Updated Review: based on changes from Update 67 on March 27th, 2024.

With this new Year of the Dragon coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the pen and paper game, we are seeing some wild new dragon-themed offers for the entire year.

The new Dragon Lord archetype can be claimed in the Hall of Heroes on the bottom floor. The archetype uses the Fighter class as its base.

Update 67

Some additional notes are available from the update on March 27th, 2024. Update 67 included a new free adventure pack for level 18 Heroic and 34 Legendary players.

Update 66.1

A recently released update has corrected many of the minor problems that players were encountering with the Ravager enhancement tree for Dragon Lord.

I would say the class works best as a pure build. Your talents lie in how fast you can clear single-target enemies and your ability to stun large groups of foes, with no consideration for type.

Basically, if it is in front of you when you roar, it will be stunned.

I have seen some class combos running around the server. The most common one I have seen is a Paladin/Dragon Lord with Dragonborn as the race. The next most common was a Druid/Dragon Lord with Asimar as the race.

My Build

I decided not to use a true reincarnation to make my Dragon Lord. I created a fresh, first-life character, to try out the new archetype.

I was initially a bit concerned with the lack of healing, but I soon got used to using the crowd-control abilities and choosing my targets to make fights go fast and take the least damage possible.

Dragon Lord is designed to use either your Strength or Charisma score for combat and abilities. Due to this, it does combine very well with Dragonborn, Half-Orc, and the Purple Dragon Knight races.

Abilities

The primary ability you will use throughout your life as a Dragon Lord will be the Roar which becomes available at level three. It is a cone-shaped Tactical attack that extends outward a short distance. Anything caught in the blast must make a save check or be Dazed.

The DC for the roar uses a Base 10 + the higher of your Charisma or Strength ability modifier + Breath DC bonuses + Stunning bonuses. Roar is also listed as a Tactical ability, so it also gets bonuses from anything that boosts Tactical abilities. For example, Combat Mastery and Sundering, or any of the many feats available to fighters.

At level 5, an improvement to this ability becomes available. The upgrade will reduce the cooldown time, turn the Daze into a full Cower, and give you a 20% bonus to damage against Helpless foes.

Reapers cannot escape your roar either and will cower while you dispatch them.

Dragon Lords get an Imbue damage type based on their chosen dragon. I took the Black Dragon as my selected type and I also used a White Dragon as my racial type. This gave me energy resistance to both Cold and Acid which are more useful in the endgame.

Draconic Arms adds a 1d6 bonus to your damage per imbue die you have. You will also get Aura-based bonuses at three stages of your character’s life and these can be freely selected to customize your build as you increase in level. The aura’s is similar to a paladin’s aura, affecting group members that are within range.

There is also a companion ability like what the Halflings get. This will improve an ally’s combat ability for a short while. Later it gets an upgrade that turns it into a mini-heal with a Panacea spell that scales with your Melee Power.

Originally, this ability required you to be right next to your ally, and the animation would root you in place when you used it. However, Update 67 corrected the problems when using the ability and you can now use it on the move.

One of the Tier five enhancements will give you a +2 bonus to your weapon’s critical multiplier with any weapon you use. With my Khopesh this brought me up to an x5 on the multiplier without any other bonuses included. The damage numbers get very big very fast with Dragon Lord.

Survivability

The class includes the potential for high AC and Fortitude scores, especially if you combine it with the Dragonborn racial bonuses to Natural Armor. The Defender enhancement tree can bolster your health enough to cover a lack of self-healing ability.

Second Wind, while useful in a pinch, is hampered by its long cooldown. Your goal with the Dragon Lord archetype will be to crowd-control enemies and then clear the field

Conclusion

I like the Dragon Lord, but I strongly suspect we will see some balancing soon to level the playing field. The damage output is crazily high at the moment and far outstrips what other melee classes can manage.

The Roar will likely be nerfed. I mean why, is an emotionless creature like a skeleton or a golem cowering because someone yelled at it?