test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
"Doing It All Wrong" DevOP (easy-mode for soloing)
beckylunatic
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
Writing this because of players saying their DevOP is completely broken by the Vow of Enmity changes. The way I play mine, every change that has ever been made to the OP class has had minimal impact, and now that some crucial things are supposedly fixed, I feel more comfortable sharing.
NWCalc:
http://nwcalc.com/index.html#/op?b=2xi0:z84v4s:bwg4:9jb8n,1ri0u50:1uu550v:1000000:1uu5000&h=0&p=ood&o=0
Not to go into detail about every feat choice, but it's something I've tinkered with based on reading Sharp's old paladin guide and what other players run. Hitpoint-increasing feats are taken to maximize Aura of Courage, and I've specced into Dominating Presence to add flexibility to how far others can be from me and still benefit from auras. Most of it is really standard stuff, and it's standard because it works really well. This is not rocket surgery.
Powers are just filled out to highlight a few choices. As typical, you'll have to assign a ton of points into abilities you'll never use.
Boons:
https://two30.github.io/neverwinter-boon/?110000000000022221122242212122220222230000001200
I haven't filled out boons I don't have. While I have some idea what I might take, I feel this is a more accurate representation of the character as it plays now. Campaigns that are missing really are things I've not gotten around to yet.
Important boon selections are Burning Guidance (still a useful damage source even with the cooldown), Elven Ferocity, and Shadowtouch. While I would normally take the heal procs over the damage, this character is the opposite. I'm not worried about healing but I'll take what damage I can get.
I take offensive primary stats, especially power, over defensive. Regen instead of lifesteal or lifesteal severity simply because I feel it synergizes better with the DevOP's self heals, but it's probably on the irrelevant side. Many boons are matters of personal preference rather than there being a "best" choice.
When choosing boons, you also need to take your gear into account. A lot of boons give flat amounts of utility stats, which have diminishing returns and you don't really want to go over 1000 on any of them if you can help it. Keep in mind that a boon that says "regenerate stamina x% faster" does not count towards that cap. At any rate, anywhere you have a choice between utility stats, take the one that will make the most difference to your character. I can't tell you what that will be.
While I have not tried speccing into control strength boons, it may be worth trying on this character to increase the duration of stun and disorient, for the simple reason that a lot of boons that compete with control-related ones are less relevant to the DevOP than other classes. I'll throw that on my to-do list.
Gear:
I've looked for power/crit stats where possible and taken power/recovery as a second choice, using Dusk and Elemental Drowcraft pieces because they're easy. In-combat resistance ignored gets above 60% due to Loyal Avenger gear on companion, and armor pen is the only offensive stronghold boon I have access to. Don't be a support character that neglects your resistance ignored though because it will make your soloing life hell. If you have more better SH boon options, you can change these out for solo and party content.
I'm using Tiamat pieces for neck and waist, even though the set bonus doesn't matter. We never said this character was built to be perfect. I also don't have any cool Underdark rings and am just using the personalized armor pen ones that I made forever ago. Nothing is reinforced or jeweled.
Weapon set is Elemental Fire at epic. Yup, pretty lame, eh? I will probably be replacing with Burning as I'm not prioritizing either Twisted or Relic weapons on this character.
Artifacts are DC sigil as active, which is mythic quality. Stat sticks are orange Tiamat's Orb (for unnecessary set bonus), orange freebie Lantern, and purple Hunter's sigil that I really ought to replace.
Enchants are Radiant or Black Ice in offense slots, Radiant in personal defense slots and Azure on companion defense slots. Nothing over R10, mostly lower than that. Armor is lesser Soulforged (the cheap option) and weapon is currently a T.Plaguefire. Paladins aren't great at spreading PF stacks, but it matches my armor.
Companions:
My summon is an Ambush Drake with Greater Bondings (so R9). This is a stupidly expensive companion, which I got for free (trivia prize) when they were available and nobody was interested in them. I just badly wanted my dragonborn to have this cool drake companion no matter what, and had no idea that it probably made campaigning on my DevOP much easier than it should have been. Still, I've been continuing to play the same way since its debuff has been fixed and not noticed a major difference, so I don't feel like the companion was the only thing that was making my DevOP functional.
As the drake is not a realistic recommendation, I'd suggest an upgraded Sellsword or Con Artist, depending if you'd rather the active bonus of power, or the ring slots.
The other companions on my DevOP are barely worth talking about because they're mostly just whatever I have on my account and not integral to anything. I've never owned an Owlbear Cub. The only damage increase I get from my current active companions is a Slyblade Kobold (+3% against stunned targets). So really, if your OP has better companions than mine, you're already ahead of the game.
Mounts:
I run a 2k power bonus, but hitpoints would work, or crit, or whatever you've got.
Insignias are Wanderer's Fortune, Gladiator's Guile, Protector's Friendship/Camaraderie, and player choice. If you don't need the RP, swap WF with another of your choice. Insignias are just whatever I've picked up that fits those slots, but power or crit are preferable where you can.
Putting it all together:
Nearly everything you do will generate heals passively. You've got your Bond of Virtue and Shield of Faith for a party. If Vow of Enmity isn't working out for you now, see how you feel about Bane. I know it can have targetting issues, but it's a group debuff and not just personal damage and group heals.
Class features: Aura of Courage, Aura of Wisdom (the usual, because it works)
Dailies: Divine Judgement, Shield of Faith, you can use Heroism if you need it
At-wills: Radiant Strike (AoE gap closer and self-buff), Oath Strike (whomp things with your weapon and passively heal while you do it)
Encounters for solo: Templar's Wrath, Burning Light (this is what you keep in a party), Smite
How to do it all wrong:
Whether engaging a group of enemies or a single foe, use Radiant Strike (li'l buff) and cast Divine Judgement unless it would be overkill. If your daily isn't ready, this will take a bit longer, but it's not the end of the world. Templar's Wrath for AoE stun or at least the damage if your target is control-immune. Use the stun window to fully charge Burning Light. Smite whatever has the most hitpoints, and whack things with Oath Strike. If your feats are cooperating to make your encounters ready again and things are not dead or dying, start repeating. If not, use a charge of Divine Call. Sometimes you'll want to release Burning Light early to interrupt an enemy cast, and that's ok too. You're unleashing what you can as burst damage and then hoping all your DoT (which is running from several sources) is enough to finish most things off.
Try to get into position with your companion to have combat advantage as soon as possible in a fight. Avoid telegraphed attacks if you can, or raise your shield. Sanctuary will heal you up quickly while you waddle around trying to avoid hits if you make a serious-but-not-fatal mistake. Keep minions stunned or disoriented as much as possible and avoid letting them get combat advantage against you.
I have never even equipped Relentless Avenger, and only have points in it to be able to assign rank 4 power points. Don't need it. Don't want the hassle.
I don't know what the cause is for Burning Light not generating AP for some people, but the power itself is not bugged and there is a specific interaction at play in the no-AP issue that is not affecting me.
NWCalc:
http://nwcalc.com/index.html#/op?b=2xi0:z84v4s:bwg4:9jb8n,1ri0u50:1uu550v:1000000:1uu5000&h=0&p=ood&o=0
Not to go into detail about every feat choice, but it's something I've tinkered with based on reading Sharp's old paladin guide and what other players run. Hitpoint-increasing feats are taken to maximize Aura of Courage, and I've specced into Dominating Presence to add flexibility to how far others can be from me and still benefit from auras. Most of it is really standard stuff, and it's standard because it works really well. This is not rocket surgery.
Powers are just filled out to highlight a few choices. As typical, you'll have to assign a ton of points into abilities you'll never use.
Boons:
https://two30.github.io/neverwinter-boon/?110000000000022221122242212122220222230000001200
I haven't filled out boons I don't have. While I have some idea what I might take, I feel this is a more accurate representation of the character as it plays now. Campaigns that are missing really are things I've not gotten around to yet.
Important boon selections are Burning Guidance (still a useful damage source even with the cooldown), Elven Ferocity, and Shadowtouch. While I would normally take the heal procs over the damage, this character is the opposite. I'm not worried about healing but I'll take what damage I can get.
I take offensive primary stats, especially power, over defensive. Regen instead of lifesteal or lifesteal severity simply because I feel it synergizes better with the DevOP's self heals, but it's probably on the irrelevant side. Many boons are matters of personal preference rather than there being a "best" choice.
When choosing boons, you also need to take your gear into account. A lot of boons give flat amounts of utility stats, which have diminishing returns and you don't really want to go over 1000 on any of them if you can help it. Keep in mind that a boon that says "regenerate stamina x% faster" does not count towards that cap. At any rate, anywhere you have a choice between utility stats, take the one that will make the most difference to your character. I can't tell you what that will be.
While I have not tried speccing into control strength boons, it may be worth trying on this character to increase the duration of stun and disorient, for the simple reason that a lot of boons that compete with control-related ones are less relevant to the DevOP than other classes. I'll throw that on my to-do list.
Gear:
I've looked for power/crit stats where possible and taken power/recovery as a second choice, using Dusk and Elemental Drowcraft pieces because they're easy. In-combat resistance ignored gets above 60% due to Loyal Avenger gear on companion, and armor pen is the only offensive stronghold boon I have access to. Don't be a support character that neglects your resistance ignored though because it will make your soloing life hell. If you have more better SH boon options, you can change these out for solo and party content.
I'm using Tiamat pieces for neck and waist, even though the set bonus doesn't matter. We never said this character was built to be perfect. I also don't have any cool Underdark rings and am just using the personalized armor pen ones that I made forever ago. Nothing is reinforced or jeweled.
Weapon set is Elemental Fire at epic. Yup, pretty lame, eh? I will probably be replacing with Burning as I'm not prioritizing either Twisted or Relic weapons on this character.
Artifacts are DC sigil as active, which is mythic quality. Stat sticks are orange Tiamat's Orb (for unnecessary set bonus), orange freebie Lantern, and purple Hunter's sigil that I really ought to replace.
Enchants are Radiant or Black Ice in offense slots, Radiant in personal defense slots and Azure on companion defense slots. Nothing over R10, mostly lower than that. Armor is lesser Soulforged (the cheap option) and weapon is currently a T.Plaguefire. Paladins aren't great at spreading PF stacks, but it matches my armor.
Companions:
My summon is an Ambush Drake with Greater Bondings (so R9). This is a stupidly expensive companion, which I got for free (trivia prize) when they were available and nobody was interested in them. I just badly wanted my dragonborn to have this cool drake companion no matter what, and had no idea that it probably made campaigning on my DevOP much easier than it should have been. Still, I've been continuing to play the same way since its debuff has been fixed and not noticed a major difference, so I don't feel like the companion was the only thing that was making my DevOP functional.
As the drake is not a realistic recommendation, I'd suggest an upgraded Sellsword or Con Artist, depending if you'd rather the active bonus of power, or the ring slots.
The other companions on my DevOP are barely worth talking about because they're mostly just whatever I have on my account and not integral to anything. I've never owned an Owlbear Cub. The only damage increase I get from my current active companions is a Slyblade Kobold (+3% against stunned targets). So really, if your OP has better companions than mine, you're already ahead of the game.
Mounts:
I run a 2k power bonus, but hitpoints would work, or crit, or whatever you've got.
Insignias are Wanderer's Fortune, Gladiator's Guile, Protector's Friendship/Camaraderie, and player choice. If you don't need the RP, swap WF with another of your choice. Insignias are just whatever I've picked up that fits those slots, but power or crit are preferable where you can.
Putting it all together:
Nearly everything you do will generate heals passively. You've got your Bond of Virtue and Shield of Faith for a party. If Vow of Enmity isn't working out for you now, see how you feel about Bane. I know it can have targetting issues, but it's a group debuff and not just personal damage and group heals.
Class features: Aura of Courage, Aura of Wisdom (the usual, because it works)
Dailies: Divine Judgement, Shield of Faith, you can use Heroism if you need it
At-wills: Radiant Strike (AoE gap closer and self-buff), Oath Strike (whomp things with your weapon and passively heal while you do it)
Encounters for solo: Templar's Wrath, Burning Light (this is what you keep in a party), Smite
How to do it all wrong:
Whether engaging a group of enemies or a single foe, use Radiant Strike (li'l buff) and cast Divine Judgement unless it would be overkill. If your daily isn't ready, this will take a bit longer, but it's not the end of the world. Templar's Wrath for AoE stun or at least the damage if your target is control-immune. Use the stun window to fully charge Burning Light. Smite whatever has the most hitpoints, and whack things with Oath Strike. If your feats are cooperating to make your encounters ready again and things are not dead or dying, start repeating. If not, use a charge of Divine Call. Sometimes you'll want to release Burning Light early to interrupt an enemy cast, and that's ok too. You're unleashing what you can as burst damage and then hoping all your DoT (which is running from several sources) is enough to finish most things off.
Try to get into position with your companion to have combat advantage as soon as possible in a fight. Avoid telegraphed attacks if you can, or raise your shield. Sanctuary will heal you up quickly while you waddle around trying to avoid hits if you make a serious-but-not-fatal mistake. Keep minions stunned or disoriented as much as possible and avoid letting them get combat advantage against you.
I have never even equipped Relentless Avenger, and only have points in it to be able to assign rank 4 power points. Don't need it. Don't want the hassle.
I don't know what the cause is for Burning Light not generating AP for some people, but the power itself is not bugged and there is a specific interaction at play in the no-AP issue that is not affecting me.
0
Comments
The changes for OP mostly affect Protection, very little impact on the Devotion side.
Recently ran CN with a DevoOP that does massive heals as well as damages (dps unusually high for the class/build). I looked at combat logs and discovered where all that damages come from. There were 3-6 stacks of Burning Guidance & Healing Warmth (2K - 6K damages/stack) that always multi proc together. I knew Burning Guidance had cool down but it seem to revert back when it didn't have cool down.
The tanking side of pally definitely took a nerf but I think with adjustments to more defensive stats and defensive encounters, most hard contents (Orcus, FBI, etc...) is still doable with/without decent support.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
You don't have any boons from Maze Engine? The last one is great, it seriously increases already crazy heals. One of the best boons like Burning Guidance.
Each time I read about getting RI to 60%, every guide that says it makes it look like not a big deal getting there, but doesn't say how to work on this when you're still gearing up. That was a serious problem for me and I had to use bunch of gear with useless stats like deflect and regen until I got the mount with armpen to help with that. An you're also lucky on PC to have that Loyal gear. Shame it's not available on PS4.
I was recently told by Sharp that Aura of Courage doesn't scale off of OP's HP like stated in the tooltip, I had no idea it was changed and when exactly, was the tooltip changed too in 10.5?
I'm still pretty attached to the personalized rings, which are a help. And I do hope that a reasonable solution for companion gear for all platforms is announced soon(tm). Lack of companion gear options on consoles is assuredly one of the reasons 60% RI is harder to achieve.
If you need to do use Dark enchants for arpen, put them on your companion so that the multiplying effect of Bonding amps them up. You can move them around as you wean yourself off. Most of my characters have gone through stages of using Dark/Draconic enchants in offense slots until the pieces come together to be able to switch them for other things. Might not be changed but just something he's got good test data for which proven it doesn't work as stated. I'm not much of a mathematical gamer and basically just throw things together and see if it works. Doing it all wrong, you know?
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
However, if it scales off the OP's HP for party members? Who knows.
"I'm still pretty attached to the personalized rings, which are a help. And I do hope that a reasonable solution for companion gear for all platforms is announced soon(tm). Lack of companion gear options on consoles is assuredly one of the reasons 60% RI is harder to achieve."
I really hope they'll add companion gear on PS4 similar to Loyal, the stats are incredible. We are very limitted here, not only on that but also on other stuff from lockboxes.
"If you need to do use Dark enchants for arpen, put them on your companion so that the multiplying effect of Bonding amps them up. You can move them around as you wean yourself off. Most of my characters have gone through stages of using Dark/Draconic enchants in offense slots until the pieces come together to be able to switch them for other things."
I was very lucky to get +5 rising focus and defense so I'm good with rings and I'm working on getting to lvl 25 Jewelcrafting to use personalized gear (3x belt in my case). Thanks to the mount (don't have any other epic mounts) I don't have to use armpen on companion, ~55% RI in combat, 60% with armpen gloves. And with coming double refinement I'll get more from artifacts and gear, and later I'll most likely eventually replace the mount bonus for something else and compensate the difference by using dark, draconic or vicious on higher bondings (currently only R8, soon R9) like you say.
"I've run through the Maze Engine with six characters so far but the OP isn't one of them. Eventually.... Thanks for the tip though."
No problem. I couldn't force myself to do all campaigns even on one more character, Dev OP is my main and first character so I'd rather focus on it exclusively. That's probably caused by getting all the content at once on PS4.
"Might not be changed but just something he's got good test data for which proven it doesn't work as stated. I'm not much of a mathematical gamer and basically just throw things together and see if it works. Doing it all wrong, you know?"
I'm kind of the opposite. I like theorycrafting and I did a lot of research on Dev OP before I even started playing and now already have some long term goals regarding specific gear. But I'm almost clueless when it comes high lvl enchants and all these hidden or not debuffs etc., greater PF is max I have. And about AoC, it scales from personal HP of those affected by it, not from HP of OP who uses it. When I heard about it I tested it with friend's OP. Disappointing it doesn't work like the tooltip states. @thefabricant thanks for pointing that out.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Thanks for starting this thread as I was considering doing the same myself, to at least share ideas with other Dev OPs on how they are dealing with the change to VoE. While the change itself was initially VERY annoying, Its definately prompting all of us who love the class to adapt to the challenge of not having its damage boost and healing mechanic at our beck and call. I have to admit it was getting pretty stale with just running with VoE, BoV and either BL or RA on the bar with very little change in the way I was doing business. Its just that it worked so well for solo and light group play (HEs, Skirmishes, and the occassional dungeon run). I would still recommend (and still do use) that rotation for group play as long as folks are careful as to where they place the mark.
Now regarding solo play. Like you, I took ole senpai Sharp's build and made some small modifications in the Light tree. You hit a real winner for me with TW, BL and Smite rotation. I was testing it up in Cold Run and in SMI the other day after I read your post, and I have to say that things feel like they melt a little bit quicker than it did with my old rotation. I am still keeping RA for solo play as (unlike MANY folks in the game), I appreciate the knockback it gives to the mobs while I concentrate on one opponent at a time. The double stun of TW and BL can make it seem redundant to use it at all, but like I said, I appreciate the knockback when I'm soloing, nevermind the AP gain. Other rotations I've tried soloing are VoE, Divine Touch, and RA or Circle, Cleansing touch, and RA if I know I'll be running across other players and I want to give an assist. The former, I've had excellent results with, hitting divine touch for the light damage but heavy heal while VoE is on its cooldown, the reapply Vow, and repeat.
Anyways. Great thread and advice. I'm hoping more Dev OPs don't lose hope and share some ideas on what they use.
House Miliskeera in exile (NW)
Sereska Miliskeera, Lvl 70 OP - Devotion (Just.)/Protection (Just.)
Shizlee Miliskeera, Lvl 70 DC - Divine Oracle (Right.)/Anoited Champion (Faith.)
Finithey Miliskeera, Lvl 70 HR - Stormwarden (Combat)/Pathfinder (Trapper)
Maya Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 CW - Spellstorm
Irae Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 TR - Master Inflitrator
Member - Houseclan t'Charvon (STO)
Shiarrael e'Tal'Aura t'Charvon, LvL 60, Rom Sci
S'aana ir'Virinat t'Charvon, Lvl 60, Rom Eng
T'Lyra, LvL 60, Fed, Vul Sci
Ta'el, Lvl 60, Rom Tac
I am however wondering how to heal these new epic dungeons. I try changing things up depending on party makeup; when everyone is overgeared I just dps and have fun. But for those cases where I'm supposed to do my job....
VoE for bosses and Circle of Power for trash? I use Burning Light for my damage-to-healing, Bond of Virtue for the bonded healing. It's that third ability that has me wondering.
I use AuraCourage always and switch between AuraWisdom and AuraRestoration depending on how much healing I need to hand out.
Is this a good approach or am I missing something in my Power tree completely that's considered best practice at my level?
It's good to adapt and not play cookie-cutter if it's not working well for you at the moment. (And that's how to "do it all wrong"!)
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Tagging you because of your comment in the dev stream question thread. DevOP most certainly doesn't need to suffer with campaigns that take hours due to low damage. You can be a really effective soloist as a DevOP and it shouldn't hurt your party play at all.
Upgrades to Elliot since the OP was written are legendary Burning artifact weapon set and all enchants to rank 9 or 10 except companion's defense slots (prioritized Radiants on self over any other defensive stat from companion). I'd dearly love to get him a Deepknight Brigandine and the LoLmask... someday. I've switched a couple of minor boons to take some lifesteal for Prism and other boon synergies, mostly only had to give up regen to do it which is no biggie. I also got him an Aberrant Fey Wolf for Assassin's Covenant because I didn't have access to it on any of my account mounts.
He is still behind on boons due to being a second-stringer character and the most recent campaigns being not alt friendly. I've been working on Maze Engine for him... and a warlock... and backup GWF and HR... cough. Reading about the awesomeness of Healing Warmth, I feel bad about not working on it. :P
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
I say its damage is low comparable to the other classes, and our other path Protection which even has a much higher damage output. Even DCs can have a higher damage output, if they focus more so on damage based attacks.
I do appreciate the gesture to help me out but only cryptic can actually do anything related to getting the class (stronger). Even if they just gave us more buffs/debuffs then solo would be easier to do as well, without changing powers dps.
I mean if you wish to spend 5 mins instead of 2 on a fight your free to do it but TW stun only lasts marginaly long enough to charge BL and you don't get temp HP from it, RA fill your AP bar far quciker than anithing else and without vow your damage output is so low it's ludicrous. Plus having the vow will auto heal you allowing you to be a little more reckless.
Of course in a party RA will be replace with BL and Smite by Bond of virtue but for solo content I tried the TW/BL route and it just took a little group of barbarians from Icewind pass to kill me. With the vow/RA combination I wipe them out.
So you may do it all wrong if you wish but don't claim it's the easy mode.
LoLmask is the gear drop from Lostmauth that I can't think of the name and don't want to open another tab to look up. Power/HP and even more HP from Ambush Drake. It just seems like a thing that would suit my personal character really well.
Wanting your DevOP to be able to tank Orcus definitely strikes me as sacrificing a lot in the respect of offensive capability. Which isn't wrong, but when you build that way and then complain that your damage sucks compared to a more offensively built character, that doesn't point to a problem inherent in the class. You're put together differently in order to achieve other goals.
I'd also say there's a large gap between being able to match an actual DPS class and simply not needing to spend hours on daily quests without a carry. This build does rely on maximizing all those diverse DoT sources, and rotating at-will, daily, and encounter powers to get as much out of them as I can.
If you are more interested in convincing the devs to change the class in order to conform to your playstyle than in developing a playstyle that works with the tools given, that's on you.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
If you prefer Vow/RA and it works for you, that's great. This not only works really well for me, it worked really well for other players too at a time when Vow was unreliable. If they've been able to return to a different rotation, and they're happy, that's great. If TW/BL gets you killed, I dunno... not a problem for me.
I never said I spend hours on campaign zones. I bumped this thread because of another player's complaint that he does.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
TW: pro AoE, stun / con: no Temp HP for you, damage so-so
BL: pro AoE, Heal, Damage ok/ con: charge time
Vow: pro very good damage increase, Heal / con single target
RA: pro rush, knock back, high AP gain, damage ok/ con no heal
When you focus on TW/ BL you have a low damage output on every target which means if you encounter swarms of fragile monsters you must kill quickly this is the set up I would advise. For example the ice mephites in Sea of Moving Ice. If you keep this when you face mobs with some actual meat on them you will slowly burn them all simultanously wich means you will have all of them on you all the time often to the point of loosing HP quicker than you can recover them with BL. Of course I speak for lower end gear strengh.
On the contrary if you use vow/RA, you will mark a foe you will focus, disperse the others with RA while gaining lots of AP and you will be able to launch DJugement frequently and eliminate your foes one by one while keeping a reasomable self heal through the vow. It may seems as I explain it that you actually take more time since you kill foes one at a time (in the worse case scenario) whereas TW/BL attacks them all but since your kill time is without compatison, you actualy finish them off quickier while progressively lessening the theats instead of eliminating all threats at the same time. This means you will be less strained to stay alive.
It's exactly like martial arts IRL. Faced against multiple opponents you disable one, then the next, then the next etc etc.
If our AoE powers had more kick I would totally support the TW/BL route wich is similar to what a CW will do: burn everithing simultanously. They can because they have the means to do so. We don't.
Of course everything I'm saying applies to lower end gear strengh. Past a certain point you do as you wish.
Healing isn't a real huge issue for solo with justice. You can pretty much CC most mobs to death before they can land heavy hits.
I only switch to BL in groups due to the knockback from RA. Generally things are dead long before I can charge/get off 9 ticks from BL both in and out of groups unless they are low level.
I truly wish they'd change the knockback to a knockdown. We requested this on the preview thread before they landed the last load of changes on us but unlike the DC thread, they basically just ignored us after their initial post.
The positive from BL is the stun, I have increased control so using TW and BL with a small gap between them I can keep mobs stunned most of the time, protecting the party more.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
I've been running a similar build, which I based entirely off his/hers and I have been turning heads in my guild and alliance, to the point that everyone wants to know what the hell... no one expects a healer to top damage charts, and healing charts at the same time.
How:
1. Tiamat, I average over 100m dmg. My last Tiamat, I was 2nd in Paingiver, at 132m...
2. Master Demo, I average 40m (not comparable to well-played GWFs, but a Healing class showing up in the top 5 paingivers is always impressive)
3. Number of other things, being top dps is several dungeons where packs of enemies are common such as: eTos, Valindra, Malabog's, etc...
4. Being able to tank Tier 1 dungeons, while also being top in Healing, and Damage.
All of this considering I'm currently only 2870 iLvl and often outdps players that are 1k+ more iLvl than me.
So thank you beckylunatic, you are awesome for sharing.
Now, I'd like to add-on to this build...
In your guide, you decided to choose Regeneration over Lifesteal whenever given the choice... I've been thinking about it, and after reading about this build,
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1227654/gathornias-shadowknight-build-op-protection-dps-focused
I think we could push the enveloppe even further in terms of DMG output... if we choose Lifesteal over Regeneration.
My thinking behind this is how lifesteal is affected by Bond of Virtue's shared healing and Prism, which in turn can cause both Burning Guidance, and Healing Warmth to proc.
I plan on testing this theory tonight, and if I'm correct, I should be seeing even higher numbers than what I'm currently seeing... not that what I'm seeing now is low by any means..
(Her build, but it's not that important to me to correct people if they get it wrong either.)
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
BoV/VoE/BL
You could argue that BoV is a waste when soloing, but I don't think so, when your companion almost never dies, and causes shared healing to proc, which also causes our powerful boons to proc. If you use a Melee companion, this will proc alot. Plus, you don't have any downtime if you run into a Heroic Encounter, since you don't have to switch one of your encounters, so you can get the extra damage from the BoV shared healing.
Note: "Smite" is nice spike damage, I agree, but it doesn't compare to the damage you get for having BoV on. Those BG/HW procs are truly something else.
VoE makes you not die. When you take this Encounter off, it's much, much harder to stay alive.. especially when you're in SoMI, and soloing a whole pirate ship of Frost Giants... but maybe that's my own fault for over-extending.... lol
Blinding light is not only good for the AoE damage, but it's a great way to gain AP. While this encounter doesn't generate as much AP as RA, RA's knockback doesn't justify the AP gain, and I feel like it actually slows down your soloing ability...
Big damage comes from Jugement anyway when all the stars align (ring, companion gift, Judge, still active Vow, combat advantage and crit) Of course with so many factors, it's no wonder I can see such a variation between low-end of almost 40k to the top one of 180k in solo adventures.
The other two can go into either Purifying Fire for an extra bit of damage or Beacon of Hope for more heal triggers for Prism.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox