Caster cleric build assist

[Juxter]

I haven't played a cleric in heroic/epic for almost 2 years, and could use some advice.
Am a bit rusty on cleric-y things since changes.

Resources/status:
Toon is currently a wizard lvl 28.
Heroic past lives: 3. barbarian, cleric, wizard.
No epic past lives
Access to all races/classes
final life will eventually be cleric, preferably all 20 lvls.
when on cleric final life, am thinking of mostly playing it like a caster
use of blade barriers, implosions, destruction, slay living, SLA's. Maybe ruin.
melee/range physical attacks are low priority
plan to do >70% in pugs, but would like option of being solo capable (including hirelings) in EH, but probably not solo in EE.
has +4 tomes in int, wis, cha. +3 in other stats
has enough materials to craft tier-2 thunder-forged weapon.
I'll probably leave at tier-2 so I can re-use at lvl 26 when epic-TR'ing


Questions:
1. What would be the recommended epic past lives to try and achieve, and in what order (i.e. 1st: colors of the queen 1, 2nd:arcane alacrity 1, 3rd:colors of the queen 2)? Say.. for the first 5 epic TR's? After 5 e-TR's, I'll probably park it at max lvl

2. How would you suggest the thunderforged be crafted?
quarterstaff?
tier1 - neg150? force150? light150?
tier2 - necro6?
Am thinking of using:
sage's cuffs for force crit+20% for blade barriers and spell pen+4
sage's locket for evoc5 and spellcraft15.
Any strongly recommended pieces of easily procured eq?

3. Am willing to grind 1-2 more heroic lives. What would you recommend?

4. During final cleric life, What feats would you recommend?

5. What race would you recommend for cleric final life?

6. Am thinking of the following cleric ability distribution (assuming human):
str 8
dex 8
con 16
int 12
wis 18 <-level all into this
cha 14
Primary skills: heal, concen, spellcraft, balance. Some in jump, diplo, haggle.
Feedback?

7. Your thoughts on this being a viable build?

Thanks,
-Juxter

[PsychoBlonde]

Get 3 sorcerer past lives if you plan on playing a caster cleric. +3 evo dc's cannot be passed up. 3 cleric past lives don't hurt--Turn Undead is quite useful and being able to just one-shot those giant skeletons in Madstone is very helpful.

Caster clerics have exactly 4 types of necessary spellpower (in order of importance): Light, Positive, Force, and Fire. A Lantern Ring is an absolute no-brainer. Get the Gauntlets of Eternity from Fall of Truth as well. This covers 2 of your major spellpower types AND your spell crit as well, so all you really need from there is Fire and Force and you're all good. It's probably best to make a one-handed thunderforged weapon focused toward Force spellpower (throw combustion in the augment slot) and use the Libram of Silver Magic in your offhand. Don't worry too much about negative spellpower--the spells just don't do enough damage and are completely ignored by anything with death ward.

Spell penetration is nice but you can live without it and it takes a LOT of effort to get it up high enough to be really reliable.

One of the other things that a lot of caster clerics seem to forget is that clerics have some nice CC that uses off-saves for a lot of monsters. Cometfall, Sound Burst and Greater Command will very often land when other spells don't if you invest in them. You also get a Sound Burst SLA from Exalted Angel, too.

If you plan on dumping dex like that you need UMD so you have access to fire and cold shield scrolls. You also don't really need a 14 base cha--it doesn't do that much for you and you can get your cha bonuses elsewhere.

[SirValentine]

Toon is currently a wizard lvl 28.
Heroic past lives: 3. barbarian, cleric, wizard.



Am willing to grind 1-2 more heroic lives. What would you recommend?


My top choices:
1. If you didn't already have it, at least 1 Wiz for access to Arcane Initiate feat, for +1 to all DCs
2. Sorc x3, passive +1 to Evoc DCs
3. Cleric x3, passive +1 to Conj DCs & extra Turns (zero-SP free self-healing!)
4. More Wiz, followed by FvS, up to 3x each, for more Spell Pen
5. One of every other class for Completionist

So, since you already have a Wiz life, I'd say a Sorc life or two.



What would be the recommended epic past lives to try and achieve, and in what order (i.e. 1st: colors of the queen 1, 2nd:arcane alacrity 1, 3rd:colors of the queen 2)? Say.. for the first 5 epic TR's?


Not sure how much order matters. I like Arcane Alacrity, and don't really feel any of the other Epic PLs are must-haves for a caster Cleric. Though of course, Epic Completionist looks sweet.



How would you suggest the thunderforged be crafted?
quarterstaff?
tier1 - neg150? force150? light150?
tier2 - necro6?


Unless you already have a +2 Wisdom Alchemical (not suggesting you go grind for you; it's not needed), a 2-hander, for the extra +1 DC, would be the way I'd go.

You can get Light spell power on Ring or Headgear (Lantern Ring or Sage's Skullcap). Negative spell power I don't really find all that useful. I went 150 Force on mine.

And, like you, I went +6 Necro DC on tier 2.



Am thinking of using:
sage's cuffs for force crit+20% for blade barriers and spell pen+4
sage's locket for evoc5 and spellcraft15.
Any strongly recommended pieces of easily procured eq?


Sage's Locket is great. Cuffs are OK, but not as good as the bracers from the new raid, Dumathoin's.

As mentioned above, Light spell power from either Lantern Ring or Sage's Skullcap.



During final cleric life, What feats would you recommend?


I don't want to give you an exact list, because I haven't even decided myself yet, still experimenting with slightly different feat layouts as I ER. But for ideas, check out these two threads:
EllisDee's Necro Cleric https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422552-Necro-Cleric-for-new-players (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422552-Necro-Cleric-for-new-players)
My own build thread, Budstein https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/433397-Budstein (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/433397-Budstein)



What race would you recommend for cleric final life?


Human. An extra feat! More Wisdom. More skills.



Am thinking of the following cleric ability distribution (assuming human):
str 8
dex 8
con 16
int 12
wis 18 <-level all into this
cha 14


Looks fine. Personally, I'd get 2 less Con to get 4 more other stuff (say, 2 Int and 2 Str), but that's a minor detail, and more a matter of taste.



Your thoughts on this being a viable build?


I find mine works great on everything up to and including EE Wheloon. EE Storm Horns and EE U21 (raids + Haunted Halls), not so great, but still viable.

[SirValentine]

3 cleric past lives don't hurt--Turn Undead is quite useful


And you mention Cometfall as CC...Cleric PLs boost it's DC. That's a go-to versus Drow if you can't beat their Spell Resistance.



Caster clerics have exactly 4 types of necessary spellpower (in order of importance): Light, Positive, Force, and Fire.


Personally, I'd say 3, in the order Light, Force, Positive. I never use fire, and mobs have orders of magnitude more HP than players, so offensive spell power trumps healing.



If you plan on dumping dex like that you need UMD so you have access to fire and cold shield scrolls. You also don't really need a 14 base cha--it doesn't do that much for you and you can get your cha bonuses elsewhere.


Oh, nice catch that he skipped UMD! Yes, get UMD.

Though it seems really odd to talk up Turn Undead and UMD, then also say Cha's not important. 14 Cha looks just right to me.

[Lifespawn]

I would use a sun elf over human for 30 more light spellpower and and access to mass dw sr and aid as an aoe sla along with 2 uses of rejuvenation of light

[bibliomane]

Mammadrow does endgame healing and casting on a build that I like quite a lot.

I like arcane alacrity for the cool down. Life and death is worth grinding out so you can use lower heals to save sp. I'm only missing primal sphere EDs atm, so I believe that they are worth grinding out if you aren't doing anything else.

The tier 1 devotion 150, tier 2 necro 6 is very handy; I have it. and it works well to negative level, destruct, and implode things. The libram of silver magic will give you +20 spell craft and other useful things.

Sorc and wiz past lives are useful on a cleric, but you would probably get more out of epic past lives.

The feats I take are usually: empower heal, maximize, quicken, enlarge, mental toughness, improved mental toughness, skill UMD. Epically, I like wisdom, blinding speed, positive spell power, mass frog. However, I am a heal based cleric then a casting as second priority. You might want to change out a few things. I only have 1 past life cleric on mamma and I can usually either destruct or 1 neg level then destruct most things.

Her starting stats are str 8 dex 10 int 12 wis 18 cha 16. You can take two points from cha and put them into con if you plan to stay in angel ED. Angel is generally best for divine casting.

I put points into heal, spellcraft, UMD and Jump. UMD is awesome. try it on a temporary life if you aren't convinced.

Your play style is going to determine what feats/skills work best for you.

[Loromir]

I would add that you should max out Divine Disciple. Divine Disciple adds Sunburst to your spell book and it very reliably blinds most mobs and works fairly well as an AOE spell against Undead.

Blind Mobs really lose a lot of their power and tend to make a big mess of mobs manageable.