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

[Ravoc-DDO]

I saw you mentioned about heavy fort issues.

Epic helm of frost has a yellow slot you can put gfl into.

That leaves your jidz open for heavy fort in that green slot.

There's no green slot on epic jidz.

[Braegan]

Currently doing something similar to the OPs build and I gotta say I love it. The survivability is great, the dps is there. It's just a good concept, provided the PL Monk and some gear. Currently I'm TR'd at level 16 and I am stomping anything, well part time stomping and part time carring soul stones but that's another story.

OP, +1 for a good concept build and giving credit to Solar for inspiration.

[whomhead]

Currently doing something similar to the OPs build and I gotta say I love it. The survivability is great, the dps is there. It's just a good concept, provided the PL Monk and some gear. Currently I'm TR'd at level 16 and I am stomping anything, well part time stomping and part time carring soul stones but that's another story.

OP, +1 for a good concept build and giving credit to Solar for inspiration.

Glad you're enjoying the build! I wonder what you did differently on yours (you said similar to the OP)? I'm looking to TR once I finish a few more raids and round out my gear selection, so am looking for improvements.

If you're liking the build now, just wait until you hit 18 and can equip those ToD rings. I am very excited that I just last night got my Kyosho's holy-bursted! When coupled with a shocking-burst Encrusted it makes me one happy paladin. =D

[Braegan]

Glad you're enjoying the build! I wonder what you did differently on yours (you said similar to the OP)? I'm looking to TR once I finish a few more raids and round out my gear selection, so am looking for improvements.

If you're liking the build now, just wait until you hit 18 and can equip those ToD rings. I am very excited that I just last night got my Kyosho's holy-bursted! When coupled with a shocking-burst Encrusted it makes me one happy paladin. =D

Actually did very little different. I did have banked a +3 dex tome so my starting stats were adjusted to take that into consideration.

Str: 16
Dex: 14
Con: 16
Int: 8
Wis: 8
Cha: 15

Kinda banking on getting a +3 Cha tome for DM III but I raid alot so it'll happen someday.

The other difference was I elected taking 1 level of fighter instead of rogue. The extra feat made room for Quicken for situational uses.

That's about all I did differently.

Still deciding on gear. Mainly how much epic I am going to invest into it. But even with run of the mill stuff the build does very well.

[jsaving]

+1 -- this seems like a viable and interesting "phoenix" approach.

I know your sense is that wraps outperform longswords, but has anybody actually run the numbers? Even if you don't know exactly, what's your impression of how your damage would compare to a WSS version of this build?

[Ravoc-DDO]

They don't. The double crit range from longswords and GS options in combination with paladin abilities overcome tod rings, wrap speed and offhand wrap advantage, especially after U9.
Furthermore, being specced to longswords also makes it easy to wield khopeshes when needed (obviously at the cost of becoming uncentered).

[whomhead]

They don't. The double crit range from longswords and GS options in combination with paladin abilities overcome tod rings, wrap speed and offhand wrap advantage, especially after U9.
Furthermore, being specced to longswords also makes it easy to wield khopeshes when needed (obviously at the cost of becoming uncentered).

Sorry man, but I have to disagree on pretty much all accounts, though I don't think the difference is worth worrying about. Extra crit range doesn't really make that big a difference on x2 weapons, even with divine sacrifice. It certainly doesn't make up for 3d6 damage per swing added from ToD rings + full strength bonus to off-hand strikes + high base unarmed damage + 10% faster attack speed.

I made a calc on dps with this build compared to full paladin using dual khopesh and found that the pure paladin was only 4% ahead against 50% fort enemies. It was 25% ahead against 0-fort, but a lot of that is lost by going from an x3 khopesh to x2 longswords. If someone wants to calculate the actual difference, that would be great, but I'm not going to spend any more time on it.

There are advantages to longswords: greensteel effects that you can't get on wraps, smites and divine sacrifice work properly with them, and they can be switched with khopesh to better effect than wraps. But they are not going to be ahead of unarmed unless you are very diligent about your sacrifices and are fighting trash, and possibly not even then.

For reference, here's the calculations I did. They are probably full of errors, but I think they are minor ones.

In the interest of providing actual information on the subject, I have delved into the world of DPS calculations. So here goes my first foray:

For damage per attack:
2d6 base fists damage +
15 (40 strength)
5 (power attack)
5 (+5 weapon)
6 (divine might III)
3 (divine favor)
2 (ravager set)
2 (shintao set)
3 (greater bane)
1.5 (human versatility II active for 30 seconds out of a minute)
= 2d6 + 42.5 = 44.5 to 54.5 or 49.5 average base damage

0% fort: 49.5 + (49.5*2*0.1) - (49.5*0.05) = 56.925
50% fort: 49.5 + (49.5*0.1) - (49.5*0.05) = 51.975
100% fort: 49.5 - (49.5*0.05) = 47.025

Then there's the on-hit effects:
2d6 holy
2d6 holy burst
1d6 shocking burst
3d6 greater bane
2d6 KotC
1d6+9 sneak attack
1d4 Brawler's gloves
1d3 shock gem in a medium guild augment slot (I will combine these last two for 1d6 total because I'm lazy)
= 12d6 +9 = 51 average base damage with 1d10 shocking burst and 1d6 holy burst on a crit (or 9 average damage)

0% fort: 51 + (9*0.1) - (51*0.05) = 49.35
50% fort: 51 + (9*.05) - (51*0.05) = 48.9
100% fort: 51 - (51*0.05) = 48.45

These are both applied over 111.3 attacks per minute plus 80% off-hand + 10% double-strike = 211.47 attacks per minute or 3.53 attacks per second. To this I will count haste boost I as active for 30 seconds out of 60, so a 7.5% boost in dps (this may be incorrect, but I don't think it is horribly off).

In total we have:
0% fort: (56.925 + 49.35)*3.53*1.075 = 403.29 DPS
50% fort: (51.975 + 48.9)*3.53*1.075 = 382.80 DPS
100% fort: (47.025 + 48.45)*3.53*1.075 = 362.30 DPS

Now, let us compare this to the khopesh-wielding pure paladin from Aaxeyu's DPS chart (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=299620)

0% fort: 501.54
50% fort: 399.18
100% fort: 331.83

Against 0% fort enemies, the armed paladin does about 25% more damage. This is not particularly surprising since khopesh paladins are highly crit-dependent.

Against 50% fort, which is probably the most useful comparison as this applies to all raid bosses I can think of (and no one generally cares how fast you can kill trash), the khopesh paladin does 4.2% more DPS.

Against 100% fort, we see that unarmed does about 9.2% more DPS than khopesh. I freely admit that this doesn't mean that much either since no one cares how fast you can kill a shroud portal, but it is nice to be on top some of the time!

[SpearKicker]

So, after a while achieved lvl 20. It was a blast to play this build. Really survivable toon, that also contributes a lot in parties.

Last thing I have done was tanking that last boss on epic Chrono. Majority of the party was of friends, so they let me do that... . There was really strong DPS toons there, so I was not sure I could keep agro (I am not experienced in tanking, so it was new to me). Relied on my epic claw and paladin enhancement (+100% hate generation for 1 min) to do that. Agroo maintained! The only problem was that CDC was very weak and the other DPS died really quickly at the trash devils. Healers got distracted raisingthem and I dyed... Could have avoided that if I have used lay on hands (that heals more hp than my total). but I was not paying attention to my hp (noob mistake). Anyway, just want to share this experience with you. Really amazing build.

PS.: Just after that echrono I TRed to a Light Monk (20th lvl). Went Divine Phoenix to get a paladin past life for my monk (really love full monks0. Would go again Divine P for another pala PL if I consider it necessary, and also am thinking of making another toon to maintain at cap using this build.

Thanks for sharing this whomhead

[whomhead]

I am really glad that you tried and enjoyed the build. And thank you for sharing your experience with it! Best of luck on whatever else you've got planned for the character.

PS. I have also (inadvertently) tanked the epic CAD, and found it surprisingly easy with a 35 reflex save. Though the healers in that case were top-notch. Anyway, I've been thinking quite a bit about what it would take to turn this build into a full-on DPS / tank character. It is pretty close as is, the only thing I'd really like to change would be adding some AC.

[tsotate]

Just hit level 16 with this build, and loving it. My hours are such that I have to solo a lot, and he's just insanely survivable.

[Untfell]

Thanks for the build! I've only just rolled it up yesterday, but already it has been a blast to play! Even running with a 32pt version and i finding that this build already has the ability to contribute to parties in a myriad of ways while holding it's own in every department.

Elite STK at lvl 5 was so much fun! I saved the parties a** so much it wasn't funny with wand use, LoH and DPS.

Proof is in the Poison at lvl 4, also great fun.

I find that when i am focused on kills I can keep up quite well with other melee, but most often i am distracted by other duties in the party (and I am also someone that doesn't like zerging off ahead just to top the kill count).

Not being a TR I have taken Cleave at 3rd lvl (as suggested earlier in the thread) and it's great. I find I am now constantly spamming out attacks; Sunders, Trips, Cleaves, Ki Strikes, Smite Evil's. With creative keymaps you can be be extremely effective in melee. The haste and attack boost enhancements early on are a big help too.

Haven't found a lock or chest i cannot open yet

I don't have an abundance of Tomes, so I will most likely eat a supreme ability tome at 7 and then LR back to fighting fit

Current gear of note (from memory):

Goggles of Time-Sensing
Charged Gauntlets
Scorched Bracers
Helm of Frost
Outfit of Moderate Fort.
Devotion (the handwraps from Delera's)
+3 Handwraps
2 * +3 Kamas

Any suggestion for other low level gear (5-10) I should be on the hunt for?

My only critique thus far is i find I can at times be lacking in AC, although i can still manage to hit mid to high 20's at level 5, I don't normally run around like that. Running a lot of Elite content early probably has me feeling it a little bit more though.

Thanks again for a great build!.

[whomhead]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Untface and tsotate! I'm always glad to see others trying it out, especially when they like it! =D

Any suggestion for other low level gear (5-10) I should be on the hunt for?

My only critique thus far is i find I can at times be lacking in AC, although i can still manage to hit mid to high 20's at level 5, I don't normally run around like that. Running a lot of Elite content early probably has me feeling it a little bit more though.

Thanks again for a great build!.

The next gear you'll want to look to get is probably the Red Fens sets. The Sirens set is especially good (AC and HP are always good, right?), and there's a lot to be said for several other pieces from that pack. After that, the Sora Kell items are fantastic, especially once you get all three - even better if they're upgraded. I'd wear them all the way from 11 until 20. Garments of Equilibrium are also an excellent piece of equipment once you are high enough level. Lastly, you'll get a huge boost out of getting wraps with two damage mods on them. I prefer holy(burst)/bleeding, but any elemental(burst) of pure good can be equipped at ~level 6, and will mow through anything up until you get into gianthold.

I didn't put any focus on AC for the character, but you should be able to get it up into the 40-50s without too much difficulty. That will be useful up until Gianthold. Just make sure you use +3 barkskin pots and you should be able to whip out a shield wand as well. Ship buffs and the 30-minute Cat's Grace and Owl's Wisdom House P buffs all add up to a significant amount of AC.

[dazzenl]

Saved for futher use!

[skurdt]

Hi,

I really enjoyed playing this build for the past 20 lvls

I'm concerned though about the monk past life, is it necessary or a paladin past life can be enough? I'm thinking of building a 34 monk from this build and then get back to it after that.

How would you go concerning starting stats with a 34 (and 36) points build and a +3 tome for all stats?

Thanks.

[whomhead]

Hi,

I really enjoyed playing this build for the past 20 lvls

I'm concerned though about the monk past life, is it necessary or a paladin past life can be enough? I'm thinking of building a 34 monk from this build and then get back to it after that.

How would you go concerning starting stats with a 34 (and 36) points build and a +3 tome for all stats?

Thanks.

Hey, glad you liked the build.


I'm not entirely sure I understand your first question. Are you asking if taking the active paladin past life is better than the monk one? On a character with access to divine favor, which doesn't stack with the past life, then there is really no point in taking the active feat, so I would not recommend taking it.

For a 34 or point character I'd go with:

16 str
14 dex
16 con
8 int
8 wis
15 cha

And for 36:

18 str
14 dex
14 con
8 int
8 wis
15 cha

Probably be good to eat a +1 dex tome at level 3 to qualify for TWF as early as possible for either of those.

[skurdt]

The first question was about the passive feat,

I leveled this build as a 32 pts so all I've got is the 5% healing amp from it.

I'm just wondering if I should do: This build (32) > Pure Monk (34) > This build again (36)

Right now i'm at: This build (32) > This build at lvl 5
and wondering about LesserR+2 and aim for the above...

It's kind of obvious though that it's better than going for a second life as a paladin but I really like the build
Maybe I'll combine some Past life, maybe not...

Thanks for the stats points

[Untfell]

So I'm level 16 on this guy now. Been slowed down a little by a one month holiday overseas that cut my play time down to zero.

Now that I am back I have really been trying to get some decent gear on this guy.

Here is a list of what I have so far:

Head: http://ddowiki.com/page/Teraza's_Perfect_Sight
Neck: Health +6
Trinket: Pearl of Power X / Voice of the Master
Cloak: Resistance +4
Belt: http://ddowiki.com/page/Girdle_of_Faith
Ring: Disease Immunity Ring of Greater False Life (I wish it was poison immunity)
Ring: http://ddowiki.com/page/Katra's_Razor_Wit
Gloves: http://ddowiki.com/page/Maenya's_Iron_Fists / Open Lock +13
Boots: Feather Falling Balance +3 (could be better)
Bracers: http://ddowiki.com/page/Jidz-Tet'ka
Chest: http://ddowiki.com/page/Garments_of_Equilibrium / Deathblock outfit of Heavy Fortification
Eyes: http://ddowiki.com/page/Goggles_of_Insight / 2 sets of Haste*3 Goggle

Wraps:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Vampiric_Stonedust_Wraps
http://ddowiki.com/page/Unstable_Handwraps
+3 Acid of Pure Good
+3 Flaming Burst
+3 Icy Burst, Seeker +6
+2 Banishing of Giant bane
+2 of Disruption

I have heard that there is a nice set of wraps that drop in Necro 3. Other than that, any suggestions as to where I should be looking for my next gear upgrades?

I don't have a lvl 20 toon and have no GS items, should I be reading up on that soon?

Love this build

[whomhead]

The first question was about the passive feat,

I leveled this build as a 32 pts so all I've got is the 5% healing amp from it.

I'm just wondering if I should do: This build (32) > Pure Monk (34) > This build again (36)

Right now i'm at: This build (32) > This build at lvl 5
and wondering about LesserR+2 and aim for the above...

It's kind of obvious though that it's better than going for a second life as a paladin but I really like the build
Maybe I'll combine some Past life, maybe not...

Thanks for the stats points

The monk passive and active past-life feats are among the very best available for any unarmed character, and the paladin passive one is great on a high healing amp character, so I'd say you've got a good plan going. If you're only at level 5 on your second life it shouldn't be too hard to take 12 monk levels and do a 12/7/1 monk/paladin/rogue sort of build without having to do a LR.

[whomhead]

So I'm level 16 on this guy now. Been slowed down a little by a one month holiday overseas that cut my play time down to zero.

Now that I am back I have really been trying to get some decent gear on this guy.

Here is a list of what I have so far:
...snip...

I have heard that there is a nice set of wraps that drop in Necro 3. Other than that, any suggestions as to where I should be looking for my next gear upgrades?

I don't have a lvl 20 toon and have no GS items, should I be reading up on that soon?

Love this build

Looks to me like you're doing quite well on gearing at this point. The next really big gear change for you will be getting the rings from the Tower of Despair. Those rings will give you a very nice DPS boost as they can be crafted to add holyburst and shocking burst (or a lot of people are going with acid now because of the alchemical wraps) to your unarmed attacks.

I don't know of any wraps from Necro 3, so you're probably thinking of the Devout Handwraps (http://ddowiki.com/page/Devout_Handwraps) which don't look like much, but are a great way to break silver/good DR that is found on demon bosses. They drop from the optional end chest at the end of the Shadow Crypt.

You will definitely want to spend some time in the shroud getting greensteel ingredients. Partly just because the medium ingredients are used to craft your ToD rings. Unarmed characters in general have less need for GS since there are no GS handwraps, but this build can benefit greatly from a Concordant Opposition accessory of some sort (I went with goggles, but not sure if that's optimal).

[Untfell]

but this build can benefit greatly from a Concordant Opposition accessory of some sort (I
went with goggles, but not sure if that's optimal).

Ok, so I am pretty new to GS. So far i have managed to craft my first blank, a set of goggles for this guy. I am am working on getting a 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th toon flagged for shroud so that I can keep running raids whenever they become available.

As far as decding on what to put on my goggles, well I have been using:

http://perfectweb.org/ddo/crafting/base_crafting.php

Initially I was tossing up between:

Aspect of Smoke II (Displacement (2/day), 20% permanent Blur)

and

Aspect of Air II (Haste (3/day), On-being-hit 5% chance, DC 35 trip or 30-second Haste)


But at this stage the plan is for:

Green Steel Goggles
+10 HP, +1 Strength Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
+15 HP, +2 Constitution Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
+20 HP, +3 Constitution Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
+10 Diplomacy, +10 Haggle, +6 Wisdom
On-being-hit chance, gain 30 temporary hit points or restore 22-32 spell points, 4% chance on each

and (after a cleanse)

Green Steel Weave Cloak
Wizardry VI, +1 Charisma Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
+50 Spell Points, +2 Charisma Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
+100 Spell Points, +3 Charisma Skills (Exceptional Bonus)
Haste (3/day)
On-being-hit 5% chance, DC 35 trip or 30-second Haste

Any thoughts on my selections?

Thanks in advance.