Saturday, March 19, 2011

Whose Role Is It Anyway?

Based on my Twitter feed, my Cleric has leveled as:
  • 1-14: Justicar/Druid/Sentinel (self-healing melee, theoretically tank-capable)
  • 15: Warden (healing over time build for rifts)
  • 16-21: Shaman/Druid/0 pt Warden (melee DPS with a focus on reactive attacks and healing pet)
  • 22: Inquisitor/10 pt Justicar (caster DPS with passive self healing)
  • 23-33: Druid/10+ Justicar (melee DPS with ranged abilities and either a healing or a melee pet)
  • 31-33: Purifier/2+ pt Sentinel/8 pt Cabalist (single target healer with damage wards, cabalist splash gives a quick damage combo that regenerates a nice chunk of mana)
You'll note some overlap at the end of that chart.  I didn't do much healing for a while because I simply wasn't fond of how the healing soul I'd picked (Warden) played.  When I finally got around to speccing out a different option that I liked (the Purifier - at 31, you get a buff for the tank that shares all the overhealing you do to them with the rest of the group), it suddenly made a lot more sense to actually switch on a regular basis.  Now I'll pop over into healing mode if a larger rift or a zone invasion happens while I'm questing (and possibly for dungeons, the durable druid can become squishy when dungeon mobs are involved).

As Ferrel and Starseeker discuss, this type of role-switching is the defining feature of Rift's soul system.  It has its cons as well as its pros, but you have only yourself to blame if you get bored with your first character. 

2 comments:

  1. I love the ability to swap out roles. Currently when I'm headed to an area with high mob density I like to go as an inquisitor/justicar. Does awesome AE dps for the mobs I gather up and has the lovely self-heal. I've actually got 11 points in it so I can help a little in a group as well if I'm in the dps role (like in FC the other night. . )

    When I'm out just running around I tend to be in my justicar/shaman role though. I love the survivability, even if the dps is a little low. Still, the ability to solo elite even-con mobs isn't a bad thing. . . .

    I have a 3rd pure healer role also. I've tried purifier and sentinel primaries, and currently have it set as warden primary to see how well that works, but haven't really been able to test it out much yet. Looking forward to when I can!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've just leveled my cleric as sentinel, with minor points in warden/purifier.

    ReplyDelete

Comments on posts older than 14 days are moderated and will not appear until manually approved because the overwhelming majority of such comments are spam. Anonymous commenting has unfortunately been disabled due to the sheer volume of comments that are defeating Google's spam filter.