Heretic
THE PROSELYTE OF ALBION
AVAILABLE ON: Eden, Live
Long ago, Arawn, the Lord of the Underworld, grew weary of his Inconnu servants. Too often did they disregard his commands and venture into the Deadlands and disturb the souls of the dead. Thus it was that he first created the Heretics, the secret police of the Underworld, charge with keeping other Inconnu in line, maintaining discipline and ensuring loyalty. However, Arawn made a fatal mistake in that he imbued each Heretic with a sliver of his own power and when Mal’Azak ventured out into the Deadlands and wandered among the souls here, he felt his power grow in the presence of souls, just as it did for lord Arawn. It did not take long for Mal’Azak to begin plotting a coup against his lord but Arawn had eyes and ears everywhere amongst the dead and it did not take long before every Heretic was robbed of their powers and destroyed down to the last.
When the underground Inconnu capital, known only as the Crypt, was attacked by an unknown force, Arawn was faced with a dilemma. The majority of his Necromancers and Reavers were already above ground aiding the people of Albion against Morganna le Fay’s undead army and her Drakoran allies. Sensing he had little choice, he decided to recreate the Heretics, but this time he would only grant them powers through their devotion to him.
Heretics are a hybrid class, blending offensive spell-casting, healing, buffing and melee combat. They are given unique damaging spells which are channelled over a duration of time instead of cast like normal spells, and they increase in intensity the longer they are channelled.
PvE:
Heretics can perform decently in solo PvE when levelling and farming. They have a channelled damaging spell which also reduces the enemy’s movement speed, allowing them deal a lot of damage before needing to engage in melee. At higher levels they even gain an uninterruptible spell of the same nature, which will make short work of most enemies.
In groups, Heretics are primarily damage dealers who will occasionally provide emergency healing. They will gain access to an area-of-effect channelled damaging spell relatively early, which they can use to great effect in groups. Simply wait for the tank(s) to grab aggro on each individual enemy and then unleash your destructive power.
RvR:
Heretics range from poorly-to-below-average as solo duellists. When specialized as a melee fighter, they perform poorly. When specialized as an offensive ranged spell-caster, they perform below average. They have little in the way of offensive or defensive utility save an effectiveness de-buff and channelled snares.
In groups, Heretics are disruptors. Your job is to annoy the enemy as much as possible, be it by interrupting casters, snaring melees, killing pets and, as a last resort, provide emergency healing. If the enemy makes the crucial mistake of ignoring you, then you ramp up your destructive powers and burn them down. Due to the nature of channelled spells, you will basically always have a line pointing straight to your position, which leaves you very visible to the enemy.
Character planners:
Eden: https://eden-daoc.net/charplan?c=Heretic
Live: https://daoc.gg/charplanner/overview#c=HERETIC
Suggested starting stat point distribution:
10 Constitution / 10 Dexterity / 10 Piety (Healer)
15 Piety / 10 Dexterity (Spell-caster)
10 Constitution / 10 Dexterity / 10 Strength (Melee)
Suggested class skills:
48 Rejuvenation, 42 Shield, 41 Enhancement, 8 Weapon (Standard)
47 Rejuvenation, 43 Enhancement, 42 Shield, 3 Weapon (Variant trading minor damage for minor survivability)
50 Flexible, 50 Enhancement, 25 Shield, 14 Rejuvenation (Melee)
44 Flexible, 50 Enhancement, 35 Shield, 12 Rejuvenation (Variant trading damage for increased block rate)
Suggested realm skills:
Long Wind 1
Wild Power*
Purge
Mastery of Magery
Perfect Recovery
Divine Intervention
Passives to fill stat gaps (Augmented Str, Dex, Con, Mastery of Parrying etc.)
