battle warden?

[Xakkoris]

 <i><b>   is it possible to become a battle warden through the aa tree and if so what line(s) do i need to go down also is it WORTH it to become a battle warden if u can? pleas any info on theis  will help</b></i>

[Fromingo]

I want to spell it out for you but there's been a ton of threads on this lately and many are still on page 1 so I'll just ask that you read through some of them then bring some more specific questions later if they didn't answer the ones you have. 

[Tallo]

Short answer yes. I'm only level 48, with 49 AA's so take this with a grain of salt. I've got five points into each of the melee CA's in the warden tree with the 1 point into the 75% crit, with 3 points into imp Sow, and then I'm 4-4-6-8-2 into the STR tree.From what I've read, and these are vastly truncated and paraphrased summaries;Melee warden costs more AA's to be melee for a similar amount of damage rangedIt's harder to get the gear, as desirable gear to melee is also desirable gear for them, well, wis being the exception.Endgame it's harder and more hazardous to get into melee range and still do your healing jobStandard melee deflections like parry, block, etc lock out your ability for the full cooldown, unlike spell resistsNo matter what your spec, and what gear you get, you will be told "YOU ARE NOT A DPS CLASS!" You can add to the dps, but it isn't your main job, and there are many other classes that do it better.Inquisitors and mystics are supposed to have better melee dps for a healer, from what I understand.Honestly, I'm loving the melee warden, and having used up all my free respec cards trying various permutations of the other main spec's with my limited AA's available, I prefer melee. I keep two sets of gear. One for not so serious situations, and full on regular wis gear for real healbotting.I hope I don't ever have to change.SOW, ports, evac, face melting. I loves it.

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>Nice post, Talloak <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15"></p><p>To the OP:  I agree with Fromingo - definitely take a look at the bazillion threads of just this discussion.  I know it means you have to take the time to read it, rather than someone just spelling it out - Just Do It.</p><p>Also, and this is maybe not so obvious as it seems, or surely you would have done it:  Look at your Warden Tree and see what the AA lines there offer.  Just reading the descriptions of the abilities will show you in a really short amount of time what AA's to put where to get combat melee abilities.   You will be able to respec for cheap a few times to tweak how you want them to work for you.</p><p>There really is no:  Plug "X" amount of points into Abililty 2...and POOF melee warden.  SO much depends on how you play, who you group with, what your gear looks like, how much time you want to invest..etc.   There's no 'right' answer - it depends on you.</p><p>Just my 2  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>....edited becos I cant' spel.</p>

[MullenSkywatcher]

The traditional "melee warden" is usually defined as maximizing your close range combat.  This would include going down the STR line in the KOS tree (not all wardens take the final ability, but most max the double attack and the group heal proc) and the 2nd EoF line, which converts your nukes to combat arts (the final ability is a 75% crit chance, you'll want that).  This will spend about half your points, and it really doesn't matter where you spend them (increased spores and mitigation in EoF is good for melee also).  I skipped converting our cold dot over to a combat art and just kept the original one to save points that I wanted to spend elsewhere, as its pretty fast casting.Now you are half done.Now the hard part, you need to find as much STR gear as possible and get a good weapon.  Higher end, you can look at the Blackscale Maul, which is tradeable on the broker, and getting some Bloodsomething rings (+25 STR).  Just search for STR gear on the broker or ask a friendly monk or bruiser what they use (a lot of it is also warden useable).  My advice here is to not worry about your WIS stat at all.Getting the gear is the hardest part and part of the frustration with the line as there is a lot more work involved than say the Fury AA lines, which enhances their nukes, so they have a more consistent gear plan.  I wind up carrying a lot of extra gear with me and swapping it out (equip macros work well here).Having power efficient heals helps with the lower WIS stat you'll have going melee, so you really dont lose that much healing power, and the group heal proc in the STR really adds up over fights, its a significant boost to healing.If you are raiding, there are some mobs with nasty AoEs that you wont want to be in melee range, at that point you'll be ranged again like a INT specced warden.  Good luck with whatever line you choose!P.S. Fromingo and Arielle are nice people, don't be fooled!

[xandez]

<p>getting the STR/WIS gear is not that hard imo (non fabled that is)... atleast after lvl 60 or so... might be before that dont remember anymore <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />but, INT/WIS gear sure is more easier to get</p><p>im a non-raiding melee warden myself and have ~400 STR and 500 WIS atm (5k HP, 6k Power or sumthing)... can get my STR over 500 with potion + different weapon, but i prefer to use Blackscale maul usually <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />++Xan</p>