- Build Name (Might/Finesse/Sorcery) {Destiny} [Main Weapon, Secondary Weapon, Offensive/Defensive, Melee/Ranged]
Pure Might
- Dread Warlord (109/1/13) {Warlord} [Hammer, Chakram, Offensive, Melee]
- Damage Scaling: +30% Destiny +30% Weapon Mastery + 100% Frenzy + 60% vs. Stunned + 70% Adrenaline Rush
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +20% Physical/Piercing Absorb, -45% Incoming Damage, +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking, +20% Block Efficiency
- Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, -45% Incoming Damage
- Crowd Control: Aftershock, Bulwark, War Cry, Terror, Storm Bolt
- Mobility : Harpoon, Shield Charge
- AoE Damage: Quake, Wrath
- Self Healing: Adrenaline Rush, Bloodlust
- Sustained Abilities: Battle Frenzy (30%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Thyrdon
Pure Finesse
- The Phazblade (14/109/0) {Nightblade} [Daggers, Longbow, Offensive, Melee]
- Damage Scaling: +30% Ranged, +20% Piercing, +42% Crit chance, +30% Dagger damage, +51% Bow damage, +150% Sneak attack damage, +70% Bleeding and Poison damage, +50% Adrenaline Surge, Assassination +300% Crit Chance after Evasion
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking, 60% Damage Resist While Dodging, 11% Chance to Avoid Hit
- Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, 10% Poison Resistance
- Crowd Control: Icy Explosion, Smoke Bomb, Paralytic Poisons
- Mobility : Lunge, Shield Charge
- AoE Damage: Shadow Flare, Frost Trap, Mysterious Toxins, Gambit
- Self Healing: Adrenaline Surge
- Sustained Abilities: Envenomed Edge (25%), Blade Honing (15%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Belen or Dokkalfar/Belen
Pure Sorcery
- Archmage of the Order (13/1/109) {Archmage} [Staff, Chakram, Offensive, Ranged]
- Damage Scaling: +30% Destiny, +30% Weapon Mastery, +50% to Mark of Flame, Ice Barrage, and Storm Bolt
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +12% Damage Resistance, +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
- Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, +12% Damage Resistance
- Crowd Control: Storm Bolt, Winter’s Embrace, Sphere of Retribution, Elemental Rage, Faer Gorta
- Mobility: Ice Blink III
- AoE Damage: Chain Lightning, Mark of Flame, Winter’s Embrace, Elemental Rage, Meteor, Sphere of Retribution
- Self Healing: Healing Surge, Adrenaline Rush, +70% Transferrence
- Sustained Abilities: Sphere of Protection (30%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Njordir or Almain/Vraekor
Might/Finesse Hybrid
- Whirling Dervish (56/67/0) {Blademaster} [Faeblades, Longbow, Offensive, Melee]
- Damage Scaling: +25% Melee, +20% Ranged, +15% Piercing, +30% Weapon Mastery, + 100% Frenzy, + 60% vs. Stunned, + 70% Adrenaline Rush, +150% Sneak Attack, +25% Damage While in Stealth
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: -45% Incoming Damage, +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
- Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, -45% Incoming Damage
- Crowd Control: Aftershock, Bulwark, War Cry, Smoke Bomb
- Mobility: Harpoon, Shield Charge, Lunge
- AoE Damage: Quake, Shadow Flare, Arrow Storm, Mysterious Toxins
- Self Healing: Adrenaline Rush
- Sustained Abilities: Envenomed Edge (25%), Battle Frenzy (30%)
- Race/Patron: Dokkalfar/Belen or Varani/Belen
Might/Sorcery Hybrid
- Champion of the Foundry (67/1/55) {Champion} [Longsword, Chakram, Defensive, Melee]
- Damage Scaling: +20% Destiny, +30% Weapon Mastery, + 100% Frenzy, + 60% vs. Stunned, + 70% Adrenaline Rush
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +15% Armor, +12% Damage Resistance, +20% Physical/Piercing Absorb, -45% Incoming Damage, +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
- Elemental Resistance: +38% Elemental Resistance, +12% Damage Resistance, -45% Incoming Damage
- Crowd Control: Aftershock, Bulwark, War Cry, Storm Bolt, Faer Gorta
- Mobility: Harpoon, Shield Charge, and Blink
- AoE Damage: Quake, Sphere of Reprisal, Chain Lightning, Harmonic Overload
- Self Healing: Healing Surge, Adrenaline Rush, +70% Transferrence
- Sustained Abilities: Battle Frenzy (30%), Sphere of Protection (30%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Thyrdon or Ljosalfar/Ohnshan
Finesse/Sorcery Hybrid
- Arcane Archer (7/61/55) {Shadowcaster} [Longbow, Chakram, Offensive, Ranged]
- Damage Scaling: +20% Piercing Damage, +25% Elemental Damage, +30% Weapon Mastery, + 30% Adrenaline Rush, +150% Sneak Attack
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
- Elemental Resistance: +3% Elemental Resistance
- Crowd Control: Frost Trap, Smoke Bomb, Frostshackle, Faer Gorta, Storm Bolt
- Mobility: Shield Charge, Poison Blink
- AoE Damage: Arrow Storm, Shadow Flare, Mysterious Toxins
- Self Healing: Healing Surge, Adrenaline Rush, +70% Transferrence
- Sustained Abilities: Envenomed Edge (25%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Belen, Varani/Njordir, Dokkalfar/Belen
Might/Finesse/Sorcery Hybrid
- Transcendent Planewalker (41/42/40) {Universalist} [Daggers/Faeblades, Chakram, Offensive, Melee]
- Damage Scaling: +20% Destiny, +30% Weapon Mastery, + 100% Frenzy, + 60% vs. Stunned, + 70% Adrenaline Rush, +150% Sneak Attack, +50% to Storm Bolt
- Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +12% Damage Resistance, +20% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
- Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, +12% Damage Resistance
- Crowd Control: Aftershock, Storm Bolt, Faer Gorta, Smoke Bomb, Frost Trap
- Mobility: Shield Charge, Lunge
- AoE Damage: Quake, Frost Trap, Chain Lightning
- Self Healing: Healing Surge, Adrenaline Rush, +70% Transferrence
- Sustained Abilities: Battle Frenzy (30%), Blade Honing (15%)
- Race/Patron: Varani/Belen or Dokkalfar/Belen
I’m hoping someone can create a really powerful melee focussed Finesse/Sorcery hybrid. The idea of Faeblades and Chakrams + Poison Blink just sounds so good.
I’ll definitely be cooking up something along these lines later this afternoon Yev…check back in a bit!
Looking forward to it. Right now my build looks like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500002000000000000000000&200562601105502405521050000&20061605505552005520050000
I’m still debating the value of sustainables such as Envenomed Edge and Blade Honing vs their mana cost. Also something like Elemental Rage, which looks awesome, but is it the most efficient use of points?
Actually had an error in that build with an incorrect amount of points needed to get to higher level skills, so I’ve updated it.
I’ll try something like this http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00000000000000000000000000&300563606005013405530050000&30063665000553005330550000 what You think ?
or this if You want Finesse/Sorcery Hybrid:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00000000000000000000000000&200562606005052405520050000&20062665000553005530550000
Just a heads-up that the “Transcendent Planewalker” link seems to be pointing to the “Whirling Dervish” build…
thanks, fixed it!
I’m going shadowcaster (finesse/sorcery) with chakrams and faeblades, melee orientated.
This is the most optimized build with incredible amounts of synergy.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00000000000000000000000000&300563606401503405504050000&30061605501553005530050000
Primary Active Abilities on wheel:
Poison bomb – Emphasizes my DOT (damage over time) strategy with faeblades and lets me get easy stealth attacks!
Frost Trap – Boosted by Frostshackle in sorcery tree! Makes it GODLY and good for zoning or playing safe!
Shadow Flare – So GOOD. A shotgun blast with massive utility!
Storm Bolt – Hold for Tempest for massive AOE, shock damage, and stun-chaining.
———
Sustained Abilities:
Envenomed Edge – Makes my poison DOT style very effective coupled with mysterious toxins, poison bomb, and enduring agony!
Blade Honing – Massive crits, especially in stealth!
———
Weapon Focuses:
Faeblades – Artsy close-quarter AOE dmg with stylish stealth attacks for massive crit!
Chakrams – Artsy range “zoning” AOE dmg!
———
How does “Dread” and “Drain Mana” (2 perks from Tier 6 Shadow Caster destiny) help me?
First and foremost, “burning damage” will cause enemies to be more likely to go into “PANIC”. I then can crit them AUTOMATICALLY with dread. When I crit, I also get mana back from “drain mana” for massive synergy!
The synergy doesn’t just stop there! Since I invested into the Smolder ability in the sorcery tree, ALL my burning dmg. is increased by 100%! Again, massive synergy.
Furthermore, since my weapons focus on AOE dmg. I’ll most likely socket my chakrams/faeblades with burning damage to get enemies into panic.
Not only that, but my blink has a poison dot. This means it’s synergized from all my poison buffs from the finesse tree (mysterious toxins, envenomed edge, poison bomb, enduring agony).
With blade honing also on my faeblades, and coupled with stealth mode and maxed out Assassin’s Art, I might be able to one-shot even the toughest of monsters! Plus, I can poison bomb (which still is the smoke bomb, but upgraded) and turn invisible for an easy stealth attack for massive damage or complete assassination.
I can also cast many spells from conservative casting in the sorcery tree and keep my sustained abilities on forever. I ALSO get mana from the destiny (+2 mana/sec)!
Also if your looking at my ability allotment, I don’t take the final precise weaponry (IV) in the finesse tree since you have to parry. Since I’m given the poison blink with my destiny, I’ll rarely be using parry when I’m a bit fragile, but more agile! Therefore, I used those 3 points for better abilities that I could max out.
Great post Menace. Almost that exact build was the next on my list to add to this page. I completely agree that the melee shadowcaster variant has awesome cross-class potential. I think your build is almost spot on, I would suggest just a few tiny improvements.
1) I agree with your reasons for taking Mark of Flame/Smolder and Ice Barrage/Frostshackle. I don’t really think there’s either the need or the room to fit in a 3rd type of magic nuke. I’d drop Storm Bolt in this case (well…still 2 points as filler) and pick up some more versatile skills instead. The Faer Gorta with upgraded Transferrence is actually surprisingly strong, and while you won’t want to use it every fight, certain types of encounters can be made much easier if you have a portable meatshield to take some heat off.
2) Poison Bomb is somewhat mediocre, even with boosted poison damage from Enduring Agony, its only doing 76 damage. While that might be good against low level enemies, its not going to hold its own as a source of damage in the long run. I think these 4 points are perhaps better spent elsewhere.
3) Lunge seems like a waste of mana for the damage it does, but it actually has one really nice use. In many cases when you can’t perform a full stealth assassination, you can use lunge while in stealth from range to get a sneak attack damage bonus. This can be really useful right after you use smoke bomb to get a nice high damaging opener.
4) I think Precise Weaponry IV is worth taking. Once you get the timing down, parry is *really* nice. As the capstone attack maneuver for your weapon type, I’m pretty sure Savage Wing is going to be a high damage series of hits, and I definitely wouldn’t write it off.
Overall though, I think your build is extremely solid, and my suggestions are relatively minor. How would you feel about something like THIS.
Yeah guys my updated build is very similar to this, albeit with a few minor differences. I’ve only got one point in Lunge as it’s a useful escape in that it counts as a magic ability so it’s easy to cancel into from almost anything if you’re in trouble. Also, I’ve only got a point in smoke bomb and one in the poison upgrade, but I’ll have to see with playing how useful those are. Lastly, I feel like the returns for points on Envenomed Edge aren’t great considering I can also apply poison through Poison Blink and that coupled with saving the extra points on styles (the ones that just give bonus fate to weapon attacks), I’ve gone into the Might tree to get the blocking bonuses and first level of the health bonus. It may not be perfect, but I feel it still gets good synergy between Finesse and Sorcery and supports being a melee character (Faeblades/Chakrams).
Link is here: http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500001000000000000000000&200562601405512105521050000&20061605505552005520050000
Poison Bomb IS mediocre, but at least one point of it allows you a 50% chance to proc Mysterious Toxins (MT) without having to worry about weapons or Evenomed Edge.
Case Example: You have 3 low/moderate baddies in front of you.
1. Smoke Bomb (they become poisoned and blind)
2. Maneuver around to the center baddie
3. Stealth kill
4. If MT procs, you have 250 poison damage to the adjacent enemies (425 if you maxed Enduring Agony)
Alternatively, if you can’t stealth kill and you have maxed points in Lunge and Assassin’s Art you can possibly get a killing blow that way. Also if you DO have Enduring Agony maxed, you can open with a Shadow Flare before the Smoke bomb to stack DoT.
There is so much flexibility with the Finesse/Sorcery build my biggest concern is not maxing synergy per say but rather it is remembering what option to play for each situation.
Yeah, I suppose you get a fair bit of mileage out of the first point in poison bomb. Not only is the damage low, however, but it scales pretty poorly too. I think if you are really stretched for points on a hybrid build, you can skip it without losing too much sleep.
Were you aware that “Blade Honing” affects chakrams as well? The lead designer says so in this forum, 6 posts down:
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3961-Confirmation-please!-Chakrams-do-or-do-not-benefit-from-Blade-Honing-and-Envenomed-Ed
I actually didn’t know that. That’s nice to know, since its not clear from the description. Thanks for the heads up and thanks for stopping by
Regarding the Transcendent Planewalker build, what is the reasoning for the points in Arcane and Precise Weaponry? Don’t those come for free with the Weapon Mastery benefit of the Universalist? It seems from this link that this is the case: http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3917-Assumption-about-Universalist-Mastery-of-Arms-bonus
Thanks in advance.
I had assumed that the Universalist simply unlocked the ability to perform all the attacks in the game. I assumed this was equivalent to point 1/3 in each of the Weaponry abilities. After checking your very helpful link however, it does seem as if you get all 3 points in each instead of just the first point. My initial reasoning for 2/3 points in the tree was to get the DoT proc that I had assumed didn’t come for free with the destiny. In light of this new info I’ll update the spec accordingly. Thanks for sharing this!
Personally I’m a bit torn on the Universalist. I think it would be a fantastically fun thing to spec into at the end of the game just for kicks, but I think leveling with the goal of Universalist in mind would be bordering on masochistic. At least for the first playthrough, I think I would choose a more focused spec during the leveling process.
You are welcome. You’ve done a such a great job with the site that I’m happy to be able to contribute something, no matter how small =).
You’re rationale makes a lot of sense. I hear what you are saying about specializing/focusing at the beginning and respecing at the end, but the (admittedly masochistic) challenge of aiming for it from the start appeals to me somehow. Ah well, I’m still thinking about the build. We shall see…
For me this will be final build most of shield and heal instead of dot from fire, aoe dmg from psn and lightings and slow imo will be good cc and lots of dmg and survival http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000000000000000000000000000&300563606005013405530050000&20062660005553050530550000
What do you think of this build? I want to use a greatsword and the fae-blades. I want to be fast and stealthy but also STRONG!.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?20040265505555255424210100&200562606005052405320000000&00000000000000000000000000
Can someone make me a build? If this one is not OK.
Looks like a good start, but you are SO close to the Blademaster Destiny you really should move a few points around. I’d recommend you try THIS ONE.
Wow, that’s a really good one. Thank you for posting. Going to go with that
Here’s the build i’ll use!
Hybrid Finess/Sorcery/Might with the Assassin’s Destiny
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500056000000000000000000&360563606005053405534056450&00060060500000000000000000
Good mitigation skills in might, sphere of protection in sorcery and then i focus on Daggers + Bleeding and Poison damage.
One thing thought.
Does Conservative Casting affect Sustained spells? If not, i’ll try something else.
Doesn’t affect sustained spells…but it can still be quite valuable, its a matter of choice I suppose.
Looks like that arcane archer build is going to the wrong place
Good catch, thanks. I need to go back through this page and clean up a few other typos and stuff, its hard to work on the site when I could be playing Reckoning instead
First things first, amazing site, thank you very much for all the work you’ve done. This is the be-all and end-all reference site for all things Amalur related and I have found my permanent home, so danke.
I was hoping you might be able to comment on this build I found early on off the Gamefaqs board? It appears to be very lucrative late in the game, but I’m really curious how you would dissect it. I’m giving the link to the forum so you can see his/her reasoning behind the choices. Thanks for any help!
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/991143-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning/61861394
The Universalist is a strong build for endgame. I wouldn’t personally advise it as a leveling path, however. My recommendation would be to play as a traditional hybrid, or pure build until higher level, then respec into Universalist when you have enough points to unlock it straight away.
As far as the build goes, it looks pretty good, although he definitely has some wasted points.
4 points in Arcane Weaponry
5 points in Sphere is arguably wasted if you don’t take reprisal
7 points in Precise Weaponry
1 point in Envenomed Edge
1 point in Innoculation
So, to me, it seems like this build “wastes” 18 points, which is quite a lot. I think you could cut out a lot of those wasted points and get much more mileage out of something like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00005005565504005000000000&006060650430500130000000000&00060665502500045000000000
I plan on doing a Finesse/Sorcery Hybrid build that uses Daggers/Chakrams. The last 10 points I put it might as like a just in case something bad happens, they aren’t really needed. Didn’t see too many other options that looked great and needed the points anyways. Maybe I could upgrade Faer Gorta a little more. Hoping for some feedback here to help me critique it to make it a little better.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00005000500000000000000000&260162006405502105521050000&30021605562052505521000000
I like the idea of Finesse/Sorvery and using Daggers and Chakrams; however, I feel some points you placed are better used elsewhere. I also was unsure by your post how often you planned on using spells, and what weapon you intended to be your primary. For instance, your build has 55 points in sorcery, yet in Finesse your spec’ed into Blade Honing (15% Sustained Mana Cost) and Envenomed Edge (25% Sustained Mana Cost). For someone who has invested so many points into the Sorcery tree, I feel you need to either drop Envenomed Edge, or Blade Honing. Having a 40% reduction in mana is pretty huge, for someone specialized into Sorcery. I feel that there is no reason to have more than 1-2 points in Inoculation, and that you’re only using that talent in order to advance to Mysterious Toxins.
Without knowing exactly what your play style was ,I rebuilt a spec that is closely related to yours, with only minor changes. I’ll explain the minor changes I made, and why I did them.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00000000000000000000000000&260162006402552405022050000&20061605565402505025500000
~~Sorcery~~
6/6 Stormbolt: In your build I felt that investing as little as 2 points was a complete waste, and since you were going daggers/chakrams, I was unable to invest points into Staffs. With that said, I decided to max out Stormbolt, giving yourself a chance to stun enemies from afar.
5/5 Chain Lightning: With Points Already Invested into Stormbolt, I felt it would be a complete waste to invest extra points into Ice Barrage, instead of buffing your Stormbolt that already had 6 points invested into it.
5/5 Healing Surge: This was an easy choice for me, and something I am very glad I picked up. I originally thought 5 points into this was rubbish, but have learned since playing that it has saved my skin more than once. Since this ability is on a somewhat long cooldown (30-45 seconds?), not investing points to make your heal stronger would be foolish. Essentially I thought this was a better investment than the points you place in might.
5/5 Elemental Construction: Since you had already placed so many points into your Faer Gorta, I felt it appropriate that you buff him even further. I assumed that giving his chain attack 7 hits, that this would increase the chances for Transference to heal you.
5/5 Elemental Rage: I mentioned above I felt that being spec’ed into both Ice Barrage, Mark of Flame, and Stormbolt was spreading yourself a bit thin. Elemental Rage also provides much more damage, and more utility than Ice Barrage can provide. This was an easy choice, and once you try it out, you’ll love it.
~~Finesse~~
5/5 Lunge: As I stated above, I was unsure what your play style was, so taking that into account I felt that Lunge would be a nice addition to your build. This would allow you to essentially quickly dodge a frontal area attack that a large Ettin or Troll would be performing, by just Lunging behind the target.
2/5 Inoculation: I felt that having 5/5 points into this tree was a bit of a waste, considering that only a small portion of damage you’ll be faced with will be poison. I only used this talent in order to advance to Mysterious Toxins.
0/5 Blade Honing: I dropped Blade Honing because I felt that having a 40% Sustained Mana Cost was way to large for someone with so many points invested into Sorcery. This is of course personal preference, and if you find yourself using spells for infrequently, you can place your points elsewhere.
Thank you for the reply. I guess I should’ve stated the play style and what not in the original post. I planned on mainly using daggers, only using chakrams when I need a little AoE, range, or the target is just too big to take out with daggers safely. I honestly only took Mark of Flame because I didn’t want to run 3 sustains. My original build had 6/6 Sphere of Prot. and 5/5 Reprisal. However, this didn’t give me enough base mana to cast Faer Gorta, I ended up being like 4 mana short. Honestly the only abilities I planned on using were Smoke Bomb, Ice Barrage, and Faer Gorta. The Frost Trap, extra Innoculation points and all that stuff were just so that I had the prereq points to get the higher tiered abilities. I didn’t really plan on using abilites that often either, just as kind of a fall back option. I do like the Elemental Rage idea though. That is an ability I think I’d have a lot of fun with. Also, the only reason I took Smolder was because I planned on having burn damage on my daggers, which can cause panic. That then gives me the 100% crit chance from Dread.
Also I have a question here. Does Enduring Agony actually increase damage? I know it says effect, but in it’s description it says “extend the duration.” On DoTs I realize that means it increases the damage because it is hitting longer, but on an ability such as Mysterious Toxins, would it have any effect at all?
Want an amazingly OP Finesse/Might build? 45/78/0 focusing on poison scale damage and stuns/stun damage. This gives all the poison. The synergy is there and there is only a point or two wasted in the entire build. The good part about this is you can wear just about any armor you want. The final destiny card is only tier 5 but I feel like the power of the stun/poison damage makes up for it. Combine this with +poison damage/+stun duration items and you will be simply destroy everything in hard mode.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00045000565055055000000000&366123056031000455504654400&00000000000000000000000000
Looks pretty decent Furax, but I have some constructive feedback for you.
1) Using three sustained abilities is going to destroy your mana pool. You are reserving 70% of your mana in this build, barely leaving yourself enough for even one gambit.
2) I think one point in lunge is a great utility buy, if only for mobility and for countering certain types of enemies.
3) I think you should unlock Punishment, some people don’t like parry that much, but once you master the timing, its incredibly OP. Not to mention that since you are taking 5/5 skillful defense, your block is going to be quite good anyways. I would go 3/4 poison bomb, 1/4 precise IV.
4) Neglecting Execution is a big mistake IMHO, especially for a bow user that procs bleeds automatically. That’s a huge passive damage boost. Especially if you are going to keep all sustained abilities, I would go 5/5 execution and drop Gambit.
Thanks for sharing, and I agree with you, missing the top tier destiny isn’t a huge deal. I think Slayer is actually a very strong destiny for only being hybrid Tier 4. That’s what I would use with your build.
I just wanted to say that in my opinion, more than 1 point in Lunge is counter-productive. This ability is used for mobility and not for damage. The little damage increase does not pay for the mana increase and not at all for the 4 points in it.
Maybe in a sorc/finess build with mana oriented gear. But in pure finess you will have so few mana…
I think a big factor in whether you take full ranks in abilities like Lunge, Gambit, Poison Bomb, etc.. is whether you need the points to reach the next ability threshold. Especially if you are playing a build that has chosen not to use longbow, it can be tough to make it up the finesse tree if you don’t over-invest in some skills. I tend to agree that from a min-max point of view, there are some abilities that I would rather not fully max. Thanks for your feedback!
Sorry I made one small mistake in this second point in assassins art should be in precise weaponry III
I also feel that all non-scaling abilities will be lesser and lesser effective in the higher levels. But that concerns a LOT of talents, even the deep-in-tree ones.
For instance, I just get Gambit in the game and the damage already feel low. This ability is ok for the control (chain explosions) but I think more than 1 point will be a waste for the later game.
hes got a point. to be honest, mysterious toxins is a waste of points. if your gonna go with a might/finesse build your better up going only 55 in finesse, and the rest in might.
I’m running along this at the moment to see how it compares as a self-sustaining build. I prefer the greatswords myself, but hammer would work just a well.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?30005355360560350630500000&000000000000000000000000000&30063660515550550000050000
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?30005355360560350630500000&000000000000000000000000000&30063660515550550000050000
You get +1 might/finess/sorc fate cards in addition to the hybrid class ones
I dropped all weaponry talents to 1 and got you the dodge chakram ability
I dropped bloodlust to 1 (1 point wonder) – grabbed warcry (-20% damage to YOU is nice) – bulwark is meh compared to +60% damage from stunned enemies aka your lightning abilities…all of them
— maxed your GS for a little extra damage (or hammer/longsword if anyone else prefers them) — popped in 5/5 power strike in those OMG IT HURTS scenarios — pushed 5/5 ice shackle (kitey kitey) and thats about all.
Your initial build looked fine but Concussive force > Bulwark esp. with sorcery lightning attacks added stuns. Build SLIGHTLY changed below.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?10005165565565100610110000&000000000000000000000000000&10061660515551550510050000
Let me know what you think.
Nice suggestions Therizdun, I’d have a few more to throw out for consideration.
1) Your points in the Faer Gorta line seem a bit strange, if they are just for filler to advance the tree, why not Tempest 5/5? It’s really nice because its an entirely different type of ability that doesn’t actually use a precious hotbar slot, since its contextual based on your use of Storm Bolt.
2) That change would actually free up enough points for both Concussive Force AND Bulwark, a winning combination IMHO.
Why not something like this?
True, however, I was merely adjusting his build assuming he wanted the faer gorta as a distraction or as a passive “heal”. If for no other reason, as a might plate w/mana build, I think the gorta is not a necessity given the high armor, resists and other survivability. IMHO I’d go for something like you posted, but to each their own yea?
1) Faer Gorta for heal = buy/make more potions (depending on alchemy, money is definitely a non-issue in this game as 1st completion last Tuesday I had like 2+Mil gold)
2) Bulwark + lightning stun procs + Concussive Force = WIN!
After actually playing this build further than my initial theorycrafting, taking on what both of you have suggested, it has given me this build; http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?30005365065560350630130000&000000000000000000000000000&00060065565500555000050000
My inclusion of a Faer Gorta is from a RP perspective, since in my view, Battlemages aren’t limited to elemental. Back in Diablo 2 I would roll Necromancer and make it a sword wielding death machine – this is where the Faer Gorta comes in. Also, I prefer to use my Greatsword primarily and have my spells as support.
This is your all in one build: http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500556550500500000000000&060460600400550100500000000&00360600564500500000000000
*******Possible spoilers*******
Taking into account that you receive +1 Might Finesse and Sorcery for completing faction chains and/or story. I would recommend only ever getting max ability -1 in any one ability because the fate cards will max it coupled with +1 or +2 to a particular tree from epic gems, would still bust you over the “cap” in each trained ability. That said the build below is min-maxed with that in mind. I’ve also taken into account synergies from stun/fire as much as possible. Initially you will have to allocate a point to max an ability or two, however, after playing around with the points a bit, you should be able to come up with something like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?000040044544540441000000000000&000450501302440104400000000&00050504454440404000000000
I won’t list all of the various effects, but with the +1 to each tree from quests it is not so much different from your build; however, it makes use of some points that I made more “available”. You have your +poison damage +damage to stunned +damage after kills +slightly more survivability so all in all I think it makes better use of the final destiny.
Thoughts?
A few more things: As always you can remake this build to suit any of YOUR favored weapons…I can say from experience that my mastercrafted prismere (final crafting material that I found) longsword with a master fire hilt, +crit%, and +crit damage did around 1200-1600 on a crit as a pure might (123) build without reckoning and around 1600-1800 with a lightning (mobs seem to be less resistant to lightning than other elements I’ve found your results may vary) greatsword that had +damage.
Of the elements, fire seems to have the highest damage+DoT effect, lightning seems to have a moderate damage+stun effect (which is 60% more damage with Concussive Force) and ice seemed to have a moderate damage+DoT with a slow effect. It is still unclear if +X% elemental damage applies to elemental weapons, IMO it is for actual elemental abilities and not elemental weapons for “balance”. Yet to be tested. For best results use a master “element” hilt with your choice of “other” crafting additives and a +same element (usually around 27ish with “element” + Magic shard combinations).
On to another topic of discussion: Sporadic damage. This more applies to the +damage during day/night or certain mobs. My evaluation is that Niskaru and other creature or time based damage buffs are hardly worth mentioning. Think of this: Would you rather do crazy damage to ONLY certain mobs or during day/night? Or would you rather do more average damage? Granted there are +crit% that can lead to ridiculous damage, but that leads me to believe that there is a lower non-crit damage on average. For pure might I’d recommend using +physical damage on each item and a mastercrafted weapon with your preferred element. For pure finesse I’d use +crit and +crit damage since medium armor has those native to it and a master infected hilt or preferred element. For pure sorcery it’s a little more complicated, +elemental damage means more damaging spells and abilities while rendering you with less +damage to weapons, SO try to balance +elemental damage and +physical damage to your preference. For the dual spec hybrids: Might/Finesse: balance +crit +crit damage +physical and maybe use master infected hilts for added synergy. Might/Sorcery: balance + elemental and +physical paying particular attention to stuns for added synergistic damage. Finesse/Sorcery: favor +crit% with some +elemental damage for the extra chance to crit with abilities and weapon attacks OR use Finesse armor and augment with elemental damage and mana regen. Might/Finesse/Sorcery: another complicated topic, it depends on the armor you wear. Choose a particular type of armor (heavy/medium/light), upon choosing the armor related specifically to a certain tree (heavy for might, etc), augment that type of armor to assist with the other two tree’s abilities. For example: If I wear leather, I’d want to augment with elemental/physical damage to assist the other two areas. If I wear plate, I’d want to augment with mana regen, +crit%, and +elemental damage. As always if you want more DoT based on spec you could always go with +your favored DoT.
In closing, the more specific you spec and gear your character with your synergies and survivability in mind, the better the outcome and probability of domination over your opponents. If you spec for pure survivability, then you will spend a lot of time taking down tough bosses. If you make your character a glass cannon, then the odds of taking down the boss without dying decrease. Balance between survivability and damage should be uppermost in every players mind.
Nice analysis Therizdun, thanks for taking the time to write this up!
With regard to investing one lower than max rank in every ability, I’m not sure I agree. Almost all the abilities overcap at +2 beyond max rank. It seems, especially for a universalist, that you would want to use the +1 from each faction’s fate card coupled with a +1 to the first 4 tiers epic gem in your chestpiece, getting you +2 to everything. The only abilities that you wouldn’t want to naturally cap would be Weaponry I-IV, but you get those automatically as a universalist.
Hello,
Could anyone add a good Rogue/Mage (Faeblades/Chacram) build to the build list above and when should I change to Dual class from the start on or later lvl10+?
Hey Sasaki,
I think something like this shadowcaster build would be very good for Faelades/Chakram hybrid.
I would recommend starting out with sorcery and getting Arcane Weaponry I, 6/6 Storm Bolt, and 6/6 Chakram Mastery. That gives you an extremely viable base of ranged and AoE damage with some crowd control mixed in. After that (which would be around level 5), you can start pumping up Finesse and go for Faeblade Mastery next. From there its up to you, but if you split your points fairly evenly you can unlock hybrid destinies as you go!
Thank you a lot, but are the Frost Bomb, Icy explosion and the Points in the Might Treereally worth it?. At the moment im only lvl2 1/2 so I dont have too much points to spend
My current spec is this one http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?01000000000000000000000000&111210001000000000000000000&00010000000000000000000000 Im wearing Full leather armor and Dagger/Bow because I didnt find Faeblades/Chakrams yet
Well, the nice thing about Frost Bomb and Icy Explosion when you make a hybrid spec with Sorcery is you can get +150% Freezing Duration from Frostshackle to work with your traps!
As for the points in might, they are simply (in my opinion) the best place for the leftover points in the build. The points in Might would definitely be the LAST thing to pick up, and by that time you will know the ability trees alot better, so if there’s somewhere else you would rather put them, go for it!
As for your current spec, I would recommend using a Fateweaver to respec sometime soon, the first one is very cheap, only a thousand gold or so. Its pretty easy to find the type of weapons you want to use, so even if you don’t have Faeblades / Chakrams yet, build your intended spec from the beginning and I promise you will find some soon!
If I know respec to Full mage with Arcane Weaponry I, 6/6 Storm Bolt, and 6/6 Chakram Mastery like u said, I wouldnt have the Armor/Weapons for it since I didnt find any Chakram so far and I wanted to play as a Rogue/Mage not Mage/Rogue
Well, its just a suggestion. You can just as easily take the abilities in a different order, I was simply recommending a final build to work towards.
I liked the suggestion I just dont have Chakrams and cloth armor and I dont know where to get them
Should I only put 1 Point into the Weapon talents for Finesse and Sorcery like here? http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00005000020000000000000000&100161606401551405521050000&10061605505551005520050000. Is Shadow Flare worth to skill and Shouldnt I skill the Faer Gorta of the Sorcery tree too?
I’m level 3 now, just respected and got 12 Skillpoints now. What would u recommend me to do with these 12 Skillpoints go for the Finesse Tree first or go for the Sorcery tree with only a Purple Cloth Cap and a Green Fire Staff?
My advice would be to not worry too much about gear. As you will soon discover, if you are thorough in your exploration (get 2 points in detect hidden!), magical equipment is everywhere in this game. I guarantee that you will find the weapon types you want.
If I were you I would do this at level 3, then once you hit level 4 finish Chakram Mastery and move on to the finesse tree. Again, just my personal suggestion, the most important thing is that you have fun exploring Amalur, so if there’s some approach that you would enjoy more, just do it!
Thanks a lot Atropos, so I shouldnt level the Exploration to 4 ASAP? I dont know where to spend my other points the other Skills dont seem that useful. Im a Varani I dont know if it was a good choice for Rogue/Mage Combination
And with which Talents on the Finesse Tree should I begin when I hit level 4 later?
Which type of clothes should I wear later on as a rogue/mage Leather or cloth?
I’d probably lean towards leather, but nothing says you can’t mix and match….except perhaps basic fashion sense
Im level 4 Now, but cant start with Feiblade mastery after completing the Chakram mastery because I need to spend 5 Points before In what should I invest them Shadow flare or Assassins Art? Or what else
Well, shadow flare might be more useful early on in the game, although much later you won’t really ever use it. So I would say in the long run assassins art is probably better just so you can enjoy massive damage numbers on stealth attacks, but for the short run you might find Shadow Flare to be more helpful. Definitely pick up 1/3 points in Precise Weaponry though.
So should I put at least 1 point in Shadow flare too? And How look my Skills so far :
2 Detect Hidden
2 Dispelling
2 Lockpicking (Only because Im Varani and got it from the start)
1 Mercantile (Varani stat too)
1 Persuasion (Because I noticed that I can get Purple items with it otherwise I would loose them)
When should I use Chakrams and when the Faeblades as a Rogue/Mage ? I mean in what situations?
And Is this Spec okay for my current level (10) http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00000000000000000000000000&100131606000000000000000000&10060600200000000000000000
I noticed that I have mana probs when I use magic and wear Leather armor, Should I skill Mark of Flame instead of Conservative Casting?
5 Detect Hidden
2 Dispelling
2 Lockpicking
1 Mercantile
3 Persuasion
1 Sagecrafting
I find it odd that the Universalist build invests points into weapon masteries, when the destiny says that masteries for all weapons are unlocked. Wouldn’t this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?210052005650052500000000000000&201062056035052050500000000&20062000565502500000000000
… be better than what is currently listed? (Four [Active] abilities, no points wasted in weapon masteries, special moves with all weapons, plenty of self-buffs, and at least Lunge for mobility and Healing Surge for healing.)
Hey Joseph,
The tooltip description is actually quite deceptive. It turns out that “unlocks all masteries” refers to the Brutal Weaponry, Precise Weaponry, and Arcane Weaponry trees, of which all abilities receive 3/3 points automatically. It doesn’t actually give you any points in “Weapon Mastery”. So my suggested universalist build specializes into Daggers, Faeblades, and Chakrams.
Thank you for telling me this, before I invested too many points into my character and have to waste plenty of gold to fix MY mistake!
Is it normal that a Rogue/Mage With Faeblades and Chakrams does more Damage with Chakrams than with the Faeblades even if both masterys are on 6/6?
I have a question. When training skill points, after you use the fateweaver so those points disappear making you have to pay for training again? Or do they stick around for respec..? Thanks in advance.
You keep your points from training, but they get bumped down to the beginning of the tree. Check out the bottom of the skills guide for a bit more thorough advice on skill training
So just a quick question, does conservative casting affect all abilities of just Sorcery tree abilities?
It’s all abilities, so its a nice skill to take for any hybrid splashing in Sorcery.
Also an edit if you will to three trees that had potentially wasted points in my opinion/expieriance.
Phazblade: http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500036000000000000000000&266562056421553455524656450&00000000000000000000000000
Dread Warlord: http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?26615205565564255625563660&000010000000000000000000000&10060600000000000000000000
Champion of the Foundry: http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?2601520556550025502506000000&000010000000000000000000000&20062660562502550021000000
Not bad suggestions, thanks. I need to swing back through and tweak some of these builds a bit given what we now know about the game.
I’m looking at you guys for expertise, here. I want to make a Might-Sorcery, defensive, AoE-attacking character; as such, this is what I thought would be best for it:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?31045365060500355035000000&000010000000000000000000000&30061660560503550025050000
What it has, in summary, is four active abilities (Harpoon, Storm Bolt, Quake, and Faer Gorta) and two sustained abilities (Sphere of Protection and Battle Frenzy), which means I can easily get my sustained abilities up and put all of my active abilities on the wheel without missing any. It focuses on the Greatsword and Chakrams to maximize AoE damage, with the Chakrams for enemies at a distance, and the Greatsword for when enemies get up-close. Also, it has the standard defensive buffs (Skillful Defense, Hardy Constitution, Bulwark, Stoneskin) and enhancing-ability passives (Aftershock, Sphere of Reprisal, Chain Lightning, Tempest, Transference, and Masterful Construction).
What do you think? Or could it do with tweaking?
Hey Arty,
Here’s some spec feedback based on my experience with Reckoning (also playing a Champion build).
1) The Brutal Weaponry I-IV talents are best kept at either 2/3 or 1/3, since you get a +1 to all Might skills twist of fate card. Same with Arcane Weaponry I-IV.
2) Concussive Force is AMAZING, +80% damage vs. stunned targets is ridiculous, not to mention that Quake, Storm Bolt, and Bulwark all provide a chance to stun.
3) One point in Adrenaline Surge actually gets you a lot, so if you need some filler, its not a bad place to reallocate towards.
4) At least a couple points in Healing Surge is massive in terms of convenience factor. If you are playing intelligently and defensively, you won’t ever need to heal mid-combat, but an out of combat healing surge is free healing that lets you conserve on health potions.
5) Having experimented with the Faer Gorta myself, I ultimately decided that Mark of Flame was a more effective choice. Primarily for Smolder, which when upgraded yields +140% Burning Damage. Some of the best weapons you can craft feature high amounts of burning damage, so this was a synergy that was too good to pass up. I didn’t personally feel that the Faer Gorta summon ever really contributed that much once I was high level.
6) War Cry is *really* good, especially against large groups. I’d highly recommend using it as a 4th active instead of Faer Gorta.
For what it’s worth, I might reccommend something like this for a Greatsword/Chakram Champion build. This is my personal build, except for Greatsword instead of Longsword and I think it’s pretty strongly optimized. Cheers!
Alright; I’ll be honest, I think I have some weird form of OCD, because after looking at the Guardian series’ cards and descriptions, I felt like I just HAD to have Quake, Sphere of Protection, and Faer Gorta to be a -true- Champion. But I’ll recognize that you’ve actually tested this stuff out; I’ll use your build!
Thank you, Atropos!
I think you’ll find War Cry has that great flavor you would expect with an Arcane Juggernaut, but if you find yourself really wishing you had the Faer Gorta summon, you can definitely find a compromise between the two!
Hey i’m kinda curious on why you don’t get relentless assault, as i found that it is a great skill that allows you tank hits and continue attacking as none of them can make you stagger.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?1001516516556015511516000000&000000000000000000000000000&20061665505502055020010000
i agreed on some point that you made, but do you cast tempest fast enough to actually be useful and do you have enough mana to cast it? your mana pool is already 60% used by frenzy and spell shield. And if you use your other skills do you still have enough mana for such a high level tempest?
I think Relentless Assault is a decent skill for Greatsword and Hammer users, but I don’t like it for my own Longsword build. I think in general dodging/parrying is far superior to simply taking hits and avoiding the stagger from Relentless Assault, so in my might heavy builds I tend to avoid it in favor of other offensive abilities.
At maximum level with good gear, the mana cost of Tempest is completely manageable. The cast time does feel slow at first, but you get used to it. If you “preload” the spell a bit as enemies are advancing you can unleash it just as a large group comes into range.
Okay, another question. Just how much HP does the Summoned Faer Gorta siphon off to you? Because I figured out that with this experimental modification of the Champion of the Foundry build, 5 minion’s attacks out of 7 will steal health for you. So I’m wondering if the amount given is worth the ability points spent.
Here’s the build I forgot to add to the question. >.>
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?26015205465500255025060000&000000000000000000000000000&20062660560502550025000000
Well, Transferrence actually goes up to a 100% transfer with overcap skills…so all 7 swings in the attack chain would have an hp transfer. On paper it sounds great, but there are a number of reasons it doesn’t seem worthwhile in game, mainly an issue of difficulty. The game isn’t really hard enough, why bother summoning a pet that can heal you when you can just go kill your target in two swings. I guess my advice would just be to take the Faer Gorta and see if you enjoy using it. If its an ability that you find fun to use, do it!
Thank for excellent site! What do you think about this (Wayfarer/Shadowcaster) build versus Pure Finesse (The Phazblade)?
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0004100010000000000000000000&360163606001013405531050000&30061605501553005530050000
Or even this Adventurer/Shadowcaster:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?000410005000000000000000000000&360363006001013405531050000&30061605501553005530050000
Oh, no! Calculator is not checking correctness of points distribution.
Once again. Wayfarer/Shadowcaster done right:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00041000100000000000000000&360363606001013405511050000&30061605501553005530050000
Yes, unfortunately there is still one possible bug in the calculator that allows the creation of “illegal” builds. I have tried to find a solution, but I’m afraid its a loophole that exists due to the naivete of my initial coding, and its hard for me to find the solution. Hopefully I’ll get it worked out sometime soon, but until then, sorry for the hassle.
As for the shadowcaster build… I actually only have one complaint, nice work!
1) Putting 3/3 points in the “weaponry I-IV” abilities is a bit wasteful. Since these skills can’t overcap and you get +1 to all skills twist of fate cards you should go 2/3 maximum in these to squeeze a few extra points.
Yes indeed. Thanks! In this case it will be something like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?00040000000000000000000000000000000000&260262006401511405521050000&20061605503552005520450000
looks great!
i Have a Request i want a finesse, melee build that uses greatsword and faeblades. i want it to be a real powerhouse dealing lots of pain with high critical ratio for nasty really nasty damage!
help please on getting a proper build with heavy damage in focus. a nice level by level and what to take skills, ablities etc would be nice just send me it in an message or post pull specifics on this thanks!!
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?20015265565505255023061010&200562606305002305510000000&00000000000000000000000000
try doing the might part first and just add finesse once in a while. maybe in a 3:1 ratio.
Eagle of Ysa
Hey Hayabusa,
I like this build quite a lot, I think I’m going to be playing something very similar in my next play-through. How attached do you feel to the points in sorcery though, I’m not totally convinced the reduced mana cost is that important for this style of play. It seems a shame to miss out on the upper tier finesse stuff like full execution and paralytic poisons.
Here’s my take on your build… what do you think?
I totally get what you mean! hahaha I’m scrapping the sorcery part. I like your build too! but I think I’ll just get a level 1 Arrow Storm and put the 2 points in blade honing
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?26025205565505255022062010&006560053413200253500000000&00000000000000000000000000
Currently rolling a Blademaster {Finesse/Might} Hybrid focusing on a sort of dual-wielding, hard hitting, juggernaut style of play with tons of mobility. Leather Armor, Buckler, Faeblades, Bow (Melee Damage, Ranged Damage, Stealth Damage)
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?000450005640650556055000000000000000&006460656011010455001650000&00000000000000000000000000
[Sustained Abilities]
Envenomed Edge : (Rank: 6 / 6)
[Sustained] The careful application of vile poisons to all your edged weapons and arrowheads allow you to weaken your opponents.
15% chance per hit to deal 60 Poison Damage over 5 seconds, Sustained Cost: 25% Mana
Battle Frenzy: (Rank: 5 / 5)
[Sustained] Go into a berserker rage, dealing greater and greater amounts of damage with each enemy you defeat in a short time.
100% Total Damage for your sixth kill. Battle Frenzy buff lasts 15 seconds, each kill resets the duration. Sustained Cost: 30% mana
[Active Abilities]
Harpoon: (Rank: 4 / 4)
[Active] Snag an enemy and pull it back to you. May have the opposite effect with larger enemies.
Pull enemies from 14 meters away dealing 30 Physical Damage and 17 Piercing Damage, Cost: 30 mana
Relentless Assault: (Rank: 6 / 6)
[Active] Grants a short-term resistance to interruption at the expense of armor, allowing you to shrug off blows while taking slightly more damage.
Relentless Assault lasts 20 seconds and no longer reduces armor, Cost: 50 mana
Shadow Flare: (Rank: 4 / 5)
[Active] Weaving a burst of shadow magic to wound and stagger enemies in an arc before you. Quickly press the button again to throw a volley of shadowy blades, dealing Pierce and Bleeding Damage.
Staggers targets 6 meters in front of you and deals 12 Physical Damage., Cost: 15 Mana, 5 blade projectiles each deal 65 Piercing Damage and 12 Bleeding Damage over 5 seconds., Cost: 20 Mana
Lunge: (Rank: 1 / 5)
[Active] Lunge past your foes with preternatural speed to attack them from behind.
20 Physical Damage, Cost: 40 Mana
Smoke Bomb: (Rank: 1 / 4)
[Active] Throw down a smokescreen to stun enemies and blind them to your presence for a short furation.
Smoke Bomb deals 7 Damage and Stuns enemies for 2 seconds, You are hidden from detection for 6 seconds, Cost: 40 Mana
[Core Abilities] (What I consider the defining features of this playstyle)
Bloodlust: (Rank: 5 / 5)
[Upgrade] While Relentless Assault is in effect, each of your strikes may grant you a measure of renewed vigor.
While Relentless Assault is active: +20% chance to Steal 30 Health
Harpoon (Rank: 4/4)
Lunge (Rank: 1/5)
Hardy Constitution: (Rank: 6 / 6)
[Upgrade] Your durable nature enables you to survive nearly anything, from sword wounds to magic flames.
+20% Max Health, 13% Elemental Resistance
Stoneskin: (Rank: 5 / 5)
[Upgrade] Your unquenchable rage grants you Physical and Piercing damage resistance while Battle Frenzy is active.
+20% Piercing and Physical Damage Resistance during Battle Frenzy
The mindset behind this build is that of a lightning fast berserker wading into the middle of a fight and dishing out a never-ending storm of attacks. Since I have difficulties mastering parrying (when I get into a fight all I want to do is slice things into ribbons) I decided to take the route that allows me to pummel things without stopping. The bow masteries are there for dishing out some damage at range and stacking on some early debuffs (especially useful against large bosses who are resistant to physical damage). The stealth masteries are there to get you that first activation of Battle Frenzy, immediately granting you a chunk of physical damage resistance as well as beginning the chain reaction of transforming you into a wrecking ball. Harpoon and Lunge are there to keep you constantly in range of something, as well as giving you the ability to position yourself on the other side of a group of enemies that has you surrounded. The key ability in this play-style of never-ending attacks is Relentless Assaults. As soon as you make your first attack in stealth, or just before the enemy you’re softening up with your bow reaches you, pop this and just swing away. The chance to steal hp and the immunity from interrupts means you can pretty much hack and slash your way through anything. I generally augment this with Faeblades that have an additional chance to steal hp as well as an electric attack for the chance to stun. I would suggest that, if you’re going to use this type of build, invest the time in finishing the Traveler and Warsworn faction lines. +1 to Finesse from Travelers and +1 to Might from Warswarn are very nice Twists to have if you’re playing this build. Any comments or questions, feel free to ask ^_^
Thanks for taking the time to type this up! Looks like a great build
I like your build as I am currently playing one very similar to it. I have it slightly different since I’m using daggers instead of Faeblades and that I added one or two points to all the precise weaponnery skills.
Personnaly, I think Envenomed edge is overrated since with the Mysterious toxin skill, the important thing is not how much poison damage you deal before they die, just the fact that they are actually poisonned is enough. On top of that, the amount of added damage isn’t worth the additionnal skill points.
Same thing applies to Blood Lust. One point is enough, the additionnal skills aren’t worth it with the marginal addition to lifesteal. A socketted gem can do a lot better.
The power strike bonus might seem great in theory, but since my playstyle almost never allow the Adrenaline surge to Kick in, I prefer to invest the points somewhere else.
This frees a few points here and there that i invest in the greatsword for large group of large monsters.
My personnal take on the blade master would be something like this.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?10045160565060105615100000&166162051034011455511250000&00000000000000000000000000
What do you think?
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?000410604640640556055000000000000000&066560650010050450502600000&00000000000000000000000000
Here is another take on the Blademaster build I linked before. I’ve started playing this one because it gives you alot of variety in the kinds of weapons you can use without asking for you to give up on anything (there have been many times throughout my first playthrough that I’ve seen a badass Greatsword and cried because I didn’t have the points I needed in the tree to use it effectively. This build allows you to play with 4 weapon types at peak efficiency). I’ve removed the bulk of the poison abilities from the previous tree in preference of Blade Honing (I think the lower mana cost for this particular sustained is better than the high cost for Envenomed Edge) This build focuses on being in the middle of combat, just like the one above, only instead of ripping through things and applying DoTs all around, you gain massive crit damage (at level 30, i’ve crit for 3k with a home-made greatsword) Same strategies apply for combat with this one as with the one I posted above.
[Additional Info]
This build is a 2-ton wrecking machine once you’ve gone through the Legend of Dead Kel DLC and gained all the pets and all the paintings (permanent stat buffs). I also run it with the Shadowskin Chest and Leggings (37% increased crit damage and 18% increased mana help alot, along with the 2piece to increase crit chance by 15%), the Privateer Gloves and Boots (another 10% increased crit damage and 8% chance to crit, along with +10% to edged weapon damage and +10% piercing damage), and a home-made cap with +17% chance to crit and +2 mana regen. Not counting invisible status buffs (i.e. the ones you get from Gallows End) this build and armor setup has a 50% crit rate with a 101% crit damage boost modifier (with Blade Honing Active). I also tend to run with my own custom weapons (dagger with increased crit damage, longbow with ice and fire damage, faeblades with increased crit chance and chance to steal hp, and greatsword with chance to steal hp, crit chance, and bleed damage).
Summary: This build is what a true Blademaster is… a master of blades. Want to be speedy? Equip Faeblades or Daggers. Want to harvest limbs and other assorted body parts? Equip a greatsword. Want to put quivering shafts in opponent’s eyeballs? Pick up the bow. Like the description of Reaper “Your knowledge of corporeal damage is absolute, and you promise death through the arsenal of short and long range options at your disposal.” Happy hunting
And if you don’t feel the need for Adrenaline Rush, here is an alternate that lets you use every edged weapon in the game (obviously chakrams don’t count, cause we’re not sissy mages)
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?16041160065060045605500000&066560650010050450502600000&00000000000000000000000000
So I’m not a min/maxer like most of you guys seem to be, but I’ve noticed that this game is ridiculously easy when you use such incredibly efficient builds.
In observance of how easily I killed everything in the game, I wanted to make things hard on myself and I made a ranged kiting class. It’s Finesse/Sorcery, and while there are quite a few errant points I’d like you to keep in mind this is a rough idea of what I’m going for, currently this character is at level 12.
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0003000000000000000000000000&006500056431510455004650000&36003065515050155500000000
See, I wanna do mainly DoT and trap damage. With the Shadowcaster’s Poison Blink perk (Which I haven’t tried yet, just have the normal blink) I really hope to attain true untouchable-ness. I’m well aware the scepter is pretty awful, but with enough gemmed crit chance who knows?
Just wanted to know if anyone’s built an all ranged like this without the chakrams, which are far too easy.
Death’s Scythe: (40/57/29) {Polymath} [Daggers, Staves, Offensive, Melee/Caster]
Damage Scaling: +17% Destiny, +30% Weapon Mastery, + 100% Frenzy, + 60% vs. Stunned, + 70% Adrenaline Rush, +150% Sneak Attack, +30% to Storm Bolt
Physical and Piercing Mitigation: +10% Damage Resistance, +30% Damage Mitigation while Blocking
Elemental Resistance: +13% Elemental Resistance, +10% Damage Resistance, +50% Poison Resistance
Crowd Control: Staff Block special move, Shadow Flare, Quake, Smoke Bomb, Chain Lightning
Mobility: Shield Charge, Lunge
AoE Damage: Quake, Shadow Flare, Chain Lightning
Self Healing: Healing Surge, Adrenaline Rush,
Sustained Abilities: Battle Frenzy (30%), [ Envenomed Edge (25%) and Blade Honing (15%) optional]
Race/Patron: Varani/Belen or Dokkalfar/Belen
First thing you will notice is that I did not go all the way to Universalist. The reasons for this are two: First, you don’t need universalist to max all skills, and second that master of arms doesnt really benefit the style I am going for.
Essentially how I play the build is to use the Staff’s block special move (tier 2 weapon mastery) to draw enemies into a group, smoke bomb them, then hit them with quake and shadow flare.
I realize there may be more effieceing dps builds that are JOAT, but I really enjoy the playstyle of this build. It is powerful enough to make me feel awesome, but not so overwhelmingly uber-rofl-stomp powerful that the game is no longer fun {like meteor spam}
I am hoping others will be able to help me improve it if it needs it, though without altering the play style too much.
I have been playing a Nightblade so far, but I want to switch to a Finesse/Sorcery hybrid(Shadowcaster), I know exactly what abilities I want and stuff, but my main problem is armor. What armor should I craft? Do I mix armor, like rogue gloves and mage robes or something? This has confused me for a while now >>; Been unable to find an answer. Weapons I switch randomly when I feel like a change.
Can someone answer this query? >>;
Hey Eclipse,
Here’s my take on that issue. The main benefit of mage armor is that it incorporates natural bonuses to the rate of mana regeneration and reduction to the cost of spells. This effect can be mirrored to a certain degree with +regen sagecrafting gems built into your crafted armor.
Rogue (leather) armor on the other hand incorporates +%critical damage naturally, and has higher base armor value. Going with leather will make your character hit harder AND be more resilient, but you may find yourself short on mana if you rely more on spellcasting for damage.
Depending on how mana intensive your build is, this is how you should base your decision. Think about the following questions
1) How many sustained abilities will you use? For example, if you want to use Envenomed Edge, Blade Honing, AND Sphere, you will probably need to use cloth armor for the spell cost reduction, so you can get some use out of your remaining mana-pool. If you are only using one or two sustained abilities, leather wins this category.
2) What is your playstyle? Are you magic primary with stealth and melee to back your casting up? Are you bows/daggers/faeblades primary with spells to give you some extra versatility? Depending on which side of your playstyle dominates, there should be a clear armor choice to support it.
3) Perhaps most importantly, which type of armor do you like the look of the most? Reckoning isn’t a hard enough game to necessitate perfect selections in character development. If one type of armor makes your character “feel” more fun to play, go with that and ignore the mechanical side of the argument IMHO.
Hope this helps, thanks for stopping by!
I prefer my Pure Finesse and Might/Finesse builds as pure melee.
F= P-Daggers S-Faeblades. M/F= P-Daggers S-Greatsword. I’ve had a lot of fun with those particular builds as opposed to ones including the bow. May be just me, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with the bow in this game.
Feel free to give the above builds a try if your looking for something new (to the people who took the time to read this. Lawls)
Happy Hunting!
I’ve just started the game so this is kinda a way off for me, but i like to plan ahead so here it goes.
The idea is to concentrate on Greatswords as my main weapon and (after seeing other posts and suggestions) chakrams as secondary for ranged attacks. tempest seems like a no brainer as a basic magic attack, with healing surge and the sphere sustain as tanking abilities. The might side is just a balance of damage dealing and damage protection.
The rest of the points are still to be spent. I would like to reach the 55 in each to get the champion destiny.
In sorcery i could go mark of flame or ice barrage, but i’m not sure how often i would use them. The other option would be to sink some points into the Summon Faer Gorta abilities as an extra damage output (and some healing) that doesn’t need much maintenance once cast.
As for Might, 1 point in adrenaline seemed like a well spent point for a 30% chance to survive a little longer, but not sure if that should be increased at all. War Cry is another ability that seems like a good place to put any extra points. Other than that it comes down to Relentless Assault or Battle Frenzy as my activated Might ability.
Suggestions and changes are obviously welcome. and i apologize if i’m being a n00b with anything I’ve said. Thanks in advance for any help given.
Here is the link to the basic build so far:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?1000516516550015001000000000&000000000000000000000000000&10061660505501050010050000
Hi Arnic,
Your build foundation looks great! We just need to fill the rest in. First off for Sorcery:
As you noted, you need to pick either mark, ice barrage, or faer gorta and its upgrade to advance to the 50 point tier of the tree. My personal advice is to go with mark of flame, not necessarily to use for damage, but for the upgrade to all burning damage! With 7/5 overcapped ranks in Smolder, you can get +140% burning damage as a passive ability! If you focus on enchanting your weapons with fire gems and components, you will end up with a lot of burning damage applied on your basic weapon attacks, which will get more than doubled! From there just pick up tempest and 2 points in Arcane Weaponry IV.
As for Might:
I think Battle Frenzy is a great choice if you like to play defensively and hit on the counter attack. Conversely, Relentless Assault is better if you don’t care as much about dodging/parrying attacks, and simply want to wade in and cause havoc. Battle Frenzy is my personal choice, because I think Stoneskin is a better upgrade than Vengeance.
I’d recommend picking up either Harpoon to have some more versatility in the spell combos you can perform, or filling out Adrenaline Surge with a few more points to get you over the 50 threshold.
That puts you HERE with 2 points to spare
This is actually almost my exact champion build, except I opted for Longswords. Personally, I threw the last 2 points in Assassin’s Art in the Finesse tree, simply so I had the ability to perform sneak attack kills by switching a weapon set to daggers if I ever felt that stealth was helpful. With the ToN DLC, Travelers, and a +1 to first 4 tiers gem in your chestpiece, that actually gets you to 5/6 points in Assassin’s art, enough to one shot most weaker enemies even without Dagger Mastery.
Hope this helps, thanks for stopping by!
I think your arcane archer isn’t optimized. In my mind, it should probably go a little something like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?0000500011000000000000000000&006560051431500455001250000&30061600533553500531040000
Envenomed edge is way overrated. One point in this skill is more than enough, especially since you wont be using it once you are high level.