Priest of Skaen/Rogue viable?

[Stardusk78]

From an RPG perspective I was thinking about doing this themed set-up of a Priest of Skaen/Rogue (Assassin), having played very little of the Beta and being reluctant to play until the full game is released, what do the veterans think about this set-up?

[MaxQuest]

Viable? I think it should be. You get:

- Finishing Blow cast with faith.

- An extra 1-2 backstab hit from stealth with Scaen's Shadowing Beyond. Or you can use Barring Death's Door instead to provide an extra staying power, which also synergies with Street Fighter, if you'll take it over Assassin.

- And ofc there is also access to Spiritual Weapon, although I don't know if casting that breaks stealth/invis yet.

- Also being a priest opens access to Devotions and Triumpf of Crusaders (which gonna be awesome if your rogue can kill fast enough). Although these are better cast by another priest.

- Also there is Minor Avatar, but it comes on character lvl 19, so it's only useful vs really late game stuff / or in dlcs

 

All in all: don't know yet if this is gonna be optimal; but it should be viable.

Edited April 6, 2018 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

If you use Assassin/Priest of Skaen the additional skaenite invisibility uses for Assassination+Backstab make it a fun combo. Also the summoned weapons hit really hard (as all spiritual weapons), but sadly Backstab/Assassinate only affects the first hit - so as light weapons they are not optimal for Backstabbing. You can backstab with an arquebus (or whatever heavy hitter) though and summon the stiletto+club once invisibility is out. Also the summoning breaks stealth (at least it did in beta3 when I was testing).

 

Assassinate also works with direct damage spells - so I guess a Pillar of Faith or whatver might be cool with the additional PEN/ACC and the higher crit damage. And who knows what Preists of Skaen will come up with at higher levels (I know the names but don't know the effects).

 

By the way: did anybody test what happens when an Assassin/Priest cast a damaging seal spell from stealth and an enemy then later trips it (I mean while the party is still stealthed)? Does Assassinate work with traps? never tried...

[SaruNi]

If you use Assassin/Priest of Skaen the additional skaenite invisibility uses for Assassination+Backstab make it a fun combo. Also the summoned weapons hit really hard (as all spiritual weapons), but sadly Backstab/Assassinate only affects the first hit - so as light weapons they are not optimal for Backstabbing. You can backstab with an arquebus (or whatever heavy hitter) though and summon the stiletto+club once invisibility is out. Also the summoning breaks stealth (at least it did in beta3 when I was testing).

 

Assassinate also works with direct damage spells - so I guess a Pillar of Faith or whatver might be cool with the additional PEN/ACC and the higher crit damage. And who knows what Preists of Skaen will come up with at higher levels (I know the names but don't know the effects).

 

By the way: did anybody test what happens when an Assassin/Priest cast a damaging seal spell from stealth and an enemy then later trips it (I mean while the party is still stealthed)? Does Assassinate work with traps? never tried...

 

I'm pretty sure damaging traps used to work with Assassinate, but they don't anymore (at least, I don't see the bonus penetration being added). Too bad, because you can still cast a trap and get the spell point back before combat starts, which might have made up for multiclass lack of spells.

 

Now DoT ticks like Ray of Fire also bring you out of invisibility every time they hit, so it's one Assassinate per invisibility. (Didn't test with Withdraw yet though. Oh, and Ray of Fire is bugged now so that it hits the caster too.)

Edited April 7, 2018 by SaruNi

[SaruNi]

Testing it some more, it looks like damaging traps (Warding Seal) get the accuracy bonus from assassinate but not the penetration bonus. They also don't bring you out of stealth when they're triggered.

Edited April 7, 2018 by SaruNi

[SaruNi]

If you use Assassin/Priest of Skaen the additional skaenite invisibility uses for Assassination+Backstab make it a fun combo. Also the summoned weapons hit really hard (as all spiritual weapons), but sadly Backstab/Assassinate only affects the first hit - so as light weapons they are not optimal for Backstabbing. You can backstab with an arquebus (or whatever heavy hitter) though and summon the stiletto+club once invisibility is out. Also the summoning breaks stealth (at least it did in beta3 when I was testing).

 

 

Just tested. Summoning the weapon doesn't break stealth, but it does break invisibility. Same for any spells that don't involve an attack roll.

[Boeroer]

Hm... maybe I was too near when summoning (it's labeled "loud") and that's why stealth was broken? I only tested once and it was a while ago when I was also testing explosives from stealth. Good to know you can get around that. 

Edited April 7, 2018 by Boeroer

[dunehunter]

Skaen/streetfighter is very good if you 1) max STR, INT and dump Res. 2) open a fight with blunderbuss, blunderbuss modal on. 3) Summon spiritual weapon and attack enemy with sneak attack. This combo is even better with berath/streetfighter.

Edited April 7, 2018 by dunehunter

[SaruNi]

The spiritual weapon's club modal has some synergy with Trickster. And most Rogue active abilities are full attack (except the one that causes paralysis on next primary attack), so they don't suffer from dual wielding... though in terms of immediate damage they're generally worse than Backstab or Assassinate. 

 

The extra Shadowing Beyond is nice, but multiclass won't get it until level 13---and even then it's one use at level 13, two uses at level 16. 

 

Devastating Blow looks very good but multiclass also wouldn't get it until level 13.

 

Skaen gets "Spiritual Ally" at power level 6 (multiclass level 16)---not clear whether other Priests get that or not. Maybe it's a summons? Wasn't in PoE 1. Might go with Trickster thematically.

 

Also, "invisibility" from Withdraw doesn't trigger Assassinate bonuses. 

[SaruNi]

[edit: was mistaken about full attack]

 

Skaen's dual wielding would have nice synergy with Finishing Blow if % health were recalculated for the second weapon swing, but [edit: actually it does!]. Two attacks do have synergy with most of the strike abilities since they should double the chance of applying status effects.

Edited April 8, 2018 by SaruNi

[dunehunter]

Backstab and Assassinate can be applied to both dual wield weapons if you use a "full attack" ability. So full attack stiletto and club base damage is 18-26, greatsword is 19-25... but "savage attack" modal puts greatsword ahead with +50%, provided you can overcome the accuracy penalty (even if you only hit instead of crit you should still do more damage unless you have +100% crit damage---though there is the bonus penetration from crit to take into account).

 

... but the strike abilities all cost guile, which means you get fewer backstabs if you use them.

 

Skaen's dual wielding would have nice synergy with Finishing Blow if % health were recalculated for the second weapon swing, but sadly that doesn't happen, because the two attacks are combined into one. Two attacks would have synergy with most of the strike abilities since they'd double the chance of applying status effects. In the current system there's basically no spiritual weapon synergy except if you're using Eliminating Blow (only non-Trickster ability that targets will iirc).

As far as I know backstab only applies to mainhand?

[SaruNi]

 

Backstab and Assassinate can be applied to both dual wield weapons if you use a "full attack" ability. So full attack stiletto and club base damage is 18-26, greatsword is 19-25... but "savage attack" modal puts greatsword ahead with +50%, provided you can overcome the accuracy penalty (even if you only hit instead of crit you should still do more damage unless you have +100% crit damage---though there is the bonus penetration from crit to take into account).

 

... but the strike abilities all cost guile, which means you get fewer backstabs if you use them.

 

Skaen's dual wielding would have nice synergy with Finishing Blow if % health were recalculated for the second weapon swing, but sadly that doesn't happen, because the two attacks are combined into one. Two attacks would have synergy with most of the strike abilities since they'd double the chance of applying status effects. In the current system there's basically no spiritual weapon synergy except if you're using Eliminating Blow (only non-Trickster ability that targets will iirc).

As far as I know backstab only applies to mainhand?

 

 

Ah I looked wrong, the full attack is still split into two attacks. (UI confused me because I was testing on villagers---huge wall of text between attacks.) Backstab only applies to the first. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by SaruNi

[SaruNi]

Tested Devastating Blow some more---it will actually recalculate the damage bonus on % health lost for the second strike, provided you've done enough damage. 

 

So it does have some synergy.

 

[Edit: Looks like Devastating Blow / Finishing Blow are bugged or the description is wrong. They don't apply the percentage health bonus until enemy has lost a large % of health, probably 50% as in PoE 1.]

Edited April 8, 2018 by SaruNi