Getting back into the *swing* of things.

[Endaar]

Emphasis on the swing.

Hi guys, old-timer here thinking of getting back into this game after a couple years off.

The cleric I shelved IIRC was just a couple thousand XP away from hitting 25 and earning the wonderful teleportation spell. So while he will be great to run around in TSC or Voln rezzing folks, ideally he is a swinger and wants to get back at swinging and continuing on the path of Voln (currently at step 15 or so, IIRC). Currently I have a few lores and other useless dabbling skills, but I'm sure I'll have a fixskills waiting for me, so I'd like to come back as something like this :

- 1x OHB
- 1x shields
- 40 armor
- 1x combat maneuvers
- 1x first aid
- 24 ranks of fitness (is this the sweet spot for max health?)
- 24 ranks of SMC (I've read somewhere I should get 30 ranks for a bonus to mana regen?)
- 10 ranks of MOC (goal is to reach 30 ranks for double-swinging)
- 12 ranks of MIU (goal is to max out at 25 ranks or so)
- 1x harness power
- 5 ranks of swimming (goal is to max out at 20 ranks or so)
- 5 ranks of climbing (goal is to max out at 20 ranks or so)
- 2.1x - 2.2x spell research (triple-buy for every 7-8 trainings, as available points allow)
- No lores right now (but looking for suggestion on what to do here when points become available).

Oh and I'm a dwarf serving Eonak, and a surly one at that.

People may find this build somewhat old-fashioned. Please no responses saying "sword-&-board sucks, go with voln-fu" or "go with a runestaff" or whatever. I am just looking for some advice on how to best make this build work. I've always enjoyed the concept of a swinging war-priest that is neither a warrior nor paladin, and has the bard-like ability to do many things while being a stalwart on the front lines.

Thanks guys!

[mrjrd222]

Is this GS3 almost level 25? Or GS4 almost level 25?

If you want to swing as a cleric, you'd be better off with a two handed weapon. You can still use a blunt (maul or mattock or something). Many can vouch on the fun and effectiveness of that kind of build.

If you're 100% set on a shield, you really don't have to train in it that much to get a benefit. It's really expensive, and those points could likely give you better results by getting a few extra spells. I currently use a shield, and have no shield training, so I know it works.

Cleric weapon builds work pretty well because of spells like Prayer of Holding, Bind, and Web. So as long as you fight things that don't break spells like these, you'll have plenty of success.

[Asrial]

Why 40 armor? What armor are you wanting to wear? For a cleric, 35 ranks is needed for brigandine. Are you talking about the bonus (to wear double leather)?

The 'sweet spot' for physical fitness is stat based. We'll need your starting stats (INFO START) for strength and constitution and your current constitution BONUS.

Also, here's a program made by Bhuryn that helps figure out the ranks needed to max your health (at your current con bonus): http://forum.gsplayers.com/showpost.php?p=977849&postcount=11

[Belnia]

Here is my swinging cleric, currently level 34. Gone 0-34 on swinging supported by casting. Had 40 cleric ranks at 18 for Good Raise, and was making Chrisms at 25. It involved not getting the Minor Spirit circle at all until after level 28 or so.

| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Edged Weapons......................| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 90 20
Arcane Symbols.....................| 102 24
Magic Item Use.....................| 102 24
Harness Power......................| 157 57
Spirit Mana Control................| 120 30
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 93 21
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 120 30
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 50 10

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

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 16

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 40

[WRoss]

Why no shield use? Is the DS just not really an issue?

[Endaar]

Hi guys...

Thanks for all the advice so far. Just re-subbed yesterday and ran around a bit. I went and killed a full brain's worth of zombies to get my 25th training (so to answer the question from before, that was 25 in GS4, not GS3, I hadn't been gone quite THAT long :)).

I found that as 24/25, and with having a full self spell-up, including the regular "massies", as well as self-buffing Voln buffs, without using any of my imbeddables, and my full 1x shield training, with my 5x shield and 4x double leathers, zombies (which are supposedly a couple trainings below me) were still lightly grazing me at about a 20-25% rate while in stance offensive. Imagine what that would have been WITHOUT the shield training.

I remember when I was hunting mainly liches and spectres before, it was a lot of stance-dancing until I got a successful holding. So it seems that full-on shield training is still beneficial. The unfortunate part about this is that yes, it is a LOT of points that could be used elsewhere.

Currently with my training plan above, I can only 1x in lores up to 25 (and to get enough for chrism essentially requires 2x at that point). So that is something to consider, which is why I'm considering foregoing lores altogether for the time being, until I'm satisfied with where my spells are at.

Some other quick combat questions :

- In regards to CM's, what is the best path to take (i.e. what cman skills) for my war-priest?

- In regards to ranks of MOC, is there any added benefit of all of having any ranks between the breakpoints (i.e. 5 ranks for swinging at 2 critters at once, 25 for 3 at once, 30 for double-swinging), or should I just leave it at 5 ranks until I can spend enough TP's for 25?

Thanks again for your help so far, looking forward to integrating back into this community :-)

Cheers...
-E.

[Endaar]

bump for more replies, flaming or otherwise :tumble:

[Celephais]

- In regards to CM's, what is the best path to take (i.e. what cman skills) for my war-priest?
It won't be too big a concern right now, but you'll probably want to train CMs defensively, things like disarm, so that you can better protect yourself. Although you'll be able to really get the most out of feign.


- In regards to ranks of MOC, is there any added benefit of all of having any ranks between the breakpoints (i.e. 5 ranks for swinging at 2 critters at once, 25 for 3 at once, 30 for double-swinging), or should I just leave it at 5 ranks until I can spend enough TP's for 25?
There are benefits interspersed, but they're not worth the TP investment, you can defend yourself better in a swarm (as more monsters attack you in quick succession you experience Force on Force DS reduction), but it's not that drastic... and as a cleric you have better ways of dealing with a swarm.

[dminaug]

two-handed cleric, ftw

[Gusbus]

Any of you guys trail in spell aim as a cleric?

Also would getting 5-10 ranks of dodge be of any worth?

Thanks for the help.

[Endaar]

Currently thinking of sacrificing all other training (except spells) from 27 -> 34 to get my 30 ranks of MOC, which is right at the same time my spell training is due to get Unbalance.

During this time I will be hunting all undead anyway to achieve the last few ranks of Voln as well as building up favour, doing 301-hunting, so I don't feel I'll be losing very much from a combat perspective.

Thoughts on this?