Stuck

[Socio]

So I decided to try my hand making a divine just to spice it up. Decided to go the caster route as it seemed more straight forward. Got it to level 8 and was loving it. Invested a decent bit of money and items into it. Then around 9 it started slowing down, I felt completely useless other then tossing a heal to a few buddies while they hacked through quests and slayers and figured once I got my blade barrier and cometfall things would look up seeing my minuscule melee damage was becoming pointless.

Got to 11 and things have just halted. I play solo often when one of my friends isn't on and i'm very much used to holding my own and playing characters that are very capable alone in a quest.

I have read many a thread and none really help the issue i'm having and some of these methods mentioned don't help. So i'm flat out going to ask what am I not getting or what im doing wrong.

Here's (http://my.ddo.com/character/thelanis/kiloril/) my clerics DDO page. If you need to know anything else I will add to it.

[Sgt_Hart]

Enhancement's.

Their like.. a big deal, yanno?

#2 however to my mind is.. get a radiance clicky (I rock a +3 Superior Brilliance V Mithral Tower Shield With a master craftsmanship shard for ML:9)In general, you want 5.. but lacking that, get it for level 3. Searing light can do some decent DPS (with the enhancements for it and ) Empower/Max running. 75% from clicky gives its DPS a kick in the tail too.

[Socio]

Enhancement's.

Their like.. a big deal, yanno?

Are you asking what my enhancements are or telling me to use the enhancements :p

[Sgt_Hart]

If you need to know anything else I will add to it.
Did I explicitly need to ask? :rolleyes:

[Socio]

Did I explicitly need to ask? :rolleyes:

You never know with all the troll's lol.

Radiant Savant I
Unyielding Sovereignty
Follower of the Sovereign Host
Human Adapt Wisdom I
Racial Toughness II
Improved Heal II
Cleric Prayer of Life II
Cleric Prayer of Incredible life I
Cleric Life Magic III
Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Wisdom I
Divine Might II
Cleric Extra Turning II
Improved Turning I
Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery II

[EarlofPain]

Don't be discouraged at all. Level 11 opens up a new playing style for clerics. For the first 9 levels you can do fine as a melee healer. However as you noted the guys who have a melee class are much better at it than you now. Now is the time to switch to caster mode. Sure keep the best hand to hand weapon you can get but start looking at effects like vorpal, smiting, etc.
Next thing you should do is take a good look at the spell list. Divine spells are mostly situational and not as powerful as an arcanes. However they still work as intended. You have crowd control spells like greater command. Charm spells with symbol of persausion. Mass insta kill (of outsiders such as elementals, demons, and beholders) with banishment. A fantastic damage over time spell with divine punishment. Argueably the best kiting spell in the game with blade barrier. Not to meantion my personal favorite spells... the greanades like cometfall, holy smite, and even soundblast. You won't kill with them but you can leave a mob stunned, blind, and laying on there backside while you and your buddies hack them up at your leisure.
When you hit level 13 you get destruction giving you a wonderful insta kill button. Who cares if your mace is only doing 10pts of damage per whack when you can simply look at an enemy caster and snuff the life out of him. It does get better. Lot's better if you are in a steady group and don't have to deal with the "HEAL ME" pugs.

[Enoach]

The question is which spells are you using? And what tactic are you using?

If you are melee are you using the two melee spells Divine Power and Divine Favor?

What Feats are you using to enhance your spells or melee?

A good vorpal, paralyzer and stat damaging weapon, coupled with Greater Command can make taking down masses easier before Blade Barrier is available.

Using the Divine Punishment on High HP mobs can increase your Damage Output. One tactic I use is to DP one mob while I melee another, when the 15 seconds is up, I DP the one I was fighting and turn to melee the one that was DP (usually cleaning up with 1 or 2 hits).

Also use Prayer - The effect lowers enemy to-hit and saves, making their Saves worse, which makes it easier to kill.

[Socio]

Don't be discouraged at all. Level 11 opens up a new playing style for clerics. For the first 9 levels you can do fine as a melee healer. However as you noted the guys who have a melee class are much better at it than you now. Now is the time to switch to caster mode. Sure keep the best hand to hand weapon you can get but start looking at effects like vorpal, smiting, etc.
Next thing you should do is take a good look at the spell list. Divine spells are mostly situational and not as powerful as an arcanes. However they still work as intended. You have crowd control spells like greater command. Charm spells with symbol of persausion. Mass insta kill (of outsiders such as elementals, demons, and beholders) with banishment. A fantastic damage over time spell with divine punishment. Argueably the best kiting spell in the game with blade barrier. Not to meantion my personal favorite spells... the greanades like cometfall, holy smite, and even soundblast. You won't kill with them but you can leave a mob stunned, blind, and laying on there backside while you and your buddies hack them up at your leisure.
When you hit level 13 you get destruction giving you a wonderful insta kill button. Who cares if your mace is only doing 10pts of damage per whack when you can simply look at an enemy caster and snuff the life out of him. It does get better. Lot's better if you are in a steady group and don't have to deal with the "HEAL ME" pugs.

Thank you for taking the time to go over that with me, and im sure on up things might be better. The complete flip in play style and resources are whats getting me. Limited spell points, what feels like little to no damage, and no way to back myself up when all those fail just turns me off to the character And after sitting there last night in ataraxia with 3 razor cats and 5 scrag laughing at me as they walked through my blade barriers was the last straw.

So anything exact I can do at this point to get my momentum going forward again instead of sitting stagnant.

[Socio]

The question is which spells are you using? And what tactic are you using?

If you are melee are you using the two melee spells Divine Power and Divine Favor?

What Feats are you using to enhance your spells or melee?

A good vorpal, paralyzer and stat damaging weapon, coupled with Greater Command can make taking down masses easier before Blade Barrier is available.

Using the Divine Punishment on High HP mobs can increase your Damage Output. One tactic I use is to DP one mob while I melee another, when the 15 seconds is up, I DP the one I was fighting and turn to melee the one that was DP (usually cleaning up with 1 or 2 hits).

Also use Prayer - The effect lowers enemy to-hit and saves, making their Saves worse, which makes it easier to kill.

Offensive wise I use Greater command, sound burst, Comet fall, and blade barrier. The other spells consists of situation buffs in case of need or when i group up with my buddy.

[firemedium_jt]

You never know with all the troll's lol.

Radiant Savant I
Unyielding Sovereignty - you don't need this till Rad Serv 2.
Follower of the Sovereign Host
Human Adapt Wisdom I
Racial Toughness II
Improved Heal II
Cleric Prayer of Life II - reduce to 1
Cleric Prayer of Incredible life I
Cleric Life Magic III
Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Wisdom I
Divine Might II - Do u need 2 right now?
Cleric Extra Turning II
Improved Turning I
Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery II

Try to take more smiting lines for divine punishment.

Another thing is to use divine power on an item click or spell with a Caster casting Master's Touch on you with weapon, so you can melee more with keen Falchions or Scims or Rapiers or Kukris to critical hit. Divine Favor too. I see your STR is a little low, but still ok.

An improved cursespewing or cursespewing weapon is nice to reduce saves against your BB. Paralyzer is hard to find at lvl11.

You should start thinking about getting a Green Balde or Skiver to boost offensive casting.

You should be loving Divine Punishment and Blade Barrier. Get in there and cast BB and burst heal, and kite mobs. DP on every orange name too, and keep stacking it. It is ok to pull some aggro.

Try to get heal scrolls to supplement your healing. How many can u afford. I have 200 always at lvl20. Try to have 50 I think at that level. You could have started using them earlier than lvl 11 too. Sounds like you have plat.

Also post your character with Char Gen.

[Socio]

Try to take more smiting lines for divine punishment.

Another thing is to use divine power on an item click or spell with a Caster casting Master's Touch on you with weapon, so you can melee more with keen Falchions or Scims or Rapiers or Kukris to critical hit. Divine Favor too. I see your STR is a good amount.

You should start thinking about getting a Green Balde or Skiver to boost offensive casting.

You should be loving Divine Punishment and Blade Barrier. Get in there and cast BB and burst heal, and kite mobs. DP on every orange name too, and keep stacking it. It is ok to pull some aggro.

Try to get heal scrolls to supplement your healing. How many can u afford. I have 200 always at lvl20. Try to have 50 I think at that level. I think the success rate it 95% at lvl 11.

Also post your character with Char Gen.

Well the divine might II is temporary i figured it would help with the little melee i can do now but was greatly dissapointed. I planned going smiting once i got my Radiant II out of the way and gearing is going slow seeing i can't find the proper clickes to give me that boost i need to my offense. Im pushing Maximize, Empower heal, extend, Toughness, and quicken currently and have my most on my bursts and very few assigned to offense seeing i got 800 some odd spell points and a quicked maxed BB is 70 sp =\

[EarlofPain]

I see in your tag line you have both a wiz and a sorc so you understand that they play differnet. Clerics are another style for you to try out and see if you like it. This is going to open a can of worms but it is MY opinion that most of the meta magics are not as useful to a divine as they are an arcane.
Quicken is nice but you don't really need it all the time. Feel free to turn it off and save some spell points.
Empowered heal on your highest level healing spell is fine and I recommend always having it on for that spell. Beyond that toggling it back and forth as needed for your group and what stage of the quest you are on is normal.
Maximize on 90% of cleric spells is a waste of sp. You will end up either over healing a target or simply get 200% damage of a blah base rate. Searing light has a max base damage of 40pts. Spam that thing twice and save yourself the sp. Now on the other 10% of your spells maximize is fantastic. The difference of 20pts of BASE damage per tick on divine punishment and 40pts of BASE damage is well worth the cost.
One you don't list but I feel is a must have for my play style is heighten. Making the target's save more difficulty is a good thing.

On to the next note.... You are a caster but you still can melee to add to what you are doing. Arcanes have a 10/10/15/20 BAB at level 20. With the divine power spell your BAB is the same as any melee 20/20/25/30. You attack faster and are more likely to hit. You might not have the str but you also have a level 1 spell that gives you +3 to hit and damage equal to 6 MORE points of str on top of the 6pts you have from divine power.

You actually aren't going to be as powerful a caster as an sorc or as powerful melee as a barb. However you can still do good with both. When you hit level 12 and stage two of the prestige you can slap on a healing aura giving you some wonderful regeneration. As long as you don't die you can eventually heal up because those turn undeads come back slowly.

[deahamlet]

The following advice is for when soloing or with an understanding partner.

It doesn't matter that bb is 70sp. Go in. Get 1/3 of the map roused up and chasing you (use haste clickies or potions). Throw a bb, stop across from it. Wait for them to cross it, and go through and around making sure each mob goes in and completely out. 1-2 bbs are more than enough for a third of most maps.
Waste zero seconds on archers and other enemies on ledges. If they are hurting you too badly, throw a greater command their way. But if you run around the map, they won't be an issue.
Heal with bursts and heal scrolls, not your SP. SP is for killing things when you solo.
For bosses make use of your light based spells.
Use divine power and favor if you are meleeing. If you have other toons, at 20, run dreaming dark flagging quests and minds under flagging quests (and the end quests too) for the end rewards. That's how I got paralyzing, smiting, vorpal etc weapons. Or use the ah. Paralyzing is awesome because they stop attacking you, just hit until it procs on several then go back to first one to beat on it. The other weapons can instakill or do bonus damage.
Use the charged gauntlets if you are going to melee.

Melee is for bosses between spells and when you are out of mana.

Hope that helps.

[EarlofPain]

Okay I'm looking at Kiloril and I have a few suggestions. Note this is biased to MY play style. Sora Kell items are nice. Goggles of Time Sensing awsome. Mithral plate??? You have a dex of 10 so Mirthral is pointless. If you can't find anything better get adamtine for the DR. You are at the point where AC is going to become less and less useful. You aren't a front line melee so you shouldn't get agro and if you do drop a blade barrier or divine punishment until they are dead. Scorched bracers are likely out grown by now.
No idea of what weapons you are using. My thoughts are most likely maces and or a staff. There are some nice smiting, destruction, cursespewing, paralyzing versions out there. You also should be looking at potency and spell penetration items like any caster.
If you want to do more damage for melee some things to think about. You don't have the feats or weapon selection to get fantastic crit numbers. So your choice is to "front" end load the damage. Start with a +5 weapon, you have +3 from divine favor spell, and +3 from divine power strenght boost. You have divine might adding +4pts of damage on that. If you are in a group and don't have agro add in a flanking bonus to hit. Throw in a weapon of backstabbing (I think +4 is level 11ish). Numbers added together equals +17 to hit and +21 to damage per melee strike. Oh yeah you also get to add in the damage of the weapon.
Obviously the 25pts of damage is not huge but it's enough to kill a non regenerating boss after some whacks.
Also this is the point where you start combining items such as a feather falling ring of greater false life and a +6 Con belt of heavy fortification. Those slots that open up fill with things to improve your casting. Potency, spell penetration, and arcane (yes it works on divine spells) lore. Also my suggestion is to pick either necromancy or evocation and get an item boost to increase your DC's with that line.
Also don't kill yourself if you don't like cleric. I can't stand my wizzy but I want the past life feat on him for artificer so I'm doing it. Each class has it's own flavor and no one likes them all.

[Socio]

I see in your tag line you have both a wiz and a sorc so you understand that they play differnet. Clerics are another style for you to try out and see if you like it. This is going to open a can of worms but it is MY opinion that most of the meta magics are not as useful to a divine as they are an arcane.
Quicken is nice but you don't really need it all the time. Feel free to turn it off and save some spell points.
Empowered heal on your highest level healing spell is fine and I recommend always having it on for that spell. Beyond that toggling it back and forth as needed for your group and what stage of the quest you are on is normal.
Maximize on 90% of cleric spells is a waste of sp. You will end up either over healing a target or simply get 200% damage of a blah base rate. Searing light has a max base damage of 40pts. Spam that thing twice and save yourself the sp. Now on the other 10% of your spells maximize is fantastic. The difference of 20pts of BASE damage per tick on divine punishment and 40pts of BASE damage is well worth the cost.
One you don't list but I feel is a must have for my play style is heighten. Making the target's save more difficulty is a good thing.

On to the next note.... You are a caster but you still can melee to add to what you are doing. Arcanes have a 10/10/15/20 BAB at level 20. With the divine power spell your BAB is the same as any melee 20/20/25/30. You attack faster and are more likely to hit. You might not have the str but you also have a level 1 spell that gives you +3 to hit and damage equal to 6 MORE points of str on top of the 6pts you have from divine power.

You actually aren't going to be as powerful a caster as an sorc or as powerful melee as a barb. However you can still do good with both. When you hit level 12 and stage two of the prestige you can slap on a healing aura giving you some wonderful regeneration. As long as you don't die you can eventually heal up because those turn undeads come back slowly.

SO my objective is to just get that last bit to lvl 12 get my Radiant II enhancement, respec *Which i might ask how you would do enhancements up to lvl 12, and do a few spell swaps. Atm extend stays off completely till I reach a shrine with enough sp to extend buff a friend. Quicken for a few masses and bursts, max and empower heal on my highest heal and burst and I leave them off on the rest of them.

[Socio]

Okay I'm looking at Kiloril and I have a few suggestions. Note this is biased to MY play style. Sora Kell items are nice. Goggles of Time Sensing awsome. Mithral plate??? You have a dex of 10 so Mirthral is pointless. If you can't find anything better get adamtine for the DR. You are at the point where AC is going to become less and less useful. You aren't a front line melee so you shouldn't get agro and if you do drop a blade barrier or divine punishment until they are dead. Scorched bracers are likely out grown by now.
No idea of what weapons you are using. My thoughts are most likely maces and or a staff. There are some nice smiting, destruction, cursespewing, paralyzing versions out there. You also should be looking at potency and spell penetration items like any caster.
If you want to do more damage for melee some things to think about. You don't have the feats or weapon selection to get fantastic crit numbers. So your choice is to "front" end load the damage. Start with a +5 weapon, you have +3 from divine favor spell, and +3 from divine power strenght boost. You have divine might adding +4pts of damage on that. If you are in a group and don't have agro add in a flanking bonus to hit. Throw in a weapon of backstabbing (I think +4 is level 11ish). Numbers added together equals +17 to hit and +21 to damage per melee strike. Oh yeah you also get to add in the damage of the weapon.
Obviously the 25pts of damage is not huge but it's enough to kill a non regenerating boss after some whacks.
Also this is the point where you start combining items such as a feather falling ring of greater false life and a +6 Con belt of heavy fortification. Those slots that open up fill with things to improve your casting. Potency, spell penetration, and arcane (yes it works on divine spells) lore. Also my suggestion is to pick either necromancy or evocation and get an item boost to increase your DC's with that line.
Also don't kill yourself if you don't like cleric. I can't stand my wizzy but I want the past life feat on him for artificer so I'm doing it. Each class has it's own flavor and no one likes them all.

Atm I got a Superior Potency waiting at lvl 14, using Superior Ardor VI Clickes for the healing, and mainly use a shield and my Superior Healing Lore Scepter when grouping up. Weapon wise I usually use sirroco due to the proficiency I get via enhancements. Can't seem to find a Superior Brilliance Clicky, and i might mess around with my armor and bracers, but just cant find anything for my bracers to use.

*Edit: Should I Swap out Extend for heighten? and if so what spells should i focus it on.

[EarlofPain]

As you stated in your first post you were doing fine for the first 9 levels or so. Now you just need some better gear and ADD to what you already have and you should be golden. Like all of DDO if you want level 12 gear you need to run level 16 content to get it. The first time through on any character is tough.

Your enhancements are fine so far. You have everything you need to get your second tier prestige and to be a capable scroll/aura healer. Hopefully your level 20 characters can float you a loan on heal/mass cure scrolls. What I would suggest is to now do as everyone has said and boost your smiting enhancements. Light and alignment spells aren't a lot but they can be powerful and they are the only ones you can enhance. Divine punishment is a killer. Use it well.

You are going to have to make the judgement call on extend. This is the level range where your buffs last long enough without it so the only spells it would be needed for are the short term divine might/power spells. If you melee a lot it could be worth it to keep. For me I found that I spent a good deal of time running to the next fight or just didn't need it when I was in a group. So for my style yes I would swap it for heighten. Any spell that has a saving throw is improved by it.

Gear wise you sound like you know exactly what to look for. Now all you need to do is find it or have it crafted for you. Gianthold has some nice elfcrafted plate armor for a turn in reward. Bracers are a good slot to find spell focus on. Again I would recommend necromancy and/or evocation. Destruction becomes addictive once you play with it enough to know who isn't going to make it's save.

Weapon wise longsword is a tough one to fill. Sirroco is not a bad choice at all for this level. My favorite noncrafted longsword is the Watcher's Blade from Acute Deliruim. Exceptional wisdom and curse spewing are a fantastic bonus. You see that curse cloud and it's your que to hit them with a nice insta kill. As a bonus on the rare crit you can sap your target. Most of the time that simply means a split second pause before you hit him again however you do get the bonus damage to a stunned opponent.

All in all you are doing good. You know what to look for and what to improve on. From here it's just putting in the quests to get loot and xp. Best of luck and good hunting.

[Socio]

As you stated in your first post you were doing fine for the first 9 levels or so. Now you just need some better gear and ADD to what you already have and you should be golden. Like all of DDO if you want level 12 gear you need to run level 16 content to get it. The first time through on any character is tough.

Your enhancements are fine so far. You have everything you need to get your second tier prestige and to be a capable scroll/aura healer. Hopefully your level 20 characters can float you a loan on heal/mass cure scrolls. What I would suggest is to now do as everyone has said and boost your smiting enhancements. Light and alignment spells aren't a lot but they can be powerful and they are the only ones you can enhance. Divine punishment is a killer. Use it well.

You are going to have to make the judgement call on extend. This is the level range where your buffs last long enough without it so the only spells it would be needed for are the short term divine might/power spells. If you melee a lot it could be worth it to keep. For me I found that I spent a good deal of time running to the next fight or just didn't need it when I was in a group. So for my style yes I would swap it for heighten. Any spell that has a saving throw is improved by it.

Gear wise you sound like you know exactly what to look for. Now all you need to do is find it or have it crafted for you. Gianthold has some nice elfcrafted plate armor for a turn in reward. Bracers are a good slot to find spell focus on. Again I would recommend necromancy and/or evocation. Destruction becomes addictive once you play with it enough to know who isn't going to make it's save.

Weapon wise longsword is a tough one to fill. Sirroco is not a bad choice at all for this level. My favorite noncrafted longsword is the Watcher's Blade from Acute Deliruim. Exceptional wisdom and curse spewing are a fantastic bonus. You see that curse cloud and it's your que to hit them with a nice insta kill. As a bonus on the rare crit you can sap your target. Most of the time that simply means a split second pause before you hit him again however you do get the bonus damage to a stunned opponent.

All in all you are doing good. You know what to look for and what to improve on. From here it's just putting in the quests to get loot and xp. Best of luck and good hunting.

I actually managed to reset my enhancements last night, moved down a few points in healing which isn't noticeable due to Radiant II's Empower healing = 75%, and tap into upping my smiting line as well went and got a Elfcraft Robe for the lore and the focus and cleaned off the dust on my SS ring and Twisted talisman. Seems like that done the trick. I may not be nuke'n things like a sorc/wizzy but alternating between nimbus, searing for cheap hits that can hit near 200 now, and Greater command, comet fall, holy smite, Symbol of persuasion, and Blade barrier for the crowds of mobs.

I appreciate all the help everyone, now its time to go work on my multiperson healing lol.

[Kinerd]

Trolls and cats happen to be more difficult targets to BB. Cats tend to have pretty good Reflex saves, but the main problem is their attack animations. Trolls drop back to range and repeatedly stand still (while healing, the cheaters), cats' pounce and run animations are all screwed up. This doesn't mean you can't BB them, it's just a little trickier than most. Try it out on the duergar melees and you'll see much better results.

[firemedium_jt]

You can drop Energy of the Zealot. You prob don't need it as a percentage of SP to take more smiting for DP.

I see you have extend. It is time to swap it for Empower.

There are 3 things you want to have all your metas on for... Burst healing... Divine Punishment and Blade Barrier. The spells cost more than 25 sp, so Maximize is worth it for them. So is empower. The metas are free to buff Burst healing too. Other damage spells are not worth it.

Don't waste sp on Divine Power. Use items to click in combat or scrolls ahead of time.

With critical smiting lines and Arcane Lore you will critical 18% of the DP ticks. That is a lot of damage going off with no save or spell pen ck. That will cause the boss to chase you, so drop a BB and kite until aggro is pulled off you by a tank hopefully standing in your BB. We are talking about over 3000 pts damage between DP and kiting BB with all metas on at high lvl. Even more so with high end gear like Eardweller. Use Superior Brill V with DP till you get Eardweller.

Start using more heal scrolls for healing. Critical healing enhancements are not worth it, but you need tier 1 for Rad Serv 1.

With Empower Healing at 75% for Auras and spells at lvl 12 leave it on all the time for all your heals and cures.

[firemedium_jt]

You don't need Heighten till lvl15.

Most caster clerics are:

Toughness
empower healing
maximize
empower
quicken
Spell Focus
Heighten
Greater Spell Focus

You can substitute Spell Pen and Greater Spell Pen for SF feats. Or even melee feats for a generalists build.

You can take extend in front of empower healing early to drop/swap it by lvl 6-9.



As for Superior Brilliance V.

It is mostly crafted in shards and sold at the Auction House for 5k-10k plat. You can get a crafter buddy to make items and shards for their friendly neighborhood Divine. Once you buy the shard it is easy to craft a weapon to add it to. Get two items made.

What server are u on with Cleric. I got tons Sup Brill V shards on Orien.

Bracers are a great spot for STR item and a Divine Power item clicky even with Sora Kell.

[Socio]

You don't need Heighten till lvl15.

Most caster clerics are:

Toughness
empower healing
maximize
empower
quicken
Spell Focus
Heighten
Greater Spell Focus

You can substitute Spell Pen and Greater Spell Pen for SF feats. Or even melee feats for a generalists build.

You can take extend in front of empower healing early to drop/swap it by lvl 6-9.



As for Superior Brilliance V.

It is mostly crafted in shards and sold at the Auction House for 5k-10k plat. You can get a crafter buddy to make items and shards for their friendly neighborhood Divine. Once you buy the shard it is easy to craft a weapon to add it to. Get two items made.

What server are u on with Cleric. I got tons Sup Brill V shards on Orien.

Bracers are a great spot for STR item and a Divine Power item clicky even with Sora Kell.

Sorry for taking a few days to reply. I have been busy tinkering and playing with it trying to find that happy medium. I managed to score 1 Superior Brilliance VI Item and a few Superior Brilliance III Items *Big ones for nuke'n, little ones are for throwing searing lights and nimbuses* And thinking about Doing a Lesser Recarn to incorporate some monk levels and redo stats and make it a clonk.

[Stormraiser]

Correct, you don't need quicken until 15 or even 18.

I'm surprised how so many people suggested getting scrolls and money for more scrolls from your other characters. I can understand getting equipment, and perhaps I'm reading too far into what is being said, but casters shouldn't have to rely on tons of heal scrolls or potions for healing regular parties at lower levels. Especially not on a first life character.

That said, clerics have a lot of powerful spells and the style of play shifts once you have access to them. For a first life cleric, you need to figure out what your focus is going to be: melee, or casting. Please note that there is no healing focus. By default clerics have the ability to heal, you don't need to fully spec your character for it and do nothing else. Early on, you can grab a big weapon and kind of keep up with the melees while CCing with command, sound burst and blinding enemies. Once you get blade barrier things become very interesting. Try to go into a lower level quest by yourself, run around until you get to yellow alert and then drop a blade barrier, practice luring the mobs in and out of it while keeping them from attacking you. After a few tries, you'll be able to avoid a lot of the attacks. That is the power of blade barrier, but unfortunately that strategy doesn't work well in a full "regular" group. After blade barrier, you've got destruction and implosion and suddenly you can kill things much faster then the melees. With RS and buffs, you're very sturdy so don't hide in the back.

[firemedium_jt]

I kinda disagree with Bladebarriers not being good for groups. If the other toons are smart enough to use it to weaken foes then it is nice. If they ignore it being there then yeah it is wasted. They will use it if their melee is not going so well and they are low on HP I can tell you that for sure.

I use it on normal for weak mobs and on max power for every boss fight that I can remember when I was not worried about aggro. I don't solo much.

Now a Quickened Max Power Blade Barrier will save the party from wiping when there is too much aggro. Usually a BB with a Firewall in the middle of it is very nice area of effect.

Quickened is suggested by many by the time you get BB. BB is very effective with all metas on. You can't overlap 2 bladebarriers. The damage output with all metas is the same as casting 2 of them damage wise and spell points used too. Now trying to cast a max power BB and failing a concentration check can mean the difference with party wiping or not, and wasting sp compared to spending an extra 10 sp to make sure it is casted. This is so much more important than SF feats.

[Kinerd]

That will cause the boss to chase you, so drop a BB and kite until aggro is pulled off you by a tank hopefully standing in your BB.Please don't be that guy. If you pull aggro, block. A shield and your aura will keep you up. Blade Barrier kiting is great for your DPS and terrible for every melee's. If you don't care about the melees' DPS, save everyone some aggravation and solo the quest.

[firemedium_jt]

Well I see what you mean, but doesn't it depend on how you kite? If you kite to avoid damage in large circles I would agree with you. If you circle the BB and keep it in tight and slow either on the blades or just outside the blades and take damage and heal it works. If you keep it tight the melees will pull aggro off quick and if you space your DPs and BBs out the melee's hold aggro. No?

I dont use shields that much. Maybe reflecting shield or deathblock shield. He is a 2hdr FTR splash and likes to swing his Falchions for criticals too, so don't worry. I do not kite like a little girly man.

Now if your melee sucks, and you can't pull aggro off me I am taking the boss out. Sorry. If your melee was good I probably could not pull aggro off you anyway.

I suppose my 'kiting' is not the kiting you are worried about. Perhaps I should not describe it as such.

[Matuse]

I managed to score 1 Superior Brilliance VI Item and a few Superior Brilliance III Items *Big ones for nuke'n, little ones are for throwing searing lights and nimbuses*

Really don't need the others, the first one covers everything.

[Socio]

Really don't need the others, the first one covers everything.

Well I pack more then one do to the 3 min nature and you never know when you will stall out before a shrine. With the Brilliance III's I can run them to boost my searing light and nimbus, but when I need that kick for Divine Punishment I know i still got 9 mins of 75% extra damage to it.

The only issue i seem to be having now is weak spell points. 1010 at level 13 with 30 wisdom and a power X trinket seems like its abit low. Am I missing something on the spell points or are they naturally this low.

[Stormraiser]

Well I pack more then one do to the 3 min nature and you never know when you will stall out before a shrine. With the Brilliance III's I can run them to boost my searing light and nimbus, but when I need that kick for Divine Punishment I know i still got 9 mins of 75% extra damage to it.

The only issue i seem to be having now is weak spell points. 1010 at level 13 with 30 wisdom and a power X trinket seems like its abit low. Am I missing something on the spell points or are they naturally this low.

There are items that will boost your mana more, but they are GS, raid gear or rare gear. GS =150, skiver=200 (ml 14) bracers from VOD 200.

Also, Conc Opp (gs) or the Torc will give you some mana as a proc when you're hit.

To concerve mana, try to do as much healing as possible from aura and bursts. Are you using metamagics on searing light or nimbus? If so, your damage return might not be worth the mana spent unless it is a boss.

[Stormraiser]

Please don't be that guy. If you pull aggro, block. A shield and your aura will keep you up. Blade Barrier kiting is great for your DPS and terrible for every melee's. If you don't care about the melees' DPS, save everyone some aggravation and solo the quest.

Exactly what I was referring to earlier. Bad BB kiting is like bad archer kiting. 4 melee either chasing the boss missing attacks, or slightly worse, forced to attack with a -4 penalty.

[Socio]

There are items that will boost your mana more, but they are GS, raid gear or rare gear. GS =150, skiver=200 (ml 14) bracers from VOD 200.

Also, Conc Opp (gs) or the Torc will give you some mana as a proc when you're hit.

To concerve mana, try to do as much healing as possible from aura and bursts. Are you using metamagics on searing light or nimbus? If so, your damage return might not be worth the mana spent unless it is a boss.

Yeah I figured all the usual boosts from gear, but I was just checking to make sure the 1010 sp I got wasn't due to something I over looked and missed.

As for now the only things that have metas on them are my Divine Punishment, My SLA Burst and Aura, Blade Barrier, and a few mass and single target heals. Nimbus and Searing no meta's. 6-8 Sp a pop sometimes they hit decent sometimes i'm doing nothing more then giving the mobs a tan, but in the tan case it adds up after awhile lol

[Kinerd]

Well I see what you mean, but doesn't it depend on how you kite? If you kite to avoid damage in large circles I would agree with you. If you circle the BB and keep it in tight and slow either on the blades or just outside the blades and take damage and heal it works. If you keep it tight the melees will pull aggro off quick and if you space your DPs and BBs out the melee's hold aggro. No?If you stop at points such that the monster also stops, that is fine, and I agree, I don't think I would call it kiting. I can't think of a good alternative term, though. Semi-kiting? Intermittent kiting? Sticking and moving?

[SirValentine]

Decided to go the caster route
<snip>
Got it to level 8 and was loving it.
<snip>
Got to 11 and things have just halted. I play solo often when one of my friends isn't on and i'm very much used to holding my own and playing characters that are very capable alone in a quest.


That's...odd.

Level 11 should be where you really start to shine! With Blade Barrier you can solo almost everything. You have at least Maximize for it, right? And maybe some Potency/Efficacy?

[Vanquishedfo]

First things first. Have you read the path to enlightenment? If not here http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=202343&highlight=enlightenment.

Now with that out of the way, here is what Id comment on, even though the majority of the forum minority mainly composed of selfish barbs and fighters will want to wail in disagreement.

Your AC if it was shown correctly is only like 20 and that is just sad. AC might not be popular, but its not hard to have enough to make a difference. Remember when most here on the forums talk about AC they talk about it from the view if you are hit on anything but a 20 by the mobs its useless. However AC needs for various lvl ranges are pretty viable to achieve for even common players, its the AC is useless myth, largely pushed out there by those who dont want to put any effort into survivability into thier uber DPS machine.

For example a cleric can wear full plate, Even with a base dex of 8 u can get it up to 16 easily with a +2 dex tome and +6 dex item, making that FP made of mithril worth 11 points of armor right out the gate. Your true neutral so adding superior stability adds another 6, make it +5 armor and your sitting on an AC 31 which granted by lvl 11 starts to need to be pushed again. well clerics can easily use shields, and some great caster shields exist out there. Even if u dont invest any feats into shield mastery etc, shields offer alot out the gate. +5 mithril large shield will push you up another good chunk. +5 natural armor items, dodge items, etc its not hard to get enough to feel its effect.

I have a fighter rogue who with an ac of 54 walks around areas like giants hold, and the vale and is hit so rarely all he needs is a vampiric weapon to keep topped off at all times.

Although a starting cleric cant really do more then be a hybrid caster cleric or battle cleric, a cleric is built to do alot out of the gate and to be a great cleric is to use EVERY aspect of thier class to the best of your ability.

[Socio]

I got everything Fleshed out on my cleric now and solved a few issues i was conforming to *Some being My fault, some being abilities* so everything is running smooth now.

Im planning on doing a test side project of trying to make a 17/3 Clonk so i can have a caster based cleric and something more up front. I have had issues finding a good Clonk idea seeing every one has so many opinions on whats right and wrong and all I want is something in the middle i can research and resort to for guidance. If any of you know a nice 17/3 Clonk i would much appreciate it.


Socio