[1.3.0.8] - Gloom Reaver - HC Ascendant - DW Poison/Acid Reaver - SR36/Mog OG/Mog FoA/Reaper/The Dread/Calla/Crate/Nerf/Uber Nerf

[or0b0to]

I really wanted to give the Gloom Knight set a go since I had the pieces drop, and decided to put it on a Reaver.

Thanks to @Glimpse for the reference to the other Gloom Knight Build below. There are definitely a lot of changes you could make to suit your personal preferences here. The other build below is all in on Avalanche with Ascendant Bonuses, and if you were playing on SC you could remove some of the defensive layers I have, but as is this setup has done all content on HC Ascendant to date with no issues.

There’s definitely a higher level of capability to reach after Ascending all of the items… I’ll add an updated version after I go through that process. Since the FoA release I prefer to try and run an idea as far as I can before adding in Ascendant bonuses though, so this is done w/ just a straight build.

Bonus for the controller/simplified playthrough people, this build is super streamlined mechanically:

• Two buff shouts
• Two attack skills
• One debuff shout

No need to piano your way to success!

I play strictly HC, so I skew towards survivability and safety.

High OA/DA + 29% Dodge/29% Deflect + Multiple defensive layers gives a wide margin for errors for when GD likes to try and Merc you like it does.

(My Primary Setup Now) Alternate Devotions:
Grimtools: Reaver, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

Original more Defensive Setup:
Grimtools: Reaver, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

Grimtools Old

Grimtools Old: Reaver, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

Highlights so far:

SR 36 - Pushed to the next breakpoint now that I’ve done all other content
HC Ascendant Mog - OG - Face Tanked the whole encounter
HC Ascendant Ravager of Flesh - Approximately ~1 minute TTK (I didn’t time it though)
HC Ascendant The Dread - EZ fight. Dodge Red Balls, Face Tank the rest.
HC Ascendant Calla - Fiddly fight. Stick and move from obvious danger and he goes down.
HC Ascendant Crate - ~1 min fight EZPZ. Dive in, stack Onslaught/DoTs, kite back, rinse repeat.
HC Ascendant Mog - FoA - Stuns are super dicey, had to prioritize the rock tossers to keep the life leech going. Dodge big hits, play smart, he’s very dangerous.
HC Ascendant Nerf - Took a little longer than my Xbow Mystic, but smooth fight, just don’t get one shot!
HC Ascendant Uber Nerf - I do not recommend this fight, it’s just not fun dodging one shots the whole time. It is doable on this build though if you maintain good positioning in the arena.
HC Ascendant Fully Juiced Dread - EZPZ. Done w/ the Alternate Devotions Setup

Leveling was smooth sailing. There are a number of MIs that you can lean on to help along the way, like the dermapteran slicers, as well as the off-hand in the final build Rift Scourge Slicers. I didn’t care what armor I equipped along the way, the dps carries pretty well, I just made sure that it was relatively level appropriate and my resists were maxed out.

[Glimpse]

You might want to check this build of Banana, although it struggles with full Altar Dread:

Reaver, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

[or0b0to]

Nice, thanks for the reference.

Lots of parallels in there for sure.

From a quick look I’d think my take would be a little tankier, and this one you linked would maybe have a higher dps cap, but I could be mistaken.

I also like only having ~2 buttons to press on this set up… nice change of pace compared to some piano builds I’ve tried in the past.

Currently I also have no real Ascended bonuses yet. I upgraded the helm (+OA atm), but I’ve been waiting until after I’ve tried to tackle most content before going down that route just to see what I can squeeze out of an idea before juicing it up.

[or0b0to]

The Dread down on HC Ascendant

Super easy fight, face tanked everything except the red ball of doom.

[or0b0to]

HC Ascendant Calla down.

This fight was fiddly… too dicey to face tank with all of the various effects so I took a stick and move approach. Baited out Sunder or Heavy attack, then stacked DoTs and dumped Onslaught Stacks, then kited away from the dust storms while the damage ticked away.

Rinse and Repeat and you have a Dead Calla.

[or0b0to]

Crate down on HC Ascendant

This build dealt with Crate pretty easily… same tactic as Calla, but quicker. Dive in, stack Onslaught, drop DoTs, then kite away from crates to create some distance.

Rinse, Repeat, Dead Crate… ~1 minute kill.

[or0b0to]

HC Ascendant Mog - FoA Version down.

This is a dangerous fight because of the stuns. Without that one aspect this would be 100% facetank territory, but the interrupts in being able to life leech made a few butt pucker moments. If he would have stacked attacks in those windows that would have been a wrap. After the first 2 hits I prioritized taking out the rock tossers to keep the attack pace up and then it was a little less harrowing for the rest of the fight.

Gotta play smart and dodge big hits at times.

[or0b0to]

HC Ascendant Nerf down.

Took longer than my Xbow Mystic build, but the fight was straight forward. Just gotta dodge the stuff you’re supposed to dodge.

[or0b0to]

Made an alternate devotions setup with some inspiration from the other build linked in this thread.

Updated in post #1 and here: Reaver, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

Higher OA, slightly lower DA, and loses Giants Blood + Guardians Gaze

Probably will be a little squishier, but the tradeoff of higher DPS cap might balance it all out in the end. So far so good with testing, toon is still alive!

[or0b0to]

Uber Nerf Down on HC Ascendant

I do not recomend this fight

Uber Nerf is just not a fun encounter… it’s literally just dodging one shots the whole time, and if you get unlucky with positioning combined with Nerf’s skill order/choice you can be put in an unwinnable situation.

Used a Royal Jelly Essence and an Elixir of the Dranghoul to boost stats a bit for safety.

This was done with the Alternate Devotion build listed earler in this thread, and in post #1, as I felt the proc from Yugol and the boosted OA would help burn him down quicker.

[pinball]

Nice build. I love green stuff. Btw have you tried this build in playtest patch?

[or0b0to]

I haven’t tried it on the Playtest server… family + job keeps my weekly playtime low so I only ever play on the live version of the game.

I’d think it should survive the patch pretty well though because it doesn’t rely on WPS stacking or some of the other mechanics that are getting hit.

Whenever that patch goes live I’ll give this toon a thorough run down though.

And yeah, Green Avalanche is awesome!

[or0b0to]

HC Ascendant Fully Juiced Dread

EZPZ.

Done w/ the Alternate Devotions Setup.

[or0b0to]

Pushed up to SR36 now that I’ve done all other content and don’t mind getting accidentally merc’d by some random GD stuff.

Pretty smooth sailing. I used a Jelly and a Dranghoul for extra stats for safety.

Just have to be careful of over-pulling, standing in ground effects, or agro’ing 2 or more bosses that have dangerous moves.

[Noksion]

Kind of a side tangent here: where do you get your Celestial Essences?
I only have two in my shared stash, and I’ve leveled a couple dozen characters to 100 on HC.

[Glimpse]

Sadly Avalance and other WPS have been gutted with the latest patch cooking, overall loss of damage on such builds ranges from ~20-40% and that doesnt account to the lowered % chance of Avalance proces on items and ascendancy affixes.

So not only Avalance will proc close to 50% of the time vs 1.3 but its dmg has been halved due to a 8 year old bug being fixed…

[or0b0to]

@Glimpse Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but I don’t think this build will get hit too hard because it doesn’t rely on Avalanche stacking for it’s core damage.

Once the patch goes live I’ll run this toon back through all the endgame content to see how it feels. I’m optimistic that it’ll still rock pretty hard.

[or0b0to]

@Noksion best bet is took look here at the spawn locations and then plan out some farming routes.