Shield caster, who likes to equip Monster Infrequents
Self-found build, which can be used as your first character
Clear the first three rogue-like dungeons (on the first difficulty)
Only a few active skills
Attack and cast speed are not required
Thoughts on damage types, equipment and attributes
The primary damage types are physical, fire and burn; the secondary ones are lightning, electrocute and aether.
In addition to shield and (heavy) armor, which requires Physique, you equip caster gear, which will require Spirit. Likewise for scepters or daggers, whereas the latter also requires Cunning.
On the first difficulty I suggest an attribute distribution rate of 2:0:1 for Physique:Cunning:Spirit.
Early leveling
[li]Start as Inquisitor and activate Flames of Ignaffar, Word of Renewal and Deadly Aim.[/li][LIST]
If you feel uncomfortable to encounter the first boss without a skill, temporarily use Stormbox of Elgoloth or Rune of Hagarrad. These skills would also be helpful at the second riftgate, but unlearn them afterwards.
[li]Push the mastery bar to 20 and get both modifiers. One to three points in each skill node should be sufficient, so that you do not constantly run out of energy.[/li]
[li]Add Soldier and push the mastery bar to 10. Activate Fighting Spirit, Menhir’s Will, Blitz and Overguard.[/li]
[li]You can put a point each into the Soldier passives in the bottom row - suggested build at level 20.[/li][/LIST]
Further progression
Increase Inquisitor to 50 and Soldier to 20. In average every other skill point should go into the mastery bars.
Get the higher tiered skill modifiers, activate Inquisitor Seal, Aura of Censure and Field Command.
I recommend to put points into the skill transmuters Null Field and Markovian’s Defense.
Level your skills as needed with a focus on your main attack, Flames of Ignaffar.
My build when I completed the base game at level 50.
Increase Soldier to 32, activate Blindside and put a point each in Squad Tactics and all of the bottom row passives - a few more in Shield Training.
Eventually learn War Cry.
My build when I completed the expansion at level 65.
Devotion
Acquire constellations in the following order, assign them to your skills and put points into Crossroads as needed.
Once you start with Oklaine’s Lantern you basically commit to use scepters and daggers. Feel free to use regular melee weapons until then if they are better.
Only if you restore all 33 shrines in the first difficulty you will be able to unlock Targo’s celestial power. If you miss a shrine you could also go into the next difficulty - once you have unlocked it - and grab the devotion points, which are around Devil’s Crossing. But that is confusing, so go check the List of Devotion Shrine Locations (base game; expansion).
Calamity would be great as first relic, but if you struggle with energy I strongly recommend to get the Bone Talisman from the Rovers (you won’t be rewarded if you are honest).
With the release of Ashes of Malmouth I archived all my chars, items and collection of blueprints and started anew with this build.
As you can see from the Grim Tools links (section: Further progression) I somehow ended up with a lot of health and resistances - your mileage may vary.
I went into the rogue-like dungeons when I received the quests for them, which is fairly to the end of the base game, and cleared them including their “death rooms”. I’m not promising you won’t die, but you have a decent chance to get through these ordeals.
Also the end boss of the expansion was less of a pain than with those builds, which I had used when we tested the expansion.
I only died once in Malmouth, when I was tired and careless with one of the mini-bosses there.
When it comes to decide between the opposing factions, Kymon’s Chosen are your natural choice. Apart from that I joined the other optional allies. I did not use Writs and Mandates, and I only did a few Bounties for the Rovers. If you just explore most of the world, then you will reach Honored with some of them, so that you will have access to the first tier of Augments.
I intend to continue with this char, but in case you overtake me, these are my plans:
Devotion: Harvestman’s Scythe > move the point in Crossroads from Primordial to Order > remove points from Panther > Owl > Scholar’s Light > Blind Sage (except for the cold node; assign to Inquisitor Seal) > Autumn Boar (Field Command)
Skills: Increase Soldier to at least 40 and get Break Morale
Going pretty easy so far. FoI is pretty strong once you grab it at level 5 and slot 2 points in to it. Just be mindful of your energy consumption, try to get caster gear in the usual head/chest/ring/amulet slots to offset it asap.
It’s a nice build for controller, easy to use/play. Note: Did have an issue with Steam Controller on character creation. I was trying in Big Picture mode and when you go to type in your name the Steam keyboard overlay appears and I had an issue I’ve seen reported in the past. I type in my name but the game doesn’t recognize that I’ve done so and I ended up having to resort to using KBM for this portion. I’ll have to slip it in a Bug Report I suppose. I’m curious if Crate has actually attempted this as I suspect it is a common, global issue with Steam controller and GD.
I started this char with mouse and keyboard and only switched to controller yesterday evening. I’m still tinkering with my keybindings, but I like how it plays with a gamepad. Also the build is rather tolerant to input errors.
Yeah, just hold down whatever bind you have for FoI and use WoR on occasion. For now I also keep one bind for Default attack for the times it is needed. I’m rushing for Blitz right now, which will likely end up replacing Default.
I’ll post my build again once I hit 20.
Note: probably the most annoying thing still for controller is the issue of loot collection (most especially in regards to filters). I think they need to have an overlay (or is that "under"lay) that appears when loot is in range and selectable that allows you to easily cycle thru the various loot tiers, to show and hide what you want on the fly. It would appear similar to how it does on the main controller UI, with the buttons you need to press (to cycle the tiers) viewable on the lower portion of the UI, if you get my drift.
Deserves an Honorable Mention in your leveling section, eis: An excellent early shield, Bernard’s Slightly-Chewed Buckler located in the Putrid Den as a 100% drop chance from Pusquill the Hoarder is an excellent grab in the early game and sits nicely in this build at this stage of the game.
Flamebreaker would also be a decent find if RNGesus were to smile upon you, irregardless of the Demo bent of the shield.
Yeah, always a nice early skill for such builds. I doubled down on my Bernard’s drop and got Keeper version with the additional Spawn Stalwart Guardian skill. Praise RNGesus! He loves me.
I like how Blitz turns my FoI into a mobile on-demand barbeque… mmm roast Slith.
Bubba: Anyway, like I was sayin’, Slith is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, Slith-kabobs, Slith creole, Slith gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple Slith, lemon Slith, coconut Slith, pepper Slith, Slith soup, Slith stew, Slith salad, Slith and potatoes, Slith burger, Slith sandwich. That- that’s about it.
Very smooth and relaxing play-style so far in Normal (www grimtools com/calc/lNk1JK6V). I will definitely invest more into this character and periodically post here if I discover anything I think is helpful.
I set a new personal record in the Crucible thanks to your guide and build. I took a long break from the game and started from scratch ~2 weeks ago. I spend roughly half my time playing in the Crucible. With that in mind I would like to point out that I enjoy using the hit-and-run tactic afforded by the significant Burn damage portion of Flames of Ignaffar.
Additionally, it was helpful for me to use Rune of Kalastor before I was able to use the Inquisitor Seal. While I did remove Rune of Kalastor after that perhaps I will add it back at a later level. I like the synergy between Intensify and Rune of Kalastor. Also, it compliments the Flames of Ignaffar play-style nicely in my humble opinion.
Happy flaming
Edit: I forgot to mention that to achieve my personal record for the Crucible that I had to switch from Purified Salt to Imbued Silver to get some Chaos resistance.
Rune of Kalastor is certainly fitting, but I’m not sure if I am comfortable with adding a seventh active skill to my char. Let me know how it works for you.
The last time I used an Elixir of Spirit was when I face-tanked Warden Krieg on the second difficulty. Markovian’s Defense is great - being able to recast Overguard when it runs out is pretty useful.
I have reached Broken Hills and recently put on an Exalted Vestment of Insight. I should probably have more skill points in Flames of Ignaffar - as of now I have a hard time to spend more than 1/3 of my energy. I have been wondering, if I even need any caster gear…
Do you find the skill has diminishing returns on higher levels, or is it just too weak and points should go into FoI and Blitz? My main concern was to get a decent OA, as I do not have any item collection I can rely on.
Is your character still short on points in FoI? I am assuming by your build, you probably rely a lot of blitz, while using a very weak FoI. As a result, energy isn’t an issue, but on mine, where you pump FoI up, it’s a little tougher. Spirit potions are important.
Thank you very much.