I would really love some insight from the more experienced gunslingers around here.
What are some decent class combinations if I want to:
Play a dual pistol build;
Focus on cold damage;
Does not require super rare drops?
I played a bit of a Purifier, and I did enjoy the inquisitor aspect of it (especially the Chilling Rounds) but I realised that I kind of dislike fire spells, and I did not like the Demolitionist part of the build at all. None of the Demo skills seemed to “click” with me (BBC, Flashbang, etc)
I am also leveling a DW melee cold Infiltrator (lvl 70+) and I really like it, but I also want to have a gunslinger which can be decent at endgame once I get gear. (This also means that I have quite a bit of +cold dmg gear that I kept from my “main”.) I have Forgotten gods.
I am not necessarily asking for the builds (at least not yet) but rather the class combo that would yealds the best results end game.
I am also open to “convert to cold” builds if, later, the gear for the conversion is somewhat easy to get, but I would prefer to play frost focused from the start (if posible).
This was something I found in my “potential builds to test” list https://www.grimtools.com/calc/1NXWlgXZ
Alkamos purple rings might be the hardest item to get, I guess the blue ones are worthy replaces so I used them here for you.
Just by looking at this, I can suspect energy regen and low health be an issue… slow resistance is not perfect either.
But your question, it will be hard to do “my” build since it is required to have that helm to convert the lightning damage on Savagery to cold. And since there is not default attack replacer that is focused around could damage you are kinda limited in that way. With infiltrator you can get Shard of bernoath component for such skill though. Another idea is the Runebinder set and use its skill (but it glows in purple/pink so will not fit your theme really). With infiltrator you would have Amarasta blade burst that will grant you lots of flat cold damage and also Pneumatic burst “Elemental awakening” that gives frostburn damage.
It seems that the options that I have are rather limited.
Is this because my asking for a somewhat easy to gear? Is it because I asked for cold focus? Is it because cold ranged is in a bad spot right now? Or it’s because other builds focusing on cold need damage conversions?
If Infiltrator is my only option, then at least I have some experience with the class (since, as I mentioned) I am playing a melee version at the moment.
Let me expand the question a bit:
Even if I don’t have the items, what other good cold focused Ranged (DW if possible) builds are about at the moment? I am still asking this in terms of class combos. Just to broaden my horizons a bit. Something like
@malawiglenn Since I am missing that helm, I will have to postpone using the build you propose. (I think).
There aren’t many people who post easy to gear builds. In fact easy to gear often means all legendaries here.
Look, if you’re making cold build, be it melee and ranged, you need skills that give flat cold damage, and there’s simply only two of them in the game - Lethal Assault (Nightblade) and Soul Harvest (Necromancer). Then there is Inquisitor that is good all around for ranged builds and elemental damage builds. Now add to this that Lethal Assault (LA) is much more easier to find +skills on gear compared to Soul Harvest, as well as Amarasta’s Blade Burst (ABB) actually hitting with both guns when DW ranged and you have Infiltrator as the only logical choice.
You ofcourse may try Reaper or Apostate, but I will give you zero guarantees that it’ll work. At least I’ve tried playing the very build you ask for and while it wasn’t on par with other easy peasy starter builds (Primal Strike, Fire Strike, Forcewave, etc) I can attest that while somewhat weak-ish but it is playable. If you find your DW cold melee infiltrator okay then you’ll probably find the ranged variant fine too. Main difference is that you’ll have to use crappy Deathchill Ammo instead of Coldstones in your weapons.
Cold is in a good spot, in fact DW melee infiltrator is one of the strongest builds in the endgame even after the recent slight nerf, but when it comes to cold “out of the box” you basically only have 55 flat cold from LA, and unlike other auto-attack builds that have a LMB replacer you’ll have to either use ABB on your left click or hope for Shard of Beronath to drop. Compare to say DW fire ranged that has 38 from Fire Strike, 60 from Brimstone and 23 from Flame Touched out of the box, and a 152% weapon damage LMB replacer in a form of Fire Strike.
Look, if you’re making cold build, be it melee and ranged, you need skills that give flat cold damage, and there’s simply only two of them in the game - Lethal Assault (Nightblade) and Soul Harvest (Necromancer). Then there is Inquisitor that is good all around for ranged builds and elemental damage builds. Now add to this that Lethal Assault (LA) is much more easier to find +skills on gear compared to Soul Harvest, as well as Amarasta’s Blade Burst (ABB) actually hitting with both guns when DW ranged and you have Infiltrator as the only logical choice.
I see your point.I did a quick search in grimtools and indeed the +Soul Harvest items seem sparse, compared to LA.
You ofcourse may try Reaper or Apostate, but I will give you zero guarantees that it’ll work. At least I’ve tried playing the very build you ask for and while it wasn’t on par with other easy peasy starter builds (Primal Strike, Fire Strike, Forcewave, etc) I can attest that while somewhat weak-ish but it is playable. If you find your DW cold melee infiltrator okay then you’ll probably find the ranged variant fine too. Main difference is that you’ll have to use crappy Deathchill Ammo instead of Coldstones in your weapons.
I don’t mind if it’s a bit weaker. And as I said, I do have all the +cold gear that my melee used when he was “little” so that should help a bit (as opposed of just gearing what I am lucky/unlucky to drop.
I assume that you say “crappy Deathcill bolts” because it gives a skill as opposed to the +dmg aura. BTW, does the aura stack with itself?
I am glad that cold melee infiltrator is in a good spot. I do enjoy that playstyle, and it’s nice to see that the build has decent potential at end game (providing I will do some farming). I got really accustomed to having 2 heals, and when I SS in a pack, SS + ABB and everything is frozen it just makes me (almost) giggle with delight.
As far as using ABB on Left click, that is what I did, until I got to lvl 55+ and went in the Ancient Grove dungeon and bought the Shard of Beronath from Vinelton, so I do have that at least.
Compare to say DW fire ranged that has 38 from Fire Strike, 60 from Brimstone and 23 from Flame Touched out of the box, and a 152% weapon damage LMB replacer in a form of Fire Strike.
I think I understand now how I need to think about builds focusing on a certain element, at least when considering autoattackers. It does make a lot of sense, don’t know why I did not see this sooner, considering I have the tendency to read all manner of beginner guides. Must have slipped my attention.
But that also means that if I want more diversity in the classes that I play, I will need FIRST to get the drops that would allow for conversions (fire to cold, for example). SECONDLY, level up the class that I want as a different playstyle/element and THEN convert it to cold. Does that sound about right?
I will keep this advice to heart when/if I try a different focused build.
Thank you very much for the detailed explanations.
I really like the idea about cold Savagery Vindicator,but only problem is the need of helm.In that case you don’t need flat from Lethal assault or Soul harvest.With massive Savagery damage and Inquisitor WPS and items/devos flat it’s looking pretty as painting or something you actually like
For leveling its fine, though if you are gonna deal damage with guns too, you want attack speed and life steal. With the pure rune build, we need to steal life with the Bat devotion instead etc…
Yeah, I think you’re right. The issue is that when I search devotions for attack speed the results are underwhelming. I think Revenant is the only one that I would take, because it happens to have also lifesteal.
I will try and search for some other frost autoatacker builds and see if I can adapt them
In the meantime I will try and use your caster build a bit. Thanks a lot.
