[1.1.5.2] Wrath of the Unknown Assassin - CDR/Proc dw melee pierce infiltrator ~5:30 170 (g3/4) (c+) (sr+)

Introduction:
I know pierce builds are somewhat scare out there and I thought it was time to add another great one to the mix. This build utilizes The Unseeing Gaze , a nice rare set which gives a solid amount of CDR for a melee build to use. I combined this with the Belgothian’s Carnage relic to give very good cooldown reduction. To that base of solid CDR I tried to stack pierce weapon damage as high as possible. To do so we use that often criticized acid to pierce on Mythical Spellbreaker Waistguard, Chosen Epaulets, and a Bladetwister Signets. I also put pretty much cunning as I could get to both boost damage and get a large amount of oa to lead to fast procs of our on crit procs. The high cdr will fuel basically full uptime for harp for a nice boost to oa/slow resist as well as fixing our energy issues caused by nonstop fast spamming of shadowstrike and ring of steel.

Damage comes from many sources… WPS from autoattack with beronath + ring of steel + shadowstrike + many procs on low cooldowns. Together is all adds up to slaughter time. Storm box makes Sands proc x3 a second non-stop. Blades of Wrath procs on a 1.4 second CD… if belgo procs once the CD is running you get 2 procs back to back.

The Build:
Crucible Speed run Shadowstrike build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/m23qED4Z
More Defense oriented SR version: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/M2g7ypg2

Both versions drop the extra proc attack from bull and the use of harp. Instead we go for a more aggressive devotion setup with harpy, ulzaad, and the updated scales devotions. Both also feature maxed out nearly fully converted blade spirits

OUTDATED
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk8OgR2
To make the build without greens replace the shoulders with something with chaos resist. literally any combo of chaos resist + stun resist on the shoulder works for the green… But leathery hide on helm + deathguard shoulders is a pretty good option too

Im using 1 slow resist craft on the helm, 1 %armor craft on my boots. net slow resist in game is 57%

Updated build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RVvJGmvV x2 slow res craft if you want to focus crucible. x1slow res x1 armor craft if sr

Video:


As you can see the new crucible spec is a bit of a glass cannon. It can lead to some top notch clear times, but deaths can/will happen if misplay is there.

RIP Plays.tv videos below no longer work

170 clear 6:32 https://plays.tv/s/MHe1jDJsfahw
Seriously bad play on 163 leads to just that wave alone being ~30seconds. Add to that my pc performance (This greatly improves in 1.1.4.0 btw), shattered mutator on 160-170, and some other piloting errors… and you get a slightly better clear. I have managed a 6:08 run with the build, but that was without recording software or anything else running.(prior to 1.1.4.0 monster buffs and 1.1.4.1 slight nerfs. Current best run is 6:21 with no bad mutators/spawns)

Mad Queen 6sec https://plays.tv/s/MHe4sCqd1uap
^ I noticed this video is not clipped correctly cutting the end off… ill make a new one eventually

SR 76 completed within timer. I will make a video eventually. It wasnt without deaths, but wasnt too bad as long as you were careful to stay in seals.

7 Likes

Damn, that’s fine time ! Also you go for conversion from shoulders&belt. Also interesting pants. I have no idea from where all this power is coming :slight_smile:

updated the post

More like Wrath of the Unknown Pianist! Jk, that’s a cool build, gratz on finally posting it!

I would recommend Tranquil Pants here because 0% Slow Resist is seriously hurting this build’s performance (I understand that you have probably got 20% from crafts, it’s still not enough). I would also reshuffle points a bit and take Anatomy of Murder to 11/12 (90 more cunning just from that) and Steel Resolve to 12/10 (racial damage breakpoint + obviously more flat).

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I was gonna ask something similar like what mad_lee did. 57% slow res in game is with Bard harp proc up, which you did mention in the “introduction”.

Strange that you did not take Ghoul proc, it is not needed? Granted the cdr, it would also be up/available pretty often.

I keep forgetting about Harp and high CDR, damn! I even had this exact convo with Valinov already before, damn, my memory isn’t good for shit :slight_smile:

Still tho, During harp downtime slow res is very low. And I think OA from Tranquil pants would help immensly.

harp down time is like 1.5seconds :stuck_out_tongue:

yeah im working on a sr 75 spec… most likely will mean taking ghoul at the cost of some dps. For crucible and sr65 farm it isnt needed. I mean you can take it pretty easy as I have 4 loose points on devotions, but they give a lot to the build. 20phy/20cunning 15%human damage, 75 da, 11% attack speed, 10%acid res, 280 health

I mean if you take Tranquil pants and change augments in weapons to 55% damage/1.2 regen/10 elemental ones, you can drop Harp for Ghoul. I think Ghoul is just too good with that CDR not to take it.

idk here the trade off for ghoul with taking minds. the pants just add too much to be dropped on this build imo.

Ghoul with tranq minds
less res overcap… not even able to cap elemental res outside of seal without some a prefix/suffix on shoulder give it. perhaps thunderstuck instead of ancient…
less oa
less da
2.1k less pierce weapon attack
2% crit damage
4% non proc phys res
lots of energy regen/absorb
43 flat damage absorb
2 skill points in shadow strike

gains
ghoul proc 5sec duration ~17second cooldown
small bonus in armor due to taking spellscorch on belt
4%adcth
a bit more slow res on a high rolled pair of t minds
slightly more hp regen

Nice build cleverly utilizing the Crate’s misunderstanding that was 50% acid to pierce on the belt.
But I see a few (IMO) very questionable choices that I don’t understand:

Assassin Mark on Blade Spirit and autoattack bound to Blades of Wrath? Before Spirits follow you to your SS target and start attacking… Besides Spirits are so ugly now, they don’t deserve that proc! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

11th rank in SS with Anatomy so low on a cunning dump build? Second and third node taken despite SS not being used to proc anything?

Minor thing but I’d put Seal of Blades on the mace instead of the sword. The sword already has adcth. Seal on the mace would make it more balanced. But the difference is mostly aesthetic lol.

Bull Rush? You can take Sailor and Tower and get physique from there in the meantime getting your da and armor to SR75 levels at the cost of 50 oa and 5% crit. Spending 5 devotion points on -10 to physique requirement seems kinda missed. here, attributes untouched, everything clicks. Bull Rush is for trauma. Most its dmg is totally irrelevant to your build. And you don’t need those 2 yellow anyway. You can just take Sailor and have 1 point free.

Are you sure Belgo relic affects Harp? It’s not exactly an “active” skill. I’m not sure so I’m asking. Anyway I’d still take that Sailor. Even if it was 100% Harp uptime 45% slow res is still on the lower side in today’s standards, imo.

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This is my favorite and most played build in the game! I love Pierce builds! Mine is a little bit different tho.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28j9p3Z

What was the verdict now again, this will be removed in the next patch?

Not that I’m aware of

Yes, it should be. Zantai said the new Treacherous Means is gonna be made into two separate belts: “Treacherous Means” with the old stats (including this unfortunate conversion) and “Deadly Means” with Treacherous Means’ new stats (slightly nerfed iirc).

I don’t know if it’s still the plan but in that case there’s no need for this freaky thing to exist on a cold belt anymore. Zantai said it wasn’t intentionally to hurt acid nightblades (who are belt-less) but they remade Treacherous and didn’t know where else to put that conversion.

It’s a great concept for pierce though. A bit op as demonstrated by this build.

yes but those belts have nothing to do with spellbreaker belt. The conversion on spellbreaker is staying. There is a new belt which is (pack of deadly memes) acid focused dual wield with oathkeeper skills/dw passive bonus with vit converted to acid. Pack of treacherous means is returning with ranged pierce bonuses and the previous ele to pierce and acid to pierce mods it used to have

Most things will be covered by this statement; the build was based around using cdr to maximize procs.

Bullrush on seal = x3 procs per second ~100% weapon damage + flat pierce in aoe… 4 procs is possible with perfect luck on a belgo proc.
Blades on the auto attack is to guarantee maxium procs/partial shotgun effect on bosses. I’ve been testing some changes including bind assassin mark to beronath and have been getting slower times.
Belgo relic works like time dialation. IE it is flat CDR (which works on devotions. why many people take HG for better dying god uptime). It definitely effects harp and all other devotion procs.
I will still be testing things further… the 4 points in shadow strike probably should be in anatomy just for the human damage… but even at that low level it hits for execute level crits on a very low cooldown. 1 pointing the off nodes seems a no brainer since ss is used often and on cooldown

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This makes no sense. Those belts have everything to do with Spellbreaker.

Soellbreaker belt only got that conversion because they had nowhere to put it after the change to Treacherous. Zantai said that. Now that Treacherous is coming back there’s no reason to keep this conversion here. Most experienced builders agreed that this was one of the oddest changes in the last patch.

The way I saw it was that it was similar to the addition of aether to cold on starpact. This prevents acid builds from using a belt intended for pierce and cold builds. Two new acid belts have been added. Murmurs Kiss and now deadly means. Acid builds are the only ones that are effected by this change… and maybe the odd nex/ortus sabo… even then very slightly.

N&O Sabo uses Demo’s cold belt with Fire to Cold conversion.

I agree with ya here, I think that silly conversion on Spellbreaker that was seemingly created just to spite acid dervishes should go.