Qu: What do you want in a group with a Oathbound Paladin Devotion build?

pitmonster · January 2019

I have been playing around with another load-out with my pally, switching from tank to heal (both buff) just for fun and to pick up some extra AD on random runs.

So I am running around, buffing, healing, etc. No one is complaining but you don't get much feedback in randoms. So I am asking here... what would you like to see game play if you end up with a pally healer in your random?

Currently powers I am running...
* Bond of Virtue - Increases everyone's heals from all sources and gain a % of any heal I do to anyone
* Smite - Does damage and heals near by allies
* Bane - (mostly applying to the DPS classes)
* Cure Wounds - Between encounters, just spamming it
* Aura of Wisdom - Reduces everyone's encounter cool downs
* Aura of Courage or Aura of Life - Depends on the run. One gives extra damage, the other auto revives near death allies
* Divine Judgement or Shield of Faith - Depends on how the party is doing, mostly SoF

Buffing feats...
* Flash of Light - Reduces ally's encounter powers
* Radiant Champion - Increases ally's movement, reduces cool downs
* Beacon of Hope - Daily causes heal on allies
* Prism - Self heals will heal allies
* Aura Gifts - Allies gain 25% of my power (I try to max my power)
* All the AP gains I can get to spam dailies

I am running Dragon's breath that reduces its cool down by 25% and running Artifact mount boons they reduce my cool downs on daily... the idea being to spam as many dailies as possible, mostly shield of faith.

So if I pop into a random queue with this load out as your group healer/buffer do you cringe or are OK. Or should I hit a camp fire and switch to my tank and forget healing anyway as its currently mostly a broken mechanic in the game right now?

Thanks for the feedback.

majorcharvenak · January 2019

This sounds awfully familiar.

My own experiences seem to generally be positive but I could be misreading the reactions of my party. I too, would appreciate a better gauge on the teams reaction to our presence and their expectations. My gut reaction is that it depends on the level/tier of the dungeon but I could be wrong.

ragnarz2 · January 2019

When I run a devo build, Vow, Bond, Bane. I bane 2 players and save the 3rd for the boss. I run AoC with truth or wisdom depending on where we are. This keeps everyone alive and 2 people buffed. I always keep shield ready just in case. Then i try to contribute some dps. if you are in a group with an OP prot, just coordinate auras and bane a 3rd player. This is a pretty straight forward approach. I even do some powershare with it.

dairyzeus · January 2019

This is mostly right. Couple notes.

Always run aura of courage and aura of wisdom. All the other auras on paladin either aren't needed, or just straight up bad. In particular, aura of life auto revives, but also gives res sickness which will screw up anyone who wants to use a scroll of life the next time they die.

For encounters, most Devo's will go bane, vow, and bond. Vow provides a ton of healing to the group whenever the target is damaged, and all of the heals can proc burning guidance/healing warmth giving you a good amount of damage as well.

Your main job is to place bane on the main dps as much as possible (ideally keeping up 3 stacks), spam shield of faith, and vow the enemy. Additionally it's really nice if you run wheel of elements in single target to place fire on your main dps.

majorcharvenak · January 2019

dairyzeus said:
This is mostly right. Couple notes.

Always run aura of courage and aura of wisdom. All the other auras on paladin either aren't needed, or just straight up bad. In particular, aura of life auto revives, but also gives res sickness which will screw up anyone who wants to use a scroll of life the next time they die.

For encounters, most Devo's will go bane, vow, and bond. Vow provides a ton of healing to the group whenever the target is damaged, and all of the heals can proc burning guidance/healing warmth giving you a good amount of damage as well.

Your main job is to place bane on the main dps as much as possible (ideally keeping up 3 stacks), spam shield of faith, and vow the enemy. Additionally it's really nice if you run wheel of elements in single target to place fire on your main dps.

@dairyzeus, I agree with everything except Life. In a premade group, I wont slot it as I expect the team (almost always my friends and/or guildies) to have the good sense to carry scrolls with them. In PUGs, which I run more often, I don't and more often than not - they don't have them. The auto-rez can mean the difference between a standing (but weakened) team mate or that person AND the rezzer (you or another team mate) respawning at the fire circle doing a conventional pickup, especially in places like the hill climb in FBI. I always run with AoL to start since I (more often than not) don't know these people or their relative skill. Now if they demonstrate they have scrolls or are skillful players, takes one or maybe two seconds to swap out for Wisdom or some other aura if a Prot is running in the tank slot. Like I said, you're spot on with the advice but It comes with some assumptions.

greywynd · January 2019

I want a bigger mace to smite evil with.

pitmonster · January 2019

greywynd said:
I want a bigger mace to smite evil with.

I did find that in the Underdark, the one vendor that you can exchange Alliance Goods that you collect during the campaign, there is an absurdly large sword transmute that was available for my pally. Its the size of a GWF sword and with my dwarf looks pretty hilarious with him wielding it one handedly.

feioso123 · January 2019

Most groups will expect you to bane and have both Courage and Wisdom up...Bond and Vow are the other 2 staple powers, paired with oath strike and radiant strike (cure wounds is very...VERY...situational)...Judgement and SoF for daylies, etc...

^ This gets boring af really soon, the fun lies in what groups don't expect you to do but will often work wonders...like using relentless avenger (instead of Bond/Vow) on bosses like Strahd for the massive AP gain every few secs meaning a much higher SoF uptime; going full Burnadin on kteam runs up to CN (maybe FBI), since most of our damge is unaffected by the IL drop...you can keep up and often do more dmg than a similar geared GWF/HR (it's freakin hilarious).

pitmonster · January 2019

feioso123 said:
Most groups will expect you to bane and have both Courage and Wisdom up...Bond and Vow are the other 2 staple powers, paired with oath strike and radiant strike (cure wounds is very...VERY...situational)...Judgement and SoF for daylies, etc...

^ This gets boring af really soon, the fun lies in what groups don't expect you to do but will often work wonders...like using relentless avenger (instead of Bond/Vow) on bosses like Strahd for the massive AP gain every few secs meaning a much higher SoF uptime; going full Burnadin on kteam runs up to CN (maybe FBI), since most of our damge is unaffected by the IL drop...you can keep up and often do more dmg than a similar geared GWF/HR (it's freakin hilarious).

Was trying to figure out how you are getting AP from relentless avenger. Does that work off a feat, is it a artifact power? Could not find that. Thanks.

majorcharvenak · January 2019

pitmonster#5684 said:

feioso123 said:
Most groups will expect you to bane and have both Courage and Wisdom up...Bond and Vow are the other 2 staple powers, paired with oath strike and radiant strike (cure wounds is very...VERY...situational)...Judgement and SoF for daylies, etc...

^ This gets boring af really soon, the fun lies in what groups don't expect you to do but will often work wonders...like using relentless avenger (instead of Bond/Vow) on bosses like Strahd for the massive AP gain every few secs meaning a much higher SoF uptime; going full Burnadin on kteam runs up to CN (maybe FBI), since most of our damge is unaffected by the IL drop...you can keep up and often do more dmg than a similar geared GWF/HR (it's freakin hilarious).
Was trying to figure out how you are getting AP from relentless avenger. Does that work off a feat, is it a artifact power? Could not find that. Thanks.

It gives me about 25% of my AP back a shot. Its not mentioned in the tool tip at all but its a big giver of AP when used by a devo. During boss fights, with high enough recovery you can perma-SoF.

feioso123 · January 2019

Relentless Avenger as Devo gives you AP for every enemy AND ally hit, thats why it gives a lot more AP than it's Prot version...I've seen it give close to 50% AP at once, but I have relatively high recovery.

majorcharvenak · January 2019

feioso123 said:
Relentless Avenger as Devo gives you AP for every enemy AND ally hit, thats why it gives a lot more AP than it's Prot version...I've seen it give close to 50% AP at once, but I have relatively high recovery.

Forgot to add the targeting allies aspect of it. Thanks for that!

pitmonster · January 2019

Thanks for the info.

krsbaws · January 2019

Generally, in my experience, if someone is asking for a devo, they want someone who can keep 3 stacks of Bane up on the dps, anything else is circumstantial!

Usually you will have a GF-tact tank in the party for a meta run so the devo is there for bane (and obviously power share, aoc & aura of wisdom). Providing heals can help but not really why you are there!

My devo setup is pretty similar to my prot-op in terms of feats (justice with powersharw from light), always have bond of virtue running and bane slotted for the dps...3rd power is always either vow of emnity for healing / damage loop via healing warmth skt boon, relentless avenger for mad ap gain + annoying scrubs with knockback OR if you have a dps GF to buff, absolution with its HP shield

Qu: What do you want in a group with a Oathbound Paladin Devotion build?

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