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omgwtfbbq DC DPS #1
akomplished
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Sooo figured I'd post something on what I've come across with DC DPS and see what other players have found in their own venture into the taboo idea of DC DPS. Keep in mind I really only do endgame content now with the occasional T1 or T2 for a guilde to gear.
First and foremost if you are going to DPS the most important thing to have is a friend that is a cleric and will group with you to cover the healing. Second in a pug situation you have to announce to every person that joins the group that you are going to DPS and your friend is going to heal. Most other players won't even give you a chance to say anything before leaving the party the moment they see two DC.
So gear...while stacking armor pen is great and all I find that % based mitigation should be priority one...ill get into that later.
Character:
Armor Set - 4/4 High Prophet (Yes tier 1 ill explain later, rank 6 darks, rank 8 Azure in chest)
Neck - Ancient Exorcist (Rank 7 Dark)
Rings - Dual Ancient Slavemaster (Rank 8 Radiant) during trash mobs + Dual Ancient Berserker (Rank 7 Dark) during reasonable add count boss fights
Belt - Ancient Fugitive (Rank 8 Azure)
Main/Off Hand (Ancient CN Set Rank 8 Radiants + Greater Holy Avenger
)
Stone
Ring - Ancient Berzerker (Rank 7 Dark)
Neck - Ancient Exorcist (Rank 7 Dark)
Icon - Icon of Retribution (Rank 7 Dark)
Gems - Rank 8 Arcane/Empowered/Eldritch
Spells
Divine Glow
Searing Light
Daunting Light
Lance of Faith
Brand of The Sun
Hammer of Faith
Flamestrike
Passives
Terrifying Insight
Holy Fervor
This layout I tend to run with roughly 6k power 3400 crit 3500 recovery 1600 defense 1000 armor pen. Currently my spec is 31 Faithful (been writing up a new one but lazy) and I can still out DPS TR and CW (on non-throw instances like MC). I am constant changing out gear to raise or lower my armor pen due to trash mobs only requiring a fraction of mitigation compared to a boss. I never will sacrifice my defense to the point of being victim to 1 shots...can't DPS if you're dead and as a DPS don't expect a heal (Being able to survive a power hit from King Malabog outside of AS is a great feeling). Eventually I will take my Forimain (after mainland finishes crafting) weapons and plague fire + rank 8+ Radiant for DPS set but for now the added protection/damage that Greater Holy Avenger provides is a nice addition.
Our biggest money makers come during a sing and I will save my pips if the pull calls for a sing. During the beginning of a pull my first priority is building 3 stacks of 4/4 High Prophets 30% protection reduction this not only makes me hit harder but there is a higher reasoning being it. More reduction on the target leads to harder hits by the party leads to higher returns on Astral Seal (casted by cleric friend healing) and their Life Steal...not to mention less stress on your healing friend and faster mob kills. I will usually start by Sun DOTing as many mobs as I can and casting non divine AOE spells and spam Lance.
AOE damage spells build your divine quickly while applying a High Prophet stack to each mob hit. So once you have a couple pips saved up its time to capitalize on them. During a sing always lead with a divine version of Glow followed closely by a divine Searing Light and if pips allow for it a divine Daunting Light (Non-divine searing is really not worth it damage-wise during a sing but non-divine daunting is so I throw searing after glow for the possibility of only having 2 pip during the sing). If no sing is available position yourself to get the highest return for your spell. For example if you have agro walk backwards in a straight line to make the mobs coming after you line up and throw a divine searing light (max 25 mobs hit w/ divine cast). Or let a tanking GF be your sing and cast on top of him.
This is where the defense comes into play because by this point mobs that are still alive are most likely going to be gunning for you. Defense alone isn't enough you have to move and move well...timing slides to immune otherwise unavoidable powerful attacks. Me personally I like to slide directly through the herd of mobs to safety on the other side (since most mobs will try to attack you while you are passing through this will buy you some time to cast a glow or daunting before making some distance) but keep in mind mobs that cannot be cc'd (like FH Golems) you cannot slide through so you either have to shoot the gaps or jump from something slightly elevated and slide over their heads. Biggest mistake people make is burning stamina when just a step forward or back will do then being unable to slide during that clutch moment.
Ill sometimes trade spells out like Glow for Sunburst for Draco to help single CW repel from a sing or throw mobs. Will sometimes trade glow out for Forgemaster if its a split group fight to enable the other DC to have full focus on babysitting CW group like on Xivros. Remember you can change out gear mid-fight but not on your stone so take into consideration the different phases in a boss fight and slot your gear accordingly.
That's all I got but I am interested to see what other players have found. Ill leave you with this...don't forget you're still a healer while you're DPSing and that little life saving heal could just be a tab + right click away until they pot or the other DC can get to them.
Dorffie - DC Faithful Dorf
Beholder
First and foremost if you are going to DPS the most important thing to have is a friend that is a cleric and will group with you to cover the healing. Second in a pug situation you have to announce to every person that joins the group that you are going to DPS and your friend is going to heal. Most other players won't even give you a chance to say anything before leaving the party the moment they see two DC.
So gear...while stacking armor pen is great and all I find that % based mitigation should be priority one...ill get into that later.
Character:
Armor Set - 4/4 High Prophet (Yes tier 1 ill explain later, rank 6 darks, rank 8 Azure in chest)
Neck - Ancient Exorcist (Rank 7 Dark)
Rings - Dual Ancient Slavemaster (Rank 8 Radiant) during trash mobs + Dual Ancient Berserker (Rank 7 Dark) during reasonable add count boss fights
Belt - Ancient Fugitive (Rank 8 Azure)
Main/Off Hand (Ancient CN Set Rank 8 Radiants + Greater Holy Avenger
)Stone
Ring - Ancient Berzerker (Rank 7 Dark)
Neck - Ancient Exorcist (Rank 7 Dark)
Icon - Icon of Retribution (Rank 7 Dark)
Gems - Rank 8 Arcane/Empowered/Eldritch
Spells
Divine Glow
Searing Light
Daunting Light
Lance of Faith
Brand of The Sun
Hammer of Faith
Flamestrike
Passives
Terrifying Insight
Holy Fervor
This layout I tend to run with roughly 6k power 3400 crit 3500 recovery 1600 defense 1000 armor pen. Currently my spec is 31 Faithful (been writing up a new one but lazy) and I can still out DPS TR and CW (on non-throw instances like MC). I am constant changing out gear to raise or lower my armor pen due to trash mobs only requiring a fraction of mitigation compared to a boss. I never will sacrifice my defense to the point of being victim to 1 shots...can't DPS if you're dead and as a DPS don't expect a heal (Being able to survive a power hit from King Malabog outside of AS is a great feeling). Eventually I will take my Forimain (after mainland finishes crafting) weapons and plague fire + rank 8+ Radiant for DPS set but for now the added protection/damage that Greater Holy Avenger provides is a nice addition.
Our biggest money makers come during a sing and I will save my pips if the pull calls for a sing. During the beginning of a pull my first priority is building 3 stacks of 4/4 High Prophets 30% protection reduction this not only makes me hit harder but there is a higher reasoning being it. More reduction on the target leads to harder hits by the party leads to higher returns on Astral Seal (casted by cleric friend healing) and their Life Steal...not to mention less stress on your healing friend and faster mob kills. I will usually start by Sun DOTing as many mobs as I can and casting non divine AOE spells and spam Lance.
AOE damage spells build your divine quickly while applying a High Prophet stack to each mob hit. So once you have a couple pips saved up its time to capitalize on them. During a sing always lead with a divine version of Glow followed closely by a divine Searing Light and if pips allow for it a divine Daunting Light (Non-divine searing is really not worth it damage-wise during a sing but non-divine daunting is so I throw searing after glow for the possibility of only having 2 pip during the sing). If no sing is available position yourself to get the highest return for your spell. For example if you have agro walk backwards in a straight line to make the mobs coming after you line up and throw a divine searing light (max 25 mobs hit w/ divine cast). Or let a tanking GF be your sing and cast on top of him.
This is where the defense comes into play because by this point mobs that are still alive are most likely going to be gunning for you. Defense alone isn't enough you have to move and move well...timing slides to immune otherwise unavoidable powerful attacks. Me personally I like to slide directly through the herd of mobs to safety on the other side (since most mobs will try to attack you while you are passing through this will buy you some time to cast a glow or daunting before making some distance) but keep in mind mobs that cannot be cc'd (like FH Golems) you cannot slide through so you either have to shoot the gaps or jump from something slightly elevated and slide over their heads. Biggest mistake people make is burning stamina when just a step forward or back will do then being unable to slide during that clutch moment.
Ill sometimes trade spells out like Glow for Sunburst for Draco to help single CW repel from a sing or throw mobs. Will sometimes trade glow out for Forgemaster if its a split group fight to enable the other DC to have full focus on babysitting CW group like on Xivros. Remember you can change out gear mid-fight but not on your stone so take into consideration the different phases in a boss fight and slot your gear accordingly.
That's all I got but I am interested to see what other players have found. Ill leave you with this...don't forget you're still a healer while you're DPSing and that little life saving heal could just be a tab + right click away until they pot or the other DC can get to them.
Dorffie - DC Faithful Dorf
Beholder
Post edited by akomplished on
0
Comments
First decent PvE dps cleric post I've seen in a long time.
My dps build is slightly different. I like to run with 2x Pyrotechnic Band rings and one of the two-stat blue belts to maximise offensive stats + gain an offensive slot.
I also more often than not run with Foresight rather than Holy Fervor. Foresight in this build does not do much for my allies, but I benefit from the damage resistance, ofc. The benefit from Holy Fervor seems very small for me. The good thing is that when switching to hybrid or even full healing within a run, remembering or taking the time to swap in Foresight is one less thing to worry about.
I too run Faithful because this game does not have dual spec.
Also, I prefer to circle strafe if I have a lot of aggro (small aggro I do the same Searing Light lining up thing you describe though) since I seem to move a bit faster and always focus ranged first.
It is just a shame it is rare and increasingly rarer still that I get the opportunity to run as dps on my Cleric though!
It should be noted that some AOE Spells like Daunting Light dont proc High Prophet Stacks ...
And cws with the current state of Eye of the Storm outdmg anything :>
What are you getting from Faithful that you need for your spec? Are you choosing that extra pip of DP over the damage bonuses of Virtuous? I don't really think the 4th pip is worth it. I find that I'm never sitting on extra DP and often sitting at empty. The extra pip is somewhat useless, IMO. Maybe it caused you to gain DP faster, but to my knowledge it doesn't. (That is, if DP gain were based on a percentage of total DP, then having more total DP would mean faster gains, but I don't think it works that way.)
Also, how do you feel about the damage dailies now that they've both been neutered? Do you use HG for the damage boost? Seems like the obvious choice.
Daunting Light (and Flame Strike though I haven't tested since the last patch) are treated as "Created Entities" -- essentially pets -- and they don't proc anything. Recall that the tooltips used to say something to the effect of "EntCreate" damage instead of Radiant, but it was changed in the tooltip. The last patch claimed that damage from Flame Strike was now considered as damage coming from the player, which could explain why it doesn't crit anymore. If we assume it's a bug, then they didn't set a flag fight when they redid the power which is totally believable.
If you look at the combat logs, they also reflect this. ACT actually registers Daunting Light as a combatant with its own damage. Haha. Usually it's easy enough to add it to the DC's, but it's tough to figure it out if you have two DC's using it.
Also wondering if you notice the benefit of the Radiant enchants. In my testing, Power seemed like it was almost useless without adding thousands of Power.
...learned never to rely on a critical heal in 8+ years of playing a Priest in the game that starts with a W. It was always about who's renew ticked the highest or who's PWS took the most damage so I still tend to focus on stats the reflect consistency rather than Hail Marys. For example I would never touch vorpal on my DC because I feel the consistency of Plaguefire's returns out paces the sporadic nature of Vorpal's returns. I could be completely wrong but its worked so far.
Good info on the daunting I never knew that...and I stick to my faithful spec just because I don't find myself in the position to DPS as often as I am hit up to heal some 2 TR 2 CW Malabog run.