Looking for advice re: synergistic builds for a Mystic (Priest/Cipher) or Universalist (Priest/Druid) MC

[TJ-Galad]

Hello all! I am planning a next Deadfire playthrough before Avowed comes out, and I wanted to get advice on if there is a way to make synergistic builds as either a Mystic (Priest/Cipher) or as a Universalist (Priest/Druid) for my MC.  Otherwise, I was planning on playing as a Nature godlike based on my POE save file, and I am planning on playing on Veteran (or maybe PotD?), if this is relevant.

I know this might not be optimal necessarily, but these are my preferred classes and I wanted to see what advice you might have about better builds for these classes. I would be happy to hear about talents, items, companions, etc. that might help synergy.

As a final note, I play with the community patch mods which includes the tweak that "Psion's passive focus generation is now paused on getting Crit, instead of onDamage"  among others.

Thank you!

[Constentin Lévine]

Depending of what do you expect from your MC, you can take many directions with your two choices : a cipher (psion or beguiler) / priest of Woedica as "Deceptionist" should be great, the woedica's unique spells complete very well the afflictions a cipher can give. In other hand, cipher can also help a lot the party, with some echo spells to increase the protecting potential of priest (all of them). Then, as a inspiration dealer, Mystic work very well too. These way to play doesnt require Might to be decisive, where a Cipher Priest of Berath can be a good damage dealer with this stat.

For Universalist, again, you can dirige your MC in a healer-buffer side of these classes, or looking for more versatility with a combinason of what do you like, since there is significantly less Passives to get at leveling. Then within MinMaxing stats, you can have a very solid build. 

In my concern, for Mystic, it is important to have an idea of where do you want to go with the character, because it is easy to loose yourself in this deck of many things these classes can be, and so you can have some regrets however the re-leveling option at the tavern. With universalist you take a lesser risk. If that can help you to make your choice..

Edited yesterday at 08:27 PM by Constentin Lévine

[limaxophobiacq]

Priest of Wael/Soulblade using the Whispers of the Endless Paths greatsword seemed decent enough when I tried it though I didn't complete a full playthrough with it. The "offensive parry" enchantment on the sword (which get you free attacks when enemies miss you) combined with Arcane Veil from priest of Wael and Borrowed Instinct from cipher get your deflection quite high and let you generate a good amount of focus from automatic counter-attacks as long as there's melee enemies. You will need to switch weapons for some fights though too another two-hander (maybe Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff if you take lots of Metaphysics skill which seems appropriate for a mystic) since Whispers of the Endless Paths is very ineffective when there aren't melee attackers.

For this build you would want max Intellect, some perception, and fairly balanced attributes are fine since you will be on the front line.

Mid game you probably spend most time of your time casting buffs but later you can cast minor avatar -> arcane veil -> borrowed instinct and start swinging and blasting.

Edited 18 hours ago by limaxophobiacq

[Boeroer]

Ascendant/any Priest has a good synergy with ascension + Salvation of Time. If you have a source of Brilliant you can keep being ascended and cast Cipher spells and Priest spells "for free". Unfortunately a Cipher cannot use Ancestor's Memory (Brilliant) on himself. But something like Least Unstable Coil + an empowered Storm of Holy Fire will almost always give you the Brilliant inspiration (plus a bunch of other ones).

Priest/Livegiver(Cat) can also form a great healing synergy with the Spine of Thicket Green (+2 PL to Rejuvenation and Restoration). This also fits the Nature Godlike best thematically I think. You can prolong the Spiritshift and its cat flurry with Salvation of Time. Livegiver's Spritishift does +5 PL to all Restoration spells which is a huge bonus. Cat Flurry lets you cast extremely quickly (no armor recovery, too). As soon as you drop out of Spiritshift your Rejuvenation spells will suffer -5 PL (actually only -3 bc. of the staff's +2 PL), but now you can use the Priest's Restoration spells with no drawback (and the staff's +2 PL). Priest of Eothas has the best healing auto picks iirc. But any Priest subclass works. The spell cycle might most likely be: buffing, shifting for healing/buffing (Moonwell etc.), healing without spiritshift. Later one can also keep up the Spiritshift longer with Salvation of Time. Of course any other Spiritshift form works, too. It's just that the cat form has the best benefit for casting spells (speed). 

Edited 12 hours ago by Boeroer