⬆ How to level top 20 (softcore) builds in Grim Dawn topic

Yes, that’s good idea, since I really liked Eard’s Evoker Vindicator. From the test patch was perhaps my favourite build (even though I am not fan of ranged chars).

Sparkthrower now also have mods to Box, so Savagery+WPS, Box and Devils can make decent budget build.

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You’re a legend Nery! I’m sure this will be helpful to a lot of new players!

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I’ve done Vitality RF Oppressors more than once, and while I’ve never actually done a Physical RF Warlord, I’ve done many similar enough characters, so I’m going to put quick leveling guides to both in this comment.

These are numbers 18 and 19 on the list.

Generic RF gunslinger early leveling (applies to both):

Since you’re starting as an Oathkeeper, dual-wielding pistols will have to wait until at least level 20, maybe level 25 (a gunslinger talisman can be made by level 25 for any character, even on a brand new account, with no lucky drops). You can start off with pistol/shield or a 2H ranged weapon until then.

I prefer to go pistol/shield, since that lets you equip 2 components. For early leveling, you’re especially interested in components that add flat damage: serrated spike (level 5, pierce), vicious spikes (level 15, pierce), or hell’s bane ammo (level 20, lightning). Serrated spikes drop directly and can be bought from vendors in town, vicious spikes can be crafted from 3 serrated spikes each. Hollowed Fangs are also good components, especially for vitality damage.

You can equip 2 components that give copies of the same flat damage aura, and both auras apply to both pistols. This can add up to a lot of damage in the early game, especially once you can dual wield and fire both pistols at once. Also keep in mind that wps skills force both pistols to fire.

Your primary goal in the very early game is to ramp up your AOE as rapidly as possible. Therefore, after putting 1 point in RF, immediately go to Smite and then dump all your points in it. You want to get about a 25% chance to Smite, as that is adequate AOE, so get 8-10 points in it before worrying about other things.

The next thing to worry about is points in RF. At 9 points, RF gains another charge level, which is a significant boost to damage. You get another charge level at 16 points, but this takes long enough that you can justify putting the second one off for a little bit.

Vitality Oppressor:

I’ve done many Vitality RF gunslinger Oppressors, so this leveling guide is solid advice.

Farmable leveling gear:

For Namadea’s Eye and optimal farming of Ugdenbog Howlers, go hostile with Barrowholm. You could go hostile on normal/elite and friendly on ultimate or just farm these things with another character, if you want to fight Ravager. Ugdenbog Howlers are vitality pistols that are guaranteed drops from 2 ladies in Barrowholm, near the entrance to town, so they can be farmed there rapidly and easily. Namadea’s Eye is both in the final build and is a great leveling item.

If you have a gunslinger’s belt, freeing up your relic slot, Guile (flat physical) and Deathchill (flat vitality and cold) are good. Guile is lower level and runs out of steam faster. Deathchill is quite good, and is solid all the way to endgame, especially if you convert 100% of cold/elemental → vitality. Otherwise, use a gunslinger’s/marauder’s/plunderer’s talisman.

In act 7, several bits of equipment drop from the same group of monsters which are good for this character. They are found mostly in the Temple of Osyr and by the Cairan Docks. A set of shoulders, the Korvan Pauldrons, convert 24-36% elemental → vitality. There are two hats, the Korvan Helm, which gives big bonuses to Reaping Strike, and the Korvan Gaze, which gives +15% attack speed to RF and a +3 to Consecration, which also gives attack speed to RF. Korvan Gaze is better overall for this character, but both are useful leveling gear.

Bolvar’s Pendant can be farmed in the Blood Grove. It should be used anytime after you’ve (1) reached the Blood Grove and (2) have at least 1 point in Celestial Presence.

Bysmiel’s Handcannon is a good vitality pistol purchasable at Bysmiel’s vendor at level 84, and if you have a (Mythical) Morguul’s Mortality, those can be used while you wait for Corruptions of Gargabol. As pointed out in the video of the build in the other thread, for high vit resist monsters, 1 Morguul’s + 1 Corruption beats 2 Corruptions, so Mythical Morguul’s Mortality is a solid choice for the final build as well.

There are 2 belts dropped by Lunal’Valgoth. One, in the final build, gives +1 Necro skills. The other gives 40-60% elemental → vitality. Both are good for leveling, and the combination of this belt + the Korvan shoulders + Namadea’s Eye can easily get you 100% elemental → vitality conversion. Elemental conversion is not totally necessary, but Deathchill (if you’re using it), Soul Harvest (if you have points in it yet), Smite, and Necrotic Edge all do elemental damage which can be converted.

For pistol augments, I recommend at least 1 Essence of Ch’thon. The final build has none of these, and as far as I can tell, it has no other % RR source, so I think this is actually a flaw in the final build, but even if I am missing something, these are quite strong augments for leveling.

Devotions:

Toad → Bat → Hydra

Hydra is a very strong constellation for any gunslinger, so we want to get there as quickly as possible. Next we want to get Rattosh for RR. I normally get there with Jackal and Crane, but those aren’t in the final build’s map. We can pick up Jackal and Crane temporarily, then drop them later, or we can stay within the final map more and reduce respecs like this:

Eel → Wendigo

Lion → Lotus → Rattosh

I’d prefer Rattosh early and Wendigo late, as you already have plenty of leech and you’re more in need of RR, but the other way around also works. And finally:

Revenant → Spider → Abomination

Skill Tree:

After following the section above on generic early game RF leveling, you should have 2 pistols, the ability to dual wield them, components in both (ideally vicious spikes or hollowed fangs), 8-10 points in Smite, and 9+ points in RF.

The first thing to decide is when to stop putting points in Oathkeeper and switch to Necromancer. You want the Necro wps skills for leech and AOE and the exclusive skill for leech and attack speed more than you want any of the things high in the Oathkeeper tree.

There are 3 sensible stopping points: 5 (for Smite), 10 (for Vire’s Might), and 15 (for Consecration). After this, put 1 point in Reaping Strike, Spectral Binding, and Spectral Wrath, and dump points in Necrotic Edge like you did with Smite. Necrotic Edge now has passthrough, and when you can dump points into it, your AOE will rapidly get much stronger.

It’s worth noting that Viloth’s ring now has +3 to Necrotic Edge. Two of these will turn a single point in Necrotic Edge into 7. It’s probably not worth farming Viloth with a low level character just to do that, but it is worth keeping Viloth’s ring if it drops for you, and it may be worth a couple of runs to get one of them. It is also worth using low-level versions of this ring if you have some laying around in your stash.

After getting Necrotic Edge up to a decent level, finish RF, and proceed to Harbinger of Souls, which you will want to max pretty quickly. Finally, proceed to Guardians of Empyrion, take the modifier, and put at least 1 point in Celestial Presence. After that, it makes relatively little difference which points you put in first.

To sum up: 1 point in RF, 8-10 points in Smite, 9 points in RF, 1 point in Reaping Strike and the Spectral stuff, 8-10 points in Necrotic Edge, max RF, max Harbinger of Souls, Guardians.

You can grab one-point wonders along the way, and you can invest early in Bone Harvest, but you can also avoid Bone Harvest until endgame. Also, feel free to dump several points in Spectral Wrath for better RR before going through the rift to Malmouth in normal, as some of the monsters in that rift have annoyingly high vitality resistance, and this and other measures to reduce their resistance are highly effective.

Physical Warlord:

This is not a character that I’ve played personally, but it greatly resembles a number of other characters I have played, so while it may not be perfect and you should take it with a grain of salt, it will be good enough to level with reasonably effectively.

Farmable leveling gear:

Viper Sandspitters drop from Korvan Vipers. These spawn mostly in the Korvan Sands, Korvan Plateau, and Sunbane Oasis. The Korvan Plateau has the most spawn locations, and the spawns at the Sunbane Oasis are concentrated in the area with the river that looks like a smiley face. When I farm for these, I clear these two areas, then reset.

When evaluating Sandspitters that drop, reject anything with physical → anything else conversion, and prioritize anything with alacrity. Don’t bother worrying about the elemental → physical conversion numbers at all.

Sandspitters grant large quantities of extra trauma duration, especially to RF. The grimtools link reports +196% duration, and that’s without the +150% duration that each pistol applies to RF. 3 seconds duration turns into 18, and 5 seconds turns into 30. Thus defenses against reflected damage are necessary.

It appears that the primary defense is not applying too much trauma damage, alongside Rebuke with +skills, followed by the Turtle constellation, a low level Ascension, and about 22% physical resist. The primary defense against reflected physical appears to be armor and armor absorption. Some caution around reflect monsters might also be needed.

The final build doesn’t use augments with reflect reduction, but Kymon’s Chosen sell augments with 10% reflect reduction and +30% physical damage, which could make good leveling augments. Also, there is a Titan Plating component available at level 75 which does 33%, usable in head and chest armor. These may not be necessary for this build, but could come in handy prior to the availability of the final gear, or for a more trauma-focused version of the same thing. The Owl and Crane constellations aren’t used in this build, but could be used in a variant.

Oleron’s Blood components and their proc could be useful as leveling components, but may require more caution with respect to reflected damage, especially when using their proc.

Korvan Spaulders, with 24-36% elemental → physical, drop from the Temple of Osyr and the Cairan Docks. Any roll on these plus any 2 rolls on Viper Sandspitters will guarantee more than 100%. Since affix rolls on Sandspitters are hard enough to get, just use these shoulders and don’t worry about the elemental → physical roll on anything.

Korvan Gaze gives big bonuses to attack speed for RF, and drops in the same areas.

All of these things are farmable from act 7, some from as low a level as 20, however, at least on Veteran, while it’s possible to do these areas at level 20, it’s rough, and very slow going. I don’t know how it is on Normal, but that’s probably slow too. I’d wait until level 40 or so to start farming these things.

Guile is usable at lower levels, and Deathchill is usable for this build, too, once you have the elemental → physical damage conversion going. Since you’re only using one part of Deathchill’s flat damage, it’s probably not going to be useable all the way to endgame, though, so it would be more straightforward to just use gunslinger’s/marauder’s/plunderer’s talismans until you reach endgame. A gunslinger’s talisman will take you all the way to level 94 (so you can equip a Mythical Korvaak’s Brand), if you want to avoid spending extra materials.

Devotions:

Assassin’s Knife → Turtle → Empty Throne → Stag → Ulzaad

We want the Knife and Turtle early to get their procs leveling as much as possible, Empty Throne next for various crowd control and damage resists, and Stag is on the way to Ulzaad. This is partly to get Ulzaad and its proc, but also Ulzaad is part of what Hydra is relying on for green affinity.

Next, Rat → Hydra → (remove Rat)

I hate to leave Hydra so late for a gunslinger, but this wastes fewer points on respecs. You could shift it earlier with Toad → Rat → Hydra → (remove Rat) → (all the Ulzaad stuff) → (remove Toad), but I’m not sure that’s worth it.

Lion → Scales of Ulcama → (remove Lion)

Then the following 2 things in either order:

Dire Bear → Azrakaa

Ghoul

Ghoul could also be shifted earlier, anytime after Hydra would make sense.

Skill Tree:

After following the section above on generic early game RF leveling, you should have 2 pistols, the ability to dual wield them, components in both (ideally vicious spikes), 8-10 points in Smite, and 9+ points in RF.

Next we will grab 8-10 points in Zolhan’s Technique for the AOE, then finish Oathkeeper, then grab the rest of the stuff in Soldier. Since it’s only a short detour in Soldier to get the AOE, it doesn’t matter where we stop in Oathkeeper, so just grab Zolhan’s Technique as soon as possible after hitting level 10 and getting a second mastery. Put a point in Markovian’s Advantage along the way.

Put a point in Ascension as soon as you reach it.

After this, max RF.

Next, max Rebuke for the reflect reduction, followed by Consecration, Divine Mandate, and Celestial Presence, in whatever order you like. Other points probably don’t matter too much when they’re chosen, but if you find that reflected damage hits are becoming a problem, prioritize Consecration and Field Command to buff your armor, and check to make sure you have at least 98% armor absorption and decent amounts of armor in your gear. Scars of Battle does buff armor absorption, but it can wait until later in the game, as 2 Scaled Hide components will get you to 98%.

If you find reflected trauma is a problem, delay points in Presence of Virtue and Retribution, and if you have the reputation and levels, get the augments from Kymon’s Chosen.

Again, the physical warlord leveling guide is based on my knowledge of this kind of build, rather than this specific build. So if you see that the OP has included a link to a better leveling guide, or someone who has played this specific build says something different, pay attention to that advice instead. In the absence of something better, however, this should be adequate.

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Topic is updated with rest of top 20 builds and honorable mentions. If something is posted at later point, I will add it to the thread.

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I propose this budget Chaos Sigil + Chaos / Vitality Primal Strike Conjurer
Both the weapon and the medal can be farmed in Blood Grove so not too bad for Chaos builds.
Devotion matches the endgame build. 3 Sigils can be stacked on top of a boss.

  • 4 greens don’t have affixes
  • there are no armor augments

so what’s missing should be easily fixable (Health, DA, resistances) depending on what affixes you get.

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I think number 13, the Harbinger Conjurer, can be played as itself from the start of the game.

I haven’t actually done that, however, I was working on a Chaos Druid for the missing builds thread. Someone else ended up filling the Chaos Druid slot, however I got to level 65 before I stopped, and the damage was quite strong.

My endgame plan for the Chaos Druid was very similar to the Harbinger Conjurer, as it was also going to use the Harbinger set and that same Conduit. The primary differences between the Conjurer and Druid are that (1) the Druid was designed to be tanky, not to dish out high damage, (2) the Druid uses Arcanist, with little support for Chaos, while the Conjurer uses Occultist, with very strong support for Chaos.

The Druid has strong damage with less support for that damage than the Conjurer. So the Conjurer should be pretty smooth to level.

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On what difficulty level did you finish? :thinking: Just Savagery without Chaos mods looked a bit sketchy to me that’s why I tried to use some MIs and supported skills by them. While keeping the theme of 2h shooter of course.

But I may be wrong and maybe these are not mandatory. Also Vit Savagery from Packla’s Skins with target build devo could be something to consider.

[edit] oh I forgot the build in question uses Doom Bolt as well not only Savagery. That will definitely help. Could also level using Doom Bolt guns just like here

just Savagery instead of Cadence.

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I stopped on elite, right before the mission to take out the aetherial under Fort Icon. I went and did that mission real quick to refresh my memory about how strong the damage was before the post above. I can remember the character screen dps number, too, because it was so odd: 21,212.

That’s a good idea. There’s no good low level lightning → chaos conversion for this character, so lightning → vit should be a substantial improvement.

That’s a good idea, too. For a Conjurer gunslinger I’d be a bit worried about AOE, but doom bolt can fix whatever gunslinger’s talisman can’t. 2H ranged Conjurer would have plenty of AOE with Feral Hunger. AOE wouldn’t be a problem for any build past level 75, due to Seal of the Void.

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Well, as this topic has stagnated, and as I took personal affront to #10 being a roadblock, I decided to try it Solo Self Found ::

Archon, Level 20 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 30 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 40 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 50 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 60 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 70 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 80 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 90 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

At level 94, I opened my stash and abandoned SSF. It is a strong build, and probably better with the aiming ability of a mouse, for all the reasons controller players know. The goal was minimum respec on Devotions (5 points, Falcon) and never deviating from the Skill Points of the build.

Levels up to 30 were a trial, using Wind Devils as primary damage. The build found itself around 50 with Crown and Raging Tempest (maxed). Elemental autoattack (used Spectral Hatchet for 20 levels?) with WD debuffing. At 27 I took some lunatic runs on Balegor to prove I could get Mistborn (that took a few health potions and some running / leashing). 50-75 was a walk in the park. In Elite Act VII… do not wear Golemborn with no reflect reduction. (oops?)

I do not sign off on this for HC - but managed SC (Deaths = 0). I upgraded Movement Rune at 80 and 90… your mileage may vary, based on drops (quoting a famous builder). I could pontificate on when I raised certain skills, but 1-20 is nothing, and from there it should be clear.

Devos ::

Add Purple
Finish Falcon
Finish Hawk
Finish Rhowan
Add Yellow
Finish (in any order) Stag / Tortoise (I went Tortoise first)
Finish Alladrah
Remove Falcon
Add Widow, Shieldmaiden, Messenger, Targo :: as you prefer
Finally Obelisk

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does anyone know devotion path to warlord eor gutsmasher mad lee and banana peel build. I have problems with setting devotions up same as the end game one which is published as second best

thanks in advance

Welcome.

It’s important to know that constellations can support themselves, then it’s a matter of removing the ones you needed to take to unlock the ones you want and reinvesting the points.

There’s a number of ways to get there but this will work:
Green Crossroads
Scholar’s Light
Blue Crossroads
Eel
Kraken
White Crossroads
Assassin’s Blade
Toad
Owl
Ulzaad, Herald of Korvaak
Tortoise
Wolverine
Dire Bear
Lion
Remove White & Green Crossroads
Remove Scholar’s LIght
Remove Eel
Azrakaa, The Eternal Sands
Oleron

This assumes you already have all 55 devotion points. If you’re leveling, unlock the skills from devotions first so they can start leveling up, too. This will require more respecing than the version I posted but once you get the hang of replacing constellations with self sustaining ones, it’s worth it.

Sorry, work has been busy, but I saw that #16 was also unlevelable. So I felt obliged. Unfortunately RNG did not bless me with a SINGLE Lightning Retaliation shield, so most of the game was Perdition, until I went piecemeal around 70. Again, no deviations from Devotions or skills, other than what was required for Devotions. Build is done, zero deaths, Softcore. With full Revered, I can now use any augment I choose to farm the last 4 levels (already at overcap in Ultimate).

SSF. Yes, I forgot level 60!

Oathkeeper, Level 20 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 30 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 40 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 50 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 70 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Archon, Level 80 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
No, I did not go to elite and fix my augments before taking a snapshot, this is 89.99 basically.
Archon, Level 90 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator

Yes, I occasionally crafted components, but without dismal luck, all should drop in a reasonable time. Note :: no level 75 components, ever, and I have over 80 Ugdenblooms.

0-30 was difficult, with no attack replacer, use Aegis as your default. I used Mistborn for a while, but did not go with Beronath as the game decided I was playing Poison Retal, and as the % chance of 0% CD on Aegis gets higher, it overshadowed Beronath. I frankly should have leveled Reprisal more and gone back to Aegis, but waited till later for relic crafting, which can be difficult.

The Devotions are defensive, so I played it defensive. Closest to death was Morgoneth in Elite. Calla (even in Normal) was a risk (worth taking) and took what felt like 30 minutes, but was probably 10.

These builds are playable, and anyone who looks down their noses and says ‘It’s a different build’ I do not agree. This is a path to an endgame build, visiting Sahdina only once.

It may be HC Viable, but I did SC for a reason. Movement rune was upgraded after Elite FG, then downgraded when Scion of Vengeance dropped (had to use Normal difficulty rune for non-melee weapon) [Tear for Glyph of Dreeg’s Vector]. By 80, I hope you have the Eye of the Storm BP (all Mats except a few were easy, but Trove farming exists).

At some points I had up to 30 SP to spend, so it is not difficult, nor point starved. I have and am playing defensively to 94, so the last test will be SR 50 for the SPs (and IF I get around to it, The Other You).

climbs on soapbox
Level your Factions, it makes things 10x easier.
climbs down

Faction Breakdown ::

Normal ::
Revered all but DC, Cults, and Barrowholm
Elite ::
All

Devos ::

Add Green
Finish Quill
Add Yellow
Finish (in any order) Stag / Panther (I went Stag first)
Finish (in any order) Hawk, Alladrah, Targo, Autumn Boar…
Hawk > Alladrah > Autumn Boar lets you drop Quill fastest, but Targo is more Retal
Drop Quill after Autumn Boar
Finish Widow
Finish Messenger of War / Shield Maiden (get the proc on Messenger ASAP for leveling)
Finally Obelisk

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Im interested in leveling a fresh character for this build, but im not sure how to invest the skill points early, as in when do i invest in primal strike or sigils, does anyone have a quick tip/idea on skill progression for this build? Chaos Sigil + Chaos / Vitality Primal Strike Conjurer

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I will write you more later but

  • devotion:

    • Green Crossroad
    • Scholar’s Light
    • Blue Crossroad
    • Eel
    • remove Blue Crossroad
    • Kraken
  • skills:

    • if Veteran you’ll probably need to invest into Savagery initially (and then respec) to kill Kyzogg otherwise just pump Shaman and get to Thunderous Strike transmuter asap and use Primal Strike with some 2h ranged weapon

      • as many points into Primal Strike as possible from Energy consumption aspect,
        craft Arcane Spark when you can
    • after that I don’t think it’s worth it to pump Shaman mastery beside 10 needed for Thunderous Strike
      so I’d just increase Occultist one

    • Devouring Swarm probably only after you have Primal Strike converted to Vitality with the medal

    • important skills: Primal Strike, Sigil line, Devouring Swarm, Blood of Dreeg line, Possession

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thanks for that, i have a question though, why dont you max torrent?

its Lightning damage is not converted by medal’s skill modifier, more info here Secondary Skill Modifiers
but you could consider puting more points to it, especially with this belt Trollheart Waistguard - Items - Grim Dawn Item Database

@Cruizable here’s a link with points spent in Torrent using this other belt - Conjurer, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
maybe a good idea actually since it has such goods resists

btw if you don’t find the helmet, use 75 / 94 level Fettan Mask.

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I’m not sure I understand. This top 20 builds are somewhat for beginners but the comments about this build suggest it’s only really end game viable.

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You got it right - the list is a collection of potential ways to level one of the top-20 endgame builds (from the list linked in the opening post) - and in this case the target endgame build is only viable in endgame as specific items are necessary and not already while levelling, so a different way to level the build is needed.

It is not a list of the top-20 leveling builds.

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The funniest part is I don’t have the expansions yet so I realised I cannot do it anyway :wink:

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It’s because your Retaliation damage will be pretty much a joke at lower levels, particulary so when playing SSF from scratch. Retaliation builds are very gear-dependant, and the only the ones with Occultist class can enjoy relatively fast levelling due to Fevered Rage.
You can level it as “normal” Vitality Grasping Vines + Devouring Swarm though, with Bonespike, Groble’s Sand Effigy and few other MI items. Playstyle is very similar. And you switch to RtA vines after you get proper legendaries, ad its wont take too much time as those legendaries arent that uncommon. If you want a build you can level up with the same setup and damage type, there are a plenty of other builds there in top20 list to choose from. And many, many others who didnt make it to the list, but still very strong and can be played from the scratch SSF.

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