[1.2.1.2] Gunslinger's Piercing Gaze: 4:20 Crucible Gladiator 150-170, 1:15 Ravager, SR 90, Celestials - tanky and affordable Pierce gunner Paladin

[mad_lee]

*disapprovingly looking at all the poorly min-maxed builds

Foreword

A concept that has been tried and tested few times before that including by me or by mister AA (as in “auto-attack”) builder himself @banana_peel. Reason I came back to it is because I want forums to have more properly min-maxed builds of the recently buffed with damage reduction addition to its proc Korvaak helmet and then Oathbearers were buffed with healing effects. After testing out quite a bit of options I got the spec that I think is definitely deserving of a forum guide.

The Build

1.2.1.2 Update!

This update was long overdue. Basically changed couple of augments for more hp but most importantly swapped to Bursting Round because it’s a better wps for dual-wielding than Storm Spread here.

<<<< GRIMTOOLS >>>>*

<<<< OLD GRIMTOOLS >>>>*

*Craft everything for stun and freeze resistance

Piercing questions

Why no Horn of Gandarr? You even have the amulet for it!
The best way to go about building an auto-attacker as to have as few interruptions to the auto-attacking as possible that means having less casts. It’s either HoG or Seal and I chose Seal because at hard cap (and it’s very important to hard cap it) it gives amazing absorb values plus its nod boosts our damage significantly. And our damage reduction is covered by helmet proc.

Why this weird blue ring?
I took it to avoid taking unconverted Scales in the devotions and in tests this ring (plus Ulzaad devotion) proved to be better than cutthroat Gargabol ring and Scales in devotions.

Isn’t double rare Vine ring impossible to get?
Nope, It can be vendor farmed and it drops like dirt in Ugdenbog. You really only need suffix that gives slow res from it, prefix can be something else

Gear/skills/devotions/levelling

In terms of gear few pieces are essential to build’s performance. These pieces are pistols, helmet, Mythical Eternal Band ring (try to get one with highest rr and %rr values), Moosi shoulders, relic and the pants. Chest, gloves, boots, medal, Vine ring can be substituted by something else as long as you have adequate OA/DA, phys res and cc-res. A legendary belt (Cord of Deception) can also be used (even craftable belt with +1 to Inquisitor).
In terms of skills it’s important to hard cap Inquisitor Seal and everything else is pretty self-explanatory.
Devotions is something I tested quite a bit and the ones that builds have really include “everything” except meta Turtle.

This is the endgame build. It works as advertised once you equip required gear at character level 100 and repeat my grimtools as close as possible.

! FIND A LINK TO THE LEVELLING GUIDE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST !

Gameplay

Build facetanks everything while inside the Seal. However even without it it can still tank most things.
In Crucible try to always line up the mobs. On waves 160 and 170 you can use the trick of going in one of the corners of the spawns so every monster is in front of you and noone can flank you. Avoid impaired aim debuff pools when possible.
In Shattered Realm don’t waste time on small cluster of mobs and try and find bigger clusters, place a Seal and start blasting away. Some bosses combos can be tanked in pairs. Always use Seal against Mad Queen.
Ravager fight is easy with pharma. Have Aether Cluster at the ready and time your WoP/Seal casts.
Crate fight is complicated as it usually is for auto-attackers. Prepare Eternal Band ring but with Frozen Heart component instead. Try using the same route as I did in the video below.

Stats

General (while standing in Seal with Righeous Fervor charges, Ascension and Ulzaad’s Decree up)

Righeous Fervor damage (while standing in Seal with Righeous Fervor charges, Ascension and Ulzaad’s Decree up)

Videos

1.2.1.2 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Ravager 1:15 kill

1.2.1.2 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. SR 75-76 5:00

1.2.1.2 Pierce Gunner Paladin vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 4:17 run (no buffs/no banners)

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Ravager 1:06 kill

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. SR 75-76 7:04 run

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 5:24 run (no buffs/no banners)

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Crucible Gladiator 150-170 4:19 run

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Shard 90 5:52 run

1.1.9.8 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Crate 1:12 kill

In conclusion

Retirement is around the corner (again?).

And here is a leveling guide for this beast:

[1.1.8.1 - 1.1.9.0] Budget dw ranged pierce Paladin

Introduction The Paladin (Inquisitor, Oathkeeper) is a class that most people consider to be a mediocre class at best (e.g. see here [1.1.8.1] Grim Dawn SUBJECTIVE Class Rankings - Post your personal rankings here and we'll pool it into a singular list of sorts - #8 by ya1). However, the motivation behind this guide / build was not to improve the reputation of the class, it started solely with the intention to have a fun to play build, which could later use two Oathbearers (Mythical Oathbearer -…

[Nery]

The curious case of Mad Lee .The more you are retiring, the more builds you post. Not that I am complaining, or anything like that.

[medea_fleecestealer]

Don’t be daft! Zantai in the Farthest Frontier dev stream the other week.

“I didn’t say no Grim Dawn 2, I just said no Grim Dawn 2 right now. However, if you’re here from our Grim Dawn community in the future later this year I’m going to have some wonderful goodies for you to explore. So stay tuned, we’ll probably do a live stream for Grim Dawn in a few weeks or months where I’m going to talk a little bit about what’s coming up. And I promise you, you guys will love it.”

[Foehammer]

@mad_lee

disapprovingly looking at all the poorly min-maxed builds

Elitist prick detected.

[romanN1]

Hello

Thought i gave a try to this build. Out of all ranged builds that i played, this one is probably the sturdiest of them all. The damage is definitely there and its pretty unique as you dont see many wd builds getting their flat from arcane empowerment. Important to mention, the build is very forgiving and leaves you plenty of room for mistakes. No doubts would call it the best amongst pierce builds.

[lMarcusl]

I sure could have picked a better time to test a pierce gunslinger for my next overview… Oh well, the order of the mighty Word file must not be disobeyed.

[mad_lee]

Thanks for the kind words and other words, everyone.

Updated the guide with the “Gameplay” section. Also killed pesky Crate, took me 4 tries:

Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Crate 1:12 kill

[Krayken]

Hi @mad_lee thanks for sharing this build!

What factions did you side with?

[mad_lee]

Hi!

Factions won’t matter with this one! If you want to be able to eventually kill Ravager with this build (after you level it and gear it properly) you should get friendly with Barrowholm.

[Krayken]

Damn that was quick, thank you very much good sir!

[GatlingBee]

Hi good day bros

can i ask where i can get the pistols since its not showing in the grimtools where to find it and other sites too also whenever i search it the oathbreaker set appears so im kinda asking where can i farm it if its farmable??

[mad_lee]

Hi, it’s a random legendary drop if I recall correctly.

[GatlingBee]

ohh ok ok thank you looks like i gotta gather those keys hahaha

[S.E.P_Ralf]

Nice build! Congrats

[mad_lee]

1.2.1.2 Update!

This update was long overdue. Basically changed couple of augments for more hp but most importantly swapped to Bursting Round because it’s a better wps for dual-wielding than Storm Spread here.

Find the updated grimtools in the op. Here are some videos with build’s current performance:

1.2.1.2 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Ravager 1:15 kill

1.2.1.2 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. SR 75-76 5:00

1.2.1.2 Pierce Gunner Paladin vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 4:17 run (no buffs/no banners)