Hey guys! Long time reader, first time poster. I’ve theorycrafted a lot of builds, but this one is a new take on one of my favorite classics, the Deathmarked. Thought I would share it!
I can do SR 50-60 consistently with this character, and have cleared 65. I will update if I can beat 75 - I think it’s totally doable with good piloting, I’m just not a good pilot
UPDATE: 75 cleared! Got lucky on modifiers/bosses, but I’m sure that it would be more consistently doable in more capable hands than mine
I don’t play crucible. I have no idea how well it would do, probably similarly to other deathmarked builds.
Concept
Alright, everyone knows about Deathmarked. There’s nothing too special here in terms of general gameplay and piloting - it’s a melee DW build. However, the Conduit of Divine Whispers can be crafted with 100% fire and physical to cold conversion on Righteous Fervor, which is a great default attack replacer. After messing around with a few different setups (tried to get Rimetongue to work, but it just under-performed in every category compared to Deathmarked), I settled on the tried and true standard “beat it to death with ice” that nightblades have been using since vanilla.
Stats with all permanent buffs, Lethal Assault, Ascension, and full stacks of Righteous Fervor.
Offense
- ~3k OA with all buffs up
- 150k+ sheet DPS with all buffs, ~21k base weapon damage, with ~9.3k flat cold added at ~2400% multiplier
- 194% attack speed (200% with Prismatic Rage)
- ~120 RR, more on tougher enemies = -78% (Night’s Chill + Rumor + Reaper’s Mark), 20% reduced (Viper), 32 Reduced (Elemental Storm)
- Lots of procced AoE from devotions / gear
Defense
- ~12k HP with decent rolls
- ~2.7k DA, goes to ~3k with procs
- 2.2k+ armor, goes to ~2.6k with procs (more with Angrim bonuses)
- 83%+ resistances with buffs, goes to 87%+ with procs (fire is 70% without Righteous Fervor stacks)
- 36% physical resistance (goes to 87% with procs!)
- 35% melee dodge chance with 53% deflect chance
- 80% stun resist with 78% slow resist and ~50% freeze/petrify/trap resist
Gear (Click the item name for grim tools link)
Amulet: REQUIRED. Conduit of Divine Whispers with the 100% physical and fire damage converted to cold to Righteous Fervor prefix. It is the build enabler.
Weapons, Shoulder, Head, Chest: Full Deathmarked set. The avoidance, physical resist, and Reaper’s Mark are so good, we can’t pass that up.
Gloves: Mythical Iceskorn Talons for that sweet bonus frostburn and crit damage to Righteous Fervor and Amarasta’s Blade Burst.
Medal: Mythical Mark of Dark Dreams for some sweet resistance overcapping, damage bonuses, and a radius increase and damage tick on Veil of Shadow.
Belt: Mythical Spellbreaker Waistguard for damage, OA, Aether Resist, and +1 all Nightblade skills.
Rings: Dual Deathguard Sigils to get points into Righteous Fervor, as well as having relevant damage, attack speed, and overcapping on Vitality resistance.
Boots: Stonehide Stoneplate Greaves. The suffix can be whatever you like, but preferably something with Elemental Resistance to avoid having to use Augments to cap them. If you don’t want to craft boots over and over to get Stonehide, look for boots with Poison and Acid resistance, then Pierce Resistance.
Legs: Flexible. I use Mythical Rimestone Legguards for relevant damage, move speed, avoidance, and physical resist. The bonus to Blade Spirit is also nice.
Devotions
Pretty self explanatory. I love Leviathan - good damage, good defenses, and a fun AoE proc. You could go Ultos instead for a more standard route, or even Yugol’s if you want, but I haven’t tested such a devotion set up.
Leveling
You can level with Righteous Fervor all the way, using Nightblade dual wield passives to help you out, but you will be much more focused on fire damage until you get that Conduit. Alternatively, you can main Nightblade using Shard of Beronath as the default attack, using Oathkeeper only for the buffs until end game.
Closing
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the build! Let me know if you have any suggestions, comments, tips, or if I missed something super obvious.