Debuff Support Mage - Runeblade Talys - Cr150+ (buffs no banners), Wide AOE Fun!

GRIMTOOLS:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNn0RgGV

This mischeivous mage manipulates the battlefield in a number of interesting ways, and serves as both a support mage in fairly unique ways, while also being able to solo fairly high end content (150 cruci vid below, buffs no banners). It is an Elemental damage aura-mage hybrid that depends heavily on devotion procs for damage. It’s hard to know where to start with the description of the mechanics of this build, because they’re all interrelated. Here’s a brief summary, with fuller descriptions below.

:: Brief Summary and Highlights ::

DEBUFFS TO ENEMIES

  • -182% Total Speed
  • 34% chance of impared aim
  • 25% Chance to Fumble
  • -37% regen to enemies
  • -146 Offensive Ability
  • -158 Defensive Ability
  • 19% Reduced Damage to enemies
  • 22% Chance of skill disruption

DEFENSES

  • 68% Chance to avoid damage from melee attacks
  • 79% Chance to avoid damage from ranged attacks
  • Inquisitor Seal, Arcane Barrier for damage absorption
  • The build lacks great healing though

RESISTANCE REDUCTIONS

  • -103% Lightning
  • -98% Fire
  • -106% Cold
  • -57% Pierce
  • -26% Poison/Acid
  • -31% Chaos
  • -31% Aether

Video: Crucible 140-150, Buffs No Banners
Here’s a quick video showcasing the cheeky playstyle of the build. You can see how strongly the speed debuff works against most mobs, even many bosses.

Video: Gameplay Playstyle - A Chill Time for All
This video showcases how chill it is to play this build through the campaign. Cast a single spell at a group of enemies from afar, then go get yourself a drink :smiley:

:: In Depth: Damage and Debuffs ::

Damage comes in three main parts. Aura damage and AOE Dots, Devotion Procs, and Flames of Ignaffar.

:Devotion Procs:

A major portion of damage for this character that contributes strongly toward the AOE power of it are these devotions:

  • Whirlpool (cold damage)
  • Fissure (Fire/Burn damage)
  • Arcane Currents (Elemental/Lightning damage).

This build has strong Aether to Lightning damage conversions due to the two Temporal Tempest daggers. That means that each summon of Arcane Currents deals nearly 470 elemental damage, twice a second (it fires twice a second!). THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNNEST DEVOTIONS to proc to a WIDE AREA AoE like Word of Pain. You can cast Word of Pain at a group of enemies… WoP does a tiny bit of damage, but within seconds has summoned five of these badboys in the area that you’ve cast it. Suddenly all enemies in the area are taking the ~20k damage a second from Word of Pain plus up to 10x Arcane Current blasts a second

This combined with the AOE damage of Whirlpool, Fissure, and the aura damage and AOE dot damage gives this build really strong AOE potential. Watch the ‘Playstyle’ video to see how it lazily wrecks trash mobs from across the screen.

Aura Damage and AOE Dots

Word of Pain is a primary focus on this build. It has a 14.4 meter radius, meaning that it will cover everything in your screen, and a very long range meaning that if you cast it on an enemy that’s only barely within sight, it will hit everything within the screen from that point - You can cover a HUGE area. It does about 16-20k damage per second to everything in the area, but what is key with this build are the debuffs it provides:

  • -70% Total Speed to enemies
  • 34% chance of impaired aim to enemies.
  • -37% Health Regen to enemies.
  • Resistancee reductions (-31% to pierce, chaos, aether and -20% to lightning)

Aura of Censure has an 8 meter radius, and Veil of Shadow has an 8.2 meter radius, also covering a wide range of the screen. These two auras together provide additional tick damage, but more importantly, add these debuffs:

  • -27% Total Speed
  • -146 Offensive Ability
  • 19% Reducted damage to enemies
  • 22% chance to disrupt targets skills for 1 second
  • Resistance Reductions: -51% Lightning, -66% Fire, -74% Cold, -26% Pierce and Poison/Acid.

:Flames of Ignaffar:

This skill is not terribly maxed out. It alone serves as about 50% of the total damage output of the character. Having maxed cast speed is the only reason that this not-overly-buffed form of the skill is effective, allowing it to tick six times per second. It’s a fairly strong energy sink, and while with clever management you do not NEED to rely on potions, it is highly recommended to have energy potions with you in your travels. FOI provides these debuffs to the enemy:

  • 158 reduced target’s Defensive Ability.
  • 25% Chance for Target to Fumble Attacks for 2 seconds

:Other Debuffs

The relic provides an additional -25% total speed and has no cooldown :D. This stacks with Veil of Shadows and Word of Pain for a total of -122% total speed. On top of that, there are flat reductions to speed in the build that stack with the -122%, but not with each other:

  • Word of Pain gives 29% Slower Attack Speed
  • Lightning Tether gives 22% Slow Target
  • Time Warp (ring) gives 60% Slow Target in a small AOE.

This means that you can debuff the enemy’s speed by 182%. Even if they have some slow reduction, few enemies will not be effected in a meaningful way by this combination.

:: In Depth: Defenses and Support ::

The charm of this build’s defenses come in the forms of avoiding damage altogether, types of damage absorption, and some minor healing.

Avoiding Damage Entirely

With a decent defense rating, many enemies will have a 40% chance to miss. Multiply that with the 28% dodge melee chance, and a 25% chance of enemy to fumble attacks from FoI, and you’ve got a remaining 32% chance to take damage for melee attacks (or a 68% chance to dodge). In the case of dodging projectiles, there is a 40% chance of missing due to defense, with 46% chance of deflecting, with 34% impaired aim due to Word of Pain, giving you a 79% chance of dodging ranged attacks entirely (21% chance to be hit).

Even without the defense rating, you’ll have a 54% chance to be hit with melee, and a 36% chance to be hit with ranged attacks. You’ll avoid most attacks ENTIRELY.

On top of that, many enemies don’t even get a chance to get close to you due to the combined speed debuffs that can be applied to them (Total of 182% reduced speed with all procs active) - this means that even if enemies can eventually get to you, you can literally side step their attacks with ease, and this allows the character to kite quite effectively.

Damage Absorption

Inquisitor seal! <3

Arcane Barrier (devotion). I love Arcane Barrier as a thematic choice for this build, the idea of using magic to shield the caster from harm, but often I find it hard to justify this devotion in favour of more important things. In this case, I love that it fits. :smiley:

Minor Healing

With FoI providing 42% weapon damage, but ticking six times per second means even having a lowly 11% life steal is helpful. Otherwise, you’re relying on Dryad’s Blessing to proc every three seconds, the lifesteal addon to Phantasmal Blades once every three seconds, Pneumatic Burst every few seconds and Word of Renewal.

The only reason why this collection of unreliable healing sources works is because the other defenses prevent so much damage. I believe a lack of rapid and consistent healing is the primary reason for why this character will struggle in top-end SR.

Extra Bonus

This build provides a 15meter wide radius buff of +70 defensive ability and 10% chance to dodge ranged attacks to all friendlies.

Enjoy watching your enemies fade to stillness with this AOE speed-manipulating caster. :smiley:

1 Like

I have a similar build though mine is nowhere near completed and only level 75, yours is awesome man!!! I’ll post mine in a reply later tonight when I get home from work and I will have some questions for you since yours is finished.

I love support builds man. Very inspired by them. Thanks for sharing this!!

1 Like

Thanks Knife!! Sure thing, hit me up with questions :smiley:
The idea of making a slow build isn’t entirely original, but I think this one turned out really well!! It’s the most polished version of one I’ve made so far…