Pierce Cadence Blademaster
For 2H melee pierce Cadence the best combo seems to be Blademaster so I have tried it and it turned out well. At the basis is a proper weapon. I tried few weapons and decided that Nadaan’s Reach is the best although it doesn’t have any attack speed. Cadance has a problem with AoE. I normally solve this issue using The Crimson Claws gloves but they can’t be used here due to their piercing conversion. Thus you have to go for 22/12 Fighting Form to get the most AoE of Cadence. Weapon I use also supports Ring of Steel but it is a bad choice because you want Cadence to be interrupted as little as possible and you would have too few skill points anyway. And you also need Lethal Assault for hefty damage. Gear choice is therefore limited by going for attack speed and maxing out Cadence tree and Lethal Assault. Conversion of acid and cold damage from Lethal Assault is done by belt, ring and weapon. Defensively the build uses Menhir’s Bulwark for damage absorption and health regen. You also have damage reduction on War Cry, which has nice cooldown due to CDR from weapon. There is only a small time when War Cry is not up. Additional healing is from ADCtH, Living Shadow and Giant. This build has almost 70 % healing increase and that helps a lot with ADCtH. You also have three circuit breakers from Serenity’s proc, Menhir’s Will and from Prismatic Diamond. Physical resistance is OKish but armor is good - above 3k with crafting bonuses. Build has access to resistance reduction from Nightblade and total RR can be up to -99 %. This build can clear SR 80-81 easily. SR 85 is also playable and you can sometimes finish within the timer even in SR 90.
GRIMTOOLS
Blademaster, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Download
_Azrakaa.zip (616.4 KB)
This build is just a template. Customize it to your own liking. Crafting bonuses are to armor. Alternative to Gollus’ ring is Coven Defender Seal and alternative to amulet is one of Kaisan’s amulets. Arcane spark is necessary for energy sustain.
passive buffs with Deadly Momentum only
SR
I managed to finish SR 80-81 5 out of 5 times within the timer. It is easy. You can even fight Mad Queen through her aura.
In SR 85 I managed to finish 5 out of 5 times within the timer. No deaths in all runs. If you were to die you would be on edge with the timer. Avoid Kaisan’s crystals. Don’t do stupid things and you will be fine.
In SR 90 I managed to finish 2 out of 5 times within the timer. No boss is impossible. I was always able to finish it but doing so within the timer is hard. You must not die in order to do that. You have to play it extremally safe here. In some runs you die 3-4 times and in other runs you don’t die at all. Possibly the mutators or maps or any other random thing… Use Blade Barrier when SHTF.
Celestials
I killed Ravager of Minds without pharma. It is slower but you can mostly survive being sundered. Avoid the null of course.
