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Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:57 am
by Rumpofsteelskin
I cannot even beat Den of Danger with one.

They have little going for them. Sanguine and bloodtupowa are cool features, but...when all is said and done, they do less damage than most classes and cant tank as well as, say, a priest.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:50 am
by dislekcia
Bloodmages have actually been one of the hardest classes to balance in the game so far. They're certainly powerful hybrid casters and can be great all-around casters if you get them any kind of bonus fireball damage. Their playstyle is quite different to the damage-trading that most physical hitters are used to, so chances are it's just a mental change to your approach that's holding you back from true power bloodmagery ;)

(Also, Lujo, we're watching you)

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:26 pm
by Lujo
Try them with Mystera Annur, for starters. You can even prepare her. Spam various glyphs while you explore and go for the Mystic Balance boon. Try to really let go of the idea of tanking damage and see if you can beat stuff by just fireballing it, with the help of Bloodtopowa, Sanguine and Healing and Mana potions.

A nice experiment to try is to pick the flames boon up before you face the boss, just to burn your brigdes. Make sure you killed plenty of stuff before that to have bloodpools around, and to have some Bloodtopowa exploration handy.

EDIT: Oh, and the Magnet: Fireball Prep should help.

(Was this ok?)

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:11 pm
by TigerKnee
Definitely make sure to start with Fireball prep, it makes the Mage series of classes much easier to play.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:39 pm
by Blovski
I'm a fan of Gnome Bloodmage with JJ to boost up mana and then potion people to death. Also, note they regen mana from picking up bloodpools, so if you have 15-18 left on the boss-fight, that's three extra fireballs to bring to bear. For
this reason Blue Bead works really well on him, in that you can get 2 mana for every popcorn you kill in the boss fight.

And yeah, Magnet Fireball.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:24 pm
by Lujo
Blue Bead and Mystic Balance (Mysterea boon) work togather in an interesting way, too. If you keep a few low level monsters (popcorn) alive until the boss fight begins, and you have Mystic Balance and some exploration left, what happens is:

You cast a fireball for 5 mana.

You cast Bloodtopowa, get 3 mana back. You kill a low level monster and get 1 more mana back from the bead. You drink the bloodpool and get 1 more mana back, as well as 20+% of your health (to compensate for the B2P).

You cast another fireball for 5 mana.

Repeat untill you run out of blackspace for Bloodtopowa or popcorn.

Also halflings and dwarves make good bloodmages (halflings can use health pots to regein mana using B2P, and dwarves can use B2P more because of their large health, as well as get mor regeneration from sanguine). You can try that as well, it's been fun.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:17 pm
by squirrelnest
Bloodmage was my first hard GT victory.

The firststrike glyph made a big impact too, but all those blood pools made for quite a spike.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 4:57 pm
by sitnaltax
With the Bloodmage, don't be afraid to use resources like potions early in the game to kill monsters a level or two higher than you. Be careful to not step on bloodpools when you'd be healing through exploration anyway, and by the time you make it to the boss, the bloodpools should provide a tremendous health and mana resource that let you kill the boss easily.

My style is different than some of the other veterans; I usually convert BLUDTUPOWA and prep offense boosters rather than Magnet: Fire. Going from level 1 to 2 can be tricky if I don't find a useful item or glyph in the stores, but after that, Bloodmage plays like an ordinary class with a limited mana pool but a giant health reserve waiting to be tapped at will.

Re: Bloodmage thoughts?

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:42 pm
by The Avatar
Those are both very good builds. squirrelnest raises a very good point on GETINDARE (and to a certain extent CYDSTEPP and Namtar's Ward--The best item for this guy). You precast and still get to blow all of your mana and hp on fireballs, plus an extra hit or two at the end.