Evoker/Healer FvS Build

[Goodheals]

Just wanted to look at advice on this build:

20 Human Favoured Soul, 34 Point Build (useless Cleric pastlife)

10 STR
10 DEX
14 CON
10 INT
18 WIS
14 CHR

Skills - UMD, Conc, Jump, Balance, 1 Tumble

Feats - Toughness, Shield Mastery, Empower, Maximize, SF: Evocation, Spell Penetration, Quicken, Heighten (not necessarily in that order). Sovereign Host Class Feat.

Enhancements - Angel of Vengeance II prestige and a combination of healing, damage, and defense (but not melee or boosts)

Spells - Enough healing spells to keep people up (I'm thinking level 2,3 and 6 single target heals and level 5, 8 and 9 aoe heals). Only the essential buffs. The rest in damage and CC moves.

The idea is a caster whos stays near the front lines to take advantage of Aura of Menace for essentially +2 DCs and Spell Pen. Shield Mastery + DR/10 endgame (DR/3-5 while leveling) should mitigate a decent chunk of incoming damage, and I shouldn't be too vulnerable to magic with innate high saves from fvs, extra resists from fvs, and good fort and will saves from stats. Reflex I will probably focus on boosting as high as possible to hopefully mitigate more damage.

Healing shouldn't be a problem. Being close to the melees I can easily aoe all of us, and single target people in the back. Spellpoints shouldn't be a problem either in most cases.

I will have conc opp going, another reason I want to be in melee.

For damage the early levels suck, and thats fine. I'll probably melee some, use a hireling/pets, and group a lot.

Level 4 spells help a lot, then obviously after that its smooth sailing. Blade Barrier seals the deal.

Anyways, gimme some knowledge!

[HPL]

Feats - Toughness, Shield Mastery, Empower, Maximize, SF: Evocation, Spell Penetration, Quicken, Heighten (not necessarily in that order). Sovereign Host Class Feat.

Toughness, maximize, empower, quicken, SP: evocation, GSF: evocation, heighten. (in that order).

Don't bother with spell spen, it usless. BB is not stoped by SR (and comet fall...)

You must take quicken at lvl 12 because you can cast BB at lvl 12. And the combination of quicken and BB is a must have. With that, you will solo almost everything.

Lvl 1-10 : be a healer with some attack spells

Lvl 11-20 : be a BB kiter and lead the kill count.

hope it help.

[Chette]

Toughness, maximize, empower, quicken, SP: evocation, GSF: evocation, heighten. (in that order).

Don't bother with spell spen, it usless. BB is not stoped by SR (and comet fall...)

You must take quicken at lvl 12 because you can cast BB at lvl 12. And the combination of quicken and BB is a must have. With that, you will solo almost everything.

Lvl 1-10 : be a healer with some attack spells

Lvl 11-20 : be a BB kiter and lead the kill count.

hope it help.

Destruction, slay living, implosion, greater command, and a variety of other spells are stopped by SR. BB is your bread and butter for leveling, but a FvS has much more in their arsenal for end game. Depending on what you want to do with this character, your original choice of spell pen may be your better choice over a single DC to evocation spells.

Your plan looks good. You can even reduce your Charisma and boost strength if you want to make leveling a little easier for the early levels, or boost Con up to 16. I like the silver flame feat for free searing light, I find it universally useful, while the free CLW has a really low cap and is only situationally useful. Both are good choices though, I have one FvS with each.

[Goodheals]

Toughness, maximize, empower, quicken, SP: evocation, GSF: evocation, heighten. (in that order).

Don't bother with spell spen, it usless. BB is not stoped by SR (and comet fall...)

You must take quicken at lvl 12 because you can cast BB at lvl 12. And the combination of quicken and BB is a must have. With that, you will solo almost everything.

Lvl 1-10 : be a healer with some attack spells

Lvl 11-20 : be a BB kiter and lead the kill count.

hope it help.

Ya I'm just a level 1 TR now (made him the other night) and I can already tell that Shield Mastery and being pigeonholed into having to use a shield instead of whatever caster weapon(s) I find is not really worth the feat slot. I will say I want to have SOME spell pen though as a big interest of mine is Slay Living, Destruction, and Implosion. I don't think I'm going to take SF: Necro but I do think I'll take at least the first spell pen feat. I'll probably wear a +2 necro item though at the very least.

Ya my plan is level 1-7 be a healer + some ranged damage. At 8 and 9 I can start to dish the damage out a bit with Holy Smite and Order's Wrath.

10/11 I get Slay Living and Divine Punishment.

Then like you said, 12+ is Blade Barrier time.

[Iaga]

You get one more feat if you're human and i'd seriously re-consider shield mastery. The 20% dmg mitigation combined with your capstone DR and heal are a really nice combo.

Your initial feat selection with GSF:Evo (for implosion and bb) instead of SP is a solid choice.

[Goodheals]

You get one more feat if you're human and i'd seriously re-consider shield mastery. The 20% dmg mitigation combined with your capstone DR and heal are a really nice combo.

Your initial feat selection with GSF:Evo (for implosion and bb) instead of SP is a solid choice.

Hmmm maybe I will...

I like the idea of it, I'm just not sure how important it really is overall. Still, I don't feel feat starved on this guy really especially as a Human. I need Toughness, Maximize, Empower, Quicken and Heighten. I got 3 to play around with in whatever combination of DC, Spell Pen, and Shield Mastery I want.

If I do grab it, do I get 20% mitigation and the full AC of a tower shield even if I'm not proficient? I really don't plan on meleeing at all so I could care less about the -10 or whatever to-hit penalty. Or should I stick to Large Shields which lack any sort of Armor Check penalty (so my Jump and Balance aren't crushed)? Just wondering I wasn't sure if Shield Mastery worked if you weren't proficient.

[Cardtrick]

Ya I'm just a level 1 TR now (made him the other night) and I can already tell that Shield Mastery and being pigeonholed into having to use a shield instead of whatever caster weapon(s) I find is not really worth the feat slot. I will say I want to have SOME spell pen though as a big interest of mine is Slay Living, Destruction, and Implosion. I don't think I'm going to take SF: Necro but I do think I'll take at least the first spell pen feat. I'll probably wear a +2 necro item though at the very least.

You don't have to use the shield all the time. (And in fact, you shouldn't.) Shield mastery + DOT spells is pretty much the most powerful combination in the game at the moment, especially if you solo at all, and especially if you can get your hands on a torc.

[Iaga]

If I do grab it, do I get 20% mitigation and the full AC of a tower shield even if I'm not proficient? I really don't plan on meleeing at all so I could care less about the -10 or whatever to-hit penalty. Or should I stick to Large Shields which lack any sort of Armor Check penalty (so my Jump and Balance aren't crushed)? Just wondering I wasn't sure if Shield Mastery worked if you weren't proficient.

You get the 20% dmg mitigation anytime you're holding a shield. I find myself doing that more and more. Full AC - don't know don't care - your AC is going to be pretty much meaningless. As for what shield - i use the one out of hound with 15 DR. When i turtle my DR is just under 40 - and that's after incoming damage is dropped 20%.

If you're one who uses super high mobility, then i'd agree with shield mastery being of questionable use. But if you like to wade into a fight, proc'g your conc-op, or abusing the heck out of DP, then it's a very solid option (i'd never give it up after having used it so much)

[good_ole_corwin]

When i turtle my DR is just under 40 - and that's after incoming damage is dropped 20%.

Sorry for going a bit OT here, but Ive been told its the other way round (DR first, 20% reduction after). I havent done any conclusive testing, but I must say the way it feels is the reduction comes after DR - anybody tested it, is there a dev post, anything to prove one way or the other?

[WruntJunior]

I must chime in on shield mastery. My FvS normally goes around with a Staff of the Petitioner (for DCs and spell point cost reduction). In an epic, though, with just the Madstone Shield, I'm usually only taking ~20 damage a hit from epic mobs (low enough for shield-blocking for mana recharge to be sane with the free clw). The shield isn't for an always-out item....it's for a "I absolutely positively need to survive anything right now" situation.

[Goodheals]

Ok you guys talked me into the Shield Mastery, I always forget about Active Blocking and didn't even think about how effective that with be with Conc Opp stuff!

I think I'll make myself a Mithril Tower Shield of Superior Stability at level 5 and use that until I find something better. And you all think its worth using a tower shield over large shield even though I'm not proficient since I don't plan to do any melee? The armor check penalties worth the 5%?

[mute_mayhem]

Ok you guys talked me into the Shield Mastery, I always forget about Active Blocking and didn't even think about how effective that with be with Conc Opp stuff!

I think I'll make myself a Mithril Tower Shield of Superior Stability at level 5 and use that until I find something better. And you all think its worth using a tower shield over large shield even though I'm not proficient since I don't plan to do any melee? The armor check penalties worth the 5%?

If you're actively blocking, why does it matter that you're not as good at jumping or swimming? As long as you still have at least 1 point of tumble after the penalty you can still tumble.

That said, shield mastery is useful for torc'ing and using a conc opp to get sp back, but it's also useful in raids to stack condemnation on bosses when the group is using an AC tank. For example, in VoD I stand with the tank in the cubby hole letting Sully hit me and proc condemnation on him. With shield mastery, I take very little damage and thus can keep myself and the tank up while using dots to deal damage and increase the whole group's damage with condemnation. Works pretty well if you ask me.

[darkniteyogi]

"Your plan looks good. You can even reduce your Charisma and boost strength if you want to make leveling a little easier for the early levels"

i started 14 Str 10 Cha with a 2nd Life FVS.

The 14 Str was and still is very useful at lvl 20. I don't know if i can do without it, especially soloing.
I liked this idea so much that my 2nd life Human Wiz also has 14 Str and im enjoying it very much as well.

Spell pen is also very useful for Destruction, Slay Living. You can even scroll farm Echrono with Energy drain + Destruction.

Is it confirmed that Implosion doesn't use Spell Pen? The mechanics of that spell is different each place you read it. I thought it did..

You can get about 2900+ SP with 10 Cha.

[grodon9999]

That said, shield mastery is useful for torc'ing and using a conc opp to get sp back, but it's also useful in raids to stack condemnation on bosses when the group is using an AC tank. For example, in VoD I stand with the tank in the cubby hole letting Sully hit me and proc condemnation on him. With shield mastery, I take very little damage and thus can keep myself and the tank up while using dots to deal damage and increase the whole group's damage with condemnation. Works pretty well if you ask me.

yes, it does.