INTRODUCTION

Hello. This guide aims to provide all the basic information that you need after Emma's biggest update ever.

Feel free to sort your doubts via the comments and please notice that nothing is set in stone as the developers keep interacting on heroes over the time and Emma might get some love down the road, considering that her talents aren't that good. Also, leave your positive vote in case this guide helps you. The more upvoted, the higher the chance this guide has to reach and help more players just like you, so, spread the word, darling! 

ROTATION FOR BURST DAMAGE

 

 

You'll open your rotation using Show Off to boost your defense and proc the only useful talent you can get on Emma's last row. Then you move to Astral Whip to weaken your enemies, to activate some of your other proc and to make them take 25% extra mental damage from your following powers. Right away, use the first charge of Psychic Spear, then move to Sudden Dread for some extra burst and DoT. Use Telepathic Torment to apply another DoT layering, then use another charge of your Psychic Spear. Right away use Kneel Before Me to lock down your enemies and activate the Unlock Potential talent, that will fire after her signature (it's bugged at the moment as it was supposed to fire before her signature, making it stronger). After your sig, use the last charge of Psychic Spear. To finish the rotation, use your spender, Psi Bolt. Rinse and repeat to apply the vulnerabilities and weakens every few seconds.

 

ROTATION FOR COSMIC CONTENT

 

 

The rotation is the same as the above. However, you'll fire Telepathic Illusion after Sudden Dread to grant some control over the battlefield and yes, you'll lose some damage but you'll stay alive for longer, which believe me, is one of your goals after the BUE.

 

COSMIC TRIAL

The rotation was kinda messed up, because you don't gotta follow it religiously when facing trash mobs. I've recorded the video to show how easy it is to face the trial with my build. I hope you find it helpful! And oh, the video was recorded with any cosmic artifact, so don't worry - a lot - about spirit issues. With the right gears and rolls you'll face no problem! :)

 

UNDERSTANDING SOME CHOICES

 

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Psi Bolt and Drain are the "most obvious choice" for a spender when it comes to Emma. Life on Hit, after the BUE, is one of the most valuable affix in the game. You gotta stay alive to do damage. After all, glass canon builds are dead and so is TTK (and that's why you'll not see me recording TTK videos ever again, even though my past guide had a 8 secs TTK video, she still reliable to hold a 14-20 seconds TTK on Cosmic Dummy). However, since Emma's trait is Durability and Intelligence, you end up benefiting from the Medkit cooldown reduction, which makes everything easier and doable. Also, even Life on Hit has an internal cooldown of it's own, so no, you can't stack over 1.000 life on hit to recover the same amount before the 1 second of internal cooldown. With it said, you have 1 second of vulnerability. Psi Bolt still her strongest spender and the area tag is more useful when it comes to itemization, so, you're free to pick whatever you want, but have in mind that  you'll want to stay away and hit as many enemies as possible and with Psi Bolt, the work is much, much easier.

 

The guide is and will stay as mental one. Yes, it's true that Show Off, being a physical power, aligned with the Power Doop rune, should grant this guide a hybrid name. However, being hybrid, for me, is not ideal. That's not something that I recommend or endorse, not only for flavor reasons, but because I believe that hybrid still put Emma in some danger when facetanking or relying on her dash to have a decent position over the battlefield. I just picked Show Off because the talent Perfection is too good to ignore (maybe because the other two talents in this row are completely garbage?). Doing your rotation properly, you can cut the duration of your signature cooldown to the half. Yes, a signature every 15 seconds. It's completely insane and I would be crazy to avoid it. Hopefully, Gazillion revamp the talents in this section so we don't have to rely on it ever again.

 

Some may say that going 4x Loki or 4x Hela is the best option for Emma. Yes, you'll brut more often, but you'll be missing +1 to all attributes after you use any power and that's equivalent to +1 Intelligence and +1 Durability, aka +8% damage to your powers. It's a very nice trade off. You're free to pick 4x Helas for more brut or 4x Lokis for more burst damage, but have in mind that, sometimes, going glass canon isn't the best thing to do and this is what I'm trying to avoid as much as possible after the BUE.

 

INFINITY GEMS

 

The suggestions below are nothing but what I really believe you must focus on. Infinity Gems are about priorities and sustainability. Straight damage shouldn't be your "no brainer" options. Feel free to ask on the comments if you have any doubt about it!

 

Power Gem: Pick Superhuman because you need BSR since our gears don't provide them.

Reality Gem: Not worth your points.

Soul Gem: 16 points in Inner Resilience and 1 in Soul Gem Infusion to round your points spent to 100 and proc the soul mastery bonuses.

Space Gem: Go for Durability all the way.

Time Gem: Cap Temporal Loophole. That's all you need from this gem.

Mind Gem: Cap Mental Focus and then move for Intelligence. Mental Focus is essential for us so we can have a more consistent damage output, since we can't rely a lot on brutals, since Emma lack this state in every gear of hers.

 

GEAR & ALTERNATIVES

 

Medallion

•  Medallion of the Dark Dimension: After the BUE, considering Emma's trait, this Medallion became BiS for her. Yes, it's hard to roll and you can acquire it only in Doctor's Strange event, but, if you don't have it, you can simply pick the other options below, which will work as a bandaid.
•  Infernal War Skrull Medallion: It's extremely easy to activate the proc since the beginning of your rotation. Oh, the Summoned Ally Damage is useless, but the +3 Intelligence is neat.
•  Wizard Medallion:  It's a cheap alternative and also easy to get. Works just fine until you can get a Cosmic Skrull.  

 

Artifacts

•  Mental Focus Headband: Say hello to your new friend. After the artifacts review, it became an insane and obvious choice for every mental player. +5 Intelligence is way too good to ignore.
•  Edge of Infinity: EoI is a big, pleasant surprise after the artifacts review. A few years ago, it was the GoK of this game and even got the lovely title of "mini-GoK". With more and better artifacts being release, it soon became "old stuff". Now, this is one of the best and universal artifacts for almost every hero in the game. The straight boosts along the +1 to all attributes, makes this artifact a true jewel. 
•  Magneto Was Right T-Shirt: +20% base damage, which some other damage boosts and some defensive bonus? Yes, please. No brainer artifact all day, all night.
•  The Broken Crown: This artifact provides you raw damage, which is amazing, considering that Emma still suffers (and might suffer forever unless Gaz find a way to fix it) from snapshot issues. You can trade EoD for TBC fairly easy, since yes, it's a slightly stronger DPS artifact, but your illusion will keep your enemies far away from you just like you need it, so survivability shouldn't be an issue for you.

Other Options

•  Essence of Dread: This artifact is very decent and provides damage and some health, which is good.

 

Uru-Forged

•  Uru-Forged War Plate: Since you use Show Off in your rotation thanks to the no brainer talent, Perfection, you'll want some extra and sweet defense to face tank and get away safely from hordes of enemies.
•  The Power Doop: The Power Doop is an easy to get - thanks to all the cosmic events - runeword. Rolling it, on other hand, might be quite hard depending on RNG. It's a no brainer choice, so go for it.
•  Bowazon: Among the enchants, Bowazon increases your damage overall in a very pleasant way. It's a no brainer.

 

Relics

•  Relic of Atlantis: BiS and no brainer. I don't really have to explain the reason behind it.
•  Relic of Attilan: Relic of Attilan is an alternative to Atlantis, but I wouldn't recommend it over Atlantis. Why? Because CDR still the best option available out there.

 

 
Don't stop reading now. There's more awesomeness to come.

 

Ring

•  Sling Ring of the Kamar-Taj (mental): Yes, another Doctor Strange event item. This ring and it's procs are your best bet in the entire game for mental users. It's true that the signature proc is utterly useless since KBM already has a invulnerability of it's own, but the other affixes makes up for it.
•  Industry City Signet (mental): After Kamar-Taj, this is your best option. This ring is about damage, damage everywhere. It also provides a good chunk of health after it's review.
•  Cosmic Ring: This is an easy and cheap option, since you can get it basically everywhere. Focus on getting BSR and BDR rolls.  

 

Legendaries

•  The Warlock's Eye: BiS, since it provides damage in basically every rank (considering nodes and procs). No brainer. Get it as soon as you can.
•  Gungnir: If you can't afford a level 80 Warlock, go for Gungnir. The damage boost it provides, specially when you still gearing Emma, is great.

 

Uniques

•  Fragment of Twilight: Is the best unique in the game for slots 1. With her current itemization, she can use this item, leaving Gloves of the Inner Circle as an alternative for those who can't afford FoT yet. Use  A.R.M.O.R. Attack Speed Upgrade as your enchant.
•  Phoenix Force Harness: BiS. Easy to get. Use A.R.M.O.R. Health Upgrade as your enchant and have fun.
• Fur Trimmed Stole of the White Queen: BiS too. Use A.R.M.O.R. Health Upgrade as your enchant.
• Generation X Academy Boots: Another BiS. Use  A.R.M.O.R. Health Upgrade.
•  Cobra's Hood: Surprisely (or not), her own unique don't offer a lot of benefits for her. However, this unique who used to be a pet food, now is BiS for Emma. It's give incredible +24% damage boost, alongside other bonuses. Use  A.R.M.O.R. Attack Speed Upgrade as your enchant for both uniques.

 

Insignias

• Insignia of Cyclops: BiS. It's a pain to get one well rolled, but it's rewarding. Go for it. Please note that my Insignia is currently rolled as +5 to all stats after you use your signature with a 1 minute cooldown. That choice is good for cosmic terminals and raid bosses, which need bursts here and there, but the +1 to all attributes is good too, so it depends exclusively on you and your gameplay preferences.

 

Team Ups

•  Doctor Strange (Movie) Team-Up: You can have DS Movie or the regular TU, since both do the same thing. Since balancing is not Gazillion's forté, DS, even though he shares the same skill set with Clea, does more damage overall. So I encourage you to pick him over Clea if you're looking for pure damage. However, if you don't care about a few extra damage, stay with Clea, as she still good on her own!
•  Agent Coulson Team-Up: Coulson has some summons and his damage is amazing. In fact, he hits harder than Clea and with his summons, provides utility (aka more targets for your enemies to aim). However, Clea still superior for her utility and sometimes, crowd control.

 

Thanks for reading my guide! If you like it, pay me a latte.

(if you downvote, Emma will come for you. Better beware)