Sienna All Base Game Careers Mechanic Guide
---Battle Wizard---
Career General Overview
Career Orientation
A range focus career that provides both high damage potential and strong utility.
Pros: Has access to a lot of high DPS builds. Has strong synergy with all staffs. Career skill provides strong utility and CC/escape tool.
Cons: Needs to play around with Overcharge slowdown.
Basic Stats
Base HP: 100Career Skill Cooldown: 50 sec
Has 5% base Critical Strike chance
Unusable Weapons: Soulstealer Staff
Perks
Reckless Haste
Overcharge increases spell charge speed by up to 30%.
Increases staff charge speed by 10% every 6 Overcharge, maxing out at 18 Overcharge.
Stack additively with Rechannel.
Stack additively with Rechannel.
Pyromantic Surge
Increased ranged damage by 10%.
Only affects range attacks direct damage. Does not increase cleave/stagger/DoT damage.
Career Skill & Passive
Fire Walk
Sienna teleports forward, leaving a blanket of fire in her wake that lingers for 6 seconds.
Cannot be initiated from midair.
During this career skill, you can switch weapons/items, attack/charge with melee weapons, fire/charge/vent range weapons, use items.
Use this career skill will not interrupt interactions, including reviving teammates. However, most of the objective interactions on the map have distance limit.
Cannot be cancelled by player after initiated.
The player is not invincible during this career skill. To help to avoid taking damage, hold block(default key: Mouse 2) before starting the career skill to keep blocking during this. You can still cancel your career skill by releasing and pressing block again.
Holding the career skill key(default key: F) will show you the destination of the career skill.
Can teleport through any units.
After initiating the career skill, Battle Wizard became invisible breiefly, elevate upwards slightly first, and then teleport to the destination.
Create a small size explosion at the starting point of the teleportation around Sienna. Create medium size explosions constantly during the teleportation, and one at the destination of the teleportation. The starting point explosion staggers all enemies within 3 units, and the explosions during the teleportation and at the destination staggers all enemies within 4 units. All explosions apply the same weak Burn DoT.
Create a fire trail between the start and the destination of the teleportation, dealing Burn DoT damage every 0.25 seconds. The fire trail lasts 6 seconds and counted as environmental damage.
During this career skill, you can switch weapons/items, attack/charge with melee weapons, fire/charge/vent range weapons, use items.
Use this career skill will not interrupt interactions, including reviving teammates. However, most of the objective interactions on the map have distance limit.
Cannot be cancelled by player after initiated.
The player is not invincible during this career skill. To help to avoid taking damage, hold block(default key: Mouse 2) before starting the career skill to keep blocking during this. You can still cancel your career skill by releasing and pressing block again.
Holding the career skill key(default key: F) will show you the destination of the career skill.
Can teleport through any units.
After initiating the career skill, Battle Wizard became invisible breiefly, elevate upwards slightly first, and then teleport to the destination.
Create a small size explosion at the starting point of the teleportation around Sienna. Create medium size explosions constantly during the teleportation, and one at the destination of the teleportation. The starting point explosion staggers all enemies within 3 units, and the explosions during the teleportation and at the destination staggers all enemies within 4 units. All explosions apply the same weak Burn DoT.
Create a fire trail between the start and the destination of the teleportation, dealing Burn DoT damage every 0.25 seconds. The fire trail lasts 6 seconds and counted as environmental damage.
Tranquillity
After not casting spells for 6 seconds, automatically ventilates Overcharge.
Increase the passive Overcharge decay speed by 200%.
Does not interact with manual venting.
Does not interact with manual venting.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part I)
LeveL 5 Row
Second Wind
Staggering enemies with a Melee Attack grants up to 2 Temporary Health determined by the Stagger Strength. Killing blows instead restore 0.25 THP.
Melee attack grants 0.25/1/2 THP per unit. Push grants 0.5/1 THP per unit. Both can only be triggered on 5 units. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice.
Melee killing blows grant 0.25 per unit without limit. Should be used with Fire Sword, Dagger if you utilize its first heavy attack, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you utilize its special attack.
Melee killing blows grant 0.25 per unit without limit. Should be used with Fire Sword, Dagger if you utilize its first heavy attack, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you utilize its special attack.
Execute
Killing an enemy with Melee Attack restores Temporary Health. Killing more dangerous enemies grants more Temporary Health.
Can be triggered multiple times per attack. Does not include melee explosion kills or melee DoT kills.
Should only be used with Crowbill when your build focuses on killing elites with melee weapons and there are no other careers competing for elites kill.
Carve
Damaging multiple enemies in one Melee Attack grants Temporary Health.
Provide 1 THP when hitting one unit.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used with Crowbill, Sword, Mace, Flaming Flail, Dagger if you utilize its light attacks, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you don't utilize its special attack.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used with Crowbill, Sword, Mace, Flaming Flail, Dagger if you utilize its light attacks, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you don't utilize its special attack.
LeveL 10 Row
Volcanic Force
Fully charging a spell increases its power by 50.0%.
Bolt Staff/Flamestorm Staff/Conflageration Staff
Increase the base power_level of the full charged range attacks. As a result, the effect of this talent varies between different difficulties and Hero Power value.
Currently also always boosts Flamestorm Staff Primary attack, and never boosts Coruscatoin Staff Alternative attack.
The higher difficulty the game is in, the more effective this talent can be, maxing out around 43.6% at Cataclysm 1/2/3 or with low enough Hero Power in lower difficulties.
Increase full charged range attacks damage/cleave/stagger, including their DoT damage. With current balance, it's only the Best in Slot option for Bolt Staff when playing at Cataclysm, playing Legend and below with suboptimal gears, or playing Chaos Waste mode.
The effect for full charged attack is very powerful. But not every staff wants to full charge their attacks.
Among those who can utilize this talent, Bolt Staff only benefit from this when reaching useful oneshot breakpoints. But when you don't get those breakpoints, Lingering Flame will provide more damage overall.
Flamestorm Staff prefers to use full charged attack most of the time because of the higher DPS.
However, with current balance, Lingering Flame is overall more damage and doesn't force you to use full charge attack.
For Conflagration Staff, you can reach some interesting stagger breakpoints with this talent. However, with current balance, Lingering Flame is overall more damage and doesn't force you to use full charge attack.
Increase the base power_level of the full charged range attacks. As a result, the effect of this talent varies between different difficulties and Hero Power value.
Currently also always boosts Flamestorm Staff Primary attack, and never boosts Coruscatoin Staff Alternative attack.
The higher difficulty the game is in, the more effective this talent can be, maxing out around 43.6% at Cataclysm 1/2/3 or with low enough Hero Power in lower difficulties.
Increase full charged range attacks damage/cleave/stagger, including their DoT damage. With current balance, it's only the Best in Slot option for Bolt Staff when playing at Cataclysm, playing Legend and below with suboptimal gears, or playing Chaos Waste mode.
The effect for full charged attack is very powerful. But not every staff wants to full charge their attacks.
Among those who can utilize this talent, Bolt Staff only benefit from this when reaching useful oneshot breakpoints. But when you don't get those breakpoints, Lingering Flame will provide more damage overall.
Flamestorm Staff prefers to use full charged attack most of the time because of the higher DPS.
However, with current balance, Lingering Flame is overall more damage and doesn't force you to use full charge attack.
For Conflagration Staff, you can reach some interesting stagger breakpoints with this talent. However, with current balance, Lingering Flame is overall more damage and doesn't force you to use full charge attack.
Famished Flames
Burning damage over time is increased by 100.0%. All non-burn damage is reduced by 15.0%.
Beam Staff/Coruscation Staff/Fireball Staff
Increases Burn DoT damage.
Reduce all other damage types, including melee/range attacks direct damage, explosions, and none-burn DoT(e.g Bleed DoT from Dagger). With current balance, it's the Best in Slot option for Coruscation Staff, and for Beam Staff when you have decent range uptime.
Both Famished Flames and Lingering Flame interact with DoT mechanics. Famished Flames currently only wins out when you can keep more than 1 stack of DoT on the target consistently.
For Beam Staff, it is fairly easy to stack DoT on enemies, as the Blast Attack has a very low attack interval, and the Beam Attack itself is literally point and click.
Coruscation Staff Magma Geyser attack requires the player to stack its DoT to be effective; the shotgun attack does suffer from the -15% penalty, but its high base damage and shotgun mechanics make sure that its effectiveness isn't really affected by this reduction too much.
For Fireball Staff, Famished Flames is only DPS neutral with Charged Fireball attack, as a big portion of damage for this attack is still direct impact damage. But it still boosts other aspects of Battle Wizard's toolkit, like Fire Sword and Fire Walk, making it an overall DPS increase.
However, with current balance, Lingering Flame just provides more damage for Fireball Staff, as it provides slightly lower DoT boost on Fireball Staff but without reducing the direct impact damage. And for Beam Staff, Lingering Flame wins out when you have a hard time to keep up using your range weapon.
Increases Burn DoT damage.
Reduce all other damage types, including melee/range attacks direct damage, explosions, and none-burn DoT(e.g Bleed DoT from Dagger). With current balance, it's the Best in Slot option for Coruscation Staff, and for Beam Staff when you have decent range uptime.
Both Famished Flames and Lingering Flame interact with DoT mechanics. Famished Flames currently only wins out when you can keep more than 1 stack of DoT on the target consistently.
For Beam Staff, it is fairly easy to stack DoT on enemies, as the Blast Attack has a very low attack interval, and the Beam Attack itself is literally point and click.
Coruscation Staff Magma Geyser attack requires the player to stack its DoT to be effective; the shotgun attack does suffer from the -15% penalty, but its high base damage and shotgun mechanics make sure that its effectiveness isn't really affected by this reduction too much.
For Fireball Staff, Famished Flames is only DPS neutral with Charged Fireball attack, as a big portion of damage for this attack is still direct impact damage. But it still boosts other aspects of Battle Wizard's toolkit, like Fire Sword and Fire Walk, making it an overall DPS increase.
However, with current balance, Lingering Flame just provides more damage for Fireball Staff, as it provides slightly lower DoT boost on Fireball Staff but without reducing the direct impact damage. And for Beam Staff, Lingering Flame wins out when you have a hard time to keep up using your range weapon.
Lingering Flame
Sienna's burning effects now last until the affected enemy dies. Burning effects do not stack.
Flamestorm Staff/Fireball Staff/Conflagration Staff/Bolt Staff/Beam Staff
Changes the behaviour of all Burn DoT applied by Battle Wizard, except DoT applied by Chaos Waste Purifying Torch explosions.
Keeps the Burn DoT Damage Profile, changes the Max Stack to 1, doubles the Tick Rate, and increases the Duration to indefinitely until enemies or Sienna die.
The Lingering Flame can be reapplied if next Burn DoT has higher DPS DoT. After receiving a Burn DoT from Battle Wizard, if the next Burn DoT has higher DPS, Lingering Flame will use the new Burn DoT Tick Rate/Damage Profile instead.
Changes the behaviour of all Burn DoT applied by Battle Wizard, except DoT applied by Chaos Waste Purifying Torch explosions.
Keeps the Burn DoT Damage Profile, changes the Max Stack to 1, doubles the Tick Rate, and increases the Duration to indefinitely until enemies or Sienna die.
The Lingering Flame can be reapplied if next Burn DoT has higher DPS DoT. After receiving a Burn DoT from Battle Wizard, if the next Burn DoT has higher DPS, Lingering Flame will use the new Burn DoT Tick Rate/Damage Profile instead.
With current balance, it's the Best in Slot option for Flamestorm Staff, Fireball Staff, Conflagration Staff, Bolt Staff when playing on Legend and below with optimal gears, and Beam Staff only when you have low range uptime.
Both Lingering Flame and Famished Flames interact with DoT mechanics. Lingering Flame wins out more often as it has much higher floor and similar ceiling for most staffs.
For Flamestorm/Fireball/Conflagration Staff, Lingering Flame provides overall more damage while not limiting your attack pattens as much as other talents.
For Bolt Staff, Lingering Flame provides more overall DPS when you already reached all important breakpoints.
For Beam Staff, Lingering Flame is more consistent when you cannot apply DoT with your range weapon constantly.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part II)
LeveL 15 Row
Bulwark
Enemies that you stagger take 10% more damage from melee attacks for 2 seconds. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Does not benefit a range based career. Should be avoided.
Smiter
The first enemy hit always counts as staggered. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Does not benefit most of Battle Wizard builds as they usually use range weapons/DoT for single target damage.
Enhanced Power
Increases total Power Level by 7%. This is calculated before other buffs are applied.
Increases power level by 7.5%.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. Increase both your melee/range/DoT damage. Should be picked most of the time.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. Increase both your melee/range/DoT damage. Should be picked most of the time.
LeveL 20 Row
Unusually Calm
Tranquillity cooldown is reduced to 3 seconds.
Consistent value
Any builds can benefit from this talent, as it simply provides better heat management.
One of the biggest downside of Tranquillity is having low uptime, as high efficient wizard gameply requires high range uptime which will keep interupting the passive. Unusually Calm fits into this playstyle very well.
Any builds can benefit from this talent, as it simply provides better heat management.
One of the biggest downside of Tranquillity is having low uptime, as high efficient wizard gameply requires high range uptime which will keep interupting the passive. Unusually Calm fits into this playstyle very well.
Rechannel
When Tranquillity is active, Sienna's ranged charge time is reduced by 40.0%.
Weapon specific utility
When Tranquillity is active, if the next staff attack is a charged attack, increase its charge speed by 40%.
Stack additively with Reckless Haste. Useful for staffs/builds that want to full charge their attacks and don't need too many casts.
Usually used with Bolt Staff/Flamestorm Staff/Conflagration Staff.
For Bolt Staff, it allows you to quickly full charge one bolt to delete an elite/special, very useful during pacing or when horde just start showing up.
For Flamestorm Staff, it allows you to full charge your staff quickly at the start of each wave of the horde, and you usually only need one fully charged attack for one wave anyway.
For Conflagration Staff, it allows you to get a full charged geyser quickly to stagger some high stagger resistance enemies like Plague Monk/Chaos Warrior.
When Tranquillity is active, if the next staff attack is a charged attack, increase its charge speed by 40%.
Stack additively with Reckless Haste. Useful for staffs/builds that want to full charge their attacks and don't need too many casts.
Usually used with Bolt Staff/Flamestorm Staff/Conflagration Staff.
For Bolt Staff, it allows you to quickly full charge one bolt to delete an elite/special, very useful during pacing or when horde just start showing up.
For Flamestorm Staff, it allows you to full charge your staff quickly at the start of each wave of the horde, and you usually only need one fully charged attack for one wave anyway.
For Conflagration Staff, it allows you to get a full charged geyser quickly to stagger some high stagger resistance enemies like Plague Monk/Chaos Warrior.
Centred
Increases the venting effect of Tranquillity by 100.0%.
No value option
Tranquillity now increases the passive Overcharge decay speed by 300% instead of 200%.
Tranquillity now increases the passive Overcharge decay speed by 300% instead of 200%.
The problem with this talent is that, even under the best case scenario where the player wants to passively wait for overcharge to decay from 99% to 0%, it's still only slightly faster than Unusually Calm due to it has that 3 seconds head start. In any other situations, it will be completely outmatched. Should never choose this talent over Unusually Calm.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part III)
LeveL 25 Row
Soot Shield
Igniting an enemy reduces damage taken by 8.0% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
Low player agency defensive utility
Apply 1 stack of Burn DoT to 1 enemy grants 1 stack of damage reduction. Apply multiple stacks and/or apply to multiple enemies grants multiple stacks.
Each stack provides additive damage reduction to each other, up to 24%.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting. Thanks to wizard's range weapon arsenal and Fire Sword/Dagger being some of her strongest options, pretty much any Battle Wizard builds have the ability to trigger this talent easily.
Overall, the most consistent option on this row.
Apply 1 stack of Burn DoT to 1 enemy grants 1 stack of damage reduction. Apply multiple stacks and/or apply to multiple enemies grants multiple stacks.
Each stack provides additive damage reduction to each other, up to 24%.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting. Thanks to wizard's range weapon arsenal and Fire Sword/Dagger being some of her strongest options, pretty much any Battle Wizard builds have the ability to trigger this talent easily.
Overall, the most consistent option on this row.
Fires from Ash
Killing a burning enemy reduces the cooldown of Fire Walk by 3.0%.
Low player agency offensive utility
Refund 1.5 seconds/3% each time Battle Wizard kills an enemy with Burn DoT on it.
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Battle Wizard. But Battle Wizard needs to land the killing blow.
The cooldown refund effect can only be triggered every 0.5 second. Just like Soot Shield, pretty much any Battle Wizard builds meet the condition to trigger this effect. However, since it requires both Burn DoT application and landing the killing blow by Battle Wizard, this talent works best with weapons that satisfy both conditions. Most melee weapons and Bolt Staff cannot provide good yield from this effect. Meanwhile, the built-in 0.5 second cooldown means the efficiency of this talent also depends on lobby skill level/game difficulty/horde composition, as in order to maximize its effect, you would want to have high killing power to constantly landing last hit, while not doing too much damage to kill many enemies at the same time. Plus the opportunity cost, making this talent less consistent than Soot Shield in general.
Overall, should only pick this talent if you value cooldown much over damage reduction.
Refund 1.5 seconds/3% each time Battle Wizard kills an enemy with Burn DoT on it.
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Battle Wizard. But Battle Wizard needs to land the killing blow.
The cooldown refund effect can only be triggered every 0.5 second. Just like Soot Shield, pretty much any Battle Wizard builds meet the condition to trigger this effect. However, since it requires both Burn DoT application and landing the killing blow by Battle Wizard, this talent works best with weapons that satisfy both conditions. Most melee weapons and Bolt Staff cannot provide good yield from this effect. Meanwhile, the built-in 0.5 second cooldown means the efficiency of this talent also depends on lobby skill level/game difficulty/horde composition, as in order to maximize its effect, you would want to have high killing power to constantly landing last hit, while not doing too much damage to kill many enemies at the same time. Plus the opportunity cost, making this talent less consistent than Soot Shield in general.
Overall, should only pick this talent if you value cooldown much over damage reduction.
Immersive Immolation
Hitting 4 or more enemies with one attack grants 15.0% increased attack speed for 5 seconds.
Situational offensive talent
Can be triggered by cleaving enemies with one attack/projectile/shotgun pellet, or hitting multiple enemies with explosions.
Cannot be triggered by career skill.
Bash attacks(Firesword Heavy 1, Dagger Heavy 1, Scythe special attack) and Limited Target Attacks(Beam Staff Secondary Attack, Flamestorm Staff Primary & Secondary Attack) cannot trigger this effect consistently due to their unique mechanics. Because of weapon mechanics, not all Battle Wizard builds can trigger this talent consistent enough before even considering the 4 units requirement. At the same time, hitting 4 units is pretty hard outside fighting horde, and most of the Battle Wizard builds don't benefit from attack speed very much outside negating part of the Overcharge slowdown.
Overall, the least valuable option on this row.
Can be triggered by cleaving enemies with one attack/projectile/shotgun pellet, or hitting multiple enemies with explosions.
Cannot be triggered by career skill.
Bash attacks(Firesword Heavy 1, Dagger Heavy 1, Scythe special attack) and Limited Target Attacks(Beam Staff Secondary Attack, Flamestorm Staff Primary & Secondary Attack) cannot trigger this effect consistently due to their unique mechanics. Because of weapon mechanics, not all Battle Wizard builds can trigger this talent consistent enough before even considering the 4 units requirement. At the same time, hitting 4 units is pretty hard outside fighting horde, and most of the Battle Wizard builds don't benefit from attack speed very much outside negating part of the Overcharge slowdown.
Overall, the least valuable option on this row.
LeveL 30 Row
Volans' Quickening
Reduces the cooldown of Fire Walk by 40.0%.
Utility option
Reduce Cooldown by 20 seconds/40%. Low cooldown provides more damage/stagger/utility in general. However, it's out damaged by Kaboom! overall, and its utility is generally worse than Burnout, making it a bit awkward to pick.
Should only use this option if you stronger prefer weaker stagger/damage with shorter cooldown.
Reduce Cooldown by 20 seconds/40%. Low cooldown provides more damage/stagger/utility in general. However, it's out damaged by Kaboom! overall, and its utility is generally worse than Burnout, making it a bit awkward to pick.
Should only use this option if you stronger prefer weaker stagger/damage with shorter cooldown.
Kaboom!
Fire Walk explosion radius and burn damage increased. No longer leaves a burning trail.
DPS option
Removes the burning trail.
Improves the explosion created at the destination of the teleportation.
Explosion radius increases from 4 units to 5 units. Burn DoT total damage increased by 300% in most cases. The larger AoE + stronger DoT makes it the most consistent damage option on this row. At the same time, this provides some of the strongest DoT for Lingering Flame builds, regardless of your choice of weapons.
Should be used when you want to focus on using your career skill for DPS, or if you are running low DoT DPS weapons for Lingering Flame builds.
Removes the burning trail.
Improves the explosion created at the destination of the teleportation.
Explosion radius increases from 4 units to 5 units. Burn DoT total damage increased by 300% in most cases. The larger AoE + stronger DoT makes it the most consistent damage option on this row. At the same time, this provides some of the strongest DoT for Lingering Flame builds, regardless of your choice of weapons.
Should be used when you want to focus on using your career skill for DPS, or if you are running low DoT DPS weapons for Lingering Flame builds.
Burnout
Fire Walk can be activated a second time within 10 seconds.
Strong utility option
After activate Fire Walk, gain a buff that grants the player the ability to activate Fire Walk once again.
The buff lasts 10 seconds and consumed upon activate Fire Walk again.
While having this buff, Sienna cannot regain any cooldown.
After activate Fire Walk, gain a buff that grants the player the ability to activate Fire Walk once again.
The buff lasts 10 seconds and consumed upon activate Fire Walk again.
While having this buff, Sienna cannot regain any cooldown.
One of the strongest talents in the game. The amount of utility this talent provides is on its own level, while providing a decent amount of extra damage.
The double activation gives Battle Wizard one of the best crowd control tool in the game. If you wait until enemies recover from the first stagger animation to activate the second time, you can easily stagger whole groups of enemies for 3-4 seconds. It also makes her one of the best career to ledge Bosses, pushing them twice in a short period of time. You can also get revives easily and safely with this talent, as you can teleport onto the downed the person, start the revive while stagger all enemies near the teammate, and then teleport out during the revive to prevent enemies from interrupting you and stagger them again. Lastly, combine two career skills together gives it some very good damage potential. In extreme conditions it can even out damage Kaboom!, but it requires enemies to stay on fire trails for a very long period of time, or if enemies are packed extremely tight together and close to the player.
Should be Battle Wizard's default pick on most builds.
---Pyromancer---
Career General Overview
Career Orientation
A range focus career with consistent breakpoints and versatile playstyle.
Pros: Has access to a lot of high DPS builds. Has strong synergy with most staffs. Has access to both good melee and range damage at the same time.
Cons: Low single target burst damage. Fairly low mobility. No escape tools.
Basic Stats
Base HP: 100Career Skill Cooldown: 50 sec
Has 5% base Critical Strike chance
Unusable Weapons: Soulstealer Staff
Perks
Searing Focus
Increased ranged damage by 10%.
Only affects range attacks direct damage. Does not increase cleave/stagger/DoT damage.
The Volans Doctrine
No longer slowed from being overcharged.
One with Aqshy
50% increased max Overcharge.
Max Overcharge increases from 40 to 60.
Career Skill & Passive
The Burning Head
Sienna unleashes a fiery projectile that seeks out foes.
Shoots out 1 enemy seeking skull. The skull damage through shield and bypass Shield Enemies Cleave Resistance in Cleave calculation. Stagger all enemies it hit.
Can ricochet at most 8 times when hitting the environment.
If Sienna can pull out her range weapon before the skull land on the target, it can trigger all range weapon Traits.
When pressing the Career Skill key, an enemy will be outlined with red color. After releasing the key, the skull will try to hit the head of the red outline target. You can change which enemy is outlined by holding the Career Skill key and moving your crosshair.
While holding the Career Skill key, you can activated zoom with weapon special. Although the skull will try to hit one enemy’s head and have limited ability to curve in the air, it can still hit other targets/bodyparts due to distance and angles. In order to avoid this as best as you can, after locking onto the target you want, move the crosshair to the sky and then release the Career Skill key, so the projectile can come down from above, avoiding most ground-level enemies and obstacles.
Can ricochet at most 8 times when hitting the environment.
If Sienna can pull out her range weapon before the skull land on the target, it can trigger all range weapon Traits.
When pressing the Career Skill key, an enemy will be outlined with red color. After releasing the key, the skull will try to hit the head of the red outline target. You can change which enemy is outlined by holding the Career Skill key and moving your crosshair.
While holding the Career Skill key, you can activated zoom with weapon special. Although the skull will try to hit one enemy’s head and have limited ability to curve in the air, it can still hit other targets/bodyparts due to distance and angles. In order to avoid this as best as you can, after locking onto the target you want, move the crosshair to the sky and then release the Career Skill key, so the projectile can come down from above, avoiding most ground-level enemies and obstacles.
Critical Mass
Increased critical strike chance based on Overcharge level up to 30%.
Increase critical strike chance by 6% every 9 Overcharge, maxing out at 45 Overcharge.
The Burning Head Dodge Data/Damage & Stagger Cleave
Dodge Data
Damage Cleave
Stagger Cleave
Special Properties
2 Dodge Count, 100% Dodge Distance
11.94
11.94
Has Linesman as Effective Mass Modifier
Damage Through Shield
Bypass Shield Enemies Cleave Resistance in Cleave calculation
Damage Through Shield
Bypass Shield Enemies Cleave Resistance in Cleave calculation
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part I)
LeveL 5 Row
Carve
Damaging multiple enemies in one Melee Attack grants Temporary Health.
Provide 1 THP when hitting one unit.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used most of the time.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used most of the time.
Execute
Killing an enemy with Melee Attack restores Temporary Health. Killing more dangerous enemies grants more Temporary Health.
Can be triggered multiple times per attack. Does not include melee explosion kills or melee DoT kills.
Should only be used with Crowbill, or if your build focus on killing elites and there are no other careers competing for elites kill heavily.
Sting
Melee strike restores 0.5 temporary health. Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots instead restore 2. Critical Headshots restores 4.
Can only be triggered on the first target the attack connects to. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice.
Should only be used with Crowbill/Sword/Dagger when you have extremely high headshot rate.
LeveL 10 Row
Ride the Fire Wind
Increases ranged power level by 1.0% every 1 seconds up to a maximum of 25 stacks. Upon reaching maximum stacks effect diminishes then starts over.
Range focus builds
Provides 13% range power on average.
As a range power boosts, it increases range weapon and career skill damage/stagger. Does not increase cleave/DoT damage. Due to the nature of this talent, it is not reliable for reaching breakpoints, but having decent numeric value and being a pure passive boost still makes it the best option if you use your staff as the main DPS tool.
Should be used on range focus builds.
Provides 13% range power on average.
As a range power boosts, it increases range weapon and career skill damage/stagger. Does not increase cleave/DoT damage. Due to the nature of this talent, it is not reliable for reaching breakpoints, but having decent numeric value and being a pure passive boost still makes it the best option if you use your staff as the main DPS tool.
Should be used on range focus builds.
Martial Study
Increases attack speed by 5.0%.
Low value hybrid builds
Although consistent, the damage increase you get from this talent is one of the lowest in the game, especially since most of Pyromancer range weapons don't benefit from attack speed much. Still, if you want to consistently boost the melee aspect of a hybrid build without worrying about your HP, it is the only option here.
Although consistent, the damage increase you get from this talent is one of the lowest in the game, especially since most of Pyromancer range weapons don't benefit from attack speed much. Still, if you want to consistently boost the melee aspect of a hybrid build without worrying about your HP, it is the only option here.
Spirit-Casting
Increases critical strike chance by 10.0% while above 80.0% health.
Hybrid builds
Provides critical strike chance when your permanent health + temporary health is above 80% of your current max health.
Provides critical strike chance when your permanent health + temporary health is above 80% of your current max health.
Critical strike chance benefit all types of weapons. At the same time, since range focus builds require Sienna constantly trade HP for Overcharge through venting, most of the time only hybrid builds can have a decent uptime with this talent.
Should be used with hybrid builds.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part II)
LeveL 15 Row
Smiter
The first enemy hit always counts as staggered.
Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies.
Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger.
Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies.
Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger.
Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Increase your melee single target DPS and a bit horde clear. Helps you with Super Armour damage that most of Pyromancer builds lack.
Should be picked if Enhanced Power is not required for breakpoints.
Should be picked if Enhanced Power is not required for breakpoints.
Mainstay
Deal 40% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 60% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Increases your horde clear DPS. However, Pyromancer is a range focus career that does not need strong melee horde clear in her build. Should be avoided most of the time.
Enhanced Power
Increases total Power Level by 7%. This is calculated before other buffs are applied.
Increases power level by 7.5%.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. For certain Pyromancer builds, you rely on Enhanced Power to provide certain important breakpoints, plus on some other builds your range weapon or DoT are most of your damage and/or for most of your single target DPS. Otherwise, pick Smiter to boost your melee damage against important targets.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. For certain Pyromancer builds, you rely on Enhanced Power to provide certain important breakpoints, plus on some other builds your range weapon or DoT are most of your damage and/or for most of your single target DPS. Otherwise, pick Smiter to boost your melee damage against important targets.
LeveL 20 Row
Deathly Dissipation
Killing a special stops your spells from generating overcharge for 12 seconds.
Fireball Staff/Beam Staff range focus builds
Stop overcharge generation after killing a special. Does not need to be a range kill.
Casting spell still halts overcharge passive decay. Due to the mechanic of this talent, it's usually paired with staffs that can snipe specials at least semi-consistently and dump massive amout of heat for damage at any given moment. This usually leaves only Fireball and Beam staff fitting this role, but in some situations Coruscation Staff can be used too, since the shotgun can snipe close-medium range infantry specials pretty well, and you can save the career skill for long range/armoured specials.
Stop overcharge generation after killing a special. Does not need to be a range kill.
Casting spell still halts overcharge passive decay. Due to the mechanic of this talent, it's usually paired with staffs that can snipe specials at least semi-consistently and dump massive amout of heat for damage at any given moment. This usually leaves only Fireball and Beam staff fitting this role, but in some situations Coruscation Staff can be used too, since the shotgun can snipe close-medium range infantry specials pretty well, and you can save the career skill for long range/armoured specials.
On the Precipice
Increases ranged power by 20% when at or above critical overcharge.
Conflagration/Flamestorm/Bolt Staff builds
Provide 20% range power when you are at or above 42 Overcharge.
As a range power boosts, it increases range weapon and career skill damage/stagger. Does not increase cleave/DoT damage. Although the damage boost is pretty significant, not all staffs want to be played with fairly limited overcharge range as they require constant casting, making this talent to be paired with Conflagration/Flamestorm/Bolt Staff usually, as all these staffs don't require large amount of casts to be effective.
Provide 20% range power when you are at or above 42 Overcharge.
As a range power boosts, it increases range weapon and career skill damage/stagger. Does not increase cleave/DoT damage. Although the damage boost is pretty significant, not all staffs want to be played with fairly limited overcharge range as they require constant casting, making this talent to be paired with Conflagration/Flamestorm/Bolt Staff usually, as all these staffs don't require large amount of casts to be effective.
One with the Flame
Critical Mass also increases attack speed by 2.0% per 9 overcharge and stacks up to 5 times.
Hybrid builds/Coruscation Staff
Pyromancer now also gains 2% attack speed every 9 Overcharge on top of the critical strike chance, maxing out at 10% attack speed/45 Overcharge.
Pyromancer now also gains 2% attack speed every 9 Overcharge on top of the critical strike chance, maxing out at 10% attack speed/45 Overcharge.
Since not all Staffs benefit from attack speed a lot, this talent is usually used for hybrid builds, or for Coruscation Staff builds where none of the other talents on this row really benefit this staff anyway.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part III)
LeveL 25 Row
Soul Siphon
Reduces damage taken by 10.0% for 10 seconds after killing a special or elite enemy.
Good value consistent damage reduction
Killing a special/elite gains one stack of damage reduction. Does not need to be a range kill.
Can stack 3 times, each stack provides additive damage reduction to each other, up to 30%.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting. One of the most underrated, underused and misunderstood talents in the game, all thanks to the incomplete tooltip. It doesn't mention the fact that this talent can stack 3 times, providing up to 30% damage reduction, which is amazing for a 100 base HP wizard. It allows Pyromancer to tank an Overhead on Cataclysm/full book Legend, venting a lot more, and just useful in general, especially on higher difficulties where there are plenty of elites/specials to maintain the stacks.
Should be the default option for all builds on Legend/Cataclysm difficulties.
Killing a special/elite gains one stack of damage reduction. Does not need to be a range kill.
Can stack 3 times, each stack provides additive damage reduction to each other, up to 30%.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting. One of the most underrated, underused and misunderstood talents in the game, all thanks to the incomplete tooltip. It doesn't mention the fact that this talent can stack 3 times, providing up to 30% damage reduction, which is amazing for a 100 base HP wizard. It allows Pyromancer to tank an Overhead on Cataclysm/full book Legend, venting a lot more, and just useful in general, especially on higher difficulties where there are plenty of elites/specials to maintain the stacks.
Should be the default option for all builds on Legend/Cataclysm difficulties.
Flamestrike's Tutelage
Sienna gains 80% reduction on Venting damage. Each nearby enemy decreases the damage reduction by 20%.
Inconsistent range focused Fireball Staff build
When there are 0/1/2/3 or 3+ enemies within 7 units of Sienna, reduce venting damage by 80%/60%/40%/20%. On paper, a very good talent for high range uptime builds, as the reduced venting damage helps a lot in terms of sustain damage. However, in practice, the 7 units range of the penalty distance is really unforgiving, and once you lose more than 1 stack, this talent just became worse than Soul Siphon. This makes only long range staffs like Fireball/Flamestorm/Conflagration/Bolt Staff can benefit from this talent more than the other option. At the same time, none of these staffs beside Fireball really needs that much venting damage bonus, as they all only need very few casts during most fights, making this talent an overall niche option that only suited for range focused Fireball players that can position themselves very well, or on low difficulties where it's hard to trigger Soul Siphon.
When there are 0/1/2/3 or 3+ enemies within 7 units of Sienna, reduce venting damage by 80%/60%/40%/20%. On paper, a very good talent for high range uptime builds, as the reduced venting damage helps a lot in terms of sustain damage. However, in practice, the 7 units range of the penalty distance is really unforgiving, and once you lose more than 1 stack, this talent just became worse than Soul Siphon. This makes only long range staffs like Fireball/Flamestorm/Conflagration/Bolt Staff can benefit from this talent more than the other option. At the same time, none of these staffs beside Fireball really needs that much venting damage bonus, as they all only need very few casts during most fights, making this talent an overall niche option that only suited for range focused Fireball players that can position themselves very well, or on low difficulties where it's hard to trigger Soul Siphon.
Fleetflame
Critical hits increases movement speed by 5.0% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
High player agency defensive utility for range focus builds
Movement speed gives you an easier time at evading enemy attacks, as you can move out of their hitbox. And more importantly for a backline career, it allows you to move to a more favorable fighting position easier where you can use your range weapon safely. However, in compare to the other two options on this row, all its value comes from the player actively utilizing this tool. Plus numeric value wise, this talent doesn't provide much, it is usually better to pick other options for either a more consistent passive defence tool or better damage uptime.
Movement speed gives you an easier time at evading enemy attacks, as you can move out of their hitbox. And more importantly for a backline career, it allows you to move to a more favorable fighting position easier where you can use your range weapon safely. However, in compare to the other two options on this row, all its value comes from the player actively utilizing this tool. Plus numeric value wise, this talent doesn't provide much, it is usually better to pick other options for either a more consistent passive defence tool or better damage uptime.
LeveL 30 Row
Dissipating Rictus
The Burning Head grants 50% charge speed and Overcharge explosion immunity for 12 seconds.
Consistent range burst damage
Casting Career Skill grants Pyromancer 50% charge speed and prevent Overcharge explosion for 12 seconds.
Pyromancer can still gain Overcharge from casting. Provide incredible burst DPS to pretty much all Sienna staffs except Flamestorm, as they can all benefit from either charge speed or unlimited Overcharge. However, it can overlap with Deathly Dissipation, especially since Sienna would want to save career skill for specials on a lot of staffs. It also doesn't provide any benefit for your melee combat abilities.
Overall, should be used with Coruscation/Bolt/Conflagration Staff if you want to increase your range burst potential, or with Fireball/Beam Staff if you don't use Deathly Dissipation/can't trigger it consistently.
Casting Career Skill grants Pyromancer 50% charge speed and prevent Overcharge explosion for 12 seconds.
Pyromancer can still gain Overcharge from casting. Provide incredible burst DPS to pretty much all Sienna staffs except Flamestorm, as they can all benefit from either charge speed or unlimited Overcharge. However, it can overlap with Deathly Dissipation, especially since Sienna would want to save career skill for specials on a lot of staffs. It also doesn't provide any benefit for your melee combat abilities.
Overall, should be used with Coruscation/Bolt/Conflagration Staff if you want to increase your range burst potential, or with Fireball/Beam Staff if you don't use Deathly Dissipation/can't trigger it consistently.
Bonded Flame
The Burning Head grants 35 temporary health when used.
All-around option for all builds
Gain the temporary health the moment career skill is cast. Temporary health is one of the most versatile resources in Vermintide. Enough sustain can reduce your chance of dying, and over flowing amount of health can enable hit trading for cooldown generation. On Sienna, temporary health can also directly transfer into Overcharge, allowing for more casting as they are usually more efficient than melee weapons in terms of DPS. For staffs that require constant casting like Fireball/Beam Staff, this is very helpful, especially since it doesn't overlap with Deathly Dissipation unlike other options.
Overall, should be used with Fireball/Beam Staff range focused builds with Deathly Dissipation, or hybrid builds if you want more sustain.
Gain the temporary health the moment career skill is cast. Temporary health is one of the most versatile resources in Vermintide. Enough sustain can reduce your chance of dying, and over flowing amount of health can enable hit trading for cooldown generation. On Sienna, temporary health can also directly transfer into Overcharge, allowing for more casting as they are usually more efficient than melee weapons in terms of DPS. For staffs that require constant casting like Fireball/Beam Staff, this is very helpful, especially since it doesn't overlap with Deathly Dissipation unlike other options.
Overall, should be used with Fireball/Beam Staff range focused builds with Deathly Dissipation, or hybrid builds if you want more sustain.
Blazing Echo
The Burning Head critical hits refund its cooldown.
Inconsistent burst damage
Refund 50 seconds/100% of max Cooldown each time.
The critical hit must land on an enemy target.
Refund 50 seconds/100% of max Cooldown each time.
The critical hit must land on an enemy target.
Since the critical hit is rolled the moment the Burning Head projectile is shot out, it does not inherit melee/range weapon crit chance property, thus Sienna can have maximum 50% crit chance for this talent by herself. 50% crit chance is great for general damage purpose, but if the only useful mechanic of the talent is tied to it, it is quite low. At the same time, Vermintide uses PRD for crit chance, meaning it is very rare to get more than one cooldown refund from this effect. And even if it does trigger once or twice, in a lot of situations the free cast from Dissipating Rictus can match the extra damage easily, while being a 100% consistent buff.
Overall, this talent is out matched by other options in this row for adventure mode. In Chaos Waste, however, it became much more useful since there are a decent amount of crit chance manipulating boons.
---Unchained---
Career General Overview
Career Orientation
A hybrid career with high damage potential in both melee and range aspect.
Pros: Can utilize all types of melee weapons effectively. Strong stagger power on all melee weapons. Strong sustained range damage.
Cons: Fairly low mobility. Low burst damage. Talent selection lacks variety. Damage Reduction passive requires attention to play with.
Basic Stats
Base HP: 150Career Skill Cooldown: 120 sec
Has 5% base Critical Strike chance
Unusable Weapons: Soulstealer Staff
Perks
Slave to Aqshy
No Overcharge slowdown.
Unstable Strength
Increased melee power on high Overcharge by up to 60%.
Increases melee power by 12% every 6 Overcharge, maxing out at 30 Overcharge.
As a melee power boost, it in creases melee weapon damage/cleave/stagger. Has no effect on range weapons/DoT/Items.
As a melee power boost, it in creases melee weapon damage/cleave/stagger. Has no effect on range weapons/DoT/Items.
Career Skill & Passive
Living Bomb
Sienna explodes, dealing damage to surrounding enemies and clearing her Overcharge.
The career skill hitbox is a sphere centred at Sienna, can go through walls and floors.
Apply moderate amount of stagger and a weak Burn DoT to all enemies within 5 units.
Reduce Sienna's Overcharge level to 0.
Can be initiated during Overcharge explosion and stop Overcharge explosion immediately.
Does not interrupt or prevent any player actions, including attack/switch/use item/interact/revive/rescue/interact/movement.
Holding the career skill key(default key: F) will show you the stagger radius of the career skill.
Apply moderate amount of stagger and a weak Burn DoT to all enemies within 5 units.
Reduce Sienna's Overcharge level to 0.
Can be initiated during Overcharge explosion and stop Overcharge explosion immediately.
Does not interrupt or prevent any player actions, including attack/switch/use item/interact/revive/rescue/interact/movement.
Holding the career skill key(default key: F) will show you the stagger radius of the career skill.
Blood Magic
50% damage taken transferred to Overcharge.
After all damage modifiers, reduce damage taken by 50%, and gain the final HP damage taken amount of Overcharge with 1:1 ratio.
Does not reduce venting damage/fall damage/all damage taken during Overcharge explosion/any damage taken while disabled or downed.
Stack multiplicatively with other sources of damage reduction, including Numb to Pain, provides up to a total of 57.5% damage reduction for most damage sources.
Does not reduce venting damage/fall damage/all damage taken during Overcharge explosion/any damage taken while disabled or downed.
Stack multiplicatively with other sources of damage reduction, including Numb to Pain, provides up to a total of 57.5% damage reduction for most damage sources.
Like all other form of Overcharge generation, a single action cannot trigger the explosion, it will only fill the bar. This means, even if there's only one Overcharge left on the bar, you won't explode from a single tick of damage taken. However, this effect has a cooldown. If you gain Overcharge again before the natural Overcharge decay starts, you can still explode from a single action.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part I)
LeveL 5 Row
Second Wind
Staggering enemies with a Melee Attack grants up to 2 Temporary Health determined by the Stagger Strength. Killing blows instead restore 0.25 THP.
Melee attack grants 0.25/1/2 THP per unit. Push grants 0.5/1 THP per unit. Both can only be triggered on 5 units. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice.
Melee killing blows grant 0.25 per unit without limit. Should be used with Fire Sword, Dagger if you utilize its first heavy attack, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you utilize its special attack.
Melee killing blows grant 0.25 per unit without limit. Should be used with Fire Sword, Dagger if you utilize its first heavy attack, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you utilize its special attack.
Carve
Damaging multiple enemies in one Melee Attack grants Temporary Health.
Provide 1 THP when hitting one unit.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used with Crowbill, Sword, Mace, Flaming Flail, Dagger if you utilize its light attacks, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you don't utilize its special attack.
First 5 units you hit grants 1 THP per unit per hit. Next 5 units grants 0.5 THP per unit per hit. Caps out at 10 unit per hit/7.5 THP per swing. Dual wield attacks can trigger twice. Should be used with Crowbill, Sword, Mace, Flaming Flail, Dagger if you utilize its light attacks, and Ensorcelled Reaper if you don't utilize its special attack.
Execute
Killing an enemy with Melee Attack restores Temporary Health. Killing more dangerous enemies grants more Temporary Health.
Can be triggered multiple times per attack. Does not include melee explosion kills or melee DoT kills.
Should only be used with Crowbill when your build focuses on killing elites with melee weapons and there are no other careers competing for elites kill.
LeveL 10 Row
Frenzied Flame
Increases attack speed by 15.0% while at or above high Overcharge.
Best DPS option
Increases attack speed by 15% when Unchained is above 50%/20 Overcharge. Although not all Staffs benefit from attack speed a lot, melee damage is an very important part of Unchained toolkit. Switching to your melee weapons on high heat is a very natural part of your damage loop for certain builds, and this talent has great synergy with that playstyle.
Overall, the best DPS option on this row, and just better than other options in general.
Increases attack speed by 15% when Unchained is above 50%/20 Overcharge. Although not all Staffs benefit from attack speed a lot, melee damage is an very important part of Unchained toolkit. Switching to your melee weapons on high heat is a very natural part of your damage loop for certain builds, and this talent has great synergy with that playstyle.
Overall, the best DPS option on this row, and just better than other options in general.
Outburst
Pushing an enemy ignites them, causing damage over time. Heavy attacks makes the next push arc 70.0% wider.
Weak damage/utility
Landing a push on enemies apply a weak unstackable DoT that lasts 6 seconds. For shielded enemies, they can only be applied if their shields are open.
Landing a melee heavy attack grants Unchain a buff that increases both Push Angle and Block Angle by 70%. This buff only expires upon landing a push on enemies. Even though both parts of this talent have synergy with each other, their overall effect is very low impact.
The AoE burn DoT sounds pretty good, but most of the Sienna range weapons can do the same thing with much higher DPS, and for melee weapons Frenzied Flame is always better, especially since Outburst DoT cannot be stacked while all Sienna melee DoT can. And the push/block angle is just a weak status buff in general. Outside these weak effects, this talent has some synergy with Enfeebling Flame as it is the longest duration DoT Unchained has access to, but that talent has its own problem that makes it pretty uncommon to be picked.
Overall, it is a talent with two weak effects combine into another mediocre one. Should be avoided most of the time.
Landing a push on enemies apply a weak unstackable DoT that lasts 6 seconds. For shielded enemies, they can only be applied if their shields are open.
Landing a melee heavy attack grants Unchain a buff that increases both Push Angle and Block Angle by 70%. This buff only expires upon landing a push on enemies. Even though both parts of this talent have synergy with each other, their overall effect is very low impact.
The AoE burn DoT sounds pretty good, but most of the Sienna range weapons can do the same thing with much higher DPS, and for melee weapons Frenzied Flame is always better, especially since Outburst DoT cannot be stacked while all Sienna melee DoT can. And the push/block angle is just a weak status buff in general. Outside these weak effects, this talent has some synergy with Enfeebling Flame as it is the longest duration DoT Unchained has access to, but that talent has its own problem that makes it pretty uncommon to be picked.
Overall, it is a talent with two weak effects combine into another mediocre one. Should be avoided most of the time.
Chain Reaction
Burning enemies have a small chance to explode on death.
Inconsistent weak utility
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Unchained. But Unchained needs to be the one landing the last hit.
The chance to trigger the explosion is 40%. The explosion will happen in the dead enemy position.
The explosion does not deal damage, only apply moderate amount of stagger to enemies within 2 units.
The explosion can trigger talent Second Wind no matter your current weapon slot.
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Unchained. But Unchained needs to be the one landing the last hit.
The chance to trigger the explosion is 40%. The explosion will happen in the dead enemy position.
The explosion does not deal damage, only apply moderate amount of stagger to enemies within 2 units.
The explosion can trigger talent Second Wind no matter your current weapon slot.
Since the explosion doesn't provide damage nor DoT, the only effect it can provide is some stagger here and there. When you are using your melee weapon, this effect is negligible, as all Unchained melee weapons have amazing stagger power with Unstable Strength. When you are using your range weapon, it is a bit more useful, since it help you control the horde a bit and stop THP decay here and there if you are using Second Wind.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part II)
LeveL 15 Row
Bulwark
Enemies that you stagger take 10% more damage from melee attacks for 2 seconds. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
For Unchained herself, this talent provides the least amount of damage on this row.
Should be avoided most of the time.
Should be avoided most of the time.
Mainstay
Deal 40% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 60% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
Increases your horde clear DPS. However, the most powerful horde clear tool of Unchained coming from her range weapons, which this talent doesn't help.
Should be avoided most of the time.
Should be avoided most of the time.
Enhanced Power
Increases total Power Level by 7%. This is calculated before other buffs are applied.
Increases power level by 7.5%.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. The best single target damage boost talent on this row and help to reach certain stagger breakpoints. Overall best option on this row.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. The best single target damage boost talent on this row and help to reach certain stagger breakpoints. Overall best option on this row.
LeveL 20 Row
Dissipate
Block cost is reduced by 50.0% when Overcharged and blocking attacks vent Overcharge.
Close quarter speciality Overcharge control
This effective is activated the moment Sienna has >0 amount of Overcharge.
Stack multiplicatively with all other block cost reduction sources in the game.
Reduce Overcharge amount equals to the original stamina damage before any block cost reduction/multiplier in the game, including weapons' built-in front/back block multiplier. When used proactively/offensively, this talent provides the best Overcharge reduce method at close range, especially on higher difficulties where there are elites mixed inside horde. Since it uses stamina damage before any multipliers, horde units will reduce your Overcharge 1-2 per hit, and elites will reduce it by 4-30. Consider that max Overcharge is 40, just blocking for a few seconds can reduce your Overcharge very quickly, allowing you to switch back to range weapons for more DPS.
When used reactively/defensively, this talent makes Unchained much tankier overall. Because of Blood Magic, Unchained effective HP is tied to bother her HP and Overcharge value. With Dissipate, you can now add Stamina to the pool too. And you can now consider Block Cost Reduction properties or even Parry traits as soft damage reduction, since they increase the amount of stamina you can spend without reducing Dissipate effect.
However, this talent can be awkward to have if your current plan is maintaining high Overcharge and use melee weapon, since know you need to dodge every attacks without blocking to maintain your melee power. At the same time, if you want to spam range attacks while keeping a bit of distance from enemies, this talent can be quite a bit inconvenient and inconsistent in terms of providing extra overcharge for you to use.
This effective is activated the moment Sienna has >0 amount of Overcharge.
Stack multiplicatively with all other block cost reduction sources in the game.
Reduce Overcharge amount equals to the original stamina damage before any block cost reduction/multiplier in the game, including weapons' built-in front/back block multiplier. When used proactively/offensively, this talent provides the best Overcharge reduce method at close range, especially on higher difficulties where there are elites mixed inside horde. Since it uses stamina damage before any multipliers, horde units will reduce your Overcharge 1-2 per hit, and elites will reduce it by 4-30. Consider that max Overcharge is 40, just blocking for a few seconds can reduce your Overcharge very quickly, allowing you to switch back to range weapons for more DPS.
When used reactively/defensively, this talent makes Unchained much tankier overall. Because of Blood Magic, Unchained effective HP is tied to bother her HP and Overcharge value. With Dissipate, you can now add Stamina to the pool too. And you can now consider Block Cost Reduction properties or even Parry traits as soft damage reduction, since they increase the amount of stamina you can spend without reducing Dissipate effect.
However, this talent can be awkward to have if your current plan is maintaining high Overcharge and use melee weapon, since know you need to dodge every attacks without blocking to maintain your melee power. At the same time, if you want to spam range attacks while keeping a bit of distance from enemies, this talent can be quite a bit inconvenient and inconsistent in terms of providing extra overcharge for you to use.
Conduit
Increases rate of venting overcharge by 30.0% and reduces damage taken from venting by 50.0%.
General Overcharge control
The benefit of reducing venting damage is obvious, but the venting speed plays a huge role too. Because venting damage only happens every 1 second, the venting speed itself also reduces your total venting damage taken. At the same time, It allows you to get away from dangerous Overcharge level quicker, and let you go back into range spam easier, all without any extra steps to take/buff to maintain. You won't lose Overcharge when you don't want to, and when you do, you can lose them safely and quickly.
Overall, the best overcharge control talent on this row, especially for a more range focused build.
The benefit of reducing venting damage is obvious, but the venting speed plays a huge role too. Because venting damage only happens every 1 second, the venting speed itself also reduces your total venting damage taken. At the same time, It allows you to get away from dangerous Overcharge level quicker, and let you go back into range spam easier, all without any extra steps to take/buff to maintain. You won't lose Overcharge when you don't want to, and when you do, you can lose them safely and quickly.
Overall, the best overcharge control talent on this row, especially for a more range focused build.
Numb to Pain
Reduces damage taken by 5.0% and overcharge generated by Blood Magic by 16.6% for 15 seconds after venting. Stacks 3 time.
Close quarter damage reduction
Gain 1 stack of buff after taking 1 tick of venting damage or 1 tick of the DoT damage during Overcharge explosion.
Provide up to 15% damage reduction and reduce Overcharge generated by Blood Magic by 49.8% for 15 seconds.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting.
Stack multiplicatively with other sources of damage reduction, including Blood Magic, provides up to a total of 57.5% damage reduction for most damage sources.
Gain 1 stack of buff after taking 1 tick of venting damage or 1 tick of the DoT damage during Overcharge explosion.
Provide up to 15% damage reduction and reduce Overcharge generated by Blood Magic by 49.8% for 15 seconds.
The damage reduction applies to all damage taken, including self damage like venting.
Stack multiplicatively with other sources of damage reduction, including Blood Magic, provides up to a total of 57.5% damage reduction for most damage sources.
Increase your effective HP dramatically, as both damage reduction and Blood Magic overcharge generation contribute to it. However, the biggest problem of this talent is that it provides little neutral gain during normal gameplay, and requires you to actively maintain its buff for it to work under dire situations. The 15% DR is quite little compare to the overall venting damage reduction Conduit can provide, and the effective HP increase is also much worse than Dissipate if you utilize your block. On top of that, this talent requires you to maintain a 15-second duration buff, which isn't too hard but also not really a passive bonus, making this talent an awkward choice.
Overall, should only be picked when the player takes a lot HP damage if they are willing to maintain the buff.
Talent Mechanic & General Usage (Part III)
LeveL 25 Row
Enfeebling Flame
Burning enemies deal 30.0% less damage.
Inconsistent team damage reduction
Only reduces enemy direct hit damage.
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Unchained. But Unchained needs to select the talent and is present on that map(alive/downed/waiting for rescue) to trigger this effect. The effect is amazing on paper. In practice though, it's a little bit more limited depends on your builds, as most of the DoT sources Unchained has access to long last 1–2 seconds, so you are mostly likely only able to reduce damage from enemies around yourself. Still a good effect overall.
However, the biggest problem of this talent, just like Natural Talent, is the opportunity cost of not taking Abandon, making this talent a less appealing option on this row.
Only reduces enemy direct hit damage.
The burn effect on the enemies does not need to be applied by Unchained. But Unchained needs to select the talent and is present on that map(alive/downed/waiting for rescue) to trigger this effect. The effect is amazing on paper. In practice though, it's a little bit more limited depends on your builds, as most of the DoT sources Unchained has access to long last 1–2 seconds, so you are mostly likely only able to reduce damage from enemies around yourself. Still a good effect overall.
However, the biggest problem of this talent, just like Natural Talent, is the opportunity cost of not taking Abandon, making this talent a less appealing option on this row.
Abandon
During overcharge, Sienna expends health to increase ability cooldown rate.
Must have utility
During Overcharge explosion, if you do not have your Career Skill cooldown ready, in addition to taking 10 damage/0.5 sec, Unchained will also take 5% of Max Health as damage and get 10% cooldown every 0.25 seconds, until your cooldown is ready.
The Abandon damage taken part cannot be reduced by any damage reduction. A must-have option for any Unchained that wants to optimize their gameplay loop or maximize their damage.
For optimal gameplay/DPS loop, Unchained should either be spamming range attacks or using melee weapons at high heat, which means even small mistakes can make you blow up from Blood Magic as you are either constantly raising your Overcharge or keeping it at a high level. Because of that, without this talent, when playing aggressively, Unchained needs to be very careful and holds her career skill for dear life, meaning you can only really afford a fairly big mistake every 120 seconds or so. And if you blow up without cooldown, the best you can do is to run into enemies, and hope they can hit you with enough damage to recharge your cooldown while not killing you straight up. With Abandon though, you only really needs to worry about your total HP just like any other careers in the game, so finally being able to fully benefit from Blood Magic without worrying about dying from random hits, and use your career skill aggressively for damage purposes instead of saving yourself. At the same time, it also has great synergy with another strong talent Bomb Balm, to let you regain THP for your whole team while trading a part of your own.
Overall, the best option on this row. It gives Unchained a new level of gameplay that not picking this talent itself is a detriment to the build.
During Overcharge explosion, if you do not have your Career Skill cooldown ready, in addition to taking 10 damage/0.5 sec, Unchained will also take 5% of Max Health as damage and get 10% cooldown every 0.25 seconds, until your cooldown is ready.
The Abandon damage taken part cannot be reduced by any damage reduction. A must-have option for any Unchained that wants to optimize their gameplay loop or maximize their damage.
For optimal gameplay/DPS loop, Unchained should either be spamming range attacks or using melee weapons at high heat, which means even small mistakes can make you blow up from Blood Magic as you are either constantly raising your Overcharge or keeping it at a high level. Because of that, without this talent, when playing aggressively, Unchained needs to be very careful and holds her career skill for dear life, meaning you can only really afford a fairly big mistake every 120 seconds or so. And if you blow up without cooldown, the best you can do is to run into enemies, and hope they can hit you with enough damage to recharge your cooldown while not killing you straight up. With Abandon though, you only really needs to worry about your total HP just like any other careers in the game, so finally being able to fully benefit from Blood Magic without worrying about dying from random hits, and use your career skill aggressively for damage purposes instead of saving yourself. At the same time, it also has great synergy with another strong talent Bomb Balm, to let you regain THP for your whole team while trading a part of your own.
Overall, the best option on this row. It gives Unchained a new level of gameplay that not picking this talent itself is a detriment to the build.
Natural Talent
Reduces overcharge generated by 10.0%.
High value utility
Reduce all Overcharge generation, including Blood Magic.
Stack additively with Thermal Equalizer. Since this talent's effective applies to all Overcharge generation, it provides both offensive and defensive utility. You can cast more spell and take more damage without exploding. And best of all, it is a completely passive bonus.
However, the biggest problem of this talent, just like Enfeebling Flame, is the opportunity cost of not taking Abandon, making this talent a less appealing option on this row.
Reduce all Overcharge generation, including Blood Magic.
Stack additively with Thermal Equalizer. Since this talent's effective applies to all Overcharge generation, it provides both offensive and defensive utility. You can cast more spell and take more damage without exploding. And best of all, it is a completely passive bonus.
However, the biggest problem of this talent, just like Enfeebling Flame, is the opportunity cost of not taking Abandon, making this talent a less appealing option on this row.
LeveL 30 Row
Fuel for the Fire
Each enemy hit by Living Bomb increases power by 5.0% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
Niche damage increase
Provides 5% power level per enemy unit within 10 units of Unchained when she activates the Career Skill for 15 seconds, up to 25%.
The Career Skill gains the Fuel for the Fire stack also benefit from the new stack power level increase.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. A decent power level boost numeric wise. However, it is tied to a career skill with a very long cooldown, giving this effect a very low uptime. The usage is also a bit limited, since using the career skill will automatically ventilate Unchained. This means if you want your melee weapons to benefit from this effect, you need a range weapon that can increase your Overcharge level quickly, otherwise Unstable Strength will give you more benefit. At the same time, in order to get max power level stacks, it requires you to stay close to enemies, which makes it more dangerous to use certain range weapons.
Overall, a talent with decent on paper effect and awkward practical usage.
Provides 5% power level per enemy unit within 10 units of Unchained when she activates the Career Skill for 15 seconds, up to 25%.
The Career Skill gains the Fuel for the Fire stack also benefit from the new stack power level increase.
As a power boost, it increases your damage/stagger/cleave. A decent power level boost numeric wise. However, it is tied to a career skill with a very long cooldown, giving this effect a very low uptime. The usage is also a bit limited, since using the career skill will automatically ventilate Unchained. This means if you want your melee weapons to benefit from this effect, you need a range weapon that can increase your Overcharge level quickly, otherwise Unstable Strength will give you more benefit. At the same time, in order to get max power level stacks, it requires you to stay close to enemies, which makes it more dangerous to use certain range weapons.
Overall, a talent with decent on paper effect and awkward practical usage.
Wildfire
Living Bomb grants Sienna a scorching aura that ignites nearby enemies for 10 seconds, causing damage over time. Increases the stagger power of Living Bomb.
Niche crowd control
Living Bomb explosion now staggers all enemies within 5 units.
After the explosion, creates two auras around Unchained. Both auras last 10 seconds.
The Burn DoT Aura works similar to DoT. Has a radius of 6 units. Deal Burn DoT damage every 2 seconds.
The Pure Damage Aura deals pure damage, and is counted as environmental damage. Deal 2 damage every 0.5 second. The stagger effect gives Unchained a consistent way to ledge Boss/Monsters and interrupt elites attacks in AoE. However, it's a much smaller radius compare to similar effect like Mercenary/Witch Hunter Captain career skill, and a lot of Unchained melee weapons can already interrupt elites attacks consistently at high heat. The damage aura effect is also quite unimpressive, causing on average only 5 tick of Burn DoT and 40 damage if enemies stay close to you for a whole 10 seconds, and is quite visual pollution for the whole team.
Overall, a pretty niche AoE stagger tool that's only useful if you value the ability to ledge Bosses very high.
Living Bomb explosion now staggers all enemies within 5 units.
After the explosion, creates two auras around Unchained. Both auras last 10 seconds.
The Burn DoT Aura works similar to DoT. Has a radius of 6 units. Deal Burn DoT damage every 2 seconds.
The Pure Damage Aura deals pure damage, and is counted as environmental damage. Deal 2 damage every 0.5 second. The stagger effect gives Unchained a consistent way to ledge Boss/Monsters and interrupt elites attacks in AoE. However, it's a much smaller radius compare to similar effect like Mercenary/Witch Hunter Captain career skill, and a lot of Unchained melee weapons can already interrupt elites attacks consistently at high heat. The damage aura effect is also quite unimpressive, causing on average only 5 tick of Burn DoT and 40 damage if enemies stay close to you for a whole 10 seconds, and is quite visual pollution for the whole team.
Overall, a pretty niche AoE stagger tool that's only useful if you value the ability to ledge Bosses very high.
Bomb Balm
Living Bomb restores 30 temporary health to allies.
Strong utility
Activate Living Bomb now provide 30 temporary health to all allies within 10 units, including Sienna.
Activate Living Bomb now provide 30 temporary health to all allies within 10 units, including Sienna.
Temporary health is one of the most versatile resources in Vermintide. Enough sustain can reduce your chance of dying, and over flowing amount of health can enable hit trading for cooldown generation. On Sienna, temporary health can also directly transfer into Overcharge, allowing for more casting as they are usually more efficient than melee weapons in terms of DPS. At the same time, you also provide sustain for the whole team with this effect, and combine with Abandon you can play like a budget hit-trade Mercenary, regain THP for your whole team while trading a part of your own.
Overall, the most versatile option on this row, especially for range focused playstyle.
Appendix 1: Career Skill Cooldown and Cooldown On Hit/Damage Taken Table
Career
Career Skill Cooldown
(seconds)
(seconds)
Cooldown on hit
(seconds per hit)
(seconds per hit)
Cooldown on damage taken
(seconds per damage taken)
(seconds per damage taken)
Mercenary
90
0.5
0.5
Huntsman
90
0.3
0.4
Foot Knight
30
0.25
0.5
Grail Knight
60
0.25
0.25
Ranger Veteran
120
0.3
0.3
Ironbreaker
120
0.25
0.5
Slayer
40
0.5
0.1
Outcast Engineer
60/90
0
0
Waystalker
80
0.35
0.3
Handmaiden
20
0.25
0.5
Shade
70
0.5
0.2
Sister of the Thorns
40
0.3
0.4
Witch Hunter Captain
90
0.5
0.2
Bounty Hunter
70
0.25
0.3
Zealot
60
0.5
0.2
Warrior Priest of Sigmar
70
0.25
0.25
Battle Wizard
50
0.25
0.5
Pyromancer
50
0.25
0.3
Unchained
120
0.25
0.5
Necromancer
110
0.25
0.25
Appendix 2: Execute Temporary Health Table
Enemy
Temporary Health gain
Skaven Slave
1
Clan Rat/Explosive Loot Rat
2
Storm Vermin/Plague Monk/Skaven Specials/Loot Rat
8
Fanatic/Ungor
1.5
Marauder/Gor/Ethereal Skeleton (Shield)
3
Life Leech/Blight Stormer
10
Mauler/Savage/Bestigor/Wargor/Ethereal Skeleton (Hammer)
15
Chaos Warrior
30
Chaos Warrior with Shield
35
Boss/Lord
50
Appendix 3: Lingering Flame DPS Table
DPS Rank
Attack Name
1
Beam Staff - Full Charged Beam Attack
2
Flamestorm Staff - Stream Attack
3
lvl30 talent - Kaboom
4
Mace - Heavy Attack 1
Dagger - Heavy Attack 1
Dagger - Heavy Attack 2
Fire Sword - Push Attack
Fire Sword - Heavy Attack 1
Flaming Flail - Heavy Attack 1
Crowbill - Light Attack 4
Ensorcelled Reaper - Light Attack 2/Push Attack
Beam Staff - Full Charged Beam Burst
Torch - Push Attack
Torch - Heavy Attacks
Dagger - Heavy Attack 1
Dagger - Heavy Attack 2
Fire Sword - Push Attack
Fire Sword - Heavy Attack 1
Flaming Flail - Heavy Attack 1
Crowbill - Light Attack 4
Ensorcelled Reaper - Light Attack 2/Push Attack
Beam Staff - Full Charged Beam Burst
Torch - Push Attack
Torch - Heavy Attacks
5
Career Skill - Fire Walk
Fire Sword - Heavy Attack 2
Beam Staff - Beam Blast
Conflagration Staff - Full Charged Flame Geyser
Fireball Staff - Full Charged Charged Fireball
Torch - Light Attacks
Fire Sword - Heavy Attack 2
Beam Staff - Beam Blast
Conflagration Staff - Full Charged Flame Geyser
Fireball Staff - Full Charged Charged Fireball
Torch - Light Attacks
6
Coruscation Staff
7
Fire Grenade - Direct Hit
Extra readings on other Sienna related mechanics
Sample Builds - Legend
Sample Builds - Cataclysm
DLC Careers Guides
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2139200953
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292294726
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2488049991
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664977356
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3052042094
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292294726
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2488049991
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664977356
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3052042094
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