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

[Ravenbrew]

Hi. I've made it to level 6. How important is Quicken if I plan to use Burst/Aura most of the time? With a maxed Constitution, concentration should be high. I may visit Fred and try it out (still have my reincarnation stone to fall back on - which I planned to use anyway). Thanks

[Vooduspyce]

Hi. I've made it to level 6. How important is Quicken if I plan to use Burst/Aura most of the time? With a maxed Constitution, concentration should be high. I may visit Fred and try it out (still have my reincarnation stone to fall back on - which I planned to use anyway). Thanks

I personally prefer quicken for faster casting of Otto's Irresistible Dance, Evards, Renewal, Cocoon, Displacement, Tensors, in addition to preventing bursts from being made to fail from damage. I know that some enlightened spirits prefer spending the feat elsewhere. I'd suggest give it a try and see what you prefer

[Ravenbrew]

I personally prefer quicken for faster casting of Otto's Irresistible Dance, Evards, Renewal, Cocoon, Displacement, Tensors, in addition to preventing bursts from being made to fail from damage. I know that some enlightened spirits prefer spending the feat elsewhere. I'd suggest give it a try and see what you prefer

Thanks Nacho. I'll stick with quicken, maximize, empower and force of personality. I'm a 28pt human (but have a +2 CON tome). Do these stats make sense? S:8 D:10 C:14 I:12 W:8 CH:18

[Vooduspyce]

Thanks Nacho. I'll stick with quicken, maximize, empower and force of personality. I'm a 28pt human (but have a +2 CON tome). Do these stats make sense? S:8 D:10 C:14 I:12 W:8 CH:18

I would recommend a higher starting con for a first lifer. You could go 16 con and 16 cha.

[cmecu]

Has any one tried this build with any of the 3 new pacts yet? Wasnt sure if any were viable or still stick to Fey

[Vooduspyce]

Has any one tried this build with any of the 3 new pacts yet? Wasnt sure if any were viable or still stick to Fey

I'm currently playing it as Carceri Storm. I'm only level 7 right now so no real feedback yet other than lowbie quests with a lot of skeletons can be a slog to solo even on R1 due to skellies being immune to cold and having to rely solely on the base force eldritch damage. Not a big deal but something to be aware of.

I suspect that Carceri Storm will be a good complimentary pact for Enlightened Spirit. The traditional criticism of ES is that it lacks single target dps. With 3 or 4 cold dots, Carceri Storm lends a lot of single target dps. I am taking a serious look at it potentially being my pact of choice, however Voodu is not a dps build, whereas I prioritize the tanky side of things and Fey pact is nice for Otto's Irresistible dance for reapers and Misty Escape is nice for busting through groups of mobs during emergencies. But I may surprise myself. The added single target dps of Carceri Storm might make me forgo the goodies from Fey. We'll see

Next life I will try the Celestial pact but will not be trying Abyss due to its incompatibility with ES.

[Djjinni]

Next life I will try the Celestial pact but will not be trying Abyss due to its incompatibility with ES.

You might have already looked into it, but a significant portion of ES stuff that clashed with Abyss was reworked to fit around it.

You mostly lose the Celestial Spirit 5th core toggle now, losing a small amount of damage (possibly less than you gain from the aura though? Not sure)


I'm seeing some people really liking the combination so far, but still undecided here too

[Vooduspyce]

You might have already looked into it, but a significant portion of ES stuff that clashed with Abyss was reworked to fit around it.

You mostly lose the Celestial Spirit 5th core toggle now, losing a small amount of damage (possibly less than you gain from the aura though? Not sure)


I'm seeing some people really liking the combination so far, but still undecided here too

oh ty for saying! maybe I'll have to give it a try. I've got a lot of racials to do anyway so might as well

[PaddyMaxson]

Just wondering as someone who's been away from the game since before Warlock came out is this as an Abyss lock viable? I see there was some issues with it but they've apparently been fixed/improved but I'm not sure I understand it from a theory crafting perspective.

Can someone explain like I'm 5 years old?

[Djjinni]

Just wondering as someone who's been away from the game since before Warlock came out is this as an Abyss lock viable? I see there was some issues with it but they've apparently been fixed/improved but I'm not sure I understand it from a theory crafting perspective.

Can someone explain like I'm 5 years old?

There's a few posts discussing this directly above yours, but it's all still basically in early stages yet - it's not a combination that has motivated people to go test it much so far! Someone will get around to it and there'll be plenty of discussion here in the future most likely

[PaddyMaxson]

Well, I played this as Abyss pact to 20 so far and it is incredibly tough to kill, though losing a large amount of blast damage at low levels with all the undead heavy areas was a bit of a drag.

I'm playing with a static group with several pale masters in it so all those death auras make the whole group extremely tanky

[cmecu]

I love playing warlocks, and I came over from the Tainted scholar and soul eater tree, to the ES and falconry .. In Epics Legendary I breeze through them with my health bar barely even moving down. It is extremely easy to keep alive with all the different kinds of heals. That being said for Epic Reapers they are not so bad now staying alive , but the issue is back in heroics and doing reapers and staying alive. The healing isnt as good because of no epic destiny heals. What do most people do for keeping their health up? Just heal scrolls?
Also to add I had actually did a rogue splash just to be able to pick locks .. even though there isnt a synergy there, I still did fine with trapping from 1 to 30. Just having the highest skill gear is key and intelligence item. This time I am just going to go pure warlock and try a new pact. I just did the cold one. It just adds a lot more dots , I think there are 4 ice ones i use. 2 creeping colds, Niacs biting cold, and ice storm which also is like a never ending dot.
I been tempted to try the Abyss one because I have a decent amount of negative pieces that I have farmed over the months. I would be curious to see how well death aura keeps you alive.

[Vooduspyce]

I love playing warlocks, and I came over from the Tainted scholar and soul eater tree, to the ES and falconry .. In Epics Legendary I breeze through them with my health bar barely even moving down. It is extremely easy to keep alive with all the different kinds of heals. That being said for Epic Reapers they are not so bad now staying alive , but the issue is back in heroics and doing reapers and staying alive. The healing isnt as good because of no epic destiny heals. What do most people do for keeping their health up? Just heal scrolls?
Also to add I had actually did a rogue splash just to be able to pick locks .. even though there isnt a synergy there, I still did fine with trapping from 1 to 30. Just having the highest skill gear is key and intelligence item. This time I am just going to go pure warlock and try a new pact. I just did the cold one. It just adds a lot more dots , I think there are 4 ice ones i use. 2 creeping colds, Niacs biting cold, and ice storm which also is like a never ending dot.
I been tempted to try the Abyss one because I have a decent amount of negative pieces that I have farmed over the months. I would be curious to see how well death aura keeps you alive.

A lot of people don't like playing ES until level 12 because it's a pretty lame tree until you get the second burst. In addition to the second burst, at level 12 you have Shining Through, which functions as a big part of self healing. I enjoy playing ES, so will switch to ES as soon as level 9 when I have enough action points to get medium armor proficiency, Brilliance as well as Stanch from TS, which is also a big part of self healing. I do use a lot of healing wands and scrolls during heroics. Up to level 9, I prefer to focus on TS, using chain shape and TS also has wand and scroll mastery, which is really nice during heroic reaper questing to get 75% more healing from wands and scrolls.

Hope that helps

[cmecu]

A lot of people don't like playing ES until level 12 because it's a pretty lame tree until you get the second burst. In addition to the second burst, at level 12 you have Shining Through, which functions as a big part of self healing. I enjoy playing ES, so will switch to ES as soon as level 9 when I have enough action points to get medium armor proficiency, Brilliance as well as Stanch from TS, which is also a big part of self healing. I do use a lot of healing wands and scrolls during heroics. Up to level 9, I prefer to focus on TS, using chain shape and TS also has wand and scroll mastery, which is really nice during heroic reaper questing to get 75% more healing from wands and scrolls.

Hope that helps

It has thank you. Your build has definitely inspired me to play around with my Warlock trying different stuff. I spent about 2 hours writing up my build and gear stats.. etc.. I was thinking about making some you tube videos to show how well it does.

No one has posted anything yet in it, its been up for over a week.. any way , maybe take a look and see what you think

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ing-my-warlock

[RTN]

Anyone tried this recently as a main tank? How high into reaper can you go before your defenses aren't high enough compared to the zero dps tanks? How good is the self-healing at mid to high reaper on the new undead pact?

I used this build a bunch of lives ago as a static group tank, although I didn't have a bunch of LGS items to really boost hp. Around r6 or r7, it stopped being feasible as a tank and didn't do enough dps for other roles. End game raids were rough even at lower reaper difficulties without a dedicated healer. I have more past lives and more reaper points now, but before I jump into this for a future life, I'm curious how it holds up at higher reaper these days.

[Vooduspyce]

Anyone tried this recently as a main tank? How high into reaper can you go before your defenses aren't high enough compared to the zero dps tanks? How good is the self-healing at mid to high reaper on the new undead pact?

I used this build a bunch of lives ago as a static group tank, although I didn't have a bunch of LGS items to really boost hp. Around r6 or r7, it stopped being feasible as a tank and didn't do enough dps for other roles. End game raids were rough even at lower reaper difficulties without a dedicated healer. I have more past lives and more reaper points now, but before I jump into this for a future life, I'm curious how it holds up at higher reaper these days.

I would not recommend this build for raid tanking beyond R1 and in some cases less. I haven't tried tanking KT and PN beyond hard or THTH beyond normal. I don't typically do any raids beyond R1. I think the only exception is Fire on Thunder Peak, which I've tanked on R3-4.

Self sufficiency breaks down in reaper questing at about R6-7, just as you found, and that was my comfort zone for a while with Voodu. Now with about 100 reaper points and about 100 past lives I've been fairly comfortable running in as high as R8's in some content without a dedicated healer.

I have not yet tried it with Abyss pact. Did Carceri Storm last life, Celestial this life and may try Abyss next life.

[RTN]

Thanks for the reply. I'll be really curious how you find the Abyss pact and how it affects survivability. I did a quick TR life as Celestial, but just as a blaster since we mostly ran low reaper for quick leveling.

[Vooduspyce]

Thanks for the reply. I'll be really curious how you find the Abyss pact and how it affects survivability. I did a quick TR life as Celestial, but just as a blaster since we mostly ran low reaper for quick leveling.

You've encouraged me to do Abyss. I'm kind of dreading it based on what I've heard, but I do want to be able to give feedback on how Voodu performs with all the pacts

[Raiztlin75]

You've encouraged me to do Abyss. I'm kind of dreading it based on what I've heard, but I do want to be able to give feedback on how Voodu performs with all the pacts

Any update on this Voodu and long time no talk

[Vooduspyce]

Any update on this Voodu and long time no talk

Carceri Storm seems like a good pact choice for Enlightened Spirits that are looking to add more dps. CS adds a formidable amount of single target dps, which the ES tree lacks. This was the only pact that I was seriously considering as a possibility for Voodu's permanent pact choice, but ultimately I decided to stick with Fey pact because Voodu's focus is not dps and I love Misty Escape and I like to use Otto's Irresistible Dance to crowd control reapers. When I was using the CS pact I felt like I had nothing to use against reapers. I would recommend that soloers avoid quests with a lot of skeletons during single digit leveling since skeletons are immune to the cold CS pact damage, making chains like Catacombs, Delera's and Necro 1 rather slow going to solo even on R1. I don't see CS doing much for Soul Eaters or Tainted Scholars.

I did not care for the Abyss pact and it does little for Voodu's build. The undead form stance is incompatible with Celestial Spirit, so you have to choose between undead form or ff, knockdown immunity and 3d6 light damage. Rend the Soul is a powerful dot, and I noticed it hitting really hard even when I had mediocre negative spell power. Must be awesome with high spell power. I would recommend that soloers avoid quests with a lot of undead during single digit leveling since undead are immune to the negative energy Abyss pact damage, making chains like Catacombs, Delera's and Necro 1 rather slow going to solo even on R1. I think Abyss pact needs Negative Energy Burst as one of its bonus spells and without it seems like kind of a dud. This build does not have high spell power, so the healing from Death Aura was negligible.

Celestial pact does little for Voodu's build. It is too much buffy and not enough vampire slayer. I would love to see the Celestial pact bonus spells reworked to include a 4th level bonus Cure Serious Wounds and 6th level bonus like Implosion or Cometfall, and the Freedom of Movement bonus spell moved to 3rd level. Also would be nice if Ameliorate worked on all evil creatures and not just undead and that the debuff worked on bosses. Then you might have an interesting pact.

I'm glad to see that warlocks got new pacts, however at the end of the day I feel that at least Abyss and Celestial need work. Overall they don't generate enthusiasm and it feels like 3 pacts were added for the sake of adding 3 new pacts, without serious thought given to adding fun and interesting new combinations. Generally speaking, I think the new pacts do little to compete with the community favorite Fiend and Great Old One pacts. I've heard a couple people suggest that the pacts might make for interesting melee warlock options, but I'm skeptical we'll see serious builds to that end. ...we'll see