Has anyone played Invokers?

[Shin Okada]

One of my friend played a Wrathful Invoker at heroic tier. According to him and other member of his play group, a Wrathful Invoker is somewhat like Warmage in 3.5e.

That means, has better AC comparing to other controllers (Chainmail is not bad, and it is not so hard to put Str 13 and Con 13 for taking feats for Scale and Light Shield), nuke opponents with area attacks, but has only few non-damaging effects. More durable comparing to a wizard. But less flexible.

 

[fba827]

So Gandalf is wearing hide.. instead of armor of faith under those robes these days ;-)

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd prefer to have an armor of faith-like bonus instead (for both class flavor as well as personal preference for less armor on my PCs). But I guess that remains an exclusive for those pesky avenger types.

Hmm. I wonder if a hybrid Invoker|Avenger would allow that? (worth at least looking at it, I've actually not seen the hybrid rules.. but I'm guessing there won't be much synergy between their abilities (one is melee focused the other is range focused))

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I haven't played it much, unfortunately. But I love Invokers. I prefer Wrathful Invokers, though, conceptually.

 

[-Avalon-]

Three things I am running into with Invokers that make them difficult to create:

1: Rods/Staves do not seem to be Invoker-Friendly. All sorts of stuff that say "Arcane", "Warlock", etc... not much in the way of "Invoker" or "Divine"

2: Multiclassing can be very difficult as they don't use Holy Symbol. So MCing with Divines means an extra item is necessary, and same with Arcane (which seems like a good match) The only decently easy build appears to be the Warlock, which then goes back to the above issue with Rods...

3: Feats that are invoker specific (with the exception of a 2 or 3) appear to all support only the channel divinity power that they get depending on their path. I don't think it is a good idea to build several feat choices on a character around a single power that you can only use once per encounter.

Now, except for those three things, the class seems awesome, and has great potential for role-playing storylines... Just trying to find a work-around or maybe I am missing something?

 

[Shin Okada]

1: Rods/Staves do not seem to be Invoker-Friendly. All sorts of stuff that say "Arcane", "Warlock", etc... not much in the way of "Invoker" or "Divine"

As a damage dealer, Staff of Ruin seems to be your best friend. And you can always take Weapon Focus (Staff) to get +2 feat bonus even to implement powers (according to FAQ).

2: Multiclassing can be very difficult as they don't use Holy Symbol. So MCing with Divines means an extra item is necessary, and same with Arcane (which seems like a good match) The only decently easy build appears to be the Warlock, which then goes back to the above issue with Rods...

That can be a problem. For a Preserving Invoker, Wizard seems to be a good option for multiclassing. That way all you need is a staff.

3: Feats that are invoker specific (with the exception of a 2 or 3) appear to all support only the channel divinity power that they get depending on their path. I don't think it is a good idea to build several feat choices on a character around a single power that you can only use once per encounter.

There is not much Invoker specific feats. But an Invoker can be benefited from various generic feats such as Implement Expertise, Armor/Shield Proficiency, Weapon Focus and such. Also, as there is not that much no-brainer class-related feats, you can put your eyes on racial feats and such, too.

 

[keterys]

I played a deva invoker up to 6th level and was tremendously successful. I was preserving, multiclassed wizard (thunderwave), and had thunder of judgment and blades of astral fire as my encounters (yes, both level 1 - I _almost_ would take a level 1 for my level 7 choice too). The daily powers are a lot more meh, but the encounters are friggin fantastic.

For at-wills I currently have hand of radiance and sunstrike, though I also had divine bolts and vanguard's lightning at different levels.

For utility power, I tried out wall of light for a bit but eventually swapped it for the pull allies power and I liked that a lot.

 

[Nifft]

1: Rods/Staves do not seem to be Invoker-Friendly.

AV2 seems to have some Invoker-friendly rod & staff choices.

2: Multiclassing can be very difficult as they don't use Holy Symbol.

On the other hand, Hybrid might be just dandy, since you get the Implements of either class used for both.

I'll bet Gandalf is a hybrid Avenger|Invoker. He certainly has the "isolating" aspect of Avenger, what with keeping that out-of-depth balor off his mates.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Obryn]

We have a paragon-level preserving invoker in my game, and he's pretty astonishingly effective. He completely hoses all of my plans at least once or twice an encounter.

He really does stride the line between Controller and Leader, so his damage isn't always amazing. He's no less effective for it, though... He's got a +3 Staff of Distant Shielding and a +2 Staff of Ruin that he switches between, although they're pretty similar most of the time.

* His at-wills are around Wizard-strength, but the ability to deal Radiant damage has helped more than once.
* His Channel Divinities are both very strong, out of the gate. He can either get a gigantic attack bonus, or else absolutely hose a large swath of undead.
* In Hide, his AC is 27 at 11th level, putting him as one of the highest in my group.
* He slides his allies around after every Encounter or Daily power
* With his Paragon Path, all his allies get +5 to attack the same target he just did on an action point
* Blades of Astral Fire is an insanely good Encounter power. Burst 1, small damage, but only hits enemies. But all his allies in that burst get a +6 to AC.
* Thunderbolt of the Heavens does a lot of damage, and also pushes enemies 6.
* Searing Orb (Daily) blinds the targets on a hit or a miss.
* Angel summoning. It works.

...and yeah, he just makes my life hard.

It's a powerful class. Definitely cool both in flavor, and in effectiveness.

-O

 

[Garthanos]

AV2 seems to have some Invoker-friendly rod & staff choices.

On the other hand, Hybrid might be just dandy, since you get the Implements of either class used for both.

I'll bet Gandalf is a hybrid Avenger|Invoker. He certainly has the "isolating" aspect of Avenger, what with keeping that out-of-depth balor off his mates.

Cheers, -- N

The Avenger tendencies towards really big 2h weapons ... would be countered by wanting the implement staff in his offhand.(there is some anti-synergy going on but probably overcome-able).

Since fba827 brought up not really having looked at hybrids...

Have I mentioned hybrid rules rock like all covered with chocolate syrup with fresh strawberries and a smile on her face... well almost. If you havent tried them ... do. The access to the at-will of both classes is one of the elements... and I suppose having to pay for a class feature is appropriate... it is however a must have feat in most cases - except when it isnt. So some hybrids have feat tax and some dont.

Humans of course are the most awesome race for playing a hybrid class that ever walked a planet... getting two at-wills from one class and a third from the other is hooh yah... and that extra feat well

 

[-Avalon-]

Humans of course are the most awesome race for playing a hybrid class that ever walked a planet... getting two at-wills from one class and a third from the other is hooh yah... and that extra feat well

I would think Half-Elves would rock too... take that Half-Elf versatility feat to make the dilettante power into an at-will, have 3 class's at-wills?