Samugol

I am a bit confused here. I think at first you are talking about a contemplative (helwalker/priest) (because I do not see why a Monastic Unarmed Training is good for a caster) and then you are talking about celebrant (chanter/priest) - the caster you eventually played. I assume that the unarmed training was for the contemplative, but the SSS and weycs stuff was definitely for celebrant. Sorry I don't want to nitpick, I just want to clarify in case I am missing some synergy I am not seeing. I appreciate your response it has a ton of great info. Especially the cool items and how you switch them around (I think that it makes a lot of senese to use SSS + Weycs for casting and then the other stuff for power level boosting, I think I like the idea of starting with a Shield + Axe for initial damage, then switch to cast with SSS and Weyc and then go back to Shield + Axe for sustained power level bonus but also more defense, I will lose the dagger's effect though... I will see how it works - I just cannot imagine playing a chanter without a shield to be honest after PoE 1). I think I will give this bad boy a try once I am done with my current playthrough.

Since I am playing on a console, I will not play with any mods (shame), but since I am really enjoying the caster playstyle it really seems appealing to do invocations as well. I looked at thelee's Firedancer build and that is also a caster (mainly). How would these two compare? Quite honestly, I am thinking that a chanter would not need to be hit as often and since there are so many nice pieces connected with Magran (Magran's Favor, Magran's Blessing, One Stood) I am getting a serious itch to play a fire caster I am just not sure which one would be better/more fun and in what way. I think that all the invocations would also allow the caster to have more options (you have already mentioned that and I wholeheartedly agree). I am just not sure how I would incorporate SSS into the build because it feels like it should be a part of it somehow (but I would also love to use the Magran's items). Have you played a character like that before? Do you some insight? I am not asking for a full build, but maybe some breakdown of how it plays and how much you have enjoyed it.

That is a very legitimate opinion. Actually, could you do me a favor? When you create the build, could you post it here? I would love to see what you ended up with. Do not be afraid to be detailed and whatnot. I am sure it will be useful for someone who finds it here. Maybe I will play it myself .

@Porkchopsandwiches247 have you considered Bellower? I have to say that I am fascinated by the fact that you can EMPOWER your invocations (through the Sasha's Singing Scimitar) every battle. I am sure that that is very powerful and fun. If you add Bellower into it, you will get even more power levels into the empowered spell AT EVERY BATTLE. Finally, if you choose a death godlike, and you used Barring Death's Door, when you are close to dying, you would be able to sustain this state for longer to get additional +3 power levels. You would be like the ultimate super caster. You could either empower some of the priest spells, or the invocations. Later, when you get the Least Unstable Coil, you would be able to sustain this state perpetually. The only reason I am not playing this build is that I wanted to play with a two-hander first (which I am slightly regretting since I am mostly casting anyway, hence the above post). Also, like Boeroer mentioned on several occasions, this build would the strongest late game when you get all the Weyc stuff (robes and wand primarily), but since you are able to get Sasha's Singing Scimitar relatively early and you are able to empower things every battle, it is a very fun and solid playstyle throughout the entire playthrough. I wish I could help you with the stuff you have already mentioned, but I have little experience in playing a chanter in Deadfire, I am only writing the stuff that I have researched so far.

@BoeroerBlackened Plate armor looks really sick, that was a great advice. However, I find myself casting a lot more than I though and I am thinking of just using a weapon and shield, but I am struggling to find a shield to goes with it. Any ideas? Maces are nice from fashion perspective, but they do not really do much for the build... Also, I found Magran's Favor, that has a very nice +2PL to fire stuff, if I was playing some kind of fire themed character, any advice what it would pair nice with (thematically and visually). I looked around the wiki a bit and found One Dozen Stood which seems nice. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

I am still in PoE (priest of Berath) and I thought since I want to play Helwalker/Priest of Berath in Deadfire. I thought it would be nice to pick up Zahua (never used him before). I have to say that so far I have had a blast with him. As a matter of fact, I have had so much fun that it made me think of playing MC monk the next time around. While I love Witch Doctor idea, I think it focuses on dmg too much and I was wondering whether I could just make him more survivable and potentially use a variation of the build for a solo run on higher difficulty (probably hard). So far I got this: RACE: whatever, but I like humans for roleplay STATS: MIG 18/CON 14/DEX 10/PER 10/ INT 16/ RES 10 as far as talents and abilities go: {Lvl 1} - Torment's Reach. A great ability and supposedly works with Long Pain Fists. {Lvl 2} - Veteran's Recovery, always nice to have some healing and staying power, especially early on. {Lvl 3} - Swift Strikes, more speed is nice and that is what is needed. {Lvl 4} - Two Weapon Style, it will give crazy high speed with the fists. {Lvl 5} - Force of Anguish. Very nice CC, especially with good INT. {Lvl 6} - Weapon Focus Peasant. More acccuracy is good. {Lvl 7} - Long Pain Fists. This is the core of the build and should be acquired as soon as possible. {Lvl 8} - Lightning Strikes, +25% lightning dmg is a nice buff. {Lvl 9} - Duality of Mortal Presence set on Other Defenses. This character will have really high saves. {Lvl 10} - Bull's Will. I really want to have high defenses. {Lvl 11} - Flagellant's Path, nice dmg and debuff. Very good when you need to get somewhere through enemies or some closed passage. Maybe even get away in a pinch. {Lvl 12} - Bear's Fortitude. Again, more defenses. {Lvl 13} - Iron Wheel, this character will definitely spend a lot of wounds, but the extra DR is nice. Crucible of Suffering is also a very viable option. {Lvl 14} - Apprentice Sneak Attack works when the enemy is flanked or prone. {Lvl 15} - Crucible of Suffering or Iron Wheel. {Lvl 16} - Wound Binding. This is stupid amount of healing when CON and MIG are high, I am actually considering taking it earlier. {Skills} - Survival ??, Athletics ??, Lore ??, Mechanics ?? As far as the gear goes: {Head} - Skull of Maegfolic Might. The extra MIG and healing are superb. {Chest} - Any heavy armor you like (He Carries Many Scars seems a good fit). Fashion souls for life. {Belt} - Blunting Belt (+5 pierce/slash DR) and then Clarity for amazing Defenses. {Boots} - Shod in Faith for that sweet healing or Echoing Misery {Neck} - whatever {Gloves} - Gauntlets of Swift Action or Mourning Gloves or Blood Testament {Rings} - Ring of Thorns, Ring of Protection {Weapons} - Fists, Long Pain Fists. @Boeroer, what do you think? I haven't beaten PoE 1 solo yet and I have to say that since I am always looking for characters that can do everything (tank, DPS, cc) this seems like an interesting idea. I originally planned to do so with a chanter (from my testing and personal experience, chanters are crazy strong) but this also seems very legit. I mean, I took your build and switched some of the "hater" talents to boost survivability. I cannot imagine that the damage would be bad, but the character should be able to take a lot of punishment. I was also considering +move speed from talent or boots, but I am not sure if that is truly needed. What do you think? Could this work?

I do have to say that your number of posts is...extraordinary. Is there anyone that has more posts than you here? I do not think so... (just curiosity).

Thank you guys so much You are so kind. While I agree with the fact that you reply when you wish, I can also see that when there are 100 people and each DEMAND a reply (even though you do it out of goodness of your heart and they do not understand that you are under no obligation to do so and they should be thankful if anything) it could get very tedious, very quickly. Also, Boeroer - great detailed tips as always, the blackened plate is exactly what I will be aiming for and really fits the build. That is more than I needed, I cannot wait to play this bad boy, it should be a ton of fun.

@Boeroer Thank you ever so much , the summoned sword seems really fitting. Any idea about what stats should be? I dont need a perfect spread just a general idea (and I promise you shall be left alone for the foreseeable future). I have a good idea about stats in PoE 1, but my Deadfire experience is fairly limited here.

@BoeroerSorry to bother you, but I think I would like to go for a Helwalker/Priest of Berath as you sold me on the idea. I have some ideas how to build it, but I could use a bit of direction. I would choose all the good stuff you have already mentioned, but I have not settled on a weapon yet. Would you rather use some kind of greatsword (whispers of the endless paths or the twin eals or sanguine great sword) or would a mace + shield be a bit more conservative option (maybe frostfall + some medium shield?, I am not sure how much would frostfall trigger since I assume my CON would be good) that would still do some decent dmg with +15 MIG from helwalker bonuses? I am dead set on using either a greatsword or a mace as those are favored by Berath and roleplay is more important than powergaming to me. Also... I am struggling with stats a bit, I wanted to do more CON with death godlike to hit the low death mark for +3 PL but most of the builds I have seen are lower than 10... so not sure what the heck is going on there.

@dgray62 Thank you so much . You have provided a good write up of the core concepts. I will look through forums to get the details, but I think you have nailed the key points in playing that combination. If I ever play a chanter/priest combo I definitely want to be a caster first and foremost, especially since I want to do more melee with my death godlike now. (totally off topic, but I tried tagging drgray62, I wanted to test this since I have no idea whether it works or not, if it does... I know that in some forums it is considered rude to bother people with tagging them, but I personally like to either 1. be mentioned when the reply is directly for me, so I immediately get a ping on my phone or 2. I want to address someone specific when I want to thank them/ask them a question in response to their previous comment... thanks for any advice on this, I really have no idea what is considered nice/polite/standard here, I barely have 70 posts and I certainly want to be more active, especially with playing a bit more Deadfire, avowed coming - I am so pumped for that one :D)

You may have done just that. After reading your tips I am honestly torn between the two (helwalker or devoted). Just tell me which one you had more fun (gameplay, gear or roleplay) with, that is the one I will go for. Maybe I am overthinking it...I don't plan to play on PotD so either is probably fine. Lately I have been busy with a new job and other things and finding enough time to play 100+ hour RPGs is hard... That is why I wanted to get the most fun out of it and I sometimes (read always) overanalyze things.

Thanks, I have decided that I will go for a caster priest next time around (probably fire godlike that is either SC or multiclassed with some chanter - I like the idea of having Sasha's scimitar early and empower spells + other shenenigans), but since I am already playing a Death Godlike with aumaua physique with a huge greatsword in PoE 1, it would feel weird to play a pure caster/caster focused build in Deadfire. I have settled on a Devoted(greatsword)/Priest of Berath as that should be a bit more survivable than Helwalker/Priest of Berath. To be honest the micromanagement aspect of helwalker really appeals to me but I hate playing glass cannon builds. I even toyed with the idea of using Death Godlike racial for +3PL (I would boost CON to make this more viable) and then go to town with some greatsword or nuke with spells but since this will be my first Deadfire priest playthrough it feels scary and daunting. I will probably not play on Trial of Iron this time, but I am not very comfortable with risky builds. I mean...how likely are you to beat trial o iron with +50% dmg taken when have 10 wounds? Maybe some meta masters can, but I would be worried to say the least. Actually, I might as well ask about the chanter/priest with SSS. Is it a hard build to play? Is it squishy? Tanky? Good for Trial of Iron run(probably solo/normal)? I will not play for some time because I want to finish this death godlike playthrough but that will not stop me from planning other builds... Thanks again for the great feedback guys

I definitely considered it. I feel that pure casters fare a lot better in Turn Based compared to RTwP. There is lots of bonus actions and a big spell always has an impact. Compared to a melee class that just hits once... How would you build a SC priest of Berath? Would you use weapon and shield for some extra deflection? How survivable would such a character be? Thanks for the reply BTW.

Wow, that is some good advice. I will look into these suggestions and see if any questions arise. I have a lot to think about thanks to you

Damn, that is some crazy meta :), now I gotta look into whether this is still viable with some adjustments. I would still like to hear some thoughts on hellwalker and devoted multiclass with a priest of Berath. But thanks for pointing me to that build...it looks insane.

Hi, I like to play PoE 1 first and then continue into Deadfire with the same character (as much as deadfire mechanics allow). I have already done so with a wizard and a cipher. Now, I would like to do so with a priest of Berath death godlike that I have been enjoying tremendously (thank you @Boeroer, a variation of your St. Gangrene with tidefall has been a blast so far and probably my favorite build in PoE and boy have I done lots of builds...). The only issue is that I have 0 experience with priests in Deadfire. The questions are the following: -Death godlike is such a great fit for a priest of Berath, but is one of the weakest racial choices overall. I am managing in PoE1, but that is only because I know the game much better than Deadfire. Would it still be viable/OK? Roleplaying is more valuable to me than metagaming and I dont plan to play at the highest difficulty, but I do like to play on trial of iron to compensate for this. Is there any way to take advantage of death godlike racial ability or am I doomed with the suboptimal choice? -Would it be better to have have a single class priest or to multiclass? I understand that last level spells are very strong, but I like jack of all trades builds that are good at everything (casting, melee, support etc.) and are more survivable since I often play on trial of iron. -The most common multiclass suggestions I have seen are either a Devoted/Priest or Helwalker/Priest. The issue is that I have 0 zero experience with these subclasses in Deadfire (monk I have never played any variation of whatsoever...). That means I cannot even begin to fathom why these are chosen, what kind of equipment they use and what is important to make them successful. Which of these would be better? What are their advantages/disadvatages? I know that some battles in deadfire are very long so when I played wizard blood mage I was able to retain my power throughout the whole battle, that makes me lean toward helwalker (is able to generate wounds) but I am not sure if that is a good argument since there is no way to recover priest spells and priest/helwalker without spells might suck terribly. Also I am not sure about the survivability of such approach, monks need to get hit a lot from what I understand. Would that make priest/devoted better and easier to manage? -I would really like the build to be for the turn based mode in Deadfire as that is my preferred choice, but I would be willing to play RTwP if there is a great build that checks multiple boxes. -If possible I would like to stick to roleplay (priest of Berath, death godlike, greatsword, heavy armor, stoic and rational) but I am willing to compromise a bit if there is some item/weapon that drastically improves the experience (but not too many compromises as I play mostly on normal and if it is 10-20% worse than the meta option I choose roleplay all day). Would maybe some of you that have been through the game multiple times suggest some cool thematic equipment for my roleplay? I have been going over some older posts, but I am at a loss to be honest. These posts often debate different deities, races and lots of min maxing with very specific equipment. I tried to learn what I can from those but at this moment I cannot differentiate what is a general advice for a priest multiclass vs very specific advice for a specific build (for example I saw a post about a priest of eothas/helwalker build with some soulbound dagger but I cannot tell if what was discussed applies to priest of Berath/helwalker with a greatsword or if that would work totally differently and my variation would totally suck.) Thank you very much for any advice.

@Haplok I am speechless. Thank you ever so much. I will make good use of this information. You took your time to write all of it while you did not have to. Time and time again I am amazed of the amazing community here. I generally do not play games in early access or when they are initially released, I consider them incomplete so I always wait until all DLCs and updates are done and there is no more active support of the game, but it is this amazing community that is making me reconsider and jump on the early train so I can be part of it. Once again, thanks my man, it is appreciated.

@Haplok thank you so much for replying. I think I have enough info to give it a shot and try some turn-based experimentation. I do have a few questions in reply to your post. Do you recommend to lower might so you are not as hurt when you use Blood Sacrifice and control it better? Wouldn't the spell dmg suffer? Just as healing would? (which I imagine is important for a blood mage). How much CON/PER/INT do you recommend? What do you recommend as a best way to deal with loss of health? You know... so I can manage HP reasonably well. How about multiclassing? I am pretty set on a wizard (with a blood mage subclass) but should I be a pure wizard or should I experiment with wizard/fighter or wizard/paladin for added survivability and some healing? Which one would be more fun/powerful and suited for trial of iron? And if I do decide on either of those, which fighter/paladin subclasses would supplement the blood mage well? Any tips concerning talents, spells and difficulty setting? Party composition? Items? Or does it largely not matter too much as long as I make my blood mage reasonably powerful? Thank you very much once again. I have a much clearer idea about what to do and how to play!

@Boeroerthat is exactly how I feel. I am not THAT old (early 30s) and I can still handle some shooters (I like to play CS GO from time to time), but I absolutely agree with everything you said about turn based. It is a lot more relaxing, I can think about the tactics and I think it is a lot more enjoyable. I replayed PoE numerous times but I always found the combat...hectic, clunky and I often was in a situation where I was not using each character very well due to all the chaos on the screen. It sometimes took me hours to realize that I took some spell or ability and I just completely forgot I even had because of everything that was going on at the same time. So yeah...I totally get your comment and that is why I am looking to get into turn-based, despite some ot its caveats.

Thanks for replying @SArgentus. I have not realized that about ciphers in turn based. I normally prefer wizard and the only reason I consider ciphers is because how I hated managing per rest abilities/spells in PoE, now that is gone in Deadfire, I really want to play a wizard, unless someone makes a really strong argument for a cipher build.

Oh I know Boeroer. No worries. You have previously said on numerous occasions that you prefer RTwP and do not have much experience with turn based. It is not a big deal, I will play and see what is up. I was just hoping someone might share some knowledge that would make things a bit easier. Thanks for replying though, you good person Edit: So do you think it would be too nosy to contact Haplok directly? Or does he see this thread as you added him name? (sorry I have been for a year or two, but I have little experience with how these forums work).

Bumpity bumb? No one with the knowledge?

Hi, I have been playing some PoE 2 and even though I really like Boeroer's Steel Garrote/Wizard build (thanks Boeroer great build), I feel I am gravitating a lot more towards turn-based combat in RPGs these days (I have recently finished DOS EE and wrote a 130+ page guide if you are interested, coming back to RTwP does not feel right after playing that game). I have more time to plan, I enjoy each character a lot more and I find it less hectic and a lot less clunky. Therefore, I want to complete a PoE 2 turn-based playthrough. There are some things that I would appreciate some help with: What is a really good wizard or potentially cipher build (hybrids are cool too as long as they have these two classes) that you can beat the game easily on turn-based? What are some of the differences about turn-based vs RTwP? I heard DEX is not nearly as important, but I am not educated enough about this yet. Out of curiosity, what is considered to be the ultimate turn based build? I currently have all the consoles and a good PC. I understand the game is better on PC, but there is something about sitting on my coach and playing on a huge LG CX TV. Is PC version really that much superior to console version? Is console version really that terrible? I know that most people will not have much experience with that here, but I thought I would ask. I mostly play iron man/trial of iron modes, if that is of any relevance. Thank you very much for any relevant info. In the end, I will make my own build and get a lot of knowledge after I start playing, I just wanted some stepping stone from which I can start as I am a bit lost now.

Hi, as I am finishing PoE1, I realized that I really love the game, even more than I thought. So even though I am going to start playing Deadfire soon (I still need to finish a few things in PoE, but I am really excited to play Deadfire) I am 100% going to replay the game in the near future. And I am constantly trying to find new and cool ways to improve my characters and optimize things here and there. The thing I realized is, that A LOT OF THE TIME, many characters do very little, because I am saving their abilities and spells. At this point I know the game really well and I know which encounters are more difficult so I could easily just UNLOAD all the wizard and priest spells, but I rarely do that anyway. It is more like my "holy sh!t" button that never gets pushed. So I thought... would it be possible to make a party that is able to mostly use per encounter abilities? Of course, because right now, I am beating the game relatively easily with what I have, eve though some characters do very little: Eder - built mostly for tanking, Aloth - built as a blast wizard Durance - as a fire priest Me - as a melee cipher Grieving Mother - as a melee cipher Kana - as dragon thrashed tank This party is really strong and the only problems I ever had were some bounties that I took 5 levels earlier than I should have... BUT IT COULD BE MUCH BETTER: Eder - he does not do very much, he just... tanks, I tried to build him a bit more aggresively, giving him damage abilities and pretty destructive saber, but his damage just pales... even with added wizard missile spell I rarely find that I do much with him, knockdown + missiles, I used to use a blunderbuss to do some damage, but I find it really troublesome to switch all the time (I sometimes forget to switch to weapon and shield), so Eder would be a canditate to switch for some other interesting character (I have to say he was in all of my playthroughs and I am a bit worried that tanking dragons without him - could be really hard) Aloth - I use kalakoths minor blights as it is mastered now, but I feel that this only shines when there are groups of clustered enemies and at that point, two cipher can really put the hurt on them (mental binding or amplified wave) seem to disable these groups quickly, so doing extra damage here is not really that relevant. Also it is quite a while before he is able to master kalakoths minor blights and he cannot master deleterious alacrity of motion at the same time, which makes the combo really shine. What I am trying to say is that what he does through the vast majority of the game, just uses the charm sceptre and does a little bit of damage/support when needed (which is pretty much during boss fights). Durance - He uses painful interdiction that benefits the 2 ciphers a lot. He can use withdraw on Kana to make him into a totem of destruction and he helps the party with various support spells, but only from time to time. Honestly I cannot imagine playing ciphers without him, but I am open to suggestions. (Like to make him actually really damaging with some weapon or something...) The three above need either some serious changes, or could be substituted for different characters (I have never actually played a barbarian, a monk nor rogue, so I am very much open to some of these substituting the 3 characters I have now, it would make for a very different playthrough with characters I do not know so well). Me - I feel like I do the most for the party. I settled with a cipher wearing Wayfareres Hide (really fast, but not too squishy) but I also have little saviour (earlier Ilfan Byrngar's Solace) + bittercut or life drain sabre(still experimenting a bit about which is better - bittercut has corrode damage which is much better, but the lifedrain sabre has a lot bigger crit, so stunned enemies generate A LOT of focus, but also it has LIFEDRAIN which is even more survivability) everything durgan reinforced. I was also able to find gauntlets of swift action. I feel this is probably the most ultimate melee cipher, because the damage output is insane, while being A LOT more survivable than the Blade of The Endless paths cipher/Tidefall cipher I played before. I do not think there is much room for improvement here (I realize that it is possible to withdraw Kana and use mindweb on him, but this is very much a late game combo and I want to stay relevant also through early/mid game). I am willing to listen to suggestions, but I did various tests vs many different enemies, and cipher that was really fast (can reach 0 recovery with the aboves gear + time parasite or DAoM potion) with sword and shield did generally better than cipher with a big two hander (firebrand/tidefall/BoTP). Because the preservation on the shield together with the special helmet (the one with horns acquired in WM1) ensures that he is able to quickly dominate/disable any threat to him while if he is stunned/prone he becomes immortal pretty much. Yes, big two handers have higher focus gain, but that is not really that relevant as I have plenty of focus. Also, the moment ciphers with big two handers are CCed in any way, they are pretty much dead. Finally, even though they can be very durable with lots of healing (like Boeroer suggested in 2017 thread - thanks for that :D, lots of fun) the loss of health becomes a real problem. Overall, I want to rest as little as possible. Grieving mother - She is build pretty much in the same way I am, even though her stats are much worse for that. I though of maybe trying to use her as a ranged cipher with stormcall next time around, but I have mixed feelings about that, because so many great cipher powers are very close range, she would have to run around the battlefield quite a bit, while being pretty squishy does not seem like a good idea. Kana - Just stacking as much deflection + healing on him while his chant is nothing but overlapping dragon thrashed (I tried to combine it with chant that frightens others, but the drop in DPS is very significant and I do not think it helps party's survival as much as dealing tons of damage with dragon thrashed and killing enemies fast). Of course I am open to suggestions here. As a final note, I think completely custom parties are naturally stronger, I like story companions. I feel a lot more immersed, so any ideas should be doable with them as well. Also I tried to find some threads or info about parties that do not rest much, but I was very unsuccessful. I like the barbarian tank build Boeroer made a while back. If it is doable with barbarian companion I would be all up for that. Finally, I setup everything myself (who attacks who and how etc) but if there is a reasonable AI option, with these charactes, I am up for that (I was always afraid to let AI use per rest abilties). I have not idea how well AI ciphers/monks/rogues/barbarians do.