[1.1.8.1] He Dreamt He Was a Bulldozer - Physical Dervish [SR100] [5.20 crucible]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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bulldozer
bulldozer.jpg741×483 162 KB

GRIMTOOLS
1.1.8.0 version

He Dreamt He Was Alone in an Empty Field

How does this work?
  • Unlike most of DW phys builds, this one works so well because converted physical damage ignores armor (example). This is the main idea of this dervish.
  • At this point, I don’t know what this build actually is.
    It just works.
What is this?

As I’ve said before - it’s pretty hard to determine what this build is. So let’s look at the damage sources:

  1. RF and WPSs, given that all of them are (almost) fully converted.
  2. Blade spirits and Blades of Wrath, which are bounded to them. Again, full conversion.
  3. Shifting Sands bounded to Vire’s Might - the greatest source of damage. Two strides proc fully converted sands a lot.
  4. Various procs.

All aforementioned means that it’s Hybrid Skater, the first and only. Kappa
Gear explanation

Gear crafted for %Physique

  • 2x Earthsplitter - core items, allows us to convert all pierce damage to physical. 100% convertion is required.

  • Black Matriarch - BiS for any physical build.

  • Ring of Sethris - optional here, I’ve taken it only for OA. Can be replaced with Menhirian

  • Will of the Blade - BiS, +3 to BS, +1 to NB, physical damage, %AS, flat pierce, granted skill.

  • 3x Targo pieces - BiS, mainly because of conversions and +1 to both OK and NB. And the only set that supports physical dervish.

  • Grasp of Unchained Might - the best physical gloves. Flat RR for RoS is quite good.
    Obsidian Grasp - 7% phys res and flat fire? I found a new friend.

  • Mark of Kalastor - great stats, plenty of OA, stun res. It’s just good.

  • Deathstalker - mainly because of -% phys resistance and stats. And because there is no NB or OK phys relic.

    or

  • Belgotian’s Carnage - I overlooked this relic firstly, but it ended up being better in terms of survivability and damage. The reason is simple, granted skill gives a lot. And +1 to NB is also cool.
    Overall - they are almost equal, but belgo’s seems a bit stronger.

  • Reaper Legguards - +3 to BS, can be replaced with Rimestone Legguards when used with Belgo’s relic

  • Gladiator’s Distinction - S C A L E S.
Shattered Realm performance

Here’s SR100 bossroom (1.1.7.2)

SR95 bossroom (1.1.8.0)

And SR95 fullrun: (1.1.7.2)

As for lower SR, no problems there (maybe Mad Queen is tough, never have encountered it).
Crucible performance

The best run so far:
History

1.1.6.2 setup

Credits
@mad_lee for helping with the build.

20 Likes
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Very nice and solid build

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I had a pleasure of testing and playing this build and I gotta say, it’s really fun to play. It’s feels really solid and consistent (unlike Warborn Cadence Soldiers) and you just can’t help but admire how creative this one is. I also love that Grey found a way to bypass ABB so gameplay feels really smooth.

Great job.

4

Really impressive and creative build. Will definitely have to try this.

2 Likes
5

Like the fashion as well! I will give it a solid go, I’m dying to find a melee build that feels smooth for SR75-76.

2 Likes
6

Did you try/test Azrakaa’s Epoch at all, seems it could be comparable if not a tad worse. Mostly for flavor on my end.

7

Very stylish. Targo and the new Earthsplitter are real enablers for physical dervish action.

2 Likes
8

Saw this on Lee’s youtube awhile back, very cool build. Your build are all very quality btw :muscle:

2 Likes
9

Hm. I completly forgot about this relic, sounds interesting. I still doubt, that it will be better than -10% phys resistance, but I’ll test it.

10

I like this one. Usually I’m not a big fan of Devish but this one actually looks pretty good!

1 Like
11

Nice illusion and build. Too often do the builders bash out an illusion.
To me he’s more like a helicopter with those rotating blades than a bulldozer.

5 Likes
12

It’s a quote, coming from the track’s title of one album. As well as the name of the previous build. I love references, that nobody can understand.

1 Like
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So, I’ve tried Azraaka’s Epoch. In terms of DPS, it’s appeared to be 10% slower, despite having nearly 100 more OA and fully converted tornadoes. I think, the biggest problem of this relic is it’s proc chance. 33% on crit, while they live only for 8 seconds is a bit underwhelming. And they also inherited the behaviour of Wind Devils.
And you lose survivability, because mobs have higher physical resistance, and there’s no lifesteal on tornadoes to compensate it.
I can upload a video of DPS test vs Valdaran on 90’th SR with inferiour mutators, if you want.

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Thank you for testing it @grey-maybe. I hadn’t crafted that relic yet, but had Deathstalker already. I definitely overestimated the proc. Looking forward to playing this tonight! Thanks again for sharing the build.

1 Like
15

Very good build and impressive results. I like the devotions that nicely make up for no soldier.

One thing, I’d bind Azrakaa to Spirits and Bull to Judgment with Heart of Wrath (or Vire Might with Tectonic Stride). Azrakaa Sands is a stronger proc since you convert all pierce. Deathstalker is not a good proccer,

3 Likes
16

I’ve taken Bull’s proc mainly for some source of lifesteal from BS, however your point with Azrakaa Sands is reasonable, it also have some WD. Not sure whether Judgment with 75% uptime is efficient proccer.

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You were correct about devoutions binding.
Thanks!

18

Against crowds yeah especially that every Judgment cast it’s a sure thing. Against single enemies, I don’t know, maybe. Afaik Deathstalker only hits one target Vire is good, though, in case one prefers it to SS.

19

He dreamt he was alone in an open field.

Playing this build for the name alone. Thanks!

2 Likes
20

I only read a bit of the patch notes, but does the new 30%-ish ele to phys conversion on Targos’ helm hold any value to the build? If I’m not mistaken, there’s already roughly 60%-ish ele>phys with some items (provided you have good rolls), so would we be able to convert ele fully to phys now? And lastly, would the rules of conversion apply to the burn on RF? e.g. burn>int trauma

I haven’t read much else unfortunately, but I hope the build survived!