Noob questions...

[Paramedicus]

Hi!

I was hoping someone could help me understand Warlock better, so I have a few questions:

Does Perform help all pacts?
Does Spellcraft help either?
Does Universal Spell Power help with damage?
What good is Maximize Spell for Warlock since some build guides call for it?
Should a noob be 18/2 Warlock/Rogue or 20 Warlock to solo? I tried the Rogue splash but takes so many points on Open Locks/Traps
Does Spellcast Evocation make your pew pew blast damage better? One Youtube video said it did, the other video I saw said the opposite.

Feel free to add any info else. I'm not DDO savvy

[Enoach]

Hi!

I was hoping someone could help me understand Warlock better, so I have a few questions:

Does Perform help all pacts?
Does Spellcraft help either?
Does Universal Spell Power help with damage?
What good is Maximize Spell for Warlock since some build guides call for it?
Should a noob be 18/2 Warlock/Rogue or 20 Warlock to solo? I tried the Rogue splash but takes so many points on Open Locks/Traps
Does Spellcast Evocation make your pew pew blast damage better? One Youtube video said it did, the other video I saw said the opposite.

Feel free to add any info else. I'm not DDO savvy

Perform only helps with Sonic Spell power - Fey pact

Spellcraft helps with spell power of all but sonic (Perform), Positive/Negative (Devotion), and Repair/Rust (Repair)

Universal spell Power helps with all spell power.

Maximize does effect some Enhancement tree abilities such as bursts in the Enlightened Spirit or Consume/Stricken in the Soul Eater Tree. Also, there are epic level spells and there are spells in the Warlock spell choices that also can benefit from Maximize.

Evocation, it depends on your definition of making the damage better. There are two parts to the Eldritch blast damage, the force part and the pact part. The warlock pact damage has a saving throw which reduces the damage when it is saved against (keep in mind pacts subject to reflex save a mob with evasion could take no damage on a successful save). So, if you are plagued with being saved against and adding more Evocation focus can reduce the number of saves, you will see more damage. To be clear it is not because your pact damage increased, it is more your pact damage is not being resisted as often.

Splashing on a spell caster is a debate unto itself. It can be tough to get enough skill points to have the skills you need. But with gear and buffs (gear is best to be something you swap in and out for trapping purposes) you can be relatively successful. Keep in mind approx. 80% of these skills can be provided by level appropriate gear and buffs. The less skill points the more you need to make up. Don't neglect any source of skill point boost, even the find traps spell (2nd level cleric spell sold in marketplace) can benefit as it stacks.

If however, you don't enjoy trapping a 20 Warlock is also a viable direction to go. You just need to learn how to navigate the traps, or have enough temporary HP to absorb the damage as you run through. Another place where UMD can help reduce damage (watch for scrolls of these types of short buffs)

[rikkitikkitarvi]

- Perform does not help with all pacts it only helps with the Fey pact as it increases sonic damage

- Spellcraft will help with all pacts as it will increase the force damage of your base eldritch blast, but it will also increase your pact damage (Except fey and Abyss)

- Universal spell power will help with base eldritch blast damage and with pact damage

-Maximize spell is there for increasing your Eldritch Burst/ Eldritch Blast from the enlightened Spirit tree, or Energy Burst from the Draconic Incarnation Epic Destiny. These are spell like abilities and they can be boosted without spending additional spell points.

- I have done warlock 20 and I have done Rogue 2/warlock 18. Typically I solo so I like to disable traps. I start 1 level Rogue then do about 10 levels of warlock then one level of Rogue then the rest warlock. This gets me Evard's Tentacles. Please note that it is harder to do Fey pact with a rogue because you need Perform to increase the Fey damage where as the other packs use spellcraft which you want anyway. When doing this I typically ignore Open Lock. (My favorite pacts are Fey, Celestial and Fiend) Doing Carceri now and its ok but there are too many cold immune monsters

- My understanding is that it does make it better as the pact damage can be saved against so increasing the evocation will decrease the chance that the damage is resisted.

From wiki
"Eldritch Blast is treated as a 9th level spell. The DC (for the pact damage) is the same as a ninth level evocation spell: 19 + charisma modifier + evocation focus effects."

Hi!

I was hoping someone could help me understand Warlock better, so I have a few questions:

Does Perform help all pacts?
Does Spellcraft help either?
Does Universal Spell Power help with damage?
What good is Maximize Spell for Warlock since some build guides call for it?
Should a noob be 18/2 Warlock/Rogue or 20 Warlock to solo? I tried the Rogue splash but takes so many points on Open Locks/Traps
Does Spellcast Evocation make your pew pew blast damage better? One Youtube video said it did, the other video I saw said the opposite.

Feel free to add any info else. I'm not DDO savvy

[Paramedicus]

Thank you for the replies! I get overwhelmed easily with so many things to learn in this game. When I was a kid, my brothers played 2nd edition rules so all the stuff in this game is relatively new.