Voodu Warlock: A Pure Warlock Enlightened Spirit Tank Project companion thread

[Arctigis]

One thing I'm finding as I go to solo raids is that the bosses are bigger sacks of hit points than quest bosses. I took Ruin and Greater Ruin, and they're nifty for clobbering (say) the white dragon in Haunted Halls, but Arratreikos in the Shroud and H in Tower of Despair are sporting hundreds of thousands of hp, and I'd burn through my spell point pool long before they died if I tried Ruining them.

It reminds me of playing a Regeneration Scrapper in City of Heroes long ago, and the 'immortality line' concept - if you are healing/mitigating damage faster than it's being dealt to you, you can keep it up forever and the mobs will die eventually. If they're hitting you for a little bit more than you can mitigate, then you need to be able to finish them before they finish you. I suspect if I want to solo some of those raids on Elite, I will need to move my build towards the defensive end of the spectrum, and rather than get greedy with Ruin, I'll need to let my bursts and aura wear the bosses down.

I did manage Shroud on hard - I tried on Elite, but had not thought ahead as Voodu did with Heal scrolls, so I got slapped with -1000 Con, and that was pretty much the end!

Yes, I found single target DPS for a con based ES to be the weakest aspect. I don't even bother
with ES now until L12/L13 as you need to be able to unlock both blasts IMO (I'm sure OP
disagrees ). I prioritise cone shape, stricken, and consume - consume and stricken are great in
early levels. I use consume for 'hit and run' when facing red crowned 'Cruelty' champs.

For epic levels I was mostly running in Shiradi for the synergy with force and sonic (fey pact) -
the other procs are still useful but Shiradi is heavily neutered since it was first introduced. EA
and DC also add more DPS over US at the expense of defense. For end fights I ended up using
Ruin, Greater Ruin, and Arcane Pulse - no LGS vacuum for me; I think that would really help.
1st degree burns may be a poor substitute.

[cru121]

Out of curiosity, have you ever experimented with Soul Eater secondary?
Something like 41 ES, 31 SE, 8 TS

lose 20% spell crit damage from TS but gain 5% crit chance
lose drow SLA, gain soul eater SLAs
lose Stanch! (ouch), gain Steal Life Force
lose 3d4 pact damage, gain 2d6 Chaotic vs consumed targets

lose deathward, chain,...
gain 20% run speed
gain some debuffs, vulnerability


Also imho ML17/22 Wall of Wood deserves mention for stacking heal amp (too lazy to check if it stacks with your LGS stick, but at least for the casual player it's an excellent option).

[Arctigis]

Out of curiosity, have you ever experimented with Soul Eater secondary?
Something like 41 ES, 31 SE, 8 TS

lose 20% spell crit damage from TS but gain 5% crit chance
lose drow SLA, gain soul eater SLAs
lose Stanch! (ouch), gain Steal Life Force
lose 3d4 pact damage, gain 2d6 Chaotic vs consumed targets

lose deathward, chain,...
gain 20% run speed
gain some debuffs, vulnerability

I've actually ran pretty much this (though only to 20) for the vulnerability in
boss fights - I found boss fights really annoying. You do notice the missing pact
and crit damage in trash clearing; I also really like the spell book additions in
TS for utility. Consume and Stricken don't scale up very well IMO - or don't seem to.
Cone shape >>> chain shape too.

Also imho ML17/22 Wall of Wood deserves mention for stacking heal amp (too lazy to check if it stacks with your LGS stick, but at least for the casual player it's an excellent option).

Those ML versions you list are both equipment bonuses I think so should stack with LGS(T1+T2).
Need to find a blue/green slot somewhere though.

[Vooduspyce]

One thing I'm finding as I go to solo raids is that the bosses are bigger sacks of hit points than quest bosses. I took Ruin and Greater Ruin, and they're nifty for clobbering (say) the white dragon in Haunted Halls, but Arratreikos in the Shroud and H in Tower of Despair are sporting hundreds of thousands of hp, and I'd burn through my spell point pool long before they died if I tried Ruining them.

It reminds me of playing a Regeneration Scrapper in City of Heroes long ago, and the 'immortality line' concept - if you are healing/mitigating damage faster than it's being dealt to you, you can keep it up forever and the mobs will die eventually. If they're hitting you for a little bit more than you can mitigate, then you need to be able to finish them before they finish you. I suspect if I want to solo some of those raids on Elite, I will need to move my build towards the defensive end of the spectrum, and rather than get greedy with Ruin, I'll need to let my bursts and aura wear the bosses down.

I did manage Shroud on hard - I tried on Elite, but had not thought ahead as Voodu did with Heal scrolls, so I got slapped with -1000 Con, and that was pretty much the end!

Soloing raids is challenging and it sounds like you've got a great start and are well on your way to learning techniques and strategies for soloing them. This build is definitely not one that permits a lot of ruin/greater ruin usage, but there are some other higher sp and regenerative sp warlock builds out there. My playstyle with Voodu is more like what you describe... taking my time to let my aura and bursts wear things down.

[Vooduspyce]

Yes, I found single target DPS for a con based ES to be the weakest aspect. I don't even bother
with ES now until L12/L13 as you need to be able to unlock both blasts IMO (I'm sure OP
disagrees ). I prioritise cone shape, stricken, and consume - consume and stricken are great in
early levels. I use consume for 'hit and run' when facing red crowned 'Cruelty' champs.

I don't disagree. Cone shape is awesome and was very much underappreciated in the early days of warlock. It's just a playstyle preference for me

[Vooduspyce]

Out of curiosity, have you ever experimented with Soul Eater secondary?
Something like 41 ES, 31 SE, 8 TS

lose 20% spell crit damage from TS but gain 5% crit chance
lose drow SLA, gain soul eater SLAs
lose Stanch! (ouch), gain Steal Life Force
lose 3d4 pact damage, gain 2d6 Chaotic vs consumed targets

lose deathward, chain,...
gain 20% run speed
gain some debuffs, vulnerability

I did this for a life a while back and didn't like it as much. Just a playstyle preference.

Also imho ML17/22 Wall of Wood deserves mention for stacking heal amp (too lazy to check if it stacks with your LGS stick, but at least for the casual player it's an excellent option).

Wall of wood gives a different type of bonus to healing amplification depending on the specific N/H/E version . Wall of Wood can definitely be a solid option for its level range. There are lots of good shields out there but for non-end game shields I've focused on ones without ASF in my OP discussion of shields. I only recently added that part and probably should add more details and suggestions.

[Vooduspyce]

Consume and Stricken don't scale up very well IMO

This was my experience too. Seems like they are good if you are invested all the way in Soul Eater, but I didn't care for it when dabbling in it.

[Arctigis]

I don't disagree. Cone shape is awesome and was very much underappreciated in the early days of warlock. It's just a playstyle preference for me

Yeah, I hear you don't like jumping around like a jack ass . Your youtube channel is awesome btw.

[Vooduspyce]

Yeah, I hear you don't like jumping around like a jack ass . Your youtube channel is awesome btw.

The jump around like a jackass method is very effective! But not my thing these days. Glad you like the vids

[GrantAnderson]

Soloing raids is challenging and it sounds like you've got a great start and are well on your way to learning techniques and strategies for soloing them. This build is definitely not one that permits a lot of ruin/greater ruin usage, but there are some other higher sp and regenerative sp warlock builds out there. My playstyle with Voodu is more like what you describe... taking my time to let my aura and bursts wear things down.

I've realised that Greater Ruin is more SP-efficient than Ruin, and so I hardly ever use Ruin. I'm tempted to swap that out for Improved Shield Mastery to bring the survivability up a little. Maybe Deific Warding -> Arcane Pulse - bit of a survivability hit, but if it comes to it, I can run Arcane Pulse off Echoes of Power - hard to do that with the Ruin family!

I guess that gives me a new goal - accumulate the platinum to get the dragonshards to do the feat swap!

[KoobTheProud]

The jump around like a jackass method is very effective! But not my thing these days. Glad you like the vids

Jumping and Bursting is one of the most fun ways to play a Warlock, especially a Feylock with Misty Escape! It's almost worth the DPS downgrade just to be able to Plate Ballerina with a Skyvault.

[KoobTheProud]

I've realised that Greater Ruin is more SP-efficient than Ruin, and so I hardly ever use Ruin. I'm tempted to swap that out for Improved Shield Mastery to bring the survivability up a little. Maybe Deific Warding -> Arcane Pulse - bit of a survivability hit, but if it comes to it, I can run Arcane Pulse off Echoes of Power - hard to do that with the Ruin family!

I guess that gives me a new goal - accumulate the platinum to get the dragonshards to do the feat swap!

Can you swap Ruin with Greater Ruin selected? I thought Ruin was a pre-req for Greater?

[GrantAnderson]

Can you swap Ruin with Greater Ruin selected? I thought Ruin was a pre-req for Greater?

D'oh! You're right. I hadn't tried yet, so at least I didn't find out the hard way. I'm not sure if I want to give up Greater Ruin too :-\ It makes a few things a lot easier (Shroud portals, for one).

[GrantAnderson]

Knocked off Elite Shroud thanks to Voodu's video, 32 Heal scrolls, a lot of patience, and the Exalted Angel destiny (because I wasn't packing Remove Curse potions, and one of the lieutenants had the Curse of No Healing, so the solution in part 5 was die and come back).

I was one large ingredient short of my ConOpp goggles. Maybe Devil Assault will cough it up.

[Vooduspyce]

Knocked off Elite Shroud thanks to Voodu's video, 32 Heal scrolls, a lot of patience, and the Exalted Angel destiny (because I wasn't packing Remove Curse potions, and one of the lieutenants had the Curse of No Healing, so the solution in part 5 was die and come back).

I was one large ingredient short of my ConOpp goggles. Maybe Devil Assault will cough it up.

Grats on the solo elite Shroud!

[GrantAnderson]

Grats on the solo elite Shroud!

Thanks! Your video helped a lot! It was a close-run thing for me even at level 30, particularly because of the healing curse. I will remember to take potions with me next time.

[GrantAnderson]

Ack! Finished Black and Blue, opened the chest, saw Legendary Scale and Avarice, then looked again - Legendary Scale-Stone of Avarice. So close!

[chunkitbacs]

Hey Voodu! Love all your YouTube series.. Here's the thing, I just can't figure out how do you actually equip heavy or medium armor without suffering from the spell failure. in your videos, I remember you stating that you used to take the medium and heavy armor proficiency early on but swapped them out later. However, these feats are not in the recommended feats of this guide so I got confused.

[Arctigis]

Ack! Finished Black and Blue, opened the chest, saw Legendary Scale and Avarice, then looked again - Legendary Scale-Stone of Avarice. So close!

Avarice is heavy - it's Malice you want (and the thing won't drop for me either )

[Vooduspyce]

Hey Voodu! Love all your YouTube series.. Here's the thing, I just can't figure out how do you actually equip heavy or medium armor without suffering from the spell failure. in your videos, I remember you stating that you used to take the medium and heavy armor proficiency early on but swapped them out later. However, these feats are not in the recommended feats of this guide so I got confused.

Things were different early on for warlock. They didn't suffer from ASF so in the beginning I was doing a heavy armor charisma build. This was changed in late 2015 and I've been doing a medium armor constitution build since then. You get medium armor proficiency from the ES tree and suffer no ASF while wearing medium armor per the description of that enhancement. A warlock also gets bonuses while wearing medium armor, if taking the Shape Vestments innate enhancements from the ES tree. The change happened after episode 16 of the voodu warlock series and I talk about the changes in episode 17