I didnt quite get my comments in on the 119x discussion endgame thread, so Ill do a standalone post.
In regards to Grasping vines, Ive tested these builds recently.
Acid retal hybrid archon : Archon, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - The damage is good, but the build is more or less useless. The super low OA/DA make it impossible to stay alive even with kiting + good kill speed. If the build had more movespeed + more DA/OA I think it would be a solid mid tier performer. Can pull a 430 run with masterful piloting and good mutators. 20% completion rate
Lightning retal hybrid archon : Archon, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - All around pretty good average build… can clear fairly consistently around 5 mins. The new flat RR on the ring set and elemental rr on guardians made the build actually work. (And about 30seconds faster than my old warder version Warder, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator) A little thin on sustain due to middling speeds.
Wildblood Acid Archon - Archon, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator The creme de le 'Meme… it was a ~5:30 -5:45 build prior to wildblood nerfs Not sure where it is now. probably in that ballpark still
Wildblood bleeding trickster : Trickster, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator pretty solid build, mad_lee’s version. can pull a 4:30 or a bit under run… Still could use a bit more oomph
Demonslayer + offhand trickster : Trickster, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - Really no reason to play this version. Totally out classed by blade spirit shield version by grey_maybe. Damage is okay, but total paperdoll. Gets shreded easy. Not really sure where to use this offhand outside of leveling to transition to Wildblood… If thats the intention, then thats fine as long as there are other working builds for it
Gutripper Bleeding phys/pierce archon - Archon, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - Pretty thin on damage and sustain even with 1.1k regen. Gameplay requires kiting 5:15-5:30 on good mutators… bad ones like shattered and you will be lucky to finish a run. The extra 10% weapon damage from the medal for savagery helped a bit
Gutripper + goredrinker archon - Archon, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - Mega low cast speed. I would like to fit kraken into the devotions, but that would mean giving up a t3 which is needed for sustain. Even with over 50% adtch in game the leech feels weak. Vines arent doing much due to really only being there more bleeding phys damage is wasted… Bleed stacks are pretty good though. Not competitive on speeds
Standard Wildblood vit conjurer + rit - Been awhile since ive played them, but im assuming they are still solid ~5 or under builds with little risk of death… Plan on testing this version with reaping arc spam Ritualist, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator looks like a very strong contender
Bonus Warder build : Warder, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
With all of that said, these are some of the changes I personally would like to see.
- Weapon damage added to the baseline skill. Scaling would be small starting at say 4% to 12% at level 12 to maybe 18% at level 22. This would allow for a piercing/bleed version to be built with gutripper + goredrinker with different devotion pathing. It also would fix to some degree the sustain issue seen on all non-wildblood vines builds by allowing some portion of adcth to be passed to vines. Obviously the WD mods on wildblood would need to be scaled back a bit
- Sprinkle more skill points on relevant gear slots. Search - Grim Dawn Item Database thats the search for vines on grimtools. I havent double checked, but Im positive grasping vines/ entangling vines are some of the least supported skills on gear. Only 28 items excluding lower level versions for all slots for both skill nodes combined
- Add % vitality or % pierce damage to the carnage ring set to make them competitive with orisa rings and cast speed (tbh I would rather see vit as Vit/bleed is a more fun concept to me)
- Add %pierce damage to bloodsurge as a gearing choice for pierce vine builds and cast speed since it is a vines item
- Add RtA, Adcth, wd, or flat bleed to Misery… some combo of these would be nice… perhaps adcth and bleed for a meme acid/bleeding hybrid?
- Give Irkix Scale vines support in addition to or instead of overguard (think lightning RtA and a cool FX please and thank you!
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From the season 3 community mod
- Add some DA/OA bonuses to gear slots that do support vine skill points
