Guide:Reverberation

This guide deals with build optimization for inflicting  Reverberation. It was originally authored by OrbitUtmost for patches 4 & 5, and has received limited updates since.

Core Mechanics

• We want to maximize  Reverberation, primarily through
  •  Gloves of Belligerent Skies – which proc off ⁠Radiant, ⁠Thunder, and ⁠Lightning damage
  •  Boots of Stormy Clamour – which proc off other conditions
•  Tempest Clerics work particularly well
  • Their spell list is rife with material
    •  Sacred Flame
    •  Bane
    •  Thunderwave
    •  Shatter
    •  Glyph of Warding
    •  Spirit Guardians
    •  Call Lightning
  • We also take advantage of the class features:
    •  Heavy armour &  Shields proficiency – lets us apply  Reeling on melee hits and misses against us, procing Boots of Stormy Clamour via
      •  Adamantine Splint Armour
      •  Adamantine Shield
    •  Wrath of the Storm (lv2), and  Divine Strike: Tempest (lv8) – free ⁠Thunder damage

Equipment

Core

•  Headwear –  Coldbrim Hat
  • Once per turn, any condition inflicted on a target, also applies 2 turns of  Encrusted with Frost.^{[See: Bugs]}
•  Amulet –  Spineshudder Amulet
  • When the wearer deals damage with a ranged Spell Attack, inflict 2 turns of  Reverberation on the target(s).
•  Armour –  Adamantine Splint Armour
  • When a melee attack hits you, the Attacker is sent  Reeling for 3 turns.
•  Cloak –  Thunderskin Cloak
  • When a creature with  Reverberation deals damage to the wearer, the creature needs to make a  Constitution saving throw or become  Dazed.
•  Footwear –  Boots of Stormy Clamour
  • When the wearer inflicts a condition upon a hostile creature, they also inflict 2 turns of  Reverberation.^{[See: Bugs]}
•  Handwear –  Gloves of Belligerent Skies
  • When the wearer deals ⁠Thunder, ⁠Lightning, or ⁠Radiant damage, inflict 2 turns of  Reverberation upon the target(s).
•  Ring 1 –  Ring of Spiteful Thunder
  • When the wearer deals damage^{[See: Bugs]} to a  Reverberating creature, it becomes  Dazed unless it succeeds a  Constitution saving throw.
•  Ring 2 –  Coruscation Ring
  • When the wearer deals spell damage while illuminated by a light source, they also inflict  Radiating Orb upon the target for 2 turns.
•  Main Hand –  Blood of Lathander
  • Sheds holy light in a 6 m / 20 ft radius. In combat, fiends and undead standing in the light are  Blinded if they fail a DC 14 Constitution throw.
  • Free  Sunbeam once per Long Rest. Deals ⁠Radiant and inflicts  Blinded.
•  Shield –  Adamantine Shield
  • When a melee attack misses you, the attacker is sent  Reeling for 2 turns.
•  Ranged Weapon – Dual  Hand Crossbow
  • Equipping two lets us fire the one in the off hand with a  Bonus Action procing  Divine Strike: Tempest

Alternatives

•  Headwear –  Diadem of Arcane Synergy
  • When you inflict a condition, gain  Arcane Synergy for 2 turns.^{[See: Bugs]}
•  Amulet –  Necklace of Elemental Augmentation
  • When one of your cantrips deals ⁠Acid, ⁠Cold, ⁠Fire, ⁠Lightning, or ⁠Thunder damage, add your Spellcasting Modifier to the damage dealt.
•  Armour –  Luminous Armour
  • When the wearer deals ⁠Radiant damage, they cause a  Radiant Shockwave.
•  Handwear –  Gloves of Battlemage's Power If you want to lean into Arcane Synergy. Consider pairing with  Flame Blade.
  • When you hit a target with a spell or cantrip that uses a weapon, you gain  Arcane Acuity.
•  Handwear –  Luminous Gloves
  • When the wearer deals ⁠Radiant damage, the target receives 2 turn of  Radiating Orb.
•  Ring –  Ring of Absolute Force
  • If the wearer bears the Absolute's Brand, they deal 1 additional Thunder damage with Thunder damage spells and attacks.
•  Ring –  Callous Glow Ring
  • The wearer deals an additional 2 points of ⁠Radiant^{[See: Bugs]} damage against creatures that are illuminated.
•  Main Hand –  Phalar Aluve
  • Grants  Phalar Aluve: Shriek
•  Ranged Weapon –  Giantbreaker
  • Your weapon hits hard enough to send your target  Reeling for 2 turns.

Late Game Alternatives

•  Armour –  Helldusk Armour
  • When you succeed a  Saving Throw, the caster receives  Burning for 3 turns.
•  Main Hand –  Markoheshkir
  • Grants  Kereska's Favour
•  Main Hand –  Nyrulna – If you want to have a different Act III build for your cleric, a throwing build with Nyrulna, the Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and the Ring of Spiteful Thunder can easily force the saving throw for an entire group of enemies at least once per turn^[verify]
  • This weapon will return to your hand when thrown. You cannot be forced to drop the trident. When thrown, the weapon creates an explosion that deals 3d4⁠⁠ThunderDRS damage in a ⁠6 m / 20 ft blast centered on the target.
•  Shield –  Viconia's Walking Fortress
  • Grants  Bulwark Rebuke^[verify]

Gameplay and Combos

Your primary goals are to apply  Reverberation and otherwise be a Cleric. In service of that goal:

• Spells that do damage and apply a condition are wonderful, as they apply 4x  Reverberation
  •  Sunbeam
  •  Spirit Guardians
• You actively want to be hit in melee, but not by ranged. Use line of sight to encourage melee hits.
• Being knocked prone by overloading reverberation or from  Thunderskin Cloak will interupt enemy multiattacks, ending their turn early.
• Walking near undead, ie. in Act II, with the  The Blood of Lathander equipped will apply  Blinded,  Encrusted with Frost, and 2x  Reverberation
• Even your bread and butter,  Sacred Flame and a Hand Crossbow bolt (after lv8) is 4 stacks of reverberation on a target, priming them to be interrupted when they attack you.

Leveling and Progression

• For the beginning of them game, you're just a Cleric - which is already good.
• The fastest way to start this build is to grab the  Boots of Stormy Clamour via the  Omeluum questline, which can be done mostly without combat. These boots paired with  Phalar Aluve, also found in the underdark, bring the build online.
• For the rest of act I, you're pretty much a frontline Cleric, debuffing as many enemies as you can reach.
• We really come online in the act 1.5 sequences, where Grymforge gives us  Adamantine Splint Armour/ Adamantine Shield and the Crèche gives us  Gloves of Belligerent Skies/ The Blood of Lathander.
• We can round out the build in early Act II, by going quickly to the Moonrise Towers for the remaining major items.

General Discussion

• Technically this build works well with just the Gloves and Boots, and anything else is bonus.
• I considered Ring Slot 2, Amulet, and Weapon Slot as swappable pieces, but the Helmet Slot is also highly swappable.

Considering other classes / multiclass:

• We're good after Cleric 8, if you want something else;
  • Cleric 9 gives us  Destructive Wave, which is very nice.
  • Fighter 2 for  Action Surge
  •  Storm Sorcery Sorcerer X gives us lots of goodies, including:  Sorcery Points Sorcery Points,  Tempestuous Magic,  Heart of the Storm, and  Storm's Fury - however starting this loses our Armor and Weapon proficencies.
  • There's a version of this that uses most martials (Barbarian / Monk / Paladin / Fighter / Ranger) to simply forgo the spells and instead rely on things like  Divine Smite /  Primal Stampede / etc. Lots of options in how you build this.

Author's Notes

• Hi all, this is my first guide, so sorry for any technical errors.
• This build started as something I put together for my Tactician run to make  Shadowheart, who's a rather lack-luster  Trickery Domain Cleric by default, a better combatant. Instead, we make her  Tempest Domain, which is still nice enough thematically and also packs a big punch. Tempest Cleric applications are what will be discussed for most of this build, but there will be a section at the end discussing other options for min-max.
• I'm not positive all of this works as described, some of the reverberation items are a little funky, but as of patch 4 & 5 the build feels great into early act 3, regardless of what may not be working as we want?
• I hope you enjoy knocking enemies on their asses, and let me know how I can improve the guide.
• For example's sake, here's how my Shadowheart looked in early Act III, after acquiring  Nyrulna.