Itinerant (Priest/Ranger) Theorycrafting

[Porkchopsandwiches247]

Preface: I enjoy creating unconventional builds that have interesting and varied playstyle, preferably ones that make some thematic sense. So while I dont need super optimal character creation, I would like to make the most of what the classes can bring to the table.

With that out of the way, I actually think this is a fairly solid combination. One of the issues with Priest is that they spend so much time casting, if multiclassing you usually want either 1. To have a way to speed up said casting or 2. to have some action economy going, where theyre bringing passive value from the multiclass while Priest is occupied with their casting.

Some of the pros of a Priest/Ranger I can see:

• The pet can be dealing damage and keeping the enemy occupied completely independent of what the Priest is doing
• Ranger actually does have a speed buff in Evasive Roll, giving 10 seconds of quick at Class Lvl 3
• Marked Prey (+10 ACC one enemy), Stalker's Link (+10 ACC on each pet-engaged enemy), and Survival of the Fittest (+10 ACC on enemies under 50% health) are (as far as I'm aware, correct me otherwise please) conditional accuracy buffs that stack, and apply to not just weapon attacks but spells also. There are a few ways to boost engagement of the pet like Champions Boon or that one Chanter chant, so you can even make Stalker's Link effect multiple targets thats a whole lot of spell (and weapon attack) accuracy.
• All the Ranger's accuracy buffs and other passive ranged attack buffs provide the Priest with a pretty solid autoattack DPS when they're not casting
• Priest+Ranger apparently has more story interaction triggers than any other combination, when choosing the right subclasses (Priest 25, Ranger 21, Magran 25, Ghost Heart 14). I dont know if any of these overlap or if they even bring any value gameplay/battle wise, but I thought it was interesting

There are naturally some downsides with all these of course, but overall the combination isnt too shabby compared to other Priest multiclasses.

Some thoughts on subclasses...

• Priest of Berath/Ghost Heart - This sounds fun from a thematic point of view. Priest of Death + ghost wolf. Ghost Heart means you can fire and forget your pet at the start of battle without worrying about it dying and debuffing yourself. Touch of Rot does stupid damage for a Lvl 1 spell even if it has some limitations. This might be one of the few times the Greatsword modal might be useful (+30% damage for -10 ACC) with your overabundance of Accuracy buffs on a single target. Otherwise you can go into battle with one or more Arquebus/Arbalest, unload at the start, go on a casting spree, then summon your spirit Greatsword with a 31% corrode weapon lash to finish off single targets. I doubt Rot Skulls would be worth it still, maybe with the Ranger bounce and as a way to simply put a DOT on the enemy to buff pet damage?
• Priest of Magran - Has a number of Priest-unique damaging spells. Ray of Fire + Ranger ACC bonuses probably works great, as does getting a crit with something like Shining Beacon (not unique to Magran but fitting for leaning towards fire). Torrent of Flame could be kind of hilarious using Evasive Roll to teleport into perfect position to blast enemies. Itd likely be much better to have Magran's Favor + Marux Amanth (or Sun and Moon) for spell PL boosting/echo chance, so unfortunately the ranged perks of Ranger would be a bit wasted...Although potentially the spirit weapon pistol + bounce + 31% fire lash + ACC bonuses + Gunner could be pretty solid damage? Also can just switch over to another weapon slot.
• Priest of Skaen - for some reason I assumed Finishing Blow was melee ranged, but nope! I havent actually tested this, but Finishing Blow + Ranger Bounce ACC buffs should do a truckload of damage. Could even combine this with Hand Mortars or other AoE/bounce unique weapons too. Marux Amanth could even give it a chance to echo?
• Arcane Archer - I didnt enjoy this subclass much last time I tried it, and if I remember correctly none of the spiritual weapons apply as Arcane, so your autoattacks would get an ACC penalty unless you had one of the specific unique weapons that have that property...and I completely forget which actually apply. That said, I guess with the right setup these abilities could be a great start of fight opening to pin down enemies, with imbue web/pull of Eora, then you could start piling on debuffs or damage while theyre immobilized, or fire off a Fireball, which with Ranger bounce + bounce from weapons could cause some chaos. Seeing as you spend so much time casting as a Priest, just dumping all your Bond points at fight start for big effect kind of makes sense. Magrans Favor in one hand + Fire in the Hole in the other would probably have the most synergy here, with the + to Fire PL and the extra bounce.
• Priest of Woedica - not much here other than the fact the spiritual weapon is extremely strong. Not a ton of unique synergy with Ranger though other than all the ACC buffs...
• Sharpshooter - When paired with a Hunting Bow with its -50% recovery modal, might be a pretty solid combo.

Anyways, Ill leave it at that. Look forward to hearing any more ideas I hadnt thought about. Thanks for reading!

[Shai Hulud]

I've tried itinerants some. Lot of good insights here.

Are you playing solo or with a party? If solo I don't like priests as much. And what difficulty? I feel like spells don't scale as well on POTD upscaled compared to weapons (not counting buffs). 

Rot Skulls are actually really good especially with driving flight.

Skaen has some of the best autopick spells plus some really useful uniques. Enduring Shadows is especially useful in getting you out of tough situations.

For ranger / spellcaster builds I personally prefer hierophant and seer. I think for itinerant the ranger is doing more for the priest than vice versa. Seer is especially good for buffing the pet with pain block, echoing shield, tactical meld, and you get a lot more +accuracy out of borrowed instinct than devotions for the faithful. Hierophants are just loads of fun (blood mage / soul blade) because you can explode things with soul annihilation and citzal's spirit lance.

For ranger subclasses I like stalker for melee builds and generic otherwise. Ghost heart sounds cool but being able to position the animal before combat (and actually engage things) is really useful.

[Porkchopsandwiches247]

3 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

I've tried itinerants some. Lot of good insights here.

Are you playing solo or with a party? If solo I don't like priests as much. And what difficulty? I feel like spells don't scale as well on POTD upscaled compared to weapons (not counting buffs). 

Rot Skulls are actually really good especially with driving flight.

Skaen has some of the best autopick spells plus some really useful uniques. Enduring Shadows is especially useful in getting you out of tough situations.

For ranger / spellcaster builds I personally prefer hierophant and seer. I think for itinerant the ranger is doing more for the priest than vice versa. Seer is especially good for buffing the pet with pain block, echoing shield, tactical meld, and you get a lot more +accuracy out of borrowed instinct than devotions for the faithful. Hierophants are just loads of fun (blood mage / soul blade) because you can explode things with soul annihilation and citzal's spirit lance.

For ranger subclasses I like stalker for melee builds and generic otherwise. Ghost heart sounds cool but being able to position the animal before combat (and actually engage things) is really useful.

1. With party. I find the interactions far more enjoyable.

2. Hard. I find this to be the best balance of fun and challenge, forcing you to play and develop your party smartly but not forcing you into perfectly optimal setups or abilities.

I mostly am focusing on Priest for roleplay purposes. I find them kind of funky in Deadfire compared to PoE1. Not bad, but kind of need to TLC to make them shine. I find multiclassing just more fun in general too, for sake of variety (with a few exceptions).

[Shai Hulud]

9 hours ago, Porkchopsandwiches247 said:

1. With party. I find the interactions far more enjoyable.

2. Hard. I find this to be the best balance of fun and challenge, forcing you to play and develop your party smartly but not forcing you into perfectly optimal setups or abilities.

I mostly am focusing on Priest for roleplay purposes. I find them kind of funky in Deadfire compared to PoE1. Not bad, but kind of need to TLC to make them shine. I find multiclassing just more fun in general too, for sake of variety (with a few exceptions).

Yeah multiclassing is almost always better. And an itinerant would be pretty fun with a party. On hard your damage spells still have enough penetration to be useful, plus devotions for the faithful is the drug of choice for companions with poor perception. 

That build should work well for your purposes. What stat spread you using? I'd guess something like 14/7/14/19/19/3 would be good if you mostly hang back, spellcast and use ranged weapons. If melee bump con and resolve some at cost of might and dex, but still you don't need much with all the buffs available to a diverse party. Definitely max INT. Can maybe get away with lowering perception some since just on hard, but still I wouldn't, high perception = more crits = effects lasting longer. 

I usually play solo for the challenge but I kinda want to run a party with an itinerant now. If you aren't taking aloth then wael/stalker would be fun, especially if you intend to wade into the thick of things. Arcane Veil, Mirrored Image, and Llengrath's displaced image are all extremely useful (the deflection bonuses stack). Plus Wael is just hands down the coolest of the gods. I wouldn't dismiss woedica though, the various writ spells can be pretty devastating, particularly writ of war and writ of sorcery which shut down special abilities and spellcasting, respectively.

Only thing about Wael is it's hard to picture a priest of wael wandering around the wilderness with his pet lion or whatever. I guess Eothas/Gaun or Skaen probably make more sense in that way.  

Edited March 7, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[Porkchopsandwiches247]

13 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

Yeah multiclassing is almost always better. And an itinerant would be pretty fun with a party. On hard your damage spells still have enough penetration to be useful, plus devotions for the faithful is the drug of choice for companions with poor perception. 

That build should work well for your purposes. What stat spread you using? I'd guess something like 14/7/14/19/19/3 would be good if you mostly hang back, spellcast and use ranged weapons. If melee bump con and resolve some at cost of might and dex, but still you don't need much with all the buffs available to a diverse party. Definitely max INT. Can maybe get away with lowering perception some since just on hard, but still I wouldn't, high perception = more crits = effects lasting longer. 

I usually play solo for the challenge but I kinda want to run a party with an itinerant now. If you aren't taking aloth then wael/stalker would be fun, especially if you intend to wade into the thick of things. Arcane Veil, Mirrored Image, and Llengrath's displaced image are all extremely useful (the deflection bonuses stack). Plus Wael is just hands down the coolest of the gods. I wouldn't dismiss woedica though, the various writ spells can be pretty devastating, particularly writ of war and writ of sorcery which shut down special abilities and spellcasting, respectively.

Only thing about Wael is it's hard to picture a priest of wael wandering around the wilderness with his pet lion or whatever. I guess Eothas/Gaun or Skaen probably make more sense in that way.  

I tend to not like to drop CON. Im sure Im overrating it, but I kind of like my main character to be able to take a hit or two and not be a priority target for the AI enemies. So I usually keep it as 10. Otherwise those are around the stats Id go for.

Wael+Stalker does make a lot more sense for solo, but solo really feels like a bad fit for a Priest in general since so much of their repertoire is based around full party support. Can of course make it work but it I dont care for the idea personally. You can probably make Wael+animal companion 'feel' more natural if you imagine Wael the unpredictably trickster teleporting a ghost bear on top of your enemies when they think youd be just casting spells lol

Speaking of Woedica, I probably am underestimating the Writ spells a bit, but on reflection Id bet that the Spiritual Weapon Fists + Raw Lash + Ranger Accuracy bonuses could be pretty nasty single target damage. Stalker would make the most sense here but definitely not a requirement.

[masterty66]

Wael/Stalker would be good I think, if not necessarily the most thematic combination. An armor bonus, buffs to keep yourself alive and in melee, and a pet to help your accuracy and boost your dps.

General synergies I can think of for an Itinerant:

- Barring Death's Door and Withdraw can keep your pet alive and prevent you from taking the pet death malus

- Halt and Binding Roots can be used to CC many enemies on the battlefield

- Takedown combo to boost the damage of your most powerful spells and melee attacks

- Priest DOT spells to unlock Predator's Sense on your animal companion

- BDD plus salvation of time on your pet and let it tank things

- Champions Boon on the pet to boost engagement

- Litany For the Body to boost the pets survivability

 

[Boeroer]

Boosted engagement on the pet (+3 via Champion's Boon) also means Stalker's Link (+10 ACC) against +3 enemies iirc. 

 

[dgray62]

An itinerant can also cast spiritual ally for an extra summons. The spiritual ally can also spam a healing spell thank gives the Robust inspiration, which can make everyone tankier. And you can keep the summons and the pet alive indefinitely with BDD and SoT. This can free you up to cast more damaging spells.

[masterty66]

9 hours ago, dgray62 said:

An itinerant can also cast spiritual ally for an extra summons. The spiritual ally can also spam a healing spell thank gives the Robust inspiration, which can make everyone tankier. And you can keep the summons and the pet alive indefinitely with BDD and SoT. This can free you up to cast more damaging spells.

Does that work with Ghost Heart or does the pet take up the summon limit?

[dgray62]

No, it doesn't work with ghost heart unfortunately, since the ghost animal companion counts as your one and only summons. For this reason, I think you're better off with stalker if you're going solo and want the AC and a nice summons like spiritual ally.

[masterty66]

Another Ghost Heart question...does Stalker's Link work with the Ghost Heart AC? I thought it required engagement and Ghost Heart animal companions don't engage? Maybe I ought to test it...

[Boeroer]

Yes, it works. You got it backwards: the Ghost Companion can engage others (Stalker's Link contains an additional engagement slot) - but it cannot be engaged BY others.

[masterty66]

6 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, it works. You got it backwards: the Ghost Companion can engage others (Stalker's Link contains an additional engagement slot) - but it cannot be engaged BY others.

Ah that makes it even better. I wasn't sure - it's been so long since I tried a Ghost Heart. I may have to roll an Itinerant soon...I've played a lot of Priests and I do enjoy them a lot but never tried this combo.

[Shai Hulud]

Crappy thing about ghost heart is you won't be able to summon the spiritual ally though while the pet is summoned.

[Boeroer]

You can. Spiritual Ally will replace the Animal Companion just fine.

It would have been nice if the Ghost Heart's AC didn't count towards the summoning limit. It is balanced in itself (some benefits, but costs Bond and time to summon) and doesn't need this additional drawback imo. Ah well...

[Elric Galad]

54 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

You can. Spiritual Ally will replace the Animal Companion just fine.

It would have been nice if the Ghost Heart's AC didn't count towards the summoning limit. It is balanced in itself (some benefits, but costs Bond and time to summon) and doesn't need this additional drawback imo. Ah well...

Just before anyone ask : it is not technically possible to mod with BPM.

I did the change for Conjurer's Familiar (not counting toward summon limit) which resulted in a Familiar almost unable to fight. It was OK because the familiar is quite bad at combat anyway, and you use it mostly for the passive bonus. But for pet it would be another story.