Critique Me =)

[Rune]

With less than a week before my free skill migration from the transfer from
GS3 to GS4 ends, I'd like to get some other opinions before I lock anything in stone.

Gender: Male Age: 25 Expr: 1020968 Level: 29
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 97 (28) ... 97 (28)
Constitution (CON): 55 (2) ... 55 (2)
Dexterity (DEX): 55 (2) ... 55 (2)
Agility (AGI): 85 (17) ... 85 (17)
Discipline (DIS): 99 (24) ... 99 (24)
Aura (AUR): 96 (23) ... 96 (23)
Logic (LOG): 49 (5) ... 49 (5)
Intuition (INT): 90 (25) ... 90 (25)
Wisdom (WIS): 93 (21) ... 93 (21)
Influence (INF): 55 (2) ... 55 (2)

(at level 29), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 122 31
Shield Use.........................| 122 31
Edged Weapons......................| 122 31
Physical Fitness...................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 50 10
Magic Item Use.....................| 50 10
Harness Power......................| 122 31
Spirit Mana Control................| 122 31
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 122 31
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 25 5

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 25

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 27

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 25

He's in CoL.

Plan is to stop Arcane Symbols and MIU at 25 ranks apiece. Armor stops at 35 ranks for Brig. Spirit Mana control at 40 ranks. I know being less than 1x in Cleric circle is bad, but I wanted 225 and 130 at level 30. Once I get that I intend to go back to 2x spells (to 340, then to 140, then to 240) for awhile to pick up full 1x perception, and another .5x of lore split between Blessings and Summoning for gem purposes. Once I get 20 ranks of blessing and 15 ranks of summoning lore, I plan to go back to 3x cleric spells. I also want to fit in 24 ranks of Elemental Mana control so I can send and receive with everyone, and up my climbing and swimming to 24 ranks.

Right now I have zero trouble hunting farmhands in Icemule, which are a few levels above my train.

A few questions. Back when this character was made, you absolutely had to have a high Major Spirit CS (for bind) and edged training to hunt during the undead gap. As a Smite cleric now.. 302 doesn't work for a damn on living, and I don't think I can hunt undead the whole time. So how does that work?

Secondly - I see a lot of people recommending brawling. Being as how I prefer to be versatile (I.E., able to swing and cast), will my DS suffer too badly with only shield training open handed? If I pull out my sword for parry DS, will my spells be really bad because I don't have an open hand?

Is it worth the extra TP to up Harness Power to 1.5x?

A lot of my training is still based on GS3 stuff.. so I'd appreciate some insight.

Thanks =)

[Buckwheet]

I was in the same sort of question phase with my cleric.

I am sure you read through that, but the last response was a pretty good one in my opinion. In case you haven't taken a look here is the link.

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=19206

[Rune]

Yeah I read that thread. The only main difference I can see is that you're trained for Brawling and me for Edged. I guess the main question I have is: will my DS suffer too badly open handed without brawling training? And if it will, will my casts suffer too badly if I pull out sword for parry DS?

Edit: Wall of Force is now 60 seconds per cast, or 60 seconds flat? If it's 60 seconds flat, It's basically a waste of a spell slot now.

Second Edit: After reading through some of the other threads it seems like *everyone* does brawling instead of edged. Are there any Edged users left at higher levels?

[Slark]

Not really. It seems clerics become less viable with weapons in the higher years. I recently started training my cleric in brawling (38 trains now) and I find that if I 301 (from a gem) like-level critters, I can fu them stupidly easy. I suppose the same could go for using edged weapons, but I'm not sure. I know you're in CoL, which makes sense (assuming you're Bane), and I'm struggling with that decision for my cleric too (Charl aligned) - until I found out how much I like Fu, it was a no brainer, but now I'm going to hold off a bit.

Anyhow, brawling will add about 20 DS in offensive stance at 100 ranks, so you can do the math as to how much it will add for you. Your spells hit harder if you have both hands open...not by a whole lot, but you can see the difference.

As for spell training, it's a good idea to get your cleric spells to 20 or 21 ranks above your level to maximize CS, then just 1x in it for a while. I understand your want for 130 since you're not in Voln, but just know your CS will suffer a while because of it. If you feel you can make up for this with weapon use, then that's your call.

As for your other training, 25 ranks of MIU and AS is fine, 25 ranks of PT is fine, 40 ranks of SMC is fine, and your lores look fine. The only thing I would say is drop swimming to 20, and leave climbing at 20 until you're hunting the rift. I think you'll need 30 or 40 by the time you do that, but I'm not sure. I don't plan on having any perception...I keep my coins in the bank and my containers closed in town, and that's enough for me. It's easy enough to only hunt where perception isn't needed, in my opinion.

You'd be surprised how much undead you can actually hunt. I really only have experience in the landing, but I know that there's a very steady source up until the mid 50's at least.

1.5x in HP isn't really worth it...someone told me (and I believe them) that you will save more mana during hunts by boosting your CS than you will from gaining .5 extra mana per train.

[Lassiter 506]

Having an open hand is quite useful. From looking at the damage profiles for similar endrolls, it seems to be around a %15 increase in damage with an open hand. While using 312 with a 6 sec charge, the damage increase is worthwhile.

With 317 though, having one or two empty hands helps moreso with crits. I've noticed far more death crits off the plasma crit portion of 317 with two empty hands and channeling. For my two clerics, train 86 and 54, it works well enough that I see no need to fixskills out of it.

Basic training plan is 3x spells (1x in MnS for DS, 2/3x MjS, and the rest in Cleric circle), 1x brawling, and some MIU and Arcane symbols - will help greatly should you decide Illistim is a future destination for hunting. then get ready to go to town on anything you hunt.