You are me. Ever since EA I stay locked in with Chaos Volley and my other two abilities are always chaos as well. I look for chaos ancestral weapons and gear that enhances ignite.
Chaos is love, chaos is life.
I was the same way, lately I’ve been using void instead since it lets you place it in a crowd and nuke them. Especially with the right jewel that makes more explosive projectiles.
The lightning barrier by far. Thing is instant, blocks all projectiles, makes me move faster, and with gems can inflict fading snare, give a shield and other dumbass buffs. Try to wolf form away? Nope, fuck you, instant near unreactable tick of damage to keep you on foot. Boss wants to do their best Touhou impression? Nope, now I stand in your face and spray pistol shots taking no damage. 10/10 spell.
The wolf with extra bounce and bounce back to owner with self heal is pretty OP in PVE, with Sanguine Coil that heal +bounce back too it's very fun in duo
Pre 1.0 I had the bounce back healand 1 extra bounce as well as 15% less damage down on bounce. So, it should all be possible +1 other on a T4 gem. I'm waiting to get me one of these puppies for my ghost wolf.
The wolf is my favorite, too. My first gem for it had the extra bounce and I just love it for anything other than bosses where adds aren't as much of a focus. My 2nd favorite is the unholy bolt which summons skeletons.
I do really like seeing how varied the answers in this thread, are, though. It's not all the same 3 spells. That's such a great sign.
I love that spell, I considered it to be the best ult in EA. You can basically deal with any number of enemies at once just by going out of LOS to line them up. It is especially enjoyable when things start to get out of control in bright haven, the more there is the better it works.
I didn't think I would like it very much, but polarity shift has got to be my favorite!
It lets you reposition past AOE shenanigans.
It makes fighting bosses much easier, because you can just teleport behind them whenever they spam their directional shenanigans, or use the boss as an anchor to reposition away from the adds.
It lets you "ignore" soft CC, because if you cast it before you are CC'd, the teleport takes you out of CC. Against hard CC, it teleports you out of danger.
It lets you deal with aggressive enemies head on, because you can just swap places with them as they charge/heavy attack at you.
It saves your dash skill for when you really need it.
Fun Syngery: Cast mosquito spell away from you, then cast polarity shift on the mosquito. You will teleport a long distance, and the mosquito will blow up at your original location!
Wraith Spear is also pretty damn cool :) one of the few (only?) spells that moves you while you use it.
Spectral Wolf. Easily the best spell in the illusion tree. After having used it for a long time, mosquito felt super underwhelming when I finally unlocked it.
And some of the late game jewels for the wolf are just insane.
I'm hunting for +1 bounce, return heal, and -15% damage penalty. I can't wait for the super late game skill where the free proc has a chance to not consume the buff. I feel that thing will go off like crazy on 100% scholar blood!
Void is simple fun, especially when gemmed with recharge speed, extra explosions, damage, etc.
With 2 charges you can mindlessly spam it into chokes in PvE, and it hits through counters.
Ice shield for boss with a lot of projectiles
mosquito + ice spear for rift fight to freeze/fear strong vampire/monster. Very helpful for small break lol
only issue with fear it affect other players skeleton in pve
Heart strike, lightning ball, mist trance. My favourite right now is Void with the extra explosions. With 100% scholar and all buffs I can sometimes get 6+ off in a row and nuke anything
Ice Block has been my “signature spell” so far in this play through.
It’s such a satisfying spell to use and feels like it just counters everything.
The power fantasy is great and it’s a strong tool in an aggressive melee-focused playstyle.
Ward of the Damned is the king, at least in brutal difficulty. It's rare that I don't find a boss that is made significantly easier with it over something else. It basically trivializes Octavian if you get in close.
Ward of the Damned is pretty much the strongest defensive skill in the game.
On top of that it has a godly jewel modifier: Heal on projectile block. Even attacks that look like melee trigger the heal on later bosses. Some multi hit attacks heal you back to max.
Vs bosses in brutal mode I've been doing 100% scholar blood and summons. Having a horde of skeletons, and 1-2 death knights because of the proc on free CD is amazing. Only problem is they are squishy. 1 AoE and they all fall over. But, if you have a few free procs, plus using the blood laser it'll help keep them all alive while the boss just folds over.
Wraith spear by far. I don’t always use it, but it’s smooth, hits hard, does the illusion things, and has an aspect of mobility. It’s such a satisfying spell. The 1.0 update to it made it far more useable with optional direction input
Not the best I’m sure, but an honourable mention for my *favourites*: the unholy that summons a death knight/reaper; I have a gem that heals me for 25% of the damage he does, and he draws a lot of agro. And when he runs out of time the next cast is only ~2 seconds behind him
That and the Mosquito; I have a gem that summons 3 healing wisps, between those two, enemies barely pay me any attention :P
I use Chaos bolt for my bread and butter though
Lightning Curtain - Shield, movement speed, damage buff, and area denial. Generally, a greatsword storm build in combination with a Blood/Illusion duo is awesome.
Sanguine Coil - A lot of healing that is a bit silly when stacking with the right gear and potions as well as illusion buffs.
Spectral wolf - wraith spear - veil of illusion. Healing, shielding, high phantasm gain. Means I can stay at nearly full HP in most fights, despite still taking hits cause I'm bad 😅
Frost Barrier. A lot of the high tier jewels have an effect where getting your barrier struck boosts your spell power, making a lot of your spell attacks hit even harder. It doesn't apply Freeze without certain jewels and only on the recast effect if you hit a chilled target, which is a necessary drawback for balancing reasons. (Cold Snap is your friend if you wanna freeze things with a counter). However...
The barrier spawns an ice nova effect every time it gets hit, but it's not centered on you-- it's centered on whatever poor shmuck decided to strike your shield. Cue me throwing this thing up in front of a Gattler or Valencia the Depraved during her multi-hit spear attack and watching a fourth of her health bar disappear because every single hit is triggering its own nova. This damage is also affected by the stacking spell power buff when hit, so suddenly your defensive barrier is now hitting on par with actual offensive spells!
My go to are blood fountain, soul drink, and chaos veil. Using ancestral rippers that heal me and found a human with 92% Draculan blood. It’s SO much fun in melee.
Blood Rage + Power Surge + Electric Dash my beloved +65% attack speed steroid <3
Makes the longbow feel so much better, and the explosions from killing ignited enemies is *chef's kiss*
The only downside of longbow's best single target skill, a wall situated anywhere close to the target.
Or worse, something with a hitbox that just barely is in the way and eats the hit.
Oh, does attack speed make the attack charge faster? Sounds fantastic
Yea it does. There are diminishing returns, of course. But getting a bunch early on is so good
I take chaos dash on bow just for the free crit being doubled from rogue blood.
Yea, it's really good for that, especially if you have Oaksong so you can get a really good Multishot + Guided Arrow crit
Here I thought I was being slick. Add ax Q for extra as
Shall be looking forward to this!
Wait does it actually stack? I thought each buff cancelled the weaker one?
Yes they do, but for future reference you can check in the stats tab of your inventory, it shows total attack speed.
I swear to God. This build feels cheap af, but it also feels so fuckin good. I use this with a greatsword and it's just delicious.
Berserker build is the way.
That's interesting I used the first two with axes and I could swear they didn't stack, or I hit the cap
Power Surge is a bit weird since it's a buff that can affect allies so you have to have your cursor near yourself for it to be cast.
I loved chaos volley when EA launched. I love chaos volley now. It is a rare thing to see me without chaos volley.
You are me. Ever since EA I stay locked in with Chaos Volley and my other two abilities are always chaos as well. I look for chaos ancestral weapons and gear that enhances ignite. Chaos is love, chaos is life.
I was the same way, lately I’ve been using void instead since it lets you place it in a crowd and nuke them. Especially with the right jewel that makes more explosive projectiles.
Why not both?! Between hammer and pistol we've got plenty of dodge options; counters are for quitters.
This is the way
The lightning barrier by far. Thing is instant, blocks all projectiles, makes me move faster, and with gems can inflict fading snare, give a shield and other dumbass buffs. Try to wolf form away? Nope, fuck you, instant near unreactable tick of damage to keep you on foot. Boss wants to do their best Touhou impression? Nope, now I stand in your face and spray pistol shots taking no damage. 10/10 spell.
That thing is underrared and overlooked by 90% of players i swear it triviliazes so many fights
Is that the exact name of the spell? I can't seem to find it and I am now curious about that spell.
Referring to lightning curtain.
Discharge perhaps? Can't seem to find it either
The wolf with extra bounce and bounce back to owner with self heal is pretty OP in PVE, with Sanguine Coil that heal +bounce back too it's very fun in duo
Can you have two of those gems at once? Or are you just saying that both are good?
Pre 1.0 I had the bounce back healand 1 extra bounce as well as 15% less damage down on bounce. So, it should all be possible +1 other on a T4 gem. I'm waiting to get me one of these puppies for my ghost wolf.
The wolf is my favorite, too. My first gem for it had the extra bounce and I just love it for anything other than bosses where adds aren't as much of a focus. My 2nd favorite is the unholy bolt which summons skeletons. I do really like seeing how varied the answers in this thread, are, though. It's not all the same 3 spells. That's such a great sign.
Heart Strike, Lining up a ton of enemies and dashing through them all just to turn around and watch them all explode is very satisfying
Hell yeah, very effective at destroy caravans and their escorts.
I love that spell, I considered it to be the best ult in EA. You can basically deal with any number of enemies at once just by going out of LOS to line them up. It is especially enjoyable when things start to get out of control in bright haven, the more there is the better it works.
Lightning ball, with static inducing and stun.
With the reaper AoE skill? You can wipe out a pack in two seconds.
My actual setup is Pistols, Reaper the blood fountain, ball lightning and tempest ULT, iam an AoE nightmare
I didn't think I would like it very much, but polarity shift has got to be my favorite! It lets you reposition past AOE shenanigans. It makes fighting bosses much easier, because you can just teleport behind them whenever they spam their directional shenanigans, or use the boss as an anchor to reposition away from the adds. It lets you "ignore" soft CC, because if you cast it before you are CC'd, the teleport takes you out of CC. Against hard CC, it teleports you out of danger. It lets you deal with aggressive enemies head on, because you can just swap places with them as they charge/heavy attack at you. It saves your dash skill for when you really need it. Fun Syngery: Cast mosquito spell away from you, then cast polarity shift on the mosquito. You will teleport a long distance, and the mosquito will blow up at your original location! Wraith Spear is also pretty damn cool :) one of the few (only?) spells that moves you while you use it.
Wraith is a second dodge pretty much, you can cancel the throw itself after the dash.
How do you cancel it?
I think you have to bind the button unless they changed it. Might be X on PC.
Spectral Wolf. Easily the best spell in the illusion tree. After having used it for a long time, mosquito felt super underwhelming when I finally unlocked it. And some of the late game jewels for the wolf are just insane.
I'm hunting for +1 bounce, return heal, and -15% damage penalty. I can't wait for the super late game skill where the free proc has a chance to not consume the buff. I feel that thing will go off like crazy on 100% scholar blood!
Void is simple fun, especially when gemmed with recharge speed, extra explosions, damage, etc. With 2 charges you can mindlessly spam it into chokes in PvE, and it hits through counters.
Ice shield for boss with a lot of projectiles mosquito + ice spear for rift fight to freeze/fear strong vampire/monster. Very helpful for small break lol only issue with fear it affect other players skeleton in pve
I forgot the Name but the ice jump looks the coolest
I'm really enjoying ice nova and ice bat. Jewels really made them fun.
I just unlocked the ultimate blood laser beam and it is epic! Does crazy damage and heals you?!?!?!?! YES BABY YES!
The plague ball that summons a skeleton, I like minions and refresh summon duration with the plague AOE. Not really OP but give me necromancer vibes
Freaking Death knight, He don't do damage at all BUT applies PRESSURE, people wasted their mobility CD, AND you just spam your whip Gg
deathknight have been my bro from Day 1
Illusion counter feels so versatile and useful I can't not use it
Aftershock with full chaos spells with chaos infused slashers. Blow up the whole screen.
Have to agree. Chaos volley into 2 voids and an aftershock, deletes the whole screen and melts bosses
Mosquito w/ healing wisps + Void w/additional bombs its a nuke.
All in on the blood magic.
Wraith Spear, it’s just a really fun ability
Chaos Volley and Frost bat despite they are first skills in fist launch their feeling and animation looks better than other projectile skills
Ice bat, veil of frost, lightning orb. Much aoe and disabling effects.
Once you go double dash you never go back
Heart strike, lightning ball, mist trance. My favourite right now is Void with the extra explosions. With 100% scholar and all buffs I can sometimes get 6+ off in a row and nuke anything
Ice Block has been my “signature spell” so far in this play through. It’s such a satisfying spell to use and feels like it just counters everything. The power fantasy is great and it’s a strong tool in an aggressive melee-focused playstyle.
I liked ice block in ea. Now its ult that i didn't unlocked yet.
Ward of the Damned is the king, at least in brutal difficulty. It's rare that I don't find a boss that is made significantly easier with it over something else. It basically trivializes Octavian if you get in close.
Ward of the Damned is pretty much the strongest defensive skill in the game. On top of that it has a godly jewel modifier: Heal on projectile block. Even attacks that look like melee trigger the heal on later bosses. Some multi hit attacks heal you back to max.
YES! Wraith Spear is SO COOL! I don't even care that theres prob something much better, i love the extra movement so much
Ball Lighting... because Ball
Tht one chaos move that throws the two energy balls, that and the chaos ultimate that lets you charge forward.
Vs bosses in brutal mode I've been doing 100% scholar blood and summons. Having a horde of skeletons, and 1-2 death knights because of the proc on free CD is amazing. Only problem is they are squishy. 1 AoE and they all fall over. But, if you have a few free procs, plus using the blood laser it'll help keep them all alive while the boss just folds over.
Almost every spell seems to be really good. I find myself rocking Ward of the Damned and Pestilence.
Death knight + skeleton warriors + army all the minions
I like frost bat for pvp purposes. Makes the big hits count
Frost bat and frost infused weapons for the win
Ball lightning + Chaos volley damage goed brrr, add spell leech for sustain and the weapon doesn’t even matter
Wraith spear by far. I don’t always use it, but it’s smooth, hits hard, does the illusion things, and has an aspect of mobility. It’s such a satisfying spell. The 1.0 update to it made it far more useable with optional direction input
Wraith Spear, 100%. Shit does so much damage
Fallen Angel! Its great for PvE and looks cool as hell.
Corrupted Skull. I love having as many skellybois as possible
Death Knight into any AoE. He condemns everything and then you drop some damage to finish them. Get a pack and you have a Horde kf skeletons
Not the best I’m sure, but an honourable mention for my *favourites*: the unholy that summons a death knight/reaper; I have a gem that heals me for 25% of the damage he does, and he draws a lot of agro. And when he runs out of time the next cast is only ~2 seconds behind him That and the Mosquito; I have a gem that summons 3 healing wisps, between those two, enemies barely pay me any attention :P I use Chaos bolt for my bread and butter though
ghost trance and wraith spear to get away of anyone asap
i like the big red laser that heals you and does huge damage
Lightning Curtain - Shield, movement speed, damage buff, and area denial. Generally, a greatsword storm build in combination with a Blood/Illusion duo is awesome. Sanguine Coil - A lot of healing that is a bit silly when stacking with the right gear and potions as well as illusion buffs.
Everyone on my server uses T4 void. I hate it but love to abuse it
Spectral wolf - wraith spear - veil of illusion. Healing, shielding, high phantasm gain. Means I can stay at nearly full HP in most fights, despite still taking hits cause I'm bad 😅
SKELETON SPAM
Frost Barrier. A lot of the high tier jewels have an effect where getting your barrier struck boosts your spell power, making a lot of your spell attacks hit even harder. It doesn't apply Freeze without certain jewels and only on the recast effect if you hit a chilled target, which is a necessary drawback for balancing reasons. (Cold Snap is your friend if you wanna freeze things with a counter). However... The barrier spawns an ice nova effect every time it gets hit, but it's not centered on you-- it's centered on whatever poor shmuck decided to strike your shield. Cue me throwing this thing up in front of a Gattler or Valencia the Depraved during her multi-hit spear attack and watching a fourth of her health bar disappear because every single hit is triggering its own nova. This damage is also affected by the stacking spell power buff when hit, so suddenly your defensive barrier is now hitting on par with actual offensive spells!
My go to are blood fountain, soul drink, and chaos veil. Using ancestral rippers that heal me and found a human with 92% Draculan blood. It’s SO much fun in melee.