Essentials Fighter Preview, Part 2

Shazbot got around to it before I did, but I still want to offer up my thoughts. The first thing I notice is that despite it being categorized under the fighter heading, its actually a martial striker, the striker mechanic being that they get to add Dex to every damage roll they make. This is very good for the class since it revolves around the use of Strength and Dexterity. On the downside (for some) it just means that you're going to want to stick to heavy blades. I like swords, so I don't give a fuck. In all seriousness, the knight seems to be Strength- and Constitution-focused, and since they are building classes around themes my guess is that they are trying to parse the weapon selection as much as possible.

Does this make sense? Well, when I think slayer I do start out with swords first and foremost. Axes tend to come second, and for a ranged weapon I envision a crossbow for some reason. Maybe its too much Vampire Hunter D? However, when I think knight I still think sword. At any rate, I don't know if Essentials fighters will get anything out of their ability scores when it comes to weapons. Feats still apply, but its yet to be seen if their powers will say anything to the effect of, "when using a heavy blade/axe, add your Dex/Con modifier to whatever."

Moving on, the Weapon Talent class feature is also featured on the knight, but not explained: it grants you a passive bonus to all weapon attacks. This is better than old fighters, who had to pick how many hands were required to squeeze the bonus out of their weapon, if they even got it at all (you could pick to instead be badass with two weapons, or to keep getting more hit points when you got hit).

Fighter stances, as explained in the knight article, are at-will powers that modify how your basic attacks work (since martial classes now rely on basic attacks that get kickers from their at-wills). There are two stances previewed: the first, berserker's charge, grants you a +2 bonus to Speed and attack rolls when making charges. Since its a power bonus, it stacks with the +1 gained from charging in the first place, so its a good way to make sure your charge hits. The other one is unfettered fury, which imposes a -2 to hit in exchange for a +4 to damage. Good if you've got combat advantage and want to make the modifiers a wash, I guess. Finally, the last level 1 class feature is power strike, which is identical to the knight's (encounter power that lets you deal extra damage on a hit).