Umbramancer Guide

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Updated for v1.55. Rough range for the guide: e80-e300 mysts

Introduction

Umbramancer is a fairly unique class, and is also probably the strongest T1 in the game. It is incredibly good at shorter exiles for massive profits, but also extends pretty well into longer exiles after a series of changes over the last few patches. It can be a bit offputting to new players because of its unique mechanics, but this guide aims to simplify and explain how Umbra works so that you, too, can climb mysts at the speed of sound.

Umbra uses Liquid Shadow instead of Void Mana. The key difference is that Liquid Shadow doesn't directly provide profits, unlike Void Mana, unless you are using the active ability of Black Blade, which only unlocks at e260. Before then, the primary effects of LS are to 1) charge shadow spells, and 2) scale the class ability with LS spent.

Umbra also likes to burst while not in idle mode. This is because of his class ability to receive Offline Profit as profit modifier while outside of idle mode, mimicking how you get Idle Profit as modifier while in idle mode (and obviously we have ways to get massive amounts of Offline Profits).

Before we go any further, please read this guide on phases. I'll say some of the details in the rest of this guide (because I assume most people are going to skip this introduction entirely) but it will help you understand it a lot better if you already understand how phases work. Umbra is weird, so some of it won't apply, but the knowledge of phases in general is very important.

Attribute Priority

Minimum attributes:

• 50 INT
• 50 SPC
• 50 MAS
• 75 EMP

I'm not sure how many atts you'll actually have by e80, but this is the bare minimum for pets.

Per-point, EMP is worth the most profit, followed by SPC/DOM and then all of the others besides WIS/PAT. However, the most important parts of this are the perks, and gear requirements. For whatever gear you have (likely a lot of the Conjured set, because it has a lot of PAP and high set bonuses), make sure to get their requirements first to fill all slots. The perks immediately following these minimum attributes aren't particularly great, but generally you should be investing in SPC/MAS.

WIS/PAT are both zero profit per point, and most of the perks do not give profit either (except for much further in, which isn't worth it for a while). Do not invest in these, unless you need them for gear requirements. DOM does give profit per point (as Seethe In Shadows scales on autoclick profit), but the perks don't do anything because SiS doesn't scale on critical stats, so it should generally be avoided.

Once you reach e200, make sure to have 150 INT for Resonator Ring.

Phase 1: Buildup

In this phase, we are looking to do a few things. Primarily, we want to generate Liquid Shadows, and secondarily, we can cast our accumulated spells for extra profit from those.

Arcanaworg

#0#buildup@37,2;19,2;25,2;47,2;45,2;36,2

Recommended Items #0#buildup@102;103;0;-1;19;-1;-1;-1;-1;88;-1;1023;-1;300;411;406;-1;-1;-1 * Wearing the 3 pieces of the Regalia of the Shadows set is very important, as the set bonus boosts LS gen (even if they're common!) Other than that, we get log(evo), log(incant), and log(summon) to LS gen, so we want to spread out stats among all 3 when possible. Scryball is important to use once you unlock it. It is not required. If you do have it, then the order of spells is important, and you should do it in the same order as this set. Adding in incantation and/or summon reduction gear if you have it is great, but the only place those are available is legendary gear. Don't worry about it, and don't upgrade gear just for that. You should fill any empty slots. There are other items that are useful here, but I haven't listed them to keep this guide simple and because this guide assumes you only have base rarity gear.

As for phase length: as stated in the R0 Progression Guide, it is incredibly variable. However, Umbramancer is one of the strongest classes for short exiles, so it tends to be on the shorter side. A good starting point is staying in this phase for about 5-15 minutes. Alternatively, you can shoot for ~1e7 LS, although the target shifts depending on your mysts (as you get more LS depending on your Shadow Coal amount).

It's also important to switch to and charge your burst spells during this phase, as later when you change to Ebonsand Behemoth in the burst phase, it will be difficult to charge any shard spells!

Phase 2: Pre-Burst

In this phase, we want to do two things: level our burst pet (Ebonsand Behemoth), and stack up Umbral Rage (UR). UR is very unique. It scales our evocation efficiency while it is active based on how many evocations have been cast during its duration, and each second exponentially increases the cost of all of our spells. Its duration also refreshes whenever you cast an evocation spell, and you reset both of its bonuses whenever you click the orb. This conflicts with our need to be out of idle mode during burst, which is why we start with Shadow Stalker, as switching pets resets idle mode. Here's our sets:

Shadow Stalker	#1#preburst@48,2;47,2;45,2;26,2;25,2;49,2
Recommended Items #1#preburst@106;-1;-1;27;13;-1;43;66;57;87;76;-1;-1;304;-1;-1;-1;-1;-1 Any other pet EXP items you can get are great, but this is the majority of them. Don't bother upgrading these items for a while; they're not that important.

There are 2 different ways to determine the length of this phase, depending on approximately how much LS you have generated. It isn't exact, but 1e7 LS is roughly the line, from what I've experienced.

Under 1e7 LS

If you have generated less than 1e7 LS or so, then you likely cannot sustain stacking UR for any extended period of time. Thus, you'll want to immediately switch to Ebonsand and switch to burst after a few seconds. If you need more time to level Stalker before you can meet the minimum to switch to Ebonsand, then consider manual clicks to reset UR so you don't run out of LS before you can get to burst.

Over 1e7 LS

If you have generated 1e7 LS or more, then you can probably sustain UR for at least 30 seconds to a minute. UR's cost increase caps at ~1e4%, so if you can sustain the costs after 10 seconds and it's not making a significant dent in your LS, then you can keep going for a while. This serves the double purpose of spending your LS and stacking UR's evocation bonus. If it's spending significant portions of your LS, then time the phase so that you still have enough LS to burst for some time. If it isn't (e.g. because you have like 1e8 LS or more), then treat this phase like another stacking phase, and you can spend as long as you like. Either way, once you are ready to switch to burst, switch to Ebonsand and level it for a few seconds, and switch to burst.

What exact Ebonsand level you reach doesn't really matter; it will change as you get more upgrades and gear, and there's nothing that unlocks at higher levels. Each progressive level is worth less than the previous, so if you only reach level 60 within 10 seconds or so, then that's fine.

Once you switch to Ebonsand, though, make sure to switch to Burst phase within 10 seconds or so. You need to be out of idle mode, and ideally you don't need to reset UR to do that.

Phase 3: Burst

Now, we maximize profits all at once! With UR stacked up and Ebonsand leveled, with a decent bit of LS in our pocket, swap to this spell set. Make sure to not be in idle mode, as noted at the end of the last section. If you do want to burst longer (which, really, you shouldn't, just exile or go back to buildup), then switch pets and get back to Ebonsand, leveling it for a bit again, to reset idle mode.

Ebonsand Behemoth

#2#burst@48,2;40,2;50,2;46,2;37,2;49,2

Recommended Items #2#burst@113;112;0;24;17;38;46;-1;59;84;76;1009;-1;307;411;401;-1;-1;-1 * Prioritize PAP above all else (it's ^1.5) when you can't follow these recommendations. The Conjured set pieces are here because the set bonuses are quite useful; they can be common and they'll still likely be better than most other options. Use your uniques! I put some here that are particularly good for Umbra. If you have weapons unlocked, then you should use Black Blade here. Make sure to activate it when moving to burst, and it's likely that you want less time stacking UR so you have more LS during burst. It also incentivizes going back to buildup to get more LS, after having spent a lot already. There is some trial and error involved, but you'll likely make shittons of profit anyways.

Burst should only last as long as it takes to activate idle mode. Once you're in idle mode, you won't make meaningful profit (as your entire character ability will no longer apply to profits).

Note: Shadows Of The Void can be better than one of the spells on this bar, depending on your stats. Check the % and see if it's higher than another spell (usually Empower is the weakest spell, and the one to be replaced).