My first cleric

[wax_on_wax_off]

I have a couple of questions that come out of this build as I've been considering a melee focused divine for some time now. My gut instinct in building this is that I would be totally str based, keeping just enough wis to cast my 9th level spells. With level ups into wis and a healthy amount of build points spent on wis will you not end up finding your melee pretty lackluster starting around gianthold and beyond? Won't you find yourself hardly swinging at all in favour of Divine Punishment, Implosion, Comet Fall and Blade Barrier anyhow?

My experience so far has been a pure cleric, which is my main, totally caster focused, a melee FvS (elf with monk splash, twf scimis) that got LR'd into a pure evoker at about level 17 because even str based the melee was meh and a WF FvS that is str based and melee focused. My thoughts would be to make a cleric somewhat like my WF FvS... either human or dwarf probably, THF and str focused. Would this suck?

Thanks in advance!

It wouldn't suck. However, level ups into strength gives ~+2-3 attack, +3-5 damage. This matters but it is insignificant compared to the AC, SP, Stunning Fist DC and more that Wisdom level ups give. A pure strength based cleric can work but it simply isn't as fun to play or as effective as a hybrid build. The exception might be on a fully epic geared character that only plays epic content, then the strength boost can matter.

To the OP, you missed the most important feat: Stunning Fist. My idea suggestion is to swap to half-elf, drop IC:B and pick up SF. This will give you +3d6 sneak attack against most foes as your stunning fist DC will be quite high. Against sneak immune foes you will usually have radiant servant blast or - in the case of golems or oozes - you can be happy that handwraps are the best weapon available for the job.

The fighter haste boost + versatility damage for +15% attack speed, +25% damage is a brutal burst damage combo which will be an important weapon in your arsenal (as clerics don't generally have a form of burst damage).

I'd drop strength to 14 and put charisma up to 14. This gives DMII for +4 damage with a +2 tome and if you should luck out and pull a +4 tome you can get DMIII for +6 damage. This ability will be situational as it takes away from your bursts but it is important for DPS.

The biggest hurdle with this sort of build is dealing with the massive MADness. On mine I ended up going with drow and dumping strength which let me go 8, 16, 12, 10, 16, 16 as starting stats. This meant more reflex save, more AC, higher stunning fist DC, more skill points (concentration and UMD maxed with some points in tumble and balance) and better AB (weapon finesse instead of power attack for a net AB bonus of 6 points). The lower DPS was made up for in large part by the fact that most foes were stunned when I was hitting them and helped along by the +6 damage from DMIII (which largely makes up for the lack of power attack).

[destiny4405]

To the OP, you missed the most important feat: Stunning Fist. My idea suggestion is to swap to half-elf, drop IC:B and pick up SF. This will give you +3d6 sneak attack against most foes as your stunning fist DC will be quite high. Against sneak immune foes you will usually have radiant servant blast or - in the case of golems or oozes - you can be happy that handwraps are the best weapon available for the job.

The fighter haste boost + versatility damage for +15% attack speed, +25% damage is a brutal burst damage combo which will be an important weapon in your arsenal (as clerics don't generally have a form of burst damage).

I'd drop strength to 14 and put charisma up to 14. This gives DMII for +4 damage with a +2 tome and if you should luck out and pull a +4 tome you can get DMIII for +6 damage. This ability will be situational as it takes away from your bursts but it is important for DPS.

The biggest hurdle with this sort of build is dealing with the massive MADness. On mine I ended up going with drow and dumping strength which let me go 8, 16, 12, 10, 16, 16 as starting stats. This meant more reflex save, more AC, higher stunning fist DC, more skill points (concentration and UMD maxed with some points in tumble and balance) and better AB (weapon finesse instead of power attack for a net AB bonus of 6 points). The lower DPS was made up for in large part by the fact that most foes were stunned when I was hitting them and helped along by the +6 damage from DMIII (which largely makes up for the lack of power attack).

yes, i'll probably take stunning fist over IC. i wouldn't splash deeper until i hit 20 and see how it holds up. if i could take a further hit on SP, i'll use +1 heart. or just tr again

with 15 starting str allows me even stat at 20, so, one damage less, but one to hit more. on the 2nd tr, i'll be sure to get cha at min 14.

i'm really looking forward to it. why should i kite mobs through BB, when i can melee them?

got almost everything except litany and cleansing essence from shroud. then it's tr time

[Mubjon]

yes, i'll probably take stunning fist over IC. i wouldn't splash deeper until i hit 20 and see how it holds up. if i could take a further hit on SP, i'll use +1 heart. or just tr again

with 15 starting str allows me even stat at 20, so, one damage less, but one to hit more. on the 2nd tr, i'll be sure to get cha at min 14.

i'm really looking forward to it. why should i kite mobs through BB, when i can melee them?

got almost everything except litany and cleansing essence from shroud. then it's tr time

don't have to kite them at all, cast it run through so they have to pass through it twice and then melee why not let them take 200+ dmg two times on the way to fight you?

[destiny4405]

don't have to kite them at all, cast it run through so they have to pass through it twice and then melee why not let them take 200+ dmg two times on the way to fight you?

don't enemies take countinuos damage if they stay where blades pass through?

[Hephaistor]

don't enemies take countinuos damage if they stay where blades pass through?

They used to a looooong time ago, but dont anymore. Heard it killed a lot of players standing in the wrong spot too.

[Mubjon]

don't enemies take countinuos damage if they stay where blades pass through?

Unfortunately no, so what I do is cast it and then run through it far enough so that the mobs take 2 hits. Then I clean up anything that survived, which is not usually much and if it did it is pretty much dead just a couple whacks and viola all done.

I started a new cleric on Kyhber and she is almost lvl 12 and solo'ing quite nicely. Easier this time around than the first time with my first ever build. Even has the ability to cast fire ball from a wand or scroll and a few other nice buffs from the arcane side. Stone skin is wonderful now to find more shield scrolls and wands so I can continue to use the TH falchions and Clubs and not miss out on the shield AC bonus.

Yeah she does not having meaningful AC, fully buffed with everything I can give her without outside help is around 28

[wax_on_wax_off]

Unfortunately no, so what I do is cast it and then run through it far enough so that the mobs take 2 hits. Then I clean up anything that survived, which is not usually much and if it did it is pretty much dead just a couple whacks and viola all done.

I started a new cleric on Kyhber and she is almost lvl 12 and solo'ing quite nicely. Easier this time around than the first time with my first ever build. Even has the ability to cast fire ball from a wand or scroll and a few other nice buffs from the arcane side. Stone skin is wonderful now to find more shield scrolls and wands so I can continue to use the TH falchions and Clubs and not miss out on the shield AC bonus.

Yeah she does not having meaningful AC, fully buffed with everything I can give her without outside help is around 28

28 AC at level 12 is exactly the same as 1 AC, you'll still get hit 95% of the time.

[Mubjon]

28 AC at level 12 is exactly the same as 1 AC, you'll still get hit 95% of the time.

You only get hit if they get time to attack you. By the time the run through the blade barrier I am waiting to attack them with either another spell, slay living, comet fall, or holy smite and then wade in for one or two swings to finish off whatever is standing. I rarely take damage when I solo and only seem to have an issue when I am busy watching others health bar and the odd mob that comes up behind me and then I have other things at my disposal to mitigate that damage.

At level 12 and normal content I am not getting hit 95% of the time when I solo. I can cast all level 3 and lower spells from the arcane schools 100% and Stoneskin scrolls are at 95% (I have the second level of Sorc Dilly enhancements giving me a nice boost to defense there). This means I have blur whenever I want, displacement scrolls and stoneskin. Blur and stoneskin last 7 minutes each I believe, and displacement is not as great but nice in a battle I know is coming up for that 45 sec to 1 minute.

By the time I can get the third level of sorc dilly I will be able to cast from scroll any level 6 spells I can buy from vendors at 90%? or 85% I have not gotten that far yet so it might only be 85% as I will be 2 levels below the scroll.

[countfitz]

this is a melee cleric. with already limited sp pool, i don't see myself doting.

Hold on now!

Wow, okay. You've apparently never played a cleric/fvs. Even unpowered, lame, do nothing Divine Punishment will be cast all the time. You'll see it is just too awesomesauce, like Turbine should have nerfed it but it's too late now the game would collapse if they did but we understand they should awesomesauce.

This is from a player with a Horc Battlecleric as his main, pure melee grrrrr hit stuff grrrrr. And he dot's every chance he gets. And throws up a BB once in a while too.