2 Priests

[Amare]

I'm not sure if I should be asking here or not but I would love to hear some opinions on how to use 2 priests in an effective way in a 6 man party. My main character is a priest and I also want to keep Durance because he has a certain charm to him that I like. Should I use one for buffing primarily and the other for healing?

Edited August 9, 2017 by Amare

[Boeroer]

Priests is the most powerful class in my opinion. When they don't buff they can deal awesome damage. They are only a bit short of CC, but there are other classes for this.

 

So if you want to use Durance for buffing mostly I would skill your main character for (spell) damage. Then take the Doemenel faction for the talent "Merciless Hand". With a crit your spells will deal a ton of damage then (look at the damage of Shining Beacon if you have high MIG and INT AND score a crit). With the right dispositions, your Holy Radiance can one-shot most vessels.

 

Healing is very situational so I wouldn't evolve a whole character concept around it. If you can deal a lot of damage (with high MIG and INT) you will also be good at healing.

 

Actually I never tried if 2 Inspiring Radiances stack. If they do, that would be superawesome.

 

Stacking MIG and INT into the sky is pretty easy with a priest. Little Tip: Aggrandizing Radiance's bonuses stack with everything. If you cast Minor Avatar and then Aggrandizing Randiance, you will have +10 to all stats and +2 Move speed. If you cast a damaging spell with those stats enemies get obliterated. Also nice for Envenomed Strike if you like that talent.

 

You could even make your MC priest a melee one - berathian priest with great sword is actually pretty fun. So is a skaenite priest with stilettos or a priest of eothas with a morning star - but that's all a matter of taste I guess. Note that all soulbound weapons an summoned weapons (Firebrand) work with the special priest talent that gives you +10 ACC with certain weapons. They also work with EVERY weapon focus. So you are no necessarily stuck with the weapons which are mentioned (like for example long sword and arquenbus as a preist of magran or great sword and mace as a priest of berath and so on).

Edited August 9, 2017 by Boeroer

[Amare]

Really now? It sounds like priests are going to be amazing at boss fights. I'll look into things that help me improve critical hits for my main character for sure then. On my priest I put as much points as I could into Might/Per/Int. This sounds like it's gonna be fun once I get it leveled up.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Amare

[scythesong]

Priests specialize in buff spells though they also have healing and a few damage, debuff and utility spells, as Boeroer mentioned. When it comes down to it, using priests to their full potential involves using both offensive and defensive buffs to increase party effectiveness (or personal effectiveness, if you want to play a damage-dealing priest).

Essentially priests act as a sort of party effectiveness multiplier in the game (similar to chanters and end-game ciphers).

 

Healing is really more of a band-aid solution for combat in PoE. Ultimately, you should be aiming for damage prevention using interrupts, crowd control, summons, threat management, zoning, etc.

 

There's room for two priests in a party because the priest spell selection includes a TON of buff spells and as a general rule, you don't want to drag combat out in PoE. You also wouldn't want your combat talent-heavy priest to spend most of his time in combat casting spells. Just make sure you don't end up casting buffs that don't stack (generally buffs that affect the exact same stat don't stack, with the stronger buff taking precedence).

Edited August 9, 2017 by scythesong

[limaxophobiacq]

I was going to run a Priest + Durance I'd put Durance on the frontline with some armor just so his 19 resolve isn't a complete waste (priest has some good spells with limited range so being in at the front can be helpfull)  and use your main character in the backline for buffs and AoE damage with maxed Int & Might.

Edited August 9, 2017 by limaxophobiacq

[Boeroer]

Priests don't have a big variety of damage spells, true, but the ones they have are among the best in terms of damage (as I said: look at the damage done by Shining Beacon with high MIG and INT through Minor Avatar or other buffs and add Cleansing Flame to double the ticks) - also because they can buff themselves while buffing the party so well.

 

Another reason why priests are the most powerful class for me are the prayers and litanies. They make most defense buffs against afflictions obsolete.

 

Another trick with a priest: Inspiring Radiance + Devotios for the Faithful (+30 ACC combined) stack with universal ACC bonuses like Disciplined Barrage, Zealous Focus or Blessing.

 

I can totally recommend building a priest who's focused on damage. The first two spell levels are a bit meh, but then the good stuff comes around.

 

And of course: at the start of the fight both priests should cast a buff before the CC and finally the damaging part begins. That way you spare precious buffing time.

 

For CC wizards, ciphers and druids are cool. Buff them with +30 ACC and watch how their CC spells crit. Then start the nuking...

Edited August 9, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

Priests is the most powerful class in my opinion. When they don't buff they can deal awesome damage. They are only a bit short of CC, but there are other classes for this.

 

So if you want to use Durance for buffing mostly I would skill your main character for (spell) damage. Then take the Doemenel faction for the talent "Merciless Hand". With a crit your spells will deal a ton of damage then (look at the damage of Shining Beacon if you have high MIG and INT AND score a crit). With the right dispositions, your Holy Radiance can one-shot most vessels.

 

Healing is very situational so I wouldn't evolve a whole character concept around it. If you can deal a lot of damage (with high MIG and INT) you will also be good at healing.

 

Actually I never tried if 2 Inspiring Radiances stack. If they do, that would be superawesome.

 

Stacking MIG and INT into the sky is pretty easy with a priest. Little Tip: Aggrandizing Radiance's bonuses stack with everything. If you cast Minor Avatar and then Aggrandizing Randiance, you will have +10 to all stats and +2 Move speed. If you cast a damaging spell with those stats enemies get obliterated. Also nice for Envenomed Strike if you like that talent.

 

You could even make your MC priest a melee one - berathian priest with great sword is actually pretty fun. So is a skaenite priest with stilettos or a priest of eothas with a morning star - but that's all a matter of taste I guess. Note that all soulbound weapons an summoned weapons (Firebrand) work with the special priest talent that gives you +10 ACC with certain weapons. They also work with EVERY weapon focus. So you are no necessarily stuck with the weapons which are mentioned (like for example long sword and arquenbus as a preist of magran or great sword and mace as a priest of berath and so on).

 

Found this thread while looking up "Aggrandizing Radiance." And then looked up the Minor Avatar spell - another spell I never used before. Damn, the Priest has so many amazing spells. She needs to be naked with 30 Dex and fully Durgan enchants to cast everything on time!

[Amare]

Ah I see this got back up, I did indeed go ahead with the priest build and finished the game with it. It was really satisfying in the end. (Now time for Wizard or maybe Cipher )