Build Guide - Prophet

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘em. The prophesied Season 3 is upon us, and it is time for Sages to hit. Hard. What was the DPS Sage’s problem? Too slow to ramp up their damage. The solution? Add huge amounts of Direct Damage, duh. This simple answer is what T5 brings to the DPS Sage, and it’s a big upgrade from being the ugly duckling known to ruin pick-up groups in every co-op content. Strong AoEs that, for some reason, deal great damage in single-target? Check. Some synergies with Erosion for the DoT lovers? Check. PVP dominance? Easiest check ever if you close your eyes and forget Knights are a thing, cough. But you know what’s even better? Prophets bring to the table even better summoning skills and a core healing ability. This Tier is perfect, simply because you can play whatever you want and not feel like a burden. For the most part. Looking at you pure Summoners and Ero spammers. And if you do feel too weak? Just bring your A-game and be the Healer you were always meant to be; everyone loves you for that anyways.

If you really want to perform well as a Direct Damage Dealer in S3, you’re gonna want to invest in T5 skills. That means raising the skills as high as you reasonably can through tickets/summons, since most of your skills will be from this tier. Conversely, you won’t benefit that much from having invested into T4 and lower.

Key skills to look out for in T5

• Radiant Rhythm - Healers gotta heal after all. If you’ve ever played any MMO, this is the chain healing skill that makes some classes viable just for having it, albeit a bit weaker. The heal bounces from one target to another, even if they’re far away from you. The only downside is that it doesn’t heal all that much, but the Overhealing charm can do some funny things since it may trigger with each bounce.

• Thalasson Summon - This guy is THE DPS summon, and while pure Summoning still struggles to compare with Gigachad Dark Prophet or Shadow Erosion, if you ever want to play the Soul Pact Resonance charm, this is the summon you want. Beware, it’s very fragile, so don’t bring it when you know it will immediately burst like a bubble!

• Desperate Shadow - Now we’re getting into the juicy part: the Dark skills. And there are a lot of them. This skill is one of the go-to AoEs in T5, and it even works if you want to play more of a supporting role against bosses, thanks to the debuffs it can apply. Also used in PVP because it just works (1 hit means less counters from Knights, and debuffs are very valuable).

• Hexed Blast - Massive AoE damage so long as the enemies are debuffed. That means Shadow Erosion, but also any other red icons next to the mobs’ Health bar. Very easy to exploit, especially with Desperate Shadow. You guessed it, this AoE also works great in ST and in PVP, because why not.

• Soul Reap - Honestly? It’s as powerful as it sounds. The best ST nuke in the Prophet’s arsenal, always played last in the skill order. Big damage with the only requirement of… having dealt damage to the target. ‘Let her reap’, as they say.

• Shadowy Current - Yeah, we’re not done yet. With the whole gimmick of the Dark Prophet being eliminating foes, a charm that increases Dark damage AND deals AoE damage whenever you do kill something, you’re gonna appreciate slotting this in for mob clearing or in your generic DPS build if its tier is high enough. You still won’t be a Sorc, but they won’t be laughing at you as much anymore…

• Ring of Omen - Not hugely impactful for some, invaluable to most. This is a Dolphin/Whale friendly Charm that reduces Eff Res and can passively apply Vulnerability. Works exceptionally well with Shadow Erosion and really any build aside from mob clearing likes it, but getting this skill to a high enough Tier can be a struggle when there’s so much good stuff to focus on already. Freeing up substats for your Gear is a big deal, and ideally Dark Prophets really want to focus on other things than Eff Acc there.

Builds

Direct Single Target

• Fairly expensive to get going with all the T5 skills; if your Summon doesn’t get popped very early in fights, this will be your typical ST setup. You can replace the Thalasson Summon with the Frenzy Totem ; it will survive better, but you’ll lose a bit of damage output. The other 3 Techniques are core to the build.

• Shadow Vengeance is still a must-have for any player who can’t survive without it. You may replace it with Ring of Omen if you don’t need extra survivability.

• Shadowy Current is a better Night's Blessing , but which to use is on a case-by-case basis, depending on your account. Pick the one with the higher buff value for ST.

• In PVP, you’ll want the Frenzy Totem by default, and your goal will be to maximize your damage during the Shadow Vengeance window. Can also replace Mana Surge by Ring of Omen if your targets have high Eff Res. Kill before you die, simple enough.

Pure Erosion Remastered Edition

• Shadow Erosion is still a viable build for the longer fights, namely Hieromon and the Chaos Boss. Its use in Conquest compared to Direct Damage depends on your own account, how long you survive, the buffs you receive, etc.

• All the Techniques here are core to the build, with Desperate Shadow having more wiggle room (it is used for the debuffs it applies, synergizing with Blast but also improving overall damage if lucky).

• Ring of Omen, Linked Misfortune and Shadow Erosion are all core Charms; removing them is not recommended. This leaves only 1 flex slot. Either use Mana Surge or your best damage buff if you’re satisfied with your Crit, or look for the usual survival tools if you need them (you shouldn’t need them in the content this build is designed for, but don’t forget those charms exist for a reason).

Direct AoE

• Compared to the old AoE build, we only keep Abyssal Hand for its direct damage and debuff potential. The rest are our new AoEs and the best DPS summon we can use to benefit from Soul Pact Resonance. Alternatively, the summon can be changed to any other summon depending on your needs at the time (more ATK, healing, tanking, etc.).

• Shadow Vengeance can be used instead of Night's Blessing or Mana Surge (depends on your own stats).

Healing Build

• Slot in Void Blessing as your First Technique if your max HP is high (mostly for spenders).

• Frenzy Totem can still be used; it’s up to you to determine which skill is the least useful in your current situation (if you need Burst healing, Rejuvenating Rain isn’t that useful; if your Waterling Summon dies very fast, you can replace it, etc.).

• If you can’t reliably use the Radiant Rhythm + Overhealing combo for whatever reason, you may replace both with any other Heal or Buff Technique and any Survival Charm listed below, or even Ring of Omen if your team has any Debuff-reliant builds, or simply for the Vulnerability if your team takes too long to clear.

• The last Charm slot depends on your experience: If you die early in the fights, use Shadow Vengeance . If your allies die quickly, use Resurrection instead. If you don’t need any extra survival tools, Mantra of Blessings is the way to go.

Stats

Secondary Main Stats

Below are the recommended secondary stats to look out for when gearing up. Having the right secondary stats is important for maximizing performance, but significant “power/gear score” upgrades or pieces with better additional stats can overwrite this priority.

DPS

Even though Prophet plays very differently from Dominator, the main stats don’t really change. You still need a certain amount of EHR (Effect Hit Rate) to land your debuffs, as your overall efficiency relies on them.

Healer

The stats for playing Prophet as a support, for the most part, do not change compared to when playing Dominator.

Sub Stats

All item slots will roll a number of additional stats on them, which are chosen randomly from a universal pool. Below is roughly the order of priority to look out for on your gear; however, just because an item has great additional stats doesn’t make it the best choice. Make sure to consider the item's overall power and whether it has the optimal secondary stats as well.

Fantomon

You can equip up to 4 Fantomons on your character's Fantomon loadout. However, only the lead Fantomon can use its ability; the rest only serve as passive stat boosters, so when choosing a Fantomon, you only need to worry mostly about the first one. Here are the ones we recommend.

Best Fantomon

• Pandarial: Its CD reduction ability on battle start functions the same as the Archmage Charm, enabling powerful burst damage from the get-go. In its adult form, Pandarial gets 2 Damage Skills and the ability to apply Fragility, a DMG-increasing debuff that synergizes extremely well with the Debuff-reliant Prophet, no matter the build.

Runner-up DPS Fantomon

• Nyxarchon : Nyx’s extra DMG output is great, but in a game where most fights end in a couple of turns, a free CD reduction on battle start is hard to compare with. When you factor in the high multipliers of Prophet’s skills, it’s often more valuable to spam them as much as possible in the shortest time frame. Lastly, Fragility tends to be more rare than DEF Reduction, and Prophet thrives on having at least 3 different Debuffs on their targets.

Best PVP Fantomon

• Aegiswing : With Prophet’s reliance on Vengeance to kill their enemy first, having another cheat-death ability comes in handy, to say the least. The ACC and Crit Rate buffs also make your burst window that much more impactful when fighting Knights. With all that said, Prophet doesn’t exactly need the extra buffs and debuffs from Aegis when facing most other classes in PVP; this is really more of a high-end option for those desiring to contend a bit better with whales, and Knights and their ridiculous kit. Nyx and Panda work just fine already for casual climb through the ladder.

F2P DPS Fantomons

• Zeioletus: Before you get Nyx, if you want the next best damaging option, Zei is the go-to even if they are a significant downgrade in most scenarios, mostly due to their lack of a debuff, no multi-hitting on large targets and smaller AoE. A good F2P stopgap, though.

• Sylvaerie: A buff-based alternative to Zei, which, instead of dealing damage themself buffs you permanently, granting a solid amount of SPD and ATK. Depending on your build and your gear, this can beat out Zei on some accounts. If you have both Syl and Zei and can’t choose, we recommend testing in “test” mode to find which is better for you currently.

Healing/Supporting Fantomons

• Mandragora : This Fantomon provides a solid amount of additional healing output, boosting your ability to keep the team alive. Doesn’t provide any other supportive effects or damage, though.

• Terragon : An alternative debuffing Fantomon to Nyx that, instead of boosting overall damage, temporarily lowers the enemy's attack. You’ll have to run an attacking technique to trigger this debuff buff, which can be worth it for supporting the team.

• Sylvaerie : The bonus ATK from Sylvaerie isn’t useful when healing as Sage unless you’re also trying to do damage, but the additional speed will give you more actions to support the team, making it a viable choice.

Best Support/Healing Fantomon

• Pandarial : Its CD reduction ability on battle start functions the same as the Archmage Charm, which allows the Sage to heal on Turn 1 in dungeons where Bosses often slap your team from the start with their superior SPD. Once adult, its 2nd passive provides AoE Healing to all allies around at the start of the Sage’s turn. Before heavily investing in Pandarial for Healing purposes, keep in mind that another, hyper-specialized healing pet is due to be released in the later parts of S3. Even so, Pandarial can still make a solid case for its superiority when it comes to dealing with Burst damage from Bosses, which is most situations where you’d want to heal anyways.

A Fantomon for Sages released later into S3

• Prismora: Prismora is a unique Pet, as it is fully dedicated to Healing and Supporting the team through Heals, Debuff Immunity, and a once-per-battle revive for one ally. This all comes at a price, however, as Prismora requires the Sage to actively Heal or Buff, and unlike Pandarial, it offers no CD reduction, damage, or offensive buffs. To sum it up, while its effects are powerful in a pure Support role, the cost of building the Pet compared to its versatility makes it a tough sell when super stacked cuties like Pandarial already exist.

Gems

Sages require 2 different gem builds, one for their Healing/Support build and the other for DPS spec. Keep in mind that starting from Gear level 130 in S2, 2 gems can be equipped per Gear slot.

Healer/Support Build

• Amethyst gems are recommended for the Weapon slot, as they’re the only SPD gems available for that slot.

• You want Amber gems in every applicable slot, which are Off-hand, Helmet, and Boots. The reason is that at similar rarities, the Healing Boost is more efficient to get than SPD on the gem slots, as it’s easier to increase SPD through other means.

• If you run out of Amber gems, your 2nd best option is the Citrine gems for extra SPD, which share their slots with Amber ones (so Off-hand, Helmet and Boots).

• Moonstone gems are recommended for the Armor slot, as the DMG RES is more effective in general.

DPS Build

Because of the Erosion mechanic, Sages generally prefer DMG%, Crit Rate% and SPD over other stats.

• Obsidian gems are used for the Weapon and Off-hand, with Amethyst gems being the 2nd option. Rubies are the 3rd option, lagging quite a bit behind the previous 2.

• Citrine gems are used for the Helmet slot, as it’s the only offensive option there.

• Moonstones are used for the Armor to get some much-needed DMG RES.

• Amethyst gems are preferred over Rubies for the Boots, since crit is invaluable.