Which Priest deity is the "best", in your opinion? I only ever use Durance! Want to roll a merc to try out.

[aweigh0101]

I have never rolled a custom priest!

I've been reading the wiki's data on the favored deity abilities and spells and two jumped out at me: priest of eothas [on level able to select talent which gives priest +10 ACC w/ Great Sword and m'f'k'n MACE BAB]

immediate superficla thoughts are: there are a ton of extremely good GS's in the game, and most can be gotten early and two of them even have prone on crit. this would make the priest have 25 base ACC with his great sword or mace, before PER modifer and gear, on level 1, same as a 10 PER lvl 1 pally or 10 per lvl 1 chanter. NOT TOO SHABBY. the problem of course is priests base 15 deflection which seems insurmountable to overcome and if the great sword calls to me because i want a bad-ass melee priest then i have to accept it's gonna have to be a shield user, but the second weapon is the MACE, which has Rending -3 DY bypass, which is EXCELLENT for a  mace + shield combo. don't have to sweat over the shield nerfing my spell ACC either, because i'm a priest baby, suck itttt i get 13 sec prone spell with +40 acc modifier suck ittt aloth suck it)

so yeah, initial reaction is that i'd get to play a mace-and-board priest with obviously a backup ranged weapon but his focus would be as an off-tank/hybrid-off--by-the-side caster-flanker. or something. the abysmal priest END/HLTH and atrocious deflection will still be a huge downer on PotD especially, ain't no shield that's got enough enchantments to make a priest a martial class lol

however! for the very first time ever i would actually have incentive to buff myself with the Priest-only buffs Durance always has lying around but no one EVER uses because why would you either buff/heal/DoT/debuff/CC or have durance shoot from ranged. always. no need to cast some whatever spell that raises durances might, perception and resolve in a tiny 1 m zone for example. what for, an extra 10 pts of dmg on his next probably MISSED ranged attack?

no, now it's not magran priest, it would be a priest with good ACC with great swords and mace. and horrible everything else that related to melee combat. so now i see reasoning for these priest-only buffs. and also now i understand that brilliant radiance mutation of a talent that eschews healing for buffing only the priest's stats.

what kooky priests do you guys sometimes roll with? is the skaen priest worth it? how good is a sneak attack priest? is there some crazy synergy from some obscure priest spell everyone forgets to use that greatly enhances a type of priest-build w/ specific deity?

etc.
 

--btw, i love the fact the two deity weapons are all from two different groups always, because that +10 ACC is no joke, bumps priest base ACC to 25--

and the second one that piqued my interest is Skaen, granting a passive 50% sneak attack (!!!!!!) and on level up priest can choose to take talent which gives +10 ACC to Stilettos and to 

[Wolken3156]

I prefer Skaen, since it helps out the most during early game. Prey on the Weak + Initiate's Sneak Attack + Dual Stilettos is really nice way to patch up their limited offense during early game. Also its the closest thing you get to a Rogue that can fling spells around.

 

Though personally I think the deity choice isn't anything to think too deeply on. They're all viable in their own ways, plus since you'll be falling back on spells more often at level 9+, the deity specific talents will ultimately take a backseat to them, as none of them directly affect any of your spells.

[jsaving]

Skaen or Magran would be best at low levels because their deity-specific talents are moderately useful for melee/missile combat.  You could also consider Eothas if you enjoy the game's lore and want a somewhat more hopeful take on whether Eothas is truly gone for good.  But as Wolken said, the power difference from choosing one deity over another is minimal so you should feel free to pick whichever deity you like most.

[Parasol_Syndicate]

I like that Magran and Wael grant their priests ranged weapons bonuses. I'm a bit hesitant to put my main healer near the front line.

[aweigh0101]

i always used to give durance his arquebus as it is p. much Magran-ordained, but i realized i'm sick of the long arquebus reload animation messing up a spell casting when i need it, so i've been having him use crossbow.

btw, i finally figured out why the game has both aloth and durance with wnads/rods when you meet them: no reload animation to interefere with spell slinging, i.e. implements = caster gear.

[Bill Gates' Son]

For roleplaying I like Berath, but for power play i always go for Skaen.  Definitely one of the best melee support builds in the game.

[aweigh0101]

i rolled a eothas priest in my new potd/trial of iron run, this time gonna use all henchmen. i already slaughtered aloth and eder lewl.

i picked that deity for the freebie supress fear/terrify ability. seems like it'll come in handy throughout most of the game, especially on ToI; as opposed to the other deity spells/abilities, with the obvious exception of skaen. summer flame spell WITHOUT blindness? come on man, get real! arkemy's dazzling lights with less duration !? jesus christ obsidian have mercy on us. since i decided i'd roll a henchmen rogue the only deity that seemed useful was eothas for that spell/ability. flail/mace is nice too, can take weap. focus adventurer and aldo the deity talent and have +16 acc with flails, and +6 with warbow for ranged, and then just have every single other pick be one of the extra-spell ones.

Warbow doesn't hae reload animation to interfere with spell casting, does alright damage, and since it doesn't have an ACC malus built-in like the arquebus the eothan priest should shoot just as well as a magran one. doesn't matter anyway in the end is'a ll about the spells!!