Cleric Enhancements

[phalaeo]

I have not seen a Cleric Enhancements thread in a while and thought some of the old ones may be obsolete--- thought I would post my reviews and put the topic up for discussion.

As with any build, some enhancements are a must have across the board, some are situational to playstyle and build, and some are generally accepted as junk. My opinions are a combination of all three and in no way are intended to be definitive.

Please feel free to Copypasta the Enhancement list blank and provide your own thoughts and opinions. Also, please add any enhancements that I may be missing.

Faith: Basic Tenets
Advanced Belief
Metamagic: Improved Empower Heal
Cleric Concentration
Cleric Diplomacy
Cleric Heal
Prayer of Smiting
Prayer of Life
Cleric Smiting
Cleric Life Magic
Cleric Improved Spell Pen
Energy of the Zealot
Cleric Charisma
Cleric Wisdom
Divine Cleansing
Divine Light
Divine Healing
Divine Vitality
Extra Turning
Improved Turning
Wand and Scroll Mastery
Cleric Capstone

[phalaeo]

Faith: Basic Tenets
Took Follower of the Soveriegn Host and used longswords the first time around. LS proficiency was useful at lower levels, but not higher

Advanced Belief
Took Unyielding Soverignty- Useful as a mega massive, no-mana heal for emergencies and WF barbs. Downside is the huge cooldown time. Still on the fence as to whether or not it's worth 4 AP, although it's saved my party in a oinch more than a few times.

Metamagic: Improved Empower Heal
Not enough experience to comment

Cleric Concentration
Useless- You can up it by wearing an item, and if you are putting ranks in it, you should not have a problem.

Cleric Diplomacy
Never took it.

Cleric Heal
Useless. Swap in an item before shrining if people aren't making it up to full.

Prayer of Smiting
Prayer of Life
Both useless. You can't depend on having a crit when healing through fights, although it is a nice bonus. Also, this will be obsoleted by gear which will give you up to a 9% chance to crit.

Cleric Smiting
On the fence, but have to read and research a few things before I give an informed opinion

Cleric Life Magic
One of the bread and butters. Regardless of build, I think all Clerics should take as many ranks as they can for their level. You just can't have too many ranks in it.

Cleric Improved Spell Pen
Stacks with feats and items. Useful for offensive caster Clerics, crowd control.

Energy of the Zealot
I take all tiers, but it's really dependent on your build, gear and goals. The good thing is that you don't have to take all ranks to benefit.

Cleric Charisma
Cleric Wisdom
Good for evening out your stats if you are waiting for certain gear. Can be swapped out later.

Divine Cleansing
Good at lower levels as a free poison removal, etc. Only ever take one rank in this and swap it out later on when it becomes useless.

Divine Light
Good at lower levels as an undead nuke- situational at higher levels. Think of it- I can either nuke undead in a one shot, or give the Arcane DVs to put up a big, nasty Firewall. Let's say useless after you are playing with people who are able to cast Firewall if you group play. May be useful for people who solo or are planning on running a lot of undead stuff.

Divine Healing
On the fence here. This does heal through walls, which is great for when a gate slams down on someone. Also heals WF for full. I've taken this on and off all the way to level 20, just because I'm that much on the fence about it. One note- it does work if you are standing in the safe room in Shroud when others are running water so long as you are on the side of the safe room that puts you in proximity to them.

Divine Vitality
Useful for people who group, useless for people who solo.

Extra Turning
Gives you more DVs, but at the same time, you could really put the AP into Cleric Charisma. Charisma affects a few things, including the number of turn undeads you get per rest as well as other things.

Improved Turning
Useless

Wand and Scroll Mastery
Depends on a lot. With my build and the groups I'm playing with now, it is not needed- Something to play with at the very least. The only thing I took it for was to use with Heal Scrolls- not worth taking at all for damage spells cast off of wands/scrolls.

Cleric Capstone
Great if you have the spare AP, and it only costs 2. Meh in the fact that I never really used it and won't miss it with a splashed build.

[Polarkin]

Faith: Basic Tenets - Personal playstyle decision, I have not found these to be of value with the possible exception of WF

Advanced Belief - Personal playstyle decision, I have not found these to be of value with the possible exception of WF

Metamagic: Improved Empower Heal - If you are going to utilize Empowered Healing to maximize your healing capabilities then it only makes sense to fully utilize these enhancements to minimize the additional SP cost.

Cleric Concentration
Cleric Diplomacy
Cleric Heal - I do not invest points into any of these

Prayer of Smiting
**Prayer of Incredible Smiting - Even as an offensive casting cleric I have no intention of dropping enough damage spells on a mob to kill it. It's either being kited through my bladebarrier or insta-killed.

Prayer of Life - I often find myself needing to invest an action point in *something* in order to unlock an enhancement that I want to invest in. I figure a small added chance to critical heal is a better use of that stray/occasional point than the random cleric skills above.

**Prayer of Incredible Life - My personal playstyle does not value higher critical heal modifiers.

Cleric Smiting - see Prayer of Smiting / Prayer of Incredible Smiting above

Cleric Life Magic - Max it out every time

Cleric Improved Spell Pen - Max it out every time

Energy of the Zealot - minimum investment of 2 ranks, but a lower priority for ranks 3 and 4 (i.e. if I have action points that I have nothing else I value to spend them on).

Cleric Charisma - At one time I would take both ranks to increase the number of available DV's. Then I decided there were other enhancements I valued more and I figured if I had to learn how to efficiently use my SP then why shouldn't others? (in particular the wizards/sorcs who are always asking for my DV's and wasting their SP trying to lead the kill count without any consideration to SP efficiency... I can't cure stupid, I don't go out of my way to heal stupid, and I don't condone giving stupid more SP to continue perpetuating stupidity)

Cleric Wisdom - Max it out every time

Divine Cleansing - Nope

Divine Light - Nope

Divine Healing - Nope

**Divine Might - I really like the idea of this one, but 14 base CHA for rank 1? What kind of melee spec'd cleric is going to have that high of a charisma? So, in short, Nope.

Divine Vitality - I will always invest in rank 1 and usually invest in rank 2. In raids my DV's go to other healers. In groups ... well... read my rant under Cleric Charisma... and yet I'll still do it anyway.

Extra Turning - Nope

Improved Turning - double Nope with a cherry on top

Wand and Scroll Mastery - Max it out every time and I'll try and take advantage of scrolls (in particular heal and mass cures) every time before I consider sucking down 8-10kpp SP pots.

Cleric Capstone - I see and understand the value of the capstone, however, my personal playstyle values a splash of another class over the capstone.

[Rineth]

As usual you give great advice Pallai.

In my opinion though

Unyielding Sovereignty: Useful at lower levels, but not worth the AP. If you've done your enhancements right at all and are wearing even light healing gear, the heal spell is better and frees up some valuable AP. I haven't had to even touch it over my last few levels.

Prayer of Life: Have it maxed out. I crit a lottt. Between that and gear, I seem to crit about 1 out of every 5 or 6 heals on a good night.

Cleric Charisma: Not really worth it. As long as you don't gimp your charisma from the start, a CHA item should do just fine. Plus, it's 2 AP for 1 Cha versus 1 AP for Extra Turning 1, the equivalent of +2 CHA in that department, plus a point left over.

Other than that agree on everything.

[FuzzyDuck81]

I'm playing a halfling monk with 7 levels of cleric splash (i know, i have weird build tastes.. i like versatile & fun to play rather than uber) plus the full halfling dragonmark line, for a capable fighting & general team support build... my observations are probably handy for clerics at lower levels too i guess. Anyway, here's what i have:

Advanced belief: unyeilding sovreignity, very useful to have a full heal & resto occasionally, particularly when coming up against beholders. the undying court one could be very handy for elven clerics too i guess, since it'll let you raise dead once per 10mins (or true res if they r an elf) at level 6, pretty nifty early on especially if short on cash for scrolls, tho obviously not needed at higher levels

prayer of life & cleric life magic: VERY valuable, they also work on the dragonmarks & monk healing ki finisher so i can pack a good amount of healing into my limited cleric levels

energy of the zealot: limited SP on my toon, so some more is nice but not essential i guess for a more developed cleric. Still, nice at low levels especially

divine cleansing 2: cure a number of problems for an ally without having to burn a Heal mark, helps in my team support role

divine healing 2: works thru walls which is a bonus, i like to use it on any low-ac allies as they run into the fight, as even minor regeneration in combat will help keep them on their feet and turn a knock-out into standing up again to run away for proper healing. combined with fists of light it will make life a lot easier for frenzied bezerker barbs too when beating on big targets & shroud portals etc.

divine vitality 1: extra SP for an ally, whats not to like? more levels dont give a huge amount more for the AP cost though so 1 level is enough

extra turning: only got 1 so far but will put more in later when i have AP to spare.. increased DV, DH etc. is handy in support role

wisdom: I'm taking wisdom thru the monk line so is irrelevant for me, but extra wis for spell DCs & AC can only ever be a good thing for a cleric or cleric with monk splash

wand & scroll mastery: only 1 AP for +25% healing from wands? totally worth it, especially for low level clerics - look on it as 25% less to spend on healing resources so especially valuable for newbies

[phalaeo]

Unyielding Sovereignty: Useful at lower levels, but not worth the AP. If you've done your enhancements right at all and are wearing even light healing gear, the heal spell is better and frees up some valuable AP. I haven't had to even touch it over my last few levels.

For the most part I agree, except when it's useful, it's REALLY useful.

We were doing that horrible Necro quest with the rats and our trap smith got 11 neg levels. Before I got Resto. Boy, was I happy for it then. Very situational, though- really comes down to who you're running with regularly. It's an enhancement to swap in and out as needed.

[Rineth]

For the most part I agree, except when it's useful, it's REALLY useful.

We were doing that horrible Necro quest with the rats and our trap smith got 11 neg levels. Before I got Resto. Boy, was I happy for it then. Very situational, though- really comes down to who you're running with regularly. It's an enhancement to swap in and out as needed.

I'll agree. I just never seemed to use it when I had it. Now it doesn't do anything for me that heal can't, and frees up 5 AP, as you don't have to take follower of the sovereign host either unless you're just absolutely dying for that long sword proficiency.

[CE2JRH123]

Faith: Basic Tenets --- Never used
Advanced Belief --- Never used
Metamagic: Improved Empower Heal --- Useful if you go emp heal rather than blank emp
Cleric Concentration --- Nope
Cleric Diplomacy --- Nope
Cleric Heal --- Nope
Prayer of Smiting --- Nope
Prayer of Life --- Got 3 ranks (lots of crits)
Cleric Smiting --- Nope
Cleric Life Magic --- Max, obviously
Cleric Improved Spell Pen --- Generally max
Energy of the Zealot --- Generally max
Cleric Charisma --- Sometimes take a rank or two
Cleric Wisdom --- Max, obviously
Divine Cleansing --- Nope
Divine Light --- Nope
Divine Healing --- Nope
Divine Vitality --- Nope
Extra Turning --- Nope
Improved Turning --- Nope
Wand and Scroll Mastery --- Max, obviously
Cleric Capstone --- I like it. Lots of people don't; but it gives me another shot at living, so I'm happy.

You're missing the one that improves crit modifier: Incredible Prayer of Smiting and Incredible Prayer of Life. I take one rank of life to bump crit modifier to 1.5 (or 1.75?) but any more than that and your crits are overhealing. They tend to sometimes even on MCLW and MCMW.

[Srilania]

My take on what I have tried and found.


Faith: Basic Tenets-Ehhhh, not really all that good. As an elven cleric, I already have longbow and longsword. Only reason to take this is for unlocking advanced beliefs.
Advanced Belief- I use Unyeilding Soverignty, which is a great emergency heal to toss out when i am low on SP, or my main heals are cooling down. Uses no SP. Only drawback is the fact it does take up 5 SP, and it's got such a long cooldown
Metamagic: Improved Empower Heal-the APs spent on this is about worthless. You spend Ap's to get a small decrease. It takes 20 heals to save enough SP for ONE 40 point heal.
Cleric Concentration-If you're having trouble getting interrupted, this is a good one to take
Cleric Diplomacy-Probably not good. I'm leveling a bard to handle vendor things better
Cleric Heal-USELESS! Heal skill in battle takes a long time vs a simple cure to get someone back up, and if you don't get all the way up at rest shrines, a simple cure light wounds or mass cure is sufficient. even a healing potion is good.
Prayer of Smiting-if you have extra AP, not bad.
Prayer of Life-Not tried it.
Cleric Smiting-not a bad deal for your damage spells
Cleric Life Magic-Must have bread and butter enhancement
Cleric Improved Spell Pen-if you plan on doing any offensive casting, this is a must have.
Energy of the Zealot-Three things you can never have too much of. HP, Platinum, and SPELLPOINTS. Nuff said.
Cleric Charisma- If you find you need a lot of DVs or for certain spells, doesn't hurt to have
Cleric Wisdom- Do I even need to explain why this is an important one?
Divine Cleansing-not very useful
Divine Light-Not very useful
Divine Healing-It has some uses at lower levels, but even maxed out, winds up not being as useful. in some situations could be handy though.
Divine Vitality-This is a must have if you party with any other SP user. Wizards, Sorcerers, Favored Souls, Bards, other Clerics, and even non SP users will thank you when you whip out 300-500 extra SP for someone to use.
Extra Turning-It's quite useful for more DVs
Improved Turning-USELESS
Wand and Scroll Mastery-If you find you use wands a lot, an extra boost doesn't hurt one bit