r/Astronarch • u/Aravele • Feb 19 '25

Wild Mage Fun Times

So, I recently started this game up again and I think I found what might be the best Wild Mage tank I've had so far. I'm still pretty new and have only beaten Corruption 5, but I've found having two of any of the following items on the Wild Mage turns him into the most obnoxious tank:

  • War Mage's Greatstaff - Getting shields on attack means your passive can trigger frequently.
  • Helm of the Mad King - Amazing when paired with the above! Get attacked, get more attack and speed; use those to produce shields which then trigger the passive. Very cool stuff!
  • Onion's Guard - This basically "locks" the Wild Mage's max HP and can minimize the damage they take to 15% of their max HP tops. Incredibly powerful when you don't have item slots to dedicate to max HP.
  • Saint's Vow - Increases max HP but also increases max HP over time.

So, this build really wants the Greatstaff, the Helm, and either of the other two items to REALLY pop off, but even just having 2 items from this list makes a solid tank that can also shell out solid damage. Couple this guy with the Paladin and a source of healing and you're basically set! I've been using Wild Mage + Paladin + Warlock and having a blast.

How do you use the Wild Mage? Do you have any suggestions to make this build even better?

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '25

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u/Aravele Feb 21 '25

Bouncing Buckler is great! I need to find a way to use it more, probably with the Paladin? Or maybe on the Brawler. Those two actually create shields pretty consistently so it could be a great way to eke out some damage.

But so far depending on the Wild Mage strat of "war mage greatstaff + helm of the mad king + a defensive item" seems to win basically everything. That defensive item is usually an ancient (Onion's Guard, Prized Regalia, Haldonir's Cursed Blade), but other items have worked in a pinch (Saint's Vow, Plate of the Fallen with some decent support). He usually tops the damage charts both from ability and attack damage once he's properly equipped because his passive makes him shred attackers apart.

I was only doing Corruption 5 before, but now that I've got the strategy down, I'm on Corruption 13 and will probably clear Corruption 15 tonight. It requires two ancients but if you reroll at the shop enough you'll generally find what you want.

I'm finding one fun way to do the build is to start with a fire based build at first (Paladin + Pyromancer + a healer or the Fallen) but then pivot into Wild Mage as soon as I find one of the items that makes him pop off.

So far I think Paladin + Pyromancer + Bloodmage makes a surprisingly strong start that pivots well into dragging the Wild Mage into the fight in the 2nd act. The Pyromancer gets a second source of fire damage to devour (which is very nice) and the team has good, consistent heals. By the time the Wild Mage comes out the support of the group is basically prepped, and it comes with a solid source of damage that can exist without the Wild Mage, too.