[1.1.2.4] Rancor PB Bleed Trickster for SR farm (g3)(sr+)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
,
1

Overview

The main purpose of this build is to farm SR75-76, or at least that’s all I intend to ever do in SR. I’m not really interested in Crucible where Tribute management is a chore (at least to me), nor deep SR where there’s nothing much to be gained. This is my first attempt at publishing a build, feel free to give comments & opinions on where the build is lacking.
Do note that this is a character that I am actually playing, and as such all gears are either farmed or traded (as with all my other characters).

Shoutout to Rhylthar for the suggestion on Bat devotion.

Video 4x SR75-76 runs (long vid, check description for relevant timestamps):

2x Gladiator Crucible 150-170 (check description for relevant timestamps):

The Build


Obligatory main stat page with full buffs

GRIMTOOL (my own character)

GRIMTOOL (no green)

Main stats
  • ~2900 OA & 3200 DA (2800/3100 while kiting)
  • 36-39% Physiscal Resistance (~28% while kiting)
  • 110% Bleed RR (enough to deal with most bosses)
  • 17% Damage absorption
  • ~2500% bleed damage with 200% increased duration (uptime 100%)
  • Riftstalker/Displacement, Blade Barrier and Ghoul for survivability
  • Half kiting / half facetanking gameplay
Weakness
  • Having to chug energy pot once in a while (or on cd when you're spamming skills hard, which you usually don't need to)
  • Low stun resistance without MI
  • Low overcapped resistance
  • Takes a bit longer to kill undead, as usual
  • Low freeze resistance, but that's fixable with hoarfrost
  • Low armor, but it is not as big of a problem with kiting
Gameplay
  • Keep permanent buffs & Pneumatic Burst up
  • Spam Devouring Swarm for white trash
  • Use RoS on bigger targets (usually just 1 is enough) and move on
  • Abuse PB & its piercing properties for big group of mobs
  • RoS, followed by PB for anything that lives longer than 1 RoS
  • Facetank whatever you can, and kite when necessary (the build does have some sustaining capability while facetanking, but it's not the best)
  • Apply Savagery for the buff if you have trouble with OA or you need to survive in melee range to apply all your bleed. Otherwise constant kiting will suffice
  • Use riftstalker/displacement extensively for dodging & kiting, especially in limited playfield
  • Use Blade Barrier liberally esp. in boss room (which was the whole point of investing 7-8 skill points into that skill)
Possible improvements
  • Better affixes for boots/pants in general. Or better MI.
  • Maybe some MI ring with good affixes that will round out the resistance/improve OA DA. I just don't have any good MI rings in my stash yet.
  • Crafting items for stun/slow resist could be a good answer to the low secondary resist issue.

Generally more stats/resistance/OA/DA on MI will leave space for the new bleed augment, armor absorption components or just DA augment in general

Crucible My first 2 crucible attempts (and probably the only 2 for a long while more) time at 7.5 and 8 minutes respectively. For an inexperienced pilot, I'd say that's pretty alright. I used the general SR spec since I'm lazy, but better pilot could probably get a much better time with a more offensive devotion setup, perhaps 6-7 minutes.
Leveling While it is entirely possible to go for the better leveling options from Nightblade (Cold ABB Lethal Strike with SS for single target), or Shaman (Primal Strike spam), I decided to go with this exact bleed spec for new experience, and it is definitely viable if not decently fast. This is however not a beginner's guide, and I shall be upfront that I took 2 purple bleeding weapons from my stash at level 50. Other than that, the character use entirely self found gear + Lokarr set all the way from 1 to 94.
Skills priority
  1. 16/16 Devouring Swarm (slowly scale up as needed, or just use Ectoplasm for energy problem)
  2. 1/12 Ring of Steel/Circle of Slaughter
  3. 16/16 Blade Spirit
  4. 16/12/1 PB
  5. 1/1/1 Pneumatic Burst while working up NB mastery
  6. 1/1/1 Mogdrogen's Pact while working up Shaman mastery
  7. 12/12 Primal Bond
  8. Work on the rest in whatever order you feel that fit your current gear (usually you can start invest into defense here)
I opted for dual wielding during leveling for more offense, so I also take a point in Pneumatic Burst transmuter & Dual Blades for more survivability & healing options. Note that I rarely hit stuffs with whatever I'm wielding, so Savagery is not a necessity.
Devotion priority
  1. Eldritch Crossroad, Bat
  2. Ascendant Crossroad, Falcon
  3. Chaos Crossroad, Ghoul
  4. Huntress
  5. Fox, Owl, Empty Throne (spec into this for resist while leveling)
  6. Mogdrogen the Wolf
  7. Primordial Crossroad, Sailor's Guide, Eel, respec out of Primordial Crossroad, Solemn Watcher
    8. Whenever you're comfortable (usually at 94 when you put on your gears):
  8. Respec out of Solemn Watcher and all possible points from crossroad,
  9. Swap to your desired Ascendant devo (pick 2 out of Owl/Empty Throne/Wolverine)
  10. Put back points into Solemn Watcher, and then Kraken
I opted for 2 points Kraken for the movement speed it grants and additional 5% damage from all the total damage %, as I feel movement speed is important for kiting playstyle. Especially in SR when you're occasionally hit with that -10% movespeed mutator.
Superbosses Maybe when I have time I'll get to this.
Revision 24/6/2019: Updated format & link for the new forum

24/5/2019: Added crucible vids

22/5/2019: Updated with head component for more armor absorption, less undead racial

21/5/2019: Initial post

2

Possible/Actual Q&A:

Q: Why Ancient Armor Plate instead of Scaled Hide?
A: The actual armor value (armor rating x armor absorption) work out to be about the same, with Scaled Hide having a slight edge. I chose Ancient Armor Plate to get the extra Physique required to put on my Kuba pants.

Q: Why not use Belgothian Sigil?
A: The build does not make much use of extra attack speed/cast speed (or total speed from Burst of Speed). Other than that, the current 2 rings at least provide some +skills as compared to Belgothian Sigil.

Q: Why not use Living Shadows?
A: Living Shadows is more of an offensive choice, which will lower the build’s survivability and affect SR run time. At least that was my experience, with my limited piloting skill. Living Shadows could be worth it for a Crucible run though.

3

GJ! But i say some moments from your Rancor.

Actually , i already did similar spec Calc that clears cruc slighty slower than classical BS trickser(5:24(before nerfs) compared to Rancor(5:46(after))).But i can say that i use Rancor more like 2h melee,rather than caster. But anyway:

1)Not be better to use standart sigils?(that would be definitely stronger than yours)
2)Maybe try to use living shadows in your devo, because:1)good heal 2)also additive bleed, that stackable with each other shadow.

4

Nice build. Did I really say this? :wink:

You could change head component for 92 % Absorp, if needed.
(https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZo4xgkN)

Edit:
Devotion Path:
I might do it slightly different but if the builds clears SR 75/76. everything is fine.

5
  1. Belgothian’s Sigil does not seem to add anything to my build, as compared to the 2 rings I’m using (which I at least get +2 Heartseeker & +2 Blade Spirit out of it). The build is mainly caster so I don’t really benefit much from the extra attack speed.
  2. I tried Living Shadows, results were less than satisfactory as far as my experience in SR75-76 goes. Maybe that kind of offensive setup could work for Crucible, but not safe enough to my liking for SR standard.


You did ;). Also good idea on Sacred Plating, I’ll try that later.

6

Updated with crucible attempts

7

Thanks for sharing this guide with us.
How strong is this build nowadays?
Because i plan to build exactly a Rancor PB Trickster…

8

good job man I am always happy to see new 2H builds

9

Looks great - nice build!