[1.0.3.2] The Railgun: 2h Rifle Vindicator. Fumble! Deflect! Fumble! Deflect! Lightning Bolt!

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
41

You can get Maelstrom but Upheaval just isn’t very good so it’d be a waste of a point.

Low PDR isn’t a prob because LD set gives high armor and with some kiting you can handle several Nemeses at once.
Censure is really good right now, the high reduced enemy damage value makes it the aura of choice for any Inquisitor Ele build.

As for medal/ring, I like the green ring in my build since I had it lying around but a 2nd legendary ring works fine too.
As for the medal, it’s not that bad. AS is good since the build has a lot of flat damage. It also gives the right damage type, a skill bonus and an extra WPS, which is hard to beat unless you have a monster green.
But if you have a good green medal then you could easily replace it of course.

42

Hi. I am playing a vindicator, and it is my first walkthrough. I didn’t know where is the best place to ask questions and I don’t want to start another “help-me-please-thread” :wink: So I hope you don’t mind my asking a few questions…

  1. My vind. uses 2H melee. And I went through the main build today and see most of them are either ranged or casters… Is 2H melle not so good for vindicators?
  2. I use mostly the same skills you do.But since i am melee, i don’t go ranged skills, and chose storm totem instead.
  3. normal-elite, most of the ultimate so far is easy. Sometimes bosses take longer to kill, and without my “healing powers” I’d be oft dead. But I survive nicely. However. Mad Queen, surprisingly trivial on normal, easy on elite, turned out to be impossible for me on Ultimate. Why? And yes, I read on her attacks, mechanics etc. So i chaos strike in and out, spam totems and devils, and nothing. She heels herself again. Can’t facetank her too, so savagery is suddenly useless.
  4. I have only to BIS items on me, Eye of the Storm and the Helmet plus, oft used peerles Eye of Beronath; and I am lvl 99, so will turn 100 today evening I guess. Not got to Fort Ikon yet too. Means, I haven’t yet completed the game so maybe it was too early for MQ?
  5. But for ghoul and hydra I have almost the same devotions, just more into vulture ( I respecced)

You killed her so fast… So did I chose wrong skills/ weapon because melee isn’t for vindicators? Shaman supports melee 2H so I thought that ok - but perhaps with soldier only? I really don’t feel like going warder now, wanted to finish game content at least once plus I just love the flashy lightning build I have. but I hate not being able to beat all. I like optimazing builds, and I though so far that’s what’s happening. After MQ not so sure.
Plus you all make ranged or casters. Hmm.

Oh, and I had too little offense against her and couldn’t crit her at all. And not enough base life, but I’d have to lower resist or dps to get more OA, DA; not sure what to do then.

43

Melee Vindicators can be good too, pretty much every class combo is viable in some way. Some are just better than others because they have more items that work for them.

MQ is really an endgame challenge and requires high DPS to get through her healing skill, and understanding how her counter aura works.
If you link your character at grimtools (you can upload your save by pressing the arrow icon on the top left) people can tell you what you can improve on it, usually the problem is a lack of defensive stats.

44

Tnx. Here’s the link: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p25KX4mZ
Please note, that it’s a different build already than the one I described yesterday. I was so frustrated of not being able to lower MQ’s hp that I simply copied a build from this forum. It’s Chton’s I think. But obviously I don’t have most of the BiS items. And I changed shoes only for MQ and forgot to take off, so I have max pierce resits normally and am protected from elemental normally (wyrm sth shoes). Though these seem ok too. But will have to change that pierce resist asap.

Now, I can see my HP is dreadfully low… But I copied devotions too, but for the hungering void - and so got rid of Giants Blood and all that hp increase. Perhaps that was a mistake. My devotion setup before was mostly all about litghning dmg and healing plus some resists here and there. Unless I specifically wear things that add lots of life, I can’t improve this. With buffs it’s about 11k if I remember correctly.

The worst thing is that the gun is from Elite, so that’s why perhaps it has so low conversion from physical to lightning. Is that the main dps problem?

As for bosses. Please tell me, I don’t know the game that well, though I checked monster base ofc, but I don’t have experience - next to none with ultimate level and toughest bosses. Question is - is undead Nemesis simply easier than MQ? Cause I met him yesterday on the way to Kirlian for his precious component, and killed him with not so much trouble. I died once out of surprise I guess :smiley: but went back and it was rather fast, both phases. I can do Sentinel, rather fast, but I don’t count seconds or minutes, probably around a minute, but time flies so fast when you play, I don’t want to deceive anyone by mistake.

And another problem, as it seems my personal nemesis - Alcamos. I don’t know. Perhaps I died to that blue circle again, but went through SoT just fine to get downed by this boss. I hate him :wink:

But at least we usually die at the same time. While MQ just doesn’t seem to be doable for my char. I read only the best, dressed up builds can do it. I haven’t really farmed yet, just doing my ultimate walkthrough, so maybe that’s it, too? Not having the items with all that health on them?.. Cause now I need resists… and the OA/DA is too low too - that’s all about items I guess…

The sword in the other slot is what I used before (when I posted yesterday), I loved the Chaos strike. And can’t wait to actually level my SS blademaster or do another one, or blitz guy… (I don’t cause I so much wanted to do all content with vindicator now, just to see, and maybe get to Lokarr etc - but if he is like MQ, no chance with this character as it is). So I was happy I had that plus so much lightning. And now I am disappointed because it’s not good enough (although it was, in campaign, just not for MQ and I didn’t try that sword and the previous skills setup on Alcamos).

Like I said - I had savagery maxed out, plus max wind Devil, almost maxed storm totem, some feral hunger, less brute force, wendigo like now. And no gun related skills then, and now, just like Chton’s build plus the electric box of E. I didn’t have that either.

So, please, tell me what you think.
I apologize for the length of the post…

Sorry for mistakes if there are, I am no no native, but will edit when I do see them.

Edited to add - I’ve just remembered - I had a bit more defense/offense with savagery. Perhaps I should stick to it, until I gear up? Ofc, I couldn’t use this build I posted. It’s all a mess for me right now :wink:

45

In your case you’re better off following either of my Crucible builds.
Primal Strike needs better items than Savagery since you get less OA/DA and no massive leech from Feral Hunger and PS requires Energy investment.

Stormcaller’s Pact isn’t good for you either because your OA is too low to make use of the Crit damage it gives, so Aura of Censure will give you more reliable damage and it reduces your damage intake as well.

As for your items, you should try to find an Arcanoweave Cord: it’s just a blue belt so not that hard to acquire. The extra skill points to both classes will make your build so much better.
Amulet you can craft Empowered Essence of Beronath if you have the recipe.
I’d really change the jewelry augments to 3 x Survivor’s Ingenuity from Devil’s Crossing as well. Your resists are already capped without your current Augments and you desperately need more OA/DA.

With the amount of skill points you have you could use something like this until you get more: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RVvkQBEZ

46

I overcapped bleeding by mistake - so I can take off one augment (for some time it was simply undercapped), then I changed some item, don’t know which. But if I tak both augments, bleeding will be undercapped…
Aether and chaos are only barely overcapped, so if I also take augment of the amulet, I will have three res undercapped. Isn’t that a bad thing.
Though I have Word of Renewal, maybe that was your thought?
I’ll check Beronath, maybe I have it.
What do you mean by the amount of skillpoints changing? I have lvl 100, do I get more skills, cause I don’t remember - from some quests rewards?
I also keep thinking I should change to warder or trickster… GDStash allows it, so I am considering it. I even dowloaded the GDStash for that particular purpose.
But I will check the build you linked. And thank you very much. You were helpful. :slight_smile:

47

You can get more skill points from the +1 mastery bonuses on the belt and amulet I mentioned above.
Vindicator is one of the best if not the best combo for 2h ranged auto attack builds like this, so there’s no reason to change to either of those.

48

trying to get these devotions, not seeming to work, when i have to get Hydra but not enough points in Eldrich tree, and same for Crown, do i take Toad till i get hydra done?

49

Yep, you take Toad for that: there’s a leveling guide in the 3rd post that explains the Devotion order, and taking Toad is necessary so you can access some good Devotion skills in the early points.
Later you can take out Toad to fill out the remaining points.

50

Hey everyone,
i need your opinions choosing between two Sparkthrowers.
The first one has more lightning damage, the second one has more attack speed. I am leaning towards the AS one, but can you please share your opinions?

Pics are without any buffs and without HBAmmo.

[Album] Imgur

Thanks,
steve

51

Superior of Alacrity and it’s not even close

52

Yeah, definitely the Alacrity one. The tooltip is inaccurate because it doesn’t take in account things like WPS or Crit damage.

53

Weyu,

I like this build and want to try out, but I’m not the best at figuring out devotions. I tried to deduce the devotion path from your leveling guide, but I’m still missing something. Can you or someone else post a detailed devotion leveling guide?

Thanks

54

I hope my experience will help you, I had exactly the same problem with devotions at first. So, look at the build, at first look just at the two or three devotion constellations, the closest to the crossroad. For instance ghoul or eel etc, see what crossroad color you need, click that, go that road, and once you finish first two, three, you will ineitably unlock other constellations. Then, see what other devotions are in the guide/build, and pick those, and so you unlock others. Towards the end, you will be also able to go the spirit guide or what’s her name, and refund at least 2 or 3 points, usually just from the crossroads, then you can add them wherever.

Another way is to look at the most advanced, top tier devotions and go from there, bottom to top, just by seeing what colors you need, but picking the ones that are the most useful for your char. If you need more defense, that will be a bit different route generally than if you go offensive (I usually do for sc, but I did go a different route for hc, or for crucible (not that much though, just changed the medal for divinity’s mark, so it’s all kinda related and flexible).

I hope that was useful to you.

55

^that’s a good explanation.

In the 1-20 part for example, there are 2 nodes taken in Crossroads and various clusters. I would start by getting one purple in Crossroads -> Toad -> Hawk.

This nets you 6 green and 4 purple, which allows you to get the first 3 nodes in Rhowan’s Crown. Bind the Elemental Storm skill from that to Savagery, and you’re in easy town.

Then you take 1 blue in Crossroads, which allows you to get Wraith completed.
The 20-40 part is similar: completing the above allows you to get Widow, which in turn lets you get Kraken.
Having 2 resist reduction abilities + Kraken in the early game makes it very easy to level.

56

Weyu and Shelion,

Thanks for the explanations, they really helped.

Now I have a question about Weyu’s choice of devotions. Why pick Hydra over Tempest? Is Hydra really that good for rifle builds?

Thanks,

57

I never really was a fan of Tempest since it’s a 7 node cluster that only gives 1/1 completion, and the middle nodes are kind of meh.
The proc doesn’t have that much of an impact either when you’re already critting for a quarter million damage or more.

Hydra is not great but for this build the OA bonuses are comparable to Ulzuin’s Torch, a highest tier devotion, while Hydra is only tier 2.
The reason I took it is because it gives the right completion bonuses and it gives a good amount of OA, which is important with the 100%+ crit damage in the build.
The slow resist doesn’t hurt either if you play Crucible.
Plus, this build gets the first 2 nodes in Tempest, which are the most important for it.

There are not that many alternatives for this setup, unless you completely change it and go for a blue setup instead with Spear of the Heavens and Dying God.
For example, in this build you could remove Hydra entirely and put 3 of the 6 points you regained into Behemoth, to get the same 3 green 2 red completion bonuses.
That leaves you with 3 more points to play with. Then you could remove the 2 points in Jackal so you can complete Tempest or something like Solemn Watcher.

Or you could get Fiend, but for every option you gain something and lose something, I don’t think anything is a clear win.
The main setup is a good all-round one that has both high offense but also good defense.

58

just wondering why you are not using Primal Stike as LMB ?
I manange to get a Green two-handed Gun that gave +3 to primal strike and +40% Crit damage to Primal Strike.
Only wondering since i was looking at some similar builds and one went for Primal Strike

59

because it’s a savagery build that is using a weapon tailored for Savagery. It’s very possible and very effective to use transmuted Primal Strike as LMB attack, but it’s gonna be a different build altogether (and there is a guide for that.

60

aah okay.
Would i be able to still use this build even if i went for Primal Strike ? og would that mess up the hole build. ?
Only asking :slight_smile: getting back into Grim Dawn again this is the first time i am trying to use a build or even a guide, and hopefully one day be able to come up with a fun build myself.