[1.0.6.1] The Power of the Arcanist in test for Crucible

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Since I bought Grim Dawn the search for arcanist builds were intense, in the beginning until there existed truly arcanist builds, when I say true is with mandatory use of a scepter and an off-hand plus clear use of clothes and accessories mostly for Wizards.

After many hours played and surveys performed on the operation of everything that make up a char in the Grim Dawn, I went in search of a build in which it was feasible to play in the Ultimate, kill any nemesis and of course have fun at the Crucible, which I am still testing for Validate at the Gladiator.

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Well after a long time doing tests and adjustments, I believe I have managed to create my first build for Grim Dawn that I call The Power of the Arcanist.

Grimtools: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2MJQa0V

The build consists of enjoying the power of the Aether Ray, Callidor´s Tempest and Devastation as major attack skills, pushed by Reckless Power.

The devotions linked to the main attacks are:

Widow -> Arcane Bomb -> Aether Ray
Alladra Phoenix -> Phoenix Fire -> Devastation
Rowan´s Crown -> Elemental Storm -> Callidor´s Tempest

In relation to the secondary class chosen was the Soldier, who helped sustain with the high damage offered by the skills Fighting Spirit, Field Command and Squad Tactics.

The items chosen to use with the build are as follows:

Head: Mythical Iskandra’s Hood
Shoulders: Mythical Iskandra’s Pauldrons
Chest: Mythical Iskandra’s vestments
Hands: Mythical Aethereach
Legs: Mythical Wraithborne legwraps
Belt: Mythical Phantom-Thread girdle
Boots: Stonehide Stoneplate Greaves of Kings

Amulet: Mythical Iskandra’s Focusing Prism
Ring: Mythical Aetherlord ´ S Signet
Ring: Allagast’s Stormgem
Medal: Mythical Mark of Anathema
Relic: Eternity
Weapon: Decree of Aldritch
OFF-Hand: Mythical Iskandra’s Texts

Some interesting information:
Life: 10k
Offensive Ability: 3100 +/3600 +
Defensive Ability: 2400 +/2600 +
Armor Rating: 2100 +
Armor Absorption: 100%

Resistances:
Fire/Cold/Lightining: 87%
Poison & Acid: 80%
Piercing: 84%
Bleeding: 84%
Vitality: 80%
Aether: 84%
Stun: 80%
Chaos: 84%

Damage
Aether Ray:
Callidor’s Tempest:
Devastation

Character
Critical Damage: 74%
Health Regeneration: 125/600
Energy Regeneration: 97/172
Energy Absorption: 125%/275%
Cast Speed: 200%

I appreciate your attention, there are many experienced players here who admire the excellent builds created, so hopefully they can help me with their experience something that can improve the char.

Thank you

2

I was hoping for a solo arcanist build :smiley:

Gotta love iskandra’s set

3

I also love the Arcanist/Mage/Wizard class, and would like to share my experiences with arcanist builds, that’s the first, I’ve enjoyed much of how she stayed so far.

I am happy to share and the idea is that other players can help us to make everything more fun in this great game that is the Grim Dawn.

And be sure to share if you use this build with me here in the post, I would like to know how it was the experience with this build. = D

4

Has it been tested? I’m quite certain that Aetherrach
alone can’t sustain AAR with under 100 energy regen. Among other things… like is that untransmuted CT a misclick?

5

Right. How exactly did it perform for you? What were your clear times in Crucible, for instance?

6

Ideas to improve:

  1. Try reading some build guides to get a better idea on the ins and outs of GD buildcrafting.
  2. AAR is generally bad. I’d toss it completely and respect to maybe Spellscourge.
  3. You can’t have 2 spammables at the same time! (EDIT: the only exception I’ve ever seen was a Belgothian using Cadence just to charge up Deadly Momentum for the flat. 2nd EDIT: also some Shamans might use Savagery only for the buffs.) Use transmutter on CT to if you wanna use AAR.
  4. AAR requires a massive support in term of skill cost reduction and energy regen. Flashwarped Tome, Pulsing Shard, Codex of Lies - these are the options for offhand - full Iskandra’s a no go.
  5. Ah, well, those boots suggest you GDStash anyway (I don’t condemn!) so here you go: http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77014. That’s just about all that can be squeezed out of AAR.
7

Soldier mastery might not be the best choice to bring out the power of your arcanist. Also, not taking Decorated soldier and Scars of Battle is a mistake, imo. And are you spamming both CT and Aether Ray? I am so confused.

And if you are using Iskandra’s amulet it’s best to use it with Star Pact and Time Dilation.

All in all, I give this build 4 powers of arcanist out of 10 powers of arcanists.

8

How many points would this score? https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNndBYAV I basically changed mastery to necro, changed belt and some devotions. I hope I can score 6/10 powers of arcanist in mad_lee’s test xD

9

6 powers of arcanists out of 10, you are correct. Could be more had you properly overcapped Maiven and chosen different devo map.

But seriously, I wouldn’t bother with AAR untill they fix it.

10

First thanks mad_lee for analyzing this build, just a fan of the builds you’ve already created for Grim Dawn.

I would like to understand more about the powers of the arcanist, in what you can help me I will be very grateful.

And thanks to all the players who are debating and discussing this build.

It’s my first attempt, so I’m sure a lot of decisions may have been wrongly on my part.

11

No problem, my advice would be reading other people’s build guides, and I mean not just any guides, but better ones and trying to understand the logic behind gearing/skill allocation/devotion choices or just straight up asking those builders why the did x and not y, etc.

There is also a lot of information on game mechanics on forums, a lot of useful bits of knowledge that could help you with your build. You can always make a thread with a question about certain aspect of the game, I do it all the time.

And the most important part is testing your own stuff. Like first you set the goals for your build - is it just campaign? Or is it also for Crucible? Do you want to kill superbosses with it? etc. Then you start testing it and seeing if things work out as smoothly as you have expected (they almost never do) and see what changes could be made.

That all advice is relevant if you want to make a guide or just want to have an optimised build. You can put that all aside and just play however you like and just have fun if you don’t care about min-maxing or posting builds.

12

My goal was to be able to play the campaign first and kill all the Nemesis, this goal was fulfilled.

Now the crucible I tested today is with the 4 buffs I managed to reach maximum up to 156.

What I can’t understand is the Aether Ray, it should have a much more expressive damage, but I read on several topics that it would need some adjustments to make it work in an expected way.

Now I wanted to know more about the 10 forces of the arcanist you mentioned.

The Arcanist class is my favorite in any game I have, I am also creating a build focused on Panettis replicating and Tempest Callidors.

13

I was reading an extensive topic about AAR and started to understand some things.

I’m going to run some new tests, change some skills, items and devotions.

As soon as the tests are finished, I update the grimtools.

14

THE FIRST POWER OF THE ARCANIST: synergy with other masteries.

This is my subjective take and it’s highly debatable but here’s my list from the most to the least powerful:

  1. Spellbinder
  2. Sorcerer
  3. Druid
  4. Mage Hunter
  5. Spellbreaker
  6. Battlemage
  7. Warlock

THE SECOND POWER OF THE ARCANIST: gearing.

Aether has some of the best gear in the game. While the second most powerful damage type (highly subjective) Cold often has to collect ultra rare purple MIs to get that few weaselly percents of dmg convertion, Aether has it all in a wide range of items that allow for much flexibility: Cord of Violent Decay, Decree of Aldrich, Magelord rings, Reaper of the Accursed, Diviner set, Clairvoyant set, Albrecht Duality, etc.

THE THIRD POWER OF THE ARCANIST: CDR.

Outside pure autoattack or pure CT spam builds, I believe Star Pact beats Reckless Power almost every time (again - subjective and debatable). No other mastery can achieve such countdown reduction.

15

How do I level up as an arcanist? Wich skills should I focus? Can anyone give some tips? Thanks a lot!

16

It’s best to level using skills from another mastery.