melee doom howler

[Timstro]

I'm considering making my primary DND character a Doom Howler this time. Full build is below, but the short version is that I'm making a melee-based raider with advanced smithing and the melee tree up to fencing. I'll be using swords and chainsaws, primarily.

In tier three i'll augment this with guided blade and martial spellcraft. Eventually I'll add Wail of the Dead.

Here's my questions:

I sat out the first breath, so I've never seen Martial Spellcraft in action. Is it worth it? It looks pretty good. I don't mind taking a few days to charge up. By tier three most people are hiding in strongholds so I expect I'll mostly see combat during raids by that time.

I know I could probably do more damage with an IB but I really want the hassle-free AOE of Wail of the Dead. Having a VW with a bunch of soul ice was often the key to a raid victory back in the nexus. I'm skipping the 90 CP improvement skill, though, because I'd have to sacrifice too much other stuff.

Skipping thrown weapons means gnashing of the teeth will be useless, but oh well. Hellfire seems pretty good, but will I still use it in tier three? Would I be better off with Enervate? Frostbite and Cloudburst are for use with martial spellcraft, obviously.

I've already progressed as far as advanced melee but I haven't taken smithing yet.

Melee Combat
Repair Item
Advanced Melee Combat
Smithing
Master Smith
Strong Attack
Meditation
Explosive Murder
Sense Magic
Fencing
Hellfire
Leathern Wings
Spellcraft
Guided Blade
Cosmic Affinity
Exoskeletal Armor
Martial Spellcraft
Frostbite
Cloud Burst
Reveal
Gnashing of Teeth
Wail of the Dead
Sense Morality
Planar Protection

[SkullFace]

Fancy that! I'm planning on replacing Quarrel (who was in DND last Breath) with a Doom Howler (I tried a feral Doom Howler last Breath).

[Timstro]

I've been planning and re-planning my build obsessively and I'm getting stuck, so I wanted to take my questions to the group.

My basic idea was to make a demon that would be a good raider. I figured melee Doom Howler would be the way to go because marital spellcraft can give some really high damage numbers with a little preparation. (Think guided blade + aura discharge + weapon damage + enchantments + martial spellcraft).

At the highest levels, the Wailing of the Damned AoE attack was going to be the icing on the cake.

Here's the problem: Every time I adjust my build plan to make it better, I end up cutting out the pariah skills in favor of mortal stuff like expert melee and master smith and planar protection, etc. So now I'm left wondering, why not just make a melee wizard? What does a Doom Howler do that a melee-based wizard can't do better and cheaper?

[SkullFace]

Wizards have no worthwhile AOE.
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Cheers,

Skull Face

[TET879]

I'm also making a melee DH with the smithing skills. I'm fairly new to the game so can't offer a huge amount of advice but you may want to check out my proposed build and the feedback I got for it- http://www.nexusclash.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2484

[MrLimpet]

It seems like enervate would be a nice complement to a melee doom howler since the - to soak would increase the damage of all the components of the attack, aura martial spellcraft and weapon, unless I've completely misunderstood how the skill is supposed to work.

Also it seems like a ranged spell combat wizard would be able to get at least 30/300 AOE cold damage which would be the same as the 60 cp doom howler AOE but for slightly less AP and mp although I didn't add up the cp costs.