[1.0.4.1]Crusader - Physical Tactician- Gladiator 150-170 Facetank

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

aTfDofA.jpg1010×591

Above was just for pic purpose, messing around after finishing wave 170 before, that is why the very low tribute.

[i]This build had a single purpose in mind, which was being able to facetank in new crucible. As most know by know, the new waves are merciless towards melee builds, even shield ones if they don’t have high DoT like Octavius. The idea was to find a way to flip this around, full facetank with flat phys damage as primary.

Tactician is by far the best choice for this. I’ve tested this idea with Commndo, Witch Blade, Warder. Tactician comes out on top due to how amazing Overguard+Inquisitor seal work together. Damage is not half bad with Steel Resolve maxed either, the resistances granted and racial damage are also very convenient. Seal also offers very good elemental overcap as well. Just a sweet combo.

Below you will notice two versions of the build (videos too). While I use some Mi’s rest assured that the build is very flexible and will offer options to replace most if not all of them[/i]

[v1.0.4.1]Videos: 159(60)-170 Gladiator:
Offensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4i-bmoWqk This video has 159 and 160 included as they are quite relevant. 160-170 timer is 9:10
Defensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfMruKCfPYk(Sands for no particular reason other than being tired of restarting)

Grimtools(offensive version): https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAEzv1V

Grimtools(defensive version):https://www.grimtools.com/calc/vNQRY9l2 Just amulet and medal are different


Stas with the MI’s I used at the time but really, items are flexible. This is the defensive version. Below some worthy replacements:

  • Boots : Mythical Runguard Greaves, Myth Bonshatter Treads (both tested and work very well)
  • Pants: Myth Barbaros, Myth Thornhide, or Alex/Kuba Chausses with literally any affix that you might find useful like some resists health, DA
  • Medal: Myth Mark of Kalastor, BoM with Blitz or Seal, or the Mi’s I use with other affixes that you find useful.
  • Rings: Whatever…something with chaos resist would be nice and some DA on it. Just need that Matriarch.

Some explanations:

  • The devotion route in both links is for me the best. You Get Vire/Empyrion, both with physical bonuses and resistances, the best of Ishtak, Rowan’s scepter. Good stuff. I’ve given up on Anvil. It has such poor dmg in crucible now that you hardly feel it so no regrets there.

  • This is a very straightforward build. Stand on you seal and hit stuff. Choose whether you want Ikrix scale for the nice heal mod or Rylok medal. Both are very good. If you don’t have them then a Badge of mastery with either Blitz or Seal would be super.

- Exception for full facetanking: Wave 169. This is because the have RR thrown at you, especially Anasteria. Just move around a bit, don’t stand too long in one palce and it’s easy. Suggested order of killing them: The 2x fat dudes, Anasteria (you AoE the rest meanwhile), Theodin(you do NOT want final form remaining in 170 to face tank all of them - it’s doable but better that you don’t), Krieg.

  • Wave 161. Rush the 4-5 heroes that usually spawn in the upper right corner, especially the Myrmidon healers, supper annoying. By rush I mean in their spawn point. Use Seal and Overguard and you will be fine.

In closing:

I am very happy with where the build is. Facetanking crucible like this after so much testing and with DoTs/casters taking over, it feels good. It may not be the only way for sure, but it is a very strong way of doing it.

2

YAY! Another shield cadence build!!!

I’m super excited not to see this.

Honestly, it’s time for a big nerf for both.

3

I had no doubt you would show up. While your whining is amusing at times, you are getting old, especially since only I know the amount of testing i’ve done until i’ve reached this version and time I’ve put in to post this build.

4

Great builds fluff !

Btw how long had you been tested this build until you post it today?
Since it can facetank Gladi 170, need a lot of testing isn’t it?
:stuck_out_tongue:

5

Funny how you still think Cadence == auto win with the current meta.

6

The build started out as a Retaliation/phys hybrid (started stoneguard and continued with Avenger medal/Warborn mix). This took me through 4 class combo testing including this one and countless devotion patterns.

Finally I scraped the retaliation part and went full on DPS with minor internal trauma. The final devotion pattern is perfect for me. Since I don’t have a lot of time to play lately i’d say ~ 10 days of trying out different things

7

Why Cadence need to be nerfed, it’s okay in it’s current states
When Cadence nerfed people will complain like happened in past year

It’s time consuming to make builds like this works, need a lot of testing
When it works well, you appear and say “nerf”, oh cmon…

8

This make me got spirit for making physical builds again
I missed Warborn and Cadence :smiley:

9

This is very impressive, nice work! Looking at wave 168 it looks like the real fight is against fps though. :stuck_out_tongue:

10

Glad you posted it

Fluff, I forgot to ask this during our previous convo. How the freck do you play with such low FPS!!! :eek:

Good use of Dildo of Vire, I ended up dropping it on my Pierce S&B since that particular constellation seems to best work with Physical

Questions

  1. How does the idea fare with Markovian Set?
  2. Is Nature’s Guardian Inferior to Light of Empyrion?
  3. How good is Light of Empyrion proc for you? I have only used it on Fire builds, Chaos builds (useful for racial damage) and Beronath Builds
  4. Did you try Untouchable? I use it on my S&B Soldiers and it seems to beat Siegebreaker in certain aspects. Although with such high DA I imagine you don’t need it.

If I am not wrong then this is the first Cadence build that can facetank new Crucible

11

So basically u were trying something “new” that should be OP and it wasn’t that much, so u abandon it and go for Cadence (the most OP skill in the game) and u made it right, what a surprise!
Shield and Cadence, Always the best choice for like a billion years now.

12

Because Retaliation kind of sucks in Crucible. And the most OP skill in the game? Are you serious? It’s not like most of the builds that can solo 150-170 Gladiator are not Cadence builds. Oh wait, they aren’t Cadence builds. But keep believing it’s the “most OP skill in the game”.

And if you think Cadence or shield builds are getting nerfed, get a chair for you to sit down because it’s never gonna happen. And you don’t want to get tired to by standing up during the waiting time.

13

Again, you are horribly wrong but nothing I am about to say hasn’t already been said before
So I have a better solution, why pester build posters if you hate Cadence so much? Why not just not bother commenting on a Cadence thread at all?

I got one to Challenger (barely cause of slow speed) but Glad was way too slow (gave up quickly). No idea how far fluff managed to push it. Talking about Hybrid Retaliation ofc, I’d have killed myself before getting pure retaliation through Challenger
I won’t say it sucks but it’s not exactly awesome either

14

Many even experienced people with thousands hours in game think Cadence is OP. It’s common fallacy.
Nice update of Warborn builds, Fluff.

15

Cadence is OP? I present to you Blackwater Cocktail. Great DPS? Check. RR? Check. Superb defensive utility? Check. Every demolitionist picks at least two points of this (bwc plus transmuter) just because of the phys damage reduction. It’s the closest thing to OP right now in my opinion, and it’s still far from being overpowered (OP=brainless, imo)

Also, great build, Fluff. Hard work and innovation really pays off.

16

You are wrong though, a user named Eddie_Alucard had already shown S&B Cadence Witchblade that works 150-170, see the “reasonably powerful builds” thread, OP post. Zhuugus had expanded the concept on Commando and Krieg bm/dk.

Sorry Fluff, you did a great job, but you’re not the first :slight_smile:

P.S. where do you and Chthon chat anyway? GoG?

17

  1. My suggestion to you would be to make a thread about it with competent arguments.

  2. Learn to read;)…again. I said hybrid retailator, that means Cadence was always included. And I also never said I reinvented the wheel or something. The build had a specific purpose mentioned in the guide. That is all.

  3. "Cadence (the most OP skill in the game) " - this only shows that you really don’t know much. Again make a competent thread instead of polluting other peoples work.

@ Chthon:

You know I love mark but:

You lose :

  • skills
  • ~ 20% phys res
    %5 AS or more

You gain:

50% shield dmg block
on a shield with poor base dmg block

  • Health
    A good proc that works so much better with the double Blitz version, whether fire or phys. Overall dmg is the same but WB just delivers it better and we need that to compensate for defensive devotions.

Devotions. Empyr is not necessarily>>Ishtak. I do take 3 pt in Ishtak for that slow res which is great. But Empyr also has % and flat phys bonuses so it made sense to complete it. Ishtak proc is kinda bad on no CDR build .Octavius make better use of it. It’s unreliable. Personally i’d change the way it procs to below 60-70% health or on hit proc.

@Dragon. Was not my point to be first :slight_smile: but i have serious doubts that the commando/WB can tank the same way. Finish glad 150-170 well enough, sure, but not tank like this. That was the point :p. I tested commando/WB versions of this build btw. We chat on Pm’s or on a Discord channel
Edit: also quote from that build by Zug: " 150-170 reliably in about 30 min with 2 buffs". This build tanks like this and also finishes in ~ 18 mins easy. I did have Ulzuin pact extra but that is for mana really and e reflex before having energy absorb and arcane spark. I think it can be done without

18

I am hibernating from the game but the temptation is real. I guess I need to stop reading Fluff threads :rolleyes:

19

Alright.

What exactly makes Tactician better than Witchblade, in your opinion?

20

Wow really impressive build Superfluff! Tactician seems like a real solid choice.

Unfortunately i don’t have much game time, so sticking with my Witchblade atm trying to get it to work in gladiator crucible 150-170.