Buying skills at level 69

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violetvalor
violetvalor Posts: 2 Arc User
edited October 2010 in Cleric
So I am excited that at level 69, there are no new skills to buy and as such I can catch up on skills! =D

But now the dilemma... which ones?

Below is what I have been thinking but I feel lost with respect to what might be best.

Chromatic Healing Beam (already level 1)
I hear I will use this later on in instances. This and Stream of Rejuvenation are the only support skills I have left. Though for Stream of Rejuvenation, I hear that I should leave that for later because of its cost and that I will not really be in need of that until later on anyway. For this, I guess the question is, how much will I be using this in the early 70's? To be honest, I do not usually use this skill much yet. I have not needed to really so far, though as I do more TT's I might need to. I have mostly only used this when doing BH51 at Rankar to heal all us squishies in the back from the AoE. But level 1 has sufficed for that. I am unsure if I will need these to be stronger later. Though I am sure bosses later on will have stronger AoE attacks.

Silent Seal (already level 1)
Chromatic Seal (already level 1)
These I found to be really nice when I need to kite a creature although that is pretty rare. Though there was a time when having these level up some would have helped a lot due to the extended duration of the skills. I guess I could also use this to sleep the mob if I get heal aggro... which, sadly, happens more often than I care for. In that case, the extra range will be nice.

Razor Feathers (already level 1)
Siren's Kiss (already level 1)
Tempest (already level 1)
I hear that clerics need to do lots of AoE grinding on wood creatures at level 70+ so that is where these skills come in. I already have Purify at level 9, the highest I can for my level. The thing is though that Tempest costs so much!

Wield Thunder (already level 2)
So I can have a good strong single target attack. However, it seems that just using Cyclone + Plume Shot (both of which I have maxed) gives more damage per mana spent and per time too as Wield Thunder takes longer to channel. And the range is less so even if I use it as a starter skill, I sacrifice getting another one or two Cyclones or Plume Shots in.

Metal Mastery (already level 4)
So all my metal attacks get a small boost. Though it is small and I guess it would primarily only affect Cyclone so maybe I should just leave it until later.


What do you all think?
Post edited by violetvalor on

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  • miyago
    miyago Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    I would recommend leveling your healing skills first. You won't be damaging that much at your level. Therefore, level Chromatic healing beam and Stream of Rejuvenation because you will need both. Having both of these at level 1 when you're level 69 is pretty bad already. :P Definitely level these up first.

    Silient and Chromatic seal are good mostly for pvp. They won't paralyze/sleep for long unless they're semi-high level. Don't worry about these for now.

    Razor feathers and siren's kiss are, for the most part, useless. You can use them for aoe in GV, or perhaps during pvp, but very very rarely is it used. Leave to level last.

    Wield Thunder and Tempest are fun, but costs a lot of mana, and tempest costs valuable sparks. Level these after your support skills are maxed.

    You will gain useful skills at 79, so make sure you have enough money and spirit points for them.
  • DeadRaven - Sanctuary
    DeadRaven - Sanctuary Posts: 407 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    My 2 cents: I agree with what you said about the merits of using plume shot and cyclone for DPS and mp efficiency at your level so I would leave wield thunder for later (especially considering its cost). Also, you are spot on about the benefits of aoe grinding on wood mobs...which is a great source for money as well as for gaining experience.

    Thus, I would recommend leveling Metal Mastery for the boost in damage out put and razor feathers for aoe grinding. Unlike tempest, razor feathers is relatively cheap to level and does not require sparks to use. I solo aoe grind all the time and can not imagine doing so without razor feathers (*IH, gather mobs, spark, razor feather, IH, razor feather, IH, razor feather, dead mobs everywhere*). Next, I would slowly work on leveling chromatic healing beam which will definitely prove useful in the levels ahead, particularly where BB can not be used due to mobs/bosses that will break it. Edit: Personally, I would not bother with stream of rejuvenation, it is expensive and there is nothing that you will need it for that a combination of IH and wellspring can't handle... at least until you are at a level to start doing FCC and higher instances (actually, I don't even find that I need it in FCC either lol).

    In any case, by the time you hit the later 70's, you will find that you have plenty of spirit at your disposal, so it will not really make a huge difference what you decide to get at your currently level :)
  • MystiMonk - Sanctuary
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary Posts: 4,286 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    I wouldn't worry about your seals as mine are lvl 1 or close to it.I would lvl up Chromatic to 6 for now.You want to lvl up Wield Thunder and Metal Mastery as much as you can.I would only concern yourself with RF and sirens Kiss if you plan on AoE farming wood mobs but you can still single target these mobs with Wield Thunder,Great Cyclone and Plume Shot.
    Looking for a decent casual understanding Faction.
  • vristion
    vristion Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Depends on your play style really...

    Obviously if you plan to be nothing more than some PvE heal bot. Healing and benificial spells should come first.

    If you plan to be a battle PvP cleric, most part survivability will need to be a focus, that when things such as seal is important, then detrimental spells.

    To pvp alot (TW/PK) you will have to spread it around a lil when upgrading because you will still have to be a healer.
  • violetvalor
    violetvalor Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    I am not particularly fond of pking. Though I guess I do alright. I mean among duels with various players roughly my level, I win at least as much as I loose. I have won battles I did not think I would, which was exciting. =)

    Though I find I enjoy the taking down a dungeon or boss as a squad working together to be the funnest part of the game. ^^

    Though it seems to me that either way, I need to be able to survive. I mean I cannot be an effective healer in my squad nor can I be an effective player killer when dead or unable to stay alive well.

    The sleeping seals allowed me to solo mobs/minibosses when no one would come help me. ^^; So I end up seeing them as survival tools in dungeons. I can even use them to sleep a mob if I ended up getting heal aggro. That and plume shell also saved my life. ^^;

    Really, the only reason I am considering Razor Feathers, Siren's Kiss, and Tempest is that I hear that in the 70's, for clerics especially, this "AoE grinding" is what is done and that it gives great experience, spirit, and coins -- all things I need. ^^; But I am guessing from the responses that what I heard need not hold true. So is it?

    Really the main reason I am considering Metal Mastery is that when I am out questing and killing the creatures, I always find myself wishing either Plume Shot or Cyclone or both were just a little stronger so I could kill the creature in one less hit and therefore also take less hits too.
  • Dyskrasia - Heavens Tear
    Dyskrasia - Heavens Tear Posts: 2,161 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    You should work on Tempest and Razor Feathers to be able to aoe grind in the 70s, yea. There are some pretty good locations for petalis, and it's fun/worthwhile. But you've still got a few levels to go for that... I didn't start until I was 74 or 75.
    As for the aoe heal... I actually didn't use it that often in the 70s. The only squad work I did was bh59 and although it's certainly good to have, I can't think of many instances in which it would have made a significant difference. I would try to max it as much as you can before getting to 80 and doing bh69, though.
    As for metal mastery increasing your damage output... if I'm not mistaken, it wouldn't really affect plume shot. So if you went that route, it would be a good idea to get metal mastery and wield at the same time and start using wield as an opener.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Evict is a sexy chalupa. <3
    retired, etc
  • Vraii - Sanctuary
    Vraii - Sanctuary Posts: 46 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Well, I just finished the 70's and I'll tell you what I used:

    Chromatic Healing Beam/Stream of Rejuvination: You wont use SoR. At this point its easier to just wellspring and ironheart for the same effect with better healing power. Chromatic, however, I used at 75+. At lvl 75 you'll be able to enter FCC and some bosses wont let you BB. It will be imperative that you have CHB at this point because you simply won't have time to heal targets indvidually. When I did my first FCC my CHB was only level 1 and I ended up needing to cast twice to get a decent heal. Now at level 7 I can cast once and it tops off most squad members, other than a barb of course. If you are going to FCC, level it, and not just a couple levels but as many as you can.


    Silent/Chromatic Seals: Nice in theory, but the words "up to" in the description just kill me. Also, if you are with a squad you wont be using it. Just leave them lower and focus on skills that will really make a difference.

    Razor Feathers/Sirens Kiss/Tempest: The only one of these I use regularly was Razor Feathers for aoe grinding. With SK youre forced to be in the middle of a group of mobs to use it, and I never like to stand in the middle if I can help it. Tempest is amazing, but so expensive and takes a while between uses. You're better off using those sparks for damage increase on your razor feathers.

    Wield Thunder: I love wt. Combined with metal mastery it is a great opening skill. Horrible to cast in the middle of a fight due to the insane channeling, but as an opener followed by cyclone it rocks. The only time I don't use this as an opener when I'm solo grinding is on metal mobs (which there seem to be a lot of quests for in the 70's).

    Metal Mastery: Get it. Only because of this skill can my Cyclone compete with Plume shot damage on metal mobs. As I said, there are a lot of metal mob quests in your 70's and youll be thankful to get the slow from cyclone without the super duper wimpy damage. Also, on wood mobs, it saves tons of time. With a WT opener followed by Cyclone it can turn a 4-hit kill into a 3-hit kill, and save you from being hit yourself.
  • violetvalor
    violetvalor Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    I thought FCC was not until level ~85+ ? In fact, in world chat, the lowest level sought I have seen is level 82. Though I need to do a lot of TT 1-X runs for my TT70 gear and I do not know how useful Chromatic Healing Beam and Stream of Rejuvenation would be there.

    I never really thought of using Wield Thunder as an opener since it had such short range at level 1 and I could almost kill the mob by the time it reached me using just Plume Shot and Great Cyclone. Maybe now that I can level it up some, the extra damage (and range it now gives) might be good. Though I noticed that my Great Cylcone seems to not quite have the damage output compared to my Plume Shot.

    When I first started out, there was this concept of choosing between "Full Attack Cleric" or "Full Support Cleric". I could not choose so I tried to have a balance. With the input here, I think I have a balance that can be good and maybe last me at least a couple levels at which point I will have some more spirit again and can get more skills leveled up. =)

    Level 7 Wield Thunder (level 2 now)
    Level 6 Metal Mastery (level 4 now)
    Level 4 Chromatic Healing Beam (level 1 now)
  • MystiMonk - Sanctuary
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary Posts: 4,286 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    violetvalor wrote: »

    Really the main reason I am considering Metal Mastery is that when I am out questing and killing the creatures, I always find myself wishing either Plume Shot or Cyclone or both were just a little stronger so I could kill the creature in one less hit and therefore also take less hits too.

    Metal Mastery doesn't effect Plume shot only your Metal attack skills.
    When I first started out, there was this concept of choosing between "Full Attack Cleric" or "Full Support Cleric". I could not choose so I tried to have a balance. With the input here, I think I have a balance that can be good and maybe last me at least a couple levels at which point I will have some more spirit again and can get more skills leveled up.
    Don't do this.

    You don't need to aoe grind if you want only reason that is done is to speed it up and Clerics don't do this for lvling they do it for the coin.I need my siren Kiss and RF lvl up more to but for now I just single target mobs.
    Looking for a decent casual understanding Faction.
  • Vassaga - Heavens Tear
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear Posts: 37 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Tempest is nice, but it sucks for aoe grinding - you wont often have two sparks.. It's awesome when u can actually cast it, but I'd rather level razor feathers and siren's kiss (only one spark).

    Chromatic healing beam can be left at lvl 1 for a while. If/when you plan to do FF - you should go into it with maxed squad heal and purify (which you should max/level up before or about bh69).

    Wield Thunder is great. But my demon cyclone does about same damage as level 10 Wield, so I'm not using it so often anymore..

    Max mastery, max wield thunder - level up feathers/sirens - i leveled up mine from money I was gaining. And I grinded on level 70ish poison mobs A LOT. Could make like 3mil during 2x drops. That's when I bought mats for my tt90 gear :)
  • Shavonne_ - Heavens Tear
    Shavonne_ - Heavens Tear Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    ^
    inb4urnotaclericcomments
  • violetvalor
    violetvalor Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »
    Metal Mastery doesn't effect Plume shot only your Metal attack skills.
    I know this. But Metal Mastery will up my Great Cyclone's Damage. I was hoping for at least one of my two main attacks to be just a little stronger so that I can kill creatures in one less hit. So, Metal Mastery helps. ^^;
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »
    Don't do this.
    I do not understand what you refer to by "this".
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »
    You don't need to aoe grind if you want only reason that is done is to speed it up and Clerics don't do this for lvling they do it for the coin.I need my siren Kiss and RF lvl up more to but for now I just single target mobs.

    I see, I thought it was for all three: experience, spirit, coins.


    Anyway, I have a question about AoE grinding. If you kill all the creatures in an area, will you not need to just sit around and wait for them to respawn? That seems inefficient compared to cycling through them one at a time and then by the time you reach the end of the cycle, the first creature you killed has respawned?
  • violetvalor
    violetvalor Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Vassaga - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    Tempest is nice, but it sucks for aoe grinding - you wont often have two sparks.. It's awesome when u can actually cast it, but I'd rather level razor feathers and siren's kiss (only one spark).

    Even though Siren's Kiss seems to not do a lot of damage given its cost?
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    Chromatic healing beam can be left at lvl 1 for a while. If/when you plan to do FF - you should go into it with maxed squad heal and purify (which you should max/level up before or about bh69).

    Thanks for the tip. =)
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    Wield Thunder is great. But my demon cyclone does about same damage as level 10 Wield, so I'm not using it so often anymore..

    This I am unsure about unless you are comparing in the time it takes to cast 1 level 10 Wield Thunder. I think level 10 Wield Thunder wins on a per hit basis.

    Demon Great Cyclone = base magic damage + 100% weapon damage + 3980.0
    Wield Thunder level 10 = base magic damage + 200% weapon damage + 4583.3
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    Max mastery, max wield thunder - level up feathers/sirens - i leveled up mine from money I was gaining. And I grinded on level 70ish poison mobs A LOT. Could make like 3mil during 2x drops. That's when I bought mats for my tt90 gear :)

    3 million coins per what time? From the discussion I gather that perhaps my biggest question that I need to answer is if I want to do the AoE grinding, yes?
  • Catching - Lost City
    Catching - Lost City Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Th emobs spawn with the same interwall. Dosnt mater if u AOE grind or 1 at teh time. But u have to pick up drops (hopefully) and u can regen ure MP while wating dosnt take long.
    And don't forge the best part of all. U have to be pissed sometimes over ppl coming and taking ure drops while u kill the last mobs that didnt die.
    Realy realy hates when ppl do that or when they thnk "Ohh a cleric with 10+ mobs after her/him I beter help. 1 Sec later that pesron is dead and all the mobs run back to where they was from the begining. and u hav eto start over agin with the luring. b:angry
  • Vassaga - Heavens Tear
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear Posts: 37 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Sirens kiss is good. I mostly use it as a finisher, as it has pretty fast channeling time, at least when compared to tempest. Damage is nice too. Tempest I normally use VERY rarely in aoe grinding, because it takes a lot of time for demon cleric to build up chi (especially when u don't have demon purify QQ), and rather then using cloud eruption, I keep genie available for nullify poison.
    Mind you, I keep it just in case, as I grind on over 15 mobs at the same time, and they stack poison really fast. Occasionally when I do get 2 sparks I throw tempest down for the one-shot luls =)
    I can't really say exactly how much damage do I do normally, because I use glaive, and glaive has wide attack range x.x

    You were right on damage.. Damage I do actually is - cyclone does 1k less damage (this greatly differs because of glaive - wish I had a wand instead for more accurate comparison). That's reason why I'm not using Wield as an opener anymore. I just go through demon cyclone/plume cause they both cast in about same time as Thunder...

    3 mil coins per few hours. Those poison petali's or whatever their name is, are very generous. But, don't wait for 2x drops to grind. Atm, I'm aoe grinding as well =)

    You also asked:
    Anyway, I have a question about AoE grinding. If you kill all the creatures in an area, will you not need to just sit around and wait for them to respawn? That seems inefficient compared to cycling through them one at a time and then by the time you reach the end of the cycle, the first creature you killed has respawned?

    Well, at the moment, I'm grinding on spiders, and they respawn very quickly.. Those poison mobs I mentioned have pretty fast respawn rate as well, so it's good :)
    And its more efficient then killing a single mob. I kill group of 15 mobs in 3-4 hits..


    @Catching
    Do you even know why do people aoe grind??
  • SoulPeace - Sanctuary
    SoulPeace - Sanctuary Posts: 172 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    violetvalor wrote: »
    So I am excited that at level 69, there are no new skills to buy and as such I can catch up on skills! =D

    But now the dilemma... which ones?

    Below is what I have been thinking but I feel lost with respect to what might be best.

    Chromatic Healing Beam (already level 1)
    I hear I will use this later on in instances. This and Stream of Rejuvenation are the only support skills I have left. Though for Stream of Rejuvenation, I hear that I should leave that for later because of its cost and that I will not really be in need of that until later on anyway. For this, I guess the question is, how much will I be using this in the early 70's? To be honest, I do not usually use this skill much yet. I have not needed to really so far, though as I do more TT's I might need to. I have mostly only used this when doing BH51 at Rankar to heal all us squishies in the back from the AoE. But level 1 has sufficed for that. I am unsure if I will need these to be stronger later. Though I am sure bosses later on will have stronger AoE attacks.

    Silent Seal (already level 1)
    Chromatic Seal (already level 1)
    These I found to be really nice when I need to kite a creature although that is pretty rare. Though there was a time when having these level up some would have helped a lot due to the extended duration of the skills. I guess I could also use this to sleep the mob if I get heal aggro... which, sadly, happens more often than I care for. In that case, the extra range will be nice.

    Razor Feathers (already level 1)
    Siren's Kiss (already level 1)
    Tempest (already level 1)
    I hear that clerics need to do lots of AoE grinding on wood creatures at level 70+ so that is where these skills come in. I already have Purify at level 9, the highest I can for my level. The thing is though that Tempest costs so much!

    Wield Thunder (already level 2)
    So I can have a good strong single target attack. However, it seems that just using Cyclone + Plume Shot (both of which I have maxed) gives more damage per mana spent and per time too as Wield Thunder takes longer to channel. And the range is less so even if I use it as a starter skill, I sacrifice getting another one or two Cyclones or Plume Shots in.

    Metal Mastery (already level 4)
    So all my metal attacks get a small boost. Though it is small and I guess it would primarily only affect Cyclone so maybe I should just leave it until later.


    What do you all think?

    Chromatic Healing beam is useful is you want heal all members in the squad(When there's actual need and not just 2 of em),but if you're in a critical situation(e.g. some idiot pulled too many mobs in a BH59),you C.Healing won't be fast enough to keep everyone alive,better use Regeneration Aura(aka BB).
    This skill have some use only at 80+ where Bosses like Pole/Nob have some AoE and you may want heal everyone around you once in a while,while keep IH/Purify the tank.
    On FCC(80+),is also very important for quite a few bosses,so I'd rather wait lv.80 to level it.

    Silent Seal is VERY useful on Physical Mobs if you're solo-questing/grinding/whatever,start with Cyclone+Silent Seal to stop mob(Hopefully will last long enough),then combo some other skills(Plume/Wield T./Cyclone/etc),on the mob.
    Chromatic seal will help when silent seal expires and mob walk forward you:Use it now,get distant from the mob,and attack again.

    Razor Feathers is your only"Cheap",AoE,means that doesen't require any spark to cast,even if its not very effective like Veno's Noxious Gas or BM's Axe skills,but at least it have a reasonable cooldown and its a must if you plan to grind on many wood mobs at once.

    Wield Thunder,true that its mp-expensive(And from a Mp point of view,Plume Shoot and Cyclone are more efficent),but if you want to kill a mob before he hits you,its wise to use it instead to use just Clycone+Plume if you have then to heal yourself(Thus consuminig more mp in the end).
    Ah btw,don't be surprised if you can't kill mobs before they reach you,our skills are crappy compared to real offensive skills a Wizard has.

    I don't really use Siren's Kiss I think its a waste of spark most of the times.
    Tempest is our only decent attack skill,won't prioritize it anyway since you will be supposed to heal most of the time(And save sparks in case an emergency BB is needed).

    Metal mastery will pay back in long long long long term,guess you should level it.
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  • Vassaga - Heavens Tear
    Vassaga - Heavens Tear Posts: 37 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Just used sirens kiss - 13k with +2 wep. So yeah, pretty good finisher ;)
  • Catching - Lost City
    Catching - Lost City Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    Vassaga - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    @Catching
    Do you even know why do people aoe grind??

    I do it for fun. Done it with my Cleric form lvl 60. But drops aint bad.
    Im curently witing to get connection at home so I can start to loke for something more intresting to AOE grind then those 8x (forgot the name).

    If I want coins il go and TT. More fun because u can talk wiht other and u learn new things
    If I want XP Il go and do BH. Hmm maybe I should start to lvl agin but then BH 69 is so blody boring.
    If I want fun Il go to TT solo in solo mode or something els that i want to do. AOE is boring atm sence Im tierd of those 8x mobs that I was abel to AOE grind sence 75ich.
  • MystiMonk - Sanctuary
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary Posts: 4,286 Arc User
    edited October 2010
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    violetvalor wrote: »

    I do not understand what you refer to by "this".



    Don't go out and be FAC.Aoeing is for making coin but there are other ways other than aoe as I explained if you can't lvl alll the skills up.
    Looking for a decent casual understanding Faction.

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