Grimoire Guide

[PoochieHellhound]

Oct 23, 2011 17:03:57 GMT -5 Kieran said:

Oct 23, 2011 16:05:19 GMT -5 Zed Brightlander said:

Cradock,

I like this guide, but even now I still feel my Grimoire needs a tweak or two to make it a little bit tougher. I do not PVP and only PVE as a solo hero, so I'm wondering if switching from the Guardian Role to the Protector Role would be a good option. So far as I can tell the only down side is that Presence increases Threat generation, but as a soloist does that really matter?

Also, I noticed that it says - Maximum energy is reduced 20 points. Does that mean total or per level or per lvl, because per lvl would definitely be a hefty minus. Though it might just mean using the Shift key more often to re-charge.

Thoughts appreciated?

Yeah, unfortunately, as PoochieHellhound said, you cannot change Roles when playing an Archetype. This is yet another limitation on Archetypes that exists with the intent to inhibit Archetype usage.

So yeah, often times, a different Role would better benefit a certain Archetype, but that Archetype is deliberately designed to function in a role that limits its ability, which then makes Free Forms and their ability to switch Roles much more appealing.

Switching to Protector would be a bad idea anyway, as AoPM doesn't work in Protector.

[Kieran]

Oct 24, 2011 10:40:36 GMT -5 PoochieHellhound said:

Switching to Protector would be a bad idea anyway, as AoPM doesn't work in Protector.

This is true. As the Protector can only use Defensive Passives and Aura of Primal Majesty is a Support Passive, going Protector wouldn't be a good idea.

[Zed Brightlander]

Oct 24, 2011 12:53:37 GMT -5 Kieran said:

Oct 24, 2011 10:40:36 GMT -5 PoochieHellhound said:

Switching to Protector would be a bad idea anyway, as AoPM doesn't work in Protector.

This is true. As the Protector can only use Defensive Passives and Aura of Primal Majesty is a Support Passive, going Protector wouldn't be a good idea.

Thanks. I wondered why I could not find the switch for changing Roles.

Guess my only recourse is my original thought... So I'll just need swap in some Con and lessen one of my Super Stat a little bit.

[supercollide]

UPDATED FOR ON ALERT & NEW FORMS: 26/06/2012

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Archetype: The Grimoire

Super Stats:
Level 6: Intelligence (Primary)
Level 10: Ego (Secondary)
Level 15: Presence (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Grimoire
Level 7: Academics
Level 12: Diplomatic
Level 15: Showmanship
Level 20: Negotiator
Level 25: Wordly
Level 30: Lasting Impression

Powers:
Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
Level 1: Eldritch Blast (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Sigils of the Primal Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Aura of Primal Majesty (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Pillar of Poz
Level 14: Concentration
Level 17: Vala's Light (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 21: Eldritch Shield (Imbue With Power)
Level 25: Circle of Arcane Power (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 30: Skarn's Bane (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Sigils of Ebon Weakness (Rank 2, Mystic Transference)
Level 40: Hex of Suffering (Rune of Lethargy, Nailed to the Ground)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation
Level 35: Flight (Rank 2)

Specializations:
Intelligence: Tactician (2/2)
Intelligence: Battle of Wits (3/3)
Intelligence: Revitalize (2/3)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Make It Count (2/3)
Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Overseer: Administer (3/3)
Overseer: Overseer Aura (3/3)
Overseer: Honor (2/2)
Overseer: Enhanced Gear (2/3)
Mastery: Overseer Mastery (1/1)

If you don't intend to PvP then swap Crippling Challenge and Nailed to the Ground and rank the power in question up instead, put any leftover points into travel powers. With the power choice at level 35 Sigils of Arcane Runes or Ebon Weakness are totally down to choice but with the cooldown reductions we should be able to summon Primal Sigils the moment they wear out so Arcane Sigils aren't quite so advantageous anymore. I've opted for Ebon Sigils and taken the advantage to be able to summon 2 of them alongside the Primal summons.

PRIMARY DEFENSE
Heroic Breastplate of Defense [48 Defense] & Impact Prism

PRIMARY OFFENSE
Heroic Gloves of Healing [19 Defense,68 Offense,28% Bonus Healing] Sentinel's Brooch

PRIMARY UTILITY
Heroic Helmet of Speed [19 Defense,93 Cost Discount,186 Cooldown Reduction] & Sentinel's Brooch

[Zed Brightlander]

Hey SC,

Assuming our hero cannot get his/her hands on the Heroic gear you mention, should we still add our Cores as follows -

PRIMARY DEFENSE & Impact Prism

PRIMARY OFFENSE & Sentinel's Brooch

PRIMARY UTILITY & Sentinel's Brooch

[supercollide]

Oct 25, 2012 13:56:57 GMT -5 Zed Brightlander said:

Hey SC,

Assuming our hero cannot get his/her hands on the Heroic gear you mention, should we still add our Cores as follows -

PRIMARY DEFENSE & Impact Prism

PRIMARY OFFENSE & Sentinel's Brooch

PRIMARY UTILITY & Sentinel's Brooch

I'd recommend following the bonuses given in the heroic gear and cores if you can (i.e. slotted Primary Offense boosting a superstat and bonus healing and then slotting a Sentinel's Brooch)
But going avoid if possible on the Primary Defense and slotting a gamblers gem should work ok (my preference would still be to go for defense).
The Primary Utility matters a little less if you can't get the same gear, I'd prefer cooldown reduction over cost discount if you can.

[blueionstormz]

A guide on the Grimoire's various styles of play

The Grimoire is one of the most flexible Archtype in terms of play style and ability to handle various elements in Champions Online. Have used this toon to solo challenging contents such as Whiteout, Resistance, Serpent Lantern, Aftershock and Teleios Tower before she reached level 40. This toon also did well in soloing the recent Fatal Error: Intranet Deployment and Carrier Wave.

A few days earlier I was chatting in game with another Grimoire player and he said his Grimoire could not solo Fatal Error Carrier Wave. Our conversation got cut off after that but it got me thinking what led to the different results. I soon realized the Grimore's play style in the higher level is different from when it was leveling up, and this could be what led to the frustration. That thought is what led to this short guide.


Using the Grimoire's Powers while leveling:

While leveling up (levels 1-29):
As stated elsewhere in this thread, the Grimoire's strategy is to go into the middle of the mobs, drop Sigils of the Primal Storm, then block. After which, use Eldritch Blast on any left over mobs. This is quite effective.

At higher level (levels 30-40):
Once you get Skarn's Bane, things become better. The Grimoire's strategy now changes. When facing mobs, stand at a distance 50 feet away just at the edge of your Skarn's Bane's range. Activate your Circle of Arcane Power, choose the mob with the most bar of health and activate a full maintain of your power. This should take care of the one bar mobs, though 2-3 bars mobs may require more maintains.


The Grimoire's Range:

The Grimoire is flexible enough to attack from short, medium and long range.

Short Range (melee range or around 10 feet): As with lower level strategy, go into mobs and drop Sigils of the Primal Storm.

Medium Range (up to 50 feet away): Use Skarn's Bane while standing in a Circle of Arcane Power at around 50 feet away.

Long Range (up to 100 feet away): Stand in a Circle of Arcane Power and tap spam Eldritch Blast from around 100 feet away.


Setting up the Grimoire's traps:

One of my usual strategy when facing more or difficult mobs is to set up traps because dropping in on them usually mean a quick death for the toon.

At lower levels: Setup Sigils of the Primal Storm at around 50 feet away from mobs then move back to around 90 feet away. Use Eldritch Blast on one of the mobs. They would run into the sigils' attack and in turn start attacking them instead of your toon, you can then pick them off one by one. If they prove too much to handle, it is easier to retreat as the toon is not surrounded by mobs. This was what I did at Telios Tower.

At level 40: Stand 50 feet away from mobs. Activate Circle of Arcane Power, drop Sigils of the Primal Storm, then drop Sigils of Ebon Weakness with Mystic Transference, use Hex of Suffering with Rune of Lethargy on the mob with most bar of health then instantly use Skarn's Bane right after. The mobs will be stuck for a moment, but even if they run toward your toon, they go straight into your sigil's attacks. This strategy is what helped my toon defeat the mobs at Carrier Wave.

Tip for Carrier Wave boss: When facing Cyberlord, my toon went straight to the control platform and stood at a corner edge of one of the railings to prevent his knockbacks. Then activate circle, activate sigils, block, heal, use Skarn's Bane on Cyberlord (his summoned minion will be caught in the middle of the maintain), block, heal, activate sigils, block, use Skarn's Bane, etc..


A couple more things: A key to this toon's survivability is taking fully ranked Arcane Vitality instead of Vala's Light because I mainly play solo (due to an internet connection that gets laggy more often than not). Another factor is using 2 Con mods along with Breastplate of Agility and Gloves of Precision which helps in damage mitigation and crits. This toon loses a bit in Superstats bonus but with Aura of Primal Majesty boosting stats, the difference isn't felt too much. One result however, is increased survivability when soloing.

One last note: This Grimoire is not optimized for healing - for that, see Supercollide's excellent guide above; nor is she optimized for DPS - for that, see Tammy Waffle's excellent guide in the corresponding section.

[XStorm]

I would take arcane vit over vala's light, if you ever plan on playing gravitar, Vala's light takes too long to get even the slightest bit of heal off. If she targets you, you'll pretty much fall. I never really like vala's light because of the charge time, the enemies always seem to reapply whatever dmg you heal off while you're charging it up. Leading to many situations where you're in a healing vs their dmg stalemate until you eventually fall.

XS

[blueionstormz]

Aug 20, 2013 14:45:44 GMT -5 XStorm said:

I would take arcane vit over vala's light, if you ever plan on playing gravitar, Vala's light takes too long to get even the slightest bit of heal off. If she targets you, you'll pretty much fall. I never really like vala's light because of the charge time, the enemies always seem to reapply whatever dmg you heal off while you're charging it up. Leading to many situations where you're in a healing vs their dmg stalemate until you eventually fall.

XS

That's also been my experience. Early on, I grew frustrated while going through Aftershock with Vala's Light, I then retcon it for Arcane Vitality and it does pretty well. With Arcane Vitality, the enemies can keep on attacking while the toon just keeps on healing, and at the same time her sigils are doing damage.

My Grimoire's current setup has helped the toon to survive Gravitar's yellow bubbles while blocking. She typically attack Gravitar from medium to long range, and has superspeed so she can get away fast whenever a bubble comes her way. If she's hit even once, my Grimoire pulls back to heal with Arcane Vitality before going back into action. These factors have considerably raised her chances of survival with Gravitar.

[supercollide]

Aug 20, 2013 14:45:44 GMT -5 XStorm said:

I would take arcane vit over vala's light, if you ever plan on playing gravitar, Vala's light takes too long to get even the slightest bit of heal off. If she targets you, you'll pretty much fall. I never really like vala's light because of the charge time, the enemies always seem to reapply whatever dmg you heal off while you're charging it up. Leading to many situations where you're in a healing vs their dmg stalemate until you eventually fall.

XS

Yeah I'd go Arc Vit for self heals, Vala for Team healer. Vala is 'okish' for tap self-heals in many situations but totally no way against Gravitar.

[ragingghost]

Jun 26, 2012 8:52:36 GMT -5 supercollide said:

UPDATED FOR ON ALERT & NEW FORMS: 26/06/2012

PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Archetype: The Grimoire

Super Stats:
Level 6: Intelligence (Primary)
Level 10: Ego (Secondary)
Level 15: Presence (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Grimoire
Level 7: Academics
Level 12: Diplomatic
Level 15: Showmanship
Level 20: Negotiator
Level 25: Wordly
Level 30: Lasting Impression

Powers:
Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
Level 1: Eldritch Blast (Rank 2, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Sigils of the Primal Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Aura of Primal Majesty (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Pillar of Poz
Level 14: Concentration
Level 17: Vala's Light (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 21: Eldritch Shield (Imbue With Power)
Level 25: Circle of Arcane Power (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 30: Skarn's Bane (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Sigils of Ebon Weakness (Rank 2, Mystic Transference)
Level 40: Hex of Suffering (Rune of Lethargy, Nailed to the Ground)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation
Level 35: Flight (Rank 2)

Specializations:
Intelligence: Tactician (2/2)
Intelligence: Battle of Wits (3/3)
Intelligence: Revitalize (2/3)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Make It Count (2/3)
Guardian: Retribution (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Overseer: Administer (3/3)
Overseer: Overseer Aura (3/3)
Overseer: Honor (2/2)
Overseer: Enhanced Gear (2/3)
Mastery: Overseer Mastery (1/1)

If you don't intend to PvP then swap Crippling Challenge and Nailed to the Ground and rank the power in question up instead, put any leftover points into travel powers. With the power choice at level 35 Sigils of Arcane Runes or Ebon Weakness are totally down to choice but with the cooldown reductions we should be able to summon Primal Sigils the moment they wear out so Arcane Sigils aren't quite so advantageous anymore. I've opted for Ebon Sigils and taken the advantage to be able to summon 2 of them alongside the Primal summons.

PRIMARY DEFENSE
Heroic Breastplate of Defense [48 Defense] & Impact Prism

PRIMARY OFFENSE
Heroic Gloves of Healing [19 Defense,68 Offense,28% Bonus Healing] Sentinel's Brooch

PRIMARY UTILITY
Heroic Helmet of Speed [19 Defense,93 Cost Discount,186 Cooldown Reduction] & Sentinel's Brooch

Wait, why upgrade flight over teleport?

[supercollide]

Sept 24, 2013 12:27:32 GMT -5 ragingghost said:

Wait, why upgrade flight over teleport?

Personal preference really.
I usually pick and rank one TP specifically for open world travel. In the time before vehicles long distance open world travel (especially for unity missions) got annoying quick. R2 flight takes a bit of the edge off that. I find R1 teleport is good enough to get me out of a fight when needed.

[supercollide]

Please feel free to use the advice on the powers supplied here but for a good, solid Grimoire build I'd now recommend you refer to Tammy Waffles' Archetype Builds here: champions-online.proboards.com/thread/2206

[genericone]

Hello, Champions!

I'm new to The Grimoire archetype. I'm having fun with Charmed One. I'm using ragingghost's build above, but I'm having problems. I am currently Level 24, and I am getting dropped left and right. I teleport into a mob, drop the Sigils of the Primal Storm (R2, R3; I never PvP), and then block. While I'm still in 'cloud' mode, the baddies attack me. I get the Sigils down, and block. By then, half of my Health is gone. Since (unlike City of Heroes) you can only use 1 Healing Patch every 5 minutes (whatever the time is), I'm face down on the ground before I know it. I've even tried backing away from the mob after dropping the Sigils, but still no luck.

Am I doing something wrong?

Also, when I want to use Arcane Vitality (R2, R3; I always solo) to heal myself, do I just tap the appropriate key or do I hold it down? The 'reverse' Maintain bar confuses me to no end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted]

Genericone, first of all, welcome to the forums!

Regarding the Grimoire, do not underestimate your Eldritch Blast. It is a very effective attack and works in tandem with your other powers.

Try this from a distance. Target the toughest enemy of a mob at the maximum range of your Eldritch Blast, and then drop your Sigils at your location. Fire a full charge of your Eldritch Blast to weaken the tough enemy and start Blocking and thereby pulling the mob into your Sigils. If your Sigils expire before all the enemies are taken out, click Pillar of Poz to send them flying away from you and then repeatedly tap the key for Eldritch Blast to target and kill off the remaining enemies.

Arcane Vitality is a maintain, which means you do need to hold the key down. Maintains for most cases means they start of with lower ticks and increases in power the longer you hold down the key. If you only tap it, you get little healing out of the power. Think of the 'reverse' maintain as a timer, it shows you how long more you can fully maintain the power or until the power runs out before you need to cast it again.

Also, you may like to check out the link in my Signature, there's guides for a number of archetypes including the Grimoire that's relevant to the current game updates.