What character for First life, L32, Reaper Mode 1, Solo?

[Annex]

After reading a bunch of posts in the Warlock forum I made a level 7, Celestial Pact, Enlightened Spirit Warlock with lots of charisma and constitution and all points in the Enlightened Spirit Tree. Having played for about 30 minutes, very obviously, that was wrong and now I have a headache. I'll try again tomorrow.

Please pardon me. I do not own any of the modern Dungeons & Dragons rule books and have no idea what many of these classes are even supposed to be.

[LittleLexi]

After reading a bunch of posts in the Warlock forum I made a level 7, Celestial Pact, Enlightened Spirit Warlock with lots of charisma and constitution and all points in the Enlightened Spirit Tree. Having played for about 30 minutes, very obviously, that was wrong and now I have a headache. I'll try again tomorrow.

Please pardon me. I do not own any of the modern Dungeons & Dragons rule books and have no idea what many of these classes are even supposed to be.

What was wrong exactly? Sounds like you prioritized the right stats.

I will say, though, that ES does take a bit to get going and that many people therefore use the blast stances + chain/cone shape until lvl 12, where ES comes into its own.

[silinteresting]

Thank you for the additional suggestions but I will not play a bladeforged/warforged or pale master under any circumstances.

bladeforged and palemaster have to be the two easiest melees to play,
an easy r1 first life to build up reaper points but hey ho each to their own.

your friend sil

[TrinityTurtle]

If something sounds too good to be true ..

Except, it's not exactly true in this case. I know people like this, they do exist. They really do dominate high level reapers alone and have maxed everything out. However, it's not the builds that are responsible for this. Something I'm not seeing in this thread (and I may have just missed it) is that player experience and knowledge is a critical, and huge step in becoming this. Those people have been playing for years, if not over a decade. They've worked hard at being good ad it, built their skills and knowledge bases, and did the 'work' as it were. There is no toon build that will just circumvent the need for the player to do the learning curve of how to manage the aggro in different quests in controllable ways, how to recover when things have gone really wrong, what is critical in a quest and what can be ignored, all the dr/info and have gathered the **** they need for it. Yes, a stronger toon will help during the learning curves, but it's not going to replace the need to learn and grow your skills, not just the toons.

[Annex]

There is no toon build that will just circumvent the need for the player to do the learning curve of how to manage the aggro in different quests in controllable ways, how to recover when things have gone really wrong, what is critical in a quest and what can be ignored, all the dr/info and have gathered the **** they need for it. Yes, a stronger toon will help during the learning curves, but it's not going to replace the need to learn and grow your skills, not just the toons.

TrinityTurtle, I have been here 9 years, on and off. Well, mostly off. Even so, I have completed the vast majority of quests in this game dozens of times. Some, hundreds of times. My skill peaked and started sliding backwards sometime around, oh, 2017. I am not going to magically discover how to move so precisely that I can hit enemies without being hit. I am not going to suddenly discover the best perch spot in every portion of every quest. I am not going to suddenly remember to always refresh Shield one minute before it expires. I am not going to suddenly run perfect circles around enemy spell casters and dodge their spells without tripping over a crate or running into a column or getting stuck on some bubblegum a kobold left on the dungeon floor. My hires are not going to suddenly stop triggering more enemies than I want triggered. I am not going to suddenly become strong enough to leave the hire parked or at home. I am not going to suddenly remember this is a prerequisite for that and build perfect characters. I am not going to suddenly obtain an eidetic memory that allows me to remember all possible options and correctly select the best ones that stack properly while avoiding the seemingly infinite combination of things that do not work , do not work as described, do not work as intended, or work despite not supposing to work to my great advantage. I am not going to suddenly stop hating evil characters or dumb robots or having strong character likes and dislikes.

The only things left for me are the accumulation of raw defense and raw offense so I can step in the bubblegum with my expired Shield spell while kinda dodging a bit, allowing me to stab the stuffing out of everything. The offense and defense can come from an inherently more powerful class, better equipment, or more build points.

*shrug* :/

[TrinityTurtle]

TrinityTurtle, I have been here 9 years, on and off. Well, mostly off. Even so, I have completed the vast majority of quests in this game dozens of times. Some, hundreds of times. My skill peaked and started sliding backwards sometime around, oh, 2017. I am not going to magically discover how to move so precisely that I can hit enemies without being hit. I am not going to suddenly discover the best perch spot in every portion of every quest. I am not going to suddenly remember to always refresh Shield one minute before it expires. I am not going to suddenly run perfect circles around enemy spell casters and dodge their spells without tripping over a crate or running into a column or getting stuck on some bubblegum a kobold left on the dungeon floor. My hires are not going to suddenly stop triggering more enemies than I want triggered. I am not going to suddenly become strong enough to leave the hire parked or at home. I am not going to suddenly remember this is a prerequisite for that and build perfect characters. I am not going to suddenly obtain an eidetic memory that allows me to remember all possible options and correctly select the best ones that stack properly while avoiding the seemingly infinite combination of things that do not work , do not work as described, do not work as intended, or work despite not supposing to work to my great advantage. I am not going to suddenly stop hating evil characters or dumb robots or having strong character likes and dislikes.

The only things left for me are the accumulation of raw defense and raw offense so I can step in the bubblegum with my expired Shield spell while kinda dodging a bit, allowing me to stab the stuffing out of everything. The offense and defense can come from an inherently more powerful class, better equipment, or more build points.

*shrug* :/

That is exactly my point. It's not going to be sudden. It's a gradual process.

[Weemadarthur]

After reading a bunch of posts in the Warlock forum I made a level 7, Celestial Pact, Enlightened Spirit Warlock with lots of charisma and constitution and all points in the Enlightened Spirit Tree. Having played for about 30 minutes, very obviously, that was wrong and now I have a headache. I'll try again tomorrow.

Please pardon me. I do not own any of the modern Dungeons & Dragons rule books and have no idea what many of these classes are even supposed to be.

I would suggest going TS until level 12+ as ES doesn't really kick in until you can get the T5's. The major strengths of the ES warlock are Shining through and the combination of the 2 bursts (which can be fully meta'd for free). The TS tree in the meantime will give you the chain attack (this has a decent range and auto homes in on hidden mobs once the 1st mob is hit) and staunch which works superbly as an OH ****!! button. SE has better damage but requires you to be pretty close to apply it so may not suit you as well as the more twitch oriented players.

Once you get to level 12 try putting your points into ES again and you will find things a little different. The usual game-plan goes along the lines of cast shining through, jump into the centre of a group of mobs and cast tenticles, then block & double burst. If anything is left standing just keep jumping back and forth over their heads while bursting each time they come off CD.

As a side note please don't look up Warlock in any version of D&D rulebook. DDO's version has almost nothing in common and looking at what they are supposed to be like will likely cause more confusion than help lol.

[Annex]

What was wrong exactly? Sounds like you prioritized the right stats.

I will say, though, that ES does take a bit to get going and that many people therefore use the blast stances + chain/cone shape until lvl 12, where ES comes into its own.

...Zap.Zap.......Zap........Zap.......Zap.Zap.Zap. .........Zap.......Zap.....Zap.Zap...........Zap. I was expecting: Zap.Zap.Zap.Zap.Zap.

I can stand right in front of a barrel, shooting my Zap balls, and they do nothing. Zap Zap Zap Zap Zap Zap. Nothing. Then I highlight the barrel and Zap, it breaks. The Zap balls work like arrows. I was expecting them to work like mini fireballs.

The Zap balls are weak. That is an equipment problem. It looks like I need Electricity stuff. What happens when I fight stuff immune to Electricity?

The burst skill is nice but the damage is weak for now.

Half the spells I took come free from the tree so I need to rebuild with different spells.

Hit points are surprisingly low with starter equipment. More equipment problems.

I read about using Aid scrolls to trigger a hit point bubble but find no such function. It must come from a different tree.

Every time I want to swing my staff, I need to turn off Zap. That is super clunky. Bows have the same problem.

I was expecting a spell caster but this feels like an archer. That will take getting used to.

Running through traps feels very wrong. It will introduce very bad habits that will really hurt my other characters. Without very good equipment, running through Elite traps will be instant death.

Bringing this up to speed will require a serious equipment gathering effort at all levels. That is a lot of time stolen from my avatar. Or, I could drag her to 32 which would make equipping much easier. I need to think about that.

Maybe...drag to 32, play around, Epic reset to fix stuff. Pure warlock means no funny business.

Deleting Lamania off my computer was a huge mistake.

[Annex]

I would suggest going TS until level 12+ as ES doesn't really kick in until you can get the T5's. The major strengths of the ES warlock are Shining through and the combination of the 2 bursts (which can be fully meta'd for free). The TS tree in the meantime will give you the chain attack (this has a decent range and auto homes in on hidden mobs once the 1st mob is hit) and staunch which works superbly as an OH ****!! button. SE has better damage but requires you to be pretty close to apply it so may not suit you as well as the more twitch oriented players.

Once you get to level 12 try putting your points into ES again and you will find things a little different. The usual game-plan goes along the lines of cast shining through, jump into the centre of a group of mobs and cast tenticles, then block & double burst. If anything is left standing just keep jumping back and forth over their heads while bursting each time they come off CD.

Hmm. That plays kinda like my Draconic Archmage. No Zap....Zap.Zap.....Zap.....

I remember reading that Metamagic Feats do not affect warlock stuff. Maybe that was outdated information.

If I get ability scores and Feats right, I suppose I can mess around with the tree stuff.

Ability score stuff for warlock was confusing. I need to read more on that.

[mr420247]

Metas may not work on the bases but the additional procs from things like DI and Inevitable and COTQ should

[C-Dog]

I remember reading that Metamagic Feats do not affect warlock stuff. Maybe that was outdated information.

"Stuff" - whoa, slow down, don't get all technical on us!

Meta's do not affect Warlock blasts (neither the core nor the Pact parts), but they do affect any/all appropriate SLA's.

[Annex]

Metas may not work on the bases but the additional procs from things like DI and Inevitable and COTQ should

"Stuff" - whoa, slow down, don't get all technical on us!

Meta's do not affect Warlock blasts (neither the core nor the Pact parts), but they do affect any/all appropriate SLA's.

Ahhh. Clear as mud.

Thank you for all the help. Sincerely.

.....

This update is overwhelming so I am going to step away for a while. Good luck with your adventures.

[Weemadarthur]

Hmm. That plays kinda like my Draconic Archmage. No Zap....Zap.Zap.....Zap.....

I remember reading that Metamagic Feats do not affect warlock stuff. Maybe that was outdated information.

If I get ability scores and Feats right, I suppose I can mess around with the tree stuff.

Ability score stuff for warlock was confusing. I need to read more on that.

Just to clarify a few things for you here.

1) Eldritch blast doesn't just have to be the zap ball thing you start with. Each tree will have it's own unique version, ES will have the aura which will hit all mobs in range every few seconds (the tick speed decreases with the cores ending at one burst every 2 seconds), TS has the chain attack which shoots like the standard zap ball EB but then jumps from mob to mob till it hits up to 4 targets and Soul eater has a cone shaped blast that hits anything in front of you at a shortish range. None of those will be effected by metamagics (which is what you have read about) but the blasts in the ES tree can be maximised, empowered, intensified and quickened. As the bursts are SLA's those metas are completely free and can turn your otherwise mediocre damage into quite powerful damage.

As for ability scores I highly recommend maxing both Cha (will boost your spell DC's) and Con (if you are using the aura in the ES tree there is an enhancement in T4 called brilliance. This will give you your con score in temp hp every time the aura goes off (doubled in epics) which can extend your own hp by quite a large margin). As you only have 32 points to spend it may be worth dropping 1 point in both to give you enough int to obtain the skills you want (UMD, Spellcraft, heal and spot recommended). On a 36 point toon you can max both and still have enough for int.

As a last side note I would highly recommend taking a look at fey as a pact choice. As you don't want to be jumping about like a flea on a hot plate having disco ball (especially if you combine it with mind fog) can give you a decent CC option for when those pesky mobs wont group up close enough for hold monster mass or HMM is on cooldown.

[jskinner937]

Thank you for the additional suggestions but I will not play a bladeforged/warforged or pale master under any circumstances.

Of all the fantasy games I have played, Dungeons & Dragons offers the most unappealing selection of classes and races. It really is uncanny how the game designers manage to push almost every button that turns me off. In contrast, I play almost every class in The Lord of the Rings Online. I cannot think of any other game where I have such negative reactions to the class and race design choices.

Maybe a Celestial Pact, Enlightened Spirit Warlock 18 / Rogue 2 will work.

Open your mind to other possibilities and you will be enlightened. All jokes aside Barbarian is another first life friendly class. And it performs well at cap solo or group in reaper play. Occult Slayer is a great enhancement tree to spend 41 in and take your pick for the rest. Dwarf, Warforged, Half Orc and Tabaxi are all great races.

[adamkatt]

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...asi-tank-build
https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...mpanion-thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGa1...annel=Strimtom

a few really survivable builds.

[Annex]

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...asi-tank-build
https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...mpanion-thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGa1...annel=Strimtom

a few really survivable builds.

Thank you, adamkatt. Those are all adaptable to my likes and very detailed. After things settle down around here I will reset some characters and give them a try.

Edit: Nope. Making new characters now.

[mr420247]

Acid pact Goo lock is great for leveling 1-20-30

Least amount of immunes to deal with wiz king might be a little bit slower thats about it

And enough enhancement points at 18 for feywild color spray gets you all the helpless cc you could want

Cap 31 pts in DI, 22 primal evasion, rest in ea wings heals or magus maybe ice aoe perma slow with 5 incorp

[Annex]

Thank you again for all your collective suggestions. Over the last few days I reread all the posts in this thread, reviewed all the linked characters, and distilled the information down into a text file. This resulted in three new characters, a pure Barbarian, a pure Druid, and a pure Warlock. As per advice given, I concentrated on making tough, narrowly focused characters and veered away from trap skills. As pure classes, all can benefit from easy, no cost rebuilds via epic resets. Perhaps one of them will survive.

Since I already have a well made, undefeated, pure Paladin with weak equipment, I will work on her equipment but leave her out of the running.

The druid kinda reminds me of a Mistress of Lore from The Lord of the Rings Online. Maybe, all those years ago, I chose the wrong class for DDO...

[Weemadarthur]

Thank you again for all your collective suggestions. Over the last few days I reread all the posts in this thread, reviewed all the linked characters, and distilled the information down into a text file. This resulted in three new characters, a pure Barbarian, a pure Druid, and a pure Warlock. As per advice given, I concentrated on making tough, narrowly focused characters and veered away from trap skills. As pure classes, all can benefit from easy, no cost rebuilds via epic resets. Perhaps one of them will survive.

Since I already have a well made, undefeated, pure Paladin with weak equipment, I will work on her equipment but leave her out of the running.

The druid kinda reminds me of a Mistress of Lore from The Lord of the Rings Online. Maybe, all those years ago, I chose the wrong class for DDO...

One last piece of advice I would give you is for while you are levelling these toons. If you are playing quests on elite at 2 levels over (or less) keep track of those which you find easiest and come back and rerun them when you are 4 levels over on R1. You won't gain a lot of rxp this way but you will gain some and at cap every little bit extra will help. More importantly though you will start to gain a better understanding of reaper play and start to learn what tactics will work best for your characters before you reach cap and start in earnest. In short it's the best way to start gaining rxp whilst also retaining as much of your comfort zone as possible.

[Annex]

One last piece of advice I would give you is for while you are levelling these toons. If you are playing quests on elite at 2 levels over (or less) keep track of those which you find easiest and come back and rerun them when you are 4 levels over on R1. You won't gain a lot of rxp this way but you will gain some and at cap every little bit extra will help. More importantly though you will start to gain a better understanding of reaper play and start to learn what tactics will work best for your characters before you reach cap and start in earnest. In short it's the best way to start gaining rxp whilst also retaining as much of your comfort zone as possible.

Thank you, Weemadarthur. About two years ago, Slarden gave me the same advice. Back then, when trying to crack the reaper nut with a paladin, I made a spreadsheet and recorded each quest, Reaper Experience, the number and type of reapers, difficult encounters, and problem traps. Obviously, I made heavy use of the DDO Wiki to stay on the minimum path and counter my poor memory. I did the same thing with significant success when trying to crack the nut with my avatar. Sadly, Update 51 ruined that system just as I started to have success. The update with the super Firestorm spells ruined a different effort that was showing promise. Oh well.

As a premium account holder, these new characters need to run everything on Normal until epic levels. Once they get there, the question will be, "Is she still willing to sacrifice them?"

Anyway, Coin Lords and Kundarak are unlocked. Now comes Pirates of the Thunder Sea for the bazillionth time.