We need your help: A Backer Beta Community Effort to produce a Primer Video Series for all gamers before Release!

Qbert · March 19, 2015

Thanks for doing these guys.

Shevek watched the video, well done. Please explain more what you are doing though. I don't have the beta so i really had no clue what skills or abilities you were using, what they do and why you were using it.

I think I would like to see even more basic things, showcasing each character explaining their skills and then taking those skills into battle and showing what they can do.

If you guys are able to do a few more videos it may tide me over until they release the manual.

Shevek · March 19, 2015

I didn't use too many skills in that vid. The spell I used with the wizard was a debuff (I probably should have explained that one). The rogue used a crippling strike (that adds a debuff to enemies that opens them up for sneak attacks). I think I explained the other skills I used in the vid itself (Paladins: Lay on Hands w/ Shielding Touch and Flames of Devotion w/ Shepard; Fighter: Knockdown).

Trius · March 19, 2015

What are some viable priest builds? Are Priests who engage in melee and wear heavyish armor/shields viable (battle priests)?

I really enjoyed clerics in DnD, especially in third edition.

For RP purposes the PC I am thinking of rolling would be a death godlike and a worshiper of Eothas. For stats I was thinking of focusing on might, intelligence, and then some points in either dex (for increased attack and ability speed, does it effect ability speed?) or con. I would pick up mainly priest talents as well as a weapon focus and the weapon/shield talent. I could get an additional weapon focus (flails and morning star) talent from being a worshiper of Eothas plus the extra heal. The wiki doesn't show how much of an accuracy bonus I would get for that though, but I assume it would be +10 like the regular weapon focus.

How prevalent are interrupts? Would it be good to have points in resolve in order to pass concentration checks?

I plan on only using the provided companions and save custom parties for subsequent playthroughs.

Sorry for the mountain of questions.

Thanks for making these guides!

Odd Hermit · March 19, 2015

What are some viable priest builds? Are Priests who engage in melee and wear heavyish armor/shields viable (battle priests)?

I really enjoyed clerics in DnD, especially in third edition.

For RP purposes the PC I am thinking of rolling would be a death godlike and a worshiper of Eothas. For stats I was thinking of focusing on might, intelligence, and then some points in either dex (for increased attack and ability speed, does it effect ability speed?) or con. I would pick up mainly priest talents as well as a weapon focus and the weapon/shield talent. I could get an additional weapon focus (flails and morning star) talent from being a worshiper of Eothas plus the extra heal. The wiki doesn't show how much of an accuracy bonus I would get for that though, but I assume it would be +10 like the regular weapon focus.

How prevalent are interrupts? Would it be good to have points in resolve in order to pass concentration checks?

I plan on only using the provided companions and save custom parties for subsequent playthroughs.

Sorry for the mountain of questions.

Thanks for making these guides!

They are viable but not very good as melee. Paladin or Chanter is a much better "Battle Cleric" choice.

Interrupts aren't that scary, but if you're casting average or longer speed spells while engaged/attacked in melee you'll probably have a bad time without decent resolve.

Shdy314 · March 19, 2015

Bug fixing, but balancing is also part of it.

Now I doubt Moon Godlike paladins will change very much from where they are now, since they were fairly well-balanced (favourite class/race combo so far), so I doubt the above video will be miles off track when release day hits, but how viable some of the specific stuff is, like a dual pistol build where you switch between two pistols to save on reload time, could very much change if they decide to nerf guns.

There's also the fact that most people (esp newcomers to IE-style games) will be using companions from the game, rather than building entire parties from scratch. Very few will bother making custom companions on their first playthrough.

Don't get me wrong, I think making these videos is a good idea. But let's have the game out before we start to opine on what's a good build for the game, and if those are intended to be guides for newcomers, then they should be done with a newcomer play style in mind. Full custom party guides are probably something that should be aimed mostly to those attempting the game on Hard / Path of the Damned.

At the minimum they will be leveling up these companions ya know. Extremely specific build advice may become invalidated but there's a lot of general stuff that is not going to undergo any radical changes.

Trius · March 19, 2015

Are morning stars reach weapons? Could I use that and have the priest in the second line of attack behind the tanks?

I'm open to changing the build idea as I am pretty much set on the class choice due to RP purposes, which are much more important to me for my initial play through.

Edit: I figured that they would be decent with melee given that their priest only weapon specs are all melee weapons.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Trius

Odd Hermit · March 19, 2015

Are morning stars reach weapons? Could I use that and have the priest in the second line of attack behind the tanks?

I'm open to changing the build idea as I am pretty much set on the class choice due to RP purposes, which are much more important to me for my initial play through.

Edit: I figured that they would be decent with melee given that their priest only weapon specs are all melee weapons.

Magran gets Arquebus, making it the best priest choice IMO. But yeah, you'd think they'd be a bit better in melee than they actually are. I would wait a bit and buff the party before going into melee, and flank things that are already engaged. Just don't fight toe to toe with your priest against any serious melee enemies.

Morning Star doesn't have extra reach, although 2h in general may have a bit longer than 1h. Pike is the main reach weapon though.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Odd Hermit

Trius · March 19, 2015

Are morning stars reach weapons? Could I use that and have the priest in the second line of attack behind the tanks?

I'm open to changing the build idea as I am pretty much set on the class choice due to RP purposes, which are much more important to me for my initial play through.

Edit: I figured that they would be decent with melee given that their priest only weapon specs are all melee weapons.

Magran gets Arquebus, making it the best priest choice IMO. But yeah, you'd think they'd be a bit better in melee than they actually are. I would wait a bit and buff the party before going into melee, and flank things that are already engaged. Just don't fight toe to toe with your priest against any serious melee enemies.

Morning Star doesn't have extra reach, although 2h in general may have a bit longer than 1h. Pike is the main reach weapon though.

Sounds good thanks for the help.

Headbomb · March 19, 2015

Clerics are good healer/buffers/debuffers/controlers. Damage-wise, they aren't the greatest, but they have a couple of large area traps, and they have a couple of really great vampiric-style spells that damages enemies to heal allies. Some spells are indiscriminate AoEs, but they have a few enemy-only AoE spells and abilities that make it very worthwhile to keep a priest around.

Personally, I always pick Interdiction (per encounter massive area debuff, my usual opener with a priest) to debuff the whole crowd, then follow up with Armor of Faith (mid area buff) to boost my party's DR or Repulsing Seal (mid area knockdown trap). I might sometimes boost the party's accuracy with Blessing (mid area buff). Whenever my bunch gets low on health, I go with Iconic Projection (large area spell) which damages enemies to heal the party. If the positioning isn't great, then priest comes with Holy Radiance (per-encounter large area heal).

Any party greatly benefits from having a priest around.

Whipstitch · March 19, 2015

Quarterstaves also have extended reach, fwiw.

Overall, I think Priests are my favorite casters mechanically. Druid spells are very strong, but tend to be pretty generic while Wizards are somewhat inflexible compared to Priests--their list has a fair amount of clunkers in it, particularly since they've got a lot of single target buffs in a game that goes out of its way to drop the hammer on pre-buffs. By contrast, priest get automatic access to everything on their list, so they can get away more easily with having niche spells for specific situations alongside the bread and butter CC & damage spells like Halt, Pillar of Faith and Divine Mark.

Voss · March 19, 2015

I'd rather see someone write up an editable manual that can be kept up to date than listening to various people drone on and on in unrelated videos that will be obsolete in a matter of days.

Videos- good for gameplay impressions, terrible for explanations.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Voss

mrmonocle · March 19, 2015

my fighter's overview

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