[CLASS BUILD] UPDATED - The Bleeding Arcanist 2.0
Subclass: Blood Mage
UPDATE: Following my initial post I did another solo playthrough, 100% completionist this time and improved ona couple of things I wanted to share. Sorry for double-posting, I couldn’t edit my original post… Added A LOT more details about no-rest bonii, more specific ability/spell picks and Megaboss strategies. Sorry for the wall of text! Hope this is interesting or useful to anyone considering a pure class Bloodmage solo playthrough. I very much recommend it with this build or any build.
The Concept: Sturdy, impossible to interrupt, versatile, no rest solo Blood Mage who can win 100% of fights in the game with the most explosive and rewarding barrage of high level spells (thanks to Rekvu’s fractured casque + Vaporous Wizardry Grimoire), but can also enter easy & cheesy god mode for Mega Bosses and such (through his Blood Mage abilities + Wall of Draining + potion of final stand etc). He also has tons of skills & utility so it doesn’t feel like a very restrictive power-build, and scales really nicely throughout the game.
Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying).
POTD Solo: Yes, very much. Two playthroughs completed with a lot of flex/forgiveness on how you want to play (upscaled: untested but definitely fine with an optimized spell list & strategy at all times – less experimentation possible).
Companion: Nope
-----WHY PLAY THIS BUILD------
For lots of veterans this will likely be a no-brainer and sorry if I sound likeCaptain Obvious, but I wanted to post this build as I haven’t seen this one consolidated anywhere, and I’m having so much fun with it. Really brings back the feeling of power and adaptabilitythat a solo Sorcerer could give in BG2, or solo Mage in Arcanum for example. It also plays a bit differently than your typical SC Wizard in POE 2 because you have a lot more spells to cast, don’t rely on Nina’s Teachings and you don’t take the Empower abilities… which is liberating. You can really approach each battle differently while keeping a nice feeling of power and very high defenses (until a random enemy transforms you into a piglet out of RNG luck).
SC Blood Mage = maximum class power/ability levels, no empower, blood sacrifice hurts, bloodied enemies are a pain, but if you work around those issues you have virtually unlimited spells which is really strong. Then you need to mitigate the tradeoffs:
Go for lowish Might = you will hurt yourself a bit less with Blood Sacrifice, without much impact to your damage output + you can spend the points on more relevant attributes. On the other hand, pumping CON a bit brings some nice sturdiness/peace of mind to this build, which also bolsters experimentation (you're not a glass cannon, just a cannon).
Rekvu + Vaporous = 50% more spells, no interrupt, turning most fights into a total spellfest! Very little opposition can still stand after some crazy self-buffing, several Chill Fogs to blind & group everybody, Combusting Wounds, then 3x Wilting Winds (of Abi Dalzim or whomever) + 2x Meteor Shower – mix as required.
Your Vaporous Grimoire comes with the answer to the Injury issue: chain-cast necrotic lance outside of combat on your toon (spell comes with the book) and you will inflict the Acute Rash which has very little impact on your combat readiness (you can use Voidward to mitigate, but it is not required).
Cherry on the cake, you can exploit the different buffs available to a no-rest run for your full benefit, and end up with insane stats and permabuffs (more than making up for the Acute Rash minor injury). If any other injury comes up: pop a luminous adra potion/bath, chain-cast necrotic lance, done. More details on no-rest bonii later on.
Finally when you need even more firepower, you can still rely on high-level, matured cheese strategies: wall of draining, potion of final stand, Brilliant proc from shroud of phantasm, blight proc from belt of magran’s chosen, True Lover’s Kiss from Lover’s Embrace… and other shenanigans. Immortality and chain-casting Missile Salvo until the end of times.
-----STATS------
Race: Human (maximize accuracy and damage output when it really matters / when you have to cheese)
Background: The White That Wends – Explorer (great mix of important stat boosts)
FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs):
MIG 13 (7 Base + 1 Human + 2 Berath + 1 Gift from Machine + 2 Alchemic Brawn)
CON 22(13 Base + 2 Berath + 2 Alchemic Brawn + 2 Konstanten Boon + 3 Girlde Eoten CON)
DEX 20 (13 Base + 2 Berath + 2 Alchemic Guile + 2 Firethrower Gloves + 1 Boots of Stone)
PER 28 (18 Base + 1 White that Wends + 2 Berath + 1 Konstanten Boon + 1 Effigy: Sagani + 2 Alchemic Guile + 1 Savage Cunning + 1 Cauldron Brew + 1 Kuaru’s Prize)
INT 25 (17 Base + 2 Berath + 1 Konstanten Boon + 2 Alchemic Wits + 2 Charm of Bones + 1 Kuaru’s Prize)
RES 19 (7 Base + 1 Human + 2 Berath + 2 Alchemic Wits + 2 Nature’s Resolve + 2 Rikuhu’s Blessing + 2 Eviee Pet + 1 Boots of Stone)
ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS:
Adratic Glow
All Trainings
Dawnstar Blessing
Hylea’s Bounty (best food for this build)
Luminous Adra Potion
Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy)
Savage Cunning (Survival)
Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts)
BERATH BLESSINGS: I like everything that reduces Port Maje tedium and provides long term power (Infamous Captain etc). I am not ashamed of investing all 105 points. BUT none is required to win with this build.
SKILLS: If you exploit the no-rest bonuses to their fullness you will have free extra points everywhere, plus the free Berath ones if you enabled them. It will be BOTH a spellfest and a skillfest! I typically spread around a bit for skill checks, with a focus on Mechanics, Athletics, Diplomacy, History is the highest at 20 (giftbearer cloth) and Survival. Mix of story stuff and power play.
-----PASSIVE ABILITIES BY PL------
1 None
2 Weapon & Shield
3 Bear’sFortitude, Bull’s Will
4 Scion of Flame, Secrets of Rime
5 Farcasting, Rapid Casting, Uncanny Luck, Tough
6 Improved Critical
7 None
8 None
9 Prestige
-----SPELLS BY PL (TO COMPLEMENT VAPOROUS GRIMOIRE)------
1 Chill Fog, Eldricht Aim
2 Combusting Wounds, Infuse With Vital Essence, Arcane Veil
3 Displaced Image, Deleterious Alacrity
4 Wall of Flame, Iron Skin
5 Torrent of Flame, Safeguard
6 Precisely Piercing Burst, Arcane Reflection, Freezing Pillar
7 Killing Bolt
8 Wall of Many Colors
9 Missile Salvo
-----GEAR------
Griffin’s Blade + Lethandria’s devotion: my go-to set for versatility + power + survivability, but Magran’s Favor and Sun & Moon are of course really good (only for specific keywords/situations though). Lethandria’s Devotion is much better than any other offhand item. Griffin has really a lot to bring to the build.Also keep close the Lover’s Embrace dagger to cut some cheese...
Rekvu’s Fractured Casque: crucial with Vaporous!
Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardy: crucial, +50% spells per encounter!Keep Illuminating Discoveries, Iron Clasped, and Nina’s Teachings grimoires close. Especially Illuminating Discoveries for Brilliant Departure (few other grimoires have this spell too).
Miscreant’s Leather: great action speed which drives DPS and perfect style with Rekvu’s casque. Contributes to making you eventually invulnerable to Reflex attacks (even your own).
The Giftbearer Cloth: perfect (caution: buggy can make items/weapons in 4th slot disappear)
Firethrower’s Gloves: perfect
Necklace of Charm of Bones: perfect
Kuaru’s prize: perfect
Ring of Minor Protection: great to elevate defenses (increasing returns)
Boots of Stone
Belt of Eoten CON or any belt with +CON and other bonii
Eviee Pet is nice as base, swap as needed
Potions: Major Healing, Final Stand, Ascension, Perfect Aim, Deftness…
Always keep somewhere Sandals of Waterlily, Burglar’s Gloves, Ajamuut Cloak + Lover’s Embrace + Rakhan Field Boots especially f you run out of ideas in a ****ty fight… Just keep the uniques to have options, especially if you haven’t played PotD a lot. If you come across items with immunities/resistance, hold on to them.
-----GENERAL STRATEGIES------
Early on: any combo of buffing with whatever is available and then chillfog + combusting wounds and then later adding wall of flames and concussive missiles will win the day 90% of times. Add new spells as they come, especially freezing pillar. Don’t be afraid to get in close quarters, you can buff defenses severely and you’re not a glass canon (but don’t get overconfident). Remember that you can regenerate spells with moderation. Combusting Wounds is a force multiplier with anything that has multiple projectiles or hits over time. And of course, always hug a wall to limit engagement! Always walk close to the wall, and favor doorways as well as narrow corridors to engage/break stealth.
Later on: Just go ballistic with higher end, hard hitting spells after you’ve done a full or near full cycle of buffing depending on the fight. There is so much you can do and so many ways to win with the tools at your disposal. If you’re hitting a wall (so to speak) then use the Wall (of Draining) strategy. Find enemies you can drain (low-ish Will), buff like crazy, drink a potion of Final Stand (+ other potions) and use your WoD to become invulnerable. Works a bit too well, but can be sometimes tricky against high level casters with access to Arcane Dampener with high accuracy and especially Arcane Cleanse. Disablethem first if you can. Remember that chillfog is a cheap -15 accuracy when it lands (so +15 all defenses).
Anyway the build and its gear provide really good defenses so there is room for human error, bear in mind that the weaker point is fortitude. Fully buffed you get something like 195 DEF, 162 FORT, 250 REF (!!!) and 215 WILL. Not impenetrable by highest level foes, but pretty good. A nice by-product is that you can drop any reflex targeting spell on your face without any worry that it will hit you. So go bathe yourself in your own meteors.
-----MEGABOSS STRATEGIES------
Dorudugan:
Sorry for the purists of Megaboss engagement but I just True Lover Kissed him, lured him to the North, then used Brilliant Departure, retreated to the South, and went on to have a few beers while he slowly met Rymrgand’s inevitability. Came back 3h later, saw the dawnfall of the hellfire colossus and upgraded my shield with his stone. It’s cheesy and lazy, but so is the boss in my opinion.
Belranga:
I did a full WoD buffing-to-oblivion cycle, wearing the sandals of water lilly, then I killed so many spiders that Belranga was at like 350 accuracy and came in close quarters. Then I tried to use the Cloak of Death spell and I was so happy to use it to full effect for the first time! Combined with Combusting Wounds, it really did a number on the Empress while I was just keeping my WoD up and occasionally throwing some spells around. Needless to say, WoD extends the duration of the Cloak, which makes it the cheapest, most effective PL9 spell against high accuracy melee attackers. Hit, Disappear, Suffer, Hit, Disappear, Suffer….
Hauani O Whe:
First I True Lover Kissed it and retreated to the south with Brilliant Departure, because its initial form has too high defenses, too much accuracy and the solvent ability for my usual strategies to work. When I came up some time later, it had nicely split into the two lesser forms, much more manageable with conventional means. I engaged them in a typical WoD + Full Buffing + Final Stand cycle, and once I was really unkillable I eradicated one of the blobs with the following sequence: Combusting Wounds + 2x Meteor Shower + Wait until they split + Gaze of the Adragan + 2x Freezing Pillar + maybe a finisher fireball. In one sequence I destroyed all the splits of the first blob to naught. Then I just repeated with the other blob. Done without stress or intricate Interrupt tactics (save the one Adragan spell cast).
Auranic:
Yikes. I know she’s supposed to be the easiest Megaboss but this fight is the one that made me reload a few times before I got it right. Here is my final strategy:First, I used Rakhan Field Boots in stealth to… True Lover Kiss her. Then, I went out of her sight to buff and withstand the assault of her bodyguard + sigils (without attacking them) until she opened up the cleansing sigil (keeping my health up). At this point I destroyed it in one go with combusting wounds + 2x missile salvo (works from a very long distance). Then I retreated to the entrance with the 2 goons in tail, and proceeded to usethem to power up my WoD + Buff + Final Stand cycle. Once I got like 600sec of buffs, I killed the bodyguards and destroyed the 2 remaining sigils south of Auranic (remaining out of her range). Then I gulped a potion of invisibility and went to the northeastern most corner by the sigil (out of range for Auranic). I destroyed this sigil and the other, keeping out of her range. Then I gulped another invisibility potion and retreated to the entrance. Auranic was about half health by then, enjoying the Kiss and unable to do anything to me. I went on to have a beer and waited until her death shield animation triggered, then I came up to trigger her death. Done.
-----THE END------
Of course let me know if you have any question or feedback! This is all probably old news to a lot of readers. I’m just a very casual POTD solo practicioner of PoE 1 and 2, other people on this forum are a lot more cunning and knowledgeable. Still this toon did 100% of the game without any issue at all and playing really well/fun, so I hope you can get a similar experience. And congratulations if you read this far.
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