Some questions

[Musouka]

Does the prestige enhancement Shield of Condemnation work on raid bosses? The Light Vulnerability and reduced fortification.

Is Divine Power worth a spell slot? Should I just Scroll it?

Is Death Pact worth the slot in a Favored Soul's spell list? I have 3 spells chosen for that level right now and Death Pact is not one of them. Namely because I am going to choose Death Ward, Mass.

The Goal for my Favored Soul is to have 100% healing capacity, and I would like to be able to tank. Don't get me wrong, if I am tanking, I am not healing the group. With Divine Punishment and some mediocre attack power, I don't see that being too hard to achieve. I'm going pure Favored Soul, Human. I should be able to achieve 500 HP with mediocre gear setup. AC is not what I am really going for, instead I'm going for maximum damage mitigation. Capstone will give 10/specific metal DR, might have to go for some other, maybe epic, items for some more DR, and I have Shield Mastery feat so far. I figured turtling while letting Divine Punishment tick away shouldn't be too hard to hold aggro with in certain cases, and if needed I could start swinging away.

I also have Improved Shield Bash right now, and have been crafting some nice damaging shields. One of my favorites is the fact that mithral is also considered silver, so adding holy and evil outsider bane can allow them to be a bludgeon harry beater in a sense. With that I could remain blocking and hold all the advantages of blocking. Though, I may just stick with some nice named shields for their added bonuses, like light and darkness.

To go back to my third question, I know Death Pact will lower CON, and I don't really want that if I am tanking.

[Qezuzu]

The Shield of Condemnation WILL make raid bosses vulnerable to alignment damage, and will reduce their fortification. I have seen 100% sneak attacks on the Pit Fiends/Horned Devils on my rogue, on multiple occasions. However it's not common for them to get more than 1 or 2 ticks. Getting another tier of condemnation doesn't refresh the timer.

Divine power is 1min on scrolls. It's better to take it as a spell if you plan to melee often.

Death Pact doesn't have a lot of competition in lvl8 spells, but the -20 HP hurts, and if you die you've lost all threat you've generated and if you're tanking a dangerous boss then being able to raise yourself won't help.

[Musouka]

The Shield of Condemnation WILL make raid bosses vulnerable to alignment damage, and will reduce their fortification. I have seen 100% sneak attacks on the Pit Fiends/Horned Devils on my rogue, on multiple occasions. However it's not common for them to get more than 1 or 2 ticks. Getting another tier of condemnation doesn't refresh the timer.

Divine power is 1min on scrolls. It's better to take it as a spell if you plan to melee often.

Death Pact doesn't have a lot of competition in lvl8 spells, but the -20 HP hurts, and if you die you've lost all threat you've generated and if you're tanking a dangerous boss then being able to raise yourself won't help.

Cool, thank you for the answers.

So far, it seems that with Shield of Condemnation, and increased vulnerability to light damage (even if it is 1 or 2 ticks, which should be 20-40%), I should be able to hold aggro quite efficiently. The only reason I would use Divine Power, is for the initial grab at aggro. So I can have some added melee attack power going while I am starting to stack Divine Punishment 3 times.

[Matuse]

However it's not common for them to get more than 1 or 2 ticks. Getting another tier of condemnation doesn't refresh the timer.

Yes it does. Few monsters go beyond 1-2 ticks because the rate of infliction of the curse is low, and few monsters attack fast enough for it to build up. Lailat is the only monster who reliably will get a stack of 5 going.

Death Pact doesn't have a lot of competition in lvl8 spells

Err, what?

Mass Cure Critical.
Holy Aura
MonSum VIII
Mass Death Ward

Hell, with Angel of Vengeance II, Firestorm's damage stops sucking so much, making it a viable choice.

Death Pact doesn't even make the top 10 of level 8 spells I want...and there aren't even 10 spells to choose from.

[thewalex]

Yes it does. Few monsters go beyond 1-2 ticks because the rate of infliction of the curse is low, and few monsters attack fast enough for it to build up. Lailat is the only monster who reliably will get a stack of 5 going.



Err, what?

Mass Cure Critical.
Holy Aura
MonSum VIII
Mass Death Ward

Hell, with Angel of Vengeance II, Firestorm's damage stops sucking so much, making it a viable choice.

Death Pact doesn't even make the top 10 of level 8 spells I want...and there aren't even 10 spells to choose from.

I am also enjoying the mass enervation effect of Symbol of Death on my Evoker when scroll farming or soloing tough trash mobs.

[Puppetian]

Death pact - I'm not a fan personally, because if I die while playing a toon that can heal itself in about 10 ways I really am doing something wrong, and with FvS HP trap instakills don't really happen often. For 8th level spells I usually go with Mass Critical, Mass DW and either Holy Aura or Symbol. Symbol really rocks in epics, Holy Aura has it's uses in all content as a no-save mass blindness is one of the best ways to reduce party damage.

Divine Power - an absolute must if you're planning to melee, (hell, I've even got it on my evoker, just for portal beating) as it not only boosts your to hit, but by raising BAB it will also increase your attack speed.

One final note tho - if you're going to have 500hp you're not really a viable tank in any proper endgame content, every single decent barb/fighter/pally will top ya both in terms of threat gen and hp. If you want to be able to tank decently then going with Sirgog's Soul Survivor build seems like a better option.

Edit: spelling.