I know IM’s blitz can be hard to notice sometimes, but frankly, that’s more due to a lack of situational awareness on the player’s part, which I will freely admit to having an issue with. However, careful checking of the SR map can usually tell you where a Nemesis is, so you can be prepared for the consequences…
Which I how I usually avoid getting murderised by IM when playing my more squishy builds that don’t have Mirror of BB to save them. Along with learning to time the dodge lawl.
that’s the point… it’s a higher skill check build than normal because of the lower defence
which makes it less safe for HC…
and since this build supposedly can handle stuff; why would i avoid nemesis in chunks to clear them fast?
*obv i should avoid Maiden when i know i suck against her, but the point is “this build can very much still die”, even if you have 4k hours but just suck at dodging, or is a lesser experienced player in general and don’t know which attacks should be always avoided… (“the parts aleks denies that matters”)
again, that’s the part you miss; this is not an attack on your nor the build, but the notion that the defences are not smaller and thus potentially more dangerous for it
there is no lie slander provocation or insult there; you taking it as such is purely on your part, and you should try to understand the difference “put your ego aside” and see what’s actually being said
what a bad luck hit can look like btw
I usually avoid nemesi when I can in shards outside the boss room, mainly because I play builds that don’t have super high damage output + also my autism affects my ability to keep track of stuff, so I try to limit the chaos on screen. And now sunder’s a thing, I definitely have to play safer on certain builds or in the case my other Dual Gunner Lightning Vindicator fix the too low PR + add more breathing room.
But this experience also tells me Alex’s build is perfectly viable if you keep in mind it’s weaknesses and play to mitigate them. Which HC players are probably used to it enough that Alex thought it was fine to say this is HC viable 
Also this very much isn’t a speed-clearing build, and relies on manoeuvring and kiting to stay alive with it’s massive health + health regen and layering of armour.
Lastly - fucked around with the affixes and cooked up this, gets 12% PR maximum:
Need to obvious do a pass over augments, but fixed the sad acid resist, which was only +7% originally 
Tradeoff is some armour, some damage potential due to loss of Tempest. But it should survive the Iron Maiden ambush blitzing it. In theory. If my modelling is correct.
which is exactly what’s being said, and literally nothing else…
again, the results are not being disputed, but, for me, the 0 mention of the higher requirements, and also the refuting of Lees mention of phys res and the notion that high armour just replaces basically 0 phys res is then mechanically incorrect contributing to that "avoid hits"awareness requirement for the player - then being part of what makes it a higher requirement build to play “specially for HC”…
“build can do these things; but you need to be extra careful or experienced/more skill pilot than usual to obtain these results on HC”
^the fact even some builds for softcore has such caveats mentioned when there is intentional build choices made should make it even less of an issue to accept
This thread reads like a big old “No True Scotsman” argument.
Guy does build which performs well. Argument that it’s not a ‘real’ build because arbitrary skill requirement or others didn’t think of it.
Half the builds posted on this forum won’t work well for an ‘inexperienced’ pilot, not to mention a lot of them require hundreds of hours farming just to get the gear (except of course for the GDStash shortcut). Learning to dodge and read attacks is part of the game, no?
The build works, it needs some skill, so what. It’s not like you can’t tailor it to your own requirements, or is there a rule that build showcases must be followed 1:1 by anyone interested and perform to a specific sheet of exact criteria?
Cool build, works differently, variety is great 
True, and I’m so used to it that I didn’t have a reaction to Alex’s stuff and are slightly 
over you guys arguing with him over it. Mind you, I’m used to lee being argumentative lawl.
Anyhow, I think that Alex’s claim this can do HC are fine, would have been less of an issue if they’d laid out it’s weaknesses and why they’d made those choices and how it affects the build in their first post. While as for their claims - I’d say they’re partly right that the high armour, health and regen help mitigate the low PR%, but the Iron Maiden’s Blitz is a good iron test for a build’s weaknesses and on that it is most definitely not perfect. And requires good situational awareness for dealing with her.
And on that note - I also think this build would have difficulties in SR80-81, since I’ve noticed a lack of PR etc is a death knell for any build that tries it. Which is why my lightning gunner got reworked 2 days ago to fix it’s PR to do SR80-81 consistently. But since it can handle all the super bosses, well, it might manage okay. Only putting it to the test will find out.
Definitely not a deep SR build though 
Which I think we can all agree on, hopefully lawl.
not the only high dmg attack that exists btw (nor the only one i suck at dodging 
)
We have a dodge move now. Part of the spice of life of the HC player is a little different now, ‘Dodge or Die.’ Or is the minimum allowable level that all builds must facetank HC or not allowed?
Hellos, worked out a version that can push SR85 
It’s still pretty squishy, but it survived getting blitzed by IM numerous times and the main deaths it had was actually due to Benn’jahrr O_O
Which I was not expecting lawl. Guess it’s due to the lower pierce resistance it ended up with + a lack of more DA.
Teh Build: Elementalist, Level 100 (GD 1.2.0.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Gets 17% PR thanks to the weapon and offhand, turns out Thunderstruck is really, really good. If I’d got perfect rolls it would have been even better, but didn’t clear enough stash space to craft perfect rolls, so went with good enough. And definitely made SR80-81 which was my initial aim to run a relative cake walk. And thanks to the MI affix chance changes, Thunderstuck - of Thunder is a pretty common drop lawl.
And I think dropping “Formidable” on the pants could work for making it solid for SR80-81.
edit - teh evidence:
I learnt that today with Benn’Jahr, damn does his heavy attack and mines hit hard in deep SR, as I died a couple of times to him getting up to SR85. And once to IM, because I forgot to dodge…
Best bet with Benn is to do a fighting retreat I’ve found.
Luckily this wrecks mobs fast enough to easily get 10+ minutes on the timer if you draw them in, so recovering from 1 death is easy.
Hmmn, I’d say “Dodge Or Die” is definitely worth following in HC, but given we’re all human and thus prone to fluffing up and making mistakes, the usual “Defence in Depth” way of building appears to still be important for HC. i.e. the tankier the better lawl.
ye, luckily benji is decently slow enough on his “dab” that even i can avoid it, and bombs i feel have always been pretty simple to avoid on anything but the most stubborn facetanker
this build being a good example of that, never died once to Benji or even came close to, but other attacks did/was way more scary (weirdly enough some i couldn’t even “recognize” @_@, which is kinda freaky on 1.2)
True, but you don’t face massive hits all the time so if you have a circuit breaker or two you can usually run away from trouble, especially with dodge now. The dodge allows for a bit more aggressive play in HC and I hope we see more builds like this that add some spicy play. It’s not toooo hard to level to 100 in HC after you get the gear for it.
Well, if you’re paying attention and not a mess like me that is true
Lets just say I ate attacks I could have avoid, a lot, on the climb to SR85 lawl.
But yeah, the health was definitely spikey as hell even with 17%PR, with only 2% and in SR75-76 it would be even more “fun”. Which is why I thinking “Thunderstruck - of Thunder” is the best combo of affixes on the weapons, as it gives PR pretty well, plus a chunk of OA.
Speaking of which “Formidable - of Protection” would be best for the boots, as that gives some much needed DA to help push it towards the safer level of 2600DA.
i think a good highlight is benji stab vs ilgor swipe
i can handle benji stab most of the time, Ilgor swipe i can rarely react to in time 
Ilgor I rarely if ever run into in SR, but from all the times I died in SoT I learnt the hard way to avoid his overhead attack as often as possible
The times I’ve run into him I’m running usually tanky builds that can eat all attacks :3 Which includes some otherwise squishy inquisitor based builds that are only saved by Seal, Turtle and Ghoul
This build is sturdy. Alex proofed that. Srsly, no average build provides as much coverage for that.
“But it can die if you play it long enough” is what I’m reading here? (not a native myself).
So what? Since when is that an argument? Every build can die eventually.
Alex’ build presentation is not briefer as his usual ones. I am not under the impression that he wanted to willingly mislead unexperienced players in thinking it would be unkillable.
Putting another line in the build description to make that clear would be a reasonable thing to do, yet I can understand if Alex refuses to do so deliberately, after the comments of the 2 of yours - they rly come across quite attacky, intended or not.
not at all the point; which was quickly demonstrated with how fast i died
the point is
Lee says it’s low on phys res, which seems less “considerate” for HC
Aleks claims armour substitutes phys res “therefor is fine/safe” - the armour v phys res portion is then technically not really so, and while the high armour most certainly definitely helps; it’s no doubt the player expertise Aleks possess due to his many hours of experience in combination with the high kiting nature of the build that affords it the comfort/safety and overall results “not just the armour defense layer substitute”.
As i then quickly demonstrated “when played by a casul/baboon you can easily dies from big phys hits due to lacking phys res”.
The results are not in question, Aleks capability is not in question; the two part claim that armour replaces phys res and that it’s therefor defensively sound for HC “as if it’s just the armour and not player skill/kiting nature” is the part being highlighted.
Because taking 25k dmg (or just 2x 14k rapidly) is a death sentence on HC with just 2%phys res; the armour doesn’t save it there if/when that happen; and it most definitely can happen if you don’t play cautiously or skilled enough.
So yes, the armour/phys res debate part is valid i think
I see.
Well, I regularly die way more often playing builds, who’s videos seemed over-sturdy as well, MadLees builds being some of them.
So you want to withhold your stamp of approval for this build, over a disagreement about the importance of armor? Just that?
again not what i’m saying 
i’m saying just like ex Lee’s builds you mention, where he underestimates the skill/impact his piloting has for its results; Alek’s is underestimating the impact his experience/pilot expertise and the kiting nature of the build has, and attributing too much to the armour layer in terms of defence vs the other two factors/dismissing the safety benefit phys res would have here based on the armour.
And imo it bears mention, so "baboon"pilot players like me don’t just get lulled into a false sense of security - when there then quickly after is a mention it doesn’t need phys res because armour, when there are those other two pretty significant contributing factors outside the armour at play here
it’s like when new players takes a beginner build rated for sr 65, and dies on sr 50, or top20 build rated for sr90 and dies in sr75 - the build results are not in question, but the author can overestimate “stat” factors that are actually pilot skill factors and then doesn’t translate in the same way to the public of which it’s posted
and for HC builds i think that consideration might be “more” important, but mainly if those elements are casually brushed off as inherent stat factors instead, in this case the armour.