Imbue

Information on Imbues

In Update 57, several existing abilities that granted extra damage, usually on weapon hits, were consolidated into the imbue system.

• A character has at base a single Imbue Dice. More dice can be acquired from sources such as Enhancements, Equipment or Feats.
  • You can check your number of bonus Imbue Dice on the character sheet's Details+ tab, underneath General Combat. Remember that this number does not include your base Imbue Die. A character with 0 bonus Imbue Dice still does the Imbue's base damage. A character with 10 bonus Imbue Dice deals 11d6 damage with their Imbue.
• Imbues are toggles: You have to drag them to a hotbar and enable to become active.
  • Only one imbue can be active at a time. Activating a second disables the first. However, extra dice are shared between Imbues: If you have multiple unlocked, use the one you like more.
• Imbue damage attached to a physical attack is multiplied by Doublestrike and Doubleshot.
  • Imbues that can be applied to spells are effected by Spell Critical Chance and Spell Critical Damage, matching their element.

History

• The Imbue system was put into place to unify a number of effects that added to damage, in a way to better streamline the systems.
  • The stated reason for doing so was that the large number of low-damage calculations was a contributor to lag. Instead of multiple, weaker dice, the Imbue system would consolidate the damage into a single roll.
• Most effects which originally became imbues added non-scaling flat damage to physical attacks.
  • The modern Imbue system is patterned after the original Eldritch Knight system.
• During Update 62, Spellpower Imbues were standardized at 1d8 damage per Imbue Die, with 75% scaling.
  • Exactly one update later, during Update 63, this was changed to 1d6 damage per Imbue Die, with 100% scaling. To this day, Spellpower-based Imbues use this scaling.

List of Imbues

• Note that only damage-dealing Imbues are listed on this page. Non-damaging Imbues and imbue-like effects, such as those granted by Arcane Archer, have been excluded.

Imbue	Die	Damage Type	Scale with	Procs on	Source	Trigger Restrictions
Apostate's Curse	1d6	Evil	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Dark Apostate, Tier 1	Requires Favored Weapon Equipped
Biting Acid Biting Poison	1d6	Acid Poison	100% Spell Power	Melee	Blightcaster, Level 2 (First choice) Blightcaster, Level 11 (Second choice)	Requires Wolf or Hive form active
Bleed the Weak	1d8/1d10/1d12	Bleed	100% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged; animal companion	Dark Hunter, Tier 1	Target below 100/50/25% HP
Bloodhunt I	1d4/1d6/1d8	Fire	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Tiefling Racial Tree: Core 1, 3, 5	Target below 75/50/25% HP
Bloodsong I	1d4/1d6/1d8	Sonic	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Tiefling Scoundrel Racial Tree, Core 1, 3, 5	Target below 75/50/25% HP
Draconic Arms	1d6	Acid/Cold/Electric/Fire/Poison	200% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged	Dragon Lord, Core 2	None
Elemental Arrows	1d6	Acid/Cold/Electric/Fire	100% Spell Power	Ranged	Arcane Archer, Tier 1/2/3/4	Bow Equipped
Elemental Soul	1d6 on hit 1d6 on crit	Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire Force	150% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged, Ki SpellsElemental portion only	Henshin Mystic, Tier 2	Requires Centered
Fire Elemental Imbue Water Elemental Imbue	1d6	Fire Cold	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Druid, Level 10	Requires matching form active
Fires of Fury Imbue	1d6	Fire/LightWrathful Weapons	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Warpriest / War Soul, Tier 4	Requires Favored Weapon Equipped
Force Arrows	1d6	Force	100% Spell Power	Ranged	Arcane Archer, Tier 2	Requires Bow Equipped
Frenzy	1d8	Bane	100% Melee Power	Melee	Frenzied Berserker, Core 3	None
Iced Edges	1d6	Cold	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Warchanter, Tier 2	None
Law on Your Side	1d6/1d10Against chaotic creatures or with Inquisitor's Path - Jaded/Vigilante	Law/ChaosInquisitor's Path - Vigilante	200% Ranged Power	Ranged	Inquisitive, Tier 1	Non-repeating Crossbow Equipped
Poisoned Coating	1d6	Poison	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Vile Chemist, Core 2	None
Power in Practice	1d6	Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire/Poison	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Dragon Disciple, Tier 1	Requires Centered
Resonant Arms	1d6	Sonic	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Swashbuckler, Tier 3	Requires Swashbuckling
Sacred Flame	1d6	Fire/LightLight of Glory	200% Melee Power	Melee	Sacred Fist, Core 1	Requires Centered
Slayer of Evil I	1d6	Light	200% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged Favored Weapon	Knight of the Chalice, Core 1	Requires Favored Weapon Equipped
Spellsword	1d6	Acid/Cold/Electric/Fire	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Eldritch Knight, Core 2	None
Spiritual Retribution	1d6	Light	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged, Eldritch Blast	Enlightened Spirit, Tier 4	None
Sting of the Ninja	1d6	Poison	150% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged	Ninja Spy, Tier 3	Requires Centered
Storm Dancer	1d8	Electric	100% Melee	Melee	Tempest, Tier 3	None
Thorn Imbue	1d6	Piercing	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Blightcaster, Tier 4	Requires Thorn Kin/Knight form
Thundershock Imbue	1d6	Electric	100% Spell Power	Melee, Ranged	Battle Engineer, Tier 3	None
Venomed Blades	1d4/1d6/1d8	Poison	200% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged	Assassin, Tier 1	None
Venomed Blades	1d4/1d6/1d8	Poison	200% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged	Drow Racial Tree, Tier 4	None
Warlock Dilettante	1d4	Fire	100% Spell Power when proc'd via spell/Eldritch Blast	Melee, Ranged, Spells, Eldritch Blast	Half-Elf Dilettante Feat	2 second cooldown between procs
Winter Favored	1d12	Cold	100% Melee/Ranged Power	Melee, Ranged	Shadar-kai Racial Tree, Tier 4	While Sneak Attacking

Sources of extra dice

Enhancements

Alchemist:

• Vile Chemist
  • Core 2: +1 Dice at Alchemist levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 for a total of 6 Dice (In addition to the bonuses of other Cores, if trained)
  • Core 3, 4, 5: +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Core 6: +2 Dice

Artificer:

• Battle Engineer
  • Agility Engine (T4): +1/2/3 Dice with a runearm equipped
  • Unlock Potential (T5): +1 Dice with a runearm equipped

Barbarian:

• Frenzied Berserker
  • Core 5: Activate to gain 3 Dice for 1 minute (30 second CD)

Bard:

• Swashbuckler
  • Swashbuckling Style II: Music Box (T4): +1 Dice with a runearm equipped
• Warchanter
  • Core 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+5 total)

Cleric:

• Warpriest
  • Core 2, 4, 5: +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Wrathful Weapons (T5): On vorpal hit with a favored weapon, +3 Dice and Fires of Fury Imbue (if active) becomes Light damage for 12 seconds
• Dark Apostate
  • Core 3, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Enhanced Curse (T2/T3/T4): +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Ultimate Heresy (T5): +2 Dice

Favored Soul:

• Warsoul
  • Core 2, 4, 5: +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Wrathful Weapons (T5): On vorpal hit with a favored weapon, +3 Dice and Fires of Fury Imbue (if active) becomes Light damage for 12 seconds

Fighter:

• Dragon Lord
  • Core 3, 4, 5: +1 Dice
  • Core 6: +2 dice

Monk:

• Henshin Mystic
  • Core 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+6 total)
• Dragon Disciple
  • Core 5, 6: +3 Dice (+6 total)
  • Discipleship I/II (T2/T4): +1/2 Dice (+3 total)

Paladin:

• Knight of the Chalice
  • Core 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+5 total)
• Sacred Fist
  • Core 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+5 total)
  • Light of Hope/Glory (T3/T4): +1 Dice (+2 total)

Ranger:

• Arcane Archer
  • Elemental Damage (T2/T3/T4/T5): +2 Dice (+8 potential total)
• Dark Hunter
  • Primal Energy (T3): +1/2/3 Dice

Rogue:

• Assassin
  • Toxin Affinity (T2): +1/2/3 dice

Sorcerer:

• Eldritch Knight
  • Core 2: +1 Dice at Sorcerer levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 for a total of 6 Dice (In addition to the bonuses of other Cores, if trained)
  • Core 4, 5: +1 Dice (+2 total)
  • Core 6: +2 Dice, with a proc for +4 Dice for 30 seconds.

Wizard:

• Eldritch Knight
  • Core 2: +1 Dice at Wizard levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 for a total of 6 Dice (In addition to the bonuses of other Cores, if trained)
  • Core 4, 5: +1 Dice (+2 total)
  • Core 6: +2 Dice, with a proc for +4 Dice for 30 seconds.

Warlock:

• Enlightened Spirit
  • Core 5: +3 Dice while in Celestial Spirit form

Racial Enhancements:

• Drow Racial Tree
  • Venomous Imbue (T3/T4): +1 Dice (+2 total)

Universal Enhancement Trees:

• Inquisitive
  • Core 4, 5, 6: +1 Dice (+3 total)
  • Improved Law/Greater Law (T2/T4): +1 Dice (+2 total)
  • Jaded/Vigilante (T5): +1 Dice OR Optimistic (T5): +2 Dice

Spells

• Blighted Bite: +3 Dice for duration while in any wolf form
• Blighted Charge: +3 Dice for 10s
• Elemental Weapons: +1 Dice (alchemical bonus) weapon enchantment
• Greater Elemental Weapons: +2 Dice (alchemical bonus) weapon enchantment
• Sacred Fist Empowerment: +3 Dice. Requires being Centered

Feats

• Embodiment of Law - Destiny Feat: +2 Dice if Lawful
• Harbinger of Chaos - Destiny Feat: +2 Dice if Chaotic
• Enhanced Elemental Dice - Destiny Feat: +1 Dice
• Scion of Arborea - Legendary Feat: +1 Dice
• Scion of the Feywild - Legendary Feat: +3 Dice
• Scion of the Plane of Earth - Legendary Feat: +3 Dice
• Scion of the Plane of Fire - Legendary Feat: +3 Dice
• Scion of the Plane of Water - Legendary Feat: +3 Dice
• Scion of the Plane of Air - Legendary Feat: +3 Dice
• Offhand Versatility - Orb/Runearm: +1 Dice

• Active Druid Wild Shape (Mutually exclusive, only grants bonuses while shifted):
  • Fire or Water Elemental (requires Druid 13): +3 Dice
  • Blighted Wolf (requires Blightcaster 11): +1 Dice
  • Hive Master or Thorn Knight (requires Blightcaster 13): +2 Dice

Destinies

• Draconic Incarnation's tier 3 Arcane Spellsword grants +1/2/3 Dice
• Machrotechnic's tier 3 Arcane Imbuement grants +1/2/3 Dice
• Machrotechnic's tier 5 Armor of Legends grants +1 Dice if you have Echo Drive
• Shiradi Champion's tier 4 Crooked Touch multi-selector grants +1/2/3 Dice.
• Primal Avatar's tier 3 Shared Mantle grants +3 Dice if you have a Primal Avatar mantle active.
• Divine Crusader's tier 3 Crusade buff grants +1 dice while in the area of Consecration
• Legendary Dreadnought's tier 2 Esoteric Touch and grants both Ghost Touch and +1 Imbue Dice

Items

• Filigree Set Bonuses --- All bonuses stack.
  • The Beast Mantle: +2 Dice at 4 pieces
  • Electrocution: +2 Dice at 3 pieces
  • The Long Shadow: +2 Dice at 3 pieces
  • Snake Bite: +2 Dice at 3 pieces
  • Reverberation: +2 Dice at 2 pieces
  • Frozen Wanderer: +1 Dice at 4 pieces
  • The Wreath of Flame: +1 Dice at 4 pieces

• Filigrees
  • Snowpeak's Gifts: Imbue Dice: +1 Dice

• Augments from Hunt or Be Hunted Raid give a +1 Enhancement bonus to bonus Dice --- These items appear to be functionally identical as of the advent of Imbue Dice and do not stack with one another.
  • Emerald of Arcane Empowerment
  • Emerald of Eldritch Empowerment
  • Emerald of Vile Empowerment

• Sources of Artifact bonuses to Imbue Dice. These bonuses do not stack with one another. Bonus is +1 Dice for Heroic (1-19), +2 for Epic (20-28), and +3 Dice for Legendary (29-Cap).
  • Cooking by the Book set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • Crypt Raider set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • Echoes of the Waking Ancestors set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • Wrath of Sora Kell set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • Profane Experiment set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • The Shadow's Emptiness set bonus (Heroic / Legendary)
  • Set Augment: Imbued Infusion (Legendary only)
  • Solar Gem of Imbuement (Heroic / Epic / Legendary) (Single augment)

Effects that benefit from bonus Imbue Dice

Certain effects scale off of the user's number of bonus Imbue dice, despite not being Imbues themselves. They are listed here.

• Shiradi Champion
  • Stay Good/Strong/Toxic/Loud (T2) gains an additional 1d77 of the chosen type per 7 bonus Imbue dice at rank 3. Note: This is all or nothing: 14 Dice adds 2d77, but 13 Dice only adds 1d77.
• Dark Apostate
  • Cursed Words (T3): Applying a Curse (Be it through Bestow Curse, Cursespewing, or their own Imbue's critical proc) deals Bane damage to Undead, 6d6 per Imbue die. This damage scales with 100% Force Spell Power.
  • Dark Judgement (T4): Turn Undead grants 10 temporary hp per Imbue die to yourself and nearby allies.
• Arcane Archer
  • Improved Elemental Arrows adds 1d10 damage per Imbue die on critical hit while an Arcane Archer Elemental or Force Damage Imbue is active. The damage type dealt matches your Imbue scales with 100% Spell Power.
• Sacred Fist
  • Sacred Flame Empowerment, in addition to boosting Dice by 3, adds 1d20 Untyped damage per Imbue die on a critical hit, scaling with 100% Melee Power. Requires being Centered.

Other things affected by your active Imbue

• Blighted Breath damage type changes from Poison to Acid when using the Biting Acid Imbue.
• Arcane Archer
  • Elemental Inferno's DOT attempts to match the AA imbue of the user (and defaults to Fire if no compatible Imbue is found.)

Strategy

(Originally from DDO Forums)

• Best scaling: Spell Power. Past a certain point, Spell Power imbues scale higher than Melee Power imbues. Ranged Power imbues are more comparable, but it's almost always easier to get 200 Spell Power instead of 100 Melee/Ranged Power.
• Mind the hate: Imbue damage is not affected by most threat-reducing effects. This can get you killed fast in content where threat has to be managed (high reaper and raids).
• Attack speed matters: Dedicated melee imbue builds are not viable. They lack Prism (the best Imbue Dice payoff), and have a far lower rate of fire than Shuriken, Repeating Crossbows, or Inquisitive. The higher your attack speed, the more imbue damage you can put out.
• Look for synergies: E.g., Thorns Imbue from Blightcaster is amplified by PRR reduction, or the Sonic Imbue from Swashbuckler benefits from Fatesinger's Harmonic Resonance.

See also

• Rune Arm Imbue
• Lamannia introduction thread ^{ARCHIVE ME!}
• Preview 2 ^{ARCHIVE ME!}
• Imbue dice potential by race and class