I made a Callidor’s nuker. It squishy but fun. I’d been chatting with @Gnomish_Inquisition about stacking Total Damage Modifier and exploring ‘big hit’ attacks. So here we are!
While 1.1m isn’t “the biggest of hits” in game, that it can hit everything in a ~6m radius makes for fairly fast clears in SR and crucible - if you survive
I’m hoping we can get GrimInternals features in game, I’d love to get a more accurate reading of the sorts of DPS it can bring!
It’s high mobility, ranged attacks and big spike damage, combined with Mirror as a panic button makes the build quite versatile. It can deal dot damages of up to ~450k when all stacked up and lucky with crits, although it’s more typical to see dot ticks around the 200k mark. The combination of ranged attacks, mobility and dot ticks allows for hit and run playstyle where required (see the last fight against Theodin), and a bit of mobility is recommended in most fights for best results.
As you can see in this video, the build didn’t do too well taking an Iron Maiden crit to the face. But despite the death, this build was able to finish clearing 75 within the timer. You can see the 1,144,727 damage hit at 3:43. It’s worth mentioning that at the time of this crit, Prismatic Diamond was not in effect, so it can potentially do another 10% damage on top of that.
Well the obvious answer is Dryad’s first node, which might or might not be an actually important piece for the build, the author will know.
But the bigger benefit is Spider’s 6 green vs Hawk’s 5, and since the highest requirement for Eldritch/greens here is 15 on (the only T3) Torch, that frees up the 3 points on Hawk to go into something potentially more rewarding.
I.e. the Giant’s Blood proc for a bit more beef.
Or back to partial Dryad.
Or (since it’s an elemental build so sticking to the animal kingdom is the usual preference), partial Owl / Vulture, even partial Manticore if you can stretch to it’s back leg…and ofc. the full Jackal is available.
Potentially all these options are worth testing.
Hi! Author here. I have to ask… What is your interest in Spider as a devotion? This build is designed with the goal of seeing big numbers on Callidor’s Tempest, and I found that to achieve that goal, having more crit damage, and OA to encourage the likelihood of crits to be very supportive of that goal.
If I get rid of Raven and Hawk, and replace them with spider, I am granted with only two spare skill points to use how I wish, but as Gnomish mentioned, I lose a chunk of OA and crit damage in doing so. The fact that I have an additional spare two ‘green’ affinity points isn’t bothersome to me at all because the build achieve it’s goal. If I put those two points back into hawk, I recover my crit damage, but the overall net difference is basically 80 more weapon damage, 80 less OA and 45 more DA… I think the 80 OA is more important in this build.
If your underlying question is more about “Could this build be better optimised?”, the answer is “Probably :D”. I’m not that thorough when I’m creating fun builds like this. If your question is more specifically “Could this build be tweaked better for balance and survivability?” Then the answer is “Yes, certainly. But probably at the cost of some of the Callidor’s damage, which is the goal of this build”.
This specifically was the thing that stood out most when going over the grimtools link, as I have some familiarity with builds of this type, and most usually elect to go with Spider over Hawk.
But yea, it was purely academic / build-crafting discussion.
So, in that spirit… let’s get into the weeds of it!
Couldn’t agree more. On basically anything Arcanist-based, of the five damage multiplication methods in the game, the crits path has the highest payout and gives the best results when emphasized.
Though I would also add here the importance of DA shred.
Based on what I see here (could be wrong, didn’t really examine everything in great detail), you have only one source of it in Crushing Verdict… and even that is underdeveloped.
Presuming that Dryad’s foot node is important enough to go back to taking it.
Which I’m still not convinced about.
But more on that later.
I suppose this is the biggest difference in our outlook here. In my view (and I’m not saying this to be a smartass or offend you in any way), the build doesn’t really achieve the goal of properly pursuing the adequately high OA or (to a lesser degree) crit multiplier. Basically, the 3.2k OA isn’t sufficient for your goals here.
You mentioned in the description that having GrimInternals features would bring more accurate readings - yes, definitely, but the most important and useful feature while tweaking and testing is already available, the “Show Crit Multiplier” in Interface options. It provides clearer feedback on where you most often fall in that critical (heh) base range of 1.1 to 1.4, provided purely from the difference of your OA to enemy DA.
(Yes the font size and colour of damage numbers also indicate this already… but it’s much easier to read and keep track of when showing (only) the multipliers).
Now, for specific stuff that might be fun testing out.
Provided of course you’re open to recommendations and not already sick of this build.
first idea is that partial Behemoth including the proc, which would bring up the beef side of things. Meaning it opens up flexibility with skill points… which can then be invested into the murdery side.
possibly you’re not getting enough from your 25% Spirit because the last 10 points of Arcanist mastery are missing? (not to mention the other goodies more mastery points would bring in)
are you sure the full Overload is necessary? The flat OA is nice, but not really 10 skill points nice… and the aether res surely can be covered elsewhere, while the flat DoT damage contribution to murder probably isn’t that significant? (Perfectly happy to be wrong here.)
same with IEE, is energy leech really that important? I can’t imagine the flat damage is actually worth the investment of so many points…
wouldn’t you get more for your points investment in Elemental Balance and more Inner Focus?
why are you not using Volcanic Might? Is it really not worth 1pt from somewhere else?
for the constellations, are you absolutely sure that Ravenant is worth the investment? You already have a pretty reliable source of flat res shred from the set and CT, and I can’t imagine the skellies are having a meaningful impact on anything important with their slowdown and a bit of damage?
the Bat and Viper are a kind of meta-staples, but again, I don’t think you are getting enough for the investment.
while we’re at it, are we definitely sure about Magi? Feels like for that points investment, you should be getting more. Also the proc doesn’t seem to be impacting that much, at least in the shared video.
that Wardstone on the amulet seems… weird. At least something like Attuned Lodestone maybe?
for pro-recommendations of constellations, Vulture, Panther, Chariot, Scorpion are all probably worth testing.
or, for an even more extreme do-over, you could try going for Torch + Korvaak combination… This would also probably allow for (at least) the first point of Hourglass, which is always welcome on squishy builds.
So, yeah, basically, once again, this feels like sticking too much with classical & “linear” methods of increasing murder; increasing fire & burn modifiers, stacking multiple damage sources, paying a lot of attention to weapon damage, etc.
And IMHO it could go for a more “multiplicative” method by leaning much more significantly into the OA idea; with more OA from constellations and skills, DA shred, and overall fewer sources and procs but more whallop to them.
I know, I know, I’m a radical / lunatic / heretic / troll / some kind of -ist or -ism or whatever…
Trust me, I’ve heard it all before.
Well yes, certainly.
And since that perfect round shape isn’t really the goal here, I would suggest worrying less about “rounding up” and over-capping the resists with augments, components etc. exactly as the meta dictates, and “embracing the suck” a touch more on the beef side. That way you can go for a more pointed shape, in the direction of those few aspects that you care about.
And no, that doesn’t mean I’m advocating for some weird so-called “meme build” which can’t reliably finish SR 75 or whatever the current limbo dance height is.
If you can properly increase the murder side, there should be enough tools and “cheats” on the beef side to keep you alive and rolling even when not all “rounded”.
Anyway, I know where this usually leads, and I’m not really up for big debates or forum arguments. So please let’s keep the attack poodles leashed. All I’m saying is, here’s some stuff that is maybe(!) worth trying out, provided you are not already burned out (heh) on tweaking this thing.
(And if nothing else, please at least try more DA shred.)
Checking out now, enjoy the game!
Howdy. Good thoughts and valid questions. I’m probably not invested in this build enough right this minute to remake it and explore it with the suggests you’ve offered, but if you wanted to pick it up and run with it, I’d love to see what you come up with, and would be keen to see the result.
It squishy but fun. I’d been chatting with @Gnomish_Inquisition about stacking Total Damage Modifier and exploring ‘big hit’ attacks. So here we are!
(and 8%crit)