A few questions about equipment

[Nyro]

Sorry I am new and was wondering if anyone can give me some generalized insight on stats/attributes I should look for on gear for different classes? I am new to this kind of game and although I do try and read all of the descriptions it is a lot to take in at once lol.

 

For instance my player character is a Fighter and it is my intention to lead the charge with him so what kind of attributes and stuff should I look for on his gear? Also should I focus mostly on athletics when he levels up?

[Nakia]

Hi, Nyro, me again.  I am no expert on the subject and I hope one of our experts answers you soon.  To start you off I will post what I have learned.  It may not be 100% correct though.

 

DR = Damage reduction.  Plate Armour has a base DR of 12 and is good for your main tank.  It does slow down your recovery speed by 50%,  Plate also has a bonus to slash and pierce giving a DR of 15 or 125%.   As you proceed in the game you will find Fine and eventually Exceptional Armour which increase the DR and even some items that have special enhancements.

 

As for athletics I think the best is to put three levels into it.  That gives you  80% bonus to Max Endurance and 90% bonus to combat endurance.  Think I worded that correctly.

 

Be patient and I am sure someone who really understands the subject will help you out.

 

Eder is currently my main tank and I give him the best I can find,   You should get early on some cloaks that will give a minor bonus to deflection.  Give it to your main tank I would say.

[Raven Darkholme]

For the tank: deflection, fortitude, resolve, perception, might, constitution, dexterity and intelligence. Also interesting are bonuses to the other saves (will, reflex).

For dps:Accuracy, Might, dexterity, crit multipliers, perception, deflection.

[Nobear]

Welcome Nyro!

 

First, I'm going to call them stats for short, though it's interchangeable with "attributes." Now I'll describe some key points you should know:

 

1) When you are talking about stats on gear, this game is different from certain others (e.g. WoW), in that the bulk of your stat points are determined at character creation, and items give important but relatively small boosts of 1-2 to 1 or 2 stats, with a few items granting 3 to a stat. You can also enchant your chest piece (yes, just this slot) with 1 or 2 to a stat of your choice. You can enchant weapons and shields as well, but not with stats.

 

2) Bonuses from gear, including stat boosts, do NOT stack with others of the same type. For instance, if you wear boots and gloves that each grant Constitution, one of these will be listed as (Suppressed) on your character sheet and be useless. If one item grants more than another, the highest bonus will be kept. The same thing applies with spells, but these two categories can stack with each other (in most cases; this game has some funny inconsistencies). For instance, a priest spell that grants Might will stack with items that grant Might.

 

3) Other sources of buffs that DO stack, not with each other, but with those listed above, are resting bonuses from inns (which affect your whole party), and food buffs. An inn in the first town offers +2 Resolve, there are several choices in the Act 2 major city including +4 Intellect, and several in the Act 2 secondary town including one with +2 Might, +2 Constitution and +2 Intellect at once. There is also an additional source of buffs for your main character only, but I will not reveal it unless you are ok with spoilers. The reason I am mentioning these additional sources is because...

 

4) There are non-combat attribute checks and skill checks in this game, that unlock additional options in dialogue or scripted events. Not all of these options are "better," but they give you more freedom in how you want to handle a situation. They range from RP flavor to truly useful for unlocking better outcomes, such as avoiding an injury or earning a better quest reward. The attribute checks can range from 11 to 19 for the stat checked, and the skill checks can range from 1 to 10. These are maximum ranges, and there's a pretty big disparity in which are represented most, and in which are actually most useful vs basically just adding RP flavor.

 

For instance, to answer your question about Athletics, you can find or buy items like grappling hooks which give you an alternate way to pass scripted events with Athletics checks. As Nakia points out, you only need 3 points of Athletics for each of your characters. Nakia had the right idea, but the effect would be +30% total Fatigue and -90% combat Fatigue loss. This game is confusing in that Fatigue refers to two opposing things: a meter representing how long you can go without rest, and a stacking affliction with the same name that you get as this meter runs low. However, 3 points is all you need to minimize the combat loss, so with at least 3 Athletics, you'll only need to rest when you travel long distances. 3 Athletics is also all you need for your characters to avoid falling victim to certain injuries in scripted event checks.

 

I should also point out that scripted event checks sometimes allow you to choose a party member to perform some action. For instance, you might be able to choose the character with the highest Might to try to break through a wall or move a heavy object. However, dialogue checks are based only on your main character. There are entire discussions about the best attributes and skills to have on your main character just to unlock the most/best options. Generally, people tend to favor Resolve, Intellect, Perception, and Lore for dialogue. If your fighter is your main, I wouldn't be too worried if he only has average Intellect, as long as he has high Resolve and Perception and possibly Lore. You will still be able to unlock a pretty wide range of choices this way, just not any super clever ones like figuring out how to trick someone.

 

5) The best skills overall: After 3 Athletics, Lore is generally considered the best skill for most of your characters to level, except one should be a Mechanic. Many would argue that Lore is even better for a fighter than it is for someone you'd normally associate with lore like a wizard, because a fighter's higher natural accuracy helps when using scrolls. Also, some of the most damaging spells on scrolls do friendly fire, and your fighter will more often be in a good position to use one of these to hurt lots of enemies while avoiding allies. Get at least some characters to 10 Lore, and get your Mechanic to 10 as well. Other than that, I like a decent amount of Stealth on my whole party, but that's personal preference that compliments my own strategy. Not everyone agrees that Stealth is as good as I think it is, and you really need it on your whole party currently, moreso on your front row than your back row. The expansion will bring individual stealth, but currently your whole party is detected the moment a single member is. Survival is probably the least valuable skill. There are some Survival checks, but only for your main character, and nobody I'm aware of considers these checks very important.

 

6) A great starting spread for a fighter tank, give or take a point here or there depending on your race and culture:

 

18 (maxed) Might

10 (average) Constitution

4 (dumped) Dexterity

18 (maxed) Perception

10 (average) Intellect

19 (maxed) Resolve

 

The key to a tank's hardiness from stats is maxing Perception and Resolve, as each one grants a point of Deflection as well as two points to another defense. This means that, instead of critting you, enemies will be hitting, grazing, or missing you entirely, especially as you add items and talents to boost these defenses even higher. Ask if you have any questions about the other stats.

 

7) Race: I actually made the above spread thinking of an Aedyr Moon Godlike, but I have since questioned the wisdom of a Moon Godlike for a main tank. It's amazing IF your tank regularly goes below 75% Endurance or less. The thing about Fighter or Paladin tanks in this game, though, is that they become pretty much invincible if built like above, even on PoTD (the hardest difficulty). Granted, at very low levels they won't be yet, and Moon Godlike will be awesome through Act 1. But after that, a Wild Orlan or Pale Elf would probably shine more for a main tank, in all honesty.

 

8 ) Abilities and Talents:

 

Lvl1: Knock Down

Lvl 2: Weapon and Shield Style

Lvl 3: Defender

Lvl 4: Wary Defender

Lvl 5: Confident Aim

Lvl 6: One-Handed Style

Lvl 7: Weapon Specialization*

Lvl 8: Weapon Focus*

Lvl 9: Critical Defense

Lvl 10: Weapon Mastery*

Lvl 11: Unbroken

Lvl 12: Superior Deflection

 

The above is just a template to give you ideas, it's not the only way, and there's no "best" build in every single respect. However, I can vouch that it's strong. It allows my Fighter to "lead the charge" as you say, with enough survivability to almost never go below half health after Act 1, to deal at least some damage (though it's never going to be great compared to your dedicated damage dealers), and to hit reliably, which is especially important so that his Knock Down reliably disables enemies.

 

*There are a few good choices for Weapon Mastery. I picked Ruffian because it covers three types of one-handed weapons, one for each damage type. However, in this game, enemy resistances aren't so significant that this is necessary. You would be well-equipped for probably 99% of situations with any two damage types, and some weapons automatically deal whichever is more effective between two types.

 

Well, this is longer than I was intending to write. I hope you find it helpful. Feel free to ask questions, and have fun!

Edited July 14, 2015 by Nobear

[Luckmann]

Welcome Nyro!

 

First, I'm going to call them stats for short, though it's interchangeable with "attributes." Now I'll describe some key points you should know:

 

1) When you are talking about stats on gear, this game is different from certain others (e.g. WoW), in that the bulk of your stat points are determined at character creation, and items give important but relatively small boosts of 1-2 to 1 or 2 stats, with a few items granting 3 to a stat. You can also enchant your chest piece (yes, just this slot) with 1 or 2 to a stat of your choice. You can enchant weapons and shields as well, but not with stats.

 

2) Bonuses from gear, including stat boosts, do NOT stack with others of the same type. For instance, if you wear boots and gloves that each grant Constitution, one of these will be listed as (Suppressed) on your character sheet and be useless. If one item grants more than another, the highest bonus will be kept. The same thing applies with spells, but these two categories can stack with each other (in most cases; this game has some funny inconsistencies). For instance, a priest spell that grants Might will stack with items that grant Might.

 

3) Other sources of buffs that DO stack, not with each other, but with those listed above, are resting bonuses from inns (which affect your whole party), and food buffs. An inn in the first town offers +2 Resolve, there are several choices in the Act 2 major city including +4 Intellect, and several in the Act 2 secondary town including one with +2 Might, +2 Constitution and +2 Intellect at once. There is also an additional source of buffs for your main character only, but I will not reveal it unless you are ok with spoilers. The reason I am mentioning these additional sources is because...

 

4) There are non-combat attribute checks and skill checks in this game, that unlock additional options in dialogue or scripted events. Not all of these options are "better," but they give you more freedom in how you want to handle a situation. They range from RP flavor to truly useful for unlocking better outcomes, such as avoiding an injury or earning a better quest reward. The attribute checks can range from 11 to 19 for the stat checked, and the skill checks can range from 1 to 10. These are maximum ranges, and there's a pretty big disparity in which are represented most, and in which are actually most useful vs basically just adding RP flavor.

 

For instance, to answer your question about Athletics, you can find or buy items like grappling hooks which give you an alternate way to pass scripted events with Athletics checks. As Nakia points out, you only need 3 points of Athletics for each of your characters. Nakia had the right idea, but the effect would be +30% total Fatigue and -90% combat Fatigue loss. This game is confusing in that Fatigue refers to two opposing things: a meter representing how long you can go without rest, and a stacking affliction with the same name that you get as this meter runs low. However, 3 points is all you need to minimize the combat loss, so with at least 3 Athletics, you'll only need to rest when you travel long distances. 3 Athletics is also all you need for your characters to avoid falling victim to certain injuries in scripted event checks.

 

I should also point out that scripted event checks sometimes allow you to choose a party member to perform some action. For instance, you might be able to choose the character with the highest Might to try to break through a wall or move a heavy object. However, dialogue checks are based only on your main character. There are entire discussions about the best attributes and skills to have on your main character just to unlock the most/best options. Generally, people tend to favor Resolve, Intellect, Perception, and Lore for dialogue. If your fighter is your main, I wouldn't be too worried if he only has average Intellect, as long as he has high Resolve and Perception and possibly Lore. You will still be able to unlock a pretty wide range of choices this way, just not any super clever ones like figuring out how to trick someone.

 

5) The best skills overall: After 3 Athletics, Lore is generally considered the best skill for most of your characters to level, except one should be a Mechanic. Many would argue that Lore is even better for a fighter than it is for someone you'd normally associate with lore like a wizard, because a fighter's higher natural accuracy helps when using scrolls. Also, some of the most damaging spells on scrolls do friendly fire, and your fighter will more often be in a good position to use one of these to hurt lots of enemies while avoiding allies. Get at least some characters to 10 Lore, and get your Mechanic to 10 as well. Other than that, I like a decent amount of Stealth on my whole party, but that's personal preference that compliments my own strategy. Not everyone agrees that Stealth is as good as I think it is, and you really need it on your whole party currently, moreso on your front row than your back row. The expansion will bring individual stealth, but currently your whole party is detected the moment a single member is.

 

6) A great starting spread for a fighter tank, give or take a point here or there depending on your race and culture:

 

18 (maxed) Might

10 (average) Constitution

4 (dumped) Dexterity

18 (maxed) Perception

10 (average) Intellect

19 (maxed) Resolve

 

The key to a tank's hardiness from stats is maxing Perception and Resolve, as each one grants a point of Deflection as well as two points to another defense. This means that, instead of critting you, enemies will be hitting, grazing, or missing you entirely, especially as you add items and talents to boost these defenses even higher. Ask if you have any questions about the other stats.

 

7) Race: I actually made the above spread thinking of an Aedyr Moon Godlike, but I have since questioned the wisdom of a Moon Godlike for a main tank. It's amazing IF your tank regularly goes below 75% Endurance or less. The thing about Fighter or Paladin tanks in this game, though, is that they become pretty much invincible if built like above, even on PoTD (the hardest difficulty). Granted, at very low levels they won't be yet, and Moon Godlike will be awesome through Act 1. But after that, a Wild Orlan or Pale Elf would probably shine more for a main tank, in all honesty.

 

8 ) Abilities and Talents:

 

Lvl1: Knock Down

Lvl 2: Weapon and Shield Style

Lvl 3: Defender

Lvl 4: Wary Defender

Lvl 5: Confident Aim

Lvl 6: One-Handed Style

Lvl 7: Weapon Specialization*

Lvl 8: Weapon Focus*

Lvl 9: Critical Defense

Lvl 10: Weapon Mastery*

Lvl 11: Unbroken

Lvl 12: Superior Deflection

 

The above is just a template to give you ideas, it's not the only way, and there's no "best" build in every single respect. However, I can vouch that it's strong. It allows my Fighter to "lead the charge" as you say, with enough survivability to almost never go below half health after Act 1, to deal at least some damage (though it's never going to be great compared to your dedicated damage dealers), and to hit reliably, which is especially important so that his Knock Down reliably disables enemies.

 

*There are a few good choices for Weapon Mastery. I picked Ruffian because it covers three types of one-handed weapons, one for each damage type. However, in this game, enemy resistances aren't so significant that this is necessary. You would be well-equipped for probably 99% of situations with any two damage types, and some weapons automatically deal whichever is more effective between two types.

 

Well, this is longer than I was intending to write. I hope you find it helpful. Feel free to ask questions, and have fun!

 

My name is Ado Luckmann and I endorse this message.

 

The only possible addition I could make in relation to OP:s question is that there's no very obvious, very clear "best stat" for each class (except spellcasters, currently - Intellect). Each Attribute does what is advertises, for everyone. A Barbarian benefits no more from Might than a Rogue does, at the base level.

 

Depending on how you build your characters, different Attributes will be valuable to you in different ways, and there's good arguments for "optimal" builds, but in practice, just look at what the Attributes do, and determine whether that benefits what you're trying to do with the character. For example, Resolve and Perception is almost completely useless to anyone that isn't a tank, but invaluable to actual tanks.

 

Two attributes stand out in the useful/useless department; Intellect and Constitution. Intellect is a consolidated caster stat, integral for spellcasters, amazing for Barbarians, and at least good for practically everyone. Meanwhile, Constitution is useless for almost everyone (although not useless enough to dump, usually). The ones that need extra Endurance doesn't get enough from it, and those that get enough from it doesn't need the extra Endurance.

[Nobear]

My name is Ado Luckmann and I endorse this message.

 

The only possible addition I could make in relation to OP:s question is that there's no very obvious, very clear "best stat" for each class (except spellcasters, currently - Intellect). Each Attribute does what is advertises, for everyone. A Barbarian benefits no more from Might than a Rogue does, at the base level.

 

Depending on how you build your characters, different Attributes will be valuable to you in different ways, and there's good arguments for "optimal" builds, but in practice, just look at what the Attributes do, and determine whether that benefits what you're trying to do with the character. For example, Resolve and Perception is almost completely useless to anyone that isn't a tank, but invaluable to actual tanks.

 

Two attributes stand out in the useful/useless department; Intellect and Constitution. Intellect is a consolidated caster stat, integral for spellcasters, amazing for Barbarians, and at least good for practically everyone. Meanwhile, Constitution is useless for almost everyone (although not useless enough to dump, usually). The ones that need extra Endurance doesn't get enough from it, and those that get enough from it doesn't need the extra Endurance.

 

Good points. There is also the famous Muscle Wizard phenomenon: that Might affects the damage (and healing) of everything, not just things you'd think you'd need muscles for, so Might is great for casters after Intellect, and Dexterity is usually their next choice. This is expected to change with the expansion, but if you just want to get into the game now and have a good time, it's probably not worth worrying about the expansion. You can always start over. And over . I think this game has high replay value, especially if you increase the difficulty or try a new party composition.

[MalVeauX]

Sorry I am new and was wondering if anyone can give me some generalized insight on stats/attributes I should look for on gear for different classes? I am new to this kind of game and although I do try and read all of the descriptions it is a lot to take in at once lol.

 

For instance my player character is a Fighter and it is my intention to lead the charge with him so what kind of attributes and stuff should I look for on his gear? Also should I focus mostly on athletics when he levels up?

 

Heya,

 

Totally depends on you and your party and your roll.

 

For example, a Fighter could be built to simply be a balanced melee damage dealer who is durable enough to not get one-shotted in a fight. Or, you could build a fighter to be a tough-as-nails tank that just doesn't go down, but also doesn't really deal damage either, just holds the line so to speak, but does so forever.

 

Attributes tell you what they do, so they're pretty straight forward. They tend to offer a bonus to something, and benefit a save of some kind. Lots of them blend over, so that you can combine like-stats to get really high stats in one are (like Resolve & Perception adding a ton of Deflection, which is the score that many attacks will use to see if they hit a character, but know that some attacks are targeting a reflex score, or fortitude score, or will score, etc, instead, there are many different "defensive" scores to be aware of, and different attacks and abilities target different things). Other things are a little more subtle at first, but become a big deal later when you're specializing (Dex on a fighter doesn't make sense unless you want a high reflex or if you are going to keep a lighter armor and want to attack faster or do actions faster, on a pure tank, Dex would be something you don't need much of, but on a damage dealer, Dex can be pretty important). Each stat can be reviewed this way, based on what you want the character to do. The hard part, is simply picking an overall direction and focusing. The more balanced you are, the less good you are at anything in particular (this can be good though). Depends on you. This is the roleplay part of the game in many ways.

 

Items are also dictated by what you want to do. If you're an all-out damage dealer, having the heaviest damage reduction armor makes you slower (recovery time as slow as -50% time, making you half as fast as normal). If you want to take all the damage, get the highest damage reduction and enchant for more damage reduction. If you want to have some damage reduction, but not get slowed down, and keep attacking fast and dealing damage, wear lighter armors with less recover time hits (-15%, -20%, -25%) and you can use Dex to offset the recovery time loss from armor so that you can be a decent damage dealer while still having some good damage reduction (then further enchant the light armor for more damage reduction to make the most of it).

 

As for weapons, well, that again is up to you. Some will go for the most damage possible in one hit by just increasing percentages of damage. Personally, I find it a lot more interesting, fun and effective, to simply actually hit things instead of grazing a lot. So I focus more on things that grant bonuses to accuracy. This helps you hit more often, and in some cases, gives you more odds to land a critical, which in general will increase your overall average damage over time more. A light, fast weapon with a high accuracy can be a glorious thing, as you crit everyone. My balanced fighter off tank, uses weapon specializations with flails to get higher accuracies and more odds to keep grazes as hits, and more odds to get crits from high accuracy, so he actually deals damage while wearing really high damage reduction plate, he's a balance between tank and melee damage dealer and I really enjoy it. My pure tank grazes all the time and I see damage scores of 0.7 and stuff like that, instead of 10's, 20's, etc.

 

Weapon sets are important. Sometimes you will have zero use of a shield in a battle against some things, or you're already well too difficult for them to harm, so having a big two hander that deals more damage on swap can be very useful. Like wise, a ranged weapon mixed in there can be useful to for times when you simply cannot get to someone and need to be useful (like stuck behind a choke point).

 

Pay attention to different modifiers on weapons. They deal different damage types that are good against different foes. Lots of weapons have two damage types. Some work really well against some, and don't work well against others, so it's important to pay attention to the beastiary as you play so you can see their defenses and know that your slash weapon is doing minimal against your foe, while a crush or pierce weapon may do far better. Having a good mix on your weapon set swaps lets you quickly respond to this.

 

Very best,

[AshenPlanet]

The only possible addition I could make in relation to OP:s question is that there's no very obvious, very clear "best stat" for each class (except spellcasters, currently - Intellect). Each Attribute does what is advertises, for everyone. A Barbarian benefits no more from Might than a Rogue does, at the base level.

 

I agree with most of the above except this.

Might is not the same for everyone, and neither is intellect.

A monk, for example, receives double might bonus on their hands, for barbarians, that might bonus applies to a number of targets, but for a rogue, might means very little, with all the bonuses they get, they can better increase their DPS in other ways.

Tanks can get full use from might, but generally, you have other priorities if you are making a tank.

 

Also, if you are looking to do damage, then Dex allows any non-spellcaster, except unarmed attacks to do more DPS than the same points spent in might.

So, this is definitely the stat that you'd want to max first, and even for unarmed monks, it's still arguably more important since it will allow you to spend your wound points faster.

The reverse of this is true for casters, who get more value out of might than dex.

 

Basically, decide if you want your fighter to be a tank, or damage dealing fighter and build accordingly - the various suggestions above are all good.

If you are planning on have mostly casters in your party like the 4 companion casters, cipher, priest, druid, wizard, than tank may be a good option for you to protect those guys.

If you are planning on using more of the attacking companions, like the chanter, ranger, paladin, fighter, etc. than you do not need a tank, just build for dealing damage.

 

[Nobear]

Weapon sets are important. Sometimes you will have zero use of a shield in a battle against some things, or you're already well too difficult for them to harm, so having a big two hander that deals more damage on swap can be very useful. Like wise, a ranged weapon mixed in there can be useful to for times when you simply cannot get to someone and need to be useful (like stuck behind a choke point).

 

I'd say, in this game, with resistances being relatively forgiving, weapon sets are not essential for that, but certainly helpful to an extent (and fun). To be prepared for chokepoints, a ranged weapon on switch is a good suggestion, as is a weapon with the Reach property, like a quarterstaff or pike. But you only need to worry about this if you have more than two melee characters in your party.

 

Edit: I meant to quote your last paragraph as well, but I wasn't successful in preserving the formatting while changing this. Eh, not a big deal.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Nobear

[Nyro]

Ok so what about stats for healers? If I build a character around party support/healing what stats should I look for. Also ty for the help.

[AshenPlanet]

Build him like a caster, i.e. max Int, might, and high Dex, dump con.

Use a pike or durance's quarterstaff so he can stay close enough to the fight to provide heals to the front line, but not actually be on the front line.

You could also go weapon and shield and be right up on the front line, but you won't have the high base deflection that fighters and paladins have.

 

[Nyro]

Build him like a caster, i.e. max Int, might, and high Dex, dump con.

Use a pike or durance's quarterstaff so he can stay close enough to the fight to provide heals to the front line, but not actually be on the front line.

You could also go weapon and shield and be right up on the front line, but you won't have the high base deflection that fighters and paladins have.

TY for the input.

[Nakia]

Nyro, if you are making your priest your main character the disposition, positive and negative are important but if you are creating a hired adventurer they are not except for character profile as far as I know.

[Nyro]

Nyro, if you are making your priest your main character the disposition, positive and negative are important but if you are creating a hired adventurer they are not except for character profile as far as I know.

Ah good to know. TY.

[Gromnir]

Ok so what about stats for healers? If I build a character around party support/healing what stats should I look for. Also ty for the help.

depends.  paladin or priest?  if is paladin, then you likely need a priest too.  

 

ok, right from the start we need make clear that player character paladins and priests are better than any joinable companion or adventure hall product. faith and convictions is an inherent paladin quality.  IF you have at least 3 in your chosen order's favored dispositions, you get +11 to deflection and +22 to your fort/ref/wil saves. sparkly. for a priest, high values in favored dispositions offers increased powha for your holy radiance ability, which can be significant. the thing is, only the player character benefits (or suffers) from disposition alterations to abilities.  

 

paladins make decent secondary support characters, and they can also be a primary tank. am personally believing many folks tend to waste paladins in their attempt to build a perfect pure tank.  you don't need ultimate deflection to be an effective and superlative worthy poe tank. however, a great tank with a handful of incredible support abilities is what distinguishes the paladin from other tanky classes... but your mileage may be different.  poe is flexible enough that your way, chosen through whim, experimentation or ignorance, is not necessarily gonna be wrong.  

 

darcozzi paladini get an excellent support ability above and beyond what other paladins have available to them.  there is a minor flame shield option for dp paladins which is meh, but the prize is inspiring liberation which is usable 2x per encounter and allows your paladin to free an ally from many debilitating effects while providing a +10 accuracy boost.  zealous focus is an aura that boosts accuracy and stacks with a priest's inspiring radiance.  add in inspiring radiance and you see impressive accuracy enhancements. dependable accuracy boosts without the need for spell casting is invaluable.  highest attribute score for Gromnir paladins is always int as boosting that attribute will result in significant duration increases of our limited abilities.  if you only have a few abilities, you might as well have them last through an entire battle, eh?

 

it is our opinion that kind wayfarers have the best heals outta the paladin orders, but that isn't saying all that much. 

 

priests are closer to classic fantasy crpg heals, but there are a few differences to be aware of when getting started.  there will be a suggestion or two to dump constitution as that is a kinda universal dump stat in the minds o' many folks.  sadly, priests have the worst starting health possible and relative poor deflection as well.  as a priest, you are fragile.  dump con with caution.  personally, we never drop con below 9.

 

...

 

priests were the single most under-appreciated class during the beta.  there were multiple MVP Class threads between august of 2014 and march of 2015 and only Gromnir ever claimed that priests deserved consideration as the bestest class.  weird. a priest makes a relative poor tank (though we did create a dwarf priest to tank for an all-priest party and he were viable) but he/she can fulfill multiple other roles.  dual wield clubs or stilettos as a priest o' skaen and you will get decent weapon dps in addition to having your excellent support and damage-dealing spells.  perhaps you wanna keep your priest ranged?  a priest o' magran with inspired flame makes an excellent gunner... if you spend the talents. however, to be decent with weapons you must need take your deity's favored weapon talent, plus a weapon focus talent and likely 1-2 more weapon related talents.  that is a lotta talents.  converse, perhaps you want your priest to instead sit back (you can't sit back too far as you have relative short range on your spells) and cast poe version o' heals and support spells?  that works too.

 

btw, don't get too worked up on attribute scores, regardless o' advice received here or elsewhere on these boards.  we finished poe potd with three different characters: dps melee rogue, support priest, tanky paladin.  all three of our characters had similar attribute spreads and all three were very effective.  sure, we had to play to our strengths and choose appropriate talents and abilities, but it is our advice to choose attributes based on rp choices rather than a belief that min-max will give you a needed edge.  you don't need perfect attributes because there are no perfect attributes and because all the attributes offer some value... though con and per is currently kinda weak.

 

m 10

c 10

d 10

p 16

i 16

r 16

 

is approx attribute spread o' our three different potd characters.  dps.  support.  tank.  the min-maxers is not getting as much value from their efforts as they suppose.  is a numerical system, so 'course there is gonna be advantages in finding an ideal spread, but your talent and ability choices is far more important.  you will not screw up your character at level 1 by accident choosing the wrong attributes.

 

nevertheless, if we were concerned about attributes, we would say, "it depends," when giving advice about attribute allocation.  

 

*shrug*

 

it depends on what you want from your priest.  priests have relative slow cast times, and we find that dex just doesn't improve cast speeds enough to matter much.  is a bit similar in reasoning as to why we no longer take the gunner talent for gunners. for a pure caster priest, we would emphasize intellect followed by might, and then choose the rest to even out your saves a bit.  however, for our aforementioned priest o' skaen who is dual-wielding stilettos, we believe high dex is essential to take advantage o' her fast weapons load-out. so, it depends, yes?

 

armour is a personal call kinda thing.  the second chance quality is great, but a choice 'tween heavy and light armours is gonna much depend on personal quirks and weapon choices.  again (Gromnir opinion) your cast times is so slow that armour penalty adjustments makes little meaningful difference to most o' your spells, but, if you are gonna use weapons, your armour choice is gonna need take such into account.  and no matter what, you should consider how relative squish you are when choosing armour.  is a few clowns who choose to have their 3 con priests go naked into battle.  'course the first time the party rogue gets charmed and kills you with two hits, that particular wardrobe choice is looking less dapper, eh?

 

ok, now this is the part 'bout priests that is overlooked, likely based on lingering misguided notions carrying over from the beta.  the priest is an excellent offensive spell caster.  no other class gets as much value from the scion o' flame talent as do priests-- take it.  your holy radiance does burn damage and you got burn spells at early, middle and late spell levels.  you wanna see the world burn? play a priest with high might and scion of flame.  beyond your numerous flame spells, you also have seal spells (one o' which causes burn damage.) seal spells use hazard math to determine accuracy.  a typical hazard is a wall of flame.  hazards receive heightened accuracy, which makes sense seeing is how it is a stable effect that can damage friend or foe alike... kinda. priest seal spells get the hazard math, but they target foe-only.  drop a searing seal down on top (beneath) your own party and only the bad guys is gonna get burned and blinded, and they will get burned and blinded.  recommendation: use seal spells often.

 

so, as a priest you are able to have a character with the highest possible accuracy with a weapon (a single weapon) and you are having the widest range o' party buffs, and your seal spells are providing you with a variety o' damaging and debilitating effects that have the highest possible spell accuracy in the game, not to mention an arsenal o' flame abilities that would make Gabriel weep with envy. 

 

general parting advice:

 

paladins is great in support, but we don't like 'em as our sole support.  however, working in tandem with a priest, they are fantastic.

 

priests are all-round excellent, unless you want the tankiness that a chanter or paladin offers. we always have the urge to make a party with two (or more) priests.  

 

don't worry about attributes overmuch-- focus on talent and ability choices.  read the talent and ability descriptions as Most such stuff works as advertised.

 

interruption is still a relative weak effect.  you can get use from it, but is largely wasteful to build a priest or paladin around the interrupter quality.

 

2.0 will change the balance of various attributes, abilities and talents.  we do not know if there will be a respec function.  if you can hold off starting play until 2.0 arrives, it might be in your best interest to do so.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Nobear]

is a few clowns who choose to have their 3 con priests go naked into battle.  'course the first time the party rogue gets charmed and kills you with two hits, that particular wardrobe choice is looking less dapper, eh?

 

lol! That's kind of a cross between Eder's intentional humor and Durance's unintentional humor eh?

 

Alright, something I always wanted to ask is about Holy Radiance. I find there are some important exceptions to ability descriptions working as advertised, and this is one. The tooltip lists the burn damage of Holy Radiance as having no enemy type restrictions, but Frightened being only Vessels. I have only seen it do either damage or Frightened to Vessels. I have not seen it even damage non-vessels. In an early play through I took Brilliant Radiance, and I still didn't see it damaging non-vessels. Is this in line with your experience? Because you don't mention Vessel-only burn damage restrictions. It would be awesome if it burned everything, and it is awesome against vessels even though my priest is not my main, but in my experience it only burns vessels.

[Nakia]

Thank you for the post,  Gromnir,as I am currently playing a Priest of Berath.  I did not max her stats or dump con.  We are level 8 right now and I have some very gear for her so most of my are beefed up.  I do have to watch her endurance.  She is using the broad sword Justice.

 

This is a  great thread and I think the differences show how well the devs did in making this a player's choice game.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Nakia

[Gromnir]

 

is a few clowns who choose to have their 3 con priests go naked into battle.  'course the first time the party rogue gets charmed and kills you with two hits, that particular wardrobe choice is looking less dapper, eh?

 

lol! That's kind of a cross between Eder's intentional humor and Durance's unintentional humor eh?

 

Alright, something I always wanted to ask is about Holy Radiance. I find there are some important exceptions to ability descriptions working as advertised, and this is one. The tooltip lists the burn damage of Holy Radiance as having no enemy type restrictions, but Frightened being only Vessels. I have only seen it do either damage or Frightened to Vessels. I have not seen it even damage non-vessels. In an early play through I took Brilliant Radiance, and I still didn't see it damaging non-vessels. Is this in line with your experience? Because you don't mention Vessel-only burn damage restrictions. It would be awesome if it burned everything, and it is awesome against vessels even though my priest is not my main, but in my experience it only burns vessels.

 

yup, holy radiance has a heal aspect and a burn aspect, but the burn only harms vessels.  a pc priest with fully enhanced holy radiance (even w/o brilliant radiance) does serious damage to vessels, and there is more than a few vessels in the game. am not seeing a good reason to ever take brilliant radiance however. 

 

HA! Good Fun

[Gromnir]

Thank you for the post,  Gromnir,as I am currently playing a Priest of Berath.  I did not max her stats or dump con.  We are level 8 right now and I have some very gear for her so most of my are beefed up.  I do have to watch her endurance.  She is using the broad sword Justice.

 

This is a  great thread and I think the differences show how well the devs did in making this a player's choice game.

we got a priest o' berath character that we stopped playing immediate after we cleared raedric's keep.  in the beta, we went with mace as our weapon o' choice for priests o' berath, but justice is available early and tidefall is found not much later, so we were considering greatswords.  

 

m 21

c 9

d 13

p 10

i 15

r 10

 

our divine marks were getting reliable crits even at low levels.  chose island aumaua for the +2 might and the extra weapon set.  the thing is, we like the dialogue options that go along with high per, int, and res.  yeah, we can use food and items and the right inns to boost one or maybe even two attributes, but we like to have all three talky attributes high.  

 

for our all-priest party, we did indeed have a priest that were a 2-handed weapon specialist.  we like quarterstaves with their reach, but tidefall and mabec's morningstar is potential available much earlier than special staffs... and the speed mod is broken so the one early available unique fine staff is actually handicapped. in the end we went with a hearth orlan priest o' eothas wielding the morningstar, and casting dire blessing every freaking combat encounter.  more stun weapons in our party is good. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Doppelschwert]

and the speed mod is broken

So, I'm a bit confused about things affecting speed. I always thought that none of the positive effects on speed were working so far, e.g. no speed bonus from dexterity and no speed bonus from the speed mod or the talent for dual wielding, but penalties from armor and dexterity. 

 

Does that mean that only the speed mod is broken now and that dexterity does indeed work? It's not like I was dumping dexterity because I never min/max in PoE, but I never considered making a character with high dex before because of this.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Doppelschwert

[Nobear]

 

Thank you for the post,  Gromnir,as I am currently playing a Priest of Berath.  I did not max her stats or dump con.  We are level 8 right now and I have some very gear for her so most of my are beefed up.  I do have to watch her endurance.  She is using the broad sword Justice.

 

This is a  great thread and I think the differences show how well the devs did in making this a player's choice game.

we got a priest o' berath character that we stopped playing immediate after we cleared raedric's keep.  in the beta, we went with mace as our weapon o' choice for priests o' berath, but justice is available early and tidefall is found not much later, so we were considering greatswords.  

 

m 21

c 9

d 13

p 10

i 15

r 10

 

our divine marks were getting reliable crits even at low levels.  chose island aumaua for the +2 might and the extra weapon set.  the thing is, we like the dialogue options that go along with high per, int, and res.  yeah, we can use food and items and the right inns to boost one or maybe even two attributes, but we like to have all three talky attributes high.  

 

for our all-priest party, we did indeed have a priest that were a 2-handed weapon specialist.  we like quarterstaves with their reach, but tidefall and mabec's morningstar is potential available much earlier than special staffs... and the speed mod is broken so the one early available unique fine staff is actually handicapped. in the end we went with a hearth orlan priest o' eothas wielding the morningstar, and casting dire blessing every freaking combat encounter.  more stun weapons in our party is good. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Wow, I missed both Tidefall and the unique quarterstaff you mentioned. I looked them up, but I'll avoid giving spoilers and won't say where they're found.

 

Hmm, I've got another question here. There is a melee wizard build post that advocates for Tidefall and Tall Grass. Do you know why this might be? I remember reading that whatever weapon you had equipped when you conjure a weapon has no effect on the conjured weapon. Eh might be better to ask in the other thread, but I figure if you happen to know, might as well add to the knowledge in this thread.

 

 

and the speed mod is broken

So, I'm a bit confused about things affecting speed. I always thought that none of the positive effects on speed were working so far, e.g. no speed bonus from dexterity and no speed bonus from the speed mod or the talent for dual wielding, but penalties from armor and dexterity. 

 

Does that mean that only the speed mod is broken now and that dexterity does indeed work? It's not like I was dumping dexterity because I never min/max in PoE, but I never considered making a character with high dex before because of this.

 

People on these forums talk about Dex left and right, so I've always taken for granted that it works. The only thing speed-related thing I consistently read doesn't work is the mod on weapons.

[Nakia]

I have been putting off going to the area where Tidefall is but will get it.  I still need the Boots of Faith.  My priestess has a belt slot open but I have no idea what to put there.  Since bonus items don't stack it gets to be a game of who gets the lolly.

[Nobear]

I have been putting off going to the area where Tidefall is but will get it.  I still need the Boots of Faith.  My priestess has a belt slot open but I have no idea what to put there.  Since bonus items don't stack it gets to be a game of who gets the lolly.

 

I keep forgetting to use my Shod-in-Faith boots! I have them on Eder currently. As for belts, I don't think I've filled all my belt slots yet by almost the end of Act 2, but I did buy some items from various Defiance Bay vendors that give +2 or +3 to a stat, including Belt of the Stelgaer for one of my tanks, and Don Paco's Codpiece of Vigor (lol). I mean none of my other characters "need" Con, but it's a slot filled, and you never know when it might save a character's life when in a pinch, so I'm using it until I get something better.

[Nakia]

 I missed the codpiece but my MC is a female and wouldn't that be out of role playing:    Aloth could probably use though doesn't strike me as needing one either with his personality.  However he is male and I guess has the proper equipment.     Now you've got me going.  Those is no proper slot for that sort of thing.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Nakia

[Nobear]

 I missed the codpiece but my MC is a female and wouldn't that be out of role playing:    Aloth could probably use though doesn't strike me as needing one either with his personality.  However he is male and I guess has the proper equipment.     Now you've got me going.  Those is no proper slot for that sort of thing.

 

Durance would strike me as the type to wear one, or Hiravias. They can both get kinda nasty. Durance grumbles or rants about almost everything, but Ondra's Gift makes his blood boil!