Overview
This Arc Blood Mage is a league-start showcase for Forbidden Rites. Gameplay is simple: spam Arc, and occasionally use Snap to generate Lightning Infusions for extra damage and extra chains. Arc handles both pack clear and single target, and Cast on Critical with Comet adds a second layer of fire damage on top.
The Blood Mage ascendancy is chosen for quality of life. Sunder the Flesh raises spell base crit chance to 15%, which almost doubles the value of every increased crit modifier. Vitality Siphon adds spell leech, and together with Blood Magic the build casts from life and immediately leeches it back, so mana stats can be ignored in favour of stacking life. Life Remnants, Grasping Wounds (a quarter of each hit spread over four seconds) and Crimson Power (body armour energy shield granted as life) round out the defences.
The build deliberately avoids the very expensive Runic Fork wand most casters use and relies on a 20-divine rare staff instead, keeping it realistic for a fresh league.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy one-button gameplay with Snap as a simple infusion refresh
- Strong in both clear and single target thanks to Arc chains and infusions
- No mana management: life leech sustains casting
- Mostly rare gear; no 500-divine weapon needed
- Grasping Wounds and Crimson Power give solid tankiness
Cons
- Very dependent on Lightning Infusions; damage drops noticeably without them
- Needs Blood Magic, which is far across the tree and costs many travel points
- Soul Tether belt with the right corruption is a key long-term purchase
- Must avoid cold damage, because shattered enemies leave no corpses to Snap
Key Skills
- Arc — main clear and single-target skill, boosted heavily by infusions
- Snap — used on shocked or ignited enemies and corpses to generate infusions
- Comet (Cast on Critical) — extra fire damage and fire charges
- Ball Lightning + Lightning Warp — boss-room infusion setup
- Trinity — extra elemental damage from lightning and fire resonance
Gear & Anointments
- Rare staff with damage as extra fire and lightning, lightning damage, + lightning spell levels and cast speed (about 20 divines)
- Rare armour with resistances, energy shield and some life
- Two rings stacking item rarity (around 95% total)
- Amulet with + spell levels, cast speed and some spirit (around 30 divines)
- Soul Tether belt: overflow leech goes to energy shield; corrupt it to remove the energy shield drain
Siphon Elements automates some infusion generation by spawning remnants on shock and ignite. The tree picks up several jewel sockets on the long path to Blood Magic, which the creator considers very valuable this patch.
Credits & Source
Build credited to KOSX_01. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage and voice commentary: This is my Leaguestart build for 0.5.5! | Arc Bloodmage | Path of Exile 2 Forbidden Rites.