[1.1.9.6 - 1.2.0.3] Arcana Discernible - Elemental PRM Mage Hunter [sr+][vid]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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“A mage that hunts or a hunter that mages?..”
“ATTAK SERU!!!”(c) A highly-ranked inquisitor afraid of tentacles.

Solve the mystery, give us the answer - who Mage Hunter truly is (and Witch Hunter too) :face_with_monocle:. In the meantime, here is my build showcase.

Hello everyone! :slightly_smiling_face:

Ready for 1.1.9.7 patch? Excited to see new potential buffs and nerfs? Not much has left in Crate’s pocket to show, the end of Grim Dawn is near. At last, the game will be at mercy of players, not devs, who will get their proper rest. Does not mean that new builds will cease, so much ideas left undiscovered. Not today’s case though :laughing:.

The build concept is not new, just using a different approach with freshly-buffed gear. Most of the time I saw Panetti’s Replicating Missile (PRM) builds using Invoker set with Panetti Wand, even Temporal Arcblade :roll_eyes:. To be honest - this is not an Elemental build. Fire, Cold, Lightning together - this is the holy trinity of Elemental, not some hybrids (I have nothing against such concepts, but calling them Elemental is wrong, in my opinion :grimacing:). You will see what I mean.

So, here it is - a true Elemental PRM Mage Hunter, no Fire, Cold or Lightning converted away. As it should be :expressionless:.

1. Grimtools link.

I call this Sage + Seru devotion tree “Crucible Folly” (no offense to its fans). A highly-damaging fiesta of colors and no defense at all :laughing:. Couple it with Mage Hunter fragile nature… I tried to mitigate it through Ghoul, Phoenix, Tortoise and some great greens (all legal, I swear :sweat_smile:). The damage is good, but I cannot call it full glass-cannon. Just close.

2. In-game character stats.
1.2.0.3_EPRMMH_general_stats
general stats, only passive buffs and Word of Renewal are active. Damage Per Second is for PRM

1.2.0.3_EPRMMH_PRM_breakdown
PRM breakdown

1.2.0.3_EPRMMH_magic_stats
magic stats

1.2.0.3_EPRMMH_defense_stats
defense stats

3. Gear/Build explanation.
You may disagree in most cases with my gear choice. It is understandable, PRM line is not maxed-out fully. The gear is locked for some crucial slots, other offer different damage types or just worse defense-wise. Here is my completely subjective view of the matter.

  1. Core items.
    Weapon. Arcanum Sigillis. 30% WD and 8% ADCtH for PRM - crucial for surival. +1 to Inquisitor, some IEE line skillpoints (for some reason, +1 to Arcanist or something from PRM line would be more logical :man_shrugging:).
    Helmet. Spellgaze. Another 20% WD and 6% ADCtH for PRM - now we are talking :slightly_smiling_face:. Again, +1 to Inquisitor, some nice bonuses to WoR, decent amount of Health (it is hard to get Arcanist-based classes workable health pool). Craftable.
    These two items together make our sustain actually viable. Even half-Ghoul is something. How could someone play PRM builds without such mods - I have no idea :laughing:.
    Medal. Wendigo Eye. Converts all Aether Damage on PRM to Elemental (not shards from Proliferation, it is a skill inside another skill, like Brimstone for FS and Vile Eruption for DEE), some flat Damage to it, bonuses to WoP are also good to clear trash mobs quickly (not a huge bonus, but it is free), flat DA reduction helps. For all MIs - look for Pierce/Poison res, Health, OA, DA, %Elemental Damage (in this order).
  2. Mandatory items.
    Amulet. Heart of Malmouth. Good bonuses to PRM, +1 to Arcanist on top, some RR for WoR is obviously great, even inherent %Stun Res. Craftable. Invoker Shard splits Aether Damage to Fire/Lightning, so it is not for the build.
    Off-Hand. Tome of Names. Nice damage bonuses to PRM, it can now slow enemies, +1 to Inquisitor and great Elemental RR proc. Invoker’s Blaze converts Cold Damage, so again, does not fit.
    Chest. Fateweaver’s Raiment. Always a good defensive choice for Aether/Elemental casters (Mage hunter needs every drop of it).
    Pants. Leggings of Arcane Currents. Good Aether/Elemental slot with %Phys and %Poison res (important), points to MoE, SBoE and damaging proc do not hurt.
    Shoulders. Valdaran’s Mantle. +3 to PRM, %Phys res and %Casting Speed. An item with MI suffixes advantage over other candidates. I have old Impervious - Pierce/Fire - prefix that is not shown in GT since 1.2.0.3.
    Gloves. Inscribed Bracers. Decent Elemental gloves with %Disruption, +2 to Overload and another damaging proc (should stack with pants one).
    Boots. Final March. %Phys and %Slow res, some Physique means Health, +2 to Steel Resolve means a little bit of damage on otherwise empty slot.
  3. Can be changed.
    Rings. Living Ring. %Health and elemental affinity, +3 to IEE and Word of Agony (helps spreading our AoE RR ability effectively). Here you can use Invoker rings, should be more damage, but the build becomes for me uncomfortably squishy. Up to you.
    Relic. Iskandra’s Balance. Tons of Elemental Damage, Spirit, %Crit, +1 to Arcanist. Eternity or Bane relics are an alternative. Maybe Haunt to life-leech more :crazy_face:.
    Belt. Arcanoweave Cord. +1 to both masteries, %Pierce res, Health, %Elemental Damage, decent proc. If you want, use good Ugdenbog Waistguard with its Aether-to-Elemental conversion (nice for Proliferation and Arcane Currents), it is easy-farmable.

Craft with whatever you want. I have Energy Regen (for laziness reason :sweat_smile:).

About Resistance Reduction. Total amount is ~93% (-29% from AoC, -12% from modified WoP, -20% from Tome of Names proc and flat 32 from Rhowan’s Crown constellation) plus 10-20% from Viper constellation, so it can vary. Not much, but enough in most cases. The build can facetank most of the time, but melee heavy-hitters can be rough (like Fabius, Maiden, Reaper etc). Oh, and always facetank Slathzarr in melee range - its spits can one-shot you :grin: (maybe it was just -%Health mutator, 80+ shard in SR and bad luck, but still).

4. Gameplay.
Debuff everything with WoP, bind the healthiest enemy to yourselves through SBoE to proc many ATTAK SERU!, use Devastation for Phoenix constellation and throw many deadly colorful replicating candies :rofl:. Uptime WoR, its your great heal, Inquisitor Seal for tankiness, MoE and Nullification for dire situations/tactical decisions, Displacement for movement.

5. Videos.
Mad Queen (only apply SBoE when her red aura is dispelled, or you are under MoE).

Kra’Vall.

Lokarr (avoid his flame waves)

Morgoneth

SR 75 full.

Avatar of Mogdrogen (old video) (second phase is tough, potions are in the video, no Aether Clusters, occasional healpots)

Callagadra (potions are in the video, no Aether Clusters, occasional healpots, kiting. Made just for curiosity, how bad the build against Physical heavy-hitters is it is indeed :rofl:).

Flashy, squishy, funny :slightly_smiling_face:. This is what the build feels to me. What about you? Ideas and feedback are always welcome.

Have a good time!

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Always remember - Witch Gods are always three: Solael, Bysmiel AND Dreeg. Do not make them sad, stop attacking Seru. Or else you will be acquainted with nasty Chthonian tentacles :grin:.

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Impressive kill of Callagadra.
impessive rings and shoulders.
Clever way of going without Widow/Murmur/Solael Witchblade as build would be too clunky to play.
Guess Crate no go due to quantity of crates it spawns because of RPM? What about Ravager?
If i want to add more skillpoints to PRM tree, what are the options? Maybe it’s worth putting same in the original post?

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I can’t believe you went through a Cally kill on this, I’ve tried a few variations as well and the single target damage is so frustrating low considering the skill point investment :sweat_smile:

Couple things you ran into I’d love to see adjusted:

  • PRM gear is horribly restricting and you still can’t max out the skill line without arcanist prefixes. Dropping the helm even with gun leech seems wrong, but to max the line you need to look at the blue shoulders+helm. You went the correct path with helm and MI shoulders
  • Gun supports a weapon damage approach (my best effort actually uses dual guns + helm) but it’s very hard to find elemental flat damage to take advantage of it
  • PRM single target is hilariously bad and hogs up most of your skill points to boot. It’s like having fire strike AoE but no push behind it, so you get down to nemesiseses and it takes forever (see also, madman 11:43 cally kill). I’d actually love to see a cadence like +500% damage or something silly every 3rd shot. AoE will already be cleared but would allow it to not be such a drag on single target
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Crate fight makes your PC garbage-tier with all those sparks, whirlwinds, particles, boxes. No matter how strong it is :laughing:. I went hostile with Barrowholm. I think, Ravager fight would be somewhat similar to Callagadra one, but in a smaller area.

I mentioned Mythical Invoker’s Shocking Touch and Mythical Invoker’s Burning Hand as an alternative. Totally viable if you have good piloting skills. Shoulders like Mythical Cortosian Scrolls or Mythical Shoulderguard of the Paragon do not offer much defense to already fragile class, second ones are only good in full set (but we need Spellgaze hard). Of course you can use dual Sigillises like @eardianm suggested but I find huge Elemental RR from Tome of Names more valuable (only one mastery provides RR, so every drop of it is precious). Eternity relic also inclines towards off-hand usage. And we have Stormbearers, they do not have Cold Damage and more suitable for full Invoker set (no Slow res is also bad).

Just for fun, I did not expect such “good” time results, thought it would be half an hour fight :grin:.

That is true. Unfortunately, devs do not want players have fun with PRM, you have to choose - sustain or fully-pumped skill line. Even DEE is easier to build.

That is why IEE exists :slightly_smiling_face:. Of course, halved, but decent nonetheless.

Something like making living arcane bombs out of your enemies? Sound really good! :+1: Not at this stage of the game, but maybe in GD 2.

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You can sacrifice the left nod of Attack Seru and get the Wayward Soul.

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Yes, I can. But do not want. A situational small healing with excessive DA and Armor (for Mage Hunters :roll_eyes:) is not worth much. On the contrary, 100% Elemental Damage and some flat in one node looks nice :slightly_smiling_face:. Chariot nodes were taken for huge amount of OA and some Slow res.

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Hello! :slightly_smiling_face:

Our first update to the build for current patch - 1.1.9.7:

  • Reduced monster % Cold Resist by 6% on Ultimate difficulty and 3% on Elite difficulty
  • Reduced monster % Fire Resist by 3% on Ultimate difficulty and 2% on Elite difficulty
  • Reduced monster % Lightning Resist by 3% on Ultimate difficulty and 2% on Elite difficulty
  • Arcane Will: increased Defensive Ability scaling with rank to 200 by rank 10, 380 by max ultimate rank
  • Maiven’s Sphere of Protection: increased % Damage Absorb scaling with rank to 22% by rank 12, 32% by max ultimate rank
  • Word of Renewal: reduced Cooldown to 12s

The build is unchanged. Have fun!

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Hey, I was wondering… perhaps the gun is supposed to be paired with Ludrigans? It adds a 3s cooldown to PRM alongside more aoe, so it’s more like a rocket that you shoot between default attacks?

Obviously Ludrigan’s takes up the helm slot, but with the cooldown on PRM, it’s mostly the %WD that matters, not the ADtCH. This would also overlap with AA as you would be trying to boost WD.

I’ve been trying to build a mage hunter that uses AA ranged, and you seem to be the person to ask, as you’re the only one building mage hunters lately.

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Ludrigan is an entirely different setup for PRM, making it a nuke with flat RR (a pretty weak one, according to my experience). You can use Sigillis with that set, of course, but most damage and leech will still come from AA.

Good luck! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yeah, sorry - I don’t mean for this particular build as Ludrigan’s set is also lightning focused, which doesn’t fit the tri-element focus here.

I mean more broadly, the arcanum sigilis seems like a good fit for the set. Ludrigan’s leaves the off-hand free, but with the support for AA with PRM as a psuedo-wps, the slot likely goes to another pistol and Arcanum Sigilis is the only other pistol that boosts PRM specifically.

It’s a shame the modifiers make it worse, PRM is quite point intensive to be turned into just a psuedo-wps that doesn’t clearly outperform cheaper alternatives.

I am curious however; what would a non “crucible folly” devotion set up look like? is there a viable compromise that provides more defense? Devotions have been a tremendous hurdle to my theory crafting because of this.

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Like this, for example: Mage Hunter, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator. Less damage, but we have got Turtle, Phoenix and even full Chariot. Eternity relic helps with defensive cooldowns (except for Turtle and Ghoul).

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Greetings!

This is 1.1.9.8 build update:

  • Reduced monster % Fire Resist by 2% on Elite and Ultimate difficulty
  • Rare Prefix - Tempest: added % Elemental Dot damage
  • Rare Suffix - Insight: added % Elemental Dot damage
  • Iskandra’s Balance: removed erroneous Burn Retaliation
  • Fateweaver’s Raiment: added % Elemental Dot damage
  • Mythical Leggings of Arcane Currents: added % Elemental Dot damage
  • Mythical Spellgaze: added % Elemental Dot damage. Increased bonuses to Blackwater Cocktail and Panetti’s Replicating Missile to +3.
  • Attak Seru: increased Health to 600 and % Defensive Ability to 6%
  • Blind Sage: increased % Elemental Dot damage to 250%. Added 4% Physical Resist and reduced Offensive Ability to 115.
  • Chariot of the Dead: increased % Stun Resist to 20% and Health to 250
  • Quill: increased Health to 100
  • Distortion: increased Aether damage scaling with rank
  • Supercharged: increased Electrocute damage scaling with rank. Increased % Crit damage scaling with rank to 40% by rank 12, 60% by max ultimate rank.

The build was adjusted accordingly by moving spare skillpoints to Word of Agony and excessive Physique into Spirit. The GT link was updated. Have fun!

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Hi! :slightly_smiling_face:

Let me bump this wizard of deadly sweets in 1.2.0.3 patch.

  • % Resistance Magic Prefixes that offer % Pierce or % Poison with a combination of 1 % Elemental Resist (ex. Pierce + Cold) have been removed from the loot pool at level 70+. Increased the chance of rolling the % Pierce + % Poison Resistance pair to compensate.
  • Heart of Malmouth: increased bonus to Panetti’s Replicating Missile to +2
  • Mythical Spellgaze: increased bonus to Panetti’s Replicating Missile to +4
  • Mythical Tome of Names: increased bonuses to Distortion and Supercharged to +3
  • Candle: reduced Energy Regeneration to 2.5
  • Ghoul: increased Health Regeneration to 16 and % Health Regeneration to 30%
  • Raven: reduced Energy Regeneration to 1.0 and increased Lightning damage for pets to 9
  • Ghoulish Hunger: added % Increased Healing (Forgotten Gods only) and added % Cast Speed
  • Phoenix Fire: increased Absorption scaling with rank
  • Arcane Will: increased Defensive Ability scaling with rank to 250 by rank 10, 500 by max ultimate rank
  • Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange: reduced % Energy Regeneration scaling with rank to 60% by rank 12, 95% by max ultimate rank
  • Mirror of Ereoctes: increased Energy Cost scaling with rank
  • Nullification: reduced Cooldown scaling with rank to 18s by rank 10, 8s by max ultimate rank
  • Inquisitor Seal: increased Energy Cost scaling with rank
  • Storm Box of Elgoloth: increased Duration to 8s
  • Lightning Tether: maximum tethers increased to 5
  • Word of Renewal: increased Duration to 60s. Increased Energy Cost and Heal scaling with rank. Increased % Heal scaling at ultimate ranks.

GT link is updated, as well as videos except for Mogdrogen. Tried to make this Mage Hunter sturdier by adding Turtle and Phoenix devotions (wanted Crab, but could not fit it without sacrifices), no Hydra - no speedrunning unfortunately :frowning_face:. Still the build is glassy, just a little bit less :grin:.

Have fun!