*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
1.2.1.5 Update!
I decided to experiment with Oleron Bloods and it paid off. Same single-target damage but much better aoe dps and much better tank because we are now using Inquisitor’s relic (in my tests between dropping Chilling Rounds and keeping Plunderer’s relic for its wps or dropping Plunderer and taking Inquisitor’s relic the latter won).
1.2.1.3 Update!
Patch brought few buffs to this build and I decided to drop the blue ring (thanks to @banana_peel) for double Cutthroat Vine ring. Greens might seem hard to get at first, but Cutthroat is among the most popular rare prefixes on Vine rings and Ugdenbog Waistguard (also no more double rare Vine ring because vedor double rare spawn rates have been fixed). Build is very punchy and very tanky.
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>>>>*
*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 up)
Righeous Fervor damage (while standing in Seal with Righeous Fervor charges, Ascension up)
Videos
1.2.1.5 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Ravager 57 seconds kill
1.2.1.5 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. SR 30-31 4:55 run (no short rooms)
1.2.1.5 Pierce Gunner Paladin vs. Crucible 150-170 “naked” ex 4:17 run (no buffs/no banners)
1.2.1.5 Pierce Gunner Paladin vs. Callagadra 2:58 kill
1.2.1.3 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. Ravager 58 seconds kill
1.2.1.3 Pierce gunner Paladin vs. SR 30-31 4:48 run (no short rooms)
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:
Zantai in the Farthest Frontier dev stream the other week.
