I've haven't played a high level divine in awhile...I know there are some alignment things they've added to various spells, ED's, etc - what alignment should be picked here? True Neutral would have been the way to go in the past but is LG better now for alignment-based abilities?

There are four level 4 divine spells that are based on alignment; Holy Smite, Unholy Blight, Order's Wrath, and Chaos Hammer.

They cannot be cast if you are of an opposite alignment to the spell's effect.  True Neutral casters can cast any of them.

You're probably going to get the most mileage out of Holy Smite (you can get it as an SLA in the Divine Disciple tree) since there are very few things that aren't affected by it, and it also blinds; the other alignment spells have different secondary effects (Dazed, Slowed, Sickened) that can be useful, but can be a pain to use at the right times if you're facing stuff with varying alignments.

Alignment isn't as important a choice as it was since Stability got its ML jacked up, and the bonuses it gave are easily replaced by lootgen at earlier levels now.  Just make sure you're either the right alignment for the gear you want to use, or have enough UMD to equip it, or don't mind the occasional neg level from opposing gear.

One other question on this...what benefits are you getting out of the 18th cleric level. Obviously 1 extra level 8 and 9 spell but what did you select as far as AP goes that requires the 18th cleric level. I really want my level 9 spells but I could see splashing 1 wizard level for spell points, spell crit, an extra feat, SLA invis, etc. Not worth it if there's something strong from the level 18 AP's but if the only downside is having to swap around some level 8 and 9 spells depending on the content I'm running I could see it being worthwhile.

Arkat wrote on Nov 20^th, 2013 at 6:19pm:


I'm not sure it will matter much for me doing my Iconic lives but I've become a sucker for 1 level of wizard early on (usually level 2) on builds that can fit it in. I don't have an abbot quiver and I'm not twisting anything to run faster so expeditious retreat from the blue bar instead of clickies is really nice. Nightshield doesn't help this build but it's handy on lots of them. Obviously there's the feat and 1sp invis for 1ap as well. I'd probably give the spell crit a miss on this build at the end as it's only 1% and doesn't effect light/positive but at 2ap I'd use it through the Blade Barrier levels. 1ap for invis would still be worthwhile after that unless the AP's are crazy tight.

A few things that are really nice at low levels but not so much later:
1) EK core 1 - the cleave comes in handy when you don't want to bother with the cleave feat but you'd like the option to cleave.
2) Acid spray/burning hands. Toss on a robe of duality and even with 1 wizard level you can pretty much toast anything you run across with maximized aoe damage. Even the unmeta'd 4sp version can two-shot kill a lot of the stuff up through level 4 or 5.
3) Master's Touch. Everyone should be swinging a Carnifex while they level. EK core 1 + Carnifex = fun, even on a crappy str caster.

Obviously the biggest boosts long-term are the extra feat and 1sp invis which probably makes it not worth it starting an Iconic...but someone playing this on a human could basically add two extra feats to do the entire Mental Toughness line and get those added benefits for the wizard splash as they level up.

Wipe wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 1:18am:


No quiver here. I never had one and have been grinding out PL's so no time to flag for Abbot. Exp retreat clickies are hard to come by now. I've got one bta w/ 3 charges and use it when I have lives that don't allow casting it. Haste pots just annoy me.

The invis levels got jacked up by FoS awhile back. At least on several items I had. 3 clicky item went from ML:0 to ML:3. Very annoying and you're right, it's minor on that one but it does have an effect. Invis pots, unless I'm mistaken, can't be bought. I've got a cache of them that I use for certain quests when I can't cast it or use scrolls (pretty easy to UMD later) but those go fast.

Wipe wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 1:18am:


I don't care if other people are doing this. I even tested it out so I could talk intelligently about it (much to the chagrin of my kid that I won't let do it at all). But as a rule I'm not running twists. It's a personal choice and obviously acid spray/burning hands pales in comparison to primal scream but not everyone is twisting during levels 1-11. Just almost everyone.

Wipe wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 1:18am:


The delaying spells part is probably the worst part. At cap we're talking 1 caster level out of 18 which won't even effect all spells and 1 spell pen. Leveling up though and waiting an extra level for things like Blade Barrier, Implosion, etc...that does hurt quite a bit. It's why I'm not saying this is a great idea. But in the right circumstances, gear, and situation it can be helpful.

rest wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 10:45am:



Yeah, how is shiradi on this guy Arkat?

Munkenmo wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 3:42pm:


You know, I've been wondering about that feat. How long does that end up working on builds like this? Still workable in epics?

rest wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 10:45am:

tachyon wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 2:14pm:

If I ever install Fraps or some other video capture software I could show you. 

But seriously, as a Sun Elf Light-Powered Divine Disciple, there are only two possible AoE SLAs, Holy Smite, which covers a decent area, and Sunburst which covers a HUGE area. The Double Rainbow Shiradi procs are quite impressive on Holy Smite and the Shiradi core abilities procs are also nice. Where the Shiradi Procs are most impressive are when you use the Sunburst SLA. Keep in mind though that if you get all three ranks in that SLA, you can still only use it once every 30 seconds and the opportunity to use it best (when there are tons of mobs) will be somewhat limited.

Still, when you do use it against a boat-load of mobs, there are times when I giggle with glee because of all the numbers I see on the screen at one time.

harharharhar wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2013 at 12:30am:


Everything would save on the Energy Burst most likely...unfortunately there's not a Wisdom version of it, only Int/Cha.

Darkrok wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2013 at 9:47am:


oh yeah duh.

Do you use the Flame Strike SLA? seems like it would be a great shiradi procc'er with 2 hits per mob compared to Sunburst or Holy Smite

harharharhar wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2013 at 12:49pm:

Forgot about the Flamestrike SLA. I don't have it for a couple reasons. I didn't want to spend APs and I wanted to concentrate just on Light and Healing spells, spellpower, and lores for crits. I did tweek my Force spellpower but that's because I felt bladebarrier was such a good way to solo and provide some sort of crowd control by aggroing on me instead of some other party members.

Darkrok wrote on Nov 21^st, 2013 at 10:34am:


Expeditious retreat hard to come by? 2 charges on Anger's Step from Korthos gets you through most quests.

I'm with you on not twisting.

just use divine health or whatever its called on yourself with some healing amp and SP heals when you need them. aura isnt really necessary unless you're healing a party I think.