Hybrid Battlemage: Attempting the Stupid

[Brazilski]

So I've been trolling the forum again for the last few weeks, looking for a build that would get me playing again after a year of absence or so. The problem is I can't seem to find a working build I'd like to play at the moment: a true melee/earthcaster hybrid with Cory, some decent nukes and endgame melee equipment at the same time. After much consideration I think I'll be building a Battlemage, even though it is strongly adviced against by many. At least it seem like an interesting experiment and if it works I'll post the progressions.

Battlemage on paper looks like one of the better true hybrids and both VO and Eruption benefit from STR and physical damage buffs, including those granted by Onslaught. I know that for this reason STR/DEX is a path some have wandered with relative succes. My concern witha STR/DEX build however is that it will likely be gulping pots for mana all the way to and through Legendary. For the same reason that VO and Eruption do both physical and elemental damage, they should suffer less from TQ's all-or-nothing syndrome and combine Str and Int bonusses relatively well. What you lack in one gets supplemented by the other.

The highest amount of STR and DEX needed is respectively 371 and 298. Why? Because we will be using swords and those are the highest requirements for any Legendary sword ingame. There might be more demanding greens out there, but other gear will likely make those accessible. We will be using swords, even though clubs/axes would result in higher damage, because we want to hit fast. Hitting faster means building Onslaught faster, and rather than cutting through the hordes, we will limit the amount of melee engagements to enough to keep up max Onslaught, then proceed to nuke'm with VO and Eruption. The reason I haven't picked a specific set of gear is to be more flexible. When you first hit a specific difficulty and/or act chances that you've got the kit you wanted are slim, so I want to be able to pick up anything, making the farming for that kit later easier. So now we'll determine how much points need to be invested in which attributes and to what numbers that will eventually lead.


DEX: 298 = 162 (base masteries) + 18 (quest rewards) + X (invested)
STR: 371 = 114 (base masteries) + 42 (quest rewards) + Y (invested)

X = 118
Y = 215

DEX: 118 / 4 (increase per point) = 29.5 = 30 (actual points)
STR: 215 / 4 (increase per point) = 53.57 = 54 (actual points)


Leftover actual points = 65 + 18 (from quests) = 83 (leftover to be invested)

INT = 140 (base masteries) + 18 (quest rewards) + { 83 (leftover to be invested) * 4 (increase per point) } = 490

Totals:

STR: 372
DEX: 300
INT: 490

Note that the rounding off for actual points will very slightly increase the total amount of STR and DEX, which has been calculated in a similar way as the ammount of INT!

Ingame we will max out STR and DEX first before putting anything into INT as it is just easier to level in Normal with max physical damage Onslaught. We haven't taken into consideration any requirements for armour and will just wear what we can. We're gonna be squishy but we'll rely on a maxed out Cory to take the hits and maybe some other skills. Regarding skills I'm still torn between two builds. This is a classic one:

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.a...-0-6-0-0-6-6-0

But I am considering dropping dual wielding in favour of some survivability (by carrying a shield and rooting mobs in place with War Horn) and adding some means of distributing elemental damage (not visible in the build below, but it would be either Ring of Flame without its synergy or War Wind).

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.a...-6-0-6-0-6-0-0

Any comments, mainly on skillsets, are very much welcome and I will keep you posted.

[Irma2]

If you're going for swords, it seems more like a pure Int/Fire damage toon than a genuine hybrid. 372 Str and a single sword with shield isn't going to result in much physical damage output even with Warfare's damage bonuses.

300 Dex might also be problematic. Bye-bye +3 SBC and decent DA. OA might be OK due to Warfare's crazy OA bonuses and monster DA reduction. Still, I reckon the toon will be taking an awful lot of crits in Legendary. You will also be limited to Epic SBC with +2 skills and slightly lower elemental resistance and armour rating.

For any build that looks to spread elemental damage quickly, I'd dual wield. With its cooldown and energy cost, War Wind isn't really viable imo.

For a genuine hybrid looking to mix both physical and elemental damage, I think I'd spread my attribs more than just putting the minimum Str/Dex amounts for Legendary swords and the rest into Int. Earth gets a lot of +% Fire damage potential from EE and Volativity, and more can be added with Seal of Hephaestus and other Earth-based uniques. As such, super-high Int isn't that important. So I'd rather invest a bit more in Str and Dex.

If you wield a sword & axe or sword & club, you can also get a lot of extra Fire damage. Two Blazing of Sulfur weapons will add both flat and +% Fire damage. If you then socket with Legendary Prometheus, you can get either +25% Fire damage or +35% Attack Speed as completion bonus.

Because Earth battles to get flat Fire damage sources more than Storm struggles to add +Lightning or +Cold, I'd be more tempted to lean on physical. I don't think a Battlemage can achieve the same elemental damage output as a Thane. But it will be able to pump out more physical damage due to Brimstone.

Unfortunately Str won't help the physical component of your Earth spells so I'd only boost Str enough for gear requirements and a little bit of help to melee/Onslaught hits. But I'd definitely invest more in Dex at the expense of Int. The loss of elemental damage due to lower Int can be compensated with gear choices. There are some stellar +% Fire items. Another option is to target +% Total Damage items.

In terms of your final build, I would add the dual wield tree. The ability to hit one target multiple times, or multiple targets once with each click, is just too important for a hybrid to overlook. To free up the points for that, I'd drop War Horn. As good as it is, you already have a stunning skill in VO. You also don't have a debuff to make Doom Horn effective.

I would also add a point to Battle Rage and whatever I could spare into Ancestors. They're invaluable for boss fights. To free up more points, I'd take points out of Cory's tree. That doesn't mean that you have to make do with a non-maxed Cory. +% Earth skills items, such as Archimage's amulet/staff and a whole slew of uniques, are common enough to depend on finding them. If you can supplement your regular +4 skills gear with another +2 to Earth (Archimage's staff will suffice on its own), a Mastery shrine and Battle Standard, you'll be casting Cory with +11 to all his skills. So you could get away with as little as 9 points in Cory's base skill and one each in the synergies, yet still have all his skills maxed. That frees up 21 skill points in your TitanCalc - almost enough to max out the entire Dual Wield tree.

[Brazilski]

Hmmm,.. first of all: agreed on dual wielding, Battle Rage and War Horn. Theoretically, going for the classic build already leaves 7 points to be invested in e.g. Cory Post-Legendary if I'd take some points out of him for Ancestors. I've already stacked up on quite a number of +fire items in my Vault by the way.

Now for the stats I get the idea of dropping a fair amount of INT in favour of DEX, the question remains how much? As I said a pure STR/DEX is reasonably viable were it not for the lack of mana. Would say a 1:1 ratio for DEX/INT work (bringing both to around 395), keeping STR on 372 for equipment (some maces will obviously need more, but equipment could solve that)? And do you agree STR and DEX should be maxed first, or would you build them up gradually along with INT?

[jaelrin]

And do you agree STR and DEX should be maxed first, or would you build them up gradually along with INT?

If you're not going to wear items with Int requirements - better get you planned STR/DEX, so you won't have problems equipping your gear.
Are you going to play with self-found items, or have something in stash? What artifact are you going to use? Symbol of Polymath is quite good for hybrids and can take care of some stat requirements.

If you're going to wear Str armor, then Odysseus' Armor could be useful.

[Brazilski]

Great idea on the artifact, now I only have to find it

Regarding Odysseus' armor though: the stats are nice but those strength requirements are wáááy too high. I am actually happy I won't be able to wear it, as it makes your toon look like Borat with a medal.

[jaelrin]

if you don't like how it looks - then sure, wear something else. But it's real requirements are not that high. You can use something that reduces requirements or increases your STR, then equip the armor, and after that unequip that gear. Due to -30% Reduction to All Requirements you won't need 525 STR to keep it equipped.

[Irma2]

I don't think you need to max out Str/Dex immediately. But you'd want 385 Dex by Act I Legendary as that's when the +3 SBC become available.

I think 395 Dex ought to be enough. With Warfare's OA bonuses, you should just about be able to hit everything in Legendary. DA will be on the low side but with stunning from VO and Cory to tank for you, you should be able to avoid most hits. And even if monsters do get through, you have Dodge Attack, Ignore Pain, Heat Shield and Battle Standard to mitigate physical melee damage.

Artifacts are really tough for a build like this. Symbol of the Polymath is very good but then so are many others. Might of Hephaestus for +30% elemental damage, +1 to Earth and a really good proc; Eye of Ra for bonuses to damage and Fire damage as well as good Fire resistance; Talisman of the Jade Emperor for a great proc, +% Str, excellent resistances and -25% recharge which should help to cast Eruption and BS more often; Sigil of Bast for +% elemental damage as well as significant boosts to Str and Dex. Many good choices available.

[Brazilski]

I don't think you need to max out Str/Dex immediately. But you'd want 385 Dex by Act I Legendary as that's when the +3 SBC become available.

I think 395 Dex ought to be enough. With Warfare's OA bonuses, you should just about be able to hit everything in Legendary. DA will be on the low side but with stunning from VO and Cory to tank for you, you should be able to avoid most hits. And even if monsters do get through, you have Dodge Attack, Ignore Pain, Heat Shield and Battle Standard to mitigate physical melee damage.

Artifacts are really tough for a build like this. Symbol of the Polymath is very good but then so are many others. Might of Hephaestus for +30% elemental damage, +1 to Earth and a really good proc; Eye of Ra for bonuses to damage and Fire damage as well as good Fire resistance; Talisman of the Jade Emperor for a great proc, +% Str, excellent resistances and -25% recharge which should help to cast Eruption and BS more often; Sigil of Bast for +% elemental damage as well as significant boosts to Str and Dex. Many good choices available.

Hmmm,.. aiming for 385 DEX would mean putting 52 point in DEX, 54 in STR and the remaining 62 in INT. To reach around 395 DEX it would need 54 points, just as STR with 59 points in INT. I'm gonna make this easy for myself and just adhere to a 1:1:1 ratio. The total number of points available is 166 that would mean 55 points in each attribute with one point to spare. I just have to pay attention not to distribute them evenly per level as that would leave me with too low DEX (and to a lesser extend STR) at too low a level.

[Benitot]

Do you plan on playing your battlemage on xmax later on? How long your CD lives is directly related to how fast you take down your foes. I don't know if you'll be able to rely on your eruption and VO to do the bigger part of damage, think you'll have to build up your melee damage as well. If you don't kill fast enough you will have to summon CD very often and if you don't have any -recharge item that will be problematic. I like the idea of a caster battlemage tough I never tried venture this path.

Keep us updated on your progress, will be interesting. Good luck!

[Brazilski]

Do you plan on playing your battlemage on xmax later on? How long your CD lives is directly related to how fast you take down your foes. I don't know if you'll be able to rely on your eruption and VO to do the bigger part of damage, think you'll have to build up your melee damage as well. If you don't kill fast enough you will have to summon CD very often and if you don't have any -recharge item that will be problematic. I like the idea of a caster battlemage tough I never tried venture this path.

Keep us updated on your progress, will be interesting. Good luck!

Not really, I've always stayed away from X-Mas as I still consider it to be a bit like cheating. Might try for a change though, if I have my toon maxed out.

I will keep you updated, but I don't think there will be much "castering" at all for the moment, as is seems undoable to not prioritize the non casting skills in Normal (and early Epic). By the time both masteries are maxed as well as base Onslaught and its final synergy, I should already be past lvl 30. After that I will be putting points in VO and Eruption on the way, but most likely I will focus on the dual wield tree, as that is much harder to invest in slowly later. Then of course I want at least a halfway decent Cory aroung Act IV Epic.