[1.0.0.8] Big Al's Ray of Awesomeness [Aether/Fire AAR]

[Chthon]

I still disagree on Demo, because the big points I’m seeing are:
1- You need more DPS, in various forms. I don’t think you do. If you can kill Ultimate Logh, that’s the core game, and I call that enough DPS. More is nice, but that’s what I see as the bare minimum build viability.
.

Pretty much what JoV said, some people just have higher standards than this. Heck on some of the builds i posted here I didn’t even bother killing Log. It’s simply not enough
See the thing is Nemeses farming isn’t unreachable. People think it’s hard while it’s not so people aiming for Log can easily aim for Nemeses.
Avatar is a whole other story though, not many builds can kill him.

2- Flashbang is great! It is, I agree…AFTER you hit someone with it. Until then, it’s nothing. And OFC, the defenses it provides are, IMO, strictly worse than say, just getting Military Conditioning. And since I don’t agree you need more DPS, the only value I’d be judging on in this context would be defenses, so…Shrug…

Defenses come in many form, Battlemage is great. But for AAR I value Flashbang’s CC much more especially in places like Valbury where using Aether AAR is PITA.
As for Fumble/Impaired Aim, it’s a hit or miss. But it saves your ass in tight spots. Military Conditioning bonuses are good but in no way God like

2- Blast Shield is great for defenses! I disagree. Vastly. It works AFTER your health gets dinged, to give some resists that you should already have, some max resists you likely don’t really need, and OFC some generic damage absorbtion and some chance to avoid projectiles. At 12/12 rank, Blast Shield is basically a better Turtle…And we already have Turtle. Just get Turtle, and save all the points you threw in just to get all the way to Blast Shield. If you are going that deep into Demo for something else, then it’s nice to have as well as your other defenses. Going that deep into Demo just for it? Eh…

The fact that it works after our health gets dinged makes it one of the most reliable defensive skills in the game. Before nerfs it was compared to Mirror of Ereoctes. Post-nerfs, no comments there

You’re comparing Blast Shield to Turtle, i am fairly certain you’ve either never played Demolitionist or haven’t picked Blast Shield on any of them. Try farming end-game with Turtle, or heck try farming Log using Turtle and then do the same with Blast Shield.
The mechanics are vastly different. You in my opinion are misinformed regarding certain Demo Mechanics which is why you’re noticing so many people disagreeing with you

[Drizzto]

Hello guys, AAR master here, since i’am smarter than the whole community combined i’am gonna explain to you why my AAR home-made build is the best build EVER seen of this forum.

Clear speed is unmatched by any of your shitty build, i ONLY need 3 mins to kill a nemesis and killing a dummy is a project on the whole year.
Playing Grim Dawn for more than 2000hours but still didnt complete any legendary set, my average leg per hours is 1 or 2. (Crate buff loot pls)

AAR definitely KING tier build, its FACT since i can finish Ultimate’s main scenario quests.

[Chthon]

…

That was slightly funny

[Nssheepster]

Well i know im super late responding to this, as the previous 2 pages was a back and forth argument between you and a few others lol, but i will offer my perspective as to why demo is optimally the best second class.

demo offers better synergies than any other class. flame touched offers a great oa amount, and +fire, which out build utilizes immensely. vindictive flame offers health regen, fire damage and total speed, which we greatly welcome. flash bang grants us the ability to nuke enemies da and cause fumbling with searing light. to top it off, blast shield is a god send defensive skill that greatly ensures our survivability when were under heavy fire. solider does have some useful skills, but in the end, demo provides a more beneficial boost to our overall dps and survivability. also, more dps isnt an unwelcomed addition. i know in my original post i sarcastically joked that i didnt need more dps. thats false, everyone could benefit from more dps lol.

Makes sense. I wouldn’t do it…As you might have noticed, XD. But it does make sense, and I can see why it is you preferred it. I appreciate the answer…All the more because of those wasted pages of arguments. :rolleyes:

This pretty much summarizes the difference between you and others on the forum. Some people just have higher standards.
On a side note, please regard this as a friendly advice, make some build using demo mastery to actually get a feeling what blast shield does, comparing it to turtle shell is like comparing feather vest with kevlar vest and saying they are doing almost the same job in stooping bullets just because they are same size.

I did specify, in one of my earlier posts, that I have indeed done that. Frankly, unless I’m pushing Blast Shield into Ultimate Ranks, or I’m unsolvably low on elemental resistances…I put Turtle > Blast Shield, every time. But that’s, as I’ve made clear, my opinion.

Defenses come in many form, Battlemage is great. But for AAR I value Flashbang’s CC much more especially in places like Valbury where using Aether AAR is PITA.
You’re comparing Blast Shield to Turtle, i am fairly certain you’ve either never played Demolitionist or haven’t picked Blast Shield on any of them.

PITA? Not heard that in this context. What’s it stand for? As for the second part, see my reply to JOV.

[Chthon]

PITA? Not heard that in this context. What’s it stand for? As for the second part, see my reply to JOV.

PITA = Pain in the Ass

As for Blast Shield like i said you seem to be unclear about mechanics

Turtle has no time limit from the moment it’s up it goes down only when it absorbs the amount of damage it can at max rank that damage is 2.7k

So when the damage threshold is reached turtle deactivates. And in Ultimate 2.7k damage isn’t much. Doesn’t matter if it’s single hit or multiple hits. As long as whatever damage you take is equal to or more than 2.7k turtle shell deactivates

Blast Shield is different, it’s a duration skill. For the duration it is up it absorbs said amount of damage. And the damage absorbed is unique for each hit. Not to mention there is no damage threshold so the for the duration the skill is active you’re very resilient. Best part is it also helps with projectiles and hence protecting the player from shotgun situations.

[Nssheepster]

PITA = Pain in the Ass

As for Blast Shield like i said you seem to be unclear about mechanics

Turtle has no time limit from the moment it’s up it goes down only when it absorbs the amount of damage it can at max rank that damage is 2.7k

So when the damage threshold is reached turtle deactivates. And in Ultimate 2.7k damage isn’t much. Doesn’t matter if it’s single hit or multiple hits. As long as whatever damage you take is equal to or more than 2.7k turtle shell deactivates

Blast Shield is different, it’s a duration skill. For the duration it is up it absorbs said amount of damage. And the damage absorbed is unique for each hit. Not to mention there is no damage threshold so the for the duration the skill is active you’re very resilient. Best part is it also helps with projectiles and hence protecting the player from shotgun situations.

I am clear on the mechanics. Very clear, in fact.

I simply disagree…Mostly because Turtle takes less investment, goes off easier, and I don’t at all value the res part of Blast Shield. The projectile avoidance IS nice…But I don’t value that TOO highly until it hits 60% or so, which as I recall is higher than 12/12, and I did say that it’s very nice when into Ultimate ranks. If I MAX Blast Shield, 22/12, it’s awesome. 75% avoidance, 8% Max Resses… THEN, it 100% beats Turtle IMO. At 12/12? I’d take Turtle first every time, because of the mechanics. I take Turtle on most of my builds, simply because it’s basically free life, that often replaces itself by the time it runs out. I treat it much like Energy Shield in POE, on Life Builds. It’s nice, handy, extra life, before you actually have to worry about your real life total.

But that’s just how I prefer to play. Shrug. My way of evaluating things is pretty clearly not yours.

Now that I’ve made myself clearer, can everyone stop assuming I’m somehow misinformed? I’m informed alright, I just don’t agree with you.

[Chthon]

…

Then well might want to stop saying Turtle is a better choice. I can understand its your opinion but it’s spreading misinformation

Like i detest Cadence (with a passion) but I don’t go around saying Troll Rage or Beronath are better options cause they require no skill points

[Nssheepster]

Then well might want to stop saying Turtle is a better choice. I can understand its your opinion but it’s spreading misinformation

Like i detest Cadence (with a passion) but I don’t go around saying Troll Rage or Beronath are better options cause they require no skill points

I haven’t said even once that Turtle is a better choice. I said I prefer it. I don’t pretend my choices are the best, or the right ones, or anything of the sort. I state that they are how I prefer to do things, and leave it at that.

Feel free to go over my last posts and check…I never claimed Turtle was better. I only said I value it higher.

And FTR, it’s only misinformation if I was “wrong”…I’m not, and neither are you. It’s an opinion based issue, there’s not really a “wrong” here. Just disagreement.

[Chthon]

And FTR, it’s only misinformation if I was “wrong”…I’m not, and neither are you. It’s an opinion based issue, there’s not really a “wrong” here. Just disagreement.

Ah my bad, i thought you were promoting Turtle

Well it is information, cause Turtle isn’t good in the big picture which would end-game and crucible.
One could try using it early on during leveling but relying on turtle shell for end-game would get you decimated

Also, just like you say for Blast Shield requiring investment, turtle also requires investment. It needs 5 devotion points. And one could use them elsewhere, Solemn Watcher is probably one of the strongest defensive constellations in the game. And if one can then they should consider getting it

BTW

I am leaving this discussion cause we have derailed this thread.

Apologies to the OP

For the build

Decent build but you need more OA and DA

[Superfluff]

I am clear on the mechanics. Very clear, in fact.

I simply disagree…Mostly because Turtle takes less investment, goes off easier, .

And goes away even easier :rolleyes:

[Nssheepster]

Ah my bad, i thought you were promoting Turtle

Well it is information, cause Turtle isn’t good in the big picture which would end-game and crucible.
One could try using it early on during leveling but relying on turtle shell for end-game would get you decimated

Turtle is a large chunk of free life. Calling what is effectively 2700 more life “useless” in end game is…Hard to swallow. It’s certainly not your ONLY line of defense…But then, Blast Shield isn’t either, is it? Turtle isn’t OPOP, best thing ever OMG…But it is pretty good, both in stats granted, skill, and the handy split affinities. Under valuing is just as misleading as overvaluing, right?

[Superfluff]

Turtle is a large chunk of free life. Calling what is effectively 2700 more life “useless” in end game is…Hard to swallow.

Not that hard to swallow…especially if you take a hit that takes you instantly to 0% hp it won’t even have time to activate. BS thershold is higher and you are god more for 4 seconds. You don’t even need 12 points in it.

Sry OP but his bugged me…moving on now:eek:

[Sopranos]

Hello again friends! Thanks to some of your input in this thread, I was capable of taking that criticism and tweaking the build a bit to make it even better than before! The first thing pointed out by some was my low OA, and with how AAR works, it’s in your best interest to try and and get all you can out of OA. So, I switched my old belt out with this shiny new pants holder, and beat the last gym leader in Kanto (lol fuck you Giovanni and your crappy ground team), and pinned this badge onto my chest (yes I know it’s a medal, just go with it please). We took 1 node out of Behemoth, which was the optional 4% health node, and placed it into Panther for a minor bump in OA. I also spent my remaining skill points and allocated 2 into Inner Focus and 2 into IEE. Take a moment to look at dem shiny new stats, I’ll meet you down below when you’re done.

Whistles Oh, you’re here, bout time, I got things to do. Anyways, as you can see, compared to my first post in this thread, I managed to bump up my OA 376 points. Hooray! Secondly, do you see that new and improved dps? Yeah you do, that’s an extra 20k for even more melty melty. Thirdly, do you see that spike in energy regen, because we just added an extra 24 to the total! Lastly, do you see the new and improved energy absorption %? WE. FUCKING. DOUBLED. IT. We completely improved in 3 categories that people pointed out, without any negative re-precautions at all!

Warning We totally did have to adjust a few things in order to get a higher OA, energy regen, and energy absorption. We lost 600ish health, 1k energy, and now our aether/chaos/pierce res dipped into the 70s, but it is what it is and honestly, the addition of the OA and with how much more frequently we crit is worth it. This ends this disclaimer.

All in all, I believe the changes I made only help to make this character a more polished template of what AAR builds can achieve. Thank you to all of those who contributed, your advice was taken to help better this build. I tried working in Peerless Eye for my ammy, but too many categories took a hit, so until I can figure a way out to incorporate it, it will sadly have to sit in the stash. If any more people have suggestions, please feel free to share them!

[TomoDaK]

I highly suggest adding your devotions to your grimcalc. I think devotion in text only format give me and many others teh aids

New screenshot looks infinitely better than what is in op

[Sopranos]

Would be great to see a recommended order of class point distribution. Thanks for the guide!

Heya! You’re most certainly welcome for the guide!

As for leveling, it is super easy to bring this character up in level.

We start off by selecting sorcerer for our class.

Levels 1-20: We focus on getting sorcerer mastery to 32 by the time we hit level 20. I pumped Panetti’s up to level 12, 5 points into Distortion, and 1 into Supercharged. I also grabbed a single point in Mirror, a single point in IEE, 4 in Inner Focus and 4 in Mental Alacrity. These first 20 levels will be a complete joke, Panetti’s utterly melts everything early game.

Levels 21-40: Our goal here is to max out sorcerer mastery bar by level 40. I leveled up Panetti’s to max, brought Inner Focus up to 8, 1 point into Arcane Will, 1 into Nullification, max out Mental Alacrity, 1 point into Maiven and Conversion, max out OFF, dump a few points into Absolute Zero and max out Reckless Power. If I recall properly, I had a decent amount of points left to redistribute when I hit 40, because asides from leveling up a few of our defensive/utility skills, Panetti’s carries us with no problems this far. I probably distributed a few extra points into IEE and maybe a few extra into Distortion because Reckless Power adds a nice chunk of damage to it.

Levels 41-60: Get Maivens to 8, get Flame Touched maxed, get Vindictive Flames to 10, spec out of Panetti’s and get AAR to at least level 8. All the left over points I dumped into Demo mastery. Pump the mastery up as much as you can, until you reach 32. We dont take Demo mastery any further than that because all we care about now in Demo is Blast Shield. If there any left over points by the time you hit 60, start leveling up Blast Shield. I don’t recall exactly how many points I had to spare at 60, I didn’t write it down as I was leveling lol

61-70: Get Inner Focus to 10, AAR to 12 at least, Blast Shield to at least 4, pick up a point in Fabric of Reality, a few points into Disintegration.

71-85: We max Blast Shield, max AAR, max Devastation, get Disintegration to 4, 1 point into Elemental Balance, put a couple more into IEE, believe I put 2 more into Inner Focus.

Sorry it isn’t an exact outline of how I leveled up, kinda just spitballing off the top of my head, but I got the gist of it pretty much. It’s very flexible leveling up, I breezed to level 85.

I highly suggest adding your devotions to your grimcalc. I think devotion in text only format give me and many others teh aids

New screenshot looks infinitely better than what is in op

I will when I get back home and have access to my desktop! And thank you, it plays much better, thing wrecked before, now it’s just silly

[Deitti]

Can this build do Crucible Gladiator solo?

Original post talks about bosses and such but nothing about crucible(unless im blind) so just want to make sure.

Also how do you think the build would do in hardcore mode?

Im just interested in possibly using this build so i feel the need to ask pointless questions

[Sopranos]

Can this build do Crucible Gladiator solo?

Original post talks about bosses and such but nothing about crucible(unless im blind) so just want to make sure.

Also how do you think the build would do in hardcore mode?

Im just interested in possibly using this build so i feel the need to ask pointless questions

I dont have the crucible expansion, its on my things to do list. So I really cant speak from personal experience about gladiator success, but I cant tell you from campaign experience, I am able to face tank 95% of its content thanks to defensive/healing devotions, blast shield, maivens and mirror, and I deal a ridiculous amount of constant dps, so idk how thatd transfer over to gladiator

I believe this build would for the most part flourish in hardcore. Again, we have some nice defensive devotions, amazing health regen with behemoth and chariot constellation, health regen per second, godly crowd control with above maxed OFF, DA reduction and crowd control from flash bang, AAR melt mobs by the dozens, and a Devastation/Nullification combo brings down nemisis and elites in a quick amount of time.

[Sopranos]

This is exactly what I was looking for; thanks a ton! I hope the author integrates this into the core build guide.

You’re welcome! I shall add this to the original post!

[FaIVIouz]

Where doyou put your attribute points?
Like you need it or like 2 in physic 1 in spirit, 2 in physic 1 in spirit and so on?

MFG
FaIVIouz