Build
- [2H Ranged] [1.2.1.2] SSF HC Fire War Cry Beginner Build (Cripptid)
- Warlord, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Damage: Fire, Burn
- Active Skills: War Cry, Righteous Fervor, Vire’s Might, Ascension, Judgment
Introduction
Hi there, I did not expect my previous beginner build to be added to the compendium, it was something I did just for fun during my free time and I was not providing sufficient details, this time I will try to put more effort into it and have a more detailed guide.
The Build
This time I want to show you a War Cry build, I know that the skill is not really dealing any damage and is usually used only to reduce the enemy’s damage, it has inbuilt health reduction but most enemies are either resilient or immune to health reduction as result its unreliable. But there is a way to improve the skill to deal solid damage with huge area of effect.
The main weapon I am going to use is the Messenger’s Cannon, it is another weapon forgotten by the community due to its clunky mechanics. The weapon modifies the Soldier’s War Cry skill adding some fire damage to it and adding flat resistance reduction. To further support the War Cry I intend to use the Fleshwarped Casque and Mark of the Harvoul, further enhancing War Cry’s flat damage.
Early on, we can level with Righteous Fervor; the problem is that RF main damage is Physical and Burn damage. We can partially amend that with good weapon affixes like Searing which can convert ~40% physical damage to fire, additionally we can use Devil Touched Ammo for additional 10% conversion and we can try to find a fire amulet with an additional 10-15% conversion. This way we can reach ~80% physical to fire damage conversion, to support the RF we will also use Default Attack Techniques like Smite, Zolhan’s and Markovian’s techniques.
The Messenger Cannon is quite far into the DLC so early on we can either go to the Homestead and farm for an Fleshwarped Incinerator for a temporary use, it has nice flat damage which will facilitate the leveling or venture directly to Forgotten Gods DLC and use the Korvan Burning Halberd until we get the Messenger Cannon.
The Fleshwarped Casque drops from the Fleshwarped Commanders and other armored trolls near Homestead, Fort icon and Necropolis. The Mark of Harvoul drops from Harvoul boss in the tomb of Korvaak, grabbing these items is vital for the build to work, during my play-through I have used a level 32 mark of harvoul up to level 94.
As an option you can use the Fleshwarped Pauldrons for +3 to Righteous Fervor, you can either farm them or buy them in the Port Valbury, in the second area of the Port you can find a vendor which sells Fleshwarped gear (helm included), you can re-roll the vendor items by exiting for 15 seconds the area and then returning back, repeat until you get the best gear you desire, preferably gear with Of Vitality affix and elemental or fire damage.
The main source of damage would be the War Cry, after getting the MI’s, the skill deals solid damage in a huge AOE. During the leveling and theory crafting, I have noticed that I have some unspent skill points so I decided to use the Judgment. The judgment deals physical damage which is mostly converted to fire due to our weapon affixes, has smaller AOE and it has a modest damage but still it is useful. The Crushing Verdict lowers the DA and the Heart of Wrath greatly increases our flat Fire damage for a short duration, the combo is simple, I use the Judgment to lower the enemies DA and get the Heart of Wrath damage bonus then I use War Cry. The War Cry deals weapon damage, which means it benefits from flat damage bonuses like Hearth of Wrath.
Both skills have quite high cooldown even with the discounts from the helmet and the cannon we have a window of time where our character is idle. In order to compensate for that I decided to also use the Righteous Fervor, leveling the RF to level 26 is not difficult with the help of Gargabol’s Rings, which grants +6 to RF. To empower the RF I also took some default attack techniques.
I decided to not max the Vire’s Might and use it only for displacement, I know that the Messenger Cannon empowers the skill, but our character is relatively squishy and recklessly diving into the enemies does not sound like a good idea.
Pros and cons
The cannon is a ranged two-handed weapon designed for a soldier which is unusual as soldiers are not proficient with two-handed ranged weapons. While using the cannon soldier will not be able to use his strongest skills like Menhir’s Will, which works as a safety net for every soldier, Overguard, which is a perfect defensive tool to save your bottom when you are in a tough situation and Menhir’s Bulwark, which is a strong Exclusive skill, designed for defensive play. From the Oathkeeper class we are also unable to use Safeguard as it requires a shield, we lose one technique Shattering Smash and we also do not fully benefit from Haven passive.
Not being able to use three most powerful soldier skills seriously cuts the character’s survivability but even then, the build is fun and deals lots of AOE damage.
The Constellations
The devotions are standard; we need Viper for its elemental resistance reduction, our class lacks Fire resistance reduction so we need to accumulate everything we can, the next is Solael’s Witchblade for its Fire damage and RR.
I also took a couple of fire Constellations like Magi, an excellent constellation, it grants fire damage both percentage and flat coupled with other decent stats like attack speed and freeze duration reduction, the Ulzuin’sTorch is also formidable thanks to its high stats and offensive ability.
I decided to abstain from using Fiend and Imp due to them being too expensive in terms of devotions points and their weak effects.
As mentioned before we cannot use the Soldier’s defensive skills like Memhir’s Will and Overguard so we need a safety net just in case. I play Hardcore so any misstep may be fatal. The Oathkeeper has Resilience but that is hardly enough, I have decided to take the Chariot of the Dead for its stun and slow resistance and link it to the Resilience so it can heal and buff us only when we are low HP, additionally I took Ghoul for its physical resistance and life leech. These two constellation will help us to survive.
The only constellations left are Kraken and Hydra, Kraken is a necessary constellation for any two-handed build because all two-handed weapons are slow and the Kraken grants high amounts of attack speed and damage. Hydra is excellent for ranged characters because of its maximum movement speed bonus, being 6% faster is really nice, in Grim Dawn if you move you are basically invulnerable.
Relics
Early on we can use Equilibrium, a solid early game relic, on Normal and Elite many enemies are susceptible to Stun and Confusion so it boosts our survivability. After getting the blueprint in the Forgotten Gods DLC we can craft the Endurance, even though this is a low level relic overall this is a solid relic we can use even in our final build.
Progression
20
27 – Messenger cannon acquired
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Note: During the leveling try prioritize Acid, Chaos and Aether resistances on the gear, the other resistances can be easily covered by the components. You can use any fire or elemental Boots, Pants and Gloves. As for the Belt it’s a good idea to use the Gargoyle Girdle which drops near Korvaak.
