New player confused about past lives.. please help!

[C-Dog]

btw, thanks for the link to that build video - interesting, maybe have to try it myself.

I have a question for anyone who would know, please? Could I mix this 1) Bard 18) Warlock and 1) Cleric / Favored Soul or anything that could heal? I mean would it not allow me to make it to lvl 30? I just want to hit lvl 30 to TR.

You can answer this yourself (and it's about time you learned how to!) So let's walk through the answer process...

Any time you want to change a build, any time you are trying to make a build and faced with a decision of "A or B?", you want to ask this question: "Is what I'm gaining worth what I'm losing?" That is, you weigh whatever you're gaining from the one option against what you're losing from the other.

So, with your question, is losing [Warlock 19] and gaining [Cleric or FS 1] a good trade?

We've already talked about Enhancements; you get your Core 18 at Warlock 18, so nothing is lost there, check.

So we look at Warlock 19.

warlock 19 gets you 2 spells, your Lvl 19 Pact spell, and a 2nd Level 6 Warlock Spell. For Celestial, the Pact spell is Freedom of Movement, which is pretty nice! All your Warlock Level 6 spells are pretty powerful too - Hold Monster Mass, Charm Monster Mass, Wail of the Banshee - that's some good stuff, and you only get 2 max, tho' I suppose maybe you could do without one.


Meanwhile, what do you gain from Cleric or FS?

First, you'd get a couple 5-minute duration (Class Level 1) utility spells, including Night Shield, so could swap out your Warlock Shield spell for... maybe Protection from Energy or Detect Secret Doors? Okay, that's a (small) plus. (It'd be bigger if you were leveling from 1, but from 15 it's just not as much help.)

Cleric Divine Disciple can give you +5 Alignment and +5 Universal power, plus +2 crit % for 3 AP, which is useful.

FvS War Soul is more interesting - it gives a +[2W] Smite, plus +5 Fire Spell Power and +5 Light Spell Power - better on a Fiend 'lock, but still useful. AND it gives a "Battle Trance"...

Divine Might: (Activation Cost: 21/18/15 spell points. Duration: 30/60/120 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds). You gain an Insight bonus to Attack, Damage and the DC of tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Charisma modifier for 30/60/120 seconds.

That is great for Heroics (where + Cha/2 is a nice % boost to damage), but not as great for Epics where damage can go up into the high-triple/low-quadruple figures.

Now - what else are you giving up?

Either of those new Enhancements costs AP, 3-4 - what are you dropping to get that?

Also, it would drop your Warlock Caster Level by -1, and many of your spells do better damage with higher CL's, and all duration spells last longer.


Overall, I'd say "probably not". If you were just going to 20 (as this build is designed to do!), losing Warlock 19 at Character level 20 would only be a matter of a couple dozen quests, no big deal. But you're going to 30, you want all the juice you can get. The only "but" would be the Trance - would that boost to damage help make up for losing the Warlock 20 core? I don't think so, because you'd also have to dump 4 AP to get that boost, and I don't see anything that'd be worth it, so... no. :/

[Caarb]

Overall, I'd say "probably not". If you were just going to 20 (as this build is designed to do!), losing Warlock 19 at Character level 20 would only be a matter of a couple dozen quests, no big deal. But you're going to 30, you want all the juice you can get. The only "but" would be the Trance - would that boost to damage help make up for losing the Warlock 20 core? It depends what you'd have to give up for those 4 AP, and I don't ~think~ it'd be worth it. imo.

Probably not for the heal though you could consider other splashes such as barbarian for the stacking run speed or Wizard for an extra feat for example. I would stick to 19/1 personally.

[KoobTheProud]

One other thing that is important to mention: losing the Enlightened Spirit capstone is a huge deal in Strimtom's build.

The capstone gives you 20% extra HP's + a full BAB alongside other real perks. The build will be weaker at 20 than it otherwise needs to be and it will be weaker all the way to 30. A +1 heart is the way to fix this by taking Warlock at level 1. Don't accidentally pick Iconic Tiefling Scoundrel.

[C-Dog]

losing the Enlightened Spirit capstone is a huge deal in Strimtom's build.
...
Don't accidentally pick Iconic Tiefling Scoundrel.

Both of these were pointed out (somewhere in the multiple WoT's above ). It's a ****-punch, but 19 Levels of Warlock is still strong, so I ~think~ it's salvageable without a complete +1 HoW overhaul.

But I'd have to agree that doing so would make it sing much louder. :/

[Enferno]

@Everyone

I just read through all the new post and thank you all for the replies. I've learned a lot in all these post. I also learned that I'm confused on why people slash lvl 1's in their builds being it seems to me that a true lvl 20 is best. I noticed on my 1) Bard the spell only lasts 5 minutes, compared to my warlocks lasting 17 minutes (1) Bard 17) Warlock), so kinda useless if you ask me. I get that you can "unlock" certain skills like 1) Rogue with disarming traps / opening doors/chest, so most everyone I see on my server has 19xxxx 1 rogue or 19xxxxx 1 artificer. So, thank you C-Dog for explaining this step-by-step and making it easier for me to understand how it works and why or why not someone would or would not splash a 1 into their build. Makes it a LOT easier for me in the future.

With that said, I just went ahead and used a +1 Lesser heart of wood and went full warlock. It's a MASSIVE difference. Don't ask me why, but I'm using the same exact Feats / Abilities / Skills from 1-18. With the same gear as I had on 1 bard 17 Warlock, however I do MASSIVE more dmg by far. Then again I got the core at 18 warlock and holy sh*T! So, I don't think I'll be spending money on all of the Iconics for sure, I'll just look into a build into whatever they start with.

Again, thank you *ALL* for the input / advice / tips and information. I appreciate it very much and hopefully some other new player will see this and benefit from it.

EDIT: One thing I am confused about is somewhere someone wrote about heroic past lives (Paladin x3 + Sacred Fist x3), does this mean you pick one or the other or does it mean you do each one Paladin 3x and Sacred Fist 3x? Same with the new cleric and bard, I'd assume.

[Caarb]

@EDIT: One thing I am confused about is somewhere someone wrote about heroic past lives (Paladin x3 + Sacred Fist x3), does this mean you pick one or the other or does it mean you do each one Paladin 3x and Sacred Fist 3x? Same with the new cleric and bard, I'd assume.

Sacred Fist can be considered a Paladin for the sake of heroic completionist but it has its own past life benefits.

Paladin - +10 positive Healing Amplification (providing +10, +20, or +30 amplification as the feat stacks)
Sacred Fist - +5 Positive Healing Amplification +5 Positive Spell Power

So to get heroic completionist you only need one of either but to get the full benefit you would want 3 of each. The other archetypes work the same way.

[C-Dog]

...someone wrote about heroic past lives (Paladin x3 + Sacred Fist x3), does this mean you pick one or the other or does it mean you do each one Paladin 3x and Sacred Fist 3x? Same with the new cleric and bard, I'd assume.

As Caarb said, for Completionist, you can pick one or the other - both count as a "Paladin" (or Bard or Cleric) for Completionist.

For Past Life bonuses, they're each distinct, and you can (if you want) chase as many as 3 of each, as up to 3 PL class bonuses will stack.

Example: A Paladin PL will give you +10 Healing Amplification, while a Sacred Fist PL will give you +5 HAmp and +5 Positive (healing) Spellpower. 3 (or more*) Paladin PL's will give you +30 HAMP, while 3 (or more*) SF PL's will give you +15 HAmp and +15 Positive SP. 3(+) Pali and 3(+) SF PL's will give you... +45 HAmp and +15 Positive SP.

(* Note that there is no reason to intentionally get more than 3 class PL's, but it sometimes happens if you end up chasing an Iconic PL and you've already covered the class you use.)

...I just went ahead and used a +1 Lesser heart of wood and went full warlock. It's a MASSIVE difference...

Well, cool! Might be a cutpoint - Warlock gets more Pact and Blast damage at different levels.

But even if it's a placebo effect, if it works, it works! And it's great you solved it, because...

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...Now, there's a new, important topic that we (as a forum!) have to solve, and the clock is ticking, which brought me back here... Epic feats.

That build has no blueprint for what Feats to take from 20-30!

I took a stab at them - but I am really not the person who knows these best! And, as a melee/caster mix, it's not something most other builds lend themselves to. So, hopefully, one or more of the Epic gurus will weigh in!

I'm ~fairly~ confident in about half of them - but the other half are all vying with the others with this mixed-DPS build. A lot depends whether the majority of your DPS is coming from your Aura/Bursts & Spells or your SWF...

(Even these are not locked in stone, not the choices, not the order...)
Epic Feats (Errors)
...

21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical 19 or 20 on an attack, your critical damage multiplier is increased by +1.
24 Epic . : Wellspring of Power Boost: Activate to gain +150 Universal Spell Power & +20% Spell Critical Damage for 30 seconds. +110 Maximum Spell Points.
26 Destiny: Perfect Single Weapon Fighting Vorpal threat range is 19-20; Ability score modifier to damage increases by 25%; +10 Combat Style bonus to Melee Power.
27 Epic . : Epic Eldritch Blast +2d6 Eldritch Blast Dice, +1 per 2 Epic levels, max +7d6 dice
28 Destiny:
29 Destiny:
30 Epic :
30 Legend : Scion of: Celestia (just "yes" https://ddowiki.com/page/Scion_of_Celestia)

Here are some of the "Alternate" Feats - all have their attractions. Note that some are gated by level (many Lvl 28+), or are Destiny/Epic slot only (or have other pre-reqs), so don't think you can just plug your favorites in anywhere; some will be ruled out by choosing others:

• 28 Arcane Warrior +2 Spellpower per melee strike, stacks max 20x (= +40!?)
• 22 Epic Spell Power: Light +20 Spell Power of the selected type; +15% spell critical damage with the selected type; +5% all other types of spell critical damage.
• 22 Epic Spell Power: Electric as above; the +spell crit %'s stack!
• 21/24/27 Epic Eldritch Blast +2d6 Eldritch Blast Dice, +1 per 2 Epic levels
• 22 Epic Pact Dice +1d4 Pact dice, +1d4 per 2 epic levels (definitely the previous one over this one - but possibly both? )
• Mental Toughness +1% spell crit; +110-155 Spell Points (note- all "blasts/bursts" are "spells")
• Imp. Mental Toughness (sim)
• Epic Mental Toughness (sim)

Spells:

• 25 Hellball massive fire+electric+acid+sonic+cold spell, favorite of casters
• Ruin single-target spell for 500 untyped damage (& is a requisite for...)
• Greater Ruin single-target spell for 1,000 untyped damage

Defense:

• 27 Epic Damage Reduction 10 PRR, if you're getting beat up too much, tyvm
• 28 Deific Warding +10 PRR & MRR, w/ additional +2 buff effect on hit

One of each, please!... but there's not room for more than a few. So, it's a start, and a place to start a new discussion...

[Enferno]

27 Epic . : Epic Eldritch Blast +2d6 Eldritch Blast Dice, +1 per 2 Epic levels, max +7d6 dice

I can say this does nothing for this build at all. It only seems to work if you manually press "blast" which cancels the aura. It doesn't seem to work with the auto-blast from the aura.

22 Epic Spell Power: Light +20 Spell Power of the selected type; +15% spell critical damage with the selected type; +5% all other types of spell critical damage.

Correction: It's 10% spell critical damage, not 15%. -- I took this and I believe this helps.

I also took "Quicken Spell" and that helped A LOT as it counts for all the spells + blast + burst that you constantly spam.

As far as the Epic Destinies go...

1) I've tried them all with 32 points (not maxed).
2) If you want power it seems that "Exalted Angel" does more for this build as far as damage goes. I went from hitting for 200-300 dmg to hitting for 1000 dmg up to 2500 crits. Using the same gear / spells / abilities.
3) Just lvling up so far from 20-30, I take a mix of 3 different ones for survivability + dmg.

I know everyone will disagree, but the ones who do have 40+ past lives and already have the survivability from all the past lives + best gear when a new player doesn't.

[Caarb]

I can say this does nothing for this build at all. It only seems to work if you manually press "blast" which cancels the aura. It doesn't seem to work with the auto-blast from the aura.

I would double check as it's supposed to work with all blast shapes including aura - that said it's been a long time since I've done a warlock life so I couldn't confirm for sure

Correction: It's 10% spell critical damage, not 15%. -- I took this and I believe this helps.

The 10% specific and 5% Universal stack giving 15% total

[C-Dog]

I can say this does nothing for this build at all. It only seems to work if you manually press "blast" which cancels the aura. It doesn't seem to work with the auto-blast from the aura.

This doesn't sound right, but I don't have a build I can test it on atm.

As popular as Warlocks are, if it didn't work there would have been more on the forums before now. A lot more. :/