Blood Mage Guide to Symbiotes

By Hjelmen

I have made this guide as a response to all the people starting new
threads asking questions about Symbiotes. If I have missed something or
you have anything you would like to have added, please comment or href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/private.php?do=newpm&u=47">send
me a PM.

Guide to Symbiotes

1. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=654#I">Overview
2. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=654#II">Construction
3. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=654#III">Organs
4. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=654#IV">Using
   Symbiotes
5. href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=654#V">List
   of Symbiotes and Spells
   

I. Overview

The Blood Mage is very unique class, and it has a very varied
playstyle. One of the most unique spell-lines the class gets is the
Symbiotes. Symbiotes are created by the Blood Mage by using his own
blood and
organs harvested from enemies, and subsequently cast on allies or
yourself for various buffs. Do not expect your Symbiotes to be huge
buffs, but they give you a ton of flexibility and are very interesting.

II. Construction

When you get your first Symbiote-spell you will see that it requires a
Symbiote-item to cast. To construct a Symbiote, follow these steps:

Note that there is no need for you to be at an assembly table!

1. Cast Siphon Blood. This will give you the “Vial of Blood” you
   need for constructing your new Symbiotes.
2. Cast Bursting Cyst, Exploding Cyst, Constrict, Union of Blood or
   Blood Letting Ritual on a mob (any rank will do).
3. While
   the mob is affected by the spell you cast on it, cast Grim Harvest.
   Depending on which spell you cast you will get the following organ for
   your Symbiotes:
   
   • Bursting Cyst or Exploding Cyst - Quivering Brain
   • Constrict - Twitching Muscle
   • Union of Blood - Still Beating Heart
   • Blood Letting Ritual - Pulsating Stomach
4. Open your Crafting list and go to the Assembly-pane. In the
   pull-down menu select Blood Mage.
5. Find the Symbiote you want to construct, check if you have all
   the components (If not go get them as per steps 1-3).
6. If you have all the components, click Combine and get your
   Symbiotes!

You
should now have 10 of the Symbiote you constructed, and a few less
components. No worries though; components stack, and a Still Beating
Heart will continue beating even though you’ve had it in your bags for
weeks.

III. Organs

Getting the organs you need can be a bit tricky, so heres some comments
and tips. First of all, don’t harvest organs when you’re in a group.
You’ll
divert your attention from the action and that could prove fatal. Since
organs stack (up to 20) go find some mobs (even gray ones will do), and
harvest off those by yourself. I find that going into Sanguine Focus
makes it easier to harvest
several organs from the same mob since you wont do as much damage and
wont take as much damage while waiting for Grim Harvest to refresh
(15 seconds). I do this since you can harvest several organs off the
same mob–yes,
a bear does seem to have 4 brains, 3 hearts and more stomachs than a
cow!



Also you can make absolutely sure which organ to get by having only one
debuff on the mob at one given time (so don’t cast Cyst followed
immediately by Union of Blood, since you cant be sure which organ
you’ll get).

• Vial of Blood: Not quite
  an organ, but deserves mention. Go
  into Sanguine Focus (for the HP regen) Then cast on yourself
  Transfusion of Serak (for more HP) and just go nuts with Siphon
  Blood. Just remember that you can kill yourself with Siphon Blood so
  take it easy when you go low on HP.
• Quivering Brain: Easiest
  organ to harvest – cast a Cyst-spell followed by Grim Harvest.
• Still Beating Heart: Cast
  Union of Blood and then Grim Harvest.
• Twitching
  Muscle: Root the mob with Constrict , and then cast Grim
  Harvest.
  If root doesn’t break (Grim Harvest does cause a little damage), you
  can just wait until Grim Harvest refreshes and cast it again for
  another muscle.
• Pulsating Stomach: Build
  up 1 Blood Union Point
  with either Despoil, Entwining Vein or from Focus of Gelenia
  (Using these spells does not work with Grim Harvest, so they wont
  mess up which organ you get). Then cast Blood Letting Ritual,
  followed by Grim Harvest. The Duration on Blood Letting Ritual is
  long (1 minute), so you’ll be able to get 3 or 4 stomachs off the same
  mob (if the mob lives that long of course).

The points here is
of course that having only one debuff on the mob ensures that you get
exactly the organ you want and that you can harvest several organs
from one mob. Of course, this is only my way of doing it, but I think
its a very easy and quick way to get a lot of organs.

IV. Using Symbiotes

When you have constructed your new Symbiotes, you can cast the spells
associated with them. When you cast the spell, your Defensive Target
will be buffed with the
Symbiote and one Symbiote of the appropriate type will be removed from
your inventory. Remember that a
player can only be buffed with one
Symbiote at a time.



The only offensive Symbiote is Controlling Symbiote. Casting it will
apply it to your Offensive Target. Remember that the spell can miss, be
resisted or just not work if the target is of a type that is not
charmable or is to powerful (4dots and up usually). If you try to charm
a mob which has already been charmed by Controlling Symbiote once, it
will also fail.



It does not cost you anything to construct or cast Symbiotes, the only
cost you have is in getting the components.

V. List of Symbiotes and Spells

I have listed all the available Symbiotes in one entry per Symbiote.
Where there are multiple ranks, I have stated how many ranks are
available and when you'll be able to train them. The description will
also include what bonus a certain Symbiote yields at which rank.



I have also added a note to the Symbiotes where the description doesnt
quite cover the way it works.



Cleansing Symbiote

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Still Beating Heart

Trained at Character Level: 14

Description: Attaches a Symbiote to an ally, cleansing their body of
poison and disease over 15 minutes.

Notes: Ticks every 10 seconds, removing 1 poison or disease counter.



Controlling Symbiote

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain (Animation
Symbiote in the Assembly Menu)

Trained at Character Level: 14

Description: Attaches a controlling symbiote to an opponent, forcing it
to obey your commands for 15 seconds. Repeated symbiote uses will be
ignored completely. Draconic, undead, construct and elemental targets
are immune to suggestion.

Notes: The controlled mob will behave like a pet for the duration of
the spell, which means that you can command it to attack and use its
spells.



Plated Symbiote

Ranks: I / II / III / IV

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Twitching Muscle

Ranks trained at Character Level: 18 / 28 / 38 / 48

Description: Attaches a plated symbiote to an ally, transforming their
skin into spiky plates that returns 30 / 49 / 71 / 94 damage upon their
attackers and increases AC by 54 / 84 / 114 / 144 for 1 hour.

Notes: The Symbiote only causes damage to melee-attackers and normal
ranged attacks (bows, throwing weapons etc.).



Hollow Symbiote I

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Still Beating
Heart

Trained at Character Level: 22

Description: Attaches a hollow symbiote to an ally, allowing them to
float above the ground for 1 hour.



Frenzied Symbiote

Ranks: I / II / III / IV / V

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Twitching
Muscle

Ranks trained at Character Level: 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50

Description: Attaches a Frenzied Symbiote to an ally, increasing his or
her damage by 20 / 32 /45 / 63 / 84 for 1 hour.

Notes: The bonus from Frenzied Symbiotes apply to melee-attacks only.
That said, extra damage on every melee-hit is quite efficient.



Renewing Symbiote

Ranks: I / II / III

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Twitching Muscle, 1 Still Beating
Heart

Ranks trained at Character Level: 30 / 40 / 50

Description: Attaches a renewing symbiote to an ally, this symbiote
transfers 20 endurance to 30 / 34 / 38 health every 10 seconds for 30
minutes..



Quickening Symbiote I

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 1 Quivering Brain, 1 Twitching
Muscle, 1 Still Beating Heart

Trained at Character Level: 34

Description: Attaches a quickening symbiote to an ally. This symbiote
grants you the use of an ability that doubles your damage for 6
seconds. This symbiote lasts 1 hour.

Notes: The target of your Symbiote will have to check his
Abilites/Spells for a spell called ”Quickening Jolt” and drag this to
his hotbar.



Vitalizing Symbiote I

Symbiote Requires: 3 Vial of Blood

Trained at Character Level: 38

Description: Attaches a vitalizing symbiote to an ally. This symbiote
transfers 30 endurance to 45 mana every 10 seconds for 30 minutes.



Conductive Symbiote I

Symbiote Requires: 1 Vial of Blood, 2 Pulsating Stomach, 1 Quivering
Brain, 1 Still Beating Heart

Trained at Character Level: 42

Description: Attaches a Conductive Symbiote to an ally. This symbiote
grants you the use of an ability that instantly heals an ally. This
symbiote lasts for 1 hour.

Notes: The target of your Symbiote will have to check his
Abilites/Spells for a spell called ”Conduct” and drag this to his
hotbar.