Corruptor options

[Kiralio]

Never forget that the best reason to play a Corruptor is so you can be a Lich who also inexplicably has 20+ damage spells, infinite mana, and an innate unholy attack for wardbashing. Touch of Corrupted Loyalty isn't an optional perk, it's the reason you play the class. (Well, the second reason after Manabiter.)

Dark Heart is worthless on a class that has Manabiter. Nothing against Dark Heart in general, it's just that Manabiter is hands-down the best mana ability in the game, everything else is a joke by comparison.

Soul / Blood Vampire were already bad last breath and then they nerfed them some more. Hunting / raiding / desecrating corpses will get you enough ices for alchemy. Blood Ice for healing is inefficient at best, you're an alchemist, you can make Regen potions. Or just take First Aid (which has the additional perk of helping you level and revealing enemy HP) and pick a faction with the good sense to live reasonably near a hospital.

I grinded out some badges on my last Corruptor and took full acid tree + wings imbued with an impact spell. If I were to do it again, I'd probably switch it around, take full impact and imbue the wings with acid, but maybe not, I enjoy causing property damage. No question impact is optimal, though, max damage, no immunities, minimum CP. Definitely don't go fire, committing to fire damage on a class whose job is to kill tanks is dumb. If you have to choose between wings and a full spell tree I'd ask Lib because god knows I can't be arsed to do the math.

[Aidan]

For almost anyone looking to buy the Vampire skills: Get Life Vampire if possible over Soul Vampire every time. Healing is handy, sure, but Stygian Bone Leeches/FAKs/everything else are usually better.

Thing is, Blood Ice can't be saved when brewing, and every batch of Unholy Affinity, definitely a useful demonic potion, is guaranteed to use up blood ice. One soul vampire per faction is usually enough, and then there's desecration. In short, take blood vampire if you must RP a vampire, but even then, consider things like Shadowwrap with that spare CP.

------------

Comparing full wings vs the full spell tree is a bit difficult (it's heavily dependent prepping vs non-prepping), especially when you consider that you can bite Strength and Unholy Affinity to get a very reliable +4 damage to the full wings (doing a WHOPPING 30 damage per hit against flesh, and doing it 35 times in a row without stopping, just like with the impact spell tree).

The only reason I would dissuade you from taking the Impact spell tree is because you won't get to see these crazy numbers (Some 21 damage, and you can't really boost this unless you go for a different tree, which comes with its associated problems). Frankly, though, why do you need a non-immunizable damage type? You need one that isn't immunized often, and an impact autohit to remove the rare affinity you come across.

----------------

I will do some number-crunching on how well tanks get murderized by wings vs spells, but looking at it, I think the optimal strategy is the age-old classic of using an autohit to inflict Drained and then unleashing Tainted Bond or, in a surprising edge case, Tainting your spells against Seraphs and Eternal Soldiers. If I had to pick a build, I'd probably go with what Kiralio took last breath, though I have no idea how grindy that is.

Also, make friends with Wyrm Masters and Liches while you are at it, and please steal a Wheel of Righteousness and add its stats to the wiki, lol.
_________________
For the Kin!

[Kharn]

Oh and since no one has mentioned this, what are some good guilds for a Corruptor?

The immediate, non-number crunching answer would be Darksoul Cabal because LESS MANA COSTS FOR SPELLS and stuff, but is it really that vital? I mean, at first class standing it's just a 15% reduction in mana cost, but the bread and butter spells (force bolt and force focus) cost only 8 and 7 mana. Is the 1 mana saved that important on a character that can casually get 200 mana?

Obsidian cartel is likewise irrelevant because who really cares about 5 mana (that you don't even get because you're already above your mana limit) when you have all that mana to spend?

Maybe go with the classic third class opal syndicate for book grinding? or third class fraternity of wondercraft for slightly cheaper spellgem recharging?
_________________
IF WE LOOK AT ROME AND SEE OUR HOME, THE END IS ON ITS WAY

[Quixotic]

[MerlintheTuna]

Sun-touched gives access to an otherwise-unavailable damage type, and the MP cost is potentially not an issue thanks to Manabite

[Kiralio]

I'd go Opal Syndicate, same as with everyone else. Faster leveling, faster grinding, more alchemy components, more spellgems to turn into mana.

[SkullFace]

Corruptor is a two-trees build; Melee and Spells. You definitely want Melee for the pet-stealing and maybe for the Tainted Bond. Spell for the Hex abilities.

Balancing them is your dilemma. Melee Corruptor is poor vs Tanks but can grab those shiny MP-heavy Wheels. Spell Corruptor is better but you end up CP-constrained from buying the full tree. Both need plenty MP from gems. Manabiter is your friend provided you have gems available; for Tainted Bond you will consume MP like a beer monster at Oktoberfest, and keeping a stable of Titan-level pets is tough going.

Factionless Corruptor is probably a sad wannabe Corruptor. Enhanced Senses don't combine very well with Leathern Wings for hunting. No friendlies from whom he can ponce MP. And he's reliant upon regular visits to a Library to search for gems.

Factioned Corruptor is a happy, sniffing-cocaine-from-the-breasts-of-naked-women Corruptor. Excess spellgems feed his everyday habit (and it is a big habit - you can blow through hundreds of MP on a busy day). Last Breath I used Alchemical Transmutation to feed potions to our Enchanter to enable him to produce goodies which I could Manabite later. It was the demonic equivalent of the Sorceror's Might -> Surgery daisy chain in an Unaligned or Good faction. In this Breath it would yield XP for both parties and I'm surprised that this love-in isn't yielding level 30 DOs already.

Forget Soul and Life Vampire. These skills have been rendered worthless by the Breath 3.5 changes. Too many of the range of Demonic abilities are classed as charged attacks ineligible for Guild bonuses. Unless you have IBs in need of Blood Ice you would do better with Desecration and searching in Stygia.

Draining Field is the ultimate fun ability. Yes, it's expensive. Get it anyway. Even if you die you will be able to read between the lines and hear the screams of frustration.

Opal Syndicate and Darksoul Cabal want you! The former for general stuff, the latter to help you keep your stable of Titans. Reduction in MP costs, despite what others say, is a useful thang.
_________________
Cheers,

Skull Face

[Kiralio]

Disregard titans, acquire Ghouls.

Especially if they actually went through with the change that made Corruptor-stolen pets have pet decay even if the pet type normally would not. I can't remember if they did or if they just talked about it.

(This doesn't really affect your build, it's just a general piece of life advice.)

[Quixotic]

[RaelCleap]

[SocialJusticeWarrior]

I'm a melee Corruptor this breath and I bought Fire Dart just to have Hex of Nullity's utility available. Otherwise, Tainted Wings do all the damage I need (loaded with Bilious Purge it's 25 damage per hit, 13 unholy and 12 acid, and acid soaks are generally pretty poor especially vs. angels). Even if I'd gone for maximum spellcasting and bought impact spells instead of acid, Force Focus with the complete impact tree and all the Corruptor's spell damage bonuses would still do only 21 damage per hit. Such a build would also prevent effective use of the ever-hilarious Touch of Corrupted Loyalty, barring a massive supply of achievement badges.

[Kiralio]

As an aside, if you do have a ludicrous number of achievement badges, Corruptors are an average-to-above average class to take advantage of them. They're not quite on the level of what you can do with arbitrary amounts of CP on a Seraph or a Nexus Champion, but still a good pick.