BWC Sorcerer
This is straight up BWC spamming caster build guide, noting new, noting funny but since lately there is much talk about how casters are underdeveloped and they need more this and that, build you are about to see can compete and in some cases outperform top melee builds.
Comparison of this build with most popular melee builds:
- Tankynes: S&B WB > This build > DW pierce BM
- Single target dmg output: DW pierce BM >>> This build = S&B WB
- AOE and clear speed: This build >>> Any melee build you can think of
What can you do with this build
Finish all main game content and Im 100% sure gladiator crucible also but I didnt tested it. Facetank and kill all nemesis really fast, Mad queen is not facetankable it requires some really small amount of kiting but you can drop her in ~30 sec. You can try with facetanking and do it in some cases but you will risk dying and improvement in kill time is like ~3 secs so its not worth it imho.
Crucible video of this build, courtesy of crucible master Drizzto
For this occasion I prepared two gear vise setups for this build, one less gear dependent and one more gear dependent.
Less gear dependent setup:
When you get some more nice MIs you can fully abuse high crit dmg (71%) and ulzuins relic proc by upping your OA and also equip better gloves for + to useful skills, +% to your dmg and one more nice proc:
- Pictures are only with constant auras. Dont get confused with low sheet dps, for some reason game is probably not calculating burn dmg in sheet dps and burn is your main source of dmg. Burn dots on this build are going up to 50k dmg.
NOTE: Everything from now on will be related to less gear dependent setup of the build.
Other sheets:
Like with gear I will propose two devotion setups for this build, one that is more offensive and abuses termite mines/meteor shower combo and other one more defensive with ToL for absolutely no energy or what ever issues. Note that all pictures above and everything written is related to defensive setup of the build, cuz I find it more smooth to play, much more tanky and more forgiving and you don’t lose much of your clear speed or single target dmg power.
Grim calc with + skills and offensive devo setup http://grimcalc.com/build/1007-4uGAvO
Grim calc w/o + skills and defensive devo setup http://grimcalc.com/build/1007-tJSAuB
Devotion bindings Flame torrent - BWC (it will allow you to ADCTH), Solaels flame - Flash bangs, Healing rain - any aura
What makes this build tanky?
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Mirror + blast shield combo. With high enough CDR you can almost cast it back to back. Mad Queen kill sequence goes like this: Place termite mines (you can totally cc it with this but we are not abusing here :D) trow flash bang at it and start spamming bwc, when MQ approaches and hits you, your blast shield will activate and give you 4 secs to spam bwc (make sure that you keep her under efect of flash bangs whole time, so use it every 4-5 secs, also dont forget to nullify when needed), when blast shield goes down as son as she hits you once use mirror that will give you 3 secs more to spam bwc. When mirror goes down use ToM and keep spamming bwc If you are lucky your blast shield will get out of CD and activate again (in this case she is 100% facetankable) if not she will proc your mark. With mark proc you have 3 more secs of invulnerability so just keep spamming bwc. When mark goes off your blast shield will be out of CD for sure so it will activate and you have 4 secs more to spam bwc. When blast shield goes down use mirror for 3 more secs of invulnerability and bwc spamming. If all your defenses are on CD kite a bit and repeat the sequence more carefully cuz now you dont have a mark proc. For even better results you can use sequence that opens with mirror cuz AV proc is reducing Mirors but not blast shield CD but that requires some practice.
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Devotions if you are going defensive devotions route.
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High DA, armor and armor absorption.
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Nice dodge and deflect with searing light on 10/10 coupled with inate dodge and deflect from devotions and armor bonuses.
Energy management
I find energy management for this type of build to be of crucial importance if you run out of energy in middle of fight assuming that your EoS is on CD you will have to disengage and run around until EoS comes out of CD or you regenerate some energy. That kind of game play is unacceptable for me. Also If you have to constantly watch on your energy bar and time your EoS in order to sustain energy, it will draw your attention from actual game play and you will under perform. If you have no other way to play, that could be ok, but certainly I wouldn’t consider that type of build to be high end build and this build is high end. So you can conclude from this that this build has no energy issues what so ever.
Avoiding energy issues is main reason to pick arcanist above some other class for this build.
Having high spirit and +% spirit from Inerr focus will certainly increase your energy regeneration, IEE % to energy regeneration and AW flat energy regeneration is also nice, not to mention ToLs healing rain, but main thing that helps you manage your energy is Mental alacrity (-% to skill energy consumption). For this build -1% skill energy consumption is roughly equal to 4 energy regeneration per second. So having -14% from level 5 MA is equal to 56 energy per sec.
I find lvl 5 MA to be enough to sustain enough energy, but if you need more energy invest few more pts in MA Optionally you can invest some more points in IEE or put ectoplasm in rings/medal (I even recommend that in process of leveling).
To have more complete picture about energy managment I will just add that with this setup and lvl 5 MA you can spam BWC for 15 sec before you run out of energy (~45 bwc casts), and that is w/o ToLs healing rain proc or activated AW, just with innate 70 energy regen per sec. When ToL healing rain procs this build has 169 energy regen per sec (its up 8 secs with CD of 9.7 secs), and when on top of that AW activates it has 238 energy regen per sec.
Is it worth mentioning 55% energy absorption from enemy spells? 
I really don’t remember last time I used EoS to replenish energy.
Concept of the build and gameplay
Like I said is pretty straightforward BWC setup, that abuses burn from bwc and procs to literally melt everything on its way. So gameplay comes to this: Just move forward spamming BWC and flashbangs all around you. You can but dont need to use termite mines unless facing some nemesis/boss and even than you are using it just to improve kill times noting more.
Attribute points distribution
This build is leveled long ago and was something else so it has 84 points in physique 5 in cunning and 1 in spirit.
But you can go full physique w/o any issues.
