Hey all, long time casual player and first time posting on new forums (not that I was very active on the old ones). Thought I'd post here instead fo starting a whole new thread on a similar subject.
I’ve been messing around with the Dark Apostate and I’m looking for a second life DA build for this character. The first life I’m playing mostly normal/hard with new players. Next life will be mostly elites and R1 (maybe R2). Depending on how that goes I may also TR one of my other older characters. I’ve read the guide and since I’m running most quests on normal/hard, I decided to try DA enhancements from the get go. I did not go through the planner this time around because the character is pretty straight forward.
What I like about the play style:
- The quick ranged AOE/curse combo is fun, plus AOE blasts when they get up close.
- Cool undead shroud with good defenses and easy to build on.
- Something about hitting mobs with evil damage from my weapon is just cool.
I am level 7 and just completed Feywild with all my enhancement points in DA and planning for T5 (will see how that goes) and assuming 41 points.
Race is Shifter and planning to put 21 points in that tree for rage, howl of terror, freedom of movement, and displacement. Rest of the points will be either divine disciple or warpriest.
I’m a DPS caster, and have taken Quicken, Maximize, and Empower. Current build plan would include both Mental Toughness (critical and spell points) and then both Spell Focus Enchantment feats.
Abilities are max Wis, then Con, Int (Diplomacy, Heal, Spellcraft, and UMD) and Cha. Dump Str and Dex.
I’m a follower of Olladra because sickle and orb just looks cool in the undead form. Not to mention the Luck of Olladra. Currently using Ferrocrystal Sickle and Nicked Orb.
I took Good domain for alignment spell power and temporary hit points from turn undead, that combined with DA tier 4 dark judgement currently gives 75 temp hp to the
whole party (although Good domain only lasts 20 seconds). Deific vengeance SLA is working well enough to clean up after using Bane for initial AOE damage and looking forward to a Blade Barrier SLA to deal with golems and the like. I also plan to add light spells into the rotation as a back up.
Key first life issues/questions:
- I am struggling to get evil spellpower up to functional levels. Currently at 86 sp and 12% crit
- Where do I find useful evil spellpower and crit items? I’ve spent time on the wiki, but not really seeing anything. I see Coalesced Coinage (orb) from White Plume Mountain but everything else looks like ML 15+. Did they seriously create this class without a single supporting orb?
- Should I farm Legend of the Lost locket for Ring of Summer’s heat?
- I’ve read that there are some issues with light crit applying to evil spells (more a comment than question I guess).
- If I have to craft items, does anyone have advice with crafting spell crit items for evil spells?
- Not enough feats to make Enhanced Curse III work (curses enemy on weapon crit) and don't have strikethrough. Has anyone made this enhancement function well? If so how and what did you have to give up? While this isn’t a melee build, the idea is to curse opponents and double damage them with AOE Pray for Mercy spells.
- Any thoughts on how to make this work, don’t need damage, just crits?
For second life, I'm considering quarterstaff with Improved Critical and Swords to Plowshares for Enhanced Curse III. But then I would need strike through and/or cleaves. If anyone has experience trying that, I’d love to hear it. The other issue is apparently there is only one quarterstaff with radiance support starting at level 12 with Cauldron of Sora Katra crafting.
Also, not sure which feats to give up and whether to go War Domain since the point would be to double the damage from Pray For Mercy. So better crit chance or more SP? Also considering Sun or an Elemental domain instead of Good for acquiring easier spell power.
Thought it would be interesting to grab a level of Wizard for the Meta Magic feat and EK cleave for additional AOE and potential crits for Enhanced Curse III. I’d then consider one more multiclass level, but not sure, probably Fighter, and then I’d get a better balance of feats.
Again, I want to emphasize that I like the DA tree and am trying to make it work, even if its just for the occasional heroic run.
Cheers and thanks!
