Blood mage

nyghtshroude

Hi I want to do a blood mage build. I was thinking Infernal for my powerset, colored red.

As a concept it's a foul sorcerer using blood to power some terrible spells. Maybe a bit into demon summoning too.

flowcyto

Here's an Infernal SN build w/ a touch of Darkness for the summons:

https://aesica.net/co/herocreator.htm?v=30&n=&d=15830bNQXPWa000000O000O203O900OB03OE00OG05K503OP03OI0KON01L801LJ05K6002Q000ckr3byR2MGB50000000000&e=

Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Endurance (Secondary)
Level 15: Constitution (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Scourge (Con: 10, Ego: 10, Rec: 10, End: 8)
Level 6: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 9: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 18: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 21: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Infernal Bolts
Level 1: Infernal Blast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Aspect of the Infernal
Level 8: Pestilence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Mephitic
Level 14: Epidemic (Rank 2, Outbreak)
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Defile (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Will-o'-the-Wisp (Guide, Ghost Fire)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 29: Ebon Void (Rank 2)
Level 32: Summon Shadows (Rank 2, Devouring Darkness)
Level 35: Imbue
Level 38: Fiery Embrace
Adv. Points: 32/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (2/3)
Avenger: Preemptive Strike (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Alternates between IBlast and Defile for single targets, and uses Epidemic for AoE. The Wisp can be used on cd for debuffing. Summon Shadows can provide some extra background dps and healing. Gears mostly for Ego, w/ some Con and End.

doomedluke1

I've been playing around with builds in the PTS and came up with the following:

Blood Mage Hybrid
v3.27:30

Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Scourge (Con: 10, Ego: 10, Rec: 10, End: 8)
Level 6: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 9: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 12: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Negotiator (Int: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 18: Academics (Int: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 21: Field Ops Training (Con: 3, Int: 3, Ego: 3, Rec: 2, End: 2)

Powers
Level 1: Infernal Bolts
Level 1: Life Essence (Rank 2, Infernal Bond)
Level 6: Compassion
Level 8: Epidemic (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 14: Shadow Embrace (Rank 2, Dark Displacement)
Level 17: Soul Vortex (Rank 2, Soul Drain)
Level 20: Ebon Ruin (Rank 2, Rank 3, Nyctophobia)
Level 23: Ebon Void
Level 26: Imbue (Rank 2)
Level 29: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Seraphim (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Spirit Reverberation
Level 38: Fiery Embrace (Rank 2)
Adv. Points: 35/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Arcane Flight
Level 35: Ooze Tunneling

Specializations
Ego: Mental Endurance (1/3)
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (1/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Devices


This one is pretty tanky but still has decent damage with endgame gear, modded mostly for CON and REC to boost Defense and Crit Chance and a bit of EGO for Crit Severity and Cost Discount. Seemed to work well in the Battle Station, don't know how it would be against cosmics.

bringmeaslab

doomedluke1 wrote: »

Seemed to work well in the Battle Station, don't know how it would be against cosmics.

It looks like you're trying to do a dps/healer here, but this build wouldn't be very good at meeting the dps or healing demands of those encounters. I'd probably focus on one or the other, but if you want to try to do both, I'd at a minimum stack Pre and include at least one good single-target heal.

Some other things that I would address if this were my build:
-Compassion scales with Presence, so I'd want to either switch to stacking it or choose a different form (and stack whatever stat boosts that form, as opposed to Con and Rec).
-I don't see a tap poison to boost LE's area heal.
-Seraphim doesn't boost the poison damage from LE or Epidemic.
-There's no power to apply dimensional or poison debuffs to boost the build's attacks.
-LE and Epidemic also will not trigger Spirit Reveb on their own (but the build has Soul Vortex, so this may be okay).
-Shadow Embrace is a weak AoE, damage-wise, and made redundant by Epidemic if there isn't a specific purpose to its KD.
-Block isn't r3 (which is important at cosmics)
-I wouldn't bother putting a rank on a self-rez
-Guardian/Warden isn't a spec tree combo I would go with for either a dps or a healer, since there's better options for both.

flowcyto

Rec can scale up Compassion too, but yeah I agree w/ most of those points. I guess he was making that build as a suggestion for the OP, though I don't think the OP is going for a hybrid-styled build for a blood mage, and I'm not sure what content they were gunning for.

doomedluke1

I was thinking mostly for a tanky thematic hybrid build since I play mostly solo PVE content, not exactly a specialized one. But I'll try to revise it because I really forgot about Compassion being PRE dependant.

Shadow Embrace and Soul Vortex are good to apply Fear, which triggers Spirit Reverb, but there's indeed a lack of synergy between Supernatural and Darkness. But I didn't want to go for too many darkness powers so it wouldn't turn into a darkness mage. Could swap Life Essence for Life Drain for a better result though, but for theme, I think Epidemic looks nice colored red.

Could take off Conviction's ranks to put in something else but then this power turns kinda useless to me... in my tests, it was healing almost 2k HP with rank 3. In R1 it will heal about 1-1,3K if I remember correctly. Maybe it would do more with PRE stacking?

bringmeaslab

Oh, yeah, I forget that Compassion scales w/ Rec, since stacking Rec isn't really useful. Also, I didn't read attentively and thought you were the OP, DoomedLuke, so I want to apologize for jumping on your build and giving criticism/advice you didn't ask for. I feel like I should come up with my own build for Nyghtshroude as penance, but I don't think my initial suggestion would be significantly different from what Flow posted.

With regards to Conviction, it heals for like 813 or something on my dps chars that have it, and I find that useful. But Pre stacking w/ Compassion running would definitely give it a significant boost over what it's doing for you now, prly almost to the point where it's a short CD Resurgence.

doomedluke1

No problem, the advice is welcome! I'll see how it comes out with PRE instead of REC. I was a bit concerned about energy problems but with Spirit Reverb, Insight from EGO specs and Compassion, maybe it won't be an issue. I'll also see to the other points you guys made.

flowcyto

doomedluke1 wrote: »

No problem, the advice is welcome! I'll see how it comes out with PRE instead of REC. I was a bit concerned about energy problems but with Spirit Reverb, Insight from EGO specs and Compassion, maybe it won't be an issue. I'll also see to the other points you guys made.

Alright, I guess I was wrong in thinking you were suggesting a build for the OP, and you actually wanted advice on your own build? That's okay, if so, but you may want to make that intent more clear initially if posting in other person's topic.

Anyways, you may want to ask yourself how much you want to focus on dps vs healing here. Seraphim can work for primarily Dimensional (not Toxic) dmg builds as a midway option between the two roles, but its focus is pretty limiting in that manner. You could consider some of the other support auras like AoPM, AoED, AoRP etc depending on what you want your focus to be. Since they don't specify a dmg type, you can more freely pick powers for them. You can also choose your toggle depending on your focus, as Conc or Chilled From can give you more dps, but less healing. Similar thing w/ regards to SS setup and spec choices.

If you just want to do a bit of everything, for ex. and don't necc have much of a focus, and aren't doing high-end content, then you could prob get away w/ a Hybrid AoPM build. You prob want to get Sentinel spec if still using Compassion, though (maybe keep the other spec as Warden w/ Elusive if you want a self defense + dps boost).

doomedluke1

I posted the build here because coincidentally I was thinking about how would a Blood Mage build come out and saw the OP asking for one. I was thinking primarily about the theme, so visuals counted and, as a blood mage, I think the build should be a bit more about life stealing and not so much about poison DOT, but you guys have better eye than me for the details and better knowledge of the mechanics, thus, I don't mind a few corrections. Maybe if the OP or other users come here they may have a few ideas for their builds and your advices might serve for them too.

I'm really not thinking of a specialized build, more a survivable build for general content, but I'll try to tweak the build in the PTS with the things you guys said, like AOPM, and see how it works.