Axel's THF Melee Cleric Build

[Tilomere]

I mean, it's not like we have some kind of system where we can let other players know we're what we're looking for, right?

[axel15810]

Thanks everyone for chiming in and answering questions. I just don't always have time to jump in here and do it.

[axel15810]

If you wanna up the skull levels as a group, you need specialized builds/roles.
"Battle cleric" has always been not so good concept. Melee play requires full attention, so does keeping your party alive.
Amongst the other newbie trap builds that gets constant attention here for some reason. Nasty wake up if are ever interested in something more than hamster wheel.

Any good melees will do as "front line". Even more so now that the inquisitive pandemic is over. The damage, survivability and whole party dynamic is much better with melees. But you need someone on full time healing / complimentary cc / some instakills / boss debuffs. And sorc / wiz / lock as dedicated primary cc with added aoe and instakills on advanced toons or players.

Tempest is solid as ever, asassin, shintao, vkf alchy, kotc both s+b and thf or barbie. Lot of very good options now. Monk is still the best high reaper melee in my experience.

Come on now, calling these builds newbie traps is pretty ridiculous. I agree that if you're looking for a high skull build this isn't it. But new players aren't going to be playing high skull reaper - thus why these builds aren't a new player trap. I've been clear (I think) that this build is not intended for high skulls. Many, I'd wager most, don't care to play high skull. New players especially aren't going to be playing high skulls, and the majority of the playerbase isn't either. This build is much more about having a lot of versatility, self-sufficiency, flavor and being able to serve in either a melee or a healer role. And it holds its own in mid skull and does great in low skull and standard difficulties. When I think new player trap I think of just flat out broken nonfunctional builds such as the premade paths built into the game. Now those are new player traps.

[Maxxcore]

Hey Axel,

I do not spend a lot of time at cap, but my guild has asked that we all try to get one toon up there for weekly raids. I've decided to try this build, but I was wondering what kind of gear layout you're using at cap, so I can know what I should be farming for. I've got a bit of the sharn/RL gear from my main's past lives, but basically not raid gear (if that is even relevant anymore).

Thanks,
Maxxcore

[Alcar]

Hello,

New player, what is the best faith feat for a Human for this build?

Thanks

[unbongwah]

New player, what is the best faith feat for a Human for this build?

Note: this build as presented is not newbie-friendly. It requires several P2P features: Purple Dragon Knight, the Falconry tree, a +1 Heart of Wood, and +4 Strength tome. Clerics don't get a WIS-to-damage option like Favored Soul and have to rely on Falconry instead. "Downgrading" it to F2P is possible but it doesn't have the same synergies.

This build uses mauls to take advantage of Blessing of Silvanus: "Mauls you wield gain +2 to their Critical Threat Range." Silvanus is only available to the Forgotten Realms Iconic races: Purple Dragon Knight, Shadarkai, Deep Gnome, Scourge Aasimar. A regular (Eberron) race has to pick an Eberron deity. The silver lining to being non-Silvanus is you're not restricted to mauls. Since this is a War-domain cleric build, you gain all weapon proficiencies at level 5 and can use whatever weapons you want. And since this isn't a Warpriest-based build, you don't have to worry about favored weapon bonuses. Instead, pick the deity with the special ability you like best, such as Unyielding Sovereignty or Luck of Olladra.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Deity_feats

[Alcar]

Hello,

Thank you. I will play human then respec into the other race.

Cheers,

[axel15810]

Just did an update video on my U48 gearset. I posted a video on my youtube channel (see link to my channel below in my signature or to the left via the link below my forum title) if anyone wants to check it out. I will also be updating the original build post in the next week or so, hopefully.

[axel15810]

Original post now updated for U48, including endgame gearset. New video recorded and added there as well.

[Eredhor2]

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there any particular reason that you couldn't make this toon as a Morninglord? You'd have to use Fred (or a LR) to reset your diety to Sylvanus, and you'd still have the issue of being 1 feat shy, but shouldn't it otherwise work fine? I'm wondering because I keep seeing the recommendation of using Scourge with a +1 Lr as an alternative to PDK.

Am currently running it as a PDK and enjoying the heck out it. Thanks for the build!

[axel15810]

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there any particular reason that you couldn't make this toon as a Morninglord? You'd have to use Fred (or a LR) to reset your diety to Sylvanus, and you'd still have the issue of being 1 feat shy, but shouldn't it otherwise work fine? I'm wondering because I keep seeing the recommendation of using Scourge with a +1 Lr as an alternative to PDK.

Am currently running it as a PDK and enjoying the heck out it. Thanks for the build!

The reason is because as far as I know, morninglord doesn't have the option to choose silvanus for their diety. Only deep gnome, PDK, scourge and shadar-kai can according to the ddo wiki. I've never tested it, so if the wiki is wrong please let me know.

If there is some workaround with a heart that would be nice to know. But still, I'm not sure why at that point someone wouldn't just run PDK or Scourge instead since you'd have to use a heart of wood in either case. Unless it's just for flavor. Morninglord has -2 CON and their tree doesn't really have any compelling low hanging fruit in it.

[Djjinni]

The reason is because as far as I know, morninglord doesn't have the option to choose silvanus for their diety. Only deep gnome, PDK, scourge and shadar-kai can according to the ddo wiki. I've never tested it, so if the wiki is wrong please let me know.

If there is some workaround with a heart that would be nice to know. But still, I'm not sure why at that point someone wouldn't just run PDK or Scourge instead since you'd have to use a heart of wood in either case. Unless it's just for flavor. Morninglord has -2 CON and their tree doesn't really have any compelling low hanging fruit in it.

Morninglord can't worship Silvanus in any intended way, only getting the choice of Amaunator.

PDK or Scourge have perks on a build like this, and both can work just fine as a 19/1 for anyone not looking to invest a heart in it too

[xBunny]

PDK Feat Selection by Level

If Scourge race, drop Intensify. Feat order may need to be swapped around depending on what STR tome you have and/or how much you invest in STR initially. You need a total of 13 base STR for Power Attack, 15 for THF feat and 17 for ITHF and GTHF feats. The following leveling order assumes you start with 13 STR at character creation and have atleast a +4 STR tome.

What is Intesify for?

[axel15810]

What is Intesify for?

To apply to radiant burst, mostly.

[Lord_Balon]

Hi Axel:

Thank you for posting this build. It has got me trying my hand at melee cleric again. My question is how would you do the gear set without any raid items? I figure the Part of the Family set is still viable but other than that, I'm having trouble coming up with a good gear layout.

Thanks again.

[Riffolk]

Hi Axel:

My question is how would you do the gear set without any raid items? I figure the Part of the Family set is still viable but other than that, I'm having trouble coming up with a good gear layout.

Part of the Family is usually a good place to start. A lot of melee builds I've seen are also running a 4 piece Winter set for the bonus HP.

I think the biggest challenge this build might run into running no raid gear is finding assassinate items that fit well.
Knifepalm (from Ravenloft) clashes with the Part of the Family gloves.
So the other option is the Bracers of the Hidden Blade from The Newcomers + Subtle Sound from Creeping Death for insightful assassinate.
That's 2 item slots that don't contribute to what I think are the builds most important stats (enough defense to stay alive, some devotion + lore for heals).

As far as the end game options for non-raid mauls, I think it's pretty much a wash between Absolute Judgement, Morninglord's, and Syranian.
My vote would be Syranian just because I think adamantine bypass is common enough.

[Lord_Balon]

Thank you Riffolk!

[axel15810]

Hi Axel:

Thank you for posting this build. It has got me trying my hand at melee cleric again. My question is how would you do the gear set without any raid items? I figure the Part of the Family set is still viable but other than that, I'm having trouble coming up with a good gear layout.

Thanks again.

I'd echo a lot of what was said above. Start with Legendary Part of the Family and then work on filling it out from there. Probably focusing on mostly Sharn/Feywild stuff.

Gear tetris is a pain. I'd recommend theorizing gearsets in excel using the DDOwiki, figure out the most optimal combination you can and then start farming.

[Maxxcore]

What's a good beater for the high heroics to low epics? Pretty new at melees, but this build looks pretty sweet.

[Lord_Balon]

What's a good beater for the high heroics to low epics? Pretty new at melees, but this build looks pretty sweet.

If you have access to the Sharn expansion, I would recommend crafting syrianian forged maul, this would get you a weapon which has:
- Heroic ML15: 1.5W, 4d6 Electric Damage, 4d6 Good Damage, 4d10 Construct Bane, Adamantine, Red slot (per the wiki)
https://ddowiki.com/page/Syranian_Forged_Weaponry

This would last you into Epics for a while and then you could look at making a thunderforged item:
- ML22 Tier 0: 3.5[W], +9 Enhancement (and you can add features to them but they increase the ML)
https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Thunder-Forged_Alloy_Maul

base ingredients to make both are not too hard to find and if you ask around, ppl may give them to you.