A surprising lack of new builds, and a query about a build

[Jasparion]

I would have thought with the devastating (not my word) nerf coming to Warlocks there would have been a flurry of action in here with people desperately trying to find the next best build.

My next life is going to be Warlock, and I had not been planning on going ES - so I suspect I will not be overly affected by the pending doom.

My thinking is, GOO and TS and SE.

I cant decide if I go Human or Drow. The benefits of both seem to cancel eachother out. Extra Feat and Skill Point, extra Int and Cha. The slightly more expensive CON for Drow is a bit concerning, but I very rarely go more than 12 or 14 CON on builds anyway.

The toon will be going from 1 to 20 and will not be doing any Epics. The plan is to go Pure, though maybe I could splash something else if it was beneficial (because Im not needing the level 20 capstone).

Do I go for Maximise and Empower? Or just focus on boosting DCs (Completionist, Wizard PL, Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, etc.)?

I would expect to be relying on EBT a lot for damage.

[slarden]

Most of the blasting builds were designed around epic level play. This is because the last 2 cores with knock-down immunity, extra light damage, extra light spellpower and 20% hp were so good and epic destiny synergies helped ES builds alot (numerous destinies with different build focuses). The focus of the game is now level 1-20 racial tr while filling reaper trees.

ES blasting is primarily a low skull build. DC builds with charming, cc and instakill are much better for reaper with the free dps being a bonus. Now it will be weaker free dps, but it's still free and I think people will continue to play it even with lower dps at low skulls.

For heroic leveling SE is and always has been the best tree for dps with cone and the dots. At epic levels I noticed no difference between SE/TS and ES dps with mobs as both cleared rooms fast and the advantage of 360 degree AOE made up for any difference in DPS. SE always had better boss damage, but arcane pulse filled the gap enough for ES builds.

So now SE is by far the best tree and the extra damage you get from consume and stricken is available early rather than being in the last cores.

So for building a good reaper DC warlock with charms, cc and instakill any tree will work although SE is best for dps at heroic levels. If a person wants to play a DC warlock that is more survivable they can still build with shining through, feigned health, brilliance, etc. and still be effective with the DC spells. DPS will certainly take a hit, but there are still so many warlock builds that work including people that want a more survivable build. Think a dragonmarked halfling ES/TS that has shining through and gains temp hp from aura and every time they use a halfing healing sla. The most powerful DC caster - no. Easy and still powerful -yes. Charms, cc and instakill will work just fine regardless of tree.

Maximize and Empower impact your SE dots and wave so I think they are a must. 225 spellpower is huge during heroic leveling.

[KoobTheProud]

Splash builds that leveraged 5/6 or 9/10 Warlock levels for cheap efficient Eldritch Burst and Spirit Blast will be much less effective at higher levels. I think this is where the community was headed for the racial TR's after some adaptation. The Clonklock in the Cleric subforum is a good example.

I expect almost all of this experimentation to stop at this point. The defensive benefits of Enlightened Spirit come at too high a cost to make them really valuable in a build that loses a lot of damage from the other classes in the split. It's possible that a 14/6 or 15/5 will emerge that is just hyper efficient for racial or heroic TR's but that build is not around right now.

[Jasparion]

Most of the blasting builds were designed around epic level play. This is because the last 2 cores with knock-down immunity, extra light damage, extra light spellpower and 20% hp were so good and epic destiny synergies helped ES builds alot (numerous destinies with different build focuses). The focus of the game is now level 1-20 racial tr while filling reaper trees.

ES blasting is primarily a low skull build. DC builds with charming, cc and instakill are much better for reaper with the free dps being a bonus. Now it will be weaker free dps, but it's still free and I think people will continue to play it even with lower dps at low skulls.

For heroic leveling SE is and always has been the best tree for dps with cone and the dots. At epic levels I noticed no difference between SE/TS and ES dps with mobs as both cleared rooms fast and the advantage of 360 degree AOE made up for any difference in DPS. SE always had better boss damage, but arcane pulse filled the gap enough for ES builds.

So now SE is by far the best tree and the extra damage you get from consume and stricken is available early rather than being in the last cores.

So for building a good reaper DC warlock with charms, cc and instakill any tree will work although SE is best for dps at heroic levels. If a person wants to play a DC warlock that is more survivable they can still build with shining through, feigned health, brilliance, etc. and still be effective with the DC spells. DPS will certainly take a hit, but there are still so many warlock builds that work including people that want a more survivable build. Think a dragonmarked halfling ES/TS that has shining through and gains temp hp from aura and every time they use a halfing healing sla. The most powerful DC caster - no. Easy and still powerful -yes. Charms, cc and instakill will work just fine regardless of tree.

Maximize and Empower impact your SE dots and wave so I think they are a must. 225 spellpower is huge during heroic leveling.

SE ahead of TS? Interesting as I hadnt really thought about Consume and Stricken. I will have to check it out. Its certainly easy enough to change Enhancements at any time.

Cheers.

[Maelodic]

I just posted my SE/TS Warlock build - you might be interested in it:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...nd-DPS-Warlock

TS/ES still works great for mob clear, but Slarden is spot on when he says SE is more powerful now- the T5s are fantastic and now Warlocks (I believe) are going to be more traditional casters.

That being said, I still take the TS T5s in my build for the DCs. Depends on your priorities.

[Jasparion]

I just posted my SE/TS Warlock build - you might be interested in it:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...nd-DPS-Warlock

TS/ES still works great for mob clear, but Slarden is spot on when he says SE is more powerful now- the T5s are fantastic and now Warlocks (I believe) are going to be more traditional casters.

That being said, I still take the TS T5s in my build for the DCs. Depends on your priorities.

That is mostly focussed on Epic isnt it? With all the talk about Shiradi?

Doesnt say anything about Heroic levelling.

[amnota]

Oh the build is around alright and has been from the beginning of Warlock.

17Wlk/2Pal/1Rog

start as close to 16Con/16Int/16Cha as you can get rest into Dex for open lock

1Rog/12 Wlk (for 4th core TS) /2 Pal/5Wlk

Medium armor is my choice with saves in upper 40's, so evasion on a 1 to 20 sprint seems kind of pointless

prr/mrr is 90/84 at level 16

UMD is 41 for level 9 no fail heal scrolls

If Evasion is you thing just add the 2nd Rog

Does every trap/opens every door with little or no effort

[Jasparion]

Oh the build is around alright and has been from the beginning of Warlock.

17Wlk/2Pal/1Rog

start as close to 16Con/16Int/16Cha as you can get rest into Dex for open lock

1Rog/12 Wlk (for 4th core TS) /2 Pal/5Wlk

Medium armor is my choice with saves in upper 40's, so evasion on a 1 to 20 sprint seems kind of pointless

prr/mrr is 90/84 at level 16

UMD is 41 for level 9 no fail heal scrolls

If Evasion is you thing just add the 2nd Rog

Does every trap/opens every door with little or no effort

Im doing traps this life, so next life I dont have to. I assume I would just take a couple more Paladin levels if I was going to multi-class.

But Im wanting to go pure. I went Rogue/Warlock last time I played a Warlock, so this time I want to go down the DC path, and do something different to the thousands of ES Warlocks you see.

[Rykka]

I would have thought with the devastating (not my word) nerf coming to Warlocks there would have been a flurry of action in here with people desperately trying to find the next best build.

My pre-U36 GOOlock already used T5 SE (but still had 41pts in ES for the L20 Core.) After the update he will be 41SE,16TS,23ES. I'm really only keeping ES at all because I don't want to have to refarm his armor. Taking Utterdark from TS consolidates his Spell Power requirements to Acid/Alignment which is convenient. Frees up a slot for more DC or more specific Spell Power. He'll be a bit more squishy but his DPS shouldn't suffer and he'll be better and landing Instakills or CC.