always on +3 to the listed skill.)
DPS feats (9)
-------------
two weapon fighting (lowers attack penalty when using two weapons)
Improved Two Weapon Fighting (get an extra attack when TWFing)
greater two weapon fighting (get an extra attack when TWFing)
(The extra attacks with two weapon fighting will help damage over time increase also.)Proficiency: Khopesh (allows use of khopesh without a penalty to hit)
improved crit slash (increases the critical hit range of slashing weapons like the khopesh)
(khopesh is generally listed as one of the best weapons to use when two weapon fighting due to its high crit multiplier (x3) and its decent crit range (17-20 with improved crit feat.)

improved crit pierce
(increases the critical hit range of piercing weapons like the Rapier)Weapon Focus: Slashing (+1 to hit with slashing weapons)
Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing (additional +1 to hit with slashing weapons)
Weapon Specialization: Slashing (+2 to damage with slashing)
Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing (additional +2 to damage with slashing)
The extra +2 to hit and +4 to damage will do you well to hit and for damage over time.
The spec and focus also allow you access to the fighter mastery enhancements for +2 damage with khopeshes)

With just the addition of Superior weapon focus: Slashing, the weapon focus and specializations can allow a quick reset of enhancements to go from Stalwart Defender to Kensai with just the addition of Superior weapon focus, so this build can easily be respecced with little cost or time.

Discussion of feats
-----------------------------

AC: To build my AC up I had to select Combat Expertise (CE) and Dodge. CE is very important giving you +5 to your AC. These are the only 2 feats you can really choose for AC and are pretty much a must. Dodge could be dropped at higher level for something else though.

For fighting
The two weapon fighting line allows some massive DPS 'over time' and the extra to hit and damage feats intensify that. In many cases you will be using your shield though and the 2 weapon fighting line is useless in that regard.. However, I suggest keeping at a minimum the basic Two weapon fighting feat.

For Saves and Skills, the Force of personality allows you to gather a lot of needs into one stat, charisma. Since you need it for UMD and intimidate, your other important skills, it was a natural for will saves too.

Past life feats: The free one is good as you will need the attack bonus to start the offset from 'combat expertise' (-5 to attack) always being on. The purchasable one is AWESOME allowing one higher AC via max dex bonus, +2 to your intim, and three 1 minute clickies for +4 to hit.

Damage Reduction: With shield mastery and improved mastery you will end up near 40 for damage reduction while blocking with a good tower shield. That is INCREDIBLE when tanking an end boss. Absolutely worth it.

Improved crits: Slashing and piercing....lots of pierce weapons will help you (like banishers) and of course your khopesh sword giving more damage as it crits more.

The dps feats of weapon focus and spec are definitely something you can think about dropping if you do not intend to try kensai. In total, these 4 feats add +2 to hit, +4 damage and open up +2 damage in enhancements. To go into a dps mode you could get Power attack (for +5 damage) and still have 3 more feats and some action points for other things. Definitely something to think about.

This build has room for feat swaps for different things...
You literally have 5 to 7 feats to play with in this build to go in many directions. You can build up saves, expand your dps a little or a lot, up your ac a bit, and so much more. The list of available feats is HUGE and you may want to peruse the compendium. I suggest staying with the build and if anything add to your saves before other nifty things.

You could drop the Two weapon fighting line and go with

Two handed fighting (and improved and greater).

If you want to be more 'Sword and Board' you could change the TWF feats to

cleave, great cleave, whirlwind, etc.

The weapon spec and focus feats (along with some enhancements they open up) will give you some pluses to hit and 6 more damage. You could drop all 4 of those feats and spend them on

saving throw feats or even add THF to compliment your TWF feats. Or even go with the cleave line.TWF defense is another feat to consider and if you are not a reincarnate or not taking the selectable reincarnation feat, I suggest taking this feat for the +1 to AC while two weapon fighting. Power Attack was not taken on this build. Power attack adds 5 to damage and -5 to hit (more damage if THFing). The weapon focus/spec/enhance gives us 6 damage and is always on. Reason for not selecting Power Attack is you can only have one feat (combat expertise or power attack) on at one time. During playtime with this build it became apparent that combat expertise should be on 100% of the time making power attack a serious waste of a feat slot.Stunning Blow and Improved Trip - These feats just did not make sense with this build. To be effective in these you need to spend a lot of much needed action points and you will lose one or two feats to do it. With a high ac build like this, there is no need for trip or stun. You can intimidate them to keep them off party members and beat them down yourself. And these feats are useless against red nameds like those you will be tanking in raids or at the end of dungeons.Resilience feat - This gives +4 to saves, -4 attack and loss of half damage in combat. I used this for quite a while and found it to be a life saver. It is a stance like CE and Power Attack. Thus, it cannot be on at the same time Combat Expertise is on.
I used it when going through traps, dealing with heavy magic use in combat like hold person, command, fireball saves, etc. It was hugely beneficial. However I just ran out of feats as I got higher level and dropped it for the weapon focus/spec feats instead.
Bonus: it has the coolest graphic over your head when turned on in the game. Everyone goes 'what the heck was that?'. Wicked cool.Feats you can start thinking about switching out at level cap

I suggest thinking about saving throws, offensive combat DC, or even some levels of two handed fighting once you can start dropping the ones listed below...

Improved Crit : Piercing is really cool for using smiters and banisher or other crit effect weapons. This serves you extremely well in a lot of content at lower levels, especially a banishing rapier in the vale. However, at 20th level I found I rarely used any of those weapons and am considering dropping this feat for something else. I suggest once you get high enough you switch it out for a feat like TWF defense or a 'saving throw' feat, or possibly stunning blow/improved trip.Skill focus: UMD - Once you craft enough gear your UMD will be near or above 40. You can drop this feat at that point (especially if you make yourself a healing stick and no longer need to do heal scrolls). Without your UMD skill focus, you will be at or slightly above 32 and can boost another 5 from human versatility to 37+. This is more than enough for the buffing and healing you need for you and your party.
This can open up another feat slot at higher level.Skill focus intimidate - yep, this is your bread and butter. With the right gear and buffs you will eventually be able to pass 80 intim. This is complete overkill and even has a zero chance of failure in epic raids.

Some suggested feats to get for these 3

THF line, what the heck, be the uber dps slatwart on the block.
TWF defense - add to that ac man!
Both trip and stun for an awesome 1-2 punch.
luck of heroes, +1 to all saves.
quickdraw, seems to speed up your weapon changes and intimidate/swing times.

I could go on....there is so much you can do at every level to change this build to fit your style.

Fighter The Cannon Fodder Tank, The Kensai/Stalwart Build (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Jonah Leffler

Last Updated:

Views: 5926

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (45 voted)

Reviews: 84% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Jonah Leffler

Birthday: 1997-10-27

Address: 8987 Kieth Ports, Luettgenland, CT 54657-9808

Phone: +2611128251586

Job: Mining Supervisor

Hobby: Worldbuilding, Electronics, Amateur radio, Skiing, Cycling, Jogging, Taxidermy

Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.