[1.1.4.0] Vanilla Ice: 9s Mad Queen, 7 minute Cruc. Glad. 150-170, no greens Trozan Spellbreaker

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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"Ice, Ice, Baby" - Vanilla Ice, poet, circa 1990

Foreword (some mad murmur you probably want to skip to Grimtools and videos below)

Maaan, spellbreakers. Beautiful creatures, hated so much by Crate and loved by veteran Grim Dawn gamers. Nerfed so many times yet still powerful. I waited for quite some time before I dared to assemble one of my own. After all, it’s the most expensive character to assemble. Here it is, by the way. Cold beauty. Green items to kill for. Fine tuned under the supervision of Sir Spanksalot himself and with wisdom of an old forum sage Jajaja. So nimble yet so deadly. Yet I wasn’t happy. It wasn’t my child, it was someone’s else. “But Mad Lee, you gotta be mad not to play this char, it’s awesome!” you might say. Yes, I am mad. And I bashed my head against the wall playing with different build concepts inventing the wheel for the millionth time, but I made it. People’s spellbreaker.

Build Concept:

Massive AoE and top-tier single target damage

It’s a spellbreaker after all, and it’s gotta deliver. This one can rival Soulrend’s breakers performance easily. Hero packs melts in seconds. Single targets get dealt with swiftly thanks to massive shotgun damage. Delivering massive air-to-surface nukes from distance. Your graphics card gonna love it.

Affordability

I usually try and make a build with items that are in my possession. Can’t make myself use GDstash. And with spellbreakers it’s painful, oh yes it is. Yet this build has 3 craftable legendaries besides helmet and relic and requires zero (0) green items or legendary monster infrequents. It’s very easy to gear compared to other top builds, especially if you trade on these forums.

Nimbleness and Dexterity

This is what you love spellbreakers for. Because they are so elegant. Circuit breakers/massive cc-resists/dodge/damage absorption/best mobility skill in-game/nullification/huge cdr. All this comes from the mastery combo. You have buttons for all sticky situations, it is so fun and satisfying to play it.

The Build:

1.1.4.0 patch update

Redesigned this good old spec. It’s still not easy to play, but once you master it it’s pretty rewarding. Tested Iskandra’s amulet versus new cdr Starfury and damage-wise they are similiar but Iskandra has much more desirable resists. Added a video of 9 seconds Mad Queen kill and 6:58 Crucible run.

1.1.2.5 patch update

Iskandra’s amulet back on the menu. Build is not easy to pilot but still fun and as powerful as Trozan build can be. Build now has one Grimtools link and requires 0 greens to function.

1.1.1.0 patch update

Decided to update this build one day before Forgotten Gods come out since it’s one of my main characters and there are no items/devotions/augments in Forgotten Gods this build could really use.

New iteration does 8 minute Crucible Gladiator runs pretty consistently with decent piloting so now you can do 3 runs during the duration of 3 blessings with a help of Vanguard banner. Energy should be managed somewhat, probably some minor investments into Mental Alacrity won’t hurt. Added two videos, did die on a third run when I felt too brazen on wave 169 and decided not to kite at all.

Overall, very happy this build is on the lower end of top-tier builds.

1.0.7.1 patch update

Since Iskandra’s amulet has been nerfed (6% cdr has been removed), but now requires Mythical Invoker’s Shard. Updated Grimtools link and added new videos.

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

Gear

Build utilizes two massive offensive skills - Trozan Sky Shard and Phantasmal Blades. Former requires [COLOR=“DarkOrchid”]mythical Trozan set[/COLOR], latter can be done with just one item: [COLOR=“darkorchid”]Mythical Speaker for the Dead[/COLOR]. All other gear pieces support our skills and add synergy to our build (pants and belt for melee dodge stacking and Maiven’s Sphere of Protection overcap, etc.). Everything gear choice is obvious. Craft everything at Angrim, get one or two gear pieces with Pierce Resist, everything else %armor or %physique will do. You need maximum cdr roll on helmet and decent Chaos Resist roll on [COLOR=“darkorchid”]Band of Eternal Haunt[/COLOR], try and get an off-hand with at least 17% cdr and high vitality to cold conversion.

Skills and Devotions

Here is where I struggled a lot, testing different devotion setups and min-maxing skill points in masteries. This build can actually be played with Dying God proc (with our cdr it’s permanent). But I wouldn’t recommend it for Crucible tho, for Main Campaign it would work just fine. I finally came to the setup where I ditched Solemn Watcher for Ghoul (felt like DA wasn’t doing much for this build) and everything started clicking, Ghoul’s additional ADCtH + a proc that gave us Physical Resist that we needed so much + very short cooldown (thanks to all the cdr we are stacking) is what this build utilizes so well. You can tweak and add/remove point or two from Phantasmal armor and/or Elemental Awakening, depending on what resists you need the most. Anatomy of Murder is there for faster human targets kills, especially for Fabius whose huge cold resistance is a bit annoying.

Leveling and Attribute points distribution

Leveling as Arcanist is pretty easy, granted skill from Searing Ember or from Flintcore bolts coupled with Olexra’s Flash Freeze can take us very far (to the point where we can start equipping mythical gears).

Put all attribute points into physique. No wheel invention here.

The Showdown

How to Play

Despite what I do in the video below this build is a king of mid-range. Yes, it’s pretty tanky, but there is absolutely no point to facetank dangerous targets, you have to stutter-step and shoot and avoid getting stuck in debuff puddles or brawling with bosses with high physical damage. Use mirror and nullification GENEROUSLY. We can stack up to 50% (!) CDR, which is pretty insane. Our main skills cooldowns (PB and Skyshard) are 1,3 seconds each, keep changing position and spamming them, spam Chillspikes to proc Blizzard. Nullify hero packs for faster kills. Use mirror when fighting bosses and big packs, with Iskandra’s Amulet modifier your damage skyrockets during mirror uptime. Shadow Strike yourself into safety anchoring white mobs and wage your war from distance like it’s the future. Use your Pneumatic Burst frequently, don’t be a scrub and stop saving those health potions for later either. All this is for Crucible 150-170 of course.

In Main Campaign just facerape everyone while laughing maniacally and sipping Stoli on the rocks.

Stats:

Pneumatic Burst on (100% of the time):

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Magical

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Defence

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Build’s pros and cons

Cons:

  • Requires time and skill to learn how to pilot it to reach its full potential (although it’s mega fun when you master it)
  • In Main Campaign Energy Potion is sometimes required
  • Low Physical Resist and armor. Despite 44% dodge and 15/12 Maiven this build is still somewhat prone to bursts of physical damage, so try to keep that health bar full and use mirror frequently

Pros:

  • Super fun to play. You wreak so much havoc bringing the sky down on monsters again, again and again. Plus a huge shotgun skill that heals you. Mobile, agile, deadly.
  • Easy to gear, no greens/m.i’s.
  • Massive AoE and top-tier single target damage (already mentioned that somewhere).

Videos

Crucible 150-170 6:58 run

1.1.4.0 Mad Queen Kill (9 seconds)

1.1.2.5 spec 7:10 Crucible Gladiator 150-170 run

Hitting a brick wall at boss level at Shard 51

Trozan/PB Spellbreaker vs. Crucible 150-170 run 1 (patch 1.1.1.0 update) - 8:01
Trozan/PB Spellbreaker vs. Crucible 150-170 run 2 (patch 1.1.1.0 update) - 7:55

Ancient Grove run 1.0.7.1 NEW!!!
1.0.7.1 spec 150-170 8:40 run (3 blessings + 1 banner) NEW!!!

10 minute 150-170 Gladiator run with Iskandra’s amulet OLD

9 seconds Mad Queen Kill with Iskandra’s amulet OLD

Under 9 seconds Mad Queen Kill with Iskandra’s Amulet (no green items setup) OLD
Crucible 150-170 12:04 run WHERE I ACTUALLY DON’T DIE AT THE END YAY* OLD

(I still kinda suck and did spend a horrible amount of time on wave 160 because I didn’t see that one of the mages was left alive and managed to heal Alexander few times)

Crucible 150-170* OLD

*(Spoiler, I die at wave 170. I honestly just suck as a Crucible pilot, forgot to lure out High Council at wave 163 so arcs above them ate a lot of damage, didn’t put health potions in the inventory, and messed up mirror timings at last wave. Should I mention I did not record it while sober or is it enough excuses already).
Mad Queen OLD

Grava’Thul - 25 seconds kill (don’t take chances with him, stay in mid range, use mirror and nullification) OLD

Kubacabra (stay in Night’s Chill range and don’t be afraid when your hp goes down, abuse mirror/ghoul/nullification, beast can still leech of us, so stutter step of puddles) OLD

In conclusion

Thanks to all the creative builders on these forum I now can’t play a build untill it’s my own and at least is half as good as theirs. Your creativity (and abundance of time to test stuff apparently :)) pushed me to create this beauty.

3 Likes
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All right stop
Collaborate and listen

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What came to my mind as I was reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIyIlO-_Ug

Except the lyrics @ 0:18 should’ve read, ‘you know I’m ridin’ with the big mad_lee’

Some questions:

  1. Ice skorn vs Chilling grip of hagblahblahblah?
  2. M. Mark of dreams vs Undying Oath?

EDIT: Trozan set doesn’t get half the respect it deserves. It’s an absolute monster.

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Good questions.

  1. Ice Skorns got crit damage/flat Frostburn (applied with Phantasmal Blades), but the main thing, they have the pierce resist this build so badly needs. Plus, they are craftable, so additional stat bonus of your choice. And small OA is a nice bonus. I went thru Grim Tools millions of times, but there are no better gloves sadly. (and pierce conversion on hablagblah gloves is wasted here)

  2. Undying Oath. What a great medal. Would give us relevant resist and hp that this build also kinda lacks. But. Dark Dreams give our build a vital mod - extension to our Veil of Shadow. Which means that our Night’s Chill RR debuff goes a bit further, which is a huge deal for a caster. Plus dodge which we stack a lot to make up for the lack of armor/phys res and nice DA/spirit. And it’s craftable. Actual alternative that I have considered was blue medal Mythical Solemn Mark.

Trozan is a monster. I even tried dual Trozan sticks at the beginning as pure Trozan build. Did not work that well tbh. Combination of Trozan set + buffed Phantasmal Blades + massive CDR + Nightblade’s passive RR make the set really shine.

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Really? The DW TSS build I did zoomed through ultimate. What helps a lot is the phys res bonus for dual blades.

The flat damage is also added to chillspikes which I converted using alkamos rings + chilling grip.

I really like having a double nuke like what you did here though. Makes it way more interesting than mine.

I would also put more points into elemental awakening just to bolster the elemental res. Arguably more important than aether resist.

P.S. You might be better off siphoning points from frozen core to bolster nether blades. Also, I get that it’s probably not as useful, but if defense is an issue, maybe sash of the immortal sage.

I secretly love that belt. Would be cool to see a post-worthy build use it.

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DW Trozan spellbreaker was fun but it wasn’t good enough for Crucible. Problem was sustain, despite multilayered defenses and 3,5 seconds Pneumatic Burst heal, there was not enough CDR to chain double mirror for dangerous fights and there was no ADTcH. I tested it thoroughly.

Phantom-thread girdle is essential here, you can have up to 160 OA on it (and we need OA with all the crit damage we have), plus +1 to all skills is massive (we can take Star Pact to 21/12 that way for that sweet 15% cdr), and Energy Absorb is actually huge in Crucible since build consumes a lot of mana.

As I said in guide, you can move some skill points around to cover resists. I would not recommend moving points from Frozen Core however, if anything I would’ve hard capped it (maybe in next expansion). Frosburn damage from it is absolutely massive, and gains from hardcapping are insane.

About Elemental Resist, I actually have 18% Fire res overcap in-game. It’s not hard to do, since Mythical Starfire ring is cheap as dirt, you can always choose one with highest elemental resist, same goes to pants and boots and you can afford few crafts of Trozan hat to get high elemental resist there as well (although cdr is priority on it).

Everything is min-maxed, man!

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My DW TSS cleared gladiator without health potions. But then again, I relied on mirror/BB chaining to make it work so that could be the reason why.

I feel you on frozen core. Loved it. Ptir believes that shattered star > Frozen core which I don’t fully agree with. However, I do trust his game knowledge better than mine. :smiley:

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Imo, shattered star should help clear faster than frozen core but frozen core is a safer option for kiters.

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What a chill build! Very creative combination I can say.
Did you consider Eastern Oath pants and gloves? I always use them on TSS builds

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So Trozan went mad waiting for FG to come and cot into Knives. Gothcha!:stuck_out_tongue:

PS: Congrats on crativity

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really cool build !
but i am not entirely sure pb part worth investing, pretty sure ring of steel with lower investment would deal more dmg and will give you fumble and i assume you get fumble from faction pots ?
it has way more cold damage and way more weapon damage with fumble, maybe you might wanna try, and it opens up better options for offhand imo.
even investing points into lethal assault would result better cause you have really low oa for TSS build.

yep you are right about frozen core… investing more than 12 pts into shatter star is pure waste and laughable thing for cold oriented char. you dont have enough lightning RR to make use of invested pts there and frozen core DoT is not something you can beat. and most importantly it scales really bad %X chance of dealing lightning dmg +1 crit per lvl is not you want for point starving char like this. even putting pts into elemental awakening,elemental balance and such will result better overall

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I did consider those, and I personally love that pants and gloves combo. But few reasons why I didn’t use them:

  1. Covering resists with that combo without “Stonehide of Kings” boots is hard/impossible. I am over 4k boot crafts and I still don’t have that pair
  2. Despite having less OA with Fateweaver + Iceskorn, it actually does offer decent damage boost in a form of flat Frostburn/Crit Damage and additional Maiven’s Sphere overcap
  3. Fateweaver pants cap (even overcap slightly) movement speed + they add 9% melee dodge, which is big and synergizes very well with build’s melee dodge stacking

Thanks, turned out to be a deadly combo, untransmuted PB + Speaker for the Dead + massive cdr even when barely softcaped is still a monster.

I’ve tested few skill combinations before finally trying PB. I have tried pure Trozan (even with double Trozan sticks) plus Lethal Assault, and it did well in Campaign. But in Crucible it’s a meh combination. ABB itself didn’t do much damage, so I ended up investing ~13 points in a skill that was there only for OA (flat cold wasn’t doing much either). Main problem was sustain however. I have no idea how Trozan Druids do it in Crucible, tbh.

Phantasmal Blades turned out to be the answer. It’s deals massive damage (6*87% weapon damage + damage from transmuters) and it heals. Plus it’s an amazing skill to proc Rumour.

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fair enough about pb part, if its gives you sustain you needed all good.

but you are bit wrong about TSS druids, they have more hp, more dmg,can utilize cold&light together and they cover massive aeo compare to spellbreakers cause they also use storm totem and make use of wdevils.

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I have never played Trozan Druid, so I can’t say much here. Obviously they have more Damage from TSS itself, it’s just how do they stay alive? Because massive hp is nothing compared to 54%dodge/34%evade that my breaker has. Stuff swarms you pretty fast at waves 150-170, massive aoe or not. But maybe it’s just my shitty piloting skills :stuck_out_tongue:

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Phantasmal blades! I have an idea how to use them on my fresh build. Is it ok if I use your idea?

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noooooo… died at the BEGINNING of 170 :furious:

BTW , just finished a PB bd with all purple gears… 12MIN 170 X10/

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Not really my idea and even if it was, you could use it however and wherever you wanted :slight_smile:

Yeah, I lack that Chinese piloting skill plus I recorded while basically DUI :). Even sober I suck at playing Crucible.

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You can’t dodge ground effects, which is a big part of incoming damage. Even DA can’t dodge that. Also, even of you have 50% dodge, if that 10k hit lands on the other 50 then you’re still dead. Massive hp isn’t that much of an advantage but I’d still go for 10k hp minimum for any build. I understand that’s hard for a breaker without MI though.

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For Trozan Breaker it’s not just hard, it’s impossible unless you sacrifice build’s essentials. Loved that Drake meme that you posted before, btw, was it made before this thread? :slight_smile:

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Nice one Lee! Looks like a fun build to pilot… I might have to dust off my breaker to give this one a whirl :stuck_out_tongue: