[1.1.9.8] Bonemonger/Rutniks-Blaster 1h+Shield/DW ranged Aether-Paladin [SR90+]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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Notable changes with 1.1.9.8

  • Erulan Shield:
  • Mythical Watcher of Erulan: added Physical damage bonus to the granted skill
  • Rutniks Blaster:
  • Rutnick’s Blaster: fixed granted skill not scaling with the level of the weapon (chef’s kiss)
  • Magelord Rings:
  • The Magelord Set: increased damage on the skill proc and added % Damage Reduction to it
  • Magelord Band: added 190 Health
  • Magelord Signet: added 190 Health

Crazy update with the most important being the buffed WPS of the blaster which now feels like a proper warped storm spread WPS! I am excited that some defense lost from the 1h+Shield version came back with the added dmg reduction on the aether smash proc. We are critting like crazy so the uptime will be decent.

Recent 1h+Shield version:

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Standing in the seal. With Righteous Fervor and buffs.
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Standing in the seal. With Righteous Fervor and buffs.

Now with the default weapon attacks being passthrough the build received more offensive and AoE capabilties. On the other hand I was bored using the DW version so I dropped the offhand and made the build work with the Erulan shield. With the shield the build is tankier so I overhauled the devotions to the recent playstyle. I like this version better.

Damage is about the same as the DW version. 150-250k Smite crits are doable, thanks to 3169/ 3618 OA.

Changed the medal to a Basilisk Crest simply because of better rolls.
Grimtools with Tranquil Mind pants:

I wanted to roll for more Stun Resistance and killed many Guardians of Dreeg on they way to it. Performance is about the same, but nasty Stun Lock situations are less possible.
Grimtools for more Stun Res:

Basic numbers from ingame:

  • 200% attack speed. 3,39 attacks per second.
  • 43% crit damage (Seal + Deadly aim)
  • (Temporary) damage absorption (ascension and maxed out seal)
  • 50% Ele to aether conversion, 100% Phys/Pierce to aether conversion
  • 3169/3618 OA and 2945/3063 DA (RF + WoR)
  • 185 Defensive Ability Reduction on enemies
  • 280 Offensive Ability Reduction on enemies
  • 15k Health
  • 56 % Physical Resistance
  • 23% Lifesteal (+ Bat and Wake of Bones)
  • 9 % Dodge Chance
  • 27 % Deflect Chance (in Seal)
  • 80% slow resistance
  • (vitality to aether conversion)
  • 43% Block Chance

Boss combinations like Rashalga + Grava’Thul are still the most pain in the ass, but now you do not have to kite as often as the DW version.

— Old entry with DW Version —

DW version:
Entfyre_seal
Standing in the seal. With Righteous Fervor.
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Standing in the seal. With Righteous Fervor.

Hi Guys,

I love (dual-wield) gunner builds and wanted to share my Aether gunner I am currently building and testing. It is a Paladin which makes use of the Bonemonger Set and the damage conversion of the new MI Rutniks Blaster.

I wanted to try if I can make a ranged build based on aether damage that feels smooth and safe and think this is a good base. Right now, for me personally, this ranged build is the most fun for me, so I want to share it. I like having an inquisitor seal and wps skill like smite on steroids.

I tested a bit in shattered realm and 60-61 was no problem for me at all (without any potions or shrines). I do not play crucible.

Edit: SR 65-66 also cleared, without any shrines or buff potions. Only used tonic of mending.

Edit2: Shattered Realm 70 cleared, without any shrines or buff potions. Only used tonic of mending.

Edit3: Shattered Realm 70-71 cleared, without any shrines or buff potions. Only used tonic of mending.

Edit4: Shattered Realm 75-76 cleared, without any shrines or buff potions. Only used tonic of mending.

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Boss combinations like Rashalga + Grava’Thul are the most pain in the ass. Need to practice kiting more :stuck_out_tongue:

Nemesis bosses or other campaign content were also no problem so far.

Current Version I roll with; found a Wendigo Eye with beefy resists, aether damage and OA. Changed Pants to Legwraps of the Tranquil Mind. Optimized Devotions for more OA and dropped Imp Devotion (gained additional 105 OA, but no flashy aether flames anymore). Gained also Crit Damage and Total Speed, which means attack speed loss through seal transmuter is irrelevant because you will be still capped at 3,95 attacks per second.
Grimtools:

With the new MI I gained 80% Poison Res, so the next step would be optimizing resistances again. Thank you @Nola for the input with slow res, it feels much smoother.

Basic numbers from ingame:

  • Maxed out attack speed. 3,95 attacks per second.
  • 64% crit damage (Seal + Deadly aim)
  • High (temporary) damage absorption (ascension, phoenix devotion and maxed out seal)
  • 50% Ele to aether conversion, 100% Phys/Pierce to aether conversion
  • 2955/3380 OA and 2807/3053 DA (RF + WoR)
  • 105 Defensive Ability Reduction on enemies
  • 12k Health
  • 38 % Physical Resistance
  • 18% - 26% Lifesteal (+ Bat and Wake of Bones)
  • 9 % Dodge Chance
  • 27 % Deflect Chance (in Seal)
  • 62% slow resistance
  • (vitality to aether conversion)

(old or “alternative” version)

Basic numbers from ingame (old or “alternative” version):

  • Maxed out attack speed. 3,95 attacks per second.
  • 45% crit damage (Seal + Deadly aim)
  • High (temporary) damage absorption (ascension, phoenix devotion and maxed out seal)
  • 50% Ele to aether conversion, 100% Phys/Pierce to aether conversion
  • 2800/3160 OA and 3160 DA
  • 15k Health
  • 40 % Physical Resistance
  • 18% - 26% Lifesteal (+ Bat and Wake of Bones)
  • 15 % Dodge Chance
  • (vitality to aether conversion)

I use the physical themed gear for the bonuses I receive from it, it is also possible to use aether, vitality or elemental gear because of the strong conversations we get from the set bonuses.

Further considerations can be:
Kriegs Boots and Grips for 2x set bonus
Other rings. I use the magelord rings for inq. seal bonus and ele conversion.

We are relatively free in choosing the medal, I am currently running with a Wendigo Eye, because of the DA reduction of WoP and its +3 to Death Sentence.
For starters I would recommend Mythical Gildam Commendation, if there is no better alternative.
Pushing you flat damage would lead to Mark of Burning Shadows or Mark of the Dreadblade.
If you like eternal self torment you can farm either Wendigo Eyes or Basilisk Crests with bonuses for aether damage, OA, DA and resists.

Have fun!

5 Likes
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Bonemonger rocks! I like the choice of only 1 Rutnik and adding Havoc as secondary weapon for skill points. I think i will copy this one for my next playthrough. :slight_smile:

I would further change/polish:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZyQDQmZ

  • Prism Diamond to Head (Edit: Leathery Hide looks better for Stun Res)
  • Scaled Hide in Pants to cap armor absorption
  • Chose Tranquill Mind pants for slow res (slow res so important for AA)
  • Points from Haven (12k health are fine imho) into overcapping PoV, capping Bursting Round, Resilience to 10 for 5% All Res and taking Seal transmuter cause AS is abundant and those juicy 25% proj avoidance get so tasty therefore
  • 50 points into cunning for more OA, 3k DA seems enough
  • switching armor augments around, DA on armor augments isnt really needed and should only be taken if you can easily overcap resists (still one dreeg one with 30DA on boots)
2 Likes
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Nice build.
I have couple of questions:

Why not to use Ascended shoulders to get more elemental to aether conversion?

Did you try to use blaster as second gun?

P.S: I have similar build for MH: Unpredictable force - N&O Octavius Battlemage

1 Like
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Yes, you are right, taking the seal transmuter only reduces the attacks per second to 3,87 thats not much of a difference, 25% Dodge Chance on the other side :slight_smile:

Regarding the offensive ability topic I want to try out if losing -10% Total Speed to Word of Pain is worth it gaining a steady ~220 OA(at best) with this “realistic” Crest. With realisitic I mean only the Prefix being rare.

medal

Yes, fiddling with armor augments and pushing resistances a bit further seems necessary to me.

Thanks for the input!

1 Like
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Hi,

thank you, taking the ascended shoulders would result in losing the 4th set bonus from the bonemonger set.

Running with two blasters did not feel good to me, because in my mind 200% conversion was a bit pointless and I wanted to use the second gun for more than only conversion bonus. So havoc was attractive for its nice juicy bonuses.

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Yeah its kind of optional, more offense vs. more defense. One doesnt get swarmed often in MC and could argue those 10% AS are better to have since you also leach from it. You can always spec out of it to save some seconds or put a point into it for harder runs.

Yep, that medal looks promising.

Thought about further options on other slots. Dreeg legguards (stun res) could be decent with Consecrated prefix, still Tranquill ones would be just as good. Thats just a gamble in terms of farming.

Screenshot_2020-10-11%20Paladin%2C%20Level%20100%20(GD%201%201%208%200)%20-%20Grim%20Dawn%20Build%20Calculator

Dreeg
Prefix could be interesting for the medal too.

Timewarped boots as an alternative to the boot slot.

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Build looks good, its just in need of some Slow Res to call it really polished.

1 Like
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I was thinking about second Rutniks gun with Of Insanity prefix to boost your damage against aetherials. But in this case you will lose +1 to Inquisitor mastery.

1 Like
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Well, at first you would have a good DPS gain, but I do not know if its worth it losing the overall bonuses for inquisitor.

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Try to test both variants to compare build effectiveness?

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Yes, will do, but first I want to optimize the current version and try to push SR as far as this build can.

1 Like
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Build updated to wield 1h+shield.

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GT link not working… very cerious already tho!

13

Sorry, link is renewed and hopefully working now :slight_smile:

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Build updated to 1.1.9.7 and posted alternative Grimtools for more Stun Resistance but slightly less OA.

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Build updated to 1.1.9.8 no notable changes. Build is more tanky and much more deadly, base damage now feels like the fully buffed version before the update. I am in love because its my favorite build when I fire up Grim Dawn.

1 Like
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SR85 done with 1h + shield version. Dont get overwhelmed by several hero groups and you will be fine. Nullify heroes and bosses are still a PITA.

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SR90 done first the first time ever. Pretty intense with some deaths, but only tonic of mending & aether cluster (only once) was used.

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Don’t gloves take half of your Piercing damage and convert it to Physical?

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Does not matter, at the end everything goes out as ather damage because of rutniks blaster :slight_smile:

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Not really, Physical damage that you convert via mod to Aura of Conviction cannot be converted to Aether (you can only convert damage once in this game). So strictly 50% of your Pierce damage from Ranged Expertise and Aura of Conviction goes to Physical. You can check it by looking at your Righteous Fervor tooltip on the second tab with and without the gloves.