Link to the build:
Good day, I am a great fan of trying out esoteric (unproven) builds, I find it far more rewarding trying to get a weird build to work rather than copying a build guide and steamrolling the game.
Right now I am trying out a shadowflame mage using two specific uniques:
Lament of the Lost Refuge: Lament of the Lost Refuge - Unique Rat City Impaler - Two-Handed Spear - Last Epoch Item Database
Dark Shroud of Cinders: Dark Shroud of Cinders - Unique Copper Plate - Body Armour - Last Epoch Item Database
I also happened to have banked a 3 LP Eye of Orexia: Items - Last Epoch Item Database
so this was a great chance to get that out, although it isn’t strictly necessary.
So the idea was simple: Maximize fire auras and heraldry to buff my void damage. I use flame reave as my clearer (it ignites everything which also triggers my ashes of mortality) and it also has a chance of casting fire aura on me. I use the spellblade tree to generate fire auras while walking as well so I consistently have 7-10 auras up giving me a great boost to void damage from the cloak. Then my goal is to have the orb do most of my single target damage by making it travel through large targets with big hit boxes for as long as possible to proc multiple hits. Here is a breakdown on each skill and my thoughts on where my points went:
Volcanic Orb: My goal is to maximize the damage from the orb to increase single-target damage.
Flame Reave: I wanted to focus on igniting, clearing weak waves and generating extra fire auras.
Teleport: I wanted to focus on distraction (the copies) as well as ward generation.
Flame Ward: Focused almost entirely on maximizing ward.
Focus: Regenerating mana as well as maximizing ward.
So far it works…OK.
What I’d like is for the community to take a look at what I have so far (i’m lv 85 so it’s not near perfected yet, even if it can be perfected) and give suggestions on how to buff this up for empowered monoliths and beyond. Does flat void damage benefit me more or would spell void damage scale better? Should I go for more INT? How much mana regen should I do for? This build does use up mana quickly and I am forced to use focus to keep up with the big waves.
I’m not interested in people telling me this isn’t viable, I know it’s not optimal. I am interested in trying to figure out a way to make it as viable as possible. I believe the devs put lament and dark cloak into the game for a reason and this mage is something I want to figure out.
If any devs do see this post, I would like to see more options for mages to convert damage to void to make more use of these items. Perhaps the Runemaster is going to offer more options…