Here’s a question: What do you do with 2 diamaterically opposed classes? Do you pray to the heavens for a set to make you viable? Maybe an overpowered MI to single-handedly thrust you into the spotlight? Maybe you just invest heavily into one and leave the other hanging in the wind to be used for attributes and maybe a couple passive buffs?
Or maybe you’re crazy like me and your answer is: something completely different.
In the beginning, I had no idea what to do with my lonely little gal, sitting in the bottom of my Character Select screen, gathering dust… the Bonemonger set proving unsatisfactory, Radaggan’s being a joke, and what have you. I agonized for WEEKS thinking of SOME way to convert all of the different damage types at my disposal into a single, cohesive character. I looked over each of their skills and… wow, -25% Physical Resist on Spectral Wrath? Neat!
Enter my Physical Apostate.
1.1.8.0 - CURRENT VERSION: Apostate, Level 100 (GD 1.1.7.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
1.1.8.0 brought us some upgrades. Mostly, Aura of Conviction Support on our new Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might gloves! With a heapin’ helpin’ of Pierce to Physical conversion and Flat Physical Damage! And the extra % Physical damage on Conviction is awesome as well.
1.1.9.2 update: I was really scared when I saw that converted Physical damage would be affected by enemy Armor, but after my most recent SR66 run with shit Mutators, I can say with confidence that the build’s performance has not been affected. You might have a slightly worse time with things like Aetherial Abominations, though.
Mythical Beronath Reforged and Mythical Gladiator’s Distinction are the absolute keys to this build. All of a sudden, ALL of our Elemental and Vit damage sources becomes Physical… as do our flat damage buffs… namely from Soul Harvest and Arcane Empowerment (plus Steel Resolve). My goal with this build thus became to capitalize on the powerful sources of (now converted) flat damage provided by both classes.
Next, we need some Resist Reduction. Assassin’s Mark for a cool 32%, Spectral Wrath gives us a very generous 25%, our Stonewall Defender’s “-15% Phys. Res. to Ill Omen”, Deathstalker’s 10%, Black Matriarch’s Ring’s 10%, and the -15% to Storm Box from our Conduit add up to an absolutely WHOPPING
107% Physical Resistance Reduction.
And so from there, we need a Default Attack Replacer. I couldn’t find one, so unfortunately I had to undo some of my work by investing in a Shard of Beronath (I tried Dual Wielding with a Heart of Theo Marcell, but… results were garbage). Seal of Might and Fleshwarped Pauldrons help us get back some of the flat damage from Spectral Binding and turn it into something useful. We REALLY want Attack Speed on this build to maximize the efficiency of all our flat damage, hence some of the strange augment choices.
So now we have Inquisitor providing the Chonk factor with Inquisitor’s Seal, Word of Renewal and Aura of Conviction, and Necromancer providing the (decidedly limited) WPS as well as most of the offense. The rest is gear and devotions.
The Affixes on our green items aren’t nearly as important as their innate properties. A 36% conversion from Aether to Physical on your Fleshwarped Pauldrons is probably better than my current Affix setup. Just use them to patch resistances.
That said, BiS Shield suffix is definitely of Wildfire for the flat damage, Ele resist and large Attack Speed boost (all the Fire flat damage goes Physical anyway, so yay!)
The Devotions may seem a bit strange, but the truth is, this build kind of needs the help from all the damage and offense provided by this setup. And as for the seemingly omnipresent Pierce Damage, well, I can’t convert it, so it’s here to stay, so I might as well have it earn its keep.
BiS legs is definitely Reaper’s Legguards for the +3 to Soul Harvest, but until I find a pair with Physical damage support, Barbaros is king.
I thought this would just be a stupid meme build when I dreamed up the concept, but oh lawd, it is NOT.
I don’t have video proof or screenshots yet, but this thing can facetank A LOT of stuff. I post this after clearing SR66 and dealing with an onslaught from Moosilauke and Grava’Thul at the same time (was buffed with a Hoarfrost Ointment and praying for Grava to not shoot out his Nullification bubbles) at which point Crate apparently said “wait, that’s illegal” and crashed my damn game upon hitting the loot room. Will post some shots after clearing it again.
Edited for screenshots. Screenshots for SR 75-76 pending. Clear time was about 20 minutes, give or take 2. I dunno if that’s good or not.
Here’s one of my little lady being a dear and facetanking Korvaak and Valdaran. There were a few damage spikes, but…
…she made it out okay.
SR 76 screenshot. Kuba was being a piece of shit and healing everyone up, but even with shit Mutators I broke through 'em eventually.
