Themes
As a general rule, no theme can actually hurt your character, and the benefits that come from themes tend to be overshadowed by what your class provides. In view of this, I only rate the themes here from a very battlemind-centric viewpoint according to three tiers. A theme that shores up weaknesses in the base class (this basically means: a good level 2 utility, a boost to either Fortitude or Will, more power points, a melee basic attack, a ranged attack, or improved stickiness) is rated
blue. Themes that require significant investment to use are
purple. Everything is simply rated
black. If you would like to see the themes evaluated in more detail, I suggest looking at one of the several Theme handbooks.
Note that psionic augmentation classes can't make use of theme encounter attack powers, as the power swap rules will not allow you to choose them.
Themes- [SHOW]
- Alchemist (Dragon 399): A theme that basically makes alchemical items viable. Good for versatility.
Animal Master (Dragon 399): The powers of this theme are effectively at best dailies. Even with scaling defences, your beast will die easily and you can't make use of the theme without putting the beast at risk. Even when your beast is alive, it won't do very much. If you're taking this theme, you're doing it because you think it's cool, not because it's useful.
Athasian Minstrel (DSCS): A surprisingly good choice for battleminds, as the free encounter power and the Unwelcome Guest paragon path are quite good for movement denial.
Bregan D'aerthe Spy (NCS; drow): Levitation is cool, as is not having your defences chipped away by combat advantage. Not sure why you'd want to play a drow battlemind, but if you do this is a solid choice.
Callidyrr Dragon (Dragon 405; human or halfling): Eesh. The only thing worth mentioning here is the free Mounted Combat feat. The level 2 utility is good, but you're better off with the Guardian theme.
Chevalier (Dragon 399): The theme is geared around mounts and around charging. The former is a game mechanic with scaling problems, and the latter is something battleminds have problems with. Still, the level 1 feature power gives a charge attack some non-damage threat, and there is a bonus to saving throws.
Dead Rat Deserter (NCS; human, half-elf, or halfling): The starting feature wants good Stealth, and the level 10 feature wants good Strength or Dexterity. The rare Dex-secondary battlemind might make good use of it, but most battleminds will look elsewhere.
Devil's Pawn (NCS): As long as your allies can ignore the weak fire damage, the starting power is a great complement to your mark. The level 5 feature is campaign specific, and fire resistance is maybe a little overrated for a level 10 feature but hardly a bad thing.
Dune Trader (DSCS): Not terrible, but nothing here that screams great synergy with battleminds.
Elemental Priest (DSCS): The encounter power and all the utilities provide good passive defensive bonuses that can simplify your life and that of your allies, though the fact that it is an implement path requires some investment to deal with.
Escaped Slave (DSCS): It's not bad, but the theme as a whole really wants to consume your immediates, which you need for other things.
Explorer (Dragon 399): The bonus to Fortitude is important, and the feature power and the level 2 utility are reasonable boosts to mobility (though the other riders are situational).
Fatedancer (Dragon 401): Do you use Fortune Cards? If so, you might want to look at this. Otherwise, never.
Fey Beast Tamer (HotFW): By far and away the best animal companion theme, and that's not meant as faint praise. The beast companions don't offer great synergies with the battlemind in particular, though.
Gladiator (DSCS): The encounter power is great, though the utilities are a bit lacking. Mostly, however, this makes available the Gladiator Champion paragon path.
Gloomwrought Emissary (Dragon 400): Basically the theme wants a Charisma-boosting character who'll be getting a lot of combat advantage. Battleminds aren't maybe the ideal match, but especially paired with a rogue or other CA-seeker, you can make solid use of this theme
Guardian (Dragon 399): The feature power is a mini-Lightning Rush which requires a good MBA. At level 7, you either take Forceful Reversal and use Guardian's Counter when you don't get attacked, or you take Lightning Rush, which obsoletes Guardian's Counter but synegizes well with the level 10 feature (assuming your DM lets you choose another player as your bonded charge). The utilities are also very good.
Guttersnipe (Dragon 399): A slowing pseudo-charge attack against a NAD as the first power is a pretty good deal (especially given that your real charge probably sucks), and the level 2 utility gives you an early Catch-22. The level 10 utility gives you an important tool for shedding movement-restricting status effects as well.
Harper Agent (NCS): No-action accuracy boosting and saving throw rerolls are things anyone would want, even with the item dependency. The level 2 utility is a reasonable defender choice as well.
Heir of Delzoun (NCS; dwarf): Resist poison is nice, but you don't really need more healing surges.
Horselands Nomad (Dragon 404): Do you like mounts? You might like this. The ability to subsitute Nature for Arcana checks is also a bonus for Wis-secondary battleminds.
Hospitaler (Dragon 399): Assuming you've got a decent secondary score, then this theme basically lets you act as a bit of a shielding swordmage.
Iliyanbruen Guardian (NCS; eladrin): The name aside, there isn't much here that any defender would beg for. However, the combo of the starting feature and the level 2 utility Evasive Step does give you some ability to defend your party against close or area attacks.
Iron Wolf Warrior (Dragon 400): The theme centres around charging and basic attacks. Pity you can't do that very well. If you're starting in a Paragon game where you've already solved the MBA problem, this might be worth looking at, but in Heroic other themes will be of greater benefit.
Mercenary (Dragon 399): The selling feature is the flat-out damage bonus in Takedown Strike, and that is nothing to sneer at. The theme offers little beyond that, though.
Neverwinter Noble (NCS; human): The level 10 feature is campaign specific, but the other features give you some nice leader functions. The real draw is the level 2 utility: a marking aura that isn't actually a mark -- which means it stacks.
Noble (Dragon 399): Functional but nothing stand-out.
Noble Adept (DSCS): The feature power is not bad, but the selling point is really the extra power point.
Oghma's Faithful (NCS): The skill reroll at level 5 is nice, but the other features are lacklustre.
Ordained Priest (Dragon 399): Not an unreasonable way to add a leader subrole to your character.
Order Adept (Dragon 399): The level 1 feature power will be useless to you without investment in implements, but the real selling point here is access to the range of wizard utilities at level 5 and the bonus to Will at level 10.
Outlaw (Dragon 399): As with the Mercenary theme, the reason to choose this is the level 1 feature, which lets you apply dazed with any at-will attack once per encounter. The rest of the theme is middling.
Pack Outcast (NCS; human or shifter): Normally a very strong theme, but it doesn't synergize fantastically with battleminds. You lose your shield bonus when you switch to wolf form, and auto-CA to adajcent enemies is going to encourage them to leave, which you very much would prefer to prevent.
Primal Guardian (DSCS): Very defender-oriented, with a feature power that offers both marking and ranged punishment. The level 2 utility is at least as good as any other option you have, and Storm of Debris, the level 5 daily, is also worth a look -- decent burst damage, plus encounter-long auto-damage and -marking.
Samurai (Dragon 404): The level 1 overlaps a bit with Speed of Thought, so non-SoT battleminds can take it to get a bit of that functionality, and SoT battleminds can take it for the added benefits and to get an insane amount of movement at the beginning of an encounter. Not a bad path all round, but it really appeals for Brutal Barrage critfishing.
Sarifal Feywarden (Dragon 405; non-drow fey): Sarifal's Blessing is a nice damage increase to Conductive Defense, but the blue rating really comes from the Fortitude bonus at 10.
Scholar (Dragon 399): If your DM makes heavy use of languages in the campaign, then and only then would you want to look at this.
Scion of Shadow (NCS; human, shadar-kai, or shade): Nothing here worthy of note.
Seer (Dragon 399): Cast Fortune is an incredibly useful power for figuring out whether Augments or encounter powers will be useful, and rolling Perception twice with the level 10 feature is always handy.
Sidhe Lord (HotFW; half-elf or fey): Not bad at all. At level 10 you effectively have an encounter teleport, and the House Guard can suck up a hit you don't want to take.
Spellscarred Harbinger (NCS): At level 5, you get a daily version of the Outlaw's level 1 encounter power. Really? But if you can look beyond this, an encounter teleport and saving throw reroll are good stuff. On top of that the level 2 utility is a very solid choice.
Seeker of Illefarn (Dragon 402; eladrin, elf, or half-elf): The mini-Elven Accuracy is the best part of the theme, but it's an all-round workable choice.
Sohei (Dragon 404): A minor action attack (and a good one at that), with saving throw bonuses for the status effects you really hate. Bonuses to Insight and Perception are a nice touch.
Son of Alagondar (Dragon 402): A nice starting feature package, and a defensive boost in the level 10 feature. You also have the ability to hit a variety of defences, so the level 2 utility could see some use.
Student of Evard (Dragon 400): You don't have shadow powers, and you probably won't be making the skill checks you'd get bonuses on. You do, however, have the hitpoints to make use of the level 1 power.
Templar (DSCS): If you're prepared to invest in the implement power, it can be useful for stickiness. The level 2 utility is okay as well, though maybe not enough to sell the theme by itself.
Tuathan (HotFW; human or half-elf): Faerie Fortune is a great utility, and the theme offers a slew of handy if not stand-out features.
Unseelie Agent (HotFW): The feature power is almost useless (especially if you're playing with Inherent Bonuses), the level 5 feature gives you a language that no-one else speaks, and the level 10 feature is a bonus with a roleplaying penalty.
Uthgardt Barbarian (NCS; human): The starting feature is a nice bit of protection for your allies, and you'll grow to appreciate it yourself when you pick up Lightning Rush. Not much else on offer here, though.
Veiled Alliance (DSCS): If you're prepared to invest in an implement, then the feature power (especially augmented for the shift) is actually a very nice choice solution to your ranged attack woes.
Wasteland Nomad (DSCS): Some battlemind builds will naturally find that they tend to spend most of their time away from the rest of the party. For those cases, the solo-oriented features of this theme will shine.
Wilder (DSCS): To be frank, outside Brutal Barrage, battleminds are not a good class for crit-fishing, which is what this theme is all about. On top of that, it's an implement class, so you'll need to solve the expertise problem. However, this class does unlock the Resurgent Wilder paragon path with its 18-20 crit range.
Wizard's Apprentice (Dragon 399): An implement path, with nothing overwhelming to recommend if you're not going to invest in being able to use the feature power.
Yakuza (Dragon 404): It needs good Charisma, but the level 2 utility is a top-rank pick. This is a solid choice, but just not quite enough to make blue.
Paragon Paths
When choosing a paragon path, remember that choosing a non-psionic paragon path will lose you 2 power points. That's a fairly steep price, and needs to be approached with caution.
Battlemind Paragon Paths- [SHOW]
- Blackstone Guardian (PsP): This path is a solid combination of movement denial (through Blackstone Chains, Blackstone Curse, and the great Augment with the level 20 aspect power) and damage resistance. Being Wisdom secondary isn't necessary, though the action point feature will suffer otherwise. As of June 2011, Monolithic Vision grants a slide, letting you use Mind Spike to interrupt multi-hit attacks (or all attacks, once you get to Epic and get Prescient Retaliation), and your ability to lockdown makes it realistic to rely on Mind Spike.
Eternal Blade (PHB3): You need a good OA to make the most of this, which can be a pain. However, Eternal Vigilance is a decent power that becomes amazing when you get Guided Aggression, and Blade Guide and Eternal Warrior are very handy.
Incandescent Champion (PsP): Take this if your party is going Radiant Mafia and someone else in the party has taken Morninglord to get radiant damage without tying up your weapon choice, power points, and powers that you can use. However, if you're going to set up a radiant combination all by your lonesome, do not take this and take Morninglord yourself.
Iron Guardian (PHB3): Iron Control's forced movement resistance is great stuff, though Impenetrable Iron is unlikely to come up often and Iron Defense is a bit of a trap. The powers are reasonable, though if you want the most out of Aspect of the Iron Guardian make sure you have Stone Squire or (later) Might of the Ogre.
Quicksilver Demon (PsP): It's a path all about mobility. On its own, it seems a bit contradictory -- why huge bonuses against OAs if you're going to get a long shift? Why be able to break slow with a move that won't let you move more than if you were slowed? -- but the missing element is Lightning Rush. What this paragon path does extremely well is make sure that you can move as much as needed on when you Lightning Rush, and that you're as unlikely to be hit when moving into position as possible.
Son of Mercy (Dragon 370): The attack powers are useless to you, the level 16 feature is hard to trigger, and the utility is pretty situational. For battleminds, the selling point is Lawbreaker's Doom. By itself, it's pretty good for some extra damage and single-target lockdown; however, what makes it show up in battlemind builds is the fact that the bonus damage from Lawbreaker's Doom is compatible with Brutal Barrage.
Steel Ego (PHB3): This path is all about getting the most out of Mind Spike, which is frankly a bit of an uphill battle. Stinging Rebuke is the best part of the path. The other powers are also good, with a decent Catch-22 in Forceful Contempt and a good damage power in Fear and Loathing (you should have a good OA, though). Mind Smash essentially gives you Steel Rebuke for free (and they will stack), though it's Charisma only and has all the same problems.
Storm Disciple (PsP): This path just really doesn't have anything on offer, unless you're trying for Mark of Storm tricks.
Talaric Ironjack (PsP): This is a very utilitarian defender path. You will likely be using unaugmented powers a lot, so Defensive Aura is great, and Superior Action is free healing and accuracy on action points. The level 16 feature is a bit less impressive, but battlefield rearrangement, especially so easily triggered, is always handy. The attack powers are good damage,and the utility is more healing. No battlemind is going to be the worse for having taken this path.
Unbound Nomad (PsP): This path has three selling points: the forced movement resistance of Nomad's Prerogative, the incredible power that is Cunning Abduction, and the Blurred Step upgrade of Nomad's Journey. The latter requires having a Dex modifier of at least +2, but you can get away with that without suffering too much. Unfortunately, the rest of the path is a bit hit or miss, with random elements to the other powers and the situational usefulness of Banishing Action.
Wielder of the Way (DSCS): The features aren't really stellar, but the powers are fairly good: the augmented level 11 attack can rack up a lot of damage off OAs in the right party, and the other two powers have some nasty status effects.
Zephyr Blade (PHB3): Reliable use of Beguiling Advantage requires good Charisma and some tricks to be pulled off (your first at-will slowing power is Gravity Well at 17), but it can be done, which means a big boost to your damage output. The mobility boost of Speed of the Wind is also nice, and getting insubstantial and phasing is handy for managing damage. The attack powers are also solid.
Other Paragon Paths- [SHOW]
- Dark Walker (HoS; requires good or lawful good alignment): The level 11 feature might help with your OA problem, but it will be DM-dependent as to whether it is is deterrent enough. The level 11 power gives you a ranged alternative to Mind Spike, and the other powers will give you a decent leader sub-role.
Evermeet Warlock (FRPG; requires warlock): You'll need a consistent source of teleports (but luckily Warlocks have one of the best such powers in Ethereal Sidestep), but with it Feywild Wake is a big deal; a big bonus to defences against your target of the moment, and it makes it much harder to get an OA on you when you use Lightning Rush.
Gladiator Champion (DSCS; requires Gladiator theme): Halo of Destruction is a bit of a write-off, but otherwise it's all about damage, accuracy, and movement denial.
Impure Scion (PsP; requires Foulborn Heritage): Power points, some help with marking, some help with senses, some help with initiative, and a bonus to Will that can lead to a boost to accuracy. The powers aren't great, but at least they key off Constitution. Entirely functional.
Lyrandar Wind-Rider (EPG; requires Mark of Storm): Obviously, the huge selling point of the path is Storm Adept, which gives you an accuracy boost and huge damage increase as long as you have Thundering Force or a Lightning Weapon. The other features are flight-oriented, which isn't bad, and the powers are solid as long as yo solve the aggravating implement issue. For various reasons, this is a great path to choose if you're trying to specialise in Brutal Barrage.
Morninglord (FRPG; requires divine class, worshipping Amauntor): Burning Radiance, the level 16 feature of this path, is the core of exploitation of the radiant damage type. Obviously, you should only be looking at this path if you're going this way, and since so little of it is of use to you the best way to make use of it is to persuade someone else in the party to take it instead.
Resurgent Wilder (DSCS; requires Wilder theme): It's an implement-using paragon path, the action point feature essentially obsoletes itself, and basically if you can't roll critical hits this entire path is useless. However, it does give you an 18-20 crit range on your at-will psionic attacks.
Rrathmal (PHB3; requires githzerai): A way to shed bad status effects, an initiative boost, and a fairly reliable critical hit per encounter make this all great. The utility is very situational: basically, only good when Blurred Step won't keep you in contact and when your OA would be punishment enough (and of course, useless with Harrying Step). The daily attack won't ever hit, but you don't care, because the bit where "all allies auto-hit" is an effect. Definitely give this a look.
Unwelcome Guest (DSCS; requires Athasian Minstrel theme): Mostly notable for the action point feature and the encounter and utility power, all of which are good for keeping enemies close to you.
Epic Destinies
Battlemind Epic Destinies- [SHOW]
- Ceaseless Guardian (Dragon 387): A very strong defender destiny under most circumstances, it suffers by comparison to Topaz Crusader. It trades away the huge defensive boosts of Topaz Crusader for great healing support and a daily initiative boost.
Champion of Prophecy (EPG): A decent dual-stat boost destiny with a daily power recovering option. Unfortunately, it's been surpassed by newer options like Destined Scion and Indomitable Champion.
Cosmic Soul (PsP): When the capstone feature is for a class of powers you don't have, the destiny is not for you.
Darklord Soul (Dragon 372): Flavourful, maybe, but not useful.
Demigod (PHB): Your only encounter attack power is your paragon path power, which makes the capstone pretty useless. Luckily, you now have much better options in Destined Scion and Indomitable Champion.
Demiurge (PsP): A boost to Charisma along with Constitution, and Deification of the Self and Demiurge Resistance have some good defensive aspects, particularly synergistic in saving throws. The core of this destiny is the two action points per milestone, though, so great for a build with an impressive AP nova.
Destined Scion (HotFK): Dual stat boosts, gains to accuracy, and a functional do-not-die power make this the more offensive of the two top-tier generic destinies.
Dispossessed Champion (EPG): No stat boosts and leader-oriented powers and features. This does not synergize with your core competencies.
Eighth Seal (PsP): Topaz Crusader has the exact same flavour with much better features.
Eternal Seeker (PHB): You can't really get the full mileage out of this destiny due to its lack of support for augmentable at-wills, but being able to pick up utilities and dailies from any class means this might still have a place in some builds.
Godmind (PHB3): Lay Bare the Mind is depressingly inadequate, as is Startling Insight and, well, the rest of the destiny, really.
Guardian of the Void (HoS): A stat bump means this does okay, but frankly it's outclassed by Topaz Crusader plus the Death's Disciple feat.
Harbinger of Doom (PHB2): Master of Ill Fortune is pretty good, but for the most part a better solution to this destiny is to be found in buying new dice.
Heir of Siberys (Dragon 388): Once again, a capstone based around encounter attack powers makes this a less than ideal choice.
Hordemaster (DSCS): While it's geared towards of a leader function, it isn't a terrible choice. Dual stat boost, battlefield mobility, attack enabling and healing, along with my favourite immortality feature.
Indomitable Champion (HotFL): The more defensively oriented of the two top-tier generic destinies. This unfortunately puts it in the shadow of Topaz Crusader, but the dual stat boost keeps Indomitable Champion in contention.
Invincible Mind (PHB3): No stat boost, but the +2 to weapon attack rolls balances that out, and the initiative boost is helpful as well. What really brings this into consideration is the level 24 feature, which means a constant supply of power points for your immediate at-wills, which in turn means you can freely burn power points on Augment 4 and 6 powers.
Keeper of the Everflow (HoS): A nice front-loaded destiny, Enlightened Rebirth lets you choose your resistances, or defence boosts, or saving throw bonuses, or (perhaps most important for charop) the ability to make most of your at-wills do radiant damage. The immortality feature comes at level 24, which is also useful, though sadly the destiny loses some steam (though the flavour-only capstone feature is nifty).
Keybearer (Dragon 372): There's just nothing here that will do much for a battlemind.
Marshal of Letherna (HoS): Eh. You'd think the level 24 feature would help with stickiness, but what it will really do is make your OA even more vital. The utility screws over your allies as much as it does you, and there's really nothing else to say.
Master of Moments (PsP): The destiny is about nova potential. Other classes love the full turn of actions out of the action point, which is great for everyone, but Brutal Barrage plus Brilliant Recovery means that battleminds can get a huge amount out of the extra minor every turn from Bountiful Seconds.
Mind Lord of the Order (DSCS): Note that when they say "any psionic class," they mean "psion."
Planeshaper (Dragon 372): A boost to your dump stat and a cornerstone feature about encounter attack powers. No go.
Prince of Hell (Dragon 372): Hellfire Master is no good to you, and Infernal Form doesn't boost Con.
Prison of the Winds (Dragon 371): A Constitution-centric destiny, which puts it right up your alley. Forced movement, proning, mobility bonus: this path is quite workable.
Punisher of the Gods (Dragon 372): This really needs a big damage dealer to work, and the striker tricks that battleminds can build aren't really compatible with this.
Radiant One (Dragon 366): Good for Intelligence-oriented characters or build capitalizing on fire or radiant vulnerability, neither of which are your forte.
Reborn Champion (Dragon 365): Really showing its age now, I think.
Shiradi Champion (HotFW): Take Topaz Crusader instead. Might see some use if you really want an immortality or take-me-off-the-board features, or if there's a lot of other Shiradi Champions in the party.
Storm Sovereign (Dragon 372): A boost to your primary, flight, elemental resistance, attack redirection onto enemies: all good.
Topaz Crusader (PsP): Boost to Con and huge boosts to your defences, including outright immunity to a variety of nasty status effects. The capstone feature can give you power points back, and even if you never use the aberrant-specific features, this path is one of the top choices for a battlemind.
Twilight Tribune (HoS): No boost to Constitution and powers and features that encourage enemies to attack your allies suggest looking elsewhere.
Unyielding Sentinel (Dragon 388): Stat boosts in the right places, best of two on saving throws, and a daily that negates a bunch of the worst tricks enemies can play. Unfortunately, the capstone is a bit weak.
Wild Hunter (HotFW): You don't rely on Strength or Dexterity and you don't have encounter attack powers.
Other Epic Destinies- [SHOW]
Multi-classing
Paragon paths or epic destinies worth multi-classing for are mentioned in the sections above, and class-specific racial feats are in the racial feat section. Here I'll discuss feats from other classes worth multiclassing for, broken down by the relevant application.
Opportunity/melee basic attacks
While Melee Training can provide us with reasonable accuracy on melee basic attacks, the ideal is some measure of control: mostly, this means slowing, immobilizing, or forced movement. A top tier choice in this respect is to multiclass
fighter, which gives you basic damage upgrades to your OAs using Focused Superiority or Savage Axe, as well as more sophisticated options like Swift Spear+Polearm Momentum or Lashing Flail+Hindering Shield. In addition, the fighter multiclass feats are useful in their own right (particularly Battle Awareness, though Wrathful Warrior is also good), and a number of other useful combat feats become available. The other top choice is
warden, to pick up Sudden Roots. Warden opens up much fewer feats (basically just Crippling Crush and Warden's Endurance), but compared to the fighter, going warden will have your OA effective sooner and with fewer expended feats.
Marking
Paladin is a great multiclass option if you want to improve your marking. Solider of Faith gives you a free Divine Challenge per encounter, which if managed correctly will last the entire encounter -- and since it doesn't use an immediate action to punish, it will stack with Mind Spike! On top of that, you get access to some great defensive (Virtuous Recovery, Hero's Poise), leader-ish (Weakening Challenge, Just Sacrifice) and offensive (Paladin's Truth) feats.
Blurred Step
There are only two feats that add a square to a shift distance, and one of them is the
rogue's Risky Shift. Unfortunately, rogue has little else to offer battlemind's; the Sneak Attack from Sneak of Shadows is a nice damage upgrade, but nothing in the feat list will help with your melee basic attacks.
Defence
While your in-class solutions for defence ought to be good enough not to require multiclassing, if your DM is too assiduous in respecting your mark you might want to consider multiclassing
psion. Predictive Defense gives you a similar benefit to Talaric Ironjack. Combine this with Precise Mind, which gives you a bonus to hit with unaugmented at-wills after you hit with an Augment 2 -- and if you're using Lighting Rush, you expect to be using both Augment 2s and unaugmented powers every round.
