[1.0.6.1] Galahad the Blademaster - DW Build Showcase

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Preface
So I just leveled a soldier mastery and really like it. Enough to satiate my longing for the expansion and the new oathkeeper mastery. I started with blademaster because I really like nightblade and want to try all combination of it.

Blademaster is an old mastery so the concept I presented in this thread has been done before. The first is belgothian pierce DW blademaster like fluff’s. The second is warborn physical DW blademaster like JoV’s. The builds are designed differently with 100% WPS. I just want to give my touch to it.

The First Build:

Belgo_cropped.jpg474×740

Big thanks to SuperFluff and Madlee for their belgothian build, good reference for this build

The Build

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/aZqvxOdN
with all permanent buff + Pneumatic Burst, Deadly Momentum, and Belgothian’s Strikes charges.
DPS shown is Belgothian’s Strikes

Build Feature

  • Dual-Wielding
  • Live up to his name, Crazy Slaughterer Machine
  • 2 Circuit Breaker, mistakes forgiving
  • Enough defenses to kill everything in Crucible
  • Enough defenses

Build Overview
I will be quick because fluff’s belgo thread is really popular.
In this build, I use deadly momentum to magnify the pierce damage. This is the only feature in blademaster that make it more damaging than infiltrator. I will explain how to maintain DM 100% of the time in the gameplay section. With this focus, I use multiple item to give as much +skills to both masteries.

The other thing is I aim for 100% WPS, as it will all be magnify by belgo strikes, ensuring all attack done with both hands, and increase the damage tremendously. AoE is done by WPSes (belgo shears, whirling death), devo procs, and 248% WD of Ring of Steel.

For Defense: We have 3.1k armor + 100% armor absorp that will get even higher by pants proc, about 35% phys res, 27% & 22% dodge, Fumble, ghoul procs, turtle shell procs, and the almighty mark of divinity procs.

Equipment Choices
Craft all equipment at Arngrim for +% armor or +% physique.

Core Items:
Belgothian’s Slaughter Set. put the sword at main hand
Gloves: Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might. Flat phys and important flat RR to RoS. More %WD to RoS is a nice touch
Ring 1: Bladetwister Signet. more pierce RR

Supporting Items:
Off Hand: Mythical Reaver’s Claw. Plus to Soldier, good stats overall.
Pants: Mythical Chausses of Barbaros. Godly Pants Procs
Alternative Pants: Kubacabra’s Chausses. should theoritically be better, but with this arrangement, barbaros pants yield more damage than +3 deadly momentum.
Belt: Mythical Reforged Chains of Oleron. Huge flat phys damage, +% pierce, +soldier
Boots: Stoneplate Greaves. to cover resistances, get any prefix/suffix you like. of Arcane Winds suffix is preferred for slow res
Ring 2: Ring with cutthroat’s prefix. It increases the dps well. Any ring can do.
Amulet: Mythical Peerless Eye of Beronath. + all skills, good stats overall
Medal: Mythical Mark of Divinity. Important circuit breaker for this reckless blademaster. You can use the non-mythical for craftable, potentially more +%armor. I prefer this one because it has shorter cooldown
Relic: Mogdrogen’s Ardor. Plus all skills and total speed, get %DA as completion bonus. Energy reg is tight tough, so if you have capped the attack speed without its ability, then don’t activate it

Devotions
is quite similar with my belgothian reaper

Assassin’s Mark > to Belgothian’s Strikes
Blades of Wrath > to Belgothian’s Shears
Living Shadow > to Execution
Blind Fury > to Markovian’s Advantage
Ghoulish Hunger > to whatever permanent buff
Turtle Shell > to whatever permanent buff

Gameplay
Keybind:
LMB: Belgothian’s Strikes
RMB: Cadence
Middle mouse button: Shadow Strike
Keyboard 1: Pneumatic Burst
Keyboard 2: Ring of Steel

Standard procedure:
The trick to maintain deadly momentum and full charge belgo strikes all the time is hold the belgo strikes button while every 2 second press cadence button for like 0.5 second. Thus:

Press 1 to activate pneumatic burst.
Shadow Strike in, than hold LMB while occasionally press RMB just like explained above.

Simple enough, right? :wink:

Build Performance
170 Crucible, screenshot with 4 buff:

Belgo%20Clear.jpg1024×640

Gameplay Video (Crucible 151-170)

Average clear time is about 9 minutes. The build can do 2.5 151+ cruci in a single buff, swiftly, and easily.

For +151, the only most dangerous enemy is Grava because of its fumble pool and reduced damage attack. Dodge its pool and let your attack do the rest. Always kill it first.

The second is reaper due to its savagery like attack. Facetank him first for killing. If you feel that it takes too long (usually like 3 or 4 second), then kite a bit for like 2 second, then take the rest of its life. Kill him second after grava.

For Alek, just need to dodge his meteor. You can facetank it, but it is not recommended as it has quite big burst damage.

For wave 169, I usually kill the second form of theodin first, then move on to anasteria to kill her (about 3-4 second), then kill theodin and the rest of his minion.

Other nemesis or bosses is easy peasy.

2 Likes
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The Second Build:

Warborn_cropped.jpg543×717

Big thanks to JoV for a great reference and Diocharcet for giving revelations on Cadence interaction with WPSes

The Build

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/JVllm6pV
with all permanent buff + Pneumatic Burst, Deadly Momentum, Lethal Assault, Warborn, and Fire & Brimstone.
DPS shown is Cadence

Build Feature

  • Dual-Wielding
  • Well, Born to War
  • With all arngrim bonus, armor can get really high
  • Enough defenses to kill everything in Crucible
  • Enough defenses, no circuit breaker though.

Build Overview
Again, need to be quick because this concept has already done by many people and JoV’s has even optimized it for dealing ravager and stuff.

This build is optimized for crucible. Stacking all flat damage we can find from item setup. Main damage dealer is cadence, powered up by 100% WPS because that is what blademaster do best.

Why cadence with full WPS? Isn’t it DPS lost? Contrary with the popular belief, it will actually quicken the cadence charges and increase the cadence frequency. This is because WPS that deal with both hands (don’t know with single hand) can coincide with cadence in the third strike. When this happen, one of the hand damage is replaced by cadence strike while the other do the WPS damage, ALSO it gives you a free single charge, thus you only need one more attack to charge cadence. 100% WPS ensures this to happen 100% of the time. Refer to the thread link above for video proof.

I tested it myself, without WPS, cadence feel so weak. 100% WPS make a night and day differences. Dummy testing shows promising and crucible performances skyrocketed.

For Defense: We have almost 4k armor + 100% armor absorb, 22% dodge, Fumble, 24% reduced damage from Empyrion Devo (Warcry can do better, but I need skill points for WPS).

Equipment Choices
is quite flexible. Craft all equipment at Arngrim for +% armor or +% physique.

Core Items:
Warborn Set. put the mace at main hand
Off Hand: Mythical Beronath, Reforged. Build defining item, converting elemental and chaos to physical

Supporting Items:
Gloves: Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might. No other better options for physical damage auto-attacking gloves
Pants: Kubacabra’s Chausses. For capping deadly momentum and lethal assault. Use any prefix/suffix you like. Of Kings suffix is preferred though
Alternative Pants: Mythical Chausses of Barbaros. Godly Pants Procs, will need stonehide stoneplate boots of arcane winds for covering resistances though
Belt: Mythical Reforged Chains of Oleron. Huge flat phys damage, +% pierce, +soldier
Boots: Mythical Boneshatter Treads. I Really like this boots.
Rings: Elemental Harmony Set. 64 flat phys damage, godly procs, plus to lethal assault, craftable
Amulet: Empowered Essence of Beronath. + all skills, flat phys damage, attack speed, craftable
Medal: u[/u] Blood Sigil of Ch’Thon. 130 phys damage with 60% uptime
Relic: Doom. Plus to soldier, good stats overall, get deadly momentum for completion bonus. No need to use the granted skill

Devotions
Maybe can be more optimized later

Assassin’s Mark > to Cadence
Blind Fury > to Markovian’s Advantage
Light of Empyrion > to whatever permanent buff

Gameplay
Keybind:
LMB: Cadence
RMB: Amarasta Blade’s Burst
Middle mouse button: Shadow Strike
Scroll Up: Warcry
Keyboard 1: Pneumatic Burst
Keyboard 2: Ring of Steel

Standard procedure:
Press 1 to activate pneumatic burst.
Shadow Strike in, then scroll up for warcry
hold LMB while occasionally press RMB for activating lethal assault.

Build Performance
170 Crucible, screenshot with 4 buff:

Warborn%20Clear.jpg1024×640

Please measure the clear speed from the remaining duration of the buff. The build can do 2.5 151+ cruci in a single buff, swiftly, and easily.

For +151, explanation is the same as the first build. Dangerous enemy is also the same. This build is tankier though, so even more relaxed play. Just don’t get pincered or cornered. If it happens, escape with shadow strike.

3

Doesn’t look stronger than Infiltrator :stuck_out_tongue:

But I have to admit, that twist with Deadly Momentum is definitely adding some spice to the build.

One thing I would recommend is softcapping AQC, someone told me it’s only worth taking it at 8/8 (just funnel some points from Shears).

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For defense, infiltrator will surely take the cake. But I can stand on blademaster for offense!! :stuck_out_tongue:

In the midst of 100% WPS, the changes of one WPS has miniscule effect. Global buff to flat or +% damage is more meaningful usually. I will still try to test it though. Although what the build lack is AoE, so whirling death might be better choices.

Edit: kind of weird that Grimtools link shows only 27.7k weapon damage. My offline Grimtools shows 29k. I wonder what change with the new Grimtools.

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5

About bindings.
I suggest this scheme.
AQC because it’s 3 independent strikes mechanically and each can proc Blind Fury.
Else is self-explanatory

6

What is the clear time and how consistent are clears? (Infiltrator did it in 8:50 minutes 4 buffs no banners)

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I’ve also given Warborn blademaster a shot here. I find Mythical Undying Oath to be a great fit for Beronath, since it gives you relevant skill bonuses, a lot of flat damage, and less downtime on PB. Also, Mythical Handguards of Justice are surprisingly good with this build, since blitz isn’t a real damage source and you trade the Oleron’s Rage bonus for a lot of HP and some OA.

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Thanks Vere. I didn’t know that AQC’s hit is all independent.

That screenshot there is also with 4 buff no banner. In my last run testing, the buff is expired in the 161+ wave that has sharzul, in my third run. How long the duration of the buff exactly? 25 minutes? Then the clear time of this build is about 25/3 minutes.
I can say crucible clearing is consistent 100%. Even double reaper is easy peasy. Never see double grava though, because if it’s possible, then the clear rate might be about 90%.

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9

any nemesis kill? so this better than fluff build?

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Blood sigil contribute to 120 physical damage with high uptime, so I don’t think I would want to replace it with undying oath. The stats from undying oath is nice though.

I haven’t thought about handguard of Justice, will check it after I got back home.

I can just say that you will kill vanilla kuba like flies with this build. I haven’t met vanilla Alek or grava though, haven’t gotten to nemesis level on ch’thonian or aetherial corruption yet.

For what build is better, I will let people do the judging… For me, of course I like mine better.

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11

i see. also can you tell if the screenshot is taken campaign only or gladiator? because that will determine your actual geiger fighting power

12

You mean the stats pane? I always take that screenshot on main campaign only. Note the buff I listed there, never include crucible buff.

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13

thats cool then maybe urs is stronger but Im not sure if cadence timing is a dps boost when the it could be instead a potential wps strike ( since u using cadence only to buff) , but I have to try one myself.

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Depends how much you need to chage DM. Charging it is dps loss, having it charged is DpS gain.

The setup I have can do ~ 7 sec MQ. Kuba is a longer fight cause he makes babies so DM effect might be better felt in a fight like that.

As for crucible. You can;t really cahrge it like savagery. Like every now and then attack with cadence. I mean you can but it is not as reliable since DM expires so fast and all at once and unlike LA needs more than 1 hit to fully charged.

It’s more about choosing when to charge it. Know the waves and the enemies and take your pic. Personally I will never do DM like this because i’ve already tried long ago, with other builds as well and decided it interrupts the play style. But, like I said, if 13 skill points are not an issue you can choose your enemy wisely at the expense of other skills like overcapped Fighting Spirit.

And grats Jax for advertising BM, the true Blego:p

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Infiltrators will always argue carrying their seal antics:eek:

bm vs infil this is probably the most heated class clash now until paladin comes and everyone gang bangs the divine being

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I don’t think it’s hated at all lol. Who is hating? Teasing back and forth with Lee is not hating.

I’ve been playing belgo since beta AoM in all it’s iterations, pre buff, post buff, even the weird mods it had when it was first presented in a misadventure and reached my own personal conclusion having tried the Same setup with BM and infiltrator (before Conviction flat dmg nerf). And infiltrator gain was very small total/global dmg increase at the expense of smooth gameplay.

By no means does it make infiltrator null or downright inferior. Damage is damage. Mind you I made Apostate Uroboruuk just to spite the OP Spellbinders and for the extra RR. And I can assure you Spellbinder Boruuk is literally a God. But both work really well.

So no hate here, i think you jut like the banter:p

17

not hated but heated:p

18

It’s not heated either:p

There is no heat:rolleyes:

19

This is amazing that someone was able to come up with yet another variation of the Belgothian… But does it really get more flat dmg than the infiltrator?

Inflitrator (using Mad_Lee’s as reference):

32 from Steel Resolve at 10/10
30 from Arcane Empowerment at 14/10
~13 from Arcane Empowerment+Bladetwister
35 from Conviction at 14/12

110 (plus extra 25% RR from Death Sentence)

Deadly Momentum BM:

91-142 from Deadly Momentum (plus some minor input from Cadence every ~10th hit)

I think the infiltrator wins after all by a minimal margin. Of course this doesn’t include everything. That Markovian Advantage, together with more %dmg from soldier mastery (~200% vs. ~350%), might just tip the scales against less RR and the DPS loss from triggering Cadence.

@thejabrixone

A few thoughts if I may… That 15% pierce from maxed Oleron doesn’t seem to be worth 2 points IMO… Why not put it in Circle of Slaughter for more fumble or give it to Military Conditioning? Also, that focus on slow res on the boots is interesting as most people go for stun… maybe pump some more points into Scars of Battle to compensate? Besides, have you considered dropping that MoD for a Direwolf Crest or another damage-oriented green?

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Second build posted with explanation!