Heretic Guide v1.0

I recently realeased a Heretic movie. As a side effect i didnt expect, was that i get hundreds of pm's each day, all of them se same. They want to know what there is to know when making a heretic. Therefor, cos I dislike to repeat myself over and over, I made this Guide.

Before I start I want to point out that because i released that vid, it doesnt make me a heretic master. This is however what i do know, and what i can share.



1) RACE - Briton or Inconnu (or Avalonian)
Briton have 60 str 60 con 60 dex 60 qui 60 pie as start points.
Inconnu have 50 str 60 con 70 dex 50 qui 60 pie.

By choosing Inconnu you loose 10 str, 10 qui but gain 10 dex. The str/qui you loose is not worth the 10 dex you gain, whatever spec you want. Another important point is that Inconnu make ugly noises. Who can live with that in the long run?

Rumours say that also Avalonian can be Heretic. I say don't!

My answer: Briton!



2) Starting points
To spend your first 30 starting points can be tricky. What would help is for you to know what spec you want.
Heretic primary stats is ofc Pie. Secondary is Dex and third is Con. That means you won't get any Str as you level. Keep that in mind.

Crush is 100% Str Weaponskill. Flex is 50% Str 50% Dex. Focus isnt effected by dex, except your first tic (the cast itself). Dex help your defense. Piety effect focus damage. 1 Con give 3 hits. Qui increases your attack speed.

It up to you what you want, not for me to tell you. My heretic started with 10 Str 10 Dex 10 Con.



3) Leveling
As Flex is awesome for PvE, it's not when you are low level and using Cloth armor. Start you exping with Rej, rest of points in Ench and leftovers in Crush or Flex. My suggestion is to go Crush, becuase Crush has much lower endcost and a sweet 6 sec stun after anytime style. Don't spend any points in Shield until higher level.

When you reach lvl 20, you get a free respec to go flex if you like. The power rest is now much longer so you can't chain pull anymore. Flex spec has less rest, but still at this level very weak armor so in the long run still long rest. My suggestion is to stick to Rej until lvl 40.

If good power supply (PoM/FoP bot) Rej > Flex in PvE - Always!

Flex at this level work very well with close to 0 downtime when killing yellow mobs. Your AF buffs and Abs is now alot higher and getting close to Chain abs. Self heals and Flex make you a machine.
Rej on the other hand still works very good, except for long power rest. If you have a FoP bot, Rej spec will be faster then Flex.



4) Final spec
There are many way of specing a Heretic. Here are the ones worth mentioning:

48 Rej 50 Ench 29 Crush 13 Shield - my spec!
50 Rej 50 Ench 23 Shield 14 Crush/Flex - Common spec for Support Heretic on US server.
42 Rej 50 Ench 32 Crush 23 Shield
50 Flex 50 Ench 27 Shield 10 Rej - High enough Rej for Cure Disease.
50 Flex 50 Ench 23 Shield 15 Crush 7 Rej - 15 Crush for 6 sec anytime stun.

Use this site to toy around with alternative spec: Character Builder 2.0



5) Realm Abilities
Heretic get almost the same RA option as Cleric does. Except a few exceptions. I won't tell you want you need. Except that if you are Rej spec for both RvR and PvE (at level 20 you get 1 realmpoint to use), you should get Wild Power 1. Heretic can crit, but only with atleast WP1.

Making hits vs Epic mobs for 2100 +2000 crit is ...

Use this site to toy around with your RA setup: Realm Ability Calculator



6) Master Levels
Heretic can be Banelord and Perfector. Do i need to say more?



7) Champ Levels
Because a Heretic start of as Acolyte, we can't get the best line which is - Acolyte. I myself like fighterline with 11% Parry and 5% Abs that stack with our own Abs.



8) Rejuvenation spells
Single target Focus DD. Low power cost. Highest damage. Get interupted by everything and if casters move.
Single target UI Focus DD. Uninteruptable. High power cost. High damage. Can't get interupted by ranged attacks. This spell is still bug'ed tho. It sometimes get interupted by dots, pbae and bolts. Banelord seem to interupt 100%. I don't understand why they can't fix this?
Single target DD+snare. Medium power cost. Low damage but snares the target 30% normal speed.
Single target insta DoT. Caster need to stand still. Increasing damage over time.
Single target insta Snare. A "focus" Snare, that last 30 sec. Each tic of the snare last 5 sec. First 5 sec is uninteruptable.
Monster Ress. Friendly Resurrection. Played becomes a monster for 45s, with high melee and magical abs. Pulsing a 350 radius PBAE DoT. The Dot is effected by the targets piety. A Caster do more DoT dmg then a ressed Tank.
AE DD+Snare. Same as single, but with a radius of 350.
AE Dmg reduction+Snare. Gives the effected target RessIllness and 30% normal run speed. 350 radius. Ressillness wears of if focus is broken.



9) Other questions.
Flex proc is increased by: Weaponskill, MoM, +spell damage (pierce in RvR).
NOT by piety, as many ppl claim.

Rej damage is increased by: +Rej, MoM, Piety, +Spell damage (pierce in RvR).

Heretic self AF buff is effected by +spell effectiveness. It has no cap, the more you have the higher AF you get.

Heretic have access to MoC. And no, it doesnt work on your focus but the first tick. If you have moc, you'll need to spam the focus icon.

MoC1 and Monster ress works more then well.

Heretic only get Small shield.

We don't have IP.

The closest a heretic can get to IP, is to get Eternal Plant (an artifact outside Aerus below the surface). It has a charge, that heals the caster for 50-60% hp/end/power during 30 sec. 15 Min reuse.

We can't activate SoM.

End of this guide.




Can't think of anything else right now, might add something or answer to your questions that isnt answered here in this thread. Please don't PM.

ENGLISH?!? No, i don't speak it!

I've been 50flex/50enhance/27sheild/10rej for the purpose of FG fighting so I'll add my bit here Hope it'll help. It's more about your template and stats then anythingelse but hey, you've covered most of the rest.

Quickness:

If you want to be a Heretank with 50flex, I'd suggest that before you make your new toon, you first think about quickness and your template. You absolutely must get 250 quickness as levi/indigo proc damages are not lessened by a faster swingspeed.

Having 0 quickness at creation will mean that you need 85quickness in your template and aug quickness2, OR just 97 in your template but that is nigh on impossible to get without completely gimping yourself.

I'd thus suggest getting 10 quickness at creation. That way you only need 75 in your template and aug quickness2. This will allow you to get a LOT more into your template.


Dex/Strength:

10 dex or 10 strength is only the equivalent of 1% extra levi proc damage but it does help to hit your target. Dex has the additional advantage of giving you a higher block rate over strength though so remember it is always a priority.


Piety:

This is for a caster heretic ONLY. Do not put anything into this unless you're set to become a caster heretic. It will increase the damage of your instant DoT (from 10 to 11 damage) and your ae snare (0/1 damage to 0/2 damage)only. It does NOT increase levi damage.


Con:

As a support tank, your main role is to stay alive long enough to not only do damage but to keep as many of the enemy interupted as possible. You wont always be part of the assist train and in caster groups, you play the main roll of interupter along with the sorc. As a hybrid tank in a caster group, you'll be ahead of the group alone quite often and thus are the first one targetted a lot of the time.

Charging into battle as bait can be tide turning for your group. With your rr5 ability up and variety of abilities for mass interupting, especially if you have MoC1 and spam ae snare (moths to a flame), but this means you are going to take a LOT of damage. We share the same hit point table as other hybrids so this is an area which we sometimes lack. Getting high hit points will allow you to basically do your job for as long as possible. I know it's kind of the same for all classes but for my personal FG vs FG playstyle, I'm often the first person nuked i na head to head.



Personally I'd go for 10con, 10quickness, 10dex at creation. With this, from a template you will need to bare some important facts in mind when deciding what is best:

Melee speed is more important then pretty much everythingelse. It's easy to get and wont lower your levi damage.

Magic damage is extremely rare but it does improve your levi proc. GoV, champion weapon and GoLM (caster version) are the only items I have been able to find with it on them. Sadly GoLM is useless apart from for this though so unless you're an absolute genius at making templates, you'll probably have to settle for 8%.

With your resists, DON'T hold back on getting them all to at a very minimum, 20%. Clever stealthers will use a variety of LGM weapons and eventually figure out if you have a weakness if they fight you a lot. You don't want to become easy rps. Also, you CAN KILL WARLOCKS so don't hold back on getting matter resists up, otherwise you'll be stopping yourself from killing them. Warlocks don't kill tics very often, remember that.

AF bonus, a lot of VN board users seem to try and cap. The stupid ones say it's to make up for cloth armour, others say it's to try and reduce damage that little bit more. When you've got 930AF, an extra 10 is going to decrease an enemies hit by a remarkably small percentage. The thing is, if you're trying to get AF really high then you're going to be lacking other things. AF is a nice bonus but it isn't essential, just accept it if an item you have uses it but don't go out of your way to cap it.




Hope some of this helps.

Bonehead said:

50 Flex 50 Ench 27 Shield 10 Rej - High enough Rej for Cure Disease.

Click to expand...

nice guide one thing tho, last time i checked cure disease isn't a tic spell

i will make a heretic

psyco said:

nice guide one thing tho, last time i checked cure disease isn't a tic spell

Click to expand...

it is now Changed in patch 1.80

why isnt this sticky already

cant think of better walkthru guide

can mods get that banstick aside for a minute, and create a forum with albion classes instead, make this one first among stickys?

very nice guide, ive been thinking about trying to template my tic up, anyone have a "fairly" cheap'ish template?

my current spec is (dont laugh ) 44flex, 50enh, 30shield rest rej.

Thanks =)

A realy nice guilde :worthy: (even tho it came from a halv ryss )

Just wanted to add a few things if i may.

RA's

Whether your Melee or Focus, Physical Defense is what you need, you want at least level 3 which will give you 12% tier 2 melee resists. The reason Ticks are hard to kill is their AF, its as high if not higher than paladins, they also have absorb buffs and with Physical Defense you can laugh when people PA you for about 200-400 dmg.

Offensive Melee Spec
I play on camlann so my spec is ideal for me, the flex line has a 3 move chain with a 9 second stun, the site builder says its off Parry (Reavers is) but its actually Off Block.

If your on RVR you can probably get away with 50 Flex 50 Ench 23 Shield 15 Crush 7 Rej - 15 Crush for 6 sec anytime stun, or like above teh flex line stun.

However my spec is 42 Shield 50 Flex 36 Enhance 16 Rejuve. This spec is ideal for me because there are alot of Casters on Camlann so the Slam is very nice, the downside of this spec is a lesser self buff line, i get yellow self buff spells but i use items to get +25% buff bonus, i end up with about 600AF which is that of a warrior/hero.

If you want to be a flex tick in an 8 man setup then the Bonehead specs are ideal because you have others to slam, if you want to solo then my spec is nice, doing a 3 move flex chain on a stealther is not exactly easy to achieve.

My spec still gives cure poison and disease, my large heal does about 250-280 and is fairly consistant.

Weapons
If your going the Flex line you want Snakecharmers, our champion weapon is great but the proc on snakecharmers is (iirc) 30% hp&end&power heal.

As mentioned before, Physical Defense is awesome, as your aware most casters go for this so i would advise a Legendary weapon to maximise your dmg when using levi (dont mean the proc but the style itself)

Just one note...

Note sure about armour but ML10 weapons are bugged for Heretics. I spoke to Xalin and it is been passed onto the tech people to deal with... but currently you will not recieve the +stat caps or the +%'s (ie on one crush weapon you do not recieve the +power % and +Acuity cap or the +melee dmg % or +str cap)

This goes for both crush weapons and at least 1 flex weapon (I tested it on them). So until it fixed it is best not to template it in

As for templates.. here is one of them that i had available to me at work

LOKI Build Report
Default Configuration:
Build Utility: 792.3
Useable Utility: 788.3
TOA Utility: 358.0

Statistics
STR:94/92 CON:92/91 DEX:85/85
QUI:81/81 INT:0/75 PIE:82/85
CHA:0/75 EMP:0/75
Hits:308/312
Power:0/25
AF:8/50

Resistances
Body: 24
Cold: 26
Heat: 24
Energy: 18
Matter: 14
Spirit: 20+5
Crush: 27+2
Slash: 26+3
Thrust: 24

Skills
Crush: 4
Flexible: 4
Staff: 4

Bonuses
Power Pool: 12
Casting Speed: 3
Spell Range: 8
Spell Damage: 4
Style Damage: 9
Melee Damage: 4
Melee Combat Speed: 6
Fatigue: 5

Chest (GoV TIC):
Imbue: 22.0
40 Hits
18 Acuity
15 Dexterity
5 Acuity Cap Increase
5 Dexterity Cap Increase
4 Spell Range
4 Spell Damage
4 Melee Damage
4 Style Damage
Utility: 32.0
TOA Utility: 100.0

Arms:
Imbue: 37.0/28 (Quality: 99)
7% Cold
25 Constitution
25 Quickness
16 Piety
Utility: 58.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Head:
Imbue: 37.5/32 (Quality: 100)
9% Heat
9% Cold
9% Slash
16 Quickness
Utility: 64.7
TOA Utility: 0.0

Legs:
Imbue: 37.5/32 (Quality: 100)
19 Strength
22 Dexterity
22 Quickness
9% Energy
Utility: 60.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Hands (Scalars TIC):
Imbue: 20.0
40 Hits
15 Dexterity
15 Acuity
6 Power Pool
3 Casting Speed
5 Dexterity Cap Increase
5 Acuity Cap Increase
Utility: 30.0
TOA Utility: 47.0

Feet:
Imbue: 37.0/32 (Quality: 100)
16 Constitution
9% Crush
9% Slash
60 Hits
Utility: 61.7
TOA Utility: 0.0

Right Hand (Malice's Axe (Alb)):
Imbue: 20.0
40 Hits
15 Strength
15 Constitution
5 Strength Cap Increase
5 Constitution Cap Increase
40 Hits Cap Increase
5 Style Damage
5 Fatigue
Utility: 30.0
TOA Utility: 65.0

Left Hand (Cyclopse Eye):
Imbue: 30.0
40 Hits
5% Heat
5% Matter
5% Body
5% Spirit
5% Energy
8 AF
32 Hits Cap Increase
Utility: 60.0
TOA Utility: 16.0

Neck (Ancient Copper Necklace):
Imbue: 45.0
10% Body
10% Thrust
10% Spirit
10% Crush
Utility: 80.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Cloak (Flowing Antalya Shawl):
Imbue: 26.0
18 Constitution
15 Strength
4 ALL melee weapon skills
6 Constitution Cap Increase
6 Strength Cap Increase
2 Melee Combat Speed
Utility: 42.0
TOA Utility: 34.0

Jewel (Gem of fantastic alacitry):
Imbue: 22.0
18 Quickness
15 Dexterity
15 Strength
2 Melee Combat Speed
6 Quickness Cap Increase
Utility: 32.0
TOA Utility: 22.0

Belt (Belt of Brute):
Imbue: 32.0
48 Hits
18 Dexterity
30 Strength
2 Melee Combat Speed
6 Strength Cap Increase
Utility: 44.0
TOA Utility: 22.0

Left Ring (Croc Tear Ring):
Imbue: 25.0
4% Heat
4% Cold
4% Energy
4% Matter
4% Body
15 Acuity
Utility: 50.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Right Ring (Demon blood ring):
Imbue: 38.0
8% Crush
8% Thrust
8% Slash
6% Heat
6% Cold
Utility: 72.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Left Wrist (Ceremonial bracer. Con):
Imbue: 22.0
18 Constitution
40 Hits
5 Constitution Cap Increase
40 Hits Cap Increase
6% Thrust
Utility: 34.0
TOA Utility: 20.0

Right Wrist (Bracer of Zo'arkat):
Imbue: 24.0
18 Acuity
5% Matter
5% Body
5% Spirit
6 Power Pool
4 Spell Range
Utility: 42.0
TOA Utility: 32.0

Will get another one up soon

An easier to get template from ages ago - ok not much easier but that not the point. It also alot worse imo

LOKI Build Report
Default Configuration:
Build Utility: 815.0
Useable Utility: 801.0
TOA Utility: 312.0

Statistics
STR:80/86 CON:89/91 DEX:82/85
QUI:72/75 INT:0/75 PIE:85/85
CHA:0/75 EMP:0/75
Hits:284/312
Power:0/25
AF:8/50

Resistances
Body: 29
Cold: 22
Heat: 27
Energy: 24
Matter: 29
Spirit: 25+5
Crush: 24+2
Slash: 23+3
Thrust: 23

Skills
Crush: 4
Flexible: 4
Staff: 4

Bonuses
Power Pool: 11
Buff Effectiveness: 5 (25% with stardrop switch)
Casting Speed: 5
Spell Range: 4
Spell Damage: 4
Style Damage: 9
Melee Damage: 4
Melee Combat Speed: 2
Fatigue: 5

Chest (GoV TIC):
Imbue: 22.0
40 Hits
18 Acuity
15 Dexterity
5 Acuity Cap Increase
5 Dexterity Cap Increase
4 Spell Range
4 Spell Damage
4 Melee Damage
4 Style Damage
Utility: 32.0
TOA Utility: 100.0

Arms:
Imbue: 37.5/32 (Quality: 100)
25 Dexterity
10 Piety
25 Strength
25 Quickness
Utility: 56.7
TOA Utility: 0.0

Head:
Imbue: 37.0/32 (Quality: 100)
7% Crush
9% Energy
22 Constitution
22 Quickness
Utility: 61.3
TOA Utility: 0.0

Legs:
Imbue: 37.5/32 (Quality: 100)
16 Constitution
9% Slash
9% Crush
9% Spirit
Utility: 64.7
TOA Utility: 0.0

Hands (Maddening Scalars (Alb)):
Imbue: 20.0
40 Hits
15 Acuity
15 Dexterity
6 Power Pool
5 Dexterity Cap Increase
5 Acuity Cap Increase
3 Casting Speed
Utility: 30.0
TOA Utility: 47.0

Feet:
Imbue: 37.5/32 (Quality: 100)
25 Quickness
9% Thrust
25 Strength
5% Spirit
Utility: 61.3
TOA Utility: 0.0

Right Hand (Malice's Axe (Alb)):
Imbue: 20.0
40 Hits
15 Strength
15 Constitution
5 Strength Cap Increase
5 Constitution Cap Increase
40 Hits Cap Increase
5 Style Damage
5 Fatigue
Utility: 30.0
TOA Utility: 65.0

Left Hand (Cyclopse Eye):
Imbue: 30.0
40 Hits
5% Heat
5% Matter
5% Body
5% Spirit
5% Energy
8 AF
32 Hits Cap Increase
Utility: 60.0
TOA Utility: 16.0

Neck (Nimbus strand):
Imbue: 27.0
5 Buff Effectiveness
27 Acuity
27 Dexterity
2 Casting Speed
5 Power Pool
Utility: 36.0
TOA Utility: 30.0

Cloak (Flowing Antalya Shawl):
Imbue: 26.0
18 Constitution
15 Strength
4 ALL melee weapon skills
6 Constitution Cap Increase
6 Strength Cap Increase
2 Melee Combat Speed
Utility: 42.0
TOA Utility: 34.0

Jewel (Harpy Feather Charm):
Imbue: 31.0
6% Heat
6% Cold
6% Matter
6% Body
44 Hits
Utility: 59.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Belt (Demon bone belt):
Imbue: 36.0
8% Matter
8% Body
6% Spirit
6% Energy
40 Hits
Utility: 66.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Left Ring (Croc Tear Ring):
Imbue: 25.0
4% Heat
4% Cold
4% Energy
4% Matter
4% Body
15 Acuity
Utility: 50.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Right Ring (Demon blood ring):
Imbue: 38.0
8% Crush
8% Thrust
8% Slash
6% Heat
6% Cold
Utility: 72.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

Left Wrist (Ceremonial bracer. Con):
Imbue: 22.0
18 Constitution
40 Hits
5 Constitution Cap Increase
40 Hits Cap Increase
6% Thrust
Utility: 34.0
TOA Utility: 20.0

Right Wrist (Ebon Hide Bracer):
Imbue: 30.0
6% Matter
6% Slash
6% Heat
6% Body
6% Cold
Utility: 60.0
TOA Utility: 0.0

I started making Heretic templates ages ago, the thread was here:

https://forums.freddyshouse.com/showpost.php?p=794437

And this is an interesting one for Crush:

https://forums.freddyshouse.com/showpost.php?p=794437&postcount=14

I will have a go through tonight and improve it to my usual high standards.

Haxen is my new hero. I loved your video and inspired me to play my heretic!!

eggy said:

I started making Heretic templates ages ago, the thread was here:

https://forums.freddyshouse.com/showpost.php?p=794437

And this is an interesting one for Crush:

https://forums.freddyshouse.com/showpost.php?p=794437&postcount=14

I will have a go through tonight and improve it to my usual high standards.

Haxen is my new hero. I loved your video and inspired me to play my heretic!!

Click to expand...

Ouch at the crush resists on that template

Corran said:

Ouch at the crush resists on that template

Click to expand...

Aye, chain is naturally resistant of course.

I'd do things a lot differently now, will work on an uber template later and post it on here.

Yay! Make me an über Crush template, cos mine isn't Masterpiece. Only 99% Quality! ;(

what artis would u say r essential in tic template ? im guessin zo, anything else ?

Bump it up to da beat!

+1 rep Haxen, nerf ur reply to me ding rr6 :/

Kerith said:

what artis would u say r essential in tic template ? im guessin zo, anything else ?

Click to expand...

Artifact list: here

Artis that is a must-to-have:
Croc Ring
Guard of Valor
Malice (if crush)
Battler (the charge)

For the "group" heretic:
Zo'arkat Bracer
Egg of Youth

Optional artis:
Ceremonial Bracer
Eternal plant
Harpy Feather cloak
Cyclops Eye Shield


Note - Heretic get caster version of Maddening Scalars, which doesnt help you much if eighter Rej or Flex spec.

Bonehead said:

The closest a heretic can get to IP, is to get Eternal Plant

Click to expand...

Heard people talk about Crown of Zahur to, don't now how effective it is thou

Bahumat said:

Whether your Melee or Focus, Physical Defense is what you need, you want at least level 3 which will give you 12% tier 2 melee resists. The reason Ticks are hard to kill is their AF, its as high if not higher than paladins, they also have absorb buffs and with Physical Defense you can laugh when people PA you for about 200-400 dmg.

Click to expand...

just wanted to say that i got PA'd by a rr4ish NS for 244 dmg with pd2 yesterday im only rr2l6, so i dont have more pd

Bonehead said:

Egg of Youth

Click to expand...

if you use stardrop to buff with, eoy isnt that good to use tbh, as you cant eoy rezz before you need to rebuff, maybe with 5 min left on buffs.. there are jwlery with better stats than eoy if you only use it for rezz, me myself.. i have eoy tbh.. think ill get a new template, but i dont know ^^

Nice guide and good advice...almost makes me want to level my tic

Emmet said:

if you use stardrop to buff with, eoy isnt that good to use tbh, as you cant eoy rezz before you need to rebuff, maybe with 5 min left on buffs.. there are jwlery with better stats than eoy if you only use it for rezz, me myself.. i have eoy tbh.. think ill get a new template, but i dont know ^^

Click to expand...

yes thats why you use 2-3 armor peices to buff with, giving 25% buff bonus and 25% duration :X

Anyone have a nice and not Uber hard template for tics and the classic server?

Nice bump there ;x

still havent found a good classic (caster tic) temp with crush ... Saw 1 that was in german.. but I dont understand that so cant say if its that good.

So, still need some help, even if I hold up rather good with the random things I gathered and put togeather to a template-sort-of... made it to rr5 with this random stuff but think I will need better in the long run.