High damage paladin

[solidbry]

Sup guys!

 

I'm kinda new to the game so I'm looking for some advice (never got passed Raedric...). I want to build a high damage paladin.

 

First of all, is it a good idea? Like, can they dish out nice damage in this game or are they catered as tanks?

 

If the DPS route is a thing, what race/stats should I aim for when I roll my toon?

 

On the other hand, if I'll be gimping myself as a DPS pally, maybe a high dps tank would be nice. A little bit of both world I've heard about a pally aura that can deal an insane amount of damage...sounds nice!

 

I kinda want to min/max this playthrough. In my Baldur's Gate days, I could re-roll stats for hours until I got the "perfect" ones Kinda cheating but I dunno, it was satisfying for some reasons haha

 

Big thanks.

 

P.S. I'm running version 3.7 of the game BTW if it makes any difference.

[JerekKruger]

Before level 13 "high" isn't going to be that high. Your only damage dealing ability is Flames of Devotion which, whilst great, is only usable twice per encounter. Beyond that you'll be relying on Sworn Enemy (once per encounter, only works on a single enemy), Zealous Focus (passive but applies to your whole party so isn't really a specific bonus to your paladin) and various generic talents that any class can take. You also have lower base Accuracy than Fighters, Rogues, Monks and Rangers and don't benefit from the AoE attacks of Barbarians so you're at a disadvantage there too.

 

To make up for all this you're going to be fairly tanky no matter how you build your character thanks to Faith and Conviction. You'll also have access to a whole range of support abilities that you should take since they are very good.

 

After level 13 things change as you get access to Sacred Immolation, one of the best abilities in the game. When activated this does constant damage to all enemies within the area of effect for the duration whilst also healing allies and makes your Paladin a very potent damage dealer. This is easily one of the best damage dealing abilities in the game.

 

As for Attributes the essential things are to maximise Might and Intellect so as to maximise your damage and the duration and area of effect of Sacred Immolation when you get it (you could use lower Intellect until level 13 then respec then, but I prefer to stick with a single Attribute spread throughout the game). Beyond that Perception and Dexterity are the most important attributes for damage dealing, though personally I wouldn't dump Resolve or Constitution too low. I'd probably go with something like:

 

Mig 18

Con 8

Dex 10

Per 16

Int 18

Res 8

 

Weapons wise the optimal choice for Flames of Devotion would be dual wielding, particularly in the hands of a Bleak Walker Paladin. Ideally you'd get Bittercut, improve it to Superb or even Legendary, then use the Helwax Mold to duplicate it (always do this after enchanting it fully as the mold duplicates enchantments too) and dual wield that. Alternatively you could use Tidefall (a Great Sword available early on) since your high Might will make very good use of its Wounding enchantment.

[solidbry]

Niice!

 

All this sounds good to me. I'll definitly give it a shot.

 

I'm at the point where I really need to choose a class and go on with it, whatever happens next! I've been re-rolling dozens of times and I'm pretty much done with the freaking introduction Like, I'm not sure I can take it anymore haha! I'll give it one last shot with this paly and hope that it will be THE ONE. Otherwise, I'll have to choose between Barb and Cipher. Those are the 2 other classes that looks the most fun to me.

 

Being a min/maxer is like a gift and a curse...it can yield awesome results but is also a PITA to get there if it does not feel perfect right away.

 

Thanks again for the input!

[Kaylon]

You can safely dump dex and int until lv13 to increase your tankiness. The best dps combo you can get until you have access to durgan enchantments is Sword of Daensys + March Steel Dagger (start of ch.2).