Help for a returning player please

[foxinspace]

Thanks for all your helpful advice, @Boeroer, @thelee, @Shai Hulud! 
I actually tried AA/Troubadour, got to lvl 11 or so, and this build absolutely slaps in terms of constant interrupts, usefulness to the team, damage, and I haven't even gotten to the energized invocation yet...

With acina's tricorn, Maja's armor, gunner, and Sure-handed Ila reloading is pretty much a non-issue. So far it has been able to consistently bully bosses. The only tiny downside is the knockback from the Spearcaster which can sometimes make it difficult to consistently target far enemies.

So far I went with these abilities:

1. Marked prey > Hel Hyraf / Come,come...
2. Resilient Companion
3. Vicious Companion
4. Marksman > One dozen...
5. Two-handed style
6. Gunner
7. Marked for the Hunt > Sure-handed Ila...
8. Ben Fidel
9.  Killers Froze...
10. Evasive roll > Mith Fyr
11. Thick grew their tongues...
12. The shield cracks
13. Driving flight > Ben Fidel's neck... 
14. Seven Men...
15. Uncanny luck(?)
16. Survival of the fittest > Their champion...
17. Improved Critical
18. Fampyr's Gaze
19. Superior camouflage(?) > Instruments of death (?)
20. Many lives...(?)

I haven't completed the build yet, and not sure what will work best toward the later levels.  I would really like to fit "the bride" invocation and possibly the upgrade (as recommended by @thelee and @Shai Hulud), and I'm considering replacing uncanny luck and/or the last two chanter abilities. Instruments and many lives... are both excellent summoning abilities that I usually take on all my chanters, so I'm not sure. I also play with the community patch that buffs uncanny luck somewhat to make it at least worth considering. 
  
The affliction resistance chants have been very useful so far, especially in combination with brisk recitation, as @Boeroer suggested, and I will definitely keep them as they add a lot of utility to the char. I wonder also, what would be the most efficient chant setup though - so far I have sure-handed Ila + mith fyr as a damage + reload speed and a separate song for each resistance chant, so I can turn them on with brisk recitation if needed. 

 

Finally, I plan to add dragon's dowry and frostseeker as two alternative weapons to the build. Frostseeker doesn't benefit as much from the sure-handed Ila chant, but it is such a nice weapon to use with AA, and I assume its AOE also can interrupt with energized?

[Shai Hulud]

1 hour ago, foxinspace said:

Thanks for all your helpful advice, @Boeroer, @thelee, @Shai Hulud! 
I actually tried AA/Troubadour, got to lvl 11 or so, and this build absolutely slaps in terms of constant interrupts, usefulness to the team, damage, and I haven't even gotten to the energized invocation yet...

With acina's tricorn, Maja's armor, gunner, and Sure-handed Ila reloading is pretty much a non-issue. So far it has been able to consistently bully bosses. The only tiny downside is the knockback from the Spearcaster which can sometimes make it difficult to consistently target far enemies.

So far I went with these abilities:

1. Marked prey > Hel Hyraf / Come,come...
2. Resilient Companion
3. Vicious Companion
4. Marksman > One dozen...
5. Two-handed style
6. Gunner
7. Marked for the Hunt > Sure-handed Ila...
8. Ben Fidel
9.  Killers Froze...
10. Evasive roll > Mith Fyr
11. Thick grew their tongues...
12. The shield cracks
13. Driving flight > Ben Fidel's neck... 
14. Seven Men...
15. Uncanny luck(?)
16. Survival of the fittest > Their champion...
17. Improved Critical
18. Fampyr's Gaze
19. Superior camouflage(?) > Instruments of death (?)
20. Many lives...(?)

I haven't completed the build yet, and not sure what will work best toward the later levels.  I would really like to fit "the bride" invocation and possibly the upgrade (as recommended by @thelee and @Shai Hulud), and I'm considering replacing uncanny luck and/or the last two chanter abilities. Instruments and many lives... are both excellent summoning abilities that I usually take on all my chanters, so I'm not sure. I also play with the community patch that buffs uncanny luck somewhat to make it at least worth considering. 
  
The affliction resistance chants have been very useful so far, especially in combination with brisk recitation, as @Boeroer suggested, and I will definitely keep them as they add a lot of utility to the char. I wonder also, what would be the most efficient chant setup though - so far I have sure-handed Ila + mith fyr as a damage + reload speed and a separate song for each resistance chant, so I can turn them on with brisk recitation if needed. 

 

Finally, I plan to add dragon's dowry and frostseeker as two alternative weapons to the build. Frostseeker doesn't benefit as much from the sure-handed Ila chant, but it is such a nice weapon to use with AA, and I assume its AOE also can interrupt with energized?

I think you have slightly too much chanter stuff and not enough ranger. I mean you don't need much else on ranger side, but I'd take protective companion -> stalker's link (+10 accuracy, companion can engage more), mainly those two, also concussive tranquilizer unless you have party members already who can shutdown enemy buffs. Superior Camouflage is nice but not a must pick for back row rangers. If your tanks do their job you shouldn't be getting targeted all that much anyway. I usually still take it but I'd rather have stalker's link.

Your chanter picks are mostly fine, but keep in mind you probably don't need that many in general as it is easy to respec for various fights. And you may want ancient memory. Can chant ancient memory + sure-handed ila with brisk recitation off and troubadour has enough linger to benefit from both. Could call that chant A, then have a chant B for sure-handed ila + mith fir, chant C for ancient memory + tongues, chant D for many lives (just for example). In a full party you may not need many lives, but if you don't have enough tanks it is super useful. Also very useful to paladins who get back resources when party members die, including the skellies. So if you had SC paladin pallegina that would be a good reason to chant it. Instruments of death are by far the best summons in 90% of situations, usually the only one I have by l20, unless it's a specific fight like Hauani O Whe who is weak to fire then I'd respec and take the wurms (gernisc). Sometimes the wisps are good too. If you didn't take many lives you might prefer mercy and kindness which greatly boosts party healing.

Not sure about frostseeker but based on how energized works anything that crits should cause an interrupt. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[foxinspace]

40 minutes ago, Shai Hulud said:

I think you have slightly too much chanter stuff and not enough ranger. I mean you don't need much else on ranger side, but I'd take protective companion -> stalker's link (+10 accuracy, companion can engage more), mainly those two, also concussive tranquilizer unless you have party members already who can shutdown enemy buffs. Superior Camouflage is nice but not a must pick for back row rangers. If your tanks do their job you shouldn't be getting targeted all that much anyway. I usually still take it but I'd rather have stalker's link.

I usually take stalker's link on all my rangers, but I just don't use my pet much with this character. It acts as a bodyguard sometimes or blocks some space on the frontline, if needed. I just felt so greedy spending 2 whole points for a very situational +10 accuracy...

Concussive tranquilizer could actually be a good pick for the later levels, but I do have some debuffers (Xoti priest, Aloth and occasionally Ydwin) on my team, and as AA I rarely spend bond on something that's not imbue spells. 

I mainly plan to take superior camouflage because of Maja's garb with 'return fire' enchantment. I also do tend to reposition quite a bit with this character to target dangerous casters, so this does come into play once in a while. But as you said, maybe worth giving up for stalker's link. I have some room towards the later levels to probably squeeze in two ranger abilities...

As for affliction removing chants - I usually don't like respecing for specific fights, so I plan to take them all because with brisk recitation they are pretty amazing. Maybe I won't need the Seven men... one, because I have unstoppable on both of my tanks and could potentially get body control on them as well. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by foxinspace

[Shai Hulud]

3 minutes ago, foxinspace said:

I usually take stalker's link on all my rangers, but I just don't use my pet much with this character. It acts as a bodyguard sometimes or blocks some space on the frontline, if needed. I just felt so greedy spending 2 whole points for a very situational +10 accuracy...

Concussive tranquilizer could actually be a good pick for the later levels, but I do have some debuffers (Xoti priest, Aloth and occasionally Ydwin) on my team, and as AA I rarely spend bond on something that's not imbue spells. 

I mainly plan to take superior camouflage because of Maja's garb with 'return fire' enchantment. I also do tend to reposition quite a bit with this character to target dangerous casters, so this does come into play once in a while. But as you said, maybe worth giving up for stalker's link. I have some room towards the later levels to probably squeeze in two ranger abilities...

 

Yeah you kind of have to get used to using the pet to do the targeting to fully benefit from stalker's link because the pet isn't scriptable. I just script the ranger to use his abilities and attack whatever the pet is attacking, then manually control the pet. Kind of micro intensive but flanked + stalker's link gives +20 accuracy and +1 pen. You can achieve flanked other ways though, like the spell phantom foes or perception afflictions. May not be worth it in your party, IDK, I generally try to absolutely maximize accuracy with rangers because of the increasing returns on crits. It is possible with a ranger to crit nearly every enemy close to 100% of the time with the right gear and tactics.

I don't use concussive tranquilizer that much either but it can be a lifesaver since it interrupts on graze and removes 30 seconds of ALL beneficial effects. Kind of like a permanent arcane dampener, but single target, and never misses. But kind of expensive for a 2 point investment since you really want the upgrade and not the base attack. 

Good point on return fire 15% hit to crit, although you can probably build so you crit nearly always from accuracy alone. Still I'm not saying superior camouflage is bad (at all), it's quite good, but if I were removing things from ranger side because you don't want to remove chanter stuff that would be my first pick. But if you don't want stalker's link there's no need I guess. 

If you do use your pet a lot you probably need some kind of pet healing thing too, like heal companion or play dead, I forgot about that since I've been playing ghost hearts lately. 

What pet did you take? I like bears. 

[foxinspace]

 

6 minutes ago, Shai Hulud said:

Yeah you kind of have to get used to using the pet to do the targeting to fully benefit from stalker's link because the pet isn't scriptable. I just script the ranger to use his abilities and attack whatever the pet is attacking, then manually control the pet. Kind of micro intensive but flanked + stalker's link gives +20 accuracy and +1 pen. You can achieve flanked other ways though, like the spell phantom foes or perception afflictions. May not be worth it in your party, IDK, I generally try to absolutely maximize accuracy with rangers because of the increasing returns on crits. It is possible with a ranger to crit nearly every enemy close to 100% of the time with the right gear and tactics.

I don't use concussive tranquilizer that much either but it can be a lifesaver since it interrupts on graze and removes 30 seconds of ALL beneficial effects. Kind of like a permanent arcane dampener, but single target, and never misses. But kind of expensive for a 2 point investment since you really want the upgrade and not the base attack. 

Good point on return fire 15% hit to crit, although you can probably build so you crit nearly always from accuracy alone. Still I'm not saying superior camouflage is bad (at all), it's quite good, but if I were removing things from ranger side because you don't want to remove chanter stuff that would be my first pick. But if you don't want stalker's link there's no need I guess. 

If you do use your pet a lot you probably need some kind of pet healing thing too, like heal companion or play dead, I forgot about that since I've been playing ghost hearts lately. 

What pet did you take? I like bears. 

Hmm, you've convinced me to invest in stalker's link. At least for bosses, it might be very well worth it to get as much accuracy as possible. I plan to have Xoti/Vatnir (priest), Eder, and Aloth (battlemage) on my team permanently and save the last spot for Ydwin, Maja or Pallegina (with dual blunderbusses). With Aloth or Ydwin it is usually pretty easy to hit with perception debuffs. 

As for pet healing, since don't tend to send it in the fray too much, it hasn't really died on me yet. Since my AA/Troubadour can interrupt really well as well and paralyze from Killers froze... is also an option, I usually can save my pet or companions if they are getting too much heat. I initially wanted to take play dead, but 2 bond cost hurts too much, if I have a cheap withdraw on my priest... 

I did take a bear! Top tier pet for me both in terms of looks and survivability  

[foxinspace]

I think I'm going to replace superior camouflage + the ancient weapons invocation with stalker's link. Comes late, but oh well. Too many other useful abilities out there. Then I can also forego Many lives... and take mercy and kindness or 10 damage shield so I can spam it with brisk recitation if needed. Other character can focus on summoning if needed.

[thelee]

if you want to fit in the bride and ugprade, i would recommend ditching "seven men" and "fampyr's gaze". of the resistance chants, i generally find those the less important ones (in fact, most of the time i just pick up one dozen and i'm done, unless i'm single-classing a chanter). Things like weakened and terrified really ruin my day and seem a little more common than other day-ruining afflictions (e.g. i don't really consider things like staggered or immobilized worth switching on a chant for); neriscyrlas and auranic and drakes are some examples of predictable sources of terrify that it's worth keeping one dozen for, vs the others.

kind of the problem with the fampyr's gaze one is that if you lose a party member to charm/dominate, you can't use the chant to bring them back, so it doesn't work as well reactively, whereas you can always bring back your party from frightened and con afflictions, and the terrify cases are frequently predictable/consistent as mentioned. Plus! With the upgraded The Bride, you basically get mini-versions of the other resist chants (esp fampyr's gaze) anyway, since by buffing int, dex, perception, you are also protected from a hit from each of an int, dex, and perception affictions.

[foxinspace]

2 hours ago, thelee said:

if you want to fit in the bride and ugprade, i would recommend ditching "seven men" and "fampyr's gaze". of the resistance chants, i generally find those the less important ones (in fact, most of the time i just pick up one dozen and i'm done, unless i'm single-classing a chanter). Things like weakened and terrified really ruin my day and seem a little more common than other day-ruining afflictions (e.g. i don't really consider things like staggered or immobilized worth switching on a chant for); neriscyrlas and auranic and drakes are some examples of predictable sources of terrify that it's worth keeping one dozen for, vs the others.

kind of the problem with the fampyr's gaze one is that if you lose a party member to charm/dominate, you can't use the chant to bring them back, so it doesn't work as well reactively, whereas you can always bring back your party from frightened and con afflictions, and the terrify cases are frequently predictable/consistent as mentioned. Plus! With the upgraded The Bride, you basically get mini-versions of the other resist chants (esp fampyr's gaze) anyway, since by buffing int, dex, perception, you are also protected from a hit from each of an int, dex, and perception affictions.

Yes, the charm/dominate are just very annoying to me, so I really don't mind running fampyr's gaze preventively in those fights where these afflictions might cause many problems (thankfully those are not as common as con and res afflictions). I do like the idea of buffing through upgraded Bride invocation though. Even though I have a priest on the team, this should still be very useful in a pinch. Or I just use the ability points for stalker's link...

[Boeroer]

Cool, I'm happy that it works for you.

Yes, the Knockback can indeed be annoying.

Frostseeker's AoE does work with Energized (interrupts on crit). All rolls (weapon attacks, spells, chants etc.) that can critically hit will work. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Boeroer

[foxinspace]

12 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Cool, I'm happy that it works for you.

Yes, the Knockback can indeed be annoying.

Frostseeker's AoE does work with Energized (interrupts on crit). All rolls (weapon attacks, spells, chants etc.) that can critically hit will work. 

It has so far impressed me even more than your bleakwalker/AA build  

Excellent - will definitely pick up Frostseeker then. It's a shame that elemental lashes that Spearcaster can get do not get rid of AA accuracy malus (though it still gets so much accuracy from arcane...).

[Boeroer]

3 minutes ago, foxinspace said:

 It's a shame that elemental lashes that Spearcaster can get do not get rid of AA accuracy malus (though it still gets so much accuracy from arcane...).

Yeah... unfortunately lashes don't add or alter the type of "keyword" the original weapon attack carries. If it's not an elemental attack in the first place a lash will not change that. Only attack-abilities like Flames of Devotion can do that. But as you said: the little AC malus gets more than compensated by the bonus from Arcana.   

[Shai Hulud]

7 hours ago, foxinspace said:

It has so far impressed me even more than your bleakwalker/AA build  

Excellent - will definitely pick up Frostseeker then. It's a shame that elemental lashes that Spearcaster can get do not get rid of AA accuracy malus (though it still gets so much accuracy from arcane...).

AAs are fun builds, I haven't tried an AA / troubadour but I like both AAs and troubadours so it sounds pretty nice

And yeah not even the eccea's arcane blaster's "imbued ammunition" modal gets rid of the accuracy modal, though it sure sounds from AA description like it should!

Though -5 isn't that bad if you stack all the ranger accuracy and use the right items. 

Like you'll want ring of the marksman, gauntlets of accuracy (or the one from deck of many things), and a pet like sky dragon wurm, retina, or harley (can use more than one if you brought eder with "can i pet him anyway"), helmet is situational, vs dragons wear horns of the bleak mother, necklace also situational though charm of bones is great in general and super great vs vessels, precognition is pretty good too. Other stuff with +perception can give you a small accuracy bump like kuaru's prize

Your party composition sounds good. Eder and Aloth can tank, Vatnir as chanter/priest is super good but you may not want a second chanter, he is good as pure priest also, xoti is probably better as contemplative or monk IMO though she is fine pure priest, and I really like Ydwin as pure cipher since she can do a lot of damage, CC, support, some healing with pain block, and hand out brilliant with ancestor's memory, plus defensive mindweb is one of the best spells in the game, and with shared nightmare her AOE size goes through the roof. She can also debuff enemies' deflection with psychovampiric shield and mass flank stuff with phantom foes.

[foxinspace]

4 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

Your party composition sounds good. Eder and Aloth can tank, Vatnir as chanter/priest is super good but you may not want a second chanter, he is good as pure priest also, xoti is probably better as contemplative or monk IMO though she is fine pure priest, and I really like Ydwin as pure cipher since she can do a lot of damage, CC, support, some healing with pain block, and hand out brilliant with ancestor's memory, plus defensive mindweb is one of the best spells in the game, and with shared nightmare her AOE size goes through the roof. She can also debuff enemies' deflection with psychovampiric shield and mass flank stuff with phantom foes.

Hmmm...I've never actually multiclassed priest companions because I love symbols and late-PL priest spells in general. I'm intrigued though - what makes Vatnir a very good chanter/priest combo? 

[Shai Hulud]

2 hours ago, foxinspace said:

Hmmm...I've never actually multiclassed priest companions because I love symbols and late-PL priest spells in general. I'm intrigued though - what makes Vatnir a very good chanter/priest combo? 

Well Vatnir has better stats than Xoti, but mostly the multiclass combination priest/chanter is potentially extremely powerful. If you give him the least unstable coil he can proc all the tier 3 inspirations by empowering certain invocations (Her Revenge, Seven Nights, Her Tears), and he can extend the inspirations with salvation of time. If one of the inspirations is brilliant, which it should be if you placed the invocation to hit enough enemies, he then becomes unlimited resource. The Weyc gear also goes really well with this. The wand gives Courageous if bound as a priest, or +3 PL as chanter (the +3 PL is better since you likely get courageous from the coil) for 20s, which can also be extended. The robes give all nearby allies brilliant on empower, and they give vatnir "muse of mystery" ability that causes phrases to elapse 50% faster. The soulbound arquebus Blightheart also gives +1 phrase per kill so Vatnir can get phrases extremely fast. And Sasha's Singing Scimitar "refreshing finale" lets you empower an invocation and get the empower point back, so if he starts dual-wielding SSS and weyc's wand, empowers Her Tears, then uses salvation of time and switches to blightheart he can cast powerful invocations very rapidly and alternate with high level priest spells, which will interrupt on crit if energized, and intuitive gives good hit to crit conversion.

Of course some of these items are DLC (but so is vatnir) so for his full potential you should start them relatively early. You can get the least unstable coil about halfway through seeker slayer survivor and the weyc's wand and robes you can get with stealth if not high level enough, so ideally you'd rush the gear right after ashen maw. 

Until then it is still a very good combo. I think the seven levels of chanter are well worth losing the last two spell tiers. Also with him as a priest/chanter you can diversify your own chants and have him chant something else. Can also use vatnir to summon things and cast offensive invocations while you focus on buffs or whatever. 

He's ultimately one of the most powerful companions IMO. 

[foxinspace]

@Shai Hulud Thanks for the inspiration! I'll give his celebrant multiclass a go this time, particularly since I want someone to use sasha's singing scimitar. Of course he's no troubadour, but it will be very useful to delegate some of the chanting to him. Actually could be fun to have the gun line in the back -  Wildrhymer MC (spearcaster), Herald Pallegina (dragon's dowry) and Celebrant Vatnir (blightheart) with sure-handed ila/mith fyr or Stumbling words for bosses, thick grew their tongues, ancient memory and whatever else. Some summoning invocations to Pallegina, some offensive ones to Vatnir - hot damn, maybe 3 chanters is too much, but I just love this concept of three singing gunners  

[Shai Hulud]

2 hours ago, foxinspace said:

@Shai Hulud Thanks for the inspiration! I'll give his celebrant multiclass a go this time, particularly since I want someone to use sasha's singing scimitar. Of course he's no troubadour, but it will be very useful to delegate some of the chanting to him. Actually could be fun to have the gun line in the back -  Wildrhymer MC (spearcaster), Herald Pallegina (dragon's dowry) and Celebrant Vatnir (blightheart) with sure-handed ila/mith fyr or Stumbling words for bosses, thick grew their tongues, ancient memory and whatever else. Some summoning invocations to Pallegina, some offensive ones to Vatnir - hot damn, maybe 3 chanters is too much, but I just love this concept of three singing gunners  

You're welcome. Vatnir's no troubadour but with "muse of mystery" proc from robes of the weyc he gains -50% phrase duration, same as a troubadour, except it doesn't disable the linger. So he does one phrase per 3s instead of 6s. A true troubadour could get down to 2s with muse of mystery I think. I've been testing a bellower/priest recently and today I soloed belranga, dorudugan, and hauani o whe pretty easily. Celebrant is very powerful with the right gear.

Chanters are versatile enough you'll be fine with 3, especially since they're multiclassed. There's a whole group of invocations I rarely use because I don't have enough chanters, like shatter the healing and ressurection + immunity invocations, also there's summons I've never used. There's buffs, heals, a variety of summons, debuffs, and CC invocations. Can have one do stuns, paralyze, charm, another focus on party buffs and heals, another focus on the high damage spells like her tears and eld nary (probably vatnir since he'd be casting her tears a lot anyway). In POE1 it was fairly popular to run parties of six chanters lol. Top tier chants IMO are many lives pass by, ancient memory, old siec, her courage thick as steel, mith fir, thick grew their tongues, mercy and kindness. That's not even including the resistance chants, just diversify them. Or you can stack certain things, like pretty sure ancient memory heals stack...even if they don't, if one chanter is singing mercy and kindness while another is singing ancient memory + old siec your party will have a ton of healing, add courage thick as steel which is kind of preventative healing.

[lishuai]

On 5/3/2023 at 6:21 PM, Shai Hulud said:

Well Vatnir has better stats than Xoti, but mostly the multiclass combination priest/chanter is potentially extremely powerful. If you give him the least unstable coil he can proc all the tier 3 inspirations by empowering certain invocations (Her Revenge, Seven Nights, Her Tears), and he can extend the inspirations with salvation of time. If one of the inspirations is brilliant, which it should be if you placed the invocation to hit enough enemies, he then becomes unlimited resource. The Weyc gear also goes really well with this. The wand gives Courageous if bound as a priest, or +3 PL as chanter (the +3 PL is better since you likely get courageous from the coil) for 20s, which can also be extended. The robes give all nearby allies brilliant on empower, and they give vatnir "muse of mystery" ability that causes phrases to elapse 50% faster. The soulbound arquebus Blightheart also gives +1 phrase per kill so Vatnir can get phrases extremely fast. And Sasha's Singing Scimitar "refreshing finale" lets you empower an invocation and get the empower point back, so if he starts dual-wielding SSS and weyc's wand, empowers Her Tears, then uses salvation of time and switches to blightheart he can cast powerful invocations very rapidly and alternate with high level priest spells, which will interrupt on crit if energized, and intuitive gives good hit to crit conversion.

Of course some of these items are DLC (but so is vatnir) so for his full potential you should start them relatively early. You can get the least unstable coil about halfway through seeker slayer survivor and the weyc's wand and robes you can get with stealth if not high level enough, so ideally you'd rush the gear right after ashen maw. 

Until then it is still a very good combo. I think the seven levels of chanter are well worth losing the last two spell tiers. Also with him as a priest/chanter you can diversify your own chants and have him chant something else. Can also use vatnir to summon things and cast offensive invocations while you focus on buffs or whatever. 

He's ultimately one of the most powerful companions IMO. 

Hi，Shai Hulud. If you use priest/bellower which abilites would you choose?

[Shai Hulud]

5 hours ago, lishuai said:

Hi，Shai Hulud. If you use priest/bellower which abilites would you choose?

I'm not an expert on this build and there are a lot of chanter abilities so sometimes you want one set of abilities and other times a different one, but this is what I'd take for the most situations. This is from a Bellower/Skaen build, keep in mind Skaen has some nice priest defaults I'd probably take otherwise (like divine mark, spiritual ally, minor avatar). I didn't take a ton on priest side. Also I don't have any summons because spiritual ally is good, also the bellower gets huge power level bonuses (which can be extended) on chanter side, the main thing you do is spam Her Tears, and once you get weyc items and least unstable coil you can spam storm of holy fire on priest side. Empowering Her Revenge or Her Tears can potentially give all six tier 3 inspirations, as can Storm of Holy Fire (though you can't get the empower point back with sasha's singing scimitar with storm of holy fire). 

1 Thrice Was She Wronged, Come Soft Winds, Halt
2 The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas
3 Arms Bearer (or whatever)
4 At the sound of his voice, Withdraw
5 Thick Grew Their Tongues
6 One Dozen Stood
7 Her Revenge, Dire Blessing
8 Ancient Memory
9 Bear's Fortitude
10 Its Crash Could Not Be Denied
11 Devotions for the faithful
12 And Their Fear Followed, Shining Beacon
13 Seven Nights She Waited, Barring Death's Door
14 Champion's Boon
15 The Bride Caught Their Ruse
16 So Singt Thy Biting Winds, Salvation of Time
17 Farcasting
18 Scion of Flame
19 Her Tears Fell Like Rain, Storm of Holy Fire
20 Set To Their Purpose

It would actually be better to take more things like Tough, Rapid Casting, Practiced Healer, Bull's Will, and spec chants and invocations for specific fights, but this is what I'd take trying to grab as many useful chants and invocations as possible. If you wanted to take chanter summons the ogres are good, the wyrms are good, but once you're high level you'd only want the instruments of death (rare exceptions). Chant Ancient Memory + Thick Grew Their Tongues usually, could also take Mercy and Kindness at 20 and skip one of the chanter invocations, then chant Mercy and Kindness + Ancient Memory for a lot of healing.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[lishuai]

3 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

I'm not an expert on this build and there are a lot of chanter abilities so sometimes you want one set of abilities and other times a different one, but this is what I'd take for the most situations. This is from a Bellower/Skaen build, keep in mind Skaen has some nice priest defaults I'd probably take otherwise (like divine mark, spiritual ally, minor avatar). I didn't take a ton on priest side. Also I don't have any summons because spiritual ally is good, also the bellower gets huge power level bonuses (which can be extended) on chanter side, the main thing you do is spam Her Tears, and once you get weyc items and least unstable coil you can spam storm of holy fire on priest side. Empowering Her Revenge or Her Tears can potentially give all six tier 3 inspirations, as can Storm of Holy Fire (though you can't get the empower point back with sasha's singing scimitar with storm of holy fire). 

1 Thrice Was She Wronged, Come Soft Winds, Halt
2 The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas
3 Arms Bearer (or whatever)
4 At the sound of his voice, Withdraw
5 Thick Grew Their Tongues
6 One Dozen Stood
7 Her Revenge, Dire Blessing
8 Ancient Memory
9 Bear's Fortitude
10 Its Crash Could Not Be Denied
11 Devotions for the faithful
12 And Their Fear Followed, Shining Beacon
13 Seven Nights She Waited, Barring Death's Door
14 Champion's Boon
15 The Bride Caught Their Ruse
16 So Singt Thy Biting Winds, Salvation of Time
17 Farcasting
18 Scion of Flame
19 Her Tears Fell Like Rain, Storm of Holy Fire
20 Set To Their Purpose

It would actually be better to take more things like Tough, Rapid Casting, Practiced Healer, Bull's Will, and spec chants and invocations for specific fights, but this is what I'd take trying to grab as many useful chants and invocations as possible. If you wanted to take chanter summons the ogres are good, the wyrms are good, but once you're high level you'd only want the instruments of death (rare exceptions). Chant Ancient Memory + Thick Grew Their Tongues usually, could also take Mercy and Kindness at 20 and skip one of the chanter invocations, then chant Mercy and Kindness + Ancient Memory for a lot of healing.

Shai Hulud,Thanks for your detailed explan.

[Kaylon]

The idea behind bellower/priest is to equip Weyc's robe and wand, the Least Unstable Coil and Sasha's Singing Scimitar and use empower at the start of every fight to gain all tier 3 inspirations, Attuned Channel, Bellower bonus, Muse of Mystery and trigger Omnipotence for the party. After that you extend the duration of all buffs with Salvation of Time along with all your chants bonuses and Barring Death's Door. 

Now you can cast Eld Nary with +10PL bonus (or even more as nature godlike with Watershaper's Focus etc.) every 12s. Of course you don't have to refresh your ally chants anymore because they will be extended by SoT and, after you cycled once through all your friendly chants, you can switch to foe chants (you can have 3 at the same time).

As a priest you won't use many spells because you will have to cast/recover SoT every 6s (Baring Death's Door, Salvation of Time and Devotions for the Faithful are basically all you need for the end game).

Basically this character is a a chanter on steroids - with all chants effects active, gaining phrases like a troubadour with Brisk Recitation and +10PL...