[1.1.6.2] The new Carrot tank - Markovian S&B Warlord! SR 75+/Crucible buffless

This build viable as of 1.1.9.0?

I copy what I wrote under ā€œFAQā€ in my beginner build compendium

Patches in Grim Dawn does not work the same way as in say Path of Exile. Even if a guide is 3-4 patches old, it is still 95%-100% accurate. Given that the purpose of these build guides are to help you get a char to start doing end-game, you should not care about it being ā€oldā€ or ā€outdatedā€. You can also just ask in the thread for that particular guide if there is some important item or skill change.

What is more relevant is if the endgame - Best in Slot (BiS) geared builds that are often presented last in these guides are updated and viable. But the leveling and budget gearing part is as mentioned 95%-100% accurate and relevant.

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Zolhan is straight DPS loss for builds outside of 2H melee. Shattering Smash and Markovianā€™s are good enough WPS skills for this build.

Iā€™m confused as to why Zolhanā€™s is a straight DPS loss. Looking at WPS for my character:

  • 28% Chance (16/12 Markovianā€™s Advantage)
  • 17% Chance (3/10 Smite)
  • 23% Chance (7/10 Shattering Smash)
  • 24% Chance (8/12 Zolhanā€™s Technique - from a single point, +3 from medal, +1 belt, +2 set, +1 weapon)

That adds up to a 92% chance of a WPS proc which is below the 100% threshold. If you drop the 24% chance donā€™t you lose the extra procs thus lowering your overall DPS? Or am I missing something?

The discussion is a bit older and there were some changes in between - but not all WPS animations are (or at least were) of equal length

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Ahh, that makes sense. Are all the WPS animation times the same now? Or is Zolhanā€™s Technique still slower?

honestly, dunno - especially in the S&B case

So I just tested it against training dummy. I was below 100% WPS chance in both scenarios. Here was the character, including all damage except for the summon empyrion (they were unsummoned). My Character

Scenario One:

  • Includes 24% Chance of Zolhanā€™s (8/12).
  • Time to kill training dummy: ~0:58
  • Time to kill training dummy 5 times including reset invincibility period: 4:58

Scenario Two (unallocated single point in Zolhanā€™s - did not reallocate to anything else):

  • Does NOT include 24% Chance of Zolhanā€™s (8/12)
  • Time to kill training dummy: ~1:02
  • Time to kill training dummy 5 times including reset invincibility period: 5:16

So taking Zolhan (with +7 skill) resulted in approximately a 6.5% damage boost (4s/62s) single target.

I did some hand calculations and I think Zolhan SHOULD result in a 22% increase (maybe a little less with other procs) because the damage difference between a proc and no proc is about double.

As such, I think there is still an animation difference between Zolhan and not having it. I think if you have a lower skill level it may result in less DPS. For my particular build though and one point, its worth the 6.5% damage boost especially because it adds AOE.

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the comment about Zolhan WPS you talked about was almost 2 years ago. Even the original build was from patch 1.1.6.2, without any updates recently from Nery. In that time, Zolhan was a bad WPS, just like Amarasta Quick Cut. Slow animation/ cannot work with dual- wield weapons. There are multiple patches from that time until now, and IIRC, a lot of changes had been made with WPS, like buff to WD, faster animation, work with dual-wield, pass-throughā€¦ (include Zolhanā€™s Technique). So there is no surprise that now Zolhan is much better than before, you can play with or without it what- ever- you- want.

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This might be a silly question, but how relevant is this build in the face of the 1.2.5 patch?

I was just wondering if an older build like this still works or if mord modrn patvhes renders this obsolete.

I love the markovian set of armor and Iā€™m leveling a warlord as we speak to try this build out.

Hi, this build is pretty old by now. Markovian set can power a pretty strong Warlord, but you need an updated version. Check the version from this topic, thereā€™s also a Blitz without the set.

:star: Top 20 Softcore builds, ft. HC approved section from RektbyProtoss! [1.2.0.5] (An Onion) - Grim Dawn / Classes, Skills and Builds - Crate Entertainment Forum

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I would like to show my Markovian Warlord too, if you donā€™t mind :slightly_smiling_face:. It is Blitz/SS-oriented, pretty sturdy with decent damage (not like that ā€œtop20ā€ though :grin:).

It will get some nerfs (%Phys Res especially), but the build was able to beat endgame content - SR, Celestials etc - with worse stats, so no worries.

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i came across this topic long time ago and i think about levelling double-blitz like this, but with following devotions:

Donā€™t mind the fantasy double-green belt, itā€™s nice addition but not a must and itā€™s a carry-over from the original build. Though i really think it may be a good idea to shuffle the points from Overguard to Menhirā€™s Will, as it at 16/16 it is 70% of health restored every 15 sec (when health drops below 33%).

What i ask is do you really need Obelisk of Menhir in your build? Block chance and block recovery is not that high to proc it reliably?

It is nice to have, with almost full-time Overguard (less than 1 sec window does not count :laughing:) Stone Form procs are stable. For me it works good enough.

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