This was posted on the other forums by Sirgog
I am looking to build this out of my WF FVS. Going to be TRing him soon (month or two)
Anyway here is the original build with gear
Just to clarify: This is NOT a beginner build. Repeat, this is NOT a beginner's build. It will, however, function well in the hands of a beginner if they play it in a 'healbot' role.
Edit: Changed the ultimate gear setup in post 28, below. I've left the pre-Update 6 gear list intact, but feel the post Update 6 list in post 28 is far stronger. It's also far harder to complete, with multiple epic items, including some very coveted ones.
Favored Souls don't just make excellent healers. They are incredibly survivable - with good saves, inherent DR as a capstone ability, and the best elemental resists available.
The Soul Survivor attempts to be at endgame what the pure Paladin is during the first eight levels - a character that can heal themselves and others, that is very difficult to kill due to multiple forms of damage mitigation, that can establish, hold and survive the aggro of the toughest foes. It's a character that can fill almost any role in a raid.
This build has solohealed Elite Shroud, maintanked Horoth in normal ToD, and maintanked Suulomades in elite VoD. In the Horoth encounter, I was able to look after my own healing while tanking Horoth for the entire period Suulomades was alive (I had other arcane and divine casters heal me before Suulo popped and after he was slain). In the elite VoD, I was able to provide urgent heals to people during the second Orthon phase, and also spam mass cures during the suicide-bomber-bat phase.
The goals of this build:
1) Healing. They should be capable of solohealing an Elite Shroud without mana potions. Assumption - sturdy melees, and a mediocre but acceptable total party damage output of 1500 damage per second. 2) Damage. They should be capable of doing enough melee DPS to pull their weight filling a melee role in any raid on Elite or Epic (they need not be an all-star, but they must pull their weight). 3) Tanking. They should be capable of acting as the primary threat tank on Horoth, Suulomades or any other quest or raid boss with 'standard' aggro except mariliths, without putting undue resource strain on healers. Even better if they can still throw emergency heals on themselves and others while doing so. 4) Soloing. They should be able to solo tough endgame quests such as Elite Sins of Attrition, Elite A New Invasion, and future high-level content.
What the WF FvS 20 platform brings toward these goals:
Healing: The Mass Heal spell, at full effectiveness, as well as the single-target Heal and up to four different Mass Cure spells, plus extreme survivability. Melee DPS: FvS Lord of Blades Greatsword enhancements, and (depending on whether you can afford to sacrifice the To-Hit) WF Power Attack enhancements. Threat Tanking: Enhanced threat generation (through WF Brute Fighting 4 and careful choice of gear), significant incoming healing amplification (100% incoming healing from arcanes, and 99-163% from divines, depending on the availability of guild ship buffs, paladin past lives, and access to gear) and significant damage mitigation (DR 13 against melee attacks, 55 Fire Resist, 55 Electrical Resist, 40 Cold Resist and reasonable saves). Extraordinary hitpoints for a divine caster. Plus, mediocre UMD for additional damage mitigation through Fire Shield scrolls. Soloing:Wings, Deathpact, extraordinary self healing and a weak but still situationally powerful Bladebarrier. Note - this build really does rely upon the purchased Warforged race and the hard-to-unlock Favored Soul class. It can be built as a Dwarven or Human Clr18/Ftr2, and such a build has its advantages, but will lose the threat tanking ability almost totally.
The Soul Survivor build:
Race: Warforged Class split: FvS 20 Initial stats (34 point build; these include racial modifiers): 18 Str (plus all level ups), 8 Dex, 18 Con, 10 Int, 6 Wis, 12 Cha. 28/32 point builds sacrifice some Strength, 36 point builds can splash out on another skill by upping Int by 2. Best past lives: Paladin, Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Monk (all five have excellent passive past life feats that will improve this character - for the ranger, it's just the stacking energy resistance not the ranged damage). Paladins in particular are likely to be able to pass you down some bound loot that will work very well for you, and have arguably the best past life passive for this build. Skills: Max Concentration and UMD. Put leftover points (acquired by eating a +2 Int tome at level 7) into Balance. Jump is better than UMD while levelling, but you will have a capped Jump skill at endgame by just using Morah's Belt. UMD allows Fire Shield and Teleport scrolls. Feats: Empower Healing, Extend Spell, Toughness, Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Power Attack, Improved Critical: Slashing (and that's not an unreasonable order to select them in). Optionally: Drop Extend Spell for Adamantine Body. FvS deity choice: Lord of Blades FvS Resist feats: Fire, Cold, Electrical (if you want to min-max for tanking Horoth, select Sonic in place of Cold, but Cold is more useful generally) Enhancements: Survivability/Tanking-oriented: WF Constitution 2 (6 AP) FvS Toughness 4 (10 AP) WF Toughness 4 (10 AP) WF Healer's Friend 3 (12 AP - this one is expensive, but has a huge impact on how easily scroll-healed you are in raids - and a threat tank that is easy to scrollheal leads to a cheap run) WF Brute Fighting 4 (10 AP - keep this on a hotbar, and remember to turn it off when you do not want aggro) WF Damage Reduction 3 (12 AP) Healing oriented: FvS Life Magic 4 (10 AP) FvS Energy of the Scion 1 (1 AP, required to fill a progression gap) FvS Capstone (2 AP, grants you enough Charisma for Disjunction-proof Heal) FvS Scroll Mastery 1 (1 AP - be warned, not having a higher rank here hurts you as a tank healer in raid situations, but I've been able to heal elite ToD and epic DQ2 without it) Melee DPS oriented: FvS Greatsword Specialisation 2 (3 AP) WF Power Attack 2 (3 AP, if you aren't running Epics and thus don't care about To-Hit, take more of this if you can, if you run exclusively Epics, drop this for FvS Attack Boost)
Spell Selection: This is a list of spells you *must* carry at endgame. Other spell slots can be chosen as desired. While leveling, always carry at least two good healing spells. I recommend carrying *all* four Mass Cures. Sometimes, you just need to put out extreme AoE healing, and the four spells are all on separate cooldowns. This is most important in the Nytharios encounter, where you should be able to heal sturdy melees through proximity to two Shadowfiends. However, the most important two are the ones with the shortest cooldowns, IMO. Also, I'm forgetful. Some critical spells are no doubt missing from here. 1 - Divine Favor 2 - Resist Elements 3 - Prayer (when it is fixed - this spell isn't absolutely critical, but it's a somewhat worthwhile raidbuff). Remove Curse (sometimes you need to throw a quickened one) 4 - Divine Power, Death Ward (if not carrying the Mass version), Freedom of Movement 5 - Raise Dead (only one you can cast Disjuncted prior to earning a +3 tome), Mass Cure Light 6 - Heal, Bladebarrier, Mass Cure Moderate 7 - Resurrection (can be replaced with True Resurrection, I keep all three raise spells) 8 - Mass Deathward (the level 4 version is a weak, but borderline acceptable replacement), Holy Aura (this spell is incredibly powerful since it was changed to blind all foes within a Haste radius at the time you cast it, no save but SR applies) 9 - Mass Heal
Gear to aspire towards: Edit - see post 28, this list has been changed - I've left the pre-Update 6 list intact below, but the list in post 28 is far better. Weapons: General purpose DPS: Lightning 2 (Holy Shocking Burst Shocking Blast) Greatsword or Epic Sword of Shadows (both are excellent on DR 15 raid bosses like normal Horoth/Suulo/Harry, and passable on DR 25 bosses like their hard versions). If Lit 2, put at least one Adamantine Ritual on it, Greensteel Greatswords are squishier than most drow rangers. Universal DR breaker: Mineral 2 (Holy Acid Burst Acid Blast) Quarterstaff or Maul - the best weapon in the suite for 35 DR Elite pit fiends, Lailat if you ever melee her, Lich Sor'Jek, Black Abbot, Epic Raiyum, Epic Clay Golems and more. You aren't proficient with Mauls, so you will need to turn Power Attack off in some situations due to to-hit penalties. The Maul is better in non-Epic situations, the quarterstaff is probably better in Epics. Utility DPS: Triple Positive (Holy Goodblast 30% Healing Amp) Greatsword - your weapon of choice while soloing.
Armor: Dragontouched Docent, 10% Healing Amp, 20% Healing Amp, Incite 20% Other Sovereign Runes may be worth considering too - Disintegration Guard, Destruction, Radiance Guard, and possibly others. Incite remains the best choice. (If you go with the Epic Ring of Baphomet setup, replace Healing Amp with Incite 15%).
Rings: First option: Slot 1: Encrusted Ring, imbued with +2 exceptional Strength Slot 2: Switch as appropriate between Warchanter's Band imbued with Greater Devotion 8 and any +6 Cha ToD ring imbued with +2 Exceptional Constitution. (Don't roll on a ring that is the perfect ring for someone else in your raid just for the Con +2, that's mean!). Alternately, if you want to reduce item switching, go Con +2 on your Warchanter's Band. Second option: Slot 1: Epic Ring of Baphomet, augmented with any useful +1 exceptional stat (you might change which stat as you obtain new and better tomes, happy Epic token farming) Slot 2: Encrusted Ring, imbued with 20% Healing Amplification (frees up the DT Tempest slot for 15% Incite, happy Refuge grinding)
Belt: Knost's Belt should reside in your belt slot most of the time. When the situation calls for it, switch in various clickies, the most important being Amara's Belt, Tokala's Belt, Morah's Belt and the Planar Gird. (It sucks to remove your only source of Greater False Life to use a clicky, but you have the HP to spare).
Amulet: Generally, keep Torin's Choker in this slot (primarily so Superior Potency 6 is always boosting your Heal spell and the occasional Bladebarrier). Situationally switch to Torc of Raiyum, Golden Cartouche, Silver Flame Necklace, or a Shroud-crafted tanking item. Don't bother epic-ifying the Torc, others need that shard far, far more than you do.
Bracers: Permanently equip one of your main Shroud-crafted items here. This itemisation may change with Update 6, as it is suspected that the second piece of the Greater Vulkoor's Wrath set fills this item slot.
Cloak: Permanently equip one of your main Shroud-crafted items here.
Boots: Switch between a Shroud-crafted item, Boots of Anchoring, and in extremely rare situations, Madstone Boots. If you are invited to a group to play a healer role, never use the Madstone Boots in that group.
Gloves: The ideal item here is Update 6's Epic Gloves of the Claw, which provide 30% healing amplification on their own (this effect alone is worth the item slot), as well as some effects that do not benefit this character's gear setup. (Epic) Spectral Gloves are also worthwhile to offset the to-hit penalty of Power Attack. I personally use Epic Spectrals with a +1 exceptional Con, which pushes my Con up a bracket due to me having eaten a +3 Con tome.
Trinket: Switch between (Epic) Bloodstone and Epic Dragon's Eye, as appropriate. Consider augmenting with +4 saves. Litany of the Dead may also fit well, depending upon your equipment.
Helmet: Minos Legens at present. Looking to replace this.
Goggles: Tharne's Goggles when playing a melee DPS role. A Shroud-crafted tanking item for tanking situations.
Shroud-crafted items: There's a lot of items listed here, and as such you will need a lot of cleansing stones to optimize this build. Only the HP item is truly necessary for the build to function. But, if this build becomes your main, you can continue to improve its performance by grinding even more Shrouds (/vomit).
For wearing 'all-day, every day': Conc-Opp 10/15/20 HP item SP item (A useful resist 30, 50 SP, 100 SP, with a useful synergy effect - I have this crafted as Smoke with Resist Fire 30, were I to redo it, it would be made as Lightning Strike Guard with resist lightning 30 on the bottom tier to get +5 UMD, or as Disintegration Guard with immunity to blindness on the bottom tier)
Other utility items to consider: Radiance Guard Fire Resist Item: Either Resist Fire 30/Greater Healing Lore/Resist Fire +10, or Healing Lore/Resist Fire +5/Resist Fire +10 (useful for bosses that spam Fire spells, like most of them) Lightning Strike Guard Resist Item: As the last one, but Lightning not Fire (if you make both, use a good guard instead of the second Healing Lore effect) Corrosive Salt Cold Resist Item: Blindness Immunity/Resist Cold +5/Resist Cold +10, or Resist Cold 30/Fear Immunity/Resist Cold +10 (both are exceptional on Lich Sor'Jek, allowing you to safely attack through a Risia mephit shield even on Elite; this is likely to be useful if we ever get to battle The Truthful One in the future) Crushing Wave Guard Cold Resist Item: Cold Resist 30/+5/+10 - variant on the previous item, with a weaker guard but the full undispellable 45 Cold Resist
Playtips:
Low level (1-11): Playing a healing-capable class at low level is great practice for higher level play. Group often, both in quality groups and in bad PUGs. Learn when to fight and when to hide in the back lines and heal. Practice your healing reflexes. Learn to quickly identify the squishy players in the group. You aren't optimized as a healbot, but you certainly can play a healbot role when that's what a party needs. Aim to obtain Moderate Fortification as quickly as you can, and once you have it, aim to control aggro - you want mobs attacking you while the party is at high health, and attacking others when one or more members need a heal. But most of all, get practice throwing instant-reaction heals. You can't heal stupid, and you can't heal 6 Con 0 Fort rogues, but trying to do so will make you better at healing those that can be healed. Make sure to join a PUG Tempest's Spine elite run to put your skills to the test. If you can carry a bad PUG group to success, you have started well.
Mid level (12-16): Here, you can start to solo more quickly, as even your low-DC Bladebarriers will rip the low-HP mobs of these levels to shreds. If you are not TRed from a Shroud-geared toon, challenge yourself by trying to solo Orchard quests. If you are Shroud-geared due to being TRed, challenge yourself by inviting five other players into Orchard quests and trying to complete them. Amuse yourself by noting that, in most PUGs, you have the highest hitpoints, most damage mitigation, best DPS, and are also the sole healer. Turn Empower Healing off for most of the time during these levels. It drains SP, only to make your Heal spell overheal. Don't worry, this feat will become good again. In groups, work out just how low you can let someone get in HP before they need a heal. Often the Wizard at 60% health is at more immediate risk of death than the Barbarian that is at 25%. Sometimes, the TR'ed Wizard at 25% is less likely to die than the newbie, 0 fortification Barbarian that is at 60%. Carry Heal scrolls. Learn to 'twitch fight' - moving to interrupt your attack chain, in order to make the quicker attacks at the beginning of the chain. Note that twitching costs you all of the benefits of Glancing Blows, and gives you penalties to attack rolls. It's usually worth the tradeoff. If you are TRed and have a hand-me-down Shroud weapon that isn't perfect for your new life, use it! A Radiance 2 Falchion is far better in your hands than anything you will find while levelling. Start working on getting a Sword of Shadows (to Epic-ify), and a Torc.
High level (17-19): Wings, baby! Get flagged for all of the main raids, and run them as often as you can. Don't try to take central roles in Elite runs, but don't be afraid to soloheal Shroud Normal, or to threat tank VoD normal. (Many players won't believe you can threat tank VoD, don't worry, heal their run, you'll get other chances). Get the feel of wings. It takes a while to learn exactly how they work and how to control them. Turn Quicken Spell on. Never turn it off, except to buff, or when you have an extremely compelling reason. Practice the timing of Mass Heal. It's your single best spell, but it takes serious practice to learn to use in battle. These levels can be zoomed through by running nothing but easy content (IQ/DD, Refuge Normal, Orchard/GH elite, Vale Hard, Amrath casual). Resist that urge and instead try to run things that really challenge you, so that when you hit 20, you know how to play the toon. Try to complete all of the Vale and Refuge on Elite (inluding the raids and SoS if you can find a group) and all of Amrath on Hard. Try to solo Sins of Attrition on Normal and Hard, A New Invasion on Normal and Devil Assault on Elite. If and when you die, ask 'how could I have prevented that death?'. The answer is probably either 'by having Displacement' or 'by having 40 Jump', so get a Morah's Belt and consider making Shroud Displacement clickies.
Endgame (20): Test out your newfound DR by soloing quests you'd have been hesitant to run at 19 even in a solid PUG - Sins of Attrition Elite, A New Invasion Hard (elite if you have excellent DR-breaking weapons and a bunch of mana pots, Barnzidu's regeneration is a killer though). Turn Empower Healing back on and never turn it off. Practice running the easier Epics to learn when you can melee and when you must stand back and heal. Try to take the aggro of quest bosses. Craft more Shroud items. Learn when *not* to twitch. Sometimes, the attack bonus you lose twitching is more important than the extra attacks you gain from doing it. Earn Yugoloth potions. Become addicted to them. Have fun.
That's the concept and build of the Soul Survivor. I TR'ed Numot~Khyber, my Clr18/Ftr2 longtime main into this build, and have noticed an enormous increase in survivability - I went from 561hp standing to 607, take 13 less damage per melee hit, 40 less damage per Meteor Swarm, and of course have Wings to escape many dangerous situations.
Ultimately, the Soul Survivor brings the following to the raid: 90% of the healing capacity of a complete healbot, 70% of the melee DPS of a 'traditional' melee build, the ability to threat tank, and an array of tricks that just might save the day.
|