Neverwinter Cleric Level 40 Skills Guide

Neverwinter Cleric Level 40 Skills Guide by falchoin

So after getting my cleric Kali to 40 I can say overall the class is enjoyable. Decent AoE damage, passable single target dps and of course healing. Considering NWOs slant towards multi-mob encounters it wasn’t unusual for me to place near the top or top dps in dungeon runs. Healing-wise I was on top every dungeon/skirmish I did. My cleric was geared for Recovery/Crit/Power and I put Paragon points into the Virtuous(damage) line.

Kali’s stats at level 40:
16 STR, 11 CON, 11 DEX, 12 INT, 24 WIS, 15 CHA
11551 hp
744 Power (+31 dmg/healing bonus)
908 Crit Strike (+8% crit chance)
0 Armor Pen
880 Recovery (+8% AP gain and recharge speed)
448 Defense (12% dmg resist)
0 Deflect
0 Regeneration
102 Life Steal (1% hp gained)
50 Movement (0% movement speed)

All listed damage/healing numbers and cooldowns are with the above stats at level 40. Not all powers show the numbers in the tooltip and will be denoted with a ~ before the number to show it’s approximate. Your mileage may vary!

At-Will Powers:

• Lance of Faith: Your first attack. Highest single target dps (fast and highest damage), but no other buffs. Useful while soloing but you’ll likely want different At-Will powers while teamed. 346-401 damage.
• Astral Seal: A debuff you place on the enemy which causes anyone who strikes the debuffed enemy to heal a small amount, seemingly based on attack damage. Useful early on, but I think it has scaling issues mid-game as healing 30ish hp per hit when you’ve got over 11k is a drop in the ocean. Possibly only useful for keeping the Foresight buff up on teammates. Low dps since the attack animation is slow and lowish damage. 302-348 damage.
• Sacred Flame: Reasonable dps and the third hit grants a small amount temporary hp. Sadly the tooltip does not show how much hp is given and I’ve not been able to find any way to tell how much hp is given whether it’s mousing over the hp bar or checking the character screen. 293-339 damage.
• Brand of the Sun: Lowest dps, but it’s a DoT! If the first tick crits, every subsequent tick will crit. 1331-1545 damage total.
• Divinity At-Wills: While Divinity is active your left click is a channeled beam and your right click is a channeled heal. These are the only actions the cleric can do and move at the same time. Heal or damage on the run! So long as you have the power for it anyway. 247-286 damage or 237-274 healing, both are very fast ticking.
• Preferred At-Will Powers: For solo I preferred Sacred Flame and Brand of the Sun for decent dps and a tiny bit of buffing. While teamed I’d use Brand of the Sun (I used Sacred Flame up till I got the feat debuff for Brand of the Sun) and Astral Seal. I rarely used the Divinity At-Will powers and instead saved the power for use with encounter abilities.

Encounter Powers:

• Sun Burst: The first encounter power you get, and one that will likely not leave your encounter bar very often. PBAoE damage and healing is very handy whether soloing or teamed. As a bonus it knocks back and heals for more if used with Divinity. 618-723 damage, ~550 healing (~720 healing in divine mode). 10.3 second cooldown.
• Healing Word: Targeted heal over time with 3x charges that regenerate in 15 sec per charge, or heal + heal over time that does not consume encounter charges if used with Divinity. While it can be difficult to find the correct target sometimes, it feels improved over last beta. Personally I never took this power off my encounter bar as a HoT on demand is extremely useful. 1852-2162 healing, ~1200 upfront heal + HoT in Divine mode. ~1 second cooldown between casting HoTs.
• Searing Light: Line based AoE that splits and deals additional if used with Divinity. Difficult to use properly since mobs like to surround targets instead of staying in nice lines. I replaced this power with Chains of Blazing Light as soon as I could. 962-1125 damage. 10.4 second cooldown.
• Chains of Blazing Light: Targeted AoE that damages and roots the targets for a few seconds. The spell acts like a trap and will trigger when you knock or drag mobs into it. If used with Divinity the cast time is instant and deals more damage. Stayed on my encounter bar until Daunting Light. ~1200 damage single target, roughly half that when hitting 4 targets. 13.9 second cooldown.
• Daunting Light: Targeted AoE damage in a smallish AoE that’s difficult to target properly due to the delay between casting and damage. While channeling Divinity the AoE is larger and instant cast. This power occupied my third encounter slot nearly my entire character’s career up to 40, even in dungeons. 1895-2215 damage. 12.2 second cooldown.
• Forgemaster’s Flame: Single target DoT and snare. If used with Divinity it heals nearby allies and increases the snare strength. Useful in melee heavy teams where you don’t need to contribute much AoE damage. 1321-1543 damage. 13 second cooldown.
• Bastion of Health: Targeted AoE heal. If used with Divinity it heals more and is instant cast. I did not use this power much beyond testing due to the long cooldown. Healing Word without Divinity heals about as much as Bastion of Health with Divinity. 864-1010 healing, negligible healing increase while in divine mode but it is instant. 21.8 second cooldown.
• Divine Glow: Targeted AoE damage and enemy defense debuff. If used with Divinity it deals more damage and also buffs allies to deal more damage. I could see this power maybe getting used in a cleric heavy team where additional healing is not necessary. Sadly, the tooltips do not give specifics on the buff/debuff. In testing it was noticable but mostly negligible. 575-673 damage, ~790 in divine mode. 13.9 second cooldown.
• Prophecy of Doom: Single target defense debuff with a twist. If the debuff times out and the target is not dead, it hits for about half of Daunting Light. If the target dies while debuffed you gain action points and the power recharges immediately, which is important since it has a longish cooldown. Theoretically it could be used to quickly regain AP for daily power spam. In practice, and especially in boss fights without adds, this power is difficult to use properly and largely a waste as there are other powers that are more useful to be slotted. Due to the lowish damage for the cooldown, the paragon feat to make 10% of the damage dealt as an AoE heal comes off as weak. ~1300 damage, ~1650 damage in divine mode. 20.7 second cooldown.
• Preferred Encounter Powers: 90% of the time, whether solo or teamed I had Sun Burst, Healing Word and Daunting Light slotted. This provided good AoE damage and decent healing. A couple dungeon runs in Cragmire Crypts I swapped Sun Burst for Forgemaster’s Flame to assist with keeping the rogues and guardian alive since Healing Word was difficult to target properly.

Daily Powers:

• Guardian of Faith: Single target damage and knockdown with an AoE heal component. The heal amount isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Useful mainly in the early levels. 1727-2019 damage, heals for ~780 but does not appear to heal if it kills the target.
• Hallowed Ground: Huge PBAoE ground based buff to defense and damage for allies. My preferred daily power while teamed, it makes a big difference in damage dealt and damage taken. Did I mention the AoE is huge? Because it is. Actual numbers are not listed.
• Flame Strike: Large targeted AoE damage power that deals more damage to targets in the center. Provides a bit of crowd control as targets in the center are knocked up. 3062-3865 damage.
• Divine Armor: Large targeted AoE temporary hp and defense buff for allies. The defense buff lasts as long as the temporary hp does. Not as useful as the other dailies in my opinion. No specific numbers listed.
• Preferred Daily Powers: I kept Hallowed Ground and Flame Strike slotted. Generally speaking I’d use Hallowed Ground while teamed and Flame Strike while solo.

Slotted Class Passives:

• Healer’s Lore: A 10% healing effectiveness buff. Can provide additional benefits from the Paragon feats.
• Holy Fervor: Attacks generate 10% more action points. Not as useful as the other passives in my opinion since there are no feats which buff it further.
• Foresight: Reduces damage taken by 5%. Healing others applies this buff to them temporarily. I don’t know whether the temp hp buff from Sacred Flame counts as healing to proc this effect on others. Can be buffed to 10% total with paragon feats. This passive is easy to keep up on others if you use the Astral Seal At-Will power.
• Preferred Passives: I used Healer’s Lore and Foresight from level 30 onward. Looking ahead, the level 42 passive damage buff should work well with Brand of the Sun and the level 60 passive which blocks an attack once every 60 seconds seems like a waste.

Heroic Feats:

• Healing Action: Tier 1 feat which grants 1/2/3% more action points for healing. Currently bugged to allow more than 3 feat points placed in it.
• Greater Fortune: Tier 1 feat which gives 1/2/3% more healing from your Wisdom stat.
• Toughness: Tier 1 feat that gives a 3/6/9% bonus to max hp.
• Holy Resolve: Tier 2 feat which gives 5/10/15% of your max hp as temp hp when you drop below 30% health. Due to the 5 minute cooldown this feat seems like a stinker.
• Domain Synergy: Tier 2 feat. 1/2/3/4/5% bonus to your Recovery stat. At level 40 my character has 880 Recovery which translates to 8% cooldown redux and AP gain. For 5 feat points for an extra 44 Recovery which may or may not add 1% cooldown redux and AP gain feels weak.
• Weapon Mastery: Tier 2 feat. 1/2/3% bonus to crit chance. Some other feats work off crits which make this synergize well with them. Plus crits are fun for damage and heals!
• Initiate of the Faith: Tier 3 feat. .2/.4/.6/.8/1% of your power is made as bonus crit strike. At level 40 my character has 744 Power which means she gets 7 crit strike. 908 crit strike is ~8% bonus to crit chance. This feat is a complete waste of points.
• Repurpose Soul: Tier 3 feat. 5/10/15% of your spell effect (heal or damage) on crit heals allies in an area around the target. With high crit chance this can provide a moderate amount of small AoE heals.
• Battlewise: Tier 3 feat. 2/4/6% less threat generated. I didn’t have problems with threat so long as the guardian fighter was doing their job. Likely 6% less threat wouldn’t make much difference anyway.
• Cleanse: Tier 4 feat. 10/20/30% chance on heal to cleanse a debuff. Given the lack of any cleanse abilities, this sounds like a must-have feat. Should work well with Astral Seal and Repurpose Soul heals since they’ll ideally be happening often.
• Templar’s Domain: Tier 4 feat. 5/10/15/20/25% chance when dealing damage to grant a 30% bonus to armor penetration for 5 seconds. Possibly useful when stacking armor penetration. I’d rather stack crit personally.
• Bountiful Fortune: Tier 4 feat. Gain 3/6/9/12/15% more divine power.

As far as paragon feats go, Divine seems to have some tough choices between good feats. Tactical and Damage feats lines are a mix of crap and marginally useful feats which at least makes choosing what to max easy.

Virtuous Paragon Feats (Damage):

• Desperate Renewal: Tier 1. Increase the healing of Soothing Light (Divinity channeled heal) by 5/10/15/20/25% when your target is below 25% health. I am unsure as to the usefulness of this feat since players generally pop potions when their health gets this low.
• Rising Hope: Tier 1. Divinity empowered encounter powers have a chance to buff 15% Power and Recovery for 30/60/90/120/150 seconds. While the proc chance isn’t listed, it’s not difficult to keep the buff active so long as you use Divinity empowered encounter powers often.
• Power of the Sun: Tier 2. Brand of the Sun lowers target damage output and crit chance by 1/2/3/4/5%. Gives a purpose to use Brand of the Sun while teamed beyond extra dps.
• Second Sight: Tier 2. 2/4/6/8/10% of the damage when Prophecy of Doom ends heals you and nearby allies. Since Prophecy of Doom his for ~1400, 5 points for a ~140 point AoE heal when players have ~11k health every 20ish seconds is not points well spent.
• Nimbus of Light: Tier 3. Daunting Light also reduces target defense by 2/4/6/8/10% for 5 seconds. Turns your best AoE nuke into a debuff as well.
• Focused Poise: Tier 3. Lance of Faith deals 1/2/3/4/5% more damage on non-crits. Personally I don’t see Lance of Faith being used often so this feat looks bad to me.
• Disciple of Divine Lore: Tier 4. When the Healer’s Lore passive is active you have a chance to get a 2/4/6/8/10% damage buff for 8 seconds. Depending on the chance to proc, and exactly how it’s procced (since Healer’s Lore is a passive) this feat could be good or bad.
• Strength of the Gods: Tier 4. You and allies affected by Guardian of Faith or Divine Armor take 1/2/3/4/5% less damage and deal 1/2/3/4/5% more damage for 6 seconds. Maybe in a Prophecy of Doom build for rapid AP recovery this could be a good feat. Unsure whether the buff would overcome the benefit of Hallowed Ground.
• Cycle of Change: Tier 5. Every crit heal gives a 2% bonus damage to encounter powers which stacks up to a total of 10%. Using an encounter power resets the stacks. This feat looks marginally useful, though a bit weak for a level 60 top tier feat.

Faithful Paragon Feats (Divine):

• Deepstone Blessing: Tier 1. Heal 2/4/6/8/10% more when the target has temporary hp. This could be useful when used with Sacred Flame or Divine Armor.
• Enduring Relief: Tier 1. Bonus 1/2/3/4/5% healing for 3 seconds to a target after healing them in Divine mode. I am not sure this feat is beneficial due to the short buff duration.
• Benefit of Foresight: Tier 2. Increase the Foresight defense bonus an additional 1/2/3/4/5%. This seems like a must have if you’re using Foresight. 10% total damage redux for the team so long as they keep receiving heals from you sounds amazing.
• Linked Spirit: Tier 2. Healing a target increases their stats by 1/2/3/4/5% of your stats for 10 seconds. Another seemingly must have support feat.
• Invigorated Healing: Tier 3. Sun Burst, Bastion of Health, and Astral Shield (not available this beta) apply Invigorated. After 6 seconds Invigorated expires and heals the target .5/1/1.5/2/2.5% of their max hp. Yet another good feat in the Divine line, so long as you use at least one of those powers.
• Power of Life: Tier 3. Astral Seal heals 2/4/6/8/10% more and Sacred Flame grants 2/4/6/8/10% more temp hp. Marginal usefulness as 10% more of a tiny number is still a tiny number.
• Mark of Mending: Tier 4. Healer’s lore is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% and your power is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% of your Recovery stat. More healing and more damage and healing! Useful if you don’t want to use the Hallowed Ground daily because…
• Moon Touched: Tier 4. Allies affected by Hallowed Ground heal 1/2/3/4/5% of their max hp every 3 seconds. Wow. I wish more feats could be like this one!
• Greater Divine Power: Tier 5. Adds a 4th pip to your Divine power. While I don’t see this feat as game changing as the Moon Touched feat, this feat sounds very useful regardless.

Righteous Paragon Feats (Tactical):

• Divine Advantage: Tier 1. Allies healed by you don’t grant Combat Advantage for 1/2/3/4/5 seconds. I’m guessing this means mobs and players can’t deal combat advantage damage for so many seconds after being healed by you. Given the right situation it could be useful?
• Righteous Rage of Tempus: Tier 1. Crits generate 2/4/6/8/10% more divine power. Useful on a crit build, and the only likely pick if Divine Advantage ends up being a stinker.
• Ethereal Boon: Tier 2. Gain 2/4/6/8/10% of a max bar of divine power when an encounter power comes off cooldown. Sounds very good for low cooldown builds and/or Recovery stacking characters.
• Restoration Mastery: Tier 2. Crit healing a target increases their defense by 1/2/3/4/5% for some undisclosed amount of time. Possibly only very useful when crit healing tanks as other classes will likely stack other stats.
• Warding Shield: Tier 3. Bastion of Health gives 2/4/6/8/10% damage redux for 6 seconds but the heal is 2/4/6/8/10% less. Given the short duration of the buff and the longish cooldown on Bastion of Health, this feat is very skippable.
• Power of Oppression: Tier 3. Targets afflicted with Astral Seal deal 1/2/3/4/5% less damage. Gives a good reason to keep Astral Seal as an At-Will power even if the healing from it is negligible.
• Healing Step: Tier 4. When you are critically hit gain 1/2/3/4/5% of your max hp as temp hp and gain 20/40/60/80/100% stamina regen for 10 seconds. Can only proc once every 20 seconds. Not sure how useful this feat is due to the requirement of being crit.
• Righteous Flames: Tier 4. Flame Strike stuns for .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds. Given it’s a daily power and it already knocks enemies up, I’m not sure it’s worth dumping 5 points for a half second stun.
• Soverign Justice: Tier 5. Attacks against you have a 30% chance to heal you and all allies some undisclosed amount within 25 feet of you. Can happen once every 15 seconds. This feat seems more PvP/soloist oriented.