What are the main paths for a DC now in mod 11?

randomdigits

I have DC alt which I have just finished leveling up and would like to respec.
I see lots of builds floating around featuring different paragon paths.
Would it be possible for someone to spread their knowledge and give a high level overview of the most viable/popular paths to choose from nowadays?
E.g. buffer/healer/dps correspond to ac/do/ etc
Thank you.

putzboy78

1) ac faith (if you run with people who need heals)
2) ac right (if you have over 30K power and you run with people with high ranking bonding stones on companions)
3) do right if you have less than 30k power or run with people who dont have high end bonding)

pitshade

I think its a bit more complicated than that. AC also requires a substantial investment in AP boosting effects to maintain 100% uptime for Anointed Army. Divine chains no longer provides AP and the Devs have Forgemaster cooldown patched on Preview. It wouldn't be surprising if they address Dragon Heart artifacts.

The people you run with also have to be trusted to stay in range of your buffs. All in all, I would suggest for a Righteous buffing DC to start at DO and gear up, learn the class then make a loadout for AC and try that.

randomdigits

Thank you for the responses! So is it close enough to describe the roles above as (1) healer, (2) power sharing, (3) buff/debuff? I've heard that some also spec DC as dps.
I am trying to understand the general available directions and what uses they have in PvE content - this makes it easier to make choices between boons/artifacts/enchants where you cannot fully rely on a guide.

putzboy78

pitshade said:

It wouldn't be surprising if they address Dragon Heart artifacts.

That would be HAMSTER, how the forgehammer is being used is a bug, but the dragon hearts are working as described in the tooltip so it would be a nerf.

putzboy78

randomdigits#2166 said:

Thank you for the responses! So is it close enough to describe the roles above as (1) healer, (2) power sharing, (3) buff/debuff? I've heard that some also spec DC as dps.
I am trying to understand the general available directions and what uses they have in PvE content - this makes it easier to make choices between boons/artifacts/enchants where you cannot fully rely on a guide.

Not sure its that easy to define them but 1 is a clutch healer (there are also heal over time specialist but they are not as popular), 2 focuses on buffing mostly via power sharing 3) focuses on debuffing and buffing, this is also the route taken for dps clerics.

randomdigits

Sounds like if the DC community is not entirely certain about the directions the class takes at this point and maybe needs time to determine this with more certainty...

P.S I was replying to the earlier message about the potential nerfs.

pitshade

putzboy78 said:

pitshade said:

It wouldn't be surprising if they address Dragon Heart artifacts.

That would be HAMSTER, how the forgehammer is being used is a bug, but the dragon hearts are working as described in the tooltip so it would be a nerf.

That may be so, but just saying that it's something to watch out for. Anyone investing in one of those artifacts should be aware that the devs have taken steps against Artificers twice now. The other two may be bugs and this one WAI but it won't stop them from acting.

pitshade

randomdigits#2166 said:

Sounds like if the DC community is not entirely certain about the directions the class takes at this point and maybe needs time to determine this with more certainty...

All DCs can heal as well as Buff/Debuff, with powershare versus Terrifying Insight being more a math game. Righteous is more specialized towards personal damage with Bear Your Sins being a debuff specific to that path. But a Faithful or Virtuous cleric still has access to Hallowed Ground, Break the Spirit etc... Righteous is popular now because people tend to die from one shots rather than attrition, so healing strength loses value.

The class is in a pretty good shape right now, with multiple paths viable. I recommend Righteous though because it's what people ask for and will also help a fresh cleric run though the campaigns needed to get boons.

putzboy78

randomdigits#2166 said:

Sounds like if the DC community is not entirely certain about the directions the class takes at this point and maybe needs time to determine this with more certainty...

P.S I was replying to the earlier message about the potential nerfs.

The class doesn't need time. The reality is the class is very flexible and can do many many things. People choose what/how they play it based on their style and interest. Meta's exist but they are so close that you can safely say there isn't just a single way to play the class and its up to you and your experience to decide what is right for you.

dupeks

lol to maybe help prove a point:

I main an end-game AC Virtuous buff/heal build specialized in power share, AP gain/daily spam, damage mitigation, and passive heals. It works great, never get any complaints (admittedly I'm near BiS). Depending on the situation, it's possible the party would get more out of a different build, but I bring plenty of offensive buffs and defensive buffs without overlapping with popular builds (I synergize especially well with with RiDO DC or MoF CW).

I also have a lot of fun, and can usually get any party through any content T2 or below, carrying a few folks and tankless. In a good party, for fun, you can cap party DR, pop up an empowered AS+AA and take turns facetanking orcus. In SH you can take fresh 70s and have them duo big SH HEs with you. Or bring your friend and help them practice footwork. Point is, Virt AC is another viable build (even if it's not for everyone).

I'm super psyched for loadouts and being able to have separate viable builds to swap between is very exciting. I already have 5 builds in mind, possibly additional slots for quest turn-in xp gear and vblod hunting outfit.

Back to the OP, you should probably ask yourself what kind of build you want to be. I'd say there are 4 main types of DCs:

1. dps-ish - DO (possibly AC) righteous with personal dps feats
2. tank-ish - DO or AC virt or faith or right with capped DR and mitigation powers and feats
3. heal/buff - DO or AC virt or faith with party buff powers and feats
4. buff/debuff - DO or AC right with party buff and debuff powers and feats

And each of those have a couple flavors, and you can kind of blend some of them too depending on gear, power and feat selection. Like putz said, one of the most flexible classes in the game and super awesome because of it.

AC gives more options for power stat sharing, which is typically more gear-dependent and restrictive on gear selection (and to a lesser extent, feat selection).

DO is more focused on using powers for beneficial effects, so is much less gear dependent and less restrictive on stats, But it's a little bit restrictive on power selection.

jojo

> @randomdigits#2166 said:
> I have DC alt which I have just finished leveling up and would like to respec.

Since your DC is an alt you'll probably be better off as a DO, since AC buffs rely on good gear.
Viable path as a DO are DoRi for buff/debuff/dps, DoRi splash faith/virt for more support than dps.
Or DoFai splash Ri for buff/heal.

If you'll do a lot of questing, then the Ri capstone will be more appealing, if you want to grant great survivability without having big stats, then Fai capstone will benefit you.