Striker Swordmage

So the assault sword was considered a bit of a failed build ... the idea of the striker swordmage I like more than a little... this sample build I found out there in the WWW but didnt like some of the choices and not all of it imported right in to my builder sigh.

What I am actually thinking about is what would it take to fix the assault swordmage into a decent striker. (Heck the fighter can be a pretty good striker)

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Drakkan, level 30
Shadar-kai, Swordmage, Blood Mage, Demigod
Build: Assault Swordmage
Swordmage Aegis: Aegis of Assault
Divine Spark: Divine Spark Intelligence
Divine Spark: Divine Spark Strength

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 25, Con 12, Dex 17, Int 28, Wis 15, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 15, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 8.


AC: 34 Fort: 33 Reflex: 34 Will: 29
HP: 201 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 50

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +29, Insight +22, Athletics +27, Endurance +21

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +20, Bluff +15, Diplomacy +15, Dungeoneering +17, Heal +17, History +24, Intimidate +15, Nature +17, Perception +17, Religion +24, Stealth +20, Streetwise +15, Thievery +18

FEATS
Learned Spellcaster: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Devious Jaunt
Level 2: Intelligent Blademaster
Level 4: White Lotus Riposte
Level 6: Dual Implement Spellcaster
Level 8: Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 10: Two-Weapon Defense
Level 11: Learned Spellcaster
Level 12: Arcane Reach
Level 14: Heavy Blade Opportunity
Level 16: Novice Power
Level 18: Acolyte Power
Level 20: Adept Power
Level 21: White Lotus Dueling Expertise
Level 22: Quickened Spellcasting
Level 24: Total Aegis
Level 26: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 28: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
Level 30: Weapon Focus (Light Blade)

POWERS
Swordmage at-will 1: Lightning Lure
Swordmage at-will 1: Sword Burst
Swordmage encounter 1: Flame Cyclone
Swordmage daily 1: Dragon's Teeth
Swordmage utility 2: Ghost Step
Swordmage encounter 3: Incendiary Sword
Swordmage daily 5: Lingering Lightning
Swordmage utility 6: Armathor's Step (retrained to Dimension Door at Acolyte Power)
Swordmage encounter 7: Thunderclap Strike
Swordmage daily 9: Forceful Dismissal
Swordmage utility 10: Feywild Grace
Swordmage encounter 13: Fist of Force (replaces Flame Cyclone)
Swordmage daily 15: Inferno's Sword (replaces Dragon's Teeth)
Swordmage utility 16: Ironskin
Swordmage encounter 17: Swordshock (replaces Fist of Force)
Swordmage daily 19: Bane Blade (replaces Inferno's Sword)
Swordmage utility 22: Giant's Might
Swordmage encounter 23: Freezing Swordburst (replaces Incendiary Sword)
Swordmage daily 25: Bounding Lightning (replaces Forceful Dismissal)
Swordmage encounter 27: Maelstrom Blade (replaces Freezing Swordburst)
Swordmage daily 29: Mirrorblade Army (replaces Inferno's Sword)

ITEMS
Breach Bracers (epic tier), Boots of Speed (epic tier), Storm Gauntlets (paragon tier), Helm of Battle (paragon tier), Cloak of Resistance +5, Star Opal Ring (epic tier), Ring of Wizardry (epic tier), Belt of Vigor (paragon tier), Mithrendain Steel Bastard sword +5, Luckblade Dagger +5, Feytouched Feyleather Armor +5
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

I think swordmage could be a very versatile archetype in terms of roles.
A defender, A striker, a controller.... not sure a leader works at all though.

This handbook page probably elaborates better what we have...
Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?469143-Masters-of-Blade-Magic-A-Swordmage-Handbook-(By-Herid_Fel)#ixzz4NvkxQ2DN

Wonder what we could have.

Not something I can help with

So, I'm absolutely horrible at character optimization. And building a Striker using a Defender as the base class would probably fall into that category. However, I'm also fascinated with the process.

I have a couple of questions about this build.

Why is it important to multiclass into Wizard? I'm guessing that it was done to access specific Wizard powers. But are they that much more powerful, in terms of dealing damage, than choosing other feats? There are 4 feats spent on being a Wizard (the MC and the 3 swap feats). I'm curious if those feats could be spent on other things that would increase the damage output of the Swordmage.

This isn't a criticism, I am genuinely asking for my own clarification.

The swordmage|barbarian hybrid is apparently a pretty decent striker if you go the Assaultmage route. One version was called the Bookish Barbarian. I don't know if it's still on the internet, given that WotC pulled the plug on the forums.


Some of the powers I remember are as follows:

Swordmage
1. At-Will: Greenflame Blade
2. Encounter: Lightning Clash
3. Daily: Burning Blade (an attack that gives an encounter-long Str mod buff to damage rolls)

Barbarian
1. Howling Strike

Generally, you want off-turn powers and multi-strike powers. The big thing that stuck out for me is that this version of the swordmage never traded in Burning Blade.

Here are a couple of links to a site that was thrown up from someone on these forums, I believe. I had my friend pull as much of the old CharOp forums from the WotC site as he could. They aren't pretty, but the core of the information is saved. A lot of the threads were lost past the first page of posts, but the builds themselves are there (mostly).

These are the two swordmage-striker build links that I found. There might be more.

http://www.dyasdesigns.com/charBuildLinks/The%20Raging%20Teleporter%20%20Genasi,%20Barbarian_Swordmage,%20Ghost%20Blade,%20Demigod%20_%20The%20Wizards%20Community.htm

http://www.dyasdesigns.com/charBuildLinks/Thunderstruck,%20a%20Striking%20Swordmage%20_%20The%20Wizards%20Community.htm

skwyd42 wrote:

http://www.dyasdesigns.com/charBuildLinks/Thunderstruck,%20a%20Striking%20Swordmage%20_%20The%20Wizards%20Community.htm

That one sure seems to turn up the damned if you do damned if you don't factor in very interesting ways... I particularly like the do not
attack my allies either. It seems appropriate that turning up the strikerish damage is by tweaking defenderness.

It's opportunity to Nova according to the discussion seems to defeat itself however... and every once in a while it is very nice to
have a proper "He did it" to pull out of the bag.

I notice that as a full swordmage it uses the Shielding Aesgis.... (The barbarian hybrid used the Avenger)

Noticed nobody mentioned Bladesinger...

I think it's just overall disappointment with the bladesinger, especially the "encounters as dailies" set-up. If the Bladesinger solely uses his bladespells on targets he hits with his MBA, then he's got a striker feature right there. I don't know how well it would scale, since I haven't played outside of heroic tier.

I absolutely LOVED the Bladesinger class. But this is largely due to the thematic component, because I've only seen it played once. And that was by me for a level 1-4 campaign. It was a lot of fun.

I do think that the "encounters-as-dailies" was a bit of a let down. And, as mentioned, I don't know how things would scale into Paragon or Epic Tiers. But this is a class that I think could have become something awesome as a Controller/Striker blend if it had been given more attention.

Maybe, if I get time this week (unlikely), I'll play with the builder and see what a Swordmage/Bladesinger hybrid would look like.

I didnt like the thematics of it actually I want their magic to be their own. I want the blade dance itself to be the casting and the effects to be about cutting open doorways and slicing through the substance of reality with portals and the weapon shattering into a barrage of shards that reform and similar a tornado of wind that follows the blade .... a hypnotic weaving of flickering steel and so on... blade on blade sparks that build up to become lighting, perhaps a fae agreement that makes metal weapons avoid your skin. The i do magic like a regular wizard with one hand and sword play with the other just doesnt appeal.

Yeah, I've found that the coolest battlemages tend to be the ones who wield magic through their weapons, alloying the two together to create something else entirely. Blazing swords and telekinetically enhanced strength don't really gel with the standard wizard archetype.

That would be a great implementation of the Bladesinger concept. I'd have to look at their spells and whatnot, but some of this might be possible simply through re-skinning the 4E powers. I know that the spellblade powers were intended to be a sort of "magical part" of their melee attack. It would have been nice if they had encounter and daily powers that took this same approach. And maybe some at-will powers that were "sword-centric". I got to play a Bladesinger once and I really liked it. But I had a very rich character concept to use, so it made it easy.

Of course, I think there is a LOT that we could have seen with 4E if it hadn't been dropped so quickly.

Reskinning 4e powers can achieve huge amounts of effects