MechaMage Build Guide
Introduction
Welcome to my build guide, the MechaMage! After a couple of characters I sussed out the Avenger Autoturret, and found it to be quite powerful. The Purpose of this build is to address the short comings of the Avenger, and create a build viable for all "end game" content. With less than 4 hours invested in this character, It had already proven itself to be very strong by soloing High Level Veteran Content, and cruising through Untained missions in under 3 minutes.
I have now taken it well into Champion Expeditions, and can solo Champion Untained Expeditions in 2 minutes.
Build Summary
With 21K+ Turret DPS and 10K+ Thunderstrike, This build melts content (And there is definitely room to improve)
The Play style is simple. Aether Jump your way through each level dropping AutoTurrets as you go along, only stopping to pick up loot or focus down the occasional tough boss. That's it! The Build Utilises Bulwark of Dawn for a large damage buff and stamina regen, Winter's Grasp for Damage Buff, Freezing Bosses, and clearing large packs of weak enemies, and lastly Thunderstrike for ANOTHER Damage Buff and extra single target DPS.
Showcase
Champion 1 - Deathless - 2m 9s:
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fastest clear speed you've ever seen.
- Very strong single target.
- You move so much you will never get hit.
- Can progress with budget gear.
- Very fun to play.
Cons
- Without willpower you can get locked down very easily.
- Some Mobs get insane damage at High veteran and Champion lvls. These will 1 hit you if you let them.
Passives & Attributes
Attributes
Put all of your attributes into Feroctiy. Crit is our friend.
Passives
The Passive Tree focuses on getting as much Crit chance and multiplier as it can, as this is the greatest source of damage scaling for almost all attack builds.
Starting in Sentinel we move straight through to ranger to get Come What May which will allow our turret to pierce ALL targets within 6 metres of itself. From there we move up into the Warlock section to grab Residual Energy and bonus to our max Willpower/Rage. Residual Energy is an incredible damange boost and is well worth getting.
We get Crit from Soldier, and Force shield and Willpower/Rage buffs from Scholar, taking the notable Purifiers Will giving us 30% damage reduction when at full shield, which is all the time. Lastly moving into Assasin to pick up Extra Crit.
Skills
Avenger Autoturret
The Avenger Autoturret is the meat of this build as it is our main source of damage.
To Have the Highest Damage possible we use High Caliber Ammunition and Twin Repeater along with Ballistic Reinforcements. Autonomous Sensors is a must, as mobs and bosses that we can't kill in a second will have most likely moved, and hence need to be retargeted by the turret.
Aether Jump
This is the gravy. Jump allows us to zip around each map avoiding all damage, whilst also buffing our next attack thanks to Residual Energy.
For Modifiers I chose Escape Artist for speed, Spirits of the Void to trigger our damage buff, Time Paradox so we cannot be CCed which is hugely important late game, and March of the Time Devourers so we always have an escape available.
Winter's Grasp
Winter's grasp is an incredibly useful skill, as it allows us to clear out large packs of "weak" monsters (anything under 3K health), freezes tough mobs and bosses, and provides a 10% damage buff which also gives our turret a chance to freeze anything it shoots. Very Handy.
Modifiers are Rime World for area, Ice Pawn for TWICE the cast speed, Immortalized Perfection to keep those bosses in check, and Hail the Ice Queen for the buff mentioned above.
Thunderstrike
ThunderStrike is another spells that can buff attack damage, and is therefore very valuable. It also has commendable damage in its own right, even without spec'ing for spell damage in particular.
Swift Judgement makes the cost insignificant, and means we will almost always be able to cast it. Smiting hunger and Crippling Current give it a nice damage boost but most importantly Rebuilding the Trinity gives us another 10% boost to attack damage.
Bulwark of Dawn
Bulwark of Dawn provides another massive damage buff. This one I could not calculate accurately but for me it seems to fall between the 15-20% mark. Defensively this also gives us Increased stamina regen, which is always useful.
Modifiers are Everlasting Aurora, Blade of Truth, Rejuvenating Light and Diving Omnipresence.
Equipment
Weapons
I decided to use a Pistol & Catalyst combo which gives access to both Avenger, and the movement and buff skills.
It does not matter a whole lot what damage type you are going for as long as you can scale it with the right modifiers. Occult is currently the strongest as it is the only damage type with Offensive Jewels that add flat damage, although you may find running Crit Gems to be stronger anyway.
If we were to use a high damage bow instead, it would increase our turrets base damage, but we would lose the Bulwark and Winter's Grasp Damage buffs so it would do less damage anyway; not to mention we would then be unable to Teleport around!
Instead if we used a dagger, which would let us use all the same skills, we would lose some crit chance that specifically applies to projectile weapons on our way to get the 100% needed 100% projectile pierce node. Appart from that, Using a dagger is "Viable".
Armour
This build uses Force Shield Equiptment as it provides the best defence with the least amount of Passive Tree investment. You can easily hit 4K+ shield, which is more than enough to survive everything but the toughest hits.
As we are scaling damage with both Residual Energy and Manic Slaughter, the optimal gear has either one of these buffs as a modifier, plus additional force shield, regen speed etc. and damage type bonus of your choice.
The added modifiers will take time to farm up, and can only be dropped from Sarisel Expeditions, but until you get that gear just use pure Force shield.
Potions and other notes
Health and Willpower. One to save us if we get hit, and the other to stop that from happening.
If you don't have a level 20 character ready to go, then blast your way through that content with whatever skills you like!
Once you are level 20, and have all the skills mentioned in this build then it plays as follows:
If we were to use a high damage bow instead, it would increase our turrets base damage, but we would lose the Bulwark and Winter's Grasp Damage buffs so it would do less damage anyway; not to mention we would then be unable to Teleport around!
Instead if we used a dagger, which would let us use all the same skills, we would lose some crit chance that specifically applies to projectile weapons on our way to get the 100% needed 100% projectile pierce node. Appart from that, Using a dagger is "Viable".
Armour
This build uses Force Shield Equiptment as it provides the best defence with the least amount of Passive Tree investment. You can easily hit 4K+ shield, which is more than enough to survive everything but the toughest hits.
As we are scaling damage with both Residual Energy and Manic Slaughter, the optimal gear has either one of these buffs as a modifier, plus additional force shield, regen speed etc. and damage type bonus of your choice.
The added modifiers will take time to farm up, and can only be dropped from Sarisel Expeditions, but until you get that gear just use pure Force shield.
Potions and other notes
Health and Willpower. One to save us if we get hit, and the other to stop that from happening.
Leveling Guide and Play Tips
If you don't have a level 20 character ready to go, then blast your way through that content with whatever skills you like!
Once you are level 20, and have all the skills mentioned in this build then it plays as follows:
- Use Aether Jump to move quickly around each map.
- Make sure you always have Bulwark of Dawn Active.
- Drop Turrets everywhere to keep feeding your Willpower.
- Jump into large packs and cast Winter's Grasp, this will obliterate the fodder and allow your turret to focus the larger targets.
- Cast Thunderstrike whenever you get the chance to keep turret buffs at maximum.
- When you come to a boss, pre cast all buffs then jump in to freeze. Kite the boss as far away as you can while you maintain 2 Turrets at all times, and cast Thunderstrike whenever possible.