I took a quick look at previous posts but couldn’t find this build anywhere, apologies if it’s been done before. I found this build the most fun I’ve had in GD, the easiest to gear and one of the quickest at clearing so if you have a spare couple of hours give it a go. You literally need zero specialist gear but you do need access to components and that means this won’t be your first char.
This is a fire build that only has attack skills granted from components and devotions. So the basic idea is to use Greater Fireblast (from Flintcore Bolts) and Demon’s Breath (from Devil Touched Ammo) as your main attack skills through out the game. Not just quick levelling to 40-50 as I’ve seen a couple of guides recommend. FB can be added to any lvl 15 pistol or off-hand and DTA can be added at lvl 20. How you get up to lvl 15 is your own business but there’s always Searing Ember for a bog standard Fireblast to learn the gameplay style.
The only other requirement for this build is that one of your char choices has to be Arcanist. I’ve tried this out on a Mage and a Sorcerer and both work fine. The required skill is Olexra’s Flash Freeze, not so much for the freeze although that’s always good, but for the debuff to Fire Resistance. Even fire monsters die quickly if you hit them with 100%+ fire resist debuff which a maxed out OFF will give you. Reckless Power is an obvious addition to a fire arcanist as well.
Gameplay is essentially cast OFF, then fire off as many Fireblasts as possible. The DB attack should be used as quickly as it comes off cooldown. That alone probably would kill a lot of monsters but add in the devotions and this is where this build really makes life fun.
Attach Elemental Storm (Rhowan’s Crown) to your GF. Attach Meteor Shower (Ulzuin’s Torch) to your DB. Attach Fissure (Magi) to OFF. Elemental Storm will make Veteran/Elite relatively simple but the build really comes into its own when you can attach Meteor Shower to DB (around devotion point 37). You get a guaranteed (100% spawn) Shower every time you cast DB and OFF has a 49% chance of spawning a fissure, 49% on a screen full of monsters is pretty much a guaranteed fissure. That means that fire resist debuffed enemies (that are likely frozen) have a volcano in their midst with firey meteors falling on their head as I shoot as many GFs as possible at them. They generally die long before the Elemental Storms can do much damage.
For gearing, it’s generally a matter of getting as much fire damage or + skills as possible while maintaining your resists, resists generally take priority in Elite onwards. You won’t be using your weapon(s) so you’re generally looking for casting speed and fire damage. Casting Speed is important and you want to maintain 200%. Mental Alacrity helps with this early(ish) game and you can respect those points as you exceed 200%. An otherwise crap pistol with 17-20% casting speed is brilliant early game. Similarly an off-hand with good casting speed is a must. Try to get 10%+ lifesteal either on your gear or in devotions, it’s not essential but if you’re spamming GF with 10% lifesteal you can generally avoid the need for kiting which makes this build FAST…
For other skills it’s your general Arcanist layout: Maiven’s, Mirror, Iskandra’s, Inner Focus, Nullification. You could always add in Devastation to the mix but I was limiting myself to component/devotion skills so didn’t take it. If you’re playing as a sorc then the Demolitionist auras are useful and I went as far as Blast Shield. I’m not sure the journey to Blast Shield is worth it and it might be better just maxing the auras. Health will be a problem for a sorc if you only go as far as the auras so you may have to change around some of the devotions if you do that. If you go the mage route then it’s all about getting health and defensive skills from Soldier.
Devotions are tricky and the best way to play is to actually do a lot of re-speccing in order to end up with: Empty Throne, Rhowan’s Crown, Raven, Spider, Ghoul, Magi, Ulzuin’s Torch, Sailor’s Guide (or Eel) and 3-4 points in Behemoth for Giant’s Blood. I had Magi early in the game but respecced out to get Meteor Shower earlier. I later returned to Magi. Also you have a ranged weapon and off-hand so Hydra and Oklaine’s Lantern may prove useful while levelling but very limited in late game. I took Ghoul almost entirely for the node that gives 4-5% lifesteal but it proved worthwhile although there may be better defensive options.
Apart from that there’s not a lot to say. This build really is all about the component and devotion skills, gear is very much secondary. I’m amazed how much of a fire debuff OFF grants. This build was a lot of fun in both forms and now I’m off to see about gearing them properly rather than playing SF. Any gearing suggestions welcome!
