CW Builds!

[Phelaia]

This is the build of The Great Thorgrim:
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/never ... -pve-build

I will post my own later.

[Phelaia]

For DPS and then some more DPS, here's an option:

http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/never ... control/p1

There's always more than one way to skin an add...or a dragon...or a wolf...or a pirate!

[tornnomar]

Great!

Poor Gilligan is running a pure Thaum build, and I do well with him, but the build is a little over two years old! Maybe time to revisit his build....

[Phelaia]

So...a little story about this build. About 2 years ago, after polishing off a whole bottle of wine with Tyrandil, I joked that I should make a Half Orc CW. At the time, every CW I see outside of NOR was Spellstorm Thaum, and Thorgrim was the only Spellstorm Oppressor who somehow manages to lock down an entire room AND put some Spellstorm Thaum to shame in DPS. So I thought, why not Renegade, and why not Master of Flame? It was not popular, but who cares, I was not going to do anything epic with this toon, was I? 70 levels later, this Half Orc CW, despite having fewer boons, crappy gear, a Lesser Flaming in his orb, and Rank 5 enchants in every slot, ended having an easier time in Castle Never than even my main. Not only that, every time I take this MoF Renegade on a run, I get tells from teammates saying, "What magic are you doing? I don't normally make this kind of DPS!" That was when I knew I had to turn my main CW into MoF Renegade.

Attached images are typical power load out for on the way to the adds, powers for boss fights, my feats, and gear. On the way to the adds, I use Conduit of Ice, Icy Terrain, Steal Time, Fanning the Flame on TAB, in that order. In the boss fight, I use Ray of Enfeeblement, Disintegrate, Conduit of Ice, and Fanning the Flame on TAB, in the order.

Now, this is not a pure DPS build, but if you run with a group that averages higher than 2500 item level, you will see your team shine. Your team will feel like gods, and they'll thank you. This is also not a pure control build, but you will have enough control when the room gets too crowded with adds. As long as the boss is dead at the end, I don't really care whether I topped any of the charts. I do, however, strive for being at the bottom of Immovable Object.

After Mod 6, CWs need to be flexible in what they do in a dungeon. Sometimes in a dungeon full of adds, the best thing to do may be to go all single target, because your AOEs may attract way more aggro than your measly HP can handle, or you maybe too far away from the tank for the tank to get adds off your back. I quote someone from the Arc forum, "Your DPS on the floor is zero." Truer words have not been said.

A CW also need a lot of practice in footwork. Most things can be avoided by side stepping, and teleports should be saved for when the boss is charging you. A good place to practice survival tactics is in Icewind Pass. Find yourselves some polar bears and see if you can take on 2-3 polar bears without getting whacked in the face too much.

[nmates]

My Main (Benn Stalkingwolf) started off near Thorgrim's build (linked above), but is a bit different. I play pretty close in, so good crowd control is what I focus on. I don't really optimize footwork/teleport immunity frames, and I don't pay attention to stacks of arcane/chill on targets.

Downsides: Dragonflight & eDemo are DPS races, and I just can't seem to be useful in that. Also a bit squishy, possibly due to playstyle, so a healer is essential. I've tried more of a single-target loadout, still doesn't seem to do much.

Usual loadout:
Tab: Conduit of Ice
Icy Terrain, Sudden Storm, Steal Time
Oppressive Force, Ice Knife
Chilling Presence, Storm Spell
Storm Pillar (95% of at-wills), Chilling Cloud

1-target loadout is Icy Rays (tab), Chill Strike, Ray of Enfeeble, Disintegrate

Companions:
1) Angel of protection (active)
2) Cantankerous Mage (+control bonus)
3) Will-O-Wisp (+control bonus, +control resist)
4) Owl (- threat)
5) Cockatrice (root attackers)
Used to have a Vicious Dire Wolf in the #5 slot

High level Ratings -- rounded off.
Power: 17K (up to 19K once I start killing)
Crit Strike: 11K
ArPen: 6K
Recovery: 4K
Defense: 4K
Deflect; 2K
Regen: 1200
Crit Chance: 44% (severity +78%)
Resist Ignored; -59.1%
Recharge Increase: +49%
Action point gain: +23%
Run speed bonus: +1.7%

Some pictures of the build:

[Aratech]

Limited though my input may be, as my build is very similar to Iron Zerg's, I have found that the Wisp and Cantankerous Mage make for very good support companions, and have made my control powers much more potent.