[1.1.4.0][HC] Immortal Commando - Fire Mortar Commando (c)(sr)(g3/4)

Immortal Commando

He simply won’t die, period.

My Dear Hardcore Folks!
Have you ever wanted to build a real tank, able to stand his/her ground in pools of fire, blood and poison, while getting debuffed and attacked by dozens of enemy heroes and bosses? Have you ever wanted to walk on aether corrupted ground or stand on top of volcanoes without needing to drink health potions? What about trolling Mad Queen through her reflect attacks while still being able to kill her?
If your answer is yes - this build is for you!

On a more serious note, given the nature of SR and Crucible, I wanted to make a build that can reliably farm those. Meaning relaxed, albeit slow, yet steady gameplay with minimal risk of losing your gear. Every other game has such builds (Diablo and PoE being good examples), so why not Grim Dawn? So here you go, a HC Gladiator/SR farmer build! Keep in mind, this is not a high SR pushing spec, it’s too slow for that. I could see it reach 65-70 if lucky with damage mutators and mobs. It’s great for sub SR60 reasonably safe runs.

First things first, give credit where credit is due. This build was inspired by two other builds:

[HC] Melee Mortar Commando – by Keldon

[HC] Fire Retaliation Commando 3.0 – by Adam Navel

I loved the use of mortars in the first one and that crazy passive regen in the second build. Looking to combine the two features into a single working build, I’ve tested a bunch of different class combinations and had no choice but to pick Commando (duh). Soldier gives us all the needed sustain while Demolitionist provides some damage, RR and more sustain.

The Build

Updated for 1.1.4.0 - Mortar trap got nerfed, but I realized that taking the Big One gives it a lot of boost, so the overall damage got higher by at least 30%. This build is now approaching the c+ and sr+ zone. Still more improvements can be made. Stay tuned.

New Grimtools - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2EbMrjV

Grimtools 2 Greens (updated, thanks to Mad_Lee) - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk8G1R2

Grimtools No Greens - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2EbmLlV

Defensive Abilities

3.4 passive DA, spiking to 3.6 most of the time
2.5 passive Armor, sitting around 3k+ in battle
16k HP, not much but will do
HP Regen – 5.5K passive, around 10k most of the time, and spiking to 15k+ when HP is below 40% (Very rare)
All resistances 83-90 permanent with at least 35-40% overcap, hitting up to 96% with Blast Shield (doesn’t happen very often either)
A couple of life saving passives (Menhir’s Will and Tinker’s Ingenuity)
Shield + Overguard + Obelisk = nuff said
Physical Resistance : 20% resting, spiking to 35% half the time, so it’s ok

Permanent Stats
Commando3

Passive Health Regeneration - Permanent Stats
Commando2

Damage – the not-so-amazing part

While this build can’t boast epic damage numbers or crazy clearing speeds, it chugs alone quite nicely thanks to 4 mortars, a bunch of mortar buffing items and about 94% RR. You won’t be seeing 100k+ crits here like with other mortar builds, but a solid 40-55K range performance is guaranteed most of the time. While still testing it, I finished the campaign and SR 45-50. I was still missing a lot RR and damage at the time and yet felt comfortable facing all bosses, superbosses and nemesis both in game and SR. I trolled Mad Queen, Gargabol, Kra’val and Kaisan as if they were on Normal. Some of these were recorded and are being uploaded.

This build fears nothing. The only annoying part, those pesky Arcane mobs that remove your auras. Be ready to restore the bar quickly when attacked by multiple bosses and nems at the same time. But even without the auras, your passive regen is around 3-4k, spiking to 7-8k so it’s not too bad.

Gear Choices

The core of the build is made up by the 3 pieces from Pyran’s set (some elemental buffs, mortar and decent regen), gun (mortar), medal (mortar), gloves (mortar). Why not to complete the Pyran set and get lots of damage buffs? Need a shield for more sustain, sorry. If going with the full set, might as well pick Shieldbreaker and go all offensive, it’s really strong now. But you will lose a lot of sustain and may even RIP in SR45-60.

Why no mortar conduit? An extra mortar would provide ~20% damage but you would lose about 20% regen which is substantial for this particular build. Since our armor and shield recovery stats aren’t epic, regen is the main source of sustain and thus being kept very high.

The rest of the gear is all about regen. The shield is very easy to farm, but if you can’t find a good one, - there are other choices like Meat shield. Anything that provides decent flat regen is good here.

Those sect pants are ideal but not mandatory, can use barbarosa or any well rolled greens instead.

Devotions

Alas, to achieve this level of sustain, we have to pick up pretty much every regen node. Eldritch Fire (thanks Mad_Lee for the tips) and Crown is all we can do about resist reductions. No damage constellations are taken here unfortunately. Can probably get Empyrion or Phoenix and lose Obelisk, but I felt squishier when tried it.

Crucible

Gladiator 1-150 - nothing can threaten you here. No need to get blessings, no need to drink potions, not even tonic of mending.

151-170 - can be done within 13-16 min with 4 blessings, based on my runs so far. Again, fear nothing, no need to use any potions or tonic of mending. Full facetank of all nems and ground effects. The one exception is Kuba and his pools. You can tank him while standing in those, but he will be gaining life, so, to actually kill him relatively fast you have to move around.

Full run 151-170 with 4 blessings, no pots/consumables used - https://youtu.be/1QT1obRkgtw

Can it take on the Celestials? Yes, but expect some kiting with Callagadra.

Here’s my Mogdrogen fight (the last 3 min) - https://youtu.be/StlMwITSHAg
Didn’t use any pots except for lightning resist, was too lazy to swap around components.

Ravager - took 10 min, had to kite to avoid getting energy drain. Can facetank him easily. https://youtu.be/zVTY7b-dpVk

Callagadra - https://youtu.be/T4_8iBYjW3Q
25 min. I don’t recommend taking on Calla in HC without some re-gearing. You would need higher physc resist (+50% overcap on pierce/bleed) and around 3.5-4k armor. I actually dropped some sustain and added another mortar to make this fight more reasonable in terms of kill times, but that forced me to kite and the mortars were missing quite often. It would probably be much better to grab a two piece of the Justice set and add a better shield (25%+ Phys resist).

Trolling Kuba - https://youtu.be/iRzVPOF8mNA

Trolling Warden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgxBpWc3gpA

Trolling Aether - https://youtu.be/ffAV8_HKakw

Kaisan - https://youtu.be/z_cyCTr4KMw

Update - based on Mad Lee’s feedback I’ve changed some of the devotions and am now leveling them, will record new vids with more damage!

Trolling Mad Queen - https://youtu.be/4SijInpB2kw

Training Dummy - 50-55sec, slow but still ok.

SR 50 (missing about 20% damage in this run) – https://youtu.be/q8mYa3e-dpo

To be updated shortly…

4 Likes

Crown and Scales resist reduction do not stack, mate. And Viper only works with weapon damage. Not taking Eldritch Fire is a mistake.

That slow resist could use some love as well.

Good call! This is actually great, I was looking to pick Eldritch and now there might be a way without losing regen! Thank you

1 Like

Since it seems that you posted this build to help people, would it be too much to ask for Pants and Shield alternatives? Double rare MI’s are not that common you know.

Nice regen. But it can still die to Anasteria+Alex or even in Crucible from stuff like two quick ones from double Reapers with some ghost debuffs (and with this clearing speed those ghosts will pop up always and in numbers).

Some advice if I may…

I’d drop Scales completely, and then Hound and Viper and take: Sailor, Witchblade and right-bottom node of Menhir. Also, you got a sweet breaking point of Blast Shield at 14/12. Shield Training is worth exactly 1 point (2 points in your case with +0 to soldier) at this moment after the crushing nerfs to S&B. Military conditioning is always worth the points till 10/10 or even 11/10.

Last thing. For total immovability I’d take War Cry. Or at least transmuted BwC. Damage reduction is one of the most powerful defensive stats.

1 Like

Like this? https://www.grimtools.com/calc/wV1EewmV
Not sure if 150 armor and 30 DA worth losing 50% regen from the tree though. Also, I’d gladly max out War Cry but what would you drop to get it?

Fair enough. I’ll add some alternatives.

I didn’t drop the tree. Here, like this: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lV7Gm7bV

I tried not to lose too much regen as this is your theme. Lost about 300/1500 but gains elsewhere are worth it. It still won’t get 6 minute crucible clears though…

Update:

Still working to optimize the build. Added a few new videos.

Mogdrogen - https://youtu.be/StlMwITSHAg
Took about 18 min total. Not the best setup, DA was too low and was missing a lot of hits. This can be greatly improved, but don’t expect to finish him in less than 10min with this build. I’ve also tried Callagadra, but while it’s possible to kill him, you will be forced to kite. Will try Ravager next.

Not to be that guy, but I see C+ and SR+ in the title, but no mention of Crucible performance and the SR video is for SR 50.

SR+ Tag for example is for builds that can complete SR75 at the very least.

1 Like

Maybe you are right and the title needs to change. But the build is getting stronger. If you check the SR50 vid, there’s a 7:30 min on the timer before the boss room, while having a -20% damage handicap. It feels really comfortable now in SR60. Gonna try SR+ then :wink:

1 Like

Hey Maya,

For a build to qualify for (C+), what’s the criteria? 150-170 naked? 4 blessings? What time limit?
I’ve finally finished leveling the new devotions and am testing Cruci now.

Earlier today did a Calla fight. Was going great, brought him down to about 2-3% life and then some stray desert dog appeared out of nowhere and healed the beast to full life! So mad. Note to self, never start a Calla fight before clearing the entire map of hostile mobs…

c+ is 8 minutes with banner. not trying to be an ass but I don’t think this qualifies.

You can see the full stuff for tags in the compendium under how to submit builds: Build Compendium X (Forgotten Gods)

1 Like

Great! So, to qualify for c+ you just need to be under 12 min with 4 blessings and no banner. I’ve just finished it in slightly over 13 min on the first try with 4 blessings only. No potions used of any kind (maybe hit a health tonic a couple times by mistake), and the only reason I had to move away from the center square of the crucible was because Kuba’s pools were healing other mobs slowing down my already slow killing time. I will upload part of this run now and then record a better one to beat the 12 min timer. Keep in mind, I don’t do cruci 150+ normally, so any skilled pilot can probably easily beat 12min. Im a n()()b…

Btw, this might help for your future runs: Ultimate Guide To Crucible Speedrunning - CoD 3b/VB Edition

Thank you. It’s very helpful.

BTW, here’s the first part of the run - https://youtu.be/LabBQpmiYmw
Lost a lot of time, especially in wave 155. Only once saw a health dip below 50%, while standing in Kuba’s pools and being attacked by that trio.

This is the first toon from the dozen I have (fully geared) that can actually farm HC gladiator crucible, for real, safely.

2 Likes

12? I thought it was 8 minutes with banner and 9-10 without. Nowhere in the world does banner make a 4 minute difference!

But I guess the reasoning was to be able to reset your tributes with triple/double runs.

10 charsss

I agree, there’s no way 4buff 12 min build is as good as 3buff 1 banner 8min, the former should had been a condition for c and c- should had been simply finishing 170 no matter the time.

Still it’s too much of a hassle to change that now.

I’ve changed the title to ( c ) and (sr) for now, until [maybe] the build matures to consistently farm Cruci under 12 min and SR 75. My second run took much longer, 16min.

Here’s the full run - https://youtu.be/1QT1obRkgtw

It looks like the build could easily sacrifice some of the sustain towards a more offensive spec and still remain safe.