Any builds that use new subclasses ?

[thelee]

I'm also playing a Bloodmage atm. - and in my party Blood Sacrifice is not that useful (in my opinion): Takes too long, is too random, is too painful on low levels (when I need it the most) and I totally miss my Empower ability. Especially as a multiclass char.

Solo: sure, then it's great. But in a party? I don't know. Not bad - but also not so super as everybody's saying.

 

odd, my experience was such that blood mage was so good in my party (i rolled a random blood mage hireling for port maje) that i kicked them out before i got to nekataka.

 

possibly if you're just using it to restore random spells after depleting a lot it might be underwhelming, but I was using it to restore specific spells by pre-planning in a fight what I wanted. E.G. chaining together a never-ending sequence of Slickens, Chill Fogs, or Missiles depending, with Concelhaut's mixed in for extra regen. I haven't brought the blood mage out of storage since, but if I had one in FS right now (level 20), I know precisely how I would use him in some fights... chain Petrifications on the "oh look we made a 'body affliction resistant', 'interrupt immune' tough enemy whatchoo gonna do now". Sure i'd whiff a lot in such a situation (2 out of 3), but petrification at +1 PL from blood sacrifice would last long enough to get me multiples and no other mage will let me cast more than two AL9 spells in a fight.

 

Seriously for any non-interrupt immune boss fight you could probably trivialize with one chanter having the AL2 concentration-dispelling song, and a single blood mage repeatedly chaining together Slickens plus other AL1-3 interrupts/spells.

Edited January 25, 2019 by thelee

[Boeroer]

If he has enough healing - sure. But first of all that limits the Blood Mage to a one-trick pony (only cast that one spell to make sure that spell level gets replenished - never do the full buff cycle) and secondly: I have never had an encounter at high levels where I ran out of spells with a Wizard when I was with a party. Except Megabosses maybe.

I really like to use Empower, especially with the special talents which you can pick. Then there are several items with empower features. You lose all that when picking a Blood Mage. For me it's not worth it. But I guess that highly depends on how you like to play your Wizards.

Edited January 25, 2019 by Boeroer

[thelee]

If he has enough healing - sure. But first of all that limits the Blood Mage to a one-trick pony (only cast that one spell to make sure that spell level gets replenished - never do the full buff cycle) and secondly: I have never had an encounter at high levels where I ran out of spells with a Wizard when I was with a party. Except Megabosses maybe.

I really like to use Empower, especially with the special talents which you can pick. Then there are several items with empower features. You lose all that when picking a Blood Mage. For me it's not worth it. But I guess that highly depends on how you like to play your Wizards.

 

health is just another resource, and the blood mage is like some weird alchemical philosopher's stone that transmutes potions of minor healing and lay on hands into more spells (it also helps that the wizard comes built-in with concelhaut's siphon and later draining missiles)

 

sure, it can limit the blood mage to be a one-trick pony, but another way I look at it is that of all the spells you have, in a given situation one of those spells is the best to use. Then there's a second-best spell, a third-best spell, a fourth-best spell, etc. You generally cast the first-best spell and don't want to cast the least-best spell, and you move down the list, until you run out of spells. The blood mage gives you the ability to repeatedly cast that first-best spell over and over and over and over again, instead of having to move down your ordered list of spells.

 

missing out on empower is a downer, sure, especially in the mid-late game where you are more likely to actually use empower to empower a spell instead of just replenishing resources due to the quantity of spells, but i think effectively unlimited and controlled resource regen is really just that good (especially when it comes to AL9 spells which can be extremely powerful and which no one normally can cast more than two of after having burned an empower point). but yeah, YMMV, no matter how powerful e.g. that deltro's build was going to be to play i'd personally never go down that play style route so no accounting for style taste here.

Edited January 25, 2019 by thelee

[Boeroer]

What I meant is: if you like to do the full buff cirlce on a wizard (Infuse, Alacrity, Spirit Shield and so on) your Blood Sacrifice becomes unpredictible. I found that rather annoying. 

 

If every spell level had its own Blood Sacrifice - that would be something.

Edited January 25, 2019 by Boeroer

[thelee]

What I meant is: if you like to do the full buff cirlce on a wizard (Infuse, Alacrity, Spirit Shield and so on) your Blood Sacrifice becomes unpredictible. I found that rather annoying. 

 

If every spell level had its own Blood Sacrifice - that would be something.

 

ah, yes, i alluded to that. chalk that up to a playstyle difference, even outside of blood mages i don't go through many of the wizard buffs unless i really want to for some reason (though alacrity has 100% uptime if i can help it, and fleet feet if i don't have alacrity yet).

Edited January 25, 2019 by thelee

[Squilla]

What I meant is: if you like to do the full buff cirlce on a wizard (Infuse, Alacrity, Spirit Shield and so on) your Blood Sacrifice becomes unpredictible. I found that rather annoying. 

 

If every spell level had its own Blood Sacrifice - that would be something.

 

I ran into a similar issue, I rolled a bloodmage / helwalker and found myself not using blood sacrifice at all by mid to late game.  He was so effective as a striker with the suite of self buffs that it was not worthwhile.  On a dedicated single class wizard where I was focusing on minoletta's missile's or something I could see it being fun to exploit that, but yeah, didn't get much mileage out of it.  Though I love the RP flavor of blood mage in general.

[brasilgringo]

Blood Sacrifice works best for me on an extended BDD build, where you can't kill yourself with it even if you spam it (which one does) -- like a Woedica/Bloodmage.  The Tactician/Bloodmage can generally get back spells via Brilliant (Chillfog) and doesn't need to spam Blood Sacrifice except on flank-immune enemies. I've killed myself enough times trying to get into Potion of Final Stand territory with Blood Sacrifice that it's embarrasing.

[Luvsucklonewolf]

i am now trying druid(ancient ) /ranger (arcane archer ) .

Do you think they are synergistic to each other ?

I just want to deal high single damage dps +AOE in one character .

 

But now I dunno which stat should I focus and which companion animal I should use . (I plan to use antelope)

I think I will just dump resolve/con and max dex> might > perception > int

 

What do you guys think ?

Thanks for suggestion anyway :D

Will tell you the result

Edited January 25, 2019 by Luvsucklonewolf

[Boeroer]

Yes, I didn't mean the concept of Blood Mage isn't cool (it is) - I just wanted to say that it maybe isn't such an OP thing for some people (like me).

 

@Luvsucklonewolf: Honestly I do not see a lot of special synergy between Ancient and Arcane Archer. You could do the same with any rogue or ranger + Druid. If Arcane Archer only could get Caedebald's Blackbow... But I don't see where it would be a gimped combo  - so why not? 

 

In my opinion an Ancient is best when single classed. Because the beast and plant spells (Insects, Venombloom etc.) scale well with Power Level. Used a Nature Godlike Ancient with Spine of Thicket Green and a Stone of Power (+6 PL to beast and plant spells) and it's pretty awesome even without summons.    

 

I can see some synergy with Chanter because Wild Growth can be applied to drakes and spore summons while Mith Fyr can boost the dmg of all summons.
Or with Kind Wayfarer: use Inspiring Beacon + Lay on Hands and give them healing and lashes via Shared Flames. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Boeroer

[Luvsucklonewolf]

Thanks a lot Boeroer :D

[Luvsucklonewolf]

Furyshaper/Lifegiver has some good synergy and solid healing and DoTs.

I will try it , sound fun to me .

I dunno why I like anything that do DOT the most , will stuck with Druid/something build

[Boeroer]

Hey if you like to combine single target damage with DoT and AoE DoTs then maybe do a Rogue/Ancient? Pick Battle Axes, Arterial Strike, Gouging Strike and Ring the Bell for single target raw DoTs you can stack and  Insect Swarm, Plague of Insects and Venombloom for AoE DoTs. Those will all stack.  

[Luvsucklonewolf]

Hey if you like to combine single target damage with DoT and AoE DoTs then maybe do a Rogue/Ancient? Pick Battle Axes, Arterial Strike, Gouging Strike and Ring the Bell for single target raw DoTs you can stack and  Insect Swarm, Plague of Insects and Venombloom for AoE DoTs. Those will all stack.

 

 

Wow ! Nice idea Boeroer ! Sound fun!! I will start playing right away ! :D

For stat, I should max int right ? Thanks a lot ! May be I’ll go int > might > DEx = per then .

[Boeroer]

Yes, max MIG and INT. For max AoE DoTs use Spine of Thicket Green (can be stolen early), for weapon DoTs use Battle Axes. Or hey: the Boar form also does wounding DoT. So maybe Spine when casting Dot's and shifting to Boar form when going melee?

 

Kepp in mind: Hylea's Talons and Belt of Magran's Chosen will stay on you when shifted, giving you even more melee lashes than Wildstrike. Those work very well with rogue's dmg bonuses.

 

Use Persistant Distraction and/or other PER afflictions or spells with two afflictions (Venombloom for example) to immediately unlock Deathblows later on. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Boeroer

[Nights86]

bellower + sasha scimitar + all the "on empower" gear from FS + every source of PL you can grab is funny if you wanna see big numbers

[Luvsucklonewolf]

 

Yes, max MIG and INT. For max AoE DoTs use Spine of Thicket Green (can be stolen early), for weapon DoTs use Battle Axes. Or hey: the Boar form also does wounding DoT. So maybe Spine when casting Dot's and shifting to Boar form when going melee?

 

Kepp in mind: Hylea's Talons and Belt of Magran's Chosen will stay on you when shifted, giving you even more melee lashes than Wildstrike. Those work very well with rogue's dmg bonuses.

 

Use Persistant Distraction and/or other PER afflictions or spells with two afflictions (Venombloom for example) to immediately unlock Deathblows later on.

Many thanks ^^ can’t wait to try it out. I think (at least from paper) , this suit my play style very well hehe . :D Edited January 26, 2019 by Luvsucklonewolf

[Luvsucklonewolf]

bellower + sasha scimitar + all the "on empower" gear from FS + every source of PL you can grab is funny if you wanna see big numbers

Really ? Have to try it .

Seems like I will not sleep this weekend !

Thanks ^^

[Boeroer]

bellower + sasha scimitar + all the "on empower" gear from FS + every source of PL you can grab is funny if you wanna see big numbers

I tested this and it's not that great compared to a Troubadour with the same items. Just because the Troubadour lets out invocations nearly twice as often. More jumps on Eld Nary's Curse are great, but it's also great if you can  dish it out nearly twice as often while not losing chant AoE size. Also the Bellower PL gain is borked somehow. My Eld Nary's Curses don't jump more often with a Bellower's PL boost than they do with a Troubadour. 

 

Also offensive chants that hit enemies and apply effects (Soft Winds, Dragon Thrashed, Weakening Chant) don't care for missing linger time. They still have 10 secs base duration on the enemy.

[brasilgringo]

 

 

In my opinion an Ancient is best when single classed. Because the beast and plant spells (Insects, Venombloom etc.) scale well with Power Level. Used a Nature Godlike Ancient with Spine of Thicket Green and a Stone of Power (+6 PL to beast and plant spells) and it's pretty awesome even without summons.    

Don't forget Potion Of Ascension!

[Boeroer]

Sure I will forget to use consumables. That's what I always do.

[Boeroer]

 

 

Yes, max MIG and INT. For max AoE DoTs use Spine of Thicket Green (can be stolen early), for weapon DoTs use Battle Axes. Or hey: the Boar form also does wounding DoT. So maybe Spine when casting Dot's and shifting to Boar form when going melee?

 

Kepp in mind: Hylea's Talons and Belt of Magran's Chosen will stay on you when shifted, giving you even more melee lashes than Wildstrike. Those work very well with rogue's dmg bonuses.

 

Use Persistant Distraction and/or other PER afflictions or spells with two afflictions (Venombloom for example) to immediately unlock Deathblows later on.

Many thanks ^^ can’t wait to try it out. I think (at least from paper) , this suit my play style very well hehe . :D

 

I just tried it out with an Ancient + Streetfighter and it's pretty great. Drop sporelings as distraction, cast Insect Swarm, Plague and Infestation on the crowd (all foe only), cast a Moonwell and then run into their midst, get flanked and finish off the last ones standing with with Sneak+Deathblows + Boar's raw DoT + Deep Wounds + Greater Wildstrike Corrode. Ring the Bell left and Right - but only attack every enemy once - they will die soon enough from the massive DoTs and you want to keep the flanked status. Cripling Strikes doing 160+ direct dmg + DoTs (Deep Wounds and Boar wounding). Didn't even use Hylea's Talons.

I guess Trickster would also work well - more defensive, less dmg.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Boeroer

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

How well does Steel Garotte / Blood Mage work?

[Luvsucklonewolf]

 

 

Yes, max MIG and INT. For max AoE DoTs use Spine of Thicket Green (can be stolen early), for weapon DoTs use Battle Axes. Or hey: the Boar form also does wounding DoT. So maybe Spine when casting Dot's and shifting to Boar form when going melee?

Kepp in mind: Hylea's Talons and Belt of Magran's Chosen will stay on you when shifted, giving you even more melee lashes than Wildstrike. Those work very well with rogue's dmg bonuses.

Use Persistant Distraction and/or other PER afflictions or spells with two afflictions (Venombloom for example) to immediately unlock Deathblows later on.

Many thanks ^^ can’t wait to try it out. I think (at least from paper) , this suit my play style very well hehe . :D

I just tried it out with an Ancient + Streetfighter and it's pretty great. Drop sporelings as distraction, cast Insect Swarm, Plague and Infestation on the crowd (all foe only), cast a Moonwell and then run into their midst, get flanked and finish off the last ones standing with with Sneak+Deathblows + Boar's raw DoT + Deep Wounds + Greater Wildstrike Corrode. Ring the Bell left and Right - but only attack every enemy once - they will die soon enough from the massive DoTs and you want to keep the flanked status. Cripling Strikes doing 160+ direct dmg + DoTs (Deep Wounds and Boar wounding). Didn't even use Hylea's Talons.

I guess Trickster would also work well - more defensive, less dmg.

Thanks that’s sounded cool !! Will definitely try it!

[JESUSSSAYSNO]

Just about every subclass in the game has its niche, including the 4.0 subclasses.

I think the only truely bad subclass in the game is Forbidden Fist, because it needs so much setup just to be on par with other builds.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Hrm.

 

I've been theorycrafting a Steel Garotte Paladin / Blood Mage and I've run into a crux I'd appreciate some help thinking through.

 

On paper at least, the Cadhu Scalth upgrade "luminous harmony" (reducing damage from all sources, scales with metaphysics) should reduce the blood mage damage, while also having great synergy with stacking deflection very high as an Arcane Knight.

 

Problem: the Steel Garotte bonus healing only works on *weapon* damage.

 

Are there any summonable wizard weapons that are one-handed, other than kalakoths' minor blights? If only Citzal's were one-handed . . .