finally i upgrade my batllemage… i have all f this equipment… (need a good weapon and cronley incorruptible ring) … but only have 65-68 res. in blood and vitality and dont see what is my problem (caos is 76 and supose is for shield caos resis)
Well, it makes sense for Witchblade. I would go for bleeding damage as secondary damage source too. You could make guide later, there is no Markovian’s Witchblade yet.
Edit: I would consider to change hammer for axe so you can use Bloody Whetstone instead of Oleron’s Blood.
That proc is important for HC characters. For SC not that much but you need that 2 yellow and 3 blue affinity points and other constellations with the same affinity are simply worse (or you must spend more points in them).
Stats on items have deviations. Craft the boots at Horrus, he provides bleeding resistance. If you need more vitality resistance, use Corpse Dust on ring instead of Roiling Blood or if you need more, use Breath of Life augment instead of Survivor’s Resilience.
I am really enjoying this build. It was a tad slow from the start, but around level 13+ it started to pick up - especially after obtaining the full Guardsman’s Raiment set to speed up damage. Survivability is insanely high as well.
ok i try it !.. thanks i dont know this…^^
i was thinking of using comando on this build coz its has temper who will increase our damage more + vindictive flame + blast shield
cuz we will pick menhir bulwark as exclusive skill who doesn’t give much damage bonus
Hi all,
I am new to Grim Dawn and have been following this build on HC. This worked well until the Warden. I was replacing my weapon every 2-3 levels with a new white one from vendors. In Arkovia it started getting tedious. I could still facetanking everything but boss fights took forever and a day. I have been using the same weapon from the Warden up to Cromley without any drop even remotely comparable and vendors stopped offering weapons at my level. It got so slowpaced and boring that I switched to a 2H but that got me killed after a while. I am reluctant starting a new char now after this experience. Any tips how to circumvent this problem?
Use Olexra’s Flash Freeze (OFF). At max level trash dies almost instantly.
OFF is one of the best leveling abilities in the game, that and the shaman’s Devouring Swarm (DS) and Grasping Vines (GV).
Of course sword & board is not as fast as dual-wield or 2H but it shouldn’t be THAT slow. Were you using components on your items? They can significantly improve your build with a new abilities or off/def bonuses. And if you are so unlucky for item drops, i would sugest you to open some one-shot chests. Or maybe check wiki where are the secret places with chests in every location.
Thanks, I will try that.
Well sword and board is actually that much slower for leveling due to one big reason: the Kraken constellation. That constellation simply makes the leveling of any soldier or shaman class a joke. It is available very early (act2), as one needs few devotion points (4 Fox, 3 Eel then Kraken). The bonuses of that constellation outclasses anything in the early game.
So my recommendation is:
- lvls 1-12 go arcanist: 5 points in arcanist, 12 points in olextra, 10 points in arcanist, 3 Maiven, 1 Arcane will, 1 Mirror (total 32 points - that is level 12) and fill first the Viper constellation (with the first 5 points); you will use the Fireblast (from Searing Ember; change it to Greater Fireblast at lvl 15 by crafting Flintcore Bolts at the blacksmith) and Olextra for damage (these will carry you easy to about level 25, around when you will switch for 2h and Blade Arc)
- lvls 12-26 go soldier: 10 points soldier, 1 Blitz, 22 points soldier, 10 Military Conditioning (total 32 + 43 = 75 - that is level 26)
- lvl 26-30 at this point you should have the devotion points needed to open Kraken (you can get the 12 points needed before you reach Homestead), so respec devotions and fill Fox, Eel and Kraken; remove the 12 Olextra points and put them in Blade Arc and switch to any physical/bleeding % gear that you have saved; then 4 points to max Blade Arc, 1 Laceration, 1 Decorated Soldier, 6 Menhir’s Will (these last points can be taken earlier if one feels to but there is really no need)
- lvl 30-50 level as a 2h with Kraken; max first the Soldier mastery (for survivability) and then feel free to put points in other skills; for Devotions, fill up Turtoise and then remove Eel, fill Eagle and bound it to Blade Arc; you will have no survivabilty issue due to the hp from soldier, 10% damage reduction from Maiven, Mirror as panick button, Menhir’s Will and Turtoise failsafe mechanisms; if you have energy issues use 1 ectoplasm in 1 ring
- lvl 50+ put point in max Menhir’s Bulwark, max Shield Training, 1 Overguard (respec if needed); use the factions gear and any 50 and start using shields; respec devotions as recommended (aim for Oleron first)
This will offer a smooth and fast leveling for this spec.
Thanks for this awesome build though I’ve opted for a variation of it with fully leveled Mirror of Ereoctes and 5 points in OFF. I find it to be an effective mob clearer with great survivability which allows it to facetank bosses with great ease.
In your “changes” section, you have made a change to your constellations (Full Falcon replaces hammer). If you are pretty sure that is permanent, you might want to fix the section right above it that starts with:
“Constellations way could look like this”
Just a suggestion, is fine if you are going to wait and just fix it once, but while following this I was surprised by it.
Any changes with the new update?
Any video I could see of what the gameplay looks like?
I have GOG version…so i am waiting for hotfix, right now i am unable to start the game. But looking at changelog makes me happy, everything this build is using was buffed:
“Deadly Momentum: increased flat Physical damage scaling with rank. Increased duration to 4s.”
“Fighting Form: increased % Physical damage to 88% by rank 12, 158% by max ultimate rank.”
“Legendary - Markovian’s Fortress Set: replaced 50% Constitution bonus with 20-45 Physical damage”
“Legendary - Markovian’s Distinction: added flat Physical damage”
I guess the damage output will be comparable with builds that are not even half as tanky as this.
I can’t provide any video. I am at college, playing on my laptop and it’s not good enough to run game and recording program simultaneously. I was thinking about providing save files (i don’t know if people will be interested). But i want to test it first and update the guide.
Every Markovian Soldier plays basically the same. You can use any of the other 5 masteries as your support mastery. The differences are small. So you can look at video in any other Markovian build and get an idea, more or less, what this one will look like.
The biggest problem with this is that you have to have the full Markovian set to get any sort of reasonable damage output. Playing this character self-found is a chore - getting the gear takes forever.
Which factions should I side?
Should I kill Anasteria and side with the Black Legion for the Oleron’s?
By the way, thanks for the guide, I’m having fun with this build!
Spellward Powder augment i am using is from Death’s Vigil but i chose Kymon’s in normal and elite, i wanted to know both quest lines. Same with Outcast. I befriended Anasteria in normal and elite and stacked augments and then killed her in ultimate.
But those choices are optional, you can have maximum reputation with Outcast and Black legion simultaneously. Just remember to buy all the augments you could need before you choose your side in ultimate.
Any video I could see or savefile? Something?