Cthonians? WHACK
Aetherials? WHACK
Cannibals? WHACK
Sure, those fancy pierce cadence blademasters are all the rage these days, with their cadence that hits way more targets, and shiny golden armor, and high crucible clear speeds. But you know what they can’t do? Call themselves meat beaters. They’re meat slicers, which doesn’t even rhyme.
[1.1.6 Update]
Now that 1.1.6 has graced us with a very blunt axe, we can finally drop Beronath and its 10% piercing ratio, then dump all our LA points into dual blades. At the expense of max res, armor, and OA, we earn a shiny 20% more phys res, 300 more cunning, and 400% physical damage.
Permanent buffs up
GRIMTOOLS
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- 42% phys res, a shield, two reliable heals, and three circuit breakers.
- 25% more sheet damage than the old version, free.
- 80% WPS chance for rapid-fire Cadence.
- Don’t have to charge LA.
Cons:
- Critical damage is still bad.
- Low RR compared to other physical builds.
- Still not a warlord.
Itemization
Offhand weapon: Earthsplitter has better WD and attack speed than Beronath, at the expense of no crit damage, OA, and imperfect conversion. However, the secondary benefits of Dual Blades (phys res) significantly outweigh LA (OA), not to mention not needing to charge it and miss attacks.
Gloves: While Unchained Grasp gives flat damage and relevant skill points, Sandreavers ultimately have more % damage and cover chaos resist, which this build sorely lacks.
Boots: Windshears cover your lacking DA and provide 6 skill points and a crafting bonus. Final March is also an option, but its high physique bonus isn’t as relevant here.
Pants: Formidable Kuba’s Chausses of X are BiS. They give you yet more phys resist, overcap elemental res, and let you dump more points into cunning.
Craft for your choice of % physique or slow resist.
Devotions
Pick 2 out of the following: Unknown Soldier, Azrakaa, and Oleron.
- Unknown Soldier: Gives crit damage, some flat and attack speed. Has no % damage bonuses, is the least relevant of the three.
- Oleron: No attack speed, but gives great flat, phys res, and % damage.
- Azrakaa: Best proc, moderate flat and %damage, but good DA.
Of the three procs, Living Shadows isn’t very good, Blind Fury has the highest damage output and best AoE, and Shifting Sands has the best utility. Grimtools uses Oleron/Azrakaa with Shifting Sands to pump %damage and avoid sudden deaths in SR.
1.1.4.2 Beronath version
LA/DM up
GRIMTOOLS, greens
GRIMTOOLS, all purple
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Huge armor for a DW build. Most heavy physical hitters aren’t any threat. Two shields and three circuit breakers for sticky situations.
- Good single-target damage output with enough CC and AoE to kill or disable mobs quickly.
- Can easily shift around attribute points to get even better defenses.
- 80% WPS chance for rapid-fire Cadence.
Cons:
- Awful critical damage. The nerf to Beronath’s skill didn’t help.
- Low RR compared to other physical builds.
- Not a warlord.
- Have to charge LA.
Skills
Basic DW warborn setup. The flexible points are in circle of slaughter (if you’re a good pilot who needs less fumble than I do), Anatomy of Murder, and Decorated Soldier.
Itemization
Irreplaceable core: Warborn set, Beronath Reforged, Barbaros’s pants, Black Matriarch Ring, Bloodsurge. Same as every physical DW build out there.
Gloves: Unchained Grasp gives 5 skill points, while the competitors don’t. Possible alternatives are M. Handguards of Justice (flat damage, big health) and M. Dawnshard Grip (crit damage, flat damage, a little health). Both will cost you some very relevant skill points, however.
Belt: Ugdenbog Girdle with good rolls is leaps better than Reforged Chains. Look for physical damage affixes or the usual resistance-loaded ones like Thunderstruck or Incorruptible.
Medal: Well-rolled Rylok Crest is BiS, as there’s no DW Cadence medal with decent resists. M. Mark of Kalastor or M. Direwolf Crest are generic purple replacements.
Boots: Windshears or Stonetreaders are the offensive choice, but Runeguard Greaves give you more relevant skill bonuses and a handy shield for fighting Anasteria or Alex with more confidence. They also patch up two big holes in your overcaps.
Movement augments: Optimal choice is a teleport rune for dodging Grava’s balls without pulling the rest of a boss chunk. Cooldown isn’t relevant, since there are only 2 attacks you need to dodge. Charge runes or Rune of Dark Desires are acceptable alternatives.
Craft bonuses are your pick of %physique, %crit, or % armor.
Note: greens in the build are the best I’ve currently found. BiS rolls are Stonefaced/Incorruptible of Soulwarding.
Gameplay
Run up to/pull the highest-priority threat, hit with ABB, Doomforce, and RoS, Cadence face until dead. Truly a piano build.
Shattered Realm
This build has no trouble going through shards 65-66. You’re tough enough with enough active defenses to just jump into a pack and wail on it. Doomforce and War Cry will cripple most healers or Arcane mobs, and racial damage will handle the rest. If your health starts to drop, just teleport out of the ground effects. It’s real hard to die in generic chunks unless you’re unlucky with nemeses.
On SR 65-66, you’ll have 7-8 minutes left on boss chunks. This is plenty of time to pull one by one, and leeway if you die to a bad pull. The nemeses whom you really want to pull alone are Grava and Kaisan. Everyone else except Kuba and Iron Maiden dies too quickly to put a meaningful dent in you, and neither of those two do meaningful damage alone. Most non-nemesis bosses aren’t a problem, except for Anasteria and Slathasarr.
Recommended pharma is Courageous Tincture, Aetherward Oil, and Cursed Tincture.
