Hi to all!
Foreword
Recently, I made a thread called “Gun and Rifle friendly Skills”, which aim is to help new players to understand, which skills does work with guns, which works with some limitations and if the skill is DAR (Default Attack Replacer) or not, and what the player needs to do to use the skill. If it is mastery skill, if it is an item skill, complete set skill or skill obtained from component.
Today, I am starting with the builds, some of them are purely theorycrafted, some are inspired from builds, previously made by other users. All of them are at least field tested on Ultimate against Krieg, Theodin and Korvaak (some Nemesis bosses were met during the way, or some section bosses, like Valaxteria or Dead Krieg). I don’t make the builds for Shattered Realm or Crucible, so feel free to update the builds for that experience!
Due to my spasms, which I suffer from if I play any game extensively, I can’t play “piano builds”. I do play gunners / riflers and one AAR char. The aim is to have from 4 to 6 skills. LMB, RMB and +4 skills max.
Edit: The Physical DW Ranged Tactician added 26/08/31, updated on 26/09/25.
Edit: The Physical 2H Ranged Tactician added 26/09/25.
1a] Physical DW Ranged Tactician
GT Link: Tactician, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Active skills - Cadence, War Cry, Doomforce, Word of Renewal and Ulzaad’s Madness
- thanks to the fact that all three WPS have passthrough, this build excels at “suppressing” fire, thanks to that the monster killing time is very short
- no Inquisitor Seal - I had a difficult times trying to play with this skill, monsters and me were in move most of the time, out of those Seals, so I skipped those
- WPS coverage - 100% ; 42% Markovian’s Advantage, with added passthrough, 18% Zolhan’s Technique, passthrough in default, 40% Chilling Rounds, passthrough in default ; just one point spent in Markovian and Zolhan, four points in ChillRounds, other points obtained through gear
- Health - 25K (when Word of Renewal is ON and heavily boosted with 6x Ascended Bonuses with +400 health)
- 28% Attack Damage Converted to Health (no Ascended bonus used)
- Attack Speed - 223%, 4,72 attacks per second, in all accessories and both guns the Ascended Bonuses for Attack speed are used
- OA 3300 ; DA 2900 ; AR 4300/100% (when Word of Renewal is ON)
- Primary Resistances - 80% (or a bit more) with +40% overcap, Aether and Chaos Resistances are lower, but solved to 80% + 40% formula with Steel Resolve, a node of Word of Renewal, Physical Resist 13%, no Ascended Bonuses used to resolve any resist
- Secondary Resists - Energy Leech Resistance and Sleep Resistance are 0%, other are higher, Stun Resistance, Freeze Resistance and Slow Resistance are 80%, Reflect Resist is 48%
- Physical Resistance reduced by -52% (gear + constellation skill) and 45/12 secs (through War Cry)
- Damage reduction 30%/12 secs (through War Cry) ; 25%/5 secs by Ulzaad’s Madness
- Items - Average Item Level = 90
- Guns - Mythical Havoc x2 is, I would say, mandatory
- Rings - some options, Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch and Mythical Sigil of the Stone Thane are very strongly recommended, because they lower the Physical Resistance by %, you can go for Mythical Goliath Signet for skill support
- Chest - other options available, but Mythical Warborn Chestguard (set piece) for skill support, or Awakened Zolhan’s Battle Plate provides a nice aura
- Pants - many options, I chose Chausses of Barbaros, but you can go for Mythical Hulking Legguards
- Belt - many options, new item from FoA Mythical Smoldersteel Girdle
- Amulet - many options, new item from FoA Awakened Midwinter Memento was chosen, you can go for (monster infrequent green) Mogara’s Fangs
- Medal - other options available, I chose Mythical Vaultkeeper’s Mark for the passive bonus and skill support, you can go for (monster infrequent green) Rylok Crest
- Boots - many options, I chose Mythical Boneshater Treads, but you can go with Windshear Greaves
- Gloves - many options, Mythical Turin Grips are the best, or Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might
- Shoulders - many options, green “Bloodbound Shoulderplates” (FoA item, of Oleron’s Wrath affix for skill support), or Mythical Warborn Pauldrons (set item)
- Helm - many options, I chose Fleshwarped Casque for War Cry cooldown redux, the item is quickly obtainable, chosen prefix and suffix could help with supporting the skills, or Mythical Warborn Helm (set piece)
- Devotions - Hydra and Assassin’s Blade are MUST, other ones depends on individual decisions, Ulzaad, Oleron or Azrakaa provide physical damage support
- Playstyle
- You cast War Cry and shoot everything what is moving towards you, the AoE coverage of the build is decent, but the passthrough and individual approach to enemies is maneuverable, the best tactics is to shoot the monsters in any narrow paths, because they are in a row and the passthrough do the business
- Don’t forget to refresh Word of Renewal
- Usage of Doomforce and Ulzaad’s Madness is situational (if you plan to use those, you can bind some devotion skills to it)
- Can facetank Theodin, can facetank Korvaak through phases 1 and 2
- thanks to 4,72 attacks per second, the build is speed killer, and the WPS passthrough make it even easier
- two Arcane Spark components are used (in medal and amulet), because the mana pool is small and needs to be leeched back
1b] Physical 2H Ranged Tactician
GT Link: Tactician, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Active skills - Cadence, War Cry, Doomforce, Word of Renewal and Ulzaad’s Madness
- no Inquisitor Seal - I had a difficult times trying to play with this skill, monsters and me were in move most of the time, out of those Seals, so I skipped those
- WPS coverage - 85% ; 26% Markovian’s Advantage, no passthrough, 24% Zolhan’s Technique, passthrough in default, 20% Chilling Rounds, passthrough in default, 15% Oleron’s Might, passthrough in default
- Health - 24K (when Word of Renewal is ON and heavily boosted with 6x Ascended Bonuses with +400 health)
- 23% Attack Damage Converted to Health (no Ascended bonus used)
- Attack Speed - 208%, 3,99 attacks per second, in all accessories and rifle the Ascended Bonuses for Attack speed are used
- OA 3100 ; DA 2900 ; AR 3400/99% (when Word of Renewal is ON, only one component raising armor absorption is used, the chance is solved by skill Scars of Battle)
- Primary Resistances - 80% (or a bit more) with +40% overcap, Aether and Chaos Resistances are lower, but solved to 80% + 40% formula with Steel Resolve, a node of Word of Renewal, Physical Resist 13%, no Ascended Bonuses used to resolve any resist
- Secondary Resists - Energy Leech Resistance and Sleep Resistance are 0%, other are higher, Stun Resistance, Trap Resistance, Freeze Resistance and Slow Resistance are 80%, Reflect Resist is 33%
- Physical Resistance reduced by -42% (gear + constellation skill) and 45/12 secs (through War Cry)
- Damage reduction 30%/12 secs (through War Cry) ; 25%/5 secs by Ulzaad’s Madness
- Items - Average Item Level = 90
- Rifle - some options, Malmouth Rifle seems to be the best, other options are Mythical Korvan Wyrm or Mythical Valdun’s Rifle (set one)
- Rings - some options, Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch and Mythical Sigil of the Stone Thane are very strongly recommended, because they lower the Physical Resistance by %, you can go for Mythical Goliath Signet for skill support
- Chest - other options available, but Mythical Warborn Chestguard (set piece) for skill support, or Awakened Zolhan’s Battle Plate provides a nice aura
- Pants - many options, I chose Mythical Hulking Legguards, but you can go for Chausses of Barbaros
- Belt - many options, new item from FoA Mythical Smoldersteel Girdle
- Amulet - many options, new item from FoA Awakened Midwinter Memento was chosen, you can go for (monster infrequent green) Mogara’s Fangs
- Medal - other options available, I chose Mythical Vaultkeeper’s Mark for the passive bonus and skill support, you can go for (monster infrequent green) Rylok Crest
- Boots - many options, I chose Mythical Boneshater Treads, but you can go with Windshear Greaves
- Gloves - many options, Mythical Turin Grips are the best, or Mythical Grasp of Unchained Might
- Shoulders - many options, green “Bloodbound Shoulderplates” (FoA item, of Oleron’s Wrath affix for skill support), or Mythical Warborn Pauldrons (set item)
- Helm - many options, I chose Fleshwarped Casque for War Cry cooldown redux, the item is quickly obtainable, chosen prefix and suffix could help with supporting the skills, or Mythical Warborn Helm (set piece)
- Devotions - Hydra, Kraken and Assassin’s Blade are MUST, other ones depends on individual decisions, Ulzaad, Oleron or Azrakaa provide physical damage support
- Playstyle
- You cast War Cry and shoot everything what is moving towards you, the AoE coverage of the build is decent, but the passthrough and individual approach to enemies is maneuverable, the best tactics is to shoot the monsters in any narrow paths, because they are in a row and the passthrough do the business
- Don’t forget to refresh Word of Renewal
- Usage of Doomforce and Ulzaad’s Madness is situational (if you plan to use those, you can bind some devotion skills to it)
- Can facetank Theodin, can facetank Korvaak through phases 1 and 2
1a] Physical DW Ranged Tactician (this thread)
1b] Physical 2H Ranged Tactician (this thread)
2a] Cold DW Ranged Reaver
2b] Cold 2H Ranged Reaver
3a] Fire DW Ranged Sorcerer
3b] Fire 2H Ranged Sorcerer
4a] Lightning DW Ranged Druid
4b] Lightning 2H Ranged Druid
5a] Acid DW Ranged Witch Hunter
5b] Acid 2H Ranged Witch Hunter
6a] Vitality DW Ranged Cabalist
6b] Vitality 2H Ranged Cabalist
7a] Aether DW Ranged Spellbinder
7b] Aether 2H Ranged Spellbinder
8a] Chaos DW Ranged Mystic
8b] Chaos 2H Ranged Mystic
9] Physical 2H Ranged Warder
10] Aether AAR Spellbinder