FvS caster fresh to lvl 20 - whats good in EA?

[mikarddo]

Greetings

I am looking for input / advice on what to take in EA with my caster FvS. To be honest most of it seems lackluster compared to say Magister so I am hoping I am overlooking something. So, how do you spent the 24 points and why?

[HGM-Chi]

Exalted Angel gives you a pew pew SLA to fire around along with your Searing Light SLA (if you took that). It also provides judgement, a fun means of killing every Pale Master in your raid group in most raids. This is invaluable. This is a must have. Killing Pale Masters >>> Completing Raid.

In case you didn't catch it... you *need* Judgement.

[mikarddo]

Is the SLA worth using? It seems to be very low damage.

As for Judgment killing Pale Masters - thats neither my kind of fun nor likely to go on for long as its bound to get fixed eventually. Apart from using it to kill PMs does the Judgment line offer significant value?

[Saravis]

Is the SLA worth using? It seems to be very low damage.

As for Judgment killing Pale Masters - thats neither my kind of fun nor likely to go on for long as its bound to get fixed eventually. Apart from using it to kill PMs does the Judgment line offer significant value?

SLA does more damage than searing light and only costs 3 sp. It's not uber awesome, but its certainly useful.

As for Judgment, I've used it here and there soloing, its not horrible, but its not impressive either, its just meh.

[mikarddo]

Thanks,

Blood and radiance: Passive Bonus: Each time you cast a light based spell, you gain Endless Ardor: +1 sacred bonus to positive energy for 10 seconds. Each time you cast a positive energy spell, gain Righteous Fervor: +1 sacred bonus to light spellpower for 10 seconds. Can stack up to 10 times. Each stack add 10 seconds to remaining duration.

What does having rank 2 or 3 add compared to just having rank 1?

[Ancient]

Thanks,

Blood and radiance: Passive Bonus: Each time you cast a light based spell, you gain Endless Ardor: +1 sacred bonus to positive energy for 10 seconds. Each time you cast a positive energy spell, gain Righteous Fervor: +1 sacred bonus to light spellpower for 10 seconds. Can stack up to 10 times. Each stack add 10 seconds to remaining duration.

What does having rank 2 or 3 add compared to just having rank 1?

Rank 2: Each bonus is +2 (max 20)
Rank 3: Each bonus is +3 (max 30)

To answer your question, what is good will really depend on what your FVS is built for. If you are an instakill FVS (i'm guessing that this is what you mean by "caster fvs") then it probably is not at all a good fit. Consider twisting in endless faith (Spell point pool increased by [4/7/10]%. Echoes of power restore up to [18/24/30] sp)

For a light based FVS, it is a great fit. For a self healing melee, it can be a good fit. EA is probably the #1 destiny for a healbot.

[HastyPudding]

- 10% Sp buff, probably one of the best tier 1 twistables in all trees
- Avenging Light SLA; works with metamagic, if you have good light spellpower, this replaces your low lvl light spam spells
- +10% healing amp
- -30% light damage
- ultimate abilities for killing undead and evil outsiders (and friendly pale masters :P)
- adds +5 caster levels if you have levels in paladin, cleric, and fvs
- renewal is an amazing heal-over-time SLA, and works with metamagic and rivals just about anything a druid can give you, and only costs 5 SP
- when it works correctly, Reborn in Light is the ultimate 'I'm back b*tches, now what?' ability

[mikarddo]

Thanks,

I notice that noone has mentioned the 1 min CC ability with no save. It looks really interesing to me so I am wondering what that might be.

The +10% SP ability indeed looks nice as a twist - but costly (9 AP) if using EA.

I am thinking I might go with:
12 ap for +6 wis
2 ap for Avenging Light
3 ap for Renewal 3/3
2 ap for Be at Peace
as I like these three abilities. If +6 wis leaves me with an uneven wis I will obviously only take 5 of the 6.

This leaves 5 AP which I am uncertain about. Since Be at Peace resets counters it seems taking Blood and Radiance is at cross purpose (unless the description is wrong and Be at Peace requires counters). I also need 2 more ap spent in the first two tiers. Maybe +10 light spw, +10% heal spw, +4% SP and Judgment though the latter without its two upgrades might be lackluster.

[Saravis]

I notice that noone has mentioned the 1 min CC ability with no save. It looks really interesing to me so I am wondering what that might be.

It is only single target, it breaks on damage, and has a cooldown of 2 mins. In other words, useless.

[mikarddo]

It is only single target, it breaks on damage, and has a cooldown of 2 mins. In other words, useless.

Without a save I was thinking it would be great for boss fights with lots of adds. CC the boss and you have 1 min to kill the adds. Obviously, no use of AE dmg near the boss could be an issue.

[sirgog]

IMO the big thing is Renewal.

Having such an efficient heal means you can use almost your SP on blowing things up.

Edit: 60 Positive spellpower (as Blood and Radiance is always at 10 Endless Ardor stacks anywhere that you can use your shoulder cannon) and 30-45 Light spellpower (seldom gets over 5 stacks except in combats too intense to throw many light spells) is good too.

[Saravis]

Without a save I was thinking it would be great for boss fights with lots of adds. CC the boss and you have 1 min to kill the adds. Obviously, no use of AE dmg near the boss could be an issue.

I doubt it would work on bosses, maybe orange names, but I can't think of any fights where its the named that I want CCed and not the trash. Problem, as you've already mentioned, is that AoEs would be bad around the boss and if you're dealing with trash, you're using AoEs.
It could have been a useful ability, but the lengthy cooldown and the break on damage kill it for me.
There are much more useful things to spend your pts on.

[Brennie]

I don' t have the most experience in Exalted angel, as i have only gotten to tier , because I decided that i love Exalted Angel, and i would end up getting plenty of XP to finish off the Destiny when i feel compelled to switch to it for "Difficult" content (It makes my FvS a significantly better healer AND DPS, something the other Destinies I've played with don't really do. Though i haven't reached the nature or arcane spheres yet...)

That said, here is my list of ABILITIES I HAVE TRIED AND LIKED:

Angelic Presence (Innate; free) - +2 Charisma, and enemies get -2 to hit. And its a no SP toggle. Whats not to love?

Radiant Power (tier 1; 3 ranks. 1 AP each) - 10/20/30 light spellpower. Seems a bit... lowish, but still light damage is 90% of my damage output, so more is better.

Healing Power (tier 1; 3 ranks, 1 AP each) - 10/20/30 healing spellpower.

Avenging Light (tier 1; 1 rank, 2 AP) - With decent light spellpower and maximize/empower/quicken in perma-on mode, I typically hit for ~300ish with this thing. That may not knock your socks off, but with a fairly fast refresh and for only 3 spellpoints, its not too shabby. It also counts for Endless Ardor stacks (I think? I'm pretty sure... maybe...)

Renew (tier 3; 3 ranks, 1 AP each) - Totally amazing. Rank 3 does 65ish healing for me (With no empower healing... would be more with that) 4 times over 8 seconds. Ends up better than cure critical, but not quite as good as heal... but for 5 sp! the temporary hitpoint doesn't seem to work correctly, in that when i cast Renew on a very hurt teammate *I* get temporary hitpoints instead of. However, this is the best one-two punch combined with capstone healing ever. Also counts for Righteous Ferver stacks.

Blood and Radiance (tier 4; 3 ranks, 1 AP each) - Pretty nice little bonuses. The best part is the shoulder can can basically keep up the Endless Ardor stacks indefinitely, as long as you stay closish to enemies. Capstone CLW and Renew count for Righteous Ferver (So it can be cheap or free to maintain, but does require some spamming). Unfortunately, i haven't experimented with the follow up abilities on this yet

ABILITIES I HAVE NOT TRIED, BUT LOOK FUN:

Excoriate (tier 4; 1 rank, 2 AP) - With enough Righteous Ferver stacks, light spells have a 3% chance to stun enemies. Considering i have an archon pewpewing all the time, and toss out plenty of Avenging Lights, this seems like somethign that might actually be kind handy. Or it might be complete junk. Good thing resets are easy

Rebuke Foe (tier 4; 1 rank, 2 AP) - Stacking debuff to light and physical resistance. I can see this being very useful! However, the fact that it resets stacks makes it sound like it would be difficult to keep cycling, especially when trying to keep the party alive at the same time. That and the fact that your Endless Ardor stacks are also being used by the next tier up ability Divine Wrath makes me potentially very conflicted about this.

Divine Wrath (tier 5; 1 rank, 2 AP) - This sounds pretty awesome. Big bang AND big heal all in one! Plus, the cooldown is probably faster than one coudl reaosnable build up another 10 Endless Ardor stacks. I want this.

Ascendance (innate; free) - The temporary hitpoints from light/healing spells are... meh, i guess. Depends on how big they are and how much they proc. The biggie is being able to turn on Astral Vibrance without a SP cost... cause believe me when i say that thing drains SP like woah once you've left it on for 40 seconds.

ABILITIES I AM JUST NOT THAT INTO:

Everything related to meleeing and smites - There are like 4 of these, some innate, some take AP. On an evoker, they're kinda pointless.

Astral Vibrance (innate; free) - Would be stellar is a) the damage and healing affected all allies and enemies not just ones below 50% health, b) it didn't take 40 seconds to fully "Warm up", and c) it didn't drain up to, what, 21 SP per second? That adds up QUICK! Although, when it becomes *free* for 2 minutes via Ascendance, I'll forgive these faults and gladly use it then. And only then.

Leap of Faith (innate; free) - Already have it, so instead it takes 12 seconds to recharge instead of 15. Woopedee-freaking-doo.

Endless Faith (tier 1, 3 ranks, 1AP per rank) - Okay, so 10% more SP is actually a pretty big chunk. I Don't blame anyone who wants to take this, as its totally worth it, I'm just not overly excited about it. And bigger echoes of power is just laughable, since devs publicly stated they put that whole mechanic in specifically to help low level casters, and espected it to be less used or completely unused at higher levels. So we get an EPIC DESTINY ABILITY that improves it... barely...

Judgement - > Lay to Rest - > Judge the Many (Tier 2-4, 1 rank each, 2 AP each) - I tried judgement by itself, and wasn't overwhelmed. however, I am somewhat reserving judgement (pun intended!) until this gets ACTUALLy bugfixed. Truestory - I caused a Pale Master to ragequit after taking several thousand points of damage from this ability, IN THE MIDDLE OF SHROUD, right after u15 (Patch notes said it was fixed, so i wanted to give it a shot. Turns out patch notes are liars, and undead mages are easily upset)

Embrace the Light (tier 2; 3 ranks, 1 AP each) - 10/20/30% less light damage. lolno.

Purity of Essence (tier 3; 3 ranks, 1 AP each) - 3/5/10% heal amp. While heal amp is great, especially on a healer type, spending 3ap for 10% just feel a bit on the low side to me. Probably not a bad pick, but I can't find a way to work it in.

Be at Peace (tier 5; 1 rank, 2 AP) - Talk about missing the mark. Its a no save, single target hypnotize, with a 2 minute cooldown, and which also resets both Endless Ardor and Righteous Ferver stacks. AND it costs 2 AP and is the only tier 5 ability. Thanks but no thanks.

Reborn in the Light (tier 6; 1 rank, 0 AP ???) - Wiki claims this costs 0 AP, which i think is unlikely. And hey, this actually sounds like a pretty cool ability... until you actually figure out how difficult it woudl be to maintain stacks of endless ardor and righteous ferver up to 100. If you have 10 seconds where you don't see an enemy, you are pretty much boned, since you're Endless Ardor stack withh begin to degrade and can't be renewed til it hits zero again. Add in the fact that reports say these stacks won't ever even go above 10 regardless... and this is just nonfunctional from the get-go.

I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter! Hope this helps!

[sirgog]

Rebuke Foe (tier 4; 1 rank, 2 AP) - Stacking debuff to light and physical resistance. I can see this being very useful! However, the fact that it resets stacks makes it sound like it would be difficult to keep cycling, especially when trying to keep the party alive at the same time. That and the fact that your Endless Ardor stacks are also being used by the next tier up ability Divine Wrath makes me potentially very conflicted about this.


Reborn in the Light (tier 6; 1 rank, 0 AP ???) - Wiki claims this costs 0 AP, which i think is unlikely. And hey, this actually sounds like a pretty cool ability... until you actually figure out how difficult it woudl be to maintain stacks of endless ardor and righteous ferver up to 100. If you have 10 seconds where you don't see an enemy, you are pretty much boned, since you're Endless Ardor stack withh begin to degrade and can't be renewed til it hits zero again. Add in the fact that reports say these stacks won't ever even go above 10 regardless... and this is just nonfunctional from the get-go.

I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter! Hope this helps!

Rebuke is really, really good on bosses when in a group where most of the damage you are doing is melee (say a 3 melee, 1 healer, 2 arcane group). Really adds up to a lot of (indirect) damage.

Reborn in Light is the best effect in the game to intervene to stop a mistake cascading into a wipe. If you use the shoulder cannon throughout an entire quest, it is usually available if you need it (between fights you'll drop Endless Ardor, also Rebuke drops your stacks allowing you to regain them). Be warned: there's a 30 minute cooldown on this ability on top of the 'you must charge it up again' side but I still suggest taking it for emergency situations. (I've saved two runs with it that otherwise would have wiped and I don't run in Exalted much at the moment).

[Ancient]

Here is a link to a very long writeup I did on a build centered around EA:
NovaSoul

I will tell you that renewal and divine wrath are amazing healing tools. I healed a caught in the web raid yesterday and my manabar never went below half. With archon and a few avenging lights, divine wrath is ready every 15 seconds. My biggest concern isn't if it is ready, it is if I'm allowed to do an AE at that point in time. Between renewal and my capstone heal, I only need heal scrolls or spells when someone is at risk of dying "right now".

I have also figured out one workaround to a bug, but I couldn't figure out where to put it... so it goes here.

The divine wrath counter (I forget the name) sometimes gets bugged and will stop going up. The solution in the past seems to be to let the counter slowly go down to zero and start over. I recently found that rebuke clears the counters and lets you begin again. The advantage is that this avoids the long cooldown process.

[mikarddo]

Thanks for the replies.

Divine Wrath does look nice - but fitting it in on a build that uses DC and hence wants the +5 or +6 Wisdom from EA is pretty hard.

I like that there are several competing options to try out

A question about twisting. I am unlikely to have Endless Faith 3 as part of my EA main setup - but I would prebably like to twist in exactly that when working on other destinies. Is that possible?

[mikarddo]

A couple more questions.

Blood and Radiance - 1 or more ranks and why?

Rebuke the foe - does this require one to face to target? I sometimes find it annoying having to face too often when kiting so if this does not require facing then that would be a definite plus.

[Brennie]

Thanks for the replies.

Divine Wrath does look nice - but fitting it in on a build that uses DC and hence wants the +5 or +6 Wisdom from EA is pretty hard.

I like that there are several competing options to try out

A question about twisting. I am unlikely to have Endless Faith 3 as part of my EA main setup - but I would prebably like to twist in exactly that when working on other destinies. Is that possible?(...)

Blood and Radiance - 1 or more ranks and why?
(...)

Allow me to point out that you are essentially giving up some of the most powerful abilities in the entire game in order to get +3 to your DCs. Divine Wrath does 2d6 light damage per caster level (50d6 at level 25! Unsure whether spellpower affects this, but still!) and half that much in healing in a big-boom AoE that you can "Recharge" in 15-20 seconds if you're doing it lazily, and a lot faster if you spam nimbus/searing/avenging light. KAPOW!

If you want to twist an ability that is not part of your original destiny build, you can simply reset your destiny and reinvest AP in the abilities you want to twist. Its similar to resetting enhancements except, and correct me if I'm wrong, it is a lot cheaper and has no 3-day cooldown period.

Blood and Radiance gets up to 3 spellpower per light/healing spell at tier 3. Seeing as how shoulder cannon will almost guarentee you have full stacks of Endless Ardor, that's and extra 30 spellpower for healing. And its likely you'll toss enough heals to get full stacks on Righteous ferver too. Combine with the tier 1 passives for 60 total spellpower! Not too shabby. However, if 20 more spellpower doesn't excite you, 1 rank shoudl be sufficient just to unlock the abilities that come after.

[mikarddo]

Thanks, you gave me something to consider wrt the extra DC or not.

[pseudomasochist]

Angelic Presence (Innate; free) - +2 Charisma, and enemies get -2 to hit. And its a no SP toggle. Whats not to love?

On characters with UMD, the hp requirement makes this innate a double-edged sword. It's not as bad as Fatesinger's Glitter of Fame - momentary freezing at 50% hp is annoying, 10% is often fatal - but still a drawback to watch out for until UMD lag gets fixed.