[CLASS GUIDE] Priests

[indika_tates]

The Priest Class Guide
-------------------------------

Priests. One of the strongest classes of this game if not the strongest one. Priests are amazing. This character has awesome buff/debuffs that can make even the hardest battles a cakewalk. This is my favorite class and I'm going to post a guide that is based on my experience. Take in mind that there are different ways of playing this class but this is only my personal approach. This is based on POTD, so it may or may not be accurate on lower difficulties.

 

Let's talk first about attributes (2nd line caster):

- DEX. This is the most important attribute for a priest. The faster you can spam buffs/debuffs the easier the encounter becomes. You want to be fast, you want to spam in tough encounters as many spells as you can in the minimum amount of time.

- INT. The second one. The higher your INT is, the higher your radius and duration of spells. An obvious choice.

- MIG. It affects the amount of damage/healing you do.

- PER. Accuracy & Interrupts.

 

For a second line priest caster CON & RES are not important. If your character gets focused by ranged/melee mobs, or spellcasters he's going to die and it doesn't matter if you have more or less CON. It may be one, two or three more hits if you have high CON but defenses are weak compared to other characters, and you have ways to avoid it.

 

Let's talk about important talents:

- Interdiction/Painful interdiction: The priest bread & butter during the entire game. Daze & Weakened are very good debuffs. It has a HUGE radius and you have one interdiction per encounter. You can even enhance the daze affliction with empowered interdiction which is not bad. Your purpose is to crit with Interdictions because if you do so the duration can be about 30-40 seconds late game.

 

Dazed: -2 INT, PER, DEX. -10 Accuracy 0.85% attack speed. The attack speed is more than 0.85% because of additional -2 DEX.

Weakened: -2 MIG, -20 Fort & Will, -2 Move speed, -2 CON & Allows sneak attack.

 

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Status_Effects

 

Having this tool every encounter is great. And you only need two talents (three if you choose empowered interdiction). Not too much to say. Every class that targets fortitude will love you. Specially ciphers, wizards and druids. And you too.

 

- Scion of Flame. Another important one for two reasons. The first one is that it affects (or it should) your Holy Radiance. A player priest that respects his/her alignment with high MIG and Scion of Flame can clear a full room of vessels with this. It also frighten vessels, so it's a net gain.

 

- Inspiring Radiance. +10 Accuracy to your party members. A nice choice.

 

 

So let's talk about spells. This is the largest past of this guide. I'll choose the spells I think are useful/notable.

 

- Level 1 Spells:

-----------------------

Armor of Faith. Your early game bread & butter. The thing about this spell is that it stacks with Druid Delemgan/Woodskin. A barbarian in plate armor with a combination of AoF and Delemgan can achieve a DR of: 15 (pierce) base + 3 pierce proof + 4 AoF + 8 Delemgan + 3 Hard skinned + 5 Blunting belt + 2 Crucible Knights Perk +2/3 Survival skill for a total of 43!!. A fire godlike carrying "He carries many scars" can have 48 DR + 1.5x when at 25% endurance. Is that not great? I think it's. With food you can increase it even higher. Be aware it doesn't stack with Zealous Endurance.

 

Blessing. +5 ACC and +10% dmg is great. This spell is useful from level 1 to 16. It doesn't stack with Zealous Focus, so if you have a paladin take it in mind.

 

Divine Terror. The important part of this spell is that it affects will and it has +15 ACC. So if you haven't another source of fright this is welcome. Painful interdiction + Divine Terror can fright mobs for the entire combat. And it's a level 1 spell.

 

Prayer against fear. When fighting drakes & dragons is a must. Since you can cast it from scrolls it's less important than other spells, but useful when needed.

 

Halt. Fast cast speed and affects Will. It has also +15 ACC and it's a great spell to use when enemy mobs pass your first line. Since I recommend Painful Interdiction, against a weakened target a crit can stop a mob for 30-40 seconds late game. At the price of level 1 spell. This is a core one. More useful late game when you have level 1 spells to spare.

 

Withdraw. The emergency spell. This can save your characters or your own priest taking wounds. It's a fast cast one and it's better to disable a character that being killed. And since it's regenerates endurance he/her can come back later to combat. So that's why DEX is the important attribute. You need to cast it fast when needed. The same with Halt.

 

Holy Meditation. Fast cast +30 Concentration + 15Will. Explained on level 2 spells. 

 

- Level 2 Spells:

-----------------------

Consecrated Ground. Your main healing spell. Have another character with high MIG&INT wearing shod in faith and cast this spell. You'll have more healing than you need.

 

Divine Mark. A great debuff. -25 DEF is a lot. It targets Will (one of the lowest defenses) and it can deal more than 100dmg/crit. The range is short but against big bosses it's very useful. Since it stacks with Scion of Flame, it makes this spell even greater.

 

Holy Power. Another priest gem. If you have enough INT (about 24-25) this spell can reach the entire party on a 3x2 square. +7 RES and +3 MIG for everyone inside for the entire combat. Better Concentration & Will & Fortitude saves. Cast Holy Meditation after and forget interrupts. No one is going to interrupt your party member more. Even critical hits are going to have a bad time when trying to. 

 

Iconic Projection. Another great spell. It doesn't do too much damage, and it doesn't heal a lot but because it's a fast cast spell you can spam it on hard encounters. And it makes the difference when you cast five of this against mobs with debuffs on reflexes. Specially on choke-points.

 

Prayer Against Infirmity. Another protection one. The same logic as every protection spell. Excellent when needed.

 

Repulsing Seal. The radius is short. The duration is OK. And you can cast it before combat. Because it targets fortitude if your priest have good stealth you can cast it above enemy casters (usually low Fort defenses). Start the combat within stealth with a Painful Interdiction and disable one-two casters for 10-15 seconds.

 

Suppress affliction. Not too useful if you have unshackling rings in your party. But sometimes is the only way you have to avoid plague of insects for example. Since you can spam it every 8-9 seconds, it can be the difference of seeing your party dieor not.

 

- Level 3 Spells:

-----------------------

 

This is the part when the priest start to become a powerhouse. Let's take a look.

 

Circle of protection. Useful. But you can cast it from scrolls. And scrolls have higher defense increase (+20). But, when you don't have scrolls to spare is a must. The best use of this spell is when you don't have enough level to cast the proper protection spell so you try to lower the chances of being disabled. Specially against confused, dominated, paralized, petrified. It won't save you but you can convert crits to hits, or hits to grazes.

 

Despondent Blows. Do you remember how hard those Ogres from the White March crush your low-level party? No more. It targets Will with +15 accuracy. Cast it on a group of two or three fat mobs and the battle is over. Remember, Painful interdiction helps a lot before casting this spell or another one that targets Will/Fort.

 

Dire Blessing. A core spell. One of the best spells of this game. +20% hit-to-crit is awesome. Even better if you cast it before Painful Interdiction. Your wizards & druids will love you. Your rogues too. The standard combat opening for a priest is Dire Blessing + Painful Interdiction + The rest of spells. Dazing/Weakening every mob in the encounter for 15-16 sec/hit and 30+ on crit can turn the tide even on the tougher ones this game has. The late game opener is Crowns for the faitfhul + Dire Blessing + Painful Interdiction + rest of spells. Against mobs with disables, the protection comes first. It's not too hard to realize why high DEX is so important. You have to cast a lot of spells, and speed matters.

 

Pillar of Faith. One of my favorite spells. It's a bit tricky to use. It targets REF for the main target & Fort for the AOE  (which radius can be huge if you have more than 24-25 INT) can prone for 30-40 seconds late game on crit!!!  Eight, nine or maybe ten mobs with a single spell. Once again, Painful interdiction and this spell against casters is another priest gem. Because casters tend to stick together behind the main lines it's not too hard to disable a group of them. And disabling casters is a must, specially on POTD.

 

Prayer against XX. As before.

 

Warding Seal. Another seal. But the level 2 one is better.

 

Watchful Presence. Another emergency spell but this one is preemptive. A must on tough fights.

 

- Level 4 Spells:

-----------------------

 

This is the part when having a priest on your party makes the difference. Great stuff in this level.

 

Devotions for the faithful. It's hard to describe how good this spell is. +4 MIG, +20 ACC for you, -10 MIG, -20 ACC for them. In a huge radius. 2x1 spell. Against tough melee mobs is an instant-win.  Since it affects Will, one more time again Painful interdiction is your best friend here.

 

Searing Seal. The radius of this seal is big. And it blinds. Since it targets REF it's more effective on some mobs than others. The bad part about it if it's a level 4 spell and there are better spells than a seal. But it's useful sometimes.

 

Shining Beacon. One of the best priest spells. Huge radius, Defense debuff and high DMG. It targets Will (Painful Interdiction again). The problem is that I'm not sure if it stacks with Scion of Flame. It should, but this is a DOT and for example Scion of Flame doesn't stack with Chanter Dragon Trashed. The same can be happening here.

 

Triumph of the Crusaders. A great spell for your DMG dealers. Rogues, Barbarians, Wizards, Druids, Fighters, Rangers. Everyone. Kill an enemy, regen all of your health. A very strong choice if you have time to spare.

 

- Level 5 Spells:

-----------------------

 

Champion's Boon. +10 Mig, +10 Per.  Druid storms + Champion's Boon. Wizard Minor blights. Chanters with Dragon thrashed + Champion's Boon is also a good combo.

 

Pillar of Holy Fire. This spell is as great as your INT value. Scion of Flame + Merciless Hand + high MIG on REF debuffed mobs can hit late game for 120+ Dmg/mob on crit. If you catch 8-9 of them (which is not hard late game) you can deal about 800-1000dmg with a single spell. Great if you have a source of paralysis. Against petrified ones is a sentence of death. A classical combo is chanter "At the sound of his voice" then Pillar of holy fire.

 

Shields for the faithful. I'll explain this spell later.

 

- Level 6 Spells:

-----------------------

 

Cleansing Flame. Dragon thrashed + Shining Beacon + Cleansing Flame. Not too much to say. A combo like this is three mobs out of the game instantly. Specially if you linger two dragon chants.

 

Crown for the faithful. The best priest spell. It's a broken & game-changer one. +6 INT +25 RES? Cast this spell + Shields for the faithful and forget about deflection attacks. No one is going to hit you. The luckiest ones may graze you. But no more. Late game is the first spell you cast, since it increases the duration/radius of everyone in the group and barbarian carnage AOE.

 

Spark the souls. It's useful for melee parties. But it's a level 6 spell and you spare your crowns to have it on as many encounters as you can.

 

- Level 7 Spells:

-----------------------

 

Minor Avatar. It's an excellent buff for yourself if you are a caster, or a melee priest. It doesn't matter. Cast it before the important spells if you have time to do so. The duration is great but it's a level 7 spell so it's all about a late game thing.

 

And that's it. I hope this guide helps someone that want to try a priest character. To finish I'll post the min-maxed priest character I use.

 

Wood Elf - Old Vailia.

 

18 MIG

3 CON

19 DEX

16 PER

19 INT

3 RES

 

You can swap the attributes if you don't feel comfortable with 3 CON but even on POTD you can manage to survive if you fight smart. Have fun!

Edited March 15, 2017 by indika_tates

[Torm51]

Great guide.  Priest is tied for first as my favorite class (Paladin being the other )  

[TheMetaphysician]

Enormously helpful.

[dgray62]

This is a great guide, indika_tates, thanks! I love priests and always have one in every party, but never Durance, as I can bear his slow casting speed due to low DEX. I agree that DEX is key! You indicate that Scion of Flame doesn't affect Shining Beacon since the latter deals DOT. Wouldn't the same be true of Holy Radiance? It deals DOT as well. Also, has the bug been fixed that caused Painful Interdiction to fail to apply the ACC bonus for the weakened effect? I read about this bug earlier last year, and then noticed that the weakened effect hit far less often than the dazed effect. So I stopped taking interdiction and painful interdiction. With the more powerful weakened effect bugged, it seemed like a waste of two precious talent points. But if this bug has been fixed, I would start taking them again.

[indika_tates]

This is a great guide, indika_tates, thanks! I love priests and always have one in every party, but never Durance, as I can bear his slow casting speed due to low DEX. I agree that DEX is key! You indicate that Scion of Flame doesn't affect Shining Beacon since the latter deals DOT. Wouldn't the same be true of Holy Radiance? It deals DOT as well. Also, has the bug been fixed that caused Painful Interdiction to fail to apply the ACC bonus for the weakened effect? I read about this bug earlier last year, and then noticed that the weakened effect hit far less often than the dazed effect. So I stopped taking interdiction and painful interdiction. With the more powerful weakened effect bugged, it seemed like a waste of two precious talent points. But if this bug has been fixed, I would start taking them again.

 

Thank you! Maybe scion of flame doesn't affect Holy Radiance too. It's hard to test. Painful interdiction has two rolls. One for dazed effect against will and one for weakened against fortitude. Most foes have higher Fort than Will so the first one hits frequently while the second one not. I think empowered interdiction is not a bug, it's only for the first roll. It would be nice if this talent affect both rolls. Otherwise it's not worth taking it if only affects dazing.

[Boeroer]

Very nice work!

 

Scion of Flame doesn't work with Holy Radiance. Empowered Interdiction only buffs the dazing, not the weakening part.

 

I want to add a few things that might be useful:

 

- The ACC bonus of Inspiring Radiance stacks with everything which makes it a very powerful talent.

 

- The ACC bonus of Devotions stacks with nearly every other source of ACC bonus (like Disciplined Barrage, Zealous Focus, Blessing and so on), making this spell even more awesome.

 

- Circle of Defense stacks with all active defense buffs that do not also raise all defenses. So for exampke with everything that only raises deflection (Shields for the Faithful) it will stack. In a normal game you could say it stacks with nearly everything.

 

- the -75% healing of Aggrandizing Radiance only affect the priest. Besides that little drawback he will get a temporary +2 to all stats and movement once every encounter. If you use your radiance as buff and not as healing tool, it is very good to use this at the start of every encounter as a self buff in combination with Inspiring Radiance. It stacks with everything!

If you cast Minor Avatar first and then Aggrandizing Radiance you will have +10(!) to all stats for a long enough time. Very good solo tool, too.

 

- Triumph of the Crusaders: it's one of the best spells for soloing since you and only you will kill enemies. Your endurance bar is always full as long as you keep killing. This allows full offense mode.

 

- Withdraw: a chanter will not stop chanting when withdrawn! You can create an invincible, unmoveable source of Dragon Thrashed with this. Somebody called it a "totem" once. You can cast Crowns for the Faithful first to maximize the radius.

 

- Cleansing Flame also works on wounding, Envenomed Strike, Runner's Wounding Shot and Wounding Shot as well as Enduring Flames. You can create very powerful party synergies here that bring down every boss in seconds.

 

---

 

What about lvl 8 spells and stuff like Storm of Holy Fire or Symbol of <Deity>?

[Livegood118]

I have to admit I've never actually used cleansing flame, only had it used against me!

 

Is it really that good?

[Boeroer]

It doubles all DoT damage that's on the target, delivers its own DoT damage, is a debuff and also jumps to two additional targets. It's really good.

[indika_tates]

Very nice work!

 

Scion of Flame doesn't work with Holy Radiance. Empowered Interdiction only buffs the dazing, not the weakening part.

 

I want to add a few things that might be useful:

 

- The ACC bonus of Inspiring Radiance stacks with everything which makes it a very powerful talent.

 

- The ACC bonus of Devotions stacks with nearly every other source of ACC bonus (like Disciplined Barrage, Zealous Focus, Blessing and so on), making this spell even more awesome.

 

- Circle of Defense stacks with all active defense buffs that do not also raise all defenses. So for exampke with everything that only raises deflection (Shields for the Faithful) it will stack. In a normal game you could say it stacks with nearly everything.

 

- the -75% healing of Aggrandizing Radiance only affect the priest. Besides that little drawback he will get a temporary +2 to all stats and movement once every encounter. If you use your radiance as buff and not as healing tool, it is very good to use this at the start of every encounter as a self buff in combination with Inspiring Radiance. It stacks with everything!

If you cast Minor Avatar first and then Aggrandizing Radiance you will have +10(!) to all stats for a long enough time. Very good solo tool, too.

 

- Triumph of the Crusaders: it's one of the best spells for soloing since you and only you will kill enemies. Your endurance bar is always full as long as you keep killing. This allows full offense mode.

 

- Withdraw: a chanter will not stop chanting when withdrawn! You can create an invincible, unmoveable source of Dragon Thrashed with this. Somebody called it a "totem" once. You can cast Crowns for the Faithful first to maximize the radius.

 

- Cleansing Flame also works on wounding, Envenomed Strike, Runner's Wounding Shot and Wounding Shot as well as Enduring Flames. You can create very powerful party synergies here that bring down every boss in seconds.

 

---

 

What about lvl 8 spells and stuff like Storm of Holy Fire or Symbol of <Deity>?

 

 

I know the withdraw thing with a chanter, but I consider it an exploit. It should not chant when disabled, but you can use it. To be honest I haven't used a lot the level eight spells. Cleansing flame is so good. If you choose Magran as your deity there is room also to get Envenomed strike to use both together.

 

I was not aware about Aggrandizing Radiance. Looking at the description it appears to reduce healing to everyone but if only affects the priest it's a talent worth it. When I play with Durance I usually have this tool as an accuracy buff, but with your main char it heals a lot. There is also an amulet that increases 15% the healing done.

[Livegood118]

Seeing this thread encouraged me to run some numbers on some offensive Priest spells, given how I've never really used Priests offensively before.

 

I've assumed +100% damage for spells where scion of flame is applicable, then +80% for those where it isn't. 30 Intellect for double duration. These bonuses seem pretty achievable on most ordinary builds after a casting of minor avatar. All attacks vs 20 DR, so in reality you could expect to get a fair bit more against most enemies.

 

Storm of Holy Fire

24 – 30 burn damage, 9 second base

AVG Base DMG = 27

Base Damage*2 = 54

Base Duration*2 = 18 seconds = 7 procs

AVG Damage roll = 54

54*7 - 20*7 = 238 damage over 18 seconds

If crit add 12 – 15 damage each hit, more with related talents

 

Shining Beacon

20 Damage ticks, 9 second base

Base Damage *1.8 = 36

Base Duration *2 = 18 seconds = 7 Ticks on hit, 10 Ticks on Crit

Hit = 36 * 7 - (DR*1.75) = 224 - 35 = 199 damage over 18 seconds

Crit = 36 * 10 - (DR*2.5) = 320 - 50 = 270 damage over 27 seconds

 

Hand of Weal and Woe

25 Damage per second for 10 seconds base

Assume not affected by Scion of Flame and Intellect, vs full DR

Base Damage*1.8 = 45

45 - 20 = 25 * 10

= 250, 500 if affected by intellect

If crit add 12.5 damage per hit, more with related talents

 

Cleansing Flame

30 Damage ticks, 5 sec base

Assume not affected by Scion of Flame

Base Damage *1.8 = 54 per tick

Base Duration * 2 = 10 seconds = 4.33 ticks on Hit, 6 Ticks on Crit

Hit = 54*4.33 - 20*1.25 = 209 damage over 10 secs

Crit = 54*6 - 20*1.5 = 294 damage over 15 secs

+ Double DoT Damage

 

Symbol of Eothas

15-25 Burn Damage, 20 seconds Base

AVG Base DMG = 20

*2 = 40 damage 

20 * 2 = 40 seconds

Assume 15 hits (Approx)

(40 - 20) * 15 = 300 Damage over 40 secs

 

Conclusions

 

Holy moly! Not bad. 

 

Shining Beacon and Cleansing Flame are what stand out the most to me. The fact they can all be stacked and then you can throw on some cleansing flames to the double damage seems insane and is making me want to do a Priest PC.

 

A few questions

 

– Can anyone confirm hand of weal and woe isn't affected by INT and Scion of Flame? I've assumed this is the case since I think the same is true for Antipathetic Field and Spirit of Decay

– Can Cleansing Flame stack with itself?

– How exactly does Spark the Souls of the Righteous Work?

– Has anyone got the numbers on Holy Radiance? (Including disposition bonuses)

[Boeroer]

Offensive priest is very impressive - not only in numbers, but also during the game. Priests need some time to get the really powerful AoE nukes, but then they totally rock the house. I would even say they are the best damage dealers in PoE (besides barbs with Heart of Fury) once the higher levels (Shining Beacon and above) get unlocked. Also because they have those awesome ACC and stat buffs. Maybe my dreams come true and we can see those things combined with Deathblows: rogue/priest.

 

- Scion of Flame should work with Hand of Wael and Woe. Spirit of Decay works with Anitpathetic Field for example and Scion of Flame works with Ray of Fire. At least it used to.

 

- As far as I know Cleansing Flame - cast multiple times on an enemy - will just prolong the duration. It will not stack.

I did not test this, but I think the DoT-boost also works with Cleansing Flame's own DoT damage. Since I always combine with another high-dmg-DoT-effect like Shining Beacn or Envenomed Strike it's hard to tell though.

 

- Spark the Souls of the Righteous gives all allies in range (when the spell is cast) an aura that harms enemies near them periodically - I think every 3 seconds. The damage is not enormous - quite low to be honest - but if you keep your party together and attack as a pack the enemies receive 6 shock attacks every 3 seconds which is devestating if you cast Combusting Wounds on them as well. And all the small hits start to pile up and grind down enemies, too -  especially if you can lower enemies' shock DR. Too bad this interesting spell has to compete against some of the best spells in the game. 

 

- I have no numbers, but if you have very high MIG (around 40) and all dispositions right most vessels get one-shotted, even most fampyrs if you crit. Raedric und such will need more pummeling, but you can guess how powerful it can get. This works even better if you have Inspiring Radiation and Aggrendizing Radiation because both buffs get applied before the radiance hits the enemy. I think the most important part are the dispositions, because a hireling or companion priest - aka Du(chebag)rance - will not perform as well as an MC priest. I have a savegame somewhere with a high MIG MC priest. Maybe I can dig it out and look up the numbers...

Edited March 17, 2017 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

Why choosing between offensive and support priest when you can cast symbol of Eothas ?

[Boeroer]

Because it's lvl 8.

[Dr <3]

Interestingly this discussion inspired me to try exactly the opposite: a full defensive priest.

Let's therorycrafting a bit about what you should be able to build:

 

As a priest you start at 15 deflection

+ 10 for a base 20 RES

+ 15 for circle of defence / even +20 for symbol of wael

+ 25 crowns for the faithful

+ 30 (more or less) for using a good shield + talent

+ 48 (3*15) from lvl ups

+ 5 superior deflection talent

+ 4 for siegebreacker gauntlets

 

--> about 155 full buffed deflection

 

- 10 enemy accuracy for fear (es: divine terror / fear aura)

- 10 enemy accuracy for dazed (instill doubt / interdiction)

- 20 enemy deflecion for devotion for the faithful / - 15 accuracy desponent blows

 

--> about -40 to enemy accuracy (if everything stacks, but i'm not sure)

 

and there are more tool to consider for further optimization (mantle of comfort / llengrath potion / little savior aura or Redfield aura/ blind from erlyn jacket or searing seal/ images from Weal  robe, ecc ecc ) but i'll need some testing to see what effectively stacks with other bonuses...

 

considering all this, maybe we will not be in the total "unouchable zone" but we should be near enough...

Edited March 18, 2017 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

You can even add Shiekds for the Faithful (+25) because Devotions and Circle of Defense stack with it. That would put you on 200 deflection without a ring of protection (+9) or the Cloak of the Master Mystic (+12).

 

Frightened, dazed and Devotion's ACC debuff should stack. The first two definitely do. You can add blinded (-25 ACC, Searing Seal) to the mix, too.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Boeroer

[Livegood118]

Gafonercos has 139 accuracy on POTD.

 

I think you'd need +85 over that to ensure constant misses, which is 224. 

 

All your other defences get such a tasty boost from Minor Avatar too – +32 Fort, +32 Reflex, +32 Will. 

 

Devotions for the Faithful's ACC debuff should hypothetically stack with other accuracy debuffs because it affects ranged and melee accuracy rather than general accuracy.

 

With Blind you should be able to stack to -45 then, hypothetically.

 

Edit:

 

Funny it seems the one area the Priest really seems to fall down on is hard CC. All I can see is Pillar of Faith (Prone), Repulsing Seal (Prone) and Halt (Stuck). 

 

Plenty of very nice stackable soft CC though, but not many tools to outright debilitate enemies. To that extent Lore seems like it'd be a very good choice for a priest to get those scrolls of paralysis and scrolls of confusion for added flexibility. 

 

Even with low Per it doesn't seem like accuracy at high levels would be that much of a problem:

 

+ 20 (Base) + 45 (Levels) + 20 (Devotions) + 10 (other general accuracy buffs) + 10 (Inspiring Radiance) + 2 (Aggrandizing Radiance) + 8 (Minor Avatar) + 10 (Spell Bonus) + 5 (Distant Advantage) = 130

 

Could easily increase that a fair bit more through equipment and other abilities/spells.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Livegood118

[Dr <3]

Sorry for some mistakes / missings in my previous post.

 

these are the resaults i found after some testing

 

base char:

 

orlan max lvl with 19 base RES + siegebreacker gautlets + 9 def ring + hatcet + little savior + superior deflection + sword & shield talent

--> base 123 deflection // 69 fort / 127 ref / 131 will            (also carrying + 4 agi boots, + 4 int ring, mantle of protection +9)

 

 

About boosting defences:

 

the fastest and easy combo is symbol of ethoas + shield for the faithful + crowns for the faithful  --> 193 deflection

add minor avatar for 121 fort / 179 ref / 217 will

 

moonwell is useless for our porpuses;

scroll of defence is a possible substitute for symbol of eothas and a bit better alternative than circle of protection (+20 vs +15 to all defences)

llengrath potion grants + 20 to reflex, +25 to deflection gets suppressed by shield for the faithful

cautios attack get suppressed by shield for the faithful (and eventually also by llengrath potion), so maybe is not worth a talent pick

 

 

About debuff effects:

 

-  the -15 accuracy from desponet blows SUPPRESS the -10 accuracy from fear (so you get only a -15 debuff)

-  the -20 accuracy from devotion for the faithful debuff SUPPRESS BOTH fear and desponent blows debuff (so you get only a -20 debuff)

- DAZED effect STACKS with desponent blows / devotion for the faithful, adding a -12 to enemy accuracy (-10 accuracy, -2 perception, *0.85 attack speed)  --> -32 accuracy

- BLINDED effect STACKS with both dazed and devotion debuff (actually it gives -22 accuracy instead than -25 but wathever) --> -54 accuracy

 

so the fastest and easy combo is devotion for the faithful + blind (symbol of megran/searing seal) + instill doubt / interdiction

 

 

considerations:

 

- for maximize the actual chance of "not beign hit" the symbol of megran is better than the ethoas one : we can still use circle of protection for have +15 to all defences insted than +20 provided from symbol of ethoas, but we get a blind effect that lower enemy accuracy by 25. So we lose 5 to all defences for get a -25 accuracy debuff, gaining a straight + 20 to effective defences

- the combo i suggest is

 1) crowns for the faithful

 1b) ev. minor avatar

 2) shield for the faithful (if enemies are not in range) or devotion for the faithful  (if enemies are already in melee range) 

 3) devotion / shield

 4) symbol of megran

 5) circle of defence

 6) instill doubt / iterdiction

 

 7) start spam your aoe dmg spells

 

 

Edit: with my setup the max deflection reached is 193. Maybe i can slight empower it using mantle of master mystic vs deflection ring (+ 3 gain) and actually maxing out resolution at the character creation (18 int / 20 res instead than 19/19, with a +1 gain).

Another +3 comes out if i make little savior legendary instead of excellent

Another +3 could arrive if you use a legendary  tower shield insted than little savior, but is not worth the hassle, since you lose the +5 to all defences aura and you get a wonderful -8 to accuracy

Eventually a +10 comes out from wild orlan racial

I wonder if i can do better but i think that at 200/203 i will be maxed out. What is the best that you can achieve with a paladin for comparison?

Edited March 18, 2017 by Dr <3

[Livegood118]

Good research. Will be useful for posterity.

 

I'm not certain about the defence values for Paladin. 20 Base Deflection kind of stinks but you can more than make up for that through abilities. Inspiring Triumph and Shielding Flames stack with everything. Also +13 Deflection from Faith and Conviction with Deep Faith and then +20 All defences from Ryona's Breastplate.

 

Someone more experienced with Paladins could probably give you the numbers, but I doubt they'd be able to beat the craziness of Priest Buffs? Crowns for the Faithful, Shields for the Faithful and then Symbol of Eothas = +70 Deflection.

 

edit: not to mention the accuracy debuffs that priests can bring

Edited March 18, 2017 by Livegood118

[Dr <3]

I agree, the only difference is that the core of paladin's High defenses (30 base + faith&conviction + shield + shield talent + 5 to all def from the shield aura ecc) are ALWAYS active and not require any kind of casting. And are ALL High, not only deflecion.

 

This is a huge benefit if the enemies manage to disable you at the beginning of the fight. As a Priest you are 100% death, as a paladin you can laugh until you are operative again.

 

If as a Priest you manage to chain cast your spells on the other side your defenses skyrockets and your massive aoe spells will clean the field much faster then the paladin's hack and slash.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Paladins only have 20 base deflection.

 

With a shield that has Preservation (the first one can be found in Endless Paths lvl 5 - drake) and any other item with that same enchantment (like Blaidh Golen hide armor - Brackenbury Snatorium) you can get +100 to all defenses when prone or stunned. This will prevent the priest frm getting killed if he gets stunned or prone and can't cast buffs.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Boeroer

[bebeto]

What weapon would be best for a suport priest that focus for buffing/debuffing and ocasional offensive spells ,a hatchet maybe?.In terms of gear I think Pike's Pride armor+ Ilfan Byrgnar's Solace shield combo is best with great synergy.If bot durganized u will have almost no penalty from armor,-5% is nothing.This allows you to spare Blaid Golan(best armor ingame imo) for your main or another one.Since stun and prone can be the main danger to your priest i think this will work best and vs rest he has immunities buffs.Also being an aumua it helps also wich is ussualy my nr 1 pick.

Btw Boeroer i run atm a trio witch doctor monk(your build)+cipher+priest.This trio imo is best trio possible.The monk is my main man and is based on your build.The long pain is really strong  ,im really impressed.With champions boon he can reach ridicoulos amount of damage and might is close to 40.Also with priest in party his defensive stats are impressive also ,he cant die and almost any monster is a 2-3 torments reach business and i play potd btw.

Edited March 21, 2017 by bebeto

[Elric Galad]

At high level, priest won't be swinging any attack most of the time anyway.

 

So I think the best option is Sword and Board style. Small shield is nice to avoid Acc malus: high level priests get very strong damage spells.

 

You should pick up a defensive one-hander such as Steadfast, captain Viccilor Anger (the best hatchet) or Yenwood sword (for this +2 Con).

 

 

There are many priest builds that actually uses weapons. They might not be optimal but they are efficient and fun for sure !

[hansvedic]

Aggrandizing Radiance stacks with other buffs to stats, right?

 

If so, couldn't one use it (and Salvation of Time to extend duration) in order to buff defenses even further? That would be 8 more to the fortitude, reflex, and will saves, as well as 2 more to deflection save.

 

Finally, with how high a priest's defense can get, would it be worthwhile to consider using the Potion of Wizard's Double as opposed to Shields for the Faithful for the toughest fights?

[Lampros]

At high level, priest won't be swinging any attack most of the time anyway.

 

So I think the best option is Sword and Board style. Small shield is nice to avoid Acc malus: high level priests get very strong damage spells.

 

You should pick up a defensive one-hander such as Steadfast, captain Viccilor Anger (the best hatchet) or Yenwood sword (for this +2 Con).

 

 

 

Gosh, upgrading melee weapons on a Priest takes forever...

[Archaven]

What?! Zealous focus don't stack with Blessing? I've been doing it all wrong all these time!. Damn Obsidian they should better explain in combat log what stacks and what not.