primary and secondary skills from pawns

[Udju]

a mage that should heal has the healing skills as primary skills? sounds logical to me. But whats the difference in pawn skills wheter they are in primary or secondary slot? primary are used more often? or they are stronger? so where should the healing skills be, when the mage should be a good healer?

[[R] Nerva]

There's absolutely no difference, really. Pawns consider using their skills based on their situation, their opposition, their inclinations, and their stats and augments, in roughly that order.

Placing a magick-using pawn's skills in their primary or secondary skill slots makes absolutely no difference to the pawn or the skill in question. The separation is mainly just there to be analogous to how player magick-users assign skills to either their primary or secondary set of skill hotkeys.

Healing, in particular, is governed by the Mendicant and (to a lesser extent) the Guardian and Nexus inclinations. Mendicant pawns mind the health of the Arisen, themselves, and other pawns, and will cast healing and curative spells in preference to more offensive or buffing abilities . They're not stupid - they won't cast Anodyne if everyone's healed as far as they can be, and they won't cast Halidom if nobody's debilitated, but they will prioritize keeping you healed to 80% of your max HP or to the limit of your white damage, whichever is lower, whereas other pawn inclinations typically stop at the 60% mark, even if there's white damage on the bar beyond that. In addition, they'll prioritize curing debilitations over all other activities, including buffing or attacking. The Mendicant thought routine generally goes: Cure debilitations -> Heal to 80% or limit of white damage -> Cast buffs -> Use secondary inclination.

Now, in terms of healing, Guardian and Nexus inclinations can modify the behavior of Mendicant if they're secondary, or are modified by Mendicant if its secondary. Guardian inclination focuses around remaining in close proximity to the Arisen and assisting them when they're in danger or on the attack. Guardians try to either mimic or assist what their Arisen is doing, with how they go about it influenced by other inclinations. A Guardian/Scather, for instance, will attempt to climb large enemies if they see the Arisen climbing, while a Guardian/Mitigator will attempt to fend off smaller enemies nearest to the Arisen that could interrupt what the Arisen is doing. In the case of Guardian/Mendicant, the pawn will assist the Arisen by giving them priority on buffing and healing, and when that's done, they attack what the Arisen is fighting. In the case of Mendicant/Guardian, the pawn will give the Arisen priority on buffing and healing, then buff and heal everyone else. The difference is subtle, but noteworthy. Nexus inclination is similar to Guardian, but instead of prioritizing the Arisen, the pawn will prioritize other pawns over the Arisen.

Now, both Guardian and Nexus have bad reputations. Due to their penchant for remaining close to whoever they're prioritizing, it can leave a mage uncomfortably close to the thick of combat and thus unable to effectively cast spells, since they're constantly forced to interrupt their casting to dodge out of the way of attacks. Guardian inclination, in particular, is bad about this, since enemies typically prioritize the Arisen over other threats.

As a result, you may want to consider Utilitarian as the secondary inclination for a Mendicant healer pawn. Utilitarian pawns pay closer attention to the bestiary knowledge they've collected for various enemies, and will attempt to accurately and repeatedly implement the strategies they've learned for dealing with that enemy. As a result, they're more intelligent about buffing the party with the right element to deal with the foe (if they have it available in their skills) and they'll use debilitating and hindering spells, like Silentium, Blearing, and Grapnel, more readily to make enemies easier to handle. Indeed, Utilitarian actually makes for a good primary inclination, even on healer-mage pawns, since at most you only need two spells for healing (Anodyne and Halidom) and the rest can be buffs (Spellscreen), Debilitations (Silentium, Blearing), or elemental enchants (Affinities). Having Utilitarian primary/Mendicant secondary ensures that your Pawn will keep the enemy locked down, and when locking them down isn't necessary or useful, they'll prioritize your health and wellbeing. Of course, your mileage may vary, and in terms of staying healed to the limit of your white damage, Mendicant/Utilitarian is the safer choice.

Hope this helps you construct a capable support mage pawn.

[Udju]

thank you very much for your answer.
i think there were potions for sale in the camp near kasardis in order to change inclinations, right?

[Udju]

and why is that the staffs values is only active for primary skills? magic is always lower in secondary, does this means skills in the secondary slots will be weaker?
btw does it say Medicant (like in the Wiki) or Mendicant? i play in german version so i have to translate each inclination and potion....

[[R] Nerva]

Originally posted by Udju:

and why is that the staffs values is only active for primary skills? magic is always lower in secondary, does this means skills in the secondary slots will be weaker?
btw does it say Medicant (like in the Wiki) or Mendicant? i play in german version so i have to translate each inclination and potion....

The game uses Mendicant.

The inclination elixirs are indeed sold by the pawn Johnathan in the encampment north of Cassardis.

Don't be fooled by the equipment menu. Mages and Sorcerers do not have a secondary weapon, so their secondary weapon stats will always be nearly baseline, modified only by augments, armor and accessories worns. All mage and sorcerer skills, even skills in the secondary slots, use the Primary weapon's stats for determining their effectiveness. They won't be weaker just because they're in the secondary slots.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Short version.

Primary skills for primary weapon.

Secondary skills for secondary weapon.

So when playing sorcerer or mage primary/secondary stand for nothing since there's no secondary weapon, it's just how the skills were categorized and they didnt bother making a special set up just for those 2 classes. It's better than having only 3 skills like with warrior (cant even begin to imagine playing a caster with only 3 spells...).

[Udju]

ok thanks a lot

[hanachirusato]

I saw the difference.
A mage with Anodine appointed to the secondary slot tends not to heal in the mids of a battle but engage enemies instead, while the one with Anodine set as the primary starts healing even it's only a scratch. Basically, a mage with primary Anodine does nothing but casts healing non stop.
Am I mistaking... Uhm... I shall check it out.