[Build of the Week Submission] Lemonpuree Indigon Blood Mage

Video guide: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_TxR8nM1g2I
Pob: https://poe.ninja/poe2/pob/e6f4


Excuse the meme-ry and short format, I have been away and haven't had time to make a straight up build video, but wanted to make this forum post to go alongside the video’s publishing date.

The build is an Indigon Blood Mage using several of the common life-stacking fairs Blood Mages use such as Rathpith Globe, Undying Hate - Tecrod’s and Atalui’s Bloodletting, but uses things like Indigon and Archmage to further scale the damage of weapon-based skills like Bone Blast.

The build inner workings:

We use the weapon skill Bone Blast as our main damaging ability, but really, any weapon skill will work, even staff skills. The reason we use a weapon skill is because no base mana cost. That said, we are using archmage to GIVE our weapon skill a mana cost, which is then in turn being converted into a life cost by Atalui’s Bloodletting.

Why do we do this? The mana cost of a normal skill gem will be too high due to high +skill and Indigon stacks. By using a weapon skill and giving it a mana(life) cost via archmage, we can keep the life cost low enough to be able to cast, while getting as much damage from Atalui’s and Indigon as possible.

How do we do this? We use a curse, in this case Vulnerability, which costs a large amount of mana. This is tailored to a specific amount via cost multiplier support gems in order to get a specific amount of Indigon stacks from a single cast. In the video’s case, it costs around 1200 mana, so 6 stacks of Indigon. This increases Bone Blasts life cost over 2k, and makes Vulnerability un-castable(this is important, as because no other skill costs mana you are no longer able to generate Indigon stacks, thus no longer being able to increase Bone Blasts life cost further, allowing you to always cast it). This is why it’s mandatory to use a weapon skill in the first place as a skill gem based ability would become uncastable at this point even without archmage).

What do we get from all this over a traditional Blood Mage? Basically, by using Indigon and this setup, with the gear and setup shown in the pob, you’re getting roughly 300% increased spell damage from Indigon itself with a single cast of Vulnerability. And a skill that costs over 2k life, which is gained as extra physical from Atalui’s, and 3-4k~ max mana to scale with Archmage as extra lightning damage.

Note: The skill costs vary depending on max mana levels thanks to archmage, so if you have different max mana values you might have to drop supports from your curse/use efficiency, and settle with less Indigon stacks.


Gear:

Helmet - Indigon
Focus - Rathpith Globe
Wand - Bone Blast wand w/ +level to phys spell skills, cast speed, crit chance, spell damage, damage as extra(doesn’t have to be lightning) fl/at mana
Amulet - All spell skills, cast speed, crit chance, flat mana, life, max mana
or/ Defiance of Destiny(makes mapping comfortable)
Rings - Max mana, flat mana, life, cast speed, resistances
ES Boots - Life, flat mana, movement speed, int/resistances
ES Gloves - Life, flat mana, int, resistances
Belt - Life, flat mana, resistances
ES Body armour - as high energy shield as possible + resistances. This gives us max health thanks to Crimson Power and max mana thanks to Eldritch Battery

I’ve tested this build with staff weapon skills too, so feel free to experiment.

Ascendency:

Grasping Wound, Crimson Power(life/mana from ES chest), Sanguine Tides (more extra phys, we don’t need life flask), and last point is up to choice. Vitality Siphon(comfort) or Whispers of the Flesh. Take Sunder the Flesh instead if you aren’t using Bone Blast for 15% base crit.

Skill Gems:

Damage skill - Atalui’s Bloodletting and Efficiency II are the only mandatory support gems. The rest can be whatever works for the skill. For Bone Blast I use Spell Cascade and Zenith II

Passive tree:

In PoB we take Chaos Inoculation—but it’s converted to Sacrifice of Blood thanks to nearby Tecrod’s.
From Nothing Jewel - Bulwark - for Hale Heart life regeneration cluster

Otherwise - as much Crit/Crit damage as possible, then mana/mana regen nodes


Playstyle: Ramp your life regen a bit, cast your curse of choice to generate Indigon stacks, then spam away with your weapon skill of choice.