Part eight of my controller friendly build series: Piercing EoR/Spinner Dervish
Grimtools link. The MI prefixes and Affixes are just the ones I have, not the ones that are optimal.
[Hyperfarm Variant]
With maximum movement abilties, high single target and AOE DPS, and enough defense to ignore pretty much everything, this is an amazing boss farmer; for things like Decree of Malmouth or Lunal’Valgoth’s Waistguard, I haven’t found anything that can come close. (Except maybe skaters, but I haven’t tried any of those, and they require a lot of micro.) It also requires minimal attention, if, for example, you want to kill the Malmouth Council 150 times while watching TV before they finally drop a ******* **** ******* Decree of Malmouth. It’s not as good as farming grunts as my Farmlord.
After the fun I had with my acid EoR Sentinel, I wanted to try creating another spinner. It seemed like there weren’t a lot of angles left to do. Piercing, however, hadn’t been done since 1.1.4.2, which was a while ago, so I decided to try it out. It worked really well, so here it is. The dps is 325156, now that I got a Mythical Will of the Blade.
Comparison to Acid Sentinel
I’ll start by listing the pros and cons of the pierce build compared to the acid build, which is also rated for SR80.
Pros:
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800 more DA
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higher overcaps on resists
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super tanky
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fewer abilities to use
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higher mobility with a controller as a result (you have an available button for vire’s might)
Cons:
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lower raw damage.
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fewer abilities to use, lower damage, and greater defense can make boss fights boring
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much less resist reduction (124% vs 91%)
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lower percentage of damage benefits from the resist reduction
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much slower as a result
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utilizes MIs to achieve tankiness
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requires Callagadra kill for best helmet (Dunefiend works too, as do Ravager’s drops)
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utilizes the Ring of Orissa as well, which is also hard to get.
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it took me forever to get a Mythical Will of the Blade. (I wrote this guide with the level 65 version).
Video proof of clear
Fight tips
This build has very simple gameplay: Keep Pneumatic Burst always active, use Judgment on CD, followed by a Ring of Steel, then Eye of Reckoning until Judgment is back up. Use Ascension when you need a boost, and use Blade Barrier for when you’re in serious danger.
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Offense: The Guardians of Empyrion are there to proc Shifting Sands, which isn’t a big damage dealer. You can basically just ignore them. Your defense should be enough to position yourself in the middle of a clump of enemies for maximum damage.
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Defense: Ascension is slightly useful, but with so few points in it, don’t expect it to save you. Ring of Steel is there for its fumble chance. Pneumatic Burst provides a good boost to your health when it’s activated, but make sure you don’t let it run out. You have plenty of healing from Scion of Crimson Wakes. Only use Blade Barrier when you really need it, since it has a high cooldown. (Or forget about it completely like I always do.)
Gear
As usual, the resists are overcapped to deal with resist reduction on high SR.
Essential Gear:
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Reaver’s Claw: converts useless fire damage into piercing.
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Scion of Crimson Wakes: is your source of sustained healing. Another Reaver’s Claw would give you a greater percentage of your DPS as piercing, but you would need to give up a lot to get the healing back.
Stuff I’m pretty sure is best in slot:
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Bladetwister Signet: a big damage conversion, and 10% resist reduction makes this ideal.
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Callagadra’s Visage: flat damage, +1 to all skills, a big chunk of health, and useful resists. It’s not necessarily easy to get. (I used my Rah’Zin’s/Harbinger Witchblade). If you don’t have Callagadra’s Visage, Ravager’s Gaze or Dreadgaze would probably be second best. Dunefiend’s Mask isn’t bad either, but it doesn’t get 100% conversion on its flat acid damage, and it will convert some of your lightning into acid instead of pierce.
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Arcane Harmony Leggings: I know I’m probably the biggest fan of these, but I believe a build is only as strong as its weakest link, and without disruption protection you will really struggle against certain enemies. +84/126 spirit goes towards the spirit requirements of your gear, and +84/126 DA is awesome as well. The resistances are good too. I don’t know why other people don’t use this as much as I do.
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Sandreaver Bracers: +2 to EoR, 24 physical and some bleed. I don’t think the lightning to physical converted damage can be converted to pierce, but phys isn’t that bad. The proof is in the DPS though; nothing else comes close.
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Chosen Epaulets: the conversion is the biggest factor here. Plus it gives much needed OA.
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Serenity: The +1 to all skills makes a substantial difference. I suppose you could use Belgothian’s Carnage, for a bit more damage.
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Direwolf Crest: resists, big piercing boosts, and a ton of needed OA make this a great choice, even if you can’t use its passive.
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Galewind Treads: there aren’t a lot of piercing boots, and Galewind gives you much needed OA.
Other stuff:
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Spellbreaker Wasteguard: I’m pretty sure this should be a Blade Breaker Sash. In my initial configuration, I had substantial acid damage from Lethal Assault and Dunefiend’s Mask, but with both of those gone the flat damage from Blade Breaker should make it a slightly better choice, but I did the build with Spellbreaker.
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Murderer’s Breastplate: Similarly, I started using this for the conversion. I tried other options once I scrapped the acid, but I couldn’t find anything better than the exact Murderer’s Breastplate I had. It does have +3 to Dual Blades.
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Will of the Blade: even with the level 65 version, it was the best necklace in terms of DPS, but the build could use more OA. I couldn’t find anything I preferred to Will of the Blade though. Night’s Embrace is tempting, but the physical to cold conversion really hurts. With the mythical version, the build is a tiny bit stronger.
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Ring of Orissa: I compared this to a second Bladetwister Signet, and Orissa had substantially higher damage. The spinning eye fits the theme of the build, but there are plenty of other things you could put here.
Devotions
Since this build was never going to match the damage of my acid EoR Sentinel, I decided to make it super tanky. It definitely needed the energy regen from Scales and Scythe.
Core
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Assassin’s Blade: pierce RR, so it goes on the main skill.
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Harvestman’s Scythe: mostly there for energy regen.
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Scales of Ulcama: finishes your energy regen, and the resist reduction is nice. While it’s inferior to Manticore’s RR, and is applied single target instead of AoE, it should still be consistently active on bosses.
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Blades of Nadaan: I’m not sure how exactly armor piercing is calculated, but this definitely helps.
Not core
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Azrakaa, the Eternal Sands: good bonuses to your damage, and gives impaired aim. It’s 0.5s cd makes it a natural fit for Guardian of Empyrion.
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Everything else is just for defense.
Skill choices
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Eye of Reckoning: main damage skill. Max this.
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Ring of Steel: the damage isn’t very useful without a bunch of points in it, but it comes with a big fumble chance from Circle of Slaughter, and so fits in with this build’s circle theme, as well as its toughness.
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Pneumatic Burst: essential.
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Elemental Awakening: that’s there to help the elemental resist overcap.
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Summon Guardian of Empyrion: that’s there to proc Azrakaa. I’m not sure if Celestial Presence increases the proc rate, but it’s only one point, and you do in fact deal substantial physical, bleeding, and elemental damage.
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Vire’s Might: mobility is nice, and it lets you dash back into the fray after applying the debuff from Glyph of Incorporeal Winds.
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Judgment: Crushing Verdict is essential, especially since this build relies on crits.
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Divine Mandate: Only there for the big crit damage boost and the slow res.
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Blade Barrier: a single point in this gives you a chance to survive making a big mistake.
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Ascension: a single point here makes you slightly stronger. I didn’t put much in it because it has low uptime.
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Everything else: passive boosts make this build work. Apply points as necessary.
Leveling tips
While you lack conversion on EoR while levelling, it provides enough physical damage that you’re strong throughout. Energy will be a problem, so make sure you manage that, mostly with ectoplasms and devotions. Healing is also a problem, since it almost entirely comes from Scion of Crimson Wakes, but Pneumatic burst is there to help. I used Bat and Fox and Toad devotions while levelling for the lifesteal they provide. I also used Shadow Strike for the mobility it provides.
Try to get Azrakaa as soon as possible because it takes so much experience to max out.