Recently I made this new build that I wanted to try out for a long time, a physical dual-wielding tactician, using the Havoc pistol in both hands. Now, so far, I am managing more than fine in terms of survival in Hardcore, killed some bosses like Rashalga or Alkamos without any problems… But somehow I have this strong feeling that my damage is lacking even though DPS under buffs/procs reaches out to like 98k (I suppose this isn’t considered very much anyway in the endgame).
The character itself is not 100% complete as I do, in fact, need to change the medal and possibly shoulders and/or helmet or even some other pieces. As far as Devotions go I think they are decent enough, but of course I might change a constellation or two depending on the situation.
What could be changed to improve the damage further, and would items like Basilisk Crest or Mark of Harvoul be possibly best in slot here? Is it even worth it using 2 Havoc pistol or should one hand be occupied by a physical MI pistol? Would recalling some points from the defensive skills and putting them into offensive skills like Deadly Momentum or Fighting Spirit make much of a difference?
I’d appreciate any advice.
P.S Hopefully Grim Tools shows the correct numbers on the character sheet…
I managed to get the Dire Bear, but I had to ditch the lizard and the toad in the process (maybe there is a better combination). But I am thinking … would Ulzaad be worth picking over Oleron (as Oleron was the one I was going for), in order to conserve several points and use them on something else ?
As for your other points I will definitely give a try, thank you.
I tried to keep original though, did remove most health regen… you could kinda get giant blood still but I don’t think it will be worth it although u still have Hydra, Dryad, Bear and for maximal absorb even the twin glorious combo - crab + turtle.
Give this a go and see if this setup is better… or not.
EDIT: to get giant blood (if you really want it), remove dryad add lion and remove 1 point in bear extension. That should do it.
Very interesting, thank you very much for going out of your way to do a whole devotion tree for me. I really appreciate it. I will definitely keep it in mind. For now I will keep the health regeneration but this is definitely very good as well. I did notice a big difference in damage once I changed the gear around and taken the dire bear. So for now I will keep farming for upgrades like a good amulet and such to improve the resistances further for example, but in any case thank you for your help
I am also trying to get the best from DW Ranged Havoc Tactician for main campaign experience…
I got never used to skills War Cry and Inquisitor Seal, or better say to use them… so I ommit those two skills and try to make my phys dw ranged tactician “sturdy” in a different way.
Let’s talk about gear (in slots, where it is very much different from what I would expect):
rings - one of those should be, in my opinion, Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch (provides attack speed, cunning, two resistances, bonus to Cadence and proc, lowering enemy’s physical resist)
helm - I am pretty sure you use the helm because of War Cry, right? (I don’t, so another options are Callagadra’s Visage (but that requires to kill a celestial), so cheaper variant is Mythical Bounty Hunter’s Hat
Some of your primary resistances (on the first sheet) need a little bit more attention, they are not capped enough (poison, vitality, aether) and your stun resist is kind of low.
Conclusion: If this is your very first character, I have to hat off to you… You did much better job than I did.
Thank you SIr_Mac, I really appreciate your advice. I will definitely go for that ring. I probably picked it somewhere along the way, but did not notice it in my stash. So basically what I did is I took upon Flaming’s advice, and I in fact equipped 3 pieces of the Warborn set and went for the Dire Bear which resulted in a very strong upgrade for my overall damage although I did loose a little bit of health regeneration which is a fair trade I suppose.
As for the belt slot I will give it a go definitely. I got my resistances in order , or at least to an acceptable number (it’s nothing seriously wrong really). I think with using the Black Matriarch, Chains of Oleron belt there will definitely be a positive difference, also I suppose that I will have to farm a good Mogara’s fangs roll . In any case thank you, and yea I mean it’s not my first character per say, but it is like the 5th or 6th that I made on Hardcore after making 1 on Softcore. My last character that I built was an absolute success as I cleared everything except for celestial bosses, but yea I am a little bit unsure about this one…
I believe so. I was really thinking about creating a character that uses the Witching Hour rifle. Now this might not be the attacker type per say, but still I found it very interesting. Maybe it would be like a hybrid skeleton summoner and an attacker, or just a pure skeleton summoner. Also I was thinking about re-making one of my failed characters that was supposed to use the Demonslayer set so I suppose that would be in the lines of vitality and/or bleed damage, even chaos…
I’d also say to consider trying to craft a good stoneplate waistguard instead of the reforged chains. You lose some flat damage and crit, but you can get higher % damage rolls, better resistances, and a conversion that synergizes very nicely with the dreadblade medal.
I crafted many of those, of course it is a pain to get the desired roll, but I will use a Prismatic — of Supremacy that I’ve gotten (I really needed elemental resistances…)
The only reason that I was using the Lacerator Girdle is because it’s granted skill reduces enemy damage. Thank you, I’ll see how it plays now
Got that covered with War Cry skill, once u wear warborn or that original helmet - fleshwarped casque u get not only damage reduction but that sweet flat physical debuff.
I see. I thought It stacks. In any case this is what the character looks like right now. Basically there was a lot of improvement in terms of damage. Solid armor rating and of course 50/51% physical resistance. The DA is on a lower side, wish I could get to at least 2.5k but that’s OK. I did find this Spellscourge amulet in the meantime but ideally that needs to be changed for something that’s more effective… I was thinking about Mogara’s fangs because that one also gives +1 to Soldier, but it would have to roll a double rare I suppose, also, hopefully, I drop the Black Matriarch ring as well, that Sir_Mac suggested. I am actually yet to finish the expansions but so far I cleared the base game dungeons without any sweat, hopefully it continues to be so, but I predict effectively farming Tomb of the Heretic, for example, may not be as smooth.
P.S Also gotta do the Shattered Realm 25 for those 3 skill points. Possibly investing those into either, Fighting Spirit or Deadly Momentum for even more damage…
I would suggest a few things, other guys could disagree, but here we go:
spirit points invested - you need 399 / 400 spirit for the most advanced rings, not more, so if your spirit is higher than that, you can remove the points invested in spirit and put it into cunning or physique (for better DA)
2a) skills - veterancy is maxed out, but the real benefit from it is only the health regen. If you put just one, or two points in “V”, it would be OK and the rest of the points you could spend into military conditioning. For better health and physique by % value. And better physique means better DA!
2b) skills - Markovian’s advantage is maxed out - is there any specific reason for that, to have that WPS boosted that much? I would personally spend points so Mark-Adva has 10 points in it (25% chance to be used), Zol-Tech has 10 points in it (25% chance to be used) and add one point in Storm Spread. With that setup, 25% MA + 25% ZT + 15% Bursting Round + 15% Chilling Rounds and 15% Storm spread gives you 95% chance to have any of WPS activated during the first and second shoot with Cadence…
2c) skills - ranged expertise - you have chosen Aura of Conviction and the Gloves convert PIERCE into PHYS damage, so maxing out ranged expertise not only gives you better attack speed, but it also gives you a flat pierce to phys conversion
let me commend you for your new belt, looks lovely and provides a lot of what you need
Thanks you Sir_Mac. I really appreciate it. The reason I maxed out the arkovian advantage is because I had one of the devotions bound to it, so I was aiming towards the highest % activation. I took upon your advice and did in fact lower it by 5 points and invested those into the fighting spirit for now and storm spread. Since Fighting Spirit gets activated basically everytime I enter the fight my dps jumps up to around 135k. As far as the Aura of Conviction goes, the gloves specifically affect only the skill itself, I believe that Ranged expertise is in fact not converted so that is why I left it on 1 point.
Some conversions, although stated just for the skill (aura / buff) itself, they are indeed global. So try to wear on something with flat pierce damage and look, if you put the gloves on, if the pierce damage disappears and your physical damage is higher!
I tested it. It’s like you said. I was pretty sure that it only worked for that specific skill. I wasn’t aware that it was in fact, a global conversion. Thank you very much!
Awesome, so any flat pierce dmg is now converted into physical and amplified by % value.
When you are happy with your build, you can share some videos, when the build is in action! And I am looking forward to see another gun build(s) from ya!
Thank you. Yea, right now I think the character is in a solid state, it may take a little bit more refinement but it’s OK. I will try to clear out the Tomb of the Heretic one of these days and see how that goes. I will definitely see to make some gifs and whatnot, but usually I am active in the discord channel, occasionally, just chatting and streaming, feel free to join and see a little bit of gameplay.
Made this a while ago: Tactician, Level 100 (GD 1.2.0.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
It’s definitely better to go Seal with Max Arcane Empowerment, but I wanted to try it without.
Max Deadly Momentum and Steel Resolve for flat damage. Relic, rings and conduit amulet for resistance reduction. Felt pretty solid, and physical Cadence might get buffed in upcoming patch.
