AAR devastator (~9min 170 clear) - Why AAR needs a big buff

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
,
1

GT link: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/aZqKQO52
YT link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L16S9GjojMM

As always, my gratitude to the boys.

Preface
I’ve had this video uploaded on YT for quite sometime now, but never got around to making this post because life.

I’m hoping that this will be the thread which:

  1. Definitively showcases why AAR needs some big buffs
  2. Give the discussion on the ‘how-to’ more direction

I will not do up a complete guide as I’ve spent way more time on the compendium than I ever intended to. :rolleyes:

Why AAR needs to be buffed
To paraphrase fluff - As a single target spell, AAR should literally tear enemies in half. Especially on a build using 3 items buffing AAR, with one of them being an unrealistic double rolled green.

If you watch the video, you will see that AAR essentially functions as auxillary damage to Devastation - a skill with half the skill point cost of AAR, and which has no damage modifiers.

What’s even more absurd is that the clear time on this spec is equivalent to that of fluff’s Aether Drain essence spec without the ridiculous lifesteal and AoE.

Suggestions on buffing AAR
i. Gearing options
Not many complaints here - I think AAR could be better improved if the %fire damage component of Mark of Ulzuin was changed to aether damage. The grenado skill modifier also needs a buff - adding a 25% WD component to it would be sweet.

ii. Improving the skill
i. Add a %WD damage component to it equivalent to that of FoI
ii. And/or give AAR infinite penetration but have its damage decrease with every target it pierces.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

2

So you made a devastation build that uses AAR to finish things off, I guess. Could have just used chillspikes/stormfire/some other component skill. Would work just as well, and you’d have a ton of skill points.

I don’t know about AAR, to make it viable in my mind you’d need to do drastic things. Double the base damage or something. Some form of aoe. Currently it’s the wet noodle of skills.

Edit: that’s also the mother of impossible to find rares, well done :wink:

3

Not exactly he made an AAR build that, because AAR is really bad, becomes 99% dependent on DEvastation in ultimate.

And because only Devastation is a functional spell it becomes a DEvastation build that gimps itself by nailing itself in one place by channeling AAR leaving you to wonder why you even use AAR in the first place.

AAR should be stand alone like Drain essence, not aliability that needs major crutches to function

4

sorry for crap typing - wrist is hurty AF today.

what do you all see as the meta fiction behind AAR? slicing mobs in half? then it should have big -% life. disintegrating someone over a period of time? there’s no mechanic AFAIK in GD that does RR over time, so it would need some big DoT - but that’s gonna reset since it’s a channeling skill. i.e., holding it down will just start the ticks over. give it some CC chances on ticks maybe - chance to lower armor, remove life, shred DA on ticks would reflect the idea of a disintegration ray. chance for big damage boost?

AoE on a ‘ray’ doesn’t feel right in terms of fiction - i.e., that’s a cone, not a ray.

ETA: I’m just spitballing ideas that would make the ‘feel’ of the skill match what my expectations are. It should feel like you are melting some mofos with channeled aether. A glancing shot should hurt them, sustaining the ray on a target should seem like a multi-melta from 40K, imho.

5

AoE can come in the form of a laser which pierces mobs. (Think dagallon’s)

What it needs is a HUGE boost to it’s base damage, or a %WD element.

@Avyctes: I openly admit to GDstashing it. Though I’m pretty sure I have a magestorm of something somewhere back when I used to play legit.

6

Life reduction is useless, trash dies to normal damage, bosses are nearly immune. Dot doesn’t make a lot of sense, FoI already fills that niche. Lowering armor was explicitly removed a few patches ago (sadly). As for a big damage boost, it already has a large crit modifier… and that doesn’t seem to help much.

7

ETA: I’m just spitballing ideas that would make the ‘feel’ of the skill match what my expectations are. It should feel like you are melting some mofos with channeled aether. A glancing shot should hurt them, sustaining the ray on a target should seem like a multi-melta from 40K, imho.

Watch 0:56 - 1:01. Compare the difference in the rate at which Aleksander’s HP decreases before/after Devastation is cast.

8

%chance to passthrough would be cool and on-point.

9

  1. yup

  2. nope, dat’s what i said!

  3. it is sad

  4. I was thinking ‘x% chance of +300% aether dam’ or something like that. ideally, the x% would increase with ticks, but that’s not likely

10

Well, to make things worse AAR has a really bad targeting and fail to deliver dmg if you “miss” enemy tooltip :smiley: Noticed it during “true” AAR warlock tests - you need to rotate camera and aim directly at monster center or you will do 0 dmg with AAR. And its prone to Fumble. And it take forever to recast .
Some ppl say here that increasing base dmg or adding %WD would make a difference in AAR. Trust me, it wont. Unless Crete fix casting/aiming weirdness this skill will remain garbage.
Even with current numbers you can squish some DPS out of ray, but you need to:

  1. Rotate camera to see where the ray is going. If you “miss” the tooltip the ray do 0 dmg. Autotargeting wont help you as the ray often goes to wrong places.
  2. Shoot the ray w/o interruption. If you cast something the DPS goes down to zero.
  3. Don’t stand in fumble pool. :smiley:
11

Wait, how can you fumble a spell? I thought that was impossible? Does it count as a ranged projectile attack? What?

12

I was about to ask all those questions. If AAR is really susceptible to impaired aim, then it just got a lot worse.

13

Not that I don’t trust you ptir, but can one of the devs confirm this please?

14

I’ve tried a mod like this yesterday (it’s very easy to do since it’s supported - Obliteration from Tome of Arcane Wastes works like that). In short, the way it is now it won’t solve AAR’s problem at all, because to begin with enemies don’t line up for you - they would encircle you. That’s why DE and FoI are better by design.

Moreover, the ray doesn’t have a thickness and enemies have hit boxes that are smaller than actual models, for some of them significantly smaller - e.g. the ray already grazes or even collides with the model but still no damage. It’s not enough for enemies to be just roughtly lined like it’s for Disintegration in diablo - they have to be lined up fairly well.

15

Its the only explanation I have for weird behavior I see. Test it in 1 vs 1 against moose by casting AAR in his face - DPS is there. Now try it against MQ while standing in Fumble pools . Oops, where is DPS? :stuck_out_tongue:

16

Mad Queen has no fumble or impaired aim in any of her skills.

https://www.grimtools.com/monsterdb/165/skills

I would test if AAR is actually affected by either of them, but it’s AAR. Ew.

17

Tried to test fumble thing with a mod. Was unable to confirm it.

18

OMG, where that was changed? Anyway tested against Slathsharr or whatever fumbler. https://youtu.be/QEb3MymAFGo
hm, seems that I was wrong >_> weird, I dunno whats going on with AAR.

19

9 minute clear > Why AAR needs a buff.

You won’t get Crate’s attention with that title, sounds like you are being sarcastic, rofl.

But obviously it’s just Spellbinder using Devastation being Spellbinder, just little support from AAR (still tho, 9 minutes with just one green which rolls don’t really make or break the build, Spellbinders can easily rival Infiltrators).

Have you tried Conduit with weapon damage and/or trying to convert more elemental damage in AAR to aether (like magestorms rings + decree)? (it would probably still suck, but maybe not as much, dunno).

20

That’s exactly what fluff suggested, however you can’t get 75 flat aether damage from a measly 18% I don’t think.

Also, if I’m being honest, the cleartime would probably be faster if I took something like chillspikes and the magelord rings.