This build is even stronger now as possession no longer cost mana to maintain. So the only minor downside associated with this build in 1.0.0.6 which was mana problem has been eliminated as well. Enjoy!
UPDATE - 150 gladiator screenshots:
http://imgur.com/a/M5aVQ (100k dot)
EDIT: I changed the devotion a bit. We gave up 10% block recovery (99%–>89%) but gained about 200 OA.
I also dropped one of the ring of the black Matriarch and replace it with open hand of mercy. Open hand of mercy gives good resistance and additional 10% resistance reduction.
Are you finding yourself reaching a bottle neck around wave 130+ in challenger/gladiator crucible, even though your sheet dps seems decent, somehow you still get overwhelmed by the horde?
Are you finding yourself lacking defense and feel so helpless when the final wave spawns Iron Maiden + Fabby and you just get tag teamed? (And you try to take all the defense devotion but it still won’t help!)
And are you tired of seeing the full Markovian set Witchblade running around, carrying all the dead teammates to wave 150 and trivialize the end game content that just seems so impossible to you? You feel a little envious but at the same time, you just don’t feel like converting and become another Markovian warrior…
Well, allow me to present you the alternative Witchblade build that requires ZERO Markovian or any set legendary item.
I will keep this guide as concise as possible:
First, grimcalc and quick leveling guide:
http://grimcalc.com/build/1006-brPFfX without gear, devotion included
http://grimcalc.com/build/1006-gK4yQY with gear
For normal/veteran difficulty, max out Dreeg’s Evil Eyes and grab its mutation “Focused Gaze”, this pretty much will get you one-shot anything in the first difficulty along with the early proc devotions such as scorpion sting and guardian’s gaze (make sure you put a skill point into bloody pox and bind guardian’s gaze to it. When you fight against a bunch of enemies, toss a blood pox into a group of mob and it will start procing the devotion like crazy. You’ll have a bunch of eyes flying around you and they do a shit load of damage.)
For Elite, continue the devotion progression. When I leveled this character, I grabbed Manticore first. But looking back, it’s probably better to rush abomination and grab Tainted Eruption as soon as possible. TE gives you insane clear speed. Just try it out and you will see.
For Ultimate, once you have enough devotion point, grab the acid spray devotion. It gives you 30 resistance reduction and a lot of added poison/acid damage.
If you are playing non-hardcore, you can prioritizing maxing vulnerability. If you’re playing hardcore, I would definitely prioritize on defensive skills like blood of dreeg, overguard, shield training, military condition.
Always put a point in Blitz early game after maxing DEE. It helps you move around and makes game play more fluid.
Your main damage comes from these skills:
DEE, Devotion proc skills, Dreeg’s infinite gaze granted by component “Mark of Dreeg” (this is important because it has a short cool down and it does a ton of damage, almost comparable to DEE) and last but not the least, the skill that is granted by an end game relic called Dreeg’s affliction.
Second, Devotion skills assignment:
Guardian gaze --> bloody pox (Guardian gaze works super well with bloody pox. The way I use it in crucible is: throw bloody pox in a pile of enemy, leave them and go deal with another group, by the time I toss my second bloody pox, there will usually be 2-3 guardian gaze rotating around me. By the end of every wave, if RNG is with me, I could have up to 6-7 guardian gazes and that counts for around 12-13k dps alone.
Dryad blessing --> Curse of frailty
Scorpion sting --> blitz
Acid Spray --> Dee
Tainted Eruption --> Dreeg’s infinite gaze (skill gained through using component Mark of Dreeg)
Next, current gears with component & augment, starting from head to feet:
Head (Leathery hide + Outcast’s warding powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8297-Maw-of-Despair
Amulet (Wardstone + Cairn’s Hope): https://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/7776-The-Peerless-Eye-of-Beronath
Ring 1 (Corpse’s dust + Survivor’s Resilience): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/7864-Open-Hand-of-Mercy
Ring 2 (Corpse’s dust + Survivor’s Resilience): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/7860-Ring-of-the-Black-Matriarch
Main hand (Mark of Dreeg + Outcast’s Bastion): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8094-Plaguebearer-of-Dreeg
Off Hand (Serrated Shell + Outcast’s Bastion): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8062-Siegebreaker
Chest (Chain’s of Oleron + Outcast’s warding powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/7991-Divinesteel-Hauberk
Shoulder (Silkwatch + Outcast’s warding powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8241-Empowered-Guardsman’s-Spaulders
Pants (Silk Watch + Outcast’s warding powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8230-Nidalla’s-Legwraps
Gloves (Unholy Inscription + Spellward Powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/7925-Viperfang-Grips
Boots (Mark of Mogdrogen + Outcast’s Warding Powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8019-Footpads-of-the-Grey-Magi
Relic: http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/2960-Dreeg’s-Affliction
Belt (Rigid Shell + Outcast’s Warding Powder): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8210-Girdle-of-Stolen-Dreams
Medal (Wardstone): http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8137-Mark-of-Divinity
Last, screen shots(stats & stuff):
http://imgur.com/a/dUd1O (Old set up)
http://imgur.com/a/xo6I4 (New set up)
http://imgur.com/a/peATF
Q: What makes this build worth trying out:
- It has incredible defense. Here is a list of what you got:
- You have 67% block chance. When Overguard is up, you have 89% block recovery with 3074 damage blocked.
- A heal skill that heals for 35% of max health and also gives you 12% physical resistance. Your shield gives another 17% and chest 4%, for a total of 33% physical resistance! Additionally, possession gives you 12% damage absorption.
- You have 40% stun reduction so you don’t have to worry much about getting stun locked by Iron Maiden + Fabby. Footpads of the Grey Magi is the key because it gives 117% reduced entrapment duration. Now you don’t ever have to worry about getting trapped and not able to run.
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You have incredible offense. Originally in GD, dot can not crit. But the devs were kind enough to change that so that this build is able to dish out 50k-100k dot damage ON BOSS consistently. (Keep in mind that the screen shot was took in town so it doesn’t include the bonus damage and OA from fighting spirit.) Also, keep in mind that you can crit that hard because you have about 114% resist reduction.)
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This build has a theme. It’s called ‘Fist of the Northern Star’ for a reason. Just like Kenshiro in the manga, your play style is go in, unleash your poison combo, and before they realize it, they are already dead. And just like Kenshiro, you won’t die.
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This build has lots of advantage over a pure offense Witch Hunter build. While a Witch Hunter theoretically does do more sheet dps, the survivability of Witch Hunter can be a huge problem. In high level of crucible, they can die to nemesis team/hordes of enemies that has gap closer/CC ability easily. When you’re dead, you do no damage.
Q: It still looks like you have a lot of purple gear. How gear dependent is this build?
In all honesty, the very key piece of gear here is the foot. Our goal is to never get CCed. Stun resistance is relatively easy to get, but entrapment reduction is not a stat that comes by easily. As long as we don’t get CCed, we can play this build in a fluid way that it is intended. You go in, does damage, leaves the fight whenever you want because no one can catch you, and you still see those 50-100k dot on the head of bosses ticking.
And you do want to get your block recovery as close to 100% as possible. But that does NOT require any specific gear to achieve. It’s all done through skill (Overguard) and component.
tl;dr:
- The build uses no Markovian pieces and is built to farm end game crucible.
- Not gear dependent at all.
- Incredible offense and defense. You get to watch the nemesis bosses die hopelessly in front of you.
Hope you enjoy my guide and let me know if there’s anything I could improve.
Cheers!
p.s. a quick example of just how much reduction we have:
-39% poison reduction from vulnerability
-20% from passive granted by our pants
-30% from Manticore devotion
-25% from plaguebearer of Dreeg
-10% from open hand of mercy ring
and Maw of Despair gives us another 20% reduced target resistance.
So let’s say an average boss in ultimate that has 40% poison res, after all the res reduction hit, it will have (40-39-20-30-35-10)*1.2 = -114% poison resistance, which means every poison damage it takes get more than doubled.
