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Anniversary Edition - Mastery Mods => TQAE masteries => Storm AE => Topic started by: botebote77 on 02 November 2018, 13:15:57

Title: Mage Prophet - Lightning and EBD Build
Post by: botebote77 on 02 November 2018, 13:15:57
I said on my Bonecharmer CDR thread that i wanted to write this, so here it is :P . Like i said on that thread, this is my nephew's character and that we played this LAN multiplayer vanilla self-found. This and my Bonecharmer were our first characters in AE and we lost all our saves from TQIT. Well, since the owner doesn't play TQ anymore, i decided to re-gear this updated to ragnarok. I've also said before in another thread that if it's me, i might not be able to resist equipping it with a shield. (Of course i couldn't)

This is also not a guide. I again just want to show the finished product. And mostly to share this build because this build got better in AE/R, except if you factor the broken mechanic 100% CDR.

Storm Nimbus ~ Static Charge:
+ Now also increases Electrical Burn Damage

+ Elemental Damage % bonuses now also boost fire, cold and lightning DoTs

Nightmare ~ Hypnotic Gaze:   
+ Now also causes 6-50% Reduced Resistances for the duration of the Confusion   

+ Cooldown Reduction now caps at 80%

The first 2 are big pluses for this build. The first change means EBD from dream now scales with static charge from storm. The second means EBD now scales with eye of the storm. The third, well you can't really rely on nightmare for reduced resist but hey, a plus is a plus. The fourth is a necessary nerf to a broken mechanic that needed to be addressed imho. Heck, the best petmaster back then was a 100% CDR spellbreaker (permanent ancestral warriors and outsider).

So the main synergy is static charge now boosts both lightning bolt and EBD from dream. And fortunately, no monsters in this game are immune to lightning. The owner of the character chose distort reality and i do too. Distortion wave is good too but i feel distort reality offers better survivability and is less mana hungry. But feel free to get distortion wave if that's your choice. Both lightning bolt and distort reality have 12 sec recharge which goes down to 2.4 secs with 80% CDR. 80% CDR is a must for this build. Though it's not necessary from normal to epic, and early legendary because early to mid game everything dies quickly you don't need to chain cast yet. This was played self-found and iirc, 80% CDR was only reached in act 3 legendary. With ragnarok though there are more CDR items so it wouldn't be too difficult to reach sometime in epic. ToC to help with mana regen and added survivability.

Targets for items:
80% CDR
+4 to all skills
cast speed
resists
DA (it's much safer if you have some DA even if you have petrify)

As with most casters, gearing becomes easy if you have archmage's clasp and aphrodite's favor. This was what it used to look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc9ujfFpFKo
items at 6:37

I wasn't able to find an old pic but fortunately i was able to upload a video before on YouTube.

But when i entered this character, it doesn't have archmage's clasp nor aphrodite's favor. So i had to get creative with the help of new ragnarok items

(https://titanquestfans.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FuKVNPUO.jpg&hash=f658610ea39334ea901a01cd7a057ff9b497004f)

I see Tiresia's Guide has -10% requirement reduction, resists, and some DA. So the owner must've chosen it because it's actually pretty good and not just to look cool :) . Together with rings of the rhine, i now have -25% requirement reduction. Because i didn't have archmage's clasp, i wanted to equip the next best bracers which is imo SB cuffs (I didn't have another SB cuffs so i had to farm for it, it took like a hundred labyrinth runs with this char). But since ragnarok it now requires higher dex, but fortunately there is also a ragnarok relic that gives 9% dex. I put it on my boots. So to cut the story short: Tiresia's Guide + Rings of the Rhine + Occult ring of Grace + Incarnation of Sigurd's Courage. It also helped that when i entered this character, it has 14 unused stat points (i spent 9 of those).

Tiresia's Guide and Rings of the Rhine already provide some CDR. To close it to 80% i chose Polaris, Neith's Will and Cestus. Wheel of Taranis may be the best artifact for this build. That or Talisman of the Jade Emperor. You can't go wrong with either. Apollo's Will is just for positive resistances. I again fell short of my target 1k DA but came close enough.

I remember the secondary of this was Boreas staff (reduced resist). I have extra winds of asphodel so i went with it + another rings of the rhine. The game offers a secondary slot, so might as well use it.

Starting with either Dream or Storm is fine. Dream is less mana hungry and probably more beginner friendly. But experienced caster players know storm can rule early game.

At lvl 74, skill distribution was:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc464c464c464c.html?mastery=Prophet&master1=8&master2=9&sa=21&m1=32-0-1-6-0-0-8-0-12-0-12-0-6-12-7-0-1-1-12-8-8-0&m2=32-0-0-0-0-8-0-6-9-0-0-0-12-8-8-12-6-0-0-1-12-0

Buuuut, this character has now fallen to me. I tried this:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc464c464c464c.html?mastery=Prophet&master1=8&master2=9&sa=21&m1=32-12-1-6-0-7-8-8-12-0-12-0-6-12-1-8-1-1-12-8-1-0&m2=32-0-0-0-0-8-0-6-1-0-0-0-12-1-1-12-6-0-0-1-12-0
then 1 lvl up later i maxed heart of frost and put 2 more pts on reflection

If you do this, you might hate it quickly you might revert to original build. At least that's what happened to me. It became much more difficult to control and more mana hungry. But it kills quicker that i decided to try it more and get myself more used to it. Playstyle got a little bit different: cast squall and lightning bolt first, then as mobs get to you, cast ice shard. Then when they are already near you, cast distort. Ice shard is not used as a spam skill here but more like an in-between cast so it doesn't drain that much mana. You become a little bit like a piano caster. Also, lightning imbued undeads in the snowy areas (stolen bundles quest) in act 5 are the most lightning resistant monsters I've seen in this game, but they are vulnerable to ice shards. Just keep this in mind as an alternate build at higher levels.

late edit:
i wrote something about starting with mages
https://titanquestfans.net/index.php?topic=908.0

Extra info:
squall vs ToW
Both reduce resists but unfortunately, they are both percentile. And %reduced resistance doesn't stack. Obscured visibility reduces resists by 30% at 6/6 while ToW by 32% at 12/12. Only 2% difference but ToW would require you to get near mobs. But with squall, you can cast it anywhere on your screen. It also reduces enemy damage by % and causes 100% impaired aim.

Stat Distribution:
This is where it gets interesting. Save the best for last.

1)  The simplest way is all int. But me don't like all int casters. I think it's a gimp to your character.

2)  Another option is like what i did. A little bit str, a little bit dex, then int the highest. It's a bit complicated but if you are used to keeping 10 unused stat points for long periods of time, it becomes a lot easier. (Hint: use the undo trick)

3)  Hybrid stat style caster. Actually, there are some veterans that play casters investing on all 3 stats, even though they know they will only deal elemental damage. Self-proclaimed mage boy has learned many things from at least one of those crazy guys. Sadly, they are not around anymore so the things you'll get from me is mostly theoretical and i can't give any assurances:
At 400+ int, you can already wear most high end mage items except staves. If you invest another 400, you get about +61% ele damage. But if you put all those on str instead, you can get your str to about 500 - 600. At 500 - 600 str, you can equip items like Lykaion Malleus and Visor of the Shadowlord, plus high end shields. See the lightning and EBD damage? With the right items, it's possible to get back the damage you lost, and also gain way more survivability. The main goal though of course is to have enough survivability. I've said this before somewhere: "less running equals more attacks, more running equals less attacks". You might need 1 socrate's ring and 1 hale ring (maybe). But it'll probably be worth it. Or maybe the 10% str from jade emperor artifact will suffice. Don't know but eh experienced hybrid players will know what to do once they play it. If you want to try this for the first time, do at your own risk.
if i am to re-run this right now, 90% chance i would've taken this route.
Title: Re: Mage Prophet - Lightning and EBD Build
Post by: Tauceti on 20 November 2018, 22:26:34
Hey Bote, pleased to see  that you made a good use of this shield. Usually, I am more fan of green shields or late purples, but this blue is really worth it, too bad that the damage blocked is so low.

Quote
Also, lightning imbued undeads in the snowy areas (stolen bundles quest) in act 5 are the most lightning resistant monsters I've seen in this game, but they are vulnerable to ice shards. Just keep this in mind as an alternate build at higher levels.
In my runs, I was wondering what were these strange undeads. One has to pay attention to them because they hurt when in pack. Is there other monsters resistant- nearly immune to lightning ? If they are the only ones, wasn'it possible to bypass them ?

Regarding to your stats, ok for your positive res, but the negative blood res will kill you sure in act 5. Do you change your setup there ?

Title: Re: Mage Prophet - Lightning and EBD Build
Post by: botebote77 on 20 November 2018, 23:10:10
it certainly would've been better if the damage blocked is higher.. but if i use staff, it's just the same glassy mage it has always been.. viable but always prone to dying.. i usually get my bleed res on secondary but for this build, i still don't know what to equip.. munnin's grasp + ? meh i don't play TQ atm.. want to try PoE but **** unable to connect to patching server

Is there other monsters resistant- nearly immune to lightning ? If they are the only ones, wasn'it possible to bypass them ?
none other.. i think plants has some resistance against lightning because fire and cold seem to do better against them.. fire for sure.. but lightning can still kill them no problem.. and no need to bypass the undeads because after spell breaker, lightning damage becomes better.. just eye test though.. but yeah probably you can bypass them because they can be petrified
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