Invaders! And you want the cleric to do what?

[Mowerman]

O.K. So after my brother and I spent 4k plat on repairs because of two complete party wipes, I started to become a little disgusted. Watching what was happening the second time we wiped, I noticed the guy who was supposed to be the hot shot, favored monster aberration bow ranger was shooting multishot then kiting them mobs back into the support toons, i.e. myself as cleric and my brother as buff bard/backup healer. Third run, bro decides he's had enough and leaves. They fill another bard into his slot and away we go. After the first set of pulls, I tell the retardoranger to stop kiting the mobs into me. He says, "You are too close to the group. You should be way back, to rez the party when they die." I say back, "You're an idiot,"(not the exact wording I used but that would be considered too explicit) and promptly exit the mission. So tell me, is the only reason for a cleric to be on a mission heavy with death magic users simply to clean up the party wipe after everyone dies? If this is the only reason they are needed, to spend their mana on the cleanup, why not just have a rogue or bard with sufficient umd use scrolls or wands to get people back up?

[Kralgnax]

Invaders is an ugly quest, and you are going to be rezing, and restoring - a lot. Ideally you want to work the fight so that you (healer) are in LoS of your party and out of LoS of the beholders. Easy to say, hard to do.

It's easier if you have a warforge with deathblock (Ideally, everyone has death block) to position the beholders, as they're at least immune to the negative levels.

[Maxwell1380]

O.K. So after my brother and I spent 4k plat on repairs because of two complete party wipes, I started to become a little disgusted. Watching what was happening the second time we wiped, I noticed the guy who was supposed to be the hot shot, favored monster aberration bow ranger was shooting multishot then kiting them mobs back into the support toons, i.e. myself as cleric and my brother as buff bard/backup healer. Third run, bro decides he's had enough and leaves. They fill another bard into his slot and away we go. After the first set of pulls, I tell the retardoranger to stop kiting the mobs into me. He says, "You are too close to the group. You should be way back, to rez the party when they die." I say back, "You're an idiot,"(not the exact wording I used but that would be considered too explicit) and promptly exit the mission. So tell me, is the only reason for a cleric to be on a mission heavy with death magic users simply to clean up the party wipe after everyone dies? If this is the only reason they are needed, to spend their mana on the cleanup, why not just have a rogue or bard with sufficient umd use scrolls or wands to get people back up?

Clerics rock this quest with a banish spell. the flensers and renders are all banishable, but even dismissal works well. Yes, be prepared to do a few restores after every beholder fight, but buffs that you can throw are pretty much a waste of spell points, save the buffing for a bard. FYI a silver flame amulet is your best friend here...it absorbs neg level drain and is death block so if you have access to necro part 1, I'd advise getting it asap! Also if you can get a WF tank to turn the beholders away from you, they are easily destructable

[Kintro]

Watching what was happening the second time we wiped, I noticed the guy who was supposed to be the hot shot, favored monster aberration bow ranger was shooting multishot then kiting them mobs back into the support toons, i.e. myself as cleric and my brother as buff bard/backup healer.

If he'd just used a weakening bow instead there wouldn't have been very much kiting at all.

To address the real issue of the OP: As a cleric in there I'd be trying to stay out of agro range/line of sight of any of the beholders. Anyone engaging them should suck it up and die before bringing anything towards the rest of the group.

[Maxwell1380]

If he'd just used a weakening bow instead there wouldn't have been very much kiting at all.

To address the real issue of the OP: As a cleric in there I'd be trying to stay out of agro range/line of sight of any of the beholders. Anyone engaging them should suck it up and die before bringing anything towards the rest of the group.

Yes a great point I should have added to my post. Remember your von 3 training peeps! You don't drag aggro back to the cleric there do you?

[Zenako]

The ranger was a goof. Unless he is able to KILL the beholders using his Abberation Bane gear, then he should have been using something else. Weakening of Enfeebling Bows will rip a beholder into a useless gas bag in no time, making them easy picking, especially with manyshot. At level, a rogue with crippling strike and W/E weapons can do much the same. The normal Beholders also Paralize pretty often too which can make them easy.

Static Deathblock and deathward are almost mandatory in this quest. (Beholder Optics are even better - but are a rare reward that sometimes drops in this quest...)

Due to respawns near the portals, you also need to keep moving a bit and not constantly refighting the same mobs over and over.

Given what you were talking of the party makeup, YES in this quest it is often prudent for the one capable of raising to hang back far enough so that the beholders do not spot them. The archer should not have been kiting them back to you, that was poor play. IN many of the encounters, they happen near corners, so the rezer should keep out of sight around the corner.

Once you get the hang of the quest, many of the fights are not that hard with the right tactics and spells or gear.

[SINIBYTE]

Unfortunately, yes, you are there for rezzing and to handle negetive levels. However, that doesn't mean that ranger wasn't still an idiot. When you run invaders, you expect to die... next time you join an invaders group, make a little joke "now taking bets on first to die!", and see what kind of reaction you get from your group... if they all joke around and say "oh me me!", you'll have a good time.

[Samiusbot]

As posted any deathblocked Wf with a good con save can solo or mostly solo the beholders as well as a hunter of the dead pally 2 also with a deathbock item on.

The real trick is to not be afraid of the black balls, of death, clear the mobs and use them to heal up. Sooner or later you will get a heal. This can save lots of mana, if you don't die waiting for a heal.

As for people dragging agro, it will happen until everyone understands that it is best to stand and kill and turn the beholders so the Clrs and other casters can use their spells to help.

It is often better help remove the damage source then try to heal during its removal. But people see Clr and think “heal me, stop fighting or wasting mana killing guys.” it is a lesson that every good clr learns.

People want a healbot, but the best clr knows when to try to remove the damage before it happens.

[Impaqt]

It makes me sad to read posts like this.

Clerics OWN Invaders......

Any cleric with a little bit of skill can solo this quest.

Banish and Blade Barrier. Thats all ya need. Any L12 Cleric can carry both these spells into Invaders and mop up the joint.

Get some scrolls of Greater Restoration to handle Fixing Negative Levels.

Drop a BB outside the range of the Beholders and Kite them through it. Wear Deathblock of course.

There are more than enough corners to duck around to get yourself healed up.

Invaders is probobly the best training ground for developing your clerical Offensive Casting skills.

[Cedwin]

Step 1: Get a Warforged Barbarian.
Step 2: Sit back and enjoy a cup of tea while he runs in and kills all 3 beholders.

Seriously though. If the ranger doesn't have a paralyzing or weakening bow, or some aberration slaying arrows, a caster with enlarge and cloud kill works great in there.

The ranger in your group was an idiot, as several others have mentioned.

[Krag]

Deathblock is almost useless against beholders.
The chance to be killed by FoD isn't nonexistent but most deaths come from disintegrate.

[Impaqt]

Deathblock is almost useless against beholders.
The chance to be killed by FoD isn't nonexistent but most deaths come from disintegrate.

Chaos Orbs and Hounds also are plentuiful in Invaders.

[Missing_Minds]

I'd say your ranger was sucktastic. For bane gear, you have elves, aberation, and evil outsider. If all that kiter (I HATE those people) was doing was using an aberation...

You should have greased him and let him die.

At level with a competent group you do not die in invaders (well.. baring standard... DOH! rolled a 1 type issues). Now it sounds like you two were learning. How do you learn, by doing. Don't be too disappointed. You'll get the hang of it.

[CE2JRH123]

Is there a way to block disintigrates other than a high fort save for partial damage?

[Arnya]

Is there a way to block disintigrates other than a high fort save for partial damage?

Move? It's a ray spell.

Also, Symbol of Persuasion on the portals after you pass them is a good insurance policy

[Superspeed_Hi5]

Is there a way to block disintigrates other than a high fort save for partial damage?

The Epic Lvl monk feat reflect rays. Oh wait we cap at 20.

[phalaeo]

Ooh, one of my favourite topics!

I was asked to "help out" on Invaders!- first time was on elite, level 10. It' was a cluster****.
Esp at lower levels, you burn a lot of scrolls and spend a metric ****-ton of plat on this quest. IMHO, the token turn in reward for clerics is well worth it.

It's now one of my fav. quests, and I run it whenever I can, but oh man, did I swear those first few times.

[phalaeo]

It makes me sad to read posts like this.

Clerics OWN Invaders......

Any cleric with a little bit of skill can solo this quest.

Banish and Blade Barrier. Thats all ya need. Any L12 Cleric can carry both these spells into Invaders and mop up the joint.

Get some scrolls of Greater Restoration to handle Fixing Negative Levels.

Drop a BB outside the range of the Beholders and Kite them through it. Wear Deathblock of course.

There are more than enough corners to duck around to get yourself healed up.

Invaders is probobly the best training ground for developing your clerical Offensive Casting skills.

This too. Running Invaders! over and over again helped me hone my clericing skills into something I hadn't seen in myself before. Also taught me the importance of back up scrolls and mana management.

It's my opinion that Invaders! is one of the most cleric-centric levels in the game. Designed to be the bane of clerics everywhere, and also to let clerics shine.

[Tumarek]

Anybody who tell's a cleric to stand back and mop up the party after they were whiped doesnt have the slightest clue what cleric's actually are. They should be boyquotted by the healers union and have to use hirelings for the rest of their gaming days.
Thats like telling a arcane "no you cant cast Haste on the group, you can only cast firewall...."

[Talon_Moonshadow]

It's your choice how you play your cleric.

As pointed out, Banishment and Dismisal work very well (unless you are doing elite).
bet you can sound burst a beholder too.

Or stay back and clean up the mess.

Personally, in the group you described, I would've stayed back......way back. And if the kiter came within view, run even farther back.

I like Invaders.
Some groups can power through it with ease, others should try to use some tactics to limit how many monsters they fight at once.

Sadly, most groups cannot succeed in any quest that they cannot power trough.
The only solution they have is a bigger great axe, more HP, .....or waiting till cap and they need favor.