How do i Durance?

[PrimeJunta]

Yeah, one bad talent and he's ruined. RUINED! :eyeroll:

[Alantan]

 

Yeah well the problem is he can stick his wand deep into a hole for me, it does no dmg at all. I rather watch him standing with burning stick that at least looks decent.

You didn't help me too much with this answer, but thx anyways.

 

You didn't understand his answer. Durance's quarterstaff, like other similar weapons, has a long reach (read the item description), which lets him stand, say, just behind Eder and still hit enemies without being as exposed. 

 

I actually did, the problem is he uses some fine robes, and his starting staff, becouse all the good gear went to mine Cipher, Kana, and Eder. Eder is the only melee guys so he is surrounded by enemies all the time, so if Durance is close enough to use his staff he is dead, and he bloody misses all the time.

 

 

Durance is is seriously good. You can skew him two ways: dedicated pure support, or gunner with massive support abilities. 

 

Gunner: pick Inspired Flame and Weapon Focus: Soldier, then give him Kana's arquebus. Now he has the ACC of a fighter of the same level. Then build on that with Penetrating Shot and Fast Reload. Have the loon wear no armor and hang back. Use Inspiring Radiance every time, spells strategically -- the priest buffs are seriously good.

 

Pure support: pick Interdiction and the talents that boost it and Holy Radiance. Only when out of those, Inspired Flame and the gunner abilities.

 

The other weapon from Inspired Flame -- the sword -- isn't that interesting as a basis to build on because he has terrible DEFL and health. A single one-handed weapon isn't great for a damager without the rogue's damage-boosting abilities, and the terrible defenses mean he won't be any good as a tank.

 

The real beef is in the spells though. Read through the descriptions and experiment with them. They are very, very good: if you're in a fight you feel you can't win, the odds are Durance has something that'll solve it. 

 

Thx, this is the answer i was looking for. Ill drop Inspired Flame on him for aim and go with an off-tank build with him, with Arquebus/Shield-sword. 

 

And thanks for all the answers i only used his buffs, and heals, didnt know he his other spells were any usefull

[Mungri]

He is because it could be a much better priest talent. Whatever build you want to make, he is 1 talent / 2 levels behind because of that.

[bonarbill]

He's currently my main tank at higher levels thanks to his initial stats and the talents I picked, while my main priest is a melee damage dealer.  I seriously think priest are underrated when it comes to melee roles.

Edited April 1, 2015 by bonarbill

[Mungri]

They have low HP / Endurance though. Id only use them with a ranged or reach weapon.

[Alantan]

Seriously good? WITH BEARS FORTITUDE???

This is stupid, Kana starts with some ****ty Heal talent and he is considered good enough. 1 ****ty Talent dosnt make him bad, Its the Atributes that make char good/bad, and his arent as bad as Aloth's 16 perception.

[synfrei]

Just wanted to say thankyou alantan for starting this topic, the answers over all helped me to improve the unterstanding of the game. I thought a priest is a "cloth" Class which can only be good if using "magic"... ive found now a way how i can improve my playstile. Thank you!

[Rosveen]

 

 

In what areas is he particularly useful? Low level, high level? I dropped him and Sagani for Hiravias and Grieving Mother when I found them, I don't really miss Durance at all (well, his spells. I do miss his personality). Maybe it's because I play on normal, so his buffs or debuffs aren't so important.

I found them to be kind of middle of the pack, though playing on normal definitely lowers the value of support classes like chanter and priest. Withdraw is extremely useful on Path of the Damned to protect engaged squishies and it's just a level 1 spell, but on normal I doubt it's even half as useful.

 

Also I don't know if it's a bug but Holy Radiance does absurd damage to vessels. Durance would basically one-shot ALL those zombie kids in one click, it was pretty hilarious. His stats were normal btw, so it wasn't the stats stacking bug.

You're right. On this difficulty I find it better to go with damage and be done with battles faster. I think I'll try Durance again in my next playthrough on higher difficulty (I like to focus on the world and the story with easier battles the first time I play).

[PrimeJunta]

@Alantan Yeah shield+sword is a good secondary combo, the shield will keep him alive for a tiny bit longer if he gets meleed. Just don't use it except in emergencies.

[Ichthyic]

bah,

the best way to play durance is:

painful interdiction.

start off with that for every fight.  look up the specs for what that does. it's like a curse and slow and interrupt all in one.

don't forget:  supress affliction.

then there's seal spam (there's more than one seal...)

  >>youtube.com/watch?v=HuxYUrKKq3g<<

 

Edited April 4, 2015 by Ichthyic

[Ichthyic]

He's currently my main tank at higher levels thanks to his initial stats and the talents I picked, while my main priest is a melee damage dealer.  I seriously think priest are underrated when it comes to melee roles.

that might be because there are at least 3 classes that are far more suited for melee.

[Taritu]

Priest spells are wonderful for buffing and debuffing.  Just at first level you have spells to increase the armor of your group, decrease the to hit of the enemies, a significant single target debuff for minor bosses.

 

At second level the heal over time area of effect spell is crazy good. Park Durance behind your tanks and watch them stay up and stay up, or use it in the middle of a clustered group and heal everyone.

 

In general terms priests aren't just healers, they are buffers and debuffers, and good ones.  They are force multipliers - drop the attack speed, accuracy, saving throws, deflection of your enemies, while increasing all of that for your own team and watch the rest of the crew clean up.

 

Yes, other classes can buff and debuff, but Durance (or a PC priest) is by no means useless.

 

And yeah, give him an Arquebus and the approriate talent, and he does reasonable damage.

 

Unless your character has high mechanics (unlikely unless you're a rogue), he's also the best lockpicker/searcher amongst the companions, and I put virtually all his points into mechanics other than level 3 stealth and level 4 athletics.