how do battlemages see themselves / how do they really look like
I just noticed it’s been almost three years already since I first made this build and then kept tweaking it till now. And in the end I really like how just an okayish build for a bad class became one of the tankiest builds in the game for now with decent damage potential. Unfortunately, battlemage will always be a class of two builds, but we can do little with it.
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Extra-tanky spec (mostly for facetanking Calla or super deep SR): Battlemage, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.5) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
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Gear explanation
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Weapon and armor - 2 pcs of Targo as it supports BA and synergizes with Spellscourge set itself;
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Rings - BM is mandatory, second one - I tested Combustion band vs Gargabol, Gargabol felt better to me in terms of damage, though they’re ± equal;
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Medal - BiS here because of flat to BA;
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Belt - chose this for extra % damage and %armor, though M. Chains of Oleron will suit well too.
Pros and cons of the build
Pros
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The build is a classic tank - high DA, armor, quite nice HP, flat and %absorb etc.
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It’s very easy to play and is capable of doing all content, including very deep SR and superbosses.
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Build also has nice offensive potential, high OA and massive damage from Devastation.
Cons
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Because of no innate -% RR, enemies like IM take a long time to kill.
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This point is similar to previous one, as the main damage source here is Devastation, smaller targets like humans do not take full damage from it.
Crucible
Average time I have is 5:00-5:15, with some lucky muts and spawns it does ~4:45.
Superbosses
Callagadra, Scion of the Sands
Crate of Entertainment - the thing that annoys me the most about this fight is that Crate may easily jump out of Devastation area, making it useless. Also watch out for big crates, they somehow oneshot you.
Summary and thoughts
This is one of my favourite builds alongside with Veilkeeper Druid. While the druid is more of a glass cannon, this one is a classic tank that forgives multiple mistakes and allows at the same time quite fun gameplay. After buffs to phys damage and set it became only better (obviously), so I hope you’ll enjoy it too.