Hello people! This is my newest build and it was quite challenging to balance properly. It went through so many versions and featured all sorts of different approaches until I actually landed on something consistent. This is a very long topic. See conclusion section for a TL,DR.
Stats with all auras active + Blood of Dreeg + Pneumatic Burst.
The Process of Leveling
It was quite an interesting experience. The original plan for the build was to go hybrid and use dual-wielding which one of the more novel and cool things a Nightblade can add to a Pet build. I intended to use Seal of Blight and I did use it for quite some time, but I ran into energy issues due to the build not investing a whole lot on the Nightblade mastery (which was intended from the beginning) and the many auras that reserve and drain energy added to the build after reaching level 94. There was a constant risk of these energy draining auras turning off in case I ran out of energy which was the case several times.
Because of the energy issues, I changed the build to accommodate Dreeg’s Evil Eye and use it as the main player skill. Mythical Plaguebearer of Dreeg was used in conjunction with Mythical Blightstone Invoker (the former for RR and the later for complete Physical to Acid conversion on Pets). But another problem became clear as I dived deeper into endgame: cooldown on Pets. The dual-wielding approach was blocking the usage of an off-hand with CDR. The medal slot was blocked by Mythical Blightshard Amulet (core of the build) so no Shard of Lost Souls for the -8 seconds cooldown on Hellhound. I realized this dual-wield approach wasn’t sustainable for this build so I had to scrap it.
The next step was to obtain a good Fleshwarped Archive. They can be vendor farmed at the Steel Cap District. I decided to look for one that had a Wanderer’s prefix instead of Subjugator’s. Why? The Blighted Rift Scourges are way too frail! They are ranged attackers (like Familiar), so their base HP is quite terrible. And their resistances…
Yeah… It’s pretty bad. The current test patch for 1.1.9.8 supposedly is increasing the resistances for Pets summoned by items. I hope these improve because this is pretty awful. It isn’t unplayable or unviable, but i needed the massive HP boost from Wanderer’s prefix (on off-hand) and of the Untamed suffix (on belt) to increase their survivability and this actually paid off massively in the fight against Lokarr. Video at the bottom of the post.
Equipment
All items crafted for the build were created by the blacksmith in the Steel Cap District. Both Mythical Yugol’s Ichor and Puppetmaster Links got extra stun and freeze resistance because of the bonuses from the blacksmith. This is important because the build was lacking in CC resists. Ghol’s Mantle was used for its Elemental and Aether resistances for Pets and player. Same for the Mythical Crown of Command. The helm was also used in conjunction with a medal with flat spirit bonus to manipulate the amount of spirit I had in order to equip the off-hand (which self sustains from spirit bonus on of Binding suffix) without dumping way too many attribute points into spirit. Build had more HP and DA due to greater investment in Physique during the dual-wield phase, so there was a significant loss after the off-hand was equipped. The helm can be significantly improved by a Chosen Visage, but it needs the of the Wild suffix (for Pets elemental resistances) and spirit bonus to avoid using even more attribute points on spirit.
Mythical Overlord’s Iron Grip was used for its skill points, resistances and DA bonus on Bond’s of Bysmiel, but they can be replaced with Ghol’s Reach (requires rebalancing of resistances). Mythical Fiend Flesh Greaves were used for the Physical resistance and proc. Mythical Wildshorn Legguards for physical and bleeding resistance and skill points. Mythical Fiendmaster Raiment for the skill points and aura. Halion’s Crest with of the Wild suffix for the Elemental resistance and +25% attack speed on Hellhound. It can be replaced with Mythical Mark of Unlife for more safety. Mythical Yugol’s Ichor, Mythical Blightstone Invoker and Mythical Blightshard Amulet are the core of the build.
The choice of relic should be quite obvious, but it isn’t so simple for me. Bysmiel’s Domination relic was used for its stats and proc, but it can be replaced with Primal Instinct which would massively improve the build’s overall damage output. Primal Instinct is certainly BiS and should be used instead of Bysmiel’s Domination. Why I didn’t use it? Because I see it as a crutch. I don’t want to rely on it for every single build. For me, the build must work without relying on Primal Instinct. This relic should only improve the build and not carry it. That’s just how I choose to do things, but players should most certainly know that I didn’t use the best option and was effectively nerfing the build because of this.
The medal skill can be either Dreeg’s Wounds (better for engaging/disengaging and for the Fumble/Impaired Aim) or Glyph of the Scorpion Tail (deals more damage and is better for an aggressive playstyle). The build doesn’t need Rune of the Dark Progenitor because it already has a significant amount of OA/DA shred.
Devotions
Purple Crossroad → Shepherd’s Crook → Remove Purple → Green Crossroad → Raven → Red Crossroad → Jackal → Bysmiel’s Bonds → Remove Green → Yellow Crossroad → Tortoise → Eel → Remove Yellow → Murmur → Chariot of the Dead → Scorpion → 6 points in left side of Abomination (for Tainted Eruption) → Empty Throne (for chaos, aether, pierce, stun and freeze res) → Final Point went into first node of Wolverine (for Pet Pierce resistance), but player can opt for something else.
Achievements
Full campaign finished and all Key Dungeons cleared. Bourbon Clones, Lokarr, Ravager of Minds and Avatar of Mogdrogen were defeated on the first try.
Ravager wasn’t all that difficult but potions are a necessity (Ugdenjuice, Ugdensalve, all Royal Jelly potions, Elixir of the Dranghoul, Elixir of Mogdrogen and resistance potions for fire, lightning, cold, bleeding, vitality, acid). One of the Mender’s Powder augments on Jewelry needs to be replaced with Ateph’s Will (extra health and armor, but bleeding resistance for Pets is the most important thing).
Mogdrogen was a completely different story though. It was way too difficult. The fight lasted over 17 minutes and had way too many close calls. A crucial change was equipping Hellhound with Tainted Eruption. Crowd control is everything in this fight and the Blighted Rift Scourges are way too frail to do this job so I placed it on the tankiest Pet with lowest cooldown. The same pots used against Ravager were necessary here. Despite the first try win, I don’t recommend attempting this boss on this build. It is simply not worth the stress.
SR 65/66 proved to be quite challenging. The main issue came from nemesis that counter the build. Fabius doesn’t resist Acid/Poison, but Pets have low Pierce and Bleeding resistance, so he can kill them very quickly. And Archmage Aleksander resists Acid/Poison and has devastating AoE attacks. I fought both on the SR 65/66 video and they were a close call. But everything worked out in the end. All gameplay videos below.
Conclusion
Creating this build was quite an interesting adventure. Unfortunately, as explained in the post, I wasn’t able to use the more interesting aspects of Nightblades (dual-wielding) into the build due to several flaws (energy issues, cooldown reduction, Pet HP and resistances). However, I was still able to create a competent enough build to beat some of the endgame challenges. It was kind of a pain to balance this build, but it worked out well in the end. Thanks for Reading! Feel free to leave any questions below.