[1.1.6.2] Bone Jovi: Crucible 150-170 6:15m, Shard 85 resilient Ritualist caster [cr+][sr+][vid]

[mad_lee]

Foreword

It’s a pretty strong vitality caster this time that melts Crucible very fast (for a Vitality build) and is very tanky at the same time. I actually enjoyed playing it, it feels strong and at the same time very tanky with almost no drawbacks. I got the inspiration for the build idea after x1x2 post by the way.

Build Concept

Minimized kiting with no damage loss

A problem that a lot of casters have in Crucible Gladiator 150-170 is necessity to kite that ends up in a net damage loss. This build requires minimal kiting, more like repositioning and herding mobs together. The reason for it is the nature of the build (rotation of cooldown based offensive spells) and incredible resilience.

Three offensive skills with huge nuke being one of them

That’s right, we got to play with three killing toys here, and in the center of it all is a massive Nuke - Bone Harvest on steroids - 400% weapon damage (and we are carrying a 2-hander) and 20% damage modifier from transmuter. Plus we have Vitality Storm Totem and Ravenous Earth as damage support and very reliable devotion proccers.

Humongous ADCtH

Almost every skill we use sucks life out of monsters and converts it into our health. What else to say.

The Build

1.1.6.2 Build Update

Updated this Ritualist according to the current meta. Still strong and hella tough. Thanks to @grey-maybe for testing it in deep Shattered Realm.

1.1.1.2 Forgotten Gods update

Build got new toys: Ghol’s gloves and Ghol’s medal. Decided to make this build green free too. Devotion setup has changed to meet the needs of new Crucible and of Shattered Realm. Smart Energy Management is required when playing this.

<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>

Gear/Skills and Devotions

I have tested multiple skill/devotions/gear setups and chose this one as the most balanced one. I did test the build with Mythical Soulbearer and Valguur’s off-hand, and it turned out to be much worse. First of all, despite higher total %vitality damage, net damage output was lower because Bone Harvest was hitting for 60% of the 2-handed setup strength (thus the adtch from it was lower), secondly, spirit dump necessary for equiping caster’s off-handed resulted in considerable DA and health loss. As for Death’s Reach versus Mythical Wildblood Crusher, Death’s Reach is a much better fit for a caster despite lower weapon damage and lower Bone Harvest damage. It’s 19% cdr boosts all our abilities and devotion procs and lowers cooldown on Bone Harvest considerably (plus that OA/Health is just awesome).
You need Serenity relic with %DA bonus (but you can get away with a different completion bonus, depending on your other gear pieces).

The Showdown

How to play

Try and herd mobs together so you get more bang out of your offensive spells. Change position while your spells are on cooldown. Watch out for RR debuffs on wave 169 if your Aether resist overcap is low.

Play it smart in higher Shards. Lure out bosses one by one. Always change possession with Wendigo rune. Watch your mana, don’t spam Devouring Swarm.

Stats

With all permanent buffs

Defense

Bone Harvest tooltip with Soul Harvest and Hungering Void (95% uptime, 1.6s cooldown with max CDR rolls)

Builds pros and cons

Pros

• Extremely tough and nearly unkillable caster with very forgiving piloting
• Great damage and fast and consistent Crucible clears
• No f…king Manticore in devotion setup!

Cons

• It’s still vitality damage
• Mana Management is required for smooth and comfortable play

Videos

Grey-Maybe’s Shard 85 boss-room fight

1.1.6.2 6:15 Crucible Gladiator 150-170 run

Shard 77 run (sloppy piloting and dificult boss area so I die few times) OLD

Shard 75 run OLD

7:40 Crucible Gladiator run (1.1.1.2) OLD

7:05 Crucible Gladiator run (1.1.1.2) OLD

Mercymaker’s 3 blessings 1 banner three runs take one (grimtools) OLD

Mercymaker’s 3 blessings 1 banner three runs take two (grimtools) OLD

Mercymaker’s 3 blessings 1 banner three runs take three (grimtools) OLD

9:17 4 buffs/no banner Impurity relic setup 150-170 Crucible Gladiator run OLD

9:30 4 buffs/no banner Mogdrogen’s Ardor relic setup 150-170 Crucible Gladiator run (bit slower but smoother and less stressful) OLD

In Conclusion

It’s no surprise that a set that was meant for a Death Knight works better with a Ritualist - a class combo with a massive double vitality resist shred. Also, set makes Bone Harvest hit like a truck with a pure vitality damage 2-hander.

[mad_lee]

Round of Imaginary Q&A

But what about Wildblood Crusher? +Skills, mana regen and bigger base damage and more life leech debuff, isn’t it better?

I tested it, it is worse.

Why no x or y devotions? Aren’t x or y great for a Vitality build?

Needed Aeon for stats and survivability boost. This devotion setup is one of the fewer ways to include three tier-3 devotions in it.

Is Deathlord Band ring really better than Signet of the Fallen? Shouldn’t one take RR ring whenever possible?

I tested both. Both perform the same in Crucible. But Deathord offers much more relevant resists.

[x1x1x1x2]

You did it. That was quick. Told you ritualist doesn’t need Manticore still no TD tho

Anyway for those that still thinking about wildblood crusher. It doesn’t necessarily have better weapon damage as the spread between the max and min damage values are too wide, resulting in less consistent BH damage.

[mad_lee]

You did it. That was quick. Told you ritualist doesn’t need Manticore still no TD tho

Anyway for those that still thinking about wildblood crusher. It doesn’t necessarily have better weapon damage as the spread between the max and min damage values are too wide, resulting in less consistent BH damage.

Thanks!

I explained why I chose Mythical Death’s Reach over Wildblood in the guide. 19% CDR is too huge for caster to give up (and you have sweet OA/Health on top of it).

[Illius]

I have never tried a Ritualist so far, but it does look very interesting to say the least. But I have a few questions.

1. Considering Devour Swarm I assume it is best to start with Shaman class?

2. If so, should I take the Shaman all the way up to what you have selected for the shaman, and only then take the second class Necromancer?

3. Is there a specific order in which to take the Devotions for best result during levelling?

[mad_lee]

I have never tried a Ritualist so far, but it does look very interesting to say the least. But I have a few questions.

1. Considering Devour Swarm I assume it is best to start with Shaman class?

2. If so, should I take the Shaman all the way up to what you have selected for the shaman, and only then take the second class Necromancer?

3. Is there a specific order in which to take the Devotions for best result during levelling?

Yep, first ~15-20 levels you play with maxed out Swarm, then respec into Primal Strike with a transmuter and get all the supporting skills for it like Raging Tempest and Stormcaller’s Pact.

As for devotions just start with Bat and work your way from there to Rattosh, level Dying God last.

[Illius]

Yep, first ~15-20 levels you play with maxed out Swarm, then respec into Primal Strike with a transmuter and get all the supporting skills for it like Raging Tempest and Stormcaller’s Pact.

As for devotions just start with Bat and work your way from there to Rattosh, level Dying God last.

Okay, thank you mad_lee.

[Xhy720]

Yet another mad_lee build I want to try; I have five Death’s Reaches and decided that RNGesus is trying to tell me something, so now I have a build to try out with it. I might jump to this once I’m finished with my cabalist.

[Mercymaker]

So i did a few 3x 150-170 runs with 3 blessings and a banner:

//youtu.be/dSijYetbhng

//youtu.be/hmFTFRd4tB0

It manages to pull it off, but only barely. If you get unlucky with mutators or nemesis then your blessings will probably run out in wave 170 or even 169 on the 3rd run, if you get lucky though you’ll probably have a min to spare.
If you don’t feel like stressing out trying to squeeze in 3 runs with a banner then build works fine doing 2x runs with 3 blessings in around 20mins (10~ mins each run.)

//youtu.be/7wh6MUiJX54

Note that i am not using any MI greens in my setup, i originally used a harmonious basilisk crest of readiness but swapped to Mark of Divinity since i was having some issues with dying on runs now and then (not often mind you) and MoD helped out with survivability.

The biggest issue the build currently has is that it has 0% slow resist and you will need to kite on nemesis waves. Most of your sustain comes from twin fangs so it’s important to always place a ravenous earth/storm totem (whatever you decide to bind twin fangs to, mine is binded to ravenous earth) where it’s able to hit enemies. It’s not a braindead build since you will need to pay attention to positioning on certain waves.

All in all a solid build, first time i attempted a 3x run with banner i didn’t think it would pull it off, so pleasantly surprised that it did.

[mad_lee]

Thanks for the input, man, I will add your videos and your green free spec to the guide.

[slick4hire]

Could you go x stoneplate of arcane winds on the feet, or are greaves of ill omen irreplaceable?

What about the same suffix on the pants?

ETA: Stun resistance is also a potential completion bonus for Mogs Ardor if that is the clincher for the boots.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[mad_lee]

Could you go x stoneplate of arcane winds on the feet, or are greaves of ill omen irreplaceable?

What about the same suffix on the pants?

ETA: Stun resistance is also a potential completion bonus for Mogs Ardor if that is the clincher for the boots.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Boots are just too good. %Vitality damage/DA/Elemental res/massive (up to 48% I think) stun resist, high walking speed/+bone Harvest to cap it. You can ofc experiment with green boots and green pants or look for slow resist elsewhere (like Traveller’s Boon augment on rings for example).

[MatMB]

How’s this build doing with the new expansion?

I think you can swap the weapon with a well rolled Reaping Hallberd. I think I remember Fluff saying that kind of builds were monsters in FG so it’s saying something

[mad_lee]

How’s this build doing with the new expansion?

I think you can swap the weapon with a well rolled Reaping Hallberd. I think I remember Fluff saying that kind of builds were monsters in FG so it’s saying something

I am actually planning to level a Ritualist into this build. Yet to test it. FG brings two juicy items to this builds Ghol’s gloves and Ghol’s medal. Not a fan of new green Bone Harvest MI, would prefer Death’s Reach for it’s cdr.

[mad_lee]

Updated this Vitality beast one more time. Added new GT link and new videos. Now Green free and can push higher shards. Yay for big fat scarry Bone Harvest.

[grim_tendie]

hit 85 tonight and should hit 94 tomorrow, can’t wait to finish it!

[fisheyz]

That Rat constellation. Is it just a filler to get the 3green 2 red reward or am I missing something and it is actually useful?

[MatMB]

I am actually planning to level a Ritualist into this build. Yet to test it. FG brings two juicy items to this builds Ghol’s gloves and Ghol’s medal. Not a fan of new green Bone Harvest MI, would prefer Death’s Reach for it’s cdr.

yeah i keep forgetting it’s a caster build, the 2h weapon keeps confusing me, my bad :rolleyes:

[mad_lee]

That Rat constellation. Is it just a filler to get the 3green 2 red reward or am I missing something and it is actually useful?

A filler I am afraid. But it also gives us some nice core stats and 10% poison resist, so not the worst filler in the world.

yeah i keep forgetting it’s a caster build, the 2h weapon keeps confusing me, my bad :rolleyes:

It’s already updated with FG items, btw

[jinsaotomex4]

https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/13865 Nightbringer really makes this character feel better. The physical resist is pretty insane but you do lose out on some vit RR and OA.
Still not sure if Prime Ring or Ring of Basti are worth using though.