This is a beginner’s friendly shield and pistol build that is close to elitist build performance. It is very tanky and gets through SR75 fairly easy without dying but not fast enough to do it within timer.
It shoots with Cadence and 3 WPS skills: Markovian, Zolhan and Smite
The pistol has modifiers for Righteous Fervor but killing a dummy seemed to take a few seconds less with Cadence (~45 sec), more importantly the dummy behind the dummy I was targeting was significantly more damaged with Cadence therefore it was a clear winner.
GEAR
The grimtools upload includes one purple item, because I wanted to show how it can combine with faction gear to MAX out all 3 WPS skills. However a more easily found Harvoul’s mark will not perform much worse, it will basically exchange some single target dmg for more AOE. I haven’t found a strong Amulet match for this build, I think Kaisan is best. Additional budget items and alternative weapons will be shown in the screenshot below on the left.
GUIDE
Leveling
The lowest level gunner shield that can drop is the Legionnaire’s Rebuke at level 40. Since pistols have low base dmg it is not recommended to use Cadence before a shield is found that has a unique pistol dmg modifier. This is because the %WD used by Cadence will be very low compared to rifles. It is possible to level with Forcewave and a pistol, since the %WD will scale of your shields and a shambler’s heart pendant can be gained very early in ACT 1 and greatly buff the dmg and cooldown.
It is however likely you will run into a mutant bludgeon, which drop from act 1 zombies, making it very tempting to go melee for a while. It is also possible to level with Aegis of Menhir and a pistol, but the Ronaprax amulet to buff it will appear at a less convenient moment in Act 2.
Devotions
First unlock Falcon to have lots of passthrough shooting dmg, then Turtle.Tthose will be removed much later but can be kept for a long time to help leveling and unlocking the tier 2 devotions. Continue Panther → Hammer, now Ulzaad and Dire Bear can be unlocked, Ulzaad will unlock Chariot of Death and Chariot of Death will unlock Hydra.
Relics
The following lower level relics need to be produced to ultimately produce Serenity:
Mistborn talisman, Arbiter, Endurance, Vendetta, Sanctuary
Among those, Endurance and Sanctuary will be useful for the character itself, so should be prioritized.
