The Spirit/Undead hunter: A Paladin/Priest hybrid build.

[Slack83er]

Hi folks. 

I've been working on this archetype for quite a long time now. I miss so much the possibility of going multiclass, and for this reason, I'm trying to build a character that will prove an optimal leader AS WELL AS a frontline fighter, specialized in dealing with vessels/spirits, with a great care for his comrades.

Two classes immediately come to mind: Priest and Paladin. While going priest would sound the obvious choice for this kind of character, I'm also thinking on the possibility of going paladin with the cross-class priest talent, to hurt undead. Furthermore, going Wayfarers will heal your comrades A LOT everytime an enemy is killed, which happens very often, as a two handed character. Boeroer has also indicated me a lot of useful objects (like the bartender ring) which suit this build perfectly. 

 

So, while this is NO WAY an optimized build, nor a min-maxed one, I plan to build it and maybe post it on the Build section once I've reached complete control over it.

 

I believe I will go Mountain Dwarf (personal taste tbh) and give him a noble bg.

 

 

Whaddaya think guys? Would you go Priest or Paladin? Would you add something to this idea?

[Boeroer]

I personally would go priest - but paladin is also fine, especially against spirits. Your weapons could be St. Ydwen's Redeemer for the vessels and another great sword especially enchanted for hurting spirits. Like Justice - the crushing lash is quite special but not so special that you might want it to be your superduper main weapon.

 

If you choose paladin you could also look out for items that will give you some priest spells in order to give you a better "multiclass" feeling:
- Forgotten Tear of the Beloved, flail

- The Last Tower, large shield

- Black Sanctuary, small shield

- Aimoranet, mace

- St. Ydwen's Redeemer, great sword

- Good Friend, crossbow

- Silver Flash, blunderbuss

- Rebel's Call, leather armor

- Ryona's Breastplate

- Ring of Unshackling

- Gwyn's Band of Union, ring

- Shod-in-Faith, boots

- St. Borragia's Tears, amulet

- Lost Periapt of the Winding Path, amulet

- Sentinel's Girdle, belt

- Celebrant's Gloves

- Healing Hands, gloves

- Spiderfingers, gloves

- Sandals of the Forgotten Friar 

 

maybe more that I forgot

[Slack83er]

I personally would go priest - but paladin is also fine, especially against spirits. Your weapons could be St. Ydwen's Redeemer for the vessels and another great sword especially enchanted for hurting spirits. Like Justice - the crushing lash is quite special but not so special that you might want it to be your superduper main weapon.

 

If you choose paladin you could also look out for items that will give you some priest spells in order to give you a better "multiclass" feeling:

- Forgotten Tear of the Beloved, flail

- The Last Tower, large shield

- Black Sanctuary, small shield

- Aimoranet, mace

- St. Ydwen's Redeemer, great sword

- Good Friend, crossbow

- Silver Flash, blunderbuss

- Rebel's Call, leather armor

- Ryona's Breastplate

- Ring of Unshackling

- Gwyn's Band of Union, ring

- Shod-in-Faith, boots

- St. Borragia's Tears, amulet

- Lost Periapt of the Winding Path, amulet

- Sentinel's Girdle, belt

- Celebrant's Gloves

- Healing Hands, gloves

- Spiderfingers, gloves

- Sandals of the Forgotten Friar 

 

maybe more that I forgot

Thanks again Boeroer, you're always precious when it comes to builds. I'd like to go Two Handed so St. Ydwen fits just fine. But it will require paladin, so I'm compelled to use it.

If going Priest instead, I thing I shall choose Berath, which sports greatsword in the portfolio. But you gave me the good idea of using items that give spells... that can be really interesting... Would you raise Dex with a greatsword to help speed? That's always my main doubt...

[Ben No.3]

Pretends. Would you want to mainly focus on buffing and healing, I'd say raise Dex, but not per (you won't need to hit your own party), so something like M16-C9-D15-P10-I16-R10. If you want to focus on debuffing and damaging the enemies, switch D and P.

The priest is undoubtedly strongest when he is good at both, so a M16-C7-D14-P15-I16-R8 would probably be best.

Dex will give you better DPS in theory, but personally I prefer Per... I'd rather hit when I strike than strike faster with a two-hander.

Upgrade to both inspiring radiance and aggravating radiance. The first will give you +10 acc for everyone and the second will let yourself receive -75% healing but you get a +2 boost on every stat as well as +2 move speed. Both will last a base of 10 sec, so if you want to focus on them find ways to heighten your Int. Remember, it's an extremely good per-encounter buff right from the start.

So... Yeah

 

Do remember that the priest on his own is not a great frontliner. Obviously, you can buff yourself beyond godliness in a boss battle, but that will probably not be your standard procedure for every battle. This is also why I recommend upgrading the radiance, it's an overall +12 acc, +6% damage, +6% action speed and so on. So you will start hitting things much more reliably. Especially with the bonus on movement, you can run behind enemies that are fiting your tank and flank them. The slicken spell of a wizard is your best friend. Disable Auto level companions in the options so you get all companions from Lvl1 and upgrade them to your current level yourself. The priests blessing spell (+5 acc and +10% damage) will also be quite useful, especially in combination with aggravating and inspiring radiance.

Let me give you an very early example: you might meet a single bandit on the road just before entering gilded vale (I think it happened when you play normal or above). At the time you will be level 2, so you have three level one spells at your disposal. Let's assume you upgraded to aggravating radiance. So in this scenario, you'd probably start by shooting at the bandit with that crossbow you find at the corpse earlier in the ruins. Then when she comes, cast the radiance. Bring distance between her and yourself (no problem with +2 move speed), cast halt, then blessing, then barbs of commendation. Then it should be a matter of a single hit or two until the bandit is dead. This all is assuming you are not playing PoTD

Edited October 17, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Slack83er]

Ben, I still prefer paladin for that matter, that is the possibility of staying frontline without special buffs. But I think the concept you explained work just the same... I can't buff myself, I know, but I've got paladin abilities who in the end work just the same... moreover, durance buffs my party anyway...

[Ben No.3]

Lol... Oh well

The point of Dex vs Per still applies though

[Slack83er]

Lol... Oh well

The point of Dex vs Per still applies though

That's what I said. The only thing I know is I'll boost res, for the dialog options... and to stay front of course..

[Boeroer]

In my opinion PER > DEX with most builds.

But with a great sword like the Redeemer which also has spell chance on hit/crit I wouldn't choose low DEX either. If you take Veteran's Recovery you don't need a ton of CON - and you'll have Lay on Hands, too. I normally prefer high MIG and INT over high CON (of course it would be best for sturdiness if all of those were maxed ).

With Veteran's Recovery and Lay on Hands plus high MIG+INT you can easily balance out a not-so-high CON. But you also don't want to catch all those stuns and paralyzes from certain spirits - so don't dump it either because your fortitude would suffer. I think all in all it would be best to choose a fairly balanced stat spread. 

[Slack83er]

That's what I'll mostly do.. And I've already done so with my past paladin build, which in 11+ Hrs of game has never been downed.. so nothing to complain

I'm waiting for my pay to come in so I can get the expansions and take the new talents. Until then I'm gathering ideas