Returning 47 Cleric...please critique

[MMA RLZ]

Level 47 Dwarf Cleric

Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 82 (26) ... 82 (26)
Constitution (CON): 82 (31) ... 81 (30)
Dexterity (DEX): 95 (22) ... 95 (22)
Agility (AGI): 94 (17) ... 94 (17)
Discipline (DIS): 81 (25) ... 81 (25)
Aura (AUR): 91 (10) ... 91 (10)
Logic (LOG): 82 (21) ... 82 (21)
Intuition (INT): 82 (16) ... 87 (18)
Wisdom (WIS): 88 (19) ... 93 (21)
Influence (INF): 55 (-8) ... 55 (-8)

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 130 35
Shield Use.........................| 148 48
Brawling...........................| 148 48
Physical Fitness...................| 90 20
Arcane Symbols.....................| 120 30
Magic Item Use.....................| 120 30
Harness Power......................| 148 48
Spirit Mana Control................| 148 48
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 148 48
Climbing...........................| 120 30
Swimming...........................| 120 30
First Aid..........................| 148 48

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

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 40

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 50

Level 47 Cleric returning after a while.

1) Bane kills slowly, even when I'm channeling in offensive. Does this ever get better?

2) As far as my spell training, should this be altered at all? I seem to be able to hit about 70% of the time or better with the stuff I'm hunting with Bane and want to get WoF sooner than later.

3) The 7% failure on brigadine is really starting to be annoying. Are doubles viable or do most Clerics still go brigadine nowadays?

4) And as far as lores, I'm not really sure where I need to be improving or training more. I'd like to be able to mess with chrism gems at some point, but I'm currently not really worried about it as I primarily hunt. Does religion ever stop returning benefits?

Thanks for any input!

[Dhuul2]

Welcome back.

1) It's a 2 mana plinker spell. You get a shot at instant death and crit kills, but it's probably going to take multiple casts to kill. All you can do is increase your CS with Cleric Base and increase infusion chance with Religion ranks. Given your hit rate I'd go with the former.

2) A 70% hit rate is not terrible, but I would shoot for higher. Get a few more Cleric ranks by ditching Arcane Symbols altogether. I'd also scale back your Spiritual Mana Control training to 24 ranks for now, with 30/40/more as an eventual goal. I would tell you to drop Minor Spirit down 9 ranks or so, but if you need WoF then keep it. Oh and lose a Harness Power rank, keep it trained at your level, that 48th rank only gives you 1 mana. The Climbing and Swimming seem pretty high for level 47, I don't know what area you are hunting in but I can't imagine you'd need that many ranks.

3) Doubles are viable if you don't get hit. I'd stay in brig.

4) If you just hunt, don't worry about Chrisms for now. As for Religion's returns, it depends on the spell, but I think it is the lore where Clerics get the most bang for their buck. There's a great list of how Religion affects spells @ http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_Lore,_Religion

[MMA RLZ]

What would you suggest instead of Bane?

[Dhuul2]

At 47, you have the mana to open up with 317 or 312 (against noncorporeal undead), and then finish off with Bane, especially if you are in CoL and wrack. But since your hit rate is 70%, there's a fair chance you'll miss and just lose that mana, and a decent string of such misses can really ruin a hunt. That's why just using 302 is so great -- you only risk losing 2 mana each cast.

Of course you have to pick good creatures to hunt, preferably something that can't hurt you while you stand there in guarded and plink it.

If you do decide to use the higher level spells and run into mana problems, the best solution is to start hunting at clear or muddled.