[Build] Woedica/Helwalker Contemplative "The Fists of Vengeance" high dps/ high cc melee-caster hybrid

[1TTFFSSE]

Since this was requested I will type up this build.

 

It does require a mod from nexus to unlock Woedica Priest subclass - but if you play monk/priest you may as well go all out and play the Woedica priest because of the excellent spiritual weapon synergy on Woedica: +20% raw damage on "summoned fist" attacks that synergize with monk bonuses to fist attacks.

Unmodded Skaen/Helwalker also works but is not quote-unquote absolutely optimized and "op". 

Note: Helwalker can be replaced by Nalpazca if you don't want to be super squishy although barring death's door kind of solves the squishiness later.

 

 

This build does excellent single target and aoe damage and is very versatile.

 

This is the general guide, for a more solo specific Contemplative playthrough check this excellent guide as it is more focused on solo play:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/105553-build-servant-of-death/

 

Woedica is a more powerful priest subclass for monk combo than barath so this one is definately adabtable. 

 

 

Race: Human or Death Godlike - human if you want more accuracy on cc attacks and death godlike for more damage potential

Stats: (no bonuses)

Might 14 + 1 (Human)

Constitution 7

Dex 15

Perc 18

Int 18 +1 (old Vaila)

3 +1 (Human)

note this is strictly the stat distribution for party play if you are soloing you probably want to lower Might and Dex and not dump resolve or con so much - although this build can handle the low stats once you get barring death's door + salvation of time. And even in Party play going dex 10 / con 12 is not a bad idea if you want more room for error and be on the safe side of things. 

 

There are some variations in the ability selection involved ! = mandatory , r= highly recommended

 

Leveling

1. Swift Strikes!/ Restore r  default spell: Writ of Engagement

2. lesser wounds!

3. halt (early game) / later can be replaced by suppress affliction r or arms bearer or keep halt. Suppress Affliction is probably the best choice

4. Two-Weapon style! / Withdraw ! default spell: Summon Spiritual Weapon (Fists)

5. Dance of Death !

6. Clarity of Agony or Weapon and shield style (solo), even The Long Stride is an option in strictly party play but you will probably go with either weapon+shield or Clarity of Agony in solo play or if you want to off-tank

7. Torment's Reach! / Dire Blessing! Default: Writ of Consumption

8. Lightning Strikes or Swift Flurry: choose one...Lightning Strikes probably is the more consistent dps choice, in a party setting, you may get more mileage out of Swift Flurry since the party can buff/debuff enough for you to land lots of crits. Overall Lightning Strikes is probably the more sound choice.

9. Stunning Blow r  ...while optional and not a core ability to the build it is highly recommended, and the alternatives are pretty underwhelming (combat focus???? really) one of the Bulls/Snakes/Bears talents or the excellent Clarity of Agony if you haven't picked it up yet - but those are more options for solo play where some extra defensives are prioritized over offense.

10. Duality of Mortal Presence! / Scion of Flame!  Default spell: Divine Terror  note: here things get tricky on the priest side. Scion of Flame is the strongest selection for the end-build but you won't need it immediately so you may take Litany for the Body or Devotions for the Faithful. Out of the two I like Litany for the Body slightly more because it is a fast cast (and +2 ar on top of a good armor is very good) cast but given the aoe effect Devotion for the Faithfull is very good in a party setting. In party probably Devotions is better. Absoluely and in my opinion don't fall for the trap of taking Shining Beacon - yes it is an excellent spell, but one that can be more effectively cast from a scroll.

Just keep in mind that for the end build Scion of Flame is the thing to take for the end build and all of your other tier 4 abilities will go into the monk tree.

11. Enduring Dance !

12. Thunderous Blows

13. Raised Torment ! / Barring Death's Door ! Deafult spell: Writ of War

14. Rooting Pain r

15. Stunning Surge r

16. Turning Wheel !/ Salvation of Time ! default spell: Pillar of Holy Fire

17. Flagellant's Path r

18. Litany for the Spirit r - note: around this time it is a good idea to respec and take Scion of Flame at Priest lvl4 And take either Litany for the Spirit here (recommended) or Keep Devotions of the Faithful at level 4 Priest in addition to Scion of Flame

19. The Dichotomous Soul ! / Storm of Holy Fire ! default spell: writ of sorcery note: I now recommend Dichotomous Soul over Heartbeat Drumming as in patch 2.1 the soul summons will be buffed so in the end they will be more effective than Heartbeat Drumming. You can opt to take minor avatar instead of dichotomous soul though - it is a question if you want 2x very effective summons or if you want to boost your own stats a bit more - with the monk bonuses I personally do not think minor avatar is necessary.

20. Skyward Kick !

 

Alternative Variation: It is also interesting particularly when soloing, to go for a "kiting" approach: in that case you would stack stride via The Long Stride, Boots of speed etc and take The Long Pain (without upgrade) - that way you can run around and attack from range with your buffed fists. It is definitely an interesting approach. Also if solo play is the focus you should probably give up stunning surge in favor of 2 more defensive talents - definitely clarity of agony and upgrade. 

 

Overall assessment: This character is very strong from start and gets even more power to the endgame. As you see by the time you hit level 4 your damage engine is already in place: you have the Spiritual summoned fists on the Priest side and Swift strikes from the monk with generous healing abilities in withdraw, restoration and holy radiance, from there it progressively gets stronger. Another milestone is at level 13 with Barring Death's Door and finally the capper at level 19 with Storm of Holy Fire.

 

It tested very favorably in terms of dps beating out a strong witch rdps meaning it should actually exceed aoe avenging storm blunderbuss scouts - but more importantly it does very high single target damage along with aoe damage and is efficient in doing that seamlessly especially at high levels: after casting storm of holy fire it is free to move in with high single target pressure thanks to skyward kick + stunning surge or further aoe pressure through pillar of holy fire and raised torment and flagellent's path.

Further, and this is specific to the Woedica subclass of priest, not only does it get a bonus +20% raw damage to your fist attacks through the spiritual weapon, but you have access to nasty "writ" spells that can pretty much disable enemies: How does Writ of War (level 5) sound? Enemies cannot use active abilities (in a small aoe) for 20+ seconds (up to 30 seconds with high intelligence). Or Divine Terror terror (level 4) - frightened for up 40s with high intelligence. Or Finally Writ of Sorcery (level 6) - cannot cast spells for another 30 seconds. You can disable dangerous targets that way while you pummel them. Also even though I do not use ranged weapons, Acina's Trihorn hat is a very good headgear for this because it gives you +5 accuracy on such attacks.

 

Typical play/ ai behaviour is such:

 

(simplified)

Always choose by list order

 

First defensives:

1.) If health under 50%-> Second Wind, Holy Radiance, Restore

2.) If near death -> Bearing Death's Door, Withdraw

 

Offensive list order

Turning Wheel is active

3.) Lightning strikes

4.) Dance of Death/ Enduring Dance

5.) Storm of Holy Fire

6.) If attacking high armor target -> tenacious blows

7.) if engaging -> spiritual weapon, dire blessing

8.) If target is bloodied -> Stunning Surge

9.) If engaging/engaged by multiple enemies -> raised torment

10.)lowest fortitude -> Skyward kick

11.)weak to fire-> pillar of Holy fire

 

If soloing you want to buff up first with barring death's door +salvation of time before going into attack mode and keep an eye on the buff bar and be ready to withdraw should you need it.

 

Abilities like the writ abilities, summons, and others you can control by hand

 

 

Recommended gear:

 

Acina's Trihorn head if not choosing death godlike - boosts accuracy on lots of your spell attacks

Armor: If you are soloing you want plate until you get death's door/ salvation of time otherwise I like High Harbinger Robes, Pale Hide, Bloody Links or Gipon Prodensco as well as Garari Cuiras. Pale Hide or Bloody Links is probably the best overall choice here. 

Rings: Ring of Focused Flame (especially later), after that it depends on situation, solitary wanderer if you are soloing and greater regeneration or Kuaru's Prize if you are in a party. Also Ring of Minor Protection is handy too.

Neck: Strand of Favor

Cloak:  Greater Deflection , Frostfur are nice and of course Nemnok's Cloak if you pferer that

Boots: there are boots that give you an extra second level priest cast, those are good

Belt: I like The Maker's Own power here personally 

Bracers: Rekvu's are good when soloing because consitution afflictions are nasty, otherwise Accuracy bracers or Hylea's Talons are nice here going with the "fist" attack theme.

 

Weapons: 

 

The beauty of summon spiritual weapon: fists is that it replaces any weapons you have equipped with summoned fists so you don't need an extra weapon slot for more versatility.

 

Otherwise, as fire stat sticks you can't really beat Sun and Moon + Marux Amanth, though Magran's Favor + Marux Amanth may be more consistent

 

Magistrate's Cudgel is great against kith and allows for some really nasty things like marked (+10 accuracy for 30 seconds) followed up by writ of war on the target with a very good chance to hit and poof! suddenly because of your ultra high intelligence thanks to monk they can't use active abilities for 35-40 serconds easy. Follow this up by switching to to something like Frostfall and killing things and the duration of writ of war gets extended on the target. Club (especially the modal) is crucial here to debuff enemy will save further if you want to land those nasty writ spells. 

 

And your dps bread and butter is the summoned fist attacks. With turning wheel active you get the following bonuses +10 might (if helwalker) +15% lightning strikes (non conditional), +20% fire damage (turning wheel - but average is closer to 10-15% because you won't be at max wounds all the time) , +20% raw (summoned weapon:fist), and of course there is tenacious from thunderous blows for another +2 penetration. 

 

In general to take advantage of the fire stat sticks you want to start a fight by doing storm of holy fire and pillar of fire and then transition into monk melee pummeler mode with summoned fists after buffing with dire blessing.

 

 

Anyways this is a beautiful build and looks badass to play because of the vampiric summoned fists, enjoy and definitely try this one out, I think it is one of the more fun melee pummeler/offensive spell caster hybrid builds out there. 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[mant2si]

Cool dps build with cool weapon, good job

> Race: Human or Death Godlike - human if you want more accuracy on cc attacks and death godlike for more damage potential

I want to point that +3PL from Death godlike give you +30% multiplicative damage to all your spells and  +6 acc, + it also give +12acc to your weapon and +30%  weapon damage
 

> 3 Resolve

The problem with Dumped Resolve is debuff duration, for example BoW dragon can put on you DoT for 1 minute :D Or Dumper for 30s is real hell 

For gear choice I suggest my guide, I posted setup with immunity to all 6 affliction types So you don't need to worry about -4 pen from dazed affliction, stuns, paralyze and other annoying debuffs

Edited September 5, 2018 by mant2si

[1TTFFSSE]

Cool dps build with cool weapon, good job

 

> Race: Human or Death Godlike - human if you want more accuracy on cc attacks and death godlike for more damage potential

 

I want to point that +3PL from Death godlike give you +30% multiplicative damage to all your spells and  +6 acc, + it also give +12acc to your weapon and +30%  weapon damage

 

> 3 Resolve

 

The problem with Dumped Resolve is debuff duration, for example BoW dragon can put on you DoT for 1 minute :D Or Dumper for 30s is real hell 

 

For gear choice I suggest my guide, I posted setup with immunity to all 6 affliction types So you don't need to worry about -4 pen from dazed affliction

Thanks for the tips Man2si! And I linked to your page to help people for gearing/ talent selection if they play solo. Yes and for solo play lower the dex for more resolve...you can live longer if your are a bit slower overall but not get cced and insta gibbed due to low resolve. 

[mant2si]

Yes and for solo play lower the dex for more resolve...you can live longer if your are a bit slower overall but not get cced and insta gibbed due to low resolve. 

 

I suggest to lower MIG instead of DEX, you will get less DPS but on other side Scrolls and Potions don't receive Might bonus (but with more action speed, you can use them faster) and +30% to melee damage is not to much ;D

[Mocker22]

Looks like this could be fun to adapt to Xoti, although not as powerful ofc.

 

Weird Technical question on a Priest/monk Xoti. If you have just her sickle equipped, would this count as dual-wield and attack with the sickle and a fist? I'm guessing no but just checking. Could anyone recommend a good weapon setup for Xoti with this build?

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I thought it might be related enough.

[1TTFFSSE]

Looks like this could be fun to adapt to Xoti, although not as powerful ofc.

 

Weird Technical question on a Priest/monk Xoti. If you have just her sickle equipped, would this count as dual-wield and attack with the sickle and a fist? I'm guessing no but just checking. Could anyone recommend a good weapon setup for Xoti with this build?

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I thought it might be related enough.

First I suggest "modding" Xoti with Unity console into Woedica/monk of course. But if you don't want to do that Xoti has her spiritual weapon too, which you can use, and you can use that. If you want to "dual wield" the sickle though you have to equip it in your off hand and not use anything in the main hand. 

 

And of course the default priest selections from the Harvester of Gaun may mess up your talent distribution somewhat and you won't be able to take all the absolute goodies on that subclass. 

 

And lastly and this is of course a big component of a monk/priest build is that the woedica spiritual weapon is special because it completely integrates with monk's transcendent suffering bonus to fist attacks. 

Edited September 6, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[brasilgringo]

 

The problem with Dumped Resolve is debuff duration, for example BoW dragon can put on you DoT for 1 minute :D Or Dumper for 30s is real hell 

 

For gear choice I suggest my guide, I posted setup with immunity to all 6 affliction types So you don't need to worry about -4 pen from dazed affliction

 

 

At least you can get a little better off from taking Clarity of Agony and cutting debuff time?  If I remember correctly there's some other monk talent that buffs you after debuffs wear off, as well, which I recall being good with Clarity of Agony.

[Rhaegon]

Which mod are you using to unlock Woedica priest, exactly?

 

All Classes Unlocked or Priest of Rymrgand and Other Hidden Classes?

 

Not sure if you saw it, but this post on Nexus regarding the first one may be of interest:

The Priest of Woedica spiritual weapon seems to stack with Transcendent suffering So that gives an interesting little synergy with unarmed monks.

It's tagged "IsUnarmed": "true" in attacks.gamedatabundle. I noticed that it only seems to proc on main hand attacks, however. I managed to fix it so it procs on offhand attacks by going into statuseffects.gamedatabundle and finding the entry for Faith_Attuned_Woedica_SE_RawProc. This is the buff that adds the raw damage. Under AttackFilter, change Source from ParentEquipable to Weapon 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Rhaegon

[AndreaColombo]

Subbing thread.

[Boeroer]

I like the combo overall. But I think the double scaling (summoned hands that scale with level + Transcendent Suffering that scales with Power Level) is too strong for my taste. It feels cheesy and therefore I can't enjoy it that much although Woedican Priest/Helwalker is an appealing combo.

[AndreaColombo]

I imagine that’s unintended and would be fixed if the Woedican classes were ever made available to the player officially. Until then, this is the sort of cheese I like in my Deadfire sandwich :D

[Manveru123]

 

Which mod are you using to unlock Woedica priest, exactly?

 

All Classes Unlocked or Priest of Rymrgand and Other Hidden Classes?

 

Not sure if you saw it, but this post on Nexus regarding the first one may be of interest:

The Priest of Woedica spiritual weapon seems to stack with Transcendent suffering So that gives an interesting little synergy with unarmed monks.

It's tagged "IsUnarmed": "true" in attacks.gamedatabundle. I noticed that it only seems to proc on main hand attacks, however. I managed to fix it so it procs on offhand attacks by going into statuseffects.gamedatabundle and finding the entry for Faith_Attuned_Woedica_SE_RawProc. This is the buff that adds the raw damage. Under AttackFilter, change Source from ParentEquipable to Weapon 

 

Bump. I'm curious too.

[1TTFFSSE]

 

 

Which mod are you using to unlock Woedica priest, exactly?

 

All Classes Unlocked or Priest of Rymrgand and Other Hidden Classes?

 

Not sure if you saw it, but this post on Nexus regarding the first one may be of interest:

The Priest of Woedica spiritual weapon seems to stack with Transcendent suffering So that gives an interesting little synergy with unarmed monks.

It's tagged "IsUnarmed": "true" in attacks.gamedatabundle. I noticed that it only seems to proc on main hand attacks, however. I managed to fix it so it procs on offhand attacks by going into statuseffects.gamedatabundle and finding the entry for Faith_Attuned_Woedica_SE_RawProc. This is the buff that adds the raw damage. Under AttackFilter, change Source from ParentEquipable to Weapon 

 

Bump. I'm curious too.

 

So far I have only used either Unity console or Priest Classes unlocked (2nd mod). So I may have been running a "gimped" version of the spiritual fists, yet it already felt really strong.

 

If you use "all Classes unlocked" - that first mod which that tweaks the stringtable to unarmed weapon attacks it will be even stronger it seems. 

[1TTFFSSE]

I like the combo overall. But I think the double scaling (summoned hands that scale with level + Transcendent Suffering that scales with Power Level) is too strong for my taste. It feels cheesy and therefore I can't enjoy it that much although Woedican Priest/Helwalker is an appealing combo.

I mean deep leap (prior to patch 2.1) was like the most optimized cheese I've seen especially how you grouped unsuspecting groups of mobs with dazzling lights and then one shotted them. Those poor fools didn't even have a chance to react. 

[mant2si]

 

I like the combo overall. But I think the double scaling (summoned hands that scale with level + Transcendent Suffering that scales with Power Level) is too strong for my taste. It feels cheesy and therefore I can't enjoy it that much although Woedican Priest/Helwalker is an appealing combo.

I mean deep leap (prior to patch 2.1) was like the most optimized cheese I've seen especially how you grouped unsuspecting groups of mobs with dazzling lights and then one shotted them. Those poor fools didn't even have a chance to react. 

 

Do you know how how they fix this rod ? ;D They reduce proc chance to 5% and remove projectiles AOE attack. Obsidian .... So if they will add Woedica class, then they may remove complete scaling with fists ability

Edited September 6, 2018 by mant2si

[AndreaColombo]

Why just nerf when you can OVERnerf?

[mant2si]

I assume that in next few patches they will nerf Turning Wheel to do lash damage only with weapon and fix Salvation of Time duration bonus and BDD builds will dies

Edited September 6, 2018 by mant2si

[1TTFFSSE]

I assume that in next few patches they will nerf Turning Wheel to do lash damage only with weapon and fix Salvation of Time duration bonus and BDD builds will dies

Meanwhile, wizards will laugh at everyone. 

[mant2si]

 

I assume that in next few patches they will nerf Turning Wheel to do lash damage only with weapon and fix Salvation of Time duration bonus and BDD builds will dies

Meanwhile, wizards will laugh at everyone. 

 

Then Obsidian will nerf Combusing wounds and set max stack and limit Minoletta's Missile Salvo projectiles count to 5 Don't worry, There exist only single class that can  laugh at everyone and it's Paladin/Chanter they so f*** stable

Edited September 6, 2018 by mant2si

[Manveru123]

Obsidian managed to create a very negative community. I'm almost impressed. Obsidian forum: not the place where you look for sunshine and rainbows.

 

They probably don't care anyway.

 

<even though you're all probably right :D>

[Boeroer]

Well you're not adding a lot of sunshine as well... :\

 

Anyways: good point with the Deep Leap. But there I made the guy so squishy that you really have to place you initial shots carefully (with Dazzling Lights and so on). So once you managed to set up the perfect opener it was cheesy - and if not you were screwed. That gave me bit of adrenaline every now and then.

 

Also I didn't know that it would be so powerful when I did my playthrough with it.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Boeroer

[Manveru123]

After playing this character for a bit, I can safely say that I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favourite multiclass combo on the Citadel.

[1TTFFSSE]

Thanks, it is really good build with Abydon's challenge too because weapon maintenance is a b****. And on this build you use fists.

 

I was thinking of adding Blade turning for even more salvation of time shenanigans, but don't know what to get rid of as everything is pretty essential. I guess you could live without raised torment or flagellant's path  but those are such cool abilities and I hate using an ability without upgrade like torment's reach as it is not essential but than I am feeling I am not milking out an ability to its full potential if I use it. 

 

Also I small change could be on early levels to take Force of Anguish instead of Dance of Dance until you can respec for torment's reach and the upgraded Enduring Death - helps streamline dps in the early game. 

[Manveru123]

All you need early game are Swift Strikes and auto attacks. I prefer saving Wounds for MIG bonus (more useful to me since I started out with a bit different stats). I'm not convinced about the usefulness of Enduring Dance because as a melee fighter, I am getting hit a lot. Blade Turning does sound tempting though.

[siema87]

I stumbled upon this build and will dig it up. Anyone knows if it's still viable?