Help with blightcaster spells

[Michele]

I'm used to play fire druid from level 7-14 with flamestrike and fire storm, and ice druid from level 15 to 30 with ice flowers.

I just started a new iconic life with 14 blightcaster levels and all spells except acid blast suck: I can't find any spells as powerful as those mentioned above (and blightcaster doesn't have any of those spells).

I read in the release notes that there is a 5 level spell named Blighted Breath that can be converted to acid damage if I toggle Biting Acid Imbue? I'll test if it can be used only in wolf form or also in Hive form.

I guess that Acid Well should be good despite its 9 seconds cooldown.

I don't like area of effect thorn spells because they do not hit everything in an area of effect, but they just throws some thorns that may hit enemies along their path, often leaving some mobs untouched.

Please let me know of any good spell rotations you have found.

I would like to know if you have found the best sinergy between Blightcaster and Season's Herald trees to obtain the highest amount of acid spell Caster Levels and Max Caster levels (on a quick read, I can't find any enhancement in the Blightcaster tree that gives additional caster levels to acid or poison spells).

[Ciecgu]

Hello Michele, can't say much about low level stuff as i did ER on my ice druid so i only went as blightcaster from 20-30. I recommend using Poison (lvl 3) spell as well, alongside Poison of the Hydra Enhancement. It also seems that t4 AoE sla thorn is kinda buggy so i would recommend acid rain, gather mobs throw acid blast and this sla. You should clear mobs quickly. I spend my enhancements like this 41 Blight 23 Dragonborn 16 Herald. Acid Well is amazing spell, 9 seconds will get lowered with cooldowns im sitting at like ~7 sec right now and its very handy. At end game you can use it every pack even in close proximity. I higly recommend going for Draconic/Primal split since it gives you so much. I can confirm that Herald caster levels/max caster lvl works with Blightcaster so if you're completionist you might spend points differently. See you in game :cool:, cheers Yenaver.

[Michele]

thanks, I'll test poison.
acid rain damage was low when I tested it (definitely lower than fire storm or ice flowers).

[PedXing20]

From what i've read and discussed, ice druid will still be the meta as far as druids are concerned.

Knowing that's what you run, i don't think you will find the new archtype as much fun.

[Michele]

I just tested Blighted Breath spell with Biting Acid Imbue toggled and it seems to have a short range like burst of glacial wrath, and less wide than burst of glacial wrath.

Blighted Breath can be used in any form.

Veil the elements doesn't work with Hive Master form.

Ice flowers does more than double damage compared to blighted breath.

[Ultinoob]

Hi Michele

I am one of the folks stuck between server transfers so haven't tested the blightcaster yet so much myself.

But from what i can gather they should shine at end game and maybe not so much at levelling. though i thought that having acid blast early would be really nice.

At endgame you have:
AOE: dragon breath, tsunami, acid well, acid blast (for debuffing), thorn wave, thorn lance.
single target: black dragon bolt, maybe necrotic ray, word of balance, salt ray (2*creeping cold if they get those)

Comparing this to a cold druid:
AOE: tsunami, dragon breath, ice flowers, call lightning storm
Single target: call lighting, 2*creeping cold, salt ray, wob.

assuming both have access to finger of death, color spray and bogw.

My thoughts was that at endgame a blightcaster would be better at killing a whole group of mobs quick.

Just my thoughts.

[Michele]

Hi Michele

I am one of the folks stuck between server transfers so haven't tested the blightcaster yet so much myself.

But from what i can gather they should shine at end game and maybe not so much at levelling. though i thought that having acid blast early would be really nice.

At endgame you have:
AOE: dragon breath, tsunami, acid well, acid blast (for debuffing), thorn wave, thorn lance.
single target: black dragon bolt, maybe necrotic ray, word of balance, salt ray (2*creeping cold if they get those)

Comparing this to a cold druid:
AOE: tsunami, dragon breath, ice flowers, call lightning storm
Single target: call lighting, 2*creeping cold, salt ray, wob.

assuming both have access to finger of death, color spray and bogw.

My thoughts was that at endgame a blightcaster would be better at killing a whole group of mobs quick.

Just my thoughts.

blightcaster also has call lightning and call lightning storm and wail of the banshee (good luck with necronancy DC, it's fine while leveling, but at end game if yours is not a DC caster...).

I have huge issues hitting mobs with thorn lance, try it. all other thorn spells often miss targets in the area of effect because you are throwing thorns (don't expect the behaviour of a fireball).

black dragon bolt has 5.5 seconds cooldown, imagine to wait so much time before hitting a second target (you are not able to keep fully dotted 2 targets because it lasts only 8 seconds)

Only acid well is good on a blughtcaster (conjuration fortitude save, good luck rising enough conjuration AND evocation dc :D ).

then tou have to decide to strip acid immunity or getting more acid spell caster levels.

You listed so many spells but you know better than me that you can specialize in only 1 or 2 things.

[Ultinoob]

blightcaster also has call lightning and call lightning storm and wail of the banshee (good luck with necronancy DC, it's fine while leveling, but at end game if yours is not a DC caster...).

I have huge issues hitting mobs with thorn lance, try it. all other thorn spells often miss targets in the area of effect because you are throwing thorns (don't expect the behaviour of a fireball).

black dragon bolt has 5.5 seconds cooldown, imagine to wait so much time before hitting a second target (you are not able to keep fully dotted 2 targets because it lasts only 8 seconds)

Only acid well is good on a blughtcaster (conjuration fortitude save, good luck rising enough conjuration AND evocation dc :D ).

then tou have to decide to strip acid immunity or getting more acid spell caster levels.

You listed so many spells but you know better than me that you can specialize in only 1 or 2 things.

We play different builds but we have both showed we can do allright in mid to high reapers. you more than me.

As you are actually playing a blightcaster you know more about it than me.

With that said i think it is possible to specialise in aicd, force and cold at the same time.


Here is a gear set for a druid monk wizard:
Belt: Legendary Black Satin Waist – with Esoterica augment
Boots: Legendary Sunken Slippers – with Esoterica augment
Bracers: Legendary Kundarak Warding Bracers
Cloak: IOD cloak - Deacon of the Auricular Sacrarium
Gloves: IOD
Goggles: Attunement’s Gaze – with Esoterica augment
Helm: IOD helm - Deacon of the Auricular Sacrarium
Necklace: Biting sands
Ring 1: Bound elemental ring of frost
Ring 2: Bound elemental ring of acid
Trinket: Gem of many facets with Wards of House Kundarak and biting sands. CC force lore and spellpower
Armor: Legendary Robe of the Locus
Main hand: IOD kama
Off hand: Alchemical kama with force spell power and lore and +2 wisdom and cold augmentation
Quiver: epic quiver of alacrity – har stealth strike

Granted, as you know, i focus less on dc than you, so the dc of this gear setup might be on the low side.

I am planning on testing this when i can do it.

also i can't see the problem with getting both acid caster levels from forms and acid immunity removal from tier 5?
Granted no 25% hp bonus from falconry but i so wanna try it.

In the end i think you know more about it than me.

[VladimereTheImpaler]

So far blight has been my favorite archetype. It is strong, really really strong. Acid rain + Spike growth pretty much ends non undead. Acid Rain + Creeping doom deals with anything else. I use single target acid sla's on anything that might want to stay out of the aoe , then I just move on. Everything dies just following you down the rabbit hole. Acid immunity stripping + the unholy enhance + double damage on spike growth is insane damage. I am doing r3s above level right now and having issues only with traps. Every time you encounter a mob, you should be laying down AoEs and progressing further into the dungeon, don't even stop. As the mobs follow you , they will run into these AoEs and die. I literally just run to objectives while casting the occasional spell. It is one of my easiest TR's yet.

[Michele]

So far blight has been my favorite archetype. It is strong, really really strong. Acid rain + Spike growth pretty much ends non undead. Acid Rain + Creeping doom deals with anything else. I use single target acid sla's on anything that might want to stay out of the aoe , then I just move on. Everything dies just following you down the rabbit hole. Acid immunity stripping + the unholy enhance + double damage on spike growth is insane damage. I am doing r3s above level right now and having issues only with traps. Every time you encounter a mob, you should be laying down AoEs and progressing further into the dungeon, don't even stop. As the mobs follow you , they will run into these AoEs and die. I literally just run to objectives while casting the occasional spell. It is one of my easiest TR's yet.

acid rain, creeping doom, acid blast, spike growth: they all suck compared to spells like acid well.

let's say that acid well does 4k-10k damage compared to 600 damage of the other spells.

in heroic 1-20 levels a multiclass build with only 4 acolyte of the skin levels and cone shape eldritch blast deals a lot more dps than a blightcaster druid with the spells you listed above.

in epic levels I did level 20-26 at r6-r8 difficulty in group with a blightcaster thanks to the spell rotation acid well, tsunami, dragon breath, but end game r10 is a different story: I'll wait for people doing solo r8 quests with a blightcaster and see how slow they are to complete a quest and which spells they use.

Until then if people keep responding me to use acid blast and acid rain then I would rather play an earth savant sorcerer instead with their lower spell cooldown.

[Michele]

We play different builds but we have both showed we can do allright in mid to high reapers. you more than me.

As you are actually playing a blightcaster you know more about it than me.

With that said i think it is possible to specialise in aicd, force and cold at the same time.


Here is a gear set for a druid monk wizard:
Belt: Legendary Black Satin Waist – with Esoterica augment
Boots: Legendary Sunken Slippers – with Esoterica augment
Bracers: Legendary Kundarak Warding Bracers
Cloak: IOD cloak - Deacon of the Auricular Sacrarium
Gloves: IOD
Goggles: Attunement’s Gaze – with Esoterica augment
Helm: IOD helm - Deacon of the Auricular Sacrarium
Necklace: Biting sands
Ring 1: Bound elemental ring of frost
Ring 2: Bound elemental ring of acid
Trinket: Gem of many facets with Wards of House Kundarak and biting sands. CC force lore and spellpower
Armor: Legendary Robe of the Locus
Main hand: IOD kama
Off hand: Alchemical kama with force spell power and lore and +2 wisdom and cold augmentation
Quiver: epic quiver of alacrity – har stealth strike

Granted, as you know, i focus less on dc than you, so the dc of this gear setup might be on the low side.

I am planning on testing this when i can do it.

also i can't see the problem with getting both acid caster levels from forms and acid immunity removal from tier 5?
Granted no 25% hp bonus from falconry but i so wanna try it.

In the end i think you know more about it than me.
you get caster levels with tier 5 season's herals and capstone season's herald, while you get acid strip immunity with tier 5 blightcaster enhancement: you can't have two tier 5 abilities in the enhancement trees.

Also many mobs will resist your cold damage.

In draconic incarnation you have to chose between acid or cold spell power.

you don't play dragonborn class, but also there you chose acid or cold.

with your equipment you have spell critical damage in cold, force, acid and generic insightful spellpwer only on boots: what did you put in extra trinket effect? a blightcaster without poison specialization?

[Ultinoob]

you get caster levels with tier 5 season's herals and capstone season's herald, while you get acid strip immunity with tier 5 blightcaster enhancement: you can't have two tier 5 abilities in the enhancement trees.

Also many mobs will resist your cold damage.

In draconic incarnation you have to chose between acid or cold spell power.

you don't play dragonborn class, but also there you chose acid or cold.

with your equipment you have spell critical damage in cold, force, acid and generic insightful spellpwer only on boots: what did you put in extra trinket effect? a blightcaster without poison specialization?

yes in my setup you would only get one caster level from sh, but 3 from hive master form.
I would choose acid in draocnic.
actually the gear setup could get a fourth spellpower and crit chance. 2 from bound elemental rings (cold and acid). one from the alchemical karma and one from the trinket.
i put ins physical sheltering on the trinket.
yes but maybe one could choose poisen on the trinket. but my initial idea was without poisen.

You do however loose 20 prr/mrr from stance and 17 prr from elemental toughness over the normal druid. and you loose 25% hp from falconry capstone... Not sure it is worth it. but i am gonna try it at some point.

[Michele]

yes in my setup you would only get one caster level from sh, but 3 from hive master form.
I would choose acid in draocnic.
actually the gear setup could get a fourth spellpower and crit chance. 2 from bound elemental rings (cold and acid). one from the alchemical karma and one from the trinket.
i put ins physical sheltering on the trinket.
yes but maybe one could choose poisen on the trinket. but my initial idea was without poisen.

You do however loose 20 prr/mrr from stance and 17 prr from elemental toughness over the normal druid. and you loose 25% hp from falconry capstone... Not sure it is worth it. but i am gonna try it at some point.

when you play it, let me know which spells do you put on rotation.

in my opinion it's not worth investing in cold spells because you don't have access to ice flowers, the creeping cold dots will be resisted a lot and you don't have Freezing Spray to enhance them, you only have Tsunami that does half cold damage and it will be resisted anyway.

About force spell power: if you use ruin and greater ruin then ok, otherwise salt ray is not a spell that use for DPS and I don't think you will not have the fortitude evocation DC to make it effective in high reaper, you have only Tsunami that does half force damage, while Thorn spells damage suck and they do not hit mobs in a reliable way and you have to be pretty close to your enemies (let me know your experience with them).

[Ultinoob]

when you play it, let me know which spells do you put on rotation.

in my opinion it's not worth investing in cold spells because you don't have access to ice flowers, the creeping cold dots will be resisted a lot and you don't have Freezing Spray to enhance them, you only have Tsunami that does half cold damage and it will be resisted anyway.

About force spell power: if you use ruin and greater ruin then ok, otherwise salt ray is not a spell that use for DPS and I don't think you will not have the fortitude evocation DC to make it effective in high reaper, you have only Tsunami that does half force damage, while Thorn spells damage suck and they do not hit mobs in a reliable way and you have to be pretty close to your enemies (let me know your experience with them).

Yes i plan to use ruin and greater ruin. But you seem to be forgetting about word of balance. For a mob 2 steps away it is the same force damage as acid well only single target.
also you say that my cold will be resisted. yes in some cases it will.

salt ray has no saving throw for the damage part. i usually have it on rotation even though it does not do a lot of damage.

Also tsunami does half cold and half force damage, but the half force damage is about the same as ice flowers do with both cold and force.

I am still stuck on the old server, but i will let you know how it goes when i get to play around with this build. I think force is worth taking for those mentioned reasons.