FvS + Cleric splash for light power and SLAs?

[Peter_Principle]

If you were to have a light-based damage build that was pure fvs, would you be helped or hindered by swapping in a few levels of cleric for access to Divine Disciple SLAs and boosts to light damage? If yes, how many and when would be the best time to take them?

[silinteresting]

ive seen this done the other way round,
using 15 cleric then 5 fvs for the boosts
but never the way you are thinking of.

i believe that most cleric/fvs spells cap at 15
if thats any help for you in working out your
build.

anyway good luck making it and may the journey
to lvl28 be fun.

your friend sil

[unbongwah]

If you were to have a light-based damage build that was pure fvs, would you be helped or hindered by swapping in a few levels of cleric for access to Divine Disciple SLAs and boosts to light damage?

The SLAs are based on the caster level of the class they come from; so if you did, say, FvS 16 / cleric 4, any SLAs you picked up from DiDi would be cast at CL:4, plus any CL bonuses you acquire (e.g., AoV Intense Faith should apply). So the only way this sort of MCed build makes sense, IMHO, is if you can find a way to max out the CL on your SLAs, otherwise what's the point of having gimp SLAs?

I've been toying with cleric 15 / FvS 4 build ideas: the drawback is losing lvl 9 spells and the CL/MCL bonuses from DiDi capstone; but the advantage is the various AoV bonuses (Scourge, Just Reward, Intense Faith, crit bonuses).

[Silverleafeon]

If you were to have a light-based damage build that was pure fvs, would you be helped or hindered by swapping in a few levels of cleric for access to Divine Disciple SLAs and boosts to light damage? If yes, how many and when would be the best time to take them?

The SLAs and unique bonus light spells use Cleric caster levels, hence, although it is instinctive to go Favored Soul X / Splash Cleric Y, the opposite is the correct way to do it.

Cleric 15 / Favored Soul works well ~ tier 5 in Favored Soul then being in Exalted Angel.

Your Clerical light and force caster levels look like this: 15 +3 +3 +5 = 26ish depending

You could try

Cleric 16 / Favored Soul 4 which seemed to work about as well as the 15 / 5 split.

or Cleric 18 / Favored Soul 2 which I did not try yet.


If you are Favored Soul, you probably are better off pure or with a monk splash or the like.


Its a fun build, remember that you can pick up Rebuke Foe and have so many light spells available that you can cast continuous and within about half a minute build up a full stack on a boss.


You loss mass heal, the bugged implosion, and energy drain, but you really don't miss them.
You nuke stuff instead of instant kill anyway, only shroud needs mass heal, and divine wrath makes up for that.

All in all, fun, and I am not sure, but its is close to the druid for power.

Don't forget heighten Order's Wrath when you need some EE stunning power.

[Peter_Principle]

OK, a cleric splash would only give gimp SLAs. Would it still be worth it for the bumps to light spell power and crit chance?

But it does sound like majority cleric and just a hint of FvS might be the way to go, to give your cleric access to AoV bumps. I'm thinking cleric light SP and SLAs + AoV endless temp spellpoints = a caster who doesn't need to ever hit a shrine. Yea or nay?

BTW, what's the implosion bug?

ETA:

Don't forget heighten Order's Wrath when you need some EE stunning power.

Ooo, nice! I never noticed the stun on this, like having another soundburst available. Tell me more. What DCs can you reach with yours, and on what sorts of critters does it work or not work?

[Peter_Principle]

I've been toying with cleric 15 / FvS 4 build ideas: the drawback is losing lvl 9 spells and the CL/MCL bonuses from DiDi capstone; but the advantage is the various AoV bonuses (Scourge, Just Reward, Intense Faith, crit bonuses).

I don't really get a lot of mileage out of my 9th level spells, that is definitely a trade I could consider.

[unbongwah]

BTW, what's the implosion bug?

The spell targets nearby friendlies as well as enemies, but it has no effect on allies; doesn't matter when you're soloing (and have no summons), but in groups it means some or all of Implosion's charges can be wasted if party members are nearby.

[Peter_Principle]

The spell targets nearby friendlies as well as enemies, but it has no effect on allies; doesn't matter when you're soloing (and have no summons), but in groups it means some or all of Implosion's charges can be wasted if party members are nearby.

Whoa. Is that a new bug? Or am I just that far out of the loop?

[unbongwah]

It's been bugged for a long while; no clue when it's getting fixed, other than "not U23."

[Blackheartox]

So far i suggested to friends to do a 17 cleric 2 monk 1 favored soul build since it offerd most light spp lv 9 spells evasion with workable ee reflex with a twist and stance and dodge for survival.
When grpuing with friend his build seemed to be extremely powerful and potent,
Now tho i would approach this challenge differently with several other ideas.
First of all i dont pick lv 9 spells that much for the implosion, but mostly for energy drain and for heightend lower level spell dc. So 17 cleric is kinda a musty, and thinking about archon sla, some people pick f soul for that ability.
But tbh, dd slas with more cleric caster levels are overall way more dps so archon is kinda meh unless you play in boringiradi.
Also with a 17 split you can consider to build around dcs, aka evoc or enchant or transmut or conju, even necromancy is viable in most content.
Now with the bard change, suddenly they became tempting as well, you could splash bard 2-3 levels for the dc increase.
But what i would do with the new update if i was asked to do a light spp build would be either one of the following options:
A 17 cleric base with
a) 2 monk 1 soul again
b) 2 bard 1 monk for just stance
c) 3 bard
d) 2 bard 1 soul
e) 3 soul
f) 1 fighter for feat and possibly shield line with a 2 soul or bard splash
g) some kind 3 paladin splash armored stance. Just stand there and spam ion cannon and s burst or en burst.

For the last option, i was highly impressed currently at live from some 12 cleric 6 paladin 2 fighter tank builds that would utilize guards and en burst ion cannon (d wrath) for really nice ee survival.
I think you could do a v nice 17 cleric 3 palie h armor unkillable beast light spp / fire focused. You would lose ligh spp and dc from non bard non fsoul splash, but survival from stance shields and sh feats combined with h armor would ensure to be able to basically survive any ee mess you can imagine.
-- as they plan to change stalwart stance to lv 3 core imo cleric builds will be extremely powerful as they can afford to play with 3 levels for splashing --

[Angelic-council]

You loss mass heal, the bugged implosion, and energy drain, but you really don't miss them.
You nuke stuff instead of instant kill anyway, only shroud needs mass heal, and divine wrath makes up for that.

You are the ultimate uber completionist right? Why would you say something like this. With all the respect, you clearly have no idea how amazing lv9 spells are. Energy drain is best used on orange named monsters. It's possible to bring down 60k to 30k with a single cast, that's like 5 - 7 divine wraths. Also, Implosion can't possibly be forgotten as with high evocation DC, you can eliminate 14k monster with only 50sp, up to 5 monsters.

Why people never mention holy smite as a CC spell. If you manage to blind monsters, they stop attacking you and run around like crazy, even those archers. Perfect combo with blade barrier and then divine wrath to finish them off.

[Angelic-council]

If you were to have a light-based damage build that was pure fvs, would you be helped or hindered by swapping in a few levels of cleric for access to Divine Disciple SLAs and boosts to light damage? If yes, how many and when would be the best time to take them?

18/2 - FvS/Clr gives you a lot. Light power + light critical + SP bonus + spell penetration + heavy armor proficie and lastly + 2 to all saving throws. It's fairly good for light nukers fvs and the best option for completionist DC casters.

I would add 2 levels in cleric once I reach lv18 since you don't really need light spells in heroics that much.

[Silverleafeon]

But it does sound like majority cleric and just a hint of FvS might be the way to go, to give your cleric access to AoV bumps. I'm thinking cleric light SP and SLAs + AoV endless temp spellpoints = a caster who doesn't need to ever hit a shrine. Yea or nay?

Yes, its very efficient.
Extremely low sp usage, which I liked a lot.

Ooo, nice! I never noticed the stun on this, like having another soundburst available. Tell me more. What DCs can you reach with yours, and on what sorts of critters does it work or not work?

As long as the foe is chaotic (shamans in 3 barrel cove and the like) you can short term stun them.
My DC is about 60ish usually, and I heighten it but don't empower or maximize it.

As mentioned below, Holy Smite which you get as an SLA is great too.
Sunburst + Sunbeam are also good for blinding.
Holy Smite is good enough to be worth having the spell and the SLA both.

Blind = worthless foe.


Chaos Hammer is sort of nice verses devils but not nearly as good as Orders Wrath or Holy Smite.

Unholy blight has little use in game, maybe in running with devils?


And as someone mentioned Favored Soul 18 / Cleric 2 is nice as is other splashes.
But you give up capstone free sp SLA to do that, so toss up in long run.
I like SLAs.


Yes I have given up energy drain which is great, I just wanted something different.
Played so many divines already.

[unbongwah]

18/2 - FvS/Clr gives you a lot. Light power + light critical + SP bonus + spell penetration + heavy armor proficie and lastly + 2 to all saving throws.

The Spellpower & crit bonuses may make it worthwhile: also the Pos bonuses in RS. But the +2 to saves is lvl 3 core, which this split can't take. [If you really care about saves, a pal 2 splash makes more sense; even with the forthcoming Div Grace nerf, it's still worth up to +8 to saves. And you gain hvy armor + martial weaps profs. as a free perk.] And while technically you can gain +1 Spell Pen (-2 from splashing, +3 from DiDi Spell Pen), it costs 6 APs, which is not a good ROI, IMHO.

[Angelic-council]

The Spellpower & crit bonuses may make it worthwhile: also the Pos bonuses in RS. But the +2 to saves is lvl 3 core, which this split can't take. [If you really care about saves, a pal 2 splash makes more sense; even with the forthcoming Div Grace nerf, it's still worth up to +8 to saves. And you gain hvy armor + martial weaps profs. as a free perk.] And while technically you can gain +1 Spell Pen (-2 from splashing, +3 from DiDi Spell Pen), it costs 6 APs, which is not a good ROI, IMHO.

Right, thanks for mentioning that.