I think there’s something wrong with Jane… does she seem different to you? She never smiles at me anymore…
GT link: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2Mqov72
I’ve been wrestling with the Dreadscorcher rifle for a while. There is already a pretty good Defiler build, but I wanted to see how it performed with a standard WPS proc Purifier and use the challenge as a way to learn how to build using seemingly hopeless materials. There is next to no aether support in either class, but there is double mastery RR, attack speed, and all the benefits and curses of being a ranged character. We also have the Bonemonger set as a starting point with plenty of nice stats, so let’s see how it goes.
First off, the 4 piece Bonemonger bonus with the constant bone wave spam was giving my computer seizures, so I nixed it. I tried several versions including Krieg pieces just for stats before arriving at 3 piece Bonemonger, 2 piece Light’s Defender. Terror relic was tempting for the RR and damage reduction (since there’s no Censure for DR), but Serenity provides critically needed resists and +1 to all skills, so it goes in. Since I switched to Conviction, Physical res is one of the build’s strong suits so as long as I’m just getting pounded on, I can take a hit or two or three.
The devo map includes Abomination as its cornerstone. As I learned from other, superior builders, converted flat chaos damage is a substantial boost at max level when it is up 66% of the time. It’s especially great for this build because the rifle fully converts chaos damage on Fire Strike. There are no points for Spear or Seru, though, so I take Phoenix and Hydra instead. And Word of Pain is such a reliable kick in the ass for Revenant, those skeletons do amazing work and really complete the fake-Necromancer vibe.
The results were better than I expected for a first build on a hopeless concept - Shattered Realm 65-66 isn’t just a tryhard, it’s straightforward. Best strategy is just pull one at a time and face tank in your seal. Going higher becomes a bigger challenge fast. But it was rough even with 3000 DA, so I stopped sacrificing, went lower DA and higher damage and was rewarded with more consistent farming at 65-66. Deception belt is an easy swap for more DA.
It doesn’t care about affixes as much as aether Arcanists, so that’s a plus. It has double mastery RR, so it doesn’t really care if you’re facing Valdaran or Alexsander. It is, however, fragile, too fragile for Crucible 170 in my inexperienced hands. One misplay and you die to a meteor. That could be fixed with a different affix on the medal for more resists, but I used what I got because I didn’t want the build to hinge on a triple rare and it’s OK for what it is.
Screenshot is standing in seal with permanent buffs + Renewal, out of combat.
Medal choice gave me a lot of head scratching. I tried Gildam Arcanam, Pyroclasm, Wendigo, Anathema. In the end I went with Nacrathan’s for an important visual detail: it turns your Inquisitor Seal a radioactive mint green! The damage component is distinctly unimpressive, but I went with it anyway to complete the aether look. Dread Lord affix gives aether damage and more ADctH to bring the total to 21%.
The temptation was to fully overcap Inquisitor Seal and possibly be the only build in the world to do so, but it doesn’t add substantial enough damage or enough survivability to face-tank groups of bosses, so I one-point it. If you’re experienced at camera abuse you won’t have any problem. You can even face tank Grava through his nullification and just keep shooting his fat despicable craw.
Note, for some reason GT bugs on the attack speed from Ranged Expertise for my rifle so it is 15% higher in game. Nonetheless the barrier to this build performing better is the same: it’s lacking in damage because of lack of strong aether support from the masteries.
I’ll post SR 66 pic once I can get through it without the client hard crashing, 5 times in a row the stupid thing has died in mid-shard.
