[1.1.9.6 - 1.2.0.3] Doom Impending - Rahbinger Witchblade [sr+][vid]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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Glad you liked it :slightly_smiling_face:. However, this is an endgame build and its core items must be 1. Obtained and 2. You need to reach lvl 94 to use them. Use the guide of @RektbyProtoss linked by @tqFan, that is a good starter Chaos build to farm dungeons/totems/low SR levels.

Get at least 4 items of Rah’Zin set and 3 of Harbinger, so you can transmute them into full sets after completing this quest. If you are lucky, blueprints can drop so that you can craft them.

Rest of the items are farmable (pants from mobs mentioned here, relic has two lower level versions - Gunslinger’s Talisman, blueprint buyable at the starter area, and Marauder’s Talisman, sold by Hyram after completing this quest) or drop randomly (in this case just fill empty slots with whatever you find valuable: items with Chaos damage, resistances etc).

Good luck!

I farm SR 75-76 only for loot (if the build is weak by my standards - 65-66). It can beat SR 80, but I only visit it once to unlock farming range. Not interested to go higher, there are no rewards except for bragging.

You can make early Chaos FW? :face_with_raised_eyebrow: Was it Physical maybe?

Melee Rah’Zin WB is also great (but I doubt it can beat Crate, or even Callagadra, the rest is manageable). Deceiver may be another option for Rahbinger because of RR and ranged support.

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Yes, Physical from the start, switch to Chaos after reaching Bastion of Chaos. Not recommending, just listed as a possibility.

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You mean Obsidian War Cleaver? It does not have in-built Physical-to-Chaos conversion, just some flat. Also, with Consecrated Blade modifier of Solael’s Witchfire, Chaos component and Void-Touched prefix you can get 78% maximum conversion. Up to 12% can be found on some Legendary amulets, but they drop randomly. Unless you get lucky Obsidian Juggernaut, this method is not as effective as usual Physical FW or melee Chaos, be it S&B or dual-wielding. Playing memes from the start can be fun though :sweat_smile:.

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Add conversion from Abomination to that and you complete the meme. Maybe you could vendor farm Obsidian War Cleaver for some good Chaos affixes.

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Yeah, forgot about that :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:.

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or using this guns to make some kind of ranged chaos dw Witchblade with Doom Bolt focus (who needs resist reduction …)

Witchblade, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator (not fine tuned at all, just as some kind of initial prove of concept)

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You won, that seems to be the most suitable leveling for this build. Also the weapon are accessible early.

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Pretty nice build. Just did sr 65-75 in ultimate to unlock the 75 checkpoint. Strong bosskiller. I haven’t tried it in crucible yet. Need to level up the devotions more. Does it matter which skill i link to the devotions? That make any difference?

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Main RR devotion is usually bound to your main attack skill to have better uptime. For this build - since you shoot most of the time, Eldritch Fire is bound to Touch of Chaos. Abominable Might synergizes well with Doom Bolt. And CoF is decent enough for Hungering Void. WPS skills are not great for devotion procs (except for Inquisitor’s Storm Spread) and Amatok’s Breath requires you, the ranged build, to charge in crowds/bosses. Even though 99% of the time Ranged = Melee in GD :grimacing:.

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Hi @Willnoword , I was wondering if you’d be kind enough upload a save file for this build. I don’t have a lot of time these days so it would be nice to see how the build is before assembling one myself.

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https://ufile.io/4wvdj441 i got a save file here.

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Thanks mate !

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I have an Auradin 100 Elite. Following @RektbyProtoss tips, are these items you commented on and very hard to drop? Is there any other tip to give. I returned to Auradin just to farm such items.

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Just farming, not harder than any other legendary item :slight_smile: sr and totems are recommended

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Just what @WhiteWalker suggested above. Pants are easily farmable, the rest is just a common drop. Ultimate difficulty yields more Legendaries than Elite.

Hope I understood your question correctly.

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Sorry for not answering in time :sweat_smile:. There is already a save file given by @kompaniet3462, but if you want to see the original one, visit this topic. Have fun!

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came to verify that cadence dual bloodsworn repeaters works just fine for leveling. the build’s a little squishy until your damage output jumps at level 50 when you can start using legendaries. also it was my first time leveling a witchblade and i was kinda YOLO’ing it.

once you hit level 94 this build is just stupid powerful. i was not expecting to kill ultimate krieg in like, 2 seconds per phase.

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I am currently levelling the build, trying to go for Coyote’s template (I know it’s not tested and tuned, but there’s always room for that).

What can I say? The toon is level 44 running through Ugdenbog (currently Softcore Normal) and it feels fun to shoot guys down with withering gunfire and occasionally doom bolt some poor schmucks. Fun but relatively squishy feeling, did not invest into real defensive options yet and the gear is nothing to write home about, really. Lot of room for improvements.

Anyway, how did I approach the leveling?

Current GT: Witchblade, Level 44 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

First, starting as your average, garden variety Forcewave Soldier. It’s not exciting or refreshing, but if you have a soldier-based character, FW is a safe bet for fast and low-effort leveling.

Around level 18 I’ve got a nice Shambler amulet coupled with a Mutant Bludgeon (and crafted Battle Shield with whooping 19 % phys resist), so I’ve decided to put a twist on things and uncklick the spam transmuter. Getting used to cd on FW took a little time, but with Bludgeon and shambler ammy it’s just 2s CD, which is acceptable. And the thing hits hard (8 - 10k crits at level 20 or so are no joke), I just had to play a little slower and pay more attention to positioning as each shot had to count due to CD.

Attributes:

First, I’ve been doing 1:1 Physique/Cunning ratio to have enough cunning for the guns. At 10 Cunning I ditched it in favor of Physique and at 25 Physique I’ve decided to pump Spirit a bit. Probably will push Spirit to 25 as well and switch to Physique. Maybe throw 5 more points into Cunning? Everything can be recalibrated later using attribute respec potion (we can get a couple free ones in the Main Campaign).

Handling Skill points:

Early game, before RespecClassic Soldier start, go for Tremor transmuter ASAP and fill out the FW line, while pushing Soldier bar to 40 (that should be enough damage, I had to remember that a respec would happen relatively soon - no reason to go for War Cry and other phys damage stuff now). After getting there, I then opened Occultist mastery and started pumping the bar, gunning for Solael's Witchfire aura. Meanwhile, I've reached Blood Grove and started going for the doomguns. Wasn't lucky on affixes, they are rather poor. Definitely a lot of room to improve. Also crafted the Gunslinger's Talisman, it's needed for dual-wielding pistols.
RespecDecided to do it around level 33 or so, I don't think it has to be done on a given level; it may be a good idea to delay it to play with a few more skill points. The only important thing here is to realize that the minimum level for respec is 30 - which is the lowest level requirement for doomguns.

Anyway, I refunded all the FW line points, also refundend the Blitz point and the one point for Shield Training (was going S&B CD FW, so that point was for a neat damage bonus with Milton’s Casque), otherwise I kept the Soldier bar at 40 (required due to Deadly Momentum).

Those points went into the Cadence line - one point into main skill, 12 into Fighting Form (one point refunded later as I got Mogara’s Fangs for +1 Soldier skills) and maxed Deadly Momentum - that’s what makes Cadence tick, after all. Also decided to put one point each into Zolhan’s Technique (damage, 100% passthrough) and Markovian’s Advantage (damage & slight DA shred). Rest of the points went into Occultist bar to 15 (Consecrated Blade transmuter for 30% phys → chaos damage conversion) and into Solael’s Witchfire (flat chaos dmg + attack speed).

Note: both Markovian’s Advantage and Zolhan’s Technique fire two rapid shots when procced - this actually accelerates the Cadence discharge shot cycling (each of those shots counts as a separate charge for Cadence), which results in higher actual DPS.

Further skill allocation after respec After respec, I finished Solael's Witchfire and rushed Occultist bar to 50; the goal is to reach both Doom Bolt and Possesion before or around level 50 (it's generally a good idea to have your exclusive skill before or around lvl. 50). Spent one point into Doom Bolt, which sums up to 6/12 thanks to the two doomguns (2x 2 DB points) and +1 Occultist belt from Rovers. Next target is Possession, then I would max DB and go for perhaps Blood of Dreeg, Field Command and some more defensive options.

Devotions:

Going for the map in Coyote’s GT:

  • Started with Red → Jackal → Refund Red → Blue → Sailor’s Guide
    Reasoning: In beginning I am playing FW soldier, no need to rush Chaos nodes. Both Jackal and Guide are on the final map, and taking them early means a nice boost in movement speed.

  • Afterwards I went with Rat → Hawk → Solael’s Witchblade
    Reasoning: As I gained levels, I needed to slowly steer towards Chaos constallations as respec time was nearing. The first and most important constellation is Solael’s Witchblade (-% Chaos RR), took Rat and Hawk for affinity points (Hawk has a nice bonus of dropping Cunning requirements for guns by 10 %)

  • Next step is Quill → Hydra
    Reasoning: Hydra is, obviously, a must-have constellation for gunners. Quill just fulfills the affinity requirements for Hydra. Currently Hydra is not yet finished in my GT.

  • Afterwards I aim to go for the first T3 devotion: Fox → Abomination (right side). Need to remember to put a point into Curse of Frailty to bind Abominable Might to.
    Reasoning: Abomination is a key chaos constellation, the proc also offers 50% phys → chaos damage conversion. Fox is for those 5 missing green affinity points.

  • Final step should be Eel → Lizard (interchangeable) → Dying God (binding to Doom Bolt) → two points in Ulzuin’s Torch → final point in Spider. That should complete Coyote’s map.
    Reasoning: Simply finishing the map with the other signature chaos T3 constellation, Dying God. Eel and Lizard are fillers for blue affinity. The last three points are for useful stats.

I like this map, easy to figure out (if you know how devotions work) and does not really require respeccing; all the mentioned constellations are on the final map, only the red Crossroad node is refundend early (the blue one has to stay to meet the requirement for Dying God).

In Momentary Conclusion

Current feeling about the build I like the build. Had to start with FW, but this build really cannot be played from level 1 without massive headaches. So easy FW until getting two doomguns and Gunslinger's Talisman, respec is not exactly level-sentisive (needs to be done after level 30 though, because that is the minimum level requirement for doomguns), but doing it around level 30 - 35 feels good. Build guns down most baddies, some kiting is a good idea around bigger opponents. Harbingers need to be kited hard, they have high chaos resist and can lay down some serious hurt.

When Doom Bolt came online at level 42, thing started to make the turn for fun and enjoyment. The skill deletes packs of trash and nukes bigger baddies like it’s nobody’s business - all while bullets are flying everywhere.

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Thx for trying the concept out - it is always interesting to see how a concept works in the game.

Please don’t miss the opportunity and make a guide thread (when you are finished) as guides for gunners are still rare :slight_smile:

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Thanks.

For a guide, I did not really make any leveling notes. I would have to level the character again and make the notes, character snapshots, etc., so the guide would have desirable quality of content. I will think about it. Even though, I would hack it together somehow and smooth it up later when leveling again and making proper notes and other preparations for a leveling guide.

Oh, and I would definitely stay with spam FW in the guide for the early game section. The CD FW was just a diversion for a more interesting leveling experience 'cause I’ve got decent items for it.

Thank you.

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