need help with building my priest.

[Misfit]

i mostly play solo, my plan was to use the ground spell to self heal and for dmg + the orbs.
but in it act 3 already seems a bit dangerous to play so close to the mobs, is this viable for the masses the game throws at you in act 5?
or is wave of light + remedy better? guess you have a pretty high health reg with high remedy, but can wave of light deal with the enemy groups fast enough?

[Mangiz]

Love the priest- both in the original and this game he's been my main man.

I wouldn't say the priest is very good at dealing damage, but absolutesly is great at survivablitly despite his super low health thanks to his blessing/curse mana shield and that consecrated gorund spell.

Consecrated ground is, in my experience, his best skill when playing solo. hide around a corner, plop down some holy runes, and spam attack as the enemies rush to their doom. I've had little problem clearing waves in act 5 with this, as it quickly gets your combo off and allows you to rush around using your main attack to clear out stragglers and destroy spawners. Oh, and the orbs of ligt help IMMENSELY to both protect the priest and quiclky stack damage on a single target he approaches, like a spawner.

I find mana regen invaluable to the priest, whose always running low on mana from costly abilities and mana shield drain, so went down the defense and mana regen path at the church to make up for that- it helped immensely.

YMMV, but as long as you can increase the priest's low damage output (brochures and manuals work for both his main attack and spells nicely), and play cautiously (like with any character, getting surrounded often equals death), the priest can be more than viable even solo.

[Misfit]

kk good to hear, thats exactly like i leveling him now in act 3. only minor problem are ranged mobs that stay outside the aoe. but they pop instantly if i chase them with light orb.

but i planned to go the dmg route with the church upgrades and dont take the aura.

[Machop]

I recommend going Damage -> Mana Regen -> Cost Reduction with the priest, in regards to chaple buffs. Mana is both your offense and defence as you mitigate damage with it. Orbs are your strongest offensive spell due to no cost (and at the last rank you have 3 orbs as opposed to 2). The Aura isn't too great solo as it slows your mana regen (thus weakening your ability to mitigate damage with mana). The priest becomes crazy good once you unlock the wizard's tower and can purchase spell damage and spell crit, as these two stats also affect your costless orbs.

In actual combat I like to herd enemies around corners and placing your ground AoE to maximize damage potential, or when that's unfeasible I run around avoiding enemy projectiles while allowing the orbs to do most of the work, along with your ground aoe.

Treat the priest like a melee character without block or evasion. Bob and weave through the bullet hell.