Sage or Warlock for a caster?

[Crumbleton]

I was thinking sage would be better because of the lash, accuarcy boost, and penetration?

 

What are the bonuses I'm missing to barbarian?

 

I'll be doubling it with a blood mage for infinite casting.

[Boeroer]

What lash? Turning Wheel doesn't get applied to spells anymore (patch). Lightning Strikes never did afaik (?).

 

I mean when we talk about casting only.

 

Sage with Citzal's Spirit Lance is still great and works with Turning Wheel etc.

 

And Helwalker is always great for a caster anyway because of the +10 INT and +10 MIG.

 

A Berserker (remove Confusion with Devil's Breastplate, Svef, Captain's Banquet or Modwyr) also gets +2 PEN for his spells. Besides that you get high casting speed through Frenzy, Bloodlust and most notably Blood Thirst. Blooded can boost spells' damage as well.

An alternative can be Furyshaper with the Frenzy Ward which adds even more speed.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Boeroer

[Crumbleton]

Ah totally thought lightning strikes applied lashes to spells at one point probably just imagining things.

 

Well I'm pairing with blood mage so helwalker seems a bit.... err I don't want to explode myself to badly

 

I thought about beserker but right now I have it as a fury shaper because I like the flavor of totems, I'm just hoping the terror totem is worth.

 

So monk would add action speed , accuracy , and int/con (maybe armor)

 

While barb would give action speed, damage (sometimes?), aoe terrify (no idea how good), do the bleeds and interrupts from frenzy apply to spells? And potential crazy casting speeds I guess?

[Boeroer]

I know that Spirit Frenzy/Spirit Tornado's Stagger effect works with spells, yes (which is quite nice). I think Blood Storm doesn't but I didn't test lately.

 

Brute Force also works with spells.

[Crumbleton]

How does spirit tornado work? Is it just an aoe around me at the time of cast? Will it be typically useless for a backline?

 

So I guess warlock is mainly banking on instant recovery at high level which means I could potentially go heavy armor while sage is more accurate, and probably better for a more general build?

[Boeroer]

Spirit Tornado only lets out that freeze damage and Terrify when you cast it, yes. The staggering keeps working for the entire duration of course.

[arkteryx]

Spirit tornado is an aoe around you at the time of cast, doesn't really do that much for a caster per se. What Boeroer is mentioning is really the stagger effect from Spirit Frenzy, the mid level upgrade, which apparently works on spell targets (I didn't know that). So you could save an ability point and only upgrade once though the terrified effect could be a nice 'oh ****' button if something does make it to your backline, depends how good you are at managing adds and how tight you are for points I guess.

 

Edit: Sniped.

Edited February 10, 2019 by arkteryx

[MountainTiger]

I used to be someone who didn't complain about Serafen's Cipher class, until I realized that the Spirit Frenzy stagger hits him every time Wild Mind triggers. Awesome with other casters, though.

[brasilgringo]

For a caster, i'd consider Thaumaturge (esp if solo).  You can self-buff to terrific levels and avoid death through BDD. 

[hansvedic]

If you are focusing on Damage Over Time spells, then Sage is definitely better.

 

If, however, you are more interested in direct damage spells (upfront damage), then Warlock can, under the right conditions (health < 50%, have Blooded, enough accuracy), do more damage.

One of the big advantages of the Sage is Dance of Death + Enduring Dance upgrade, which adds accuracy in addition to wounds as long as it is up.

[Crumbleton]

Well I figured dance of death wouldn't pair so well with blood mage because I'd be taking damage

[thelee]

Well I figured dance of death wouldn't pair so well with blood mage because I'd be taking damage

 

has anyone tested this interaction? because Mortification of the Soul does not break Dance of Death, so depending on how Blood Sacrifice is implemented, it might not break Dance of Death either.

[hansvedic]

Well, the -15 to defenses against blooded enemies probably would hurt the ability to keep even Enduring Dance up, I suppose.

[Crumbleton]

Hm I just assumed it would but I haven't tested, if not I could see nalpazca being a really good fit for what I want to do

[Boeroer]

It does NOT break Enduring Dance.

 

Only damage that goes through attack resolution (does a hit roll against your defense and then does damage) counts.

 

So all types of self damage (Alacrity, Berserker Frenzy, Sacred Immolation, Voidwheel etc.) are safe to use with Dance of Death.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Boeroer