I’ve done a bunch of searching, which usually ends up here, so I thought I’d just ask the experts. I had a number of questions so apologies if I ramble a bit.
Going for a blade arc battlemage. Currently lvl 35 with 34 points in Soldier mastery, 16, I think, in Arcanist. Blade arc maxed, and 6 in Laceration, 1 in Blitz/Blindside, 1 in Menhir’s will, couple in war cry. On the arcanist side, 1 in mirror, 6 in maiven, arcane will is maxed, a couple in IEE and maybe 3 in inner focus. I filled up the empty throne so far but I’m aiming for defensive devotions like Behemoth, Chariot, etc. because I plan on using this character to the end game (ultimate) and I’ve read that defensive devotions become a must. Can’t decide between sword and board or 2h but 2h is clearly way stronger with my current gear.
Currently wrecking mobs with a blitz, war cry, and spamming blade arc but bosses usually spoil my fun (especially when I go sword and shield).
So, is there a single target arcanist skill I could aim for (that would be ideal) or should I forget that and just use Cadence? Or would another cc skill be a better idea?
Should I just forget about shields and the requisite skills (shield mastery, Mehir’s Bulwark) and concentrate solely on building up damage? To that end, where do I put my attribute points? I’ve been putting in something like 2:1 physique to spirit. Cunning doesn’t seem to add much to my overall DPS. Then again my gear isn’t exactly spectacular. What other passive skills should I aim for?
tl:dr Looking for an arcanist DPS skill to offset blade arc. Devotion/attribute/skill advice would be much appreciated.
Well, maybe it’s my gear but my DPS is just not comparable. Just from experience I don’t lose near as much health/constitution. Not sure if I understand the DPS on my character screen but it’s the difference between 392 or 744. When I hover over it, blade arc is ~1380 vs ~1580 on the 2h. Sure feels like a lot more when I’m trading blows.
Oh for sure, same as with 2H. Boss fights tend to have a lot of little munchkins throwing burning/acid stuff at my feet, not to mention the bosses themselves. For a while - all of act 1 actually - I was pretty much kiting everything and relying way too much on mirror to fight bosses. Only recently have I started to hurt mobs. Perhaps I need to farm for a while.
If you are planning on picking up Cadence then make sure you switch to the transmuted version of Blade Arc. But personally I suggest going Aether Blade Arc as it is quite strong. Especially Paired with Agrivix’s Malice Relic Proc.
Did you mean the Albrecht’s Aether Ray skill? I thought it needed an off-hand caster or some such.
I know Cadence seems like the perfect fit for a DPS, it probably is, but I wanted to test out the Arcanist side of my build a bit more. Seeing as I have 35 more levels to go before I can use that relic you mentioned, I got some planning to do
In my experience the spammable version of blade arc just doesn’t do enough damage. You are gonna need some bleed resist reduction to make it interesting. And for battle mage that would mean relying on constellations or components.
Might be better to go cadence of pick up the cooldown for blade arc. Or both. The flat physical on cadence is pretty big, and you can lower physical resist with warcry and assasins mark.
There are others options though. But your current setup just has limits if you don’t shake it up.
What options would you be referring to? I’m certainly open to ideas. Just feels like my build, though capable on lvl 37, will run into a wall at some point. Maybe I just need a couple flashy skills to spice it up.
It’s hard not to be confused when some people say cadence sucks, others say its awesome, some say to transmute, others don’t. I’ve read boatloads of threads now but I think I’m more confused than when I started :rolleyes:
I’ve been playing a 2H battlemage since I started (first and only character so far).
Went through a lot of respecs trying things out throughout his career, but I’ve settled on a maxed blitz strike + blindside and maxed blade arc(transmuted) + laceration, with 1 point in cadence and whatever I had left over sprinkled into deadly momentum.
It’s not your standard facetank playstyle, and can get a bit clunky at times, but I like it. It plays like a 2H build should play imo, where you don’t hit often, but can hit really hard.
If you’d like I can post up a video of something from ultimate for you to get a sense of how it plays and if it’s something you’d like.
Thanks boof. No need to go to any trouble. I researched transmuted skills a bit more and I’m starting to understand the different battlemage builds now. I would like to know what you took on the arcanist side of things though.
Seems to me you need to commit fully to skills like Calidor, Trozan, and Albrecht to make them worthwhile, which means playing primarily as an arcanist, which is obviously not my intent. I think I’ll continue on leveling soldier mastery with the aim of taking Oleron’s as it works well with Laceration, maybe take a couple points in Olexra for some added cc. I can always switch things up and go Clean Sweep with Cadence in between, add some IEE because of the physical damage from Cadence.
Any advice on passives? I have a point in Menhir’s Will but I’m not so sure about Veterancy or Decorated soldier. Same goes for Squad tactics vs Fighting Spirit - can’t spend on both can I? Lastly, if I may, is Inner Focus a worthwhile investment?
I agree with blitz. I find using cadence to get deadly momentum up and then hitting blade arc is going to give you great damage. With DoT crits you can take down groups pretty well and also watch boss life bars tick down.
You may need to kite here and there but it’s nice to see those crits pop up while you’re moving.
