Priest gets left behind in Dungeonborne balance patch

Dungeonborne's developers frequently issue patches that fix bugs and adjust weapons and classes to balance the game. There have been many class buffs and nerfs, but the unbalanced Priest is missing the alterations it desperately needs.

The July 29 Dungeonborne update focuses on fixing the network stability of the game's Asian servers and balancing the Druid, Death Knight, Fighter, and Cryomancer classes. The Druid's mobility and scouting abilities are nerfed in exchange for buffing all of their Panther Form damage; the Fighter and Death Knight are both buffed, with the Fighter having decreased E skill cooldowns and the Death Knight's Q skills given a 15% damage reduction effect. Meanwhile the Cryomancer sees their Frost Echoes passive nerfed and a new 25 Soul Energy charge to their Ice Armor skill. These modifications will do a lot to improve the flow of the game, but one class was notably missing—the Priest.

The problems with Priest in Dungeonborne

I've poured hours into testing Dungeonborne and all of its 8 classes. The Priest is the only one who is truly a struggle to play. I can count the number of times I've run into other Priests in team compositions on one hand, and I'm not sure that I've ever seen one personally in solos. The issues begin with their low health and defense. Their fragility makes them an easy target for every other class in the game. Mages can easily pick them off from a distance, melee fighters can rain down blows to knock a Priest out, and even Rogues won't have many issues paralyzing then slaying an unsuspecting Priest.

The weaknesses of the Priest are heightened in comparison to the buffs given to other classes in this patch. The Druid's increased Panther Form damage leaves Priests unable to either out-damage or out-heal the Druid, giving the Druid an easy advantage. The movement buffs of both the Death Knight and the fighter similarly increase their chances against Priests. The only exception is the Cryomancer, whose changes were made to balance the class' defensive capabilities.

The Priest's low health and defense would balance out if their strength or spells were strong in some way. However, Priests do not do enough damage to ward off their enemies, and even their spells are only mildly helpful. They cannot hold a shield to defend themselves, instead having to rely on their Guard E skill as a form of protection. Additionally, their healing spells do not restore enough health to justify using them over bandages or potions when playing solo. They can help in a pinch when in a team, but your teammates will need to divert a lot of attention to keeping you alive and safe. If an enemy passes through your teammates, especially Rogues, you can be wiped out before your team knows what's happening.

The slideshow below illustrates the healing capabilities of the Cleanse Q skill. The first image depicts my starting mana and health as a new Priest casting Cleanse. The second image depicts how much mana Cleanse requires and its charge time. Lastly, the final image shows how much health the spell actually increased when at full charge.

Oftentimes, you will not have enough time to fully charge the spell while fighting. In addition, players cannot perform any other action while casting. This means you are widely open to any damage and unable to fight back until your spell is canceled or cast. This can be worked around while fighting monsters, but enemy players will easily see this weakness and use it against you.

Dungeonborne class balance data shows Priest needs buffs

Don't just take my word for the Priest class' desperate need for a buff. The data table in the patch notes reinforces just how much the playerbase finds the Priest to be unplayable. Between July 27 and July 28, the pick and extraction rates were calculated for every Dungeonborne class at level 20. Every other class has a minimum pick rate of 10%, with the Rogue being picked most often at 19.94% of the time. In contrast, the percentage of people choosing to play Priest is at an all-time low of 1.83%.

The buffs made to the other classes will potentially worsen these stats as the game evolves. With that in mind, it's important to look at how the Priest class can be balanced in future updates.

Potential fixes for the Dungeonborne Priest class

These fixes are by no means the perfect solution to a balanced Priest class. Nevertheless, they are a good place to start in the process of making the Priest a more playable character.

• Buff the healing done by Cleanse and Divine Light.
• Increase the healing bonus of the Faith stat.
• Allow the Priest to carry a shield alongside their mace.
• Lessen the charge time for Cleanse and make it heal over time instead of all at once.

These potential changes make me wonder what the Priest truly needs to succeed without being all-powerful. Hopefully, the devs are asking themselves this and the Priest class buff is a work-in-progress behind the scenes that will come out soon. If not, the class may fall into obscurity entirely due to the strength of the other seven.

Looking to take on Dungeonborne alone? Check out our guide to the Best Solo Classes in Dungeonborne here on Pro Game Guides.