[CLASS BUILD] Bilestomper (tanky & corrosive drainer wizard)

[Dr <3]

I wondered if a druid version of this could make sense but i reminded to mysalf that all the good druid aoe DMG spells ( storms, insects swarms) are already foe only... Priest also more or less

[Dr <3]

What is your typical spell routine in fight? I tested your build yesterday, was good but i expected to do more DMG with toxic spells (after a couple of fights i run always out of spells, usually i needed 2-3 toxic cloud + 1 Wall of training and 1-2 noxius burst as finisher).

 

Just to be clear my typical comparison for "aoe DMG guys " is a Chanter with High Strenght & int and dragon slashed chant, up to now i feel it is much stronger than a paladin with immolation and a tempest druid.

 

The strongest sinergy i found was Wall of drain + arcane veil, always ended with 100+ sec of active veil, that was new for me, thank you!

[Dr <3]

Double post, sorry

Edited May 17, 2016 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Well, who does better dps than a chanter optimized for The Dragon Thrashed? Pretty much nothing I guess.

 

Everything pales in comparison to a chanter with high MIG, INT and PER at high levels when he's chaining that phrase. Especially if you have Brisk Recitation at 50%. And you can also do invocations on top. But you have to be at least lvl 9 for that. Before he's a bit underwhelming. Not bad, but also not very powerful.

 

This guy on the other hand is a wizard and therefore he's very useful from lvl 1 and up. And the good thing about this build is you can nuke him with pretty much everything that is poison or disease while he's tanking. I can imagine another party member glass cannon with poisonous spells who casts stuff on him. And as I said: he's great together with the Devil of Caroc. Really a funny tag team. 

 

When I refine my builds the first thing I always do is to send them do the Nalrend Bounty because it's so nasty. If your defenses are not good enough you will die instantly because of the high damage output and ACC of the Ogres - if your offense is bad you will also lose because those Ogres have tons of endurance and healers. So if a build can do that bounty solo it's totally viable I think. But of course nothing beats this bounty better than a tanky chanter with The Dragon Thrashed. It's just too much damage and it also works if you're prone or have a Withdraw spell on you (little hint: Black Sanctuary is great for such a chanter ) So I guess in most situations nothing beats that build.

 

This Bilestomper guy, however, was pretty amazing in Galvino's Hut (alll those vessels with their corrosive spells) and against most other enemies who like to stun and paralyze. My Drake's Ambassador for example died several times because he got paralyzed or stunned (=stops chanting). This guy didn't even get paralyzed or stunned (well, not often).

 

So it all depends I guess. And I also don't want to post 22 variants of a chanter.

[Dr <3]

Don't get me wrong, that was just a comparison, i like your build very much! Going to test him in solo in my next playtrough!

[Boeroer]

I wasn't offended or anything. I mean how could I? You're basically right.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

Oh, sorry - forgot to answer your question 'bout spell routine. I planted a poison trap and then started the encounter. Then I made sure to lower fort. on the enemy (sickening stuff, Painful Interdiction, Ryngrimm's spells or whatever debuffs fort) and then also reflex (e.g. via Slicken - for Arcane Assault) then I started to cast Arcane Assault and then my corrosive spells. Malignant Cloud is pretty awesome if you manage to crit the enemy a lot. Works best when fort. is debuffed and your ACC against certain races is buffed by +10 via survival.

But of course you have to rest a lot if you have to put out all enemies all by yourself. A wizard soloing and using a summoned weapon is more spell-efficient of course.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

Ok thankyou i didn't use enough the debuffing spells, i will retest.

[Marthenil]

This is a really old post, but since Boeroer is really active on the forums, I thought I'd post. 

 

I'm a Pale Elf wizard and will retrain to this, as it looks super fun. 

 

A few questions: Does the corrode talent work with the corrosive enchants on weapons? See where I'm getting at? Bittercut, maybe? Or, since I'll try it with a 2h instead, the corrosive lash enchant? 

 

Do you think it's gonna work with 2h or maybe Dual Wield? Any adjustments (the obvious aside) you'd recommend? Though, I'll admit, I'm not super into combat in this game (or any real time RPG of the genre) so I'm only playing on Hard, where that much optimization is not really needed. 

 

I just want my char to feel uber strong compared to the other party members

Edited November 1, 2016 by Marthenil

[Ben No.3]

If you have a place elf anyway, why not transfer the whole concept to freeze/fire/both spells to make use of the racial abilities? It would also enable you to choose your weapon more freely... Right now, Wodewys is an important part of the build.

[Boeroer]

Spirit of Decay does indeed boost the corrosive lashes on weapons. Basically you'll do 30% instead of 25%. Bittercut is even better: the base damage gets a 20% boost as well as the lash. So it's a great weapon for somebody who has Spirit of Decay.

 

Please note that the main point of this build is to make yourself nearly immune to your own AoE poison and disease spells. This approach will not work if you take away Wodewys and Mountain Dwarf (together they give you +45 defenses against poison) - and take a pale elf and use Bittercut, which even lowers poison defenses further by -10. For a pale elf there's a similar approach with ice spells like Chillfog and the Crossed Patch (immunity to blind) - I think it's also on the build list. You can even try to boost reflex and burn DR with a pale elf and do this with fire/fireballs: dropping them onto your own head and don't get harmed.

 

This wizard is supposed to be a tank and therefore should use a shield.

 

However, you can certainly wield melee weapons with a wizard like a two hander or dual wielding. Dual wielding might even be too fast because you have Deleterious Alacrity of Motion which gives you +50% speed. Together with the 50% automatic speed enhancement of dual wielding you're already (mathematically ) at -0.25 recovery - but of course recovery can't be negative - so it's a bit of a waste. If you skill for two handers (Two Handed Style, Savage Attack, not too low DEX etc.) you will be perfectly set up for using The Parasitic Staff and latet Citzal's Spirit Lance - which is one of the best weapons in the game. Its damage is huge and its AoE splash damage also works with Knockdown (you can get that from a Girdle of the Driving Wave - random loot) and also Envenomed Strike, turning it into an AoE attack. Plus: Citzals Spirit Lance and the staff are universal, meaning they work with any weapon focus. You could for example use an estoc as tour everyday weapon, take WF Adventurer and it would still apply to Concelhaut's Staff and Spirit Lance.

If you want to be a melee wizard and feel super powerful, use Citzal's Spirit Lance + Alacrity and every DMG boost (like Savage Attack, Two Handed Style, Apprentices Sneak, high MIG) you can get.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Marthenil]

Yeah, I should've made myself more clear when I posted: 

I'm not looking to directly copy this build, as in, its tankiness or the poison immunity, but rather, make it a more "damage" oriented but still melee Corrosion/Poison/Disease wizard.

 

The reason is, well, RP. I was going for a Death Knight-ish feel to it, or a melee Necromancer if you will.

(yeah, I know Bleak Walkers, buuuut that's for a different thread, plus I've finished the game as a BW once already). 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Marthenil

[Ben No.3]

Then this build is not for you, this is a more tankish oriented build, not damage. I'd say you should rather focus on summoned weapons wizard... For example the Conceilhaut staff does corrode damage. Choose it for spell mastery, and you will have it every encounter. Also focus on self buffs, wizard has some of the most potent ones.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

Concelhaut's Staff does crush damage only. But it's still a good weapon. It has high base damage, good ACC and drains endurance

 

The best summoned weapon - as I said - is Citzals Spirit Lance. It can suit your whish of doing corrode/poison damage: As I said above, Envenomed Strike works with its carnage-like AoE. So it applies poison to all enemies in the area. You can even add things like Runner's Wounding Shot. THe wounding itself will only get applied to the initial target, but the hobble effect also works with that AoE. Same with Sever the Soul (Watcher ability). It applies weaken in the AoE, also fits your theme of a Deathguard/Necromancer I guess. THen choose all the poinson and corrode spells. The Spirit Lance also works with Knockdown of The Girdle of the Driving Wave: all enbemies in range will go prone. As everyday weapon you could use any two hander - like an estoc or a great sword or a pike.

 

The SPirit Lance and also the Staff use any weapon focus. It's totally cool if you combine that with, let's say the Maegfolc Skull (for the deathguard-look) and a cool, dark themed plate armor. With the console you could even give him the original plate armor of a deathguard from Concelhaut's place (if you don't care about steam achievements). Once you killed your first deathguard, open the console and type "additem plate_armor_death_guard 1" and pretend you looted it from its body:

 

 

Later on there's also Caedebald's Blackbow. This indeed has corrode base damage. But it's a bow.

 

(the estoc in the picture is The Grey Sleeper)

Edited November 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

Here a Death Godlike wizard with an enchanted fine plate armor and Citzal's Spirit Lance:

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Ben No.3]

Right... It drains endurance, it doesn't deal corrode damage... My bad

Edited November 1, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Dr <3]

these are the most badass charachter i have seen in this game! Well done!

[Marthenil]

 

This is the look I'm aiming for. I have figured out how to "transmogrify" appearances of items to other items through modding gamefiles, so I don't have to "cheat" to look good

I'm in the process of figuring out how to also retexture Woedica's hood to match the armor much more closely, as well. 

 

I spend more time setting up the characters than actually playing the game T.T 

[Boeroer]

Thanks - I rolled them quickly with the help of the console just for this purpose. I could have taken a more fitting skin color with the aumua (under the Maegfolc Skull).

 

Also nice. The color of the armor fits the color of Citzal's Spirit Lance very well.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Marthenil]

Forgot to ask, any changes to stats for such a build ? I don't think I'm gonna need higher dex given deleterious, right ? 

[Boeroer]

Higher DEX is also not bad for casting. When you want to wear heavy armor I wouldn't go under 10. RES is neglectible. You'll have Spirit Shield and a lot of awesome self buffs and auras like Lengrath's Displaced Image, Arcane Veil, Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage and healing from Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon (which is really, really good). I like to take Veteran's Recovery and an item with +25% healing bonus, too - maybe also survival 8 or even 14 for the healing bonus. An approach of mine would probably look like:

 

MIG 18

CON 10

DEX 10

PER 16

INT 18

RES 06

 

With those stats I solo'd the Nalrend-Bounty in Elmshore a few house ago without kiting, pulling and also without any consumables or resting bonuses (I had +15 ACC against wilders from camping though). The defenses will be quite balanced, too.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[myfur1958]

had a question about the resolve stat on this build. Is it that important to keep it at 10 or could I drop it down to it's lowest number and add those points into dex for a quicker cast time? 

maybe this way?

mig    18

con 15

dex  12

per   12

int    18

res     3

[Boeroer]

You can do that. It means less deflection which can be a problem in the early game as a frontline wizard but shouldn't be that noticable later on.

[myfur1958]

so I had a thought about this build. could I somehow be more stealthy? what I am getting at is you stealth in close to a mob and wham.. corrode spell and watch em melt.. maybe even toss a nice melty trap right before you get to them? but looking at Skills: Stealth 0, Athl. 9, Lore 4, Mech. 10, Surv. 5   I dunno if or what I could remove to give me that stealthy look and still be able to keep my mech at 10? any wearable items maybe?

[Boeroer]

Why don't you just put more skill points into stealth and drop mechanics for example? If you have somebody else in the party with mechanics it's no loss at all. Or did you mean solo?