Venomage – Champion Spotlight

Venomage remains one of the most powerful Epic debuffers in Raid, standing strong even in late game content. The A3 combines Heal Reduction and Poisons, making it valuable for encounters like Amius, Nether Spider, and various Dungeon stages. Even in situations where Heal Reduction isn’t effective, the passive grants a 15% damage reduction from targets under it, adding extra survivability. The A2 applies Decrease Defence to amplify damage and Decrease Attack to mitigate incoming damage, provided Poisons are active. Meanwhile, the A1 can destroy a target’s MAX HP if under Heal Reduction, making it ideal for bosses like Scarab King, while also activating Poisons for faster takedowns against bosses like the Dragon. Overall, Venomage’s versatile kit makes them a strong choice for many areas in Raid. In today’s article, we’ll explore Venomage’s best uses and discuss optimal builds.

When facing Amius in The Cursed City, Heal Reduction is essential to stop the base form from healing, while Decrease Attack helps reduce incoming damage. Venomage provides both of these debuffs, and with 3 turn cooldowns, they can be consistently applied when needed. To maximize effectiveness, aim to have Amius use their buff converting skill before you apply Heal Reduction to prevent them from gaining Continuous Heal. Pairing Venomage with a buff remover like Madame Serris can help remove any converted buffs while also applying Decrease Attack and Defence. Having two champions with overlapping effects might seem redundant, but it ensures better uptime on both of Amius’s forms. These debuffs can also force Amius to prioritize their converting skill after the Eclipse buff ends, allowing you to quickly reapply Venomage’s Heal Reduction and maintain control over the fight.

In the attached screenshots, you can see the squads include champions for cleansing, applying Block Debuffs, and dealing damage to the boss. When the boss converts debuffs to buffs, Amius also applies Stun to your team, making champions like Pythion valuable for managing this effect. Anticipating the Eclipse buff ending in the Alternate Form is key to ensuring Stuns don’t disrupt your turn cycles when Amius switches back. For your tank, it’s best to designate your highest star blessing champion to absorb the single target attacks from the Alternate form. Ensuring they have the lowest HP will help them reliably attract these hits, which is Venomage in both examples. Additionally, including champions who provide healing through effects or Leech, Ally Protection for your tank, and Shields to withstand damage will improve your survivability. Lastly, with Venomage, the Poisons might accidentally defeat Amius in the wrong form, so careful timing is essential toward the end of the fight to ensure they’re taken down while in their base form.

Venomage is an excellent choice for Clan Boss teams, whether in Unkillable or traditional compositions. While Heal Reduction doesn’t directly benefit against the Clan Boss, it enables a 15% damage reduction through the passive, improving survivability as the fight progresses. Venomage’s primary damage output comes from applying Poisons, activating them with the A1, and Warmaster procs. However, if Venomage is your sole poisoner, pairing them with Ally Attack champions can sometimes be counterproductive, as extra hits might wear off Poisons, reducing the chances of applying Decrease Attack with the A2. This debuff is crucial for team survivability, alongside Decrease Defence to boost damage alongside a Weaken champion, such as Geomancer, who also contributes with strong burn damage and a damage reducing passive. Venomage’s flexibility allows them to fit into various team styles, and the universal accuracy aura can be a key for reaching the required stats in progression.

When building Venomage, the primary focus should be on achieving sufficient speed, survivability, and accuracy for the encounter you’re facing. Perception sets are a great choice, offering bonuses to speed and accuracy while allowing you to balance sustain through stats, glyphs, ascension, and empowerment. For specific uses, like soloing content such as the Ice Golem on Normal, Immortal & Regeneration sets – then high resistance can be ideal to provide self healing and resist incoming debuffs. You could also consider Feral or Pinpoint accessories to boost your accuracy and speed stats even further. Key points to consider include:

The key stats to look for on Venomage are:

1. SPD
2. ACC
3. HP%
4. DEF%

The best sets for Venomage are:

1. Speed
2. Perception
3. Accuracy
4. Pinpoint/Feral
5. Regeneration

Check out our Champion page on Venomage to see our recommended Blessings, Masteries and more!

Venomage is a highly versatile champion who excels in a variety of PVE content. In poison explosion teams, Venomage shines in dungeons like Dragon and Ice Golem [normal], where stacking poisons is strong for your detonator, while also being great for the bosses. For Doom Tower, Venomage is particularly effective against the Nether Spider. Pairing the Heal Reduction with Geomancer’s HP burns and support champions can create a strong team. Geomancer reflects damage tfrom his passive, Venomage prevents healing, and support champions cleanse poisons and sustain the team. This strategy works best by damaging but not killing the spiderlings, triggering counterattacks to maximize burn reflections. Click here to see a full breakdown of this strategy!

Venomage is also great in faction limited content such as Faction Wars, Secret Rooms, and specific stages of The Cursed City. While not a top tier choice for PVP, she can still provide value in progression scenarios with her Poison damage and damage reduction capabilities if lacking better options.