It seems to me you're only taking the surging shield for elven maneuvers. Personally, I would much rather have an aegis (or more reliable blocks) and run Escapist instead.
I would take the shield because vamps need all the moves they can. Surging is like block any 4+ and play a walk card cantrip. Slippery shield has 3+ blocks and moves, its pretty nice too. Drawing a block or flank move when you get hit is pretty nice also.
best weapon for vamire is i think storge's proboscis (look in the comments at the bottom it exists got 2 of them). Also i got an epic item: Badjeera's Black Relic which does exactly the same than Hand of Melvelous. also it is really important to reduce incomming damage so you can heal it with oyur attacks, and armors with cushioning armor are nice for it (for example stargod's raiments, which also has a life draining attack)
Something I was running last month, the higher focus on warriors of the new maps might mean more parries that this build can handle. I was hoping to switch the priest in another build with a warrior once the purificator won the community choice, but since you guys didn't actually vote for it, I switched to playing the most warrior-y purg-y priests possible, banking on people expecting the less hard hitting vamps once they saw the priests and thinking that the guy with holy presence was the support. As I made the build I realized that the game basically throws purge as a filler card on perfectly fine items, as long as you don't want too many buffs, so I started picking weapons and divine items capable of giving me a critical mass of damage without buffs(sorry hand of melvelous) and enough attacks+ crespin's shroud to dodge all out attacks and survive longer(and getting a purge for free), between removing the buffs/fire attachments and surging shield block I didn't care too much about mages. Boots+racial ability+shield are chosen to give me the max movement, with trained command over command because the bludgeon was surprisingly useful and the beatings worked better when every party member was able to gang up on the enemy. Fang shield over wedge shield was chosen for a similar reason(and I can't really get why peon calls it worse that wedge shield and doesn't say anything else each time it comes up on daily shop, if you are choosing between the two you probably want all the mobility you can get and a shuffle might be the key to moving a little more). Wrakwa's boots were chosen for a similar reason over skipping boots and pergod's slippers, roods boots were because I didn't have a third crespin's shroud or wrakwa's boots and the downgrade from skipping's was,IMHO , worth gaining a draining console. Healing hand mace hits like a truck and allows wounded characters to retreat and heal for some late game power. Blackhammer has one of the highest density of attacks, with 4 attacks+ a trait that draws blocks, and wings of faith had its uses in the arena maps, plus 9 sundering strike meant that I could lead my attacks with it without fearing too much blocks and maximise the damage against armor. Still if I had it I would replace one of them for a firebrand. If I had enough buffs to be sure that I could bait purges before casting entangling roots, I'd consider tome of the tree, three solid cards and you can freeze a warrior in place while you focus on the rest of the party. In memoriam to the purificator, here's the list,Competitively it is nothing special, 1400-1550 range, but at least is legendary-free? Any suggestion on how to improve it? Zarbow Level 1 Human Priest Blackhammer Healing Hand Mace Glowing Hide Armor Fang Shield Rhood's Boots Purging Charm Draining Console Shuddering Relic Trained Command Trained Cleansing 1 x Purging Burst 4 x Invigorating Touch 1 x Team Walk 1 x Vulnerable 1 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Potent Stab 2 x Purge 1 x Healing Beacon 1 x Holy Presence 3 x Sundering Strike 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 3 x Enervating Touch 1 x Impetuous Heal 3 x Team Heal 1 x Rushing Aura 1 x Lunging Thrust 1 x Thick Hide Armor 1 x Walk, Team! 1 x Wings Of Faith 1 x Wild Run 1 x Attack, Soldier! 2 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Mighty Bludgeon Tonla Level 18 Human Priest Healing Hand Mace Blackhammer Glowing Hide Armor Fang Shield Wlakwa's Boots Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Purging Charm Crespin's Shroud Trained Command Trained Cleansing 1 x Purging Burst 2 x Invigorating Touch 1 x Team Walk 1 x Potent Stab 1 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Walk, Team! 2 x Cause Fumble 1 x Violent Spin 3 x Sundering Strike 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 3 x Enervating Touch 1 x Impetuous Heal 1 x Holy Presence 3 x Team Heal 1 x Shuffle 1 x Lunging Thrust 1 x Thick Hide Armor 1 x Consuming Spear 1 x Wings Of Faith 3 x Purge 1 x Attack, Soldier! 2 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Mighty Bludgeon Eculyfre Level 2 Human Priest Healing Hand Mace Blackhammer Glowing Hide Armor Fang Shield Wlakwa's Boots Shuddering Relic Crespin's Shroud Purging Charm Trained Command Trained Cleansing 2 x Cause Fumble 2 x Invigorating Touch 1 x Team Walk 1 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Potent Stab 3 x Purge 1 x Purging Burst 1 x Violent Spin 3 x Sundering Strike 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 3 x Enervating Touch 1 x Impetuous Heal 1 x Holy Presence 3 x Team Heal 1 x Shuffle 1 x Lunging Thrust 1 x Thick Hide Armor 1 x Walk, Team! 1 x Wings Of Faith 1 x Vulnerable 1 x Attack, Soldier! 2 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Mighty Bludgeon
Felt close enough, it is still about getting a bunch of priests to melee range and using some vampire attacks to survive longer, I was not sure it needed a new thread, but couldn't find discussion about priests with that kind of weapons and I was wondering if I missed anything obvious other than firebrand and maybe dark mace.
Here's my Elven Maneuvers Triple Elf Vampire build for posterity now that Elven Maneuvers is no longer viable. Three of these or slight variations thereof, maximizing ones moves in all slots possible: Lifesuck Spear Lifesuck Spear Shield Of The Frog Glowing Hide Armor Spinning Top Boots Flax's Thirsty Vial Hand Of Melvelous Bleneth's Skull Cautious Mobility Focused Healer One could switch out the shield for Slippery or the Divine Skill for Manifold Healer as need be. One could switch out tokenless vamp items easily enough and switch out some form of mass frenzy on each vamp in the form of Bleneth's Frenzy Tome, or Bleneth's Frenzy Medallion, whatever you have on hand. The idea was to keep drawing moves, even spin arounds, in order to do more damage to the opponent and in the case of drawing a spin around, possibly gain health.
I don't think spin around will be drawn by maneuvers. Also spinning around is slow, especially in elf vamp context. If you can't muster the damage to undo received damage right away you will be in trouble. Usually you would rather keep a teethless vamp from too much heat and retreat for a round if necessary. Your main source of moves is the shield, so you still have the vamp typical mobility problem. I dont see too many attachements in play, so you might want to look at Sticky Slippers to tighten your attack draws, if that is your main concern. Traits are certainly faster. There are strong arguments for elf vamps, one is Wariness. Elf skill slot is brimming with interesting options for more mobility. Once dicovered jump back is easily countered by most step moves, even a change facing card like spin around can't prevent a step into your side.
@Robauke Spin Around is drawn by maneuvers. Sometimes I'd alternate with an Escaping Run minor token boot like Lurker's Boots or tokenless like Hawkwind's Mocassins. I actually was trying to put as many possible moves in the deck as possible so that I could draw consistently under the old rules. Under the new rules...fuggitaboutit. This build usually hovered in the 12oos. Wariness is definitely used in my new elf skill slot vacated by Cautious Mobility either that or Superb Footwork
Not exactly a great rating to convince people Cautious Mobility was worth running on a vamp even pre-nerf. Elven maneuvers is just not a good trait for any class aside from warriors. Personally, I ran Apprentice Insight on my vamp.
