Look, I know I said I wasn’t going to post another Sorcerer build, but…
OKAY, SO. Here’s a Sorcerer after @mad_lee’s own heart - a gunslinger who never fires a shot, instead opting to infiltrate her foes’ defenses, corrupt their very life force, and draw it into her own. I’m currently putting this through testing for Crucible and SR.
The build relies on high cast speed (200% with Dying God) and flat damage to drive Oblivion as its main skill. It converts every bit of fire and chaos damage (and, as equipped, some Aether) into Vitality damage, leaving a pittance of aether behind. Rather than pushing the Vitality Damage multiplier super high (something you’d really need a better suited class to accomplish), I got creative with RR to (hopefully) even the playing field.
Features:
- Up to 55% Vitality RR on Thermite Mines alone, thanks to Rattosh and dual-wielded Corruption of Gargabol!
- Full conversion of Fire and Chaos to Vitality Damage means you can be fancy-free with BWC and Thermite Mines alike.
- Oblivion as your main skill frees up skill points to pack into the utility skills from the Arcanist tree.
- Lots of procs pew-pewing everywhere make a simply-played build lots of fun to watch.
Gear notes:
Yes, you need to farm Gargabol. It’s not so bad! The ideal here is that both your pistols add up to >= 100% Fire Damage converted to Vitality Damage. If they don’t, you can swap in either a Ring of Basti and/or Mythical Bonewraith Pauldrons to bridge the gap.
The Lunal’Valgoth belt is crucial to complete your Chaos > Vitality conversion. It’s also pretty important to use one with a truckload of resists in order to be comfortably overcapped. Otherwise you’re going to need to reshuffle components and augments.
I’m in love with the potential of Oblivion as an interesting main skill due to the fumble and impaired aim debuffs and its apparent unadvertised ability to pass through enemies. I’m also a big fan of Rune of the Dark Progenitor for its OA and DA shred, equally useful in big packs and single target scenarios. You get used to the leap pretty quickly.
THE SHOULDERS QUESTION.
There are a few viable options here and you could make an argument for any of them, but I’m currently rolling with Blightlord and happy about it.
Mythical Bonewraith Pauldrons - flat damage, buff to Aether resistance via Overload, projectile avoidance, Elemental > Vitality convert to bridge fire conversion gap if needed
Mythical Lifeblaze Mantle - little more casting speed, BWC buff, fun sexy proc
Blightlord’s Mantle - Agonizing Flames Flat RR buff, 3 piece bonus is a nice boost to OA and DA, it converts some otherwise unconverted Aether damage from Fabric of Reality and Reckless Power, and the additional Acid resist is a welcome overcap.
Devotions - I’m open to critique and/or recommendations here but this was designed to provide the best combination of protection, RR, damage, and lifesteal when combined with my skill allocation. In particular, Bat on Oblivion is pretty bonkers. Scholar’s Light is kind of stupid but it’s the only way I could find to get to Rattosh.
Skills: People tend to hate Temper but it’s useful here to bolster your DA. Putting points in Agonizing Flames for reliable flat RR lets you get away with taking Scales over Revenant, which in turn lets you keep more points in the tankier side of the devotion map. I’d love some recommendations on how to move more points into Elemental Balance to crank up the crit damage a bit.
Pitfalls: This is where the “Reckless” comes in. Obviously you don’t have a high armor rating or huge HP pool so you’re in danger of being pancaked by physical heavy hitters, but if you can ration them out and kite through BWC and Thermite Mines a little, you can deal with them easily enough. CC resists aren’t great, and you’ve got exactly one craftable item (Blightlord’s Hood) where you can add some Freeze resist. It’s probably possible to modify the devotion map to pick up Sailor’s Guide and/or the Skills allocation for more points in Conversion to mitigate this somewhat.
Conclusion: I have a name for the orbs from the Corruption of Gargabol proc: Gargabol’s Garga-balls.