Class Analysis: Cleric

[Vangol]

From my current understanding, both the Angelic Avenger (the daily melee attack works well in combination with the +4 attack bonus power it also gets... so works even for a Devoted Cleric, IMHO; besides it's worth it for the Fly alone; also the Weapon Proficiency while not great is basically free, as it is the 4th ability, most pathes only have three)

The Angelic Avenger's daily is very good- but a little redundant with Cloud Chariot (level 22 utility). The benefits the path offers are certainly powerful, but the fact that most characters won't be able to take advantage of all of them makes it hard to rate higher than '+'.

I don't get why the Radiant Servant is only good against Demons and Undead... there is one ability and two secondary effects that affect them... that's it.

It's not that they're only good against undead and demons; they're only exceptional against undead and demons. Otherwise, the path offers some nice bonuses, but nothing better than what most other paths offer. More critical hits and a strong encounter power can't compare to rolling twice for initiative and will attacks (roughly equivalent to a +4 bonus) and immunity to surprise for the entire party.

Hmm, apparently you don't realize Seal of Binding (Daily 25) is BROKEN? With Divine Regeneration from being a Demigod, a WIS-Cleric of Lv. 26 or higher can kill any one enemy per day with utter impunity.

I admit, I hadn't noticed that combo. The power's still pretty much limited to killing solos, but that alone makes it top tier. I'll edit my original post.

Regarding your analysis of the 1st level Daily Power, Cascade of Light, the vulnerability 5 is for your attacks, NOT radiant attacks, so I do not understand your reasoning, or rating on this power.

Oops. I must have confused it with another power.

However, that actually makes the attack weaker, in my opinion. Even if you hit, there's over a 50% chance the enemy saves before your next turn, so you'll be lucky to even get an extra 5 damage out of the effect. For a daily, that's pretty insignificant, even at level 1.

I have to give some support to the "balanced cleric." The one really nice thing it contributes over the "devoted cleric" is an additional front line melee combatant.

The devoted cleric can still be an effective front line fighter. He has solid defenses and healing, and plenty of close attacks.

A generalist will almost never be more powerful than a specialist. The fact that a balanced cleric is even viable is testament to its power. Most other builds that rely on two primary abilities (like the starlock and balanced paladin) are among the weakest in the game.

It's also potentially quite strong to be able to cherry pick between the best powers of both sides.Righteous brand+sacred flame isn't bad at all(though of course lack of charisma makes sacred flame worse).

The balanced cleric doesn't really have many more choices than the devoted cleric. Sure, you can pick up a few good str-based powers (though few of them are exceptional), but you miss out on a number of good powers which require a high charisma to be effective.

Cool. This will be helpful

All in all I think you nailed it very well. Good job!

Glad you liked it. My biggest fear was that I'd spend all that time typing this up and no one would read it!