[1.1.2.3] The Tinkerer - Lightning AAR - Tanky Mage Hunter

I want to preface this build showcase by saying that this is by no means a guide for beginners as it contains four green items. However, I argue that you do not need the perfect affixes for the items to make this build work. As long as you have the weapon and the offhand, even without the right affixes, as well as capped resists then you should be good to go!

A couple of days ago, I went on a quest to find the strongest AAR build due to the new changes for AAR, which allowed it to pierce through mobs. This change is very polarizing. Many of the people praised the change as it was “needed”, but many also mentioned that the damage nerf was not necessary.

With this build, I was able to do up to SR 70 until Grava’thul the Run Killer came and ended it. I do not have any videos or screenshots of this (maybe I have a screenshot on steam. I’ll look for it later)

In addition, I also tested this build with Lokarr and was able to kill him in a consistent average of 50 seconds.


>>>Grimtools<<<
Build Update: Changed Scarab on devotion tree into Panther. More dps!
Build Update 2: Changed the augments in weapon and offhand to creed’s cunning, which gives more mana regen. Also, spec’d 1 point into arcane will for damage and mana regen. (It seems that i forgot to put 1 point there initially. With this spec, you probably dont need mana potion anymore, and you will have no problem with 1v1 boss fights).

4 Greens, the weapon and offhand affixes are BiS. The pants and boots are for resists mainly.
However, you do not require the perfect items to play this setup. It will be just as good without the BiS affixes.

>>3rd Update: Budget Version<<

2 greens with no affixes at all just pulsing shard and crimson’s scepter.
I tested it in SR 65 and it is still doable but it requires a lot more micromanagement and actually playing the game instead of tanking and killing everything.

The arcane harmony leggings are amazing, it provides 100% skill disruption protection and a knockback effect! I think they are BiS, and so I might add it out for the BiS setup.

After scouring the forums and asking a lot of people what the best AAR setup is, I think I have finally made a decent AAR build with really high damage and survivability.

Credits to xOMOCHIx and Spilskinanke for providing examples of strong lightning AAR builds. Further, credits to John_Smith’s devotion setup for his EoR build that was able to reach SR 93 as I used it an as inspiration for the devotion setup for this build.

I also tried using the spear instead of ultos, but ultos is my preference as I get 1 point extra that I can spec into the first point of lantern. Lantern provides 15% energy regen IIRC, and this build does have some mana issues so I value it more than spear.

Survivability:

[ul]High Armour
Inquisitor
Light’s Defender (3/4)
Eternity Relic (crucial for CD’s such as MoE, Seal, and WoR)
Solemn Watcher
Ghoul
Ishtak
Bat
Rune of Astral Rifts - Very good for CC as it petrifies mobs, but also very good for just movement skill.
[/ul]

Playstyle:
For trash just AAR them to death, or if needed drop seal. For bosses, use stormbox and aether corruption for RR to kill them faster. Very satisfying playstyle, lots of blue and aether lightning everywhere. From experience, I never really needed to rely on kiting, just tank most of them.

>>>SR 65 Showcase<<<
Bad video quality. I play on a toaster.

Conclusion:

Tanky and fun to play. Could use more single target damage. IIRC I saw one mage hunter build that also has devastation. That should help with single target but I am a PoE player at heart and I hate pressing a lot of buttons.
Also, Nullification is good but I am too lazy to press to much buttons so I don’t use it.

In closing, the purpose of this is to provide a template for people who are looking for an AAR build that is not pure aether or chaos. All the guides I saw were utilizing the clairvoyant set. What I am hoping for is for someone to take this build in consideration, and perhaps improve it further. Thank you.

What if we find only a suffix or a prefix from your listed MIs? Can we still try it?

Like either Celestial Wrath OR Thunderstrack for the offhand but not both.
I imagine the skill disruption protection on leggings is pretty important.

Oh definitely! The perfect prefix / suffix arent required at all, they’re just BiS but I am sure even without those the build will still be very strong!

It’s very good. My current configuration is similar.
Unlike other casters, AAR is forced to Face tanking, so the armor you get from Light’s defender is very good.
I was worried about Phys resist. However, The armor is more reliable because Phys resist is easily reduced by Nemesis debuff.

I request Crate to add Heavy Armor set for AAR.=)

This is better than Clairvoyant. Maybe not faster but this 2.9k armor, 15k health… No MoT will make up for that these days.

Not sure if it is better. If MoT would make up for it, then what would be the reason to even go anything but Spellbinder?

Cool build, hope you can upload a gameplay demonstration sometime soon DarkMethod!

Cool! Very distinctive build.

Visual effects should be stunning. Is there a video of it?

Also here’s my Clairvoyant based paper cannon AAR spellbinder and it’s performance~
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av52486994/

I have yet to try a proper clairvoyant setup. It just scares me to see all the builds with a full skill bar of things to click lol

Good Question. Personally, I feel like MoT does not equate to Seal, MoE, WoR. Although, with regards to life leech, the Grim Dawn amulet got a pretty hefty leech!

Ok I uploaded a SR 65 run. My video sucks because I play on a potato. You can check the vid and see if it would look better in a nice PC!

[b]UPDATE:

Uploaded a SR 65 RUN

Changed Scarab in devotion into Panther! [/b]

Because binders are notoriously hard to play. Always were. Even before the nerfs.

what skill do you use for arcane bomb?

I use aether corruption

3rd Update: Budget Version
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/qNY4e77Z

2 greens with no affixes at all just pulsing shard and crimson’s scepter.
I tested it in SR 65 and it is still doable but it requires a lot more micromanagement and actually playing the game instead of tanking and killing everything.

The arcane harmony leggings are amazing, it provides 100% skill disruption protection and a knockback effect! I think they are BiS, and so I might add it out for the BiS setup.

Why didn’t u max 12/12 elemental balance? it’s huge 25% crit. Did u try SR75?

I based the decision off of the sheet dps in the stat menu. Overload gave me a higher dps than elemental balance. I will try 12/12 elemental balance and see if its better! Thanks!

as for SR 75, I havent tried it but I got to sr 70 last night. When I get the chance to play later tonight i will push to 75 and record!

U don’t have to give up u just get from vigor 6 point and put on balance.
Nice try for lightning AAR, u could see my AAR vs FoI thread.

Oh, good idea! Thanks!

Hey there,
I´ve tried for quite some time and finally I got it and hereby wanna share it:
A devotion pattern that includes SotH AND Ulto WITH Phoenix:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZy6M40N (ignore the character page / has nothing to do with it)

I like you am not a piano player so I look for builds that don’t require a lot of button pushing. That was my favorite part about Purifiers back when they first came out. So many WPS skills lol. Any chance you could throw in a small leveling guide? Something like what base attacks skills you used to get here and the devotion pathing would be helpful if possible. Also, is there a tool where you can pull in your devotions and it tells you the path? Figured I would ask.

AAR is obtainable quite early in the game. As soon as you can have it - use it. Melts everything until the end. Until then: PRM.

So, Mark of Ulzuin is a no-go since 1.1.3. Any Ideas? I currently go for myth. Mark of Anathema…