clonk build - 36 point - advice / feedback please

[ulticleo]

I've heard plenty about clonks. I couldn't find one that spells out how to make a decent melee clonk though. Here is my take on it, please take a look and tell me what you think. I am especially interested in feedback from those who have played clonks in the past...

This toon will be mostly for leveling. I will stick around 20 for a while, but don't run epics. I want him to be a viable melee toon when leveling, and a capable healer for raids/whatever few epics I do run. Solid soloing (a must for any toon of mine), and very good boss/raid boss dps with melee + DP.

I will likely TR my divine phoenix variant (I TR to experience different builds without the need to regrind for gear, not to build a perfect toon).

human, lawful neutral
17 cleric/3 monk

36 point build
str: 16 + 2 tome + 5 lvl up + 6 item + 2 rage + 2 stance + 3 exceptional = 36
dex: 15 + 2 tome for gtwf, anything more is a nice bump
con: 14 + 2 tome + 6 item + 2 rage= 24
int: 8 + 2 tome at lvl 7 for extra skill points
wis: 14 + 2 tome + 6 item -2 stance + 2 enhancements = 22 (16 disjunctioned for heal spell).
cha: 14 + 2 tome + 6 item = 22
(ship buffs are available, but not shown)

max concetration, balance, 1 tumble, rest in jump (gets it to 6 ranks)
feats:
1: mnk - toughness, twf, power attack
2: clr
3: clr - emp healing
4: clr
5: clr
6: clr - extend (take early for buffs, especially Divine favor and power)
7: clr
8: clr
9: mnk - toughness, itwf
10: clr
11: clr
12: clr - maximize
13: clr
14: clr
15: mnk - gtwf
16: clr
17: clr
18: clr - drop extend for quicken, take IC:bludgeon
19: clr
20: clr

enhancements:
Improved Heal II
Cleric Divine Vitality I
Cleric Improved Turning I
Unyielding Sovereignty
Follower of the Sovereign Hoost
-- above are pre-reqs --
Cleric Radiant Servant II
Human Adaptability Constitution I - will move around to even out odd stats
Human Greater Adaptability Strength I - same as above
Human Versatility IV
Monk Improved Recovery I
Racial Toughness II
Cleric Prayer of Smiting I
Cleric Prayer of Life I
Cleric Prayer of Incredible Smiting I
Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Cleric Smiting IV
Cleric Life Magic IV
Cleric Wisdom II
Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery I

gear:
I have some basic gear, no epics (I just don't like running epics)
neck - torq
goggles - shroud sp item (covers +6 wis)
head - minos
trinket - VoM for levelig/bloodstone/LoD (if I get one...)
bracers - glacier after shrine or enter quest/jidz-tet'ka
gloves - glacier/titan/eternity/don't remember what else I got
cloak - shroud hp item
rings - TOD +6 cha, +6 str rings with preferably +1 str and +1 cha (need to get)
belt - TOD +6 con & gfl
boots - striding/ff/anchoring
body - 10% heal amp/20% heal amp/ earthen guard DT (it's what I have, and I like it!)

weapons - HW/staves when melee, greenblade or staff of petitioner when healing


Questions:
1) staves: do they count as twf or thf? I have a couple of rhal's mights and a breeze in the bank so might try to make good use of them
2) wisdom: I can switch to water stance when in healing/casting mode for +4 wis (over fire stance). should I dump charisma and try to get a high wisdom? that would get it to 16 + 2 tome + 6 item + 2 stance + 3 enhancement + 3 exceptional = 32. not particularly high, and I don't think my DCs for attack spells would be meaningful, but can get a decent stunning fist (will dump one of the toughnesses), but I plan to be in fire stance when melee, so doesn't seem worth it. I know from my WF fvs that blade barrier can still be useful even with dumped wis
3) enhancements - very tight. no divine might, no extra turning, no toughness III, no scrolls mastery beyond 1. any suggestions would be welcome.

[ulticleo]

If melee clonk is really not viable, I suppose I will go caster in water stance:
str: 12
dex: 14
con: 14
int: 8
wis: 18 + 2 tome + 2 stance + 6 item + 3 enhancement + 1 human + 3 exceptional + 5 lvl = 40
cha: 14

feats: emp. heal, maximize, empower, heighten, spell pen, imp spell pen, extend, quicken, toughness * 2
will have to take cleric first level to fit everything, which means a loss of some skill points. AP will still be tight, espeically as I'll be trying to fit the spell pen enhancements now, but can maybe drop human versatility.

[krackythehoodedone]

My Clonk is 18/2

I pushed up the Dex & Wis & sacrificed CHA. I still have 20 Cha at end and ten Radiant Aura's/Burts's is plenty.

But i am fully Epic specced and was lucky enough to pull a +4 Cha & Wis tome

I started with 17 Wis 3rd time around

Power Attack is a total waste at level one you will never hit anything.

I didnt bother with it at all..

I went with Kama's, The Min 11's saved me taking imp Crit. I took twk/itwf & gtwf

I worked on my saves and hit points to. Buffed my lowest save is 43 and 605 htk

So i melee and heal from their. The Radiant Aura from Melee is a real bonus in long end fights such as E Von.

My Clonk is fully heal specced with 2105 SP..enough to heal but not enough to heal and either CC or Dot

[krackythehoodedone]

I think the secret to playing a Clonk is dont try to do too much with them

IE you cant Heal/Offensive Cast & Fight..two of the three yes

Try to much and you will be jack of all trades master of none and at end game you just wont cut it.

If you plan to Solo then healing isnt everything, just enough to self heal is ok

If you plan to group then i think you must go all out in the healing department which cuts down on other choices.

My Clonk is every bit as proficient as a capped Cleric healing wise but with 600+ hit points and silly saves really really tough to kill

[Kilnedric]

Stunning Fist is very nice on a high Wis clonk. I personally dropped PA for it. Something to consider.

[ulticleo]

snip

Thanks for the comments.
I don't plan to cast on the mellee build, and won't be meleeing on the caster build. it'll be one or the other. healing is of course a primary goal.

1) power attack at lvl 1. I know it's a waste, but I that's when I can fit it in. won't be active until much later.
2) I would love to bump my hp a bit (end up around 440). can you explain how you get to 600? also, how do you get 2.1k sp on an 18/2? I usually see them around 1900
3) more dex would be nice for evasion (and would definitly swap for +6 dex and ocean stance when running through traps), but I don't see bumping it much more than 16 for starting. I won't have good ac without epic griding, which I simply don't enjoy
4) the kamas idea is not bad. I'll have to see what my large stockpile is like. though... wouldn't it better to make lit2 at that point? if I drop IC it would be for extend, which is really only an issue for questing (divine favor and power), during which I expect to have plenty of sp thanks to torc.

5) this is most important. the light finishers are just awesome, and are the reason to go with 3 monk levels:
aligning the heavens - as a melee in fire stance, I'll have plenty of ki to keep this up, so it's effectively +25% sp
walk of sun - if I have trouble hitting, pop one off for +2 to hit
grap of the earth dragon - no need to wait for a light monk. I can take care of it myself while hitting on horroth back, healing tank with aura, bursts, heal scrolls, and spells.

[ulticleo]

Stunning Fist is very nice on a high Wis clonk. I personally dropped PA for it. Something to consider.

see, that's my problem. I know that (I have a pure monk). and yet... how to fit it all? what's your build?
on my pure half-elf monk, in it's latest life, I went dex/wis. lvl ups into wis. in air stance, I have 34 dex/34 wis. it's a finess build, but still plenty of dps due to 2d14 fists, power attack, mabar/crafted wraps, ring bursts, PL monk, monk attack speed, and 10% double strike.

on a human clonk, I don't have access to the helf dex enhancements, no +4 dex from ultimate air stance (and no 10% double strike), no weapon finess (feats are too tight). so dumping dex (well, enough for gtwf) seems prudent. fire stance, for +2str, ki gen for finishers and +25% heal amp seems nice, but then it hurts your wis. and with no lvl ups in wis, I can't get it much past 30-32, and that's with ap and gear dedication.

I like the idea of high heal amp on this toon. it'll have 1.1*1.3*1.1*1.2*1.25 = 236% heal amp, which means that each tick of my aura is for around 55-60 hp.

[krackythehoodedone]

I have to say that going Kama's is a bit unusual.

The stunning fist route is a lot more popular and received a big boost in the recent updates.

But i had already built the toon with Kama's so i kept with it...

I have +3 exep Dex and Con on Tod rings and +3 exep Wis on one of the Kama,s

I have the Abashai set and i use Yugo pots and E Pouch of jerky to boost the hit points

Along with Toughness feat and the Halfling toughness line

Buffed Wis is 42 which help the SP along with Archmagi and GS items. I also took the feat which gives extra SP

My AC used to be good (high 70's) but after capping and moving on to Epics the Ac mode is now redundant.

I did something similar to you in that i had maximise and extend for levelling then swapped them out.

I cant see any reason to have extend at all. 18 mins is more than enough. Quicken on the other hand is essential

[doxena]

Hi , i create a similar build in this topic

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=349650

basically the build is :

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.09.02
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Good Half-Elf Male
(3 Monk \ 17 Cleric) 
Hit Points: 292
Spell Points: 1134 
BAB: 14\14\19\24
Fortitude: 16
Reflex: 12
Will: 17

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(34 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             17                    25
Dexterity            15                    18
Constitution         14                    17
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom               14                    18
Charisma              9                    11

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               6                    20
Bluff                -1                     0
Concentration         6                    26
Diplomacy            -1                     0
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -1                     0
Heal                  2                     6
Hide                  2                     4
Intimidate           -1                     0
Jump                  6                    10
Listen                2                     5
Move Silently         2                     4
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                    n/a
Repair               -1                     0
Search               -1                     0
Spot                  2                     4
Swim                  3                     7
Tumble                3                     5
Use Magic Device     n/a                    n/a

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Rogue
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Cleric
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting


Level 2 (Cleric)


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell


Level 4 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 5 (Cleric)


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell


Level 7 (Cleric)


Level 8 (Monk)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack


Level 9 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting


Level 10 (Cleric)


Level 11 (Cleric)


Level 12 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell


Level 13 (Cleric)


Level 14 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light


Level 15 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting


Level 16 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 17 (Cleric)


Level 18 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell


Level 19 (Cleric)


Level 20 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant I
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant II
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante II
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Way of the Faithful Hound I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Improved Heal I
Enhancement: Improved Heal II
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life II
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life III
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life II
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic III
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic IV
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot III
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot IV
Enhancement: Half-Elf Rogue Dexterity I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Turning I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery I

you could change to str 16 for CHA 12 ... it's a preference

[Ruhbdahbudah]

Didn't see anyone else answer this, so I will. Staves are THF, not TWF. With TWF, I'd personally just stick with the fists and take Stunning Fist, especially if you don't plan on running epics. Kamas aren't a bad idea, but staves probably aren't the way to go.