Khuzite Spellblade, Rune Sage, And?

[Butterlord]

So this is my first real play through and as the title would suggest I already picket Spellblade and Runesage, not realizing that the breakthrough points could not be earned or respecced. It doesn't seem like the worst start so far but I'm having a hard time picking what I should do for a final breakthrough tree. I'm trying to use as much magic as possible but also be reliable in melee. I know most people say to pick Cabal Hermit, and I can see why. But I'm eyeballing hexmaster the hardest as the ability to hex targets multiple times and then make them explode sounds really appealing and looks to be deadly.

Any advice?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

hex mage has a lot of really good spells and probably one of the best breakthrough points in the game since every time you kill something it removes burnt stats. It also has a passive that, as long as you are very tired, gives you 30% more elemental damage. Hex gives the enemy a random debuff, torment does damage to a hexed enemy, and Rupture explodes hexed enemies.

Philosopher has a few good sigil spells but the main draw would be the breakthrough that gives you permanent passive mana regen.

If you want to be more tanky you could go mercenary and get shield infusion which lets you block elemental attacks and if you block a second hit makes the shield explode doing good damage. The other nice thing about this tree is the 10% extra movement speed and 40% less stamina consumed when running. There is a LOT of running in this game and it makes a big difference.

[Butterlord]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

hex mage has a lot of really good spells and probably one of the best breakthrough points in the game since every time you kill something it removes burnt stats. It also has a passive that, as long as you are very tired, gives you 30% more elemental damage. Hex gives the enemy a random debuff, torment does damage to a hexed enemy, and Rupture explodes hexed enemies.

Philosopher has a few good sigil spells but the main draw would be the breakthrough that gives you permanent passive mana regen.

If you want to be more tanky you could go mercenary and get shield infusion which lets you block elemental attacks and if you block a second hit makes the shield explode doing good damage. The other nice thing about this tree is the 10% extra movement speed and 40% less stamina consumed when running. There is a LOT of running in this game and it makes a big difference.

Yeah the philospher perk was pretty big, but I figure I have a lot of mana and am already good at conserving/using pots and it seems it's only going to get easier. Definietly makes me lean into Hexing more. I think I'm going to pass on Mercenary, I'd rather take damage and dodge.
Thanks for the wonderful advice!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

if you do go hex mage you can pick up the scholar circlet and enchant it with an enchant called rain and it gives you almost as much passive mana regen as the philosopher perk would.

You can also learn reveal soul from the cabal hermit and casting spark on a soul gives you a pretty hefty chunk of your mana back and those skills don't require a breakthrough point to use.

[Midas]

Just in case you aren't aware, you get passive mana regen from being tired. Hex Mage kind of hints at this with stuff like Lockwell's Revelation. Just being very tired gives you almost the same passive mana regen as the philosopher break through.

I personally would agree with going Hex Mage, because beyond just the hex gameplay, the utility of being able to manage your own corruption and remove your burnt stats by killing things is amazing on any build.

[The Last Sasquatch]

Spellblade, Rune Sage, and Cabal Hermit are the breakthroughs I have on my current build. The increase to the effect of boons from Shamanic resonance is great and fits nicely into any build, but is particularly helpful on builds that utilize multiple damage types.

With the Runic Prefix passive, Runic Blade and Great Runic Blade come with innate elemental infusions (lightning and decay respectively), and Runic Trap/Runic Detonation gets bonus decay damage. Stacking boons for different elements can lead to really good damage and elemental resistance. Combine this with Runic Protection, and you can be a really tanky mage.

[ArchaicReaper]

Originally posted by The Last Sasquatch:

Spellblade, Rune Sage, and Cabal Hermit are the breakthroughs I have on my current build. The increase to the effect of boons from Shamanic resonance is great and fits nicely into any build, but is particularly helpful on builds that utilize multiple damage types.

With the Runic Prefix passive, Runic Blade and Great Runic Blade come with innate elemental infusions (lightning and decay respectively), and Runic Trap/Runic Detonation gets bonus decay damage. Stacking boons for different elements can lead to really good damage and elemental resistance. Combine this with Runic Protection, and you can be a really tanky mage.

To add on to this, the infusions granted by Runix Prefix can be used for Spellblade's Elemental Discharge. Giving you a decent ranged attack without the drawbacks of losing Durability on a weapon.

Hex Mage is good but it might cut into your Rune Magic, you only have 8 Quickslots. Runes need 4 slots and Hexes are 3 with Jinx, Torment, and Rupture. That leaves you with 1 for Elemental Discharge or a weapon skill, or Spark if you like to use Sigil magic too. You CAN use skills from the skill menu, but I mostly use that for buffs between combat as it can get really cumbersome in the middle of a fight. Hermit would just buff what you already do and add a new Sigil for lightning damage and lets you conjure a ghost. You'd have more slots to work with for melee stuff.

Something to consider, is all.

[Angel]

Originally posted by ArchaicReaper:

Originally posted by The Last Sasquatch:

Spellblade, Rune Sage, and Cabal Hermit are the breakthroughs I have on my current build. The increase to the effect of boons from Shamanic resonance is great and fits nicely into any build, but is particularly helpful on builds that utilize multiple damage types.

With the Runic Prefix passive, Runic Blade and Great Runic Blade come with innate elemental infusions (lightning and decay respectively), and Runic Trap/Runic Detonation gets bonus decay damage. Stacking boons for different elements can lead to really good damage and elemental resistance. Combine this with Runic Protection, and you can be a really tanky mage.

To add on to this, the infusions granted by Runix Prefix can be used for Spellblade's Elemental Discharge. Giving you a decent ranged attack without the drawbacks of losing Durability on a weapon.

Hex Mage is good but it might cut into your Rune Magic, you only have 8 Quickslots. Runes need 4 slots and Hexes are 3 with Jinx, Torment, and Rupture. That leaves you with 1 for Elemental Discharge or a weapon skill, or Spark if you like to use Sigil magic too. You CAN use skills from the skill menu, but I mostly use that for buffs between combat as it can get really cumbersome in the middle of a fight. Hermit would just buff what you already do and add a new Sigil for lightning damage and lets you conjure a ghost. You'd have more slots to work with for melee stuff.

Something to consider, is all.

I echo this sentiment

[Samseng Yik]

Not a very good combo for your Rune Mage and Spell blade.
Rune Mage usually best for dedicated build due to the amount of button during mid combat.
You either salvage the current build like other suggestion, use elem discharge on summoned weapon.
You also have to decide either continue use the lexicon off-hand, or use internalized lexicon so you can wield shield (result in weaker rune magic) for shield bash.
Or just create new hero and transfer everything over during a split screen.

If you really want continue
- Hexmage is really good, the breakthrough also let ease up your resource management for long dungeon
- Shaman is ok if you use a lot boon

[Midas]

Originally posted by ArchaicReaper:

Originally posted by The Last Sasquatch:

Spellblade, Rune Sage, and Cabal Hermit are the breakthroughs I have on my current build. The increase to the effect of boons from Shamanic resonance is great and fits nicely into any build, but is particularly helpful on builds that utilize multiple damage types.

With the Runic Prefix passive, Runic Blade and Great Runic Blade come with innate elemental infusions (lightning and decay respectively), and Runic Trap/Runic Detonation gets bonus decay damage. Stacking boons for different elements can lead to really good damage and elemental resistance. Combine this with Runic Protection, and you can be a really tanky mage.

To add on to this, the infusions granted by Runix Prefix can be used for Spellblade's Elemental Discharge. Giving you a decent ranged attack without the drawbacks of losing Durability on a weapon.

Hex Mage is good but it might cut into your Rune Magic, you only have 8 Quickslots. Runes need 4 slots and Hexes are 3 with Jinx, Torment, and Rupture. That leaves you with 1 for Elemental Discharge or a weapon skill, or Spark if you like to use Sigil magic too. You CAN use skills from the skill menu, but I mostly use that for buffs between combat as it can get really cumbersome in the middle of a fight. Hermit would just buff what you already do and add a new Sigil for lightning damage and lets you conjure a ghost. You'd have more slots to work with for melee stuff.

Something to consider, is all.

I have a rune/hex/hermit build and just use Shim and Fal on my bar, since that's all you need for runic lightning and runic trap, and the rest can generally be done from the menu. You're not wrong that they're both greedy classes with regard to hotkey usage, but it can be made to work.

[Yumemirareru]

I'm using hex, hermit, and chakram (just for the leyline) for my breakthrough points. I actually use rune magic a lot, I just don't have the breakthrough, 40 mana just seems like such a waste and as for the stronger rune magic, well, I think hexes are better at scaling into endgame.

I'm having fun with it.

Also if you want to respec, there's a mod called "blackout potions" or something like that. You lose all your skills for that area though, so you'd have to buy even non-breakthrough skills again for whatever you reset.

Alternatively, you could take the chance to plant some items in legacy chests and make a new character to collect on said chests while you also respec via that new character. No mods needed for that, pure vanilla.

[Majin]

Originally posted by Yumemirareru:

I'm using hex, hermit, and chakram (just for the leyline) for my breakthrough points. I actually use rune magic a lot, I just don't have the breakthrough, 40 mana just seems like such a waste and as for the stronger rune magic, well, I think hexes are better at scaling into endgame.

I'm having fun with it.

Also if you want to respec, there's a mod called "blackout potions" or something like that. You lose all your skills for that area though, so you'd have to buy even non-breakthrough skills again for whatever you reset.

Alternatively, you could take the chance to plant some items in legacy chests and make a new character to collect on said chests while you also respec via that new character. No mods needed for that, pure vanilla.

Do you know where to put this mode because even though I installed it, I don't have the impression that it works, I had the wrong talent and I'm far in the game...