Divine Phoenix – an unarmed human healing amp build (15 Paladin, 4 Monk, 1 Rogue)

[whomhead]

Healing amp stacks multiplicatively, so each source that stacks gets multiplied together with all of the others. The only exception to this rule, as far as I know, is the finger necklace. Don't hold me to this, but I think it adds in to your healing amp whenever you equip it. So if you equip it first, then it will be most effective. In any case, I will leave it out of calculating your amp, since I don't really get it. Oh yeah, the only other thing you need to know is that each tier of HotD counts as a stand-alone 10% - so all three tiers are 1.1 X 1.1 X 1.1, which is slightly more than just a straight 1.3 increase.

For you, assuming all of the ED sources stack (which I haven't tested, but they should AFAIK) you should have:

1.3 x 1.1 x 1.1 x 1.2 x 1.3 x 1.25 x 1.1 x 1.1 x 1.1 x 1.1 x 1.1 = 4.94 or 494% amplification

Adding the finger necklace into the beginning of that calculation would give you over 500%, so you should have been seeing green 5/10 coming off of fists of light. Very nice!

The most effective amount of healing amp will be situational, of course, but I find that more than around 200-300% is overkill. For soloing, 300% (or more!) is amazing. If you're in a raid group, however, that is mostly a going to waist because healers are prepared to hit people with ~200% amp.

Things to use in all situations are those that come with very little cost to use, like enhancements. Just use them. For gear, you will get the most bang for your buck out of things with the highest number. So PDK gloves and gloves of the claw (which also happen to be good DPS items) are great. The DT armor is quite good, but outclassed by the Caparison at high levels. Spend some time figuring out which set-up gives you the ideal output, and go with that.

[mdscott_mi]

Thanks, yea, if unyielding is accurate, I was at 532% last life (I'm not too good with numbers, so I couldnt say for certain), and yes ED's healing amp stacks ^^. I appreciate the input, when I re-cap him, I will play around with my gear to get a set for raiding and keep my original 500%+ heal amp for soloing. anyway, +1 rep. thanks

[~almaden]

I would aim to have 14 paladin, 3 monk, 1 fighter at level 18. That seems to me to get all of the best abilities as far as feats and spells go for leveling. The last monk gets a damage die step which, while nice, is only a marginal increase in DPS at that stage. The last paladin level gets lots of good stuff, but relatively less than the fighter level. Not taking it until the end is good anyway since you don't have to worry so much about charisma thresholds for DM3 if you're going to TR right away at 20.

Here's the build that I've been working on so far for the heroic levels. I am trying to work in overwhelming critical as well as stunning fist, so it is quite a bit different from the one you posted. Also, as I said before, it is still a work in progress. But I don't see the leveling order changing in the future.

*Snip*

ETA: You might get better mileage out of the cleric dilettante during heroic leveling, then switch to rogue once you get your UMD score up to a usable level. That does require 13 wisdom though.

Whomhead – thanks for the great post. Have you had a chance to try this build yet? If so, how goes it?

I need a paly pass-thru for my monk and the DP makes more sense to me than SP, although the SP does look like a fun build. (For one, I have plenty of wraps; for another, the thought of all those LDS’s for Lit 2 going towards long swords makes me cringe.)

I’ve got a few questions about the 15/4/1 paly/monk/fighter build. Some of which I’ll figure out as I go; I TR’d into it last night. (Current past lives: 2 Rogue, 2 Monk, 1 Barb)

First, it looks like you’ve decided to take the paly PL feat over monk; can you help me understand the idea behind this?

Second, I’m not seeing where all the 1st level feats are coming from. It seems like there should only be 3 (including the Helf Dilettante).

Third, I’ve made many paladins (My main is a self-healing Kopesh human. I’ve also capped a WF THF pure paly, a lock picking drow rapier paly and made various experimental palies.) I understand the annoyance in short buffs and always try to fit extend if I can, but I have a hard time giving up on the monk PL feat. What do you think of switching extend for the monk PL feat?

Personal note: since this is a pass-thru and I will be spending little time at L20, I decided to drop charisma. My starting stats are 15/15/15/8/14/14.

[~almaden]

First, it looks like you’ve decided to take the paly PL feat over monk; can you help me understand the idea behind this?

Second, I’m not seeing where all the 1st level feats are coming from. It seems like there should only be 3 (including the Helf Dilettante).

Oops – it looks like the paladin PL in your planner is the passive feat. Please disregard the first & second questions.

[whomhead]

Whomhead – thanks for the great post. Have you had a chance to try this build yet? If so, how goes it?

[...]

Third, I’ve made many paladins (My main is a self-healing Kopesh human. I’ve also capped a WF THF pure paly, a lock picking drow rapier paly and made various experimental palies.) I understand the annoyance in short buffs and always try to fit extend if I can, but I have a hard time giving up on the monk PL feat. What do you think of switching extend for the monk PL feat?

Personal note: since this is a pass-thru and I will be spending little time at L20, I decided to drop charisma. My starting stats are 15/15/15/8/14/14.

Hey, glad you're going to try out the build. It would be great to hear how you end up liking it. I just got mine up to level 21 yesterday. I really enjoyed the TR. The build performed very well all the way through. All the necro areas were so easy to blast through with the HotD abilities. Free ghost touch and negative level immunity are great boons in that middle range.

I got a huge amount of mileage out of cleave, and great cleave is way better. I actually wish I had taken it earlier in the level progression. I think a lot of people underestimate those two abilities, and especially great cleave. I'm going to LR my main (12M/6F/2P) to take that chain, and of course OC.

The build performed especially well at 18, which is handy. That's about the only time I grouped up, and it had no problem keeping up (and then some!) with some very good players and builds working through and farming the Reaver's Refuge quests. After hitting 20 I got in an elite bravery bonus group for Shavarath and led kill counts in every quest. I was pleasantly surprised that stunning fist was landing reliably, even in elite shavarath, on casters and devils, though it was rare to land on the tiefling fighters. I was only using the Epic Spare Hand to increase DCs as I don't have any twists unlocked yet on this char and was starting off in GMoF. Stunning fist DC was ~35-37 with that.

Anyway, in answer to your third question, I would take extend over the PL. A half die-step is nice, but it really is a small increase in DPS - compare it to Divine Favor, which is 3 damage and to-hit. This build is also very clicky intensive to get the most out of your DPS, and I know I would finish quests having gone through long portions without any spells active because I forgot to refresh them. All that said, if you can keep up with the extra casting, then the PL will be more DPS in the long run.

[~almaden]

Ah, I forgot about free ghost touch. That means I won’t have to give up my Abishai mittens for Spectral gloves – Winner.

I’m only level 7 but humming along w/o issue. And, I did chose Monk PL over extend. With the free feat swap I think that’s a can’t lose choice for this build: A die step is 1d3 which averages +2 to damage on every hit. Divine Favor is only good for +1/+1 until level 11. From level 11 to 15, assuming I can remember to keep the buff running full time, it’s damage output (+2/+2) would equal the monk PL’s average output (+2). Only beyond Level 15 does Divine Favor outperform the Monk PL, but of course they’re not mutually exclusive.

I took the Monk PL and up until level 16 every time I remember to rebuff Divine Favor it’s gravy. After that point I can go see Fred. Or not. Either way, I'm looking forward to playing the build.

[~almaden]

I reached 18 last night, which will be my highest playable level. So now seems like a good time to provide some feedback. (Less than 5 ranks until I TR again)

A little background; my play style is to post and go – anyone can join. Sometimes I get joiners; sometimes not, but rarely ever do I need to bring a hire or wait for support. This sometimes results in a 10% xp death penalty from party members and/or having to explain game mechanics to newbies. But one thing I like about DDO is the friendly and helpful community – so I don’t mind doing my part. Mostly though, it means I run and level very quickly and have some company while doing so. The Divine Phoenix is excellently spec’d to run this way.

[I’m Dumbfu on all servers – I’m sure there are many people that can attest.]

The survivability is outstanding. To improve DPS I rarely come out of wind stance or take off my garments of equilibrium, but rarely do I need to.
• For traps; ocean stance, resistance, walk of the sun, haste (clicky) and +4 reflex goggles puts my reflex save into the 40’s and all but guarantees no issue – I also have 2 rogue PLs which adds +4 to that number. Get a decent swim item and you may learn to enjoy one of my favorites, the Crucible.
• For between fight healing; Sun stance, DT armor (I currently only have 20%) and a devotion item means my CMW consistently lands for over 100 hps. I never ran out of spell points – ever.
• If things really get bad; sun stance, DT armor, healing curse and vampiric stondust wraps often means I’m the only one left standing. Every time the wraps land I’m healed for 4-7 hitpoints (they land a lot) and LOHs are worth 510 hps each. With 110% fortification and a fortitude save in the 40s, this build is incredibly difficult to kill.
• If things really, really get bad; scroll invisibility, gather stones and regroup.
• For tanking; I imagine mountain stance would be useful but I’d rather stick sharp things in my eyes then stand there with the shift key down while everyone else does the work.
• Note; UMD + shield wand means quests like Proof is in the Poison and Haywire Foundry are easily soloable for BB at level (means no hire).

The group support is better than many. Paladins exude auras; cast resistance; remove disease, blindness, and poison; cure ability and level damage and provide emergency non-interruptible heals while not overly taxing the medics. And, if you stand close enough to a light monk you’ll likely be permanently blurred, have improved saves and discounted spells. But more than that, this build can raise the dead and cast heal from scrolls almost as soon as each become useful, and can wand whip & and blue-bar heal in a pinch. He can also stun casters, pull agro (cleave/great cleave) and dispatch the bad guys fairly quickly.

I don’t care what anyone else says, the dps is PERFECTLY ADEQUATE. The amount of times I didn’t completely dominate the kill count could be counted before running out of fingers, including when grouped with some pretty respectable muli-livers. Some of this has to do with gear (elemental lacerating wraps are absolutely essential, as are quest relevant wraps – disruption, banishing, smiting, etc); a lot of it has to do with playstyle (it’s rare that any of my toons don’t lead the kills). This build was certainly not the highest dps I’ve ever made, but seldom did I actively wish things would die faster. But honestly, less then stellar DPS is the bane of paladins in general – if you don’t like it; don’t build one. But, you’d be foolish to exclude a paladin from your party, particularly this paladin.

Overall, I would highly recommend this build if the above suits your play style or needs. If you do, please rep-up Whomhead (and possibly SolarDawning as I've done for the inspiration).

Final note on monk PL; my main is a more standard paladin so I rarely forget to jump-cast divine favor and zeal while running into fights. If you can take the active monk pastlife feat instead of extend, I recommend that you do. If it doesn’t work out for you go see Fred.

Thanks for the great build Whom; +1 to you sir.

[whomhead]

Thanks so much for the detailed write-up, Almaden. Your experiences match very closely with my own. Good luck to you on the rest of your TRing!

[punisher032]

Hey whomhead, wanted to thank you for posting this build. Been very fun to run with in my tr static group. I just took lv14 and find the survivability is great. I have only died twice once because I was messing around and rolled off the edged to a bottomless pit! The other was we attempted to run chronoscope with only 6 people and at level. I wasn't geared for it. We died at the end boss fight.

I only had barbarian past lives so I took that for a feat instead toughness. I ended up going with the build you had towards the end of the thread. My build is going to be helf 15 paladin/4 Monk/1 fighter with cleric dilettante.

I find vampiric stonedust wraps are my best friend for most fights. The stone to flesh seems to go off enough to be helpful. I do find that this build does put out decent dps. Of course my barbarian put out more; but needed a healer or pots all the time. But with this build I have no worries splitting off from the group and doing one side of the quest while they do the other. I lost count how many soul stones I had to rescue from a mob. I use my blue bar and lay on hands mostly spot heal others. Since with vampiric I don't need healing much.

I am wondering what you did in the higher levels for wraps and to have more dps?

Thanks again +1 to you.

[mdscott_mi]

Hey again Whomhead, just thought I would add some input on the OP from 4 lives of variations and healing amp builds. The first life I was pretty much following your post, gathering gear, swapping between modes for party and solo play. Life was good. But a bit before I TR'd, I used my free lesser to make a few changes. I picked up intim and hate generating abilities, and with unyielding sentinel, I became a beastly hate tank. However, even when in a group, I kept my full heal amp gear on. The reason was, I've noticed with quicken and maxamize, not much can kill you. You can be rocking an AC below 45 and still tank or even solo boss encounters due to survivability. you dont need the extra dps to hold agro with all the hate gen abilities out there, and that leaves the rest of your party able to go full out all the time. It may just be me, but I often would run EH with a couple guildies, and would tank AND heal the entire quest. regenerating LoH for them, meta'd csw for me, and life was good. I see why you posted the gear swap for increased dps, but there are few raids I couldn't tank and self heal in. I'm sure that a little more dps would have been a quicker boss kill, but I think I personally prefer not depending on PuG healers, and leaving their resources for the rest of the party. Maybe I missed an important bit of info, or there might be a large difference in value for other people. Just thought I would give another reason for you why your build rocks, and see if you had tried anything similiar with it. Long live the unkillable phoenix builds ^^