MY R/W Build...

I guess i'm writing this because, after scanning the R/W threads, I haven't seen my build listed. So, here goes... please, feel free to comment/critique.

(Note: the purpose of this build is to deal considerable damage but to be able to survive against most/all characters through the use of stances and Melandru's Resilience. One would use an Axe and Shield.)

Skill Distribution:
Expertise - 8 + 1 + 3
Wilderness Survival - 10 + 2
Axe Mastery - 11
Tactics - 6

Skills:
Troll Unguent (Skill)
Gives +9 health regeneration, and can be constantly re-casted.

Wild Blow (Melee Attack)
Not only can this attack not be "blocked" or "evaded", but it hits for critical damage. The main use for this skill is to (obviously) remove the stance used by another character (helpful if fighting a warrior... the hardest build for this char to kill).

Swift Chop (Axe Attack)
Great skill. Does additional damage when hits, delivers a "deep wound" and additional damage if "blocked", and cannot be "evaded".

Lightning Reflexes (Stance)
As we all know, gives 10 seconds of evasion for all attacks, and increases the attack speed of the character by 33%. (60 second recharge.)

Whirling Defense (Stance)
A nice 18 seconds of a 75% increase to "block" attacks. Does additional damage to surrounding enemies when a ranged attack strikes. (60 second recharge.)

Dryder's Defense (Stance)
10 seconds of attack evasion and an additional 55 defense against elemental damage (which, from what I can find out, helps against both spells and attacks). (60 second recharge.)

Melandru's Resilience (Elite Stance)
The foundation of this R/W build, and a skill i've heard nothing about. Used when the target of many negative spells, this skill gives the player 18 seconds of +3 health regeneration and +1 enery regeneration for each condition and hex on the player. (25 second recharge.)

Resurrection Signet
A skill that should be mandatory on each build. There's nothing worse than dead members of your party and a character without a Res Sig. Bring it. Use it. Let them thank you later.

Use of the Character:
At the start of a fight, this character should be aiming at the monk/support char (as many do). The variety of defensive stances and health regeneration options (as well as unevadable and unblockable attack skills) should keep the healer busy and away from focusing on his party. The fast attack speed and nearly constant availability of attack skills equals moderate damage output, and can be increased by activating "Lighting Reflexes".

When taking heat from a Warrior, the player can switch from stance to stance and prevent the use of stances by the Warrior with "Wild Blow". If hexes start to build and damage mounts, activating "Melandru's Resilience" should solve the problem (if not, "Troll Unguent" definately will). If a stance is ended by an enemy, there are 3 others that can be activated. If, for some reason, all 4 are recharging, "Troll Unguent" should be an outstanding stall/stop-gap.

If the focus of a spell-casting character, "Dryder's Defense" and "Troll Unguent" should allow you to focus on dealing damage and bringing him down. Hexes? "Melandru's Resilience".

And, best of all, if an archer targets you, simply run up to him (or the closest spell caster), activate "Whirlwind Defense" and hack away. Yes, the damage from the Stance is minimal, but adds up after the 6-7th arrow.

If energy becomes a problem, lay off the attack skills and only activate stances (with 12 Expertise, each spell costs either 2.6 or 5.2 mana to cast). If the target of conditions or hexes, "Melandru's Resilience" is an easy way to get the mana back.

Conclusion:
In closing, I haven't really found a way that this build could be brought down easily. Stance removal isnt very effective, hexes only benefit the build, and the damage is nice.

Thanks for reading... let me know what you think.

The only problem I see with this is that your tactics is too low to use a maxed shield, you would probably have to raise this to 8, or maybe even 9 if you use green shields or the crimson carapace shields. Unless you have an ultra rare max req 6 tactic shield...but ive only seen 7, and those are quite expensive.

personally i use a zealous 15^50 axe (req 8)of fortitude (+30) and both of the crimson carapace shields. I also like to switch my elite to Cleave, and throw in tigers fury instead of dryders. I use a 11 axe mastery, 9 beast mastery (+1), 9 expertise (+1 +1), 9 tactics, and 6 wilderness survival (+1). No superior rune is used to maximize health. With the crimson carapce shields, the fortitude mods and my sup vigor, you get a decent amount of hp while hexed or in stance. I only use this for PvE though.

Ahh... should've explained myself there.

I've got the tactics at 6 because its enough to use the Crimson Carapace Shield from the Leather Belt Collector (armor +9, +45 health and -2 damage when in stance).

For some reason, i'd rather switch a superior rune in and take the HP loss. With Resilience, Unguent and the different stances, I like to think that increasing their effectiveness (and lowering mana costs) is more important, and that my objective is to eliminate damage anyway.

Question... why beast mast? And, what skills with beast mast?

I think he suggest Bm for tigers fury.

yes, beast mastery is soley for tiger's fury, which will only give you 1 second downtime of increased attack speed. With a zealous axe haft, and 9 expertise you can almost constantly alternate between swift chop, cleave, and (forgot to mention, but instead of wild blow i use) cyclone axe. The only problem i have with my build is that yes, it spreads over quite a bit of attributes, but it's been good for PvE thus far.