Internal Trauma vs Bleeding build

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hello,

Recently we have started co-op with my friend, our chars are Demo+Occultist (Pyromancer) and Warrior+Shaman (Warder).

Our initial plan was to spec Warder full retaliation, and glasscannon Pyro will help with rdd/mage enemies.
Everything was fine until late Elite/Ultimate: it became really hard to taunt all enemies with our Warder (used War Cry and Blade Arc+Clean Sweep), so the effect from retaliation was not 100% compared to solo-retaliation-Warder.

So we decided to respec Warder to Internal Trauma (since we have Temper from Demolitionist) or Bleeding build.

Previously i had full Bleeding Warder, and this spec is clear for me, so we decided to try Internal Trauma build, but didn’t find any 1.0.0.8 IT-builds.

So i have few questions about IT Warder (with Pyromancer friend):

  1. Raw numbers show that Bleeding >>> Warder, and what happens in real life? I know that Bleeding is not affecting undead, but in general which of these two is better, when paired with Pyromancer who boosts IT-damage?
  2. Both Forcewave and Blade Arc have IT damage - again, raw numbers show that IT damage from Blade Arc is higher than from Forcewave - which of these two is better for IT build? Or use Blitz with Blinside?
  3. Zolhan’s Technique - worth maxing?
  4. Break Morale from War Cry - worth maxing since it reduces Physical Resistance?

Thanks!

2
  1. Bleeding and IT are both nice. Bleeding needs RR for example devouring swarm with rend (huntress devotion). IT on the other side, is a pain when it is reflected. Well i prefer IT damage, but both are viable.
  2. Blade Arc with transmuter is a beast. Blitz is always good.
  3. I dont like it, because it has no aoe and putting devotions on it will have a very small %proc chance…
  4. Yes it is worth maxing.
3

Good players have tried internal trauma build (best class combo for that is Witch Blade by the way because Curse of Frailty physical debuff which augments internal trauma damage).

It’s doesn’t weork well. The reason is internal trauma doesn’t have enough support. Yes you can stack sources but…not much improved duration. You need around 200% increased duration to make it work and you can only getit to 80% or so.

4

How bad is IT being reflected?

5

Bleed resistance is easy to cap while it is hard to stack physical resistance.

80% Bleed resist vs 20% Physical resist means 4 times as much damage taken from reflect.

I have comparable Bleed and IT chars. My IT char clears better against content but reflect is definitely an issue. One single Blitz crit with over max Blindside and Oleron Rage, my char is basically dead if all my defensive procs and potion are on cooldown… (doesn’t happen often though)

6

A transmuted blade arc+laceration can put you down real quick

7

Lol speaking of which have you ever Crit yourself with Shadow Strike on a blade barrier? :rolleyes:

8

I see. What I wanted is to mix bleed and IT on a witchblade, using both Forcewave and Clean Sweep. Since I play HC I’m afraid of death by reflection, so probably I would need to keep IT quite low. :undecided:

9

My Forcewave Commando is physical focused, i didn’t risk IT on that one. The worst part is it will deal more damage to you than to your enemy :mad:

10

Well, you can get reflection damage reduction via devotion nodes: Owl and Solemn Watcher.

Ther is also Aeon hourglass but it’s not recommended for this build. Also, I assume you will play with shield si siegebreaker will really help with internal trauma reflect resist, also Aspect of the Guardian, oleron constellation helps in every way moth dmg and phys resist.

@Chton, only if resistances to the damage you are dealing are low, otherwise you do have time to react.

11

Uh, no, actually I wanted to play with Guillotine.

12

You want Force wave spam? IT will be reduced by the tranmuter

13

No, it’s supposed to be a cooldown build. Both BA and Forcewave with cooldowns.

14

I tried really hard to make a pure IT commando. It worked in terms of damage output. The problem is, how many here already said, reflection. The only way to reduce IT is by physical resistance, which is not something you can easily cap like fire ou lightning, for example. If you have the time and patience, go for it. At least, it’s a good learning exercise. If not, go for bleeding.

Edit: Cleasing Waters, from the Ulo, the Keeper of the Waters constellation is good if you want to get rid of any IT that’s probably going to kill you :P. Also, I theorycrafted a build that may work fine. Still haven’t tried it yet ;-;

15

I know but IT reflection would hurt a lot due to lack of resistances. Fortunately Justice Set and building around Physical Damage gives my Commando some Physical Resistance

16

This. This is a reason why i will never play for IT build, cause if you find a reflector (and in a port Valbury you absolutely sure find more than hundred) all this thousand and thousands damage that you cause are gladly returns to you and annihilate you in seconds.

At least we need source of “-% IT duration”, cause if we look into bleed we find dryad, berserk and empowered bloodbathed links for “- % of bleed duration”

17

Well for IT 2 handed might as well try this. It has IT value on weapon which stacks with other WD% sources. But you can go shield too.

18

Problem is IT lacks Improved Duration.

And enough sources (strong ones) to be built around (unless Blind Fury deals IT damage? Does it?)

19

yeah it only has 1 item with increased duration for it. And then there’s Bull Devotion. I was very disappointed when I figured this out. Tons of sources for IT damage but not enough sources of Increased Duration. I guess they didn’t want to hear the cries of people dying instantly on reflect with 200K IT ticks

20

Wait seriously one item?

What about greens?

EDIT:

No greens, damn