Cleric oriented more DPS with some heals also tanky ?

[FOX]

Hi, im new in the game i want to play my favorite class always was cleric, but i have some questions, maybe someone can help me.
I like to be tanky with some heals and nice DPS with 2 handed weapon if possible, probably shield and 1 hand weapon are better but i like 2 handed it sounds like it does not have much affinity, but is what i like it, maybe someone can help me with that i search for builds or in youtube but not find great information about what I looking for many thanks !

[Dayve]

I just did a full playthrough (on classic difficulty) with a cleric as my main. 1h weapon and shield, hydro and necro spells and a balanced mix of strength and intelligence. I can give you a few tips.

1. If you use a 1h weapon and shield, don't waste AP swinging your 1h weapon. Damage is so low as to be negligible. Even if I went full strength, I'd still only be doing around 250 damage per swing at max level (20 or 21), as opposed to 900+ damage per swing from my 2h knight. Not worth it. So, if you go 1h and shield, put only enough points into strength to wear the heavy armour you want.

2. If you use a 1h and shield, the weapon does basically no damage, but the shield throw ability is super powerful. It doesn't do damage based on your strength attribute, it does damage based on the armour of your shield. Better shield = better shield throw. Throughout the whole game my shield throw ability was doing as much damage per throw as my best DPS character, and it bounces to other nearby enemies. Very powerful.

3. Unless you go full intelligence (with just enough strength to wear the heavy armour you want) don't bother using non-healing hydro spells. The healing hydro spells don't scale with intelligence, they scale with your hydro ability. If you have 10 points in hydro and only 10 points in intelligence attribute, you still do as much healing as you would if you had 10 points in hydro and 50 points in intelligence. The other hydro spells however (ice damage spells) do scale with intelligence, so if you do what I did and go for an even mix of strength and intelligence you'll just end up with low damage from both physical and hydro attacks.

Meh... go with a 2h strength paladin. Forget 1h and shield. Go 2h, high strength and high hydrosophy. You can do big damage and big heals, and your healing spells will rip undeads apart.

[Tarshaid]

A limitation if you want a character that can hold his own through the game (and not be outclassed by everything including his own team) is to choose one between STR/FIN/INT. So in your case between STR and INT, which basically means two things:

-STR build with a 1-handed or 2-handed melee weapon. Beware that conventional "tanks" don't work very well, as the AI will not blindly target the tankiest member of your team, and will more likely use its mobility tools to reach your squishiest mates. Shields still provide interesting/powerful tools, including the very strong "shield toss" on a short cooldown, so don't dismiss them outright. Anyway, warfare skills will provide the most of your damage, but you're free to invest in other schools, like the hydrosophist you want. Any spell that scales off INT will be very weak and should only be used if you need the CC from it, but heals and buffs will work as fine for you as for a pure mage (and heals damage undead). Plus there are mixed-school spells, like hybrid hydrosophist-warfare, that I am told is a great heal. In terms of tankiness, if that character starts fights by giving himself frost armor, he'll be resilient to both physical and magic damage.

-INT build with a 2-handed staff, and the minimum STR required to put on a melee guy's armor (for the tankiness). Just a hint of warfare skills to be able to bash heads with a staff (damage will scale off INT, and be magic damage rather than physical, so it works but it's particular), and a strong focus on hydrosophist to get great heals and magic damage. A shield might replace the melee armor, but then you wouldn't have access to warfare skills with a wand, so it's just a regular mage.

[Dayve]

Originally posted by Tarshaid:

A limitation if you want a character that can hold his own through the game (and not be outclassed by everything including his own team) is to choose one between STR/FIN/INT. So in your case between STR and INT, which basically means two things:

-STR build with a 1-handed or 2-handed melee weapon. Beware that conventional "tanks" don't work very well, as the AI will not blindly target the tankiest member of your team, and will more likely use its mobility tools to reach your squishiest mates. Shields still provide interesting/powerful tools, including the very strong "shield toss" on a short cooldown, so don't dismiss them outright. Anyway, warfare skills will provide the most of your damage, but you're free to invest in other schools, like the hydrosophist you want. Any spell that scales off INT will be very weak and should only be used if you need the CC from it, but heals and buffs will work as fine for you as for a pure mage (and heals damage undead). Plus there are mixed-school spells, like hybrid hydrosophist-warfare, that I am told is a great heal. In terms of tankiness, if that character starts fights by giving himself frost armor, he'll be resilient to both physical and magic damage.

-INT build with a 2-handed staff, and the minimum STR required to put on a melee guy's armor (for the tankiness). Just a hint of warfare skills to be able to bash heads with a staff (damage will scale off INT, and be magic damage rather than physical, so it works but it's particular), and a strong focus on hydrosophist to get great heals and magic damage. A shield might replace the melee armor, but then you wouldn't have access to warfare skills with a wand, so it's just a regular mage.

Oh yeah, mix a hydro/warfare spell book together and you get a melee-range healing spell and it's the most powerful healing spell in the game. On my cleric (he had 10 hydro and 4 warfare), this spell was doing heals of over 2000, and damage of over 2000 to undead enemies. And it would still do this amount of damage/healing if one had only 10 points in the intelligence attribute because healing hydro spells don't scale off of intelligence.

Also it makes an awesome "Badoomph" sound when you use it. Like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Very satisfying.

Yeah, I think a 2h, strength based "paladin" is my favourite class in this game. Lots of strength and warfare, some constitution, and hydro healing spells that don't scale off of intelligence.

[Acanthus]

Another option is, again, just enough strength to wear heavy armor, focus on int, and go the necro 3/warfare x route. Because of the heavy int, you could invest in a secondary magic school like hydro, which would give you access to some pretty strong phys and magic damage, as well as access to some pretty strong source spells. You still wouldn't swing the sword much, but you'd be an unrivaled tank with skills like provoke, living on the edge, and the various healing and life stealing you'd have access to. You'd also have strong cc (chill/frozen + warfare skills if you break phys armor) and support (you can restore/give magic armor, and you can remove most status conditions). Also consider cursing your ice for some crazy control.
If you put 2 points in aero, you can also gain access to blinding radiance, nether swap, teleport, vaccuum touch (because of necro 1), favorable winds, and a host of stunning abilities. The utility of aero is enough that you don't need to pick it up for damage.

I kinda wish strength based builds could be as creative as finesse and int builds. some combination of Warfare/Hydro/Poly or Warfare/Poly/Geo (for phys armor) and splashing other things for buffs or utility. As it stands, the only reasons I would want a strength based character are carrying capacity and strength checks. Or if I wanted to be a classical warrior. I don't think str is weak, it's just that the playstyle is limiting compared to other options. If you can summon masses of ice and stone and shape them freely, I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to use your massive arm strength to utilize them.

[FOX]

I appreciate your answers im searching all information about the cleric videos, builds, information always was and is my favorite class, but maybe in this game should i try 2 handed paladin maybe it looks more like what I want to try im undecided jesus cause really want to play cleric but paladin looks more melee dps as i want also healing, but also cleric with 1 hand weapon and shield with necro talents sounds good tanky with good dps

[Firecam]

With some points in hydro and the guardian angel skill from warfare you can do neat stuff. Healing from hydro scale with levels so you don't need to put points into intelligence. Healing tears is a good combo with guardian angel. You have good controls, good damage with a 2h and good heals too.

I don't remember the range of guardian angel tho, if you're on tactician that can be a problem because you don't want to be that close to your other party members, even with that 50% reduce damage. It should still be okay in the end.

A rogue can be nice too for helping you out in melee and removing phys armor while getting into the range of guardian angel. Hydro/aero mage as main magic dps, so you can setup rain for elemental affinity and -resistance or stun field. Ranger can help your mage with lightning/frost arrows while still being useful for phys damage.

You won't be the killing machine of the team since you need some points into constitution but you'll be useful, i guess. Undeads are in trouble.

[PK_Ultra]

I gotchu fam.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1457609628

[FOX]

Ok guy is time to start i go for cleric 1 hand weapon and shield, once again I thank you for all your help and comments. The only thing I need is the race, I like humans, but I have seen that the dwarves congenially better It seems to be for a cleric ...

[Iry]

Frost Paladin is extremely solid. Drop Rain everywhere, Glacial Cooling, then dash across your ice smacking people with a giant two handed weapon.

Only downside is giving Pyromancers dirty looks.

[Firecam]

Human is good, you can't go wrong with that race.

[Manic]

Originally posted by FOX:

Ok guy is time to start i go for cleric 1 hand weapon and shield, once again I thank you for all your help and comments. The only thing I need is the race, I like humans, but I have seen that the dwarves congenially better It seems to be for a cleric ...

Dwarves are a bit natural for a tank since they get sturdy, but any race would work, just be careful if you are using an elf and activiate blood sacrifice, the drop in con could make you drop your shield. Undead are immune to bleeding and are healed by poison, which are good tank traits (though the bad guys will drop heals on you).

[FOX]

Originally posted by Dayve:

I just did a full playthrough (on classic difficulty) with a cleric as my main. 1h weapon and shield, hydro and necro spells and a balanced mix of strength and intelligence. I can give you a few tips.

1. If you use a 1h weapon and shield, don't waste AP swinging your 1h weapon. Damage is so low as to be negligible. Even if I went full strength, I'd still only be doing around 250 damage per swing at max level (20 or 21), as opposed to 900+ damage per swing from my 2h knight. Not worth it. So, if you go 1h and shield, put only enough points into strength to wear the heavy armour you want.

2. If you use a 1h and shield, the weapon does basically no damage, but the shield throw ability is super powerful. It doesn't do damage based on your strength attribute, it does damage based on the armour of your shield. Better shield = better shield throw. Throughout the whole game my shield throw ability was doing as much damage per throw as my best DPS character, and it bounces to other nearby enemies. Very powerful.

3. Unless you go full intelligence (with just enough strength to wear the heavy armour you want) don't bother using non-healing hydro spells. The healing hydro spells don't scale with intelligence, they scale with your hydro ability. If you have 10 points in hydro and only 10 points in intelligence attribute, you still do as much healing as you would if you had 10 points in hydro and 50 points in intelligence. The other hydro spells however (ice damage spells) do scale with intelligence, so if you do what I did and go for an even mix of strength and intelligence you'll just end up with low damage from both physical and hydro attacks.

Meh... go with a 2h strength paladin. Forget 1h and shield. Go 2h, high strength and high hydrosophy. You can do big damage and big heals, and your healing spells will rip undeads apart.

Warfare with Hydro full strenght and wist I go but sounds better replace hydro with necro cause healing + damage what you thing or is better hydro ? also if i fail with the talents or aptitudes i can respect the entire character I mean or only can respect talents ?

[Dayve]

Originally posted by FOX:

Originally posted by Dayve:

I just did a full playthrough (on classic difficulty) with a cleric as my main. 1h weapon and shield, hydro and necro spells and a balanced mix of strength and intelligence. I can give you a few tips.

1. If you use a 1h weapon and shield, don't waste AP swinging your 1h weapon. Damage is so low as to be negligible. Even if I went full strength, I'd still only be doing around 250 damage per swing at max level (20 or 21), as opposed to 900+ damage per swing from my 2h knight. Not worth it. So, if you go 1h and shield, put only enough points into strength to wear the heavy armour you want.

2. If you use a 1h and shield, the weapon does basically no damage, but the shield throw ability is super powerful. It doesn't do damage based on your strength attribute, it does damage based on the armour of your shield. Better shield = better shield throw. Throughout the whole game my shield throw ability was doing as much damage per throw as my best DPS character, and it bounces to other nearby enemies. Very powerful.

3. Unless you go full intelligence (with just enough strength to wear the heavy armour you want) don't bother using non-healing hydro spells. The healing hydro spells don't scale with intelligence, they scale with your hydro ability. If you have 10 points in hydro and only 10 points in intelligence attribute, you still do as much healing as you would if you had 10 points in hydro and 50 points in intelligence. The other hydro spells however (ice damage spells) do scale with intelligence, so if you do what I did and go for an even mix of strength and intelligence you'll just end up with low damage from both physical and hydro attacks.

Meh... go with a 2h strength paladin. Forget 1h and shield. Go 2h, high strength and high hydrosophy. You can do big damage and big heals, and your healing spells will rip undeads apart.

Warfare with Hydro full strenght and wist I go but sounds better replace hydro with necro cause healing + damage what you thing or is better hydro ?

You could do both. I think the reason that the cleric class has both hydro and necro is because there are two healing-type spells that are really good, and a couple of other spells that are healing/support related.

Bone Cage (necromancer 2) increases your armour based on the amount of corpses around you. More corpses = more armour.

Living on the edge (necromancer 2) for 2 turns your vitality can't be reduced below 1 point.

Last Rites (necromancer 3) resurrects a character to full health but takes away 50% of your own health. Can only be used once in battle, but infinite uses outside of battle (this is basically a free resurrection ability).

Blood Sucker (necromancer 1) self heal - sucks up blood on the floor and heals you. More blood = more healing for you.

None of these spells scale with intelligence, so they will all be just as powerful at INT 10 as they would be if you had INT 50. So you can have them and still go full STR. Any paladin/cleric character would do great to have necromancy to at least level 3 just for these support spells. So you can go 1h or 2h, Warfare, Hydro and 3 points in necro.

[['w']]

necro: living on the edge (2 turns immortal) / decaying touch ( your healing spells damage now not only undead )

warfare: phoenix dive (movement!)/ defective barrier ( phys armor up) / battering ram & battle stomp (ko 0 phys armor enemies)
huntsman: tactical retreat (movement!)/ first aid ( anti status spell + heal)
scoundrel: adrenalin (+2 ap of the expense of loosing 2 ap next round) / chloroform (ko zero magical armor enemies)
hydro: armor of frost (magic armor up) / healing ritual (mass heal and mass damage to undead near you) / cleans wounds (anti status spell and heal) / restoration (2 turn heal)/ cyrogenic stasis (deepfreeze someone to save him) /
poly: medusa head (petrify all! null phsy enemies around you + petrifying aura )/ skin graft ( timer reset) / chicken claw (null phsy enemy turns in to a chicken) ( heart of steel[ phys up) / chameleon cloak [2 turns invisible])
aero: teleport - your enemy far far away


https://rankedboost.com/divinity-original-sin-2/best-skills-tier-list/

attributes 1:str / 2:mem / 3: const / 4: int

[PK_Ultra]

glad you like my guide Fox.