Dread playing melee lives? Do them as a caster! 8 [X] / 7 Acolyte of the Skin / 5 Favored Soul

[comfy]

Comfy's Silly Past Life Farmer
Do you hate playing melee? Get sad when you have a pack aligned perfectly, but can't Gaping Maw Dragon Breath them down in 1 shot? Stuck buying potions, Heal scrolls, and repairing your weapon after every chain? Don't care about hanging around at cap, you just really really need to scratch that TR urge as quickly as you can? Then I have the build for you. (Yes, I am just really bad at playing melee and very impatient, so I now play them as a spellcaster)

The concept:
7 Warlock Acolyte of the Skin gets you Cone Shape, Dimension Door, Stanch, and the Pact Attunement feats
5 Favored Soul gets you self heals and some spell crit
8 of whatever you want besides Paladin (Acolyte of the Skin requires a non-good alignment) gets you a past life!

I played this build through two Razorclaw Shifter Barbarian lives and one Aasimar Scourge Ranger life so far. Going to keep running it through Monk, Rogue, and Fighter Iconics for sure. It really shines with an Iconic character, just zipping right up to 30 and back down again, I'm not sure if I would recommend it for a character starting at level 1.

Starting stats:
Max out CON and CHA, extras in INT for skill points

Skills:
In order of importance: Spell Craft, Heal, UMD, whatever you'd like (I like Jump)

Levelling path:
1: [whichever Iconic you're doing]
2-8: Warlock Acolyte of the Skin
9-13: Favored Soul
14-20: [whichever Iconic you're doing]

Feats:
Level 1: Some kind of combat style or Toughness (this is your Iconic first level at character creation)
Level 3: Maximize Spell
Level 6: Pact Attunement
Level 9: Empower Spell
Level 12: Greater Pact Attunement
Level 15: Quicken Spell
Level 18: Ultimate Pact Attunement
Level 21: Wellspring of Power
Level 22: Epic Spell Power: Fire
Level 24: Intensify Spell
Level 25: Epic Spell Power: Light
Level 27: Ruin
Level 28: Epic Spell Power: Positive
Level 30: Greater Ruin, Scion of Celestia
Level 31: Legendary Toughness (wait, why are you taking level 31? TR already!)

Gear:
I just throw on some Sharn level 15 stuff and run with it all the way to cap. You can probably find something better than this, but here is what I've been wearing. The best part about this build is you can do a bunch of different past lives in succession without EVER HAVING TO CHANGE YOUR GEAR! My bank alts appreciate the vacation.

Armor: Order's Garb
Belt: Bronze Dragonscale Belt
Boots: Evasive 6 Boots of Feather Falling
Bracers: Aetherband
Cloak: Hallowed Trail
Gloves: Sunstone Gauntlets
Goggles: Dusk Lenses
Helmet: Arcsteel Brim
Necklace: Conduit of the Soul
Ring1: Celestial Topaz Ring (Cha 8)
Ring2: Brazenband
Trinket: Pale Green Ioun Stone
Weapon1: Wild Flame
Weapon2: Resplendant Fury

Enhancements:
Important things are Cone Shape (Soul Eater) and all the Strong Pacts (Tainted Scholar). I like to throw in Close Wounds (Beacon of Hope) and Smiting + Just Reward (Angel of Vengeance) for fun.

Epic Destinies:
Get Dragon Breath + Gaping Maw (Draconic Incarnation) and Holy Presence (Exalted Angel). You don't really need to go any higher that this, because by the time you can, you are probably ready to TR.

Closing thoughts:
Thanks to Strimtom's Acolyte of the Skin Buff Bard for the inspiration and teaching me about the wonders of Acolyte of the Skin Pact Attunement feats.
This build is actually fun and engaging to play. You have ample DPS, some CC (Web is surprisingly effective, and you can easily put in Greater Color Spray from Feydark Illusionist), plenty of self heals and party heals, Dimension Door, and a ton of weird looks from other people when the Barbarian starts breathing fire. It is very competent and I was able to do R1-R4 very comfortably all the way to cap.
Let me know your thoughts, questions, or feel free to poke fun at me because I am a bad melee player. This is also my first time posting a build, so roast me!

 

[Fhrek]

Nice!
Thanks for posting this, was thinking what to do after the Casters and Racials... hate to play Ranged and Melee.

 

[Wizard]

Interesting! I'm also not a big fan of melee (kinda boring) and ranged even less (no proper AOE...)

I assume eldritch blast still does decent damage even with the few levels because of the pact attunement feats? How do you get past the many enemies that are immune to fire tough? Even with my full warlock, when I turn off pact, damage is extremely low.

The build looks pretty squishy too, no heals past cure moderate in heroics and AFAIK warlocks can't use armor without ES...I dislike the super low MR cap on cloth. And issue mainly in epics.

 

[comfy]

[snip]

>I assume eldritch blast still does decent damage even with the few levels because of the pact attunement feats?
Bingo! Basically on par with full Warlock.

>How do you get past the many enemies that are immune to fire tough?
Utterdark Blast + Light spellpower items. Just keep holding mouse click, they will die eventually I turn pact off during sections in Von4 and Blown Deadline when going up against Iron Golems, those are the only times it is really noticeable.

>The build looks pretty squishy too, no heals past cure moderate in heroics and AFAIK warlocks can't use armor without ES
Never was a problem for me. At level 15 I used Close Wounds to heal between fights, and kept Maximize/Empower/Quicken on at all times for Cure Mod and Cure Light for the occasional heals within combat. Since you really only need SP for heals and nothing else, I don't run out. Once in Epics, Holy Presence and Maximize/Empower/Quicken/Intensify Cure Mod Mass are more than enough up to R4, from my experience.

 

[Wizard]

Cool thanks.

I just looked it up seems you can use light armor still and in epics there is enough -spell failure (augment, filigrees) for medium too (proficiency from FVS)

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

I'm a returning noob, have been theory crafting this exact idea but didn't have the knowledge to lock it all together. I've been in love with warlock and struggle to commit to anything else

The acolyte of the skin, can this be replaced with normal warlock levels? Currently I have gear to level with acid lore/corrosion (for pally levels)

I also have an old sorc with fire leveling gear so I could do that

I also prefer chains over cone, but I have used cone and it is very strong , I usually unlock both honestly. Chains is just nice for clearing rangers and casters bunched up on ledges

I haven't bought sharn yet, but I do plan to and grind out the gear since I see people talking about it everywhere

What about pre level 15, just the normal radiance and stat items? Is there any sets that stand out?

 

[rabidfox]

It's really meh damage to not do 12 AotS if going beyond 20 as a blaster build. You can't take https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Pact_Dice nor https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Eldritch_Blast So it's going to result in a poor experience compared to other options. Some people might find it less painful than run a melee life like the OP, but it's going to be subpar damage output vs running those lives as an inquisitive and not watching your damage drop off in epics.

 

[comfy]

[snip]

>The acolyte of the skin, can this be replaced with normal warlock levels? Currently I have gear to level with acid lore/corrosion (for pally levels)
Unfortunately, no. The benefit of Acolyte of the Skin is that you can take the Pact Attunement feats which power up your Eldritch Blast without needing the additional Warlock levels.

>I also prefer chains over cone, but I have used cone and it is very strong , I usually unlock both honestly. Chains is just nice for clearing rangers and casters bunched up on ledges
I typically take both, and use Chain situationally for things like that

>I haven't bought sharn yet, but I do plan to and grind out the gear since I see people talking about it everywhere
I would recommend it! Sharn is great for levelling - both in terms of quest level range XP and gear.

>What about pre level 15, just the normal radiance and stat items? Is there any sets that stand out?
I would not recommend playing this build except for on an Iconic character, which starts at level 15; however, you are more than welcome to give it a shot. When I level a caster I typically run Borderlands gear until level 5, where I put on a Feywild set until level 15. Pick up Radiance (once you get Utterdark Blast) and Combustion.

You can't take https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Pact_Dice nor https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Eldritch_Blast So it's going to result in a poor experience compared to other options. Some people might find it less painful than run a melee life like the OP, but it's going to be subpar damage output vs running those lives as an inquisitive and not watching your damage drop off in epics.

You are correct. This build is absolutely not going to be the best DPS, but it is certainly more than enough. The philosophy of this build is to provide guidance for an easy past life, with more than enough AOE DPS and self sustain to solo 15-30 on R1. If someone prefers ranged playstyle to caster, I welcome them to try that instead - but that is not me

 

[Wizard]

>What about pre level 15, just the normal radiance and stat items? Is there any sets that stand out?
I would not recommend playing this build except for on an Iconic character, which starts at level 15; however, you are more than welcome to give it a shot.

Hmm would this build be very bad below 15? You're a regular AotS 1-7 (not good but not terrible), then add some self heals from FvS just when quests start becoming tougher and low/mid heroic is generally pretty easy, especially with Fey & Dread gear.

Probably the reason not to play this from 1 is that one should pair class PLs with iconics. 15-30 is quicker than 1-20 and you get 2 PLs insead of 1. And then for 1-20 racials there is no reason to pick this build.

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

It's really meh damage to not do 12 AotS if going beyond 20 as a blaster build. You can't take https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Pact_Dice nor https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Eldritch_Blast So it's going to result in a poor experience compared to other options. Some people might find it less painful than run a melee life like the OP, but it's going to be subpar damage output vs running those lives as an inquisitive and not watching your damage drop off in epics.

I would be using this build to TR asap after I hit 20, basically not touching many epics, if any. That being s

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

Is this only for iconic levels? Isn't getting to 30 from 20 difficult? Idk I'm new and trying to understand how to actually grind past life's without having every piece of gear in the game

 

[Wizard]

Getting from 20 to 30 is easy if you have enough content and some gear (Borderlands gear including a weapon is good plus either Saltmarsh lvl 20 or keep heroic Sharn set). There are more quests you can do in epics since there is no level lockout (can even do legendaries on lower difficulties) and some slayers are great xp.

 

[gravisrs]

Actually this is better for 1-20. Not having 12 Warlock levels for both epic blasting feats hurts alot on epics.

 

[comfy]

Probably the reason not to play this from 1 is that one should pair class PLs with iconics. 15-30 is quicker than 1-20 and you get 2 PLs insead of 1. And then for 1-20 racials there is no reason to pick this build.

Exactly. From my experience, going 15-30 is extremely quick compared to 1-20. That's why I chose to go the iconic route.

Isn't getting to 30 from 20 difficult?

Like anything else in the game, it takes practice and experience to get the hang of. I find it to be very quick. A typical 20-30 for me looks something like this:
1. Run token quests (Phiarlan Carnival, Sentinels, Spies, VON 1-4, Wiz King + OOB, Lords of Dust chain)
2. Run all of Eveningstar (ES1, 2, 3, Don't Drink the Water and Belly of the Beast, Druids chain, Wheloon, High Road, Storm Horns)
3. Take all the sagas from Eveningstar quests
4. If you still aren't capped, run Gianthold
If you don't run in Epics a lot, there might be a lot of new quests in Eveningstar that you will be learning for the first time, which will take time. In addition, you may not have an abundance of Heart Seeds or Comms to get the Iconic Heart of Wood., so you might need to run some Legendary quests as well to pick those up.

If you are a newer player, I would recommend at least trying each of the different melee classes in a traditional way before going the silly route

Actually this is better for 1-20. Not having 12 Warlock levels for both epic blasting feats hurts alot on epics.

To be honest, I don't find damage in Epics to be very lacking, especially with Dragon Breath. Levelling 1-20 for a heroic past life takes much longer from my experience than 15-30. Going 15-30 also has the benefit of giving you an Iconic past life as well (unless someone is already 3x each). There are other potential benefits too, depending on each person's specific situation. For example: better platinum accumulation, increased guild renown rewards (especially from extra sagas), more reaper XP.

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

Would this also work for past life's if you use the +1 heart of wood thing that lets you change your class but keep iconic?

 

[comfy]

Would this also work for past life's if you use the +1 heart of wood thing that lets you change your class but keep iconic?

I have never tried this or played around with +1 lesser heart with Iconics, but I'm fairly certain you willrun into an issue. From what I recall, you need to level up to 15 before you're able to lesser reincarnate as an Iconic. Because of the level split, you will likely be 7 Aots / 5 FvS / 3 [iconic class] at level 15, meaning you would need a +3 lesser heart. Probably not worth the price for just a quick and easy past life unless you are willing to pay for the convenience of getting that specific heroic + iconic past life combo

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

For those who are returning or new - using iconic cleric will start you will gear all centered around fire/light spell power. I started with this and used the starter iconic gear to grind sharn for the gear set listed above. Since I didn't have a base set of gear to use

(You can get reduction on arcane spell failure through racial tree, definitely pick that up)

 

[Zxt_the_grand]

Angelic form mantle, the tool tip on the destiny board says it's CD is 5 but when you check your character buffs at the top of the screen it says 10 seconds. Is the same for the draconic mantle? And if it's not and draconic is half the CD, does that make it better?

 

[comfy]

My total completions with this build to date have been 2x Razorclaw Barbarian, 2x Scourge Ranger, 2x Trailblazer Monk, and 1x Scoundrel Bard. For my 2nd Scoundrel Bard life, I did 16 Bard / 4 Warlock, since the FvS didn't really give me much the first go around. Bard lives I went T5 Warchanter for the spell crit, medium armor (used Flamecleansed Fury set), and hitpoints. I'm wondering if it might just be as easy to run other caster lives this same way for simplicity and out of laziness to gear and build

 

[rabidfox]

I'm wondering if it might just be as easy to run other caster lives this same way for simplicity and out of laziness to gear and build

That's why I ran a bunch of lives as inquisitive; it saved me having to gear farm/plan out a good build each TR for something I wasn't interested in playing.