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
1.1.7.0 spec Crucible Gladiator 150-170 5:31 run
1.1.5.0 Crucible 150-170 6:00 run (with a green ring)
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 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.