Theorycrafting Thoughts On New Classes (Patch 4.0 Beta)

[Gregorovich]

 

Some subclasses seem to be so disappointing for me, unfortunately

 

Not sure, but there might be some synergy between any Paladin (Steel Garrote fo fun) and the Blood Mage.

I don't know if the thing is viable, but it sounds like an Arcane Knight of Steel Garrote devastating and punishing anything nearby

 

To get the heal from Steel Garrote you have to have used the ability on the mob you are attacking (maybe in Melee only) ... so at a minimum, you have to spend time/zeal tagging mobs with the ability first ... frankly an arcane knight of a different subclass may give you more mileage, including the one (St. Elga) where the lay on hands prevents you from being killed for (x) seconds?

 

Well, I took the Steel Garrote just for fun and roleplay, not for the bonus. Anyway, actual advantage you may take from Wayfarers to heal using FoD or Goldpact with extra armor. St. Elcga is useless in such case, as the effect of being unable to die is applied to everybody except the Paladin himself, if nothing's changed

[brasilgringo]

,

Edited December 3, 2018 by brasilgringo

[brasilgringo]

OK, so I messed around with Steel Garrote a bit more.  Seems like afflictions on targets - like Terrified or Sickened or Blinded - will still allow you to proc the heal on melee attack, without having to have garroted them first with the SG ability.

 

I quickly made a Steel Garrote / Blood Mage (arcane knight) to see how this could work.  First of all, for what it's worth, weapons thatt apply affliction procs to mobs also will let you proc SG self-heal off them.  I used Griffin's Blade (procs dazed) and the self-heal proc'd off dazed foes.  Same for Draconic Fury spell - it applies terrified, and proc'd the SG self heal.  Bombs also work (e.g., Cinder Bomb).

 

From my quick testing, you can load up on Pally tankish traits (all the affliction resistance, Poison immunity, etc.) and then do some fun AOE stuff on the mage side (like Noxious Burst, which applies AOE sicken and which you can stand in being immune to poison on pally side) and then go FoD with Citzal's Spirit lance (which hits in AOE).  You'll get the SG self heal off whatever you hit in the AOE attack - e.g., 1/2/3 mobs etc.  Also the SG self heal seems to be a % of what damage you do, so increasing damage through Paladin's Inspired Beacon + FoD or any other ways (maybe Expose Vuln on wizard side, worth it?) seems to help. 

 

I was toying with throwing Revkiu's Cask on him (no interrupts with wound) and Revku's Cape (where fire damage heals you if you carry a wound) and then standing in wall of fire, if i needed extra healing.  I'm having trouble damaging myself with any spells though.

 

I'm sure other people here have good tips on how to spread stats for Arcane Knight.  With Deep Faith and Llen Safeguar and a shield, i was hitting 150-159 in all defenses (also using the Wahaki Tua neclace which gives +5 to all).  Maybe to stack high enough to avoid Arcane Damper, you need to use Giftbearer Cloak (max history) and also max resolve?  I'm open to suggestions.  I was looking at a stat spread (pre-BB / Gift of the Machine) like 18/10/10/15/15/10. 

 

I was using Wakhaki Tua neck (Resistance to Resolve afflictions), Boots of the Stone (resistance to Might afflictions), DoC BP (resistance to Constitution and Intellect afflictions, +2 health restored), undying burden (to stack athletics and get a 2nd Second Wind, for when you double down on Blood Sacrifice), plus Chameleon's Touch and Ring of Focused Flame (for FoD attacks more than anything).  Pre buff that's bringing my stats to 19/12/13/15/16/11.  Post buffs, that's yielding 19/17/18/15/21/11 -- with Vital Essence and Dext Alacrity.   I'm thinking that means I can drop Con and up Resolve and maybe Might/Per.  Not sure what people recommend.  I was trying to keep might high for +dmg for spells and potentially to impact the self-heals of SG ability, pally Exalted Endur, and Blood Mage HoT - but if also you have to stack Int/Resolve maybe something has to give (not sure if 15 per is too low either).

 

I think the idea here is going to be to try to make a build as tanky as possible from the Pally side and then use the Spirit Lance and AOE afflications to get the SG heal on all hit enemies.  The idea would be to stack def to make the Dampers miss, but I heard that needs to be like 190-195?  (For some reason, Deep Faith with maxed dispositions Cruel/Rational is only giving me +15 to all defences, maybe it's because of the multiclassing and Pally can only reach 15 when multi?  I have no conflicting disposition points, and it looks like I maxed the two favored dispositions).   OK, with History at 20 and giftbearer, and Lleng Safeguard (which you can trigger yourself via Blood Sacrifice, then heal up with athletics), and Lleng Displaced Image, I can get to 149 def / 158 fort / 201 reflex / 167 will - that's with weapon/shield style and med shield (the Magran one that is also a weapon) -- however, casting lance those seem to fall to 127 / 153 / 174 / 162 (I assume on removal of the shield and the sword, which is giving +5 to reflex/will/con i believe) ... not quite sure how to push Will higher, maybe Bull's Will trait and higher starting resolve would get you to 172-175 with the lance out.  Still feels short of our goal to avoid Arcane Dampers?

 

Anyway, there's perhaps something interesting here in terms of self-heal from aoe attacks using the lance on afflicted targets, plus Blood Sacrifice letting you self-trigger Safeguard and also refilling your spell slots after you buff up.  I think the key is figuring out how much grimoire switching you can stand, and also what Wiz spells to take yourself (e.g, Noxious Burst for PBAOE affliction to which you are immune, Piercing Sigil if it's not in your grimoires) .. Buffing your lash with the Draconic Fury spell is nice as well.   Open to suggestions.  Does anyone know how to make the [warp to] command work, so I can get out of Port Maje for testing more easily?

 

**if the revku equipment isn't going to be super important in most encounter's, maybe the thing to do is either to go Helm of the Falcon (for recovery with the lance) or Helm Of Grotto Deep for more intelligence and then +2 poison PL that should affect noxious burst (I can't see that stacking Alchemy would be worth it here ... Maybe there's a poison/corrode/decay build somewhere out there with Druid that is still worth it).

 

*** FWIW, this is my current attempt to try to stack Will def

27 arcane knight

+57 level

+12 intellect <--this can go up as it gets buffed by Vital Essence

+2 resolve

+15 Deep Faith

+20 Lleng Safeguard

+10 Mangera Chain (this armor is actually pretty sweet)

+5 Elite Prowess (Wahaki Tua)

+15 Giftbearer's Cloak (20 History)

----> Total 162 up to 177 when buffed and holding Griffin Blade (172 w/ lance)

Does not look like Circle of Protection is stacking, however.

I can get to 188 with Ripple Sponge due to the buff to resolve (193 holding Griffin Blade, but not with the lance).

Open to ideas.

Edited December 3, 2018 by brasilgringo

[brasilgringo]

Some subclasses seem to be so disappointing for me, unfortunately

 

Not sure, but there might be some synergy between any Paladin (Steel Garrote fo fun) and the Blood Mage.

With Deep faith, Llengratha's Safeguard (LS) will give about 35 bonus to all the defenses, which is enough to fight in melee or compensate the defence decrease of the blood mage. Equip some shield plus flail. Blood sacrifice (BS) is random, but as it restores the lacking spells only, It is possible to abuse some powerful spells doing the scheme: Torrenet of Flame (ToF) - BS - ToF - BS until you're alive.

What if try Arcane knight like LS - BS - run into pack of mobs - ToF/piercing burst - BS - autoheal with Lay on Hands if needed - Tof/piercing burst. It's possible to abuse any spell, the main con is that you won't be able to use a lot of protection and buff spells until you have a high-level cipher in your party, because it will take too much time to "reblood" your spell pool.

I don't know if the thing is viable, but it sounds like an Arcane Knight of Steel Garrote devastating and punishing anything nearby

 

Yep see my test above.  Good thoughts.  Best thing i learned is you can proc the going-off of Llen Safeguard via the self-damage from Blood Sacrifice (at the start of the fight) and then use athletics or another power to heal up.  Also the Spirit Lance will proc the SG self-heal on AOE targets if they are afflicted, either by some affliction you cast (Blindness from Chill Fog, Sickened from Nox burst, Terrified from the Rymgrand spells or even the weapon-effect from Draconic Fury spell -- though sadly Slicken's proning doesn't work).

 

I posted some build thoughts above but could use some help.

[guildwriter]

Yeah. With all those drawbacks it's meh. If spells would have profited from the crit conversion and also other sources of charm would have worked it would have been decent though.

 

The "Bonnie and Clyde" duo practically writes itself if that worked.  It really is a shame that it doesn't work that way.

[Dr <3]

My 2 cents:

Steel garrote paladin + troubadour ( herald)

 

Steel garrote ability at max lvl is about 15% of dmg done as healing ( i have not tested it a lvl 1, maybe it is not scaling at all)

 

Go for long night drink phrase, and you have the aoe weakened you need to keep leaching life forever. As a bonus: weakened is a tier 2 ability, do is not negated by mere resistance ( it downgrades to sicken), you need an actual immunity.

 

At higher lvls : you can keep on both long night drink + old siec revenge phrase to get 12%+15%= 27% healing on dmg done, wich is nice.

 

Since i was going to max str anyway i trowed in also the regen aura + healer talent+ bonesetter amulet + ahu saint boots to get +33% + 15%, +15%+ 15% healing, so my aura gave me +7 hp/3 sec.

 

For bonus style points: i had gone for pukestabber + soulbind dagger, so i had my beautiful drunkenmaster vampire knight, he was always drunk (pukestabber mad drunk bonus), the others could not stand to had a party with him ( puke on crit/ weakened)

[guildwriter]

*** FWIW, this is my current attempt to try to stack Will def

27 arcane knight

+57 level

+12 intellect <--this can go up as it gets buffed by Vital Essence

+2 resolve

+15 Deep Faith

+20 Lleng Safeguard

+10 Mangera Chain (this armor is actually pretty sweet)

+5 Elite Prowess (Wahaki Tua)

+15 Giftbearer's Cloak (20 History)

----> Total 162 up to 177 when buffed and holding Griffin Blade (172 w/ lance)

Does not look like Circle of Protection is stacking, however.

I can get to 188 with Ripple Sponge due to the buff to resolve (193 holding Griffin Blade, but not with the lance).

Open to ideas.

 

Circle of Protection will not work with Llengrath's Safeguard as both are active effects of the same type (+Defense to All).

 

Kathrynn Vonn Kiliann the Cat sold in Serpent's Crown gives +1 Int, +5 will.  

+10 from the will save perk

 

IIRC you need a Will of about 195 to resist arcane dampener.  So those should easily put you over the top.  Especially if you aren't counting +Resolve or +Int inspirations.

 

**if the revku equipment isn't going to be super important in most encounter's, maybe the thing to do is either to go Helm of the Falcon (for recovery with the lance) or Helm Of Grotto Deep for more intelligence and then +2 poison PL that should affect noxious burst (I can't see that stacking Alchemy would be worth it here ... Maybe there's a poison/corrode/decay build somewhere out there with Druid that is still worth it).

 

I've been playing with an Ancient/Assassin build in my head that focuses on spreading DoTs everywhere.  With the +2 to Beast PL from the Wicked Beast Pike and the +Poison PL from Grottos and Spider Silk and what not, it could be potent.  Not sure if Pernicious is keyworded to Poison, will have to do some testing.  Taste of the Hunt is also interesting as it behaves like a melee ability despite being a spell.  By that I mean the DoT benefits from the damage bonus of the weapon.  I've seen 75 damage over 15 seconds which pretty fast acting for a DoT.  Can use the +Plant staff as well for Wall of Thorns and you have plenty of summons for meatshields that come from Plants and Beasts thanks to the special sporeling summon you get at level one.  Can even super size them with the summon buff that you get.

 

That being said from a solo perspective one of the big problems with a DoT focused build is that Paladin/Priest/Druid groups are complete and utter cancer.  Especially at high levels.  The VTC and Huana vengeance boarding fights are good examples of this.  If they don't just spam LoH and other heals to negate your damage, they then cast Withdraw or Beetle Shell and soak it anyways.  And that's ignoring the Circle of Protections and the Shields for the Faithful and 200+ Sunlance crits.  The extra cherry on top is that all high level Paladin NPCs have Righteous Soul and thus have immunity to poison but it doesn't show on the tooltip.  There's nothing quite as tilting as Toxic Striking someone and seeing the immunity message pop up.  

 

Theoretically though if you layer enough DoTs on everyone you can overload their healing.  Problem is surviving to actually get the casts off without abusing things like Withdraw scrolls and the like.  Will have to think on it some more.  +3 PL to Plague of Insects is hard to ignore though.  Combined with the new boost to Pernicious Cloud I can see this build wreaking Havoc.  Will have to do some tests.

[brasilgringo]

 

*** FWIW, this is my current attempt to try to stack Will def

27 arcane knight

+57 level

+12 intellect <--this can go up as it gets buffed by Vital Essence

+2 resolve

+15 Deep Faith

+20 Lleng Safeguard

+10 Mangera Chain (this armor is actually pretty sweet)

+5 Elite Prowess (Wahaki Tua)

+15 Giftbearer's Cloak (20 History)

----> Total 162 up to 177 when buffed and holding Griffin Blade (172 w/ lance)

Does not look like Circle of Protection is stacking, however.

I can get to 188 with Ripple Sponge due to the buff to resolve (193 holding Griffin Blade, but not with the lance).

Open to ideas.

 

Circle of Protection will not work with Llengrath's Safeguard as both are active effects of the same type (+Defense to All).

 

Kathrynn Vonn Kiliann the Cat sold in Serpent's Crown gives +1 Int, +5 will.  

+10 from the will save perk

 

IIRC you need a Will of about 195 to resist arcane dampener.  So those should easily put you over the top.  Especially if you aren't counting +Resolve or +Int inspirations.

 

**if the revku equipment isn't going to be super important in most encounter's, maybe the thing to do is either to go Helm of the Falcon (for recovery with the lance) or Helm Of Grotto Deep for more intelligence and then +2 poison PL that should affect noxious burst (I can't see that stacking Alchemy would be worth it here ... Maybe there's a poison/corrode/decay build somewhere out there with Druid that is still worth it).

 

I've been playing with an Ancient/Assassin build in my head that focuses on spreading DoTs everywhere.  With the +2 to Beast PL from the Wicked Beast Pike and the +Poison PL from Grottos and Spider Silk and what not, it could be potent.  Not sure if Pernicious is keyworded to Poison, will have to do some testing.  Taste of the Hunt is also interesting as it behaves like a melee ability despite being a spell.  By that I mean the DoT benefits from the damage bonus of the weapon.  I've seen 75 damage over 15 seconds which pretty fast acting for a DoT.  Can use the +Plant staff as well for Wall of Thorns and you have plenty of summons for meatshields that come from Plants and Beasts thanks to the special sporeling summon you get at level one.  Can even super size them with the summon buff that you get.

 

That being said from a solo perspective one of the big problems with a DoT focused build is that Paladin/Priest/Druid groups are complete and utter cancer.  Especially at high levels.  The VTC and Huana vengeance boarding fights are good examples of this.  If they don't just spam LoH and other heals to negate your damage, they then cast Withdraw or Beetle Shell and soak it anyways.  And that's ignoring the Circle of Protections and the Shields for the Faithful and 200+ Sunlance crits.  The extra cherry on top is that all high level Paladin NPCs have Righteous Soul and thus have immunity to poison but it doesn't show on the tooltip.  There's nothing quite as tilting as Toxic Striking someone and seeing the immunity message pop up.  

 

Theoretically though if you layer enough DoTs on everyone you can overload their healing.  Problem is surviving to actually get the casts off without abusing things like Withdraw scrolls and the like.  Will have to think on it some more.  +3 PL to Plague of Insects is hard to ignore though.  Combined with the new boost to Pernicious Cloud I can see this build wreaking Havoc.  Will have to do some tests.

 

 

You can enchant Spine of Thicket Green to be +3 PL Plant / +3 PL Beast, so I think it's potentially better than the Pike?  I think Ancient gives you +1 PL, so you'd be at +4 Beast / +4 Plant. 

 

I forgot about Spider Silk Robe doing + Poison PL, good call (though it was nerfed down).  I don't know how Poison damage scales with Alchemy, but I think it still does even though it the scaling apparently was nerfed down a few patches ago.  \\

 

Some of the key Druid spells like Venom Bloom are coded as both Plant and Poison (I think, they say things like Counter: Antidode - which I think means they are still considered Poison keyword), so maybe the PL bonuses even stack among themselves?    I coudn't see any similar keywords for the Rogue powers like Pernicious or even Withering?

[guildwriter]

You can enchant Spine of Thicket Green to be +3 PL Plant / +3 PL Beast, so I think it's potentially better than the Pike?  I think Ancient gives you +1 PL, so you'd be at +4 Beast / +4 Plant. 

 

I forgot about Spider Silk Robe doing + Poison PL, good call (though it was nerfed down).  I don't know how Poison damage scales with Alchemy, but I think it still does even though it the scaling apparently was nerfed down a few patches ago.  \\

 

Some of the key Druid spells like Venom Bloom are coded as both Plant and Poison (I think, they say things like Counter: Antidode - which I think means they are still considered Poison keyword), so maybe the PL bonuses even stack among themselves?    I coudn't see any similar keywords for the Rogue powers like Pernicious or even Withering?

 

 

Unsure if that's the case for the Spine as I think most +PL boosting has been nerfed down to +2 across the board.  The reason why I'd use the pike is to have the pierce hole covered as well as having the +resto stat buff on the spine.  Also Wicked Beast has some other abilities that I think could be useful and more offensive oriented than the staff.  Also I like poking things.  And being special because no one uses that weapon.  

 

It wouldn't surprise me if Poison didn't affect Pernicious, but it hasn't been uncommon for Obsidian to fail to keyword things correctly.  One way or another I need to do a lot of testing to see what does or does not work.  And I need to see if I can make Assassin/Tactician work for infinite restealth backstabs. 

 

Yes I like Assassins.

[Boeroer]

I don't know how you tested it, but I just tried Debonaire with a fellow Cipher:

 

Cipher uses Whisper of Treason: Debonaire crits.

 

Ringleader charmed 5 enemy xaurips. 1 dominated, 4 charmed. 

 

Debonaire cast Pernicious Cloud: all 4 charmed xaurips received crits. The combat log says hit -> [Debonaire] -> crit.

Also they didn't flip back and kept their charmed affliction... 

 

So it is indeed possible to use the crit conversion on all charmed targets, no matter who or how applied. I didn't check spells yet. Pernicious Cloud was a first good test because it has firendly fire (else you couldn't hit the charmed).

 

My first impression is that a Debonaire/Cipher would be pretty neat. Against kith you can always use Rogueish Charm if you don't have focus - against all others use your other charm powers. Or simply bring a Debonaire and a Cipher.

 

Remember that the conversion does NOT work if you graze! Only hits get converted.

 

Also with melee attacks the combat log will always say it converted due to Dirty Fighting. I guess that's just a cosmetic issue.

 

So far I got 100% hit to crit conversion on charmed enemies as promised.

 

Now I have to check if spells will work and which abilites/items do something special on crit. Guaranteed crits are nice...

Edited December 3, 2018 by Boeroer

[guildwriter]

I don't know how you tested it, but I just tried Debonaire with a fellow Cipher:

 

Cipher uses Whisper of Treason: Debonaire crits.

 

Ringleader charmed 5 enemy xaurips. 1 dominated, 4 charmed. 

 

Debonaire cast Pernicious Cloud: all 4 charmed xaurips received crits. The combat log says hit -> [Debonaire] -> crit.

 

So it is indeed possible to use the crit conversion on all charmed targets, no matter who or how applied. I didn't check spells yet. Pernicious Cloud was a first good test because it has firendly fire (else you couldn't hit the charmed).

 

My first impression is that a Debonaire/Cipher would be pretty neat. Against kith you can always use Rogueish Charm if you don't have focus - against all others use your other charm powers. Or simply bring a Debonaire and a Cipher.

 

Remember that the conversion does NOT work if you graze! Only hits get converted.

 

Also with melee attacks the combat log will always say it converted due to Dirty Fighting. I guess that's just a cosmetic issue.

 

So far I got 100% hit to crit conversion on charmed enemies as promised.

 

Now I have to check if spells will work and which abilites/items do something special on crit. Guaranteed crits are nice...

 

That's strange.  I cast ringleader with a different cipher and then cast fireball on the group that got converted with a Debonaire/Wizard.  Every charm broke but it was a mix of crit, hit, and graze (didn't count the dominated).  I did see instances of conversion, but it was "[]" and didn't see the Debonaire tag at all.  Maybe I'll give it another go around.  I didn't take Dirty Fighting specifically to avoid that noise.

 

Also them keeping the charmed effect is really strange.  Every time I tested it the charm broke period on graze, hit, crit no matter what.  Maybe they patched the beta since I last tested?  I do know my Steam has been dling updates constantly ever since I switched on the beta.

Edited December 3, 2018 by guildwriter

[Boeroer]

Hmm.. maybe it's an issue with Dirty Fighting - or simply spells don't work.

 

That it nearly always says Dirty Fighting for me might be a hint that there's an unintended interminling (code wise). 

[Boeroer]

Did a test with Fireball: all crits on charmed xaurips.

 

You need friendly fire spells. ANd it seems you need one other source of crit conversion. Maybe Debonaire conversion is weirdly implemented.

 

Fireballs flips alliance back. Pernicious Cloud does NOT! 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Boeroer

[guildwriter]

Did a test with Fireball: all crits on charmed xaurips.

 

You need friendly fire spells. ANd it seems you need one other source of crit conversion. Maybe Debonaire conversion is weirdly implemented.

 

Fireballs flips alliance back. Pernicious Cloud does NOT! 

 

I really want to see their code base now.  This is beyond weird.

 

That being said, I do remember when I tested with Dirty Fighting on my first Debonaire test he did convert on hit practically every time.  But I wasn't sure if it was Dirty Fighting mucking up things (it was a low number of hits and ranged attacks only) so I got rid of it.  

Edited December 3, 2018 by guildwriter

[Boeroer]

CC-Spells that don't hurt charmed enemies don't break the charm but still have 100% hit to crit. Like Pull of Eora. So you can keep critting the charmed enemy with CC.

[guildwriter]

That does make some sense.  Follows the same principle as Brilliant Escape as what counts as a stealth breaking hit and what doesn't.

[Takkik]

perhaps debonaire need to be the one that charm, with is unique ability or any other class like cipher. If you chazrm with another character you don't get the bonus?

[guildwriter]

Debonaire Hit to Crit Interesting Weapons List:

• Would be fun for Essence Interrupter.  Charmed dude about to die?  Transmogrify their soul into a new allied body!
• Magistrate's Cudgel will now instant kill lower level charmed enemies 100%
• Lord Darryln's Volgue has a guaranteed way to drop stacks now.
• Oathbreaker's Edge can setup Found Guilty for sure.  Add Clear Out for hilarity.
• Glacierbane will always clear beneficials
• Seeker's Fang and be a Cipher to always be able to land the Focus based DoT.

Not exhaustive but all interesting I think for their own reasons.  

Edited December 3, 2018 by guildwriter

[Boeroer]

perhaps debonaire need to be the one that charm, with is unique ability or any other class like cipher. If you chazrm with another character you don't get the bonus?

The Debonaire gets the bonus no matter who charms the enemies. Also works on non-kith.

 

Only the Rogueish Charm is restricted to kith enemies. It's very long lasting but has only a range of 2 meters. 

[Boeroer]

Debonaire Hit to Crit Interesting Weapons List:

• Would be fun for Essence Interrupter.  Charmed dude about to die?  Transmogrify their soul into a new allied body!
• Magistrate's Cudgel will now instant kill lower level charmed enemies 100%
• Lord Darryln's Volgue has a guaranteed way to drop stacks now.
• Oathbreaker's Edge can setup Found Guilty for sure.  Add Clear Out for hilarity.
• Glacierbane will always clear beneficials
• Seeker's Fang and be a Cipher to always be able to land the Focus based DoT.

Not exhaustive but all interesting I think for their own reasons.  

Magistrate's Cudgel's instakill only works on kith I think. Would fit somehow.

 

I believe Cipher's can't target allies with most of their damaging powers...? ALso ciphers get no focus from hitting charmed enemies.

 

Debonaire/Devoted could make sure that there's decent crit damage. Also a rare case where "Improved Critial" might be ok.

 

So far Pernicious Cloud is the only ability I found that can (crit) damage charmed enemies without flipping their alliance back to hostile. A problem is that you will also hit your party members OR will have to suffer Cowardice (since Pern. Cloud is centered on the rogue). 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Boeroer

[Takkik]

The charmed enemies don't count as an ally for cowardice?

[MaxQuest]

It's also interesting if Cowardice is considered hostile effect for Forbidden's Fist wound/hp generation...

[Boeroer]

The charmed enemies don't count as an ally for cowardice?

Good question. I think they do count. But I didn't pay attention to that specifically to be honest.

[Anoregon]

I'm still having a hard time deciding between Helwalker and Shattered Pillar to pair with Blood Mage. The former gets on-demand wounds and might (as well as rooting pain procs), but may be hard to keep alive in the thick of melee. SP doesn't benefit explicitly from Blood Sacrifice when it comes to wound generation, but SP already has high wound generation in a Sage build.

 

hmmmm.

 

Edit: Come to think of it, no-sub monk but actually be a better choice than Helwalker. I forgot that 1 might per wound is actually not that great of a boost for the penalty.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Anoregon

[Takkik]

I'm still having a hard time deciding between Helwalker and Shattered Pillar to pair with Blood Mage. The former gets on-demand wounds and might (as well as rooting pain procs), but may be hard to keep alive in the thick of melee. SP doesn't benefit explicitly from Blood Sacrifice when it comes to wound generation, but SP already has high wound generation in a Sage build.

 

hmmmm.

 

Edit: Come to think of it, no-sub monk but actually be a better choice than Helwalker. I forgot that 1 might per wound is actually not that great of a boost for the penalty.

 

The problem is that  I suspect hellwalker extra dmg influence blood sacrifice? Best way to kill yourself when you have 10 wounds. I think you would end up never using blood magic because never at full life to support the random raw dmg.