Choice Paralysis for the first game finally overcome! Now on to the Deadfire: Berathian SC vs MC with other caster/pseudo-caster?

[SirMirrorcoat]

So, yeah, I am completely hooked on my Priestess of Berath from the White That Wends (Death Godlike on top) and finally stopped contemplating over different classes in the Dyrwood.

My main team will consist of Aloth and Pallegina, with a certain focus on Vailian related quests and NPCs (I only know of Ydwin and Fassina by accidentally spoiling them - they seem cool).

But lo and behold, Deadfire is on the distant horizon. Last time I asked about Cipher MC I think, so yeah, that is thrown out of the window for the most part.

Single Class Priest of Berath vs /Druid vs /Wizard vs /Cipher vs /Chanter

I am mostly uncertain if i would lose a lot of singleclass power of the Priest if I went for a MC? As far as I understand it, I not only lose the last 2 spell levels of both classes (or however it is calculated with the Chanter), but also the Power Level of each class' spells is missing out on 2 levels, which would mean weaker damage/heal spells? And also I would get my spells at a much slower rate, like ~5 levels later for my 'last' tier of MC spells?
Seems like a lot of wasted potential, unless I am missing something, as I look at it all from a rather uneducated perspective? Like, looking at the unique Berath spells, the final 2 tiers seem like a huge boost in damage dealer potential, especially as Berath's spells add a lot of non-fire spells, which would be pretty cool. But on the other hand, my POE1-stats are more focused on talking (12/6/15/15/15/15), so I wonder if I would even be a worthy addition to DPS anyway. Though I am doing a lot of damage in POE1... don't know how much changes in Deadfire.

But then with a MC I would have a lot of versatility added. Wizard would get me both potent self-buffs and aoe debuffs (which could be subbed for with Aloth/Fassina), Druid would get me massive AOE damage spells (storms and such - the only Universalist build on the build page lists DoT as a main selling point), Cipher (Psion for passive Focus or Ascendant for powerful spells?) again with the debuffs and self-sufficient resource, Chanter with passive resource replenishment and passive buffs/debuffs.

I am slightly more inclined to go for singleclass, but as usual, I am VERY unsure...

Any advice is always much appreciated

[dgray62]

I totally understand your paralysis. I have played many, many builds, and only have completed the game with one of them, single class monk. But I am playing a single class blood mage now and it is incredibly fun and powerful, and I plan on completing the game with it for a second time. SC is general is nice because you reach the higher level powers much earlier, and mage is particularly nice because you can rely on grimoires for spells, and save most of your ability points for passives. Multiclasses are very appealing, but I currently plan on playing them only when there is a really strong synergy between the two classes. As for priests, I've only played them multiclassed. Multiclassed with chanter, cipher or wizard are quite strong IMO.

[Elric Galad]

SC priest of Berath : Symbol of Berath is one of the very best nuke of the game. It deals corrode damages and nuker priests are in dire need of non-fire based attack spells.

[thelee]

@Elric Galad is pretty much right. In contrast to some other classes, priests gain quite a bit from being single-classed; when multi-classed you miss out on some incredible top-end spells; not just the symbol, but also hand of weal and woe, dismissal, call of rymrgand, magran's might, etc.

 

21 hours ago, SirMirrorcoat said:

but also the Power Level of each class' spells is missing out on 2 levels, which would mean weaker damage/heal spells?

what's less obvious, is that you're actually missing out on 3 power levels, because you don't get access to Prestige, which is a "you should definitely take this" single-class passive that grants +1 PL at tier 9. 

you also are able to get all the empowered passives. might not sound like much for a first time game/lower difficulties, but by potd/end game is stupidly good. A fully jacked up empowered priest symbol will clear even most DLC fights on its own (on top of possibly triggering empowered-related effects on certain late-game gear).

 

the big question though is whether you care about being more priest or priest-ish. If you want to be more priest, no amount of multi-classing will get you the priest qualities of getting tier 8/9 abilities. if you only want to be priest-like, then it won't matter that you can empower hand of weal and woe to make your party invulnerable compared to the extra role/ability diversity multi-classing gets you. that might be a question only you can answer for yourself, unfortunately. just know that both MC/SC priests are great options (whereas some classes might be better off being MC-ed due to a lack of really compelling tier 8 or 9 options).

Edited July 16, 2021 by thelee

[SirMirrorcoat]

Okay, decided I go SC after reading that