Iconic lives and Archetypes

Jasparius

Well-known member
So I already have triple class completionist and have been working through racial completionist but will be doing a few iconic lives soon. I did iconic lives when they first came out years ago but now Im back many years on.

The goal is just to get to 30 and TR so I wont be using LRs to get rid of the 1st level of whichever iconic Im running. Here are the iconics I plan to run, so Im wondering if anyone has thoughts on archetypes which would go well (happy with any combo of classes/archetypes - but I need to get the archetype life with the iconic life):
Bladeforged
Morninglord
Shadar-kai

Cheers !
 

Isilion

Active member
SDK: 16 Dragon Lord / 3 Bard / 1 Rogue. SWF - Swash + VKF + DL T5. Sure there's a build framework lurking somewhere
 

magaiti

Well-known member
Just pick any archetype that doesn't depend on its capstone and go 19/1, 18/2 or 18/1/1

Bladeforged: It's hard to imagine a non-tank build that would benefit from just few levels of paladin. Usually you want at least 14 levels of paladin. A decent Imbue for 1 AP is the only thing i see.

Morninglord: there are no int-based archetypes available at the moment, so seems equally useless for any archetype.

Shadar-kai: 1-2 levels of rogue are decent for any build, for trap skills and evasion, and maybe imbue/+3 imbue dice
 

droid327

Hardcore casual soloist
Theres many options, but I think the most parsimonious choice for each...

SDK: 15 Dlord/3 Bard/2 Rogue. Dlord works well on literally anything, but SDK really wants that full +4/+2 crit profile on Handaxe for insane Chaining

Mlord: 18 Fist/1 Monk/1 Clr. SWF VKF, you'll chew through the lives with so much strong melee AOE.

Bladeforged: It really prefers Dlord too, but you can try 19 WM for a caster build. Obviously not ideal losing your capstone and immunity breaking, but Chaos spells should help with immunes, and you can self-heal with Reconstruct SLA with full metas.
 

Jasparius

Well-known member
Theres many options, but I think the most parsimonious choice for each...

SDK: 15 Dlord/3 Bard/2 Rogue. Dlord works well on literally anything, but SDK really wants that full +4/+2 crit profile on Handaxe for insane Chaining

Mlord: 18 Fist/1 Monk/1 Clr. SWF VKF, you'll chew through the lives with so much strong melee AOE.

Bladeforged: It really prefers Dlord too, but you can try 19 WM for a caster build. Obviously not ideal losing your capstone and immunity breaking, but Chaos spells should help with immunes, and you can self-heal with Reconstruct SLA with full metas.

So MLord SFist uses a dagger? Or HAxe like SDK ?
 

droid327

Hardcore casual soloist
So MLord SFist uses a dagger? Or HAxe like SDK ?

Yeah, dagger. Handaxe cant be centered, for one. Also, VKF is your primary melee tree since Sac Fist has pretty meh T4/T5 offerings

SDK uses Handaxe specifically since it double dips on crit profile with Swash (+4 range) and Dlord (+2 mult) to make it extra powerful for use with Chains. Other Swash weapons would end up at /x4, Handaxe ends up at /x5
 

Jasparius

Well-known member
Yeah, dagger. Handaxe cant be centered, for one. Also, VKF is your primary melee tree since Sac Fist has pretty meh T4/T5 offerings

SDK uses Handaxe specifically since it double dips on crit profile with Swash (+4 range) and Dlord (+2 mult) to make it extra powerful for use with Chains. Other Swash weapons would end up at /x4, Handaxe ends up at /x5

I dont have many racial points so I invest AP to get the full chains?
Or is the early stuff in the tree enough ?
 

Jasparius

Well-known member
Bladeforged: 3 Paladin (Sacred Defender Sacred Defense Stance for defense) and 17 Sorc. A nuker that can take a hit :) and self repair.

I have done Sorc lives. And also done Wild Mage lives. Would need to be Stormsinger or the Warlock one ?

Would they work with 3 Pally ? Or maybe 2 so the level 18 core applies.
 

droid327

Hardcore casual soloist
I have done Sorc lives. And also done Wild Mage lives. Would need to be Stormsinger or the Warlock one ?

Would they work with 3 Pally ? Or maybe 2 so the level 18 core applies.
Can't be bard/pal, alignment lock

You can technically do Acolyte but you won't be able to take any pact, which means you're only doing like 60% damage
 

Thumbed_Servant

Well-known member
I have done Sorc lives. And also done Wild Mage lives. Would need to be Stormsinger or the Warlock one ?

Would they work with 3 Pally ? Or maybe 2 so the level 18 core applies.
Yeah, what Droid327 said :( And it would need 3 Paladin to access the Sacred Defense stance. But, so many more builds out there to choose from.

I used the build I posted for sorc lives and enjoyed it immensely...chuckled when I would last one standing in a group that got into a room they couldn't handle.
 

Jasparius

Well-known member
Maybe AoTS for Morninglord. There's light spell power in the tree.

So my SDK life is nearly done and has been awesome fun. Ended up 3 Bard, 5 Rogue, 12 DL. Crazy good damage and full trapping.

My next life Im thinking Morninglord as I want to go a caster (then will come back and do another DL past life - I always swap around to keep the game fun).

So I go 1 Cleric then 19 AOTS? Would it be more worthwhile to go 3 or 6 Cleric to get a bit more from there or is 18 core for AOTS worth more than taking more Cleric lives?

Which Enhancement trees would be best for AOTS? I will also have 7 racial points I can put into Morninglord.

Cheers.
 

magaiti

Well-known member
So my SDK life is nearly done and has been awesome fun. Ended up 3 Bard, 5 Rogue, 12 DL. Crazy good damage and full trapping.

My next life Im thinking Morninglord as I want to go a caster (then will come back and do another DL past life - I always swap around to keep the game fun).

So I go 1 Cleric then 19 AOTS? Would it be more worthwhile to go 3 or 6 Cleric to get a bit more from there or is 18 core for AOTS worth more than taking more Cleric lives?

Which Enhancement trees would be best for AOTS? I will also have 7 racial points I can put into Morninglord.

Cheers.
AotS tree is considered suboptimal, so 18-19 AotS with AP in Soul Eater/Tainted Scholar, standard blaster fare. Probably worth taking spell crit chance in Divine Disciple to offset loss of capstone.
Unless you want to experience the AotS tree. AotS cores are rather weak, and you can take pact dice feats much like monk master of forms, so more cleric levels is fine, if you need them.
 

droid327

Hardcore casual soloist
My next life Im thinking Morninglord as I want to go a caster (then will come back and do another DL past life - I always swap around to keep the game fun).

So I go 1 Cleric then 19 AOTS? Would it be more worthwhile to go 3 or 6 Cleric to get a bit more from there or is 18 core for AOTS worth more than taking more Cleric lives?

Which Enhancement trees would be best for AOTS? I will also have 7 racial points I can put into Morninglord.

The whole point of AotS is that you can mix it with other class levels without losing progression on your Eldritch Blast. If you're just going 19/1, then dont go AotS, go standard Warlock, as ES is a far better tree than AotS, even if you still want to stick with Fiend pact for Fire damage. I might do 15 Cleric/5 AotS. That'll get you Fire Storm and Death Pact, but still let you go T5 in Soul Eater for Wave, T2 TS for Chain + Utterdark, then Divine Disciple for more crit and power. Fire domain probably for another Firestorm SLA. Max, Emp, Quicken, Enlarge, Pact x3.

You'd use your meta'd Cleric nukes for alpha, and then use Wave + Chain to clean up and save SP. You'd have Heal and cleric buffs too. Probably just go WIS>CON>CHA and eat the low DC on your EB; only the Pact damage has a save anyway
 

magaiti

Well-known member
The whole point of AotS is that you can mix it with other class levels without losing progression on your Eldritch Blast. If you're just going 19/1, then dont go AotS, go standard Warlock, as ES is a far better tree than AotS, even if you still want to stick with Fiend pact for Fire damage. I might do 15 Cleric/5 AotS. That'll get you Fire Storm and Death Pact, but still let you go T5 in Soul Eater for Wave, T2 TS for Chain + Utterdark, then Divine Disciple for more crit and power. Fire domain probably for another Firestorm SLA. Max, Emp, Quicken, Enlarge, Pact x3.

You'd use your meta'd Cleric nukes for alpha, and then use Wave + Chain to clean up and save SP. You'd have Heal and cleric buffs too. Probably just go WIS>CON>CHA and eat the low DC on your EB; only the Pact damage has a save anyway
OP wants to get Archetype PLs along with IPLs. Regular warlock or 15 cleric levels won't grant an APL.
 

droid327

Hardcore casual soloist
OP wants to get Archetype PLs along with IPLs. Regular warlock or 15 cleric levels won't grant an APL.

Ah fair enough

Still a 12/8 split will get him the aots life while still keeping Cure Crit and some domain goodies, plus access to DD cores, and let him take epic EB feats

Aots is mostly just about blast and wave, so no need to take more than the min
 

Jasparius

Well-known member
So 12 AOTS / 8 Cleric ? Fire domain ?

And avoid the AOTS enhancements ?

I assume its purely about blasting and ignores Evards and Wail and other damage Warlock spells.
 
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