I just started GD few hours ago as a commando. What I kinda regret now is I didn’t look for any information of this game(especially, about the classes.).
So now… I mean, at level 18(I know how low it is lol), I already got into the problem that I don’t have any area damage skills. I’m tryna fix the wrong things with my character.
After spending long time to search, I noticed that no one plays commando for a dw pistols and even for a rifle! If it’s necessary to change my class, I’m willing to do.
Hopefully there is other way to play as a commando with the guns. Can I find good build for what I want? or do I just better make a new character?
With a ranged weapon, Firestrike line with Brimstone should provide plenty of AoE damage.
People usually prefer Pyromancer or Sorcerer for a DW pistols build though.
The best gunners build at the moment are all based around Demo’s Firestrike tree, getting Static Strike and Brimstone to ultimate levels. Comparing to Pyromancers and Sorcerers, Commando’s are more tanky but will lack some firepower and debuffing mechanisms (which is surprisingly important in this game). So I think it should work fine, but not as the best choice for a ranged build
I use the ring and amulet augments which cause freeze as crowd control, which will affect an area with explosive strike.
This is a one skill build. You basically hose everything down with fire strike, which kills bosses and trash alike with speed due to the aoe and plentiful on hit procs. Attack speed and anything with chance on hit make an excellent combo.
On ultimate you need survivability, so soldier is not a bad tree. If you do not get it from talents or devotions it will come out of gear, but one way or another you will want to run around with nearly max resists and a good amount of life steal and health regen.
It is mana intensive, so you either need some regen or you will be chugging potions on their cooldown (I balance mine so I can mostly make it to the next cooldown without running out, but I also have some gear with substantial active energy cost. Avoid maxing fire strike early by the way, the mana cost will kill you (you do want explosive strike early for aoe). Markovian and Zolhan are mana free boss killing moves from soldier if you are starting to have issues.
Actually, having DEMOLISHER class is already enough to play DW pistols or rifle. The second class is picked for ultility. Occultist is the best there, of course, but isnt required.
Playstyles for them are pretty identical - you max out Fire Strike line (+Flame Touched) and use t as you main damage dealer. You focus on fire damage, and lightning, to a lesser extent). You may also get some ultility skills, such as Thermite Mine and/or Flashbang.
Having Occultist opens somewhat different playstyle - focusing on fire/chaos damage instead. But fire/lightning works for him too!
Cadence in soldier is also a very viable dual wield pistol build. It wrecks bosses to a degree a fire strike build cannot compare with, but lacks area effect.
Overall fire strike is probably the better build, as you spend more time clearing trash than fighting bosses, and anything short of a special monster melts in seconds to the area damage.
I went ranged on my first Commando. First I went DW as the Marauder’s set is pretty good. But then I found 2 copies of “The Adversary” legendary rifle, which gives +skills to both Soldier and Demolitionist (Not Demolisher, pet peeve), which I am going to switch to in a few levels. I think I recently switched to Cadence, which is working nicely, esp. in 2h build. I’m just trying to not have all of my demo’s be Fire Strike.
Nah, Fire Strike deals much higher average damage than Cadence. And Fire Strike benefits from WPS skills (Zolhan’s Technique, Markovian Advantage and various ranged item procs), while Cadence doesnt.
You can use Cadence for bleed rifle build, though (namely, Empowered Scarlet Marksman). That’s the only ranged build, that justifies Cadence.
One of the benefits of cadence is that it is quite a bit cheaper to fire than a max fire strike, so you can ramp attack speed up to a much higher degree.
It lacks decent area effect or crowd control, but it chews through big single targets. Fire strike is the better build overall (and is much easier to gear), but you can do a ton of damage with cadence.
I last used it in early access, but it did work well.
But the lion’s share of Cadence damage in concentrated in 3-rd hit! Procs from weak 1-st and 2-nd hits arent what you want, you want to multiply “default attack replacer”'s weapon damage with WPS weapon damage.
Not much an issue, just get a rare item with “of Arcane Balance” mod (and a good prefix, if possible) and 2x Ectoplasm on your rings. BOOM - your energy regen is enough already. And that mod boosts DPS too!
You’re right, but Fire Strike doesnt have great AoE either, actually. Explosive Strike & Brimstone are nice, but in Ultimate, their damage isnt so high, actually. I found my DW pistol Pyromancer shooting mobs one by one with Fire Strike. Sure, they take some damage from ES/brimstone, but isnt lethal - while direct hit’s damage is 90% of the time.
If you want great AoE for ranged weapon, you should get Shaman and use Primal Strike with rifle. That’s what i call good AoE.
Going commando ranged is an uphill battle honestly. Soldiers strongest tools are a shield or a 2-hander. Going ranged means no - Menhir’s Will, No %Damage absorption skills, no oh shit skills - Overguard etc etc.
If you are trapped but can still move - War Cry, Flashbang and shoot your way out. That’s pretty much the extent of gameplay. You won’t have menhir’s but you will have blast shield. If your health drops past 50% you’ll have to pot.
On Ultimate you’ll notice you will be taking more damage than other classes due to lack of % damage mitigation. On the + side you’ll also clear screens in a few shots.
The few mana per second from ectoplasm does not help much when you are pushing attack speed (I also like to keep good freeze resistance, and am using frozen hearts).
Fire strike is like 25 energy per shot, and I can fire off many of them in a second. Speed scales energy use with damage, so if you push it too far you run out of energy and need to run away all the time. Cadence is a lot cheaper, so you have the option to really stack on the attack speed.
I almost never find myself shooting individual small mobs, but I also have meteor on fire strike, and it seems that meteor can proc many things (the dual deviltongues I was fortunate enough to find being a big one, but I have a bunch of other chance on hit stuff it seems to work with as well).
While meteor is generally great enough that I like to leave it on fire strike (despite the proc cooldown), I have raise dead on zolhan. After some testing it seems to have a kill rate far higher than anything else on large monsters when I want undead tanks and will be gunning mobs down individually (maybe due to oleron’s rage?)
I have enough answer for my question! I’m surprised that got replied like this lot! So, basically I best reach to up above level 50 for get brimstone… lol. Anyways I spent all my point on trash skills and etc. I’m gonna make new character anyways without choosing my secondary mastery for a while!
You dont need freeze resistance at all, actually. Whenever you face enemies, that freeze you, just drink a potion for 100% freeze resistance, that’s it. Potions can be easily bought from vendor, and they’re pretty cheap. And freezing enemies are quite few.
If you’re concerned about energy cost so much, just use a rifle. It has slower attack speed, and Fire Strike transmute makes energy cost even smaller (-25% energy cost).
Though, my Occultist can manage energy costs for DW pistols, and believe me, i stacked attack speed whenever i could. I dont know, how you can stack much more without actually hurting your DPS. He has ~45 energy/sec regen average.
Sorry, i meant not “of Arcane Balance” mod, but “of Insight” instead. Just messed up with names.
With Fire Strike, it procs almost immediately as CD ends. And it also provides great %elemental damage boost. It’s far more efficient just take one item with that mod, rather than hurt your DPS using suboptimal skill.
Oh, and when i said “shooting”, i generaly means “one-shotting”.
I also use Raise Dead, it’s just linked to Plunderer’s Talisman WPS skill, that’s all.
Zolhan’s Technique is nice, but for DW, i’d used Markovian Advantage instead, it’s more powerful for DW. For 2-handers (including rifles), Zolhan’s Technique is much better, on contrary.
I think trying to rely upon potions here would get me killed, I die far less often with passive stun, freeze, and slow resist (which is why I have it). Any interruption to the life drain and cc is a serious risk, freeze tends to be a surprise as it is uncommon, and if I need to reach for the keyboard to take a potion I am probably dead.
When I say stack attack speed, I mean to around 200%. The point is that with a couple of fast pistols you pump out a ton of shots per second, so anything with a chance on hit and no cooldown triggers very frequently (also, double attack rate is very nearly double dps, unlike having it in +fire damage when you are already at +1000% and it is only part of your damage anyway).
Capping attack speed is one of the best damage increases you can get, but 45 energy a second is not even close to sufficient to do this with fire strike. It helps in not needing potions between fights, but will not keep you shooting during one if you are constantly firing. -skill cost works better, but competes with other useful things.
I have both markov and zolhan, although now that I have finished ultimate I meant to take a look at redistributing some skill and devotion points… temper and vindictive flame seem to have been buffed, and a lot of devotions have changed. I may keep them though, I think meteor shower from Ulzuin’s Torch may be proccing both (and Oleron’s rage), which is a mighty combination.
I would likely keep zolhan. I have a ton of +internal trauma damage on gear by coincidence, but it turns out to be pretty good with Oleron’s rage and Zolhan (single player, no external items or cheating). It especially helps when I need to kite something.
What do you see as a good build in this version for a fire strike commando? CC is unnecessary as the freeze augments are enough to keep the area of explosive strike constantly frozen if they are not immune.
Actually, you shouldnt totally rely upon “life drain” (or ADCTH, namely) in Ultimate. Most bosses are immune to it. They are immune to any CC too.
I’d rather leveled Flashbang to “fumble” enemies (including bosses), or Thermite Mine for reducing resistance (and extra DPS). From soldier, you need only WPS procs (MA/ZT) and a bunch of passives (HP&physique, AA+bleed&stun resists), maybe Oleron’s Rage. Soldier mastery itself is a one big passive, cause it provides more HP/point, than any other mastery.
ZT isnt great for dual-wield because it hits with main-hand weapon only. Furthermore, damage bonus added by whole Fire Strike line is skill damage, and is NOT increased by 175% weapon damage multiplier on ZT. That’s why it’s kinda useless for DW pistols. On other hand, WPS procs for 80% weapon damage, that make several hits (provided by some items - Pyroclasm MArk, Plunderer’s Talisman, etc) dont get their damage reduced much, thus are kinda powerful.
Capping attack speed is good, just dont forget, that %AS bonuses may be kinda low, and not always worth it. Also, you should cap your resistances and get decent HP amount (10k for ultimate).
