Attack of the Living Clerics

[John Robinson]

I finished easy level P2 1.0.7 last night. I found myself envious of the other characters during combat. She only gets one attack spell prior to level 24. Holy Retribution becomes available at level 6. In a humorous way, I was reminded of the kid playing school yard softball that neither team picks, because they always strike out. So I need her to hit the ball before the 6th inning to get some respect.

Her first talent points become available at level 2 and 4. Could we start her out with Holy Retribution at level one like the Wizard's fire bolt? How about level 2, or 4? Level 6 seems a little late to get an attack spell. Even though she ends the game with fifty more hit points than the wizard, I would never dream of standing her shoulder to shoulder with the Outlander during a scrape. While playing I could swear if the Outlander and cleric are side by side, the monsters will hit her first.

If someone has built a successful Cleric melee fighter, I would be grateful to hear how you did it.  I smile when saying.  With dodge and toughness so low.  She can't get out of the way of a buss with a 2 minute warning. 

Holy Damage Accuracy: Because the divine power from one of the Gods is channeled through her via invocation, or conjuring. This is a unique form of magic. I have built up her Invocation level higher than the Wizard's Sorcery, and her Holy retribution appears to be less accurate.

Holy Damage Resistance: I think Holy damage is something entirely different from elemental, and should be more effective against Evil creatures. I do not mean beasts that operate on instinct, kill, eat, kill. For beasts leave the resistance just as it is. The ratkin on the other hand have Shaman which indicates some belief system most likely serving one of the Dark Gods. So Dark vs Light comes into play. I think it traditional for Clerics and Paladins to be more successful when attacking truly evil creatures.

Purifying Breeze: Does a cleric really need to be a level 12 to lift a curse? The Cleric starts with the strongest Knowledge attribute with a value of 6. This hints at allot of "how to" study is part of the preparation of a cleric just starting the game.

Sacrifice: Seems like a much more advanced ability than Purifying Breeze, so why not make it available at level 12 rather than 6?

My Party animal Cleric                                         
                                                                                

Level  1	Add Holy Retribution to starting defaults
Level  4	Add Purifying Breeze to Talent Selections
Level 12	Move Sacrifice here

     
My good times roll

Level   2	Add Holy Retribution to Talent Selections
Level   6	Add Purifying Breeze to Talent Selections
Level 12	Move Sacrifice Here

 

[slayernz]

Until Level 6, the Kyera is only useful as the medic. Her offensive capabilities are pretty non-existent, and in 1.0.5 at least at level 6, you could use Sacrifice and boost the team's magic efficiently. With 1.0.7, it almost makes Sacrifice non-important.

Yes, I'd like Kyera to have some more Smite in her. She's be pretty cute raining holy retribution on all and sundry by level 6 ... everyone else can.

I like your party Animal Cleric rather than your GOod TImes Roll. Sacrifice is so efficiently nerfed that level 6 is as good a place as any to get to use it - it'll still be relegated to "what can I waste a TP on now" status.

[fallen]

Not sure if this was in 1.0.7 or not, but we had already started reducing talent level requirements some time ago. The Wizard had Warding Words and Spirit Sight take a plummet to 3. This will be followed up by the rest of the team also having "the walls come down." The next update will be more illustrative, but most characters will have a single talent locked at 3, one at 6, one at 12, and one at 18. The other 6 will be open at the beginning.

John Robinson - it's easy to "want it all" with every single character. But its a squad-based game, so the strategy comes from the differences. It seems to me that the reverse of asking that Holy Retribution keep pace with Firebolt is to ask that the Wizard gets a healing spell

The cleric ends up with Holy Ret at 3, Sacrifice at 6, and Purifying at 6. She's an odd ball and skips the 12 (moves to 6).

As it stands in 1.0.7, the cleric could end the game with 224 HP more than the Wizard, if they both decide to invest in Constitution instead of other stats. I continue to use the Cleric as a strike team combatant. Continued work with monster balance will probably help with this a good deal as her shield will come more into play.

[John Robinson]

Nov 22, 2013 0:57:39 GMT -5 fallen said:

Not sure if this was in 1.0.7 or not, but we had already started reducing talent level requirements some time ago. The Wizard had Warding Words and Spirit Sight take a plummet to 3. This will be followed up by the rest of the team also having "the walls come down." The next update will be more illustrative, but most characters will have a single talent locked at 3, one at 6, one at 12, and one at 18. The other 6 will be open at the beginning.

John Robinson - it's easy to "want it all" with every single character. But its a squad-based game, so the strategy comes from the differences. It seems to me that the reverse of asking that Holy Retribution keep pace with Firebolt is to ask that the Wizard gets a healing spell

The cleric ends up with Holy Ret at 3, Sacrifice at 6, and Purifying at 6. She's an odd ball and skips the 12 (moves to 6).

As it stands in 1.0.7, the cleric could end the game with 224 HP more than the Wizard, if they both decide to invest in Constitution instead of other stats. I continue to use the Cleric as a strike team combatant. Continued work with monster balance will probably help with this a good deal as her shield will come more into play.

Yeah it is easy to get greedy. It is also traditional for the Wizard to open locks, or his version of Farsight. But I just checked Holy Retribution in my V 1.0.7 and the prerequisite is listed as Level 6+. Were you saying it will come down to 3 in the next version, or should already be level 3 now?

Regarding the Combat Cleric in V 1.0.7. She has a total of 5 attribute points to spend. How many are you putting in Constitution versus Intelligence? I would like to make a run with her jumping in with the hammer. She has a total of 5 talents did you put more than 1 in Smiting Blow? Which talents did you think were the most useful in your combat version? Any type of direct damage to the enemy would make me a happy camper, as long as she can heal more than 32 with Myshana's tears. Dropping Divine retribution prerequisite to Level 3 would be really cool, so she has the option to keep boosting Spell points with Intelligence attribute points. Tell me how to smash some heads

[absimiliard]

I think the cleric makes a decent second-line fighter. It's clearly not her strength, but she can hit hard enough to take out a wounded rat and she's tough enough to take a few hits. I find the key is in making sure she's either on a flank and can't get surrounded or to have her one square behind the outlander and move her forward to kill things that need "just one more hit" (or maybe two) and then move her back. She's tough enough to handle a few hits, but I doubt she'll ever be tough enough (without nerfing all the other talents, attributes, and skills I want her to have) to be surrounded and stay standing like the Outlander can.

Conversely she's way tougher than the thief or wizard, so if I need a broader frontline than the outlander alone can hold she's the clear answer, for me at least.

-abs

[fallen]

absimiliard - that is very similar to how I used her in the "strike team" capacity. I also find that the Cleric is a variety player - many turns I will spend 2 AP to cast Ethereal Anguish, 3 AP to heal someone, and 2 AP to Strike a melee target. Other turns, she Strikes 3 times, or uses all her AP to Ethereal Anguish at the start of the fight.

[fallen]

John Robinson - the level requirement changes will all be in the next release, not in 1.0.7, except maybe some of the Wizards? Maybe not, can't remember

For my striker Cleric, I split the Con / Int points pretty evenly. Myshana's Tears 2 is a must, so that comes first, with another point in Smiting Blow. Then I look to curses and buffs. I find her to be a good striker in melee for short bursts, not a full-time front-liner (that's the Paladin, upcoming). She rotates between cursing, healing, and hitting.

[slayernz]

I've definitely thrown a point or two into Smiting Blow because when push comes to shove, you need the cleric to be able to hit something smaller than a barn.