This is Episode 7 of the Grim Dawn Crossbow Builds YouTube series. A full guide for this character is in the video. The basic idea is that Deadly Momentum from Cadence buffs cooldown Primal Strike hits. As such, we’re using both skills at the same time. The Korvan Wyrm crossbow converts PS to physical damage and offers ~50% global phys>lightning conversion. Three pieces of the Warborn legendary set buff Cadence and complete the global lightning to physical conversion, so we are getting the full flat damage of Brute Force.
The GDCbB series aims to share a comfortable SR30+ farming build for every Legendary and MI crossbow in the game, and many of the Epic ones too. I am mostly making original builds, but I also hope to share new versions of well-known classics from other build creators. I hope to bring some fresh and creative ideas to the GD community.
I think you can easily improve it by focusing on OA more. Your is too low to proc Assassin’s Mark sometimes - one of your main sources of resist reduction. You can get more OA by getting better Mogara Fangs (they are easy to farm and surely you can find something better than double magic one).
Another thing that can improve your build is trying to focus on Physical damage more. That means giving up Huntress in devotion. Problem with Bleeding damage here is that you have very few sources of it and relatively low %bleeding damage. Better focus on Physical (and get medal with %physical damage) and on Trauma.
Last but not the least, War Cry is worth at least soft capping.
For more OA you might also want to swap Primal Bond with Oleron’s Rage, and crank down the mastery bar for more skill points to soft car war cry and the two other nodes on primal strike. Like so: Warder, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I appreciate the replies! So far I’m happy with the balance of trauma and bleeding damage on this char. Without any buffs, Cadence shows 17K trauma and 25K bleeding damage. Primal Strike shows 29K trauma and 25K bleeding. 50K of combined bleed as a baseline seems respectable to me. I also find it fun to scale the bleeding that both base skills give, even if it’s less efficient.
The char performs well enough on SR 30-31. OA is at 2900 with Fighting Spirit up, which seems acceptable to me. War Cry is working as is too. It has enough range to reach my targets and enough damage reduction to feel safe most of the time. If I get inspired to squeeze some higher performance out of this character, though, I may take these suggestions and divest from bleeding. At the very least, I’ll look for an amulet with a rare affix or two.
