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

[Vooduspyce]

Hey Uncle V (yeah, it's me Josh),

Would care to _enlighten_ (yeah, warlock puns for the win) me with what elements go into getting your current con score of 79?

-- Osake/Walcanar of Argonessen

Hey Josh!

My standing con outside of reaper mode is 71

23	Base
18	Enhancement (Arm of the Aggressor)
8	Insightful (Legendary Scales of Malice)
7	Tome
4	Quality (Legendary Slave Lords craftable)
3	Unyeilding Sentinel
2	Ship buff
2	Enlightened Spirit enhancement
2	Ultimate Enlightenment (ES captsone)
1	Exceptional (Globe of True Imperial Blood)
1	Reaper's Defense III (tier 3 Grim Barricade Innate)
71	Total

Additional situational bonuses that you may have seen in my vids...
5 Primal Scream
4 Tenser's Transformation
3 Reaper's Contitution 1-3 (Grim Barricade)
2 Yugo Pot

[sirgog]

Obviously.



That wasn't the point of what you're responding too. The build is still fine. The worry is over
what's changing, the motivation for doing so and what impact it has on the remaining playerbase.

The motivation for the change is to ensure that the difficulties designed to be non-trivial are, in fact, non-trivial.

If you want the experience of trivializing content, Elite and Reaper are not designed for you.

I don't personally value Casual difficulty, but I recognise it is designed for a type of player that deserves content and so I do not ask for changes that would ruin their experience of the game (like adding 4 Carnage Reapers to each pack in Casual).

Please do not try to destroy the game experience of the people that the higher difficulty settings are designed for by throwing a tantrum when a game-trivializing build is dealt with.

[LooniProject]

What about the Gear venturing from 20-30? Like hitting 20 then automatically Soloing EE.. lmao

[Vooduspyce]

What about the Gear venturing from 20-30? Like hitting 20 then automatically Soloing EE.. lmao

Hey Looni,

Sadly I never finished making my gear spreadsheet for Voodu. But if you look at the videos of the Voodu Warlock series (all linked at the bottom of the OP) at the start I go over all the gear I'm using in every episode if you want to see what I'm using for any given level. Some of it is dated, however, so I have a couple newer videos linked below that show my more recent level 20 and 24 gear.

Right now I am solely focused on getting Gingerspyce's racial lives so Voodu is parked at cap and just being used for raiding. After I finish Ginger's racials, which will prob take the rest of the year, I will start working on Voodu's racials.

I did a few reaper lives on Voodu before starting on Ginger, so this video of R3 impossible demands shows what I was using at level 20 most recently. Jump to 4:00 for a review of my L20 gear.

In R4 Epic Crucible I am level 24 and I go over some gearing changes for that level at the start of the video.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions about gear

[Kinnexx]

Any suggestions for a blade forged based build?

At the moment, 2 paladin / rest warlock.
Started with 20 con, 14 int, 16 cha; and went Fey pact since Lawful Good.

Since I don't need to take shield prof. as a paladin, I could take Adamantine Body, Mithril Body, or something else like Toughness / Mental Toughness for more HP/MP. (Currently using the Mental Toughness for more MP.)

Not sure if I should take Adamantine or Mithril Body. (If only there was a proper "medium" armor docent.)

I ended up hunting the Heartwood docent for massive MRR/PRR, seems like the best docent for a tank lock.

At level 19, I currently have 47 PRR, 50 MRR, and 175% fortification. I'm not sure if that is as good as a non blade forged would be. Also not sure how much fortification I need or should aim for.

[mr420247]

BF with adamantium body feat swap in at 20 then asf aug your docent for 4 asf total you won't even notice it

If your going 2 pally u might as well go 3 for the stance max hp prr mrr saves and you'll probly want a skyvault really bring it together

[Vooduspyce]

Any suggestions for a blade forged based build?

At the moment, 2 paladin / rest warlock.
Started with 20 con, 14 int, 16 cha; and went Fey pact since Lawful Good.

Since I don't need to take shield prof. as a paladin, I could take Adamantine Body, Mithril Body, or something else like Toughness / Mental Toughness for more HP/MP. (Currently using the Mental Toughness for more MP.)

Not sure if I should take Adamantine or Mithril Body. (If only there was a proper "medium" armor docent.)

I ended up hunting the Heartwood docent for massive MRR/PRR, seems like the best docent for a tank lock.

At level 19, I currently have 47 PRR, 50 MRR, and 175% fortification. I'm not sure if that is as good as a non blade forged would be. Also not sure how much fortification I need or should aim for.

I don't play robots so I'm no help with offering advice on docents and body feats, but I see someone else already responded, and hopefully others can provide some of their own insight.

I looked back at some old videos and I found an R3 VOD video I did on Voodu at level 18 back in March and I had 100AC, 118PRR, 100MRR and 145% fort (as seen at 6:50 in this video if you care to see the full character sheet). This is pure warlock Drow. I would imagine with pally splash you could get better stats. For reference, 27 of the PRR would be from my epic and iconic past lives and 9 of the MRR would be from my 3 Deep Gnome lives. There is another 9 PRR available from Divine EPL, which I do not have yet. Your 175% fort is very solid at level 19, and I suspect you'll be well over 200% fort by end game, so I think you're all set there.

[Kinnexx]

BF with adamantium body feat swap in at 20 then asf aug your docent for 4 asf total you won't even notice it

If your going 2 pally u might as well go 3 for the stance max hp prr mrr saves and you'll probly want a skyvault really bring it together

I'm curious how you would spend the points in Sacred Defender?
Is there a build thread for a pally / lock build?

[Niminae]

Hey Looni,

Sadly I never finished making my gear spreadsheet for Voodu. But if you look at the videos of the Voodu Warlock series (all linked at the bottom of the OP) at the start I go over all the gear I'm using in every episode if you want to see what I'm using for any given level. Some of it is dated, however, so I have a couple newer videos linked below that show my more recent level 20 and 24 gear.

Right now I am solely focused on getting Gingerspyce's racial lives so Voodu is parked at cap and just being used for raiding. After I finish Ginger's racials, which will prob take the rest of the year, I will start working on Voodu's racials.

I did a few reaper lives on Voodu before starting on Ginger, so this video of R3 impossible demands shows what I was using at level 20 most recently. Jump to 4:00 for a review of my L20 gear.

In R4 Epic Crucible I am level 24 and I go over some gearing changes for that level at the start of the video.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions about gear

Thanks for this. I'm on my first Warlock life and I had similar struggles with finding a suitable light armor, and now on my last run to 30 after an ER I'm trying your build and was also finding the medium armor options limited.

For light armor I used Parasitic Breastplate with Subtle Ambition applied (+2 equip DC Conj). I tried some L24 Whisperchain but after ERing I just went back to the Parasitic Breastplate and wore this L14 armor through L29 when I put on Celestial leathers.

Now that I have medium armor via ES I am also using Hardened Hide Armor.

Almost all of my past lives have been heavy armor wearers, and at 20 I have several decent options, and then more open up as I level. It seems odd to me that I'm wearing this heroic level stuff well into the epics levels, and only putting on something epic when I'm almost at cap.

The OP has been updated with my new gear set, level 6 spells changed out and updated stats. Sadly, with the changes to SR, even with the crafted SR belt, my total SR is only 63. Keeping it that way for now to see if it's meaningful.

Four months of practical experience later, do you find SR to be worth gearing for?

[Vooduspyce]

Thanks for this. I'm on my first Warlock life and I had similar struggles with finding a suitable light armor, and now on my last run to 30 after an ER I'm trying your build and was also finding the medium armor options limited.

For light armor I used Parasitic Breastplate with Subtle Ambition applied (+2 equip DC Conj). I tried some L24 Whisperchain but after ERing I just went back to the Parasitic Breastplate and wore this L14 armor through L29 when I put on Celestial leathers.

Now that I have medium armor via ES I am also using Hardened Hide Armor.

Almost all of my past lives have been heavy armor wearers, and at 20 I have several decent options, and then more open up as I level. It seems odd to me that I'm wearing this heroic level stuff well into the epics levels, and only putting on something epic when I'm almost at cap.



Four months of practical experience later, do you find SR to be worth gearing for?

Hey Niminae, I'm glad you found this post helpful.

I have been exclusively focused on Gingerspyce's racial past lives since about March and basically just using Voodu to raid with since then. After I finish with Gingerspyce and get her back to cap, I plan on starting work on Voodu's racials and posting videos and updating the build post.

I did a couple lives on Voodu after reaper mode came out and as far as armor goes, I was using mostly Cannith crafted up until I got Hardened Hide at 17. After that I use Epic Scales of Surety at level 27 then Legendary Scales of Malice at level 28. I need to pick up a set of heroic Scales of Malice (level 10) for when I start working on Voodu's racials, which probably won't be until about Feb-March. Your choice of Parasitic Breastplate in heroics is solid, but I would recommend either Breastplate or Scales of the Celestial Sage for level 29. The leather is light armor and ES gets bonuses to wearing medium. However if you are benefitting from the added dodge cap of the light armor, then that could make leathers a more attractive option than the medium.

Regarding SR, I really can't say since I haven't been playing Voodu much. Sorry I'm not more help here.

[Niminae]

Hey Niminae, I'm glad you found this post helpful.

I have been exclusively focused on Gingerspyce's racial past lives since about March and basically just using Voodu to raid with since then. After I finish with Gingerspyce and get her back to cap, I plan on starting work on Voodu's racials and posting videos and updating the build post.

I did a couple lives on Voodu after reaper mode came out and as far as armor goes, I was using mostly Cannith crafted up until I got Hardened Hide at 17. After that I use Epic Scales of Surety at level 27 then Legendary Scales of Malice at level 28. I need to pick up a set of heroic Scales of Malice (level 10) for when I start working on Voodu's racials, which probably won't be until about Feb-March. Your choice of Parasitic Breastplate in heroics is solid, but I would recommend either Breastplate or Scales of the Celestial Sage for level 29. The leather is light armor and ES gets bonuses to wearing medium. However if you are benefitting from the added dodge cap of the light armor, then that could make leathers a more attractive option than the medium.

Regarding SR, I really can't say since I haven't been playing Voodu much. Sorry I'm not more help here.

I think I didn't write very clearly. This is my first Warlock life, and I've gone through 3 ERs and I am on my last run up to 30 where I will ITR since I am a PDK.

In my first run to cap and subsequent ERs I tried out a few different builds to see how they played. And all of those used light armor since they had no points in ES and did not spend a feat on medium armor proficiency. So with those light armor builds I wore the Parasitic Breastplate until I could put on the Celestial leathers.

In this last run to cap I am trying out your build, of course with some modifications because of PDK in place of Drow. So now I was hunting for a decent medium armor to wear. It actually gave me some room to play with some feats since you had to spend a feat for Shield proficiency and I got it for free. Plus the bonus feat for 1 FTR got me Shield Mastery. So since I wanted to try to be as true to your build as possible I took Augment Summoning and Spell Focus: Conjuration, so while I'm refilling the Karma in the Arcane sphere I also have Grand Summoner. Just a "for fun" thing, but I've been the charmer in LHOX for a while now and this will boost that quite a bit. And then I can swap to Unyielding Sentinel and continue my copycat build play and Augment Summoning certainly isn't going to skew the results there. :-P I do have a bit more Hamp and a bit less CHA since the points I spent in the PDK racial are entirely different than your drow spends, but that's the best I could do.

I kinda miss my spell rotation. Your build has nothing to do while waiting for the bursts to come off of cooldown except refresh Displacement/Tensor's or throw a heal, and the DPS seems to be less than the other builds I ran. I'm certainly not doing anything other than exercising my mouse button when I swing a weapon, so it's mostly just block. But I'm only at 24th at present so I have a while to see how things work, and I'll be hitting some reapers to test out the durability.

EDIT: What do you do about high priority targets? Since the aura and the bursts are all AOE I have nothing to add to a single target that I want to kill fast. Even Primal Scream is AOE. And it's great to do a pile of AOE damage in most situations, but sometimes a strong single target DPS is nice also.

[Vooduspyce]

I think I didn't write very clearly. This is my first Warlock life, and I've gone through 3 ERs and I am on my last run up to 30 where I will ITR since I am a PDK.

In my first run to cap and subsequent ERs I tried out a few different builds to see how they played. And all of those used light armor since they had no points in ES and did not spend a feat on medium armor proficiency. So with those light armor builds I wore the Parasitic Breastplate until I could put on the Celestial leathers.

In this last run to cap I am trying out your build, of course with some modifications because of PDK in place of Drow. So now I was hunting for a decent medium armor to wear. It actually gave me some room to play with some feats since you had to spend a feat for Shield proficiency and I got it for free. Plus the bonus feat for 1 FTR got me Shield Mastery. So since I wanted to try to be as true to your build as possible I took Augment Summoning and Spell Focus: Conjuration, so while I'm refilling the Karma in the Arcane sphere I also have Grand Summoner. Just a "for fun" thing, but I've been the charmer in LHOX for a while now and this will boost that quite a bit. And then I can swap to Unyielding Sentinel and continue my copycat build play and Augment Summoning certainly isn't going to skew the results there. :-P I do have a bit more Hamp and a bit less CHA since the points I spent in the PDK racial are entirely different than your drow spends, but that's the best I could do.

I kinda miss my spell rotation. Your build has nothing to do while waiting for the bursts to come off of cooldown except refresh Displacement/Tensor's or throw a heal, and the DPS seems to be less than the other builds I ran. I'm certainly not doing anything other than exercising my mouse button when I swing a weapon, so it's mostly just block. But I'm only at 24th at present so I have a while to see how things work, and I'll be hitting some reapers to test out the durability.

This is def not a max dps build. it's focus is grabbing aggro, tanking and survivability while the AOE dps helps to chew down mobs. All my other toons are healers, and I am a healer at heart, so I like that I can do party support heal with cocoon and renewal. Especially since most other ppl don't like to heal. Regarding what I do between bursts, I have a whole list of things I do between bursts near the bottom of the op.

EDIT: What do you do about high priority targets? Since the aura and the bursts are all AOE I have nothing to add to a single target that I want to kill fast. Even Primal Scream is AOE. And it's great to do a pile of AOE damage in most situations, but sometimes a strong single target DPS is nice also.

I'm not super into soloing, but I do use Voodu to solo farm. For lower end farming and dailies, I don't feel the need for any more dps. For higher end content, Voodu is intended for group play, and so the onus isn't on me to do all the work. I do understand that single target boss dps is generally considered a deficiency in bursting warlocks, so traditionally bursters would use un-meta'd Arcane Pulse to help chew down bosses. Perhaps even Ruin and Greater Ruin if they can handle the sp load. They would also run in higher dps destinies like EA, DC or Shiradi. I was enjoying running in DC a lot for non-raiding before reaper mode came out.

As far as what I do, it depends on the difficulty. But in any case, Voodu in not a fast killer. In old EE's and LE's, if I was soloing a boss I'd often just set focus blast to auto attack and do something else on my other monitor, or grab a drink or something, lol. The high survivability could stand up against what a lot of bosses threw at me. If I'm with a group, my job is tanking, so I hold boss aggro while e1 else beats on the boss and my aura and bursts just helps with the beatdown. This is especially helpful for me in reaper. For high hp orange named mobs I dance them while beating them down. For me, taking a few minutes to beat down a boss isn't a big deal, but I understand that for some players its cumbersome. For me, high survivability tanking is a playstyle I enjoy, but these build choices come at a reduction in dps. High dps seeking players should avoid this build

[witchdoctor90]

Greetings Voodu and others,

Returning to the game after a long absence and perhaps I'm missing something... but I'm not sure how to account for the martial weapon proficiency and use of a GS Longsword. If I've missed something and it's glaring please take pity on me

[Vooduspyce]

Greetings Voodu and others,

Returning to the game after a long absence and perhaps I'm missing something... but I'm not sure how to account for the martial weapon proficiency and use of a GS Longsword. If I've missed something and it's glaring please take pity on me

Enlightened Spirit tier 4 innate gives proficiency with all martial weapons

[Ryan220]

I ran a variant of this build when Locks first came out and Im running it again to finish of my ePLs.

I find it to be great in groups - yes the Dps isnt stellar but the surviveability is. Being able to lock down mob aggro in Reaper is great for the rest of the party and it allows for less capable alts (by that I mean things like new players, under geared, no PLs, no Rpr points etc) in the party to get through low-mid Reaper quests relatively unscathed if they play sensibly.

Imo its a great build when both solo or grouping and seeing I spend 50% of my game time on each its perfect for me.

[Vooduspyce]

I ran a variant of this build when Locks first came out and Im running it again to finish of my ePLs.

I find it to be great in groups - yes the Dps isnt stellar but the surviveability is. Being able to lock down mob aggro in Reaper is great for the rest of the party and it allows for less capable alts (by that I mean things like new players, under geared, no PLs, no Rpr points etc) in the party to get through low-mid Reaper quests relatively unscathed if they play sensibly.

Imo its a great build when both solo or grouping and seeing I spend 50% of my game time on each its perfect for me.

I'm glad you've enjoyed the build, ty for saying

[Dulcimerist]

How many points is this build? I'll be making a first-life Drow Warlock.

Which spells would you recommend I generally run for most quests, and which should I grab each time I level up?

Also, if I were to avoid shields, what would you recommend I do instead with those feat slots? (Or would not using shields really mess up this build's function and survivability.)

Thanks!

[Kamode_Corebasher]

...all of those used light armor since they had no points in ES and did not spend a feat on medium armor proficiency. So with those light armor builds I wore the Parasitic Breastplate until I could put on the Celestial leathers.

In this last run to cap I am trying out your build, of course with some modifications because of PDK in place of Drow. So now I was hunting for a decent medium armor to wear...

I'm unsure if you ever got this answered. I wear this to level from 20 to cap:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Mournlode_Armors

I actually have a docent, light, medium version, and will make a heavy next time I bring a heavy armor wearing character through.

[Vooduspyce]

How many points is this build? I'll be making a first-life Drow Warlock.

Which spells would you recommend I generally run for most quests, and which should I grab each time I level up?

Also, if I were to avoid shields, what would you recommend I do instead with those feat slots? (Or would not using shields really mess up this build's function and survivability.)

Thanks!

Hi Dulcimerist,

Voodu is a multilifer so is a 36 point build. My spell selection is shown in a graphic in the op that you can click on for a larger image. Shield, Evard's Black Tentacles and Displacement are your priority. Other than that just take them in the order that you like.

As for shields, I would recommend that a first lifer go the shield route for starters. The added defense will be nice on a first lifer. After playing through it once, if you decide you like the build and want to continue with it, you can omit the shield proficiencies if you feel your defenses are adequate without them.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it

[Dulcimerist]

Hi Dulcimerist,

Voodu is a multilifer so is a 36 point build. My spell selection is shown in a graphic in the op that you can click on for a larger image. Shield, Evard's Black Tentacles and Displacement are your priority. Other than that just take them in the order that you like.

As for shields, I would recommend that a first lifer go the shield route for starters. The added defense will be nice on a first lifer. After playing through it once, if you decide you like the build and want to continue with it, you can omit the shield proficiencies if you feel your defenses are adequate without them.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it

Thanks! I started a level 10 Drow Warlock yesterday, and had a lot of fun doing some low level quests for favor! I think I ended up starting with 16 on CON, INT, and CHA.

Looks like I need to find myself a good shield and a decent one-hand weapon! I rocked a Staff of Inner Sight yesterday. I wonder if I need to farm Invaders to pick up a Scepter of Healing?

Are scrolls available for Evard's Black Tentacles? I ended up choosing Dimension Door, since I didn't think scrolls were available for that one.

Thanks again!