So I’ve been playing GD and loving it, but my sorceress needs some love and care I can’t seem to provide her…
Context: I bought the base game about a year ago, and wanted a two-gun build. With only the base classes, the guides I found suggested the demolitionist / arcanist with the gunslinger talisman, jacket, or the marauder’s set. With all gear being self-found, or crafted (for the relic) from the base game, the two-gun sorceress did quite well after getting the complete level 20 set (which seemed high!) when still exploring the game - places like Fort Ikon, mentioned by veteran players, seemed to be a distant goal… gunslinger showdowns with Cromley and his misanthropic turds never got old.
Eventually she shot out the Loghorrean’s eye, and then farmed faction so subsequent characters could benefit from mandates. Kymon seemed an OK guy in a tough world, how was she to know? And she was strong enough on maps to farm epic and even the occasional (gasp!) legendary from Loknar’s crucible of the deeps (chokepoint map…).
I let the sorceress rest a bit - her trigger fingers were getting sore - and bought the expansions, and saw the awesomeness of other classes, experimented, got two characters to 100… but when I went back to the drawling gunslinger, I found she was really… lacking in the build. Not surprising; the guides I used for her were in the level-50-is-endgame-2017 vintage. But on Elite, that doesn’t cut it in AoM. She keeps getting crushed and even those Aetherial non-hero/boss titans smash right through her volley fire and pound her tender flesh to paste.
So I turn to the community to help rescue this poor damsel. I’m stuck only with self-found gear, and so I don’t necessarily have access to all the Legendary BiS gear I see in the level 100 theorycrafts I see around here, although I have found via other characters the occasional set pieces, for instance the complete Barrelsmith’s set… but that seems to be very much modern 2-gun Inquistor/Lightning based, not the old demolitionist/arcanist. I do have pretty much every Mythical-Epic set however among various inventories. I am willing to completely reset her skills and the hard-earned devotion tree, although I would prefer to keep her as a ranged weapon build, as she’s the only one in that archetype I have among the stable of characters.
Please help this girl, I am sure she’ll blow a kiss your way… Grim Tools link.
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Hell, when you ask so nicely.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/qNYkMBJV
This is just an idea. I didn’t change ANY gear nor did I adjust your devotions. This was meant to focus your skills a bit more and shore up your defensives so you wouldn’t be constantly dying as you try to work your way to 94 and having everything available. I did change your relic and if you don’t have that it’s fine, just adjust accordingly. You could also potential use a Serentiy in your relic slot giving you more skill points for Acranist and also if you get the Defensive bonus really boosting our DA more comfortably.
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She said, I quote, “Thank you, darlin’” on the way to, I think, the blacksmith.
If I may ask a few questions; anyone who works at a “Bombshell studios” (BTW, very neat!) would I’d imagine be a great consultant for demolitionists…
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Would you change what devotions are bound to which skills? Meteor shower goes to Thermite mines now? (I approve of the Thermite mines BTW - I did not spot the elemental RR - and the Mortar was really only used on setup of a totem, or the occasional boss she had to kite, and I’m sure she felt that running around making Daffy Duck noises was not in best gunslinger tradition).
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Could you explain your thinking behind the investment into Mental Alacrity? AFAIK, +%caster speed does not help an autoattacker?
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Ms. Maraschino says, unfortunately, when Scorv invited her to dinner, she made him eat bullets instead. But I’m sure she can find something else.
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“Darlin’, that was amazing!” she said with a husky contralto, her face flushed and her hair slightly dishevelled.
Sounds like she did more than blow you a kiss… as her “dad”, the man who brought her into this world… if she’s happy, I’m happy. But if you take her to dinner, please be respectful and make sure that food ration didn’t come off a rotting corpse.
So I took her out for a run in Malmouth, Elite. What a difference! I didn’t yet go the full distance since she doesn’t have to have Ultimate-level resistances, but the Seals of Resonance really helped her staying power. Hard to tell if Seal of Annihilation helped that much, since it’s difficult to tell when a crit is scored in the heat of battle. Do crits really ever land on the enemies you need them most on (i.e. heroes and bosses)? What made, I think, the biggest difference is that glorious RR from the Thermite mines. Aetherial Titans/Colossi that previously would run right up and pound her multiple times while slowly being whittled away, now die after getting perhaps one hit in, after being flashbanged and standing on thermite mines. Her effective (rather than calculated) DPS seems much, much higher and her staying power as well.
I put the Fissure on the Thermite mines, since they synergize (both requiring a mob to stand still on them). Elemental Storm went to Blackwater, because as I understand it, the debuff effects move with the victim once they proc. I did keep a minimal investment in Callidor’s (with Wrath of Agrivix) to trigger Meteor Swarm, as the latter works best if the enemies keep within the target area, and by the time I choose to use Callidor, the target area is pretty much point-blank on enemies trying to eat her face.
I find another minimal investment in Mortar can be useful (with the knockdown upgrade). Planting one, seems to expose “ground hiding” enemies that otherwise like to pop up when least convenient for a ranged character. It also serves as a kind of distant early warning system while active, highlighting when a hostile is entering the edge of the screen.
Thanks very much! You made this build, my second GD creation, fun again!
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Fantastic!! I’m really glad that she’s been much more predacious with the damage she tosses out. Shall we just say she’s putting the Bomb in Bombshell?
also sounds like you’ve been doing a bit of experimenting and exploring on your own. that’s the best way to handle it. I know everyone is often fixated on maximizing efficiency with builds (and absolutely nothing wrong with that) but sometimes you just want ‘feel’ the game. Have fun, keep exploring and I promise if she ever drops by Devil’s Crossing while I’m hanging out and getting some soup, I’ll make sure it’s just after the new shipment from Homestead has come in.
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FYI, I’d’ve made him eat bullets, too.