Looking for cleric tips

[axel15810]

Hello all. I'm still fairly new to the game, I've only got one character 28 point build. He's a melee focused cleric, here's all his info: http://my.ddo.com/character/thelanis/jawko/

I've followed this build exactly: http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=75

I've used a +2 cha tome, and +1 tomes for strength, con, and wis. Can't afford +2's.

I'm p2p and have vale and reaver packs.

I'm basically looking for any and all tips on my character, I just want to be a better cleric. The biggest thing I need help with is what gear to get and use to make my build the most effective, and where to get it. One thing that has disappointed me is my melee seems not to hit near as well as other players so I've really just fallen back into using a devotion shield to boost healing spells and just played like a pure cleric. Any tips on how to improve melee? I'm poor so I til this point haven't been able to afford good weapons. I'm almost done crafting a green steel greataxe, which should help my character a lot.

On the good side with RS 1 and 2 I don't have any problems keeping everyone healed. But my destruct spells tend to not work a lot. I'm planning to TR this guy at some point. I think I'm going to do a pure cleric build this time (I'd rather be really good caster/healer instead of a decent melee/good healer/ decent caster)

I'd appreciate any tips, fairly new player still trying to learn!

[morticianjohn]

Yeah melee damage on divines is pretty bad especially if you don't have great weapons.

Terror would be a good item to farm as it is a great trash killer. Keep up divine favor and divine might at all times. I won't comment on the build specifically as there is another thread for that but sometimes a build may not suit your playstyle.

Rely on mass heal (when you get the spell) for 90% of your mass healing (if using sp) and the heal spell for 90% of your single target healing (if using SP).

Carry at least 3 stacks of 100 heal scrolls at all times.

[Isharah]

Hi,

I've never played a cleric before but I can offer you some suggestions on healing.

Some healer-inclined tips:
1. always carry ardor items, like superior ardor vi (3 charges of 3 minutes each, +75% to all your healing spells of the appropriate levels)
2. make a green steel SP accessory - existential stalemate II on goggles is always a good choice (disease immunity, blindness ward, +50 elemental SP, +100 elemental SP)
3. the best healers use heal scrolls whenever they can
4. always carry at least 5 major mnemonic potions and don't be shy to ask for donations from other people
5. cleric capstone is very nice if you don't mind ditching your melee competencies

Good luck and hope you have fun.

Cheers.

[dennison_brillo]

might want to up your base cha so you can use higher lvl Divine Might and it will give you more turns also so more free heals so more sp for buffs and offensive spells. Also might want to get some spell penetration items.

[butcheredspirit]

fallen back into using a devotion shield to boost healing spells and just played like a pure cleric.

A pure cleric in Dungeons and Dragons, is one that melees and offensive casts, as well as healing.

That said I had a similar problem to you, on my 28 point build cleric when I hit higher levels.

As said above, get superior ardor clickies, and ditch the devotion shield.

Clerics get Divine Favor, Divine Power spells to boost melee.
Divine Might is helpful for boosting damage.

I'm not sure if you said your race...?
Humans for example can take enhancements to boost damage/to-hit.


Also if you want your offensive spells to hit, but your DC is low, then lower the enemies saves.
Cast prayer near the enemy
Use Symbol of Death
Use Energy Drain

Also target an enemies weak save.

Equipment can make quite a big difference.
I find cannith crafting the easiest way to get all the stuff I need.
Items that give +2 DC, to a chosen school.
Clickies that boost light, fire, or healing power.


Good luck on the greensteel, it's worth the grind

[Luis_Velderve]

There are several good things here:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=356667


I really will not recommend you going multiclass unless you are going for a clonk. You can help with melee been a pure cleric by building a human with 17 str max wis and using human adaptability for str, Helf can do the same trick or Horc (penalty for cha but not wis).

Some basic layout could be:

Power attack feat required to all


Human, Sovereign Host will give you LS proficiency and you can use the extra feat for tower shield using another feat for Kophesh could be considered.

Helf, Undying Court will give you Scimitar proficiency (second best OH weapon) a feat for tower shield and dilletante (rogue for SA damage, Barbarian for DR and Toughness, Fighter for martial proficiency and STR enhancement)

HORC, higher STR, no penalty for your wis but to get full benefit you will have to spend feats in THF and a TH weapon.Is possible to live with quicken and empower healing only. Horc enhancements are TH oriented. (penalty for cha)

Drow, rapier and ss proficiency bonus in cha, bla bla bla do not like, low con. Maybe for a FVS

Elf, LS proficiency, Bow proficiency, bla bla bla do not like it, low con. Maybe for a FVS AA (Silver Flame)

Hpint, Not for a melee cleric IMO

WF. NO. Try a Soul Survivor FVS


I can understand anyone that may like a melee cleric very well however unless you are willing to invest a lot of time in TR's splashing is not a very good idea.

CLONKS are exceptions , is uncommon for a rookie to use a clonk. There is synergy between cleric and monk (wis). If you buy Monk Class you are taking the DDO more seriously than the average F2P.


Good luck with your Cleric!

PS. Vicious of pure good weapons are good for RS clerics and relatively cheap. Vicious is untyped damage.

[Sarisa]

A Melee Cleric will never match the DPS potential of a "real" DPS class. You do, however, have a lot to offer a party in addition to melee.

I like using instakill weapons and debuffers. Terror is great. Epic Souleater is great. Rahl's Might, Dreamspitter, Cursespewers, Destruction weapons are all great to help the party. Triple Positives to swing between Radiant Bursts and Mass Heal's are great against undead. Terror can be worth using even if you are not proficient in it.

Divine Power and Divine Favor help your to-hit. Divine Might, if you have enough base CHA, can help increase your damage at the cost of a turn. With those, along with a nice debuffing weapon, you can hit about anything in the game, including Malicia or Epic Hruvayah (just maybe not on a 2).

With good DC's, Energy Drain+Destruction or Slay Living on casters can greatly help the party. Use Implosion in big groups, and even on epic you would be surprised how well it works. Greater Command and Soundburst, if you have Heighten, are effective all the way up into some epics.

Finally, be sure to pick up a Superior Brilliance V shard from a crafter in game. Use that as a clickie before a boss fight to boost up your Divine Punishment damage.

[jbleargh]

I've got a capped 28pt build human pure.

Healing and buffing well are basic obligations and you don't need gear to do well. You can read the spells descriptions and a quick search here will bring enough knowledge to be efficient. You will be useful in most groups.

Offensive casting does much much much much more damage than melee in a "regular" 28 pt build cleric. You can solo most things using 2 spells: Blade Barrier (trash mobs) and Divine Punishment (bosses).

Both spells don't have Spell Resistance and DC doesn't matter that much most of the time... so you don't need to get any special gear for then to work properly.

To be good enough you only need a potency item for the Blade Barrier (easy random loot) and a Brillance V clickie (easy to craft).

I go melee to finish the few mobs that survived the blade barrier... I've made some +4 holy of metal type bane of whatever i am fighting to do that. I also use a vorpal when there is only one or two mobs with full health (and are "vorpaleable")...

Melee without a lot STR is a waste of time, IMHO.

My lvl 20 cleric crits for around 50 damage. It is a regular hit for my level 18 barbarian. My barb crits for 450 +... I doubt that any 28 pt build cleric can do relevant DPS in a proper group.


Cogito ergo doleo

[Firesmall_at]

.

My lvl 20 cleric crits for around 50 damage. It is a regular hit for my level 18 barbarian. My barb crits for 450 +... I doubt that any 28 pt build cleric can do relevant DPS in a proper group.


Cogito ergo doleo

My cleric criticals for 100 average and upwards of 150 fully buffed. And lvl affects to hit, but he has been damaging like this since lvl12-14 when he started getting the really good gear and got improved critical slash. At low lvls with keen it was 40 average and 65 fully buffed.

It is mostly related to gear and 2 feats... improved critical slash and power attack as a two handed weapon build. How u take these is up to u if u want melee. U can take them as a Pure Cleric too. I consider his melee damage 3 rd rate still and offensive casting more powerful. I gave up 2 cleric lvls for 2 ftr lvls (took them at lvl2 and lvl14). Lost a little bit of damage on my spells for better melee. Healing loss is not even noticed by anyone. Took a WIS16 and STR 14 and CON14 as human. All lvl ups in WIS. Whatever leftover in CHR. 32pt build gets DM1. My build is posted under my name and threads. So is the equipment, and how to run them with shortcut bars.

Anyone telling u monk splash is the only way to multi a cleric is so wrong. Just look at all the fighter splashes on your server as evidence of that. Reflex is tough on a Cleric, so evasion does not work like a pure monk. With the right amount of TRs and high dex it is very powerful, hard to grind the gear for it, and challenging to play.

Challenging to play because it is easier to hit with 2HF than with a 2WF because a 2 handed weapon is longer. Easy to get splash damage too. In a perfect universe when monsters stand still with the right player skill, internet connection and fast computer 2WF will out damage 2HF. For most without a T1 connection, graphic slowdowns with lag player skill alone might not get u there.

[Luis_Velderve]

My cleric criticals for 100 average and upwards of 150 fully buffed. And lvl affects to hit, but he has been damaging like this since lvl12-14 when he started getting the really good gear and got improved critical slash. At low lvls with keen it was 40 average and 65 fully buffed.

Anyone telling u monk splash is the only way to multi a cleric is so wrong. Just look at all the fighter splashes on your server as evidence of that.

Well I must be doing fine if I can have critical 80 average and 120 top using Sword and board on a human pure cleric!(holding a tower shield and a 28 point build) and I could not agree more, look for those fighter splashes that were able to reach lvl 20 as evidence of it.

Is not that can not be done. Is that not anyone can do it. For everyone that will read this and want to prove me wrong is ok with me, maybe is the only way to get real battleclerics and not clerics that are bad healers and bad fighters.

[Arnhelm]

Good thread here I just bumped - http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...=1#post4286847

Lots of info and food for thought.

[jbleargh]

My cleric criticals for 100 average and upwards of 150 fully buffed. And lvl affects to hit, but he has been damaging like this since lvl12-14 when he started getting the really good gear and got improved critical slash. At low lvls with keen it was 40 average and 65 fully buffed.

i know that my 16 str (10 base + fabricator gloves) cleric using a longsword and shield is bellow average in korthos.

But she does more damage than my barbarian using 2 spells that don't need very high DCs or spell penetration gear to work enough to solo most of the content.

As a new player i like to try to learn the quest solo before grouping with others... It is esier and faster to solo an undeargeared casting cleric than a melee one, IMHO.

Cogito ego doleo

[hiryuu42]

I'm basically looking for any and all tips on my character, I just want to be a better cleric. The biggest thing I need help with is what gear to get and use to make my build the most effective, and where to get it. One thing that has disappointed me is my melee seems not to hit near as well as other players so I've really just fallen back into using a devotion shield to boost healing spells and just played like a pure cleric. Any tips on how to improve melee? I'm poor so I til this point haven't been able to afford good weapons. I'm almost done crafting a green steel greataxe, which should help my character a lot.

On the good side with RS 1 and 2 I don't have any problems keeping everyone healed. But my destruct spells tend to not work a lot. I'm planning to TR this guy at some point. I think I'm going to do a pure cleric build this time (I'd rather be really good caster/healer instead of a decent melee/good healer/ decent caster)

Your gear looks fine for a new player, but look for a Greater/Superior Potency item when you can, which helps healing and spell damage. (The potion/clicky version only lasts a minute, so gets a bit annoying.)

You won't keep up with a dedicated melee for DPS, although Extended D Favor/Power helps. For boss battles, Divine Punishment and Blade Barrier, with a side of Searing Light, are your main offense. Your melee weapon is for trash, so look for good side effects, rather than raw damage or boss beaters. Enemies are easier to hit if your weapon paralyzes or blinds them. Try attacking both with and without Power Attack. That -5 to hit might cost more than the +5 damage adds. If that trial winds up with you never using PA at all, maybe Weapon Focus is a better feat for you.

For Destruction, and other offense spells, the lack of Heighten on this build is a tough loss, and you may want to swap Extend for Heighten if you find yourself casting more. Keep in mind what type of save each spell is, and what kind of enemy you're attacking. Generally, melee = good fort, archer = good reflex, caster = good will. In response, I usually Cometfall the casters and melee (plus, they tend to bunch up for good AoE), and Destruct the archers (they're often spread out, so AoE doesn't help).

[axel15810]

huyru - Thanks, I have a superior potency item now. Would there be any sense in swapping two handed fighting feat in this build with two weapon fighting? In that case I could just concentrate on carrying two weapons with effects...like a paralyzer and a curspewer and the feat would improve my hit chance (if I'm understanding the feat right.) That way I could concentrate on status effects rather than just pure damage with two handed fighting...since it looks like it I would be more beneficial to the party that way.

butcher - Race is dwarf. Ditched the shield, just picked up some superior ardor vi items. Thanks. And yes greensteel is a pain...all I need is a large splintered horn for my greataxe blank. Ran shroud last night for the first time ever and nobody told me that if you complete the quest you have to wait 3 days to do it again! I should have recalled now I have to wait a 3 days for my item...according to ddo wiki I can only get the splintered horn as a pickup in the shroud quest :/

dennison - How can i increase base cha more? I've used a +2 tome and have a +6 cha item equipped. Always have ship buff on.

Isha - Thanks I'll definitely be doing greensteel goggles next

mortician - scrolls purchased

Thanks for the tips and please keep them coming if you've got any more suggestions

[Sarisa]

And yes greensteel is a pain...all I need is a large splintered horn for my greataxe blank. Ran shroud last night for the first time ever and nobody told me that if you complete the quest you have to wait 3 days to do it again! I should have recalled now I have to wait a 3 days for my item...according to ddo wiki I can only get the splintered horn as a pickup in the shroud quest :/

Ask around. Many Shroud regulars have dozens of these lying around, and would gladly give you one. Large Splintered Horns drop at low rates in the part 4 chest, and at lowish rates in the part 5 (post completion) chest. They replace your standard large ingredient, so many Shroud regulars hate them. You can also get them from the end reward list.

Sometimes, you will even find a generous individual who will give you a bunch of small and mediums as well, so all you would need to get would be the Shards of Power.

dennison - How can i increase base cha more? I've used a +2 tome and have a +6 cha item equipped. Always have ship buff on.

On a first life, 28 point build, especially being Dwarf (-2 CHA penalty), it's tough to increase your CHA too much. You need WIS, CON, and STR a bit more. When you TR, you can get a higher starting CHA. Note that Divine Might requires BASE Charisma, so only your starting points and tomes count. Level ups would too, but WIS is much better to toss your level up points into.

[Memek]

Dont give up. Your attack bonus is a bit lower than a tier 2 melee (Ranger, Paladin) so if you have trouble hitting, it's just from lack of gear. Your melee damage output then is a bit lower again compared to those classes but it's not miles away - you'll be in the same ballpark somewhere.

Dont forget Divine Favor and Power.

It is odd that the build doesnt have Heighten considering that it is levelling Wisdom. I'd exchange THF for Heighten. Extend can go too while im at it.
No wonder that your Destruction doesnt land.

You will also have to support Destruction/ Implosion with Energy Drain. In some quests you can afford it, in others you cant. But in the easier Epic you'll be able to slay stuff left and right by draining it beforehand while keeping everyone healed.

A quick look at your gear shows that while you are competently geared, you have only one item equipped to boost your melee (plus your weapon, which is not even a DPS weapon) - sure that might be because you dont have much gear yet but you dont have to be surprised that your melee isnt impressive with only 1 item (and thats only the Strength item) aimed at boosting melee DPS.

If i look at my melee healer in combat gear, he has 4-5 items equipped that are purely for melee (and that doesnt include the weapon). And that certainly makes a difference. You get back what you put into your melee, and with 1 item it certainly wont be impressive.

Ardor has been mentioned, that is a key clicky for you; Otherwise, Amrath belts would be great. Archmagi belt to buff, then GFL + Con6 belt to fight, Torin's choker for your neck to get Sup Potency 6 and Wizardry (just as a backup behind Archmagi, Radiance clicky and Ardor, also nice for BB).

Taking TWFing would be a grave mistake. I think you'd need 15 Dex but in any case, even with the feat you still take an attack malus. Dont do that.

GS blank wont be anything impressive, you should find something better for cheap on the AH. At tier 2 it can be decent i guess but the when people talk about GS, they mean tier 3.
Dont know about your crafting levels but you might want to look into +4/5 Holy of Bane.

[axel15810]

Dont give up. Your attack bonus is a bit lower than a tier 2 melee (Ranger, Paladin) so if you have trouble hitting, it's just from lack of gear. Your melee damage output then is a bit lower again compared to those classes but it's not miles away - you'll be in the same ballpark somewhere.

Dont forget Divine Favor and Power.

It is odd that the build doesnt have Heighten considering that it is levelling Wisdom. I'd exchange THF for Heighten. Extend can go too while im at it.
No wonder that your Destruction doesnt land.

You will also have to support Destruction/ Implosion with Energy Drain. In some quests you can afford it, in others you cant. But in the easier Epic you'll be able to slay stuff left and right by draining it beforehand while keeping everyone healed.

A quick look at your gear shows that while you are competently geared, you have only one item equipped to boost your melee (plus your weapon, which is not even a DPS weapon) - sure that might be because you dont have much gear yet but you dont have to be surprised that your melee isnt impressive with only 1 item (and thats only the Strength item) aimed at boosting melee DPS.

If i look at my melee healer in combat gear, he has 4-5 items equipped that are purely for melee (and that doesnt include the weapon). And that certainly makes a difference. You get back what you put into your melee, and with 1 item it certainly wont be impressive.

Ardor has been mentioned, that is a key clicky for you; Otherwise, Amrath belts would be great. Archmagi belt to buff, then GFL + Con6 belt to fight, Torin's choker for your neck to get Sup Potency 6 and Wizardry (just as a backup behind Archmagi, Radiance clicky and Ardor, also nice for BB).

Taking TWFing would be a grave mistake. I think you'd need 15 Dex but in any case, even with the feat you still take an attack malus. Dont do that.

GS blank wont be anything impressive, you should find something better for cheap on the AH. At tier 2 it can be decent i guess but the when people talk about GS, they mean tier 3.
Dont know about your crafting levels but you might want to look into +4/5 Holy of Bane.

Yeah I've heard this before good idea I need to take heighten. Unfortunately for me I already took THF and swapping will take fragments and money that I don't have. Isn't there a way to get 1 free feat exchange token? I think I heard about that somewhere.

I'd love to have more items to boost melee, but I have no idea where to get them. And I'm quite poor. Also I'm p2p and only have reaver and vale packs at the moment, so the gear I can get is probably limited. And yeah I don't seem to using buffs very much so extend could probably go to. What would you suggest to replace it? Spell penetration?

[Firesmall_at]

Well I must be doing fine if I can have critical 80 average and 120 top using Sword and board on a human pure cleric!(holding a tower shield and a 28 point build) and I could not agree more, look for those fighter splashes that were able to reach lvl 20 as evidence of it.

Is not that can not be done. Is that not anyone can do it. For everyone that will read this and want to prove me wrong is ok with me, maybe is the only way to get real battleclerics and not clerics that are bad healers and bad fighters.

Did u dump WIS and lvl up your STR18 base cause your BB will be saved against for 160 instead of 320. Don't really get what u mean maybe.

BB+melee
160+120=280
or
280+150=430

It is why I lvl up wisdom 16-18 instead of STR. Without the STR I wont hit on epic but still even with your pure without melee. You do make up for it a little with divine punishment and the extra 2 cleric lvls of damage, but not enough.

Bad healers? I dont get that one.

[Luis_Velderve]

Did u dump WIS and lvl up your STR18 base cause your BB will be saved against for 160 instead of 320. Don't really get what u mean maybe.

BB+melee
160+120=280
or
280+150=430

It is why I lvl up wisdom 16-18 instead of STR. Without the STR I wont hit on epic but still even with your pure without melee. You do make up for it a little with divine punishment and the extra 2 cleric lvls of damage, but not enough.

Bad healers? I dont get that one.

No. I started with top score at wisdom and lvl ups to my wisdom score. All is gear and Cannith Crafting. And do not take it personal but you know very well what the majority of battle clerics do. My hp is in the low 400's, my cha is relatively low (but I am not a nannybot) and my dex and int are dump stats. Have +2 tomes in every single stat.Having more than 8 turn undeads could be good for someone but I do not have that need; I have my cleric before the Prestige so RS turned to be a bonus not the core.

You can be a Melee Cleric without having a single level in other class, you can do hit, hit, hit instead of miss, miss, miss. I can hit epic trash

I really would like to be in a party with you maybe I could learn something. Ghallanda?

BTW I will end the issue here is not my intention to antagonize with you.

FVS, well, that is another game.

[Sarisa]

Yeah I've heard this before good idea I need to take heighten. Unfortunately for me I already took THF and swapping will take fragments and money that I don't have. Isn't there a way to get 1 free feat exchange token? I think I heard about that somewhere.

I'd love to have more items to boost melee, but I have no idea where to get them. And I'm quite poor. Also I'm p2p and only have reaver and vale packs at the moment, so the gear I can get is probably limited. And yeah I don't seem to using buffs very much so extend could probably go to. What would you suggest to replace it? Spell penetration?

You can get one free feat exchange with the Hall of the Mark quest in the market, it's beside the auctioneer.

Spell Penetration is decent, but even with the feat, you won't really have enough to get through higher level devils and other trash. Luckily, Devils like running through Blade Barriers. High end Drow are even worse. I probably wouldn't recommend worrying about Spell Pen too much.