I'm aware of what creeps can do; and also uniquely doesn't require LoS to work, which makes it especially handy for the situations I stated: (mix and match these tags as needed): solo, small party, cheese, grind, LLs, bossfight, weak party, undermanned party.
I'm a big fan of the spell (for those applications), and I didn't mean to diss or neglect its benefit (just point out that it's hardly a good basis to build a toon around; workable and interesting maybe, but you should still try to come out with a legit cleric after the double-school sacrifice).
The fact that runs have other classes who can also death (more efficiently, due aoe) doesn't preclude a ploder from using it. It's true that a ploder is more valued for having, and places greater emphasis upon, HB and plode, but that's because these are less commonly replicated by other classes, not because plode can simply do death's job. Likewise, weird is similarly unique for arcanes, but that doesn't mean people suggest arcanes to only consider illus and drop death because other classes can do it also.
I understand your point but I was trying to indicate that in my opinion, and at least for "as good offense as possible without being a carpet" (which should be everyone's main focus, caster or tank alike
) Nec arsenal is valuable, in terms of overall application across runs and spawns. Naturally all 3 of Nec, Abj, Ench are far more valuable than Conj and Illus but again, the build concept already acknowledged this deficit from the start.
The plode/death overlap argument is fair enough "in general", but it's not as dramatic. Claiming that most deathable mobs can be ploded misses something important: the value of death isn't for using on the same targets you can plode; if it's plodeable you use plode on it, because plode is aoe and, most importantly, has better DC. I'm guessing you're referring to a lot of "trash" and many LL mobs in especial (similarly, many/most undead can be ploded instead of u2d), but I don't agree with the conclusion you draw (that death isn't missed for a ploder, and thus nec isn't missed for a ploder), especially considering the other benefits that come with Nec. Likewise, a mage dropping illus loses more than only weird dc. Sure, death is not missed "as much", but nonetheless, I see ploders get a lot of kills from destruction, because the mage only has 2 hands and has important duties that a ploder can't cover (just like the druid and shifter also); this is more versatility and efficiency and flexibility for the party, and helps create a better and more confident relationship amongst all these death insta-ers (I know he can kill that thing too, good, I can take care of this other thing instead cuz right now that's the priority for me, that he can't deal with).
I certainly don't have 20 destructs prepped (or even 10 probably, unless it's boss spam) but I'll use most of what I prepped, because there's almost *always* more time to kill more monsters if only you have the proper tool ready to apply (but we must choose which tool to go without, since we can't have them all; I'm just explaining which tool I'd leave behind). For this logic, yes, I'd trade the package of HB+death+ED+u2d for the package of buffs+Rebuke or buffs+Banish. As a sidenote, it's no fun to try landing banish on even non-paras in abyss without ED or channel
There's some very choice deathable mobs, including things that might or might not be present (due to a random, or due to varying spawns), and it's nice to have the option to do it yourself "if needed" rather than wait for the mage/shifter to do it for you, especially when it's something like a camizu and the sorc got dazed. Indeed like you say, everyone has death (I don't forget shifters and droods and even foebane either
), but that's okay because there's plenty of it to go around most of the time, or at least there's a little bit for you to nab once in a while (and might as well, cuz more kills makes you look more pro!).
Anyway, yes, destruction is overall not very important for a ploder, and yes, with a good mage and/or shifter you might never need it, but most people (myself included
) are bad and slow
I like my ploder to be equally adept with nec as with evo, to take bigger advantage of HG's niche for cleric. Which leads to the point: regardless of value of destruct, Nec offers more too.
The explanation of assn/rgr filling HB role is similar to the death/arcane argument. Sure, you're correct that these classes can kill HB targets, but the point is to kill the spawns as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to achieve this goal, overlap such as this isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially given the differences between spell instas vs. MS/CS in terms of mechanic and application (as well as other duties of the source originating the attack, such as tanking or prioritizing MS/CS stuff that can't be HB). No nec ploder leaves styg without HB kills!
You could drop Nec, just like a mage could drop nec. In my opinion it's less fun and less productive, because Nec offers a cleric 4 weapons for the price of 1, and is fun and awesome (and nec can be even more important than plode in some runs/situations) but I started with saying it was only an "alternate" that "could be". For me, with a suboptimal "experiment outside the normal expectations" build, it's at least favorable to reduce the suck as much as possible, but if you want to play a ploder that can't nec, go for it (and you might never care or notice)
there's far far worse toons out there, that's for sure
) Nec arsenal is valuable, in terms of overall application across runs and spawns. Naturally all 3 of Nec, Abj, Ench are far more valuable than Conj and Illus but again, the build concept already acknowledged this deficit from the start.
) are bad and slow 
