Cleric Enhancement Trees Review

[guardianx2009]

This is review of the cleric enhancement trees and their abilities offered. I'm doing this in part to help myself explore and better understand the cleric tree offerings. Hopefully it will be helpful and enjoyable read to you also.

This review will be broken into 3 parts (one for each tree):
Radiant Servant
Divine Disciple
Warpriest

Note: While I try to give each tree a fair review by analyzing and testing each ability, exploring what they have to offer; understand that I am reviewing and testing these enhancements from an end-game perspective (level 20+ cleric, epic-hard epic-elite content). Your opinions may differ otherwise.

[guardianx2009]

SUMMARY
This is a good, no, very good, cleric tree. There are lots of good abilities to be had here. Trademark abilities Postive Energy Aura and and Positive Energy Burst.


Core abilities
Healing Domain:
For each action point spent in this tree, you gain 0.5 Universal Spell Power and 1 Positive Energy Spell Power. (These stack, effectively giving 1.5 Positive Spell Power per point)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 0 Requires: Cleric 1
Nothing much to say about this. Gaining spellpower for every point spent is a good thing. Though it makes it difficult when trying verify numbers.

Pacifism:
Toggle: You gain 25 Positive Energy Spell Power and 3% Positive Energy Spell Critical Chance, but have -50 Spell Power and cannot critically hit with other spell damage types, and deal -1[W] damage.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Cleric 3, Healing Domain
This ability gets alot of negative press, and rightly so: You're giving up a whole lot and not getting enough in return! Having said that, you can use it to power your aura by turning it on, cast your aura, then turn it off. It is essentially a free +25spell power/+3% crit boost to your aura!

Positive Energy Burst:
You gain +1% Positive Energy Spell Critical Chance.
Channel Divinity: A wave of positive energy that expands from the caster, healing 1d8 plus 1 per Cleric level to all nearby allies, as well as removing 1d4 negative levels and 1d6 points of ability damage. Undead are instead damaged by the energy, taking 1d8 points of damage per Cleric level - a successful Will save reduces the damage by half. (Metamagic: Empower, Empower Heal, Maximize, Quicken. Spell Resistance: Yes)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 Requires: Cleric level 6, Pacifism
This is what you came to this tree for right? (Aura and burst). Though nowadays, you really need healing amp to maximize returns.

Improved Empower Healing:
You gain +1% Positive Energy Spell Critical Chance. The Empower Healing Spell metamagic now grants +100 Positive Energy Spell Power instead of +75.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 Requires: Cleric level 12, Positive Energy Burst
+25 positive spell power and +1% positive crit for basically 1AP is a good investment. Assuming you have empower healing feat.. and of course you do.. right?

Positive Energy Shield:
You gain +1% Positive Energy Spell Critical Chance.
Channel Divinity: Your living ally receives temporary hit points equal to your Heal skill. While these hit points remain, your target receives +10% Sacred bonus to healing they receive from positive energy. (Cooldown: 30 seconds)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 30 Requires: Cleric level 18, Improved Empower Healing
Garbage. Temporary Hit points need to be alot.. like in the 100+ to matter. And you are unlikely to get your heal skill anywhere near that ballpark. At best, this is just good for +1% positive spell crit... meh.

Radiant Servant:
You gain +2 Wisdom. Every fifth positive energy spell you cast deals maximum healing and has +50% chance to critical.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 40 Requires: Cleric level 20, Positive Energy Shield
+2 wisdom is nice but expensive having to invest 40 points in the tree.

The maximum every fifth positive energy spell is interesting. How it works is that every positive spell you cast (including ticks from aura) goes towards a counter. Once that counter reaches 5, you gain a buff (the name eludes me at the moment). When you have this buff, your next positive spell (aura ticks do not count) deals maximum healing and +50% crit chance.

This means that after 5 combination of cure/heal/aura ticks, you are "locked and loaded" for a big heal. It is interesting but impractical: the big heals are almost always overkill. However: fun times can be for nuking undead.


Tier One
Extra Turning:
+1/+2/+3 Turn Undead per rest.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
Extra Turns for 1AP is good investment.

Wand Mastery:
+25%/+50%/+75% effectiveness of your wands, scrolls, and other items that cast spells, and +1/+2/+3 to the save DCs of your offensive wands.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
My tests of tier 1 and 2 seem to indicate the percentages are wrong. It was more like 5%/10%.. Wand/Scroll healing isn't needed as often nowadays.

Still, it isn't a bad investment of 1-2AP for when you do use them.

Divine Cleansing:
Channel Divinity: Removes harmful effects from your target. Leaves a lingering immunity to natural and magical diseases and poisons for 12 seconds per Cleric level. (Cooldown: 2 seconds)
Rank 1: Removes all Disease and Poison effects.
Rank 2: Removes all Blindness, Curse, Disease and Poison effects.
Rank 3: Removes all Blindness, Curse, Disease, Paralysis, Petrification and Poison effects.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 1 No requirements
Boy is this ability underrated. The real benefit of this ability is the disease/poison immunity for ~4 minutes (at level 20). It even prevents mummy rot(!!).

I recommend investing in only the first tier. Tier 2 isn't worth it (you can scroll/pot remove blindness/curse). And tier 3 is too costly (6AP) just to be able to remove (but not grant immunity to) Paralysis/Petrification.

Bliss:
When you use a Turn Attempt for any reason, you gain 3/4/5 Temporary Hit Points for each Healing Core Ability you possess.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 1 No requirements
I can't see any reason to invest in this ability. Temporary hitpoints go away fast.. and that 10-25 temp hp you get is going to go away even faster..

Altruism:
+1/+2/+3 Concentration, Diplomacy and Heal. Rank 3: You also gain +10 Positive Energy Spell Power.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
Basically you get +1 Heal and +10 Pos. Spell power for 1AP each. Not a lot, but it's not a bad place to spend points if you are looking for places to them. Remember, more positive spell power = more powerful aura.


Tier Two
Improved Turning:
You count as 1/2/3 levels higher when turning undead. This increases the maximum level of creature you can turn and also increases the total number of hit dice you can turn.
In addition, you add an additiona 2/4/6 to the number of hit dice you can turn.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Extra Turning
If you care about turning undead at all, you will want all 3 tiers here. It is one of the few places where you can boost your cleric turn levels (a vitally stat for turning).

Mighty Turning:
Undead that you successfully turn are instead destroyed.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 Requires: Improved Turning
If you're going to turn undead.. well you'll want this.

Purge Dark Magics:
Channel Divinity: Dispels 1/2/3 hostile magical effects from your target. (Cooldown: 6 seconds)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Divine Cleansing

I wanted to like this ability, I really did. But it turns out that it only removes a handful of negative effects:

- On one hand, it removes debuffs such as Symbol of Pain/Weakness etc. It removes petrification (on others of course).
- On the other, it does not remove debuffs from bosses such as Rednamed Bebeliths and Reaver's boom/save debuff.

So somewhat useful to remove minor annoyances. And useless when you need it most (against bosses).

Divine Healing
Divine Healing: Your target heals 1d4/2d4/4d4 hp every 2 seconds for 2 seconds per point of Heal skill you possess. (Cooldown: 2 seconds)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 No requirements
This ability is much improved from the original version. You can now cast it on yourself, and it no longer goes away when you are topped off. It also can last as long as 1 - 2 minutes.

Divine Healing is not affected by spell power, nor any feats. It is however, affected by Healing Amp. With proper healing amp, this ability can heal for 20 to high 30 HP per tick. It is a decent poor man's HoT (Heal-over-Time), and a very good supplement to Healing Aura... if you have healing amp.

When I tested, this ability is plagued by a bug where any sort of movement during the casting animation interrupts the spell. Frustratingly, animation still continues and you are still charged a turn however..

Efficient Empower Healing:
Healing spells cast while the Empower Healing Spell feat is activated cost 1/2/4 fewer spell points.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 Requires: Empower Healing Spell
Some may disagree with me here, but I personally do not see these as worthwhile investment.

The math just doesn't support it:
Let's assume on average we cast heal 20 times between shrines. This means we save a total of 20/40/80sp. I'm sorry, that's just not worth it for 2/4/6 AP cost.


Tier Three
Intense Healing:
Your Positive Energy Spells are cast at +1/+2/+3 caster level.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
Increasing positive spell caster levels are nice in general. However if your spell are already capped, you basically need to pair it with Incredible Healing (to break the maximum caster level limit).. it becomes a pretty expensive investment. Investing in 1 tier is OK and at most, 2 tiers.

Unyielding Sovereignty:
Activate: Fully heals all hit point damage done to a targeted ally, and removes ability damage, death penalty effects, negative levels, and the conditions blinded, dazed, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, poisoned, and stunned. (Cooldpwn: 5 minutes)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
This is the only ability that can remove the death penalty effects. Anyone that have died multiple times, would know how debilitating these effects can be. This is a wonderful ability to help get rid of it.

However, as a cleric you can also choose a very similar ability as a FEAT. You can acquire both the feat and enhancement ability: they function independently. There's some important distinctions however:

1. The Feat version is currently BUGGED: It removes the death penalty timer, but not the penalty itself. So instead of removing it, the penalty was made permanent instead! Only way to get rid of then is to shrine or use the enhancement version. Needless to say... DO NOT USE unless you wish to grief your group mates :P

2. The Enhancement version has half the cool down (5min vs 10min). So yes, it is better than the feat version in that you'll be able to get more uses out of it.


Martyrdom:
Toggle: When you are killed, four turn attempts are expended. All nearby living allies and enemy undead receive 250/500/1000 positive energy healing and are affected by your Divine Cleansing ability if you possess it. This healing effect is unaffected by Spell Power. (This ability has no effect if you have insufficient turn attempts when you die.) This ability toggles off on death.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 Requires: Divine Healing
I don't even know what to say here... maybe if you want to play suicide bomber and jump into a pile of undead...

Charisma or Wisdom:
Choose one:
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
Any stat bonus is nice. Just make sure you end up on an even number in the end.


Tier Four
Endless Turning:
Turn Undead uses regenerate at a rate of one every 120 seconds, or 10%/20%/30% faster if it already regenerates.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Improved Turning
Unless you plan on using turns heavily (ie: to power Confront Any Foe), investing one tier here is probably good enough.

Incredible Healing:
The maximum caster level of your Positive Energy Spells are increased by 1/2/3.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Intense Healing
See Intense Healing.

Divine Health:
You are immune to natural, magical, and supernatural diseases.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 No requirements
Not worth it IMHO: Divine Cleansing basically gives you the same thing for 4 minutes.

Charisma or Wisdom:
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Charisma or Wisdom (Tier 3)
Any stat bonus is nice. Just make sure you end up on an even number in the end.


Tier Five
Positive Energy Aura:
Channel Divinity: A positive energy aura envelops you in an aura of healing, positive energy, and affects a number of targets equal to Cleric level. Allies within the aura are healed 1 hit point per 3 Cleric levels as long as they remain within it. Undead enemies are damaged for the same amount. (Cooldown: 6 seconds)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 No requirements
Cornerstone of this tree, and arguably the best Tier 5 ability of all the cleric trees. It is pretty hard to beat when you can get your aura to heal you for over 120hp/tick.

Cure Focus:
Your Cure Wounds spells have no maximum caster level.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 Requires: Incredible Healing
This is an interesting ability. Your mass cures goes way up. But realistically, you don't need it.

What is interesting is that this ability applies to the little known level 2 spell: Close Wounds. The trademark of this spell is near instant casting and extremely short cooldown, but is capped at caster level 5.

Without the cap, suddenly what you have is a: near instant, extremely short cure spell that hits 60-80hp non-max-empowered for a measly 8sp. With healing amp, goes up to ~130+ for 8sp. Max-empowered, this spell heals for over 300+.

Reactive Heal:
Channel Divinity: The next time your target falls below half hit points, they receive 250 positive energy healing. A target can only benefit from a Reactive Heal once every 3 minutes (reset by resting). This healing effect is unaffected by spell power. (Cooldown: 6 seconds)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 Requires: Martyrdom
Sounds like a cool and neat ability. But in reality it is difficult to manage due to the 3 minute wait period. It is basically a form stalwart pact. And like stalwart pact, you're likely to end up using it as a buff at the beginning of a quest/shrine only.

[guardianx2009]

SUMMARY
SLAs, additional spells and +spellpower/DC is pretty much what this tree is about, with SLA's being the trademark. The serious divine disciple would be interested in all three categories. Other clerics would just dip into this tree for the +spellpower/DC. Full time offensive caster clerics would feel at home here.

For levelling, the SLA's in this tree are no doubt very powerful thanks to low mob HP combined with cheap cost SLAs. The question on everyone's mind is, how viable is Divine Disciple in Epic Elite? Well to answer that, I re-spec'ed my cleric into Divine Disciple and ran a few Epic Elite quests solo. Here's how it went:

I started off with the shortest, easiest Epic Elite: Impossible Demands. Using EA (Exalted Angel) destiny, I completed the quest just fine. But it wasn't satisfactory, the SLAs just don't do fast enough damage and it took quite a bit more effort than I'd like. I need to be able to do more damage with my SLAs to be truly viable in Epic Elites.

With that I swapped out Exalted Angel for Shiradi Champion, hoping the Shiradi Procs would give me boost I'm looking for. Armed with an SLA rotation of Avenging Light (twist from EA), Searing Light and Nimbus, I stepped in EE Lords of Dust. WOW what a difference! Even without the multi-hit magic/force missiles that arcanes have, the shiradi procs were still working very, very well with the SLAs. The extra damage was just what was needed! Combined with RUIN spell, even the bosses went down easily.

Conclusion: YES absolutely, I was quite surprised at how potent Divine Disciple is when combined with Shiradi (and Avenging Light SLA twist). With ease in which I ran through EE Lords of Dust, I can say with confidence to say it is very viable in even the tougher EEs.

Notes:
Shield Blocking: As a divine disciple, it may be worthwhile to invest in shield defenses. You can shield block while spamming SLAs: You can gain the all the advantages of shield block while dishing out major SLA damage.

Healing: You'll be a weaker healer overall as a result. Without an aura, you'll have to pay close attention to your HP. Without the passive healing, you are most vulnerable when knocked down or cc'ed.



Core abilities
Emissary:
Follow the path of Light or Dark:
Divine Emissary of Darkness: +5 Negative Spellpower. Gaining Light or Negative Energy spellpower from Divine Disciple also adds to your alignment spellpowers.
Divine Emissary of Light: +5 Light Spellpower. Gaining Light or Negative Energy spellpower from Divine Disciple also adds to your alignment spellpowers.

Gaining Light or Negative Energy spellpower from Divine Disciple also adds to your alignment spellpowers.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 0 Requires: Cleric level 1
I recommend the Light route unless you are going for a necro cleric and want the necro DC's. The light SLAs are superior by far.

Sacred Defense:
+2 to all saving throws.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Cleric level 3, Emissary
Any bonus to saving throws helps.. when it matters. In the more difficult Epic Elite quests, if you saving throw isn't say over 50, this +2 would mean nothing. Either case, you don't have much choice but to take this if you are want to progress up the tree.

Divine Spell Knowledge:
Add a new spell to your spellbook:
Enervation: Your Cleric spellbook gains Enervation as a level 4 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Sun Bolt: Your Cleric spellbook gains Sun Bolt as a level 3 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 Requires: Cleric level 6, Sacred Defense
Enervation is good spell and a great complement to Energy Drain. You can chain them drain levels/debuff mobs very quickly. For insta-killing (drain->destruction, drain->slay living combos), you can cycle between them in between cooldowns. That being said, you can achieve almost the same result with Enervation scrolls. Alternatively, you can triple chain spam Energy Drain->enervate->envervate scroll for some massive negative levels.

Sun Bolt is basically a lightning bolt that does light damage instead. It has a special property where every mob in its path takes damage. At cap (it has a level cap of 15), the damage (maximized) is about 400-500. It is a fun and useful spell for EH and below content. But not quite for Epic Elite: you will be out of sp very fast.

Divine Spell Knowledge:
Add a new spell to your spellbook:
Necrotic Ray: Your Cleric spellbook gains Necrotic Ray as a level 6 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Sunbeam: Your Cleric spellbook gains Sunbeam as a level 6 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 Requires: Cleric level 12, Divine Spell Knowledge
Sunbeam is basically a searing light, but does 400-700 (maximized) damage. Damage is meaningful for EH and below content. But I wouldn't bother with it on it in EE. Necrotic Ray however, is very good. It does ~500 (maximized) damage AND drains 1 level: no save, no SR. On EH and below quest, you can use this spell as a nuke. In EE not so much. However, the key here is no save, no sr 1 level drain. On top of that, un-meta'd, it only costs 10sp (20 with quicken). It could be used as an opening shot on a full HP mob. Even 1 level of edrain could do pretty good damage on a mob with thousands of HP.

Divine Spell Knowledge:
Add a new spell to your spellbook:
Power Word: Stun: Your Cleric spellbook gains Power Word: Stun as a level 8 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Sunburst: Your Cleric spellbook gains Sunburst as a level 8 spell.
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 30 Requires: Cleric level 18, Divine Spell Knowledge (2)
Power Word: Stun is a no save, single target CC. Anything that has no save is great in Epic Elite. This however is vulnerable to SR, so pick your targets wisely. Sunburst is a joke against anything but ooze and undead.

Transcendence:
Complete your training:
Transcend Darkness:
+2 Wisdom
+5 Light Spellpower
+2 to all saving throws
Your Cleric Spellbook gains Sun Bolt as a level 3 spell, Sunbeam as a level 6 spell, Sunburst as a level 7 spell, and Word of Balance as a level 7 spell.
You gain +1 caster level and maximum caster level to Light, Negative Energy, and Fire spells.
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Transcend Light:
+2 Wisdom
+5 Negative Energy spellpower
+2 to all saving throws
Your Cleric Spellbook gains Enervation as a level 4 spell, Necrotic Ray as a level 6 spell, Power Word: Stun as a level 8 spell, and Word of Balance as a level 7 spell.
You gain +1 caster level and maximum caster level to Light, Negative Energy, and Fire spells.
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 40 Requires: Cleric level 20, Divine Spell Knowledge (3)
The divine disciple capstone. It really isn't bad, just the +2 wisdom and +1 max caster level are pretty good. If you can make use of the extra spells, then you will really want to invest the 40APs to get this. Word of Balance is a pretty interesting spell, it can do over 1200 damage in a single shot. Fun to add to your repertoire for nuking EH quests and below.


Tier One
Prophetic Zenith:
Gain a new Spell-like ability:
Chill Touch: (Activation Cost: 4/3/2 spell points. Cooldown: 6/5/4 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Nimbus of Light: (Activation Cost: 4/3/2 spell points. Cooldown: 6/5/4 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
Chill Touch is garbage. Why would you want a touch SLA with little to no range when you can have a ray SLA with DOUBLE the (regular ray spell) range in Nimbus of Light? Nimbus is one reason you should go light path. Invest 3 tiers and make it part of your SLA rotation. Nimbus does ~100-115 non-crit (maximized) damage (~135-145 in EA destiny)

Spellpower:
Choose a type of spellpower to gain:
Spellpower: Light: +5/+10/+15 Light Spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spellpower: Negative: +5/+10/+15 Negative Spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spellpower: Universal: +3/+6/+9 Universal Spellpower
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
You will probably find it better to simply invest in the Universal Spellpower. The type specific gain isn't high enough to offset the wider application gain.

Divine Vitality:
Channel Divinity: Your target ally gains 3d4+10/5d4+10/7d4+10 spellpoints. This ability cannot target yourself. (Cooldown: 2 seconds)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
Any ability that does nothing to benefit you directly is mostly not worthwhile. This is one of them. At low levels where SP is scarce, this might come in handy to help out your fellow arcanes. At high levels, your points are better spent elsewhere.

Spell Criticals:
Choose which of your spells gain enhanced Critical Chance:
Spell Critical: Negative: +2% Critical Chance with Negative Energy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Critical: Light: +2% Critical Chance with Light spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell Critical: Universal: +1% Critical Chance with spells
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 1 No requirements
Increasing chance to Spell Crit is great. However, the 1% gain is rather small for the cost of 2AP. If you're going to be spamming light/negative SLAs, you might be better off investing in the %2 Light/Negative version instead.

Spell Points:
+30/60/90 Spell Points.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
3 AP for 90 spell points, sure.. why not?


Tier Two
Spell Penetration:
+1/+2/+3 to your Caster Level check to overcome enemy spell resistance.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 No requirements
I consider Spell Penetration an all or nothing investment. What I mean by this is if you care about it, you should invest a lot (Feats, etc) into it to make it worthwhile. If you don't care about it, then save your AP and look elsewhere.

Spellpower:
Choose a type of spellpower to gain:
Spellpower: Fire: +6/+12/+18 Fire Spellpower
Spellpower: Force: +5/+10/+15 Force Spellpower
Spellpower: Universal: +3/+6/+9 Universal Spellpower
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 No requirements
Same as before, just invest in Universal and be done with.

Efficient Metamagic:
Choose one of the following Metamagic feats. Reduce the spell point cost of using that Metamagic.
Efficient Empower: Using the Empower Spell Metamagic costs you 2/4/6 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Enlarge: Using the Enlarge Spell Metamagic costs you 1/2/4 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Maximize: Using the Maximize Spell Metamagic costs you 3/6/9 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Quicken: Using the Quicken Spell Metamagic costs you 1/2/4 fewer Spell Points.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 Requires: The Metamagic Feat you are improving
No amount of Efficient Metamagic is going to make your regular spells as efficient as SLAs. I don't recommend investing any APs here.

Spell Criticals:
Choose which of your spells gain enhanced Critical Chance:
Spell Critical: Negative: +2% Critical Chance with Negative Energy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Critical: Light: +2% Critical Chance with Light spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell Critical: Universal: +1% Critical Chance with spells
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 Requires: Spell Criticals (Tier 1)
Increasing chance to Spell Crit is great, however, the 1% gain is rather small for the cost of 2AP. If you're going to be spamming light/negative SLAs, you're probably better off investing in the %2 Light/Negative version instead.

Efficient Metamagic:
Choose one of the following Metamagic feats. Reduce the spell point cost of using that Metamagic.
Efficient Empower: Using the Empower Spell Metamagic costs you 2/4/6 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Enlarge: Using the Enlarge Spell Metamagic costs you 1/2/4 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Maximize: Using the Maximize Spell Metamagic costs you 3/6/9 fewer Spell Points.
Efficient Quicken: Using the Quicken Spell Metamagic costs you 1/2/4 fewer Spell Points.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 No requirements
Ditto. See "Efficient Metamagic" above.


Tier Three
Prophetic Zenith:
Gain a new Spell-like ability:
Necrotic Bolt: (Activation Cost: 12/9/6 spell points. Cooldown: 10/8/6 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Searing Light: (Activation Cost: 12/9/6 spell points. Cooldown: 10/8/6 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 No requirements
If you're going to use SLAs, Searing Light is a must have. It should be part of your SLA rotation. Searing light does ~120-180 non-crit (maximized) damage. Necrotic bolt on the other hand, is garbage. It is not affected by ANY metamagic, not even quicken!

Spellpower:
Choose a type of spellpower to gain:
Spellpower: Light: +5/+10/+15 Light Spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spellpower: Negative: +5/+10/+15 Negative Spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spellpower: Universal: +3/+6/+9 Universal Spellpower
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 No requirements
Ditto. See "Spellpower" above.

Efficient Metamagic:
Choose another Metamagic feats. Reduce the spell point cost of using that Metamagic.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 Requires: Efficient Metamagic (Tier 2)
Ditto. See "Efficient Metamagic" above.

Spell Criticals:
Choose which of your spells gain enhanced Critical Chance:
Spell Critical: Negative: +2% Critical Chance with Negative Energy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Critical: Light: +2% Critical Chance with Light spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell Critical: Universal: +1% Critical Chance with spells
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 Requires: Spell Criticals (Tier 2)
Ditto. See "Spell Criticals" above.

Wisdom:
+1 to Wisdom.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
Any stat bonus is nice. Just make sure you end up on an even number in the end.


Tier Four
Prophetic Zenith:
Gain a new Spell-like ability:
Negative Energy Burst: (Activation Cost: 13/10/7 spell points. Cooldown: 10/8/6 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Holy Smite: (Activation Cost: 13/10/7 spell points. Cooldown: 10/8/6 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 No requirements
Negative Energy Burst isn't very good for the following reasons:
1. Like most SLAs, it doesn't do a lot of damage. But moreso:
2. It's not targetable - it is centered on you..

Holy Smite does type:good damage (~100-150 non-crit (maximized) damage), it is not affected by light spell power. However, it has some interesting uses:
1. It is a range AOE SLA you can add to your SLA rotation.
2. Because it is AOE, you can do trigger quite a few shiradi procs when spamming it on a pack of mobs.
3. The blinding aspect complements Blade Barrier: Blinded mobs have their reflex saves reduced significantly.
You can make your Blade Barrier more effective by tossing this SLA around while kiting a room full of angry EE mobs.

DC or Spellpower:
Increase your spellpower or your Difficulty Checks for a spellcaster school.
Spell DC: Evocation: +1 DC to Evocation spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell DC: Necromancy: +1 DC to Necromancy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Power: Universal: +9 Universal spellpower
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Cleric level 2 for DC or Cleric level 4 for Universal Spellpower
Invest in the school which you care about. Most clerics, this will probably mean Evocation to power Implosion/Blade barrier. If you don't care about DC, then +9 Universal spell power isn't bad to power Ruin (an awesome epic spell feat btw).

Efficient Heighten:
Using the Heighten Spell Metamagic costs you 1/2 fewer Spell Point per heightened level.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Efficient Metamagic (Tier 3), Heighten Spell
Just like all the other "Efficient" abilities.. I don't consider it worthwhile.

Spell Criticals:
Choose which of your spells gain enhanced Critical Chance:
Spell Critical: Negative: +2% Critical Chance with Negative Energy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Critical: Light: +2% Critical Chance with Light spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell Critical: Universal: +1% Critical Chance with spells
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Spell Criticals (Tier 3)
Ditto. See "Spell Criticals" above.

Wisdom:
+1 to Wisdom.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Wisdom (Tier 3)
Any stat bonus is nice. Just make sure you end up on an even number in the end.

Tier Five
Prophetic Zenith:
Gain a new Spell-like ability:
Inflict Moderate Wounds, Mass: (Activation Cost: 15/12/10 spell points. Cooldown: 10/8/6 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Flame Strike: (Activation Cost: 30/25/20 spell points. Cooldown: 20/16/12 seconds.)
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 30 No requirements
Of all the SLAs in this tree. This one is the worst of the bunch. Inflict Moderate Wounds does terrible damage. On top of that, you must be facing your target in order to cast! Flame Strike is better with the targeting, but suffers from being too slow to take effect! By the time it lands, your target is either dead or has moved out of range.

DC or Spellpower:
Increase your spellpower or your Difficulty Checks for a spellcaster school.
Spell DC: Evocation: +1 DC to Evocation spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell DC: Necromancy: +1 DC to Necromancy spells
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Power: Light: +15 Light spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Light
Spell Power: Negative: +15 Negative spellpower
Requires Divine Emissary of Darkness
Spell Power: Universal: +9 Universal spellpower
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 Requires: Cleric level 4 for DC or Negative Energy spellpower, or Cleric Level 5 for Light or Universal spellpower
Same as before, invest in the DC school in which you care about. If you don't care about DC, then +9 Universal spell power isn't bad.

Divine Empowerment:
You gain +1 caster level and maximum caster level to Light, Negative Energy, and Fire spells.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 No requirements
I really wanted to like this... and it looked really good at first. BUT my testing shows that Searing Light AND Nimbus of Light (both Spell & SLA version) are not affected by this. It appears to work fine for other spells like Sunbolt and Sunbeam are. Given going Divine Disciple is all about SLA, what good is this if it doesn't power them? I am led to believe this is a BUG.

[guardianx2009]

SUMMARY
Smites! If there's one word to describe Warpriest tree, this would be it. Smite Weakness and Ameliorating Strike are the trademarks of Warpriest.

As a Warpriest, your gameplay evolves around your smite ability. You only have 1 smite ability in the tree, it (can) serve two purposes: debuff mob and heal party. Although unlimited, your smite ability has a 15 second cooldown. You are faced with the decision of which purpose to you want to use your smite for.

THF builds out there will find this tree lackluster. This tree really favors two weapon fighting. The reason is because the two main abilities (smite foe/ameliorating strike) also procs on offhand/double strikes. This doubles their effectiveness.

For levelling purposes, this tree could be fun as the DPS increases will be helpful at mid-lower levels. You get to be more active managing the battlefield and your smites. For epic elite, I tested solo EE Lords of Dust and a few EE Gianthold pugs just fine. As you would expect healing can become a slight challenge without Radiant Servant aura.

This tree was tough to figure out initially. It is plagued with short-term, almost insignificant defensive buffs. Warpriest isn't game changing, no, but it is does have enough to offer a viable, different style of play.

Core abilities
Smite Foe:
Activate: Smite your enemy with a melee attack that deals an additional 2[W] damage. (Cooldown: 15 seconds)
Passive:
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 0 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 1
This is the base warpriest smiting ability. When combined with Adrenaline, you can gain as much as 200 extra damage from this smite. Smite Weakness and Ameliorating Strike abilities later work off of this ability. You will likely hotkey and use this often.

Resilience of Battle:
Passive:
Damage Reduction 5/-
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 3, Smite Foe
For low levels, the DR 5 is going to be pretty darned good. For higher levels, not so much.

Sanctuary:
For 20 seconds, you gain +20 Sacred bonus to Physical Resistance. (Activation Cost: 10 Spell Points. Cooldown: 1 minute)
Passive:
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 6, Resilience of Battle
+20 PRR sounds good, but the duration is so short it is hard to justify hotbar real estate. To add insult to injury, the casting animation is somewhat slow..(think pre-U19 divine might)

War Domain:
Blur: Blur is added to your spellbook as a level 2 spell. In addition, you permanently benefit from the effect of the Blur spell.
Passive:
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 12, Sanctuary
Perma-blur is great. Having the option to buff others with blur is nice also.

War Domain:
Haste: Haste is added to your spellbook as a level 3 spell.
Passive:
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 30 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 18, War Domain: Blur
Being able to self haste from spell anytime is fantastic. One can argue: "Why? Just carry clickies!". Well, I carry 3 haste clickies, and a stack of haste scrolls. Let me tell you, the spell is far more convenient: Clickies are limited in charges, takes up inventory, and are slow to cast. Your other option for haste is to invest an epic feat..

Implacable Foe:
Activate: You and nearby allies gain 100 Temporary Hit Points and their attacks will deal 10% additional damage. For the next 18 seconds, these bonuses will refresh every 3 seconds on you and each ally that remains in range. These effects will expire 5 seconds after they are no linger refreshed. (Cooldown: 5 minutes)
Passive:
Divine Vessel now trigger on reaching 20 stacks of Divine Conduit, instead of 25.
+2 Constitution
+2 Armor Class
+5 Fire Spell Power
+5 Light Spell Power
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 40 Requires: Cleric or Favored Soul level 20, War Domain: Haste
This warpriest Capstone ability that is made up of two parts:

Passive Grants: if you already have invested 40AP in this tree, then investing 1AP here just for the +2 CON is worth it. The slight buff to Divine Vessel (if you have it) is somewhat decent, but is really nothing to write home about.

Active Grants: When activated, it is almost like a mini aura that gives you temp HP instead for ~20 seconds. However, since the temporary hitpoints do not stack, it acts like an active 100hp DR. This gives the effect of slowing down you and your party's damage intake. I can see it particularly good for situations where AOE damage spikes are frequent. The 10% increase in damage is nice little bonus effect. That being said, I have a few serious knocks against it:
1. Duration is too short at ~20 seconds. This is hardly enough to matter for boss fights, especially raids.
2. Really long 5 minute cooldown. With such a long cooldown, you want to save it for boss fights.. except see #1 above.
3. As if to rub salt on a wound: it does NOT reset after shrining/finishing quests!


Tier One
Divine Might:
You gain an Insight bonus to Strength equal to your Charisma Modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. (Activation Cost: 21/18/15 spell points. Cooldown: 20 seconds)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
This is a fantastic ability if you have high charisma. What this ability does is takes your CHA bonus and add that as insight bonus to your strength SCORE.

For example:
If you have 21 STR (+5) and 28 CHA (+9). Divine Might will give you 21STR + 9 INSIGHT BONUS = 30 STR (+10)


Toughness:
+5/+10/+15 maximum hp.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
More HP is always good. It is even better when the price is 5hp/AP. Take all 3 tiers.

Righteous Weapons:
When wielding your religion's favored weapon, it gains +1 to its Enhancement Bonus.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 1 No requirements
Being a piercing/Rapier build, I almost dismissed this line completely. Nevertheless, I had give it a fair shot and test it. My conclusion is that this isn't nearly that bad. It offers diversity by making one of the lesser weapon types more viable. For levelling, the enhancement bonuses is a significant buff (up to +5hit/+5dam, +10/crit).

For comparison, the difference between Scimitar/Longsword is the 5% (10% w/improved crit) threat range. The +5/+10 damage helps close the gap. Add Wrathful Weapons (very interesting ability that adds to your DPS) and your wimpy longsword is suddenly doing alot of more damage.

Make no mistake, this is an all or nothing line. If you are going to invest (and it's a significant investment), you will want the whole line.

The other big knock is that this adds MAGIC damage type and overrides your weapon's existing damage type. I agree this can be problematic with certain weapons with regards to DR bypass. You will just have to plan accordingly.

Also:

For Favored Souls, it's worth noting the interaction between "Righteous Weapons" with "Articles of Faith" (AoV tree): higher enhancement bonus = higher implement bonus to spellpower.

Sacred Touch:
When you heal allies (with positive energy damage spells) they gain +1/+2/+3 AC and +1/+2/+3 PRR for 12 seconds.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
This is an ability that carried over from the protection tree. Yes it is as bad as you read it to be. For 3AP investment, you get +3PRR.. for 12 seconds.. 3PRR is about ~1% damage reduction.. Keep your AP in your pockets and stay away...

Awareness:
+1/+2/+3 Listen, Search and Spot. Rank 3: +1 save vs traps.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 1 No requirements
This ability seems out out of place. What does searching, spottin for traps have to with being a warpriest? That being said, those with Rogue splashes might dip into this.


Tier Two
Smite Weakness:
When you strike an enemy with Smite Foe, they gain four to seven stacks of Vulnerable. (For each stack, the target takes 1% more damage for 3 seconds. This effect stacks up to 20 times, and loses one stack on expiration.)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 No requirements
This is a good ability. This debuff give % damage boost to physical attacks and spell damage (except untyped). It works even on red names (where it counts the most!). With full TWF line, you should get 10-12 stacks per smite on average. With constant refresh, you should be able to upkeep 15-20 stacks. Without TWF, you are stuck with 4 to 7 stacks and will have a difficult time getting it up much higher.

Wall of Steel:
+3/+6/+10 Physical Resistance Rating
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 No requirements
+10PRR is fantastic. Especially if you don't have a lot to begin with.

Righteous Weapons:
When wielding your religion's favored weapon, it gains an additional +1 to its Enhancement Bonus.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 5 Requires: Righteous Weapons (Tier 1)
See Righteous Weapons above.

Inflame:
Action Boost:
You and your nearby allies gain a +2/+3/+4 Action Boost bonus to Armor Class, Attack Rolls, and Damage Rolls. (Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 No requirements
I'm a bit torn over this ability. On one side, it offers a decent-to-pretty good bonuses (especially after the the saving throw/resistance bonuses). On the other, you are limited to 5 uses per rest AND it has a short duration of 30 seconds.

You might find it too short and not worth it if used as stand-alone buff.

It's an action boost (thanks Vellrad), use it in combination with your other short term boosts.

For example:
If you are already using to using Human damage boost, click this along with your action boost before you wade into battle.

If you are short on AP, just invest in this for the +4 damage and skip the saving throw/energy resistance additions.

ALso:

THIS is an action boost. It benefits from extra action boosts from various classes, and LD's action boost CD reduction.

Inflame:Saving Throws:
Your Inflame now also grants a +2/+3/+4 Action Boost bonus to all Saving Throws.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 5 Requires: Inflame
Better saves is always nice. Note that it does not stack with human versatility saves boost.


Tier Three
Burden of Sin:
15%/30%/45% Chance on Being Hit: The enemy that struck you gains one stack of Burdened. (-1 to Strength and Dexterity. This effect stacks up to 10 times, and loses one stack on expiration.)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 No requirements
For levelling, this can help render mobs helpless especially if you are using str/dex draining weapon to begin with. For epic content, I wouldn't bother with this.

Righteous Weapons:
When wielding your religion's favored weapon, it gains an additional +1 to its Enhancement Bonus.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 Requires: Righteous Weapons (Tier 2)
See Righteous Weapons above.

Inflame:
Energy Absorption: Your Inflame now also grants a +5%/+10%/+15% Action Boost bonus to Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, and Sonic Energy Absorption. (Energy Absorption reduces damage from that energy type by a percentage, after Energy Resistance has been taken into account.)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 10 Requires: Inflame
Energy absorption is useful. Moreso at high levels.

Wisdom, Strength, or Charisma:
Choose one:
+1 Strength
+1 Wisdom
+1 Charisma
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
Invest in what matters more to your build. STR for STR based builds, WIS for caster based. CHA if you are looking for turns, etc. Just make sure you end on an even number when done.


Tier Four
Ameliorating Strike:
When your strike an enemy with Smite Foe, you and your nearby allies are healed by 1d2 per character lever, and benefit from the effects of the Lesser Restoration spell. (The heal from Ameliorating Strike is affected by your Positive Spell Power)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 No requirements
On average, this proc heals for around ~100-130hp non-crit. You need to be TWF fully reap the benefits. With TWF line, it will proc at least twice 80-90% of the time, yielding a total of 200-260 heal non-crit. This is no Positive Energy Burst however, it has the following disadvantages:

- Only affected by positive spellpower, metamagics do not apply.
- This effect only procs on hit. So you need a mob to hit and are subject to misses.
- Number of procs not guaranteed. Due to the nature of offhand/double strikes, you can get anywhere of 0 - 4 procs.
- If you only get 1 proc, it heals for too little.

Clerics would be wise to dip into Radiant Servant for Positive Energy Burst as a secondary healing option. Nevertheless, this is a useful ability. If you are going warpriest you are going to want this.


Light Guard:
Enemies that strike you are dealt 1d4/2d4/3d4 Light Damage.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 Requires: Burden of Sin
Damage guards by their very nature aren't very good to begin with. Only worthwhile for levelling when mobs do not have much HP to begin with.

Righteous Weapons:
When wielding your religion's favored weapon, it gains an additional +1 to its Enhancement Bonus.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Righteous Weapons (Tier 3)
See Righteous Weapons above.

Wisdom, Strength, or Charisma:
Choose one:
+1 Strength
+1 Wisdom
+1 Charisma
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Wisdom, Strength, or Charisma (Tier 3)
Invest in what matters more to your build. STR for STR based builds, WIS for caster based. CHA if you are looking for turns, etc. Just make sure you end on an even number when done.


Tier Five
Divine Power:
Your god has imbued you with power and skill in combat, granting a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength, and a base attack bonus equal to a fighter of the same level.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 No requirements
Allows you to be perma-Divine Powered. However, as a divine, you already have the spell. So you are only paying for the convenience of not having to refresh it. For FVS, the added convenience of needing to slot the spell. Most will find it better to save their points for elsewhere.

You may also consider taking this if SP is an issue:

For me, the main benefit of permanent divine power is about 200-250 mana per shrine saved on recasts.

Also, something for multiclasses to consider:

Ever the multiclasser, I'd like to just note that this ability actually becomes available two (cleric) or three (favoured soul) levels earlier than the equivalent spell.

Divine Vessel:
Toggle: While active, your attacks generate a stack of Divine Conduit. When Divine Conduit reaches 25, it is removed and nearby enemies take 1d4 Fire and 1d4 Light damage per character level. (Damage from Divine Vessel is affected by Fire and Light Spell Power)
You may only gain a stack of Divine Conduit once every 3/2/1 seconds.
If you have Implacable Foe, Divine Vessel will trigger upon reaching 20 stacks of Divine Conduit, instead of 25.
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 20 No requirements
This is a somewhat interesting ability. In practice, the damage and proc rate is somewhat on the low side. It is only affected by light/fire spellpower and not by metamagic. With the best fire/light spellpower slotted and level 28, this nets you ~500 damage (250 fire, 250 light). This puts it in the same ballpark as other low proc (2%) damage effects (Corrosive Salt, Slicing Winds etc). You can only gain (at best) 1 stack per second, this means the best proc rate you can get is 1 in 20 seconds.

I'm not sold on it. Invest if you have the points, like the animation and want the slight DPS increase. Otherwise you won't miss it.

Also:

It should probably be noted that the AoE effect from this is apparently centred on the player character, not the target. So it's pretty useless for ranged clerics.

Wrathful Weapons:
When wielding your religion's favored weapon, it gains an additional +1 to its Enhancement Bonus. When you score a Vorpal Hit with your religion's favored weapon, your attacks gain 3d4 Light Damage on hit for the next 6 seconds.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 20 Requires: Righteous Weapons (Tier 4)
This is an interesting ability with the following special properties:
- When procc'ed, you get a 6 second buff that applyes 3d4 light damage to to all weapons (main and offhand). (Spells too?)
- Only need to roll a 20, not vorpal. Confirmed this on a training dummy and golems, which can't be vorpalled.
- Can be triggered via offhand. This means it is not necessary to dual wield favored weapons. You only need one to take advantage. (At a reduced proc rate, of course)

Since it can proc on offhand strikes and on roll of 20, dual-wielding favored weapons can trigger this proc very frequently. (buff lasts for 6 seconds, and you are likely to roll a 20 within 10 seconds). In addition, the light damage is increased by vulnerablity (ie: helpless state).

If you are going to invest in the Righteous Weapon line, you will want this to cap it off.

Magic Backlash:
When an enemy damages you with a spell, there is a 10%/20%/30% chance they will be knocked down. (Does not affect bosses.)
AP Cost: 1 Progression: 30 No requirements
I really like this ability. This does not affect red names, but it does with orange names. It was quite entertaining to see Gnomon in EE Lords of Dust barely able to stand on his two feet while I beat him silly.

Divine Intervention:
Active: Divine Intervention: Ward your target against fatal damage. Hit point damage cannot lower a warded ally's hit point total below -9. When a warded ally is incapacitated, this effect heals the target after a few seconds for 10 to 39 hit points and then fade. (Activation Cost: 30 spell points. Cooldown: 2 minutes)
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 30 No requirements
Good old Divine Intervention, the original cleric capstone: You either appreciate it, or you hate it. Those who do appreciate find it useful for situations such the part 3 and 4 of shroud, running through traps, or just plain added insurance. Particularly good insurance to use for solo-ing. You just have to remember to use it.

Yes, Divine Intervention can be tricky, you may die again before you can get a heal up. But there is a slight period of invulnerability and you can control the direction to 'slide' as you are getting up. It has saved enough elite raids/quests in the past for me to be notable.

[Urist]

Intense Healing:
...
Increasing positive spell caster levels are nice in general. But given you basically need to pair it with Incredible Healing (to break the maximum caster level limit).. it becomes a pretty expensive investment. Investing in 1 tier is OK and at most, 2 tiers.

My thought on this is that it could be nice for mid-splashes. A 6-level cleric splash casting cures as a level 9 is a fair boost to healing, and that wouldn't need anything put into Incredible Healing.
That's me only really considering heroic levels though.

Unyielding Sovereignty:
...
However, as a cleric you already get one for free as a feat.. investing in this just gives you one extra use..

Not entirely accurate. Clerics only get it as a feat if they choose to be followers of the sovereign host.
Other things of note:
* Either one or both of the enhancement or feat is bugged to not remove death penalty and/or negative levels. When I tested on Lam, just before the patch, the enhancement worked, but not the feat. However on live, at the time, it was reported that the enhancement was bugged in this way.
* The Unyielding Sovereignty enhancement has *half* the cooldown of the feat (5 minutes vs 10).

Reactive Heal

Speaking from a sub-EE perspective, I personally quite like this ability, especially as an "oh carp" safety net for escort missions. It's a free heal that automatically takes effect when you need it. What's not to like?

[guardianx2009]

My thought on this is that it could be nice for mid-splashes. A 6-level cleric splash casting cures as a level 9 is a fair boost to healing, and that wouldn't need anything put into Incredible Healing.
That's me only really considering heroic levels though.

Fair enough. I'll update to reflect something along these lines. The assumption is, at cap, you'll basically need both for it do anything.

Not entirely accurate. Clerics only get it as a feat if they choose to be followers of the sovereign host.
Other things of note:
* Either one or both of the enhancement or feat is bugged to not remove death penalty and/or negative levels. When I tested on Lam, just before the patch, the enhancement worked, but not the feat. However on live, at the time, it was reported that the enhancement was bugged in this way.
* The Unyielding Sovereignty enhancement has *half* the cooldown of the feat (5 minutes vs 10).

Thanks for the clarification. Looks like I'll need to look into this further, I haven't LR'ed so don't actually have the feat to compare and test.

Speaking from a sub-EE perspective, I personally quite like this ability, especially as an "oh carp" safety net for escort missions. It's a free heal that automatically takes effect when you need it. What's not to like?

It's a nice safety insurance to use on yourself. But it's one and done.. on EE quests, this safety net is going to go away rather quickly...

What I don't really like about it is the barrier to entry: You need to invest in Divine Healing->Martyrdom to gain access. That is a total cost of 4AP (2 if you planned on taking Divine Healing anyway) just to get to the ability.

[User164]

First, Thank you for the break down of the new enhancement tree and changes. Good info. I have "parked" my Cleric's, Paly's and Arti's at level 23 some time ago and this review will save me time.
Do you know if this change to the Enhancement tree is a preview of things to come? Any word, on when or if they are ever going to add the Cleric and Arti Epic Destiny's?
Sorry for being off topic, but I do hope they are.
Thanks

[guardianx2009]

First, Thank you for the break down of the new enhancement tree and changes. Good info. I have "parked" my Cleric's, Paly's and Arti's at level 23 some time ago and this review will save me time.
Do you know if this change to the Enhancement tree is a preview of things to come? Any word, on when or if they are ever going to add the Cleric and Arti Epic Destiny's?
Sorry for being off topic, but I do hope they are.
Thanks

Sorry Enhancements and EDs are two different things. The new enhancement trees were the result of EDs, however.

[guardianx2009]

Not entirely accurate. Clerics only get it as a feat if they choose to be followers of the sovereign host.
Other things of note:
* Either one or both of the enhancement or feat is bugged to not remove death penalty and/or negative levels. When I tested on Lam, just before the patch, the enhancement worked, but not the feat. However on live, at the time, it was reported that the enhancement was bugged in this way.
* The Unyielding Sovereignty enhancement has *half* the cooldown of the feat (5 minutes vs 10).

Just tested Unyielding Sovereignty feat versus Enhancement Ability.

You are correct on both points:
1. The Feat version is currently BUGGED: It removes the death penalty timer, but not the penalty itself. So instead of removing it, the penalty was made permanent instead! Only way to get rid of then is to shrine or use the enhancement version. Needless to say... DO NOT USE unless you wish to grief your group mates :P

2. Yes, enhancement version has half the cool down. So yes, it is better than the feat version in that you'll get more uses out of it.

[Chewysc]

Tier Three
Intense Healing:
Your Positive Energy Spells are cast at +1/+2/+3 caster level.
AP Cost: 2 Progression: 10 No requirements
Increasing positive spell caster levels are nice in general. But given you basically need to pair it with Incredible Healing (to break the maximum caster level limit).. it becomes a pretty expensive investment. Investing in 1 tier is OK and at most, 2 tiers.

*********************************************

I just thought I'd point out that Intense Healing does affect Aura and Bursts. (Which has a bit more usefulness for me as a 17clr/2x/1x splash).

I just tested this out last night as I couldn't find any posts or data in the forums.

Previously with with 3 ranks of Intense Healing and 2 ranks of Incredible Healing, my Aura would tick for 37 and Bursts would range 177 to 220, both non-crit.

Without any Intense Healing or Incredible Healing, my Aura would tick for 32 and Bursts would range 155 to 200, both non-crit.

Went back to 3 ranks of Intense Healing but with no ranks in Incredible Healing, my Aura would tick for 37 and Bursts would now range 200 to 250, both non-crit. The difference in Burst damage from the initial set up is likely due to the 3 ranks I took in Altruism which added 13 points of Positive Spell Power which wasn't there previously.

[guardianx2009]

Tier Three
Intense Healing:

I too believe this Intense Healing affects aura/burst, but it is quite difficult to get a definitive answer.

Figuring out the exact formula has proven difficult. While I would come close, I could never come to the exact numbers shown in game.. turbine math is fuzzy.

- When you put points/take points from the tree, you gain/lose positive spell power. So when you take ranks off, you need to make sure you have invested the same amount of points elsewhere.

- Is it affected by Exalted Angel ED? Which, having 5 ranks, raises your caster level by 5 (or was it 6?). Are they stack? etc.

- Swapping EDs (particularly to and from EA) sometimes bugs out your caster level. Your numbers suddenly are lower/higher than expected until you relog. Having your caster level bugged out can skew with your tests.

- The text shown in the combat log is not reliable. It would say I'm casting aura at level 28, regardless if I take away ranks or not.

[Chewysc]

Let me start off (I should have done this in the first place) is how much I appreciate your review and feedback! I find these kinds of posts very helpful when changes come or when I think/hope to make my toon a little bit better =D

See my replies below...

I too believe this Intense Healing affects aura/burst, but it is quite difficult to get a definitive answer.

Figuring out the exact formula has proven difficult. While I would come close, I could never come to the exact numbers shown in game.. turbine math is fuzzy.

- When you put points/take points from the tree, you gain/lose positive spell power. So when you take ranks off, you need to make sure you have invested the same amount of points elsewhere.
Points spent were the same, 32 so just enough to get Aura.

- Is it affected by Exalted Angel ED? Which, having 5 ranks, raises your caster level by 5 (or was it 6?). Are they stack? etc.
Was in FoTW all times to keep things consistent during testing.

- Swapping EDs (particularly to and from EA) sometimes bugs out your caster level. Your numbers suddenly are lower/higher than expected until you relog. Having your caster level bugged out can skew with your tests.
I made sure I relogged after changing ED back to FoTW and distributing points.

- The text shown in the combat log is not reliable. It would say I'm casting aura at level 28, regardless if I take away ranks or not.
I didn't check the log... sorry.

[Urist]

I too believe this Intense Healing affects aura/burst, but it is quite difficult to get a definitive answer.

Intense healing certainly affects the _duration_ of the aura. We did some testing and extrapolation in another thread, just after the enhancement pass: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-Aura-Question

[Panzermeyer]

Awesome review.

Really looking forward to see your review of the warpriest tree.

[guardianx2009]

Thanks all for your input and appreciation! I'll probably go back to revisit the intense healing / aura stuff in the future. Currently working on divine disciple. I hope to have that up "soon" (tm)!

[TheGardes]

While the RS aura is great, the net of the RS tree is to be a heal bot. It's all about healing and nothing else. I feel if I invest much at all into this tree, it's taking away from the damage dealing capabilities far too much. The Divine tree with the SLAs and increased spell power is nice, but it's T5 sucks.

IMO, the only reason to sink your points into this tree is if you plan on living in undead areas your whole life. I do plan on living in the orchard for awhile, so I may just take RS for that area while I'm there.

[Panzermeyer]

While the RS aura is great, the net of the RS tree is to be a heal bot. It's all about healing and nothing else. I feel if I invest much at all into this tree, it's taking away from the damage dealing capabilities far too much. The Divine tree with the SLAs and increased spell power is nice, but it's T5 sucks.

IMO, the only reason to sink your points into this tree is if you plan on living in undead areas your whole life. I do plan on living in the orchard for awhile, so I may just take RS for that area while I'm there.

They are enhancements after all, some plat and you can totally respec and change your toon.

[guardianx2009]

While the RS aura is great, the net of the RS tree is to be a heal bot. It's all about healing and nothing else. I feel if I invest much at all into this tree, it's taking away from the damage dealing capabilities far too much. The Divine tree with the SLAs and increased spell power is nice, but it's T5 sucks.

IMO, the only reason to sink your points into this tree is if you plan on living in undead areas your whole life. I do plan on living in the orchard for awhile, so I may just take RS for that area while I'm there.

To the novice clerics, this is probably true since you won't know any better.

However, since I can solo Epic Elites with it, your statement is factually wrong.

[firemedium_jt]

http://ddowiki.com/page/Warpriest_enhancements

This has the tree for Warpriest. If you notice Ameliorating Strike has a minimum of level 4. That is a nice mass heal at low levels. The only problem is you don't have Divine Power yet. Now if you are a melee Cleric that is a nice bonus.

While the RS aura is great, the net of the RS tree is to be a heal bot. ?*It's all about healing and nothing else. ?*I feel if I invest much at all into this tree, it's taking away from the damage dealing capabilities far too much. ?*The Divine tree with the SLAs and increased spell power is nice, but it's T5 sucks.




IMO, the only reason to sink your points into this tree is if you plan on living in undead areas your whole life. ?*I do plan on living in the orchard for awhile, so I may just take RS for that area while I'm there.

As for the Radiant Servant being a healbot tree only. For me that is hard to see it that way. There really are no enhancements with better all around benefits from Tier 5 than Aura.

Aura saves you spell points otherwise spent on healing. It is practically free on easy quests with regenerating turns and allows you to fill other roles like more combat casting due to saving spell points from Aura healing and burst healing. If you melee you are healing the other Melee's while you melee. Other melees like when you do that as long as you don't die too often.

Now Amerliorating Strike is nice for Heroic Healing and can probably keep up with healing for Heroic if there are bad guys to hit with it???... and you hit them. If not the cool down is too long to wait for. So that might change some builds especially at lower levels. Aura is 300-800 healing over its time period depending on healing amp and the healer's spell power. More on some epic geared toons.


The nice thing about the new Cleric is that you can build for pug runs, but if you have a static group that you know has plenty of their own healing you can turn up your Casting/Melee with some Heroic. Some of the Heroic casting enhancements are nice like DC bonuses for some Casters. DC bonuses got cheaper to get.

I would have to say that if you don't know who you are running with and want versatility that Aura is a must have, IMHO.

I think low level Clerics might want to invest more in Warpriest because they don't have Burst healing yet. Invest more in low lvl SLAs too. Then at CLR6 get Burst and endless turning. Light power is not needed till you get Divine Punishment, but the SLAs might change that.

[guardianx2009]

Divine Disciple review is up! Enjoy!