Updated for v1.0.1.1!
This build was born from a question: Is it possible to make a viable, non-soldier shield build in Ultimate inspired by Kilrian, the most badass boss in the game? The answer is yes! It should be obvious from the title that this build is not the most efficient shield build, melee build, or Pyromancer build in general, but it’s perfectly viable and a fun way to test the limits of build diversity in Grim Dawn. The general idea behind the build is to use loads of debuffs, throw down some AoE DoTs, and facetank the enemy while inflicting a mix of Vitality, Chaos, and Fire damage and healing yourself in the process. Before I get too far into describing the build, I’ll list some of the build’s general characteristics:
Pros:
- High Survivability
A decent HP pool combined with a shield, copious amounts of lifesteal, decent armor, high resistances, damage absorption, and low HP procs ensures that this build only has a chance of dying to Cairn’s strongest enemies. On average, I die only once per 20 hours, and this is usually a result of fatigue or carelessness (or when Fabius spawns with a Notched Bone :rolleyes:) High CC resist isn’t necessary on this build either since Sigil, Kilrian’s Shattered Soul, and Wendigo procs keep you alive even if you’re not attacking.
- Active
This is not a “hold left mouse button = win” build; it requires 7 hotkeys to use effectively and 10 to use to its maximum potential. Skills and procs are flying all over the place as you’re constantly slinging spells and attacking.
- Hybrid
This is a hybrid attacking/spellcasting build, so its dps is pretty evenly split between the two. High cast speed ensures that your essential spells can be thrown out quickly, which leaves more time to dps with left-clicks between spell cooldowns. Being a hybrid means that no single enemy debuff such as skill disruption or fumble chance will cripple this build.
- Versatile
You name it - this build’s got it. Absurdly high resistance reduction ensures that even enemies which have high resistances to this build’s damage types fall relatively quickly. Reduce your enemies’ damage, make them fumble, knock them down, stun them, confuse them, or petrify them; the choice is yours. There’s no faction or nemesis that this build can’t farm, albeit some Nemeses fall more slowly than others. This build can kill every mob in the game except Ultimate Mog (can only kill Elite Mog).
- Resist Reduction
Here’s a fun list:
-14% fire from Thermite Mines
-30% fire from Vulnerability
-20% fire from Solael’s Witchblade proc
-10% vitality from weapon proc
-10% vitality from weapon component skill
-30% vitality from Vulnerability
-20% chaos from weapon proc
-10% chaos from weapon component skill
-20% chaos from Solael’s Witchblade proc
-17% chaos from Hellfire Mine
25 reduced all resistances from Agonizing Flames
13% reduced all target’s resistances from Empowered Eternal Band
All of this reduction means that your skills will hit harder, which will increase the amount you heal from your attacks substantially.
Cons
- Somewhat Item dependent
Since this build is quite the oddball, you’ll need the proper combination of items to make it viable. You don’t need any absurd double-rare MI’s to make this build work though! A couple of the items can probably be replaced, but any more than that will result in the build potentially becoming non-viable in ultimate difficulty against some enemies.
- Low Defensive Ability
1.9k DA means you’ll be getting crit often. Eldritch Gaze’s proc increases your effective DA to about 1950, but at least 2100 would be optimal. If you drop from 50% to 0% HP from a strong crit, Turtle Shell and Prismatic Rage won’t get a chance to proc and save you.
- Moderate Damage
A crit multiplier of only 18% and OA of only 2250 means you won’t be taking huge chunks out of enemy HP anytime soon. Because of this, single-target damage suffers a bit, especially when compared to meta builds which max crit damage and achieve DoT crits of over 100,000.
Levelling
Level using whichever skills you feel most comfortable using (I personally maxed Occultist first and levelled using Sigil of Consumption). I went with a 50/50 split between Occultist/Demolitionist because stats are amazing. About 80% of my stat points were put into physique and 20% went into Spirit, but feel free to put all 100% into Physique.
Skill Build and Devotion
grimtools: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GYxXZd
In the Occultist mastery, Sigil of Consumption and its modifier are a must for moderate damage and a high boost to survivability. Solael’s Witchfire and its modifier provide the build with respectable weapon attack damage, and Possession further boosts damage and survivability greatly. Points in Aspect of the Guardian are absolutely essential for the physical/poison resist, and a single point in doom bolt (modified by + skills to occultist from gear) does respectable damage against bosses and heroes.
In the Demolitionist mastery, a single point in firestrike and its next two modifiers grand a decent chunk of damage for minimal skill point expenditure. A few points in Flame Touched boost damage and OA, and a single point in Temper modified by +6 points through gear will give some armor and physical damage (which will be converted to other damage types). High investment in Blast shield makes you practically invincible for its duration, so maxing it is a must. A single point in BWC and its transmuter with a few points in its last modifier help debuff enemies and is essential in lowering their resistances and reducing their damage. A single point in flashbang and its modifier does wonders to improve survivability, and a single point in Thermite Mine and Hellfire Mine serves the purpose of lowering bosses’ fire and chaos resistances. Finally, a maxed Vindictive Flame boosts survivability and damage considerably, and a single point in its modifier gives some nice crowd control against trash mobs.
In the devotion tree, you’ll want to emphasize survivability and shield bonuses, since a Pyromancer is not naturally the tankiest class and shield bonuses cannot be obtained from mastery skills. Accordingly, I went for blue/yellow constellations and set my sights for Light of Empyrion. The Tortoise gives good survivability bonuses, and the Shieldmaiden gives shield bonuses that can’t be found elsewhere. Light of Empyrion provides great resistances, a decent proc, some extra fire damage, and a multiplicative bonus to Chthonic enemies. Scales of Ulcama give balanced bonuses, and Panther helps improve OA. On the other side of the tree, Wendigo and Solael’s Witchblade provide procs which further boost damage and provide the lifesteal necessary to facetank just about anything.
Itemization
Pyromancers do not naturally have high HP, so prioritizing HP on items proved to be essential to be able to tank tough bosses on Ultimate difficulty. Here’s a look at some of the items I chose and my recommendations for items which would also work well (some of which I haven’t been able to farm yet)
Weapon: Fang of Ch’Thon. The proc lowers enemy resistances to Chaos and Vitality, which is important for boosting DPS to make better use of the damage-to-health conversion skills this build relies on for survivability. Because the proc relies on critting enemies, it’s important to get sufficient OA from other items. The bonus to Occultist skills is essential, and the other bonuses are icing on the cake.
Shield: Empowered Devil’s Grin. All of the bonuses fill the gaps that are missing for this build. This shield’s bonus to energy regen is a godsend for long fights, and a good HP roll (mine was upwards of 950 HP) provides a gigantic boost to survivability. Reduced attack speed retaliation is good against hard-hitters, and DPS is boosted hugely by +1 skills to Occultist and +100% chaos damage. The damage of the proc is quite low, but free procs are always nice.
Relic: Solael’s Decimation. Vitality and Chaos are this build’s two highest sources of damage, so this relic is all about boosting that damage. You’ll be getting hit constantly so the proc will always be activating, and getting above 2k OA is essential for being able to crit bosses in ultimate to activate your weapon’s proc.
Amulet: The Peerless Eye of Beronath. Because I prioritized survivability in other slots, I desperately needed some OA. +1 to all skills is also fantastic due to the fact that there are extremely few items which naturally support this build.
Rings: Empowered Eternal Band and Lifegiver Signet. The signet gives just about every survivability stat you could hope to find on a ring, and the proc synergizes nicely with the build’s relatively high Vitality damage. Eternal band reduces enemy resistances and provides great defense with its DA and fantastic resistances. Other nice rings for the build include Sigil of the Depraved for a mix of survivability and damage or the Judicator’s Signets set , but wearing this set comes at the price of lower HP.
Medal: Blood Sigil of Ch’Thon. The bonus to brimstone is obviously useless, but the proc provides a huge DPS boost, the OA is essential, and the resistances are passable. Other options include Mark of Divinity for near immortality or even a Badge of Mastery with good skill bonuses.
Helm: Eldritch Gaze. The decent health and armor bonuses are essential to survival, and the flat chaos damage and % chaos damage bonuses help to slightly increase DPS. +1 to occultist is obviously useful for the build’s utility and damage. Wearing two pieces of the Justicar Armor set (helm + shoulders or helm + hands) or two pieces of the Black Flame set (helm + shoulders) are options as well, but I’ve always found myself going back to Eldritch Gaze. The proc activates extremely often due to all of the build’s other procs and AoE damage, and although the DA reduction doesn’t stack with Flashbang, the OA reduction helps prevent big crits due to the build’s low DA
Shoulders: Benn’Jahr’s Pauldrons. Honestly, this spot can be filled in with any resistance or survivability item you prefer. I stumbled upon a really nice MI which boosts my resistances, armor, and OA significantly. Items from the Justicar set or the Black Flame set are also possibilities if no good rares can be found.
Chest: Bloodsworn Vestments. An extremely lucky Bloodsworn vestments roll (with affixes like Stonehide, of Kings, of the Dranghoul, of attack, of vitality) are most likely BiS for this build. Most caster armor is acceptable, but it must be caster armor because Energy Regeneration is absolutely essential for this build to function. No heavy or light chest armor I’ve found allows me to cast the necessary spells without exceeding the Elixir of Spirit cooldown. Wearing caster armor ensures that Elixirs of Spirit will only need to be used in the longest fights or against energy-draining enemies.
Legs: Solael-Sect Legguards. No surprise here. Wear whichever pair you find with the best resistances, since your leg armor slot is used to bolster whichever resistances are lowest. Stonehide is fantastic because it allows you to wear 2 Scaled Hide components to maximize your armor absorption. Pretty Great Pants are also a fine option, as are Demonbone Legplates.
Hands: Voidsteel Gauntlets. This item is as good as you’ll get for the hand armor slot. It’s one of the only armors which boost both attack and cast speed, both of which provide great boosts to DPS. The proc is also fantastic and has the ability to outright kill most trash mobs. The resistances and the OA are great as well. As mentioned in the helm section, Justicar armor also works in this slot but results in lower DPS.
Feet: Golemborn Greaves. Great resistances, good hp, good armor, a bonus to temper, and a great proc. What’s not to love? I’ve tried to use Voidwalker Footpads in this slot, but I was unable to facetank some of the harder hitting Nemeses as a result and the resistance bonuses to vitality and chaos are unneeded. Any boots which boost armor, pierce resistance, HP, or DA will serve you well. You could always go with defensive double-rare boots if you manage to find some as well, but I haven’t come across any good rare boots yet.
Belt: Girdle of Stolen Dreams. Since survivability was prioritized in feet, shoulder, and leg armor, you can afford to go for a belt which boosts OA and DPS. The energy leech helps keep up with your high rate of energy consumption, and the OA bonuses are absolutely insane and help reliably activate your weapon proc. Additional skills to Occultist are obviously useful as well. Ulzuin’s Torment is a suitable replacement if you haven’t found Girdle of Stolen Dreams (I was only very recently able to do so).
Components/Augments: Prioritize maxing resistances above all else, but at least one Scaled Hide is necessary for armor absorption. Symbol of Solael in your weapon allows you to further lower enemy resistances, and a Prismatic Diamond boosts your damage when you’re in a tight spot, which further increases the amount of health you recover. Of course, Kilrian’s Shattered Soul is a requirement because I originally designed this build to function well with this item and named my character after it… and you have to admit that the purple fire proc looks pretty badass. You’ll be low on pierce, aether, and elemental resists, so your augments should be geared toward filling those gaps.
Closing
The expansion will allow me to further invest in skills which improve my OA (flame touched, blood of Dreeg), and my next priority lies in increasing DA since 1.9K is on the low end of a viable ultimate build. I highly suggest playing this build if you want to kill time before the expansion, and regardless of how many characters I create, I always find myself going back to play this build above all others.
Credit to Chillstepbbc for providing some suggestions to slightly boost my offensive capabilities.
