My Bonestorm/Reap Blood Mage starter for PoE 2 - A DAY TO DAY JOURNEY TO MAKE BLOOD MAGE GREAT

DISCLAIMER: WENT BACK TO BONESTORM BECAUSE I DIDN'T GET REAP YET, WHEN I GET TO IT I'LL SWITCH OR MAYBE ADDING IT AS A WEAPON SWAP SKILL.
ALSO AT THIS POINT I'M STARTING TO BELIEVE THAT THE REAPING STAFF BASE IS THE ONE PIECE.

So, first things first, the name "Bonestorm Blood Mage" is awful, so i decided to call it: And i'll explain WHY that name.

IDEA: Blood Mage and stack a shit ton of Life/Strength if it's viable

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A GUIDE, IT'S AN IDEA, AND IF IT WORKS IT WILL BECOME A GUIDE IN A FUTURE, and I did NOT do any math or numbers involved with this because I'm lazy but also excited to try it directly in game myself

I'll make it simple, since Sanguimancy (*1) makes us Overflow life, and that may be a really cool mechanic (December 10, 2024 EDIT: IT FUCKING WAS, jokes on everyone who said Blood Mage was bait, eat your words)

Personally i'm kinda hyped with the Overflow mechanic basically doubling HP in paper (I know it doesnt double our ACTUAL HP) [DECEMBER 10, 2024 EDIT: YES WE HAVE A SHIT TON OF HP, SHOUTOUT TO ALL OF THOSE WHO DIDN'T BELIEVE IN BLOOD MAGE SUPREMACY], since it goes by hand with Gore Spike (*2) to have that B E E G J U I C Y number because we're a 🥵meaty girl🥵 with a LOT of HP.

Also for a defensive layer/life sustain we're gonna be taking both Vitality Siphon (*3) and Grasping Wounds (*4) in combination with Bonestorm (*5) since it's a Spell (for our leech) that deals PHYSICAL damage so it seems easier to scale, also it has 15% base crit, so we don't need Sunder the Flesh as a nice bonus, the bonerstorm feels really good with Arcane Tempo (*6) and Brutality (*7), this 3-link set-up will be mandatory i think because Bonestorm is a really slow CHANNELING skill.

I'm starting to build crit right now, not so sure if it's better RAW phys dmg or crit so as I'm progressing with it i'll be updating this as i go with it. And if you're using ED + Contagion, please do not submit yourself with that torture, ZDPS builds agains bosses feel really fucking shit (I tried myself that).

As a good ass bonus, we have Bone Cage (*8) supported with Spell Cascade (*9) as a panic button if we got surrounded by monsters, also helps with our aim because it pins enemies when it hits.

Bonerstorm feels insanely strong against bosses, it deals a SHIT TON OF DAMAGE, and it automatically shoots when you roll if you were channeling, so it feels really good

There's also to see what's the best combination of support gems to increase cast speed and aoe, and to see if even Reap is good with this idea, maybe even we end up using other thing or setup, even we end up not stacking strength, who knows, every idea is welcome.

NOTE: The (*X) thing is to reference pictures.

PICTURES:

(*1): Sanguimancy


(*2): Gore Spike


(*3): Vitality Siphon


(*4): Grasping Wounds


(*5): Bonestorm


(*6): Arcane Tempo


(*7): Brutality


(*8): Bone Cage


(*9): Spell Cascade




I'm not gonna plug my Twitch in this post since it gives me some sort of cringe myself, but you can search my channel to discuss this build, I speak both spanish and english.

NAME EXPLANATION:


SIDE NOTE: Day 2 - 1PM Argentina time - Just Ascended into Blood Mage and holy SHIT Sanguimancy feels good, you're almost doble hp all the time, this build has potential AND i'm exited for this.

UPDATE DAY 3: i've been recieving some questions about what's better or what to prioritize in the tree/itemwise, so I'll make a quick section here:

AFFIXES: +X levels is really nice with everything in this game, X% Spell Damage is really good also, % Inc Phys DMG is also good, Crit Chance and Bonus Crit Dmg is "kinda" bis.

TREE: Try to get as much spell crit chance as possible early so when you spec Sanguimancy you'll be generating a lot of life remnants (I like to call them dopamine red blobs, so I'll refer to them like that from now on)

BONER STORMER: The skill has some mechanic tricks, like dodging to sides to cover more screen, the casting trick is a real game-changer, moving fast while channeling should be a day-night difference in your gameplay and DPS, so I don't like to say it but WE need to git gud to master that (I still miss sometimes).

ASCENDANCY ORDER: Sanguimancy -> Vitality Siphon -> Gore Spike

DAY 3 QUICK UPDATE:
Just hit 1k+ HP, now seeing this is pretty sexy:


My damage skyrocketed with a 3rd support gem, you should try it too, my main set-up is: Boner Stormer - Brutality - Inevitable Critical - Pierce for clearing and Arcane Tempo for bosses, just insane damage tbh, if you hit every proj in a boss is around 10-13k dmg.

In the stream I get asked a lot about my gear I KNOW it's kinda trash but hey, it does it's job okay? Here it is:






I also get asked a shit ton about the Tree, so this is my updated Tree to the date:


If you see correctly i'm pathing towards the STR side of the tree now, since I'm gonna use Blood Magic now. Ascendancy looks like this now:



I've tried both Vitality Siphon and Gore Spike, I personally prefer the first one since it makes me a bit more tanky, idk it feels good, but Gore Spike gives you an absolute shit ton of damage, the world's your oyster, Exile.

Another question i'm getting a lot, is about the attributes in the Tree, imma be honest here dudes, just fulfill your attribute requirements, there's nothing worse than staying behind gem level/gear just because you wanted 5 STR over the 5 INT you needed, eventually we'll get to the point where we can stack a shit ton of STR.

SIDE NOTE: I think i've developed kind of an addiction to pick the dopaminic red blobs from Sanguimancy, it's just an instant direct mini-discharge of dopamine directly into my lizard brain and seeing my HP going over it's maximum numer it's so satisfying.

DAY 4 UPDATE: A REALLY COOL NEW TECHNOLOGY

Okay, everyone knows I stream (said it before), and a user from my chat called itachiron (huge shoutout to him, actual chad) just opened his brain, got into an elevated state of mind and suggested a REALLY FUN AND COOL TECHNOLOGY with Power Charges.

A lot of us, been trying to get incorporated in the build some Power Charge set-up, comfy enough to be used. Itachiron said if I can use Combat Frenzy (*10) in combination with Pin (*11) and Resonance (*12). The idea is the following: Combat Frenzy generates a Frenzy Charge when we Pin an enemy, so we support Bonestorm with Pin, so it doesn't has Stun Buildup, but instead has Pinning Physical Damage, and Resonance converts that Frenzy Charge into a Power Charge, effectively making us go into the passive, consistent and comfy Power Charge generation we all wanted. And let me tell you, it FUCKING WORKS BROS, and what's better, WE CAN SAY GOODBYE TO Pierce LETS GOOOO.

This CRAZY TECHNOLOGY opened room for testing things like Potential (*13) since Bonestorm isn't what generates the Charge, it's Combat Frenzy, Profusion (*14) and Perpetual Charge (*15) and Notable Skill Points such as The Power Within (*16), Lust for Power (*17) and Overflowing Power (*18).

Now, RIGHT NEXT to Resonance we have the following Notables: True Strike (*19), For the Jugular (*20) and Deadly Force (*21)

With this progress we made today our clear capacities with the Boner Stormer just got an immensely better ceiling, and as I always say to the people watching me, try new things guys, do experiments, have crazy theories and take them to practice, in this game, the possibilities are endless, and truly endless guys, the world's your oyster, Exile.

PICTURES:

(*10): Combat Frenzy


(*11): Pin


(*12): Resonance


(*13): Potential


(*14): Profusion


(*15): Perpetual Charge


(*16): The Power Within


(*17): Lust for Power


(*18): Overflowing Power


(*19): True Strike


(*20): For the Jugular


(*21): Deadly Force



SIDE NOTE: In tomorrow's stream I'll be trying all the gems mentioned before, and as always I'll be updating this post, YES I KNOW I'm leaving old stuff in it, but it's cool this way, it shows the progression made with this build, when we get to a point where this concept starts to make it's way on the popular meta we'll see everything we did and it'll be cool as fuck. The day this post becomes an actual step-to-step, in-depth guide, I'll make a short section to show everything we made together, you in the comments, my beloved and chill twitch chat (not parasocial, don't get weird) and me being the one who communicates this stuff via this post and the stream. Huge thanks to all of you who got engaged with this!

DAY 5 UPDATE:

Been trying some support gems, some might make a way into the final build, and some are straight up unusable.

Scattershot: Tried this by recommendation from the comments to make the boner stormer charge faster and yes, it does charge faster, the sad thing is you deal 0 damage with this, maybe for clearing white packs it works, but when you encounter a boss or even a rare monster, you'll be suffering, it's usable if you won't miss the crunchy sensation of the Bonestorm damage.

Potential: This is strange and sad, the game does NOT allow you to use Potential, when even the devs recommend this gem in Bonestorm, it doesn't make sense but let's pray it's a bug and it gets fixed soon.

Profusion: Doesn't work with Bonestorm, I didn't realized this first, because Bonestorm isn't what gives you the charge, it's Combat Frenzy, so maybe it'll work with that.

Been kinda slow in my gameplay, I'm sorry about that, I don't know why but I played like absolute shit, sorry if it wasn't what you expect for a veteran like me.

Good thing about day 5 it's the incorporation of a Unique Item called Bushwhack, Lizardscale Boots because it has an Affix that says "PHYSICAL DAMAGE IS PINNING" so we can remove Pin support, and instead use these boots and use an actual gem to boost even more our damage.

Also I've been pathing towards more damage nodes, defenses are for weaklings and we're not scared of getting destroyed by monsters. I'll try to start making a more serious Tree when i get to level 70 or so.

Excited for next day testing!

DAY 6 UPDATE: NOT A SINGLE REAL ADVANCEMENT.

First day that I don't make an adjustement, or a single change in the Tree that was relevant, I'm just focused on getting into maps since I'm really behind. The only thing that was made today was me getting mad about Asala in the 2 final screens of cruel act 2 bugging the shield monsters in the middle of the bridge, blocking all projectiles and a "good" weapon upgrade that'll make the work done until I can get a craft myself. Tried some other gems but nothing felt that good also.

Sorry for having such a dissapointing day and stream, but today's stream WILL be better!

DAY 7 UPDATE: GETTING IT DONE!

After yesterday's utterly and absolute depressive failure of a day, today I had some HUGE progress damage/clear-wise, got my damage literally X3 not going by Careful Assassin (thanks dudebg#2414) and getting those Armour Break nodes that a lot of you suggested, at first this didn't even makes sense from a "logical" perspective (i was thinking more crit chance = better) but fucking hell it works. Now I'm dealing an absolute shit ton of damage, chunking bosses by 60-65-70k damage Bonestorm casts, clearing even better thanks to all the damage i gathered with some simple changes. It seems that even the smallest and dumbest changes can make a whole fucking world of difference.

Got my life pool to a good chonky ammount too for Gore Spike, and so after tomorrow's stream I will get an actual step-to-step guide on how to play my variant (I'm really sorry that I'll not be able to get it done tonight, my most sincere apologies, but it's that or the so promised sub-only stream, I'm really sorry).

As I said, tomorrow will be a step-to-step guide for this build (that of course will get some updates too), so stay tuned!

Thanks to every single one that gave feedback, ideas, thoughs, experiences and everything to make this mess an actual playable build. I really really appreciate every single fucking message I received, all the nice words and kind comments, you're great, guys!

My actual Gem setup is: Bonestorm - Brutality - Arcane Tempo - Inevitable Critical. I'll try to get a 5th socket in the gem but it's expensive and I'm broke as fucking hell.


GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN AND EXPLORE WHAT THE GAME HAS TO OFFER, EXILES.

IMPORTANT: IF ANYONE HAS A REAPING STAFF, HIT ME HERE PLEASE: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3599241
IGN: @PipkinPippaFanboy

Nice idea! Big like for a name XD

I want to make Bloodmage doing big critical ignites, so want to choose Sunder the Flesh. My main idea to recreate Elementalist Frostblink Ignite build, so decided to choose this asc.

But I'm very exited with your thoughts. What do you wanna use for secondary attack\spells?

"

AlexShostak#7274 wrote:

Nice idea! Big like for a name XD

I want to make Bloodmage doing big critical ignites, so want to choose Sunder the Flesh. My main idea to recreate Elementalist Frostblink Ignite build, so decided to choose this asc.

But I'm very exited with your thoughts. What do you wanna use for secondary attack\spells?

Yo thanks for liking the name man, I appreciate it. I'm kinda scared that a mod sees that name and just decides to take down this post without the chance to let me change that name, if that happens i'll just make the same post with another name.

Ignites, if I'm not wrong, are based on the biggest hit you deal so try to make a girthy chonky hit, the idea of an Elemental Blood Mage sounds really fun tbh. I just watched the latest Pohx video in YT, maybe you want to check that out, he's way better than me creating actual good builds, I'm more aligned with Mathil's philosophy.

And the second skill I'll use it really depends, i'll try a lot of things and try my best to make it work (AND make a guide) but surely another Physical spell (if there's a way to cheese Detonate Dead i'll try to use that, if not, Unearth seems usable) so I don't lose any scaling + having the chance to make a cool interaction/synergy between the two.

Wish you luck with those 🥵🔥hot and steamy🔥🥵 ignites my man.

EDIT: Typo

Big up for Your imagination haha, I immidately made a note to myself: "new goal added - create Menstruation Autobomber".

Hey, good idea, how do you gonna scale reap (physical damage) on spell damage?

"

Ownlirh#6136 wrote:

Hey, good idea, how do you gonna scale reap (physical damage) on spell damage?

Thanks for the nice words! Actually there's some phys dmg nodes in that part of the Tree, so I'll be looking into that, ATM im trying to do some math on that also.

I'll be updating this fairly regularly, at the end of day 1 im pretty sure I'll have a more dedicated guide.

GLHF in EA.

Interesting. I'm looking into reap and bloodmage and also the Infernalist sounded interesting with altered gaze phys mitigation and Beidat's hand/will/gaze.

I like Bloodmage as it leverages phys damage too.

Thx for sharing

"

MrSeanG#9405 wrote:

Interesting. I'm looking into reap and bloodmage and also the Infernalist sounded interesting with altered gaze phys mitigation and Beidat's hand/will/gaze.

I like Bloodmage as it leverages phys damage too.

Thx for sharing

Thank you for the kind words sir! I appretiate them.

I also want to play Infernalist at some point, maybe not day 1 or 2 because Witch Hunter has me really hyped, but imma be playing and maybe posting some sort of funky guide of the Infernalist.

I wish you luck in EA, have a good one.

Hi nice post, I was looking at doing a very similar build with bonestorm but after playing it a bit it felt really underwhelming as a main dps skill. Reap looks much more fun, but is it even in the game right now? I can't seem to find it anywhere in-game.

"

FlareMP#0460 wrote:

Hi nice post, I was looking at doing a very similar build with bonestorm but after playing it a bit it felt really underwhelming as a main dps skill. Reap looks much more fun, but is it even in the game right now? I can't seem to find it anywhere in-game.

I don't think its in-game yet.