A Guide to Fighter Enhancements

By Nuitaran

The best way to choose Enhancements is to choose ones that best fit your play style and your personal taste. For example, a friend of mine plays so conservatively with his limited use per day skills and items that he almost never uses his Action Boost. I recommended that he choose something else because an ability going unused isn’t much of an ability at all. So, if you never use your Action Boost, start using it or get rid of it. I might rate Fighter's Strategy with a 5 but if you never Trip, Sunder, or Stunning Blow why bother to take it? Focus first on the ones that will be used to the greatest effect with your build.

Many of the fighter Enhancements that are worthwhile; focus on applying greater Dexterity bonuses to tower shields and full plate. Any fighter with a high Dexterity should be aiming for these first in order to maximize his armor class.

Your character will gain Enhancements as he increases in ranks; however, he can only have a maximum of 4 active Enhancements at any point. The choices for the 4 Enhancements slots are drawn from a list of both class and racial Enhancements that increase as the character increases in ranks. This guide will focus purely on the Enhancements available to the Fighter class.

For this guide, I will focus on the highest level Enhancement from each line, whether it comes in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th level versions of the Enhancements. Each Enhancement is given a usefulness rating of 1-5 (with 5 being the most useful). The notes will state why this rating is given as such.

Fighter’s Dodge Official Text: Dodge grants you a greater Armor Class bonus. Comments: There’s never anything wrong with extra AC. If you have a spare slot, this is a good one to spend it on. Rating: 4

Fighter’s Combat Expertise Official Text: Combat Expertise grants you a greater Armor Class bonus. Comments: The amount of Attack Bonus you have to sacrifice to use this enhancement is not usually worth it unless you are fighting opponents that are incredibly easy to hit. If you have an outrageously high Attack Bonus, give this a whirl. If you can still hit using it, more power to you. Rating: 2

Armored Agility Official Text: Reduces the armor check penalty that applies to many of your skills by 3, regardless of armor worn. Comments: This isn’t really useful unless you are a heavily skill based fighter. Rating: 2

Item Defense Official Text: You are skilled at protecting your gear against damage, granting you a 60% chance to negate potential item wear before it occurs. Comments: Although it will save you money and permanent item damage, there are better options. Rating: 2

Fighter’s Mobility Official Text: Mobility grants you a greater Armor Class bonus while tumbling. Comments: If you do a lot of tumbling, this may be the Enhancement for you. Only worry about it if you have a spare slot, though. Rating: 3

Fighter’s Strength Official Text: Grants a +3 increase to Strength score. Comments: How can you turn this one down? I know I can’t. There is never anything bad about having more Strength. Rating: 5

Critical Accuracy Official Text: Grants +12 bonus to confirm critical hits. Comments: This is an example of one that sounds better than it is. Remember that it doesn’t increase your chances of getting a critical hit, just the chance to confirm it. It’s only going to make an impact on monsters that are very difficult to hit in the first place. Waste of a slot. Rating: 1

Fighter’s Action Boost Official Text: This enhancement grants the ability to receive short-term boosts to attacks, Armor Class, or attack speed. Comments: Monster ACs were recently scaled down making this Enhancement less of a staple. I still swear by it as it always helps to kick in the AC Boost or the Attack Boost against boss monsters and in really tough fights. Rating: 4

Fighter’s Armor Mastery Official Text: Grants +4 to the max Dex bonus on your armor. Comments: If you have a Dexterity higher than 13, and aren’t lucky enough to have Mithral Full Plate, or an even higher Dex WITH Mithral Full Plate this is the enhancement for you! Consider that a Fighter with a 20 Dexterity, Armor Mastery IV, and a set of +5 Full Plate will have a 29 AC in nothing but his armor. This Enhancement has the potential to equal massive armor class, but only if you have the Dex to make it work. Rating: 4

Fighter’s Strategy Official Text: Grants +6 to the DC of all your combat feats. Comments: This is another of my personal favorites. With this Enhancement you will be able to Trip consistently and keep your foes down for a long time. Combine this with Improved Trip and a good Vertigo weapon for devastating effect. Rating: 5

Fighter’s Tower Shield Mastery Official Text: Grants +4 to the max Dex bonus on your tower shield. Comments: If you use a tower shield and have a high Dexterity this is the way to go. Rating: 3

Skill Recovery Official Text: Grants a +8 bonus to Heal and Repair skills. Comments: There are much better choices. This is only really going to assist you when soloing. Rating: 2

Skill Tactics Official Text: Grants a +8 bonus to Intimidate and Tumble skills. Comments: If you can’t make up for it in skill points and you regularly use these skills it might be the way to go, but only if you have a spare slot. There are better options. Rating: 2

We've got more DDO Fighter Guides:

• Fight Portal
• Fighter Tactics
• Fighter Feats

---