[1.1.2.5 - 1.1.9.8][HC] Erulan Special Forces - Physical Double-Blitz Commando and variants, SR85, CR170, all celestials cleared

Hello fellow Grim Dawn players, since the massive 1.1.9.2 patch physical damage has been kinda settled down and not much has changed. However the recent buff to Markovian set and my 1 year+ fruitless grind for a rare Amulet led me to re-equip the build:

>>>[1.1.9.8] GrimTools Markovian<<<

There is also a Justicar setup, however this is just a option now, the markovian set is generally better.

>>>[1.1.9.8] GrimTools Justicar<<<

Performance tests conducted in 1.1.9.8:

Gameplay and gear notes for 1.1.9.3:

The major changes in gear was due to the rather unsuccessful grind for a bloodbriar amulet with +3 modifier to blitz, which would have max capped the skill. The recently buffed Markovian offered excellent defence which i seek in HC, and a surprisingly good offense. The switch also means that gear pressure has been lessened significantly, with only the belt being a possible double rare. The best is you can craft it and i got a very good one after abnout 3 weeks.

The interaction of Markovian set proc and all active skills is very interesting. It also resets Doom and Blazing Charge. Sometimes you can basically get quadro Blitz out, which is obviously a huge damage spike. The recently buffed Wayward soul is also a nice passive heal and patches up the rather anemic DA.

Pros of this build:

  • Generalist setup allowing comfortable completion of all endgame content in HC
  • Surprisingly high dmg for the tank offered

Cons of this build:

  • Slow in crucible, the fastest I got was 5:50 mins (CC like freeze will eat your Blitz damage)

General notes for Endgame content:

Celestials


Callagadra is killable in around 3 min with pharma, which is almost half the time using the Justicar setup. First phase can be face tanked, thanks to stoneform and passive heal it’s rather comfortable. However i still don’t recommend it, simply because of HC reasons, do a short rotation of blitz-charge-blitz+some cadence stikes and put some distance between you and the boss then repeat.

Crate of entertaiment remains untested since 1.1.2.5 because his encounter and the process of getting to him is massive pain in HC. However due to the short contact requirment of double blitz and the massive IT damage you can apply, it is in theory at least possible now with the setup.

Shattered Realm


SR75-76 is a breeze. SR85 can be done without buff potions. In 3 runs i have always encountered those shattered bosses in the right corner of the boss room. They seem to deal massive dmg and should be kited a bit if necessary. I feel a bit more progress is still possible, but i’m not comfortable enough to dive deeper.

Crucible


Okish time for a tank. However sub 5 min runs are pretty unlikely, I can generally get 4 runs and 10-20 sec to spare before the blessings run out. The main issue is the lack of aoe, while blitz technically is an aoe, it just dosen’t cover enough and it is prone to CC which will fully negate your damage and start the skill cooldown for nothing. All in all, generally sub 6 min runs, but basically no risk.

That’s it! Hope you enjoy! Feedback and Advices are welcome!

Vintage Links and Builds from the past

The original
The mad_lee improved original
Original Mogdrogen setup, Original Proof pic
Original Ravager setup, Original proof pic
Original Callagadra setup, Original proof pic
Original Crate setup, Original proof pic
[1.1.5.2] 2 Mortars hybrid, stats screenshot
[1.1.6.2] 4 Mortars version, stats screenshot
[1.1.8.0] Double-Blitzer pre physical change, stats screenshot
[1.1.9.3] Double-Blitzer post physical change, stats screenshot

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Welcome to the forum and congrats. :grinning:

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Sick tank you got there. Looks kind of immortal. Great job.

Couple of suggestions:

  1. Maybe siphon few points of Oleron’s Rage into Squad Tactics (same damage, but more attack speed and casting speed = more leech and faster mortar casting animation) and find points to take Vindictive Flame. Imo, faster attack speed and casting speed increases build’s resilience quite a bit.
  2. Is life giver signet really giving you anything here? Seems like a wasted ring slot. I would consider either Coven’s ring or Menhirian.
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Thx guys!

@mad_lee interesting, i’ll test out the squad tactics and vindictive flame, however i don’t know where to strip the points from, i feel so nacked when i take it away from circuit breaker and as this is not a dps machine neither from the damage skills. :confused:

i choose lifegiver because it is purple and rolled a nice 7%. Used to run combustion band, but had large jumps in higher SR shard. Unfortunately I don’t have menhirian ring and i farmed quite a lot x_x

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siphoning 4 points from Oleron’s Rage is definitely the safe bet. With a different ring you can get more skill points to play with.

My general advice: find out where does most of your damage and survivability comes from and focus on that part. For example, if it’s Cadence, invest more into attack speed and/or find items with bonuses to Cadence. If it’s Mortar Trap then find ways to buff Mortars and sacrifice points from Cadence.

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You can safely remove points from Oleron’s Rage until you have it at 12/12, the benefits of overcapping it are small.

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OK, 12/12 Oleron it will be. Just checked my stash and for rings i also have an entropic coil, the flat damage is enticing but no attack speed and life leech is kinda meh. Would a second black matriach be good?

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Get Coven’s ring, it’s sold at vendor in Coven’s Refuge. Buy one with 4% DA/5% AS. But you gotta test which second ring would be best.

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wow, nice build with insane defense. thanks for sharing

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@mad_lee hey, thx for the tip about attack speed, tweaked the build a bit and the damage feels much better while maintaining defense. Had my best crucible time at around 7:30 min, despite kiting Alex, Anasteria and that Osyr priest around

Will add this one under the original build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZy6JGAN

I think combustion band may just be BiS

@b00tyy glad you like it, check out the slightly tweaked one, i think it goes smoother than the original one.

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Glad my advice helped!

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@keldon have you fought the Clone of John Bourbon?

I like soldier-related builds in generals, they are easy to level up :smiley:

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Yup, cleared Bourbon already. Just tested it again and the clones keeled over in about 3 minutes.

I have fought and beat every boss the game has to offer, including Nemesis and superbosses with this build on hardcore. Except for one, which is imo doable with some more research, planning and practice, but it is just sooo tedious to get to him, not to mention how hardcore unfriendly last portion of the secret quest is designed…

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Just wanted to congratulate. So, congratulations :blush:

Crate is easy, just don’t die :crate:

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Thx! TBH this is my 4th commando, all previous ones died while farming gear on hardcore. I have put alot of time into this build over the years and it turned out pretty decent me thinks. ^^

I really hate this entire crate boss encounter. With cadence being my only dmg skill i struggle to apply damage, as he constantly disengages and jumps behind his wall of boxes. And those boxes seem to have no summon limit, i managed to avoid killing one and 5 mins later there were like 10 or so of them around, despite GT claiming 4 summon limit.

So far i have tried more than a week to kill him, the most i got him down was like 80% HP before the area become too crowded to comfortably kite. I would really be interested how a direct melee character can handle him. As for now i give up in frustration.

Oh, and if Zantai reads this: Please just leave the portal open, when you kill the gate maggot once, this would make trying this boss so much less stressful, especially for hardcore character.

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gg keep making build’s :stuck_out_tongue:

Thx! But a bit burned out and frustrated. I think i need a break from the game for a while.

For anyone curious, i tried boxhead with this setup: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVblbgYN

I can survive okish, but everytime i had to chicken out due to the overwhelming amount of crates…

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@keldon Can you share the setup to kill Bourbon? He is the last celestial I cannot kill in the base game :frowning:

Use one of the normal setups. Tested few days ago with the higher attack speed one and had no issues.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZy6JGAN

Hey, thx for the build! I have a question for y’all. Would it be bad to take “The Big One”? You need 18 more points for it, so I removed some extra points from FT, Temp, and Shield Training. You also get extra stats from the mastery bar.