Part * checks previous posts* seventeen of my controller friendly build series: Callidor’s Chaos Sorcerer.
With 1.1.9.8, and the changes to Callidor’s Tempest and the chaos Callidor’s Tempest Conduit of Arcane Whispers, (“increased Chaos damage modifier for Chaos variant of Callidor’s Tempest to 180 and added 15% Total Damage Modified modifier for it.”), I thought this build would be strong. I had no idea how strong; I levelled it to 94 with Lokarr’s set and Explorer’s Trousers (I normally have to replace them around level 60 to 65), and then as soon as I hit 100 I cleared SR80 on my first try. The weapon damage added to Callidor’s Tempest doesn’t just make it do more damage, it makes lifesteal extremely effective, and the build is a lot tougher than I expected.
My first build, Something Clever about Stomping, is also super strong; it cleared SR80 in 1.1.9.7, before the massive buffs to Callidor’s Tempest. More comparison in its section. The chaos Sorcerer has more raw damage It has less active offense than the Chaos version, and a bit more active defense. I think they’re similar in strength, so go with the playstyle you prefer. (ie choose chaos if you like casting Blackwater Cocktail, Thermite Mine, and Flashbang.) My nineteenth build is also Callidor’s Tempest, so I added a three way comparison here.
grimtools link. The MI prefixes and affixes are just the best I had, not what is theoretically optimal.
alternate grimtools link, following mad_lee’s suggestion about Blood Sigil of Ch’thon. I think it’s slightly stronger, but they’re close enough in performance that it’s hard to tell. The one in the video is the one with Mark of the Dreadblade.
Playstyle: apply Blackwater Cocktail and Thermite Mine to your enemies, then flashbang, then stand and smash with Callidor’s Tempest until your enemies are dead. Use Mirror of Ereoctes in a pinch.
Three Way Comparison
All three are rated for SR80, and I’m pretty sure they all can go much higher.
Lightning pros:
-
By far the most damage: in addition to the sheet DPS, (and while it has a bit less OA), it has a massive crit damage bonus from Stormcaller’s Pact, and it has extra cast speed for -speed mutators.
-
probably the most room for improvement, as it has 3 Mis and fully-offensive-focused devotions. It cleared SR80 on the first try lacking overcaps on bleed, acid, and pierce.
-
lightning has very fun visuals, especially if you’re a fulmomaniac like me (a word I just made up for someone who loves lightning).
-
defense doesn’t require managing the uptimes on Mirror of Ereoctes and Mark of Torment.
Lightning cons:
-
3 Mis can make rounding it out difficult.
-
doesn’t have the defensive uptime of aether’s MoE and MoT
-
have to cast Wind Devil and Wendigo Totem (which I don’t enjoy)
Chaos pros:
-
only 1 MI
-
most lifesteal
-
more damage than aether, much less than lightning
-
defense doesn’t require managing the uptimes on Mirror of Ereoctes and Mark of Torment.
Chaos cons:
-
1 MI
-
much less damage than lightning, but more than aether
-
Requires Conduit of Arcane Whispers with the right prefix and a useful affix, which can take a lot of farming.
-
Offensive performance varies as Dying God, Abomination, and Arcane Will (with its buffs from Spark of Reality) go on and off.
-
Defense relies on Blackwater Cocktail, which isn’t ideal, especially on a controller.
Aether pros:
-
should have the most defense due to MoE and MoT
-
no Mis
-
cleared SR80 before the massive buffs in 1.1.9.8
Aether cons:
- lowest damage
Original Comparison to Aether Spellbinder
Both are rated for SR80, and I'm pretty sure both can go much higher.Pros of chaos:
-
More Damage
-
Defense doesn’t require managing the uptimes on Mirror of Ereoctes and Mark of Torment.
Cons:
-
Requires Conduit of Arcane Whispers with the right prefix and a useful affix, which can take a lot of farming.
-
More active offense (unless you enjoy Blackwater Cocktail, Thermite Mine, and Flashbang; then it’s a pro).
-
Offensive performance varies as Dying God, Abomination, and Arcane Will (with its buffs from Spark of Reality) go on and off.
-
Defense relies on Blackwater Cocktail, which isn’t ideal, especially on a controller.
Video proof of clear
Fight tips
-
Offense: Try to keep the debuffs from Blackwater Cocktail, Thermite Mine, and Flashbangs up 100% of the time without casting any of them more than you need to. I’m not very good at it, to be honest.
-
Defense: I lifestole through pretty much everything, without even needing to use Mirror of Ereoctes. I did get popped by Iron Maiden (as you can see in the video), but I’m not actually sure how that happened and what I should have done to prevent it. It’s important to keep the debuffs from Blackwater Cocktail active, and also those from flashbang.
Gear
As usual, the resists are overcapped to deal with resist reduction on high SR.
Essential Gear:
I’m going to start calling “Callidor’s Tempest” “CT” now
- Conduit of Arcane Whispers (Chaos CT version): this is the item that gives conversion and makes the build work.
Stuff I’m pretty sure is best in slot:
-
Maw of Despair: the aether damage gets converted, the +3 to CT and the +1 to all skills in Arcanist are important, and the 6% damage to health makes this a really strong choice. It doesn’t have ideal synergy, but there isn’t any good headgear for chaos and CT, so this becomes the best option.
-
Consumption of Agrivix: this is a very similar story to Maw of Despair. It doesn’t offer cast speed (unlike most sources), but this build can compensate for that.
-
Combustion Band and Voidheart: chaos resist reduction and a host of useful stats.
-
Serenity: the alternative was Korvaak’s Deception, but +1 to demo isn’t nearly as useful as +1 to all skills, and I needed the resists from Serenity. Maybe with a better resist roll on the Conduit it could be replaced, but I don’t think it’s worth it to give up +1 to arcanist.
-
Arcane Harmony Leggings: I know I’m probably the biggest fan of these, but I believe a build is only as strong as its weakest link, and without disruption protection you will really struggle against certain enemies. +84/126 spirit is great, and +84/126 DA is awesome as well. The resistances are good too. I don’t know why other people don’t use this as much as I do. Demonbone Legplates could work too, but I think the disruption protection is worth it.
-
Cindertouch: gives a bunch of OA and flat damage, and has +3 to CT. It’s a similar story to Maw and Consumption, as there isn’t a chaos+CT item available for this slot.
-
Timewarped Walkers: gives important slow res, poison res, and bleeding res, and has mild offensive synergy with this build.
-
Vestments of Severed Faith: gives a lot of damage, OA, and pierce res. Also gives good aether res if you don’t have it on your Conduit.
Other stuff:
-
Spark of Reality: I went through all the chaos weapons in my stash, and this gave the highest damage. I think Hexflame could be good, but I didn’t have one lying around. If the build had struggled, this would have been one of the first places I looked for alternatives.
-
Mark of the Dreadblade/Blood Sigil of Ch’thon: there isn’t anything with super high synergy here. mad_lee, suggested Blood Sigil of Ch’thon, and I think they’re right. The chaos boost from Blood Sigil is about the same damage as the flat aether from Dreadblade, and the bonuses to Demon Fire and BWC should be more than enough to offset the loss of AS, plus 18% damage to humans isn’t shabby either, especially since this build already has damage against Aetherials and Ch’thonics. Also, you end up with extra health and OA. For Dreadblade, the aether damage is converted, and the total speed is useful, as are the fire and vit resists. +3 to FoR is nice too. I think Crest of Ember’s Calling should be alright, but I don’t have one. A perfect Lagoth’Ak’s Voidbinding should be a lot stronger, but I don’t have one, and it’s hard to farm, and the build cleared SR80 on its first try anyway.
-
Shadowflame Mantle: doesn’t give much in the way of resists, but the +2 to Reckless Power and to Fabric of Reality make this the highest damage option here. I think a Mantle of Ember’s Calling would be stronger if you’re using the Crest as well. A perfect Incendiary Shoulderplates is probably optimal, but it would take quite a lot of luck/patience to get one that does more damage than Shadowflame mantle. If you need defense, a good Incendiary Shoulderplates would be a good place to look for it, but I didn’t, so I didn’t.
-
Chains of Ygraad: I happened to have one with really useful resists. If you don’t, a Cord of Violent Decay could be viable, and maybe a Fiendleather Girdle.
Now that I look at it, I think this build might still have room for improvement, but I don’t have the items necessary to find out how high it could go.
Devotions
The way I do devotions is to start with full offense, then redistribute points into defense until I stop dying at my target SR. I didn’t have to do that here. For the record, a full cycle of Dying God + Abomination costs around 4k health.Core:
-
Solael’s Witchblade: chaos RR. I put it on CT because I was seeing some bugged interactions with Thermite Mine, and I didn’t want to take any chances.
-
Abomination: a bunch of damage I put it on Blackwater Cocktail because I prefer it to Dying God for its not-devour-your-health abilities.
-
Dying God: a bunch of damage. The health drain isn’t too important in fights, since you lifesteal so much anyway, but it can be annoying between fights. See my Iron Maiden death.
-
Solemn Watcher: I didn’t see a better way to get enough DA to not get crit. I didn’t try with Ulzuin’s Torch instead of Watcher, but I’m pretty sure this way is better.
-
The 1 point in Hourglass makes a substantial difference.
Not Core
- everything else: for OA and/or defense while filling the requirements for the core devotions.
Skill Choices
-
Callidor’s Tempest: the point of this build.
-
Maiven’s Sphere of Protection: 29% damage absorption.
-
Thermite/Hellfire Mine: the chaos RR is pretty important. I don’t like stationary debuffs in general, but this build is so stationary that it’s fine.
-
Blackwater Cocktail: I don’t normally like this, since you can’t aim it precisely when using a controller. However, this build is so stationary that it doesn’t really matter. And it gives big OA reduction, slower enemy attack, and 19% damage reduction on top of its RR. It’s also great for proccing devotions, and I had enough points lying around to beef up all 3 skills.
-
Flashbang: I initially planned on putting more points into this, but the debuffs it offers aren’t bad as is. It also has a good chance of proccing Hungering Void. You can opt to save it for when you want Hungering Void, or you can use it constantly like I did.
-
Reckless Power: the flat aether gets converted, and the Casting speed is really good. I don’t know how useful the stun retaliation actually is, and I’m not sure how exactly it interacts with the stun retaliation from Vindictive Flame.
-
Vindictive Flame: the total speed is really all that it’s here for. The health regen is dwarfed by the drain from Dying God, and Ulzuin’s Wrath is a bit strange in its application.
-
Flame Touched: the damage and OA are nice, but unnecessary. The DA from Temper is critical.
-
Mirror of Ereoctes: didn’t actually use it very often, but it’s a good emergency option, especially given the buffs from Spark of Reality.
-
Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange: Worth 3 points with the +5 to Arcanist skills.
Leveling
Max Callidor's Tempest, and make sure you have some lifesteal, and it should be pretty straightforward.Since this build relies on a conversion, I levelled it as a fire CT build, but I went for the chaos devotions. The final tier devotions – Dying God and Abomination – require a ton of XP to max, so it’s best to get them ASAP. There is a little synergy in the devotions, due to Solael’s Witchblade and the lifesteal from Fox, but I expected the chaos devotions to provide a bit of trouble while levelling. Instead, this was the easiest levelling I have ever done. I made it to level 94 with the gear shown below:
