[2.5] The Tooltip Medic ♥ Comprehensive Aurabot Guide

This is an aggressive Commander of Darkness support build that can run 100% (and I do mean 100%) of map modifiers. It's dirt cheap to start off and can be upgraded really far.

It also wears pants, thus beating any stupid Guardians.



I wanted to play a Commander of Darkness support build after I experienced being near one, but I wasn't ready to commit so I tried to keep the build cheap and very efficient.

The very first prototype version of the build was actually amalgamated into a pastebin a month before I made the character, it's really different now. I don't play around with summons anymore and some of the gear choices I had in mind at the time were changed drastically.

For me, budget doesn't mean held together by duct tape and sticks - it has to have solid performance at a low investment level, not just basic functionality.

Obviously, this means there's a few minimum requirements:

• The Vertex;
• A -8 to Mana Cost of Skills Elreon's piece of jewelry and a couple of reduced Mana Cost of Skills jewels;
• Solaris Lorica;
• Prism Guardian;
• A Conqueror's Efficiency jewel and a level 2 Enlighten.
• A high tolerance for watching people do stupid stuff while you stand around;
• And last but certainly not least, some decent ES gloves, boots and jewelry.



The Vertex grants a 50% Mana Cost reduction which is additive with Reduced Mana's reduction, which after the Elreon's piece of jewelry Mana Cost reduction results in all gems socketed into the helmet being completely free, meaning you don't need to rely on regeneration or flasks to cast anything. It also happens to be a pretty decent ES/EVA helm for the very low price tag.

Solaris Lorica is one of two items in the game that allows you to reserve all of your life without fearing that any chaos damage will kill you instantly, making it mandatory for any build that wants to make the most of its life for reservation. It's the child of forum dwellers complaining about low life builds in 2013 and Shavronne's Wrappings.

Prism Guardian allows for fitting even more auras into the life pool, despite the build already being a Blood Magic build. It also to grants +2 to level of socketed Aura Gems which means level 21 Purities become level 23 inside it, granting 1 more base maximum Elemental Resistance (that's a big deal). It has some much needed Dexterity and a chunk of Elemental Resistances, but nearly non-existent Energy Shield.

An Elreon's piece of jewelry will subtract any remaining cost your skills may have while you're still levelling your Reduced Mana or have no reduced Mana Cost of Skills jewels. It doesn't always have to be -8 but I'd rather be on the safe side. You can just get one that'll make whatever costs you have become 0. Any piece will do, although the amulet is the least important piece of jewelry for this build since it can't have a socket and the uniques aren't as good.

Lastly, for running all the auras requires a Conqueror's Efficiency Jewel and a level 2 Enlighten.





Commander of Darkness
"Auras you Cast grant 10% increased Damage to you and Allies
Auras you Cast grant 5% increased Attack and Cast Speed to you and Allies
You and Allies affected by your Auras have +20% to all Elemental Resistances"

This might seem innocent enough but this wording actually implies each aura you cast grants increased Damage and increased Cast and Attack Speed. So, how does it work exactly? The effects are added to each aura you run and then scaled by aura effectiveness. The Elemental Resistance bonus is only applied once and not scaled.

Here's some simple math to work out the bonuses that are on all the time:



A level 1 Bone Offering grants 25% additional chance to block Attacks and Spells and Prism Guardian has a base chance to Block of 22% which means you can reach 47% chance to Block Attacks and 35% chance to Block Spells without any Passive Tree investment or Rumi's Concoction.

As for Mana Cost reductions: 50 + 39 + 3 = 92% from The Vertex, Reduced Mana and 3% from Conqueror's Efficiency. You can bridge the gap to 100% with 2 jewels that have 4% reduction each. This would allow you to drop your Elreon's piece of jewelry if you have no active skills socketed outside your helm. Alternatively, you can keep the jewelry, get more jewels with Mana Cost reduction, and not use Reduced Mana.

Summary

• Buffs to allies:
122,8% increased Attack Speed;
120,8% increased Cast Speed;
177,7% increased Damage;
~226 base Fire Damage added to Attacks;
~183 base Fire Damage added to Spells;
~270 base Lightning Damage added to Attacks;
~43% more Lightning Damage with Spells;
~Gargantuan Vaal Haste (bumps IAS/ICS to over 200%).

• Buffs to allies & self:
503 base Energy Shield;
4274 base Evasion;
71% to all Elemental Resistances and +6% to all maximum Elemental Resistances (+8% with Level 21 Purities);
2,7% Life regenerated per second;
Vaal Discipline (optional).

• Buffs only to self:
At least 45% chance to Block Attacks and 35% chance to Block Spells (without Rumi's Concoction);
Free skills.


All stats calculated with level 20 gems except for Bone Offering which is level 1.



• Brightbeak



• Rainbowstride



• Rumi's Concoction



• Shavronne's Wrappings



• Steppan Eard



• Shavronne's Revelation



• The Pariah







There's not much to it, you put all the skills and their support gems in The Vertex with Reduced Mana and they'll have 92% to 100% reduced cost <, depending on your jewels, before Elreon's piece of jewelry discount, which usually means they're all free to cast.

You probably want a movement skill and Bone Offering at the very least.

As for the auras, here's the configuration.





Anger, Wrath and Haste, which are the offensive auras, are all linked to Generosity for extra effectiveness, but the defensive ones aren't, so that your character can benefit greatly from them too. The only time you might change this is when you're in a group with more than one support character - you might want to get some defensive auras with Generosity then too, since the other support character might be granting you their bonuses already.

Here's a link to the Passive Tree

Bandits:
Point + Point + Point

Or, for increased mobility:

Point + Kraityn (Attack Speed) + Point

I don't know how to level it.

Low Life builds are supposed to be eased into, but a Low Life buid with 0 damage has to be either carried through levelling or completely respecced into... or try your luck with a meta skill.

Here's where you place the two Energy from Within:



Summary at level 90:
• ~314% increased Energy Shield (193% increased Energy Shield + 66% from Intelligence + 51% to 59% Energy from Within);

• Keystones:
Blood Magic (& Arcane Vision notable);
1 Point away from Elemental Equilibrium;
Zealot's Oath:
→ 1.7% of Life Regenerated per second (+4% from Sulphur Flask + ~2.7% from Vitality);

• Auras:
40% reduced Mana Reserved (38% +2% from Conqueror's Efficiency)
Mortal Conviction (50% less Mana Reserved)
66% increased effect of non-curse Auras you cast

• Utility:
45% skill Effect Duration (+ 4% from Conqueror's Efficiency)
4 Jewel Sockets (+2 Adjacent to the tree)
15% increased Attack Speed


(This summary gets a little less accurate with every new iteration of the tree but it's pretty close.)

Conqueror's Efficiency goes in any remaining sockets as well as any jewels with reduced Mana Cost of skills that you might still need to make your skills cost 0.



Here's a little video showing Energy Shield values with Solaris Lorica, Rainbowstride and Ephemeral Edge.

Play smart, the build doesn't have stun immunity because you should rarely lead the carry and the lack of instant HP replenishing rewards keeping flasks up and good timing. Make adjustments based on your party and your own judgement - these are guidelines.

Here's a link to the deceased original thread. I'm not responding there anymore but it's on the record.

Post here if you have any questions and I'm sure someone (or me) will come around to help you out.
You have no any idea how hard it was to keep capitalization consistent with the game's while writing this.

If there's anything missing or wrong let me know.

How do you deal with stuns?

& Can we see a video with stats & gear. (To check Es without the blade^^)

Sure, give me a minute. I'll edit this post with it.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FulERrFiEHY

Also has values with Lorica + Rainbowstride.

I deal with stuns by just playing carefully; with a good carry everything'll be dead in a couple of seconds anyway and ES characters always have a 50% stun avoidance.

Hello, thx for good and semi-cheep (without Shavronne requirements) build.

I'm novice in Auramaster family and want to ask you, what passive's in passive tree i should to get first?

I mean Bloodmagic, 1 hp and chaos resist or something else.

And thank you for answer.

"

Drugslines wrote:

Hello, thx for good and semi-cheep (without Shavronne requirements) build.

I'm novice in Auramaster family and want to ask you, what passive's in passive tree i should to get first?

I mean Bloodmagic, 1 hp and chaos resist or something else.

And thank you for answer.

There isn't a right order, you need all of them for it to work as described. That said, if you need a progression, you should probably take Blood Magic as soon as you have 5000+ Energy Shield (good enough to start) because it enables you to reserve a lot more stuff with no enlightens.

Don't take Chaos Inoculation. It will make the build 100% unplayable.

the font basically made me not read the guide.

"

Radgris wrote:

the font basically made me not read the guide.

You mean the titles? Is my handwriting that terrible? Damn it, I got warned...

edit: I'm gonna change all the headings to an actual computer font because apparently using my handwriting wasn't appreciated by anyone in any regard

wait, why is Commander of Darkness affected by increased aura effect? Where did you get that info?

"

Kaz2ndChance wrote:

wait, why is Commander of Darkness affected by increased aura effect? Where did you get that info?

Plain testing.

There's only 2 obvious ways GGG could have made it work: CoD could be its own thing and it has a check for the number of auras you're running (This would be a new mechanic, there's nothing that counts the number of active auras on you, only buffs (Mantra of Flames)) or it's an added effect to every aura and consequently scaled by aura effect. It's the same for Guardian's Unwavering Faith Ascendancy passive.