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GCTRL's DPS Burst Cleric
gctrl
Member Posts: 459 Arc User
GCTRL's *Lashing Light* and ~Lashing DOTs~ Burst Cleric V2 (PvP)
UPDATE 3:
IMPORTANT: Just to make this clear for people interested in going a DPS spec on Cleric, this build is still viable in PUB settings, but should not be seriously used in real Premade vs Premade matches as there simply isn't the right amount of survivability and team support to make it effective. At some point in the future I will probably come back and update this build to take into account Module 2 changes and for all around better min-maxing. The core ideas behind this build are still pretty sound so if you want to go the DPS route on Cleric, this is a good place to start.
Thanks, good luck, and be on the lookout for a future revamp of this build.
UPDATE 2:
- Added alternative Encounters for this build.
- More PvP videos added.
UPDATE 1:
- Replaced Grand Templar set with High Prophet set.
- Tweaked powers and feats for better overall damage and PVE healing viability.
- NEW high test crit! 34k Daunting Light and a 68k Hammer of Fate! <- See Video.
INTRODUCTION
So not too long ago I made this post, detailing some of my time leveling only through PvP as a pure damage Cleric. It was a really enjoyable experience and I found the cleric to be extremely powerful, particularly with aoe damage and eventually single target damage once I acquired Forgemaster's Flame and Prophecy of Doom. By the time I was lvl 39 I had already gotten the Head Hunter title and was pretty pleased with the direction I was going in. To continue off from my previous thread I will now show you my finalized build at 60.
So lets get right into it...
1) This is a PURE damage PvP build , that basically means the only heal you have is Soothing Light from Divine Mode, which you should try to avoid using (obviously be smart about it, there are some situations where it will be helpful, play according to the situation).
2) Pretend you are a CW, that is how you have to play this build. Position yourself appropriately and be ready to retreat at a moments notice (Remember, you have less dodge and cc than a CW).
3) Ever heard of a glass cannon? Yeah, that's you. BIG DAMAGE (My Daunting Light currently hits anywhere from 13-34k), but very squishy.
4) This is a crit/ap centered build. For crit chance, you need to have atleast 34%+ crit minimum to make this effective. I currently am sitting on about 38% crit chance. For armor pen you need to have about 1500-2000+ so roughly 16-22% Resistance Ignore. I currently am sitting on 2077 AP, about 21% Resistance Ignored. Note: This means no Tenebrouses! YAY! ^_^
5) The other main stat component to this build is crit severity, we want our crits to hit much harder than they normally would. So for your weapon enchant you'll be picking up some rank of Vorpal (No lesser, and preferably higher than a normal).
HOW THIS BUILD PLAYS - VIDEOS
Normal Build Play:
1) DUMMY TEST <- 68k Hammer of Fate
2) FUN AT MID <- Hold and Move.
3) CLEARING MID 1
4) CLEARING MID 2 <- Random puggers reaction at the end is funny.
5) 5v5 against Random Premade <- 4v5 really cause we have a green bot.
The idea behind this build is simply to burst down the target, rather than loading them up with dots. Now, dots work very well with this build if you're just going for single target damage, thats why I pick up all of them, as I can switch around my powers if I feel it to be beneficial, however I'm quite satisfied with this line up of encounters right now. I have huge burst against single and multiple targets. You will decimate big clusters of people and can turn the tied of battle instantly, Gauntlgrym is an especially fun zone to let loose as people orgy together on top of points.
Alternative Build Play:
1) *Lashing Light ALT*
2) *Lashing Light ALT* vs. GF
3) *Lashing Light ALT* vs. GWF
4) ~Lashing DOTs~ Pub
5) ~Lashing DOTs~ Winning 4v5
6) ~Lashing DOTs~ Guild vs. Guild
Alternatively you can go the DOT (Damage over time) route for extremely powerful single target damage and perhaps more flexibility/survivability. For example with dots, it's much easier to take out targets that are in elevated positions (like a tower), because the positioning of where your abilities will land is not a concern. Going the dot route is easier skill wise and I would said the best for Premade vs Premade matches.
See my different Encounter loadouts below.
RACE
I chose Human, but I would also consider Orc for the extra crit severity as that is paramount to this build.
ABILITY SCORE
ABILITY SCORE
Starting Stat Roll: 17 STR (18 from first free point), 10 CON, 10 DEX, 10 INT, 16 WIS, 12 CHA
I put points into STR and WIS as I level. STR for crit (also helps with stamina regen), WIS for damage (also helps with Control Resist).
POWERS
At-Wills: Lance of Faith, Brand of the Sun
Encounters: Daunting Light, Divine Glow, Chains of Blazing Light
Daily: Flame Strike, Hammer of Fate
Class Feature/Passives: Terrifying Insight, Healers Lore
At-Wills: Lance of Faith, Brand of the Sun
Encounters: Daunting Light, Divine Glow, Chains of Blazing Light
Daily: Flame Strike, Hammer of Fate
Class Feature/Passives: Terrifying Insight, Healers Lore
*Lashing Light* ALT - Daunting Light, Divine Glow, Prophecy of Doom
~Lashing DOTs~ - Prophecy of Doom, Break the Spirit, Forgemaster's Flame <- Strong single target damage only.
FEATS
MY GEAR
ENCHANTS
Offense Enchants: Dark for Armor Pen (Rank 5-6 minimum)
Defensive Enchants: Radiant for Health
Utility Enchants: Dark for Movement Speed
Armor Enhancement: Soulforged (Any rank)
Weapon Enhancement: Vorpal (No lesser, preferably above a normal)
Offense Enchants: Dark for Armor Pen (Rank 5-6 minimum)
Defensive Enchants: Radiant for Health
Utility Enchants: Dark for Movement Speed
Armor Enhancement: Soulforged (Any rank)
Weapon Enhancement: Vorpal (No lesser, preferably above a normal)
Please leave any questions or comments you might have and I will do my best to address them. Also check out my TWITCH and YOUTUBE for more PvP content and people going boom.
Post edited by gctrl on
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Comments
Is it important to max out templars domain considering the only benefit is increased chance? (Followup: Does Templars Domain tick on dots?)
Is cycle of change and focused poise crucial to the build or can we do away with it?
PVP: How to make your life less miserable as a Devoted Clerics -- Still in it's Unfinished Glory
Dragon
You can check out my gear in the pic, I use Dark Enchants (Rank 7-8s, but Rank 5-6 will work as well) and Vorpal(Anything above a lesser works.)
It's not that important, but nice if you have it up, especially against the tankier classes like GF or GWF. And yes it procs off of dots.
It's not bad (whenever you get the chance to use Soothing Light you can get it to max stacks very quickly) and you dont really have any other effective place to put that 1 point.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
Again, on focused poise, is the 10% additional damage on non-crit (given you have pretty high crit chance that is) worth it?
Strength of the Gods? Worth it or not?
EDIT: Just watched the vid, Divine Glow + Daunting Light makes for crazy dps shenanigans. Kudos.
PVP: How to make your life less miserable as a Devoted Clerics -- Still in it's Unfinished Glory
Dragon
I think it could be fairly good, although with this build I like the action point gain from Holy Fervor as you do not have that much CHA. It's up to you, I think it could work well.
I would say yes, as when you don't crit you will hit hard in conjuction with your armor pen. It's a noticable difference, at least to me.
Nope, not for this build.
Indeed
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
You'd also be better off using hallowed ground over flamestrike. It's a flat +30% damage buff for your entire team on top of the damage reduction. You could do more damage by using hallowed ground before you use daunting light on a group of enemies than just using flamestrike (plus you and your team would be doing a lot more damage and taking less).
Using hallowed ground and divine glow buff on yourself at the same time allows you to daunting light people for 25k+. It's absolutely ridiculous. You should try it, it's hilarious, especially in GG. I've one-shot 5 people at the same time doing this.
lol... ya, whatever... the party only needs a cleric for boss fights and then only the mages and rogues ever tend to try to be in AS which means you don't really need to be a great healer for PvE to do the job as a good cleric
Divine glow is a 15% defense debuff, 20% damage buff and it can hit for 5k. basically, if you can't hit you and your target in a divine divine glow, it's better to land a normal divine glow on your target.
Also, good to see you don't need to get that ridiculously hard to complete High Prophet set (the only set in the game with 1/4 Bound piece) to be effective. I must have spent hundreds of potions kiting adds and getting sick of running FH in the past, only to never see it drop. In that time I've seen so many Miracle Healer drops too. Go figure...
That's a good question. May actually Foundry worth it again for DCs.
A 15% defense debuff is not a 15% increase in damage. If the target has 28% damage reduction (the average in PvP), that's only a 2% increase in damage.
He're's the thing, if you manage to crit with with Divine Glow, and you will crit a lot with this build, it can hit anywhere from 5-7k, That extra damage to soften up the enemy is pretty crucial, that and if your Chains crits or just regular hits for 2-3k you will already have taken a significant portion of health off the enemy.
The reason I use Flame strike over Hallowed Ground is simply put, if you use it in conjuction with all your encounters you can wipe out an entire cluster of players. If my Daunting Light and Flame Strike both crit that is GG for anyone, the tankiest of player will either be dead or on the verge of it. I regularly do 35-45k damage with this combination and it utterly annihilates everyone. Not to mention that Flame Strike double hits and knocks down your targets. As you can see in my second video, I don't even crit that hard and I kill one person and severely weaken another.
Also, if you have a CW friend with black hole its game over for anyone caught it in it. You just throw a chains down as the enemies are getting pulled up, when they land they are instantly rooted and perfectly bunched up for your combo.
I think the idea of using divine glow and hallowed ground on yourself and teammates can very powerful and helpful to the team, but this build isn't designed around that, nor is it wise to put yourself in more danger trying to buff everyone as you are not a normal healing cleric, you're a squishy CW.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
That wasn't lerapiso's point anyway. But, ok, let's have a look at your math using your assumed "damage reduction" (you mean "Damage Resistance", right?), because based on my calculations, you are incorrect:
For every 1000 damage against a single target you do,
0. Base damage: 1000 x (1-0.28) = 720.
1. Divine Glow 15% enemy additive mitigation debuff: 1000 x (1-0.13) = 870. Thus, damage increase: 870/720 - 1 = 20.8%
2. Divine Glow 20% damage buff: 1000 x 1.20 x (1-0.28) = 864. Thus, damage increase: 864/720 - 1 = 20%.
So, it seems clear that if you do not hit more than one target with Divinity-mode Divine Glow (either you and others focussing on same target OR you and your target), you are better off with just an ordinary Divine Glow.
This is not even taking into account the difficulty of hitting multiple allies in middle of a pvp battle.
This is purely a PvP build, however if you are dragged into PvE or just decide to do some solo, I have made sure to get some abilities like Astral Shield, Divine Armor, Hallowed Ground. You can also pick up Sooth over another class feature, or Healer's Lore if you want.
And yes, I would bet you can easily kill quest bosses with this very easily as your amazing damage will make up for the lack of heals.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
This is purely a PvP build, but you do have some healing stuff if you want to go PvE.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
High prophet is probably BiS for this build or any cleric build provided it produces similar results on a player target as it does the dummy (I haven't cared enough to check the log after hitting a player to test it). ON the dummy it gives a huge damage increase putting mitigation into negative, I believe it was giving the full -30% into negative, been awhile since I tested it and my memory isn't clear on this one. I suspect it is lowering mitigation and not defense as the dummy as far as I know has none of either.
I could go back and test this on the dummy and post the results. If anyone has a foundry quest where I could do suitable testing I would do that as well. I really don't care enough to deal with teh constant scrolling of the log to test it in pvp though tbh, maybe if someone paid me lol.
Could be wrong here, could be right, just my 2 cents.
Edit:
1st test:
[Combat (Self)] Your Lance of Faith deals 265 (241) Radiant to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Lance of Faith deals 314 (252) Radiant to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Lance of Faith deals 457 (326) Radiant to Target Dummy.
10% increase with 1 stack (24)
25% increase with 2 stacks (62)
40% increase with 3 stacks (131)
2nd test:
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Lance of Faith deals 447 (406) Radiant to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Lance of Faith deals 307 (246) Radiant to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Lance of Faith deals 444 (316) Radiant to Target Dummy.
a little more than 10% increase with 1 stack (41)
25% increase with 2 stacks (61)
40% increase with 3 stacks (128)
Both tests were conducted using a level 10 bue weapon since I have plaguefire on my purple.
Note that the first stack applies to the hit that caused the debuff. Thus, even if you cannot hit the target consecutively to apply 3 stacks (perhaps you are being cc'd, kiting, etc.) you will always get at least a 10% increase in damage.
The real kicker here is that if you can manage to land 3 stacks and you have teammates around, they will get 40% damage bonus on that target. Pretty significant imo.
EDIT AGAIN: I had terrifying insight on which pretty much breaks all the math I posted above, tested again with it off the debuff gives 10 per stack as it's supposed to, with 30% being max achievable with 3 stacks.
If anyone wants to see more testing or whatever just PM me this post has become rather long.
For this build, its HAMSTER, in general I think it's pretty HAMSTER, we do not need life steal imo. If it was regen instead it would be amazing (again not for this build, but in general for survivability it would be awesome). Perhaps there is some hybrid dps/healing build that might work well with it, but I haven't theory crafted that at all so maybe somebody should get on that.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
I think if this was purely a dot build, High Prophet would work better, but because you're doing damage in 1-2 bursts, you need to make sure you crit as often as possible with Daunting Light. The more you crit with this build the more effective it is.
High Prophet: 1252 Crit, 779 Power
Grand Templar: 1772 Crit (Potentially 2222), 1322 Power (Potentially 1772) <- Power also gives you some crit with this build.
But yeah, I'll edit a note of that in, in case someone wants to go the pure single target route.
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I am incorrect but not for the reasons you state. Lerapiso said it was a 'defense' debuff (which i now know to be incorrect after testing it myself, it just reduces damage resistance, as you stated too). A 15% defense debuff would only be a 2% increase in damage on a target with 28% damage reduction from defense. Either way, that's unimportant since it actually reduces the target's damage resistance by 15%. So yes, it would be better to just debuff the target rather than buffing yourself in nearly all 1v1 circumstances once you take into account the damage divine glow does too and the fact that it saves you divinity.
Keep in mind that I've been playing around on my virtuous cleric this afternoon and Daunting will not trigger the debuff, so that's definately a con to using the set.
Lance, BotS and PoD all trigger the set I can confirm though, BotS will only trigger it once on initial application of the DoT
I refer to IG tooltip, but yes, for those who still don't know, "defense debuff" don't exist, ALL "defense debuff" in this game are "increased damage received debuff", I thought you would understand me.
Ouch! You've saved me a lot of grief with that information. Thanks!
In fact, high prohet set is the best option.
You will gain, in the best case, something like ~5% crit and ~2-3% more global damage from power with a 4/4 GT, you're far from the 10% damage at least from high prophet.
I'm not sure you understand how this build works, you need to crit on Daunting Light as much as possible. And as the person above just said, Daunting Light is not triggering the debuff anyways.
* TWITCH * YOUTUBE * MY GUIDES *
I think you should learn math
There is nothing to learn, either I crit less often with Daunting Light or I hit a little bit harder on Daunting Light. This build is about critting WITH high crit severity and using whole damage abilities to maximize burst potential. Going High Prophet would only make more sense if I was doing a purely single target dot build, where the chance to crit is more frequent and losing out on the power/crit from Grand Templar is not a big deal.
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