Weapon choice for a priest

[KirsiF]

I'm wondering about a priest(ess) character I have in mind to start next. She will be a priest of Eothas though as I've understood, the deity doesn't matter that much in the end. Anyway, I'm planning to max Intelligence, Might and Dexterity and also raise Resolve a bit. So that leaves very low Constitution and Perception. This means the character will end up frail. Ranged weapon would be logical choice, I guess.

 

However, for some reason I don't really like firearms - mostly for role-playing reasons. Using a gun just doesn't feel like a natural choice for this character. Bow would be better and perhaps doable as well. But what about magical implements? Can I build a functional character around those? And would a quarterstaff be a totally doomed idea?

 

I'm playing on hard difficulty and use premade companions. With a druid as my main, I didn't have any big problems. At times the game felt a tad too easy, but I suspect PotD would be too difficult. I sort of hope to face a little more challenge with my priest, but don't want to end up with a character who just doesn't survive either.

 

Thank you for any advice!

 

 

[cavemandiary]

Mace and large shield works alright. You cqst spells faster than with a firearm, and makes your durability average. Just dont expect to tank much..

[Kintara]

Unfortunately, the Eothas talent gives an accuracy bonus to two melee weapons, so it won't be much use to you if you want a bow. But none of the deities have a bow as a favored weapon. Wael can improve the accuracy of rods. Quarterstaves work with Wael as well. But you don't actually need to worry about your weapon accuracy if you don't want to. Priests have spells to cast.

[Luckmann]

What do you want to focus at? Do you *want* to focus on your weapons? Keep in mind, you only get 6 Talents throughout the course of the game, and if you want to focus on weapon usage, that'll eat up at least two of your Talents (not that it can't be worth it, I'm just making it clear).

As a Priestess of Eothas, you can take the Hope Eternal Talent, which increases your Accuracy (+10) with Flails and Morning Stars, as well as giving you an extra spell-like healing ability. Flails are one-handed and Morning Stars are two-handed. To complement this you can take the Weapon Focus Knight (Battle Axe, Sword, Morning Star, Crossbow) or Weapon Focus Adventurer (Pollaxe, Estoc, Flail, Wand, War Bow). Each Weapon Focus Talent gives +6 Accuracy in the relevant weapons.

If you simply want to take a weapon and maybe specialize in other things in other ways, I would advise you to simply skip both of these, and pick up either a a Crossbow or an Arbalest, if you don't want to use firearms (which makes perfect sense as an Eothosian, for.. reasons).

Quarterstaffs are far from a doomed idea, since they have Reach, allowing you to hit while staying out of trouble, and you can make good use out of all Implements, really.

[KirsiF]

Thanks a lot for the advice! The variety of weapons this game has feels sometimes a bit confusing. (I guess I'm too used to the lack of choice in most newer RPGs I've played...) Also the only 6 talents is a good thing to consider - should I use any on weapon stuff or not.

 

And yes, there is so strong rationalization behind the "the no firearms" thing. Just a vague... feeling.

[thestigma]

In PoE a priest is much like a wizard - a squishy but powerful caster. You don't want him in the frontline. They are nothing like D&D clerics. I mean, you CAN put nearly any class in melee in PoE because anyone can wear armor and to some degree stack deflection through the right gear - but it won't be very optimized.

 

From an optimization standpoint - go with anything ranged, combined with light or no armor. slow vs fast ranged is a matter of preference on casters. Slower weapons will do better DPS on most medium/hard targets due to how DR works, but they come with the drawback of putting your essential casters into long recovery time - and during that time they are unavailiable to cast those spells that you often need good timing on (CC spells in particular) - so it is absolutely valid to sacrifice some damage with a faster weapon in order to have them be more responsive I think.

 

Guns are obvious slow-choices, but if you don't like guns arquebuses are about as good. If you want something a bit faster then a bow or a rod/scepter/wand. They are fairly reliable.

 

-Stigma

[Crucis]

In PoE a priest is much like a wizard - a squishy but powerful caster. You don't want him in the frontline. They are nothing like D&D clerics. I mean, you CAN put nearly any class in melee in PoE because anyone can wear armor and to some degree stack deflection through the right gear - but it won't be very optimized.

 

From an optimization standpoint - go with anything ranged, combined with light or no armor. slow vs fast ranged is a matter of preference on casters. Slower weapons will do better DPS on most medium/hard targets due to how DR works, but they come with the drawback of putting your essential casters into long recovery time - and during that time they are unavailiable to cast those spells that you often need good timing on (CC spells in particular) - so it is absolutely valid to sacrifice some damage with a faster weapon in order to have them be more responsive I think.

 

Guns are obvious slow-choices, but if you don't like guns arquebuses are about as good. If you want something a bit faster then a bow or a rod/scepter/wand. They are fairly reliable.

 

-Stigma

 

I haven't found Durance to be all that squishy.  I won't say that I want him on the front lines in every battle, but he usually seems to hold his own reasonably well when I feel the need to get him into melee.  Of course, some of this may be due to Durance's less than optimized stats which just happen to be making him decently functional in melee.  It may be that player made priest may be more squishy due to more optimized stats.

 

Regardless, for a ranged weapon choice for a priest, I'd suggest a high damage, slow reloading weapon.  Faster fighting, lower damage ranged weapons seem to work better for characters who have high accuracy skills, whereas characters with lower accuracy skills seem to work better with the slow firing, hard hitting weapons ... because the high damage weapons will get more damage past their target's DR with that high damage, while high accuracy characters will have a greater chance of getting crits (if I understand the combat system correctly) and will be able to make better use of their high rate of fire to produce excellent damage.

[Luckmann]

Thanks a lot for the advice! The variety of weapons this game has feels sometimes a bit confusing. (I guess I'm too used to the lack of choice in most newer RPGs I've played...) Also the only 6 talents is a good thing to consider - should I use any on weapon stuff or not.

 

And yes, there is so strong rationalization behind the "the no firearms" thing. Just a vague... feeling.

 

You don't need to rationalize it. Firearms are great in PoE, but as a Priestess of Eothas.. well.. heard of the Godhammer? Magran? No? You will.

 

I have not played a Priest much myself, aside from the CNPC that you can pick up (which I recommend, he's an awesome character) but I can tell you that your Holy Radiance is something that you'll want to use every encounter. It only has one use Per Encounter, but you'll be using it consistently. So it might be a good idea to pick up Inspiring Radiance and Brilliant Radiance.

 

One makes enemies take burn damage - and Vessels (basically non-incorporeal undeads and anything infused with a soul through artificial means; not to be confused with Spirits) take extra damage - and the other gives all allies a bonus to Accuracy for 15 seconds. As a Priestess of Eothas, your Holy Radiance will become better the more Honest and Benevolent you are (and worse for Cruel and Deceptive, without a Talent).

 

It might not feel like very strong choices, but it's consistent and will be useful in every single encounter.

[Zenicetus]

Based on how I'm using Durance in my game, I'd suggest a reach weapon like quarterstaff. I usually have him standing directly behind my front line (tank + offtank), where his Brilliant Radiance AOE can reach forward of the tanks. That ability would be less useful if I had him more to the rear with a ranged weapon. Close to the tanks, I can still get a few hits in with the quarterstaff's long reach if I'm trying to conserve spells. 

 

But frankly, he's so useful as a spellcaster that I don't think of him as a weapon user, and it would be a waste to put any talents into it. He almost never runs out of spells, because he and Aloth are the only ones carrying all the scrolls we find as a backup. I would probably use this same setup as a main character Priest.

 

 

[Crucis]

 

Thanks a lot for the advice! The variety of weapons this game has feels sometimes a bit confusing. (I guess I'm too used to the lack of choice in most newer RPGs I've played...) Also the only 6 talents is a good thing to consider - should I use any on weapon stuff or not.

 

And yes, there is so strong rationalization behind the "the no firearms" thing. Just a vague... feeling.

 

You don't need to rationalize it. Firearms are great in PoE, but as a Priestess of Eothas.. well.. heard of the Godhammer? Magran? No? You will.

 

I have not played a Priest much myself, aside from the CNPC that you can pick up (which I recommend, he's an awesome character) but I can tell you that your Holy Radiance is something that you'll want to use every encounter. It only has one use Per Encounter, but you'll be using it consistently. So it might be a good idea to pick up Inspiring Radiance and Brilliant Radiance.

 

One makes enemies take burn damage - and Vessels (basically non-incorporeal undeads and anything infused with a soul through artificial means; not to be confused with Spirits) take extra damage - and the other gives all allies a bonus to Accuracy for 15 seconds. As a Priestess of Eothas, your Holy Radiance will become better the more Honest and Benevolent you are (and worse for Cruel and Deceptive, without a Talent).

 

It might not feel like very strong choices, but it's consistent and will be useful in every single encounter.

 

 

Another thing to consider is that Holy Radiance is the PoE rough equivalant of DnD's Turn Undead.  While Luckmann is entirely correct about its value, you should also remember this.  If you are in a battle against the undead ... er, vessels ... don't fire off your priest's Holy Radiance until the enemy vessels are close to you.  You want them to be inside the spell's area of effect so that it can hurt them as well as help your characters.

[Crucis]

Based on how I'm using Durance in my game, I'd suggest a reach weapon like quarterstaff. I usually have him standing directly behind my front line (tank + offtank), where his Brilliant Radiance AOE can reach forward of the tanks. That ability would be less useful if I had him more to the rear with a ranged weapon. Close to the tanks, I can still get a few hits in with the quarterstaff's long reach if I'm trying to conserve spells. 

 

But frankly, he's so useful as a spellcaster that I don't think of him as a weapon user, and it would be a waste to put any talents into it. He almost never runs out of spells, because he and Aloth are the only ones carrying all the scrolls we find as a backup. I would probably use this same setup as a main character Priest.

 

Something to consider for Durance is that as a priest of Magren, he has a special class talent that you can eventually select that gives him a +10 accuracy with Sword or Arqabus. They're not in the same Weapon Focus, but what the heck. (I think of it as the special Magren Weapon Focus!)   So I have Durance using Sword (and shield) and an Arqabus.  If Magren wants to bless him with a +10 accuracy with those weapons, who am I to turn away such a blessing?  

[KirsiF]

I've played with a druid until Defiance Bay. So I do know about Durance and have played with him a bit. The reason I want to make a priest as my main and start over is that I actually find myself managing Durance most of the times. He's fun to play. (Well, his personality is a little bit... challenging at times. And as a constant goody-two-shoes I can't really agree with him that much!)

[petrivanzyl]

My Durance kept his staff.

 

My next priest will use mace/flail and shield

[Luckmann]

I've played with a druid until Defiance Bay. So I do know about Durance and have played with him a bit. The reason I want to make a priest as my main and start over is that I actually find myself managing Durance most of the times. He's fun to play. (Well, his personality is a little bit... challenging at times. And as a constant goody-two-shoes I can't really agree with him that much!)

 

Don't be such a timid whore, woman!

 

But since we now have a point of reference on what spoilers we can use, I can mention that there's a really good Flail in the Temple of Eothas that might also be worth considering. And if you ever get a chance with Durance... the Inspired Flame and Weapon Focus Soldier Talents. Headshots, headshots everywhere. So much nicer than that Quarterstaff of his, honestly, even if the investment might be a bit much. Flame Lash for thematic hilarity, of course.

 

For reference, Durance is half the reason I decided to stop playing my Deathlike Bleak Walker Duelist and decided to play a Priestess of Eothas myself (I haven't continued though...). I'm hoping for some nice.. interactions. That, along with the Temple of Eothas, the whole Godhammer incident, and Edér, I'm hoping being a Priestess of Eothas feels like it has more of an effect, but after starting out and answering Calisca's questions, I'm not so sure.. but it'll probably still be fun.

 

I just settled for using primarily Implements, though, as far as weapons are concerned.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Luckmann

[KirsiF]

Yes, I will be keeping Durance in my party this time, too. Two priests might not be optimal, but the setting seems interesting. Priests of Magran and Eothas, questing and fighting side by side. Though it's always very much possible the game doesn't acknowledge that enough. But there is always imagination at least!

 

I think I'm going with a quarterstaff for my character (due looks/RPG and since it seems an okay choice), and Durance will get some sort of firearm. I will focus on spells and Durance on weapons. This way the two priests don't overlap totally.

Edited April 12, 2015 by KirsiF

[Luckmann]

I also like the idea of Durance receiving a vision to meet you and join you, because of the implications of such a thing in relation to you being a Priestess of Eothas. It resonates with me, given his apparent crisis of faith and such, and Magran and Eothas working together on some level, given that by most accounts, both are fundamentally good(-ish).

[Zenicetus]

I think I'm going with a quarterstaff for my character (due looks/RPG and since it seems an okay choice), and Durance will get some sort of firearm. I will focus on spells and Durance on weapons. This way the two priests don't overlap totally.

 

I assume if you're using two Priests, then their Holy Radiance (and upgrade versions) should stack for damage? If you position them both behind the front line so the two AOE circles overlap, then that could be awesome against the enemies especially vulnerable to it. 

 

Regarding firearms, just remember that they all have shorter range than bows, and you'll probably want to keep your priests fairly centered in the party for max benefit of the Holy Radiance AOE. Wait for a target to get close enough before shooting, or the Priest will automatically run into firing range. 

[Gromnir]

axiomatic-- the priest is, fundamentally, a support character.  is easiest to build a priest without much concern for weapons.  focus your efforts on being a better spellcaster is easiest route for a priest.

 

that being said, you can make a very competent combat cleric in poe.  am not certain why folks keep saying that it is a bad idea.  we played the beta with dual wielding flails priest o' eothas (make sure to take vulnerable attacks somewhere along the way) and made combat priests o' all the other deities as well.  in the full release o' the game, we has advanced a priest o' berath and a priest o' wael deep into the game, and we made both o' the priests combat focused as we like to have durance in our party.

 

suggestions:

 

1) max mechanics.  

 

doesn't matter if your priest is gonna be the guy who opens locks for you.  mechanics has synergy with priestly seal spells... all of them.  a 10 mechanics  results in a +30% accuracy boost to all seal spells. is ridiculous useful.

 

2) if you make a combat priest, you will need more party support.  

 

is our opinion that it is ideal to have two priests in a party if one is combat focused.  have one priest focus on combat and offensive spells while the other buffs, debuffs and heals. sure, your combat priest will still be buffing and debuffing, but you are gonna use your few talents to maximize combat strengths rather than boosting your support abilities, so work to your strengths.

 

3) attributes is less significant that talents.

 

as a priest, if you wanna be effective with a weapon, you got hard choices.  take the deity weapon focus talent and then a general weapon focus talent to boost further.  with eothas, you have morningstars or flails, but that means you should also choose either adventurer weapon focus or knight weapon focus... again, this is assuming you genuine care about weapon use.  with adventurer focus you get a boost with war bows, which is actual a decent ranged weapon.  crossbows is part o' the knight weapon focus talent, so if you would rather use morningstars for melee, you will be decent with crossbows as well, albeit not as good as with morningstars.  two weapon fighting is a must for the flail user.  two handed weapons is decent for morningstars.  we recommend scion of flame for all priests, but that is a personal preference.  scion doesn't appear to boost your seal spell damage, but you will have a goodly number o' fire spells, and if you already have high might, you will see most impressive damage totals from your flame spells.  we mentioned already that if you pick up flails, you can go the dual wield route, and if you do so, it is almost essential that you choose vulnerable attacks.  flails don't do enough damage to regularly overcome the kinda dr you will see routinely in the game.  vulnerable attacks helps... though we find it works better with a mace wielding priest o' berath.

 

our priest o' wael has the following attributes:

 

m 10

c 10

d 10

p 16

i 16

r 10

 

our attribute choices were meant to maximize rp/dialogue opportunities.  is our talent choices that made the character effective in combat.  a priest o' wael gets quarterstaff and rod as deity favored weapons, so can either focus efforts on staves or rods.  both is fantastic choices if you choose talents correct.  

 

point is that unlike fighters or wizards or some other classes, you can't just sorta choose what talents feels right and still be effective.  if you are wanting to make a decent priestly combatant, you will do yourself a favor to plan your talent choices from 2-12 before you start playing. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps durance makes a decent dual-wielder o' swords, or (our preference) a viable gunner.  give durance inspired flame and knight weapon focus as well as a few gunner talents such as gunner and quick switch.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Gromnir

[Infares]

 

Based on how I'm using Durance in my game, I'd suggest a reach weapon like quarterstaff. I usually have him standing directly behind my front line (tank + offtank), where his Brilliant Radiance AOE can reach forward of the tanks. That ability would be less useful if I had him more to the rear with a ranged weapon. Close to the tanks, I can still get a few hits in with the quarterstaff's long reach if I'm trying to conserve spells. 

 

But frankly, he's so useful as a spellcaster that I don't think of him as a weapon user, and it would be a waste to put any talents into it. He almost never runs out of spells, because he and Aloth are the only ones carrying all the scrolls we find as a backup. I would probably use this same setup as a main character Priest.

 

Something to consider for Durance is that as a priest of Magren, he has a special class talent that you can eventually select that gives him a +10 accuracy with Sword or Arqabus. They're not in the same Weapon Focus, but what the heck. (I think of it as the special Magren Weapon Focus!)   So I have Durance using Sword (and shield) and an Arqabus.  If Magren wants to bless him with a +10 accuracy with those weapons, who am I to turn away such a blessing?  

Please understand, the +10 accuracy talents only get a Priest up to the point they'd be with the weapon baseline without the talent as a "Very High" accuracy class. It's a compensatory talent, it's not really as much of a boon as people think it is.

 

Once you're level 9 you never need to fire a gun again anyways.

[Crucis]

axiomatic-- the priest is, fundamentally, a support character.  is easiest to build a priest without much concern for weapons.  focus your efforts on being a better spellcaster is easiest route for a priest.

 

that being said, you can make a very competent combat cleric in poe.  am not certain why folks keep saying that it is a bad idea.  we played the beta with dual wielding flails priest o' eothas (make sure to take vulnerable attacks somewhere along the way) and made combat priests o' all the other deities as well.  in the full release o' the game, we has advanced a priest o' berath and a priest o' wael deep into the game, and we made both o' the priests combat focused as we like to have durance in our party.

 

suggestions:

 

1) max mechanics.  

 

doesn't matter if your priest is gonna be the guy who opens locks for you.  mechanics has synergy with priestly seal spells... all of them.  a 10 mechanics  results in a +30% accuracy boost to all seal spells. is ridiculous useful.

 

2) if you make a combat priest, you will need more party support.  

 

is our opinion that it is ideal to have two priests in a party if one is combat focused.  have one priest focus on combat and offensive spells while the other buffs, debuffs and heals. sure, your combat priest will still be buffing and debuffing, but you are gonna use your few talents to maximize combat strengths rather than boosting your support abilities, so work to your strengths.

 

3) attributes is less significant than talents.

 

as a priest, if you wanna be effective with a weapon, you got hard choices.  take the deity weapon focus talent and then a general weapon focus talent to boost further.  with eothas, you have morningstars or flails, but that means you should also choose either adventurer weapon focus or knight weapon focus... again, this is assuming you genuine care about weapon use.  with adventurer focus you get a boost with war bows, which is actual a decent ranged weapon.  crossbows is part o' the knight weapon focus talent, so if you would rather use morningstars for melee, you will be decent with crossbows as well, albeit not as good as with morningstars.  two weapon fighting is a must for the flail user.  two handed weapons is decent for morningstars.  we recommend scion of flame for all priests, but that is a personal preference.  scion doesn't appear to boost your seal spell damage, but you will have a goodly number o' fire spells, and if you already have high might, you will see most impressive damage totals from your flame spells.  we mentioned already that if you pick up flails, you can go the dual wield route, and if you do so, it is almost essential that you choose vulnerable attacks.  flails don't do enough damage to regularly overcome the kinda dr you will see routinely in the game.  vulnerable attacks helps... though we find it works better with a mace wielding priest o' berath.

 

our priest o' wael has the following attributes:

 

m 10

c 10

d 10

p 16

i 16

r 10

 

our attribute choices were meant to maximize rp/dialogue opportunities.  is our talent choices that made the character effective in combat.  a priest o' wael gets quarterstaff and rod as deity favored weapons, so can either focus efforts on staves or rods.  both is fantastic choices if you choose talents correct.  

 

point is that unlike fighters or wizards or some other classes, you can't just sorta choose what talents feels right and still be effective.  if you are wanting to make a decent priestly combatant, you will do yourself a favor to plan your talent choices from 2-12 before you start playing. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps durance makes a decent dual-wielder o' swords, or (our preference) a viable gunner.  give durance inspired flame and knight weapon focus as well as a few gunner talents such as gunner and quick switch.

 

Gromnir, great post! 

 

Not quite sure I agree with every detail.  Regardless, I have a hard time with the concept of a priest character who isn't somewhat of a combat cleric, particularly if you already have a wizard in the party.  Oh, sure, I suppose if you don't have a wizard, you could have a really squishy priest taking on that role.  But that seems like the exception to the rule for me.

 

Mind you, when I'm thinking of a combat-capable cleric .... er, priest ... I'm not thinking of a full time tanking front-liner.  I'm thinking more of a well armored and armed warrior-priest who is ready and willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with his or her fellow fighters on the front lines if necessary, but would prefer hanging back using ranged weapons and casting spells.

 

That said, while I was playing Durance in my current and first run-through of PoE, I selected only a single talent that wasn't class related, the weapon and shield style, because the way I look at it, Durance isn't on the front lines (when he is there) to be a major offensive force, but rather to hold the line and protect my backliners.  As long as he can avoid taking major damage when tanking and dish out the occasional hit, I'm happy.  And to that end, I prefer that he use a shield rather than a 2H weapon or dual wield.  I want him to have as much deflection as possible.

 

I will say though that the idea of picking up a weapon focus, particularly if your own priest's diety specific weapon talent doesn't include a ranged weapon, is not a bad idea at all.  Personally, I'd suggest picking a weapon focus that included one of the hard-hitting, slow firing weapons, i.e. arbalest/crossbows or guns, rather than bows, since IMO bows are best used by classes with higher accuracy ratings.  And picking a WF that synergizes with your diety's weapon "focus" just stacks those accuracy bonuses (or at least I assume they do), which is a good thing indeed.

 

 

[Gromnir]

 

axiomatic-- the priest is, fundamentally, a support character.  is easiest to build a priest without much concern for weapons.  focus your efforts on being a better spellcaster is easiest route for a priest.

 

that being said, you can make a very competent combat cleric in poe.  am not certain why folks keep saying that it is a bad idea.  we played the beta with dual wielding flails priest o' eothas (make sure to take vulnerable attacks somewhere along the way) and made combat priests o' all the other deities as well.  in the full release o' the game, we has advanced a priest o' berath and a priest o' wael deep into the game, and we made both o' the priests combat focused as we like to have durance in our party.

 

suggestions:

 

1) max mechanics.  

 

doesn't matter if your priest is gonna be the guy who opens locks for you.  mechanics has synergy with priestly seal spells... all of them.  a 10 mechanics  results in a +30% accuracy boost to all seal spells. is ridiculous useful.

 

2) if you make a combat priest, you will need more party support.  

 

is our opinion that it is ideal to have two priests in a party if one is combat focused.  have one priest focus on combat and offensive spells while the other buffs, debuffs and heals. sure, your combat priest will still be buffing and debuffing, but you are gonna use your few talents to maximize combat strengths rather than boosting your support abilities, so work to your strengths.

 

3) attributes is less significant than talents.

 

as a priest, if you wanna be effective with a weapon, you got hard choices.  take the deity weapon focus talent and then a general weapon focus talent to boost further.  with eothas, you have morningstars or flails, but that means you should also choose either adventurer weapon focus or knight weapon focus... again, this is assuming you genuine care about weapon use.  with adventurer focus you get a boost with war bows, which is actual a decent ranged weapon.  crossbows is part o' the knight weapon focus talent, so if you would rather use morningstars for melee, you will be decent with crossbows as well, albeit not as good as with morningstars.  two weapon fighting is a must for the flail user.  two handed weapons is decent for morningstars.  we recommend scion of flame for all priests, but that is a personal preference.  scion doesn't appear to boost your seal spell damage, but you will have a goodly number o' fire spells, and if you already have high might, you will see most impressive damage totals from your flame spells.  we mentioned already that if you pick up flails, you can go the dual wield route, and if you do so, it is almost essential that you choose vulnerable attacks.  flails don't do enough damage to regularly overcome the kinda dr you will see routinely in the game.  vulnerable attacks helps... though we find it works better with a mace wielding priest o' berath.

 

our priest o' wael has the following attributes:

 

m 10

c 10

d 10

p 16

i 16

r 10

 

our attribute choices were meant to maximize rp/dialogue opportunities.  is our talent choices that made the character effective in combat.  a priest o' wael gets quarterstaff and rod as deity favored weapons, so can either focus efforts on staves or rods.  both is fantastic choices if you choose talents correct.  

 

point is that unlike fighters or wizards or some other classes, you can't just sorta choose what talents feels right and still be effective.  if you are wanting to make a decent priestly combatant, you will do yourself a favor to plan your talent choices from 2-12 before you start playing. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps durance makes a decent dual-wielder o' swords, or (our preference) a viable gunner.  give durance inspired flame and knight weapon focus as well as a few gunner talents such as gunner and quick switch.

 

And picking a WF that synergizes with your diety's weapon "focus" just stacks those accuracy bonuses (or at least I assume they do), which is a good thing indeed.

 

it does stack, which is why a priest can have the highest possible weapon accuracy in the game with a favored weapon.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps also, we forgot to mention that trap accuracy is far more forgiving than spell accuracy calculation, so while the aforementioned mechanics boost is substantial, you also get the benefit o' heightened trap accuracy calculation when using seal spells, which is worth another ~+20%-30%. 

Edited April 12, 2015 by Gromnir

[Infares]

 

 

axiomatic-- the priest is, fundamentally, a support character.  is easiest to build a priest without much concern for weapons.  focus your efforts on being a better spellcaster is easiest route for a priest.

 

that being said, you can make a very competent combat cleric in poe.  am not certain why folks keep saying that it is a bad idea.  we played the beta with dual wielding flails priest o' eothas (make sure to take vulnerable attacks somewhere along the way) and made combat priests o' all the other deities as well.  in the full release o' the game, we has advanced a priest o' berath and a priest o' wael deep into the game, and we made both o' the priests combat focused as we like to have durance in our party.

 

suggestions:

 

1) max mechanics.  

 

doesn't matter if your priest is gonna be the guy who opens locks for you.  mechanics has synergy with priestly seal spells... all of them.  a 10 mechanics  results in a +30% accuracy boost to all seal spells. is ridiculous useful.

 

2) if you make a combat priest, you will need more party support.  

 

is our opinion that it is ideal to have two priests in a party if one is combat focused.  have one priest focus on combat and offensive spells while the other buffs, debuffs and heals. sure, your combat priest will still be buffing and debuffing, but you are gonna use your few talents to maximize combat strengths rather than boosting your support abilities, so work to your strengths.

 

3) attributes is less significant than talents.

 

as a priest, if you wanna be effective with a weapon, you got hard choices.  take the deity weapon focus talent and then a general weapon focus talent to boost further.  with eothas, you have morningstars or flails, but that means you should also choose either adventurer weapon focus or knight weapon focus... again, this is assuming you genuine care about weapon use.  with adventurer focus you get a boost with war bows, which is actual a decent ranged weapon.  crossbows is part o' the knight weapon focus talent, so if you would rather use morningstars for melee, you will be decent with crossbows as well, albeit not as good as with morningstars.  two weapon fighting is a must for the flail user.  two handed weapons is decent for morningstars.  we recommend scion of flame for all priests, but that is a personal preference.  scion doesn't appear to boost your seal spell damage, but you will have a goodly number o' fire spells, and if you already have high might, you will see most impressive damage totals from your flame spells.  we mentioned already that if you pick up flails, you can go the dual wield route, and if you do so, it is almost essential that you choose vulnerable attacks.  flails don't do enough damage to regularly overcome the kinda dr you will see routinely in the game.  vulnerable attacks helps... though we find it works better with a mace wielding priest o' berath.

 

our priest o' wael has the following attributes:

 

m 10

c 10

d 10

p 16

i 16

r 10

 

our attribute choices were meant to maximize rp/dialogue opportunities.  is our talent choices that made the character effective in combat.  a priest o' wael gets quarterstaff and rod as deity favored weapons, so can either focus efforts on staves or rods.  both is fantastic choices if you choose talents correct.  

 

point is that unlike fighters or wizards or some other classes, you can't just sorta choose what talents feels right and still be effective.  if you are wanting to make a decent priestly combatant, you will do yourself a favor to plan your talent choices from 2-12 before you start playing. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps durance makes a decent dual-wielder o' swords, or (our preference) a viable gunner.  give durance inspired flame and knight weapon focus as well as a few gunner talents such as gunner and quick switch.

 

And picking a WF that synergizes with your diety's weapon "focus" just stacks those accuracy bonuses (or at least I assume they do), which is a good thing indeed.

 

it does stack, which is why a priest can have the highest possible weapon accuracy in the game with a favored weapon.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Spending an extra talent to be tied with the Very High Accuracy classes on a weapon you were probably going to use anyways is a small price to pay to have the full gamut of priest casting at your disposal. 

 

I'm actually liking the idea of having a combat priest now, lol.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Infares

[Brimsurfer]

I'm wondering about a priest(ess) character I have in mind to start next. She will be a priest of Eothas though as I've understood, the deity doesn't matter that much in the end. Anyway, I'm planning to max Intelligence, Might and Dexterity and also raise Resolve a bit. So that leaves very low Constitution and Perception. This means the character will end up frail. Ranged weapon would be logical choice, I guess.

 

However, for some reason I don't really like firearms - mostly for role-playing reasons. Using a gun just doesn't feel like a natural choice for this character. Bow would be better and perhaps doable as well. But what about magical implements? Can I build a functional character around those? And would a quarterstaff be a totally doomed idea?

 

I'm playing on hard difficulty and use premade companions. With a druid as my main, I didn't have any big problems. At times the game felt a tad too easy, but I suspect PotD would be too difficult. I sort of hope to face a little more challenge with my priest, but don't want to end up with a character who just doesn't survive either.

 

Thank you for any advice!

 

Go Wood Elf? They get racial bonus to ranged combat....

[Gromnir]

keep in mind you will only have the equivalent of very high accuracy with a single weapon (actually, two, but if you wanna keep pace with the big accuracy folks, you need one o' the general weapon focus feats as well.) one.  is an extreme narrow tailored choice.  luckily, the theoretical combat priest is not limited to weapon use.  all those underappreciated offensive priest spells are quite handy.  even so, one is a small number.  pick wisely to fit your playstyle and your priest.  

 

did we mention seal spells?  am not certain why folks don't notice the wacky maths for seal spells and rage at how over-powered they is.  am suspecting is 'cause so few folks play priests.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited April 12, 2015 by Gromnir

[Infares]

keep in mind you will only have the equivalent of very high accuracy with a single weapon.  one.  is an extreme narrow tailored choice.  luckily, the theoretical combat priest is not limited to weapon use.  all those underappreciated offensive priest spells are quite handy.  even so, one is a small number.  pick wisely to fit your playstyle and your priest.  

 

did we mention seal spells?  am not certain why folks don't notice the wacky maths for seal spells and rage at how over-powered they is.  am suspecting is 'cause so few folks play priests.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

I'm actually considering a Skaen priest with a Stilettos and the peewee sneak attack.