Help me build a Priest of Berath for PotD

[Melarith]

Hey there! Long time lurker, first time poster. With the release of 1.1 I've been meaning to start my PotD playthrough, and I've been looking for a way to make use of a Berath priest, preferably paired with a martial class. Anyone have any ideas?

[Stardusk78]

Hey there! Long time lurker, first time poster. With the release of 1.1 I've been meaning to start my PotD playthrough, and I've been looking for a way to make use of a Berath priest, preferably paired with a martial class. Anyone have any ideas?

Anything can be paired; Fighter, Monk, Paladin; all of those work well in terms of martial classes. I am running a Thaumaturge myself (Priest of Berath/Wizard) specialising in corrosion.

[Palas]

For more groupsupport and defenses i would go with a goldpact paladin. Fits well with the codex and i like the golden amor.

 

For more offense a fighter or monk could word well. For better resourcemanagement the monk fits well, because fights lasts longer.

[Myrtillo]

I would advise against multiclassing a priest of berath.

Summon Incarnate for Breath is the Pallid Knight+the Usher, aka a good fighter and a good breath priest that look awesome

 

This alone is enough to justify single class Breath priest

[Camonge]

I played a goldpact/berath templar up to lvl 7. In my limited experience, it works great.

 

Max Might, have decent Intellect. Bless -> Empowered Touch of Rot -> Spiritual Weapon -> Golden Enmity -> Flames of Devotion. You might want your party to help with armor debuffs because greatsword penetration is terribad. Build concept is: throw in some buffs, couple with aoe dot, then alpha strike.

 

I wore mostly robes, but you might want some heavy armor against lots of ranged.

[Gromnir]

Hey there! Long time lurker, first time poster. With the release of 1.1 I've been meaning to start my PotD playthrough, and I've been looking for a way to make use of a Berath priest, preferably paired with a martial class. Anyone have any ideas?

 

according to obsidian's deadfire telemetry, the two least played characters is contemplatives and shamans.  our first character were a priest o' eothas/helwaker contemplative.  our second character is a priest of wael/berserker shaman and am almost having completed this recent potd run.  am gonna observe how both the shaman and the contemplative is excellent combatants, with the contemplative being a particular powerful caster.  

 

the helwalker contemplative is initial dependent on ranged wielding of a sceptre-- the sceptre modal causes wounds which empowers the helwalker.  one hand or dual wield sceptres is both viable. staying ranged during early levels prevents the helwalker from suffering overmuch from the helwalker's received damage malus.  by mid and late levels, the contemplative is largely immortal due to combined monk and priest abilities, so feel free to enter melee range and exact terrible devastation... or stay ranged and nuke with pillars of holy fire which are receiving enormous damage bonuses from your helwalker inflated might and due to the inexplicable nature o' the monk's turning wheel ability affecting spell damage.  am personal prefering going one-hand or dual wield for the contemplative, so the priest o' berath's spiritual weapon is not the ideal weapon, but is gonna be highly efficacious even so. priestly spiritual weapons do not require metagame knowledge to access early, and combined with helwaker bonuses, you will be causing huge damage just so long as you are able to create enough penetration.  as an aside, scepter modal provides a significant penetration bonus and there is a couple nice sceptres in the game.  a one-hand style, hearth orlan with the soulbound dagger, or any other 1h weapon, will ruin anybody's day... and you may always switch weapon sets so as to take advantage o' a couple o' the power level boosting items when casting. caution: the helwaler malus is significant and will require extra micromanagement to keep the helwalker alive through a number of battles. 

 

alternative, the berserker shaman is gonna be making your spiritual weapon summons viable from early stages o' the game as berserk rage provides extra penetration... but again, am not certain if two-handed weapons is the best route. there is a deadfire intelligent sword which provides immunity to intellect afflictions.  the main drawback for a berserker is being confused while raging.  priest have level 3 and level 5 abilities which provides an intellect inspiration which will negate the berserker confusion, but only the level 5 spell is actual worth the investment.  sure, you could cheese the system and retrain your shaman once he/she reaches level 13 and has access to level 5 spells, but retrain is current broken... still broken.  go dual wield and use swords or swords and _________ is likely a superior option to needing cast prayer for the spirit or litany for the spirit at the start of every battle, though our priest o' wael shaman (a 2h weapon focused character due to rod modal) managed just fine doing so. regardless, the barbarian and berserk benefits not only make you devastating in melee combat, but the cheap dexterity and might bonuses will also enhance your priestly spell casting.  a barbaric blow from a berserk shaman wielding the berath spiritual weapon is gonna do overwhelming damage to most any foe. 

 

play a contemplative or shaman is satisfying and skews obsidian telemetry.  win.

 

as an aside, even after 1.1, alchemy is the no-brainer choice for skills.  

 

final thought: if you make a martial priest o' berath multiclass, do not use your character primarily in the support role.  bring along xoti or pallegina or even fishboi for healing and/or buffing.  both the shaman and contemplative we mention is excellent healers, and don't hesitate to heal when necessary, but most priestly heals are fast casts.  try and buff and heal and also be a whirlwind of weapon and/or spell casting is gonna leave you dissatisfied.  stick to damage and some heals and let others carry the buffing and additional heal load.

 

HA! Good Fun!