Need some help fine tuning my cleric

[Such755]

Hello.
So I reached level 20 with my cleric pretty fast. It is absolutely amazing how easy it is to solo with him, and how fun it is to play.
He is a casting oriented cleric, focused on light spells, utilizing holy smite, searing light and flamestrike SLA often, along with bb, and also focused on instakills using slay living, destructin and implosion.
The light side of enhancements will increase my evocation DC, while the feats increase my necromancy.

All those worked flawlessly on any heroic elite content, but now that I have reached epic levels, it feels pretty useless.

My DPS, which was good on heroic levels, is completely useless on any epic elite or even epic hard (let's not discuss EN because I'm good enough for that. Everyone is.)
Also, my DCs are way too low to hit anything on EE and EH.

I plan to reach level 28 (or 30 if that comes anytime soon), enjoy the epic levels and then TR to my next life towards completionist when I feel tired of it.
Taking that into account, I know I will not be really good DC wise for any EE content, so on those quests I focus mostly on making the party's life easy by blinding the mobs (sunbeam and sun burst, work like a charm.) and of course, healing the party. I also join in with some DPS, but I think this is almost insignificant.

I do want to be good enough for EH content though, and that's where I need your help.

Feats:
Maximize
Empower - These two are free on my SLAs and help me do damage. The question is, on epic levels, do they waste valuable slots? That taken into account, they DO work on positive energy bursts which help a lot.
Toughness - Goes without saying
PL: Wizard - +1 to all DCs
SF: Necromancy
Heighten -Goes without saying
Spell pen
GSF: Necro
Quicken - Now this one is a tough choice. Both for raid healing where I need it on my mass heal, and both because sometimes I fail my concentration check (55 currently). It's free on all my SLAs and my burst.
Greater spell pen - I think it's important enough
Epic wisdom - If I end up with a non even number, I take this. if it's even, I'll probably tkae epic spell pen or epic spell focus: necro.

Please evaluate this list of feats.

As far as epc destiny goes, I chose to be an exalted angel.
This one has +6 wisdom, one of the innate abilities is +3 to ALL spell DCs, it has +3 spell pen, leap of faith which is both fun and helpful and has endless faith for +10% spell point. All these will cost me slightly more than 24 points, therefor I will have to sacrifice 1 wisdom for more spell pen.
For twists I thought about +3 necro DC from Magister, +3 spell pen from magister and +1 wis from divine crusader.

Please evaluate this ED.

Gear is also an issue that troubles me. While I want to have good gear, I don't think I want to do massive farms for stuff like T3 alchemical.

So far I have:
Head: Empty (using minos legens but it's useless. Only 20HP)
Eyes: Concordant opposition green steel with 45 HP and +6 wisdom. This item is cleansed
Armor: level 20 cavlary plate that gives me superior false life, demonic shield, DR 3/chaotic and +5 resistance. Open for suggestions on this one
Bracers: Cannith crafted +2 evocation and +10 jump
Ring 1: Cannith crafted +54 radiance (The highest possible to craft) and +13 concentration. LARGE GUILD slot that gives me +80 SP
Boots: Surefooted boots with +6 strength, 13 balance and 30% striding. Switching FF / Swim boots when needed.
Gloves: Mineral II Greensteel with +150 SP and Wizardry, 100% fortification and a stoneskin clicky.
Ring 2: Cannith crafted +2 necro focus.
Belt: Cannith crafted +6 constitution and LARGE guild slot for +20 HP
Cloak: level 20 cloak of night, deathblock, ghostly, invisibility guard, nightmare guard, dodge 4% and DR 5/good.
Trinket: Vibrant purple ioun stone with +200 HP (doesn't stack with wizardry, so obviously the total is just 200) and spell penetration 3.
Nec: +6 charisma.
Weapons set:
DPS set: combustion scepter of fire lore and impulse scepter of kinetic lore (help fire storm, flame strike and blade barrier).
Healing set: +5 life shield heavy shield and devotion scepter of healing lore (boss heals)

I am open for suggestions on all of the above, but take in mind that I want to keep the green steel where they are, as well as the cloak and I would more than like to have my 2 large guild slots as they help with SP and HP.
I am completely clueless about named items that help cleric casters.

Please enlighten me on everything you can. All of the above, playstyle, enhancements, ED, feats and gear.

Thank you

[Thalone]

Also, my DCs are way too low to hit anything on EE and EH.

Your DCs are probably higher than you think. Since you took Heighten and are talking about casting, I'm guessing you're a max or near-max WIS build. My Cleric is pure 20, and in the EA casting destiny, I have a standing 62 Necro DC, 55 Evoc (63 Soundburst SLA), 52 Enchant, 53 Transmutation (Mass Frog!); first-life (no Wiz past life), no ship buffs, no new raid crafting, minus Yugo pots. I have found these DCs sufficient for EH content up to the Stormhorns, when targeting weak saves (e.g., harder to get through a melee's Fort save). Indeed, for easy EEs (Carnival, Fens, etc), these DCs are enough to dominate kill counts versus less-geared Wizards and be competitive with Shiradi spammers/monkchers.

If you are having issues with your DCs, you can debuff enemies before doing your attack spells. Prayer gives a -1 to enemy saves. Enervate/Energy drain delevel enemies and remove a chunk of their HP cap; Enervate scrolls now have no UMD check for divines and are purchasable at the Portable Hole. Necrotic Ray does negative damage and drains one level with no SR check. You can kite stuff around a Symbol of Death to drain levels (stack on a Blade Barrier for extra fun). You can scroll/cast Fear effects to apply Shaken (-2 to saves), which must get past Spell Resistance, but has no save for the debuff.

For EH content, consider rejigging your EA allocation. The Soundburst SLA is excellent for rendering a group of mobs helpless (+50% damage). You then follow up with a Divine Wrath nuke, which also acts as an AoE heal for any friendlies in melee range. You could save some ED points by bumping down your Spell Pen investment (try twisting from Magister instead?)--not all content has SR monsters. Alternatively, you can decrease your Endless Faith line to two ranks. Let's be generous and say your SP pool before Faith is 3000. The difference between rank 3 and rank 2 is 3%, or 90 SP of a 3000 pool.

For your feat selection: actually Toughness doesn't go without saying! Since the enhancement pass, people have tended to skip it because every 5 same-class levels, your Heroic Durability gives you a HP bonus. On a caster build, I would retain Max/Emp for boss nuking with DP and your SLAs. Consider also picking up Empower Heal, which boosts your bursts, and in addition is the only meta that applies to Renewal and Cocoon twists--excellent, cheap sources of over-time healing. In fact, Mass Heal has largely fallen out of favour due to cheap Renewal/Cocoon and the massive damage EE mobs do (Mass Heal is way too slow if player characters are dying in two or three hits).

On gear, I believe there are currently three items which give Insightful Wisdom +3: Epic Dragon Helm, Spider-Spun Caparison, and Leaves of the Forest. You'll also want to dedicate an augment slot somewhere for Excaptional Wisdom +1. I notice you don't have Heal Amp slotted anywhere... Unfortunately you don't want to swap your gloves, as PDK Gloves are an easy and common source of 30% and +2 CON. I would junk your bracers: Evocation +2 does not stack with Evocation Focus items from caster weapons, which go up to +5 on random gen (Spell Pen weapons also go up to +5). Note however, that yellow DC augments do stack with gear. Cannith-crafted Spell Power gear is no good at epic levels (lootgen items will be about +90 at that point), so junk your rings too--just swap to an appropriate weapon set when needed. Your remaining Cannith-crafted gear can be upgraded significantly, as you can find blanks with both a colourless and yellow slot, which enables you to put a prefix and suffix on top of two augments.

[SirValentine]

On gear, I believe there are currently three items which give Insightful Wisdom +3: Epic Dragon Helm, Spider-Spun Caparison, and Leaves of the Forest.

Quite a few choices for +3 Insightful Wisdom, actually.

Armor:
Terrorweb Chitin Breastplate (Medium)
Spider-Spun Caparison (Cloth)
Livewood Core (Docent)
Leaves of the Forest (Medium)

Trinket:
Planar Focus of Erudition
Planar Focus of Subterfuge

Helm:
Helm of the Blue Dragon

Goggles:
Intricate Field Optics

Trinket conflicts with Litany of the Dead. Goggles conflicts with Shadowsight. Then, if you want the new caster Shadow Armor, that rules out all those armors, leaving just the Helm of the Blue Dragon available.

[SirValentine]

Toughness - Goes without saying

Dump it. Feats are too precious on a Cleric to waste one on just 30 lousy HP out of, what, 600? Possibly more, whatever amount, depending on gear.

Greater spell pen - I think it's important enough

Do some real hard analysis before you decide you need this. What is your Spell Pen without it? Past Lives, first Spell Pen feat, DD enhancements, ED, max twists, gear...

And what is the actual Spell Pen requirement in the content you're running? Are you doing EE, just EH? Drow much, or just occasionally?

Personally, I find the flexibility to twist in additional Spell Pen as needed from the Arcane destinies justifies a single Spell Pen feat. But for me, a mere +2 by itself does not justify taking up a feat slot on Greater, as I can get my Spell Pen high enough without it for the content I run.

This would be a less painful decision on a Wizard, as they get a boatload of bonus feats. Clerics don't have that luxury.

As far as epc destiny goes, I chose to be an exalted angel.

Makes sense. Clearly the best DC-caster divine destiny.

This one has +6 wisdom, one of the innate abilities is +3 to ALL spell DCs, it has +3 spell pen, leap of faith which is both fun and helpful and has endless faith for +10% spell point. All these will cost me slightly more than 24 points, therefor I will have to sacrifice 1 wisdom for more spell pen.

How much do you need 3% Spell Points? Endless Faith Tier 2 gets you 7% instead of 10% Spell Points, and you've just freed up 3 Epic Destiny points so you don't have to gimp your Wisdom & DCs.

For twists I thought about +3 necro DC from Magister, +3 spell pen from magister and +1 wis from divine crusader.

Back to Spell Pen...do you need whatever your max Spell Pen is all the time? I know I don't. In Drow content, I swap in two Spell Pen twists. In other content I don't use any Spell Pen twists, so I can get higher DCs instead.

Other interesting twists I use:
Acute Instincts from Fury of the Wild: +2 to your Wisdom
Precise Evocation from Draconic Incarnation: +2 to Evocation DCs

Gear is also an issue that troubles me.

Goggles: Shadowsight. Heroic gives +7 Wisdom at level 15. Epic version goes up to +11 Wisdom.
Necklace: Sage's Locket. Heroic gives +4 to Evocation DC. Epic gives +5 Evocation and +15 Spellcraft.
Hand: lootgen +Necro DC item. Should be able to find +3s at low Epic levels (21-22), +4s by 24-25s. +6 is craftable from new raids.
Head: You might want a Helm of the Blue Dragon with +3 Insightful Wisdom, if you can't fit Insightful Wisdom elsewhere. If you can fit it elsewhere, Sage's Skullcap gives both Radiance spellpower and Radiance Lore, plus Fortification. 84 power, 15% lore, 100% fort on Heroic. 132 power, 19% lore, 110% Fort, plus a Yellow slot, on Epic.

There's also various nice raid gear items you might want to strive for eventually, but I got the impression you were mainly looking at initial gearing for early Epics at the moment.

Gear can be very personal, so don't take this as any sort of strict requirement. But if you're worried about your DCs, make sure to fit all the Wisdom and +DC you can.

If you want more disucssion about caster Clerics, build, playstyle, etc., I highly recommend EllisDee's thread, Necro Cleric for New Players. If you're interested, I have a thread about my own caster Cleric, Budstein, including my gear set, Wisdom/DC breakdowns, various rants and raves, etc..

[EllisDee37]

Agreed with SirValentine, particularly about dropping toughness. If you really want toughness, take it as a destiny feat at 26 or 28.

[G_Lich]

This is all good advice for Dc casting... now here's the blasphemy... drop dcs entirely. If you want to play EE without getting horribly frustrated, turtle up and go full on sla. Weak sauce you say? yes, thats just the filler. Turtle Up, stack fire spellpower and go with your new BB... crusader/consecrated ground. Divine disciple sunburst for shadows, vamps, wraiths, and blind everything else. Notice how many feats you get for survivability when you stop worrying about dc.

Breaking first rule: DD sunburst is broken... and cd is shorter than blind wears off EE mobs. I know it stands on flimsy ground but its fun as hell and not Op enough for a nerf anytime soon.

[SirValentine]

This is all good advice for Dc casting... now here's the blasphemy... drop dcs entirely. If you want to play EE without getting horribly frustrated...

The original poster specifically said they were "focused on instakills using slay living, destructin and implosion", and they wanted an EH-capable, not necessarily an EE-capable, build.

It's not that hard to get usable DCs for EH, and even the lower-level EEs. There's no reason at all for a well-built, moderately-well-geared DC caster to be frustrated at all in EH.

Certainly a fire/light nuker divine can work, but it's a very different build.

[Azriel_Angelus]

i found it better to focus on evo as my cleric and fvs vs necro as blade barrier and implosion benefit from evo focus and kill masses more, focusing on evo i think would be better for eh's than necro focus (although don't disregard those spells they are nice to throw in every once in a while)

[SirValentine]

i found it better to focus on evo as my cleric and fvs vs necro as blade barrier and implosion benefit from evo focus and kill masses more, focusing on evo i think would be better for eh's than necro focus (although don't disregard those spells they are nice to throw in every once in a while)

Evo focus is a fair way to go, but there's definite benefits to Necro. (Especially for Clerics, as FvS can't get the +2 Necro DC from Divine Disciple that Clerics can.)

First, sheer killing speed potential: Implosion is 5 mobs per 60 seconds, or 10 mobs in 2 minutes. Destruction + Slay Living is 2 mobs per 8 seconds, or 30 mobs per 2 minutes. Triple the insta-killing speed!

Second, there's more ways to boost Evo than Necro. (Precise Evocation from Draconic Incarnation; Sorc past lives; also, Sage's Locket gets you a good equipment boost without using a weapon slot.) This means that focusing heavily on Evo will result in a HUGE DC difference between your Evo and Necro, such that your Evo will be great but your Necro possibly useless. But if you focus primarily on Necro, you can end up with BOTH good Necro AND still good Evo.

If you're more interested in the nuking side, Evo is better, sure, but for insta-killing, I think Necro is superior.

[Azriel_Angelus]

Evo focus is a fair way to go, but there's definite benefits to Necro. (Especially for Clerics, as FvS can't get the +2 Necro DC from Divine Disciple that Clerics can.)

First, sheer killing speed potential: Implosion is 5 mobs per 60 seconds, or 10 mobs in 2 minutes. Destruction + Slay Living is 2 mobs per 8 seconds, or 30 mobs per 2 minutes. Triple the insta-killing speed!

Second, there's more ways to boost Evo than Necro. (Precise Evocation from Draconic Incarnation; Sorc past lives; also, Sage's Locket gets you a good equipment boost without using a weapon slot.) This means that focusing heavily on Evo will result in a HUGE DC difference between your Evo and Necro, such that your Evo will be great but your Necro possibly useless. But if you focus primarily on Necro, you can end up with BOTH good Necro AND still good Evo.

If you're more interested in the nuking side, Evo is better, sure, but for insta-killing, I think Necro is superior.

I generally only run ee (extremely close to exclusively on my main), so am not very knowledgeable in the lower difficulties and found necro to futile unless i was a pale master, so thats why i said evo, i imagine a well geared cleric could do necro things very well in eh with the difference in dc stuff.

[G_Lich]

Dc is definitely doable in EH and pretty fun, just providing an alternate option sine it wasn't spotted at first glance.

[SirValentine]

I generally only run ee (extremely close to exclusively on my main), so am not very knowledgeable in the lower difficulties and found necro to futile unless i was a pale master, so thats why i said evo, i imagine a well geared cleric could do necro things very well in eh with the difference in dc stuff.

I also generally only run EE. Necro is not at all futile. A well-geared Cleric can do Necro things in EE. Very well in EEs up to and including GH & Wheloon. And, not as well, but still doable with a bit more effort (debuffing) in EE Storm Horns & U21 content.

EH is so much easier than EE that getting both Necro & Evo viable should be quite possible without too much trouble at all, no need for perfect gear, past lives, etc..

[Angelic-council]

But implosion is still bugged right?

[SirValentine]

But implosion is still bugged right?

Yes, but there's ways to lessen the impact of the bug. Wing/run/wing past first group of mobs, leaving them for rest of party, implode second group while party-mates are still far away.

[G_Lich]

The SLA build is also has a huge advantage in SP savings per-kill. Necro has always kept me digging around for pots when it came time to debuff mobs. The DD tree core definitely helped but man It just seems like I rarely get low on SP these days andonly because I like ruin too much.