Introduction
This mad-physicist cosplay walks around and plants lightning totems, while showering enemies with a barrage of lightning projectiles.
You can play it fairly safe, kiting from a distance, or go for risky point-blank shots, to deal maximum damage.
Ingame stats:
→ GrimTools lvl 100 with all skill points ←
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Good AoE
- Solid overall damage
- Chill caster gameplay
- Extremely easy to gear. Most of it can be bought from vendors, crafted, or farmed within 100 yards of a portal.
However
- For maximum damage, you need to be able to face-tank.
- Not very fast, only one single movement skill from the medal’s augment
How the build works
The main skill in use is Stun Jacks.
Stun Jacks throws a number of projectiles, which fan out and then drop to the ground.
If you are close to the target, all of the jacks can hit the same monster and deal a lot of damage.
If you aim at something further away, the fan will spray out and hit multiple targets.
In addition, we have Wind Devils and Storm Totems to trigger devotions and deal extra damage.
Thermite Mines provide additional resistance reduction.
General advice for new players
- Do all the quests, at least on your first play-through. They give you reputation with factions and keep you on track to level 100.
- Explore the map, especially if it’s your first time playing. Finding stuff like shrines is quite important.
- Prioritize resistances first, damage second
- Use crafted components from the smith to fix missing resistances
- Use 2x Scaled Hide (crafted) in pants, chest or shoulders to fix your armor absorption
- The inventor can recover components from your outdated gear, whenever you swap to a better piece
- Additionally to components, you can apply augments, which you buy from the faction vendors. They also sell great gear and blueprints, for leveling and even late-game setups.
Faction choices
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Ideally you side with Kymon’s Chosen on Normal difficulty, as they have some decent leveling gear for a lightning build.
Then, after buying all their important stuff at max reputation, switch sides to join Death’s Vigil. However, for that to work smoothly, you would need a Mandate from a previous character. You can just stay friendly with them, if you don’t want the hassle. -
I prefer Cult of Bysmiel on normal, for the Emblem of the Leaping Mantis. If you desire a different movement skill, the choice is all yours. Alternate cults between difficulties to rank them up evenly.
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Friendly with Barrowholm. This one mostly, so we can fight Ravager later. If you wish to go hostile instead, I would wait until Ultimate, as they sell a decent chest piece for leveling and have good augments, which you can buy first.
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Friendly with Outcasts provides a decent chest piece for leveling, but they have very little else to offer.
Leveling & gearing up!
I recommend starting with Demolitionist as your first mastery.
Stun Jacks is available right from the start and is a solid leveling skill.
Alternatively you can level with Blackwater Cocktail or start with Shaman and Primal Strike.
But why not give Stun Jacks a chance?
Items listed should be picked up when it is convenient.
The stats on the items will vary, don’t farm for exact copies of my example setups.
If an item slot isn’t listed, then I just assume you will fill it with anything that seems to fit, and the exact item isn’t as important.
The guide will provide links to item locations, if you absolutely don’t want (minor) map spoilers, don’t click on those links.
The devotion progression will be in the GT links, just scroll through the bar on the bottom.
Stat points are split between Physique and Spirit, with a few saved if they are needed for Cunning.
The final build needs roughly 800-850 Physique, 740 Spirit and 400 Cunning, so there are only a few spare points.
Level 1-25 -- Act 1 & 2
Items to get:
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Groble Sky Effigy from Narbalgal, the Stormseeker (he sits on an island just South of Ulgrim
Only a 50% drop chance, but you best chance a quick lightning off-hand -
Alternatively: Overseer Eye from heroic overseers in the Wardens lab, where the Aether crystals spawn. Harder to farm on normal, it took me 4 runs on Veteran just to get one.
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Lightning implement, crafted at the Blacksmith (will give you a level-scaled scepter or dagger with lightning bonuses)
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Martin’s Crest (Moneybags Martin, once you reach A2)
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Ulraprax’s Sting (A2, once you reach Twin Falls)
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Equilibrium relic (blueprint from Devil’s Crossing faction merchant) or Squall relic (at level 25)
For the first levels, until you unlock the Quick Jacks mutator on Stun Jacks, the skill will be on a cooldown.
After that, Stun Jacks will eat up all your cast time and energy for a while, so energy management is key.
Wearing caster gear with energy regeneratin on it, and adding 2 (or more) Ectoplasm components, can help to overcome early energy issues.
Leveling up in order:
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Demolitionist to level 1
- Stun Jacks to 5
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Demolitionist to 5
- Quick Jacks to 3
- Stun Jacks to 8
- Flame Touched to 1
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Demolitionist to 15
- Vindictive Flame to 3
- Full Spread to 10
- Stun Jacks to 10
- Vindictive Flame to 10
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Shaman to 10
- Mogdrogen’s Pact to 1
- Wind Devil to 1
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Shaman to 15
- Heart of the Wild to 1
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Shaman to 20
- Remaining points into Raging Tempest
- If you have energy issues, put a few more into Mogdrogen’s Pact. More into Stun Jacks, if damage is lacking
If you followed the quest-line, you should be roughly somewhere in the region of Broken Hills or Twin Falls (if you play on Veteran or grind more XP you might be higher level, which shouldn’t be an issue.)
After crafting the relic and fixing the resistances, using components from the smith, the build looks something like this:
Level 26-40 -- Act 3 & 4
At this point you should have the Dynamite from Cronley’s Hideout to start the Hidden Path quest-line in Lower Crossing.
We need that to acquire our pants.
Items to get:
- Dreeg-Sect Legguards from Guardian of Dreeg
or (depending on resistances) - Solael-Sect Legguards from Guardian of Solael
- Harvest Footpads, Harvest Grips from the Rovers’ faction vendors (in Old Arkovia)
- Gollus’s Ring from the Deepdweller (one ring will do)
- (optional) Solar Revolver, Chosen Cowl from the Homestead faction vendor (if you have the rep)
- (optional) updated crafted Lightning implement
- (optional) Kymon’s Badge if you need the Chaos resist (if you sided with Kymon, you can still buy the badge from this hidden vendor)
- (optional) Chosen Cord, blueprint bought from the Kymon’s Chosen vendor
- (optional) Desolation Relic or Arbiter Relic
Leveling:
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Max out Raging Tempest
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Shaman to 25
- 1 point Oak Skin (more if you need the resistances)
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Shaman to 32
- max out Storm Totem
At this point we are about ready to take on the final boss of the main campaign (after fixing our resists again):
Level 40 snapshot before the big boss fight
After finishing the vanilla campaign, I strongly recommend to go through the DLCs to farm the remaining gear and meat-up with all the DLC factions.
DLCs to level 50+
Items to get:
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Ugdenbog Stormstrife from Janaxia
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Legion Headguard, Chestguard/Vestment and Greaves from the Black Legion faction vendors
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Alternatively, the Outcasts sell a good level 50 chest for this build, if you have the rep
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(optional) a Living Ring (from most plant monsters or Vinelton, just a solid ring)
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(optional) updated Ulraprax’s Sting
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(optional) updated Dreeg-Sect pants for later
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Desolation relic blueprint, if not already known (can be sold by Hyram in the Steelcap district. You can reset his inventory by portaling to Devil’s Crossing and browsing wares there for a few seconds. Then go back and check Hyram’s wares again until he sells you the blueprint)
Leveling:
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Max out Stun Jacks
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Demo to 20
- 1 point into Ulzuin’s Wrath, Temper
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Demo to 32
- 1 point into Blast Shield (5 if on HC)
- remaining points into Thermite Mines
Now, after reaching level 50, the setup should look sth like this:
As soon as you and your resistances feel ready for Elite, I would head there, to pick up additional shrines if nothing else.
You probably don’t need to do a full play-through of Elite, but it can smooth out the progression to Ultimate.
Level 50-75 -- Elite, Prep for Ultimate
Items to get:
- updated versions of
- Overseer’s Eye
- Martin’s Crest
- Ulraprax’s Sting
- Ugdenbog Stormstrife
- Gollus’ Ring
- and/or Living Ring
- Dreeg-Sect Legguards
- Fettan Mask from this place
- Elite Harvest Grips (from Homestead faction vendor)
- Coven Warder Spaulders (from Coven of Ugdenbog)
- Wendigo Guardian Cuirass (from Barrowholm faction vendor, who shows up after a certain number of quests for the town)
- crafted Malmouth Arcane Waistguard (bought from Malmouth Resistance)
- Depending on reputation and need for resist: Elite Legion Greaves, Elite Harvest Footpads/Greaves, Elite Rhowari Footpads/Greaves (sold by Black Legion, Homestead, Rovers)
Leveling up:
- Demo to 50
- Max out Thermite Mines
- Max out Ulzuin’s Chosen
- remaining points split between Vindictive Flame, Mogdrogen’s Pact and Heart of the Wild
With a few extra levels, fresh new gear, components and a few augments, the build should look similar to this:
Level to 100 and farming the final setup
At this point a full play-through of Ultimate will provide the experience and most of the reputation needed.
Once you reach “Honored” with a faction you should buy and read a “Writ” to increase the reputation gain with them for the grind to “Revered”.
Once we reach about level 90 and Honored/Revered with factions like Coven and Resistance of Malmouth, we can start to farm, buy and suit up in some endgame gear:
Items to get at level 90+:
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Overseer Eye (on Ultimate, you’ll find one easily while farming Aether crystals in the Warden’s lab)
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Ulraprax’s Sting
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2 Gollus rings
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(alternatively) Coven Stormseal (sold by Coven of Ugdenbog)
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Stoneplate Greaves or Intrepid Warboots (both crafted, blueprint drops often from Totems etc)
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(alternatively) Elite Legion Greaves
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Emberguard Grips (crafted, ideally with 18%+ casting speed)
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(alternatively) Elite Rhowari Handguards or any blue/purple gloves with casting speed
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Coven Mark of the Arcane (sold by Coven of Ugdenbog)
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(alternatively) Martin’s Crest with good affixes
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Malmouth Arcane Girdle (crafted, blueprint sold by Malmouth Resistance)
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3-4 random level 94 blue set pieces for transmutation, see below
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Eastern Legguards (see “Transmutation”) or Dreeg-Sect Legguards
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Stormserpent Mask and chest, if they should drop (otherwise, “Transmutation”)
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once you have reached “Nemesis” status with Aetherials or C’thonians, you can farm their Nemesis bosses for an alternative shoulder piece (Valdaran’s Mantle and Benn’Jahr’s Shoulderguard) - the Elite Chosen Warder shoulders will serve perfectly fine though.
Leveling up:
- Shaman to 50
- 1 point into Stormcaller’s Pact and Maelstrom
- Flame Touched to 12/12, Heart of the Wild to 10/10
- Use the remaining points max out Vindictive Flame and split the rest between Stormcaller’s Pact and Mogdrogen’s Pact
I typically drink a potion to reset my attributes, to get the requirements for my final gear in cunning and spirit. Most spare points went into physique.
Level 100 snapshot, before getting the last skill points from the Shattered Realm
Transmutation into desired set pieces:
How to transmute
This build requires 2 pieces of the Stormserpent set.
Instead of praying for drop luck and sacrificing bunnies to RNGeesus, we can utilize the mechanic of transmutation to (almost) guarantee those items.
Prerequisites
- Complete the quest for Kargon in the Conclave of the Three (return his book).
- Have some level 94 set pieces, iron bits (roughly 1-2 million will be good) and Aether Crystals.
Once the quest is completed, any inventor will offer transmutation services.
- Select Transmutation
- Select the right button (green square) to transmute into a different set of the same level.
- Take any random, blue level 94 set piece and place it in the empty slot
- Press transmute to change the item to a different set piece of the same level and rarity.
If you get any Stormserpent set pieces, keep them and repeat the process with items from different sets.
Eventually, you will have two random Stormserpent set pieces.
Then swap to the left transmute option and use it to turn those into the helmet and chest piece.
You can also use this process to get the Eastern set pants.
If you have spare resources, you can also reroll the values of your set items this way, but it gets very expensive quickly.
Augments for the endgame setup
Our desired augments are sold by all factions at “Revered” standing. If you play through all three difficulties, you’ll reach that rep either late in Elite or after you have done their quests on Ultimate.
If you buy and read a “Writ” after you reach Honored with a faction, you will get bonus reputation for your future actions. Strongly recommended.
Various armor augments are used to fix our resistances, until they are all ~30% over the maximum cap, ideally (except for physical resist).
After we have reached our desired overcaps, we can use Bysmiel Silversand (Cult of Bysmiel) to gain extra HP regeneration and Defensive Ability or Solael Bloodbinding (Cult of Solael) and Wendigo Lifescent Powder (Barrowholm), to improve our pool of HP and Defensive Ability.
There are also Coven Bloodied Ash and Malmouth Fortifying Powder, which provide extra HP regen and some resistance.
Rings and amulets are enhanced with damage augments, our main augments are:
- Typhoon Powder (Malmouth Resistance) for Defensive Ability and HP
- Ateph’s Promise (Cult of Bysmiel) for Defensive Ability and HP
- Skyshard Powder (Coven of Ugdenbog) for Offensive Ability
- Osyr’s Wisdom (Cult of Dreeg) for Offensive Ability and resistances
- Arcanum Dust (Malmouth Resistance) for elemental resistances and Defensive Ability
- Survivor’s Ingenuity (Devil’s Crossing) for offensive and defensive ability, can be quite a big boost and is accessible very early.
There are a lot of options here, check for yourself, which combination gives you the best mix of HP, OA and DA.
Weapon augments are mainly:
- Dreeg’s Foresight (Cult of Dreeg)
- Solael’s Vision/Solael’s Glare (both Cult of Solael)
- Malmouth’s Will (Malmouth Resistance)
Shattered Realm Run, 65-66 in ~9:30 minutes
Lokarr fight
Helpful farming and crafting guide for gear pieces listed above
Farming
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Overseer Eye: Overseers can show up in almost any area that has Aetherial enemies. Usually it’s not hard to find some of these while playing through the campaign.
If you somehow can’t find any, they are also sold by the vendor in the Port Valbury dungeon
You can reset this vendor’s inventory, by going back to the entrance to the previous area, waiting there for a few seconds and then returning. -
Ugdenbog Stormstrife: Can be dropped by Janaxia and Larria.
It has a 33% chance to drop, but the affixes are usually very good.
Ideally, try to get one with a rare Elemental/Lightning prefix and the “of Thunder” suffix, at least for the final setup.
Crafted items
Crafting items at the Blacksmith adds a “crafting bonus” stat, depending on the blacksmith.
My recommended smiths for this build are:
- Kaylon, Steelcap District - for Freeze or Stun resistance
- Egellon, Sunbane Oasis (hidden) - for Slow or Reflect resistance
If you don’t get your desired bonus, it’s not the end of the world, usually.
The bonus doesn’t apply to relics, they get a different bonus, unrelated to the blacksmith.
Scrap & crafting mats
- Collect dynamite while you are leveling, to blow up Legendaries. Anything below level 84 can be blown to bits, without regrets. A lot of higher level stuff as well.
- This will provide the scrap needed for crafting and also the rare material that you don’t want to painstakingly farm
- Dynamite can be crafted from Aether Shards, shards can be crafted from crystals. Farming Aether Crystals (in the Warden’s lab for example) is going to yield more dynamite, than picking up individual sticks
Possible upgrades you can find along the way
- Mythical Quickening Gem - bonuses to 3 relevant skills are hard to ignore.
- Light’s Guardian Set - A Mythical Set for this very concept. Especially the gloves are great, even by themselves.
- Stormrend - Converts Stun Jacks fully to lightning, huge damage boost, but you lose a Storm Totem. The axe has an increased drop rate from Aetherwarped totems.
- Mythical Wyrmbone Mask (blueprint) - Also converts Stun Jacks to full lightning damage.
- Mythical Thread of Mortality - If you want to focus on regen, this amulet has that and +1 to both masteries.
- Mythical Leggings of Arcane Currents
- Mythical Stormcage Legguards
- Mythical Wyrmscale Footguards
- Mythical Windborne Greaves
- Mythical Ulzuin’s Torment (best demo belt)
- Ulzuin’s Pyroclasm or Eye of the Storm (relic upgrades)
…and many more
Hope you enjoy the build!
Let me know if you spot any errors, or have questions and suggestions.
