Always wanted to make a build using the Blazeheart quest reward, and this one exceeded my expectations. A Defiler using the standard bomberman combination of Blackwater Cocktail and Grenado, but also Siphon Souls for extra resist reduction, and Ravenous Earth for some extra damage and consistant devotion procs. Big area damage as early as level 5, and a nice boost to health from necromancers Spectral Binding makes leveling very easy, and the build completes SR26 and challenge dungeons without any problems. The character was played through Veteran and Ultimate difficulty, using only easily available items and components, so very beginner/fresh start friendly.
Grimtools
(with devotion progression)
Damage is just Grenado, overall DPS is a little difficult to determine with all the different abilities
How the build works:
Blazeheart and Mark of Burning Shadows convert most of our necromancer abilities to fire, so we’re using Siphon Souls for an extra -35% fire resist reduction, and Ravenous Earth for some extra damage and to consistantly proc our Solael´s Witchblade devotion. From the demolitionist side we use Blackwater Cocktail and Grenado for both damage and utility. Defense is handled through lots of health regeneration, Blast Shield, leech (from fire converted Siphon Souls) and the damage reduction from Blackwater Cocktail. Lots of abilities, lots of buttons to press, hope you’ve been practicing your piano.
Leveling Guide:
This build can be a little short on attribute points, so be careful how you spend them. I ended up with about 60 physique, 5 cunning, and 40 spirit, but depending on what gear you find your distribution might look slightly different. After around level 60 I was saving up points, only spending them when gear requirements demanded it.
Level 1-10
Skills: Start with Demolitionist and put all your points into the mastery bar until you reach Blackwater Cocktail. You can either put a couple points in there, or go straight for the High Potency transmuter, which drastically increases damage at the cost of having a cooldown. Also pick up a single point in Flame Touched and Vindictive Flame, and get your Cocktail to 12 points.
Gear: Not much here this early, Kyzoggs Skull is usually a good offhand to pick up. After level 5 you can put a Searing Ember component into it, giving you access to the fantastic Fireblast leveling skill. This little fireball alone could probably take you all the way to Warden Krieg. Split your attribute points between physique and spirit, depending on what your gear needs.
Devotions: Crossroads Red, Jackal
Level 10-20
Skills: Put points into your demolitionist mastery bar until you reach Demon Fire. You absolutely want a couple of points in there before you reach Burrwitch Village, the fiery soldier guys at the riftgate will be an absolute pain otherwise with their high fire resistance. After dealing with that, you can pick up the necromancer mastery and start putting your points into spectral binding, which will drastically increase your health and survivability.
Gear: Probably still using Kyzoggs Skull, don´t forget to pick up your Slith Primal Ring, and Shamblers Heart is usually a decent amulet. After level 15 you can craft Flintcore Bolts from your smith, giving you a much upgraded version of your Fireblast skill.
Devotions: Finish Jackal, Crossroads Blue, Sailors Guide.
Level 20-30
Skills: Don´t put any more points into necromancer after maxing out Spectral Binding, focus entirely on demolitionist for now. Pick up Thermite Mine, Blast shield and Agonizing Flames, and start getting the entire Blackwater Cocktail line up to 12 points. I also put some extra points into Vindictive Flames for some early health regeneration and movement speed.
Gear: Cronleys Hideout provides you with two great early items, Martins Crest medal and Incendiary Shoulderplates. The shoulders are not a guaranteed drop and it´s definitely worth farming for them, shouldn’t take too long.
Devotions: Complete Sailors Guide, Crossroads Green, Quill
Level 30-40
Skills: Get the Blackwater Cocktail line up to 12 points, then start with Thermite Mines for resist reduction, I kept it a 13 points for now.
Gear: Get Zarthuzellans Codex from the mage boss Zarthuzellan at the end of Steps of Torment. Dropchance is only 50%, so you might need multiple tries to get it. No need to enter the actual dungeon through the skeleton key door, nothing of value in there for us. Also check out the available faction gear from the vendors, Devils Chestguard from Devils Crossing gives some nice early health and physical resistance for example.
Devotions: Finish Quill, Behemoth (bind to Flame Touched), then Solaels Witchblade (bind to Blackwater Cocktail).
Level 40-50
Skills: Get your demolitionist mastery bar up to 50 points, then take the necromancer mastery up to 25 points, thats all we´re going to need for this character. Picking up any of the necromancer abilities is kinda useless at this stage, since we don’t have any gear to support them yet, but that will change once we enter the Forgotten Gods expansion.
Gear: Definitely get yourself a Ugdenbog Flamestrife from the witch Janaxia, it might take multiple tries before it drops, but it increases our Blackwater Cocktails damage even further. You will also need to enter the Ancient Grove (using a skeleton key) in order to get your endgame amulet, Vilgazors Heart, from the crab Vilgazor on the second level of the dungeon. Most likely you will drop a high level one (level 55 in my case), so it will be a while until you can use it. Once you´ve rescued the civilians in the Malmouth Steelcap District, you gain access to their trader, Hyram, who can sell relic blueprints. This is a great opportunity to farm some blueprints from him, so get yourself a Conflagration Relic. After reaching level 50 you can equip Black legion armor (sold by their faction trader in homestead and fort ikon), I got the Legion Greaves and Legion Headguard for some extra Physical resistance.
Devotions: Finish Solaels Witchblade, respec Jackal, then take Crossroads Yellow, Lotus
Level 50-60
Skills: After starting the Forgotten Gods expansion and getting yourself a Compelled Wraith offhand you can start putting points into Siphon Souls, which will work as another source of fire resist reduction, thanks to the item modifiers. And after being able to equip your Vilgazors Heart amulet, you can also put points into Grenado, your second main damage ability. Pick up Ulzuins Chosen to support Grenado, and i also leveled up Flame touched for some extra Damage and Offensive Ability, making us more likely to crit.
Gear: The Compelled Wraith can be farmed from Eldritch Spirit ghost guys throughout the Forgotten Gods Expansion, keep in mind that there are multiple variants and only the “compelled” wraith is useful for this build. Also, you should now be able to equip the Vilgazors Heart amulet, converting your Grenado to fire damage. Got a Black Legion Chestguard too for some more armor and phys resistance before the jump into ultimate difficulty.
Devotions: Complete Lotus, Harvestmans Scythe, Magi (bind to Thermite Mine), respec Quill and Green Crossroads, take Staff of Rattosh, respec Sailors Guide and Blue Crossroads, take Alladrahs Phoenix (bind to Soul Siphon), and start working on Chariot of the Dead. Lots of Devotion points in Forgotten Gods and act 1 ultimate, so lots of progress.
Level 60-70
Skills: At this point you can distribute points as you see fit, Blackwater Cocktail, Thermite Mine, and Grenado should all be maxed out. Vindictive Flame gives great health regen, Flame touched is for Offensive Ability, Temper for Defensive Ability, and points into Soul Siphon increase the area of effect.
Gear: You will mostly worry about getting your resists up to 80% during the first few acts in Ultimate, so use whatever you can get. Possibly farm some new Incendiary Shoulderplates and Martin Crest from Cronleys Gang, and remember to get your upgraded level 70 Slith Primal Ring if you need it. You can also farm some Gollus Rings from Gollus in the Royal Hive near homestead.
Devotions: Chariot of the Dead (bind to Spectral Binding), Ulzuins Torch (bind to Thermite Mine and bind Magi to Grenado), thats it.
Level 70-80
Skills: Same as before, after getting our Demolitionist abilities up to a decent level we are pretty much done until we get our new gear at level 90-94. You can put a point into both Flashbang and Searing Light for some extra defence.
Gear: Your resistances should all be at 80% by now, dont forget to get your upgraded Black Legion equipment once you reach revered reputation with them. Before starting Forgotten Gods you can do the “secret” Quest to kill all three witchgod guardians and get their corresponding leg armor, Dreeg-Sect Legguards and Bysmiel-Sect Legguards are especially useful for this build, usually providing great defenses. Also make sure to complete all of Dailas quests, she is first found in Homestead, and later in the eastern part of the Malmout Outskirts. This quest chain will reward you with the unique sword Blazeheart, although you will have to wait until level 94 to equip it.
Devotions: No changes.
Level 80-95
Skills: After getting our new gear we can finally start using all of our abilities. Both Siphon Souls and Ravenous Earth will now deal fire damage and should be maxed out. put a single point into Decay, any more than that is a waste.
Gear: After defeating Korvaak on ultimate difficulty you should immediately start on getting all the witch-cults to revered reputation. At this point I was about level 87, and you ideally wanna reach revered with the Cult of Solael before hitting level 90, so you can equip your shiny new gear immediately. The Solael faction trader will sell you the blueprint for the Mark of Burning Shadows, which you can then craft at your blacksmith. It requires level 90 to equip, the Blazeheart sword requires level 94, so those levels are a pretty big spike in power. You can also get a level 94 Fettan Mask from an urn next to the Maw of Enat, pretty close east to the Korvan Sands riftgate.
Devotions: With the new abilities we are changing some of our devotion bindings. Bind Solaels Witchblade to Ravenous Earth, and Magi to Blackwater Cocktail for more frequent procs.
Level 95-100
Skills: Since the build can potentially be a little short on attributes, I left 8 skillpoints unallocated, you can spend them on the necromancer mastery bar and maybe pick up Mark of Torment if you´re having trouble equipping all your gear. Otherwise you can spend them on Flashbang, Blast Shield, Ulzuins Chosen, whatever you feel like.
Gear: I ended up going with an Elite Coven Arcane Chestguard for some extra health, armor and points to high Impact. Bysmiel-Sect Legguards for health and resistances, two Gollus Rings (try to get some Offensive or Defensive Ability here), and a Malmouth Arcane Girdle for an easy craftable belt option. If you feel like you´re running out of energy, you can put two Solar Radiance Augments (sold by Homestead) on your weapon slots, or maybe use a Prismatic Diamond in your helmet for some energy absorption. Components and augments are obviously flexible and depend on whatever resistance rolls you get on your gear.
SR26 Run:
Morgoneth Run Full:
Endgame:
You can transition this character into a Blightlord Defiler pretty easily, once you’ve found the Blightlord Hood blueprint (best place to farm is probably SR26). The Blightlord set offers a very similar playstyle, but you’re gonna need to respec both Grenado and Ulzuins Chosen, everything else stays pretty much the same. This also gives you enough free skillpoints to take the Master of Death exclusive skill for a hefty boost to OA and DA.
(Quickly put this one together in Grimtools)
Blightlord Grimtools
