cleric roaming in shroud part 1.

[jddonkeykong]

ok noooob question here , brought my first non melee toon into the shroud last night , "clerics and casters roam" a phrase ive heard oodles of times. Being a cleric what spells are usefull while roaming?

Destruction , they don't fail thier saves = useless i have both spell pen feats and enhancement line ...maybe because im only level 15?

banishment/dismissal= immune

Blade barrier takes to long to be efficent IMO.


the sorc's run around using FOD , oh how i wish my cleric could do that i basically just ran behind him waiting to pass out dv's.

So as a cleric what should i be doing while on roam duty?

[Heffty_Smurf]

Destruction and Slay living are what you should be using. Some clerics are not set u to have the Spell pen on those spells and thats where you will have problems. Using those 2 spells I generaly, unless it is a rea good caster wil average 40 kills in part 1.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Destruction is your best tool, but you are right, high saves and SR are a challenge there. One of my two clerics is spec'd for that kind of stuff, she does well, the other does poorly. Make sure you have a spell pen item and a spell focus item. If you don't have a spell pen item, grab the staff that's on the ground near the first portal. Enhancements help as well. I can't destruct the orthons, but the rest of the trash you should be able to get.

[Big-Dex]

Destruction and Slay living are what you should be using. Some clerics are not set u to have the Spell pen on those spells and thats where you will have problems. Using those 2 spells I generaly, unless it is a rea good caster wil average 40 kills in part 1.

What Hefty said.

Unless you have the spell pen, you are gonna miss more than you hit when roaming. I loaded up two vorpal sickles on each of my clerics so I can at least contribute that way. As long as your cleric can hit stuffs and you have lucky dice, you should be able to hit a few destructs and slay living while vorpalling.

Dex was here.

[Do'Urden]

The DC and Spell Pen of your Destruction should be similar to that of a Sorc using FoD given similar gear (i.e. Spell Pen item and/or Spell Focus item).

[Aranticus]

ok noooob question here , brought my first non melee toon into the shroud last night , "clerics and casters roam" a phrase ive heard oodles of times. Being a cleric what spells are usefull while roaming?

Destruction , they don't fail thier saves = useless i have both spell pen feats and enhancement line ...maybe because im only level 15?

banishment/dismissal= immune

Blade barrier takes to long to be efficent IMO.


the sorc's run around using FOD , oh how i wish my cleric could do that i basically just ran behind him waiting to pass out dv's.

So as a cleric what should i be doing while on roam duty?

as a cleric, roaming = kill mobs. you are right that destruction is used most often but with blade barrier, you're totally wrong

when you roam, you do not have to cast your BB when you are at the portals. what i normally do is to cast it at a place near to the portal yet the mobs are unable to see me and then drag them into the BB. when 2 portals spawn with 6 mobs total, you actually use less sp to kill them using a BB than with destruction

if you're on khyber, i'll gladly show u how

[Comfortably]

I think it's more helpful if clerics get two good portal beaters and go to town, most casters don't need a cleric to back them up.

[Aranticus]

I think it's more helpful if clerics get two good portal beaters and go to town, GOOD casters don't need a cleric to back them up.

corrected for ya

the last run i did with my cleric, the caster had 5 kills from part 1-5

[iconiclastic]

Take the first portal together all 12 peeps,then split half and half going right and left up down exe. and you wont need to roam at all,it even takes less time to complete.This is the best pt.1 shroud advice there is.

[Comfortably]

Take the first portal together all 12 peeps,then split half and half going right and left up down exe. and you wont need to roam at all,it even takes less time to complete.This is the best pt.1 shroud advice there is.

I find groups of 4 work even better when that many portals are up.

[Comfortably]

corrected for ya

the last run i did with my cleric, the caster had 5 kills from part 1-5

heh, I like to give them a chance...I'll ask them over party chat if they need a tank to come vorpal sh!t for them

[Logicman69]

I think it's more helpful if clerics get two good portal beaters and go to town, most casters don't need a cleric to back them up.

My thoughts. exactly. My cleric hardly roams, I'll let the sorc have his fun and DV him when he gets low or throw a heal or 2 his way every once in a while. Otherwise, it's buff and beat on the portals. I do like to cast Meteor Strike when the mobs spawn at the portal I'm working on. The knockdown helps the DPS machines clean up a bit.

[Draccus]

I think it's more helpful if clerics get two good portal beaters and go to town, most casters don't need a cleric to back them up.

Totally agree. My cleric dual wields portal beaters, keeps a prayer on the party, keeps the melee spell (Divine Fortitude?) up on himself, and casts mass CLW every so often. I've only done 25 or so Shrouds on my cleric but I can't recall casting a single destruction in there.

I will also DV the arcane caster about halfway through Part 1.

[Shade]

Destruction , they don't fail thier saves = useless i have both spell pen feats and enhancement line ...maybe because im only level 15?

Well you kind of explained the reason for your problem in that line alone.

If your finding the reason the destruction is not working is because you see them "save" then spell penetration is not your issue. Spell pen failure doesn't say "save", you just see a blue flash and it says spell pen failure on the dice, hte mobs don't even try to save if there SR works.

Really on normal, there saves are more of an issue then there SR. I don't think it's very high, ~25 on the trogs maybe?

What you want to do to land on those is make sure your wisdom is high as you can get it, and swap out the spell penetration feats for Necromany focus feats. The spell pen enhancements + an item are plenty to deal with the SR.

On my sorc I have no spell pen feats but instead I have the focuses. Many argue this and say the spell pen is better, but anyone who has grouped with my sorc in the shroud can tell you that I have no problems with spell pen on neither the trogs or any devils. I get 60-90 kills, while meleeing the portals and the pit fiend.

Regardless.. Clerics can cast allot of better spells for phase 1 then destruction. Prayer and Divine Favor/Power come to mine. Keep those up and melee the portals. DPS on the portals matters a million times more then clearing the trash. Someone will kill the trash, you don't need to "roam", everyone should dps the portals. If someone tells you to roam, hes either a bad leader, or knows the group is particularly weak.
Besides that, any good group with a good DPS NEVER needs to kill anything other then what pops out of the portal their currently killing, and 12 ppl vs 3 trogs = no problem.

I melee on my sorc, and insta kill what pops out to keep the melee focused, and kill all 3 trogs+1 whatever as we run to the next portal without losing speed, roaming around isn't helpful or needed when you can do that.

[Comfortably]

keeps the melee spell (Divine Fortitude?)

I believe it's Divine favor...or power...its one of the two

[Comfortably]

Well you kind of explained the reason for your problem in that line alone.

If your finding the reason the destruction is not working is because you see them "save" then spell penetration is not your issue. Spell pen failure doesn't say "save", you just see a blue flash and it says spell pen failure on the dice, hte mobs don't even try to save if there SR works.

Really on normal, there saves are more of an issue then there SR. I don't think it's very high, ~25 on the trogs maybe?

What you want to do to land on those is make sure your wisdom is high as you can get it, and swap out the spell penetration feats for Necromany focus feats. The spell pen enhancements + an item are plenty to deal with the SR.

On my sorc I have no spell pen feats but instead I have the focuses. Many argue this and say the spell pen is better, but anyone who has grouped with my sorc in the shroud can tell you that I have no problems with spell pen on neither the trogs or any devils. I get 60-90 kills, while meleeing the portals and the pit fiend.

Regardless.. Clerics can cast allot of better spells for phase 1 then destruction. Prayer and Divine Favor/Power come to mine. Keep those up and melee the portals. DPS on the portals matters a million times more then clearing the trash. Someone will kill the trash, you don't need to "roam", everyone should dps the portals. If someone tells you to roam, hes either a bad leader, or knows the group is particularly weak.
Besides that, any good group with a good DPS NEVER needs to kill anything other then what pops out of the portal their currently killing, and 12 ppl vs 3 trogs = no problem.

I melee on my sorc, and insta kill what pops out to keep the melee focused, and kill all 3 trogs+1 whatever as we run to the next portal without losing speed, roaming around isn't helpful or needed when you can do that.

If you have a high cha on your sorc you shouldn't need the focus feats,maybe highten, I'd go MT and IMT.

[Shade]

If you have a high cha on your sorc you shouldn't need the focus feats,maybe highten, I'd go MT and IMT.

lolol.

My sorc has 39-42 Cha, both focuses and the reaver napkin.

The devils still save very often and force me to use enervate often. Shouldn't need my ass lol. Maybe if I was like most casters and only killed the trogs and not the devils lol.

MT? IMT? give me a break - those are wizard feats. I can't use my whole mana bar going insane non stop if I wanted to. I have 2800 mana without either of those.

[RavenStormclaw]

lolol.

My sorc has 39-42 Cha, both focuses and the reaver napkin.

The devils still save very often and force me to use enervate often. Shouldn't need my ass lol. Maybe if I was like most casters and only killed the trogs and not the devils lol.

MT? IMT? give me a break - those are wizard feats. I can't use my whole mana bar going insane non stop if I wanted to. I have 2800 mana without either of those.

Mind if I ask how you get a 42 charisma? I figure drow base 20, then 4 level ups, 3 enh, +3 tome, +3 shroud exceptional item and +6 stat item but that leaves you at 39.... where does the extra 3 come from? I ask because I want to build a sorcere to replace my gimped orignal 28 pt build sorcerer and would like to know. Thanks!

[tihocan]

I regularly use destruction/slay living on the trogs and they don't save very often. Not sure what my wis is at exactly, but something like 32 (whis is not particularly high), without any focus feat.

[UnderwearModel]

Unless you are worried about kill count. I never worry about kill count, I want to efficiently get through the Shroud.

Pre-Buffing, True Seeing, Poison Protection, all the Mass Buffs you got, then go get spell points.

My cleric I mass heal, cast prayer, and cast recitation. I only heal as needed for the next three portals.

I then break out Tenderizer and beat on the portal. Tenderizer is just as good as a Greater Construct Bane on the portal, IMHO.

I will chase down the wizard and sorceror to DV them up.

Then I go back to being a portal beater.

On the last portal I do mass protection from elements, mass death ward, mass aid, mass spell resist, and mass prot evil. Since I was going to shrine up anyway, that way the players that do not shrine have some slight protection going into Part 2. If I have time I will cast true seeing as much as I can to refresh the players.

As far as I am concerned, my job is to keep the party alive so they can kill everything and I can get my loot.