[1.1.9.8] Luminari Godkiller: Ravager, Mogdrogen, Callagadra, Crucible 4:40, SR 75-76 Belgothian Infiltrator/Blademaster

Luminari’s zero tolerance policy toward old gods

https://i.imgur.com/Xa9Hj7z.jpg

I am a God
So hurry up with my damn massage
In a French-ass restaurant
Hurry up with my damn croissants `

Poet, circa 2013

For Blademaster spec scroll down to the second post

Foreword

(they say in some religions priests just cut this part right off)

I’ve had this character for quite some time now. Obviously inspired by Superfluff’s famous Belgothian Slaughter guide, I have been reluctant to make a guide because you can kinda follow Fluff’s guide and make an infiltrator instead. Few weeks ago I found out that Tz Tz made a guide to an infiltrator version of Belgothian set long ago, and I got even more reluctant to post my own guide for obvious reasons.
But seeing how most players prefer Blademaster for Belgothian set and Tz Tz’s guide is, in my opinion, just for a fun gameplay in main campaign (and underoptimized in a lot of aspects), I decided to make an ultimate guide to this God of DW melee characters.
After all, I have spent a lot of time min-maxing it and adapting it for all parts of the game, I think it’s time that this beast gets the spotlight it deserves.

Build Concept

Massive DPS and clear times

This build shreds. It murders. It facetanks everyone and everything. It kills Gods. Nothing can challenge it. Build was able to clear Crucible pre-nerf with just two blessings, back when most non-shield melee builds didn’t have a chance.

Old school cool melee feel

It’s what we loved when we played barbarian in D2 dual-wielding two huge swords. It’s what we didn’t get in overall disappointing D3. It’s what jajaja has been grieving about before he left us. It’s in your face, steel cutting deep into the flesh of monsters, humans, beasts and gods, no DoT kiting bullshit, no magic, just a murderous metal machine.

Steel-clad tank with multiple layers of defense

Around 47% physical resist and close to 2500 armor. Huge ADCtH, healing us back to full health with almost every hit. 14/12 Inquisitor Seal, hard circuit breaker, 27% Dodge, 47% Deflect, respectable crowd control resist, two heal buttons, decent resist overcap plus Ghoul. You have to play really poorly to die with this guy.

The Build

1.1.9.8 Update

This old classic deserves the update. Current spec has incredible single target tankiness and maintains respectable damage/clearing speeds. Also build is rocking casual ~61 physical resist. Some greens on it will take some time to farm tho. I am not going to re-write the whole guide - let’s leave it like this for historical purposes (also I cba).

1.1.7.0 Update

With total WPS rework in the new patch I have updated both Infiltrator and Belgothian’s versions of the builds. Blademaster is faster and tankier and Infiltrator is still a young brother waiting for some support from Belgothian set. Amarasta’s Quick Cut is still not good enough (tested it on dummy) to be used on Infiltrator. Green items have become very accessible so decided to go with a green pants option.

1.1.4.1 Update

Reinvented the spec a bit with four new items and different stat/skill distribution. Build feels very strong and consistent in current Crucible.

1.1.2.5 Update

Shattered Realm amulet is no more so had to rebuild this one. Updated Grimtools links, stat screenshots, added few videos, and added no green Belgothian Blademaster spec, or at least my take on it (spoilers: it’s very good).

Shattered Realm update

Build conquered Shard 75 after couple of resets of impossible boss arenas. But overall I would recommend sticking to 60-66 farming or better quick 65-66 runs.

Added Shattered Realm spec (can also be used as main spec).

1.1.1.1 Changes.

This builds tears new expansion apart. Yet to kill Callagarda, she requires a special spec and a lot of hit and running (about 15 minutes of it). Tested it new Crucible, managed 7 minute run (fastest out of 3 runs). Smooth sailing even without endgame relic (chose to use Serenity for that one) and half-leveled Azraaka and Ulzaad. Uploaded new grimtools and video. Will update when I push shards with it.

Regarding Amarasta’s Quick Cut:

1.0.7.1 Changes. So the Crucible balance changed a little and old spec is no longer as consistent as before. Had to make some changes and let Bladetwister Signet ring go (it had bad stats anyway) and patch Slow Resistance with the wonderful little augment from Rovers. Main Campaign spec is whatever you like (for Lokkar Crucible spec is recommended though).

<<<<<<<<<GRIMTOOLS>>>>>>>>>>>

*(craft for slow resistance and for stun resistance)

For Belgothian Blademaster spec check second post

*(for Ravager and Mogdrogen’s builds see second post too)

Gear

Core of the build is Belgothian set. Amulet, belt, relic and gloves are undebatably best in slot for obvious reasons (amulet for it’s huge offensive and +skills, belt for +skills/flat pierce/up to 6% OA, relic - well, there is no other decent pierce relic currently, gloves gives us huge stats and resist reduction mod to Ring of Steel). Second weapon is where it gets interesting. I chose Mythical’s Reaver Claw for few reasons, first of all, it offers a set of well rounded stats: massive flat pierce, up to 4% OA, some cunning, up to 19% attack speed, and very neat +1 to Inquisitor skills which is extremely valuable since we are soft capping and overcapping most of the skills we use in this mastery (even couple of extra points in Word of Pain and Word of Agony increase our quality of life). Another valuable stat is its Ring of Steel bonus with +3 to the skill and +50% weapon damage to the skill, which makes RoS hit like it’s been hardcapped for just two skill points (1 in RoS 1 in Circle of Slaughter). Mythical Direwolf Crest is awesome for Crucible, first of all its OA (can roll up to 156 OA), Beast damage bonus, 3 points to Circle of Slaughter and a nice Aether resist overcap. Plus we get flat pierce, % pierce and an okay-ish WPS.
Craft helmet for Slow resist bonus and relic for stun resist.

Skills and Devotions

I think skill distribution is pretty obvious here. I’ve tested quite a few setups before coming to this one. Maxing out all the juicy damage skills while not completely stripping build of its defenses. Vigor is a vital source of our health points, one thing that build is kind of short of, so we absolutely have to max it. PB is just at 6 points, before diminishing returns kick in. In-game I have sheet attack speed bonus at 181%, which might not seem great, but we get another 10% the second we hit with a belgothian strike plus we get another 20% from Battle Cry bonuses from boots and pants.

Leveling and Attribute Points Distribution

Please note, when leveling it’s crucial to side with Kymon’s Chosen for their gear augments (and because we want to infiltrate those fanatics to kill their God in second expansion).

With the best mastery combo in-game there is almost no wrong way here. You an level with Inquisitor’s WoP or you can level with Nightblade’s WPS and Pierce resist reduction from Night’s Chill till level 50, after that you will have enough skill points to benefit from that huge skill synergy that this mastery combo offers.

We are splitting attribute points 70%/30% Cunning/Physique. You can put a bit more into Physique to get a DA level you are more comfortable with (or if your items have low DA rolls). But aim for at least 70 points in Cunning.

The Showdown

How to Play

In Main Campaign we facetank everything. Inquisitor Seal or Word of Pain is rarely needed. In a Grava’Thul fight it’s important to stutter-step from his Fumble pools and when he raises his hands to cast Nullification missile, we gotta run around a bit till this missile hits an obstacle or just vanishes.
In Crucible we gotta play aggressively and try and kill nemeses at their spawn points (watch Superfluff’s Blademaster videos), but this build allows for more mistakes and more relaxing gameplay overall since it has a lot more in defensive department then Blademaster does. Be generous with Inquisitor Seals, spam Ring of Steel, cast Word of Pain on packs of heroes or on fat bosses, try not to stand too much in debuff puddles, try and isolate 1on1 fights in big nemeses waves. Don’t approach Zantarin before he unloads his big shotgun skill, then you can bum rush him and finish him pretty quickly. Use Aetherward Oil from Steelcap District on waves 169 and against Aleksander, it speeds up killing time considerably.

In Shattered Realm build is really efficient for farming 65-66. You can push 75 with it but it will have 50% success depending on Nemeses combination on boss level. So I would recommend sticking to 65-66 farm.

Ravager and Mogdrogen mini guide is added below (with separate Grimtools links)

Stats

With permanent buffs (before Deadly Aim)

Belgothian Strikes damage with all the procs except Deadly Aim

Defence

Builds Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Massive DPS and super fast killing times
  • Huge tanking ability and multiple layers of defense
  • -105% resist reduction
  • Full physical to pierce conversion plus up to 30 elemental to pierce
  • Mobility skill
  • Relatively easy to play

Cons:

  • Sometimes (rarely) you might need a mana potion
  • Optimal green gear is hard to get
  • All other builds seem meh after this one

Videos

1.1.9.8 Callagadra 1:24 facetank kill

1.1.9.8 Ravager 1:09 no pharma/no cluster kill

1.1.9.8 SR 75-76 5:54 run

1.1.7.0 spec Crucible Gladiator 150-170 5:31 run

1.1.5.0 Crucible 150-170 6:00 run (with a green ring)

Callagadra’s kill

1.1.4.0 spec 6:23 Crucible 150-170 run

1.1.2.5 spec 6:27 Crucible 150-170 run

SR spec 1.1.1.1 Crucible Gladiator 150-170 7 minute run
Forgotten Gods Crucible 1.1.1.1 150-170 7 minute run
Grava’Thul Fight 1.0.7.1

New Crucible spec 1.0.7.1 spec 3 runs (~7:30 per run)

1.0.7 150-170 test run (8 minutes)

Crucible Gladiator 150-170 3 buffs/1 Vanguard banner 3x run (averaging ~7:40 per run)

Crucible Gladiator 150-170 4buffs/no banners 9:40 run (could be much faster with a banner and without lag and if played by someone who actually has hands)

Crucible Gladiator 150-170 4buffs/no banners 8:50 run (piloted by Sir Spanksalot)

Ravager 3:47 kill (this time video quality is all right)

Gargabol fight (6 seconds 2nd stage kill)

Mad Queen (just 9,5 seconds, meh)

Lokkar (19 seconds kill, Crucible setup, wouldn’t recommend using Main Campaign setup versus him)

In Conclusion

I am still a bit salty that Crate ignored Inquisitor mastery completely when they made Belgothian Slaughter set. Most major sets in Grim Dawn support 3 masteries, but I guess Infiltrator is too op or maybe Crate just forgot, who knows.

21 Likes

Simple and resilient Belgothian Blademaster short guide

Decided to test few small ideas I had for Belgothian Blademaster and here is the spec that I found to be the most consistent, efficient and fun. After all the Inquisitor nerfs in some aspects it feels safer and it’s definitely more fun to play.

1.1.7.0 Update

Updated it to have 100% wps pool with innate wps’. Decided to go for more balanced approach in terms of gearing and managed to make a very consistent tanky spec that is also incredibly fast.

1.1.5.2 Update

Reworked the spec according to the balance changes in the latest patches. Barbaros pants had to go, instead we got full Disruption protection + almost full Cunning dump (1-2 points in Spirit are still needed). Build is a total beast, super tanky as well, Shards 75-76 are not a problem for it and it does not die in Crucible unless you make a silly mistake like blinking into Zantarin’s shotgun. We can use flat damage/hp augments on weapons now since extra regeneration is not needed (thanks to energy leech buffs Phantasmal Armor works properly now).

<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>

*Craft helmet for Slow resist and medal for Stun resist. For Shattered Realm boss rooms you can bind Azrakaa’s Sands to Belgothian’s Strikes and Assassin’s Mark to Blade Spirits.

Videos

Supertolik’s Shards 75-76 7:10 speed run

1.1.7.0 Crucible Gladiator 150-170 5:18 run

1.1.7.0 SR75-76 9:36 run (one death)

1.1.6.2 5:39 run

Shattered Realm 75-76 8:50 run

My 1.1.5.2 5:24 run

Banana_peel’s 5:03 run

1.4.1.0 Anton Voycekhovsky 5:45 run OLD

6:05 Updated spec run OLD

6:25 Crucible run OLD
6:08 Crucible run OLD
6:18 Crucible run (with bugged Sister Crimson at wave 165) OLD

Callagadra, Ravager and Mogdrogen Guide

Callagadra

<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>

Hardest of all Celestials fights, had to really dig deep with that one. Do not try that on Hardcore. Fight requires great piano timings with your skills and your potions. Last half of the fight you have to kite when you have too much stuff on cooldown. Drink all the buff-potions! Better watch the video above.

Ravager

>>>>GRIMTOOLS<<<<

We are stacking armor and defensive ability while maintaining enough OA so we still have a chance to crit the beast. We are changing relic, ring and boots, plus moving some skills around (we are removing Word of Pain completely since it’s a cast that distrupts our attacking and leeching which can kill us). Patch resists that are relative to the Ravager you have summoned. I would strongly recommend pre-buffing with an Elixir of Dranghoul, Vilescar Ointment and Ugdensalve. Throw in Royal Jelly Essence and Elixir of the Ancients. Get stack of Courageous Tinctures as well and put it on a hot key. Don’t underestimate this fight, every little bit helps, plus you are probably not going to fight him often, so better make this one fight count. Get a stack of Hungerer’s Oil from Barrowholm and keep it up all the time.
Fight itself requires some focus. We are always spamming Ring of Steel because it debuffs Ravager with %chance to Fumble and we are never forgetting to cast Seal in time. As soon as we get hit, we use one of our heals. Like any kind of hit and we use a heal, don’t take chances. When he procs our Ghoul, we keep fighting till Ghoul proc wears off and instantly use Courageous Tincture. I killed him 2 times, and skill/potion rotation timings were key to success.

Mogdrogen

>>>>GRIMTOOLS<<<<

Much easier and less stressful fight then Ravager fight. All we have to do is use a medal and an amulet that increase our Lightning resist cap, prebuff ourselves with Stormshroud ointment, overcap Lightning resist by at least 90 and chop the arrogant hippie god down. I used Ultos Amulet from my other character and Mythical Mark of Divinity for my fight.

8 Likes

Round of imaginary Q&A

  • Mad_Lee, did you know you could use double Belgothian Slicers for more flat pierce from Dual Blades and harder hitting shears?

  • Yes, it’s a viable (and best) option form Blademaster, but it’s different for Infiltrator. We loose too many skill points plus quite a bit of OA for just a little flat damage boost and one boosted WPS. Besides it’s questionable if additional weapon damage to Belgothian Shears really compensates for the OA loss and and RoS damage loss.

  • Hey, do you really need Ghoul? Seems like an off-beat devotion choice for your devotion map

  • I love playing melee with Ghoul. It’s a great circuit breaker and gameplay is smoother and less demanding in terms of piloting skill when you have it because you heal faster.

  • What about Harp devotion, it offers pierce damage and great proc!

  • Yes, great devotion, but I’d rather not use it on a build with 0% cooldown reduction. Plus the only real boost to our build is slow resist that we get to proc, and get to use it just half of the time. I’d prefer Solemn Watcher for permanent DA boost, very important reflected damage reduction and nice stats

  • But aren’t Amarasta’s Quick Cut and Whirlwing Death considered to be “bad” wps and a damage loss?

  • While they are obviously inferior to Execution or steroided Belgothian Shears or Markovian Advantage I tested it on Mad Queen and with AQC and recently buffed WD kill timer was a bit faster than without them. With recent buff to Whirlwing Death it becomes especially valuable in Crucible.

1 Like

Interesting…Why reaver’s claw over heart of malmouth if I may ask?

Finally you posted it!
-115 Pierce resist is crazy. Again, Inquisitor proved that that mastery is miles ahead of others. Most of top tier build is from purifier and infiltrator this days.

Love it Madlee. Will try to level one based on this build.

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

Easy, first and foremost, because we can’t convert all physical damage from Reedemer of Malmouth, so we get much less flat pierce damage on top of more than 150 OA loss. Crit damage and crit damage to Shears don’t come close to compensating for all that.

9:30?! I want to see this baby in the build compendium. I’ll try this out after I complete the 3 characters I’m working on. This looks exciting.

The spellbinder disagrees. :rolleyes:

Spellbinder is just caster. Melee is harder to make.
Inflitrator and purifier can become anything.

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

Honestly, it’s 9:30 without a banner, just 4 buffs. And I lagged a lot. Plus I play bad in Crucible (and honestly I don’t find playing high level Crucible very pleasant at all). But I asked a certain Asian Crucible crusher and renowned pilot to make a run with my spec and record it, we will see if he can top my time (I bet he can).

You mean asian GDstashing street hooker. :stuck_out_tongue:

Binder can do melee :stuck_out_tongue: maxed IEE + iskandra amulet, theodin scepter and a lot of conversion and it should wreck house. Lack of cdr won’t hurt, binders nowadays don’t even need TD.

@lee: how’s your cruci of the dead cleartime here? 9:40 is already pretry fast in sands where you have to walk a lot (yeah you have SS but still).

You guys really need to try reaper + theodin… :stuck_out_tongue:

No objection on your argument, that is true. But still my point is purifier and infiltrator build variation is more than binder. Especially purifier as you can do 2xgun, 2hgun, gun+shield, 2xmelee, 2hmelee, and caster; and all of them is top crucible build.

Back to topic. Really love your build Madlee!

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

I honestly only play Crucible when I need to record a video for my guides or on a rare occassion with friends. I am a bad pilot and playing it stresses me out and tilts me. Last time I was trying to get Crucible of the Dead I made ten tries before I said “Fuck it” and played Crucible of the Deeps.

But a certain Crucible expert is going to replicate my build and gear in GDstash and make a video out of his run, we will see how he does :).

Thanks, mate, it’s not my most creative build and Fluff did it first, but I did spend a lot of time of polishing it and min-maxing it, plus it’s a super fun and powerful build, I felt it deserved a guide.

Agree on that. I would still rate binder above both purifier and infil tho. One is safer to pilot compared to the other two.

Can’t argue that. The biggest reason for this IMO is that the inquisitor is the only class with elemental RR, and which can efficiently use all 3 elemental damage types.

E.g. Shaman does lightning damage mainly. Occultist doesn’t use elemental damage.

Combine this with the fact that it has 6 different kinds of RR and the ability to DW guns at level 1 and you have the most versatile, and overused build in GD.

Hey,

Congrats on finally posting it.:slight_smile:

I know you’ve pretty much made up your mind on all the gear but this suggestion i’m making mostly preempts what we’ll probably face in xpac.

For the most part crucible fixes a great deal of issues with the new blessings but in the future, be it BM or infiltrator, both will have to up their HP by a minimum of 1k-1.5K HP. imo

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDLkxYZ - You lose some armor, you kinda get proc dmg back and the OA with all the cunning if you get a good roll, no spirit req, more Dodge, Less phys res but you have plenty with conviction and a crap ton of HP. 10K hp will be very dangerous

Ofc FG might provide us with new leg attire that makes ones legs both thick and swift so who knows:rolleyes:

…that makes ones legs both think and swift

The number of penis jokes which came to my mind reflects just how depraved I am.

Hey, woke up at 5 am so type-os are the norm :smiley: I think my brain can only do penis jokes atm

Sup, Fluff! I have considered those pants (as I explained in the guide), but 1k hp gain does not outweigh loss of ~100 OA, physical resist, 2 points in Ring of Steel (also damage) and an amazing proc that Infiltrator needs since it has less attack speed than BM. I also pointed out that that I need just 2 points in spirit to equip my gear, so spirit is not a problem for this build.

Also, 10k hp is not dangerous at all at the moment as you can see in my Crucible run, it’s a different beast than your Blademaster. Thanks for the advice though, I hope expansion will make both of our builds better!