Necro cleric for new players (Human 19/1 Cleric/Wizard)

[EllisDee37]

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This build is out of date, designed before the enhancement pass that came with the Shadowfell expansion. The updated version is here.

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This is a DC caster cleric who (of course) can also raid heal. No tomes are required and no pay classes or races are involved so it's new player accessible, but it does use some consumables early on so if this is your very first character you'll be hurting for plat for a bit.

The basic concept is to splash 1 wizard for the bonus feat and +40 spell power toward blade barrier. Until level 12, play this character as a melee. At 12 you switch to casting full time, with blade barrier and slay living (and soon destruction) as your bread and butter. The melee will be THF using master's touch starting at level 2. (Carnifex, Sword of the Thirty, Whirlwind, etc...)

Because the build only has 10 int, if you don't have ship buffs you'll need a stack of fox's cunning pots on hand in order to actually cast master's touch at the start of every quest and after every shrine. This is expensive on a first-ever character, but any alts above level 4 can easily subsidize the cost.

There's a feat respec at level 12. This isn't too expensive to just pay for, so try not to use your free respec for it if you don't have to.

I personally prefer jump over balance because I like to feel agile. Jump is also helpful for blade barrier kiting. You can add in balance starting at level 7 if you have a +2 int tome.

NOTE: This build benefits greatly from a single wizard past life, not the least of which is that the wizard will be able to farm up the gear and destiny twists much easier than a cleric can. Second life xp requirements aren't too bad at all; nowhere near a third life. So a single wizard life followed by this life to end as a Hero is my recommendation. Doing so makes this life extremely fun to level up. However, this is by no means required. The build works on a first life just fine.

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Necro Cleric
Level 25 True Neutral Human Male
(19 Cleric \ 1 Wizard \ 5 Epic) 

Abilities          28pt    32pt    34pt    36pt
Strength            14      14      14      14
Dexterity            8       8       8       8
Constitution        14      14      14      14
Intelligence        10      10      10      10
Wisdom              16      18      18      18
Charisma            12      10      12      14

Skills              Ranks
Concentration        23
Jump                 11 
Tumble                1 
Use Magic Device     11  

Feats
 1 : Toughness
 1H: Power Attack (becomes Spell Penetration at level 12)
 2W: Maximize Spell
 3 : Empower Healing Spell
 6 : Quicken Spell
 9 : Spell Focus: Necromancy or Past Life: Arcane Initiate
12 : Heighten Spell
15 : Greater Spell Penetration
18 : Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy or Spell Focus: Necromancy
21E: Epic Spell Penetration
24E: Enlarge Spell

Exalted Angel
Wisdom V
Avenging Light
Healing Power III
Radiant Power III
Endless Faith III
Renewal III
Twist 1: Necromancy Specialist
Twist 2: Wisdom +1
Twist 3: Brace for Impact 

Level 1 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+4)
Skill: Jump (+2)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Feat: (Human Bonus) Power Attack
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning I


Level 2 (Wizard)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell
Spell (1): Master's Touch
Spell (1): Sonic Blast
Spell (1): Expeditious Retreat
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Improved Heal I


Level 3 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery I


Level 4 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)


Level 5 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting II
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I


Level 6 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Improved Heal II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Turning I


Level 7 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I or Cleric Divine Might I
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant I


Level 8 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic III
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting III


Level 9 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy or Past Life: Arcane Initiate
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II


Level 10 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I


Level 11 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Charisma I
Enhancement: Force Manipulation I


Level 12 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell
Feat: (Exchange) Spell Penetration replaces Power Attack
Enhancement: Cleric Charisma II


Level 13 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant II
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery II


Level 14 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic IV


Level 15 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting IV


Level 16 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II


Level 17 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration II


Level 18 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy or Spell Focus: Necromancy
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery III


Level 19 (Cleric)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery IV


Level 20 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom III


Level 21 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Spell Penetration


Level 24 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Selected) Enlarge Spell

Levels

Cleric @ 1, Wizard @ 2, Cleric rest of the way

The general idea is to (mostly) dump intelligence and use Fox's Cunning pots to qualify for casting Master's Touch and Expeditious Retreat. Those pots are ML2, so it makes sense to take the wizard level at 2 instead of 1.

Believe me, starting a level 1 wizard with dumped intelligence is no fun at all. Level 1 can easily be done with an ember mace, then switch to two-handers at level 2.


Enhancements

Radiant Servant II
Life Magic IV
Smiting IV
Wand & Scroll Mastery IV

Spell Penetration II
Force Manipulation I
Wisdom III
Human Adaptability: Wisdom
Energy of the Zealot I

Human Improved Recovery II
Racial Toughness II

Charisma II
Extra Turning I

Divine Vitality I or Divine Might I (prestige prereq)
Prayer of Incredible Life (prestige prereq)
Prayer of Life (prestige prereq)
Improved Heal II (prestige prereq)
Improved Turning I (prestige prereq)

My personal preference is to go with charisma II for the extra turn undead as well as +1 umd, but you might decide to go with Unyielding Sovereignty instead. If so, swap in the two faith enhancements in place of the two charisma; nothing else needs to change.

[EllisDee37]

Spell Penetration
19 base
8 feats
2 enhancements
3 item (see gear post)
5 destiny autogrants
----
37 on a first life (39 with a single wizard past life)

Wisdom
18 base
6 levelups
4 enhancements
10 items (cleric commendation set + holy symbol of lolth)
5 destiny
1 twist
---
44 base

To the base wisdom you can add:

+2 ship buff
+2 tome (+2)
+2 gear upgrade (+8/+3 instead of the +7/+2 from the commendation set)
+2 tome (+4)
----
52 wisdom

The basic starter life will likely end up with 48 wisdom, with the easy-to-get commendation set and just a simple +2 tome from the 1750 favor turn-in, plus ship buffs. That's +19 mod, so with that in mind:

Necro DC
10 base
9 heighten
19 wisdom modifier
2 item
2 feats
3 twist
---
45

[EllisDee37]

This build is essentially two completely different characters: Melee from 1-11, then DC caster from 12+. As such, the gear needs change radically.

MELEE (level 1-11)

Ember Mace (level 1)
Any THF (level 2-3, preferably crafted screaming of bleed or maybe a risia weapon)
Carnifex (level 4-7)
Sword of the Thirty w/Devotion +54 (level 8-9)
Whirlwind w/Devotion +54 (level 10-11)

Whatever weapons you find will work, but this is what I used and when. I farmed up all three named weapons during a wizard life (pale trapper, link in sig) before tring into this build. If you go this route, you won't want to switch carnifex to sword of the thirty at 8, but I only got maybe 2 ranks into 8 before trying it out and loved it. I never looked back at carnifex after that.

A couple crafted mauls for undead and ooze (Weapon Recipes, link in sig) rounded out the arsenal nicely. Apart from weapons, all you really need is invulnerability on your armor (maybe adding life shield at later levels) and the rest is the normal melee stuff: strength, constitution, false life, fortification, etc...



CASTER (level 12+)

There are several different ways to go with divine caster gear. Here's what I centered my gearset around while leveling:

Head: (Teraza's Perfect Sight)
Eyes:
Neck:
Back: Iron Cloak of the Dragon => Adamantine Cloak of the Dragon => Tablecloth
Wrist:
Hand: (Maenya's Iron Fists)
Waist:
Feet: Boots of the Mire => Cannith Boots of Propulsion
Ring: Ring of the Mire (until level 17; not as useful when you get rocket boots)
Ring: (Katra's Razor Wit)
Trinket: Voice of the Master
Armor: Elfcraft plate => Blue Dragonplate => Restored Elfcraft Plate => Flawless Blue Dragonplate
Mainhand: Scepter of Healing w/Devotion => Forgotten Light
Offhand: Dalorent's Seal w/Impulse => ? (many choices)

Full disclosure: While I did farm up an upgraded sora kell set (teraza's, maenya's, katra's) on my first cleric life, I never actually pulled them out of my tr cache on this final cleric life because I made a superior false life of concentration +15 cove hat. I included sora kell set in the list anyway because it's quite nice for clerics.


For a final endgame gearset, your primary decision will be where you want to slot devotion. There are currently four main places to do this:

Shamanic Fetish (trinket, also comes with radiance)
Gauntlets of Immortality (gloves, also comes with superior healing lore)
Forgotten Light (heavy mace, also comes with radiance)
Twilight, Element of Magic (quarterstaff)

I am overly drawn to forgotten light because it uses wisdom mod for to-hit and damage instead of strength. I find this quite helpful when something ends up slivered by blade barrier. This is also why I am such a fan of the Scepter of Healing for leveling, since it also uses wisdom for to-hit and damage. It's very rare that I actually swing my weapon, but I like to be able to.

The scepter of healing can be a pain to farm up; this is one of those areas where the wizard past life (as either a pale master or a warforged) makes life so much easier, since they don't find beholders particularly problematic.


After you decide on your devotion slot, the next big choice is armor. There are two main choices:

Cormyrian Green Dragonplate (-10% spell point cost to all spells)
Flawless Blue Dragonplate (Major Arcane Lore)

For me, I chose blue mainly because it's easier. Also, trying to slot in lore for blade barrier -- kinetic lore doesn't work -- is mildly annoying if you go with green. I'll live with drinking an occasional pot I wouldn't have had to drink if I wore green.

Unlike cormyrian green, flawless blue has a very nice progression to give you armor for every caster level:

ML10: Elfcraft Plate (arcane lore, spell pen +2 that covers slay living)
ML14: Blue Dragonplate (greater arcane lore, spell pen +2 that covers destruction)
ML23: Restored Elfcraft Plate (greater arcane lore, greater spell pen IX)
ML25: Flawless Blue Dragonplate, tier 3 (major arcane lore, greater spell pen IX)

The restored elfcraft plate can be had for a mere 10 restored elven relics, making it quite reasonable to farm up. The fact that it gives you +3 spell pen to all spells is incredible; by all rights it should only be spell pen IX, not greater.


Your last major choice is where to slot wisdom. If you went with blue armor, a blue dragon helm is the no-brainer choice for either +8 or +3. You don't need the epic elite version, but try to hold out for epic hard for the green slot. If given a choice, put +3 wisdom on your helmet because +8 is easier to slot elsewhere. You can find +8 or +3 wisdom in the following slots:

Head: +8 or +3 blue dragon helm; +8 lootgen
Eyes: +8 or +3 intricate field optics; +8 lootgen
Ring: +8 stormreaver prophecy, +8 lootgen
Trinket: +8 or +3 planar focus of erudition or subterfuge

Planar focus is a natural choice if you decide to go with twilight, element of magic.


As a cleric your survivability is paramount. To that end you'll want:

Healing Amp (fit whatever you can; like amounts don't stack)
Purple Dragon Gauntlets (30%)
Lootgen convalescent bracers of superior parrying (10%, 20% or 30%)
ToD ring (20%)
Wall of Wood (20% or 30%)

Damage Reduction (not required but nice to have)
Cloak of Night (DR 10/-)
Ring of the Djinn (best DR/15 in game; only bypassed by devils)
Ghost-Waking Cloak (very good DR/15; bypassed by devils and demons)
Bramble-casters (weak)
Epic Ring of the Mire (weak)

PRR (these don't stack with each other)
Bulwark of the Storm's Fist (+12 or +15)
Blue Augment (up to +14)

Ghostly (always 10%; stacks with concealment)
Ghost-Waking Cloak
Treads of Falling Shadow (boots)
Epic Ring of the Stalker
Ring of Shadows

Concealment (stacks with ghostly)
Ring of Shadows (25%)
Greensteel smoke item (20%) (any accessory except ring or trinket)
Dusk Heart (10%) (trinket)


A couple final points before getting to a list of endgame items by slot. Alchemical weapons (and shields) can be made with +2 alchemical wisdom. This is a wisdom bonus that can't be acquired in any other way, so I've earmarked my shield to be alchemical. It will also have a red slot for impulse +114. If I weren't so married to forgotten light I could go with an alchemical weapon and use bulwark of storm's fist as my shield for the "free" prr.

For your spell dc gear, you essentially cannot get major spell focus. Major necro focus goes on armor, but not on armor that's worth wearing for a cleric. Major enchantment/evocation focus goes on a quarterstaff, which would preclude the alchemical +2 wisdom. (If you have no desire for alchemical, then twilight becomes a solid option.) Because clerics use necromancy, evocation and enchantment, and major focus isn't really an option, I put a pretty high premium on greater spell focus mastery: +2 to all spell dcs. This can be found on cloaks and orbs. Since I very much prefer shields to orbs for a heavy-armor cleric, that leaves cloak as the only option. Therefore I farmed up an iron and adamantine dragon cloak on my wizard life and plan to upgrade to tablecloth for my final cloak. Tablecloth is extra good for this build because the +8 intelligence actually gives you +40 mana thanks to the 1 wizard level.


Head
Helm of the Blue Dragon

Eyes
Intricate Field Optics
Greensteel
Magewright's Spectacales

Neck
Torc of Prince Raiyum de-II
Symbol of the Shining Sun

Back
Stormreaver's Tablecloth
Adamantine Cloak of the Dragon
Ghost-Waking Cloak
Cloak of Night

Wrist
Greensteel
Convalescent of Superior Parrying (lootgen)

Hand
Gauntlets of Immortality
Purple Dragon Gauntlets

Waist
Greensteel
Belt of the Seven Ideals
Rahkir's Sash (if you have rahkir's ring)

Feet
Halcyon Boots
Treads of Falling Shadow
Cannith Boots of Propulsion

Ring
Ring of the Djinn
Ring of Shadows
Epic Ring of the Stalker
Ring of the Stormreaver Prophecy
Any ToD ring w/20% healing amp (rahkir's is probably best choice, or morgana's or amara's)
Signet of the Shining Sun

Trinket
Shamanic Fetish
Litany of the Dead
Kardin's Eye
Epic Dusk Heart

Weapon
Forgotten Light
Twilight, Element of Magic
Skiver
Alchemical w/+2 wisdom & red slot
Lootgen Major Focus (very rare)

Shield/Orb
Dalorent's Seal
Bulwark of the Storm's Fist
Alchemical w/+2 wisdom & red slot
Wall of Wood
Madstone Skull

Armor
(Restored) Elfcraft Plate Armor
(Flawless) Blue Dragonplate
Cormyrian Green Dragonplate
Leaves of the Forest
Breastplate of the Shining Sun
Terrorweb Chitin Breastplate

[firemedium_jt]

I like this +1

Level 12 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation
Feat: (Exchange) Spell Penetration replaces Power Attack
Enhancement: Cleric Charisma II

Using Power Attack and Wizard Master's Touch until your casting takes over, and not dumping STR. Makes low to mid lvl much more enjoyable.... and easier! IMHO. I recommend Keen falchions of... Pure Good/bloodletting/maiming for that. Maybe try to put Festival Icy Burst on it too, and you got some nice DPS with Power Attack and a critical range of 15-20 till mid lvls. If you got a Blood Stone you will Rival Pure melee DPS who don't have it at mid lvl. Sometimes Blood Stones pop up on trade or auction for under 300k Plat.

[EllisDee37]

I'm currently leaning toward Sword of the Thirty and Whirlwind* with devotion slotted into the red slots. I farmed both up so I'll get some first hand knowledge of how well it works as soon as I can manage to empty out my overflowing TR cache and get started on the TR into this build.

For me personally, as a 36pt build with the 14 base cha I'll be taking Divine Might I instead of Divine Vitality I at level 6 in order to help the melee side out a bit. Also, of course divine favor and divine power can help out too.

My first cleric build was terrible; I didn't plan out anything, ended up paying to swap a half dozen feats while leveling to 20, then used the free LR and the build still couldn't do anything but heal. I think my necro and evo dcs were around 36. Pathetic.

So I tr'ed into a wizard life for the past life and the ability to easily farm up dragon cloaks (iron and addy) as well as get my destinies all squared away. Finally finished all that this morning. Woot! Can't wait to get this alt back on the divine path.

*Whirlwind is crazy good; crit profile of a falchion, 3d6 base damage, and a red slot for devotion. Plus screaming, and a probably weak but occasionally useful DC17 knockdown effect.

[dlsidhe]

Having loved your evasion paladin (great build, no matter if you're new or not!), I rolled one of these last night and have had a bit of playtime.

The splash of wiz is brilliant. Reduces the feat-starvation on a caster-cleric tremendously, plus gives some useful spells. My only question is practical; heavy armor is nice, but carries high ASF. When casting Masters Touch, do you start the quest in a robe/naked, cast touch, then put on armor, or just play in a robe?

[unbongwah]

My only question is practical; heavy armor is nice, but carries high ASF. When casting Masters Touch, do you start the quest in a robe/naked, cast touch, then put on armor, or just play in a robe?

Master's Touch has no somatic component, and thus no ASF. Shield, Nightshield, and Expeditious Retreat do, unfortunately, but they now last 5 mins. per cast even at lvl 1; so it's fairly easy to get nekkid, buff, put your armor back on, and not worry about it 5 mins.

My only question is: why take Spell Focus in Evo & Necro rather than focusing on one? Can you Twist in multiple DC boosts somehow?

[dlsidhe]

Master's Touch has no somatic component, and thus no ASF. Shield, Nightshield, and Expeditious Retreat do, unfortunately, but they now last 5 mins. per cast even at lvl 1; so it's fairly easy to get nekkid, buff, put your armor back on, and not worry about it 5 mins.

My only question is: why take Spell Focus in Evo & Necro rather than focusing on one? Can you Twist in multiple DC boosts somehow?

Oh, thanks. That makes sense!

To answer your question, Draconic Disciple gives a 2DC boost to evocation that's twistable, and Magister gives a twistable +3 to any school, but for either one you need the basic spell focus feat,

[axel15810]

I was thinking of building a necro cleric. Nice build.

I think I'm going to basically follow this build with these differences -

- 16 CON, less STR.
- GSF: Necro instead of SF: Evo
- balance and concentration, no UMD or jump

[EllisDee37]

Master's Touch has no somatic component, and thus no ASF. Shield, Nightshield, and Expeditious Retreat do, unfortunately, but they now last 5 mins. per cast even at lvl 1; so it's fairly easy to get nekkid, buff, put your armor back on, and not worry about it 5 mins.

My only question is: why take Spell Focus in Evo & Necro rather than focusing on one? Can you Twist in multiple DC boosts somehow?

Nightshield has no ASF, oddly enough. Pretty sure it should, but it does not.

And yep, the sole reason for evo focus is that draconic twist. If you drop necro focus (like in your build) you can put both draconic and magister bonuses on evo for a solid +5. I prefer finger of death to wail, though, in that if I only got one of them I'd choose finger of death. So necro suits my playstyle better.

When casting Masters Touch, do you start the quest in a robe/naked, cast touch, then put on armor, or just play in a robe?

As unbongwah noted, it has no ASF chance. However, expeditious retreat does, and I keep that running 24/7. I've found with my old mithral full plate (so only 25% ASF compared to 35%) that I do fail enough to notice, but because it's only every 5 minutes I just don't care. Doesn't even annoy me, really. I never take it off to cast spells; I just eat the fails as the cost of doing business.

The more annoying issue with ASF is breaking barrels with sonic blast, but it doesn't stop me from lobbing those suckers all over the place willy-nilly. heh.

So far I'm level 5, and could practically faint at the awesomeness of elite open. This is my first legend life, and hoo boy it's going to be rough next time I roll up a brand new alt and only being able to open normal. *shudder*

As far as he build, I couldn't be happier with it. I'm constantly using master's touch (of course), expeditious retreat, sonic blast, knock scrolls (85%, woot!), invisibility scrolls, and even merfolk's a few times because his swim is so poor.

I'm fully loving it partly because the last 2 lives I've done were wizard lives, and it's so refreshing to be melee again. I don't have to worry about shrines or mana conservation; I typically end quests with 70% of my mana bar unused after having skipped all the shrines. Just a joy.

Carnifex works great; so well that I'm unsure how much I wanna switch to sword of the thirty next level.

I think I'm going to basically follow this build with these differences -

- 16 CON, less STR.
- GSF: Necro instead of SF: Evo
- balance and concentration, no UMD or jump

Originally I planned all necro feats as well, but the +2 evo dc twist from draconic requires spell focus: evo. That was too tempting to pass up.

The 14 strength helps qualify for power attack (str: 13) which is super nice for the melee levels.

UMD is in there for niceties like teleport scrolls, but also to allow forgotten light, which I'm irrationally drawn toward simply by virtue of it using wisdom mod for attack and damage. I don't envision swinging it as a melee often, but when I do I'd like to have my 50 wisdom (as opposed to my 25 strength) backing it up.

Of note is that the uberific Scepter of Healing (or whatever it's called) from Invaders! token turn-in also uses wisdom for attack and damage, which is my weapon of choice -- by a country mile -- from 12 until forgotten light.

EDIT: And yeah, balance is probably a better call than jump, but as I mentioned upthread I'll be getting balance via +2 int tome from last life (it's a +3 tome, actually) kicking in at level 7. I'll end up with 7 ranks of balance in addition to 11 each on jump and umd. For me, I can't handle a poor jump. Like all my alts, this one is built for 30+ jump, because 30 is my magic number. (I know of multiple jump checks of 30 in the game, but none higher than that.)

[axel15810]

Nightshield has no ASF, oddly enough. Pretty sure it should, but it does not.

And yep, the sole reason for evo focus is that draconic twist. If you drop necro focus (like in your build) you can put both draconic and magister bonuses on evo for a solid +5. I prefer finger of death to wail, though, in that if I only got one of them I'd choose finger of death. So necro suits my playstyle better.


As unbongwah noted, it has no ASF chance. However, expeditious retreat does, and I keep that running 24/7. I've found with my old mithral full plate (so only 25% ASF compared to 35%) that I do fail enough to notice, but because it's only every 5 minutes I just don't care. Doesn't even annoy me, really. I never take it off to cast spells; I just eat the fails as the cost of doing business.

The more annoying issue with ASF is breaking barrels with sonic blast, but it doesn't stop me from lobbing those suckers all over the place willy-nilly. heh.

So far I'm level 5, and could practically faint at the awesomeness of elite open. This is my first legend life, and hoo boy it's going to be rough next time I roll up a brand new alt and only being able to open normal. *shudder*

As far as he build, I couldn't be happier with it. I'm constantly using master's touch (of course), expeditious retreat, sonic blast, knock scrolls (85%, woot!), invisibility scrolls, and even merfolk's a few times because his swim is so poor.

I'm fully loving it partly because the last 2 lives I've done were wizard lives, and it's so refreshing to be melee again. I don't have to worry about shrines or mana conservation; I typically end quests with 70% of my mana bar unused after having skipped all the shrines. Just a joy.

Carnifex works great; so well that I'm unsure how much I wanna switch to sword of the thirty next level.

Originally I planned all necro feats as well, but the +2 evo dc twist from draconic requires spell focus: evo. That was too tempting to pass up.

The 14 strength helps qualify for power attack (str: 13) which is super nice for the melee levels.

UMD is in there for niceties like teleport scrolls, but also to allow forgotten light, which I'm irrationally drawn toward simply by virtue of it using wisdom mod for attack and damage. I don't envision swinging it as a melee often, but when I do I'd like to have my 50 wisdom (as opposed to my 25 strength) backing it up.

Of note is that the uberific Scepter of Healing (or whatever it's called) from Invaders! token turn-in also uses wisdom for attack and damage, which is my weapon of choice -- by a country mile -- from 12 until forgotten light.

EDIT: And yeah, balance is probably a better call than jump, but as I mentioned upthread I'll be getting balance via +2 int tome from last life (it's a +3 tome, actually) kicking in at level 7. I'll end up with 7 ranks of balance in addition to 11 each on jump and umd. For me, I can't handle a poor jump. Like all my alts, this one is built for 30+ jump, because 30 is my magic number. (I know of multiple jump checks of 30 in the game, but none higher than that.)

Yeah good points. For me though I think I'd rather just forget about having good melee at low levels and put the points in CON since it will be more useful later. I'll be starting at lvl 7 first life so it won't be too hard to just cast what crappy spells I have and healbot groups until I get slay living. Plus I'll still be able to melee with MT, just not as well. I completely understand taking evo focus for that +2 evo twist, but for me I think I'd rather just be a specialist and take the additional +1 necro DC feat since I'll be trying to make up not having any DC past lives. I want the instakills to hit as much as possible on EH.

[dlsidhe]

Yeah good points. For me though I think I'd rather just forget about having good melee at low levels and put the points in CON since it will be more useful later. I'll be starting at lvl 7 first life so it won't be too hard to just cast what crappy spells I have and healbot groups until I get slay living. Plus I'll still be able to melee with MT, just not as well. I completely understand taking evo focus for that +2 evo twist, but for me I think I'd rather just be a specialist and take the additional +1 necro DC feat since I'll be trying to make up not having any DC past lives. I want the instakills to hit as much as possible on EH.

The one thing with that is that the BIG DIVINE INSTAKILL is actually an evocation spell. On my evoker, I'd love to have SF:Necro for Destruction, but when I absolutely, positively, have to kill every mob in the room, my 40+DC Implosion is what I hit, and let a blade barrier and Divine Wrath mop up the remains.

[nni]

Those DC's aren't enough for epic elite. You should unroll this toon. I suggest a Shiradi Sorc.



Just kidding. It does seem like a nice build. Evocation focus is nice, but implosion is too unreliable due to lack of targeting, especially if your DC's aren't very high. With Necro you can just focus on low fort save mobs.

[EllisDee37]

Yeah good points. For me though I think I'd rather just forget about having good melee at low levels and put the points in CON since it will be more useful later. I'll be starting at lvl 7 first life so it won't be too hard to just cast what crappy spells I have and healbot groups until I get slay living. Plus I'll still be able to melee with MT, just not as well. I completely understand taking evo focus for that +2 evo twist, but for me I think I'd rather just be a specialist and take the additional +1 necro DC feat since I'll be trying to make up not having any DC past lives. I want the instakills to hit as much as possible on EH.

Yeah, I see what you're saying there and why you prefer those choices.

One thing I totally agree with you on is that my critical requirement is that I need destruction to work reliably on EH. Implosion is great, don't get me wrong, but the full minute cooldown relegates it to a secondary attack in my eyes. Based on the wizard life I just ran this character through for the past life, I consider the mendoza line to be 45 necro dc.

And the satire about "gimp for EE, reroll!" is spot on; this build will not have any kind of EE-ready DCs. But hey, a drow pure pale master with unlimited past lives probably can't either. Which is why I essentially have given up the idea of EE altogether, not just on this build but in general. Doesn't mean we can't have fun builds for the rest of the game.

[unbongwah]

So far I'm level 5, and could practically faint at the awesomeness of elite open. This is my first legend life, and hoo boy it's going to be rough next time I roll up a brand new alt and only being able to open normal. *shudder*

Heh, I think the main reason I'm still a VIP is for hard/elite unlock.

As far as he build, I couldn't be happier with it. I'm constantly using master's touch (of course), expeditious retreat, sonic blast, knock scrolls (85%, woot!), invisibility scrolls, and even merfolk's a few times because his swim is so poor.

It's worth pointing out that the wiz splash also gains you access to all arcane wands, which don't suffer from ASF and don't require a UMD or caster-level check; Blur, Invisibility, Expeditious Retreat, Knock, and Stoneskin all come on wands, IIRC.

Carnifex works great; so well that I'm unsure how much I wanna switch to sword of the thirty next level.

I'm looking at the new SotT; apart from the slightly higher base dmg and red augment slot, it hasn't changed much. My hunch is Carnifex is still better against anything critable, but I'd like to see the DPS crunching which proves that.

Originally I planned all necro feats as well, but the +2 evo dc twist from draconic requires spell focus: evo. That was too tempting to pass up.

I take it you're aiming more for EH than EE content; do you think your DCs will be sufficient?

And the satire about "gimp for EE, reroll!" is spot on; this build will not have any kind of EE-ready DCs. But hey, a drow pure pale master with unlimited past lives probably can't either. Which is why I essentially have given up the idea of EE altogether, not just on this build but in general. Doesn't mean we can't have fun builds for the rest of the game.

Haven't you heard? "If it can't run EE, it's $#!^!"

[EllisDee37]

I'm looking at the new SotT; apart from the slightly higher base dmg and red augment slot, it hasn't changed much. My hunch is Carnifex is still better against anything critable, but I'd like to see the DPS crunching which proves that.

Carnifex is better dps, but slotting devotion into Sot30 gives more spell power than otherwise achievable due to implement bonus.

I take it you're aiming more for EH than EE content; do you think your DCs will be sufficient?

Should be; my experience on this alt's wizard life (with no arcane destiny, no arcane past life) was that 45 necro or better is highly effective in EH. At first he was 40, and finger was poor. By the end I was 43 I think, and it was much better but could still use a little love. 45 should be good.

This build should hit around 46 necro I think.

[EllisDee37]

Carnifex works great; so well that I'm unsure how much I wanna switch to sword of the thirty next level.

Unfortunately, carnifex has ruined me for sword of the thirty. Level 8 now, I've been testing out Sot30 for the last couple days. If it were all I'd ever used I'd probably like it a lot, but it's just nowhere near the dps of carnifex. At this point I may even keep carnifex over whirlwind at level 10; not sure yet.

[HalfORCastrator]

Should be; my experience on this alt's wizard life (with no arcane destiny, no arcane past life) was that 45 necro or better is highly effective in EH.

For EH GH you'll want around 50.

At this point I may even keep carnifex over whirlwind at level 10; not sure yet.

Aww, I wanted to try it out, Mr. Sourpuss.

[ThePrincipal]

Does elf spell pen bonus work with cleric?

[unbongwah]

Does elf spell pen bonus work with cleric?

An elven version of this build could take Elven Arcanum I; but it's unclear to me whether the +1 Spell Pen applies to all spells or just wiz spells. However, access to higher ranks of Arcanum are tied to # of wiz lvls, so it would only get the first rank.