Pure Casting Warlock DC Eld Blast Build

**MaeveTuohy** · 10-03-2015, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by slarden

I wouldn't worry about the charisma. It's better than warforged which starts at -2. 2 Charisma won't be a big deal.

I haven't run a bladeforged yet, but if you are spending 4 AP for arcane spell failure reduction it's only another 7 for 3 ranks of communion of scribing so i am sure you can fit it in. The only negative is you lose benefit from positive healing (mass cure serious and divine wrath or renewal in unyielding sentinel).

I am not sure if I cleaned up all my old posts but at some point I mentioned you can use legendary shield mastery with an orb - that was the case at one point but no longer is the case. To get the benefits of legendary shield mastery you would need an actual shield rather than an orb. As a bladeforged you can take legendary shield mastery instead of cocoon as a twist.

Since I a not taking any twists related to conjuration focus the only drawback of giving up the conjuration feats is -3 conjuration focus - so yeah that makes the most sense. 15% isn't going to be a deal breaker with black tentacles unless you dump cha in favor of int - but I don't recommend that. Black tentacles is too good to completely dump charisma for a tiny amount of spellpower.

3 paladin gives you 20% hp and 25 PRR while legendary shield mastery gives 15 PRR. With legendary shield mastery plus the 5 from improved shield mastery (20 total - and you will want both shield mastery feats to get the top tier of legendary shield mastery) so you can consider going pure warlock which gives you the 20% hp from the ES capstone. If you find you need more survivability you always have the option of switching from exalted angel to unyielding sentinel for just quests where staying alive is difficult. That saves you 13 AP which makes it easier to fit in communion of scribing. You might be on to a really good build there.

The combination of 20 PRR + 30 DR from shadow guardian + communion of scribing is probably more beneficial in total than the 36 PRR you get just from divine/PDK past lifes so with that build I think you can handle all EE content in the game as a pure 20 warlock. I am running the 20 warlock version with several epic/divine past lifes ( but not getting 20 from legendary shield mastery + 2 feats) and it's enough for me. I doubt the extra 3 DC for tentacles will make a huge difference.

One other thing to note about Exalted Angel. I am currently out of town for an extended time using a laptop on wifi so I have PC lag from time to time unrelated to the occasional server lag. This results in some deaths, but the reborn in the light epic moment lets you raise yourself with 2 additional minutes of 100 light spellpower and other benefits. So even if you die some, you always have the reborn in the light "do over" once every 10 minutes. So if you die once in a while in EE in Exalted Angel, it's not a huge deal with reborn in the light at your disposal.

You've just made me want to make a bladeforged warlock with legendary shield mastery on one of my alts that is sitting around doing nothing since the level cap was 25. Thanks for the idea!

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

I have few relevant past lives (3 Wiz, 1 Sorc) and no shadow guardian armor (I have run Deathwayrm exactly once).

In order to take Improved Shield Mastery as a pure warlock, I would need to take two other feats, Shield Mastery and Shield Proficiency (general), yes? That's a total of 3 feats. With Empower, Quicken and Maximize, that's 6. The final feat could be the Wiz PL, or else Force of Personality.

One drawback with taking 3 Paladin levels as BF is the AP cost for the benefits in both the paladin and racial enhancement trees: The demands of ES and TC on AP are already very, high and saving AP from the Paladin tree would enable the build to eke out the last few % points of spell crit from TS.

Assuming no shadow docent, Dumathoin's Bracers or epic past life PRR, how much total PRR do you think a build like this could reasinably get?

**slarden** · 10-04-2015, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by MaeveTuohy

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

I have few relevant past lives (3 Wiz, 1 Sorc) and no shadow guardian armor (I have run Deathwayrm exactly once).

In order to take Improved Shield Mastery as a pure warlock, I would need to take two other feats, Shield Mastery and Shield Proficiency (general), yes? That's a total of 3 feats. With Empower, Quicken and Maximize, that's 6. The final feat could be the Wiz PL, or else Force of Personality.

One drawback with taking 3 Paladin levels as BF is the AP cost for the benefits in both the paladin and racial enhancement trees: The demands of ES and TC on AP are already very, high and saving AP from the Paladin tree would enable the build to eke out the last few % points of spell crit from TS.

Assuming no shadow docent, Dumathoin's Bracers or epic past life PRR, how much total PRR do you think a build like this could reasinably get?

Thank you! I missed the need to take shield proficiency and updated the alt build info in the original post. In this build I would drop past life wizard over force of personality, but that is a very debatable choice - it can go either way. Force of personality gives you a huge will save boost and past life wizard gives you 1 dc.

The ES Capstone raises your BAB to full which indirectly boosts your PRR if proficient. You get 19 at level 28 (15 Warlock + 4 for epic levels), but with Ultimate Enlightenment this is boosted to 28. So this boosts your PRR by 9 with adamantine plating vs. 25 for defensive stance. If you want to go more tanky i would drop ruin for epic defenses. Although it's useful situationally it's a spell point drainer and I seldom use it.

If going pure i would run with the aura, but even if playing 17warlock / 3paladin I would strongly consider going with the aura as well since it works so well with my playstyle.

PRR
Heavy Armor: 30
Heavy armor Proficiency: 19
Spiritual Bastion: 13
Resilience of Body: 9 (due to BAB bonus)
Epic Minos Legens or other 24PRR item: 24
Tower Shield (skyvault shield): 15
Improved Shield Mastery Feat: 15
Legendary Shield Mastery: 15
Epic Defenses (level 27 feat): 10
Total: 150 (166 with 17 warlock / 3 pal with defensive stance)

150 is a solid EE PRR for a warlock. You also reduce damage by staying on the move with your aura providing passive aoe damage and cycling through spirit blast, eldritch burst, divine wrath and energy burst (if you can afford to twist it) for mob aoe damage- also using single target spells consume, stricken and avenging light. You don't really need to kite with this build, but if damage is too much you can run in a tight circle (usually evards for me) and keep bursting.

For the 24 PRR Items - the only non-raid 30 PRR item is mythic minos which is hard to get - I think less than 1 in 100 chests. There is guardian's ring you can get from running what goes up at any difficulty - or epic laurel helix which may have a bonus mythic +1 or +3 universal spellpower boost on it. Also epic chord of reprisals has 24 PRR and great synergies with fey.

For armor, if shadow guardian is out, I would look towards to the TOEE set and would probably use lantern ring for light damage with utterdark blast and use the TOEE acid 156 23% acid burst scepter and go great old one instead of fey and then take acid energy burst as a twist. This gives you 20 to universal spellpower with the TOEE set and allows you to get the spellpower and crits for base damage, pact damage and energy burst while still using a buckler. Acid also isn't evadable and cultists with evasion are among the higher damage dealing enemies in the new chain.

You could also use epic chord of reprisals for fey, but you would use the crit % sincce TOEE weapons can't have sonic.

I would go pure in your situation for the reason you stated - too much AP investment for defensive stance + bladeforged reconstruct SLA. 125 PRR is solid, plus you have a great advantage being a warlock since you can work on epic divine past lifes without running off-destiny. I would probably ETR to get some epic divine past lifes to increase PRR a little more, although it's not needed - 125 is solid. Mythic bonuses will also increase PRR some depending on your gear.

If you need more survivability for some specific quests you always have the option of swapping to unyielding sentinel for a big hp boost, 10 DR and 20 PRR. You can also run in divine crusader for 10PRR and the consecration which adds more AOE and self-healing. Exalted is still the best DPS though.

I think you are on to a great idea - I think I will try to run something similar.

**MaeveTuohy** · 10-04-2015, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by slarden

Thank you! I missed the need to take shield proficiency and updated the alt build info in the original post. In this build I would drop past life wizard over force of personality, but that is a very debatable choice - it can go either way. Force of personality gives you a huge will save boost and past life wizard gives you 1 dc.

The ES Capstone raises your BAB to full which indirectly boosts your PRR if proficient. You get 19 at level 28 (15 Warlock + 4 for epic levels), but with Ultimate Enlightenment this is boosted to 28. So this boosts your PRR by 9 with adamantine plating vs. 25 for defensive stance. If you want to go more tanky i would drop ruin for epic defenses. Although it's useful situationally it's a spell point drainer and I seldom use it.

If going pure i would run with the aura, but even if playing 17warlock / 3paladin I would strongly consider going with the aura as well since it works so well with my playstyle.

PRR
Heavy Armor: 30
Heavy armor Proficiency: 19
Spiritual Bastion: 13
Resilience of Body: 9 (due to BAB bonus)
Epic Minos Legens or other 24PRR item: 24
Tower Shield (skyvault shield): 15
Improved Shield Mastery Feat: 15
Legendary Shield Mastery: 15
Epic Defenses (level 27 feat): 10
Total: 150 (166 with 17 warlock / 3 pal with defensive stance)

150 is a solid EE PRR for a warlock. You also reduce damage by staying on the move with your aura providing passive aoe damage and cycling through spirit blast, eldritch burst, divine wrath and energy burst (if you can afford to twist it) for mob aoe damage- also using single target spells consume, stricken and avenging light. You don't really need to kite with this build, but if damage is too much you can run in a tight circle (usually evards for me) and keep bursting.

For the 24 PRR Items - the only non-raid 30 PRR item is mythic minos which is hard to get - I think less than 1 in 100 chests. There is guardian's ring you can get from running what goes up at any difficulty - or epic laurel helix which may have a bonus mythic +1 or +3 universal spellpower boost on it. Also epic chord of reprisals has 24 PRR and great synergies with fey.

For armor, if shadow guardian is out, I would look towards to the TOEE set and would probably use lantern ring for light damage with utterdark blast and use the TOEE acid 156 23% acid burst scepter and go great old one instead of fey and then take acid energy burst as a twist. This gives you 20 to universal spellpower with the TOEE set and allows you to get the spellpower and crits for base damage, pact damage and energy burst while still using a buckler. Acid also isn't evadable and cultists with evasion are among the higher damage dealing enemies in the new chain.

You could also use epic chord of reprisals for fey, but you would use the crit % sincce TOEE weapons can't have sonic.

I would go pure in your situation for the reason you stated - too much AP investment for defensive stance + bladeforged reconstruct SLA. 125 PRR is solid, plus you have a great advantage being a warlock since you can work on epic divine past lifes without running off-destiny. I would probably ETR to get some epic divine past lifes to increase PRR a little more, although it's not needed - 125 is solid. Mythic bonuses will also increase PRR some depending on your gear.

If you need more survivability for some specific quests you always have the option of swapping to unyielding sentinel for a big hp boost, 10 DR and 20 PRR. You can also run in divine crusader for 10PRR and the consecration which adds more AOE and self-healing. Exalted is still the best DPS though.

I think you are on to a great idea - I think I will try to run something similar.

What a treat to receive such solid feedback.

I do have many of the epic items you listed and I do have the ability to twist in Energy Burst. I have no items from ToEE, having rarely run that, and I am uncertain what you mean by the "ToEE set" in terms of armour.

I do like the warlock 20 version of this build, but do you think that the Paladin saves would tip it in favour of the 17/3 version? I have run a Drow 20 warlock on my main and it has not had much of an issue with saves (especially will, as I took Force of Personality.)

**slarden** · 10-04-2015, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by MaeveTuohy

What a treat to receive such solid feedback.

I do have many of the epic items you listed and I do have the ability to twist in Energy Burst. I have no items from ToEE, having rarely run that, and I am uncertain what you mean by the "ToEE set" in terms of armour.

I do like the warlock 20 version of this build, but do you think that the Paladin saves would tip it in favour of the 17/3 version? I have run a Drow 20 warlock on my main and it has not had much of an issue with saves (especially will, as I took Force of Personality.)

The TOEE set is crafted armor + crafted weapon. If you craft one of each you get +20 stacking bonus to your universal spellpower. The armor has lesser displacement + 150% fortification and the weapons have 156 spellpower (acid, fire, cold or electric), 6 spell pen and 23% lore matching the selected element.

The set is nice for great old one or fiend since it's slightly better than thunderforged for the spellpower, percentage and can be synchronized with energy burst. You can also apply +2-4 mythic bonus to each piece. For the mythic upgrade, the armor is prr/mrr and the weapon is more universal spellpower.

So it can give you up to 24 more light spelpower, but it's not critical. It's just an option since your docent is undecided.

http://ddowiki.com/page/ToEE_Crafting

The new docent gives you 12 universal spellpower (10 insightful + 4 int) and 0-4 prr/mrr depending on the mythic tier, so it's also not a bad choice if not using TOEE set or thunderforged:

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Docent_of_Insight

As for saves, yes the saves from paladin levels will absolutely make a difference, but not everywhere. In what goes up the end boss has flesh to stone and the divines before that have stuns. The stuns you can eliminate by swapping on epic chord of reprisals. If you go into divine crusader just for what goes up the boss can't turn you to stone if you choose the tier 5 option that makes you immune to petrification. You lose some dps ,but you still have options.

There are a few places (GOP for example) where you can get one shot by disintegrate. That would only happen on a 1 with paladin levels so odds are low you would get the big champion disintegrate crit and roll a 1 one at same time. On a 20 warlock if the champion lich crits you are basically dead unless you roll a 20.

For will saves you are fine with force of personality. For reflex you are basically fine because you have high MRR and are immune to knockdown. for fortification saves, you have to worry about sonic stuns (negated by epic chord of reprisals), pertrification (can be worked around by going into divine crusader and giving up a little dps for those quests) and disintegrates (I've only been one shot in GOP and TOEE).

In the newest 2 chains saves have not been a big issue for me. I've been hit by some big rakasha disintegrates, but never one-shotted. My feeling is I am willing to take a few more deaths in some content to be more powerful everywhere else, but others value never dying more.

**MaeveTuohy** · 10-04-2015, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by slarden

The TOEE set is crafted armor + crafted weapon. If you craft one of each you get +20 stacking bonus to your universal spellpower. The armor has lesser displacement + 150% fortification and the weapons have 156 spellpower (acid, fire, cold or electric), 6 spell pen and 23% lore matching the selected element.

The set is nice for great old one or fiend since it's slightly better than thunderforged for the spellpower, percentage and can be synchronized with energy burst. You can also apply +2-4 mythic bonus to each piece. For the mythic upgrade, the armor is prr/mrr and the weapon is more universal spellpower.

So it can give you up to 24 more light spelpower, but it's not critical. It's just an option since your docent is undecided.

http://ddowiki.com/page/ToEE_Crafting

The new docent gives you 12 universal spellpower (10 insightful + 4 int) and 0-4 prr/mrr depending on the mythic tier, so it's also not a bad choice if not using TOEE set or thunderforged:

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Docent_of_Insight

As for saves, yes the saves from paladin levels will absolutely make a difference, but not everywhere. In what goes up the end boss has flesh to stone and the divines before that have stuns. The stuns you can eliminate by swapping on epic chord of reprisals. If you go into divine crusader just for what goes up the boss can't turn you to stone if you choose the tier 5 option that makes you immune to petrification. You lose some dps ,but you still have options.

There are a few places (GOP for example) where you can get one shot by disintegrate. That would only happen on a 1 with paladin levels so odds are low you would get the big champion disintegrate crit and roll a 1 one at same time. On a 20 warlock if the champion lich crits you are basically dead unless you roll a 20.

For will saves you are fine with force of personality. For reflex you are basically fine because you have high MRR and are immune to knockdown. for fortification saves, you have to worry about sonic stuns (negated by epic chord of reprisals), pertrification (can be worked around by going into divine crusader and giving up a little dps for those quests) and disintegrates (I've only been one shot in GOP and TOEE).

In the newest 2 chains saves have not been a big issue for me. I've been hit by some big rakasha disintegrates, but never one-shotted. My feeling is I am willing to take a few more deaths in some content to be more powerful everywhere else, but others value never dying more.

That explains why my 20 warlock has been mostly fine even in EE. She also has an epic eye of the beholder and can switch in a PilF if facing known, tough casters. I also have the epic chord of reprisals. I will mostly be using Ancient Gemstone, Stone Heart and Livewood Core. I'll be building this soon and keep you updated on how it runs. Note that I am not as experienced or well-equipped player as yourself, so if I do OK with it, you should crush all before you.

I have that docent, though it's for end game and mostly I will be running levels 20-27 and ERing to build up epic past lives.

**Gothdom** · 10-07-2015, 10:13 AM

Awesome guide. I used it since you started it and experimented with it myself.

I'm not a vet so there are some things I still don't understand about the warlock, like what is the constant "specified" spellpower I should go for before Light and Universal. Should I really use utterdark? If so, should I add negative spellpower or should I forget utterdark and concentrate on positive?

Anyhow, I'm ETRing right now and will try your build as is. What is your ideal stat distribution? I don't see it on the front page.

**slarden** · 10-08-2015, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Gothdom

Awesome guide. I used it since you started it and experimented with it myself.

I'm not a vet so there are some things I still don't understand about the warlock, like what is the constant "specified" spellpower I should go for before Light and Universal. Should I really use utterdark? If so, should I add negative spellpower or should I forget utterdark and concentrate on positive?

Anyhow, I'm ETRing right now and will try your build as is. What is your ideal stat distribution? I don't see it on the front page.

Thank you for the kind words. By default a warlock's eldritch blast does force damage, with utterdark blast stance on it changes the damage to evil which is boosted by light spellpower rather than negative. There are a few reasons why utterdark blast is a key part of the build:
1) Alot of warlock abilities benefit from light spellpower
2) Light spellpower has the highest potential for a warlock of any other spellpower type
3) It has great synergies with exalted angel which is the best destiny for a warlock in my opinion. Divine Crusader and Unyielding sentinel are also good choices depending on your objectives. Shiradi champion is not bad, but warlocks don't benefit from the shiradi procs as much as a wizard does.
4) As luck would have it good light spellpower items are easy to get for etr (holy symbol of lloth) and end game (upgraded lantern ring).

Warlock abilities that benefit from light spellpower
- eldritch burst
- spirit blast
- spiritual retribution
- celestial spirit
- consume (chaotic damage is boosted by light spellpower)
- stricken (chaotic damage is boosted by light spellpower)
- Eldritch aura (with utterdark only) - evil damage is boosted by light spellpower rather than negative energy.

Additional light sources for this build
- Power of enlightenment tier 2 (15)
- Power of enlightenment tier 3 (15)
- ultimate enlightenment (20)
- Radiant power from exalted angel (30)
- blood and radiance from exalted angel (20)
- reborn in the light epic moment (100 2 minutes out of 10)
- morninglord past lifes x3 (30) - even without access to this it's still the best spellpower type

In addition you should try to get a source of positive spellpower - the easiest being a 138 devotion augment, but epic halyconia from archon's trial is also a possibility - the gear setup listed has room for improvement and alot of flexibility - its just what I have currently. I don't think you need negative, but whatever you pact is will determine the other spellpower type you need to focus on:

fey (sonic)
great old one (acid)
fiend (fire) - probably not the best choice for end game with eVale coming out, but great for getting past lifes.

So in all you want to focus on 3 spellpower types- light, positive and whatever your pact spell type is.

**HuneyMunster** · 10-10-2015, 08:37 AM

Did you ever get around to building a Shiradi Lock yet? If Helf Warlock Dilettante 1d4 fire(2sec cd) works with procs then they are the best racial option for such a build imo. Though Im not sure if the description saying exclusive with Warlock pact mean they cant be both activated at the same time in which case useless for lock build. With Enlightened Spirit you get 4 attacks per blast and a further 2 from Resonation and Latern Ring you can get up to 7 chances per attack to get a proc.

**slarden** · 10-10-2015, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by HuneyMunster

Did you ever get around to building a Shiradi Lock yet? If Helf Warlock Dilettante 1d4 fire(2sec cd) works with procs then they are the best racial option for such a build imo. Though Im not sure if the description saying exclusive with Warlock pact mean they cant be both activated at the same time in which case useless for lock build. With Enlightened Spirit you get 4 attacks per blast and a further 2 from Resonation and Latern Ring you can get up to 7 chances per attack to get a proc.

I ran 20 warlock in shiradi as a main destiny and also ran 20 warlock in exalted angel with prism, rainbow and double rainbow twisted in. I've experimented in Shiradi with enlightened spirit, tainted scholar and souleater as the main tree and didn't find anything else that i like as much as my current build.

I am running this build on randowl my main character. While this character was in etr mode I played both palemaster (when etr partner was a shiradi caster) and also shiradi wizard (when etr partner was monkcher). I really enjoyed playing a shiradi wizard. At the time I played it - it as a maybe a B+ or A- build compared to the field, but it was an A+ when I received the joy proc where the queen was madly in love with me (50% shiradi proces and +10 to stats) and it seemed to proc alot. It's obviously fallen in the pecking order with all the class revamps.

The good procs from audience with the queen proc alot less than they used to. Also nerve venom was really helpful when GH was new and stormhorns was new. It was cc that ignored the high DC mob saves and gave a little bit of breathing room. I don't find nerve venom necessary any more and if I want cc the extra dc I get from exalted angel for evards is much better than nerve venom. I can't fit sense weakness into my current build anyhow for the extra damage when enemies are hit with nerve venom.

So now the really good audience with the queen proc seem much less than it used to. Nerve venom is not as useful as it used to be so all you really get from shiradi that is double rainbow and 15 spellpower, but I can twist double rainbow, rainbow and prism in if I wish. The only problem is that I tried that and energy burst, empyrean magic and fey form give me better results. I tried both sets of twists and settled on energy burst, empyrean magic and fey form.

A much better secondary destiny in my opinion is divine crusader. You can twist in 30 light spellpower instead of empyrean magic which is only a tier 1. You get consecration which doesn't match divine wrath dps but gives really great self healing and helps the party. You get 10 more PRR. Celestial Bombardment is wisdom based so not the best, but it gets some use, but overall I still prefer exalted angel.

I have some multiclass warlock ideas, but on paper it always seems pure warlock would be better.

**slarden** · 10-14-2015, 10:54 AM

First of all this kills the 17 warlock / 3 paladin version. There is just no point in sacrificing so much for +11 to saves since those saves will be too low.

I don't think the devs understand the difference in power level of warlocks at heroic levels vs power levels of warlocks at 28. The proposed changes are across the board at all levels and will have a large impact on this build - I will need to test various builds to see where it stacks up, but since other builds are also being nerfed, it's hard to assess the impact. At 28 weapon based builds will still have mortal fear so my best guess is that warlock will move to a b+ build and will be knocked off the top tier (mortal fear is a great equalizer for weapon builds and is not being nerfed). The only possible saving grace is eldritch wave which is the king of warlock burst damage, but hasn't been a primary choice since either enlightened spirit or tainted scholar must be sacrificed to take tier 5 soul eater. The soul eater capstone isn't compelling so while souleater tier 5 will be the obvious choice, either the capstone from tainted scholar or enlightened spirit will be selected. This uses up nearly all 80 AP so locks out the other tree.

My initial reaction is to pass on the 10% crit damage and spend 38 in soul eater and 42 in enlightened spirit. This is less dps than 38 in soul eater and 42 in tainted scholar, but the 20% hp , extra prr from bab bonus and passive hp might make the build better overall. Then again I always end up with max DPS so I will likely somehow end up with T5 souleater with TS capstone.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...e5#post5703203

Here is a quick impact of the changes.

PRR Before
Medium Armor: 20
Medium armor Proficiency: 17 (tested by taking armor on and off - total benefit of med armor is 37 when Resilience of Body is toggled off)
Spiritual Bastion: 13
Resilience of Body: 6 (due to BAB bonus)
Dumathoin's Bracers: 30
Celestial Spirit: 6 (tested by toggling on and off - has 6 PRR benefit I wasn't expecting)
Past Lifes: 0 - 36 Divine/PDK
----------------------------------
Total PRR depending on past lifes: 92 - 128 (47.92% - 56.14%)

PRR After
Medium Armor with resilience of body; 42
Spiritual Bastion: 13
Dumathoin's Bracers: 30
Celestial Spirit: 6 (tested by toggling on and off - has 6 PRR benefit I wasn't expecting)
Past Lifes: 0 - 36 Divine/PDK
----------------------------------
Total PRR depending on past lifes: 91 - 127 (47.64% - 55.95%)

MRR Before
Paragon's Aegis Feat x 5: 25
Medium Armor: 20
Dumathoin's Bracers: 30
Shape Vestements: 10
Resilence of Soul: 6
Spiritual Ward: 13
Mysterious Cloak: 25
Past Lifes: 0 - 9
--------------------------
Total MRR depending on # of warlock past lifes 129-138 (56.33% - 57.98%)

MRR After
Paragon's Aegis Feat x 5: 25
Dumathoin's Bracers: 30
Shape Vestements: 10
Resilence of Soul: 6
Spiritual Ward: 13
Mysterious Cloak: 25
Past Lifes: 0 - 9
--------------------------
Total MRR depending on # of warlock past lifes 109-118 (52.15%-54.13%)

Impact on DPS rotation of spells
Passive Aura: 15% dps reduction
Spirit Blast: 16.67% dps reduction
Eldritch Blast: 16.67% dps reduction
Energy Burst: no change
Divine Wrath: no change
Avenging Light: no change
Stricken: 16.67% dps reduction
Consume: 16.67% dps reduction

By switching to capstone (enligtened spirit) and tier 5 (soul eater) this replaces spirit blast with eldritch wave for about double damage compared to spirit blast, but giving up tainted scholar crit damage is about a 9% dps decrease so obviously the optimal dps builds souleater (tier 5) and tainted scholar (capstone), but for more survivability tainted scholar (tier 5) and enlightened spirit (capstone) is still a viable option.

I will need to test with the lower dps to figure out which option is best.

I should also point out that with no changes to the build, dps is down about 14%. This build will still be able to solo all the same content it could solo before this change, it will just take a bit longer. The build already has easy potential for either PRR improvement (to withstand more incoming damage) or dps improvement (toee set, book from haunted halls, human damage boost etc), although not enough to make up for the nerf totally. Still the bottom line is the build doesn't need to change - but will be improved by opting for the unscathed eldritch wave.

**slarden** · 10-20-2015, 11:43 AM

Well, the devs are doing everything they can to kill ES and they don't seem to fully understand that adding arcane spell failure by itself was probably enough with no additional nerfs.

I fully intend to spend time trying to optmize a 20 warlock build, but multi-classing is the easiest way to get to the type of balanced offense/defense/evard's cc build we had prior to the upcoming patch. For someone with alot of past lifes making a 20 warlock soul eater/ tainted scholar build that is survivable will be easily achievable - adding 36 PRR to warlock is huge.

I am going to start with some basic info in this post and will put in more specifics once I get a chance to test on Lamannia. I just got home after spending 7 of 9 weeks on the road including weekends so I have alot of other catching up to do - so I will be quite busy.

The reason for 3 Fighter is it grants shield proficiency, tower shield proficiency and gives 2 fighter feats which can be used for shield mastery and improved shield mastery. for 13 points you get 25 PRR, 25 MRR and 20% hp, but the hp bonus requires EITHER medium armor or a shield.

Leveling Order: 1-15 Warlock 16-18 Fighter 19-20 Warlock

Starting Stats: Same as original build

Feats
1) Empower
3) Maximize
6) Quicken
9) Force of Personality
12) Spell Focus Conjuration
15) Greater Spell Focus Conjuration
16 - Fighter 1) Shield Mastery
17 - Fighter 2) Improved Shield Mastery
18) Heighten
21) Epic Eldritch Blast
24) Spell Focus Evocation or Epic Spell Focus Conjuration
26) Epic Arcane: Eldritch Blast
27) Epic Defenses
28) Spell Power Light

(Substitute spell focus with completionist/ past life wizard if you have)

Enhancement Distribution
Drow (2) to get rid of arcane spell failure from medium armor - note a 15 reduction is also needed from an augment to full reduce the 20% arcane spell failure from medium armor.
Souleater (38)
Tainted Scholar (27)
Stalwart Defender (13) for 20% hp and 25 PRR/MRR

PRR
Medium Armor: 29
Sightless: 35 (subtract 11 if using just epic chord of reprisals or epic laurel helix)
Circle of Malevolence (subtract 5 if you don't have)
Epic Defenses: 10
EE Skyvault Shield: 15
Improved Shield Mastery: 15
Legendary Shield Mastery: 15
Durable Defense: 15
Stalwart Defense: 10
Epic Past Lifes: 0 - 36

Total PRR with no past lifes or raid gear: 133 (57% damage reduction)
Total PRR with no past lifes and raid gear: 149 (60% damage reduction)
Total PRR with all past lifes and raid gear: 185 (65% damage reduction)
Total PRR with all past lifes and raid gear - minus shield - 140 (58% damage reduction)

MRR
Paragon Aegis x3: 15
Sightless: 35 (subtract 11 if you are using epic chord of reprisals)
Circle of Malevolence: 5 (subtract 5 if no raid gear)
Mysterious Cloak: 25
Durable Defense: 15
Stalwart Defense: 10
Past Lifes: 0-9

Total MRR with no past lifes or raid gear: 89 (47% damage reduction)
Total MRR with no past lifes and raid gear: 100 (50% damage reduction)
Total MRR with all past lifes and raid gear: 109 (52% damage reduction)

DPS
Eldritch Wave (Cone that strikes all opponents 3 times scaling to 150% spellpower)
Divine Wrath
Eldritch Blast Cone basic attack (Cone that strikes all opponents 1 time scaling to 130% spellpower)
Consume
Stricken

With this setup I am giving up Energy Burst and POSSIBLY replacing it with evocation augmentation which can add up to 10 DC on my eldritch burst - very helpful against high hp enemies. Alternatively I will twist in 3 conjuration DC. I am still undecided on how to replace the twist but I don't think energy burst has a place in a pew pew build.

3 Fighter levels reduce eldritch blast by 1 dice and pact damage by 2 dice.

SELF HEALING
Mass Cure Moderate Wounds SLA (big heal ability for fleshy)
Cocoon (primary way to top off HP)
Divine Wrath (don't laugh it actually really helps when timed properly)
Steal Life Force (soul eater): backup to the backup

DESTINY: Exalted Angel

TWISTS (for me, drop fey form if you don't have enough spots/points)
Empyrean Magic
Legendary Shield Mastery (or Conjuration Specialist if your PRR is high enough with past lifes - alternatively evocation augmentation for more boss damage)
Fey Form (or Precise Conjuration or drop if not enough points/spots)
Rejuv Cocoon

**AtomicMew** · 10-20-2015, 03:51 PM

The 17/3 split is looking solid for the next patch. But I'd still prefer paladin for the +11 to saves, and as stated in the other thread, you can master's touch tower shield.

However, for someone with the gear and past lives, 20 lock with TS capstone is just gonna be a huge amount more DPS to the tune of 20-30% more damage. I don't see any way around for an optimal warlock build.

**slarden** · 10-20-2015, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by AtomicMew

The 17/3 split is looking solid for the next patch. But I'd still prefer paladin for the +11 to saves, and as stated in the other thread, you can master's touch tower shield.

However, for someone with the gear and past lives, 20 lock with TS capstone is just gonna be a huge amount more DPS to the tune of 20-30% more damage. I don't see any way around for an optimal warlock build.

Yeah that is a reasonable trade off. For me with GH I am sitting at a 51 fort save on my maxed out character. With +11 that is 62 and I need about 80 or so EE WGU to avoid flesh to stone - at least that is what I've been told. Same for the medusa optional in TOEE part 1 EE - the save required is 80ish.

The TS capstone alone is a 9% dps boost (30% crit chance approximately multiplied by 30% damage). I agree a maxed out character can probably go 20 warlock. I am throwing out 17 warlock / 3 fighter first because it doesn't have the past life or gear dependencies so I can experiment on my alt without tinkering too much with my main. I want to try several options on my main as a pure warlock 20 before considering a splash of either fighter or paladin.

The way I look at it - I was willing to give up a 9% dps boost to take ES capstone so I can probably do the same now and Eldritch Wave makes up for most of the dps lost on other abilities.

**slarden** · 10-23-2015, 01:02 AM

I ran 3 builds today with the changes from U28 Patch 1.

20 Warlock - Enlightened Spirted / Tainted Scholar / Splash of Soul Eater (my build before the update with a few tweaks)
20 Warlock - Soul Eater / Tainted Schoilar
17 Warlock / 3 Paladin - Soul Eater / Tainted Scholar

The first build is a slight variation of my previous build
- dropped beacon
- dropped shining through (didn't use much and highly over-rated for a char build)
- added final rank of Eldritch Focus for 1 more spellpower
- added 3 ranks of Hungry for Destruction Tier 2 and third soul eater core for 11 more spellpower
- Equipped TOEE set with cold element weapon and electric shield for 22 more spellpower
- Upgraded Epic Rod of Mythant to version with +4 mythic bonus for 2 more spellpower
- Swapped out fey power giving up 15 spellpower for 3 conjuration DC (will test for a bit with more spellpower soon - will likely go back to the 15 spellpower)
- Dropped ruin added Epic Damage Reduction for 10 more PRR
- A few gear changes - using Sightless, Boots of Blessed Travel, Ring of Shadows (just for ghostly) and Epic Chord of Reprisals (Sonic spell power + protection from sonic stuns) and Dissolution basically for Conjuration focus
- Weapons are now Epic Rod of Mythant with +4 mythic bonus and TOEE fully upgraded cold caster weapon with +2 mythic bonus
- Switched Energy burst element from fire to cold

The second build was basically the same feats as my current build with changed enhancements. Tried this with a shield and without.

The third build is like the U28 Patch 1 17 warlock /3 fighter build except with 3 paladin for saves intstead of the shield mastery feats since this character has enough prr from past lifes - the shield isn't needed. Saves were 71 fort, 70 reflex and 86 will

I expected my current build to perform the worst. Much to my surprise I think it's actually the best build of the 3 even after the nerf, although the dps is lower than pure warlock soul eater/ tainted scholar, but only slightly.

For my current build this is my basic spell rotation/approach
- Sleet Storm and Evards for quick cc and some damage
- Rotation of Energy Burst, Divine Wrath, Spirit Blast, Eldritch Burst for AOE damage + passive aura every 2 seconds
- Rotation of Consume, Stricken, Avenging Light for single target damage and when AOE spells on cooldown

Since Divine Wrath and Energy Burst are part of the rotation - my total DPS went down less than 15% as those SLAs were unaffected.

For the 2 Soul Eater/Tainted Scholar builds I used only Divine Wrath and Energy Wave with Cone Eldritch Burst when those 2 were on cooldown.

The reason enlightened spirit dps wasn't much worse than souleater/tainted scholar
- I am constantly casting spells so the aura is a bonus spell and I only get that with Enlightened Spirt. I never cast basic Eldritch Blast.
- Basic Eldritch Blast pew pew doesn't benefit from maximize or empower while the ES SLAs do - this is a 225 spellpower benefit
- Enlightened Spirit has 72 extra spellpower in the tree and I am getting most of the spellpower benefit out of the other trees - even more so with my recent tweaks
- Blood and Radiance doesn't charge up well with pew pew. I never once had reborn in the light charged up to full where it's charged up to full quickly with the aura. This is a 30 spellpower benefit. So although the cone pew pew has 30% more benefit from spellpower and has 30% higher crit damage, it has over 300 less spellpower compared to the ES SLAs.
- Transition from Divine Wrath/Eldritch Wave bursts back to pew pew is clunky and there is some loss in my opinion
- I don't believe the cone is actually benefiting from the 10% speed bonus in tainted scholar. I notice no difference with or without the level 18 tainted scholar core, but I am not sure how to accurately measure that.

So after alot of assumptions about needing to change - I am sticking with my original build.

Solo'd EE Amarath again - no deaths
Solo'd EE U28 - no deaths

And best part which I never realized, the U28 chain does have some places where knockdown protection mattered. That benefit didn't seem so important to me - and still isn't critical - but when I was knocked down, my chances of dying went up signficantly.

Pure Warlock 20 Souleater / Tainted Scholar is a flavor build in my opinion. It has the highest DPS potential by a small margin, but it will only thrive in full powerful groups where the squishiness won't matter.

Warlock 17 / Fighter 3 or Warlock 17 / Paladin 3 are both solid builds, but suffer from the same pew pew drawbacks without the 30% extra crit damage. They are both very survivable with high PRR/MRR potential. Without divine/pdk past lifes - this is a solid way to go. It just depends on whether you want the extra 2 feats or 14 higher saves (11 from divine grace + 3 from defense stance). The extra feats lets you take the shield feats and still max out evard's DC.

On a side note, I thought steal life force was a much better self-healing option than shining through. I didn't miss shining through at all. I don't miss dropping it on my current build.

Quick stats on my 20 Warlock ES/TS build

Charisma: 62
Evard's effective DC: 64 (62 + 2 benefit from aura of menace)
HP: 1160
SP: 2365
Fort Save: 55
Reflex Save: 55
Will Save: 71
PRR: 132
MRR: 123
AC: 117
Fully maximized/empowered spellpower with reborn in the light: About 1000

Using Medium Armor - no shield

Destiny: Exalted Angel

I think a balanced build works best - with a workable Evard's DC, decent Hp, 55% or so DR for Physical and Magic Damage, high spellpower, decent sell healing. With a 132 PRR I never felt I need more except when I was knocked down or stunned.

**slarden** · 10-23-2015, 01:56 AM

NOTE: I updated the build completely for U28 Patch 1 on the first thread. It includes current enhancements, epic destiny choices, spells, feats, spellpower, etc.

With the second Enlightened Spirit DPS nerf in U28 patch 1 I decided to sqeeze some more spellpower into this build although there isn't much left to do:

Spellpower Light
Item: 144
Spellcraft: 91 (with GH)
Power of Enlightenment Tier 2 Light Spellpower: 15
Power of Enlightenment Tier 2 Universal Spellpower: 6
Power of Enlightenment Tier 3 Light Spellpower: 15
Power of Enlightenment Tier 3 Universal Spellpower: 6
Ultimate Enlightenment Light Spellpower: 20
Ultimate Enlightenment Universal Spellpower: 10
Tainted Spellcasting: 17
Inhuman Understanding: 15 (5 increase)
Hungry for Destruction Tier 1: 6
Hungry for Destruction Tier 2: 6 (6 increase)
Eldritch Focus: 3 (3 increase)
TOEE Set Bonus: 20 (20 increase)
Epic Rod of Mythant Mythic Bonus: 4 (4 increase)
TOEE weapon Mythic Bonus: 2 (2 increase)
Exalted Angel: Radiant Power: 30
Past Life Morninglord Active Feat: 30
Epic Spellpower Light Feat: 20
Spellcasting Implement: 36
Guild Ship Buffs: 15
Fey Form: 15
Tome of Universal Spellpower: 2
Total Before Sustainable Effects and Potions: 528 (40 increase)
Blood and Radiance: 30
Empyrean Magic: 20
Potion of Greater Brilliance: 20
Total Before Metamagic: 598 (40 increase)
Maximize: 150
Empower: 75
Total Sustainable Spellpower: 823 (40 increase)
Reborn in Light Epic Moment: 100
Tainted Spellcasting: 25
Meridian Fragment: 24
Commendation Potion of Universal Spellpower: 25 (yes it stacks with the other potions)
Using Potion of Irian's Light instead of Potion of Greater Brilliance: 5 (5 increase)
Almond-Coated Shadow Apple (until it disappears later this year): 10 (10 increase)
Total Burst Light Spellpower: 1012 (55 increase)

Note: I am currently using past life Energy Criticals since I am using Energy Burst. If you aren't using energy burst you can get 9 more spellpower by using past life enchant weapon which gives +3 weapon bonus which equates to 9 more spellpower from implement bonus. Humans can boost this with 20 by taking human versatility spellpower boost. In addition 2 more is available with a +4 mythic bonus on the TOEE weapon instead of +2. Also a tier 2or 3 thunderforged radiance weapon would increase spellpower by 2 more. Gauntlets of the Arcane Soldier will add 5 more spellpower. With these boosts you can get a max burst light spellpower of 1050. I am sure I am missing something also.

Obviously the commendation potions are not sustainable to run continuously and the Epic Moment is only available 2 out of 10 minutes.

**slarden** · 10-25-2015, 12:23 PM

I received a PM asking about gear and build changes for someone without alot of past lifes and gear. Here are my suggestions. This is what I run on my alt Randult which doesn't run raids and has only a few irrelevant past lifes from days past.

RACE: Human

GEAR
Goggles: Intricate Optics Ins Charisma +3 (or sage's spectacles with +2 char slotted)
Helm: Epic Halcyonia
Necklace: Epic Pendant of Quiet Movements
Trinket: Manual of Stealthy Pilfering (for bonus to spellcraft basically)
Cloak: Mysterious Cloak (Heal +15 and Armored Agility +2 slotted - armored agility increases dodge cap by 2)
Belt: Epic Chord of Reprisals (Deathblock and Natural Armor 8 slotted)
Ring 1: Cannith Crafted Mobile Ring of Sonic Lore with a colorless and yellow slot (if you don't have cannith crafting levels you can post on the marketplace forum for your server and someone will help you out.)
Gloves: Iron Mitts
Boots: Either Sage's Shoes (level 27) or Epic Ship Kickers. Sage's Shoes is your best option to make evard's work. If you can't get it to work reliably go with ship kickers for save bonus.
Ring 2: Lantern Ring
Bracers: Epic Inferno Bracers
Armor: Epic Thunderforged Shadowscale (medium) Armor with shadow caster added (technically a raid item but it only takes 100 shadow scales and coms to make - it's fairly easy to obtain these ingredients).

Epic Rod of Mythant with +2 mythic bonus for Evocation or random loot with sonic lore for sonic crit chance. Epic Rod is probably your best option since you slot Meridian Fragment which also boosts your light spellpower. If you use epic rod of mythant try and find a meridian fragment to slot in it.
Shield: EE Skyvault Shield with Glaciation 138 and Acid 138 Slotted

For augments you will want conjuration focus, evocation focus, +8 int, ins char+2 if you don't have the optics, hp 40, ins con +2 and fill in the rest as needed. You can get some ideas for augments from my original gear list.

FEATS:

1) Empower
1 Human Bonus) Maximize
3) Shield Proficiency
6) Conjuration Focus
9) Quicken
12) Force of Personality
15) Heighten
18) Shield Mastery
21) Epic Eldritch Blast
24) Improved Shield Mastery
26) Epic Arcane Eldritch Blast
27) Epic Damage Reduction
28) Spell Power Light

EPIC DESTINY TWISTS
Energy Burst (Cold is main element and switch to acid or fire situationally also)
Empyrean Magic
Rejuvenation Cocoon

Spellpower Light
Item: 144
Spellcraft: 85 (with GH)
Power of Enlightenment Tier 2 Light Spellpower: 15
Power of Enlightenment Tier 2 Universal Spellpower: 6
Power of Enlightenment Tier 3 Light Spellpower: 15
Power of Enlightenment Tier 3 Universal Spellpower: 6
Ultimate Enlightenment Light Spellpower: 20
Ultimate Enlightenment Universal Spellpower: 10
Tainted Spellcasting: 17
Inhuman Understanding: 15
Hungry for Destruction Tier 1: 6
Hungry for Destruction Tier 2: 6
Eldritch Focus: 3
Epic Rod of Mythant Mythic Bonus: 2
Exalted Angel: Radiant Power: 30
Epic Spellpower Light Feat: 20
Spellcasting Implement: 36
Guild Ship Buffs: 15
Tome of Universal Spellpower: 2
Epic Laurel Helix Mythic Bonus: 1
Total Before Sustainable Effects and Potions: 454
Blood and Radiance: 30
Empyrean Magic: 20
Potion of Greater Brilliance: 20
Total Before Metamagic: 524
Maximize: 150
Empower: 75
Total Sustainable Spellpower: 749
Reborn in Light Epic Moment: 100
Tainted Spellcasting: 25
Meridian Fragment: 24
Commendation Potion of Universal Spellpower: 25 (yes it stacks with the other potions)
Using Potion of Irian's Light instead of Potion of Greater Brilliance: 5 (5 increase)
Almond-Coated Shadow Apple (until it disappears later this year): 10 (10 increase)
Total Burst Light Spellpower: 938

PRR
Medium Armor with Resilience of Body: 42 (BAB full 28 * 1.5)
Spiritual Bastion: 13
Epic Laurel Helix: 24
EE Skyvault Shield: 15
Improved Shield Mastery: 15
Epic Damage Reduction: 10
Resilience of Body: 6
Pendant of Quiet Movements Mythic Bonus: 1 (+3 is available but hard to get)
Epic Halyconia Mythic Bonus: 1 (+3 is available but hard to get)
----------------------------------
Total PRR: 127 (this is solid for EE in my opinion, but not tanky, you need to be careful but can survive in EE just fine)

You can get 15 more PRR by twisting in legendary shield mastery from unyielding sentinel but it only improves your DR from 55% to 58% - I don't think it's worth giving up energy burst or empyrean magic for that.

The nice thing about running in exalted angel is that you can etr and gain 3 PRR each time. So going from 127 to 136 would take 3 divine ETR.

MRR
Paragon's Aegis Feat x 5: 25
Epic Laurel Helix: 24
Shape Vestements: 10
Resilence of Soul: 6
Spiritual Ward: 13
Mysterious Cloak: 25
Skyvault Shield: 15
Pendant of Quiet Movements Mythic Bonus: 1 (+3 is available but hard to get)
Epic Halyconia Mythic Bonus: 1 (+3 is available but hard to get)
--------------------------
Total MRR: 120 (also very solid for EE)

**tsteigner** · 10-27-2015, 05:56 AM

Originally Posted by slarden

I received a PM asking about gear and build changes for someone without alot of past lifes and gear. Here are my suggestions:

[/B]

very very nice build Slarden, only thing i noticed with your enhancements in Enlightened Spirit, any particular reason on not taking Shining through ? (wouldn't it be better for survival to take st instead of 1 +1 cha) ?

**slarden** · 10-27-2015, 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by tsteigner

very very nice build Slarden, only thing i noticed with your enhancements in Enlightened Spirit, any particular reason on not taking Shining through ? (wouldn't it be better for survival to take st instead of 1 +1 cha) ?

I was running with Shining Through prior to the latest patch and it's a very nice healing ability. I would definitely use shining through for heroic leveling.

For healing I rely primarily on Cocoon and Mass Cure Moderate Wounds ED abilities. For more self healing you can either give up 1 charisma or 4 spellpower (2 ranks of hungry for destruction) and that is a really solid trade-off especially if you want to stay in combat rather than escape with misty escape.

Prior to the patch my self-healing order of priority was:
Cocoon (I like the over time ability)
Mass Cure Moderate (big heal for approximately 650 on a non-crit)
Shining Through

What I found is that if I had to use my third option, shining through, I was usually taking too much damage and needed to back away anyhow (misty escape). So now I just back away a little quicker when taking heavy damage. I came to the conclusion I didn't need it when I was testing out the soul eater / tainted scholar option, but your point is valid - it's such a good ability to pass up I probably should squeeze it in.

**kharrnn** · 11-02-2015, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by slarden

I ran 3 builds today with the changes from U28 Patch 1.

20 Warlock - Enlightened Spirted / Tainted Scholar / Splash of Soul Eater (my build before the update with a few tweaks)

I've been following this thread and I have a few questions.

1. Is a shield really needed on a 3rd life, no ETR warlock? I currently am at about 112 prr and around 85 mrr with EE skyvault shield.

2. Because I'm only on 3rd life I don't have a lot of amazing gear, but I have been able to gather some of the same items as you. Also been having trouble with EE ToEE, what can I use instead of the gear from there?

3. I selected GOO, what would you change based on that?

4. Are you using the spec on your first post still, or is there another version of it somewhere and I missed it?

5. How did you get your Cha so high? I have a +6 tome and I couldn't get above 53 with your first post spec.

6. How are your saves so high? I was at mid 30s for Fort and Ref and 48 Will.

**slarden** · 11-03-2015, 12:09 AM