Shroud question

[Limey]

Just got flagged (Level 17 pure cleric), never played a cleric in shroud before, do I need mana pots assuming its a reasonable group? Also any tips welcome.

[DelverRootnose]

....I don't know about 'need' but it is always nice to have some just in case. If you let the other players know they may donate or modify their play style to accomidate you. Being up front with group is always good. If the group doesn't want you because of it it probably isn't a group you would have fun with

[fuzzy1guy]

If you end up NEEDING mem pots.

It's a pretty fail group...

No pots should ever be needed with a halfway competent group. But it's always good to carry a couple in case something unexpected happens... Like our new lag monster.

[Visty]

any group which needs pots in the shroud is a very bad groups
it was done at lvl14 elite without pots, so shouldnt be a problem at all at lvl20 on norm

[grodon9999]

If you need to drink manapots your group sucked. Add them to your "list" if this happens. This of course is barring any exceptional circumstances such as somebody DCs and causes heals not to land.

Quicken + Mass Heal = easy button Shroud healing.

[k1ngp1n]

No, though having a few on hand is usually a good idea in emergencies.

In part 4 and 5, target a major melee and spam quickened mass heal. If you have two healers, alternate with them to conserve sp. Once you get amrath clickie belts and such, dropping down to the mass cures is also possible. Turn your aura on, and casters and such can stand by you if they get in trouble.

Only buff anyone needs is Freedom of Movement. You can also pass fire resist. If someone pesters you for other things, tell them to go away. When prayer and recitation are fixed, you can give that out too. :P

[Limey]

Thanks all!

[sirgog]

Have three on you, don't expect to use them.

[Spoonwelder]

I agree with the others - have but don't expect to use them.....work with the other Divine in the group to either alternate mass heals as required OR who is the first round/second round healer. You will really only need to concentrate on healing in part 2/4/5 with some spot healing in 3. If you need to heal anyone (other than the arcane clearing the portals) with more than your aura in Part 1 expect to fail and put your pots away.

BUT per Madfloyds post here http://my.ddo.com/madfloyd/2010/09/0...date-7-part-2/

Pugging the Shroud will become a bit harder due to the Waves of Exhaustion not slowing Harry. It will likely mean you use more SP but you should still get through with a decent group without using pots.

[der_kluge]

As a 17th level cleric in Shroud, expect another higher level cleric or FvS to be present. I would imagine you could rely on them to be a primary healer. So, that will take some of the pressure off you a bit.

Here's a basic tutorial on the Shroud.

First part:
The bulk of the party is going to run around beating up portals. Arcanes will take care of the trash. If you have radiant aura, you can toss it up, and beat on portals with the rest of the group. Your pathetic little damage will make the others happy even though it's quite pointless, but your aura will keep everyone topped off. I wouldn't worry too much about the PCs who roam. They should be able to take care of themselves. Otherwise, you may have to go find them.
At the end, shrine up and buff up, and then on to part 2.

Second Part:
In this part, the group needs to find 4 different named mobs, separate them, and kill them all at roughly the same time. When you start, head to the bottom center, staying along the edges. Healing people here can be tricky, as the very point of the quest involves isolating monsters from one another, you may need to pop into a couple of different areas in order to find someone who needs healing. Otherwise, remain in the southern area (where the bulk of people will be, anyway).
Once completed, shrine, skip buffs and then on to part 3.

Third Part:
In this section, you're going to start isolated in a room by yourself with a puzzle on the floor. The goal is to get all the circles lit. It's a little tricky, and there are solvers online, like this one: http://www.perfectweb.org/ddo/solver/vale_puzzle.html
If you can't solve it, don't fret. Someone will be along shortly to help you. After you leave your room, there are long hallways with flying blades and yellow runic circles on the ground. These circles debuff you, so avoid them. This is why you didn't bother buffing at the end of part 2. Head to the south, and get some water from the fountain (at the top of the ramp). Once you have some water, you can use it to purify the fountains in each room. Only do this if the puzzle on the floor is solved, however. Once all the fountains are purified, you can advance to part 4. Healing in this part is kind of impossible. There are hallways and rooms, and everyone is separated, and it's impossible to track down a single individual here. One option is to just hang out near the main fountain room and wait for wounded folks to arrive. Healing them in the hallways is kind of a crapshoot. Buff and then use the water in the pool to mana up before proceeding. Another caster can show you the optimum way to do this.

Fourth Part:
This one is where it gets hard. Turn Quicken on. This is just one big room. From the start, step back towards the wall. It will put you further away from the aggro. If you have radiant aura, keep it active. You have to be on your toes here - because anyone who dies goes into "time out" and can not be resurrected. So, if someone dies, do not waste time trying to resurrect them. It will waste time and mana. Instead, focus on just keeping people alive. The best way is to use quicken Mass Cure Crit and Mass Cure serious on the main group. Target a tank for this, as the wizards will likely be off further away - for them, just targeted Heals or individual healing spells. If a tank gets too low, target them with Heal to keep them alive - as the mass cures may not be enough at times to keep them from dying. The way this one works is you start out fighting trash mobs. Then, Arraetrikos (Harry) will show up. The flying blades circle the center of the room and the tanks have to leave the center once the blades get there, because they'll chew you up too badly otherwise. So, this one likely takes 2-3 waves of fighting to resolve. I would recommend you not attempt tanking Harry yourself. Just stay back and keep healing as needed. Once he's dead, shrine and buff.
If anyone died in this part, you have a very brief amount of time to bring them back. Remain in the center of the large room, and be very quick about it. When they click the altar, their ghost will appear. You pretty much only have enough time to resurrect one person. If you can't resurrect them, they'll miss the chest, and buffs into part 5. Shrine and move to part 4.

Fifth part:
Stay with the group. Once the group heads south, follow them. As soon as you are able to, buff as much as you can (you'll see why). Keeping quicken on is helpful here. Focus on Protection from elements, death ward, and shield of faith and protection from evil. Aid if you can muster it. Skip Hero's Feast. The first thing that is done is to fight the lieutenants. These aren't too bad, and one will always be isolated to "save". Usually this is the kobold, as he's not too tough. This last mob is kept alive so that all the arcanes can use the pools to get full mana and health. Have another arcane show you the optimum way to do this. It's tedious, but works. Once everyone is full, Arraetrikos will be summoned, and the fight is on. A good group will manage to keep him isolated, otherwise he has a tendency to roam all over the place. Same strategy from part 4 works - mass heals, with quicken, switching between the two. Expect to use almost all your mana before this is done. Do not waste mana trying to enervate, or damage Harry. You likely won't overcome his spell resistance. Focus on heals, and unless someone has been designated as a Protection from elements caster, I occasionally will throw one of those onto the group mana permitting. Harry does a ton of fire damage. People here can be resurrected if they die, so be sure to resurrect them if/when they die. I tend to focus on DPS first if there are choices. Use your discretion here on whom to resurrect first.

There. That's everything you need to know as a cleric to run the Shroud. It gets easier the more you do it.

[Racalin]

Hiya

der_kluge pretty well laid it out.

Though it is always wise to have a few mana pots, and as others have said do not expect to use. I was in a Shroud last week where the Main Cleric got killed by good ole Harry in part 4, so a had to maintain for the group. I ended up using 1 pot. The DPS had Harry down to 10% at the end of the first round. This was a very good group, just bad circumstance.

This is not the normal but is possible.

[Limey]

Actually it was an awesome group so it was pretty easy, didn't need any pots but got about 10 saved up for emergencies another time. During part 4 and 5 nobody got below half health and had about 20% mana left by the end.

After doing 50+ runs on my melees and casters it was cool to run through from another perspective.

[Freeman]

You should never need to use a pot because of the group. That being said, even the best group can fall victim to severe lag, so it is always good to have a few available. If the group is even halfway decent, you'll get reimbursed for whatever you have to use in those situations. If there's no lag, and you are running out of SP, it probably isn't worth burning pots to try to save the group.