*Breaking the balance of magic in Cairn with chaos and fire or bringing forth the Light of Empyrion?
Foreword
“Sire, the candidates have arrived.” Servant knew better than to try and repeat the message, so he just stood there, quietly. Head bowed, still, arms behid his back - like one of the castle’s many statues. After what felt like good ten minutes of silence a chair squeaked in the dark corner of the room. Old inquisitor stood up from his desk with a long deep sigh: every bone in his body was aching like it didn’t fit. Mumbling something under his nose he started walking towards the open window: that draft could definitely be his undoing. After closing it Malakor turned around and nearly bumped into the servant who was still there - looking at something at the tip of his toes, completely motionless. “You bloody idiot, do you want to kill me!”, inquisitor furiously raised his staff at the messenger. “Sire, the candidates have arrived”, servant didn’t flinch but there was more urgency in his voice this time. “What candidates…” “Sire, unfortunately we could only get the ones from the lower tier of Inquisition’s reserves…” Servant raised his eyes to quickly look at Malakor. In his childhood he heard some chilling stories about the Grand Inquisitor, but right now he was looking at the old man whose beard was grey and quiet unkempt. Inquisitor raised his staff again, feeling righteous in his desire to smash it into this arrogant fool’s forehead but then he paused like he remembered something. “Ah, of course…” said Malakor seemingly calming down. That rogue fire spellcaster, the self-proclaimed bearer of the virtue of Empyrion’s Light. One who dangerously weaved the chaotic energies of Solael, the Witch God into his own fiery spellcraft. Malakor suspected that it was another rogue from the destroyed cult of Korvaak, disenchanted and lost after the sun god’s defeat, hoping to gain some renown with his “travelling circus act” as inquisitor liked to call it.
“Sire, the candidates are here”. Servant stepped aside as three inquisition’s cloaks entered the room…
The build
I decided to do this build after seeing @romanN1 test different Virtue specs in Discord after this set had been buffed multiple patches in a row. As I was watching him test different approaches I half-seriously suggested that it should be done with Oblivion relic. Couple of days later I decided to follow through on that idea and results turned out to be surprisingly good.
<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>*
*Craft everything for slow resistance
**Example of how to make it with less greens: grimtools
***Grimtools are also viable for 1.1.9.8 version
Burning sensation questions
Spamming Oblivion is really worth losing a relic slot for?
Indeed it is. It’s a great source of leech and utility that acts like a perfect filler between our aegis throws. It allows the build to facetank anything so Guardians of Empyrion can stack their Burn dots.
Isn’t this devotion map too conservative? Empyrion? Scales for flat RR?..
It is indeed on a conservative side. However the combined firepower of maxed out Guardians of Empyrion and Aegis of Menhir allows this build take those devotions and still be pretty fast. My goal to make a pretty fast but forgiving build. And when it comes to Fire some ingenuity is required if you want a reliable and fast build.
Tempest Stoneplate Greaves of Featherstep? A bit expensive, don’t you think?
Yes, but you can make do with cheaper pair as long as you cover necessary resists and cc-res. Like Aggressive of Featherstep will also work just fine. Or a legendary pair if you can cover pierce resistance on pants or gloves.
Gear/skills/devotions/levelling
Almost all items are fixed in slot here except Combustion ring and boots. Blazeheart is an item you get from Main Campaign’s quest (be sure to get one with high % damage and conversion), Blazeseer set should be easy to get. Solael pants are required because they are thematical here of leech. Green gloves need to have casting speed suffix.
Devotions are quiet defensive with the exception of Magi. You should always assign its proc to GoE so they can stack Burn damage from fissures. Scales is the worse source of flat RR than Rhowan’s Crown but due to Vitality to Fire conversion they heal us nicely (plus they are just on the way to Empyrion).
Be sure to assign skills as you see in my grimtools.
This is the endgame build. It works as advertised once you equip required gear at character level 100 and repeat my grimtools as close as possible. For levelling/beginner guides look at this forum.
Gameplay
In Crucible and SR 75-76 everything is facetankable. Don’t leave Volcanic Stride from your Vire’s Might under Mad Queen tho. Use Blazing Charge rune frequently. Learn how to play the build by watching videos below.
Against Ravager you need a lot of buff potions to facetank him. Have aether cluster ready.
Callagadra and Crate should be doable with heavy kiting while fighting only with blast shield or aether cluster up.
Stats
General (with Ascension up)
Defense (with Ascension up)
Videos
1.2.0.2 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. SR 75-76 6:36 run (long rooms, tough bosses)
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. Ravager 1:15 kill
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. SR 75-76 6:29 run
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. Crucible 150-170 3:59 lucky run
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. Shard 90 5:20 run
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 5:14 lucky run
1.1.9.8 Virtue Shieldbreaker vs. Crate of Entertainment 48 seconds kill
In Conclusion
“Gill Bendable”, introduced himself one of the candidates. “Huh?” Malakor was squinting at the short figure of the candidate that just spoke. “Pleasure recievable” added the candidate. From that weird way of talking Malakor recognized one of the clerks of Inquisition’s basement flours. Those clerks were known masters of bureacracy, spending their lives inside the palace’s basement creating outdated magic formulas that had little application in the outside world.
Malakor disappointingly shook his head and looked at the second guy - Inquisition’s officer from Eastern outposts of Empire, who could only speak their language using the spell of translation (that didn’t always work since it was also created by basement clerks). Second candidate silently pulled out a huge bag from behind his back and put it in front of Malakor like it was a gift. Inquisitor opened the bag. “Is this a…Is this a bag full of titan platings? Do you think it’s the city’s annual fair?? Those are bloody useless!” Inquisitor was visibly frustrated. The second candidate looked bewildered at the dismissed bag of heavy treasure and then at the angered old inquisitor whose face was slowly turning red.
The third candidate bowed to Malakor and offered him a scroll in his outstretched hand. Scroll read “Overview of a plan on how to defeat a fire criminal”. “Overview?? Overview of a plan? Where is the god damn plan then??” Malakor was losing his patience. “Sire, it’s not a plan, merely a showcase…”, third man suddenly felt really small near the towering figure of the old and angry Inquisitor.
“Out you hacks! Out while you still have your head!”. All three candidates vanished from the room before Malakor ended his sentence. He sat at his desk chair, head in his hands, exhausted from being so angry. “Sire, so what do we do with the fire sorcerer?” the messenger servant was still there, patiently waiting for his master’s command. “Huh?” said Malakor. “What sorcerer? Get out of my room you idiot”. Malakor went back to the documents on his deck. He already forgot about the incident that just took place, he also forgot about the pesky Fire Spellcaster who was unleashed roaming free somewhere in Cairn. Just like he forgot it was his, Malakor’s meddling with the ancient scrolls of Cairn’s Balance of Magic that allowed that fire mage gain so much power in the first place.
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BONUS BUILD: Empyrion’s Army caster Shieldbreaker
<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>*
*Craft for slow resistance and healing effects
This is a really powerful pseudo-pet spec that can do most content somewhat reliably. It has 6 Empyrion bros and looks awesome, what more can be said here.
Here are some videos with build’s performance.
Empyrion’s Army Shieldbreaker vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 5:24 run (no buffs/no banners)
Empyrion’s Army Shieldbreaker vs. Ravager 59 seconds kill
Empyrion’s Army Shieldbreaker vs. SR 75-76 5:30 run (no short rooms, tough bosses)
