[i]
This is to share a low gear requirement variation on the popular DW blademaster - funny to say since it involves 4pc deathmark, however, with many people running a bunch of super rare MI green gear, gollus rings, sect legs, derp slicers etc, I wanted to make a BM build with 0 MI gear since readers of a guide are never going to legitly have the same exact MI gear of the author.
This a build with a focus on all 3 elements: pierce/bleed/cold, with extra focus to tankiness. All stats shown in the above image are done using non-MI gear, and without any procs.
As i’ve only recently started playing this popular build, i’ve learned alot about it thru discussions with veteran BM players like silic and amonthar, and also thanks to drizzto for insights on polishing my Spellbreaker build that i’ve incorporated into this one.[/i]
[v1.0.0.4]Video: BoC run - with trash clear, 9sec sharzul kill (edit, mistimed a bit, actually closer to 9s)
normally you wouldn’t kill this much trash, but i do it as a measurement of the builds AOE ability.
[v1.0.0.4]Video: 12sec mad queen kill
Build Rationale:
The main points of this build:
-max shadowstrike at 26/16 conveniently by using a bloodsong with +1 nb, as the last lvl scales hugely.
-We lose IAS, which is made up by howl of mogdrogen devotion +15% IAS, this is a 10sec buff on 15sec CD; however, with belgothian carnage refreshing it, the uptime is pretty much 100% and hence i don’t count it as a proc
-since we are at 26/16 shadowstrike and half of its huge flat dmg are cold, we maximize that by going leviathan.
-bleed stacking, bloodsong,mogdrogen/fox devotion, this is part of the build, not a hard focus. i get about 50k DoT ticks on this build that applies very quickly and consistently. This is contrary to bleedwarder who has to bank on a bladearc crit every 5s, here we cast SS/oleronsmight much more often so less RNG reliant. this is another reason we take oleron’s blood due to it being an extra attack instance to stack bleed. While the tick isn’t huge building into it with bloodsong/mogdrogen/oleron’s blood comes with many other advantages like +1 nb/tankiness.
-easy resists without MI gear, mogdrogen/scholars light gives quite a bit of extra resist.
-tankiness! with oleron’s might reducing enemy dmg by 20% with 100% uptime, at 10.8k hp, we are pretty much able to facetank madqueen. and tanking sharzul is easy as pie. 1989 DA w/ 7/10 nights veil should be uncrittable. 21% melee evasion + 35% fumble on RoS. bosses should already miss us most of the time, but if u like shits and giggles, take some out of fighting spirit and go 12/12 circle of slaughter for 50% fumble for the lulz.
- extra +1 NB, so many skills benefit from this even outside of SS! notably: nightschill, shadowdance, circle of slaughter, execute/amarasta/dual blades
Dropping bladespirit/blades of wrath, was a decision made upon the basis that while it speeds up dummy kills with the shotgunning, real boss fights are short, by the time u get the 2nd bladespirit up its almost over. so the dummy dps improvement is quite inflated. its also pretty useless vs trash - which usually is what ur fighting most of the time. so in the end i dropped it to reduce clunkiness in favor of more shadowstrike burst by going leviathan, this may result in a couple second slower boss kills but less clunky and more burst for trash.
If you are a boss kill timer junky, u can drop leviathan and take blades of wrath for maybe 2sec faster boss kills, which is certainly another reasonable choice
Though bleed ticks are a convenient part of the build, this is not a DOT build and still very much a burst build with shadowstrike hitting 105k tool tip. +falconswoop attached it with nearly 100% proc rate. double SS+falconswoop is a huge amount of burst to kill heros/trash quickly.
Grim calc + devotions: http://grimcalc.com/build/uqbOZgj
With +1 soldier, +6 nightblade, notable singles: +4ss, +4 NJE +2 markovian +2nightfall.
The last few points can be move around for fighting spirit, elemental awakening(if need resist), or even circle of slaughter for survivability
Gameplay:
LMB: beronath’s fury (devotion ability - assassin’s mark )
RMB: Shadow strike (devotion ability - falconswoop)
mousewheel up: pneumatic burst
mousewheel down: Shadowstrike
middle mouse - heal pot
keyboard 1 - Ring of Steel
keyboard 2 - oleron’s might (devotion ability - mogdrogen’s howl)
keyboard 3 - bladebarrier
you can generally just SS into the middle of things, drop RoS for CC and zerg stuff. make sure to remember casting oleron’s might to refresh mogdrogen’s howl.
Initial boss rotation:
- SS to it
- LMB for ~0.5s for 1st stack of beronath/apply assassins mark
3 oleron’s might to proc mogdrogen’s howl - 2nd SS.
(due to relic refreshing ur 2nd SS, all of this takes about 1sec)
Then RoS for fumble debuff. Then keep spaming oleron’s might and mousewheel down for SS to cast those on CD. repeat RoS about every 5sec, or mash it together with oleron’s might if ur lazy.
Shar’zul Tips: His actually very easy for this build, i think i’ve died to him once on this in my entirety of play (i farmed it a bunch to lvl devotions). just zerg, time ur PB and potion, use BB if needed. As BoC is very annoying, the only kill i recorded was a 7.5sec kill with only 12% cthonic dmg.
Fabius tips: didn’t even bother with him, he’s easier than sharzul and we got so much +human dmg. just don’t SS on his bladebarrier.
Mad queen tips: She’s randomly bursty and its certainly possible to die. But with oleron’s might and a bunch of evasion we can facetank her for the most part. you can turn off falconswoop for more safety from her projectile retaliation aura. She usually takes 12-14sec
Gearing:
You can switch ring enchants for chaos resist if u need to cap it. Also still not entirely decided about going 2x ulgrims guile or 1x + 1 resist reduction one, the former is better for trash, the later should be better for boss, tho we are fighting trash 98% of the time whose getting 2 shot before -resist even applies; however, definitely take the later if u need chaos resist. Pants can be replaced with emp plates of valor if u need DA, or want to cap bleed resist.
Head:Deathmarked Hood sancified bone + lightning/fire resist augment
Shoulders: Deathmarked Shouldersscaled hide + 15psn resist augment
Chest: Deathmarked Chest chians of oleron + 15 psn resist enchant
hand: Handguards of justice unholy inscription, +15 psn resist augment
Leg: Pretty Great Pants antivenom salve + 15psn resist augment
Relic: Belgothian’s Carnage
Weapon #1Deathmarked Claw Ulgrim’s Guile, Shard of beronath
Weapon #2Bloodsong oleron’s blood. ulgrim’s guile or blacklegion -resist augment
Ring #1: Belgothian’s Sigil corpse dust + survivor’s ingenuity
Ring #2: Right hand of Carnage corpse dust + survivor’s ingenuity
Neck: Peerless eye of Beronath dread skull + survivor’s ingenuity
Belt: Spellbreaker Waistguard antivenom salve + 15psn resist augment
Boots: Golemborn Greaves or Elite Rhowari Greavesmark of mogdrogen + 15psn resist augment
Medal: Blackstar of deceit arcane spark
Leveling guide:
Start soldier, rush to bladearc, max it, then a point in laceration, then max oleron’s rage. u can come back to laceration after. level with 2h blade arc. all points in physique early on to use high lvl weapon/armor
Initial Devo order:
- falconswoop
- scholars light
- eel
- kraken.
- assassins mark
- mogdrogen
Once u switch to actual build, spec out of kraken/eell accordingly.
In closing:
Note that - certain pieces can definitely be replaced with better MI gear such as rings, leg, gloves, and probably boots. However, due to +1 nb with a bleed weapon, and having alot of bonus resists from scholar’s light + mogdrogen devotion, we can keep most of our resists capped without a single piece of MI gear. As a result its one of the least MI depended BM builds i think.
Future plans: an MI version to see what this build can achieve with top end gear, if i ever get my hands on any…
