Furious focus worksj ust fine in a full attack.
Furious Focus a strong feat for
...
Or anything that doesn't full attack.
Yes, making your most accurate attack more likely to hit is a thing, but probably not worth a feat.
Now if your damage output was purely tied to one attack a round, then I'd never even want a chance to miss. In that case Furious Focus is more valuable.
Furious Focus a strong feat forMartial Initiators
Or anything that doesn't full attack.
This is something I've seen you say a couple of times now.
I'm playing a 9th level Stalker currently, and there's really hardly any maneuvers I would spend a Standard on over full attacking. The damage is low, and the status effects are good but suffer from a VERY low save, since your Initiator stat is secondary at best.
Maneuvers are great as an augmentation to attacks, and for utility (so far everything in Veiled Moon is gold, and Broken Blade Stance in combination with Weapon Group Adaptation makes me a scary mofo with Thrown weapons, even without TWFing), but as a main focus? I haven't seen anything to get excited over.
Is there something I'm missing?
OT: Furious Focus is one of those feats that would be really interesting if Vital Strike could be applied to a broader array of situations, instead of just attack actions.
Now if only DPR calculations represented actual play.
I'd actually prefer things if such absurd numbers continued to not be representations of actual play, thank you very much.
If you have a low save as a stalker I think you aren't focusing too hard on Wis and don't deal in Steel Serpent. The first Steel Serpent stance gives you 1/2 your level to DCs of poisons and SS maneuvers.
My Stalker was maining SS and VM for mobility and status afflictions, using Ki to proc deadly strikes. Wisdom as highest stat. Not as much damage as a good full attack I'm sure, but the DC on my blinds was right up there with Full casters or higher. Damage was decent too.
For some of the other disciplines, like Primal Fury or Scarlet Throne, that let you apply huge damage to a single attack furious focus works well.
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OT: Furious Focus is one of those feats that would be really interesting if Vital Strike could be applied to a broader array of situations, instead of just attack actions.
?
My Holy Vindicator uses Furious Focus and Vital Strike when the situation calls for it. Are you referring to the inability to use it on charges and spring attacks?
You can't use it on Spring Attacks?
Wow. That feat may not be as terrible as some say, but its restrictions are getting dumber and dumber as time goes by.
If you have a low save as a stalker I think you aren't focusing too hard on Wis and don't deal in Steel Serpent. The first Steel Serpent stance gives you 1/2 your level to DCs of poisons and SS maneuvers.
My Stalker was maining SS and VM for mobility and status afflictions, using Ki to proc deadly strikes. Wisdom as highest stat. Not as much damage as a good full attack I'm sure, but the DC on my blinds was right up there with Full casters or higher. Damage was decent too.
For some of the other disciplines, like Primal Fury or Scarlet Throne, that let you apply huge damage to a single attack furious focus works well.
I have a few things from Steel Serpent (SS Stance, Dizzying Venom Prana, Night's Knife, and Sting of the Adder), but there's nothing really spectacular enough to warrant a Standard in there unless I'm in a position to not be ABLE to full attack.
The status effects are just too minor for me to invest too much in it.
Currently, the best status in Steel Serpent is a maximum of 6 Wis damage (Fort negates) and Blind (ditto). And Staggered, which is the one I actually prepare, even if the DC is very, very low.
Blinded is a fairly minor condition (especially in the module I'm playing, where every enemy we've faced thus far has been eyeless) easily replicated by a dedicated SECOND LEVEL spell (which is Permanent, rather than 1 minute though they're effectively the same I'll grant you), and as a secondary effect to other, more powerful spells.
2d6 damage and a DC 13+Wis+4 (DC 19 in my case, DC 23 if you're determined to neglect other important stats) just doesn't seem worth the action to me.
I'd rather Full Attack or hit them with Focused Solar Lance which at least imparts TWO pretty brutal status conditions (Prone AND Pinned) and keys off your CMB instead of their saves.
Ad then take up the rest of my slots with fun stuff like Ghostwalk for utility and the abundance of Immediate action "NOPE, Can't touch dis" abilities like Half-Gone, Altered Penumbra, or Intercepting Shade.
Then again, I suppose that's the mark of a well designed class: Multiple different valid, usable playstyles. =)
Furious focus has a funny interaction with pummeling style due to wording. Which sort of solves this whole question for unarmed builds. :)
Except it doesn't work with Unarmed Strikes. =(
Wait, this was a serious argument?
I know right?
Yeah, while it's not my style I know your build can pull out the damage! Definitely sign of good design.
My build also had Discipline Focus for +2 DC and +2 damage.
Admittedly Fort is bad vs monsters, but in a campaign vs a lot of Humans it's been great.
If you have a low save as a stalker I think you aren't focusing too hard on Wis and don't deal in Steel Serpent. The first Steel Serpent stance gives you 1/2 your level to DCs of poisons and SS maneuvers.
My Stalker was maining SS and VM for mobility and status afflictions, using Ki to proc deadly strikes. Wisdom as highest stat. Not as much damage as a good full attack I'm sure, but the DC on my blinds was right up there with Full casters or higher. Damage was decent too.
For some of the other disciplines, like Primal Fury or Scarlet Throne, that let you apply huge damage to a single attack furious focus works well.
I have a few things from Steel Serpent (SS Stance, Dizzying Venom Prana, Night's Knife, and Sting of the Adder), but there's nothing really spectacular enough to warrant a Standard in there unless I'm in a position to not be ABLE to full attack.
The status effects are just too minor for me to invest too much in it.
Currently, the best status in Steel Serpent is a maximum of 6 Wis damage (Fort negates) and Blind (ditto). And Staggered, which is the one I actually prepare, even if the DC is very, very low.
.....
You are making sure to apply +2 to your save DCs from using discipline weapons too, right? Sometimes people miss that part of the rules.
Anyway, I like furious focus on my initiators too. That is not to say I use maneuvers over full-attacks. Full-attacks are obviously stronger than most maneuvers and benefit the most from boosts. However when I am forced to move and attack or force to charge I want to make sure that the maneuver hits because its my only chance at contributing for the round.
There are also random maneuvers that I may use in place of a full-attack such as Ruby Zenith Strike, Final Blow, Silver Crane maneuvers that heal, or Golden Lion maneuvers that reposition the foe. Some of those maneuvers are as strong as a full attack, while others have such useful effects that I am okay with lowering my damage if it will save a party member's life. Either way, furious focus benefits their usage greatly. Also if I am also using the Martial Power feat I love furious focus(with its huge attack roll penalties).
Is there something I'm missing?
Not really. Standard action maneuvers seems to be a replacement for a single attack when you can't full attack, but IMO the best of them are ones which allow multiple attacks as a standard action.
I wasn't that excited about Power Attack for my Dirty Fighter until I saw the Hurtful feat. The extra attack as a swift action probably more than makes up for any chance that I'll miss with lower iterative attacks. It seemed pretty cool in theory, and "in actual play" it has been pretty awesome.