[CLASS BUILD] The Healing Wall

[Climhazzard]

[CLASS BUILD]  The Healing Wall

Shieldbearer-Troubadour 

POTD

Not intended for solo

 

Race:  Moon Godlike (For extra healing)

Alternate Races:  Any race that gives status resistances, especially against hard CC, such as Elf.

 

Stats:  20 intelligence total with or without items, as much might as possible.  For example

 

Might:            18  (as much as possible for healing power)

Constitution:  10  (you'll be regenerating health so this doesn't need to be high)

Dexterity:       10  (more makes it easier to save team mates with lay on hands)

Perception:    10  (maybe useful if you want to use dragon thrashed, otherwise a good stat to dump)

Intelligence    18  (you need 20 total to completely overlap chants, and it's good to have a large radius for your healing)

Resolve         12  (dump perception and raise resolve if you want to have higher tanking potential and lower damage potential)

 

Adjust based on your own preferences.

 

I developed this build because I didn't feel like a multi classed Xoti was a capable healer and I didn't want to drag along the druid, this character replaces Eder as my main tank, and doubles as a powerful endurance healer.  Palegina's stats are not suitable for this.

 

Your goal is to combine Exalted Endurance, Ancient Memory, and  Mercy and Kindness Where're she walked (+100% healing) with the most powerful single target heal in the game, the Shieldbearers greater lay on hands (robust version).  All on a character that is a robust tank in his or her own right.  This will give you a tank that heals your entire team over time for a large amount of hp (6 hp per second by level 20 with no items or buffs, 10 hp per  second is probably possible), that can clutch heal on demand and even resurrect.

 

Gear and item considerations:  +Might, +healing, +engagement slots, ways to reduce recovery time (so you can heal on demand with lay on hands)

 

Armor:  The best early game armor I've found for this so far is called Reckless Brigandine, it adds an engagement slot and reduces recovery time for every enemy engaged.  It's found on an unexplored island between Poko Kihara and Neketaka.

 

Weapon:  A fast weapon with an engagement slot should be your first choice, it'll synergize well with the build and Reckless Brigandine.  I haven't found any yet, though I did find a warhammer with an engagement slot.

 

Ability progression.  I suggest you take invocations sparingly and focus on your paladin skills so you can tank better.  I just use the paralyze invocation mostly.

 

Chant progression.

 

Early game:  Soft winds of death

Mid game:  Soft winds of death + ancient memory

Late game:  Ancient memory + Mercy and Kindness Where're she walked

 

When you don't care about healing: Soft winds of death + Dragon thrashed.

 

Hopefully I got everything important here, if not I'll add more later, especially if I find better early game items for this.

 

Screenshot taken with no gear equipped and no buffs, at level 20.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Climhazzard

[Azalore]

Cool, I was looking for main tank build! 
Thanks!

[Irori]

Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked, being a tier 8 ability, means you probably wouldnt have it til you are pretty much done with the game.  Is the build holding on before that?  Feels like "just a paladin that chants Ancient memory and throws out a paralyze now and then".

 

Come, Come Soft Winds of Death may also have accuracy issues.

 

Given such, how about just using Beckoner and use summons to help distract enemies?

[angryusaman]

Thanks for posting a great build that I will definitely have to test out. 

 

In the screenshot, it's showing ancient memory at 3.1 health per second.  I'm guessing this number has not taken into account the +100% healing bonus from your other phrase, is that correct?  So it's actually 6.2 health per second, right?

[Dongom]

Yeah Herald is nice. I have a similar build but with Beckoner/Shield-Bearer instead of Trabadour.  My chants don't overlap as much (only around 85% of the time) but I get  pretty nutty dmg with 6x Animated Weapons hitting for 50-100 each.

Edited May 14, 2018 by Dongom

[TheMetaphysician]

Very nice. The medium shield that  emanates a healing aura, which you can upgrade, will fit perfectly with this build. (You can buy it in Neketaka, at the Dark Cupboard, I believe.) The singing saber (which you buy at the same place), which you can upgrade to emanate an aura that increases action speed for every held chanter phrase, also fits nicely with a chanter build that isn't spending phrases on invocations, like this one. The trick with that is that your max phrases held is just the level of your highest invocation, so you have to buy some invocations on level up to increase your max phrases held.

 

P.S. Where did you find the Reckless Brigandine? I haven't run across it.

Edited May 14, 2018 by TheMetaphysician

[Noctaem]

Hm I don't like your ability scores at all.  a tank build should be maxing out Resolve.  Here is a build guide for the Herald class combination that should give you what you're looking for.  Cheers.

 

[Climhazzard]

Thanks for posting a great build that I will definitely have to test out. 

 

In the screenshot, it's showing ancient memory at 3.1 health per second.  I'm guessing this number has not taken into account the +100% healing bonus from your other phrase, is that correct?  So it's actually 6.2 health per second, right?

 

No it's included.  It's 3.1hp per 1 second + 10.9hp per 3 seconds.  It's not exactly how i put it in my post but in 3 seconds you'll have healed over 6hp per second.  Also there's a watcher only buff you can get in the first village that adds +50% healing so I'm assuming with buffs like that and might you can easily get it up to 10hp per second.

 

As for resolve, just cast lay on hands on yourself if you're tanking the world, you can't die, so it doesn't need to be terribly high.  Goal here is a powerful healer.  Everyone will have their own tastes though.

Edited May 14, 2018 by Climhazzard

[Climhazzard]

Very nice. The medium shield that  emanates a healing aura, which you can upgrade, will fit perfectly with this build. (You can buy it in Neketaka, at the Dark Cupboard, I believe.) The singing saber (which you buy at the same place), which you can upgrade to emanate an aura that increases action speed for every held chanter phrase, also fits nicely with a chanter build that isn't spending phrases on invocations, like this one. The trick with that is that your max phrases held is just the level of your highest invocation, so you have to buy some invocations on level up to increase your max phrases held.

 

P.S. Where did you find the Reckless Brigandine? I haven't run across it.

 

 

Hmm I explored all the islands south of Neketaka, I think it was on one of them.  I restarted the game in POTD so when I find it again I'll post on here where it's at.  It's very easy to get early game though because I've restarted the game half a dozen times or more and had it every time.

[TheMetaphysician]

 

Thanks for posting a great build that I will definitely have to test out. 

 

In the screenshot, it's showing ancient memory at 3.1 health per second.  I'm guessing this number has not taken into account the +100% healing bonus from your other phrase, is that correct?  So it's actually 6.2 health per second, right?

 

 Also there's a watcher only buff you can get in the first village that adds +50% healing so I'm assuming with buffs like that and might you can easily get it up to 10hp per second.

 

Tell me about this buff; I didn't come across it. How do you get it?

 

Agree with you about the resolve. A handful of points of deflection is way less important than the extra AoE and duration on the healing (from Int) and the extra healing from might, and easy to make up.

[Climhazzard]

 

 

Thanks for posting a great build that I will definitely have to test out. 

 

In the screenshot, it's showing ancient memory at 3.1 health per second.  I'm guessing this number has not taken into account the +100% healing bonus from your other phrase, is that correct?  So it's actually 6.2 health per second, right?

 

 Also there's a watcher only buff you can get in the first village that adds +50% healing so I'm assuming with buffs like that and might you can easily get it up to 10hp per second.

 

Tell me about this buff; I didn't come across it. How do you get it?

 

Agree with you about the resolve. A handful of points of deflection is way less important than the extra AoE and duration on the healing (from Int) and the extra healing from might, and easy to make up.

 

 

If you talk to the dawnstar lady where you got Xoti she can bless you, it adds +50% healing and possibly something else, I don't remember.

[TheMetaphysician]

Oh, I see. I got that. It only lasts until the next rest, right? I can see how keeping that buff up would be important for this build; it might matter enough to make me care not to just rest whenever I have an injury. That would be nice -- a reason to care about limiting resting.

[Yosharian]

So I have questions:

 

1) Stoic Steel, Inspired Defences, Gilded Enmity, Zealous Endurance: do they all stack??

 

2) Is Resolve checked at all during dialogues? What about the other attributes? What's the highest check you've seen?

[TheMetaphysician]

So I have questions:

 

1) Stoic Steel, Inspired Defences, Gilded Enmity, Zealous Endurance: do they all stack??

 

2) Is Resolve checked at all during dialogues? What about the other attributes? What's the highest check you've seen?

 

Passives stack, actives don't. Stoic steel and inspired defenses are on the passive side of the tree, they stack with each other and everything else. Zealous endurance and gilded enmity are actives, so they'll stack with the passives but not with each other.

 

I've never seen an attribute checked in dialogue; dialogue seems only to check skills. Scripted interactions, on the other hand, check both skills and attributes. I haven't seen resolve checked too much; might and perception are often checked.

[Yosharian]

 

So I have questions:

 

1) Stoic Steel, Inspired Defences, Gilded Enmity, Zealous Endurance: do they all stack??

 

2) Is Resolve checked at all during dialogues? What about the other attributes? What's the highest check you've seen?

 

Passives stack, actives don't. Stoic steel and inspired defenses are on the passive side of the tree, they stack with each other and everything else. Zealous endurance and gilded enmity are actives, so they'll stack with the passives but not with each other.

 

I've never seen an attribute checked in dialogue; dialogue seems only to check skills. Scripted interactions, on the other hand, check both skills and attributes. I haven't seen resolve checked too much; might and perception are often checked.

 

 

That is incredibly helpful, thank you!

[Nemesis7884]

i am not sure retribution is worth it on a tank build to be honest

[dunehunter]

So I have questions:

 

1) Stoic Steel, Inspired Defences, Gilded Enmity, Zealous Endurance: do they all stack??

 

2) Is Resolve checked at all during dialogues? What about the other attributes? What's the highest check you've seen?

 

Did some test and it seems inspired defence does not stack with stoic steel. At least it is not shown in my armor tooltip.

[Vaeliorin]

Oh, I see. I got that. It only lasts until the next rest, right? I can see how keeping that buff up would be important for this build; it might matter enough to make me care not to just rest whenever I have an injury. That would be nice -- a reason to care about limiting resting.

It will go away even without resting.  I've yet to rest in Deadfire (playing on Veteran and only in Nekataka) but that buff has disappeared from my Watcher.  Not sure exactly how long it lasts, though (I wasn't paying attention to it, since I'm playing a Harbinger and I don't have access to any healing yet.)

[pstone]

 

So I have questions:

 

1) Stoic Steel, Inspired Defences, Gilded Enmity, Zealous Endurance: do they all stack??

 

2) Is Resolve checked at all during dialogues? What about the other attributes? What's the highest check you've seen?

 

Passives stack, actives don't. Stoic steel and inspired defenses are on the passive side of the tree, they stack with each other and everything else. Zealous endurance and gilded enmity are actives, so they'll stack with the passives but not with each other.

 

I've never seen an attribute checked in dialogue; dialogue seems only to check skills. Scripted interactions, on the other hand, check both skills and attributes. I haven't seen resolve checked too much; might and perception are often checked.

 

 

Regarding the number of attribute checks, per > might > res > int > dex = con  (however thats just frequency, maybe those few con checks are very important)

[Mercbeast]

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19.

 

How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter?

 

No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

[Yosharian]

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19.

 

How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter?

 

No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

Are you talking about the +100% healing chant?

 

So, multiclass characters only get level 7 at 19 and 20?

[Mercbeast]

 

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19.

 

How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter?

 

No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

Are you talking about the +100% healing chant?

 

So, multiclass characters only get level 7 at 19 and 20?

 

 

Yes, they hit 7 at 19 from what I've seen. Don't get me wrong, this is an extremely potent healer, but it becomes that at level 19. Like I said, how much of the game is even left at that point? I feel like builds should mature much earlier to get max enjoyment out of them.

 

https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Pillars-of-Eternity-2/new_multiclassing_table.jpg

[Climhazzard]

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19.

 

How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter?

 

No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

 

It's honestly great after level 10 or whenever you get both ancient memory and exalted endurance.  Just ancient memory is pretty subpar on it's own though, yet it doesn't run out like priest heals do and you still have great single target healing from level 1 on.  Besides, your tanking potential is not small, multi class paladin is a pillar on the battlefield.

 

Just to illustrate, here's a screenshot taken at level 10.  You'll get this much healing for the entire battle doing nothing but following your tank around, it's unlimited.

 

 

Now here's a mutli class priest heal for comparison.  Yes it's better, but limited in duration and location, and not exactly mutually exclusive.  Both characters are in the same party after all.

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Climhazzard

[bsolar]

I’m unsure about the Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness combo since it would mean waiving Mith Fyr unless you bring another Chanter. I’m about level 15 PotD non-solo, maybe things are different late game but to be honest Mith Fyr seems too good to pass up to get more survivability.

[Tommy1984]

 

 

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19.

 

How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter?

 

No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

Are you talking about the +100% healing chant?

 

So, multiclass characters only get level 7 at 19 and 20?

 

 

Yes, they hit 7 at 19 from what I've seen. Don't get me wrong, this is an extremely potent healer, but it becomes that at level 19. Like I said, how much of the game is even left at that point? I feel like builds should mature much earlier to get max enjoyment out of them.

 

https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Pillars-of-Eternity-2/new_multiclassing_table.jpg

 

 

I play on POTD as an Shieldbearer/Beckoner with Party. Exalted Endurance, Ancient Memory and the Healing Aura from the unique shield you can buy is enough to keep everyone alive ... even my summoned ogres most of the time. Nobody was killed in a fight yet. If someone gets to low Healing Hands is really useful, because it prevents them from dying (upgrade from shieldbearer). The +100% healing chant should make things even better.

 

As for experience ... I haven't played much. But only doing stuff in Port Maje and Neketaka without doing any quest outside these islands has given me enough EXP for Level 12. If Deadfire is somewhat like the first game then you reach max level at half of the game.

 

In think this build can also be used for SOLO (but I would prefer Shieldbearer/Beckoner for this). Your defenses and healing is enough to keep you alive and your summons kill the enemy. There are a couple of items that give scaling bonuses - for instance there is a large shield that gives deflection bonus that scales with Athletics skill and damage reduction that scales with Metaphysics skill. By siding with one of the families in the harbor you can also get an armor that gives a deflection bonus that scales with Intimidate skill. By combining these you can get really high defenses.