Build Intro
i always wanted to play paladin concept character with or without shield using kilrian’s mace and finally i decided to make one without soldier combined.
finally i decided shield not worth at all and went DW, and being GD forum DW melee council member like jov,jajaja and weyu i had to do that for just the honor of dw melee
how this build works is nothing tricky, build has 3/4 different formations lets you tackle everything that GD offers. setup you see picture of build is made for crucible with 2buffs play for 150 170 you never use buffs before 150 ofc, my campaign has around 100 more oa than this, dw and shield version to tackle ravager and if you desire to kill no reward mogdrogen i can post setup i used that aswell.
offensive part of the build offers, 170 base aspeed with no buffs +110 crit dmg 3700 effective oa +120RR for my campaing and crucible with %2000 fire dmg and around 54 to 57k weapon dmg.
defensive part, censure %20 dmg reduction, high armor with okish phys res, insane life leech, blast shield, decent da and ghoul proc,seal absorb, fumble etc etc.
keep in mind that this build is %100 unkillable for my campaign, there is no enemy in game which can tackle blast shield + ghoul proc and kill you after that. the amount of dmg you output with 3700 oa and +110 crit and leech is just plain ridic that nothing can stand still. so you kill before you get threatened by slightest.
only weakness comes to my mind is, super low quality of life of mines. i mean mines bouncing around for crucial RR is funny mechanic tbh and needs to change something like inq seal OR fishnet type visual on ground effect. prolly this is another reason demo is my least played class, and skills like bombs with phys int trauma piercing fire light all together clusterfuck dmg types combined is also i am not fan of but thats another topic.
also this build needs some setup time before unleash its full dmg potential like
- drop seal -> drop mines -> drop cocktail -> spam flashbang takes sometime
Pic of Build in town - with no buffs - crucible variant
Grimcalc- https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jKDonV
change helm component to something that offers oa aspeed or something for main campaign, sanctified bone is only for racial dmg bonus for crucible, sadly no magi flat fire dmg bonus 
also you can change dreadskull on medal for more oa. craft helm, rings and amulet with %2-3 crit, boots with %armor is profitable.
Stats all physq wow surprising
Devotions
this is what i get max from my char, ofc you are tailor here. you can easily get 15 16k hp 3.4k da more aspeed more rr and such by moving devotions around. upto you. since you get hp buff from crucible i go dmg over other things for this setup.
Gear
i never used justice set before in GD so thats what i went, and set is pretty awesome with tons of hp armor and da… all around good set for build but ofc not optimal one.
kilrian mace is my MUST to build around. cause i wanted to 
if you have different wep in your mind feel free to use it. %40 wep dmg to fire strike is OP btw.
rings are also pretty crucial for aeo coverage imo.
but again use whatever you like/have in your stash. its my concept build.
note: with judicator signets and peerless amulet you reach 4.1k effective OA with +110 crit… nuff said i guess?? but it performs worse than this current setup and for oa whores like me
Crucible
just buy ulo for more phys res tho its not needed, empyrion for more hp for 150 170 wave, you dont need any buffs before 150. dmg buff is usefull aswell if you chain 2runs.
only 2 waves will be hard for this build,
154 wave, delete kupa asap he spawns bot left corner… he gets so annoying pair with thalonis.
160 wave, reaper + kupa is tankable same time and will vanish before ghoul + hung void time. but i still advice you to kite or position this fight whenever needed. you might have to kite abit and this is the only wave you might need kiting in whole crucible.
170 wave, highly depends on what you get… most annoying i got was iron maiden + kupa + reaper + alex i guess and i managed to finish it with so much kiting. i have to be honest here, %95 of time you will finish crucible with zero problems but if you get trash mutators and very bad enemy combos at 170 wave it requires so much skill and tracking your buff timers aka ‘totally know your char limits’
note: you can change wep augments to 2 ravager’s eye, panther devotion to solemn watcher nets you 3450 DA, which will result %0 chance to be critted and super duper low chance to get hit. if you struggle to beat 160 wave change pants to formidable for abit more phys res also helpstho i didnt try
Crucible with NO buffs NO banner setup
Grimcalc- https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2MD18WN - you reach 3450 da, +16k hp ez pz +3k armor with craft bonusses…-
first of all, promoting no buffs no banners %100 crucible success is pretty much a lie imo and i dont want to that. with the setup i posted your crucible finish rate gonna be %70 80max and its with insane playstyle. some mutators like -%hp, double aspeed slow and such, 160 wave is hard as fuck to handle, 170 wave might involve so much kiting and will result just fuck the joy from what char offers imo.
sooo, if you wanna challange the crucible which is already by far not dw melee friendly just let you know its perfectly viable with non soldier no circuit breaker cheezer weird DW melee char but tbh you wont earn a golden medal by doing this just saying. and finishing this is X10 more harder than killing braindead designd ravager aswell.
Ravager 9-10mins avg kill time
Grimcalc - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RZR41qP2
first of all some thoughts about this boss; like we said in dota all he does is ‘A click you’ and nothing else fancy. this fight involves ZERO skills, by not any means measuring your gamer experience and such, sadly nuff. its simply gear check you stack da, fumble, armor, phys res, dodge and such OR you can simply go dot type build or caster, run around and kill him.
still best way to kill him is, retailator chars imo, cause you can just let your small cousin play GD and tell him press warcry whenever its ready and spam 1-2 skills.its win win situation you make him busy and collect ravager helm + wendigo spirit yey! jokes aside
i find ravager of minds is always easier than others so ill post my experience vs him, since i didnt fight vs others
he has some tricks to care, he has +30 innate crit on his attacks btw
1- %70 slow your attacks 3 secs
2- 25 RR as default attack
3- 240 DA shred
4- 320 OA shred
5- ravager’s presence debuff -30 RR all -%100 hp regen
1- first of all you have max slow res but this part is kinda painfull due to not having super high aspeed
3- you cant be critt by +3500 DA
4- you have decent oa + DA shred to counter this
5- lvl 1 cleansing waters proc is enough to counter this
- most important part is, dont get fool by low armor value on grimcalc you have to craft 5 pieces with at least %6armor bonus from blacksmith and with shield wall your armor is more than enough like +3.9-4.2k armor.
- min %20 dodge from pants + belt makes fight smoother
- %30 chance to fumble ez pz
- high DA to get hit less often + impossible to get critted
- +16k hp , +7 max bleed and psn res to counter his dots
- cleansing waters proc to completely negate his most dangerous debuff
- nuff dmg to leech hp back, pots, blast shield, seal, okish phys res etc etc
-important note-
a) you need to use royal jelly extract potion to get energy regen in fight. you can get away with it but it makes everything smoother
b) i never used it but kept lifestealer oil on my skill bar incase
c) yet again never used it aether cluster on skill bar incase
d) he has psn + bleed + vit attacks so you can also wanna use potions of these, never used it
e) you can use hp regen potions etc., never used it
how ravager fight goes on
well you need to be HIGHLY talented and skillfull player to beat ravager:eek: jokes aside
its like; 2 idiots ‘a clicking’ eachother till weaker guy dies, no skill involved braindead fight,
keep inq seal, spam bang every 3 4 secs, spam mines time to time, nullfy his presence debuff and A click him to death %100 facetank.
Full Paladin Concept with Shield
first of all i have to warn you about this part, amount of dmg you lose is %40 45 percent by going shield, there are 2 solid options for shield
a) stonghold defender, %15 phys to fire convert which is crucial and %8-9 phys res with +1 all skills
b) infernal obsidian bullwark of wildfire, insane flat fire aspeed phys res and such.
and by going shield you dont get so much %32 chance to block 1444 dmg + %9 more phys res… sadly buttom side of tree doesnt favor shield users in current GD for some reason ? also as you see on ravager setup by going highly on blue + yellow devotion setup you again lose %500 fire dmg which is like %25-30 dmg loss.
conclusion, i find shield pretty much overkill for main campaign and crucible setups but going shield with templar’s faith illusion completes your paladin concept which is cool.
Conclusion
i still dont know why i insist on playing dw melee chars:eek: but i wanna play 1 more dw melee aether guy after this, she is lvl 65ish now
casters with their lame cheat death abilities and for some reason those abilities is effected by CDR which should NOT happen by any means and further able to reset them with time dilation and such, deleting whole screen with spells like devastation ofc super fair.
considering %95 of melee weapons procs in GD has really super small aeo coverage and should be changed asap, some nasty waves to handle on crucible like 160 and 170 as melee, hoarded by crowd of bosses with tiny aeo dmg also some masochistic experience for melee chars.
i remember times, i posted a super long criticistic post about buttom side of tree has no %da, casters suffering low armor values, soldier being ehmm soldier and such… now i feel melee feels abit meh compare to well rounded casters. talking about crucible perspective ofc
but why we play melee, maybe just for the honor and some masochistic dw melee council member has to do it.
Videos
for honor of chthon his classic Mad Queen kill video hungering void lvl 8 in the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2qwig03B8c&feature=youtu.be
you really think i will delete a build post which took 2 weeks to complete fully&legitimately cover all things for a guy called Valinov comment; who posts build with 3 perfectly rolled mi to complete his build