viable or not?

[ogurty]

PURE bane, dwarf

st 20
co 22
de 68
ag 46
di 67
au 87
lo 84
int 97
wis 80
inf 89

maxed for mental training points

armor - 35 ranks
shield - 1x
brawling - 1x
pt - 20 ranks
climbinb - 30 ranks
swimming - 20 ranks
perception - 24 ranks
harness power - 1.5x
spirit mc - 1.5x
religion lore - 1x

268 spells...either 25 mj/30 mn/213 cleric or 84/84/100 or 100/68/100

maybe drop harness to 1x and bring smc up to 2x, or drop both to 1x for more spells, dwarf in col should never have mana problems..21 more spells if both are 1x..

should never have to cast another attack spell besides 302...I'm not worried about the spice of variety, I just want the best baner possible. also note that i don't think switching to a runestaff is a good idea cause this path only has roughly 5-6 magic ranks per level and the loss of the shield DS isn't worth the extra arcane symbols and miu training...thoughts please :)

[Mistomeer]

Rule of thumb for maximizing CS is that your secondary circles should be trained to 2/3 of your level and put the rest in your primary circle. And yes, that's a perfectly viable training plan. Looks alot like mine.

[Blazing247]

A staff is the way to go. You can drop SMC to 30 ranks, it's useless otherwise except for mana regen. HP I'd drop to 1x as well. More CS > more mana. Again, I'd drop the shield/brawl training and invest that into more CS.

[Reyek]

i like the shield brawling combo. he is gonna have a higher defense with it. stick to the shield/brawling. staffs for clerics blow.

[ogurty]

yea and if I drop brawling and shield and put it into more cs i'll have like 5 magic ranks per level = super shitty ds

[ogurty]

is smc really useless except for mana? i played a pure bane cleric in gs3 and tripled mana share, never saw much difference...

side note: with 1x hp and 30 ranks of smc, I could fully triple spells, 1x brawl, and 2/3x shields.

[Reyek]

smc for 30 ranks only. only thing it benefits is faster mana revocery and better chance of a raise. i have 30 and no issues raising.

[Galleazzo]

Don't even need 30. I stopped at 25 and I got no troubles at it.

[Reyek]

yea 25 isnt a bad number to stop at, but 5 extra isnt gonna break ya. might as well make it a nice even number ;)

[Blazing247]

Go for 30 ranks of SMC. The ranks are divided by 10, thus the extra 5 ranks is another mana per pulse, as 2.5 is rounded down to 2.

As for weapon training being better than a runestaff, no offense but some of you speak out of ignorance. At level 100, I defend almost as well with my runestaff as someone with a weapon and shield would- the difference is negligible and offset by a shot of mass guards.

I can incapacitate my prey sooner with a higher CS, so while that may not translate into direct DS, it saves my life more often. Add into the equation that many of our spells are uncapped DS, and adding 50+ more spell ranks looks a lot more appealing. We aren't mean to swing weapons and hold a shield. When Paladins come out, you will be left in the dust with that training route.

Please, when you are giving someone advice, only do so if it is backed by research and knowledge. It isn't hard to fit in the required amount of magic ranks per level.

[Trinitis]

*This is just my thoughts*

1x PT. It increases your max encumberance. Less encumberance = more DS.

[TheEschaton]

Doesn't one of the two (SMC and HP) affect infusion? Rate of infusion, or something? Someone did some research on it a bit back.


That would be a serious thing to consider.

-TheE-

[Reyek]

infusion is completely based off lore now.

[ogurty]

then smc doesnt factor into bane at all? weird.

and I still don't see why I'd go for a runestaff. i'd be giving up DS (only a little as you mentioned) and losing ohc benefits. i can train weapon/shield and fully 3x spells, so if i drop weapon/shield, i'll get some more hp, smc, and (yippie) miu. doesn't seem like a good tradeoff.

[gcstader]

My level 10 cleric. I've tested OHB/Shield, Brawling/Shield, and Runestaff with the following results:

~All tested while wearing no spells

4x shield/4x blunt (1x blunts/1x shield):
DEFENSIVE DS: 152
OFFENSIVE DS: 76

4x shield/open hand (1x brawling/1x shield):
DEFENSIVE DS: 145
OFFENSIVE DS: 74

4x runestaff (84 ranks of magical skills + 24 spell ranks):
OFFENSIVE DS: 133
DEFENSIVE DS: 41

So, to me it would appear that the 1x brawling/1x shield is the best way to go. This gives me the open hand casting bonus when using bane and a much higher offensive DS than the runestaff.
The dropoff in brawling/shield bonus will catch up. But for younger clerics it's hard to argue for using a runestaff. If there's something I'm missing let me know.

Thanks,
~ Greg

[TheEschaton]

You can get OHC from a runestaff. It's been worked so that you can get it left hand open with a runestaff.


-TheE-