[1.1.4.2] Melee DW Deathmark Cold WPS Infiltrator (vid)(sr+)

[Jason_Huang]

Foreword

Personally, Deathmark set is better than Korba’s Fury for DW cold WPS build, since it provides extra modifiers for WPS of Nightblade, extra 25% piercing to cold convertion and extra 15% RR in 5 meter radius. So why not give it a try? Again, the best defense is a good offense!

• The build

  
  
  
  
  
  Grim Tools Link

• Video

  SR 75 run (redone once)

• Build Performance

  3 SR 75-76 runs, average time spent is ~12m, not very fast as my other builds, for SR 75+ it is playable and fun.
  I don’t play crucible much, hope someone is interested to give it a try.

• Build Overview

  Build Explain:

  • Full set of Deathmark, 25% piercing to cold, 15% RR, WPS modifiers, overall set bonuses are very nice.
  • Full set of Dread Sigils of Alkamos rings, provided 30%+ piering to cold, neat stats, excellent set skill.
  • Night’s Embrace amulet for 10%+ physical to cold and extra 6% RR.
  • Chilling Grip of Hagarrad glove used for 25% piercing to cold and good modifier to veil of shadow.
  • Mark of Calamitous Desires medal used for cap res and good flat OA, more importantly 12% slow res crafted.
  • Devotions: Giving up Ghoul as global ADCTH is high enough and the skill proc dose not help with this build that much. To make it as much offensive as possible I chose Yogol, Ultos, Amatok. Yogol is crucial, since Kuba is a bitch in SR 75+.

  Pros:

  • 80%+ global piercing to cold, 50%+ global physical to cold.
  • 80% WPS pool with no one has less 100% weapon damage.
  • Very good RR sources: Night’s chill 30% + Aura of Censure 32% + Rumor 23% + Deathmark set 15% + amulet 6% + Raise the dead 25 = 131.
  • Easily stacked to 190% attack speed.
  • Good survival abilities for SR 75-76:
    • 65+ stun res, 80 trap res, 50+ freeze/petrify res, 60+ slow res(craft slow res in every possible slot).
    • 2500+ armor and 33%+ physical res.
    • all res capped 30%+ which is good enough for SR 75-76.
    • 18% ADCTH.

  Cons:

  • No mastery bonus for Inquisitor at all, but this is not a big issue.
  • Low health ~10k, may be dangerous when facing certain bosses. Need more attentions for your health bar.

Conclusion

Piercing infiltrator with Belgothian set is way better than this(or any form of) cold infiltrator for SR75+, it is able to farm SR 90+ even with bad mutators. However, cold infiltrator is almost impossible to climb to SR 85 without timer goes to 0.

Since some people really doubt this statement, Here is the video that using Belgothian piercing infiltrator for SR 90~92 FULL RUN without timer goes to 0 before end of 92.

Sorry for the grimtool links of piercing infiltrator, I don’t wanna be blamed for possible future nerfs. Basically, craft every slot with perfect affixes except Belgothian set, try to stack as much cunning as possible. For devotions, make sure you have Unknow soldier, Azrakaa and Bull.

[mad_lee]

If you are “drawing” double rares mi’s in stasher, why not use Kuba pants? +3 to Lethal Assault is huge.

Also Undying Oath is always bis for cold Nighblades.

[Jason_Huang]

If you are “drawing” double rares mi’s in stasher, why not use Kuba pants? +3 to Lethal Assault is huge.

I used that pants for trickster one, need to fix some res cap for this build. So I used the regular one.

Also Undying Oath is always bis for cold Nighblades.

I don’t agree with that, Undying Oath provides unnecessary modifier for this build, also it dose not has 120+ OA which is desperate.

[mad_lee]

I used that pants for trickster one, need to fix some res cap for this build. So I used the regular one.

I understand, but since you are making greens in GDstash, why not make best-in-slot pants? Because Kuba pants are huge for that build.

I don’t agree with that, Undying Oath provides unnecessary modifier for this build

Undying Oath provides super necessary modifier for this build, are you kidding me. 35-40 flat just from that medal. You can get OA elsewhere, especially with GDstashed greens.

This build has been done gazillion times, mate, trust me. I also did a version of it.

[Nery]

If you are “drawing” double rares mi’s in stasher, why not use Kuba pants? +3 to Lethal Assault is huge.

I used that pants for trickster one, need to fix some res cap for this build. So I used the regular one.

Also Undying Oath is always bis for cold Nighblades.

I don’t agree with that, Undying Oath provides unnecessary modifier for this build, also it dose not has 120+ OA which is desperate.

Undying oath is king of Cold DW melee. And DM Infiltrators don’t need much defense to shine. Ship it to flat damage. And Kuba pants are BiS. Can’t you control resistances with them?

[Jason_Huang]

For Kuba pants and Undying medal, I agree they both only contribute a few flat cold damage to this build. Either of them helps this build in SR 75+, as I showed in the video, sudden death even caused by random mine on the map. I totally agree those flat damages with colorful buffs are overwhelming for crucible, and OA may obtain in crucible easily too.

[txl112020]

Wow， nerfmarked is so weak after endless nerfs even BiS green can’t save it…
Agree with the medal choice. The BiS.
Even direwolf crest is better than undying oath imo.

[Nery]

Wow， nerfmarked is so weak after endless nerfs even BiS green can’t save it…
Agree with the medal choice. The BiS.
Even direwolf crest is better than undying oath imo.

Undying oath is better than Direwolf, tested it.

[ya1]

@Jason_Huang I don’t mean to be confrontational but it’s really not about trusting the word of the more experienced players. If you did some serious tests like the dummy and Crucible you’d see yourself that they are right. Doing SR by feel doesn’t really give you much in terms of concrete support for your arguments. It sounds like “it’s better because I FEEL LIKE it’s better.”

Deathmarked has been made and remade thousands of times by dozens of players (some of which responded already). What’s more, you’re not the first to go for Yugol instead of Dying God. I did that. It’s worse. One reason is crit dmg. Another is no Ghoul (bread and butter of all melee). I did that on Deathmarked. And I did that on Silver Sentinel. Even on the latter which has some acid to cold, it’s the second worst possible way for cold devos (the worst one is Leviathan, and the two better ones are Ultos+DG+Amatok and Ultos+Seekers on Chillhearts).

Also, adding to what has already been said, I’m not sure how things were changed by all the various nerfs (especially the LA nerf) but Iceskorn gloves were always better than Hagarrads on Deathmarked. Reason is 40% of your hits are already 100% cold, and in that arrangement last ranks in LA used to give more flat than 30% pierce to cold even with Dual Blades and Arcane Empowerment maxed. But now since LA was gutted real bad, it might be a different story… Still, Iceskorns got crit and better attack speed which Deathmarked is always desperate for. Anybody tested that since the nightblade nerfs?

[Nery]

@Jason_Huang I don’t mean to be confrontational but it’s really not about trusting the word of the more experienced players. If you did some serious tests like the dummy and Crucible you’d see yourself that they are right. Doing SR by feel doesn’t really give you much in terms of concrete support for your arguments. It sounds like “it’s better because I FEEL LIKE it’s better.”

Deathmarked has been made and remade thousands of times by dozens of players (some of which responded already). What’s more, you’re not the first to go for Yugol instead of Dying God. I did that. It’s worse. One reason is crit dmg. Another is no Ghoul (bread and butter of all melee). I did that on Deathmarked. And I did that on Silver Sentinel. Even on the latter which has some acid to cold, it’s the second worst possible way for cold devos (the worst one is Leviathan, and the two better ones are Ultos+DG+Amatok and Ultos+Seekers on Chillhearts).

Also, adding to what has already been said, I’m not sure how things were changed by all the various nerfs (especially the LA nerf) but Iceskorn gloves were always better than Hagarrads on Deathmarked. Reason is 40% of your hits are already 100% cold, and last ranks in LA used to give more flat than 30% pierce to cold even with Dual Blades and Arcane Empowerment maxed. But now since LA was gutted real bad, it might be a different… Still, Iceskorns got crit and better attack speed. Anybody tested that since the nightblade nerfs?

Iceskorn are better, at least in previous patch for both BM and Infiltrator DM. Even gutted, you get more OA, flat and crit damage and even LA will give your more flat damage.

As devotion setup, in my Blademaster the fastest route was Yugol+Leviathan, which I created, I mean stolen from MadLee. But DG setup is most stable both in Crucible and SR. But Infiltrator can do SR 75 without both Seal and Ghoul.

Anyway everything it’s matter on personal taste. But sometimes don’t understand the choices which will lead to tougher situation. In DW melee build philosophy the more flat damage you have the more you’ll AdctH and thus survive.

[Jason_Huang]

I don’t mean to be confrontational but it’s really not about trusting the word of the more experienced players. If you did some serious tests like the dummy and Crucible you’d see yourself that they are right. Doing SR by feel doesn’t really give you much in terms of concrete support for your arguments. It sounds like “it’s better because I FEEL LIKE it’s better.”

You use cubicle with colorful buffs and hitting a Dummy in a town for testing? lol? For me, I use SR 75+ for testing, so basically we are playing different games. They are more experienced players for crucible, I agree with that. But still, this build is tweaked for SR 75+.
I don’t really wanna make a table for your comment again, but I guess a table for comparison is all you want. Here it is:

Undying Oath provides super necessary modifier for this build, are you kidding me. 35-40 flat just from that medal. You can get OA elsewhere, especially with GDstashed greens.

This build has been done gazillion times, mate, trust me. I also did a version of it.

choosing Undying Oath over Calamitous Desires, you lose 146+ flat OA with high roll, which is pretty much 146/0.4 = 365 cunning. More importantly, Calamitous Desires may craft 12% SLOW/STUN RES.

So as ya said, the reason of why you insist Undying Oath is better is because “it’s better because I FEEL LIKE it’s better”?.

Undying oath is king of Cold DW melee. And DM Infiltrators don’t need much defense to shine. Ship it to flat damage. And Kuba pants are BiS. Can’t you control resistances with them?

For why I chose Rimeguard over Kuba pants, because of 12% SLOW/STUN RES too.

Deathmarked has been made and remade thousands of times by dozens of players (some of which responded already). What’s more, you’re not the first to go for Yugol instead of Dying God. I did that. It’s worse. One reason is crit dmg. Another is no Ghoul (bread and butter of all melee). I did that on Deathmarked. And I did that on Silver Sentinel. Even on the latter which has some acid to cold, it’s the second worst possible way for cold devos (the worst one is Leviathan, and the two better ones are Ultos+DG+Amatok and Ultos+Seekers on Chillhearts).

Also, adding to what has already been said, I’m not sure how things were changed by all the various nerfs (especially the LA nerf) but Iceskorn gloves were always better than Hagarrads on Deathmarked. Reason is 40% of your hits are already 100% cold, and in that arrangement last ranks in LA used to give more flat than 30% pierce to cold even with Dual Blades and Arcane Empowerment maxed. But now since LA was gutted real bad, it might be a different story… Still, Iceskorns got crit and better attack speed which Deathmarked is always desperate for. Anybody tested that since the nightblade nerfs?

I wanna say I tested it so many times in SR 75+, but none in crucible. Maybe yours are better for crucible with colorful buffs. Kuba is totally different creature when he spawns in SR 75+, perhaps you feel so happy to hunt him in crucible with your devotion suggestion and colorful buffs, but without Yugol in SR 75+, I don’t know how long you may take to hunt it ( or even can’t kill him with bad mutators).

Anyway everything it’s matter on personal taste. But sometimes don’t understand the choices which will lead to tougher situation. In DW melee build philosophy the more flat damage you have the more you’ll AdctH and thus survive.

generally, it is true. I some how managed this build climbed up to 83 shard in SR. Died so many times, none of them because of lacking damage. All death cause by one shot from elites/boss/mines. So in this case I don’t think adding those tiny flat damage helps a lot.

[mad_lee]

I don’t really know how you managed 35~40 flat cold damage from Undying Oath medal, I tried so many times crafting that medal using GD stash, the perfect roll only got 14~20 flat cold damage. Perhaps I used wrong GD stash? or 35~40 you counted with colorful buffs from crucible?

Dude, you are keep saying “colorful buffs” like you are trying to downplay Crucible or something. Making niche builds for SR 75 is NOT the meta, but Crucible with its “Colorful buffs” is. It’s your choice however to make SR builds or Crucible builds or Cronley’s Lair builds. But at least check item stats before making yourself look silly:

EDIT: Same goes to Kuba pants and Iceskorn gloves. It has been tested so many times before, Iceskorns are best-in-slot and if you are GDstashing pants - Kuba are light years ahead of anything. Hard capping Lethal Assault is huge.

[Nery]

Btw don’t get it why you need colorful as you say buffs in Crucible if you find they are changing the game too much. Try you build naked(buffless) to test it out and compare results

[Nery]

Dude, you are keep saying “colorful buffs” like you are trying to downplay Crucible or something. Making niche builds for SR 75 is NOT the meta, but Crucible with its “Colorful buffs” is. It’s your choice however to make SR builds or Crucible builds or Cronley’s Lair builds. But at least check item stats before making yourself look silly:

EDIT: Same goes to Kuba pants and Iceskorn gloves. It has been tested so many times before, Iceskorns are best-in-slot and if you are GDstashing pants - Kuba are light years ahead of anything. Hard capping Lethal Assault is huge.

Man, are you kidding me? I respect you are experienced crucible player. But if skill modifier counts, Calamitous Desires is way better than Undying Oath, same thing said by you. “at least check item stats before making yourself look silly”

Global flat is better since it’s applied to all you sources of damage. Your auto attacks and WPS skills weapon damage stacks, but not additively of course. So for DW builds you can’t afford to not take any source of flat. It’s a kind of mistake I used to make but tests proved it!

[mad_lee]

Man, are you kidding me? I respect you are experienced crucible player. But if skill modifier counts, Calamitous Desires is way better than Undying Oath, same thing said by you. “at least check item stats before making yourself look silly”

Dude, you seem to misunderstand the simple mechanics in this game. Calamitous Desires medal gives flat to Ring of Steel. That is like a 10-20% flat damage boost to ONE SKILL. And YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE THAT SKILL IN YOUR BUILD.

Flat damage to Pneumatic Burst is a global boost that applies to all of your weapon damage attacks. This is like Grim Dawn mechanics 101.

[mad_lee]

So we back to the topic with comparing 14~20 flat damage with 146+ OA and 12% slow/stun res. is it clear?

It’s not 14-20 flat, it’s 34-40 flat. Flat damage to Pneumatic Burst mod is a global buff. LMAO, dude.

[sir_spanksalot]

Yup. Undying oath is definitely better here. Nice build btw!

[Jason_Huang]

Oh, that’s true, I made myself silly, i’m sorry. I always confused Pneumatic Burst with Amarasta’s blade burst. Anyway 34~40 flat vs 146 OA with 12% slow/stun res. Depends on personal taste, for me I chose later one.

[mad_lee]

It’s ok to make mistakes, I still make silly mistakes when making builds. My advice: just look up successful Deathmarked builds - they have been done many times. There is also tonns of info on this forum about basic mechanics too. Good luck, I am out.

[ya1]

SR is not used for thorough testing because every run is different. You cannot time runs so you can’t really see how strong your build is, you can only see how strong it feels at the moment. Or open the char sheet and see how you like the stats. You can’t see exactly how they affect the clear times because there are no clear times.

Crucible buffs, if colorful, are a constant. Build performance is always the same. Bad build will be bad with crucible buffs in crucible environment ALWAYS. In SR however, a bad build can easily produce a record of a great run because that game mode is largely deprived of constants. And btw I play SR, too. I’m not an SR hater who never even tried it. Which seems to be the case with you when crucible is the subject

Dummy tests are not stupid. The fact that AQC wasn’t worth it on non-Deathmarked was established through dummy tests. They can’t show you overall performance but are best for figuring out how little changes affect your single target dmg.

Practical stuff:

If you insist on Yugol, for the needed oa bump Shadow Queen is better than Calamitous, anyway. Craftable, too. EDIT: Actually, when I look at it again, Calamitous is not so stupid here when oa bump is the goal… It has +%DoT which Shadow Queen is missing.

I overlooked it but it’s a kind of a big deal - not using RoS in a build aimed at SR. It’s gives you another roll (23% fumble at 4/12 second node) for all melee attacks to miss. That’s on top of your regular dodge from Shadow Dance. My probability theory is rusty but Shadow Dance at 12/12 + Barbaros pants + RoS second node 4/12 [+ good da] = almost [or more than] every second melee attack misses.