Best ranged nuker Blood Mage in turn based- SC or MC?

[Belodri]

The goal is to have a Blood Mage that excels at dealing damage at range with spells. So far I've narrowed down the options to SC Blood Mage, Helwalker Sage and Assassin Spellblade (please let me know if I've overlooked other MC options) but I have no idea which one would be the best.

I'm playing in turn based mode at veteran difficulty with the community patch mod, no attribute caps mod, as well as a mod that makes Smoke Veil a free action. Also I have Tekehu as a Watershaper in the party so steady healing for Blood Sacrifice is a given too.

So here are my thoughts on each:  

-- SC Blood Mage:  
+3 PL, access to lvl 8 & 9 spells (no idea how good they are since I've never used them)  
No downsides but I can't tell if the upsides are worth it compared to the MC alternatives.

-- Helwalker Sage:  
+15 MIG, +10 INT, +2 Pen, +Accuracy  
Massive stat buffs and intrinsic synergy with Blood Sacrifice at the cost of taking a whole lot more damage. Since it's a ranged caster anyways, that downside is pretty negligible but how do the gained stats compare to a flat +3 PL? Also since Mortification is only used on Enduring Dance it has pretty much unlimited per-fight resources as well.  

-- Assassin Spellblade:  
Massive Crit Damage, Pen and Accuracy from stealth, +10% hit to crit  
Adept Evasion is better in turn based, free movement with Escape and since modded Smoke Veil is a free action I get more uses of invisibility per fight. It's the only option that's limited on per-fight resources.

Please let me know your thoughts on each as well as any other options I've missed. 

[Okkes]

All of the options very strong and fun to play. I would prefer Sage however, because if you get bored of nuking you can summon your pike and go to melee, area hitting with monk abilities so much fun.

[crdvis16]

FYI- the Assassinate buff only works with certain spells.  Something like minoletta's missiles would only benefit on the first missile.  Some spells that you'd think would benefit either don't or sometimes do (which is weird).  For instance, Fireball works if you target the AoE very close to you but if you cast it far the buff often won't be included.  From what I remember, Torrent of Flame and Precise Burst consistently worked.

 

Edit: though there is the route of using Arkemyr's Departure and then casting lots of debuffs from stealth for the Assassinate accuracy buff (no benefit from the penetration of course).  Brilliant Departure's stealth only breaks from causing damage. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by crdvis16

[Not So Clever Hound]

I draw from RTwP experience, but personally I would suggest SC Bloodmage because the PL8 & 9 spells are out of this world in terms of nuking, being both super fun and powerful.

If you want to specialize in Meteor Shower, the ultimate arcane orbital strike, you can stack absurd amounts of Power Level (PL) and make those things really hurt. And you can think about devious ways to make your frontline either super resistant (Burn AR is so easy to stack), or straight-up regenerating from Meteor Shower (e.g. Bloodfire from Scorching Cloak and/or High-RES Forbidden Fist regenerating from the DoT hostile effect) if you're worried about friendly fire. But friendly fire shouldn't be a problem at all.

Missile Salvo is also super good, it is basically a magical A10 Warthog autocannon hovering over you and letting loose where you want it too.

At PL8 the Wall of Many Colors can single handedly end fights with a good placement, and that is hilarious; the Freezing Rake is brutal if well targeted and you can stack Illusion PL on both of those too if you wish for more free power. Finally, as long as you're not playing Upscaled PotD, a few casts of Wilting Wind will instantly end almost every non-Boss encouters. With the Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardy, You get 3 casts of PL8, and 2 casts of PL9 (and 3x Combusting Wounds for jaw-dropping synergy....) before you start playing with Blood Sacrifice. And that is barely scratching the absurd potential of endgame SC Wizard in Deadfire.

Second choice I would go Arcane Assassin because of your mod. If you want to search his name on the forum, @Haplok has played a truckload of BM/Assassin turn-based and wrote very insightful posts here and there. My personal caution having soloed a few BM/Assassin is that it can get repetitive.

BM/Helwalker is very strong too, of course there's nothing wrong with it and as @crdvis16 commented, it is very versatile, nuking included. You do the basic wizard nuking, but better because Helwalker, and you can potentially go in melee to spam Stunning Surge with the Spirit Lance - if there is no immediate danger of getting whacked. 

But why limit yourself to (very strong) PL1-PL7 spells when you can embrace the goodness of PL8&9?

[dgray62]

Yes, a SC bloodmage can wreak havoc if you steal Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure (with Major Grimoire Imprint and the grimoire switching trick so you can cast it whenever you need it) and cast from stealth. Interestingly debuff spells don't break invisibility, only damage spells, so you can cast ABD, buff up and debuff your enemies, and then launch your nukes. An assassin spell blade can do this too, although they'll need a 7th level spell to do this. Spellblades are also great with the lance, as you can apply nasty rogue attacks to a group that way.

[Boeroer]

49 minutes ago, crdvis16 said:

Brilliant Departure's stealth only breaks from causing damage. 

Except when the damage is done by a hazard spell (that's Wall spells for a Wizard) - but those don't profit from Assassinate. 

[Belodri]

Thanks to everyone for the tips and all the info!

Since deciding on which one to pick was way too hard, I ended up with a party of 4 Blood Mages and a Cipher. 1 SC (thanks to @Not So Clever Houndfor the details on the individual spells, can't wait to get them now), 1 Helwalker melee build with Cital's, 1 Assassin for debuffs (thanks for the tip @crdvis16) and 1 Tactician and it's been going great so far. 

[Not So Clever Hound]

That's the beauty of it. You don't have to choose, just play them all!! 9 x overlapping Freezing Pillars for the win.