Sage is atrocious. What am I doing wrong with him?

[The_Emperror]

OK, I don't usually do threads on the steam forums, but man, I want to know what am I doing wrong...
Ever since I unlocked the sage I was exclusively playing him.

He is so bad. Oh my god, how can he be so bad?
Starts with damage bonus and every level gets more damage, I have put the mark of something on him, that gives him even more damage and he can select his abilities from the entire skill pool - on paper he should be unstoppable.
Every time I play with him he is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ week. Run after run after run.
I experimented with different starting skills - nope. He just sucks.

I thought maybe after the last update there was some changes and now the game is more difficult - Nope.
Went back and played the sorceress - annihilated the new level, I think I didn't even die.
Played the archer - completely destroyed the new level.
Played the sage - dead before the halfway point. The enemies just surround me and kill me. He is supposed to do so much damage, yet he dies...

What am I doing wrong?
I don't understand.
I have equipped him for attack speed (crown and gloves), the healing ring, the crit ring, the debuf cloak and the sludge slow down boots. He already have the damage boosk, so I moved for attack speed and crit equipment and he is just so damn week.

I don't understand what am I doing wrong.

[RedRune]

Main weapons at the beginning of a run are usually what makes a class strong. Most abilities start a bit weaker. Sage has no main weapon like the other classes, he has low defense and health and on top of that he's slow, very slow.
But with time, good use of potions and trait selection, he'll get very strong. Also, of course, getting an upgrade for your starting ability asap.
If you have trouble surviving, equip Blood Catcher and Bloodsoaked Shirt.

[Ulyaoth]

Hi,

since he is squishy, the very early minutes count the most.
Normaly, if you have one good Ability upgraded at Tier III, things start to stabilize.

You Equipment Loadout depends on what you are aiming for.
But, at least in my opinion, you need quite a bunch of movement and kiting for the 2nd and 3d wave, when enemies ramp up in speed and the Cubes show up.

Here you can find one build, that helped a bunch of people:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2218750/discussions/0/4344355079682608868/

But you can do all kinds of builds accross the board, since Sage is quite versatile.
Using the Mark of the Landsknecht to throw Grenades on Projectile impacts can be a quite easy way-

A full Physical Projectile Build with Phantom Needles, Morning Star, Astronomer's Orbs and Ring Blades.

Magic Sage with Transfixion, Arcane Splinters, Arcane Rift and Radiant Aura.

Full Summoner with Spectral Fists, Spirit Warriors, Clay Golem and Astronomer's Orbs.


IMO, the only important thing is survive the early game and thats the whole secret.
If you want more details for specificBuilds, feel free to ask.

Good Luck,
Cheers!

[Biceptus]

Take a starting ability that that works well early game. Then lean into it, hard.
Take a mark that supports your starting ability. Use potions to liberally abuse his traits + mark traits to stack things your starting ability to stupid levels.

Then laugh as sage completely annihilates the entire game.

Like if you want the easiest of easy modes, just take Sage + Land mark and choose a halfway decent projectile, and the game just sort of solves itself.

[A Ballad from Nocturne]

Yeah Sage is kinda underwhelming, I don't think he is weaker on paper but personally I just don't find his playstyle engaging & I also don't like most of his own upgrade paths. Every build I tried so far felt more like a "how to make up for the fact this character kinda sucks" instead of feeling like I'm cooking up something fun by utilizing a character's traits and quirks.

[Kruxed]

Sage is great with the correct combo of items and skills to abuse his unique areas. I enjoyed a direct damage Meteor which was doing 100k damage crits. Playing around with the fists after unlocking the furious fists upgrade, the damage is crazy

[The_Emperror]

Just did a round with the granade mark and all projectile abilities...
I am not understanding this character at all...
Sadly the last few quests are linked to his useless ass and I can't complete them...

[Ulyaoth]

Originally posted by The_Emperror:

Just did a round with the granade mark and all projectile abilities...
I am not understanding this character at all...
Sadly the last few quests are linked to his useless ass and I can't complete them...

Could you provide a bit more information?
Which map did you played?
How long you sruvived?

For the Grenadier Build, you need hard hitting Projectiles, since the trigger chance of Grenades scales with Projectile Impact Damage.

[The_Emperror]

Which map did you played? - the new map, IDK the name of it. The one with the cubes...
How long you sruvived? - about 20 minutes.
>For the Grenadier Build, you need hard hitting Projectiles, since the trigger chance of Grenades scales with Projectile Impact Damage.

I used Transfixion as main ability and Needles and secondary. Then grabbed Arcane splinters, had the grenades mark and multistrike gloves.
Maybe I should reequip his ass for survivability with all defense and block items just to make sure he won't die as fast.

For a change I am playing with other characters to see if the level is doing it or the sage is bad, and I beat the level with the other characters.
I do not know what I am doing wrong...

[Wintermute]

Yeah, the fact that every defensive trait he has is "weak" really kills whatever supposed advantage his tomes give him.

Like, I appreciate the core idea, it's fun and distinct. But it's not enough, he's entirely too squish, and suffers from ability leveling bloat harder than other classes.

[The_Emperror]

PS: Man do I love this game. I have never made a thread to ask about other games. Unless there are bugs, of course.
The devs deserve their overwhelmingly positive Steam rating.

[The_Emperror]

Originally posted by Wintermute:

Yeah, the fact that every defensive trait he has is "weak" really kills whatever supposed advantage his tomes give him.

Like, I appreciate the core idea, it's fun and distinct. But it's not enough, he's entirely too squish, and suffers from ability leveling bloat harder than other classes.

The thing is, not all scrolls give me the option to upgrade my abilities. Some scrolls just let me select a new ability and all I want is another transfixion upgrade. I can smell how good he can be with transfixion but ...

[Ulyaoth]

Originally posted by The_Emperror:

Okay Map 5 it is...
From my experiece, you need Movement Speed from any source, to be able to outmaneuver the faster enemies spawning ~26:00 until 20:00

Normaly, if you manage to survive this, you have it in the bank.
UNLESS, your Trait offerings are very unlucky regarding Ability Upgrades.

IMO, picking 1-2 Abilites from the start can work out well, but the Trait Pool is ver filled up, especially with another Class Mark.
So narrowing the pool down is critical.

For the Grenades Build:
Transfixion as starter is a solid pick.
Building around Crit and Damage, this alone may wreck havoc.
Phantom Needles take their time to run up the damage, but can be a good 2nd.
Morning Star will deal tons of damage from the getgo, but needs invest in area + multistrike, to cover a better area.

If you want to try this build again, start of with Transfixion, try to keep it as the only ability UNTIL you manged to upgrade it at Tier III. Pick Amputation first and then pick your second ability. You want to upgrade as early as possible, so at lvl 24.
With Amputation alone, Transfixion will deal massive damage, especially if you pick Proficient Stance - Concentration, and will trigger alot of Grenades constanly.

[Ulyaoth]

Originally posted by The_Emperror:

Originally posted by Wintermute:

Yeah, the fact that every defensive trait he has is "weak" really kills whatever supposed advantage his tomes give him.

Like, I appreciate the core idea, it's fun and distinct. But it's not enough, he's entirely too squish, and suffers from ability leveling bloat harder than other classes.

The thing is, not all scrolls give me the option to upgrade my abilities. Some scrolls just let me select a new ability and all I want is another transfixion upgrade. I can smell how good he can be with transfixion but ...

You can Upgrade Abilites ONLY after certain Tiers.
1st Upgrade - Tier III - earliest possible at lvl 24
2nd Upgrade - Tier VI - earliest possible at lvl 48

[The_Emperror]

Originally posted by Ulyaoth:

Originally posted by The_Emperror:

The thing is, not all scrolls give me the option to upgrade my abilities. Some scrolls just let me select a new ability and all I want is another transfixion upgrade. I can smell how good he can be with transfixion but ...

You can Upgrade Abilites ONLY after certain Tiers.
1st Upgrade - Tier III - earliest possible at lvl 24
2nd Upgrade - Tier VI - earliest possible at lvl 48

Really? If I knew that I wouldn't have taken those damn scrolls and would just wait...

[Ulyaoth]

Originally posted by The_Emperror:

Really? If I knew that I wouldn't have taken those damn scrolls and would just wait...

If you like, take a look into this:
WARNING SPOILERS
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3034282250
Maybe there is more you missed out the entire time and made your life harder than neccessary.