[1.1.7.1] Biting Blademaster - A.K.A Why you shouldn't play pierce forcewave

Many people have tried to make pierce forcewave work before but no one really made at least a mid tier concept. I tried to look at some numbers and look at this (numbers below are outdated as of 1.1.7.0, but build is still super strong if you continue reading):

Forcewave (26/16 + 22/12 Rending Force + Tremor): 142.45 Weapon Damage, 303.38 - 383.46 physical, 180.18 pierce, +35% crit, +320% physical damage

Biting Blades (double the values on paper since it boomerangs): 140% Weapon Damage, 548 pierce, 504 acid damage, +20% crit damage

When you convert all those numbers to pierce you’ll see that biting blades will have double the damage numbers of forcewave when it comes to pierce. Of course this doesn’t happen 100% of the time cause in some instances (i.e. you hit walls) the blades don’t return but comparing it to something that requires 30 skill point, Biting Blades is almost always better.

The Build

image
Char sheets with all permanent buffs and pneumatic burst. DPS shown is Biting Blades. Note that DPS is more than the sheet dps due to biting blades boomerang

GRIMTOOLS <- 1.1.7.2. CLICK THAT THING

GRIMTOOLS <- 1.1.6.2

Build Explanation

1.1.7.1 Update - Biting Blades has been nerfed and there weren’t really any buffs to this build (Will of the Blade has casting speed added but with my rolls I already had 200% CS before that buff) but the 1.1.6.2 version performed just as well, if not faster during 1.1.7.1. This is most likely due to the aggro fix in cruci that Crate made. Even then, with me realizing that Nadaan’s Reach can get up to 72% conversion, I decided to change up the itemization and optimize it a bit, as well as making the greens single rares.

Also, due to the new aggro changes, this build is now less tankier, so if you wanna beef it up the simplest and best option is to just get war cry (courtesy of @mad_lee). I tried it and it was tankier than if you juggle items and get Serenity, but then it got into boring territory really fast and I still can’t facetank MQ on 162 (facetanks everything other than that) and war cry is ugly so I just prefer my glass cannon. As far as my tests go, speed is still around the same.

Since we free up so many points by going Biting Blades instead of Pierce Forcewave, Those can be dumped onto maxing out Blade Spirits. I still got a lot of points which I dumped into RoS that got a great area mod. Maxing Shadow Strike is probably better in theory but in practice I just always forget to spam it on cooldown.

For gear:

  • Nadaan’s Reach is just the best 2h pierce weapon there is. Probably even the best pierce weapon overall. If you don’t have it you can use Spite which is what I initially used cause I first wanted this to be a “How to use spite without PB” build. Look for maxed cdr then a total of full ele > pierce conversion including the belt.

  • Will of the Blade , Reaper’s Legguards are for Blade Spirit points. The pants is an irreplaceable green but the affixes can be anything that fixes resists.

  • Pack of Treacherous Means Spellbreaker Waistguard , Murderer’s Breastplate, Chosen Epaulets are for conversions. Gun for as much conversion as you can, I’ve got 90% (max is 96%) on acid>pierce and 100% on ele>pierce. As far as alternatives go, from what I’ve found Pack of Treacherous means + whatever good ring+shoulder combo you have is always better than Spellbreaker belt + Bladetwister + filler shoulders, both in terms of speed and survivability. Bladetwister Ring sucks but if you don’t have any other options go for it.

  • The rest of the items are replaceable and can be really just anything that works.

Cruci Performance and Video

New patch made this build much faster even after nerfs - 4:51 run here:

Average cruci performance for me is around 5:35 on 3 buffs and 4 level 1 storm beacons. I’ve never gone past 6 mins with this current version of the build. Here’s a 5:26 vid:

Shattered Realms No /10chars

Closing

No shoutouts but I recommend also checking out @mad_lee’s build [1.1.7.1] Pierce Brosnan: 5:20m Crucible 150-170, SR 75-76 resilient pierce caster Infiltrator [c+][sr+] (+bonus build inside)

His build is very similar to this but he goes for a more proc-focused approach in contrast to my full on cast speed + empower biting blades approach. Both very strong builds imo.

6 Likes

Very strong build indeed. High WD coupled with capped cast speed and 3x almost pure pierce blade spirit. Love it…

BTW, you might also want to invest in counter strike with all of the excess points.

:zantai: : Nerf biting blades instead… :rofl:

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Nice concept going BBlades+BSpirits for nice AoE. Forcewave indeed isn’t quite up to modern day standard.

@x1x1x1x2, is pierce FW as weak as cold FW? If I understood you correct pierce FW is at least weaker compared to physical and elemental FW.

Is cold FW even a thing? Then i don’t know. It’s probably even worse than pierce considering there’s no support.

Imo fire > phys 2h = elemental = full octavius > lightning and pierce

But it’s been very long since I’ve played forcewave.

Thanks! And I’m fine with biting blades nerf as long as forcewave is also buffed so the main forcewave builds actually become competitive at the very top.

Pierce FW has a secondary problem in that almost no pierce gear has casting speed. All the good pierce rings, amulets, and weapons have either AS or CDR.

Yeah I was forced to get signet of the fallen here and even then I needed highrolls to cap cast speed. Spite helps but the CS nerf really hurt non PB setups more than PB itself.

Didn’t lightning FW get some buffs in latest patches?

The problem with lightning and fire weapon damage based skill is flat damage it can amass from mastery and devo is very low.

Also, Forcewave is a weak skill…

Lightning will be decent enough as Warder. But removal of Aether Corruption RR will affect it, cause you lack RR. You can’t have it from relic/weapon procs as well.

But if you make it as hybrid with totems/devils will be at least average build.

Fire Commando or maybe Tactician is the best option. Physical Warlord is second. Definitely Witchblade or even DK will be decent.

Tri - Elemental have good weapon but still is somewhat lacking in damage. Sheet DPS is depressing.

Then just play stormreaver :rofl:

Well, in AoM times I even made lightning FW battle mage build. :rofl:

The only battlemages you didn’t make are those who uses skills from other classes :rofl:

Well, with mods for GD even this is possible. :rofl::joy:

Stupid idiot question (maybe). On the CR performance, what’s no /10chars?

Blademaster is possibly my favorite class so far though – been wanting to do a pure physical and/or pierce build for awhile, and I’m loving the 2H playstyle. Will definitely go this route, especially if I find Nadaan’s Reach. Thank you for the tip on Biting Blades!

another one Bites the dust :open_mouth:

1 Like

You mean SR? It’s just that. No. Nothing tested.

Quarantine does many things to people, including going back to GD :rofl:

LOL yes, I am teacher in high school so I have to do all teaching via computer now. Very tempting to play again. I have been following the development from a distant horizon so to say. I watch @RektbyProtoss vids and streams now and then (he is just too sexy to resist)

2 Likes

1.1.7.1 Update

Biting Blades has been nerfed and there weren’t really any buffs to this build (Will of the Blade has casting speed added but with my rolls I already had 200% CS before that buff) but the 1.1.6.2 version performed just as well, if not faster during 1.1.7.1. This is most likely due to the aggro fix in cruci that Crate made. Even then, with me realizing that Nadaan’s Reach can get up to 72% conversion, I decided to change up the itemization and optimize it a bit, as well as making the greens single rares. Now it’s a looooot faster.

Also, due to the new aggro changes, this build is now less tankier, so if you wanna beef it up the simplest and best option is to just get war cry (courtesy of @mad_lee). I tried it and it was tankier than if you juggle items and get Serenity, but then it got into boring territory really fast and I still can’t facetank MQ on 162 (facetanks everything other than that) and war cry is ugly so I just prefer my glass cannon. As far as my tests go, speed is still around the same.