Been gone for a long time..

Comments

• hawaiicaye Member Posts: 7 Arc User

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  If you are serious at all about PVP you might want to reconsider CW. While I find it a very fun class to play, I got destroyed in PVP until I got a full set of PVP gear and boosted my HP and defense considerably. GWF will be far superior in that arena. That being said, in dungeons a CW will out dps the GWF considerably due entirely to AOE. HRs are certainly not the best PVE class, but as to PVP they are *far* from borked. The last I saw, the top of the leaderboard was HRs and TRs. You probably already know all that however. Basically, CW is a fun class that can blow stuff up, but PVP is definitely an uphill battle.
  
  As to builds, while Master of Flame can be fun, Thaumatage Spell Storm is the best DPS spec for virtually all situations. There are links to that build all over the first couple pages of this forum. Race-wise, min-maxers say Drow and Tiefling I think, but you can't really make a wrong choice there within reason.

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• ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  I use a drow master of flame renegade. 23 Int/23 Cha, works for me.
  
  Only downside is that fanning the flame requires to be TAB'd unlike sudden storm.

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• silverquick Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 1 Arc User

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  Well if you're looking at a CW here's how they actually play.
  
  Race doesn't necessarily matter as much so long as its something that's got +2 to INT. But even then, others will do. I play a Wood Elf and outdamage other races. It was not my first choice but its working very well.
  
  Feats and Paths:
  
  For a beginner I recommend Thaumaturge path. This is pretty much a straight up fighter you can't go wrong with. Renegade is actually a higher DPS build, but you have to know what you're doing to take advantage of it and it takes some skillful play and know how. You have to understand what a Combat Advantage is and how to get it. I recommend Thaum to beginners as it takes less skill to Play, I recommend a Renegade Hybrid to advanced players who know how to play a CW. It will burst higher once you learn it.
  
  Paragon Path:
  
  Spellstorm and Master of Flame. Spellstorm is a Burst AoE damager, MoF is a DoT AoE damager. The Spellstorm tends to be better on lower health mobs the Master of Flame tends to be better on higher health mobs. The Spellstorm will burst damage all in one shot, the Master of Flame is the slow burner, that stacks DoTs on targets and keeps constant damage on them.
  
  I do more damage with a Master of Flame on bigger high health targets which its very effective on. I do better in Tight compact dungeon runs with a Spellstorm because it will burst and kill weaker mobs very quickly (aka, clearing trash mobs per local lingo on boards) but tends not as good at killing the Elite Mobs and the Boss Mobs. Both are like playing the game with a completely different class and do things very differently from each other. The only thing they share in common is Steal Time and Shards of Endless Avalanche.
  
  Yes...
  
  I've actually played all of these combinations.
  
  I can outdamage myself with a Renegade build vs a Thaumaturge build... I can also Burst higher with my renegade builds over my thaum builds, but at the same time, I also know how to do it... you likely won't so stick to Thaum until you learn the CW better.
  
  I Played a Spellstorm all the while through the game, up until Icewind Dale where I discovered MoF actually more effective on the higher powered mobs in the Medium and Epic HEs and the Frost Giants, while the Spellstorm was much more effective in the 2-3 man encounters where they can wipe them out much quicker as they burst quicker.
  
  I still swap between all the various builds from time to time, and have sometimes rebuilt my character on the spot in a dungeon crawl and won with a party that would not have been able to make it through because I selected one build or another that was perfect for the scenario/tactics/party I was going through with.
  
  
  Your primary Powers:
  
  At the highest levels of play... you will primarily use these powers...
  
  Encounters for AoE: Shards of Endless Avalanche, Steal Time, Conduit of Ice (If either a Thaumaturge, or Master of Flame), Possibly Chill Strike on your Mastery Key (Tabbed, makes it an AoE)
  Spellstorm: Sudden Storm
  Master of Flame: Fanning the Flame (tab key, aka Mastery Slot),
  
  Encounters for Single Target: Chill Strike, Ray of Enfeeblement, Icy Rays, Sudden Storm (Spellstorm), Fanning the Flame (MoF)
  
  Dailys: Singularity and Oppressive Force.
  While there are other Dailys that can be used, Most of them are situational.
  
  Build your character with the above things in mind.
  
  ALso build your character with the understanding that in upper levels of play you will primarily be facing MASS mob situations... not as many single target encounters.
  
  EDIT: Made some corrections to how things were said as they could be confusing.

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• ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  Why does everyone make it seem like combat advantage is a confusing mechanic for a renegade? You simply just crit them till you get it which comes up almost immediately with 35%+.

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• silverquick Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 1 Arc User

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  ghoulz66 wrote: »

  Why does everyone make it seem like combat advantage is a confusing mechanic for a renegade? You simply just crit them till you get it which comes up almost immediately with 35%+.

  
  Because you're never going to get one that way outside of Nightmare Wizardry.
  
  So you're going to have to be in a position where you're flanking a target, because apparently stunning a target no longer works.
  
  Let me help you understand this. A Thaumaturge build can toss a Conduit of Ice and reduce the damage mitigation of a mob by 15%. BUT it only stays on it long enough for the spell to tick away and doesn't hit as many mobs as you'd think. They also have Transcended Master which will increase the damage on Shards of Endless Avalanche by 15%. Combine the two with Eye of the Storm and you're looking at seriously increased damage.
  
  The way the Renegade surpasses that is by having a constant combat advantage ALL the time for ALL their crits even outside of Nightmware Wizardry. They then surpass the damage of the Thaum, as the Renegade's affects ALL his AoEs not just Shards. The more combat advantage you have as a Renegade, the higher your damage goes due to that 15% Critical Severity combined with Eye of the Storm.
  
  Also, you rarely use Magic Missiles as a Spellstorm in a mass mob situation. You're tending to use all Encounter powers. Its the same reason you don't use all single target powers in a mass mob situation. Its like using a gun when you've got 10 guys coming after you instead of lobbing in a grenade.
  
  The best builds for pure AoE nuking are not a Pure Thaum OR a Pure Renegade, but rather a Hybrid of both with the capstone of neither one on the Spellstorm side.
  
  For MoF, because you're stacking so many DoTs, ie... Scortching Burst, Fanning the Flames, and Conduit of Ice.... THEN taking a pure Thaum path is a very good one as the DoT portion of your spells do not benefit from combat advantage. Only the initial strike will. While the Renegade Path for an MoF can work, you don't have Eye of the Storm... like the Spellstorm does, so you don't crit as often.
  
  If you're going single target though, then an MoF Renegade build would be effective as the Magic Missiles act as an additional DoT along with the above 3 spells turning it into some serious DoT damage but that's pretty rare in this game.

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