The Warlord

[slarden]

Now regarding how to increase DPS, I'd say that no build is better than a shiradi cone warlock.

Cone warlock is great for heroic levels, but generally cone/shiradi warlocks @ epic are giving up 400 spellpower (all metamagic + usually alot of light spellpower also) and half pact damage since they almost always dump dc. Also if you don't twist in sense weakness you really aren't getting much out of shiradi as part of the dps boost is from the helplessness proc. Twisting sense weakness, energy burst and empyrean magic all might be theoretically possible, but it's a bit costly so you end up losing energy burst.

At least from my testing the loss of pact damage plus the loss of spellpower really netted with the shiradi procs doesn't get you much at all against mobs, but vs. bosses it's all win. Against mobs the value of shiradi procs are lower because even if a big proc takes down one mob it hardly matters as you still have to finish off the whole mob. In other words the shiradi procs might kill a few mobs sooner but what matters is how long it takes to take down the whole mob.

A DC focused shiradi is going to have better dps and be a bit squishier, esp in LE shroud.

Anyhow I don't want to sidetrack this thread. I think dps is an important consideration, but as I said before I think this is an A+ build in my opinion because it's heavily optimized for LE shroud especially. I see your point on Shiradi, but survivabiity is a huge issue in LE shroud even for builds that excel in LE tempest spine. I think he is in the right destiny for LE Shroud for his build.

How much dps shiradi adds against bosses for a warlock is an unknown to me. Against mobs it hardly matters as I have't seen any indication you take down the entire mob quicker vs. bursting as some mobs get hit with procs and some don't.

[Blastyswa]

Cone warlock is great for heroic levels, but generally cone/shiradi warlocks @ epic are giving up 400 spellpower (all metamagic + usually alot of light spellpower also) and half pact damage since they almost always dump dc. Also if you don't twist in sense weakness you really aren't getting much out of shiradi as part of the dps boost is from the helplessness proc. Twisting sense weakness, energy burst and empyrean magic all might be theoretically possible, but it's a bit costly so you end up losing energy burst.

At least from my testing the loss of pact damage plus the loss of spellpower really netted with the shiradi procs doesn't get you much at all against mobs, but vs. bosses it's all win. Against mobs the value of shiradi procs are lower because even if a big proc takes down one mob it hardly matters as you still have to finish off the whole mob. In other words the shiradi procs might kill a few mobs sooner but what matters is how long it takes to take down the whole mob.

A DC focused shiradi is going to have better dps and be a bit squishier, esp in LE shroud.

Anyhow I don't want to sidetrack this thread. I think dps is an important consideration, but as I said before I think this is an A+ build in my opinion because it's heavily optimized for LE shroud especially. I see your point on Shiradi, but survivabiity is a huge issue in LE shroud even for builds that excel in LE tempest spine. I think he is in the right destiny for LE Shroud for his build.

How much dps shiradi adds against bosses for a warlock is an unknown to me. Against mobs it hardly matters as I have't seen any indication you take down the entire mob quicker vs. bursting as some mobs get hit with procs and some don't.

I don't consider it a derailment to talk about the potential of using cone shape blasts to kill stuff; after all, if it's really a huge DPS improvement, I could always consider dropping some points from Tainted Scholar to try cone shape. My experience with cone shape has been about what you've described (On a second warlock toon I have, who has played around with tainted scholar/souleater, cone shape was OP in heroics, but not really highly effective in endgame content.) so I would love to see a video or something of cone shape DPS, preferably on something like the first 6 mobs of LE Shroud, just for a comparison of if it really is such increased DPS.

[sianaka]

Hello Guys/Gals,

I haven't played the game since somewhere around 2012, and even then I wasn't very good at it. My highest level is 17, so I didn't make it into any raids at all. Anyhow, a few friends of mine want to start playing again and I don't have a lot of time to figure out all of the changes that have occurred in the last 4 years so I'm hoping you guys can help me out a bit. I would like to play something similar to this, but I'm not entirely sure how to start or if it is possible to start this build as a first life without any gear to pass down from other characters. I really like the idea of having a tank that doesn't fail at DPS so I would really like to try this build out. Can someone help me figure out how to start this character out and level? I realize this is asking a lot, but this is a very interesting build to me and I feel like it fits my type of play style that I usually enjoy. I have access to 32 point builds and start at level 7. I obviously plan on purchasing warlock, and have enough points left over to buy any of the attribute tomes that are currently on sale.

If you think there is a better build you can suggest for someone who is basically new I'm open to suggestions as well.

Thanks for the help in advance, I really appreciate when people take the time to explain this game because it is over my head.

[Blastyswa]

Hello Guys,

I haven't played the game since somewhere around 2012, and even then I wasn't very good at it. My highest level is 17, so I didn't make it into any raids at all. Anyhow, a few friends of mine want to start playing again and I don't have a lot of time to figure out all of the changes that have occurred in the last 4 years so I'm hoping you guys can help me out a bit. I would like to play something similar to this, but I'm not entirely sure how to start or if it is possible to start this build as a first life without any gear to pass down from other characters. I really like the idea of having a tank that doesn't fail at DPS so I would really like to try this build out. Can someone help me figure out how to start this character out and level? I realize this is asking a lot, but this is a very interesting build to me and I feel like it fits my type of play style that I usually enjoy. I have access to 32 point builds and start at level 7. I obviously plan on purchasing warlock, and have enough points left over to buy any of the attribute tomes that are currently on sale.

If you think there is a better build you can suggest for someone who is basically new I'm open to suggestions as well.

Thanks for the help in advance, I really appreciate when people take the time to explain this game because it is over my head.

Not a problem, I've been meaning to make a "how to play this build without fancy items and past lives" post anyway. This build does completely function as a first-life toon and as a toon without any tomes or highly difficult to get gear; at the moment the only mandatory item from a raid is Epic Noxious Ember's, but I plan to use the Legendary Spinneret's Ring from normal quests after the next update so that won't be an issue. Tome's do help this build, but the actual benefit of having a +6 supreme tome would be about +100 HP, +3 saves, +3 DC, and +3 spellpower; if you're fine missing out on those, you can wait on the tomes to see if you really want them or not.

My basic recommendations on how to play the build would be pull 4 points out of intelligence or strength as a 32 point build, and pick up Eldritch Burst as soon as possible from Enlightened Spirit. Don't worry at all about any hamp/blessing from human tree, as those are really for epic levels anyways, and just focus on using items to boost the damage of your eldritch burst and spirit blast once you hit level 12. I typically hit stuff with random gen loot until I get to level 3-4 and get eldritch burst, but since you're starting at 7 you get to skip over that issue. I would make sure you have cure serious wound potions throughout heroics, and even into epics, but once you get shining through at level 12 the amount of times you actually get damaged through the temporary HP will fall to not very often at all.

Getting to 20 should be fairly easy with this build, as long as you try and keep gear somewhat updated and make sure to stock up on curse pots/remove blindness pots/cure serious wounds pots; the only issues I had in heroics with this build were when I was sitting at 5 actual HP and 30-40 temporary HP and i was out of cure wounds pots, or when I would get hit with a 10 minute blindness because I hadn't bothered to get a blindness immunity item or pick up blindness removal potions. Once you get to 20, take fatesinger as your first destiny, raise it to level 4, and then work through shadowdancer/grandmaster of flowers to get to Sentinel; running this build without epic destinies won't be using it to it's full potential, but that applies to any build without epic destinies. Get enough fate points to twist sacred ground+consecration from Divine Crusader, and you'll become invincible in most content; alternatively, take empyrean magic first for a more offensive setup where you won't have much healing. Eventually you'll want to work over into the Primal sphere to pick up rejuvenation cocoon, which really will revolutionize your healing, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and get some EPL's on this build while maxing out destinies; all the EPL's passive benefits will help with tanking (Arcane and Martial being the least noticeable, divine being the most beneficial) and getting epic completionist allows you to twist primal scream as well as empyrean magic and the healing twists, which raises your HP and does significant AoE damage.

Honestly, and with as little bias as I can manage being the creator of this build, I don't think there are many builds that would outperform this one for new players. The high focus on defense makes this build solid for soloing, especially since the offense is still high enough to take down a vast majority of enemies in the game fairly quickly. I would avoid trying to solo EE quests and the like without being level 30 or at least close to it, just because of the time it takes to take down end bosses without ruins/arcane pulse/hellball, but in all of heroics double bursting will take down even the gnarliest non-raid bosses incredibly quickly. Chest-blessing is one of the few highly party oriented abilities still relevant in the game, so even when you're getting readjusted to the game or don't know content you're still such a big benefit to parties, in particular Legendary raiding parties, that your arrival in a group will always be welcomed.

[sianaka]

Thank you for the quick response, I'll start this build today and see how it goes.

I have another question, you said to get spirit blast at level 3-4, but I think you mean Eldritch Burst since I can't get Spirit blast until level 12.

[Blastyswa]

Thank you for the quick response, I'll start this build today and see how it goes.

I have another question, you said to get spirit blast at level 3-4, but I think you mean Eldritch Burst since I can't get Spirit blast until level 12.

Correct, I named the wrong attack. Changed it in the advice post as well.

[sianaka]

Any suggestions for the types of gear to look for while leveling?

[Hobgoblin]

Any suggestions for the types of gear to look for while leveling?

con item

hp item

diamond of vitality

you want a radiance item

speed item

spellcraft item

int item

lesser imp - dex/wis item

radiance lore item

[Blastyswa]

Any suggestions for the types of gear to look for while leveling?

Basically just something with radiance and something with acid (assuming you go Great Old One pact) as well as items boosting your HP. If you're willing to put in a little bit of time in advance on a higher level character, or to farm the items when you get to the correct level, I use a heroic pansophic circlet with resistance +4 slotted and boots of the devil commander with sheltering +8 slotted at level 13, which greatly improves offense and defense until you get to level 20. This build is fairly easy to build, and functions without having to use particularly great items; the main thing is just make sure you have whatever you can find easily to boost your defense and offense as much as possible.

[Blastyswa]

con item

hp item

diamond of vitality

you want a radiance item

speed item

spellcraft item

int item

lesser imp - dex/wis item

radiance lore item

Yes, this sums it up pretty nicely. I wouldn't worry too much about a speed item if in a high level guild though, since chronoscope buff is currently bugged and lasts until your duration on it is less than 3 hours. Dex/wis items are nice at low levels, but can be traded out once you get to force of personality/insightful reflexes. A diamond of vitality would be nice, but isn't necessary, and can be expensive to attain now that jeweler's kits aren't as widely available.

Also having +5% xp gain from somewhere or another helps. In total, if you have it on from level 1-20 on a first life toon, it'll provide about 95,000 xp, which means being able to skip a few more quests than you would without having it equipped. I usually don't worry about it too much though from level 1-4; use a master's voice or mantle of the worldshaper at level 5, swap it out for a pale green ioun stone at level 15 if you have one, but if you don't it's not a big deal keep using the voice or mantle, and probably even keep using it in epics if you don't want to make an augment (I personally have made augments of master's gift and put them in ml 21 mysterious cloaks/bracers for my toons, but just using a master's voice or mantle would be fine).

[Thunder-Monkey]

Hi Blast,

Having just TR'd out of a fiend-lock, i'm interested if you would consider fiend pact for this build?

I'm guessing you went GOO for the extra fort and MRR at lvl 6, and also to land more pact damage from Acid/Will.

Do the other extras from GOO need much investment to land effectively? (PK and PW:K specifically)

Hurl is such a powerful ability without much investment!

Thanks

TM

[Blastyswa]

Hi Blast,

Having just TR'd out of a fiend-lock, i'm interested if you would consider fiend pact for this build?

I'm guessing you went GOO for the extra fort and MRR at lvl 6, and also to land more pact damage from Acid/Will.

Do the other extras from GOO need much investment to land effectively? (PK and PW:K specifically)

Hurl is such a powerful ability without much investment!

Thanks

TM

I actually ended up doing about 10 ETRs on this build, about 3 of fiend and 3 of fey and the last few as a GOO. I didn't notice a big difference in leveling, as every pact played about the same (grab aggro, drop consecration, begin bursting); the big difference was in endgame content like LE Tempest's Spine and LE Shroud. I'll just go ahead and do an overview on reason's for and against each pact, with my ultimate reasoning behind going GOO at the end.

GOO ended up having the most DPS against all enemies; since charisma is a secondary stat on this build, my DC's weren't high enough to land fiend much at all, and fey didn't work great either. GOO provides that slight bonus to fortification/MRR; I try and have 200%+ fortification, even during yugoloth int potions, and that 25% fortification comes into play for that. The biggest disadvantage of GOO is that its extra spells and abilities are useless for this build for the most part, being focused on charms and will saves; I don't use charms, and the will saves on this build are already very high. Knock would be useful normally on a warlock, but Dragonmark of Searching for blessing gives 6 charges of knock already per rest, and since dragonmark knock is based off character level instead of caster level, your DC is 10 higher with dragonmark knock. Power Word Kill is nice to quickly take out enemies without spell resistance (I have about 35 spell penetration on this build, with +9 from past lives) especially since it has no save, but it isn't something to build around. My Phantasmal Killer DC is about 45 using the +3 Illusion bonus from Deep Gnome PL's; This could probably go up to 55 or so with paramnesial lenses, but it still wouldn't be LE workable, especially since the spell pen on this build is honestly just kind of bad.

Fiend had the least DPS against all enemies in endgame content, because most enemies have high fort saves and/or immunity to fire in LShroud/HoX, and some in Tempest's Spine. Fiend also has its save bonus as fortitude, which will by far be your highest save in a constitution build like this. However, Fiend does get a +2 bonus to all saves, which somewhat offsets the save bonus being fortitude, and Rage/Fireshield are more useful than a lot of the low level GOO spells, especially if you don't have epic completionist (and consequently don't have Primal Scream twisted). The big kicker though is Hurl Through Hell; I like this ability, and with a DC around 60 it was working well enough on melee mobs (Throwing it at high will save mobs would usually result in a save) that I was able to kill one enemy every 25 seconds fairly consistently. It's also a great ability for phase 2 Shroud to instantly take out the crystal; Even doing a helpless ruin combo on the crystal only outputs 25-50k damage, which isn't enough to kill it on elite. Honestly though, I don't consider Hurl through Hell to be much of a team oriented ability except for phase 2 shroud and phase 5 beholders, because all it does is kill one enemy that would've died anyway, at the loss of a significant amount of DPS from pact damage not working as much.

Fey was my least favorite pact, because the DPS of a fey warlock is ultimately inferior to other pacts. This is due to LGS not being able to boost Sonic damage, which puts sonic damage 150 spellpower behind going with GOO pact or Fiend. The saves bonus does boost the lowest save, reflex, and the abilities/spells for Fey are pretty nice, in particular dark delirium for disabling an enemy before you engage it, misty escape for the abundant step, and otto's irresistible dance for more CC. Otto's Dancing Sphere doesn't have the spell pen/DC to work on this build without more investment.

Ultimately, I eliminate Fey as an option from the outset because it has so much less spellpower compared to fiend/goo thanks to LGS adding +150 (or +187 with tier 3). It then basically comes down to more sustained DPS with PWK as your insta-kill, or less sustained DPS with Hurl through Hell as your instant kill, and for me sustained DPS with PWK wins. A fiend pact version of this build also functions just fine, but will have more issues with DPSing mobs, although your kills on the xp chart at the end will look cooler thanks to hurling mobs.

[Blastyswa]

This is a little breakdown of how to use different attacks and heals with this build, and to some degree just in general. Bear in mind this is based off my own experience with abilities, and how I use them in my build; if you have a different view on bursting damage for example, that's fine, these are just my tips.

Key
Potency: Green-Yellow-Orange-Red Great-Good-Poor-Bad
Time: G-Y-O-R Cooldown/casting time/duration (High time is good, it means you can cast it often and its quick or lasts a long time)
Utility: G-Y-O-R
Cost: G-Y-O-R
Target: Boss/Groups/Single Trash/HVT Trash/Self/Friendlies
Recommended Usage: Additional Notes

Attacks
Eldritch Burst/Spirit Blast
Potency: Good
Time: Good
Utility: Good
Cost: Great
Target: Groups
Recommended Usage: Spam these constantly. Tapping between two buttons bursting will be a majority of your trash fights. Short casting time and high potential for procs makes time and utility solid, but the total damage per burst barring everything proccing at once won't exceed about 5-10k.

Consume
Potency: Bad
Time: Good
Utility: Great
Cost: Great
Target: Boss/Single Trash
Recommended Usage: Triple stack it on bosses, but don't expect much. Even at 3 stacks, since this build doesn't go deep into souleater, damage will be 6-60 for an average of 33 damage. With 1125 light spellpower (Assuming a 125% modification off 900 light spellpower with metamagics), that's 404 average damage, not counting crits, which is very low in comparison to some other abilities, and it takes 30 seconds to build up 3 stacks. It is overtime though, which makes it fairly hands off damage (Assuming 5 ticks before you refresh the spell, each cast gets you 2021 damage at full stacks), so it's still worth keeping up, especially since it's free to cast. Cast it and stricken often against just any target while questing for faster movement speed.

Stricken
Potency: Bad
Time: Poor
Utility: Great
Cost: Great
Target: Boss/Single Trash
Recommended Usage: Throw it out at the same time as Consume against bosses, but keep in mind it's going to do very low damage. Since this build can only fit in 2 ranks of stricken, it does 8d6 (average 28 damage) per hit, for a spellpower modified average of 343. It's also not overtime, which means that's actually all the damage it'll do for the 10 seconds you spend waiting to cast it again. It is free though, and it also counts towards feeding frenzy, so use it when it's off cooldown.

Burning Blood
Potency: Good
Time: Great
Utility: Poor
Cost: Good
Target: Boss/HVT Trash
Recommended Usage: This is the first listed ability that actually has a cost other than time associated with it, but that cost is 10 sp, which isn't huge in any way. Keep this up 100% of the time on bosses, and with a 10 second duration and a 5 second cooldown, it can be kept up on 2 targets simultaneously. If you have just one target and want to make sure all 4 stacks hit before you refresh it, cast consume-stricken-burning blood. Burning Blood will come off cooldown first, but wait the full 10 seconds for consume and then repeat that 3 spell cycle if you want to give all stacks time to tick. Since this build uses a fire LGS weapon and an acid LGS weapon, spellpower is a little higher with both of those elements; about 800 for me, +300 for metamagics. With acid and fire damage combined dealing 4d4+20 damage a tick, that's an average of 30 damage a tick, 360 after spellpower. With 4 ticks, that's 1440 fire and forget damage; slightly less than 3 stacking consume, but burning blood doesn't take 30 seconds to build up stacks. Elemental damage also has Energy Criticals as a benefit if you have past lives of that, which increases damage relative to other spellpowers.

Stunning Blast
Potency: Great
Time: Poor
Utility: Great
Cost: Good
Target: Boss/HVT Trash
Recommended Usage: This is a spell I don't often see people talking about, but it's actually very potent. The biggest issue with this ability is that it takes a little bit to cast, with the animation showing you charge up the blast next to your waist and then shoot it forward. However, the ability has a fairly high stun DC (30+Cha Modifier+Evocation Bonuses) and scales with 150% spellpower, as well as being affected by metamagics. So with the above provided base spellpowers, that's 1350 spellpower for the light/evil component, and 1650 for the acid component. This blast will commonly do thousands of damage, even up into the 10's of thousands, making it solid to take out a single target at range or add spike damage to a boss. The ability does cost 2 depravity though, which is also used for Tainted Spellcasting, so it can't be spammed like crazy.

Evard's Black Tentacles
Potency: Poor
Time: Good
Utility: Great
Cost: Poor
Target: Groups
Recommended Usage: Spam this for some CC whenever you're fighting a large pack of enemies; it'll also proc shiradi for more damage. The uptime is pretty solid, and the DC catches most enemies even at 39 charisma, but the damage is relatively low and the cost is on the moderately high end for this build; keep in mind it is still cheap though, and the moderately high means barely 1% of your total sp per cast. I would use quicken on this spell, but not damage metamagics, because the cost increases dramatically and the spell doesn't have that great of damage no matter what.

Arcane Pulse
Potency: Great
Time: Great
Utility: Good
Cost: Good
Target: Bosses
Recommended Usage: Cast 4 casts of this with no metamagics on a boss, followed by one cast with full metamagics; the entire 5 stacks will then be affected by all metamagics for maximum damage with minimum SP usage. I personally will 5 stack this ability on a boss, and then completely ignore it for the rest of the fight; the ability will lose one stack every 16 seconds, gradually decreasing in potency, but it doesn't require any additional SP and will take a full 80 seconds to run out, dealing 40-50 ticks depending on initial ticks while building up the first 5 stacks. This is easily one of the highest damaging and most efficient attacks you can use, but keep in mind that the per tick damage isn't astronomical (Typically several thousand) so while it doesn't look like it's doing amazing damage, it really is. Don't cast this on trash mobs, as by the time you get 5 stacks up the mob will already be dead. This can also proc shiradi throughout the duration.

Hellball
Potency: Great
Time: Good
Utility: Good
Cost: Poor
Target: Groups/Bosses
Recommended Usage: I spam this without metamagics, or with maximize and lesser maximize clickies going, on almost every fight in a dungeon; it's basically a third warlock burst. Casting it with full metamagics is very expensive, but with no metamagics this spell costs 40 sp a cast with SP cost reductions factored in, making it one of your higher cost spells but still not expensive. 4 chances to proc shiradi is solid, and the damage is high enough to be worth throwing at bosses as well.

Wild Shots
Potency: Poor
Time: Poor
Utility: Poor
Cost: Great
Target: Groups/Bosses
Recommended Usage: Honestly it isn't that great. I throw this out fairly often, but if you take some wisdom in shiradi instead you won't miss this ability. It is free, which is nice, but it takes a bit to cast and can only hit each enemy once. Targetting an enemy in the back of a pack and using this ability can inflict quite a few hits though, which gets the efficiency a little bit higher.

Rain of Arrows
Potency: Poor
Time: Great
Utility: Good
Cost: Good
Target: Groups/Bosses
Recommended Usage: If this is off cooldown and I'm going to be fighting for the next 30 seconds, I go ahead and hit it. It requires charging up, which happens quickly on this build, and has a decently long cooldown, but it's a very hands off ability with an almost 0 second activation time and a 30 second duration. It also can proc shiradi, and the only cost is the 10 charges you built up to activate it.

Heals

Rejuvenation Cocoon
Potency: Good
Time: Good
Utility: Good
Cost: Good
Target: Self
Recommended Usage: In shiradi, this will be one of your 2 player activated heals. Since survival will largely be dictated by whether or not this is on cooldown, I strongly recommend not casting this on friendlies unless you're 100% certain you won't be taking any significant damage in the near future. Casting Shining Through immediately after casting this will shield the 150 temporary "cocoon" hitpoints, which will let it tick longer.

Healing Spring
Potency: Great
Time: Poor
Utility: Good
Cost: Great
Target: Self/Friendlies
Recommended Usage: I usually cast this one at the start of a quest for the party, and then cast it when it runs out regardless of if anyone is around me. The heal hits for much much more than your max HP a majority of the time, and the 5 minute hands off duration is solid, but since the heal isn't controlled by the player it's more of a nice surprise when it saves you than a planned event. It's a free ability though, and you get 3 casts by putting one point in each of it's sibling abilities, so don't be scared to keep it up, but don't count on it either.

Past Life: Cleric
Potency: Great
Time: Good
Utility: Poor
Cost: Poor
Target: Self
Recommended Usage: For anyone who hasn't used this ability, it provides a "light" heal that is affected by metamagics. This heal scales off of spellpower and character levels though, so at level 30, with a decent positive spellpower and hamp, it hits well over 3,000 HP, which is about 100% of your max HP. The casting time is about the same as a normal quickened heal spell or cure wounds spell, but the big drawback of the ability is it's cost; a charge. This ability has 5 charges, meaning you can only cast it 5 times per rest, making it unsuitable for a primary heal. Because of this, the way to use this heal is by casting it only as a last ditch emergency heal; if I'm low on HP and cocoon is on cooldown, it's past life cleric time. Using it this way I've rarely actually ran out of charges, because in Sentinel you basically never need it except for multiple lieutenant tanking in LE Shroud, and in Shiradi it's usually enough to just have cocoon and let Healing Spring tick. Basically any time you have to use this ability it's a life saver though, making it highly recommended for this build.

Renewal
Potency: Good
Time: Great
Utility: Good
Cost: Good
Target: Self/Friendlies
Recommended Usage: While doing difficult tanking, keep this up 100% of the time on yourself to control damage spiking. This ability is also obviously used only in Sentinel. You can target others with this heal because of it's short cooldown, but keep in mind it doesn't give an initial tick, so casting it on someone with 20 HP being chased by a bezekira isn't necessarily going to save them.

Consecration
Potency: Good
Time: Great
Utility: Good
Cost: Good
Target: Self/Friendlies
Recommended Usage: Dropping this at every opportunity while playing in Sentinel will keep you and anyone nearby alive very effectively. This is a staple of difficult tanking, so don't forget to cast it. The damage from this is relatively low, although it is hands off.

Shining Through
Potency: Poor
Time: Poor
Utility: Great
Cost: Good
Target: Self
Recommended Usage: I ranked the potency and time of this ability as poor because, quite frankly, they are. In quests where Shining Through is a highly significant part of your defense you don't need the extra defense anyway, and in difficult content Shining Through absorbs about 1 hit. The big advantage of Shining Through is it's utility; since Shining Through can be used at full health, it extends the effective HP of a player beyond what they normally have. Once that temporary HP is gone it obviously doesn't come back, but Shining Through can be used to help, for example, a 2000 HP character survive a 2500 damage hit by Sor'jek. It can also be used over the top of rejuvenation cocoon to extend healing time, and for a 25 healing amp boost, but the cooldown is long enough that it isn't going to be your primary method of staying alive in quests where that's actually an issue.

[gustav2121]

I was just wondering what quicken is used on for this build and why at lvl 3 I can`t see what it effects at such a low level? Nice build I am trying this out for my 4th Warlock life not sure if i will manage to get the LGS items though hopefully I can come up with an alternative gearset until I can.

[Blastyswa]

I was just wondering what quicken is used on for this build and why at lvl 3 I can`t see what it effects at such a low level? Nice build I am trying this out for my 4th Warlock life not sure if i will manage to get the LGS items though hopefully I can come up with an alternative gearset until I can.

Quicken, Maximize, Empower, and Intensify Spell are the 4 metamagics that apply to eldritch/spirit blast. It's no coincidence that this build has those metamagics; a large amount of time will be spent bursting AoE mobs, and since the earliest you can use eldritch blast is level 3, that's the first level you need quicken/empower/maximize by, so I set it up so all three are available at that point. Quicken is also used for stunning blast (One of my favorites, amazing if used well) in-action buffing/spellcasting ("Oh ****, those magic missiles are hitting me", as well as webs for low heroics), and consume/stricken/burning blood. Later on quicken is also used for heals of course; at very early levels, if you don't care about quicken for eldritch burst in particular, it can be put off until higher levels. However, I honestly can't think of anything that gives more benefit than it does in heroics anyway (SP isn't an issue and +1% crit chance isn't a big deal at low levels, Completionist is nice but at level 3 it's +1 DC +1 saves and a little HP, reflex save is high enough with just dex at low levels, and past life: cleric is there for high difficulty endgame content, and isn't particularly needed in heroics.

Post #23 is an alternative low cost gearset; it actually wasn't upgraded for u32, but I'll modify it now that I'm thinking about it so that it is. Overall grind for the low cost gearset is significantly less than for the OP's gearset, but it's not as overly optimized, despite still working very well (I played with a gear setup slightly worse than it before getting LGS and slavers items, and performed fine in LE Shroud runs and the like).

[Hostyle]

Thanks for sharing.

[Blastyswa]

Added a third video to the build, just taken today. Will try and put some videos showcasing the shiradi DPS up at some point, although I'm so forgetful it probably won't happen (This new video I took on accident and thought it was reasonably fun to show the build's tanking potential, even in Shiradi).

I definitely plan to update this build more going forward, but the gear has stayed the same for a while (And doesn't look to change in the next update) and I don't really have any major tactic updates, so I'd say this build is more or less at an optimized point for maximum defense while maintaining maximum offense with maximum utility.

<Edit> Currently planning to make some HUGE changes to the OP with Reaper's release, expect charisma to double and HP to drop to around 2,000 in Shiradi. Also contemplating a swap back to Fiend as well as dropping significant self-healing from the build.

[Maxxcore]

Hey, I know this is probably extremely ignorant, but how are you blessing chests? I don't see the dragonmark in your list of feats, and I thought that was the only way..?

[Blastyswa]

Hey, I know this is probably extremely ignorant, but how are you blessing chests? I don't see the dragonmark in your list of feats, and I thought that was the only way..?

Unfortunately, I don't know how to change the title of threads (I think it's not possible). So I'm actually not blessing chests anymore, although the build was back when random loot was actually pretty commonplace in people's gear. Since I'm posting here anyways, I'll also mention that this build is a little out of date compared to what I'm playing on live, and will be updated soon; my goal is to first get a decent video of LN solo Shroud (I've completed it a few times, but always with obvious things I could improve on) and finish my 4th LGS item before I update.

[Hobgoblin]

Unfortunately, I don't know how to change the title of threads (I think it's not possible).

you can change titles if no one has commented on the thread

otherwise you have to ask cordo to change it for you