Pure Casting Warlock DC Eld Blast Build

[slarden]

Do you still think SF:Conj + Twist for Evards is more useful?

Wait I thought you just said endgame Fort saves were too high; isn't BoGW Fort-based? Or can you hit higher DCs for BoGW but not regular Fort spells?

I use Evard's but am not currently spec'ing for conjuration, but i have alot of universal dcs and a decent enough charisma to get good use out of it. It holds a high percentage of enemies in Slave Lords as very few have a spell pen check.

I don't use BoGW on my warlock - I take Ruin/Greater Ruin instead. I was just offering that up as option on his build since doesn't want to take ruin/greater ruin.

Only the cc portion of BoGW has a save. The damage does not have a save as far as I know.

[Warbler]

I use Evard's but am not currently spec'ing for conjuration, but i have alot of universal dcs and a decent enough charisma to get good use out of it. It holds a high percentage of enemies in Slave Lords as very few have a spell pen check.

I don't use BoGW on my warlock - I take Ruin/Greater Ruin instead. I was just offering that up as option on his build since doesn't want to take ruin/greater ruin.

Only the cc portion of BoGW has a save. The damage does not have a save as far as I know.

You know I think it would be a good idea for me to take BoGW. The reasons would be are that I've never taken it before and it has a solid passive 140 sp. in my build, my choices to give up are the SF: Evo or Shield Deflection. I've also not tried Shield Deflection before so I'll give up the SF: Evo and try those two feats out that I've not had before. Thanks guys for your input.

[cmecu]

Wrong thread.. moving to Voodu thread

[psykopeta]

Is this build still up to date?

I just finished Warlock to 30 I did one of Slarden builds

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ld-Blast-Build

I have been looking at yours also and now my 1 to 30 TR I want to try yours.

Also gear while leveling up, in your videos, are they still optimal / good items to have while leveling? I just wanted to make sure what skills, abilities, spell power, other things to have on gear while leveling to be optimal.

I look forward to trying your build. Ill TR after I get a response. THank you.

?? It's the same build u linked @_@

[cmecu]

I just realized that. I meant to post this in Voodu thread.. hehe

[Del]

What about skills?

[slarden]

What about skills?

Spellcraft, Heal and UMD, 1 pt in tumble are the most important

If you go fey you will want 11 pts of perform which boosts sonic. With anything left over I take intim, diplomacy and possibly a little jump to supplement the spell if you aren't maxed out.

[slarden]

I received a PM request for gearing for the necromancer build so updating it here.

With Reaper I think the original blasting warlock is a solid build for low to mid skull runs. this DC warlock build is better for high skull runs while still working fine at low skull runs.

This was the original U32 necro warlock build with very few changes other than the option to drop dps feats for more DC if you want to focus on R10 in a static group with enough dps from the rest of the party.

Race: Drow Elf 36 Pt build

Feats
1) Maximize
3) Empower (Force of Personality for more defensive minded types, about a 10% dps loss in boss fights)
6) Completionist
9) Quicken
12) Spell Focus Necromancy
15) Spell Penetration
18) Greater Spell Penetration
21) Epic Spell Penetration
24) Embolden
26) Epic Arcane Blast
27) Ruin
28) Hellball (Elusive Target for more defensive minded types)
29) Arcane Pulse
30) Greater Ruin
30) Scion of the Plane of Shadowfell

*** If you are in a static R10 group where your dps contribution won't be needed you can replace ruin, greater ruin, empower with past life wizard, greater spell focus necromancy and epic spell focus necromancy. You could also replace maximize with past life bard for one more enchant DC. My play varies too much and I find ruin, greater ruin, empower and maximize too useful in other quests outside from R10 to consider this, but as a special R10 DC caster it's a consideration. If you drop the dps take elusive target instead of hellball and deific warding instead of arcane pulse.

AP Spend
Drow: 6
Soul Eater: 42
Tainted Scholar: 25
Harper: 7 (basically to even out the odd pt of cha)

Epic Destiny: Exalted Angel

15 pts for 6x Charisma + 3 spell pen
Twists: Piercing Spellcraft (Draconic), Echoes of the Ancestor, Necromancy Specialist, Charisma, Rejuvenation Cocoon

Charisma:
Starting: 20
Level Ups: 7
Tome: 7
Completionist: 2
Item: Enhancement Bonus: 17
Item: Insightful Bonus: 7
Item: Exceptional Bonus: 2
Item: Artifact Bonus 2 (Slave Lord's sorcery bonus)
Item: Quality Bonus: 4
Item: Profane Bonus: 2
Enhancement: Racial Tree: 2
Enhancement: Class Trees: 4
Enhancement : Harper Tree: 1
Enhancement: Capstone: 4
Epic Destiny: 6
Angelic Presence: 2
Epic Destiny Twist: 1
Ship Buffs: 2
Yugo Potion: 2
Remnant Potion: 2
Total Charisma: 96 (43 cha modifier)

Necromancy DC
Base: 10
Spell Level (Heighted if applicable): 5-6 on main spells
Charisma Bonus (above): 43
Feat: Spell Focus Feat: 1
Feat: Embolden: 2
Feat: Scion of the Plane of Shadowfell: 4
Item: Enhancement Bonus: 7 (Necklace)
Item: Insightful Bonus: 4 (Random Goggles)
Item: Quality Bonus: 2 (Legendary Multilator of Minds)
Item: Augment: 2
Item: Profane Bonus: 1 (Thunderforged armor)
Enhancement: Class Tree: 1
Epic Destiny: Exalted Angel: 3
Epic Destiny: Twist: 3
Ship Buffs: 1
Slave Lord's Sorcery Bonus: 4
Total Necromancy DC: 93 Finger of Death, 94 Wail of the Banshee and Devour the Soul

*** NOTE This doesn't include reaper tree bonus, reaper helm bonus or +3 DC from taking past life wizard, greater spell focus necromancy and epic spell focus necromancy in place of empower, ruin, greater ruin. There is no right or wrong answer on DC/DPS trade off it depends largely on what you are running, who you are running with and quest leader expectations.

Hurl Through Hell DC (display is bugged and shows an incorrectly higher #)
Base: 10
Warlock Levels:20
Charisma Modifier: 43
Total: 73

Debuffs: Hurl Through Hell and Devour the Soul:
Crushing Despair: -5 if they make their save and -7 if they fail their save
Mind Fog: Chance at -10 (only use if it helps others in the party)

Debuffs: Finger of Death and Wail fo the Banshee
Blood Feast: -3 to -10 con (average -3.25 fort save)
Taint the Blood: Up to -4 fort save

Spell Penetration:
Warlock Levels: 20
Feat: Spell Penetration: 2
Feat: Greater Spell Penetration: 2
Feat: Epic Spell Penetration: 4
Feat: Past Life Wizard and Favored Soul: 9
Item: Enhancement Bonus: 7
Item: Insightful Bonus (Legendary Mutilator of Minds): 4
Enhancement Tree: Tainted Scholar: 2
Epic Destiny: 3
Epic Destiny Twists: 5
Ship Buff: 1
Total: 59

REAPER TREE
Choices are fairly obvious- my tree is not yet filled out

GEAR
Goggles: Necromancy 7, Insightful Necromancy 4 random loot
Helm: Legendary Pansophic Circlet preferably with +2 reaper bonus
Necklace: Cannith Crafted Spell Saves +12, Insightful Physical Sheltering +18, Insightful Wizardy 155
Trinket: Littany of the Dead
Cloak: Slavers LGS Ethereal Opposition - Fort Saves all tiers with set bonus
Belt: Con 17, Impulse 185, Quality Con +4, Spellsight 22
Ring 1: Legendary Spinneret with set bonus
Gloves: LGS Ethereal Opposition - Will Saves all tiers
Boots: Slavers Sheltering 45, Resistance 14, Heal 22, Quality Physical Sheltering +11 with set bonus
Ring 2: Cannith Crafted Wizardry 310 False Life 57 Ins Con +7
Bracers: Slavers Charisma 17, Spell Focus +6, Kinetic Lore 27, Quality Con +4 with set bonus
Armor: Thunderforged with profane +1 DC bonus
Weapon 1: LGS Vaccum Int 15, Ins Char +7, Excep Char +2
Weapon 2: Legendary Multilator of Minds with set bonus (various LGS swap weapons for DPS)
Quiver: Epic Quiver of Alacrity

I don't have dodge primarily because the build relies on avoiding getting close to enemies in the first place. I decided PRR and HP > Dodge to avoid getting one shot which is why I prioritized 2 piece saves/hp set bonus LGS and PRR over dodge. I haven't missed the 2 spell pen bonus from gauntlets of the arcane soldier. I am liking the hp and prr for one-shot avoidance more.

Key Augments
Greater Necromancy Focus
Greater Conjuration Focus
Greater Enchantment Focus
Globe of True Imperial Blood

Basic play style: Use spell points for instakill, cc, tentacles. Use Cone and Wave for a little free dps contribution. In Lshroud and other places I use ruin, gruin, arcane pulse for some big boss damage.

[Morroiel]

Not going to get into the build - we disagree on some stuff.

However, I don't know how you can justify NOT listing enlarge at the very least as an option. (there's no way you can think enlarge is worse than force of personality when buffs + smart gameplay will nullify most will saves).

And as a specialized R10 dc caster - there's no way you can justify not taking enlarge. Taking out a select few mobs before you start a fight: can make trash clearing significantly easier.

Not going to debate other points of your build.

[mraz]

Not going to get into the build - we disagree on some stuff.

However, I don't know how you can justify NOT listing enlarge at the very least as an option. (there's no way you can think enlarge is worse than force of personality when buffs + smart gameplay will nullify most will saves).

And as a specialized R10 dc caster - there's no way you can justify not taking enlarge. Taking out a select few mobs before you start a fight: can make trash clearing significantly easier.

Not going to debate other points of your build.

man, just try it yourself... theory is one thing, practice is something else. im running this build for a while now and i think its very well designed. and something else, skull 10 is not zerging through quest, its strategicly planned combat with balanced group.

[slarden]

Not going to get into the build - we disagree on some stuff.

However, I don't know how you can justify NOT listing enlarge at the very least as an option. (there's no way you can think enlarge is worse than force of personality when buffs + smart gameplay will nullify most will saves).

And as a specialized R10 dc caster - there's no way you can justify not taking enlarge. Taking out a select few mobs before you start a fight: can make trash clearing significantly easier.

Not going to debate other points of your build.

As I put in the OP of this thread before you responsed I haven't fully updated the U32 builds for reaper yet. I've been extremely busy the past few months with a money-making opportunity, but I received a question about gear so I wanted to post it. I just generally stated necro warlock is better for high skulls compared to a blasting warlock.

I am aware that people are exploiting enlarge with instakill and the devs are planning to address the fact that enemies aren't alerted. At this point the build is little changed from U32 when enlarge wasn't really needed. I will wait to see how the devs address the exploit before I add enlarge to the list. I consider it exploity at present so I will revisit when the devs address the larger issue.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5942091

People that know me well know I try to keep all my builds exploit-free. Consider that knowing about exploits and using those are 2 different things. Some people prefer clean builds - that would be me for example. Yes I can justify not using an exploit - it's not wai and doesn't feel right to me.

I listed force of personality as an option because someone I respect suggested to me they preferred it over a 5% or so dps bump from empower. I don't take it myself. The feats listed first are what I am taking at the moment and as I said I run more than just R10 which is why I take ruin, greater ruin, empower, maximize, hellball, arcane pulse. Those come in very helpful when shortmanning R3-5 reapers.

If you have any suggestions I would be interested. The bold comments are vague hit-and-run type comments - so not anything to really work with.

[deredriel]

Hello,
Long time i follow this thread and slarden advise.
Have seen the necrolock build but have stop to play necro since i have stoped to play pm (but i still use necro spell)
i have choose to play cc (enchant) more then necro . it's near the same build but with highter enchant dc and lower necro dc.
i can see that cc (enchant) is not great on undead when you have necro spell usefull , is this the only or the main reason to put necro before enchant?
ty for answer
valdo

[slarden]

Hello,
Long time i follow this thread and slarden advise.
Have seen the necrolock build but have stop to play necro since i have stoped to play pm (but i still use necro spell)
i have choose to play cc (enchant) more then necro . it's near the same build but with highter enchant dc and lower necro dc.
i can see that cc (enchant) is not great on undead when you have necro spell usefull , is this the only or the main reason to put necro before enchant?
ty for answer
valdo

Unfortunately my play time has been very limited the last 10+ months due to multiple vertebrae fractures and the need to avoid sitting and doing more physical therapy exercises. I haven't updated the build since reaper yet so the build is out of date and my knowledge of the newer level 30 content is limited.

Generally I chose necro over enchantment because finger of death goes against a fortitude save and fortitude saves are typically higher than will saves. I found by maxing necro and making enchantment secondary I could still easily overcome saves for my enchantment spells. Devour the soul goes against a will save and finger against a fortitude save. So that gives a really nice balanced casting profile where you can instakill some dangerous targets while cc'ing the rest. In reaper, which is more team focused and overcoming saves is more difficult, enchantment is more important so I can see where maxing enchantment and only using necro situationally.

[slarden]

I finally updated the build for reaper and added one easy to get U37 item from the Xpac coming out on Wednesday. The build is based heavily on the necro warlock build I built for LE raids long ago.

Updated information is in the original post: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5619667

Overall the build wasn't hurt much by the warlock nerfs. I notice a bigger difference at heroic levels where Warlocks were too OP anyhow. At epic levels with the rotation of spells the dps loss isn't a big deal since epic destiny, evard's and instakill are such a big part of the equation. To the extent a mob has more hp I use mass hold for the extra 50% damage.

While there has been much negative talk about Enlightened Spirit warlocks being bottom tier with all the nerfs, I posted 2 ES versions of this build that uses both a 5-piece slaver set and 4-piece Material Opposition set with 40-70% more hp depending on destiny and slightly lower DC (2-6).

Since photobucket no longer permits free posting of pictures I don't have anything visual to post at the moment. I may post a few solo completions in the coming weeks once I select a new image sharing tool.

[Azdraugnor]

The OP doesn't say so explicitly, but based on the gear, am I correct in assuming that it takes the Great Old One pact, and Black Dragon ancestry?

[slarden]

The OP doesn't say so explicitly, but based on the gear, am I correct in assuming that it takes the Great Old One pact, and Black Dragon ancestry?

Thank you for pointing that out. I updated the original post and you did deduce correctly.

I actually like fey best, but don't have enough slots to max out sonic and an element for energy burst/dragon breath. So I went goo this life to synergize around acid for pact damage, energy burst and dragon breath. Misty escape is great and there some places I prefer to setup a dancing sphere in advance.

You don't need to worry about champion archers and other evasion mobs with high saves because of the instakill and back up gruin/ruin if a nasty champ is immune to death spells, so there is no real downside to going fey except for the need to slot an extra spellpower/lore item or live with slightly lower pact damage (helm and ring for generic spellpower and lore).

Fiend is a one trick pony, but it's a great trick (hurl).

[Zretch]

I'd like to ask about taking Medium Armor Proficiency at 21 rather than Epic Eldrich Blast. Do you use your cone that little? Is there something I'm missing with Medium Armor outside the ES tree that makes it so much better than Light Armor?

**edited, got the name of the feat wrong

[Azdraugnor]

Thank you for pointing that out. I updated the original post and you did deduce correctly.

I actually like fey best, but don't have enough slots to max out sonic and an element for energy burst/dragon breath. So I went goo this life to synergize around acid for pact damage, energy burst and dragon breath. Misty escape is great and there some places I prefer to setup a dancing sphere in advance.

You don't need to worry about champion archers and other evasion mobs with high saves because of the instakill and back up gruin/ruin if a nasty champ is immune to death spells, so there is no real downside to going fey except for the need to slot an extra spellpower/lore item or live with slightly lower pact damage (helm and ring for generic spellpower and lore).

Fiend is a one trick pony, but it's a great trick (hurl).

Good info, thanks.

Oh, one other thing I realized. The guide also doesn't mention what skills to take.

Also, for a noncompletionist, are there any feats you'd recommend taking in its place?

[slarden]

I'd like to ask about taking Medium Armor Proficiency at 21 rather than Epic Eldrich Blast. Do you use your cone that little? Is there something I'm missing with Medium Armor outside the ES tree that makes it so much better than Light Armor?

**edited, got the name of the feat wrong

The level 21 feat was originally epic spell penetration, but it turns out I had more than I needed so I dropped the feat. In that spot epic spell penetration, past life wizard, medium armor proficiency and epic eldritch blast all had appeal to me. I tried out the new robe with 10% exceptional lore and I think 20-30 exceptional spellpower. I expected to notice a difference in dps but I didn't really notice anything- in part to the reaper penalties on dps I suppose.

So the next thing I want to try is swapping on legendary scales of malice for soloing - to try out 4 and 5 skull solo which has been a bit too much for me. The armor would give me 160 more hp with my 18% lgs bonus. I could swap on thunderforged when I want a little more dc. I don't currently have the armor - but it's something I want to try out exclusively for soloing which is the main reason for the medium armor. The prr difference isn't much, but since my mrr was capped at 100 I get a bump of 36 with medium armor. It's also the most likely feat to change - but I am not positive what the change would be.

My dps seems really good without the extra 4d6 although that might end up what I do with the level 21 feat.

Good info, thanks.

Oh, one other thing I realized. The guide also doesn't mention what skills to take.

Also, for a noncompletionist, are there any feats you'd recommend taking in its place?

My skills were really selected for heroic levels primarily for scroll healing so I have

- Spellcraft: 23
- Concentration: 23
- UMD: 23
- Jump: 16
- Tumble: 1
- Perform: 1

What would be more optimal at level 30 would be

- Spellcraft: 23
- Search: 11
- Spot: 11
- UMD: 1
- Tumble: 1
- Perform: 1

Whatever is left over for jump maybe.

With int/search swap items I am able to find most secret doors in ravenloft but not all. The extra 11 would be put me over the top I think. My UMD at 30 is over 100 - quite the overkill. I use legendary quiver giving me minus 50 concentration so the 23 points is a complete waste at level 30.

If you have past life wizard that is what I would put in place of completionist. Otherwise take a second necromancy focus. Completionist is not needed to get a solid DC.

[Zretch]

The level 21 feat was originally epic spell penetration, but it turns out I had more than I needed so I dropped the feat. In that spot epic spell penetration, past life wizard, medium armor proficiency and epic eldritch blast all had appeal to me. I tried out the new robe with 10% exceptional lore and I think 20-30 exceptional spellpower. I expected to notice a difference in dps but I didn't really notice anything- in part to the reaper penalties on dps I suppose.

So the next thing I want to try is swapping on legendary scales of malice for soloing - to try out 4 and 5 skull solo which has been a bit too much for me. The armor would give me 160 more hp with my 18% lgs bonus. I could swap on thunderforged when I want a little more dc. I don't currently have the armor - but it's something I want to try out exclusively for soloing which is the main reason for the medium armor. The prr difference isn't much, but since my mrr was capped at 100 I get a bump of 36 with medium armor. It's also the most likely feat to change - but I am not positive what the change would be.

My dps seems really good without the extra 4d6 although that might end up what I do with the level 21 feat.

That makes sense, I'd forgotten about the MRR cap (first encountered on by warforged-lock who had Mithral Body). Seems like it's a "use whatever makes sense for your character) slot.

Thanks!