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The Virtuous Cleric (DPS)
wintersmercy
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New thread in the Temple. http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?211521-The-original-Virtuous-Cleric-%28DPS-hybrid-build%29
Why would I not spec for healing?
The Faithful spec is fantastic, but some of us just don't enjoy healing in PVE that much and want to try something different. The Virtuous path lacks the powerful Hallowed Ground buff, and some damage mitigation from the Foresight buff. But in exchange, you get a very active playstyle that lets you do large amounts of AE damage, build up to dailies very fast, and contribute to your team. Crucially, you can main-heal a lot of content (definitely T1 epics, quite probably T2) but be a very solid DPS and add-manager if there's another priest in the group.
There are currently three Faithful-path cleric builds up on the forum, so I thought I would share my Virtuous-path build (the thread title is a trick, as this can do some decent healing as well). I do the occasional bit of PVP and I've run T1 dungeons without issue (almost 3-manned epic Trayven Blackdagger with a TR and CW, until a running-out-of-potions problem). I cannot say whether this build is any good as the healer in a T2 dungeon or beyond! It almost certainly is less flexible for T2 dungeons than a dedicated healer. It's great for grinding, soloing, and Foundry quests. In PVP it tends to die fast to groups (such is the Cleric's lot), but that's probably an artefact of the way I've geared up.
I've included a link at the end of the post to the build, but the build calculator says there are only 3 levels of Healing Action. In fact there are 5, and I have 5 points in Healing Action and none in Greater Fortune. My starting stats as a human were focused entirely on getting the highest possible STR. In retrospect, I may have gone for one or two more CHA points (as it is, I just gear more for Recovery, but as I get set items that flexibility is reduced). Because of the bonus AP for critical hits, this means unless I'm being constantly chased by Trayvan Blackdagger, I can refill my AP bar very rapidly (and Divinity is rarely an issue).
At my current gearscore (7.4k), I'm sitting at 36% to crit, 35% faster cooldowns, and 46% action point bonuses.
STR - 16 (+2 racial bonus)
DEX - 12
CON - 12
INT - 12
WIS - 16
CHA - 12
STR and CHA raised during levelling.
Bread and butter - grinding/Foundry:
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Brand of the Sun
Encounter - Divine Glow
Encounter - Daunting Light
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
This is all about doing as much damage as possible to clear out the trash mobs, so you can sit in Astral Shield and DPS down big mobs. Very simple, very fast. Divine Glow pulls them in, so they're tightly packed for Daunting Light (or you can Divinity it).
Tier One - trash (as healer)
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Astral Seal
Encounter - Divine Glow
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
Similar to the grinding loadout, but with Astral Seal and Forgemaster's Flame for extra healing.
Tier One - bosses
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Astral Seal
Encounter - Divine Glow (Break the Spirit if the boss hits hard)
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Hallowed Grounds
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour (Divine Fortune, if adds are killing you fast)
Class - Terrifying Insight (Foresight, if adds are killing you fast)
Break the Spirit gets a look-in here, debuffing the boss - I'm taking it on faith that this is noticeable, I haven't tested it (I probably should). Divine Fortune and Foresight come in if I have to kite adds around and my chances to gain Divinity and AP are reduced. Hammer of Fate is in instead of Flamestrike because Flamestrike does rather poor damage. Hammer of Fate lets you stand still and take minimal damage from many boss attacks, which helps with stamina management and for building Divinity. Also I've had crits of over 34k with it, which is nice.
PVP
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Brand of the Sun
Encounter - Break the Spirit
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
All about Divinity management. All of the encounters benefit from Divinity, Astral Shield is the priority here, the other two are situational. Again this makes the untested assumption that Break the Spirit is good.
http://reyva.com/resources/neverwinter-powers-feat-simulator.9/#eg8dJ30HwJvdftYct9SqrHEytJYi3oEwy6Eq2iLjrZaIkAQNuTu7cKTVQQMdKU0FdZVqb
Why would I not spec for healing?
The Faithful spec is fantastic, but some of us just don't enjoy healing in PVE that much and want to try something different. The Virtuous path lacks the powerful Hallowed Ground buff, and some damage mitigation from the Foresight buff. But in exchange, you get a very active playstyle that lets you do large amounts of AE damage, build up to dailies very fast, and contribute to your team. Crucially, you can main-heal a lot of content (definitely T1 epics, quite probably T2) but be a very solid DPS and add-manager if there's another priest in the group.
There are currently three Faithful-path cleric builds up on the forum, so I thought I would share my Virtuous-path build (the thread title is a trick, as this can do some decent healing as well). I do the occasional bit of PVP and I've run T1 dungeons without issue (almost 3-manned epic Trayven Blackdagger with a TR and CW, until a running-out-of-potions problem). I cannot say whether this build is any good as the healer in a T2 dungeon or beyond! It almost certainly is less flexible for T2 dungeons than a dedicated healer. It's great for grinding, soloing, and Foundry quests. In PVP it tends to die fast to groups (such is the Cleric's lot), but that's probably an artefact of the way I've geared up.
I've included a link at the end of the post to the build, but the build calculator says there are only 3 levels of Healing Action. In fact there are 5, and I have 5 points in Healing Action and none in Greater Fortune. My starting stats as a human were focused entirely on getting the highest possible STR. In retrospect, I may have gone for one or two more CHA points (as it is, I just gear more for Recovery, but as I get set items that flexibility is reduced). Because of the bonus AP for critical hits, this means unless I'm being constantly chased by Trayvan Blackdagger, I can refill my AP bar very rapidly (and Divinity is rarely an issue).
At my current gearscore (7.4k), I'm sitting at 36% to crit, 35% faster cooldowns, and 46% action point bonuses.
STR - 16 (+2 racial bonus)
DEX - 12
CON - 12
INT - 12
WIS - 16
CHA - 12
STR and CHA raised during levelling.
Bread and butter - grinding/Foundry:
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Brand of the Sun
Encounter - Divine Glow
Encounter - Daunting Light
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
This is all about doing as much damage as possible to clear out the trash mobs, so you can sit in Astral Shield and DPS down big mobs. Very simple, very fast. Divine Glow pulls them in, so they're tightly packed for Daunting Light (or you can Divinity it).
Tier One - trash (as healer)
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Astral Seal
Encounter - Divine Glow
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
Similar to the grinding loadout, but with Astral Seal and Forgemaster's Flame for extra healing.
Tier One - bosses
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Astral Seal
Encounter - Divine Glow (Break the Spirit if the boss hits hard)
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Hallowed Grounds
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour (Divine Fortune, if adds are killing you fast)
Class - Terrifying Insight (Foresight, if adds are killing you fast)
Break the Spirit gets a look-in here, debuffing the boss - I'm taking it on faith that this is noticeable, I haven't tested it (I probably should). Divine Fortune and Foresight come in if I have to kite adds around and my chances to gain Divinity and AP are reduced. Hammer of Fate is in instead of Flamestrike because Flamestrike does rather poor damage. Hammer of Fate lets you stand still and take minimal damage from many boss attacks, which helps with stamina management and for building Divinity. Also I've had crits of over 34k with it, which is nice.
PVP
At Will - Lance of Faith
At Will - Brand of the Sun
Encounter - Break the Spirit
Encounter - Forgemaster's Flame
Encounter - Astral Shield
Daily - Flame Strike
Daily - Hammer of Fate
Class - Holy Fervour
Class - Terrifying Insight
All about Divinity management. All of the encounters benefit from Divinity, Astral Shield is the priority here, the other two are situational. Again this makes the untested assumption that Break the Spirit is good.
http://reyva.com/resources/neverwinter-powers-feat-simulator.9/#eg8dJ30HwJvdftYct9SqrHEytJYi3oEwy6Eq2iLjrZaIkAQNuTu7cKTVQQMdKU0FdZVqb
Post edited by wintersmercy on
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Comments
EDIT: Nevermind, I see now that it is a paragon power.
I have not been that impressed with my 2 builds in CB that went deep into Virtuous. It stalls pretty fast after Rising Hope. There is a debuff (which is ok for super bosses), and a very short window debuff on Daunting (maybe 25% uptime at best with massive Rec build)
If you use Sacred Flame anyways, Deepstone is a massive increase to your healing in close combat. Link Spirit I have yet to test much, but seems like a pretty kickass buff to the party.
Power of Life buffs Sacred Flame so your Deepstone is in effect more often.
Moontouched buffs your group dps daily (Hallowed) to the next level by adding insane regen.
Food for thought.
What's the actual figure on Divine Glow with Divinity in terms of a damage boost? I do have Hallowed Ground in the build (as you can see in one of the loadouts above), I just don't have Moontouched. In that it's not in the Virtuous tree.
But this is a DPS cleric build that doesn't focus on PVE, and it doesn't have anything in the Faithful tree. I deliberately did not claim it to be the optimal healing/damage prevention build. There are a number of Faithful-path PVE builds up here, all quite similar, all of which take great advantage of the fantastic powers you mention. For what it's worth, I think you're right - the Virtuous tree has a weak ultimate and the 5 points to get to it are filler (5% on Lance of Faith non-crits). It's quite obvious, I think, that Cryptic worked out Faithful but neglected the other two trees (Righteous is simply terrible, past the first ten points).
If you wanted to focus purely on PVP, you'd probably gear for Armour Penetration and take 5/5 Templar's Domain (perhaps losing 2 points from Holy Resolve and 3 points from Repurpose Soul).
I think what happened is that those two trees don't have their respective paragon paths implemented yet, so they can't play off the provided powers.
It could be, but I'd struggle to think of a use for Warding Shield, Righteous Flames, or Restoration Mastery.
Searing Light
It must've changed. New link would be: http://reyva.com/resources/neverwinter-powers-feat-simulator.9/#eg8dJ30HwJvdftYct9SqrHEytJYi3oEwy6Eq2iLjrZaIkAQNuTu7cKTVQQMdKU0FdZVqb
Because that isn't the most powerful DPS spell in most situations. It's great to level with, but by 60 you can provide so much more by using other spells. I'll post some more up about this, this evening (about to go to work).
Edit:
The only scenario I can think of where Searing Light is more effective than Divine Glow and Daunting Light is where you're in an XP farm map. Other cleric spells are currently capped at FIVE targets (I swear it was ten before). Searing Light, because of the way it works, can have five primary targets each of which will then hit five secondary targets. Chances of there regularly being over five mobs in your target area, in most dungeons, are slim.
I'll make a new one with some extra notes soon. I'll also write out the feats and powers.
cool. mind giving your virtuous tree though, since i'm getting to that level and not really sure which feats actually look useful. the first two look pretty <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, so i dunno if i should go 5 points into rising hope (no idea how often it procs)