Witch Hunter Captain - Dodge or Melee Resist

[Scar Glamour]

I have recently started a new WH warband due to accidentally deleting my old one. This time around I decided my Captain should be a tank/dps hybrid.

Naturally, my only concern is whether I should:

1) Go one-handed, cloth and full dodge (Mastery Avoid and Sidestep). This makes the Captain virtually untouchable, but limits Strength and damage severely. It also robs him of one enchantment slot and weapon/shield bonus. Consequently his resists are going to be pretty bad, which makes him vulnerable to ranged. Although it also may give him up to three free counters per turn which is not too shabby at all.

2) Go one-handed, shield, light armour and full dodge. It seems more viable than the above with more armour and resist, but brings the dodge chance down quite a bit. A higher Melee Resist value also means some counters would not proc just because he wouldn't get a chance to roll dodge.

2) Go one-handed, shield, heavy armour and get maximum possible MR though talents and enchants. This will give my Captain somewhat higher strength, but leave him with pitiful damage (no free counters) and almost no spare talent points for Leadership/Damage skills.

[Kernest]

You don't get free counters from the WH Captain's passive, you get -1 OP, so they still cost 1 OP. Only Parry provides -1 OP if successful.

Because of the Passive bonus, cloth bonus and taking 15 Agi to master Sidestep, you end up with 105% Dodge even without empty hand or Avoid, so it's totally valid to give him cloth + shield, it wouldn't really mess up the Dodge %, since the 10% Dodge you lose by giving him a shield is more than covered by the increased melee and ranged resist.

That's how I'd build him as a Dodge-tank anyways.

[MrPyro]

Also, you can get extra Dodge by using enchants; you can boost Agi through the armour and there's a head rune that boosts Dodge (Avoidance?).

You can also compensate a bit for the poor Str by making him a crit specialist; if you max WS you can still get 12 Acc which gives you Mastered Fatality; give him a masterwork sword and Mastered Vital Strike and you should have pretty good crit chances (again, weapon runes can boost this further)

[Dunngarm]

Dodge in cloth with shield for tanking, as for for tank/dd hybrids it never worked for me

[Piss partou]

on a de meilleur chance en esquive qu'en parade

[Dunngarm]

Also your variant #1 wont be untouchable at all, he will have only 3 dodge attempts with 135% base chance, meaning it wont be a surprise when heroes with high accuracy and dagger/spear may land a couple of hits on him per turn. And if two enemies engaged him it will be practically a garanted hit.

[FCauldron]

I am trying to build a captain something like your first option or maybe switch to light armor and adding a shield if he gets too weak... But have to keep him one handed because he already has swift counter.
Serenity will help him to tank daemons or if outnumbered, he will have high leadership anyway and swift counter allow him to several counters (hopefully) finally resilient because ♥♥♥♥ will happen and I hope he doesn't get critted.
Finally insult and hold ground... Not mastered :S but I tend to make surviving builds more than offensive ones.
Opinions and suggestions will be well received.

http://www.pyrospace.co.uk/mordheim/#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%3D%3D

[Rodfather]

I have a Witch Hunter band going for my first try. My Leader (in a warband rank 6 so he maybe rank 8) is doing pretty good so far, not much to complain about. I have him specced with light armor, sword and free hand. Not many skills on him so far but have unstoppable, avoid, and combat focus. Definitely will take sidesep later. He does not hit for a ton but he hits often and he does not get hit that much in return (i thk his dodge is like 70 percent atm). He def does not lead the charge but usually his first engagement will be to punish an enemy already engaged with another band member. I keep the templar knight around him too usually as bodyguard. So far so good.

[Scar Glamour]

Bottom line: either crit-specced one-hand dps with Sidestep or Slap a shield on him and prey he gets lucky.

[Kernest]

Originally posted by Heresiarch:

Bottom line: either crit-specced one-hand dps with Sidestep or Slap a shield on him and prey he gets lucky.

Nah, man.

With the WH Captain, one does not really preclude the other. You can get more than 100% dodge, shield, insane %s of melee resist and a decent crit chance, all on the one guy if you build him right.

That means mastered Sidestep, Fatality and Swift Counter, the rest is up to your preferences.

No need for Avoid if you sacrifice the head slot for +10% Dodge.

9 Toughness and then Resilient is always nice and should protect you from most crits, but I maybe wouldn't put him alone against a Daemonette solo.

Mastered Insult is maybe the best hit chance booster you got, though I like Fanatical Zeal on my Flagellants, a fancy gentleman such as the Captain is better served by learning the art of insulting a Mutants ugly momma.

[emontyj]

I put him in Heavy Armour eventually when I got the physical grimoire for 12 strength and still have the 15 agility for Avoid. You need to use a physical grimoire to fully upgrade armour proficiency with 12 strength. He rocks out hard with a great Hammer even with the penalties he can still go dodge stance and take a hit. He was really easy to level to 10 in light armour because when you pump 15 into agility and get 'Avoid' to dodge and wield a great hammer you pretty much wreck everything and don't get hit.

I find that Melee resistance skills are better such as awareness because it's those first few hits that hurt before you can take a stance. Also I made a second build with 15 leadership and 15 alertness which required a Mental grimoire, that allowed me to take serenity and awareness and still wear plate and have a decent dodge stance. He can charge or get ambushed by elites and not get hit before I can go dodge stance because his melee resist is so high. I gave my henchmen combat savvy also so they can put it on each other before getting ambushed because you don't get to use dodge/parry at first.

I really like getting maximum toughness and getting 'Hardy' but I don't think it's viable with the witch hunter leader unless you decide to dual wield with a sword and use Parry stance in heavy armour. You don't do as much damage as with great hammer and dodge though. He's also a great climber so you can send him on 1v1 in buildings and not worry with dodge spec. He crushes archers and mages that climb buildings and doesn't need offensive talents for that other than Fanatical Zeal.

TL:DR I don't think cloth is good past level 3 or so. Once your agility is good enough you can put on leather and it is worth the same points. Good way to level quick is agility+strength and 2h until you have money.