This is my first guide here, hope it won’t be so terrible. I will update it and add more information/details later.
So meet, Dovahkiin - battle mage on physical Forcewave.
–DESCLAIMER–BEGIN–
I use GD Stash to test build concepts and to find out how good it can be. So please keep in mind that the next build was posted with gear rolls pretty close to the best.
–DESCLAIMER–END–
Dovahkiin
Note: Screenshot was made with permanent buffs
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lV7L8AyZ
Build setup
Gear setup
You can use crafting bonusses on helm and medal to close the gap in stun resistance.
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The Spellscourge set pieces - grant us flat damage for FW, OA and DA boost, elemental to physical conversion and additional skill points for Arcanist mastery that’s hard to get due to lack of skill points.
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Platemail of Octavius - is used to get elemental to physical conversion, OA and resistences bonus and skill bonus to Rending Force to convert more flat pierce to flat phys on FW
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Mythical Stonefist Rebuke - probably the best 2H legendary weapon for physical spam FW. An alternative weapon could be Mythical Leviathan - we will lose 24% CS, but will get more damage for FW and other attack skills.
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Shambler’s Heart - grants us mode on flat FW damage and additional ranks for FW skill. An alternative amulet could be Spellscourge Deflector.
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Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch - grants us physical RR, % physical damage boost and resistances
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Bladetwister Signet - grants us physiacl RR and % physical damage boost
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Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might - grants us flat and % physical damage bonus, casting speed bonus and +2 to Oleron’s Rage
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Mythical Chausses of Barbaros - grants us flat OA, resistences, +3 to Oleron’s Rage and nice proc
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Mythical Reforged Chains of Oleron - is used to get more sources of flat physical damage as well as resistances and skills bonus for Soldier mastery.
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Mythical Mark of Kalastor - to max FW, OA, resistances and armor bonus.
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Mythical Earthshatter Treads - grants us not only FW and physical damage support, but also resistences and flat DA
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Doom - grants us flat damage, % CS and armor bonusses
Devotions setup
Skills setup
Soldier mastery
Arcanist mastery
Damage: Physical
Active skills: Rebuke, Forcewave, Eldritch Instability, Ground Smash, War Cry, Nullification, Mirror of Ereoctes
Passive skills: Field Command, Oleron’s Rage, IEE
WPS: None
Build concept:
Battle mage as anlogue of Dovahkiin in GD.
The build is focused on using spam FW as main attack skill that can be considered as GD analogue of Unrelenting Force (FUS RO DAH). Mirror of Ereoctes can be considered as anlogue of Dragon shout “FEIM ZII GRON” and Nullification - as “LOK VAH KOOR”.
Pros:
- Good damage
- Good physical resistence - 34% permanent (gear and devotions) and + 18% from Ghoulish Hunge
- No problems with main campaign content
- High armor
- Saves: Mirror of Ereoctes and Menhir’s Will
Cons:
- No skills disraption resistence
- Low crit damage - can be an issue for high Shards or for high waves in Crucible
- Low energy regen - can be fixed for example by replacing bloodied crystal by ectoplasm on one of the rings
- Didn’t test the build against super bosses - have no idea if the build can handle them or not
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Build for AoM
Note: Screenshot was made with permanent buffs
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVADQqo2
The main difference with build for FG is in devotions setup, augments and using Blitz instead of movement skill from medal’s augment.
Initial build with Octavius set
Build setup
Grim tools
Battle Mage - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zRpzL2
Note: Screenshot was made with Fighting Spirit, Battlecry, Wayward Soul and Inspiration active
Pros:
- High DA, good OA and Armor
- Good physical resistence - 45% permanent (gear and devotions) and + 18% from Ghoulish Hunger
- No problems to complete campaign content except some super bosses
- Saves: Mirror of Ereoctes and Menhir’s Will
- Nullification - useful skill in many situations and especially against enemies with reflection
Cons:
- No skill disraption resist
- Can’t win Lokkar and Ravager on Ultimate
Gameplay (campaign)
1. Almost full faceroll
You can faceroll most stuff. In most cases Forcewave is enough to clear your way from crowds of enemies keeping the distance between you and them.
If you are surrounded by crowd with strong enemies like heroes or bosses use your battle arsenal to crush them:
- Battle Cry - to reduce incoming damage and enemies physical resistence
- Blitz - to activate Assassin’s Mark to deal higher damage against the strongest opponent by reducing his resistences
- Ground Smash - to deal AoE damage to hit multiple targets
- Forcewave - main attack skill to trigger Blind Fury and Earthquake
- Rebuke - great single target damage and valuable reduction of enemy DA
2. Healing
Don’t spam Tonic and don’t hurry to use the Mirror when health drops. You have permanent 15% ADctH and healing devotion to restore the health. Also don’t forget about such saves as Menhir’s Will and Ghoulish Hunger. Tonic and Mirror are very useful so don’t waste it, last thing you want is it to be on CD when you really need it.
3. Nullification
Use it to remove debuffs casting on you as well as dispell buffs your enemies cast on themselves. This skill is extremely useful against enemies with reflection, pack of heroes and in fights against bosses & nemesis.
Gear setup
Head: Visor of Octavius. If you don’t have it, then a good alternative could be Mythical Faceguard of Justice. For a long time I didn’t have nor Visor, nor Faceguard of Justice (legendary and mythical versions), so Empowered Herald’s Mask turned out to be a good variant for me.
Amulet: Mythical Avenger of Cairn. Can’t think about other alternatives rather than Avenger of Cairn. This amulet seems to be BiS for me.
Rings: Bladetwister Signet and Allagast’s Stormgem. Alternative for the first ring can be Ring of the Black Matriarch or Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch. The second one is used to cover gap in resistences, so you can use another one (rare/epic/legendary) with required resistences.
Shoulders: Pauldrons of Octavius. An alternative is to use Mythical Shoulderguards of Justice.
Chest: Platemail of Octavius. Use Mythical Chestguard of Justice as alternative. It is preferable to use together 3 pieces of Octavius set or 3 pieces of mythical Justicar set (except the gloves).
Hands: Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might. Depends on how lucky you are with gear (lack of bonus +x to forcewave or resistences) the following gloves can be used as alternative: Handguards of Justice, Grasp of Unchained Might or any other gloves granting casting speed and required resistences.
Weapon: Mythical Stonefist Rebuke. Planned to use legendary version as main weapon before AoM. The mythical version with pretty good skill mod was nice surprise and BiS for the build concept. If you don’t get it yet try Stonefist Rebuke or Obsidian War Cleaver with good prefix and suffix - boost for physical damage (flat or %) and casting speed.
Belt: Mythical Reforged Chains of Oleron. As an alternative you can try Reforged Chains of Oleron or non-mythical/mythical version of Gladiator’s Distinction.
Medal: Mythical Mark of Kalastor. Alternatives can be Badge of Mastery with bonus for Forcewave or Mythical Sigil of the Bear King if you have enough gear items to max out Forcewave.
Pants: Mythical Chausses of Barbaros. This pants or Chausses of Barbaros are really good for physical builds. If you have issues with gear - use good epic/legendary or MI pants instead. I would also recommend to consider Arcane Harmony Leggings or Mythical Arcane Harmony Leggings to get protection from skill disruption.
Boots: Mythical Earthshatter Treads. You can use as alternative Earthshatter Treads or other boots if you are able to max out Forcewave.
Relic: Citadel with +4% to DA competion bonus. This relic grants us solid HP and DA (+12%) bonus. You can try other relics for soldier.
Devotions setup
Must have devotions:
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Kraken - the best devotion to boost damage for 2H builds. Invest at least 3 points to get all “% to All Damage” bonuses.
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Assassin’s Blade - the devotion grants proc to reduce physical & pierce resistences.
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Oleron - in addition to resistences and attributes bonuses the devotion grants flat physical & IT damages and good AoE proc with physical resistence reduction.
Highly recommended devotions:
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Solemn Watcher - the devotion is not only valuable for resistences & solid DA boost, but more important it grants % reflected damage reduction. The last property is very useful to reduce critical IT damage reflected by enemies with reflection ability - natural, like Skeletal Knights, or granted by item(s).
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Ghoul - the proc Ghoulish Hunger can be considered as good save: it grants solid bonuses for ADctH and physical resistence.
Note: You can use Forcewave to bind one of the procs: Assassin’s Mark or Blind Fury to trigger it more frequently. Blind Fury & Forcewave seems to be better combination for me. However I would recommend to play around and find the most sutable setup for you.
In closing
At the begining it was just idea of fun build as close by spirit to Dovakin as possible. Then it turned out to be interesting and solid build. You can face tank almost all in campaign - bosses, nemesis, Mad Queen and etc.
I was not able to beat Ravager and Lokkar on Ultimate. The Raveger is really cruel beign and probably requires to change build concept and setup to win. As for Lokkar - it is stalemate situation: I can’t kill him and he can’t kill me (no face tanking).
I am not big fan of Crucible and did not test the build to say if it capable to complete Crucible or not. Before the AoM release I completed first two difficulties in Crucible and most likely you can do it now as well. I have no idea on build potential for Gladiator.