The Crucible fanatic is back to provide you another top tier Crucible farmer, guided by the tank/dot meta i had to try out the potential of a Bleed build: result have exceeded my expectations, with a succesrate around 95% & an average of ~23/24 mins for 100-150 clear, it even beat the old beloved meta physical S&B. :’(
As usual Crucible build are a decent choice for Vanilla HC or for people privileging tankiness over damage.
[v1.0.0.9]Video: 100-150 Gladiator clear (23 mins 29sec)
https://youtu.be/VRRY2eC2X90 Funny moments:
1mins 35sec: Anasteria - 389k+410+436k dots tic.
16mins 50sec: Maiden - 366k+584k+564k dots tic.
With +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-dXCrpR
Attribute: 75/0/15
Without +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-c50tZh
Devotions binding:
Falcon Swoop -> Siegebreaker
Targo’s Hammer -> Menhir’s Bulwark
Acid Spray -> Devouring Swarm
Wayward Soul -> Field Command
Howl of Mogdrogen -> War Cry
Rend -> Grasping Vines
Pic is selfbuff with Judicator/Savagery up
Head: Bloodrager’s Cowl (Sanctified Bone / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Shoulders: Bloodrager’s Shoulderguard (Scaled Hide / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Chest: Bloodrager’s Coat (Sanctified Bone / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Main hand: Butcher of Burrwitch (Imbued Silver / Oleron’s Fervor (Black Legion))
Offhand: Siegebreaker (Radiant Gem / Outcast’s Bastion (Outcasts))
Hands: Voidsteel Gauntlets (Spellwoven Threads / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Waist: Guthook Belt (Antivenom Salve / Venomguard Powder (Rovers))
Legs: Warding Solael-Sect Legguards of Nature’s Bounty (Ancient Armor Plate / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Feet: Purging Exalted Treads of Featherstep (Mark of Mogdrogen / Mankind’s Vigil (Black Legion))
Amulet: Bloodrager’s Gem (Focusing Prism / Survivor’s Ingenuity (Devil’s Crossing))
Rings: Open Hand of Mercy (Ectoplasm / Survivor’s Ingenuity (Devil’s Crossing))
Rings: Closed Fist of Vengeance (Ectoplasm / Survivor’s Ingenuity (Devil’s Crossing))
Medal: Mark of Divinity (Arcane Spark)
Relic: Oleron’s Wrath
Grimtool (original setup)
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVbKYQZJ
Grimtool (without endgame greens)
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2ELyjNd
Gameplay & Spells review:
First i have to said that this is one of the tankiest Crucible build i have played, this is actually safer than physical S&B for multiple reasons.
Back to the subject, this time we are an hybrid melee/caster, gameplay remains simple, paint everything with Devouring swarm, use Grasping Vines/Siegebreaker as primary aoe sources, Blade Arc for bursting resilient target, keep Overguard for crucial moments.
An important point is that dots snapshot RR debuff so try to apply your full debuff before using Blade Arc which is by far your highest single target damage source. Finally this build is quite energy-vore so use Devouring Swarm with parcimony & efficiently.
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Blade Arc: Main Single target damage source with a slight aoe range, try to keep it for bursting some big HP pool mob or champions/boss.
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Devouring Swarm: aoe RR debuff, apply it on as many monster as possible will also increase your HP sustain.
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Grasping Vines: Main aoe damage source since it is coupled with Rend, can even clear most of trash mob by itself.
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Siegebreaker(offhand): aoe damage source, used to proc Falcon Swoop & partially apply RR from Open Hand of Mercy & bleed damage weapon related.
- Savagery: Mainly use for Tenacity of the Boar buff (OA/DA/%hp regen), apply RR from Open Hand of Mercy & bleed damage weapon related.
- Blitz: Mobility purpose, can be use to apply RR from Open Hand of Mercy & bleed damage weapon related.
- Overguard: boost your toughness by phenomal amount but CD is quite long, keep it for decisive moments.
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Wendigo Totem: Support healing source, mainly needed for boss/nemesis fight.
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War Cry: Reduce total damage from monster in aoe, skill disruption is highly appreciated for silence caster/healer trashmob.
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Radiant Shield(component): Up your max elemental resistance & grant an extra elemental resistance, allow you to boost your toughness & counter RR shred from specific boss/nemesis (Valdaran/Shar’zul).
Crucible Mini-Guide:
Since this is the same tips as my previous DEE Witchblade guide i veiled it into a spoiler.
[spoiler]Some Crucible tips & strategy (mostly for beginner):
Wave#104: Be careful with Anesteria & her RR debuff, stay in movement.
Wave#137: Same things as Wave#104 but harder, try to kill everything else and finish with Anesteria.
Wave#146: The 3 hidden path Guardian, they have insane damage potential if they are together, stay in movement & try to split them with some kitting.
Wave#147: If Madqueen spawn, be careful when she active her deadly red aura, try to clean everything else first.
Wave#149: Dont try to facetank this wave, just dots & run, you should easily defeat any boss combo you meet.
Wave#150: Due to the high Nemesis combo possibility, i cant explain them all here but i’am gonna try to give a global logic to play safe:
Lowest priority:
Zantarin: Always keep him for the end, since his damage can be insane (RR debuff/shotgun), hide yourself behind a wall & bait other nemesis to kill them first.
Moosilauke: Another Nemesis in the bottom of the priority list, abuse is slowness, kill him last. (EXCEPT if Zantarin is there, he still have to be kill last)
Benn’Jahr: One of the easiest spawn, abuse is slowness, you can kill him in any order depending which combo you have.
Highest priority:
Maiden: Since she stick your ass like a cancer, we dont have much choice to get her in the high priority kill-list.
Fabius: Same as maiden, careful with his SS ability is applying a RR debuff.
Valdaran: he is a top priority to kill, his combo of RR debuff/shotgun is deadly especially if you dont have good lightning overcap and his swap ability can put you sometime in awkward position.
Zantai: my favorite nemesis & most lethal one.
Be aware of mutators aswell, some crazy combo can significantly alter your run , more info here.
100-150 Solo Farming & Tribute usage:
Like any top tier Crucible build, you can easily pullout an average of 15-20 legendary per hour and tons of MI.
An important point for efficiency is to properly manage your tribute to be selfsufficient with victory alone and dont waste your time on tribute farm.
Standard tribute usage for infinite loop (start with a minimum of 64 tribute):
Vanguard banner level 3 (25 tribute) + 2 blessing (24 tribute) + raise the stack (15 tribute) -> 64 total tribute used, meanwhile a 100-150 clear reward you for 66.
If you want to pursue you farm session, you can restart at checkpoint 2 time in row and perform 130-150 runs (5 -> 15 -> 30 tribute for each checkpoint, dont use the third checkpoint, the cost is bigger than a banner level 3), tribute cost are light & reward are great.
Final farming route looks like this 100-150 -> 130-150 -> 130-150 -> make new game.[/spoiler]
Q&A:
Why full Bloodrager set?
I wanted to build something around blade arc since this spell have the highest bleed damage potential, and bloodrager perfectly support it.
What about highly resilient mob to bleed damage?
Sadly a significant quantity of mob type have heavy bleed resistance (near every undead/some chthonic/some Aetherial) which cripple the full potential of bleed build, actually it could have been one of the fastest Gladiator farmer without this issue.
To counter this i tried to get as much % racial damage as possible: 50% human, 39% chthonic, 24% undead, 15% beast.
What make this build so tanky?
Soldier tree (kappahead) / 14% absorb damage from Menhir’s Bulwark / ~800 hp regen with Savagery-OG-Judicator up, supported by wendigo totem if needed / Great lifeleech from Devouring Swarm, supported by Butcher of Burrwitch proc / 25% damage reduction from warcry / high level of DA, supported by -125 OA debuff from rend / Some overcapped resist, supported by Radiant Gem which make Valdaran harmless.
How perform this build in Vanilla?
You can easily handle the full Vanilla content & being unkillable.
Alternative Devotion routes?
We can easily play around with Ascendant affinity (purple point), depending which gear you have or personnal preference, here some example:
Wolverine Pick (boost your DA)
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-QrUalf
Owl Pick (reduce energy cost)
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-u7idms
Empty Throne Pick (boost some resist including stun)
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-ikxdac
Why Voidsteel glove?
This build badly needed castspeed (that the reason for Spellwoven Threads component aswell), by default i had only 106% castspeed went up to 130% with glove/component.
Basically you can pick any glove with xx% attackspeed/castspeed, i picked Voidsteel because it matched resistance i was seeking.
In Closing:
Special thx to JoV for his help in the early conception stage of this build.
And +1 to the tier1 Crucible list. 
