This is the second in my series of complete companion builds, finding the best builds online. At this point WotR is nearing the end of the updates and DLC. The latest addition, Flight of the Gold Dragon, is likely the last thing Owlcat will release, per my previous post. If interested in my other builds, check out my main Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous page.
Ember is a very popular companion. She’s great at crowd control, particularly stunlocks through Hideous Laughter. The DC’s of her spells will be over 50, and she’ll do enormous single target damage through Hellfire Ray. As with any Ember build, she will also be able to lay down some nice buffs for the party. She comes the earliest at level 3 as a Stigmatized Witch (gaining an Oracle’s Blackened Curse and using Charisma for spellcasting), so we will take over from there.
Build Progression
Level 4: She has Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot, but these won’t be helpful until later in the game. If you plan on respeccing from level 1 feel free to take feats such as Improved Initiative and Ambuscading Spell. She should never be using a crossbow since she can use Hexes and staves.
- +Cha always
- Skills are dependent on your party, but I prefer UMD, Persuade, either Knowledge Arcana or World–I lean toward World so she can cook for your party
- Hex: Depends on difficulty. If on Unfair, Protective Luck is what you need since you don’t want enemies hitting your tank. Otherwise go for Evil Eye, using it against AC or saving throws
- Spells: Winter’s Grasp, which is essentially Grease but better.
Level 5. Skills: I’m going Kn World route, so I’ll place leftover skill points in it, but it’s really up to you
- Feat: We are seeking to qualify for Loremaster PrC, so we’ll take MM: Heighten Spell
- Spells: Enlarge Person and Glitterdust
Level 6. Hex: either Protective Luck or Evil Eye.
- Spells: Stinking Cloud, love to nausate enemies. Doesn’t work against demons, but early game you’ll mostly be fighting humans and some gargoyles. If you’re still opposed to it, grab Heroism
- Heighten Glitterdust and/or Winter’s Grasp against demons
Level 7. Feat: Skill Focus Kn Arcana or World, to finish qualifying for Loremaster
- Spells: Unbreakable Heart, to remove confusion, and False Life. Heroism, or anything else you like
Level 8. Dipping into Loremaster. Take Secret: Wizard Spell: Hideous Laughter. This becomes deadly with the Best Jokes mythic ability, which you’ll be taking this same level.
- Spells: Heighten Hideous Laughter. We don’t need any more crowd control or debuffing spells so we’ll switch to buffing spells: Death Ward, which is great for a spontaneous caster
Level 9. Back to Witch. Feat: either Spell Focus Enchantment (to pimp spells like Hideous Laughter) or if you’d rather, Spell Penetration. I lean toward SP. Be aware that at 9 or 11 you can pick MM Persistent Spell to increase the chances of Hideous Laughter proccing, however I’d only bother with this if playing on Unfair. Later on you’ll get MM Persistent rods anyway.
- Hex: Fortune. Ideally cast this on your most powerful character right before battle, especially against a boss
- Spells: whatever you like. I picked Cure Moderate, Remove Curse, Greater False Life
Level 10. Spells: Mind Fog, which is great in combination with Hideous Laughter
Level 11. Feat: Greater Spell Penetration or Gr Spell Focus Enchantment
- Hex: this is your last one as a witch. Beast’s Gift can help (bite is usually the better option, as it doesn’t interfere with wielding weapons), or Cackle for stuff like Protective Luck, Slumber or Evil Eye. You can’t extend Fortune forever anymore though 🙁
- Spells: whatever you like. I randomly decided on Bone Fists, Remove Disease, Cure Serious, Feeblemind
Level 12. We don’t need any more levels into witch. The later hexes are somewhat poor and you can always spam Evil Eye, Hideous Laughter, etc. We are going back to Loremaster.
- Spells: Gr Dispel Magic which is great against bosses, or Hellfire Ray. You can get HR through a ring, but getting the spell frees the ring slot for better things. I opt for HR.
Level 13. We will move to Sorcerer now, either Crossblooded or Geomancer (Lord of Nothing DLC). Geomancer is better for pure damage, but for a mix between DPS and crowd control pick Crossblooded. I prefer Crossblooded. This does delay Ember’s spellcasing by a level, but it doesn’t matter because we already have Hellfire Ray and a ton of variants of Hideous Laughter. Crossblooded provides three great benefits with just one level.
- Feat: Greater Spell Penetration or Gr Spell Focus Enchantment
- Bloodlines: To increase damage pick a fire-boosting dragon such as Red or Gold; then for crowd control take Fey, which increases the DC of all your compulsion spells
- Spell: spells won’t scale due to only taking a single Sorc level, so maybe True Strike to help Hellfire Ray land
Level 14. Return to Loremaster. Secret: Wizard feat: Spell Focus Evocation, as it is a prerequisite for Spell Specialization which increases Hellfire Ray damage. If you don’t care for this, taking Dispel Focus and later Gr Dispel Focus can be great too
- Spells: Dimension Door to get you into some secret areas in Ch 4. Any lvl 5 spell, and either Gr Dispel Magic or Gr Heroism
Level 15. Feat: Spell Specialization, Hellfire Ray! This is a big boost over waiting for level 19 or 20 to get max damage. If you are going to respec at a very high level, then don’t bother with Spell Spec and take something else. Otherwise always pick Hellfire Ray every level
- Spells: either Legendary Proportions (which Camellia or Nenio can get), Ice Body, or Heal
Level 16. Secret. Combat Feat: Improved Critical: Ray, and I bet you know why. Multiclassing as we have allows us to take this feat earlier in our build
- Spells: Any level 5, then Gr Heroism, Raise Dead, Ice Body, Legendary Proportions, whatever tickles you
Level 17. Feat: MM Bolster Spell to pimp out Hellfire Ray even more. Empower and Maximize can be gotten through gear.
- Spells: Frightful Aspect no longer works with Ice Body, so I picked Mind Blank
Level 18. Secret. Rogue Secret: Combat Trick: Improved Improved Critical, Ray. The game allows you to take Trickster mythic path feats here, which is unreal.
- Spells: Anything you want, Resurrection can be nice on unfair
Level 19. Feat: MM Intensified Spell for a more powerful Hellfire Ray, increasing the cap to 20d6 per ray. You’ll be in good shape for caster level through gear.
Spell: Mind Blank Communal, this is an important pick for her.
Level 20. Secret: Cleric Spell: Mass Heal is a good option, but if you want the highest damage with Hellfire Ray grab Divine Power. Don’t take DP if your PC is on the Angel mythic because you’ll have it party-wide.
- Spells: Foresight or Heroic Invocation for level 9. Daeran gets HI, so if you are using him Foresight is the better pick for Ember
Mythic Progression
Level 1. As you’re not a Loremaster yet, take Abundant Casting to max your slots
Level 2. You should be at level 8 so take Extra Mythic Feat: Best Jokes, making Hideous Laughter one of the best spells in the game
Level 3. Improved Abundant Casting.
Level 4. Either Mythic Spell Penetration to always penetrate SR, or Sorcerous Reflex to cast spells instantly, very good for Hideous Laughter even with MM applied. However you can rely on Quicken MM rods instead
Level 5. Either Greater Abundant Casting or Ascendant Element: Fire if you want to get a start on Hellfire Ray damage. Pick the other one at level 7
Level 6. More options: Mythic Spell Focus Enchantment or Sorcerous Reflex. I typically opt for MSF
Level 7. Whichever you didn’t pick at level 5
Level 8. Either Sorcerous Reflex or Improved Critical Mythic: Ray, which is nuts in combination with the Trickster Feat taken earlier
Level 9. Whatever you like. Last Stand, Favorite MM: Bolstered or Intensified are ok
Level 10. Whatever you like
How to Play
For most of the early game you are spamming Slumber to keep an enemy out of the fight until you are ready to deal with them. Using Coup de Grace is fun. Always cast Protective Luck on your main tank before battle starts. It lasts 12 seconds, but you can extend it with Cackle.
Until ch 3 the DC for enchantment spells won’t be the best. Instead rely on Winter’s Grasp or Glitterdust. After that, just spam Hideous Laughter for stun-locking awesomeness and Hellfire Ray to your heart’s content.
Gear
Amulet: early game, Amulet of Blackened Mirror, then Glass Amulet of Clarity, ending up with Heartstone of the Night Hag Queen unless you want it for someone else.
Armor: any Haramaki, ultimately Deadly Rays to pimp Hellfire Ray
Robe: early a robe of Inevitability bought from Woljif. Later Robe of the Seven Sins. You could also opt for Call of the Fiery Things.
Belt: anything increasing Dex, later Dex and Con, or boosting all three physical stats
Gloves: Twisted Temptation, which is great for Ember
Boots: whatever you like.
Helmet: headbands of Charisma, ultimately Darkness Caress or Mental Perfection
Eyes: Razmir’s Mask, letting you cast a spell as a free action
Cloak: cloaks of Resistance, later Grand Festival Cloak unless it goes on your PC
Rings: Ring of Pyromania, Chaotic Fascination, or Red Salamander
Bracers: Bracers of Mind Break
Weapons: Quarterstaff of Coercion early, then in ch 3 get Quarterstaff of the War Mage, and finally Plague of Madness crusade relic. PoM is easy to proc, before battle just cast the same cantrip three times; you can even switch weapons afterward. Another option is the Sin Mage’s Staff.
Quick Slots: Greater Persistent MM rod (multiple in Treasure of Midnight Isles DLC); Greater Quicken MM rod (or any variant); Devouring Lust; Grandmaster’s Rod which can be used during battle; Old Grimoire.
Also remember you have Pearls of Power now, which can be bought in ch 3 from the arcane merchant at Drezen. I hope this helps! Whether it does or not feel free to comment below if you’d like. Next companion build will likely be Camellia.