Priest, inter-class synergy and buff/debuff stacking questions

[Nobear]

I started a PoTD play through where I want to play with full story companions, and I just picked up Durance. I'm really not sure what I should get for this difficulty. I'll probably eventually have Pallegina be my second tank.

 

1) a. Would a paladin's Zealous Focus suppress a priest's Inspiring Radiance? How about the accuracy component of his Blessing spell?

b. Would Armor of Faith suppress the DR component of Zealous Endurance, thus only effectively increasing DR by 1?

c. Would Blind on an enemy suppress the melee accuracy component of a priest's Despondent Blows?

 

I think I remember reading that this is how buffs and debuffs stack, but I can't find it now. A link would be very helpful here.

 

2) I saw an old thread about this but maybe things have changed. Does Brilliant Radiance actually do anything, and if so, does it apply to enemies other than vessels? The tooltip still doesn't change, although it does for Inspiring Radiance.

 

If Holy Radiance is still weak or redundant even with the above two talents, I am honestly contemplating Aggrandizing Radiance and just popping it to self buff at the start of every fight.

 

3) Does Watchful Presence work as you might think/hope it does? The tooltip is weird, and I tried using it before on Hard in Od Nua, but I didn't even notice anyone's endurance jump up before my party started dying .

 

4) This is more of a wizard question. Seeing that daze would be covered and surpassed by Interdiction, will Aloth's Arcane Assault be worth casting, as in will it even out damage auto attacking if he takes Blast and Penetrating Blast? (I want to make him into a Minor Blight build eventually)

 

I know these are a lot of questions at once, thanks in advance!

Edited June 10, 2015 by Nobear

[manageri]

 

1) a. Would a paladin's Zealous Focus suppress a priest's Inspiring Radiance? How about the accuracy component of his Blessing spell?

 

Inspiring Radiance is a special snowflake and seems to stack with everything. Few other abilities affecting the same thing stack with anything at all. So Zealous Focus and Blessing do not stack (highest applies), but Inspiring Radiance will stack with them.

 

 

b. Would Armor of Faith suppress the DR component of Zealous Endurance, thus only effectively increasing DR by 1?

 

 

Normal (non)stacking rules apply here so highest only applies.

 

 

c. Would Blind on an enemy suppress the melee accuracy component of a priest's Despondent Blows?

 

 

Yes, no stacking again. Note that it is possible to indirectly stack certain penalties by affecting the statistic directly and via attributes. So whereas two afflictions targeting deflection, like blindness and paralysis, will not stack, it is possible to further debuff a paralyzed enemy's deflection by debuffing the attributes that affect it (perception and resolve).

 

 

3) Does Watchful Presence work as you might think/hope it does? The tooltip is weird, and I tried using it before on Hard in Od Nua, but I didn't even notice anyone's endurance jump up before my party started dying .

 

 

I believe it works by healing the first guy who gets below the threshold, so only once, even though the buff icon will remain on everyone. This makes sense too or else it would be ridiculously OP.

 

4) This is more of a wizard question. Seeing that daze would be covered and surpassed by Interdiction, will Aloth's Arcane Assault be worth casting, as in will it even out damage auto attacking if he takes Blast and Penetrating Blast? (I want to make him into a Minor Blight build eventually)

 

 

The damage isn't that horrible considering it's raw, especially if enemies are already reflex debuffed (which they probably are a lot of the time when you have a wizard).

[Nobear]

Thanks, those are super helpful answers!

 

Seems like I'll be taking Inspiring Radiance after all, and Zealous Endurance so my priest is freed up for other spells/attacks. And the direct + indirect debuffing mechanics make Miasma of Dull-Mindedness seem really sweet for PoTD.