Hierophant

[AFA]

So, I am a wizard (or sorcerer) guy through-and-through. All the Infinity Engine game, on tabletop, etc. In PoE, I kept gravitating to Cipher (and not because it was OP AF, though it was). I kept restarting back and forth between wizard and cipher, before finally going by my old faithful wizzy.

 

Come Deadfire, and I was thinking hierophant was the best of both worlds. Apparently, it sucks somehow. Now, I don't know if it simply isn't uber optimal or min/maxy, and is treated like garbage as a result, or if it is genuinely useless.

 

Anyone have hierophant advice? General Wizard + Beguiler looks natural for a nuker/debuffer, and seem to compliment each other.

 

I may be better off doing a pure gen Wizard in my first playthrough, with a pure Ascendant in the second, but just wanted some hierophant advice

[hansvedic]

I don't have much experience with Beguiler, but if you're looking for your cipher side to also be a spellcasting powerhouse, I highly, highly, highly recommend Ascendant. The sheer amount of focus you get is crazy, and the -1 power level isn't that extreme of a downside for casting powers w/o max focus. Of course, when you get max focus, you get to throw out ANY cipher spells you have one after another until Ascended mode turns off.

 

If you're really concerned about that -1 power level, go Nature Godlike and use the Fleet Feet or Infuse w/ Vital Essence spells at the start of any fight to negate it.

 

EDIT1: As for Hierophant advice, I'd say be aware that your HP is pretty darn low (38 starting + 8 per level, before any constitution bonuses or maluses) comparatively speaking, so you will probably want to go with a party and send your tanks into combat first before you attack or charm from stealth. In addition, you don't have any summons or mobility talents to keep enemy rogues and heavy-hitting melee units busy, so you might want to save your heavy-hitting wizard spells or defensive abilities for those occasions in which an enemy does manage to get close to you. Perhaps invest in alchemy for quick healing or explosives for a quick stun option against enemy rogues.

 

EDIT2: On the other hand, the combination of wizard & cipher should provide a powerful toolset for wreaking havoc on enemy formations from afar. Probably focus on charming enemies with cipher spells during the early game and using wizard spells to nuke/quickly eliminate priority targets with high will, such as spellcasters. Maybe consider taking Soul Shock or Mind Wave to give you some early-game damage spells that you can use without worrying about losing resources. I would recommend targetting ranged units first, then rogues with your charms, as those have the most capability to hurt you even as you try to keep your distance.

Edited June 13, 2018 by hansvedic

[Myztik]

I don't think there's much use of combining them as a ranged character, but they work well as a melee using Wizard spells to buff themselves

[hansvedic]

I suppose that, if one is set on using a Hierophant, that the summoned weapons of the wizard may be of use. 

 

In the beginning, Concelhaut's Draining Staff can be good.

 

As for ranged, Kakaloth's Minor Blights does AoE damage, making it a potential option for a ranged HIerophant to gather focus quickly.

[AFA]

Thanks for the advice guys. General Wizard + Ascendant looks sweet. Still debating between that or pure gen wizard, but I appreciate the knowledge.

[AFA]

General Wizard + Ascendant so far on veteran has been sweet. Not playing very far, since save import is borked, but until that is fixed, I am trying builds. Even if you don't reach ascended, you still generate gobs of focus, and can pretty much throw powers around willy-nilly. Drop a Chill Fog to debuff, hit a few blasts with a rod, then just unleash. Whisper of Treason from stealth to get mobs to cluster on one of their own, then dropping Chill Fog or Slicken on them has been an effective way to open to battle.

[AFA]

Echo Beam + Death Ray has been a fun crowd-melting combo. Just stumbled upon Frostseeker, so thinking of tailoring to that. Accuracy buff + Haste + a storm of Mind Lances could be effective. It has been good for CC as well, and having Ringleader + the 5th level fear spell from wizard should be excellent to get in a few levels

Edited June 29, 2018 by AFA