I love my toon and I've been playing him for several mods/years now. 27k item level, 150+ power, 85 other caps, and arguably Bis equipment (storytellers, scarf/sash, etc.), legendary companions wa bolster of 13.5 and up, max shadowclad and dread. I really wanted to play a bad A dps like the warlock because they look cool and I thought would be top tier. Now don't get me wrong, I out perform many in dungeons, and I enjoy the difficulty of the warlock class (another reason I chose it, technical play not just button smashing), however when I'm out classed by a cleric w less gear, il, etc., it just makes me sad. I'm a bad player and don't know the class? I've tried numerous power combinations, features, feats, 90 companions!, and a cleric goes pew pew a couple of times and I'm left in the dust. A cleric. I don't understand why this is, but like I said, it just makes me sad. Like many others I've invested a lot of time and cash in my toon, but if I'm going to be out dps by a cleric then at least remove the scoreboard so I'm not so down and I can at least imagine that I was the one doing all the damage.
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Let the Clerics have their days on the dps chart, eventually another class will come by to take the top spot. Of the dozen of clerics I know on my friends list, only four actually play dps role seriously. Most of them prefer healing role, myself included.
It's hard to beat a class that can pull ~24+ million in a single burst in Tower runs.
While I am no SW expert, I believe that you are running the wrong gear from what you mentioned. This is because much of the best DPS gear is mostly the same between most classes...
150,000 Power is somewhat low for a DPS with your gear investment, you should be at least in the ~180,000s range while resting.
What companions are you using (Deepcrow? Alpha Compy? Minstrel)?
What companion gear are you using?
What runestones are you using? (Empowered in offensive slots, Profane in defensive?)
What insignias are you using? (Brutality/Dominance?)
What enchantments are you running in your character offensive slots? (Radiants?)
Your weapon enchant also needs a change. Dread got hit with a huge nerfbat in Mod 16, to the point where it is not worth using. I recall some SWs I talked to suggested Vorpal or Bilethorn were pretty good for your class.
I also believe that your 3 piece set is not very good. The "deal 10% of damage as unresistable damage" has been laughably useless since Mod 6, if not earlier, and the bonus attributes don't add much to an overall build. I recall reading that SWs are shifting over to the Mad Mage set.
Anyways, there's probably more that you're missing. I don't know the ins and outs of SW, but this gear list/setup by Fandango should be a decent place to follow for SW guidance.
I am curious, you say, "150,000 Power is somewhat low for a DPS with your gear investment, you should be at least in the ~180,000s range while resting. " Can this be attained without being in a level 20 Guild with max power buff? If so, how?
EDIT: Also without using an augment companion?
Anyway, rjc9000 gave some great pointers already. As for everything else, we'll see what M19 brings.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
Warlock averages 180 to 200mil, wizard averages around 240 to 260mil, cleric averages around 260 to 280mil in a 15min to 20min tomm.
Both wizard and cleric can add buff ranged damage while putting up 20 to 30% more damage than a warlock. Warlocks are still subpar and offer nothing to group buffs.
Besides fighter, every other dps path class outperforms the warlock at maxed endgame by a margin of 20 to 30% at single target damage. The sad state is that this is still the best warlocks have performed since mod 16 preview till now.
The only way warlocks are within 10% damage of other dps classes is if there are large chunks of aoe damage to close the gap such as in IC.
Aside from the obvious, there are a lot of factors to get your "paingiver" high even with lower itemlevel and power on any class, but this is way easier for an Arbiter (Cleric DPS paragon).
Arbiters have essentially 0 cooldown, as you can slot in encounters that use divinity and has like ~1 sec cooldown. These encounters can also hit more than 1 enemy, since they are AoE, so PROPER POSITIONING to hit everything, would drastically increase the paingiver chart. This is especially true with small packs of mobs to bigger pulls.
If the other dps arrive and fight at the scene first, chances are enemies are almost dead when you use your encounters/dailies/at wills, and the others are already heading to the next pack, leaving you with your encounters on cooldown, being unable to dish much damage.
Again on positioning, as I see so many ranged people who cant get over the fact that they want to play from far away, are still losing combat advantage damage when they are TOO FAR, and if this cleric that outdpsed you fights mobs mostly at melee range, flanking mobs between him and the tank(or another player), then the cleric will deal far way more damage than you when you dont have Combat Advantage.
Proper positioning, wise use of encounters/dailies, and not dying are the key to getting paingiver topped, if that is a thing you are concerned with.
A cleric i know started topping paingiver in IC with 120kpower, but capped offensive stats, defense, and high enough HP, even if he was not using a "damaging" neck-waist-arti set by just applying what i mentioned above.
In one run, this same cleric didnt leave the SW who has also a dps far behind in damage at the end of IC, which was around less than 10 mil difference, which is easily just a few critical strikes of encounters/dailies, which is just reliant on luck.
While that SW may just be an exception, and not all SW can do damage like him, the same goes to any other class, not all barbs can deal damage, not all CWs do damage, not all HRs, TRs and Fighters do damage, and the Cleric is no exception.
I hope you figure them out!
Was excited to try out end game and pvp, but this thread just bummed me out!
Overpowered 60 CW ~ Thaumaturge 14.5k
==========================================
~ GF Buffs were great we are much better, please fix the bugs now... Thank you!
If you compare Wizard, the daily experience of questing is much more enjoyable as Warlock. Wizard AoE is flat-out bad. Boss DPS is some of the best in the game, but not hugely better than other top DPS, and not as good as Arbiter.
Warlock is competent at everything. Not the strongest AoE, but not the worst or the slowest. Not the highest single-target damage, but solid. It takes more skill to play a Warlock well in boss fights, but the damage potential is a bit lower than it should be.
The problem with paying too much attention to the complaints is that jumping ship to play other classes is only a good idea if you enjoy them. If you stopped playing Warlock prematurely just because someone said it was weak (it's not), that would be kind of silly.
Let's also not forget that M16 gave us an entirely new game in many respects, and we know from past experience that a few tweaks on Cryptic's end can easily shift the balance. I main a few different characters, but I've happily kept my Warlock pretty well updated and alternate playing him in ToMM to make good use of my keys.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
For example, the weapon enchantment you had at the start of the thread was very bad, and you weren't using one of the better neck and belt sets. These things may seem small on their own, but just a few tweaks in terms of equipment (not just Power) can make the difference of tens of millions of damage in a ToMM run.
My point is just that there are other things you could be doing to bridge a portion of that gap. No, Arbiter is not a fair comparison in the current state of the game, but there are a lot of moving parts to making any class perform at their best.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
Overpowered 60 CW ~ Thaumaturge 14.5k
==========================================
~ GF Buffs were great we are much better, please fix the bugs now... Thank you!
I get that you're very dissatisfied, but hyperbole isn't helpful.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
> DPS Warlock is fun, but it's almost a useless spec to be honest. At least there are better option for end game DPS.
Sounds more like you run it incorrectly if you think it is useless
> (Quote)
> No matter how good you can be..the class is wrong and ALL community see Warlock as a weak DPS class. No matter rotation, build, gear, etc. Other classes are better than you, and they will pick them and not a Warlock, it's a fact. The "you're running it wrong" is a topic here: https://arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1251903/theres-nothing-wrong-with-the-warlock-class-you-just-dont-know-how-to-play-it When people are LF a HDPS they are not thinking about Warlock, and yes, you can be carried but nothing more, Warlock isn't an optimal DPS, the class is a little bit better than in Mod 16, but still weak and we're behind other classes.
No one carries my Warlock. I don’t need to care about what any misinformed LFG channel person thinks about the class because I’ve proven that I can perform and do it well enough that dealing enough damage for ToMM is not an issue. Does my Wizard do more? Yes, but he does more than almost anyone except a strong Arbiter. Doesn’t make Warlock the worst DPS ever or somehow crippled and needing a carry.
Please stop trying to suggest that Warlock is broken and useless. It runs counter to your objective, because no one will take your constructive criticism of the class seriously when you continue to say things that aren’t true.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
Yes warlock if fun to play.
But the truth is that I am still feeling carried for endgame instances, because there are are always better players than you, or broken classes of the moment, or players/classes with better burst or better overall damage/self-buffs. All the problem of balance (I don't know why we were given crappy magnitudes when mod 16 was released).
For me, dps warlocks are just fillers when an endgame group is created, they are not expected to be first dps (especially on solo target). If the target is burst too quickly by other players, you can say goodbye to to your own dps, especially if you cannot stack self-buffs (because of fight interruptions).
The mod 19 preview gives some hope though, even if broken classes still exist.