U27 Morninglord Palemaster Necromancer Build

[slarden]

I know I know. It's a bit premature for a U27 build since U26 hasn't even hit the streets yet.

I've been assuming that when eShavarath hits that spell penetration will once again be important and hopefully obtainable. Of course this is all speculation at this point, but since a friend asked me to write up my build I thought I should implement probable U27 changes and if it turns out spell penetration isn't needed I can always etr and replace it with something else.

I am sacrificing some DC for DPS, but of course if DCs requirements are really high I might change that.

Race: Sun Elf (requires +1 lesser stone or drow is also very close resulting in 6 racial AP being redistributed)

STARTING STATS
st: 8
dx: 8
wi: 12
int: 20 (all level ups)
con: 16
cha: 8

FEATS
1: Empower
1W: Maximize
3: Completionist
5W: Spell Focus Necromancy
6: Insightful Reflexes
9: Past Life Wizard
10W: Quicken
12: Greater Spell Focus Necromancy
15: Spell Penetration (** Assumes spell penetration is necessary for eShavarath which comes shortly after warlock is released)
15W: Extend
18: Greater Spell Penetration (** Assumes spell penetration is necessary for eShavarath which comes shortly after warlock is released)
20W: Heighten
--------------------
21: Epic Spell Penetration (** Assumes spell penetration is necessary for eShavarath which comes shortly after warlock is released)
24: Epic Spell Focus Necromancy
26: Epic Spellpower <Element>
27: Ruin
28: Epic Spellpower <Force>

INTELLGENCE
Starting: 20
Level Ups: 7
Tome: 6
Item: 11
Insightful Item: 3
Exceptioinal Item: 1
Pale Master Enhancements: 4
Arch Lich Form: 4
Archmage Enhancements: 2
Morninglord Enhancements: 2
Ship Buffs: 2
Yugo Pots: 2
Epic Destiny (Draconic): 3
Completionist: 2
Littany: 2
Echoes of the Ancestor - Arcane: 1
Total 72

Necromancy DC
Base: 10
Spell Level (Heighten): 9
Item: 6 (Thunderforged item)
Augment: 2
Intelligence: 31
Ship Buffs:1
Thunderforged Medium Armor Caster Bonus: 1
Palemaster Enhancements: 2
Spell Focus Feats: 3
Past Life Wizard: 1
Necromancy DC Twist from Magister: 3
Necromancy DC: 69
Epic Deific Diadem 2 (Easy to enough to count this since 2 aura ticks every 3 seconds proc it)
Total Necromancy DC: 71
Situational Necromancy Augmentation Debuff: 10
Total Effective Necromancy DC with Debuff: 81

Note: Death Aura and Less Death Aura each tick every two seconds which keeps Epic Deific Diadem at 2 most of the time and helps trigger necromancy augmentation more frequently.

Spell Penetration:
20: Wizard Levels
5: Draconic bonus caster levels
3: Piercing Spellcraft from Draconic
2: Twist: Echoes of the Ancestor - Arcane
3: Arcanum Morninglord enhancement x3
3: Archmage Spell Penetration enhancement x3
8: Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration and Epic Spell Penetration feats
9: 3x Wizard and 3x Favored Soul passive past life feats
7: Thunderforged Items
1: Arcane Sanctum Ship Buff
Total Spell Penetration: 61
Destiny: Draconic Incarnation

Twists:
Echoes of the Ancestor Arcane
Necromancy Augmentation
Necromancy Mastery
Endless Faith

Past Life Stances
- Shadar Kai x3
- Energy Criticalx x3
- Power of Life and Death x3
- Skill Mastery x3
- Colors of the Queen x3

Enhancement Spend

Morninglord (14)
Core (6)
- Elven Accuracy
- Intelligence
- Elven Accuracy
- Intelligence
Tier 1 (2)
- Arcane Fluidity x 2
Tier 2 (6)
- Arcanum x3

Archmange (25)
Core (4)
- Magic Missle SLA
- Gust of Wind SLA
- Chain Missles SLA
- Fireshield LA
Tier 1 (7)
- Energy of the Scholar x2
- Traditional Caster x1
- Spell Critical
Tier 2 (2)
- Spell Critical
Tier 3 (10)
- Spell Penetration x3
- Spell Critical
- Intelligence
Tier 4 (7)
- Intelligence

Palemaster (41)
Core (6)
- Dark Reaping
- Shroud of the Zombie
- Shroud of the Vampire
- Shroud of the Wraith
- Shroud of the Lich
- Master of Death
Tier 1 (12)
- Necrotic Touch x1 (filler)
- Deathless Vigor x3
- Spell Critical
- Negative Energy Conduit x 3
Tier 2 (11)
- Efficient Quicken x3
- Spell Critical
- Bone Armor x3
Tier 3 (4)
- Spell Critical
- Intelligence
Tier 4 (4)
- Spell Critical
- Intelligence
Tier 5 (4)
- Necromantic Focus
- Improved Shrouding

Gear
Helm: Epic Deific Diadem with Vitality +20 and Topaz of Greater Enchantment slotted
Necklace: Epic Noxious Embers with Greater Transmutation and Greater Necromancy slotted
Trinket: Epic Littany of the Dead with Heal +11 slotted (magestar, pale lavendar ioun stone, bauble, spyglass)
Cloak: Deathwyrm Cloak
Belt: Epic Belt of Thoughtful Rememberance with Search +15 and +2 insightful constitution slotted
Ring 1: Ward Token with Insightful Strength + 2 and Insightful Charisma +2 slotted
Gloves: Concordant Opposition Gloves with 10 hp and 150 spell points
Boots: Halcyon Boots with Draconic Soul Gem and Globe of True Imperial Blood Slotted
Ring 2: Upgraded Lantern Ring with Strength +8 and Power 250 slotted
Bracers: Dumathoin's Bracers with Good Luck +2 slotted
Armor: Medium Dragonscale Armor with False Life 40 and Spell Agility +15 slotted (not proficient)
Goggles: Intricate Field Optics with Spellcraft 15 and Feather Falling slotted
Quiver: Epic Quiver of Alacrity
Weapon 1: Thunderforged Kama Nullification 150, Necromancy +6 and void lore 22% Meridian Fragment and Insigtful Wisdom +2 slotted
Weapon 2: Thunderforged Kama Impulse 150 Spell Penetration 7 Kinetic lore 22% Glaciation 138 slotted
Alt Weapon 2 for MOD: Thunderforged Orb with Impulse 150 and Transmutation Focus +6 (no tier 3)
Alt Weapon 2 for enchant instead of Spell pen: Thunderforged Orb with Impulse 150 and Enchantment Focus +2 with Glaciation 138 slotted (no tier 3)
Cosmetic: Elite Spider Cult Mask with Festival Glaciation 120

[goldgolem]

Remind me how spell pen works again? at 72 INT you are dropping at least 10 INT.

I assumed spell pen is based off INT, so are you dropping 5 spell pen just by lowering your INT that far?

[SirValentine]

Remind me how spell pen works again? at 72 INT you are dropping at least 10 INT.

I assumed spell pen is based off INT, so are you dropping 5 spell pen just by lowering your INT that far?

Spell Pen is a caster level check. Lower Int lowers DCs, not Spell Pen.

[Violith]

Spell Pen is a caster level check. Lower Int lowers DCs, not Spell Pen.

hmm, so only 61? seems abit low since spell resistance is usually 10 above CR, and we already have 60+CR in some epics currently. isnt eshavarath supposed to be level 30?

[moo_cow]

hmm, so only 61? seems abit low since spell resistance is usually 10 above CR, and we already have 60+CR in some epics currently. isnt eshavarath supposed to be level 30?

This is simply not true. The wiki has been wrong on that for so long it is ridiculous.

Shadovars in ee wgu have a cr of 73. In your example they would have a 83 spell resistance. Well my 43 spell penetration seems to work 65% of the time on them so that cannot be correct. A 61 vs devils should work no problem, but I guess we will see.

[moo_cow]

Remind me how spell pen works again? at 72 INT you are dropping at least 10 INT.

I assumed spell pen is based off INT, so are you dropping 5 spell pen just by lowering your INT that far?

People don't walk around with an 82 int normally. If people are walking around twisting in 3 int, spending 6 points in int for their tree, and taking twist points for int, they are making very strange builds. No point in going that high for dc's you lose quite a bit.

[Eth]

This is simply not true. The wiki has been wrong on that for so long it is ridiculous.

Shadovars in ee wgu have a cr of 73. In your example they would have a 83 spell resistance. Well my 43 spell penetration seems to work 65% of the time on them so that cannot be correct. A 61 vs devils should work no problem, but I guess we will see.

10+CR seems accurate for drow only, basically the same way it is calculated as for the player race (10+character level).
For other stuff it doesn't check out. Another example would be the hezrous in ToEE part 2 end fight. CR80, yet I could land some things with 42 Spell-Pen (although it was already on the lower end of things, maybe 20%?).

[Alternative]

Trading DCs/INT for spell pen and limiting yourself to only one spell school will create a one trick pony. Given the ever increasing mob fort saves and mob numbers (see TOEE groups of 15 orcs around every corner) it won't even be that good of a trick.

[Violith]

10+CR seems accurate for drow only, basically the same way it is calculated as for the player race (10+character level).
For other stuff it doesn't check out. Another example would be the hezrous in ToEE part 2 end fight. CR80, yet I could land some things with 42 Spell-Pen (although it was already on the lower end of things, maybe 20%?).

hmm, always thought it was always 10+Cr, but looking at the wiki
"The most common creatures with Spell Resistance will be Drow, Duergar, Devils, anything with "Fiendish" in the name and some bosses. (Anticipate spell Resistance to be at least CR plus 10 for regular monsters. Red and purple named bosses tend to have a much higher CR, and generally have spell resistance within 0-5 points of their CR.) "

still, with your 42, you shouldnt have been able to do much against them at all that didnt do with damage. 61 I can see it working, since there is a d20 roll. maybe those dont have good spell resistance due to their locaton (that spell she casts is bad enough)

[goldgolem]

People don't walk around with an 82 int normally. If people are walking around twisting in 3 int, spending 6 points in int for their tree, and taking twist points for int, they are making very strange builds. No point in going that high for dc's you lose quite a bit.

Mine does, and I do lose a bit to pay for it, but hoovering through EE TOEE makes up for it (85 is the highest I can find that is pretty much maintainable). I would say Slarden's build above would too, if he didnt swap the INT for Spen. But if INT isnt attached to SPen, then its a moo(cow) point anyway.

[moo_cow]

But if INT isnt attached to SPen, then its a moo(cow) point anyway.

I like it!

[EllisDee37]

hmm, always thought it was always 10+Cr, but looking at the wiki
"The most common creatures with Spell Resistance will be Drow, Duergar, Devils, anything with "Fiendish" in the name and some bosses. (Anticipate spell Resistance to be at least CR plus 10 for regular monsters. Red and purple named bosses tend to have a much higher CR, and generally have spell resistance within 0-5 points of their CR.) "

As far as I'm aware, that's clearly wrong.

Drow have CR+10. Anything else (duerger, devils, etc...) would be lucky to have spell resistance even equal to their cr, much less 10 above it.

We could test it easily enough. A quickie iconic (sun elf cleric, bladeforged sorc) could run around trying to destruct stuff. Looking for mobs that aren't a "color" (no red or orange names) I'm thinking:

Devils in vale
Orthons in vale
Duergar in relic of a sovereign past
Jariliths in a cry for help

Do hezrou's have spell resistance?

I'm semi-interested in getting started on these tests.

[slarden]

Remind me how spell pen works again? at 72 INT you are dropping at least 10 INT.

I assumed spell pen is based off INT, so are you dropping 5 spell pen just by lowering your INT that far?

At this point I don't know what the DC or spell penetration requirements are yet. My lesser death aura/death aura combined with necromancy augmentation gives me a +10 DC frequently. I was mainly coming up with a high DC / high spell penetration build to test on Lamannia and will adjust as needed once I understand the requirements.

hmm, so only 61? seems abit low since spell resistance is usually 10 above CR, and we already have 60+CR in some epics currently. isnt eshavarath supposed to be level 30?

Hopefully the devs will give us realistic spell penetration #s. At the moment 67 is about the max without an arcane augmentation item. 3 more caster level in magister and 3 more from spell penetration from magister. If spell resistance #s match the wiki formula necromancy and enchantment may not be viable in EE content.

I am actually hoping the opposite that my spell penetration is overkill so I can drop some of it.

[slarden]

Trading DCs/INT for spell pen and limiting yourself to only one spell school will create a one trick pony. Given the ever increasing mob fort saves and mob numbers (see TOEE groups of 15 orcs around every corner) it won't even be that good of a trick.

As I mentioned in my original post I am building this for eShavarath and I am assuming spell penetration will be required.

This is a starting point and I will adjust the DC/Spell penetration up/down based on requirements. If we end up with more cultists, orcs and orgres through some bizarre story line I will dump spell penetration entirely

Through pure luck wizards don't have any problem with DCs currently. The death aura / lesser death aura works very nicely with epic deific diadem and necromancy augmentation to give me a nice and consistent boost that isn't available to other classes as easily.

The spell penetration is only a waste if I don't need it. When motu was new I had to put every thing I had to into get my spell penetration to work effectively in EE. It may not be that extreme this time around which I would certainly welcome. If that is the case I will definitely drop the twists.

I maxed it out based on the wiki primarily for lamannia testing purposes. I want to provide feedback to the devs so I want to start 60ish spell penetration and move up down as needed and see where that takes me.

I have a fairly hefty investment in draconic DPS , magic missles /chain missle SLAs and Ruin which is basically my backup.

[slarden]

As far as I'm aware, that's clearly wrong.

Drow have CR+10. Anything else (duerger, devils, etc...) would be lucky to have spell resistance even equal to their cr, much less 10 above it.

We could test it easily enough. A quickie iconic (sun elf cleric, bladeforged sorc) could run around trying to destruct stuff. Looking for mobs that aren't a "color" (no red or orange names) I'm thinking:

Devils in vale
Orthons in vale
Duergar in relic of a sovereign past
Jariliths in a cry for help

Do hezrou's have spell resistance?

I'm semi-interested in getting started on these tests.

This might be right - and I am hoping it is.

Pre-Motu I had a wizard with 3 past life wizard, 3 past life fvs and 1 past life bard and I was able to get a no-fail spell penetration in echrono and eDevil Assault without taking any spell penetration feats or enhantments. The trash in the old epics was CR 36 and I am doubting I had a spell penetration of 46.

[goldgolem]

necromancy augmentation

What do you mean here? I just want to make sure Im not missing some extra necro dc ^^

[EllisDee37]

What do you mean here? I just want to make sure Im not missing some extra necro dc ^^

The tier 3 magister ability that has a 15% chance to give mobs a -10 fort save debuff each time you hit them with a necromancy spell. It doesn't stack with itself, and the debuff lasts 30 seconds.

From the sound of it, each tick from both auras triggers the effect.

[slarden]

The tier 3 magister ability that has a 15% chance to give mobs a -10 fort save debuff each time you hit them with a necromancy spell. It doesn't stack with itself, and the debuff lasts 30 seconds.

From the sound of it, each tick from both auras triggers the effect.

I just want to clarify there isn't an exploit here - it's working as described. Each tick of the aura has a 15% chance to trigger necromancy augmentation. With death aura and lesser death aura that is 2 ticks every 2 seconds plus the death aura keeps the epic deific diadem permanently on +2 DC until I use energy burst or another non-necro spell.

Necromancy Augmentation is overkill for most quests, but I am assuming the DCs in Shavarath will be at least 4 higher because of greater heroism and these are level 30 quests so that will raise saves a bit. So softening up a group with a few seconds of the aura followed by a wail extends your range in a group of high-fort save enemies by 12 temporarily with necromancy augmentation + epic deific diadem.

Without other debuffs the way the odds work are:

2 seconds (2 ticks): 27.75% chance of boost
4 seconds (4 ticks): 47.8% chance of boost
6 seconds (6 ticks): 62.3% chance of boost

So this is no guarantee, but I find it worth slotting in content with high fort saves.