Priest of Wael +X

[Lord of Riva]

Hey Guys,

 

tl;dr check bottom questions, if thats too much fluff.

 

I kind of lost track of Deadfire (and was not a backer) however this will most likely be a day one purchase from me.

 

As i didnt follow the development that close but really want to dabble in creating my PC beforehand i have some questions from the Pros

 

 

First of all i played a Wild Orlan Barbarian with a 2h Estoc in PoE the first time and had quite the fun with it, however there are some changes regarding how the classes function if i read correctly? regarding weapon modals etc. ( i already found a handy spreadsheet about that) but i am still a bit Perplexed regarding the new recovery mechanics of PoE 2.

 

I literally had all people naked (as in only clothes) in PoE apart from eder who was my tank and that was definitely sufficient on Hard so what changed generally? I would love to wear something more heavy and i love Plate Armors actually (Style wise) but it felt way too much of a drawback in PoE. (1.0 btw ... im currently replaying in story mode for PoE 2 as a refresher and for choices, i want Aloth be the grand master of the leaden key because that sounds really interesting.)

 

When i checked out PoE 2 wiki i realised that subclasses existed one stuck out to me, the Priest of Wael, it definitely is my favorite god of the Bunch and also was the end choice in my first playthrough (and most likely will be the choice again)

 

So i actually want to play a Priest .... well it could be sufficient to do just that but at the same time with multiclassing i dont have to play a full support priest.

 

One thing beforehand, i do not exactly know what the malus for priest from Wael are, no punishment spells basically mean no Damage spells altogether?

 

So in the interest of my build i have two options i currently consider, probably Orlan again or i may opt for a boring human:

 

1. Shaman of Wael (no Subclass) probably with a Two handed weapon (Estoc, or Great Sword)

 

2. Itinerant of Wael (Sharpshooter) probably Dual wielding Pistols/mixing with Blunderbus etc.

 

These may not be the most efficient choices, actually they may be really bad *shrug* , but i love the idea for Role playing Purposes.

 

tl;dr: so the questions are: (naming all questions for the tl;dr)

 

1.  What does "no Punishment spells" for Priests of Wael roughly entail?

 

2. How well do you think those multiclass choices synergize? (Barbarian/Priest of Wael and Sharpshooter/Priest of Wael)

 

3. How would you distribute your Attrbute points? (Race and origin are undecided, but i will take any suggestion )

 

4. I know two 1h weapons are currently more efficient but i prefer two-handers so which weapon would you say is the best for a Priest/Barbarian.

 

5. Is Dual wielding full ranged as Priest/Ranger a okay idea or is it a bad idea regarding the priest spells range? 

 

6. How bad would Heavy Armor interfer with the roles of these classes? What Armor would you suggest?

 

Last thing to remember, if i have to dial down to easy i will just do that its not really a problem however i would like to beat the game at least on normal or better on hard but RP comes first

 

thank you in advance if someone finds the time for input, otherwise thanks anyway for testing the game and giving great feedback (and some really in-depth calculations !) to Obsidian, the game will be better through this even though Obsidian has proven in my eyes that they can make a extremely thoroughly designed system already (even if community feedback was also imoportant there ) so also kudos to them.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Lord of Riva

[Enoch]

They dropped the barred schools from the Priest subclasses.  The deity-specific flavor now comes from bonus spells per spell level.  For Wael, those are:

 

1: Arcane Veil 2: Iconic Projection 3: Mirrored Image 4: Llengrath's Displaced Image 5: Confusion 6: Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment 7: Gaze of the Adragan

 

Source: https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/933395115338481665

 

I haven't gotten enough chance to tinker around in the Beta to have a strong opinion on good Priest multiclasses.  However, given that Waelites get the defensive illusions for free, the subclass would seem to synergize best with a front-line combatant. 

Edited February 2, 2018 by Enoch

[Lord of Riva]

They dropped the barred schools from the Priest subclasses.  The deity-specific flavor now comes from bonus spells per spell level.  For Wael, those are:

 

1: Arcane Veil 2: Iconic Projection 3: Mirrored Image 4: Llengrath's Displaced Image 5: Confusion 6: Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment 7: Gaze of the Adragan

 

Source: https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/933395115338481665

 

I haven't gotten enough chance to tinker around in the Beta to have a strong opinion on good Priest multiclasses.  However, given that Waelites get the defensive illusions for free, the subclass would seem to synergize best with a front-line combatant. 

oh thanks, then the wiki is outdated but that answers question one.

[KDubya]

In an earlier Beta patch i had a Templar - Priest of Wael/Paladin (forgot which order) It was very, very tanky in melee. The free illusion spells add a lot of deflection which stacks with the large +20 defense for everything that Paladins get with Deep Faith. When you activate Arcane Veil your deflection is at +70 and you basically are invulnerable. It also gave you priest spells and paladin auras so you were very team friendly.

 

A priest -Ranger would be good as far as getting better use from the priest weapon which is a rod for Wael, oryou could go dual wielding scepters for the best ranged damage in the game.

 

A barbarian mix would shore up some of the defensive shortcomings of the barbarian while adding all the priest goodies.

 

Another to consider would be a Chanter/priest. It'd be another great party synergizer with chants, invocations and priest spells. Maybe go with a summoner and stay in the back blasting with the summoned rod and summoning hordes.

[SaruNi]

On armor: firearms (pistols, blunderbuss, etc.) are unaffected by heavy armor, because they have reload speed rather than recovery speed, and armor only affects recovery speed. Currently rangers are the only class which has a passive self-only buff to firearm reload speed, though that seems likely to change (and chanters still have Sure-Handed Illa). Sharpshooter's malus is a penalty to recovery speed, but since firearms don't have recovery speed, the malus is completely negated.

 

The spiritual weapon has a corrode lash which does +50% damage and as a rod it has the blast AoE modal. You can dual wield two sets of firearms (four with Black Jacket multiclass) which means 4 pistol shots (or 8 ) before needing to reload, then you could summon the spiritual weapon (however, it takes 5 seconds to summon...).

 

For shaman (Priest/Barbarian) you get so much deflection from Arcane Veil (except against guns and other "veil-piercing" attacks, but then you can use Mirrored Image) that you'll probably be fine with light or no armor (Barbarian gets +1 armor from Thick-Skinned too, and Consecrated Ground gives good healing). You're more likely to get hit by spells and abilities that target Reflex or Will (assuming you have high strength and haven't dumped con). Llengrath's Displaced Image at higher levels will give you good Reflex defense though. But a lot of Barbarian abilities are melee-only so they won't work with Wael's spiritual weapon.

Edited February 3, 2018 by SaruNi

[Gromnir]

first observation: people are far too concerned with optimizing attribute point distributions.  am tilting at windmills again, but honestly, the attribute point spreads, while important, is not near as success determinative in poe or deadfire than most games.  

 

with no spell school prohibitions, it might be difficult to go wrong with a priest o' wael/(anything).  wael priest + paladin is great, but due to dispositions, you are needing be choosing darcozzi or bleak. as kdubya mentioned, you can create ridiculous resilient tanks with such a combo, but the combo has impressive damage potential as well; with all the defense bonuses from a wael priest/paladin, you can easily skimp a bit on resolve and instead focus 'pon strength while still having frontliner quality defenses. 

 

wael priest + druid is also kinda keen.  similar to paladin combos, the wael priest + druid can go tanky or the dps route with almost equal success.  in spite o' combining two caster classes, you will again be focusing on weapon combat if you wanna squeeze the most juice outta this orange as the druid's shape changing is particular potent in combat.  

 

wael priest + monk can be dps dynamos. with the latest beta build, dual wield is not overwhelming superior to other options, but is still the best.  dual wield stilettos is simple and straightforward.  swift striking monk with dual wield does impressive damage.  a 2h weapon is not a terrible option, but you are gonna get most from a dual wield build and 'tween monk abilities, priestly spells and racial choices, you should never suffer an affliction. 

 

monk/priest/druid also all have alchemy in common, which in our opinion is current the best combat skill. choose a background with alchemy and your priest/druid or priest/monk will be starting at level 1 with 3 points in alchemy.

 

for a shaman, Gromnir would recommend a morningstar.  the morningstar has decent penetration and a vast underrated modal.  combine a mageslayer (or any barbarian) and priest o' wael for serious caster killing goodness. as kdubya mentioned, the barbarian has defensive shortcomings, but the priest o' wael should be able to negate such.  between wild sprint and leap, your shaman should be able to get into enemy caster range with your morningstar, mess up their fort saves and generally wreak bloody havoc while being able to self-heal if necessary.

 

etc.

 

is genuine tough to go wrong with wael multiclass.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[KDubya]

To expand on what I said previously, a priest of Wael sort of gets you a triple class with its access to the fast cast defensive boosting illusion spells. Those spells are currently the best part of a wizard multiclass as they are very fast to cast, are usable in every encounter and make a huge difference to your survivability.

 

The only thing I'd wish for would be a melee summonable weapon instead of the rod. The illusion buffs are best served in melee combat as are many of the priest buffs. You could even forego using the summoned rod and just stick with normal melee weapons and rely on the great priest buffs to become the powerhouse that you can be.

 

For stats I'd not drop anything below a ten, which is my approach for pretty much every class. Add some to strength, dexterity and intellect if you are going more for a weapon user or perhaps leave strength and resolve at ten and spend the points in dexterity, perception and intellect to have faster, more accurate and longer lasting abilities.

 

Another similarly interesting class to build around is the Trickster. Their illusion spell access is less but still makes a big difference in combat

[Lord of Riva]

Thank you guys for your input, its appreciated !

[Enoch]

wael priest + monk can be dps dynamos. with the latest beta build, dual wield is not overwhelming superior to other options, but is still the best.  dual wield stilettos is simple and straightforward.  swift striking monk with dual wield does impressive damage.  a 2h weapon is not a terrible option, but you are gonna get most from a dual wield build and 'tween monk abilities, priestly spells and racial choices, you should never suffer an affliction.

A Wael-Nalpazca mix seems like a slam-dunk, roleplaying-wise. 

 

(And the Nalpazca's passive Wound generation probably fits well with a character who has access to good deflection boosts and spends the opening parts of combat buffing, rather than engaging enemies.)

Edited February 13, 2018 by Enoch