Advice for revamping my build

arandompanda

Hi all.

I'm currently thinking of revamping my build but am a bit stumped as to what I need to do for it. I have a different situation from most players in that my build will need to take into consideration the needs of my playing partner (my boyfriend who is a GF). We play together daily but there are a few times when I do play solo and of course dungeons with other people. My build needs to take into consideration for trying to reduce the damage my BF takes. Even moreso now that the GF's block ability is about to be nerfed once Tyranny of Dragon is released. Believe me - he was very unhappy to learn about that upcoming nerf because the logic of his entire build is built around the GF's blocking - he took the Tactician route instead of the Conqueror route for example. Now he's upset this nerf may require a complete overhaul of his build and play style. It's got me wondering if there is a way I can make my DC negate some of the upcoming GF block nerf.

There's also the following problem:

I rolled a new toon to level up with him and only last night finally did my first Tier 2 epic dungeon. It's been a long time since I'd run any epic and I'd forgotten how **** hard they are. I die constantly! And I mean constantly. My stock of pots and kits has depleted so much I can't buy enough to cover the amount of dying I've done. I'm going broke buying pots and kits. Hence the reason I'm thinking of revamping my toon - unless there's a way to salvage it with the current setup? I'm sure the groups I ran with last night walked away shaking their heads thinking I'm one of the most useless DC's they ever did a PUG with. I wonder if my HP is too low to survive a tier 2/tier 3 dungeon? What is the minimum HP needed for a DC to survive a tier 2 dungeon (I want to start working on getting tier 2 armor/weapons).

My DC is level 60 AC with the following final stats:

HP: 19,960
Gear Score: 9,964 (full set of War Prophet armor but I swapped it out for a Troll Helm later as doing so boosted my GS a bit. I don't do PvP despite having a PvP set - it just ended up that the WP PvP set was the cheapest at the time to buy a complete set of at the AH and I needed some sort of epic gear quickly.

STR: 19
CON: 12
DEX: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 23
CHA: 18

Some of my other stats:

Power: 2,964 [typo: edited from 9,964]
Crit: 813
ArPen: 358
Recovery: 2542
Defense: 2074
Attack/Heal: 7057
APG: 0
CA: 0
CB: 0
Deflect: 329
Regen: 190
Tenacity: 592
Move: 633
Health Regen: 0
Damage Resist: 33.4%

I'm AC. Unlike most clerics I actually have always had a lot more fun doing healing than dps. DPS is a dime-a-dozen. Everybody and their uncle wants to be dps including the vast majority of clerics from what I've seen. I much prefer healing. I like attacking too of course - I have a level 50 HR that I have a blast playing - but healing is my most favorite thing in mmos and the DC was my no-brainer when picking my first class when Neverwinter was released - I've been here since first release day.

Except when I hit those tier 2 dungeons for the first time last night. I have no problem surviving tier 1 dungeons. Tier 2 was a whole 'nuther ball of wax though. I died. And died. And died. And died. And died. And died. And died. ad nauseum..you get the idea. Nobody protects the cleric (not their job anyway) and most don't revive me (too busy trying to not die themselves most of the time) likely because most DCs are tanks anyway.

So now I'm wondering if that's the build I'm going to have to make simply to survive Tier 2/3 dungeons?

My favorite at-wills are Astral Seal and Sacred Flame. I have AS fully feated. I prefer SF to BoB but will switch if it turns out that's a poor at-will combo.

Class: typically Healer's Lore and Divine Fortune
Dailies: Divine Armor and Sacred Ground (fully feated with Moontouched)
Encounters: Exaltation (fully feated), Healing Word (fully feated), Astral Shield - not as effective in Tier 2s in my opinion as I wish it was despite being the best heal spell in the game. Very few team mates can stand inside the circle long enough to regen health and most bosses + mobs hits will easily overcome the damage mitigation AS gives.

HW while being poor as a heal at least has one huge advantage above all other DC heal spells in that it:

1. acts like a heat-seeking missile and if I can tag the player (99% of the time I hit the target I intend to hit) and

2. most players are smart enough they figure out what's happened and simply keep moving to take advantage of the HoT (most wise up fast that they're regaining extra HP and it ain't due to their pots, heal pets or life steal plus they'll boost it's effectiveness by drinking a pot too). That player behavior is enough to overcome HW's smaller heal imo. It's also likely why Cryptic devs didn't make HW as strong as other heal spells in the game. Constant mobility in mob-zerged dungeon trumps all in my opinion and for this reason alone I've kept HW when most clerics dump it post haste. AS can't do it's job when all my fellow players - including myself - have to run outside of the circle constantly to get away from the constant mob-zergs (which is what continually happened in EVERY PUG I was in last night. Every **** time. Not a single person could stay inside the AS because of the constant mob-zerging on them. It ended up being a constant waste of my divinity Encounter. I was getting frustrated and then to find out that tier 3 dungeons are even worse makes me wonder. What's the point of slotting AS when it's very immobility negates any advantage it might have?

But despite my constant moving if I did get mob-zerged I died within 2-3 hits. And of course nobody could come to my aid because THEY were having to worry about staying alive too. Pots can sometimes overcome one or two mob's 2-3 hit kills but it can't overcome 3-6 chasing you unrelentingly all over the board. And of course if I'm moving to avoid the zergs I can't heal my teammates. I quickly found out if I did stop to heal someone else when I had 3-5 mobs on me that was enough to take me down in 2 hits. HW kept me alive a lot longer than I would have without it. But even so it wasn't enough because if I did stop to heal someone else my HP apparently isn't enough to withstand the pain the mobs are dishing out. And yes...those groups did have CWs. Which...come to think of it...maybe that's why HW gets dumped by so many clerics as it wasn't enough to withstand unrelenting mob-zerging. But Astral Shield proved to be equally useless - if not moreso - last night.


Perhaps I should make a PvP Heal-Cleric build? How well do PvP clerics do vis-a-vis non-PvP clerics when it comes to tier 2/tier 3 dungeons? Last night's dungeons reminded me a lot of PvPing. AS didn't seem very helpful in PvP either when I did it.


So my fellow Tier 2/Tier 3 DC vets...is there any advice you can give?

Also...if there are any DCs whom are also frequent GF players reading this thread I am very interested in hearing your perspective on how you think a DC could help your GF play their part in a dungeon better. I'm betting what I consider helpful and what my BF would consider helpful may well be different. But he's never played a cleric toon and I've never played a GF and so we don't have the perspective of having played on both sides of the equation.

plavia

you shouldnt die so much
your GS is very low, you need to work on it.
you can increase def to 3k if you think you die alot
your hp is very low as well, i think 25k will be good start
do the daily campaigns to get some stat
get yourself some companions (events or free code) to get bit more stat
artifacts can help as well

dont buy armor sets
farm at T1 T2 dungeons
or
the profound pvp sets are great, but will take you some pvp time to get it
or
the new black ice sets (take lot of time to get it, but very nice stat and set bonus)

spend your money on enchants, armor/ weapon enchants. ancient rings/belt/neck
or cheap weapon
but dont buy armor

*your power is crasy high, its good but i wonder how you got it


play DC with mele is fun. you can even use HW + divine forutne and get lot of divinity

in the new skirmish i didnt saw a good GF yet, the high damage dosnt allow them to maintain guard (most of the GF i saw break the shield in 2 sec and at the end do less damage then DC...)

try to play with you freind in pvp. you need to protect each other and you might learn some of his moves, even that its not the same as pve its still good experiance

clericalist

I noticed your hit points and that you have a very high power rating (wondering if you made a mistake there), your hp is a bit too low. I would recommend that you replace some of the power that I assume comes from rings and enchantments and boost your hit points, secondly I highly recommend selecting the holy resolve feat, I did a respec of my build and after using holy resolve (as the Kaelac guide also highly recommends) I have had countless situations where it saved my life. I also have the barkshield enchantment, I am not sure popular it is with others, but for me I noticed how more durable I have become in dungeons where I used to die like flies. Finally for the boons I also pick the ones that boost the stamina gain, having just that extra stamina to dash also makes a difference where you are dashing for your life and trying to plonk that astral shield at the same time.

arandompanda

Thanks...Actually the power rating above is a typo. It should be 2,964. If I had a power rating of 9,964 I'd probably be the dps of many parties.

theosymphany

Couple of points:

Stats look ok given your GS. 2k defense is good. Focus on slotting radiants in all your defensive slots to build max HP as that is lacking. If you don't have 3/3 Toughness I recommend it highly.

In T2 dungeons it's as much about having high enough DPS in the party as with a DC. To me it sounds like you party often overpulled a lot of mobs which then they struggled to kill for 2-3 or more rotations because of over low DPS. In that situation Astral shield is the go to. Astral shield reduces incoming damage by 24.67%. If your allies are not low on health they should be able to facetank somewhat within AS rather that kiting and running. Too much dodge/kiting means lower DPS uptime means more damage taken means more healing required means you die faster. If they are frequently running/fighting away from the shield and dying then there is nothing that you could have done to save them, our healing is not strong enough to outheal incoming damage.

I'm not saying that in a low DPS setup you can't do dungeons, but party members then need to use more defensive tools such as smoke bomb for daze or steal/time icy terrain for control. Basically if the group can kill stuff outright, that's the best strategy, otherwise you either need to kite with GF or control them while DPSing.

Instead of exaltation I would say you could experiment with divine Forgemaster's Flame. It's an AoE HoT and covers a fairly large area provided the mob live long enough. Experiment with Astral shield, Forgemasters and Healing Word, probably will do overall more healing. Use HW as divinity generator and you can alternate AS/FF to be yellow or blue to build instead of spend divinity. Yellow Shield and blue FF is superior healing than blue shield and yellow FF. Astral shield is good for the mitigation, the HoT is just the cherry on top.

If you still have trouble surviving try switching healer's lore to Anointed Armor or Anointed Holy Symbol.

I would highly recommend you have a read of 2 resources:
My DC guide, which addresses DC loadouts and tips (mostly from DO PoV but many things apply for AC).

As for how you and your BF can work together see my other guide about class roles and synergy:
<links removed>

Basically between the two of you you dictate where the battle is to be fought. He pulls the mobs and kite/tanks them within your AS while everyone else DPS. When shield is about to expire cast divine FF on the strongest mob and you'll keep everyone healed until AS comes off cooldown again. GFs don't have a lot of tools for survivability or mobility with aggro so having a trusted DC watch their backs really helps them out. Make sure he has decent lifesteal and/or regen to help him get back health either by attacking or kiting.

refracted0dawn

arandompanda wrote: »

Thanks...Actually the power rating above is a typo. It should be 2,964. If I had a power rating of 9,964 I'd probably be the dps of many parties.

Maybe you should edit the OP to reflect that.

Also, what race is your AC? I have a Tiefling AC with high WIS, CHA and INT with a similar set up, but the minimum GS listed for Epic Dungeons is way under what is really needed. If it says 8,300, you really need a party with at least an average 12 or 13,000 in my experience. And they all really need to know what to do with each mini-boss on the way. If I am focused by mobs, especially Illithids, I have to just run in circles and dodge as much as possible, quaffing Distilled Potions from my Alchemy skill and try to get a buff off when I can. But I cannot stand still and use At-Wills or she is dead. Too much red cross-fire. I have to hope the Warriors can kill the boss to stop more spawns and then help mop up the remnants.

My Dwarf DO has a similar problem, but is actually far more survivable as he has high WIS, STR and CON and is Feated for Solo play, dps, Power and Crit. So he does better Critical damage and Critical healing and can dodge very slightly more often. He also has more hp and Power.

His scores are:

Power         5938   (36.0% Healing/Damage bonus)
Crit Strike   4049   (38.5% Critical Chance, 75% Critical Severity)
Recovery      2856   (32.6% Recharge,  29.8% AP Gain)
Defence       2147   (34.3% Damage Reduction)
Armour Pen    1105   (-10.7% Resistance Ignored)
Deflect        673   (8.9% Deflection Chance, 50% Deflect Severity)
Regen          555   
Stamina Gain   166   
Life Steal     165   (1.2% hp gain from damage)
Movement       100   (0.5% Speed bonus)

And his GS is a little over 14k.

But pure GS is not as important as they way those stats are distributed. He has Grand Templar set and Ancient Priest's Symbol and Icon and other gear selected for his role. And an Ioun stone and three Epic Artifacts.

As people have said, for your chosen role you probably need Miracle Healer set and more hp. For about 70-odd thousand AD you can repsec your Feats only, as your Powers are probably OK. AC's probably make better Healers than a DO, while DOs are a little better for combat.

But if you repec, make sure you do not waste points on useless Heroic Feats.

I'd suggest these:
http://nwcalc.com/dc?b=cn4:13ydj4:13ydj4,19k3319:110000:1u0z0u:1uu000&h=0&p=anc

For Paragon Feats, you could try Righteous Rage of Tempus instead of Divine Advantage, but you'd need higher Crit to get the best from it. Or Even try 2 of Rising Hope, 3 of Desperate Renewal and 5 of Restoration Mastery instead of the Righteous Feats.

Or, to help with your own survival, go Righteous up to Healing Step.


As I say, for Gear, pure GS is not as useful as how the stats are distributed. For about 1300 AD you can get a complete set of Blue gear, including jewellery, that gives you:

 Power  Recovery  Defence Deflect
  3279    1992      931    1650

Only 1 Defence slot for a Silvery enchant, though. I could not see if you specified your race or not, but with a Halfling and putting all the points into WIS and DEX (or even CON and DEX for more tankiness), you will survive a lot better.

For a Halfling with maxed DEX to 21, and a Rank 10 Silvery in a defence slot for +300 Deflect, that would give you 1950 Deflect from GS for about 15% Deflection, plus 8.5% from Race and DEX for 23.5% deflect.

You could do it with another race that has a DEX bonus, but you will not get the Halfling racial +3%, but you could still get 20% Deflection.

And you would need a Retraining Token to change your Powers and Attribute Score distribution.

~

refracted0dawn

theosymphany wrote: »

I would highly recommend you have a read of 2 resources:
My DC guide, which addresses DC loadouts and tips (mostly from DO PoV but many things apply for AC).

YOU are Kaelac? I did not realise!

~

arandompanda

Thanks everyone.

Didn't think to mention my race. It is indeed halfling. Once I get the required amount of AD I'll go ahead and respec. I might go with a complete overhaul and switch to DO (I have a complete respec token from the cash shop).

I'll be sure to read all the links. I guess the devs assumed everyone in the party will go hardcore dps once hitting higher levels.

I wish there was a chart somewhere giving the "dev advised GS/HP rating" vs a "more typical" GS/HP rating.

arandompanda

I have another question. Is lifesteal worthwhile for a cleric to slot? I don't do a lot of damage with my hits. Would lifesteal still be useful for surviving in a T2/T3 dungeon or would it be better to focus on something else?

lazuree

Lifesteal is most certainly not worthwhile
your dps is too low to get a substantial heal from lifesteal
dc's have more burst dmg than anything else

for heals try exchanging them out to see what fits your playstyle more/your team's playstyle
If i have a lot of melee i tend to use forgemaster's
if i need more AP/divinity, I take sunburst
healing word and astral shield imo are must-haves in dungeons; The dr and target healing is just to strong to exchange with other stuff
exaltation is good in certain cases, but the cd is long and the divine mode is single target; aoe heals like forgemaster's are stronger in most cases

refracted0dawn

arandompanda wrote: »

Didn't think to mention my race. It is indeed halfling.

Oh, then go for it. Pump DEX and WIS (or DEX and CON).

When you do a complete repsec, you cannot change your initial rolls, which is a shame. But you can distribute your level-up points on different attributes, like DEX instead of CHA.

In fact, you could even try DEX and CHA, for Deflection and Recovery. Sometimes, casting more frequently can help as much as more powerful but slower Spell use

A Thief will also get a whole +1% Deflection for every point of CHA over 10, but not the DC. It's no wonder they are so hard to kill in PvP.

As for your other question, no, Life Steal is not really worth it (as lazuree says) unless you have high damage and high Life Steal. I avoid it completely on my gear.

Regeneration would be much better as you do not have to do damage to get the regeneration ticks. And if you like PvP, focus more on Artifacts rather than Companions and try and get those that boost regeneration. In dungeons, get an Ioun Stone companion as it enhances your scores and you get the benefit of any gear it is equipped with. So, in dungeons, you can double up on some Deflect gear.

It's a shame I could not find much gear that has both Deflection and Regeneration.

For your Cleric, I would say the most important stats would be:

Power
Recovery
Defence
Deflection
hp
Critical Strike (for Critical heals)

And you can stack a lot of Radiants and Silveries in Offensive slots for Power and Recovery, Azure for Critical Strike and a Silvery in a defensive slot for more Deflection (or an Azure for more Defence).

~

lazuree

i think pvp-wise, the initial con roll is too low so maybe it's best to stick to pve
But this is just my opinion, I'm a min-maxer which is why I have multiple clerics

plavia

if defelect dosnt work if you are knocked / in control. why raising it (increasing dex...)
in pvp half of the time i am on the floor / in control
and PVE is so easy you dont need to be crasy tank (i like having 3K def and bit of defelect but i wholdnt raise dex for PVE)

nehul555

I ve faced same prob like you before...until i read someone's guide...Now heres what i do..(for pve only)

First after getting 60 you need to get prophet champion armor..it's fairly cheap in AH or you can even grind it for GG coins.. Try to stack all radiants in offense as well as defense.

If you are so inclined on GS try using two piece from PC and two piece from your War prophet...you will get increase in GS (ofc you will lose 4 piece bonus)

Now here's your main issue...you get too much attention of mob right... Here's one simple solution which i use everytime... There's one class feature called SOOTH..it reduces your threat... Try to slot sooth with anointed armor.. It will increase your survivability..

Mind you..you will still get attacked if you get too close to mobs.. (small enemies like imps or splitting spider will attack you anyway but they are easy to kill)

Now as of your encounter slots...
You have no NEED to slot all healing powers in your slots..Except may be during boss fight..

Heres what i use
Divine glow- reduce enemy defenses
Astral sheild with divinity- best surviving skill for your team mates..mind you this is NOT a healing spell..it helpes for surviving, not healing.. For healing you must use astral seal on enemy..

Third encounter depends on you - if your party dont have enough cc you can use chains or if you want healing as well as damage you can use SB.. For me..i use Daunting light..and during boss fight- healing ward..

DC is very hard class to master.. Also.. It really depends on your team..on how they play
.. People tend to get reckless when they have DC in party..

Dont blame yourself if you can heal properly.. Coz for your healing to be effective, people need to avoid aoe and direct hit from bosses Coz a Dc cannot heal all the damage taken from aoe..

Hope it helps..:)

lazuree

don't use sooth... it is really bad:/
If you get a lot of aggro try switching to annointed armor instead of divine fortune. It makes up for the lack of defense and deflect you have and you can hold aggro aka off-tank while healing your party.
Also, your heals should be strong enough to sustain your life in pve. I rarely use pots on my dc simply because of this. If you find you are having weak heals this is probably due to the base damage of your weapon.
Astral Shield should heal for 450-650 (with healer's lore); if your AS is not healing this much maybe invest in a higher base dmg weapon like the symbol of the divine conduit from karrandux. It's about 10k AD I believe

refracted0dawn

lazuree wrote: »

i think pvp-wise, the initial con roll is too low so maybe it's best to stick to pve
But this is just my opinion, I'm a min-maxer which is why I have multiple clerics

Yes, the initial attribute roll is very important. I overlooked that. But I still think the blue Deflect Armour is worth trying as it is so cheap in AD cost. The OP can always store the older armour in the bank, and if she manages to collect a full set of Miracle Healer or High Prophet from dungeons and it is working out better, she can salvage the old Epic armour for AD.

I have 12 characters, 4 of them are DC, a Tiefling AC, a Dwarf AC, a Dwarf DO and a Halfling Leadership mule farming AD. She is level 42-ish, but I have not added any level-up bonuses since about level 23. So she could be either a DO or an AC. The first three are level 60.

The Tiefling roll I choose because it looked good, the first Dwarf was min-maxed for max WIS and the second Dwarf and Halfling I took one of the more balanced rolls. This was because by then I had some experience with the game and for the sake of a measly +3% bonus damage and healing for max WIS, the first Dwarf lost from every other stat. The second Dwarf is much more successful.

01 is level 1 including Racial bonuses, CF is level 60, including Camp Fire +1.

CF1 and CF2 is what I could do with the Halfling if I maxed DEX and CHA or if I maxed DEX and CON:

        Tiefling    Dwarf 1    Dwarf 2        Halfling
        01 / CF     01 / CF    01 / CF     01 / CF1 /  CF2
STR     14 / 17     14 / 20    14 / 21     14 / 17  /  17
CON     10 / 13     10 / 13    14 / 17     12 / 15  /  19
DEX     10 / 13     10 / 13    11 / 14     13 / 20  /  20
INT     13 / 16     10 / 13    12 / 15     12 / 15  /  15
WIS     17 / 23     20 / 27    17 / 24     15 / 18  /  18
CHA     17 / 23     13 / 16    13 / 16     15 / 22  /  18

Racial bonuses
Tiefling = CHA + INT
Dwarves = CON + WIS
Halfling = DEX + CHA



If the OPs current stat are:

STR: 19
CON: 12
DEX: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 23
CHA: 18

it is hard to tell what the initial rolls were and if she used the DEX+CHA or DEX+CON racial bounses, but I suspect DEX+CHA. which means that DEX was terribly low for a Halfling. That is another thing I did not like about my first Dwarf - it did not sit well seeing a Dwarf with CON 13 (Olde Tyme First Edition Veteran).

Putting all points in DEX will result in only DEX 16, but that will be an extra 2% Deflect. But I think putting points in STR is a waste for a Halfling. DEX+WIS, DEX+CHA or WIS+CHA might be better. Especially as the really cheap blue Deflect gear will give her about +300 Power anyway compared with what she has at the moment.

~

silverkelt

Wait DCs arent building to take aggro =P.. Burning Guidance for the win.

I dont think primary stats are that important in PVE.. in fact I know they are not, there is nothing that is groundbreaking in terms of PVE stats that a + 1 or -1 is going to make a difference.

In PVP, I do just fine as a human player.. the RACIAL bonuses shouldnt be that much of a difference, that another shouldnt make it up, thats why I suggest they need to rethink those at some point.

I do agree that for PVP purposes a halfing is probably the best bet, but for PVE, pfffttt roll anything you wants, wont matter at all. This game doesnt have end game raids, racial bonuses aside, any DC with enough power, base weapon stats can heal anything they want to.

pitshade

I think there are two main issues here. The first is your defensive stats and features. You need more HP. For a PVE focused cleric, your stat rolls really aren't that important. My main cleric is a Wood Elf, hardly a min/max choice and yet I've received a fair number of compliments on her healing. Her final stats are 20 STR, 16 CON, 16 Dex, 13 INT, 20 Wis and 15 CHA. That CON stat is important. I respecced her for a CON focus last winter after running with PUG parties in the Pit Fight CTA. Every fight, the archers/spitting spiders were killing her since no one was focusing them and healing aggro meant that every unfocused mob was going straight for her. (more on this later) Between that and the Tier 1 heroic feat, she's got a decent number of hit points (she also uses the Hrimirir set, which helps as well) While not as tanky as some classes (DPS+Lifesteal is what really makes a character tanky in this game) she can still take a beating. I also stacked as much Regeneration as I could, though it's not easy without an augment pet unless you go with blue rings/belt/waist items. She always runs Foresight as a DO. You should seriously consider using Anointed Armor in favor of Divine Fortune. Dead/fleeing clerics don't heal anyone.

The second thing comes from this statement you made:

Nobody protects the cleric (not their job anyway)

Yes, it is their job to protect you. You're a support class, not a DPS. If you slot powers to heal them, you lose what potential for damage that the class has. With many groups, this isn't an issue because what's attracting the mobs to you is the healing based aggro. If other characters start attacking those mobs, that aggro will shift to them. So if there is an AOE class hitting everything, those mobs are going to start ignoring you rather quickly. If there isn't someone drawing aggro by AOE damage, then someone in the party had better start acting to collect those mobs, someone like a GF who is built for that very purpose. No matter how many HP you have or how much DR, if those mobs don't get redirected to someone else you are going to die. (you could slot damage powers but then you run into the problem of not healing people.) In this game, a cleric and greatly aid less geared parties that are doing what they're supposed to be, but you can't carry people who won't act as a team. Don't just take the blame on yourself.

A few other things, Blessing of Battle is probably a better choice if you are running with struggling teams. The Temp HP from SF is barely noticeable. Try and keep mobs tagged with Astral Seal, try to place Astral Seal where the heavy fighting is GOING to be. Use it proactively to mitigate damage so there is less to heal. Remember to use HW in divinity when either you or your target is low on health. I cannot recommend enough the feat Ethereal Boon for helping with Divinity problems. Seriously this works very well with HW as each charge you get back counts as an encounter cooling down. While you don't want to run out of charges, don't be afraid to stay at 2 out of 3 most of the fight as that will be a constant stream of divinity. Consider using Anointed Army in place of Divine Armor. If you haven't already gotten it, work at getting two characters to IWD and get the DC artifact. It's one of the best in the game and will not only help your survivability and heals, but also the active bonus is great for every class.

But again, don't take the burden on yourself if the party is always struggling. A party is five people and they all have to work together to keep the mobs under control in some form or another.

mittensofdoom

I don't want to get into too long of a post. Lots of people have already given good advice. But just a few things:

My DC has 24k-29k HP depending on what gear she uses. If I had anything below 24k I would shoot myself.
I don't stack deflect at all but if you are an AC halfling its worth stacking some.
Defence is worth stacking. I find 35% a reasonable amount.
Regen is better for a DC than Lifesteal but don't feel obliged to stack it up to crazy amounts, a little goes a long way.
Crit and recovery are both important. 25-35% of crit is reasonable. 34% recovery is optimal imo.
After you sort out those stats, stack power.

The greatest defence for a DC is placement. Do not be the first to jump into a group of mobs. Let the GF/GWF take first agro. Wizards should take it from there with control powers. Move around the edges of the fight. If you sunburst dangerous mobs, slide in, SB, slide out. Do not stand for prolonged periods in group of mobs, especially melee mobs. Constantly move, you do not need to be standing still spamming at-wills, just tag big mobs with astral seals and get sacred flame in where you can. Do not get caught in control powers that stun/silence, you are weakest when you can't move/can't heal. Look after the wizards and they will look after you, they are your primary targets for heals. If the GF/GWF can't take care of themselves they are not doing their job right.

Hope I helped.

angelkilier

I have both GF and DC and I play them regularly. Now to address the problem of you dying a lot in tier dungeons, there are couple of things you need to look at.

First, less then 10k GS, full blue gear I suppose? run the 4 tier 1 dungeons that gives the 4 set first, get at least 2 pieces and some epic off pieces. When you have about 11k GS then try Tier 2. That's just a general advice though.

Secondly, if your boyfriend's GF has decent gear, he should not let you die that much, assuming you don't die to the red zones, but to normal hits of mobs. When I play my GF, I don't let my healer take any normal hits at all. GF has mark and taunts for a reason. If you always have mobs on you, it's your boyfriend's fault for not peeling them off you.

My DC is Divine Oracle, not Anointed Champion. However, I don't think it would make a huge difference in your surviving. Again, you need to have 11-12K GS to run tier 2 smoothly, and your tank should keep mobs away from you. All that being said, you shouldn't die in 2-3 hits (normal swings, non-charged up attacks. all the big hits should be avoided) even with 10k gs. my 13k gs DC has about the same damage reduction as yours, so you shouldn't be much easier to die than my DC.