Piercing Light

EDIT: After the August 11th 2020 Patch, every build made before the relic sub-class changes will be outdated. This is one such and and I’ve got a new build that focuses more on the Cold Heart but  it’s still a  Cold Heart + Dusk Mage combo & focuses on Spamming Frost Blast (the Egg of Mayhem related skill). Here’s link a to the new build: Piercing Cold

This build is a level 35 base that can be evolved into the suggested below lvl 60 complete build theorycraft. The current state of Torchlight 3 Early Access would take  several hours to get to lvl 60 (maybe 10 to 15 hours based on how much you rush). The build could be considered a kind of a META setup but I did not have all of the best in slot items nor best Legendarium combos. The Tier 2 passives of Energy Spike & Light Spear allow us to have +50% increased duration for the Unholy & Holy Charged buffs. The Tier 3 passives of Energy Spike & Light Spear allow us to cast extra Energy Spikes and throw an extra “Dark” Spear respectively. With an Arc of Light equipped or in the Legendarium we can switch to casting Holy Bolt instead of Absolver and get 50% chance to cast Absolver. The Relic Active Skill also adds some nice dps to the mix. Shadow Step is our escape and mobility skill & with the Celestial Boots every cast will also add a stack of Mana Infused (for 5% mana regen or 10% with the set bonus that stacks up to 2 times). Light Spear will heal us for 20% of our max hp for the first enemy it hits (after the June 30th update).  The Celestial Gauntlets and the bread & butter DPS Source for Dusk Mage Builds. With a 3 piece set bonus you get 200% dmg for the price of 100% increased mana cost while Holy + Unholy Charged at the same time. A Skittering Shoulder (even without a set bonus) is a great source of survivability so it is the best in slot for now. Dark Spears + Energy Spike build up the Light Buff very quick and spamming Absolver or Holy Bolt will have to do the Dark Buff charging.

Build Video footage:

The skills I use:

• Relic Active Skill (Frost Blast, Spinning Blade, Sword Smash) – good source of dps. For example, Spinning Blade is a total of 540% dmg (+110% bleed for 6s.) when you have a 20% relic damage passive and the 50% from the relic skills.
• Absolver or Holy Bolt (when wearing/slotting Arc of Light) – a good source of damage + okay build-up of the Light Buff bar. Absolver is good AoE + piercing. And Holy Bolt is a nice & quick single target dps.
• Shadow Step – our escape mechanic and a movement skill. It also gives a nice passive mana regen at Tier 2 and procs the Celectial Boots‘ Mana-Infused buff.
• Energy Spike – good AoE dmg + helps build up the Light Buff bar quick.
• Light Spear – a nice source of healing at Tier 1 + decent piercing DPS.
  
• Dark Spears – okay AoE dmg + helps build up the Light Buff bar quick.

The gear I recommend using is:

•  Interesting and obvious synergy will be the following 1 handed weapon + one of the following  off-hand/shield: 
  • Arc of Light – Cast Holy Bolt: 50% chance to cast Absolver (a 1-handed Digitus)
  • Ebon Grasp – cast Energy Spike: while Dark Buff is active, fire a barrage of Unholy Bolts. (a 1-handed Digitus)
  • Power Conduit – cast Dark Spears: call downa lightning bolt, stunning enemies inside for 1 sec. & dealing 80% weapon damage. (a Shield)
  • Egg of Wonder – boost our Relic Active Skill to cast another second random Relic Active Skill along with ours that is not ours i.e. if using the Electrode, anything that is not Quicker Storm can proc. (an off-hand Focus item)
  • Soulflask – Increases the number of Unholy Bolt projectiles to 5. (an off-hand Focus item) Not tested if Ebon Grasp + Soulflask with it will cast Unholy Bolt with the extra bolts. If it won’t work that way then nevermind this.
• Alternatively, I’d suggest a good rolled 2 hander + especially if you have 40% block chance from armors.
•  The Celestial set has nice bonuses & for this build I suggest certain 3 items:
  • Celestial Gauntlets – with a 3 piece set bonus you get 200% dmg for the price of 100% increased mana cost while Holy + Unholy Charged at the same time. Without the 3 piece set bonus it only gives 100% dmg + 50% mana cost increase when Holy Charged.
  • Celestial Boots – Cast a Cooldown Skill: gain Mana Infused for 3 sec. Mana Infused  gives 5% mana regen per sec. or 10% with the set bonus and stacks up to 2 times.
  • Celestial Mask – gives +1 Dark Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it and it won’t give you extra levels if the skill is already lvl 10 so go for lvl 9 if you have +1 or 8 if you have +2 to those skills]
• Skittering Shoulders (spawns a +50% dmg reduction zone for 15 sec. or 30 sec. with the 3 set pieces bonus) – I suggest only using this instead of 2 more Skittering pieces.
• other legendary items that boost your skills or allow you to proc good stuff
• Blue (Rare) Chest and Leg armor that give you +flat dmg (physical/ice/electric/poison/fire) and +% physical/ice/electric/poison/fire damage. Either both with flat, both with % or a mix. This bonus damage should match your weapon’s damage.

Suggested Legendarium Powers (to fill in the gaps from items you’re wearing):

• Arc of Light – Cast Holy Bolt: 50% chance to cast Absolver (a 1-handed Digitus)
  
• Ebon Grasp – cast Energy Spike: while Dark Buff is active, fire a barrage of Unholy Bolts. (a 1-handed Digitus)
• Power Conduit – cast Dark Spears: call downa lightning bolt, stunning enemies inside for 1 sec. & dealing 80% weapon damage. (a Shield)
• Egg of Wonder – boost our Relic Active Skill to cast another second random Relic Active Skill along with ours that is not ours i.e. if using the Electrode, anything that is not Quicker Storm can proc. (an off-hand Focus item)
• Soulflask – Increases the number of Unholy Bolt projectiles to 5. (an off-hand Focus item) Not tested if Ebon Grasp + Soulflask with it will cast Unholy Bolt with the extra bolts. If it won’t work that way then nevermind this.
• Skittering Shoulders (spawns a +50% dmg reduction zone for 15 sec. or 30 sec. with the 3 set pieces bonus) – I suggest only using this instead of 2 more Skittering pieces.

Of course only use either of those if it is not already equipped, ideally, you’ll go for one of the off-hands + Ebon Grasp or Arc of Light equipped and have Arc of Light or Ebon Grasp + the other 2 off-hands in the Legendarium. For the 2 handed setup you’ll wear a 2 hander (staff, greatsword, rifle) and have Ebon Grasp + Egg of Wonder + Arc of Light in the Legendarium.

The recommended stats to look for in your items are (the list is not in order of priority and is just listing good bonuses):

• Flat Damage
• +% Poison/Fire/Ice/Electric Damage (starts getting very good later on when you have a nice flat to boost with this)
• +% Damage to Dark skills (it’s a good boost for our Energy Spike and Dark Spears)
• +% Damage to Brawl skills (it’s a good boost for our Absolver/Holy Bolt and Light Spear)
• + Health
• + Defense (the non elemental is good for any act but lesser numbers than elemental)
• -% Relic Active Skill cooldown
• +% Critical Hit Chance
• +% Critical Damage (the cap is 300%)
• +% Gear Luck (eventually try to get like 60-80% total for good drop rates – the cap is 100%) This is Item find NOT magic find. So it’s drop quantity not quality.
• -% Relic Skill Cooldown
• +% Endurance Regeneration
• +% Chance to Shock to help proc Electrode’s lightning & bolts more often (if using it) Also can help stack multiple DoT effects.
• +% Chance to Burn to help proc Flaming Destroyer stuff (if using it) Also can help stack multiple DoT effects.
• +% Chance to Poison to help proc Bane’s missiles & spiders more often (if using it) Also can help stack multiple DoT effects.
• +% Chance to Bleed to help proc Blood Drinker stuff (if using it)  Also can help stack multiple DoT effects.
• + % Chance to Stun/Slow/Blind – an okay roll but not that important for this build as we slow with Dark Spears.

The Skills and Passives I recommend are:

• lvl 35 Setup: https://tinyurl.com/PiercingL35
• lvl 60 Setup: https://tinyurl.com/PiercingL60
• lvl 60 Setup with +2 Dark skills: https://tinyurl.com/PiercingL58Synergy

If you are using the Celestial set for +1 or +2 to Dark and/or Light skills make sure to remove points from a certain skill (i.e. for tier 3 instead of 10 to spend 9 or 8 when having +1 or +2 or instead of 6 for tier 2 to have 5 or 4 points invested in the skill if you have +1 or +2) Also consider wearing other(blue) items that may give +1 to a specific skill as well. When we have spare points at lvl 60 we can spend them in Unholy Bolt or Damnation or Holy Fury or Entropy or Luminous for the Tier 2 bonuses that we need more.

RELIC(S)

Electrode skills levelup order:

• first, 10 points into Quicker Storm (or only 5 & the other 5 later after step 2)
• second, 10 points into Increasing Charge
  
• third, 10 points into Stronger Storm
• the last 20 points into Deadlier Bolts or Unleashed Energy. But if you are going for a relic cooldown setup to spam it more, then consider spending them on the first tier skills (Shocking Strikes & Brutal Intent)

After the recent Echonok Update the Coldheart is pretty nice too. This is how i spend my points:

• first, 10 points into Quicker Frost (or only 5 & the other 5 later after step 2)
• second, 10 points into Sharp Points
  
• third, 10 points into Frailty (you could do 5 points before step 2 then the rest after it)
  
• next, 10 points into Cold Snap
  
• the last 10 points into Thicker Ice.

But if you are going for a relic cooldown setup to spam it more, then consider spending some points on Chill Out (I think when we activate the freezes are enough so I don’t do this).

Flaming Destroyer skills levelup order:

• first, 10 points into Destroy Faster
  
• second, 10 points into Lingering Blaze or Destroy More
  
• third, 10 points into Lingering Blaze or Destroy More
• next, 10 points into Firestarter
  
• the last 10 points into Smolder

If you are going for a relic cooldown setup (to spam it more), then consider spending points on the first tier skills (Sharper Blade & Ignition Source).

The Blood Drinker also got buffed with the Echonok Update:

• first, 10 points into Faster Blade
  
• second, 10 points into Weighted Blade
  
• third, 5 points into Bloodletter (or do this at a later stage)
• next, 10 points into Open Wound
  
• next, 10 points into Volatile Blood
  
• the last 5 points into anything you want. I like having between 1 and 5 points in Blood Spill.