Blood Mages

A small word of advice

Bloodmage in an incredibly fun and powerful subclass. However clicking a bloodmage is entirely different from clicking a regular fighter or lesser subclass. It is advised to first click another subclass or learn the ropes as a fighter and then consider the class.

A Brief Overview

Nacerean Order

An ancient order dedicated to the study of Blood Magic. Before bloodmages existed, the Nacerean Order was the closest thing to any such guild in Puddleby. Originally 'Nacereans' only applied to those students of the bloodblade as taught by Nacerus, a mysterious figure found deep under the Savannah, though some nowadays use the term to mean all puddlebean bloodmages. Members of the Order can be found in a cave deep below the Savannah.

Members of the order originally only taught exiles in the construction and use of Bloodblades. This is why Exiles who use Bloodblades sometimes call themselves Nacereans, though there is no formal organization.

Bloodmages

A guild of bloodmages maintains a presence on Puddleby somewhere deep under the Savannah.

Bloodmages are those who have attained enough skill to perform elementary blood magic through use of a bloodblade, have pledged themselves to the bloodpool and, in turn, been granted access to more advanced abilities. These abilities draw on the power of the bloodpool and blood collected and stored by the mages to weaken and deceive enemies. A skilled bloodmage, though their methods may be unsettling, can be an essential part of many difficult hunting parties.

About the Bloodblade

One of the three fighter specialty weapons, the Bloodblade (known also as the "BB") is considered by many to be one of the most powerful weapons in the lands, as well as the most controversial. The Bloodblade is a common dagger that has been imbued with a moonstone. The Bloodblade gains its power through Blood Magic, by drawing blood from its user and dealing damage in inverse proportion to its user's health. This lost health benifits the blade, the less remaining health the wielder has the stronger any training in the Bloodblade is. These fluidly accessible stats make a fighter who specializes in the Bloodblade a fearsome sight indeed, potentially able to contribute in hunts well beyond what their strength would normally allow, or even slay the toughest monsters with a single hit.

Unfortunately, there are strict tradeoffs. Fighting while near the edge of consciousness means that one cannot bravely rush into combat like a traditional fighter. Even a single lucky hit can bring a blader down. A bloodmage's success with the blade is best correlated with the wielder's skill in situational awareness and risk management, as these are the factors that will keep them standing. The successful Bloodblade user needs quick responses and a deep understanding of the motion and rhythms of combat. For this reason, wielding a blade is often described as a dance.

In addition, Bloodbladers are usually unable to function independently, and must rely on one or more bricks / rods to distract dangerous critters so that they may attack at minimum risk. In non-trivial combat, the Bloodblader functions effectively only because others have made opportunities for them to do so. In the dance, these individuals lead (whether they know it or not), directing the placement and timing of each strike. The Bloodblader merely follows through. A successful Bloodblader needs to cultivate working relationships with fighters and healers alike, so as to be able to predict their motion and respond accordingly. Effective bloodblade use is really a team effort.

The Bloodblade has been long criticized by traditionalists, who consider fighting while injured too risky and the blade too powerful. Others complain that Bloodblade users often strike too early, killing a beast before everyone in the party has had a chance to tag it. (This can be particularly problematic for Rangers seeking kill shots.) When used in Exile vs Exile competitions, the blade may deal so much damage that it renders fallens unhealable. All of these problems can make it difficult for a Bloodblader to cultivate the working relationships needed with other healers and fighters.

Despite the difficulties, however, the Bloodblade remains a popular weapon, and skilled Bloodbladers are a valued part of any high level hunting party.

How to become a Bloodmage

1. Become a third circle fighter
2. Qualify for the bloodlade
3. Join the Nacerean Order
4. Learn the basics of bloodmagic
5. Commit to the bloody arts

Qualifying for the Bloodblade

In order to qualify for the Bloodblade, one must be 3rd circle and spend time practicing fighting while at low health.

Whenever a fighter attacks a creature while at low health they will have a chance of receiving the following message:

• You experiment with a new fighting style.

Note: one will also get that same message for killing a creature in 1 swing (qualifying for the Ranger's Gossamer) or hitting a creature from behind (qualifying for the Champion's Fell blade). Allthough the message is the same, these do not count for Bloodblade qualification.

When you’ve qualified for the Bloodblade (or Gossamer, or Fell blade) you will get the following message:

• You discover an important combat technique.

To know if the message is referring to the Bloodblade, one can speak to Nacerus [1]. If one has qualified he will say the following text:

Nacerus says, “I see you have mastered the skill needed to perform elementary bloodmagic.”

Nacerus says, “I can fashion you a weapon which will allow you to use bloodmagic in combat.”

Nacerus asks, “<name>, will you provide me a moonstone and a dagger?”

Joining the Nacerean Order

The next step in becoming either a bloodblader or a bloodmage is to join the Nacerean Order.

Once a fighter has qualified for and crafted a bloodblade, they can begin training with it by equipping the blade and entering the /use /practice command. After that the fighter will gain ranks in bloodblade just like they would when studying under any trainer. It is possible to see progress in bloodblade training by using the /use /reflect command.

When you have trained a significant amount of bloodblade ranks (around 60–80) you gain entry to the Nacerean Order (located in the Savannah Maha Den, next to Nacerus).

Learning the basics of bloodmagic

If one wishes to continue on and commit oneself to the art of bloodmagic, they must not only train the bloodblade (80 or more ranks) but gain insight into the very nature of bloodmagic itself.

There are many ways to gain insights and each individual insight can be gained many times.....

• You learn from your brief foray into butchery. <Completing the drag-a-creature quest for Vaun Gutturt (needs confirmation)>

• You gain insight into the nature of your bloodblade. <Using you bloodblade>

• You learn about the nature of life and death from the passing of the <undine monster>. <Killing undine>

• You gain insight from fighting on the edge of death. <Fighting on low health>

• You learn from working with the blood of the <blood dropping monster such as a T’rool>. <Collecting blood>

• You gain insight into the nature of the bloodpool. <Feeding the bloodpool>

It is recommended to speak to Putref[2] at some point during this in order to infuse ones bloodblade. This allows one to feed the bloodpool and, if one becomes a bloodmage, use exciting new bloodmagics.

Many aspiring mages have managed to achieve many insights through simply hunting while weak with a bloodblade, along with occasionally feeding the bloodpool. Some have found it goes more quickly hunting undine while at low health while wielding a bloodblade, such as in the Undine Hut located in North Fields.

One can check their progress by speaking to Haima Myrtillus[3].

Committing to the bloody arts

Once a fighter has at least 80 ranks in bloodblade and enough insight into bloodmagic Haima Myrtillus[4] will be willing to officially accept them into the order of bloodmages.

If one chooses to accept they will no longer have the option to become a Ranger or Champion. They will be a Bloodmage. They will be pledged to the bloodpool; to forsake all sources of spirit besides those found through blood, to bleed out ones health regularly, and to accept their part in the ever-present need to feed the bloodpool.

The only way to get out of this emo cult *cough*, lovely group of folks, is to untrain until one is no longer 3rd circle (this will happen when one untrains a few times), or to reset ones character (Never a recommended action).

The Bloodblade

Below is a more detailed accounting of the effects and usage of a Bloodblade.

Non-Infused Bloodblade

It hurts, but in a good way.

A Bloodblade grants immense power through training, but a non-infused Bloodblade cannot be a source of more advanced bloodmagics.

Acquisition: Anyone who has qualified for the Bloodblade can speak to Nacerus[5] to create their very own non-infused Bloodblade. The crafting requires a dagger and a moonstone.

Training: To train in the Bloodblade, one must have qualified for the Bloodblade, equip any Bloodblade and then enter the command /use /practice

Effect: The Bloodblade is a mainhand weapon that, without any training, gives a fair amount of atkus and darkus. When equipped the blade will drain health per second, but unlike an infused blade, this one will drain enough health to eventually kill most wielders. It will also cause the wielder to quickly lose all spirit while dead. Each attack with this Bloodblade consumes a chunk of spirit.

Gains per rank: While equipped, each rank of Bloodblade grants ??? atkus, ??? darkus, ??? balance, and a lot of regia. The weaker in health the fighter is, the more effective ones training in Bloodblade is.

Note: Anywhere outside of this section, if a Bloodblade is referenced, it is referring to an infused Bloodblade. Not a lot of specifics are documented about a non-infused Bloodblade.

It is said that wielding a non-infused blade causes Bloodblade training to regenerates regia notably faster than wielding an infused Bloodblade does. This can make it a potentially desirable weapon for non-bloodmage Bloodblade wielders, such as Rangers looking to dabble in the arts.

Infused Bloodblade

Real magic is worth its weight in blood.

This infused blade can be used by a bloodmage as the focus for terribly powerful bloodmagics.

Acquisition: A Bloodblade can become infused by speaking to Putref[6], granting the blade additional powers from The Bloodpool.

Training: To train in the Bloodblade, one must have qualified for the Bloodblade, equip a Bloodblade and then enter the command /use /practice

Effect: The Bloodblade is a mainhand weapon that, without any training, gives a fair amount of atkus and darkus. Anyone wielding a Bloodblade will suffer constant wounds and pains, their health will quickly drain. The health drain will be drastically higher the higher the wielder's percent health is. The drain will be mildly higher the more total health the wielder has. The health loss is never enough on its own enough to kill the user. An infused Bloodblade is also the focus for most of a bloodmage's secret arts.

Gains per rank: While this Bloodblade is equipped, each rank in Bloodblade grants a lot of atkus, a huge amount of darkus, a moderate amount of balance, and a moderate amount of regia. The weaker in health the fighter is, the more effective ones training in Bloodblade is. Each attack with a Bloodblade consumes a small amount of spirit per rank in Bloodblade , if one does not have the required spirit, the attack will receive no benefit from Bloodblade training.

Anyone accepted into the Nacean Order wielding an infused blade can use...

-[7] Absorb: /use /absorb

Any bloodmage wielding an infused blade can use...

-[8] Control Mode: /use /control

Any bloodmage wielding an infused blade can gain training in and then use...

-[9] Disable: /use /disable

-[10] Cripple: /use /cripple

-[11] Hamstring: /use /hamstring

-[12] Hemo: /use /hemo

-[13] Inferno: /use /inferno

Note: One cannot have an infused Bloodblade and a non-infused Bloodblade in their inventory. If attempted, the infusion will spread from the infused blade to the non-infused.

According to a Disciple, "A bloodblade, once infused, can store the essence of a creature. However, you will not regain balance as quickly. You will also need to fuel the blade with stored blood for effective blows. And be careful, the infusion spreads between blades." According to Putref, "Be warned, this procedure comes with costs, and the full benefits show themselves only to bloodmages."

[14] Spoilers about Bloodblade numbers

Other Items

Bloodstone Ring

A magical device worn by bloodmages and some wielders of the Bloodblade. The rings have the well-known function of blocking healing energy. Many Bloodbladers have hinted that the rings have other uses, but the exact nature of any secondary powers remains a closely-guarded secret.

Acquisition: The Bloodstone Ring can be bought for 3000c from Sargasti Avantis in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary.

Effect: Everyone, regardless of profession and training can wear the bloodstone ring. Being a bloodmage unlocks additional uses for the ring.

Anyone can ...

-[15] Block healing at a desired percent: /useitem bloodstonering /set 20%

Anyone accepted into the Nacean Order can gain training to...

-[16] Highlight the highest health nearby foe

Any Bloodmage get training to...

-[17] Feign Dead: /useitem bloodstonering /dead

-[18] Mark foes a prepared inferno swing can kill

Bloodshroud

Acquisition: The Bloodshroud can be purchased by bloodmages from Bl'kouk[19].

Effect: Style. And easy cleaning.

Bloodmagic

What is it?

Blood Magic is the use of the raw primal power of fresh, living blood from just-vanquished opponents to augment the skills of the Bloodmage, as well as fuel various abilities designed to weaken and deceive opponents. While any fighter can learn and master the use of a bloodblade, advanced blood magic is only accessible to those who have become fully realized Bloodmages, as the ability to perform it is linked to the bloodpool. Some blood magic spells must be prepared by bloodmages before striking their opponents, and can sometimes be indicated by an aura of power surrounding the mage.

The appearance of Orga Bloodfrenzies? and other abominations indicates that the Orga tribe in the Old Clearing also possess skills in harnessing Blood Magic. There have also been some Darshak spotted in and around the Mausoleum and various temples who employ the use of a bloodblade, though whether they have access to any of the more advanced spells is unclear.

Blood

Spirit is a very touchy subject among bloodmages.

Considering ones spirit usage and recovery is a very important part of most every bloodmage's life.

Regenerating Spirit: In committing oneself to the art of bloodmagic, one forgoes any source of spirit besides that of blood. A bloodmage cannot regenerate spirit well on their own, nor can a trainer teach them to do so. Instead they feed off of the energy of recently deceased critters. Any creature hit by the bloodblade or an inferno explosion will release blood droplets on its death, absorbing these droplets is the primary way a bloodmage fuels their abilities.

What this means for Puddleby'an bloodmages is that any number of bloodmages joining a hunt share from the same limited pool of spirit regeneration. It contributes to 3 main things

1. A lot manners around blood droplets

2. A vague limit on how much bloodmagic a mage can sustain

3. Not a lot of bloodmages

Spiritual limitations: All training in major bloodmagic abilities (debuffs, hemo, inferno) both increase the power of the ability and the cost of using it. That means when it comes to training bloodmagic, gaining fundamental skill (100 ranks) in any or all of those skills is extremely practical, use of those skills is easily sustained during a hunt. Becoming advanced in any specific skill (250 ranks) will likely cause a bit of restraint when grouping with other bloodmages, and restraint if you are hunting creatures you only dispatch. Becoming an expert (400 ranks) in any specific bloodmagic will require strong rationing of your own skills when hunting with other mages, potentially a bit of rationing even as the only bloodmage in a hunt, and large amounts of rationing when hunting in areas where you do not routinely vanquish/kill foes. Some mages have been known to strive for supreme power through a skill, training 500 or even 750 ranks in it, but they are weirdos and oddballs.

Note: When a creature dies, the total amount of spirit in its blood droplets is equal to the amount of blood in Bloodblade swings to kill it plus a complex formula that incorporates how much of a vanquish the critter was and how strong it was in general. Generally creatures that are slaughters net very little blood.

Bloodmagic (bloodblade)

Disable

A bit of a niche ability, but sometimes worth using even with only a bit of training.

Trainer: [20] Cryptus and Disabla

Effect: Activating this causes the next attack to consume spirit in order to cause a disabling wound that will lower the target's defense.

Gains per rank: Each rank increases the reduction to defense and the spirit cost of the skill.

Note: not only can this help exiles hit evasive targets, but Rangers and Champions both may have atkus conservation on their swings (they only use as much atkus as it takes to hit) so they can swing more frequently against disabled critters.

[21] Spoilers about Disable's numeric effectiveness

Cripple

A bit of a niche ability only really useful with a lot of training.

Trainer: [22] Cryptus and Disabla

Effect: Activating this causes the next attack to consume spirit in order to cause a crippling wound that will lower the target's ability to hit and its balance regeneration.

Gains per rank: Each rank increases the reduction to atkus, reduction to balance regeneration, and the spirit cost of the skill.

Note: with enough training this balance regeneration reduction can be greater than many creature's balance regeneration. Being stuck without any balance means a creature cannot attack. They also will be notably easier to hit.

Hamstring

A bloodmage staple. Reducing movespeed is strong.

Trainer: [23] Cryptus and Disabla

Effect: Activating this causes the next attack to consume spirit in order to cause a mobility-related wound that will lower the target's ability to move around and mildly effect its balance regeneration.

Gains per rank: Each rank in Disabla/Cryptus increases the reduction to movement speed, reduction to balance regeneration, and the spirit cost of the skill.

[24] Spoilers about training and Hamstring

Hemo

A bloodmage staple. The highest raw damage ability a bloodmage can train.

Trainer: [25] Aneurus

Effect: Activating this will cause the next successful bloodblade attack to deal an additional hemorrhagic wound. The creature unfortunate enough to be hit by the attack will suffer an extra large amount of damage over time (DoT).

Gains per rank: Each rank in Aneurus adds a large amount of damage to the DoT and increases the spirit cost of the ability. The damage of the hemorrhagic wound is further increased by how low your current health is when you make the attack, much like the bloodblade itself.

Inferno

A bit of a nuanced art. The skill has high potential against grouped creatures and in bursting low/medium health creatures, but if not used intelligently it will consume a lot of spirit for very few gains.

Trainer: [26] Dantus

Effect: Activating this will cause the next successful bloodblade attack to deal a non-varying amount of damage. The attack will deal an average of your usual damage, plus a moderate amount extra based on training in Dantus. If the attack kills the target, extra spirit will be consumed to cause the target to explode in a rain of blood which damages any nearby enemies or healer pets or ponies. If a creature exploding kills another creature, that newly killed creature will also explode damaging enemies around it. This chaining of explosions can get silly in certain situations.

Note: If an inferno attack causes a creature to explode, the amount of damage done to the surrounding creatures is based on the health the creature had left before the attack killed it. If you do a 100 histia inferno swing against a creature with 100 histia left, the death-explosion will do A LOT more damage than if you do a 100 histia inferno swing against a creature with 1 histia left.

Gains per rank: Each rank in Dantus adds a moderate amount of damage to the inferno-enhanced bloodblade attack, adds roughly half that damage to any resulting explosion(s), and increases the spirit cost of the ability. The bonus damage Dantus adds to the attack is further increased by how low your current health is when you make the attack, much like the bloodblade itself. The explosion has some sort of weird damage cap to it when low in Dantus. The first 50? 100? 150? ranks in Dantus will greatly increase the amount of damage an explosion deals based on damage dealt to kill a creature.

Note: If you have completed training with Unrastin, preparing the inferno will also indicate any nearby creatures you are sure to slay with the inferno blow.

[27] Spoilers about Inferno numbers

Absorb

To feed the pool. It is one's duty.

Trainer: None.

Effect: If a dead foe is nearby, this will cause that foe to disappear as it is absorbed into the bloodblade. A bloodblade can hold up to 6 bodies at a time. Speaking to either Durin Bloodrunner / Robby Cund / Mourangus Aldim [28] will consume the absorbed creatures, feeding the bloodpool and granting the bloodmage spirit based on how satisfying the bodies were. More spirit if they are in the family of the blood pool's current desire, more spirit if the creatures are big and strong.

Control Mode

This tends to be the more group friendly way of attacking. It gives time for others to tag (and so gain xp) even if the wielder has a lot of training in bloodblade. Keep in mind that the bleed will still end up doing, potentially, a lot of darkus worth of damage.

Trainer: Bloodblade / [29] Aneurus. It requires no training to be able to use this skill.

Effect: Toggling this will cause all damage from the Bloodblade to be dealt instead as damage-over-time (DoT), similar to hemo. The attacks will consume less blood than a normal Bloodblade attack will.

Training: The damage is based off of Bloodblade training. Aneurus will increase the damage done by this DoT to beyond that of a normal Bloodblade attack.

Bloodmagic (bloodstone ring)

Healing Blocking

In order to maintain an ideal ratio of durability to murder ability, bloodblade wielders commonly use this ring to limit how high their health can get. The bloodblade gives an immense amount of stats while at as low a percent of health as feasible to fight with, this ring is key in making that possible. It allows a mage to start a fight and remain during a fight at a threateningly low amount of health.

Training: None.

Effect: When setup the bloodstone ring will prevent its wearer from receiving healing when the wearer is at or above a defined percent health.

* To set the max health percent at 40% use the command: /useitem bloodstonering /set 40%

* To turn the heal blocking off/on use the command: /useitem bloodstonering /off or /useitem bloodstonering /on

Note: Natural troilus and large bursts of healing may still take an exile past the set amount.

Feign Dead

A bloodmage's bread and butter when it comes to survivability. A lot of impossible to survive situations can be, well, survived, through this secret art.

Training: [30] Poshum

Effect: When you feign you will appear fallen to the enemies around you so they won’t attack you, even if they run into your body. There will be a short delay between pressing the command though and actually feigning. During this delay you will lie down and most of your balance will be gone, leaving you vulnerable to being attacked. Also if you attempt to maintain the feign too long you will start to lose control over your life-force causing your spirit to quickly drain from your body. If this happens and you run out of spirit, you will be dead, for realsies.

Beware, although feigning causes creatures to not attack you, stray rocks and lighting can still hurt you. If you sustain enough damage from these sources in order to have killed you if you didn’t feign, you will be dead, for realsies.

Gains per rank: Each rank will at first decrease the time it takes to feign, then, after 50~ ranks, ranks will only increase how long you can feign.

* To feign dead use the command: /useitem bloodstonering /dead

* To get up from a feign one must either say their magic word (default is "Nacreus") or unequip their Bloodstone Ring.

[31] Spoilers about Feign nuances

Creature Markers

the true potential of the bloodstone ring.

Training: [32] Unrastin . 12 rank cap.

Effect: When fully trained the exile will begin to see a marker around the highest health nearby enemy. If the exile is a bloodmage and has trained a handful of Dantus, whenever they prepare an inferno attack a marker will appear over any nearby enemy that the inferno-swing will kill.

Gains per Rank: No effect until all 12 ranks are trained.

Note: the highest health nearby enemy marking can show the location of even invisible things, such as rift traps. This can be useful in avoiding stepping on them.

Bloodmage NPCS

Stat Trainers

The following trainers give raw stats to a bloodmage.

Anemia

Extremely efficient if you don't care for troilus. If a bloodmage trains too much of this they can end up with negative health regeneration, which can be fatal.

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Left branch.

Effect: trains a mix of Histia, Regia, and negative Troilus.

Stedfustus

Mildly high slaughter so debatable if worth using this trainer over a combination of histia/angilsa/troilus.

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Left branch.

Effect: trains a mix of Histia, Regia, and Troilus.

[[33]] Numerical Spoilers about Troilus and balance point

Crato

A necessary trainer. It is common for mages to have 50-200

Location: Southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Right branch.

Effect: Increases the amount of blood you can store (spirit pool). Identical to Spleisha and Splash.

Ability Trainers

The following trainers increase the power of the abilities of a bloodmage.

Aneurus

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Left side.

Effected skills: [34] Hemo , increases damage and spirit cost. [[35]] Control mode , increases damage.

Cryptus and Disabla

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Right side.

Effected skills: [36] Cripple , [37] Hamstring , [38] Disable. Ranks increase strength of the debuff and spirit cost.

Note: Both these trainers do the same thing. They pool their ranks as well. The reason there are two separate trainers is that there used to be only 2 debuffs; cripple and disable. Those were trained individually. When hamstring was added they were grouped up.

Dantus

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Left side.

Effected skills: [39] Inferno, increase damage and spirit cost.

Posuhm

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Left side.

Effected skills: [40] Feign Dead, increase speed for 50 ranks, then increases duration. Does not increase spirit cost.

Unrastin

Location: Southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Right branch.

Effected skills: [41] Creature Marking, marks highest health creature and creatures inferno can kill. Capped trainer, no effect until 12 ranks.

Other NPCs

Nacerus

The guardian of the secrets of the bloodblade

Location: in the central cloister of the bloodmage sanctuary. Reachable through Savannah Maha Den by any fighter or through the bloodmage sanctuary by any bloodmage.

Conversing will... Upon qualifying for the bloodblade, Nacerus will be willing to craft a bloodblade for anyone who talks to him. He will allow anyone who has trained enough of the Bloodblade (60-80 ranks) to go into the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. This privilege is called 'being accepted into the Nacerean Order'.

Haima Myrtillus

The guardian of the secrets of blood magic

Location: in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary, east branch. Reachable through the Savannah Maha Den by anyone accepted into the Nacerean Order, or through the bloodmage sanctuary by a full fledged bloodmage.

Conversing will... Haima will let anyone aspiring to become a bloodmage know just how close they are. She will do this through a set of very cryptic messages.

Putref

The infuser of blades

Location:in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary, west branch. Reachable through the Savannah Maha Den by anyone accepted into the Nacerean Order, or through the bloodmage sanctuary by a full fledged bloodmage.

Conversing will... "I can infuse a bloodblade with the powers of the bloodpool. Be warned, this procedure comes with costs, and the full benefits show themselves only to bloodmages."

Note: According to a Disciple "A bloodblade, once infused, can store the essence of a creature. However, you will not regain balance as quickly. You will also need to fuel the blade with stored blood for effective blows. And be careful, the infusion spreads between blades"

Sargasti Avantis

A fen who sells rings

Location: in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary, east branch. Reachable through the Savannah Maha Den by anyone accepted into the Nacerean Order, or through the bloodmage sanctuary by a full fledged bloodmage.

Conversing will... would you like to buy a bloodstone ring for 3000 coins?":

I'olatron

A very helpful Zo who does a very helpful service.

Location: in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. Reachable through the Savannah Maha Den by anyone accepted into the Nacerean Order, or through the bloodmage sanctuary by a full fledged bloodmage.

Conversing will... "I can help you re-apply your training in the bloodblade to another discipline".

Note: Anybody who can train the bloodblade, bloodmage or not, can talk to him to untrain 10 ranks of bloodblade training. The ranks will slowly trickle back into who or whatever you are currently training under so it is adviced to speak to who you wish to re-apply your ranks to before speaking to I'olatron.

Bl'kouk

A single minded but stylish disciple of The Bloodpool.

Location: Northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary, to the left of the Blood Altar.

Conversing will... "do you want to buy a bloodshroud shirt for 6660 coins?"

Durin Bloodrunner / Robby Cund / Mourangus Aldim

Caretakers of The Bloodpool

Location: (Durin)in the secret bloodmage area in puddleby. (Robby) in the southern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary. (Mourangus) in the northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary.

Conversing will... Either will gladly tell you just how agitated the bloodpool currently is. They will also, pluck from your blade all of the creatures you have absorbed and toss them into the bloodpool. The bloodmage will be rewarded with a fair bit of spirit. More spirit if any of the creatures are related to what the bloodpool hungers for, more spirit the beefier the absorbed creatures were.

Note: Talking to either of them will snatch the creatures out of your blade even if you do not wish it, for some strange reason.

The Bloodpool

The Bloodpool

Location: the northernmost part of the northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary

What is it? Why is it? How is it? Stare into The Bloodpool and its ever shifting crimson tides and you may find answers.... or they may find you........

One of the less tightly held secrets of the blood mage order is that The Bloodpool is the source of the blood based mystical arts. Feeding The Bloodpool is a rather sacred duty of the bloodmage. A duty that no one truly understands the purpose for. Or do we? Nevertheless, the duty will be done. As you shall do it if you become a bloodmage.

Feeding The Bloodpool has the immediate benefit of recovering some of the mage's spirit. More spirit if the creatures fed to the pool are of the species the pool desires, more spirit if the creatures are big and strong. The more spirit a bloodmage recieves, the more satisfied The Bloodpool is with their offering.

The longterm benifit of feeding The Bloodpool are... ... ... .. I'd have to kill you if you I told you.

The pool shows the degree of its displeasure through the following statements.

1. The bloodpool hungers, we must work to fill it.

2. The bloodpool quivers in agitation.

3. The bloodpool feels restless.

4. The bloodpool feels slightly restless, but could use some more life force.

5. The bloodpool is tranquil for now, but it can always use more life force

Other Features

Fast traveling to/from the sanctuary

Fully trained bloodmages have access to a rather quicker means of reaching the bloodmage sanctuary than heading through the Savannah.

Location: the secret bloodmage area in Puddleby/northernmost part of the northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary

To do so...: From within the secret area in Puddleby, walk to the left; from the sanctuary, go as far north as possible. You will be transported to a mystical, ethereal, realm. If you have your bloodblade equipped traveling in any direction will eventually take you to the sanctuary. If you have no bloodblade equipped it will take you to Puddleby.

Note: Sometimes there will be a hostile Astral Guardian within these ways. This can be problematic for young bloodmages.

There is also rumored to be a link between the ethereal plane and this strange means of transportation.

Bloodmage Altar

Location: that slab of rock in the middle of the northernmost part of the northern portion of the bloodmage sanctuary.

BEWARE It is an altar that binds your soul, much like the one in Puddleby does. If you touch it, when you depart you'll return to its location instead of where you might expect (e.g. the temple in town center). One can touch the altar in Puddleby to reset the location to the altar in Puddleby.

Tips

Combat tips

1. Unequipping your bloodblade when out of combat can help make even a bloodmage with no troilus start fights around 20-25% health. Unequipping the blade also is less of a drain on healers' radius healing.
2. Hemo/Inferno deal a lot of damage for the ranks put into them. If a hunt looks like it may wipe, having some spare blood in the tank and ranks in the spank can really turn things around.
3. Its better to be safe than sorry. When things get messy it is almost always better to be patient and wait for the safe attack than dive in and die for a greedy one. Finding a safe spot near the healers and picking off any problems that jump on them or bounce off the tank is a simple, reliable strategy.
4. Know your enemies. Keep an eye out which creature has high Histia/Troilus, runs fast, is problematic for allies to hit, throws rocks, etc. so you can stay safe and know which skills are worth using. Hamstring is great for managing problematic creatures. With enough training, cripple can render some low regia creatures unable to attack. Hemo is great for bleeding out durable creatures or destroying annoying ferals. Inferno is great for bursting down weakened problematic creatures or damaging large groups of creatures.
5. In particular, keep an eye out for ferals. Killing them asap or keeping well away from them is extremely important when it comes to not getting hit.
6. Get used to how long it takes to feign. Knowing how fast you can feign means you can feel out how far away a creature can be without being a threat to you. As long as there is enough initial distance, feign is very useful for avoiding a critter that suddenly decides to run at you.
7. Don't stay too close to snell borders, if something you didn't expect crosses the snell you're toast.
8. Time your swings so you're not close to the creature when it's about to swing next, it might turn your way.
9. If possible, always move back after you've swung.

Courtesy tips

1. Sharing [blood] is caring. If there are multiple bloodmages, have manners when taking droplets. If you unsure how another mage is doing on blood, feel free to ask. If you aren't much for verbal communication... each critter drops 3 bits of blood, so if there are 2 mages, take 1 droplets and see how needy the other mage is. If they take both, conserve your blood a bit. If they take 0-1, you can be a bit more free with it. But, if there are 3 mages, each of you gets 1 droplet. Connie will applaud your manners.
2. Be conscientious about your damage. With how convenient it is to train Bloodblade it is really easy to wake up one day and realize you do preposterous amounts of damage in one swing. BUT other people like to tag creatures as well, so if you kill things too fast they are missing out on xp. Control mode can be your friend. So can be dumping ranks into balance regeneration or Hemo/Inferno. Those things give DPS without necessarily losing friends.
3. Be kind to healers, even if you are nearly dead and they forget to top you off. Be like a cat staring at its bowl of food. Walk up to them. Stare. Politely meow, err, talk at them till they top you off.
4. If you train much Disabla, be aware if anyone seems to be struggling to hit. Cripple can really make the difference for fighters that are on the cusp.

Training Tips

1. Train Rodnus, everyone gets 50 of it. You should too. It increases the effectiveness of healing you receive. Being a bloodmage means you really love the wubs.
2. Invest in Posuhm early on to get rid of the feign delay.
3. Train Disabla. 50-100 of it goes a long way. Regularly hamstringing foes keeps fights from getting too chaotic and prevents critters from swinging back at you as often.
4. Train enough Bloodblade that you can survive a couple swings from local critters while being able to reliably hit them back. Most problems can be solved by training more Bloodblade. The ones that can't can be solved by it can usually be solved by...
5. Train Hemo or Inferno. It is damage you can toggle on. Large amounts of damage.
6. Become the local healer's fav. Kill stuff that goes for them, tell them jokes. SCHMOOZE.
7. Train more Histia. You will be able to take larger bursts of damage before dying.
8. Train Regia. You will get some more DPS. You will swing faster, thus increasing the amount of tags you get, thus increasing experience gain. Angilsa is a really, really good trainer for bloodmage.
9. Indecisively train more BB because it can be freely untrained into other things without any losses.
10. Make more friends in real life so you can convince them to play Clan Lord so you can convince them to be healers so you can convince them to be your bff.
11. Train Spirtus, this will moderately increase the effectiveness of all heals on you. It is somewhat common to get 50~ of it, and a bit more as it becomes convenient. ONLY TRAIN IT AFTER RODNUS. ONLY TRAIN IT AFTER YOU ARE SURE YOU LIKE YOUR BUILD. ONLY TRAIN IT AFTER YOU ARE SURE YOU WILL NOT NEED UNTRAINUS.
12. Train some Troilus? Some people do it. It's like Spirtus, but is less needy about healers and messy if you decide to untrainus.
13. Invest in a shieldstone and some Heen. Shieldstoning is much more efficient for bloodmage than for the other sub classes. It can be awkward though because you have to swap rings to use it and it takes like 25-50k coins to get going with them.
14. Don't be afraid of training mistakes, Untrainus is your friend. Each time you agree to Untrainus he removes 10~% of your existing ranks giving 90% of those ranks back to reallocate as you will. Bloodmages uniquely mind that less than other classes do. You are encouraged to try out weird things to see if they fit you, your playstyle, and your regular hunting groups.

Blood Mage Macros

Blood Mage Macros

Known bugs

1. DO NOT feign while in the library and then log out. It causes a bug where you will log back in, dead, but not be able to receive healing. You will have to have someone feed you health potions to get revived, or, if that fails, get GM intervention. Either way, unequip and reequip your ring afterwards.
2. DO NOT feign and then disconnect in general. If you are disconnected for so long that you poof, the same bug as above will happen.

Some Math and Nuances

!!! If one does not like to see numbers and being told strange nuances of abilities, look no further !!!

Bloodblade Details

[42] = return to Bloodblade section

-If one has just barely enough balance to swing their bloodblade while at 1 pixel of health, it will take 1 ranks worth of training in Balthus per 4.8~ ranks of training in bloodblade to maintain that 'just barely being able to swing'. (tested well)

-If someone trains little to no regia and a lot of bloodblade they will end up swinging once every 4 seconds. (tested well)

-The bloodblade seems to grant, while at 20% health, 4-5 ranks worth of stats per rank in bloodblade. This increases to 6-7.5 ranks worth of stats per rank while at a 1% health. Also, at a 1% health, it is likely that the blade gives 3.5-4 darkus worth of damage a rank (which is roughly 2-2.5 ranks worth of stats. When training darkus as a trainer, only 60% of the training goes to increasing damage, the rest is balance and balance regeneration). (may have mild-moderate error)

-If a Bloodblade wielder is at 1% health instead of 30% health, the gained stats from training in the blade seem to be roughly doubled. (may have mild-moderate error)

-Each time the bloodblade drains health, the wielder loses balance equal to a small percentage of their max balance. This can have a noticeable impact on bloodmage builds that train a lot of bloodblade and/or balance. A build with 1000 bloodblade and 850 trained balance will effectively lose 150-200 regia worth of balance regeneration from this quirk. (tested well)

-As a rough benchmark, including racial troilus, it requires about 50% of a mage's histia in troilus to have the bloodblade health drain peter off at around 20% health; it requires about 10-15% of a mage's histia in troilus to have the bloodblade health drain peter off around 10%. On the other hand a mage can train away most their 16-50 racial troilus by training anemia to end up with the health drain petering off around 1-2%. (tested well)

-While a bloodblade wielder has less than roughly 2 bloodblade attacks worth of spirit remaining, they will receive bonus spirit regeneration based on the amount of health they bleed from the bloodblade. At 5% health their mild bleeding will regenerate about 1 extra crato worth of spirit every 100 seconds. At 50% health their gushing blood will regenerate about 1 extra crato worth of spirit every 2 seconds. (tested well)

-You do not gain any defense by training in bloodblade. Bloodblade training increases balance, which increases defense, but while 100% balance with a bloodblade equipped your defense will be the same as if you were wielding no weapon. The bloodblade subtracts from its user defense equal to the maximum defense its training's balance can give. This means, while at 0% balance with a bloodblade equipped you will be at less defense than if you had 0 balance with no weapon equipped; with enough training in the bloodblade this will reduce your total defense below 0. (tested well) Source

Non-Infused Bloodblade Details

[43] = return to Bloodblade section

-A non-infused Bloodblade is known to give more regia per second when weak than an infused Bloodblade thus making it possibly worth considering for non-bloodmage Bloodblade wielders.

-It is not known if a non-infused Bloodblade increases Bloodblade training strength more or less severely when at lower healths than an infused Bloodblade.

Dantus Details

[44] = return to Inferno section

-Inferno deals about about 2.5x as much damage at 1% health compared to 100% health. Inferno likely deals at most 5 darkus of damage a rank. (may have mild-moderate error)

-The explosion deals damage equal to roughly half of the health the creature had left plus roughly half of the bonus damage ones Dantus tends to add to an attack (i.e. killing a creature that had 10 histia left will do 5 histia worth of damage to the surrounding creatures plus an additional amount based on Dantus training). (may have mild-moderate error)

-If you toggle inferno and attack a creature, the cost will be very low if you do not kill it. If you do kill the creature, the attack will consume about 2-3x the spirit. (tested well)

-Inferno uniquely costs a little under 1 crato to toggle on. At 50 ranks in Dantus it costs that 1~ crato plus additional 1.5/3 crato to use the skill. 210 ranks in Dantus cost that 1~ crato plus an additional 2.5/6 crato to use the skill. (tested well)

-Inferno adds a very small balance cost to a swing. At an immensely high amount of ranks it only added about 25 balance cost to a swing. (tested well)

Disable Details

[45] = return to Disable section

-50 ranks makes this cost about 2.5 crato to use. 225 ranks makes this cost about 5 crato to use. (tested well)

-Gorv says, for each rank, disabling a creature makes it 2 atkus easier to hit. Personal testing shows it is around there.

-It is awkward using bestiary values for what you can make a fighter with X atkus tag since the bestiary values require timing swings (hitting a creature when its balance is down). Underleveled (ie. squishy) fighters timing swings during the shortish debuff window tends to be messy and unreliable. Hamstring can help, but it can be a bit costly to use both debuffs.

Hamstring Details

[46] = return to Hamstring section

-50 ranks makes this cost about 2.5 crato to use. 225 ranks makes this cost about 5 crato to use. (tested well)

-the movement speed debuff stops getting much of any positive benefit from ranks at somewhere around 100 to 150 ranks (a wild ass guesstimate)

Feign Details

[47] = return to Feign Dead section

-As you feign, right as you transition to playing dead there will be a single frame where you are invulnerable to damage. If timed correctly you can block some attacks with this invulnerability.

-In the past it was possible for a creature swinging at you as you feigned to hit your body after you successfully feigned dead. This caused you to not only die, but be very hard to resurrect. The window for creatures to hit your feigned body in that situation does not seem to exist anymore.

-Feigning dead while not at full balance will cause the users balance to drain. This can be troublesome for low regia bloodmages and so for those mages it is extra worth considering getting a shieldstone. It can provide survivability while also allowing balance to regenerate.

-Feign cost does not seem to increase with rank, or, if it does increase, the increase is so little it is hard to mathematically take note of.

Troilus Details

[48] = return to Stedfastus section

-If one wishes to train troilus, as a benchmark including racial troilus (16-50 depending on race), it takes roughly 12% of a mage's histia in troilus for the bloodblade self harm to peter off around 10%. It takes roughly 50% of a mage's histia in troilus for it to peter off at 20% health. Few mages take it that far though. (tested well at 500 histia, there will be some amount of error at large or little histia values)