Horrible damage after lvl 20

[Shadowperson]

I was literally one shotting everything until I hit level 20 and now my spells do almost no damage against anything. I dont think the progression in this game is very smooth. Theres no reason players should hit such a brick wall after one level. My light spellpower is around 450 and Im level 22. Is that really so bad and if so any tips on how to increase it? I already have 3 sun elf past lives.

[cru121]

Epic difficulties are harder than heroic.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Please do also check whether your character is in epic defensive state, too.

[Hawkwier]

I was literally one shotting everything until I hit level 20 and now my spells do almost no damage against anything. I dont think the progression in this game is very smooth. Theres no reason players should hit such a brick wall after one level. My light spellpower is around 450 and Im level 22. Is that really so bad and if so any tips on how to increase it? I already have 3 sun elf past lives.

You are not alone OP.

In all my years playing this game there are two occasions that stand out for me as being what could fairly be termed crises of confidence. Both were a very long time ago on my first life.

First was running (or more accurately, repeatedly failing to run) Proof is in the Poison, at level. Just couldn't find a way to survive. Eventually I read it was considered one of the toughest quests in the game at level. Phew! Not just me then. I skipped it.

Second was just after MOTU was released and I entered the King's Forest. Man, those Drow Priestesses whupped me bad! Repeatedly! And I wasn't even in a quest yet!

On both occasions I was left wondering if I would ever be able to play this game with even a modicum of success.*

Eventually I worked things out (though for PiitP that meant going in over-level for some sweet vengeance!)

As I say these were a long time ago, and some of that may no longer be applicable, but I hope sharing my own failings will help you know you're not alone, and that you'll eventually find a way - Crom knows, if I could, anyone can!

Good luck to you!




*Still wondering btw.

[magaiti]

I was literally one shotting everything until I hit level 20 and now my spells do almost no damage against anything. I dont think the progression in this game is very smooth. Theres no reason players should hit such a brick wall after one level. My light spellpower is around 450 and Im level 22. Is that really so bad and if so any tips on how to increase it? I already have 3 sun elf past lives.

Do you have metamagic feats? do you have Exalted Angel epic destiny?
Have you invested into light spell crit chance as well?

I remember back when Reaper did not exist, it was considered normal to play heroic at elite, but switch to Hard in epics, especially on a first-life character.
So epics are definitely more difficult than heroics.

[Xgya]

I was literally one shotting everything until I hit level 20 and now my spells do almost no damage against anything. I dont think the progression in this game is very smooth. Theres no reason players should hit such a brick wall after one level. My light spellpower is around 450 and Im level 22. Is that really so bad and if so any tips on how to increase it? I already have 3 sun elf past lives.

The difficulty equivalent to Heroic Elite (or R1) is Epic Hard (generally speaking)
Epic Elite is a step above that.
The brick wall is that extra difficulty.

450 spell power is decent, how high is your crit chance? Are you rotating spells? Are you stunning enemies before you do? All of those can change how well your character does. So can choosing the proper destiny.

[Shadowperson]

I have 12+ lives and cant even contribute in GH r1. I dont know if its the stat squish or what but this character is useless in epics.

[dredre9987]

I have 12+ lives and cant even contribute in GH r1. I dont know if its the stat squish or what but this character is useless in epics.

Well good news! U51 is on the way Wed. and that will change epics...

[jskinner937]

I was literally one shotting everything until I hit level 20 and now my spells do almost no damage against anything. I dont think the progression in this game is very smooth. Theres no reason players should hit such a brick wall after one level. My light spellpower is around 450 and Im level 22. Is that really so bad and if so any tips on how to increase it? I already have 3 sun elf past lives.

My guess is that you are dealing with mobs making reflex saves on your spells.

Epics vs Heroics things like spell penn and saves become more important. Although on damaging spells you do not have to worry about spell penn, you cannot progress in epic levels without some investment into spell focus (evocation in your case).

[merridyan]

Well good news! U51 is on the way Wed. and that will change epics...

Looking forward to U51, the change in difficulty going from level 19 to 20 is just bad game design and it looks like U51 is going to fix this.

[Shadowperson]

My guess is that you are dealing with mobs making reflex saves on your spells.

Epics vs Heroics things like spell penn and saves become more important. Although on damaging spells you do not have to worry about spell penn, you cannot progress in epic levels without some investment into spell focus (evocation in your case).

This is not the case. My DCs are not so low that all my spells would be resisted that often and I am penetrating their spell resistance for the most part.

[jskinner937]

This is not the case. My DCs are not so low that all my spells would be resisted that often and I am penetrating their spell resistance for the most part.

Sunbolt is a horrible spell of the reflex save is made. And from what I have seen, the caster level on that spell is borked.

[Shadowperson]

Im talking about my overall damage, not specific spells on specific high refkex mobs. Its not a dc issue. My light spells, force spells and fire spells are very weak regardless of saves.

[dredre9987]

Im talking about my overall damage, not specific spells on specific high refkex mobs. Its not a dc issue. My light spells, force spells and fire spells are very weak regardless of saves.

It's not your damage that is the problem. The problem is mobs once epic have hugely inflated HP pools.

[magaiti]

I have 12+ lives and cant even contribute in GH r1. I dont know if its the stat squish or what but this character is useless in epics.

Mobs in GH have notoriously high saves

[jskinner937]

Im talking about my overall damage, not specific spells on specific high refkex mobs. Its not a dc issue. My light spells, force spells and fire spells are very weak regardless of saves.

Well you can check combat logs. If your actual damage numbers went down then it’s a save problem. But your post was very vague and honestly gives no one much help to help you. And rather than check, you seem to be pretty sure it’s just a damage problem.

Also like others suggested, you don’t one shot epic mobs with spells unless you are a fire sorc and spec’ed for it. But I can tell you that with decent spell power and Evoc saves, a light spec’ed cleric (or FVS) should be able to clear a normal mob with 2-3 good spells for appropriate level and good DCs.

All I can tell from your posts although is that you are 22 and went in GH R1 with light spells and said you did little to no damage. If all of the above is accurate, then you have a save problem. And in GH many of the mobs have inflated HPs and saves. It was designed this way because at one time GH was end game after EDs were introduced. So you are a level 22 battling level level 27 mobs with at least mediocre spell power. If non evasion mobs save (which is likely) you do half damage or no damage for evasion mobs.

Maybe either provide some more detail to gears, class and spec, EDs and I am sure you will get help.

[Gnominal_Aphasia]

Hi,

Somebody mentioned (above) the Fire Cleric build... there's a good build somewhere on this forum for Cleric 17 FvS 3 [sorry for not remembering the builders name!], or you could go pure Cleric, for the Fire Domain version. I haven't tried it yet, and probably won't until the Devs tackle the elemental immunity bypass issue, which they have hinted will be done at some time in the future.

However, I have run a first life Hardcore build through Heroics and, fingers crossed, I'm hoping that it should be OK-ish for Epics. Probably best in non-"elite" groups though, whereas I mostly soloed Heroics on elite or r1.

Cleric DPS is fine during heroics (once you have Holy Smite) until you start approaching level 20. I personally like the combination of Death Domain with Divine Emissary of Light from Divine Disciple; so mostly light-based spells, plus a very good negative energy DPS SLA that works against Reapers like a charm. Death Domain provides +4 Necromancy DCs by level 18 which is huge for Clerics: Slay Living and Destruction are your Necro one shots, with the Destruction SLA your number one spell for epics. Spell Penetration is also a priority "stat" and unfortunately Clerics can struggle to increase SP (too). If you are not F2P, then you can choose Aasimar as your race... bonus to Wisdom (and/or Charisma) plus an extra 3 SP from Arcanum depending on your AP count; Aasimar really is one of the elite races. My first life build (I posted it some weeks ago) also invests into Feydark Illusionist for more cc, saves, Spell Power and +3 Spell Penetration. Tier 5 in Divine Disciple for the extra DCs... I went +2 in Evocation, but FYI [OP] didn't take the Flame Strike SLA (not enough AP). Feats: my choice is Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Mental Toughness, Heighten, Spell Penetration and Greater SP, roughly in that order; I take Heighten relatively early as its my only means, outside of gear, to increase Greater Color Spray's DC.

I parked my build a while ago, waiting for Update 51... Exalted Angel + Magus of the Eclipse seems to be a way forward

[nobodynobody1426]

U51 was a kinda sort blessing for Fire / Air / Light DPS Cleric. Previously the reason Clerics damage seemed to shut down after 20 is monster HP ramped into ridiculous values and there was no way for Cleric to boost it's Max Caster Levels. We got +5~6 CL's from the older ED's but very few MCLs to go with them causing everything to be stuck at 20. Now we get +1 CL/MCL every 2 epic levels and monsters have way less HP, Fire / Air domain clerics could feasibly continue blasting their way through epics until cap where they will be able to complete content but have a pretty hard ceiling due to DD tree being kinda weak.

[blarhblarhblarh]

So how was update 51 for clerics? Are they better for leveling on epics or they are worse since they take more time to reach the good tiers of the EDs? haven´t rolled one in a while so I have no idea.

[Enderoc]

I did not know Greater Color Spray was affected by Heighten. The calculation for the DC is not mentioned to include caster level in the SLA...