[1.0.4.1]Tears of Fire - (Mortar Trap/Immortal Purifier/170 Cruicible)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Welcome to my build, The Immortal Mortar - Tears of Fire.

Rollback deleted my updated build. I’m kinda lazy to redo it.

However here is the build. - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JPmj8Z

Effectively uses weapon swap to use a shield to tank damage while blastshield is on cooldown. Can do SR85+ and 170 cruicible naked.

See videos below:

SR 75+ videos (all one run and with timer)





Naked Cruicible

I originally created this build and made the original guide in 1.0.4. A long time ago! Mortar traps were not popular / almost never used at all. However, since then (and with the recent buffs most lately in FG, mortar traps are very strong.

The below guide is an update to my original build for FG and is viable in 150-170 cruiclbe and Shattered Realms 75+. There are a few variations to the build, however I believe the most consistent, well rounded build is fire mortar traps (lit/phys converted to fire), with as much sustain/absorb as possible. With a mortar trap build, because of how the mechanics work (lag between firing and hitting target), I believe that the best way to increase damage is to have as many mortars connect with the target as possible, thus, it is best to facetank mobs as best you can.

Aside from facetanking mobs, the next best ways to increase damage is to convert all your phys and lightning damage to fire, and get more % fire damage/ -rr. I have tried to increase dps with devotions, however i feel like the dps increase is insignificant compared to the crazy amount of DPS mortars do. with 7+ converted mortars, you can easily be doing 1million+ damage per second (additional devotion procs may do around 100K dps per sec).

[This build is also an experiment on how far you can take HP regn]

In terms of sustain (ADCTH vs HP regen), yes ADCTH is far superior even with the recent FG buffs to HP regen, however with a total investment into HP regen, I am able to survive quite well in higher SRs/170 cruicible. It does however take a much more significant investment than ADCTH (all devotion points dedicated to sustain). However since having stationary targets via facetank is the best way (in my view) to increase dps, a full sustain deovtion tree is fine for mortar trap.

I did try to build mortar traps with ADCTH, but there are just no skills possible to get the level of sustian necessary. However, if anyone can get it to work better than the sustain i have with HP regen, let me know!

Regarding the videos below, sorry but i’m not that great a pilot (just came back to GD for FG recently so I’m quite rusty). Also my laptop is kinda old and i only get like 10-15 FPS when recording videos. Mortar Trap visuals don’t help me out.

Shattered Realm Runs
Random SR 75 runs (some videos i started skipping to the nemesis fights since you get the idea of chunk 1-3 after a couple videos, but generally can facetank anything, including nemesis, in chunks). Not sure how to measure/compare builds with SR, but this build can consistently farm SR 75 and beat it within the timer limit (oven well under) just about everytime.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2j9z1qN (slight updates)
https://youtu.be/eZzHIPUePWo
https://youtu.be/s0wK1TWcIz0
https://youtu.be/SvOBv8hFdww
https://youtu.be/XLs6dCZwcbU
https://youtu.be/Jxkt4tn3QdY

Cruiclbe Runs
Can do crucible in around 8-9mins with 3 buffs, 1 banner. Another pilot could do better i’m sure (i always get mobs stuck under doorways and forget to pull them out).
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAlzK62
https://youtu.be/2xY65VZj54M

Old Stuff

1.1.0.0 Update (theorycraft)

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZe7jpX2 (in progress)

highlights:

7 mortar traps
100% of phys converted to fire (for mortars)
95% lit converted to fire (for heavy ordinance/base dmg increases to mortar)
60% cold converted to fire
lots of devotion procs converted to fire (fissure, reckless tempest, hand of ultos, blizzard, elemental storm)

1.0.5.0 Update

Build is even stronger after the buffs to aura of centure. Can do 150-170 cruicible in 12mins on average. 160-170 takes like 7 mins. Since we no longer need light of emp, we have a ton of extra devotion points. I went for eldrich fire for more -rr% and fissure. Can still facetank all content just as well as prepatch. So basically just get a big dps boost and no reduction in tankiness. The changes to %DA to +DA for compoents, etc was basically flat/no change in total DA.

1.0.5.0 build - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eVL3qG52

Build Concept

Mortar trap is an awesome skill and does insane damage (including aoe), but suffers massive dps loss if it misses its enemies. To solve this issue, i make my character as tanky as possible and do not kite (against 99% of enemies even doing 170 cruicible - really only need minimal kiting (ie going from inq seal to seal every few secs) when kuba is around with other nemesis together).

Since enemies just get bunched up and converge to wherever you are on your seal (which I like to call the kill box), mortar trap decimates these clumps of enemies. On top of that, we have the skill Apocalypse (another meteor type skill) from amulet. Adding meteor from annihilation relic is optional.

We also make use of as much phys conversion to fire for more damage to mortar traps/apocalypse, etc).

Grimtools link

1.0.5.0 build - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eVL3qG52

1.0.4.1 build - (current gear) - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNnaEYwZ

1.0.4.1 build - (BiS gear) - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAEPR6V

Note: i use korvaak relic mainly because of the %OA/%DA. Annihilation is a good choice too since you can get meteor and +50 cunning/spirit (which basically translates to DA since you then spend more points in phys instead of cunning/spirit for gear reqs.

You can also change the skill tree a bit to get less in BWC (I like it just for the OA shred which is needed in 170 crucible, but if you want more damage for main campaign/150 crucible, you can get either grendao or rune of kalistor.

Videos

Videos are old of 1.0.4.1

Example of gameplay - Ravager of Souls https://youtu.be/EI7OkT_ly24 (old)

This is the updated GT of what I used to Ravager him. Dropped “the big one” as I didn’t need AOE dps, and picked up Stormbox for OA shred so I could crit him - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2p0Xn12

Example of gameplay - 150-170 crucible with double kuba. 13 mins 45 secs clear https://youtu.be/4AYG4FI4kEs (old)

Example of gameplay - Double Kuba. https://youtu.be/-i22kvIsFHY (old)

This is probably the most kiting you’ll need, usually don’t need to run that much. I just didnt want to stand in blood puddles to have Kuba heal as much. Also, sometimes Kuba can kill you if you tank him too long, not sure why (see questions section below).

Example of gameplay - Mad queen https://youtu.be/yUVY1qFR254 (old)

DPS

Majority of DPS comes from the 4 mortar traps. I spam these skills as often as I can so I get as many “the big one” mortar bombs as possible. There is the option to add a 5th mortar trap by replacing herald of the apocalypse ammy with conduit of destructive whispers, but then you probably need to replace the oldenar’s belt (great DA belt) with either a crafted stalwart malmoth arcane girdle of readiness/attack/protection/dranghoul) or ulzin’s torment. Need to get at least 24/16 mortar trap to get 3 base traps. +1 from dagallon’s faceguard.

I tried to use a terranox tome with grants -2sec CDR and +1 mortar traps, which is awesome, but the build wasn’t tanky enough to tank 170 cruicible for my liking. So there is the tradeoff you have to kite some (which is a DPS loss). Also, using terranox tome, you lose out on 15+% phys convert to fire. which is pretty big because mortar trap base damage is about 50% phys.

My OA is a bit low, which I am trying to work on while balance my DA. Currently I have about 2550 OA without deadly aim, and 2750 with deadly aim. With better gear (ie. better xx ring of readiness), should be able to get around 2700 OA without deadly aim, and 3000 with. OA isn’t a huge factor though, more so a nice to have. Our added crit damage % isn’t especially high, so as long as we have a good chance to hit (as close as 100% hit chance) we should be good.

Tankiness

The best form of defense for this build is having as high DA as you can get. This reduces chance for enemies to hit you of course, but also reduces the amount of damage you receive when you actually are hit (not 100% sure how this mechanic works but maybe someone can elaborate/clarrify).

To supplement our DA, we also use flat damage absorb from inquisitor seal (200-300 absorb), plus stone form constellation proc (400 absorb). You can even use a prismatic diamond in your helm for an extra 130, but dont think this is really necessary. It also makes it hard to cap resists. But if you can fit it, might as well. Of course, we also have blast shield (I max this as much as I can), which gives around 1000 flat abosrb.

Since our DA is high (approx 5000), any hits we do receive are pretty much absorbed completely by inquisitor seal. We can just stand on the seal all day and not move (which may be annoying for some builds, esp melee), but since we are ranged via traps, and actually do not want to move so our mortars/fissures/meteors hit. The tankiness of the build helps our DPS a lot.

The only threat to our character is humongous large hits (if they actually hit). Usually I save word of renewal as long as I can for instant hp after these big hits. I dont think you’ll ever get 1 shot though which is good. Alex can throw meteors all day at me and I dont have to worry about it.

Clear times/stats

Can kill any nemesis and below in the main game by just facetank
Can facetank Lokkar
Killed Ravager of the Souls. Maybe 75% facetank. Killed him just once on my second attempt. I’ll try again with more OA next time since deadly aim wasn’t even procing and I couldnt crit him. Will probably make it go a lot faster.

151 - 170 cruicible - approx 12-13 mins or less
160- 170 crucible - approx 7 mins

Generally, the smaller the cruicible arena, the better so you dont have to go out of your way to the far corners to make the mobs come out, which is a waste of time. You dont really need to kite so dont really care about having a bigger arena to only fight certain nemesis at a time. Above times are for any type of arena, I dont generally fish for a small arena.

Build Variations
Physical mortar trap version - still testing this out, but I was able to do 1-170 cruc easily on the first try. Even had extra regen/life steal modifier combo on 153 Kuba and he still died pretty fast. Campared to Fire Mortar build, dps seems to be even better with similar tankiness. Physical mortar gains sustain through WPS instead of HP regen. Was skeptical it would work, since the main skill (mortar trap) doesn’t provide sustain, only aux attacks, but seems it still works well! Should be able to clear 170 cruc in similar speeds if not faster than fire mortar. Still need more testing.

Physical Mortar Grimtools (BiS gear) - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/vNQR3zp2 (boots are flexible. Shield can really be anything, but should have +1 skills to demo at minimum to get to 24/16 mortar trap)

1 Like
2

Oh my fucking lord, shields and DA fetish even on Mortar trap builds? is this real? fuck this game, honestly.

I give up, ban me if u want, look at the shit u’ve created and deny it.

3

:slight_smile: I too think this meta fucked up what used to be fun playstyles. Makes me want not touch it

4

I don’t get it, why are you guys complaining here? You don’t like the playstyle of high DA and absorb to mitigate damage? No one is forcing you to use this build. Why is that so much boring then using time dialation, mirror and MOT to get almost 100% absorb uptime?

This build has a lot of unique things in it you don’t see in many other builds. Mortar trap, apocolypse, inquisitor seals. How are you complaining about a mortar trap build that can pretty reliably and quickly do 170 cruicible? There are barely any builds on here that use mortar trap.

I’m just offering something different then the other CDR absorb% builds out there.

5

Good to see a Mortar Trap build Cmak, and a strong/capable one at that.

6

Good job making Trap work in new waves. I used Trap in vanilla for 150 farming, it was inefficient but fun :smiley:

#JoinTheCultofMortar :smiley:

7

Congrats on the build:) i don’t think DA “meta” is fucked up. It’s not really meta it’s a choice. For me personally it doesn’t seem to work that well, but it’s a play style. On some builds it can be done with 3k DA only (non mirror or BS). It just depends

8

Ah, the new Chinesse super high DA meta :slight_smile:

Great job on the build, it looks really bleak in Grimtools, but videos prove that it does its job very well and efficiently. Also, this belt is just insane, and it doesn’t even have “mythical version”.

Suggestions on the build: well, don’t know anything about mortar traps, non-mortar traps or trap houses in general, but you have couple of skill points in the wrong place. “Word of Arms” modifier on “Word of Renewal” should not work with one-handed weapons, so it’s a wasted skill point. Two points overcap in “Agonizing Flames” gives us mere 1 point of flat RR which is a very little gain for two skill points. I would rather overcap BWC itself with those two skill points and throw in a point from “Word of Arms” and shave one point of somewhere to take it to 15/12. Bigger area and longer duration on transmuted BWC increase its performance a lot.

Again, great build, gratz!

9

Thanks mad_lee, those are some good suggestions on the skill tree. I gained 3 points from -2 agonizing flames and -1 word of arms and put 1 in BWC and 2 in steel resolve (to get a bit overcapped further aether/chaos). These can really go anywhere you see fit though depending on peoples gear rolls.

10

great build. Just played with a japanese guy who had copied your build, but had an off hand rather than your shield and survived 170 crucible. I tried this build minus the bis green MI (except for Fabius shoulders since i have picked up every fabuis shoulder that ever dropped in gladiator :slight_smile: and managed to clear 170 solo with 2 blessings and one banner, but much slower and a lot more kiting. Good to see a build that uses different skills than the usual pure BWC builds.

11

Updated devotion/skills for more dps/sustain and faster clear times. Added a physical mortar trap build variation which works just as well (although still needs more testing, but was able to do 170 crucible easily).

Added video of 150-170 crucible clear in 13mins 45 secs.

12

Definitely looks like a fun build (mostly because I’ve still been looking for a rain build). Question I have is, which BiS Grimtools link is the best since there are 2? The top link listed Updated Fire Mortar Grimtools (BiS gear) or the one in the Grim tools section lower down?

13

Can use the top one. The bottom one is outdated with old tree and skills - with a few mins slower clear time. However, I’ll update and delete that and replace with the new build so it is less confusing.

14

Kk. This has to be the tankiest non-Soldier class build I’ve yet seen. Only downside is the inability to get Meteor Shower Devotion.

15

I really like this build (mostly cause very few builds ever use Mortar Trap) but unsure of how to make a campaign friendly version that trades about 1500 DA for more damage.

16

Very interesting! Nice to see Mortar Trap get some love.

17

Before I made the immortal mortar build, I was using an elementalist mortar trap build for farming/testing. For main campaign or maybe even 150 cruicible, you don’t need a shield.

Can do something similar to this

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2BkQ8jV

DPS is very high, just takes a 1-2 seconds to ramp up damage while mortars/totems get placed. But killing bosses is very fast.

Or if you really wanted to stay purifier (because your just lvling/preparing before crucible), i suppose you could do something like this

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zRPjj2

18

Mate one suggestion would be to reduce the amount of GT links there. You have way too many of them in the main thread.

19

Also, as an update, I was able to kill ravager (first time ever in GD for me :D).

Wasn’t too difficult, just couldnt facetank him 100%. Probably need a bit more OA since I couldnt crit him/deadly aim wouldnt proc. Would probably make the kill time a lot faster.

20

Your setup is too defensive to crit him
And not defensive enough to tank him (DA isn’t all there’s to it, he can shred puny armor easily)

Gratz on the kill, on next run it’d be best to get more offense and simply kite while the Mortars kill him.