Support Cleric

insipiddragon80 · March 2017

What's a good build for a support cleric?

dupeks · March 2017

insipiddragon80#7036 said:
What's a good build for a support cleric?

A couple thoughts:

Your options depend on your iLvl. Higher geared players have more viable options, since some of the builds depend on having high power / recovery.
The right build depends on how much you need to solo. If you still have campaigns to work through / gear to grind out / a lot of solo-ing in your future, you might want to focus more on dps buffing and personal dps to an extent, to help speed those along (vs. being done with most of that and therefore being able to give up solo-ability for pure group synergy)
The right build depends on who you run with. Do you need to provide a lot of mitigation? Do you run with highly geared players, or shepherd mostly lower geared groups?
Are you itching to build now, or can you wait a couple weeks for the new DC changes to come out? http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1228397/upcoming-devoted-cleric-changes/p1

Depending on your answers above, there are a few perfectly viable cleric support builds.

Righteous = dps buff / personal dps at the cost of mitigation / healing. Good for end-game groups or if you are low-geared and need to solo a lot
Faithful = clutch heal capstone, great for PVP (defends better against burst)
Virtuous = heal-over-time capstone, solid for PVE (defends better against stuns, heals don't require targeting)

AC tends to do better with higher gear, since it's focused on power sharing and possibly daily spamming.

DO tends to do better with mid/low gear, since it's focused on utility that is less stat-dependent.

All of that hangs in the balance because of the upcoming changes (most notably AA nerf and TI buff). Both AC and DO will remain viable, although some adjustments will be needed.

FWIW: I run AC Virtuous splash Righteous (for weps of light power sharing) and focus on power share / daily spam. That may change with the coming updates. If you answer some of the questions above I'll be able to steer you to a more specific build.

insipiddragon80 · March 2017

Thanks for the input, it is very helpful. I do still have some campaigns to do. My item level is at 2300, but I sometimes run with some Alliance members who are at a much higher level, so they usually don't need much help. When I pug I don't do enough damage right now, so I figured it might be better to help the other players out. Since changes are being made it would be better if I waited. The information you gave was awesome. Thanks.

mebengalsfan · March 2017

@dupeks did a great job explaining the builds.

To put it simply...

DO = more damage for solo content. Less focused on group but can still provides some group utility but not as much as a AC.

As for the Paragon Path Feats. If you go full Righteous you are more DPS focused than Faithful or Virt path.

My preference is AC paragon going with the Righteous paragon path feats and 10 points into the top one (can't remember the name ATM) for BoB Power buff.

Soloing is ok with my setup and build. Though my damage is not as high as it could be if I was a DO. The difference is barely noticable by me between a DO and AC build for damage. Maybe once the revamp hits that will change.

dupeks · March 2017

Good to hear that you're in an alliance, that's one of the best ways to do group content without too much grief.

Based on your answers, I'd probably try out DO righteous with remaining points in faithful (or possibly virtuous) once the DC changes hit live. I think that will allow you to offer solid buffs to parties while trying to keep your personal dps as good as it can be for solo-ing campaigns.

If you're not so hot on prioritizing buffs over healing, you could instead opt for something like a DO faithful or DO virtuous, but I think that you'll find that solo-ing would be noticeably slower.

As I mentioned before, I think AC and the associated powers are a fair bit more gear dependent, and only begin to compete with DO direct buffs if you have high power and good bonding runestones.

Even though they are a few months old, diogene0's videos have a lot of great info and a pretty relevant DO build tucked in there too. Things might change a little bit with the upcoming rework (you will absolutely want to slot Terrifying Insight), but probably not too much.

http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1222589/mod-10-pve-righteous-divine-oracle-devoted-cleric-buffing-guide-video-only/p1

Once the DC changes hit live, we might see some new DO righteous builds up Currently they are out of favor because of how good AA is, but that is going to change so we should see more variety.

insipiddragon80 · March 2017

Thank you, the changes that are coming look like they should be a big help also. The cleric seems to be most requested class to fill out groups, so I would like to get better at it. Thanks for the advice.

umarachnea · March 2017

For what it's worth, while completing the campaigns, and no friends available to help, I found it quite easy to find help in zone chat or lfg. Whether by experienced players working on their alts, or newer people working on their mains, it makes sense for people to group up. All this to say that personal DPS for a support build should not present much of an issue.

I can also confirm from my recent experience (am on PS4) that the higher the ilvl (or better the gear) the easier solo content became as AC Righteous (with 15? points in Virtuous)... to speed things up even further I just switch the guild boon from power to armor pen (just remember to switch back for group play)

FYI I'm using Jarek's AC Righteous build, as it offers a lot of explanation and allows for some variety in choices based on preference.

Support Cleric

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