Help me build Medusa, the one TRUE Stone Matron

[Knife]

Hey everybody, hope you’re all doing well!

So in typical Grim Dawn fashion, while putting hours of work into various other builds and farming for required gear pieces, I have collected a couple items that can Petrify the target. Namely Nightshade’s Reach and Peerless Eye of Beronath. This, coupled with one of my favorite Constellations and Devotion Abilitiee (Stone Matron’s Fist of Vire), has inspired me to put a hard stop on everything else ive been doing and start building a new memey casual fun build- Medusa!

The theme is quite simply to create any build that can reliably Petrify targets fairly often, without being too squishy. I dont care too much about actual damage output, so long as the build can petrify the shit out of things. Other skills im looking for are any that can immobilize enemies. Particularly ones that look or feel thematically identical, such as Blade Trap. I was also looking at Devil’s Cage Hauberk, wondering if the Devil’s Cage proc traps enemies (immobilizes them) or if its just a debuff, and doesnt actually trap enemies.

What gear, devotions, skills, or class combos do you all think would work best for this build? Understand, im not expecting to run SR or Crucible with this build, so if the best it can manage is MC on Ultimate, that would be a huge success in my eyes.

Im considering Nightblade and Occultist for the class combos, but Oathkeeper might go well in place of Occultist depending on the gear. The gear Im looking at are;

Nightshade’s Reach (if not using Oathkeeper)
Horns of Korvaak
Basilisk Claw
Occulant
Peerless Eye of Beronath
Mark of the Dreadblade
Rune of Ishtak’s Mercy

Probably something like this, build is not completely built in GT (im at work right now), but just to get an idea. Skills and points can be changed around however, i didnt even try to optimize that GT, just made it in a hurry to get this post out there and hear about everyone’s different approaches to this petrify based build.

How would you all build it?

[Stupid_Dragon]

My petrification build was a CT binder with Korvaak constellation, but it was quite a while ago and I don’t have a GT link saved.

[fordprefect]

Your best chance with this https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2BbwWD2 since set has -%20 petrify duration debuff so with korvaak devotion binded your main skill preferable your AA, and also get the fist devotion. you may also choose mage hunter aswell, go for DW elemental pistols and make a good enough build. You can fill the gear gaps And I don’t know if there is a skill in a class has petrify chance.

Hell you can even make your quest with full blue with this setup https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YVWnJjn2 though you need to balance resistances

[Knife]

No worries, that was enough of a suggestion to get my mind moving… I was completely unaware that Korvaak constellation can petrify!!! YYYYYYES!!!

[Tarazet]

You can equip the full Invoker set with full Luminari. The Invoker amulet has a higher chance to petrify than Beronath. Petrify Mage Hunter?

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNn3RX82

[Knife]

Dual wield ranged… hmm! This could be interesting. I suppose Medusa sort of is a “ranged” type, being that her stare is her best weapon. I wonder if this would be a fun build to play with Phasebreaker… maybe Arcanist/Nightblade, using both flash freeze and blade trap… going cold/elemental damage?

[Knife]

Oh shit… ohhhhh SHIT, this is interesting indeed! I must have missed that set when i searched for Petrify items! Thank you!

[Tarazet]

Also this movement rune: https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12088 and this consumable: https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/7456

The only actual mod to petrify to a skill is the Anathema medal, which I’m sure is what Dragon used in his binder build: https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/8958

[Knife]

I have decided to create Medusa, with primary class Arcanist. Im still undecided on secondary class, I do love Spellbinders so perhaps Ill follow @Stupid_Dragon startegy and main CT.

However, I also have decided to simultaneously build another Petrification build. Perseus!

Thematically, Perseus is a Witch Hunter. This build is more experimental, and takes the approach of sword and board, which I have no idea how it will play out in late game, but so far is super fun. Theres a heavy emphasis on Nightblade as the main skills im using on him are Blade Trap, Blade Barrier, and Ring of Steel.

Considering a lot of focus on retaliation damage, so might wind up taking Bloody Pox w/Fevered Rage. May work well with a pimped out Blade Barrier but i have no idea this is all really experimentation at this point. Blood of Dreeg and Possession are no brainers, and Curse of Frailty is always great. Perseus is going to use both Fist of Vire and Eye of Korvaak.

While Petrification is counter-intuitive for retaliation based builds that rely on incoming damage to be effective, i really dont mind. All i want is for this build to feel like it holds the power of Medusa’s gaze. To that end it will use Ishtak’s Mercy.

@Ceno this is an example of what I mean by a disengage rune not being a “lose less”, only because of what its intended for and the purpose of this build. Thats why I feel the definition is relative to the player experience. It relies on the context for which its being used. If i was going to try to use Perseus to farm endgame content, it wouldn’t just be a “lose less”, the entire build would just be a “lose” in general probably. But thats not my goal for this build, and so for me, Ishtak’s Mercy is going to feel like a “win more” choice. I would actually say that in this specific instance any mobility skill (aside from a teleport or shadow strike) that petrifies would work, but there isnt one that I know of, so its Ishtak’s Mercy that wins the day.

[Knife]

perseus

Having so much fun with this build!! The grimtools link is pulled from game file and hes currently equipped for speed leveling. Havent needed to bother much with components or augments, build is surprisingly tough and kills surprisingly fast, although im not yet in Ultimate with him but am absolutely wrecking Elite.

The Petrification is real. Eye of Korvaak and Fist of Vire together are amazing.

[Knife]

Perseus

Level 91, still mostly geared for XP gain currently, but carving through Ultimate surprisingly well despite so many thing unoptimized. This build frequently has crit chance of 20-30%, somehow… maybe lethal assault? I have no idea, all i know it its critting constantly.

Can confirm, Ishtak’s Mercy is awesome on this build. Between the rune and shadow strike, he bounces back and forth and achieves a “bob and weave” feel in combat. The AI cannot keep up, and makes sorry attempts to predict my destination/pathing but often fails miserably. The runes petrification debuff also makes every re-appearing shadow strike hit extra deadly. It is the perfrct fit for this build and what the build is trying to do.

Enemies look like theyre experiencing severe lag, between freeze from ring of steel and the many sources of petrification procs, many times interrupting deadly attacks. Also confirmed, Devil’s Cage Hauberk does in fact trap enemies like Blade Trap does. Once equipped the build will have so many sources of entrapment it might as well be a politician.

Still, it remains somewhat squishy, and although its success in MC has been remarkedly above par for my expectations, once i hit 100, there wont be much else to do with him. This journey has been one of the most fun yet, though.

[RxJunkie]

Still, it remains somewhat squishy

Lokarr set will do that in Ultimate… what’s your final spec looking like?

And this build needs an awesome Illusion setup.

[Knife]

Yeah once i hit 94 Ill be shifting from Lokarrs gear to better suited pieces.

Chest: Currently i have lined up Mythical Devil’s Cage Hauberk for chest armor. Not super high end, but its triggered ability is flavorful and fits the idea of this build perfectly due to enemies being trapped in Obsidian. Unless I can find another chest piece or armor set that exhibits this kind of effect, it will be BiS for the functions this build cares about.

Helm: I am still farming for the Horns of Korvaak, which will be BiS as helm piece.

Shield: I am considering using the Occulant, both for its powerful boosts to Pneumatic Burst and Blood of Dreeg, and the minor pet chance to petrify. There is likely a more fitting option for a shield, since this build isnt really a pet build and id have to respec just to get minor points into some pets to maybe sometimes petrify enemies for 1 second… but everyone knows if you invest in pets, to make worthwhile you need to really devote your build to it, otherwise theyll just die in 2 seconds, particularly in late game. So im not sure on this piece yet. Other shields id consider are any that have modifiers or strong buffs to Blade Barrier.

Amulet: the Mythical Peerless Eye of Beronath does a good job boosting all skills, OA, and crit damage. Its also got that 20% chance to petrify in its granted skill, which otherwise lowers OA of enemies. This piece feels BiS for amulet, as any additional sources of petrify that i can get are essential to the builds flavor and functionality.

Weapon: Mythical Basilisk Claw is BiS for this guy, I learned. I am still farming for it though. Havent been able to get one yet. Is this weapon farmable, actually? Or does it require a blueprint?

The rest of the gear slots im fairly open to discussing, not sure what would work best. Looking for anything that could reduce Blade Barrier’s cooldown or make its retaliation effects even stronger.

I have considered going dual wield and using 2 Mythical Basilisk Claw for the -5 second cooldown time on Blade Barrier, but not sure how this would play. If this was the direction i chose to go, id likely use Belgothian’s Carnage relic, for the +1 nightblade and the proc that reduces active cooldowns. Lord knows the build crits enough that the relic would be proccing just about every 4.5 seconds, and could be decent but im not sure- never used these items before.

Any thoughts?

[klasperstanze]

So this would b an acid build then? I’m uncertain though about the fun potential you gain when standing around, blade barriering all the time…

[Knife]

well, you have to understand, the focus of the build is really just immobilizing and petrifying enemies while bouncing around. The damage type, which ultimately affects how efficiently i can actually kill things, is currently undetermined but leaning towards acid/poison. The Blade Barrier cooldown reduction is a means of survival due to the levels of jank that are present in this build. Its a memey kind of thing that only truly cares about Petrifying enemies in a melee setting.

This being the case, Mythical Basilisk Claw adds 5 seconds petrify retaliation to Blade Barrier, so despite the times when the build may need to hide behind the barrier it will continue to petrify enemies that strike it. At least the ones that arent overtly resistant to petrify, which is one of the builds weakest points. I know the Luminari gear can reduce enemy petrify resistance but it just isnt flavorful for this build because its designed for ranged builds and takes up slots that need other gear for what i have in mind.

EDIT: I feel I should also clarify that although the CD reductions for Blade Barrier are great, the assumption shouldnt be that maintaining a constant blade barrier uptime is the goal. I just need the make sure that its off cooldown for when i need to use it, which could potentially be a lot due to unoptimized gearing as is required by my janky aspirations.

[Knife]

Perseus at level 95!