Heavy/robe hybrid, Sage or Demon?

Doqui - Raging Tide

As i'm getting close to the point where i have to choose between sage or demon i start to realise that i have absolutly no clue wat to pick.

I wil be restating to heavy/robe hybrid in the early 90's,

So wat are the pros and cons of sage/demon?

thanks in advance

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

As a fellow HA/AA, I'd recommend sage. Note that in the end simply choose via which skill bonuses you want, based on your own style of play -- there's nothing that beats this. The rest, is based on my experience.

Going heavy, the mainstays of choosing sage for my veno correlating to HA was fox form and melee mastery, as those obviously cater quite well to a fox veno. Other bonuses that I preferred for sage included Soul Degen, Lending Hand, Leech, Amp, Purge, and Summer Sprint.

Desiree - Harshlands

Sage for PvE
Sage for TW
Sage for PvP support
Demon for PvP offence

Robe for PvE
Heavy for TW/PvP support
Robe for TW/PvP offence

Zairi - Dreamweaver

Somewhere Solandri posted a very good comparison for that but i can not find the thread anymore. XD

I know i still have some time but i am already HA/AA and just recently got enough sp to get my nukes leveled. Swamp of the Wraights as pure foxform is such a pain...

I will choose Sage. It seemes the p.def+ from Sage Fox isnt that big as it may look. That was stated by several high Venos now.
The main reason i will go Sage is Leech's 100% chance on hp gain. I am so incredible unlucky with it its not funny anymore. The 80% for me turns to a felt 50% chance. I fail it alot, especially when i realy need it to work it fails 2 times in a row and im dead. XD
Just yeseterday i had another 4-5time fail in a row and seriously start to doubt the 80% chance. ITS A LIE! ;_;
Ironwood is another reason for me: I use more Foxform then Human. My Wanderer has Pierce so i dont need it when i use him. If i grind higher mobs like Huggy Hares since the last 2 levels i need my Wanderer or else im more busy healing then DDing. Here i realy miss the def down and with only 10 sec of lasting i loose more dps by switching out and in fox to cast it then i gain from it.
But this is just for me since i feel more comfortable in Foxform i know that i could just stay in Human form and nuke.
Befuddeling Mist also sounds quite nice with its 800 more damage since i use it quite alot when i fight 2-3 at once.
Soul Degenerations 20% max hp cutdown looks nice too. Looks like it will be usefull suddenly because right now i dont even have it on my hotkeys. XD

I know many advice to go HA at 90+ but id advice to go several levels before you decide on sage/demon. You should atleast try the playstyle of it i think. It is quite diffrent from AA and chances are there that sage/demon doesnt work for you as it does for others.
Maybe you are very lucky with Leech then 800hp is damn nice and there are a few other demon skills which sound very nice like Amplify, Purge, Bramble, the HP/MP recovery thingys...oh and Stunning Blow is actually something id love to have a stunning chance on.

sleepcat

I believe there are a few demon HA/AA Venos such as Obsessed that advocated for their position. Too bad I forgot their arguments.

miyago

It really depends on your playing style. With most classes, both sage and demon has its own benefits. I personally went demon, because I can't stand running slow and I absolutely loooove demon fox form that makes you run almost 10m/s when coupled with summer sprint. Demon Ironwood is also good. 20% chance of 100% pdef reduction... it's deadly when it hits. Also, amp lasts longer, parasite nova is like a 2nd amp , and your hp/mp heal skills have reduced cooldowns.

Some may argue that sage gets more chi, but there are a ton of ways demon venos can build chi (lending hand, stunning blow, crush vigor), and there's always the choice to put cloud eruption on your genie.


Benefits of being sage...the biggest thing is aoe purge. I would love to have that skill as it's good for both PvE and PvP, but especially for TW.

If you're not sure what to pick, I'd suggest reading through the skills, reflecting on your most used skills and seeing which version of the lvl11 skills you find more attractive. Either way, you can't really lose as both are good. If anything, there's always the sage/demon switch item (forgot the name atm) if you change your mind. ^^

Ms_HopToIt - Sanctuary

I choose demon when i went HA/AA. Sure the p def in foxform and extra chi gain is nice from sage. but with my playstyle, it doesnt matter if its pve or pvp... demon was best for me. If im casting, demon venomous scarab serves as a debuff to help kill things faster. I have demon ironwood as an armor break in human form, and myraid rainbow as an armor break in foxform. Frost scarab freezes enemies now just like stunning blow will. Stunning blow also stuns enemies. Lucky scarab has a reduced cooldown along with nox gas and your hp and mp recovery skills. The big things that got me in foxform was demon foxwallop, Foxwallop sucks until this, and sage version gives a chance to cast without chi (or save chi).... which is debateable to me. I would rather take the chance to have 5 critical hits in a row, than to save chi. Also demon parasitic nova serves as an extra debuff. I will have to say theres one skill from sage that i miss, and that sage soul degen, but as far as everything else goes... demon does it the best for me.