corentin laidir: level 50 spellblade build
while there's still a few things i need to tweak (mainly, i might move enchantments and runes around), i'm overall pretty happy with calling this corentin's "final build", so i'm sharing it now.
note that i didn't follow any guides for this and i actually deviate off of what guides will tell you to do for spellblades. i did this entirely based on how i play the game, so this is less a "you should do this" and more a "here's what i did, see if you like it, too."
but basically, if you want an orb-and-dagger mage build that does takedowns that heal you constantly, this might interest you. it pretty comfortably carried me through the entire game on adventurer, even with all-mage parties. might even be a good candidate for a nightmare run, if that's your style.
Skill Tree
first and foremost, obviously, for the purposes of this build we went Spellblade for the specialization. in the early game, building in the Burst and Crow trees is going to be your best bet. scooch into Sustain or climb up into Control whenever you have spare points, and build hard into the specialization as soon as you have high enough levels.
for abilities, Arcane Shot, Chain Lightning, and Dark Squall are good early game candidates, because they'll give you a variety of damage types. Chain Lightning is also going to apply Overwhelm, which can be detonated by our rogues. I personally skipped Storm Surge, because i found it redundant with my beautiful wife chain lightning on the bar.
in the endgame: Void Blade, Chain Lightning OR Arcane Shot (switch out as desired), and Ice Blast. Void Blade detonates Sundered, which combined with Chain Lightning lets you prime and detonate both ways with rogues (kinda hot if you're romancing lucanis or harding), and Ice Blast applies Weakened which will prime warriors.
"kellan, why are you emphasizing having so many damage types on your ability bar?" two reasons. 1) if you build too hard into the crow/spellblade trees then as soon as you hit antaam or other electric resistant enemies you're going to cry, and 2) there's a handy passive called Prism of Resistance that gives you +10% resistance to the damage types of each ability you have on your bar, which is just nice.
for ultimates: i keep the spellblade ultimate Thunderous End on hand most of the time, but the default ultimate Destructive Light is solid, especially in darkspawn heavy zones.
passives and traits are going to be an imprecise science; the exact ones you pick are largely up to you, but here's my suggestions:
Prism of Resistance. see above.
Medium Armour Mastery. this one's good for your build whether you use the equipment i do or not, because it boosts your critical, final, charged attack, and agile attack damage if you wear all medium armour.
Spirit Blade. get this asap. it makes the heavy attack at the end of a chain of light attacks into a spinning blade that shoots out in front of you, and later you can get Spirit of Vengeance to get a second one. this can hit quite a few enemies at once and detonate the arcane bomb stack(s) on a crowd.
Imbued Takedown. takedowns give you shocking weapons, and shocking weapons deal more stagger. win-win.
after that, take passives in the following priority order:
anything that increases your stagger generation. do the same thing with your companions. seriously, it's important for what's coming up next.
anything that upgrades blast or strike abilities, because everything we use is at least one of those.
anything that buffs/adds stacks of Arcane Mark/Arcane Bomb, which are your baseline orb+dagger combos. as an aside, make sure you are following the light-light-light-heavy attack chain structure as much as humanly possible, it is your bread and butter with an orb+dagger.
anything that buffs Shocked or Burning afflictions that we apply.
Equipment
*disclaimer that aside from where specified, i do not know where i got the equipment/upgrades named. i 100%ed the map, i don't remember where everything was, sorry!
this is what makes the build really come together, so pay attention. in the early game, use whatever you want, but in act 2 you want to get two items as fast as possible:
The Garb of Kinship, a medium armour you purchase from Holden in Hossberg, and The Call of the Hall, a unique ring you get after defeating the 10th wave of enemies in the Hall of Valour.
Here's why:
the Call of the Hall gives you a random advantage (those green effects that float over your health in the bottom left corner during combat) whenever you perform a takedown, and the Garb of Kinship increases your damage for every advantage you have and, more importantly once you unlock its legendary effect, heals you 5% every time you gain an advantage.
this is why it's wildly important to get as much stagger as humanly possible. this combination will keep your health topped up, no potions or healing companions necessary. i've gone into darkspawn infested areas with taash and davrin and never even had to pop a potion because of how effective this can be.
and before you even unlock the healing effect, this combo gives a pretty significant bonus to your damage once you get a few takedowns in. +40-50% damage in most encounters is nothing to scoff at.
other equipment:
orb: my preferred is the unique orb Mage's Gambit, but any high stagger electric orb will do the job. i also used to use Urthemiel's Ash in darkspawn areas (not really necessary with Mage's Gambit) and i use Veilsong when i'm going out with the ghostbusters.
mageknife: Spellcaster's Stiletto. i'm taking the hit to stagger gen for the +20 defense per active advantage, but Thorn of Misfortune is also a really solid pick for this build and i used it for ages.
helm: i use the Helm of Light and Shadow for the increased detonation damage and the extra stagger on detonation, but any medium helm that you like will work.
belt: Hardbitten Belt. stagger in an AoE on potion use and passive extra takedown damage. Glorious Ultimatum might also be hilarious here, if you want a high-risk-high-reward version of this build.
amulet: i'm using the All-Mother's Copse for buffs on my blast abilities (void blade, arcane shot, ice blast). i think A Pale Reflection might actually be interesting in this build too, though i haven't tested it.
rings: Call of the Hall obviously, and then the Amaranthine Loop for increased stagger and takedown damage. once you get the legendary effect, it will also make takedowns more lethal, which turns combat into comedy (seriously, the first time you stagger a crowd and do 5 lethal takedowns in a row you will be howling).
staff: who cares? you don't need it where we're going.
use whatever runes you want, honestly i just use ravage half the time. you'll only ever need them for boss fights.
Enchantments
exactly what equipment you put the enchantments on doesn't matter mostly, since you're going to be using the same stuff once you have everything, but here's what i have.
+ Stagger
+ Barrier Damage
+ Advantage Duration (advantages are super helpful, and Call of the Hall is giving them to us for free)
+ Healing Received (i'm pretty sure this also affects the Garb of Kinship healing, though i haven't properly tested)
+1 Max Potion
+ Mana Generation
another good option is +Armour Damage, which is what i have on my backup fire orb. and don't forget to add enchantments to your abilities!
if you try this, let me know! i'd love to see if it works for you.