Build:Ancient Krypteia Assassin

**Ancient Krypteia Assassin** is a Character Build in *Outward*, created by Aberrate.

## Full Build Details

"Gabriella told me that you never had a chance to learn any of the abilities and skills the Krypteia have kept secret all these years. I think this . . . is a good place to start . . ." - Anthony Berthelot, Krypteia Scholar

This build is all about making the most of the Sigil of Fire and Blood Sigil to maximize damage against bosses while providing alternative means for eliminating average enemies. Additionally, the equipment and skills fit a consistent theme that may be suitable for roleplay.

The central choice behind this build is the use of a Blood Sigil and dagger to enable the powerful Blood Leech combination. Although this damage over time effect requires significant investment, it is the strongest against bosses as it deals percentage damage and it is not resisted by anything. Blood Leech will kill anything below half health, so everything else in the build is about bringing the enemy below that health before the Blood Sigil can expire. This is accomplished by enhancing the Ring of Fire and Blood Turret skill combinations to maximize damage.

The Hex Mage breakthrough is required to unlock the Blood Sigil in the first place. This comes with a nice +15 or +30 elemental damage bonus with Lockwell's Revelation. Cleanse is obviously also useful as it is an essential source of dark stones. Cabal Hermit is also necessary to learn Conjure for the Blood Turret skill combination. Shamanic Resonance conveniently enhances Boons, which now provide +30 elemental damage. The choice of a third breakthrough is more open. This build invests in the Philosopher breakthrough for the easy mana regeneration and the +15 fire damage on Fire Affinity. Once New Sirocco has been developed, the Specialist skills Patience, Brains, and Unsealed should be learned. Brains provides +15 elemental damage, Patience and Unsealed will be discussed later.

As mentioned earlier, this build centers on the Ring of Fire and Blood Turret skill combinations, which provide excellent damage over time, though they are not status effects. These skill combinations are preferred as once initiated, they damage any enemy in range automatically, allowing the player to take other actions in the fight. Another advantage of these skills is that their damage may be enhanced with the Mana Ward skill combinations Immolate and Gift of Blood, which provide +30 fire damage and +15 decay damage, respectively.

Regarding equipment, Rust Lich Armor is an obvious first choice, providing +25 to both fire and decay. With Brains and the Rust Lich Armor, a significant penalty of -50 has been achieved for physical damage. Therefore, the optimal choice of dagger is the Gilded Shiver of Tramontane, which deals only frost damage. This diverges from the fire and decay damage provided so far in this build, which provides an alternative damage type for the few enemies that are resistant to both fire and decay. Furthermore, the skill combination Gift of Blood also provides +15 frost damage, and the Gilded Shiver may benefit from the other miscellaneous sources of elemental damage in this build. The dagger is enchanted with Midnight Dance for +10 decay damage. This is the only available enchantment anyway. Once the Gilded Shiver has been chosen, and the build has some frost damage, it is apparent that the Red Wide Hat is the best headgear as it provides +10 decay and +10 frost damage. As for boots, there is no obvious item based on damage bonuses. Instead, the Gold-Lich Boots are equipped for some lightning resistance. This is an essential defensive choice as the player is likely to suffer lightning resistance reductions from corruption effects. The Old Legion Gladius is chosen as the main hand weapon specifically for the War Memento enchantment, which inflicts Curse and Scorched in four hits. In this build, the Gladius is superior to the Astral Axe as the sword is faster and requires less stamina. A final choice is for armor enchantments. At least one barrier is convenient to eliminate the damage from Immolate. Otherwise, the combination of Aegis and Shelter is at the player's discretion.

The minimum damage bonus from passive skills and equipment is thus: +60 Decay, +40 Fire, +25 Frost

Boons and the Mana Ward skill combinations provide and additional damage bonus for at total of: +105 Decay, +100 Fire, +70 Frost

Lockwell's Revelation and the Shimmer effect grant yet more damage bonuses for a maximum of: +150 Decay, +145 Fire, +115 Frost

The choice of faction is the Blue Chamber Collective. The additional health from Blood of Giants helps offset the cost of Unsealed. Additionally, extra mana from Ancestors' Memories is nice. This allows the player to minimize their sacrifice at the ley line to only 5 life and stamina for 20 mana. Total vitals are thus 150 life, 140 stamina, and 65 mana. The real benefit of the Blue Chamber Collective is access to the Infuse Blood skill. In combination with the Blood Lich skill combination, this imbue allows the player to easily remain at maximum life by draining it from their enemies. Finally, the Blue Chamber Collective fits nicely with the theme of this build.

There are two strategies in combat for this build, depending on the strength of the enemy. If the enemy is weak, combat involves the dagger only, with no use of sigils. After applying boons and possibly casting Infuse Blood, simply sneak up on the enemy to cast Backstab. If the damage does not instantly kill a weak enemy, it should be enough to stagger. Utilize Dagger Slash to knock the enemy down and continue dealing damage. Should the enemy survive this, finish them off with further Dagger Slashes. Run or roll, if necessary, away to avoid return damage. The Dagger Slash animation is very fast, so this should be possible for essentially every weak enemy. Note here that the main hand weapon, the Old Legion Gladius, is not utilized at all. The -50 physical damage malus from equipment/skills and -20 normal or special attack malus from Patience result in nearly no damage dealt by Old Legion Gladius. However, the minimum frost damage bonus of +25 and the +30 bonus to dagger skills from Patience result in significantly increased damage with the Gilded Shiver. Thus only the dagger is utilized when maximizing damage in melee combat.

When encountering a difficult enemy or boss, the strategy is altered to include all the magical skills and combinations available. Begin, as usual, by applying the necessary boons, buffs, and blood infusion. Then set up a Ring of Fire and Blood Turret before altering the enemy by casting Blood Sigil, Sigil of Fire, Conjure, and using a Flint and Steel. To initiate combat, cast Mana Ward for the damage bonuses from Immolate and Gift of Blood, then Spark to send a Fireball at the enemy. The enemy should now advance to attack the player. The goal is now to land four hits with the Old Legion Gladius to inflict Curse and Scorched. Then, land at least one Dagger Slash while within the Blood Sigil to begin the Blood Leech. If all this has been accomplished, attempt to keep the enemy on the Ring of Fire, either by inflicting movement speed penalties with the Gilded Shiver or by simply positioning appropriately. The Blood Turret may assist in this by staggering enemies with the small amount of impact it deals once those enemies are below half stability. Casting Spark for additional Fireballs is also a good option, especially if the enemy refuses to approach the Sigils. Remember to Dagger Slash, or cast Conjure, or cast Mana Ward, or to use the Flint and Steel to renew the Blood Leech, Blood Turret, Immolate and Gift of Blood, or Ring of Fire as necessary. It should be possible to renew the Blood Turret and Ring of Fire three times with the additional 20 seconds of Sigil duration provided by Unsealed. If the player succeeds in all of these actions in combat, the enemy is sure to be defeated.

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