First time Clonk advice (34pt)

[Ryan220]

Hello all,

im currently levelling up a Cleric (my first) and Id like to plan his TR.

Im thinking of going Human Clonk as Ive heard they have great survivability/ soloability.

Ive searched around the net and cant seem to find a Clonk guide anywhere that can help me make the right decision. Ive seen that 18/2 is considered the best option and that there are melee and caster variants - solo builds and healing builds and many other options including feat choices and feat order, not to mention class choice order.



To make matters more difficult, im unable to open the imported character planners in the posts ive read (i surf from my phone) so im not getting any info there either.

Because I dont fully understand the builds, i dont know what type of build to ask for so Im hoping if I give a little info on my playstyle and my goals that someone might be able to advise me on the path I should take.

Here is some info.

34 pt
I wish go human for the extra feat
all +2 tomes available
pref 18/2
good soloability (due to RL commitment)
i would like RS 1&2
I would like excellent blade barriers
I wont be a raid healer but would like to be able to heal well in quests if the need arised
once capped he will TR straight away so wont run endgame raids or Epics

if possible im thinking melee style until i get BB then caster/ kiter oriented


Any advice, guidance, thoughts on stats, feats, class order, playstyle would be much appreciated indeed.

Many thanks

[Sarisa]

18/2 gives you evasion, stances, and two feats.
17/3 gives you light finishers (Grasp/Aligning), but costs you around 100 sp, 1 more spell pen, and a level 9 spell slot.

Both are excellent, and it's just a matter of which you want.

The standard caster feats all work well (Empower, Empower Heal, Maximize, Quicken, Heighten), and I would recommend at least TWF and Stunning Fist for melee (using your Monk bonus feats). Add in the nearly essential Toughness (which is also a possible Monk bonus feat). Then, you have two feats (as Human) to spend on whatever you choose, such as iTWF, Extend, Spell Penetration (to make up for the splash), Wizard Past Life, or Spell Focus: Evocation.

To max out your feat options, it's best to take Cleric at first level, rather than Monk even though Monk gives you more skill points.

Something like:
1: Empower Heal
H: Toughness
2M: TWF (if you have 15 DEX at this point, otherwise swap it with Stunning Fist)
3: Empower
6: Maximize - and pick up Radiant Servant at level 7, which lets you demolish the Undead quests at this level.
9: <yourchoice>
12: Quicken
13M: Stunning Fist
15: Heighten
18: <yourchoice>

Feel free to adjust it to your needs.

At low to mid levels, you can obtain very high AC, which combined with an Invulnerability robe, will make a huge difference in survival. At high levels, Human and Monk healing amp and your aura, along with evasion to avoid many spells (but traps are still a danger), makes you rather hard to kill.

Your melee with handwraps is perfectly fine for the low to mid levels, and is noticeably better than the typical S&B'ing Cleric/FvS, but of course not as good as a Carnifex wielding Fighter splash.

Once you get RS1, Deleras and the Necro's are an exceptional source of fast and easy experience. Remember that you can set your metamagics on your bursts, and they apply for free.

Post Blade Barrier, that of course just kills everything that moves, and you can use Stunning Fist and melee beatdown to take out whatever doesn't move. Later on, at level 15, Destruction can be tossed in as well.

Wind Stance is the best, especially when solo, for low level melee. Water stance gives you the highest WIS total, but will penalize your melee damage. Water gives you the highest stun DC, while the doublestrike from Wind gives you higher chances to proc a stun. Fire lowers your WIS so you probably won't use that ever. Earth is the "tanking" stance, and will just be used if you plan on doing something like DQ or VoN at level and just need to heal and have a bit higher chance of survival.

Statwise, you'll want to max WIS, have decent CON, and have either 13 base DEX (plus tome) to get TWF, or 15 base DEX (plus tome) if you want iTWF. 8-12 CHA is enough, and you will still manage to have enough Turns to be useful. Rest in STR so you can do some melee pre-BB, and avoid being encumbered and knocked out of stance. Having enough STR to avoid being encumbered is most important once you reach the desert, and start getting Ray of Enfeeblement and Fatigue/Exhaustion spammed on you.

[Miow]

I was going to tr my cleric into a clonk but as a dorf better as a human?

[Ryan220]

Thank you for the build.

A quick couple of clarification questions if I may.

Im guessing all level ups are in Wisdom
Do I "need" TWF? - is it likely that i would be unable to be able to hit things at higher levels thus making it a wasted feat?
What minimum Strength would you suggest - keep the above in mind

Thank you

[Sarisa]

Im guessing all level ups are in Wisdom

If you're going for a caster spec, yes.

Do I "need" TWF? - is it likely that i would be unable to be able to hit things at higher levels thus making it a wasted feat?
What minimum Strength would you suggest - keep the above in mind

Thank you

You don't need TWF, but I liked having it for a higher chance of proc'ing offhand Stunning Fist. It makes lower level melee'ing before Blade Barrier much nicer too.

When levelling, I had little trouble hitting everything except the highest AC bosses and trash, like some of the rangers in IQ, the Pali's in House C.

In epics, I could hit the normal trash reasonably well when buffed up, only having trouble with the trash that I have trouble with on my pure Cleric main and my Pali (when not using the eSoS); like desert Gnolls or Deeps trolls.

My Clonk was a 36 point build, and started with 14 STR, 15 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 18 WIS, 8 CHA. +2 Tomes in all stats. The 15 DEX was for iTWF that I picked up later. You could forego that, and start with 13 DEX (+2 Tome), but you wouldn't be able to pick up TWF until later.

I was going to tr my cleric into a clonk but as a dorf better as a human?

I have several guildmembers who love their Dwarf monks, and they're quite effective, but for a caster Clonk I would probably go Human. Dwarf may be slightly better for a melee Clonk. Note that I am quite biased toward Human for almost all classes.

Dwarf gets you the tactical enhancements, higher starting CON, 4 tiers of Racial Toughness, and the SP enhancements. You will likely have 1 less Turn due to not having enough stat points to go around a Dwarf's penalty to CHA.

Human gets you more healing amp, an extra feat, and 1 additional skill point per level.