Champions Online Grimoire Guide
Embrace The Dark Side
For players who like to tap into the dark side of heroism, there’s an option in Cryptic’s now free-to-play rendition of the popular Champions Online called Grimoire. This archetype is a mix of being a defensive type role to help protect teammates while at the same time offering up a fair amount of damage to anyone who dares get close enough to the spire of mystical runes. Players who want to wield the darkside power of the Grimoire will thoroughly enjoy playing as this archetype. Find out more about the character skills, power sets and abilities in this Champions Online Grimoire guide.
The Abilities And Roles Of The Dark One
The Grimoire is similar to but not quite like The Void. They are two very different kinds of anti-hero archetypes that focus on two different styles of play. The Grimoire is more-so an arcane magic user who relies on a steady stream of attacks and magic abilities surrounding a specific “battle area”, where-is The Void offers up skills that prompt for more mobility at the expensive of damage.
The highlight of the Grimoire is in the ability to set up defensive perimeters that make it nearly impossible for other players to launch a decent offensive against them so long as the perimeter stays established and intact. The Grimoire is a technical archetype role that is very unlike the Behemoth or the Inferno. Learning how to unleash the appropriate attacks at the right time is key, especially depending on if you plan to play the Grimoire as a DPS as opposed to taking a defensive role. The two main super stats for the Grimoire are Intelligence and Presence, either of which can be used for offensive or defensive purposes.
Grimoire Skill Sets
Level 1 - Eldritch Bolts: Basic energy building attack with long range capabilities. The initial attack has a small chance to root enemies. A special skill called Wizard’s Discretion has a 20% chance to potentially stun opponents.
Level 1 - Eldritch Blast: A direct projectile skill that does moderate damage. This skill has advantage points such as crippling challenge and Sorcerer’s Whim, which can do massive damage to targets who are stunned or rooted.
Level 6 - Sigils of the Primal Storm: One of the primary elements of the Grimoire. Creates 5 deadly sigils around the creator that protect the user and deal damage to opponents. It would be wise to add accelerated metabolism no matter what your build is.
Level 8 - Aura of the Primal Majesty: A major buff for all who are within its affected range. Increases stats by 35 for the user at rank 1 and 22 for all allies. This is a keen skill to have for those who take on a support role.
Level 11 - Pillar of Poz: An AOE deflection attack that pushes all opponents back by more than 20 feet. A nice advantage skill is Dizzying Impact, which automatically stuns anyone who is affected by the Pillar of Poz.
Level 14 - Eldritch Shield: Absorbs up to 410% non-physical damage and up to 360% physical damage. A special Imbue with Power advantage enables players to pick an additional defensive measure when using the shield.
Level 17 - Arcane Vitality: A healing skill that can also work as a team heal. An additional advantage is that the Arcane Vitality can remove all control effects when maintained.
Level 17 - Vala’s Light: An AOE heal effect. It heals less than the Arcane Vitality but heals more allies within the given vicinity. This is a better skill to have when in a group as opposed to the Arcane Vitality, which is suited for solo play.
Level 22 - Circle of Arcane Power: An energy enabling circle that grants the user rechargeable energy so long as they stay within the circle. The skill also revokes energy decay on energy draining skills. Additional level ups will lessen the decay of energy draining attacks and skills.
Level 27 - Skarn’s Bane: A coned-AOE that affects anyone within range, similar to flame breath from the Inferno or the ice AOE from the Glacier. Does massive damage every half-second and an additional advantage point enables this skill to root and hold enemies in place.
Level 32 - Sigils of Arcane Power: Players can choose between this and the Sigils of Ebon Weakness. This skill creates sigils just like the other skill, except anyone who gets close will enable the sigils to explode, creating AOE damage effects.
Level 32 - Sigils of Ebon Weakness: This power scales with a player’s super stats and basically lowers just about all the stats of anyone who enters within range of the 5 sigils. This is an extremely effective debuffing skill that is perfect for PvP.
Level 40 - Hex of Suffering: A DOT that hexes a target and all nearby targets with sustained magical deterioration damage. Two advantage skills enables Hex of Suffering to cancel out travel powers for up to 5 seconds while another, Rune of Lethargy, roots targets in place.
If you need more guides on power structures, PvP and questing be sure to check out the Ultimate Champions Online Guide right here at Bright Hub.
This post is part of the series: Champions Online Free-For-All Archetype Guides
A guided tour of the Archetypes in the new Free-for-All version of Champions Online.
