The Purifier is a mastery combination that frequently comes up whenever a newer player asks what kind of build they should make to dual-wield pistols. This is good because it is fairly simple, great fun, very flashy and it has a level 94 set specifically designed for it. However the only levelling guide for it in the compendium is 5 years out of date, and points to an even older guide to use for levelling. Both of those guides reference each other and although the information is there, it’s kind of hard to read, being spread across two different threads. They also recommend lightning pistols, which in my opinion are not as good as fire pistols.
So the goal here is to make a guide for anyone wanting to play through the campaign, starting from nothing, playing on Veteran if you wish, play on hardcore if you wish to get to 100 with only targetable items and then farm gear for a level 100 build. I think the results here are more than good enough, so let’s get into the guide.
1.2.1.0 Update - Buffs all round
Patch 1.2.1.0 comes with large reductions to physical resistances (we have 0%, can’t go negative baby!) which don’t affect this build, as well as reductions to incoming monster physical damage. This is going to make the build tankier. Most other changes are related to pets. Only a handful of the MIs used in this build are even mentioned, and the ones that are, get changes to skills we’re not using. Demolitionist changes include making the best circuit breaker in the game better and increasing the damage on our main attack. Inquisitor changes will give us a bit of extra damage and some free armour. Devotion changes are 100% buffs, both to constellations and also to the procs.
Winning.
Build Summary
You might be forgiven for thinking that pistols would be our main source of damage for this build, but you’d be wrong. Pistols actually do very little damage. Our damage will be coming largely from procs, that we use the pistols to trigger. We’re going to focus on fire damage, but there will be both cold and lightning damage from various skills as well. For offensive devotions, we’re taking Elemental Storm, Eldritch Fire, Fissure and Meteor Shower. We’ll also be stacking multiple fire damage procs on our gear. This build is going to be a light show.
For defense, we’re going to be standing in the Inquisitor’s Seal. We also have the best circuit breaker skill in the game, Blast Shield, as well as a very nice defensive buff in the form of Vindictive Flame with the Ulzuin’s Wrath transmuter. We’re also taking some defensive devotions, Behemoth and Ghoul. Tortoise is normally a standard devotion for myself but in this case I didn’t think it was needed. We already have large amounts of protection, and 3 circuit breakers. We need healing more.
Gear
All the gear used in this build is 100% target-farmable and ranges from MIs to Faction Reputation Items. The grimtools linked includes green no-affix items to show that the build can work just fine with whatever MI rolls you happen to get. Obviously we’re going to prefer items with damage procs and you will have to have some resistance rolls at various points in the levelling process, but gearing is very open.
- Weapon: If you’re going to use the pistol start, then you’ll be starting with 2 of Francis’ Guns which can be found on Francis’ body in Lower Crossing. Then, starting at level 15, we’re going to be using crafted pistols. To get the Double-Barrel Pistols, you must side with Duncan for your Blacksmith. Angrim does not know the recipe, so if you make that mistake, you’ll be waiting for level 37 for your crafted pistols. At 37, you’ll need to use the vendor reset trick to get the recipe for the Hand Mortar from Benevald. Then again at 62, same trick, same merchant for the Shrapnel Pistol, which is the best targetable fire pistol all the way to 100. For affixes, ideally you want a fire damage proc, so Infernal is the best option. Other damage procs can be used though, Enchanters, Incanters or Aetherfire are probably the next best in that order.
Other pistol options
Other targetable options that don’t require vendor farming include:
- Francis’ Gun at level 1, 50 (Elite) and 70 (Ultimate)
- Solar Revolver from Homestead at 35
- Elite Solar Revolver from Homestead at 70
- Coven Handcannon from the Coven of ugdenbog at 84
- There are also a lot of blue or purple guns that would work quite well. Leander Greene’s Hand Cannon, Marauder’s Fury, Oathbreaker etc.
Generally speaking I found that the crafted options were straight up better than all of these options except for the fancy purple guns which I didn’t find any of until I was already level 94.
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Amulet: Ulraprax’s Sting. This drops from Ulraprax, one of the hive queens. This giant wasp can be found in the hive just outside of Twin Falls and is a fast farm. We’re using this for +1 to Inquisitor skills and ideally you want ‘of the Grove’ as a suffix, but even getting one with good resistances is fine.
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Rings: Gollus rings are the order of the day. Dropped from (surprise!) Gollus the Deepdweller. He can be found in the semi-hidden lower cave under the insect hive in the fields near Homestead. Bonuses to health, regeneration and +3 to Vindictive flames all come standard with this ring. Then you can look to get resistances, OA, DA, attack speed, stats or ‘of Scorched Ends’ for a fireball proc.
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Medal: Martin’s Crest. Dropped from ‘Moneybags’ Martin in Cronley’s Hideout. This medal gives us +3 to Thermite mine, as well as some extra duration and damage. Try to get resistances, offensive ability, health, stats or ‘of Scorched Ends’ here as well.
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Helmet: Incendiary Casque. Dropped from ‘Cronley’s Gang - Arsonists’ as well as ‘Moneybags’ Martin and a few other members of the gang. This helmet gives us chaos resistance, flat and % fire damage, +3 skill points, some flat fire damage and critical damage to Fire Strike. All the usual preferences for affixes apply here too. Optional substitute for the Chosen Visage.
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Chest: Elite Malmouth Aetherblaze Vestments. Good armour, %Fire damage, DA, regen, good resistances including Stun and +3 to Thermite Mine. What’s not to love about this? Use the normal version at level 65. While levelling, the Devil’s Chestguard or Fleshwarped Platemail are good options.
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Shoulders: Incendiary Shoulderplates. Dropped from ‘Cronley’s Gang - Arsonists’ as well as ‘Moneybags’ Martin and a few other members of the gang. This pair of shoulders converts some chaos damage to fire, gives us chaos resistance, +3 skill points, some flat fire damage and critical damage to Fire Strike. All the usual preferences for affixes apply here too. Alternatively, consider the Elite Malmouth Aetherblaze Mantle.
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Gloves and Boots: These are more of a ‘go with what you find’ slot. I have included Rhowari reputation pieces because they are targetable and have good resistances, but I would recommend finding yourself a good rare set with resistances or a fireball proc. Also ‘of Kings’ would be great.
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Belt: Ugdenbog Waistguard. Farmed from the Naxen Shade at the bottom of the Barrowholm mine. We’re here for the +1 to Inquisitor skills, everything else is gravy. Get resistances, stats, OA/DA or… you guessed it, ‘of Scorched Ends’ for that juicy fireball proc.
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Relic: Bane is the final choice, but you need to be level 60 and also find the blueprint for this one. Prior to that is Vendetta, which you can buy from the Malmouth Resistance once you have enough reputation. This will be quite late though unless you farm reputation (like I did), so until you get one of those, take a look at some +1 Demolitionist relics like Conflagration, which can be vendor bought from Hyram, or the Gunslinger’s Talisman that you can buy from Devil’s Crossing once you’ve killed Cronley.
Leveling and Skill Points
There are 3 ways to level from 1 to 15. I will list them in order of recommendation and speed, but they will all work.
The Best Way - Demolitionist and Blackwater Cocktail
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Start as Demolitionist and make straight for Blackwater Cocktail. 5 points into the mastery bar then your 6th point at level 3 into Blackwater Cocktail.
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Level 4 goes entirely into BWC.
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From level 5 to 7, put 1 point into BWC and 2 into the mastery bar. Take High Potency as soon as it is available. At level 7, you should have 10 points in the mastery bar, 7 points in BWC and 1 point in High Potency.
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Kasparov’s quest reward goes into Vindictive Flame.
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Levels 8 to 12 are 1 point per level into BWC and 2 points per level into the mastery bar. We’re rushing Demon Fire.
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Level 13 to 16 all go into Demon Fire. There will be fire-immune enemies starting around Burrwich, you will need the Chaos Damage from Demon Fire to kill them. If you find them before you have points in Demon Fire, you will have to walk past them.
The Other Fast Way - Inquisitor and Word of Pain
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Start as Inquisitor and place 1 point per level into the mastery bar and 2 points per level into the mastery bar until level 6.
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Level 7 and 8 go into the mastery bar, and take Word of Agony with your last point at 8.
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Kasparov’s quest reward goes into Word of Renewal.
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Level 9 put 3 more points into Word of Renewal
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Level 10 to 15 are 1 point per level into Word of Pain, 1 point per level into Word of Agony and 1 point per level into the mastery bar.
Shooty shooty bang bang - Inquisitor, dual-pistols from level 1
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Start as Inquisitor and place 1 point into the mastery bar, then max out Ranged Expertise. By level 5, you should have 2 points in the mastery bar and Ranged Expertise should be at 10/10.
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Level 6 is put into the mastery bar
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Kasparov’s quest reward goes into Bursting Round
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Level 7 to 9 all go into Bursting Round.
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At level 10, take 9 points out of Ranged Expertise and take Demolitionist. Bring the demolitionist bar up to 7 points, put 1 point in Flame Touched and 4 points into Fire Strike.
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Level 11 is 3 points into the Demolitionist Bar.
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Level 12 put 1 point into Vindictive Flame, 2 points into Explosive Strike.
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Levels 13 to 16 max out Explosive Strike.
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Once you’ve got Duncan online and you can craft 2 Double-barrel Pistols, switch over to pistols. At level 16, you will have 10 points in the Demolitionist bar, 4 points in Fire Strike, 12 points in Explosive Strike, 1 point in Flame Touched and 1 point in Vindictive Flame. In the Inquistor tree, you’ll have 7 points in the bar, 1 point in Ranged Expertise and 10 points in Bursting Round.
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Put 1 value point into Deadly Aim and then work towards Word of Renewal. Put 4 points into it for the healing and then work towards 20 points in the bar and take 1 point in Chilling Rounds and Vigor. Chilling Rounds is important as it provides some crowd control by freezing things. It also pierces targets so you can freeze a long line of targets.
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Inquisitor’s Seal is our next goal, so 5 more points into the bar and then max out Inquisitor’s Seal.
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Continue progressing the Inquisitor bar to 32 points and put 1 point into Steel Resolve.
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Take the bar to 40 and put 1 point into Storm Spread and 1 point into Arcane Empowerment. Storm Spread provides us with a cone of lightning when it procs and is great for triggering any damage procs you might have on your gear.
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Push Inquisitor to 50 points and then max out Aura of Censure. This is one of our sources of resistance shredding, not to mention a free damage aura.
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Now it’s time to (finally) max out the Firestrike line. Take Firestrike to 12 hard points and progress the bar to 20.
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You want to juggle skill points (if needed) in Vindictive Flame to keep it at 11/16 total points. Also at this point, take 1 point in Temper and 7 points in Ulzuin’s Wrath for the 69% chance to knockdown targets. Yes, I am a child. If you’re a more mature person, then 10 points will get you a nice round 20% reduced target’s damage number. Boring. Also put 1 point into Static Strike. We’re not doing lightning damage, but a value point is probably worth taking.
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Next we push the Demolitionist bar to 32 points and max out Thermite Mines. These are another way we have of reducing enemy resistances. Also important here to take 10/12 in Blast Shield. This is the best circuit breaker in the game, and 10 points is a nice cut off where it starts to give you less effect for more points.
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When you start to feel a bit squishy, put 1 point into Flashbang and 6 points into Searing Light. This will cause monsters you hit with it to miss about 30% of their attacks against you. Feel free to skip this one though, as it is an extra skill to manage and you have to throw it out every 5 seconds. Otherwise, push the Demolitionist bar to 50 points and take Brimstone.
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From here to 100, put more points into Flame Touched and the Word of Renewal line. Vigor and Steel Resolve are both very strong skills and you should aim to at least soft cap them.
Attributes
Stats are quite easy on this build. You may need some cunning early to use your weapons, but I only had 5 points into Cunning when I hit level 100. You will need 915 Physique to wear the Incendiary gear, so 59 points into Physique while levelling and 43 into Spirit. If you are playing hardcore and want some additional safety, place more into Physique.
Grimtools for actual play through
At the bottom of the guide you can find the videos for my actual play through. Here is (some of) the grimtools links from that series. Note that there will be differences between what I actually did, and what I’m now recommending in this guide. Where there are differences, I recommend following the advice given in the levelling section. I will also note that I was using random blue and purple items in the video series. These may not drop for you, but I have given green items in the item section, so if you don’t get the fancy purple items to drop, you have the green ones that are 100% targetable and much more reliable.
Level 21: Purifier, Level 21 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 33: Purifier, Level 33 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 42: Purifier, Level 42 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 53: Purifier, Level 53 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 65: Purifier, Level 65 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 77: Purifier, Level 77 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 83: Purifier, Level 83 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Level 93: Purifier, Level 93 (GD 1.2.1.0) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Conclusion
A fire Gunslinger Purifier is a fairly relaxed way to work your way through the campaign and is recommended for a first character. You will have only a handful of buttons to worry about and everything you shoot will explode into a sea of fire-based procs. Meteors will rain onto your enemies from on high, volcanoes will open beneath their feet, Witchfire will scorch all before you and fireballs will fly from your guns as you walk through the campaign.
Once you reach level 94/100, you will be able to use this build to farm for a level 100 build, either in Shattered Realm, or via totems and treasure troves.
This build isn’t going to be winning any speed run competitions, but the Dagallon’s build linked above will face tank SR80 while sundered and for most people that’s more than enough.
Full Hardcore Fresh Start Let’s Play and Build Guide
I have completed a full Let’s Play series on this build on my Youtube channel. Starts at episode 2.
Here you can find a patch 1.2 Dagallon’s build guide. There’s been a few changes since I made this, but nothing major and honestly, the changes just made the build better.
You can also check out the grimtools builds page for other options.
