TLDR: My first 100, not a min-max build, if looking at “bad” builds gives you migranes, look away now! Still after a little advice though please.
Some initial disclaimers.
As above, it took me a lot of hours to get a 100 character, which is to say to settle on something I liked, but the aesthetics and the play style are perfectly “me”. It evolved quite a lot over time, and like so many builds nearly got shelved in the mid 40’s. But then I went back to it one day and changed up a little gear and suddenly it clicked.
It’s still a work in progress, need to find/trade for the remaning Rimetounge (naturally) and craft a bzillion relics and medals to get the skills right, and after that balance out the resists and stats as best I can. Must do better at Fashion Dawn too. But the play-style is already there enough to write it up.
Yes, it’s not an all powerful, AFK-face tanking monster where the health bar never moves, I’ve no idea how it does at Crucible 150-170 (do I have to care yet?) yet but it’s playing the campaign on Ultimate ok…ish (only reached level 100 in Burrwitch). We’ll get to just how “bad” it is in the build section.
It fits all my requirements for a character, it takes a bunch of apparently unpopular skills at high levels and tries to make them work (I’m looking at you Blade Trap and Word of Pain, even the Nemesis relic). It has a very mixed play-style requiring a lot of interaction and planning. Aesthetically it shines (to me) all the abilities (I don’t know about the Rimetounge proc, it’ll probably ruin it!) are somewhere from white, through blue, to purple and don’t dump a splurge of unicorn-rainbow-vomit on the screen. Lastly it has a theme (Bard ‘n’ Blades), and being a little bit off the normal…a little character too…so…
The character: (Apologies to anyone from Crate reading this if I’m butchering the lore! I’ll work on it!) Her story is going to be a work in progress too!
Kali was always her grandfathers favourite. Of all his decedents few were ever even granted an audience, and none but her was allowed beyond the cold, sterile environment of the parlour and into his home proper. The rest of the family, worried over their inheritance either attempted to win the attention of Kali’s mother, or, behind their backs, plotted for the future…
For her part, she remembered the bi-yearly long coach trips out from the imperial capital to his mansion with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Those earliest visits to the huge house, being fussed over by servants, separated from her anxiously waiting mother and ushered into a room Kali would never forget. Home her mother had a small bookshelf and Kali as soon as she could read would steal herself in and liberate whatever she could devour, but here, here the walls were bookshelves, from floor to ceiling. They were only broken by the occasional display case containing…well she wasn’t quite sure what, strange looking artifacts, maps, and musical instruments she had never seen at school.
Sat waiting by an enormous hearth, flanked by the spookiest set of armour, slouched over a mannequin, she had ever seen her grandfather would invite her to sit in a sprawling armchair that would, over the years, engulf her less and less. Impatiently waiting for the usual pleasantries and small talk to end Kali would edge forward in the chair till it was time…
…for the story. On her first visit he asked her if she liked stories, she said she did. She said, proudly, that her mother would read to her every night. He asked her if she would like to hear a story and uncertain how to reply she timidly nodded her head. She expected him to rise his aging body from the chair and find one of the hundreds of books to read from, but instead he just spoke…
…and what a voice the man had.
To be continued…
The build: (prepare to wince, advice sought below).
Current build. https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2dv5dJZ
Future build. Just take the above, swap out the armour to Rimetounge and add in a relevant skilled Badge of Mastery, then reallocate the skill points somewhat. Ta-da!
Active devotions.
-Rhowan’s Crown bound to either Blade Trap or Obiliteration.
-Murmur bound to the Nemesis pet.
-Bard’s Harp bound to Veil of Shadow.
-Assassin bound to Blade Spirit.
-Blind Sage bound to Word of Pain.
Infrequently asked questions:
So, what’s this Infiltrator about, is it a melee build? Well…as you can see I do have Beronath’s Fury and Sacred Strike on LMB and RMB. And as I much as I love wailing on things for quite a few seconds at a time from the relative safety of Inquisitor Seal…er…no, it’s really not that.
So, it’s a caster build then? Well…er…the only real nuke it has is the item granted Obliteration which needs me to sit uncomfortably still to channel it…so er…no.
So, it’s a pet build then? Well…er…between Mr. Tibbles, the Blade Spirits, the Elemental Seekers, the Elemental Storms and the Inquiy Seals there are quite a few damage sources that aren’t my character. But er…there is zero pet-stat related gear on the character, so er…no.
At least tell me you’re doing one type of damage? Er…no, um…elemental, pierce, some bleed, frost-burn (with Rimetongue set on Horn), half arsed fire/lightning to cold conversion.
Well you’re maximizing your RR potential then at least?! Er…sorry, no…Aura of Censure doesn’t give a blue visual effect, weren’t you keeping up?
That’s a lot of active skills, what’s your skill rotation like? What’s my what now?
I give up, what does it even play like? Really FUN! It’s everything a Jane of all Trades should be, it sucks…but that’s a good thing. If everything was too easy it wouldn’t be fun. I can mix up the play quite a lot, it’s capable of a little face tanking (depending on the situation), lots of kiting, crowd control, AoE from all the auxiliary damage sources, it’s quite critical focused if I can get my OA up more, and when Blade Trap has been Rimetounged it’ll help a lot.
Its low hit points (waiting on that hitpoint patch a bit) and random defenses from dodge/deflect and fumble/impaired aim and over-maxed Inquiy seal really keep me guessing. It’s pretty mobile (got to find stun resist) with both Tibbles and Kali capable of Shadow-striking, except for when we’re hunkered down in a Seal.
Why haven’t you over-capped Horn of Gandarr and Ring of Steel? I could, and the point allocation after Rimetongue is up for grabs, but for the most part I prefer to soft cap a lot of skills instead.
Where is your circuit breaker? Yeah, er…about that, sorry, sometimes remember to use Blade Barrier before face planting if that helps?
Why didn’t you just make a normal Cold/Pierce Infiltrator? It didn’t work out that way, sorry!
Is there anything good about it? I did mention the fun, and er…it does have a strangely high bonus damage to humans but er, no, not really.
You’re mad, what did you even want advice on? Primarily if you think I should straight swap Fox in for Raven and/or Harpy in for Owl? Also, can green boots with + to Blade Spirits drop? Probably other stuff I’ve forgotten just now…