With the buffs to Brutallax, here comes part twenty two of my controller friendly build series: Brutallax Piercing Trickster
Honestly, I was surprised at how strong this is. I was hoping for SR75, but SR80 was not too hard, and I’m confident it can clear SR85 with better MIs.
grimtools link. The MI prefixes and affixes are just the best I had, and are FAR from optimal. The shoulders are decent at least.
Playstyle: Jump in, attack stuff till it’s dead.
Video proof of clear
Fight tips
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Offense: all there is to do is keep Lethal Assault active.
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Defense: Pneumatic Burst needs to be kept active, but is also a powerful burst heal. Manage its cooldown with intelligence. Try to stand in a Wendigo Totem, but not at all costs. The cooldown on Blade Barrier means it’s only for emergencies.
Gear
As usual, the resists are overcapped to deal with resist reduction on high SR.
Essential Gear:
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Brutallax: the core of this build. Its lightning conversion makes everything else work.
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Will of the Blade: Even a non-mythical one might be better than anything else.
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Spellbreaker Waistguard: 4% OA, and a huge acid to piercing conversion that makes Lethal Assault live up to its name.
Stuff I’m pretty sure is best in slot:
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Bladetwister Signet x2: +2 each to Savagery is vital, Amarasta’s Quick Cut is great, the pierce resist reduction is big, and the elemental to piercing damage makes Lethal Assault work.
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Eye of the Storm: far and away the most damaging option here, thanks to the total lightning conversion.
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Callagadra’s Visage: there isn’t anything with high synergy here, so Calla’s Visage seems to be the best option. Ravager’s Dreadgaze would also be strong. Backup: Belgothian’s Mask
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Crimson Claws: mostly for the +2 to Savagery, but the other stats are useful. There isn’t a good piercing option here for this build.
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Murderer’s Breastplate: the acid to piercing is important. With good affixes and prefixes it can help finish your defenses.
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Windshear Greaves: you need trap resist, and this is the best way to get it.
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Chosen Epaulets: with the right prefix and affix, this can be a no brainer. The elemental conversion is important with Lethal Assault. Backup is Belgothian’s Shoulderguard, with which I also cleared SR80.
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Korvaak’s Brand: Direwolf Crest may look tempting, but I’m fairly confident Korvaak’s is better: the skill is worse, but the 15% weapon damage to Savagery and the 6% damage to health to Savagery should make it superior. Note that the 15% weapon damage to Savagery WILL be multiplied by the %weapon damage on WPS, and sheet DPS doesn’t reflect this.
Other stuff:
- Kubacabra’s Chausses: with +5 to Lethal Assault, it seemed like a decent idea at the time. I’m fairly confident there are better options, and quite certain there are better prefixes for these legs.
Devotions
The way I do devotions is to start with full offense, then redistribute points into defense until I stop dying at my target SR.
Core:
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Assassin’s Blade: resist reduction
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Revenant: gives more RR than Scales of Ulcama, and applies it very consistently. It also gives AS and more lifesteal. Plus, the Whirling Blades are less lonely this way.
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Azrakaa: not actually sure about this one, since the OA reduction is less than from Veil of Shadow. The damage is good though.
Not Core
- Ulo the Keeper of the Waters: not a huge fan of the active, but it gives vital resists.
Everything else should be pretty self explanatory.
Skill Choices
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Savagery: the point
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Wendigo Totem: the healing and lifesteal are worth 2 points.
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Primal Bond: the damage absorption is the point. Stormcaller’s Pact would waste 15% of your physical damage, so I don’t think it’s worth it.
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Amarasta’s Blade Burst/Lethal Assault: you could run this build without it, eschewing the converting items in favor of piercing focused ones, but I don’t think it would be as good.
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Blade Spirit: good for devotions
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Belgothian’s Shears: I wasn’t totally sure if I should use this or not. It brings WPS% to 110%, so it means 10% of your other (better) WPS will be turned into B’s Shears. But I felt that 110% was preferable to 90% WPS here.
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Amarasta’s Quick Cut: I believe it hits 3 times, for a total of 384% weapon damage here.
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Execution: maxed along with AQC because single target enemies (IE most bosses) are the biggest problem.
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Shadow Strike: I’m not sure even that one point is worth it, but it makes stuff faster.
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Pneumatic Burst: great ability.
Leveling
Was pretty straightforward, using Dermapteran Slicers until level 58 when I could use the first Brutallaxes. Prioritize getting the Shifting Sands devotion first, since it takes the most XP to max.