Something like this: http://grimcalc.com/build/pnaM9Q?
It’s a shame though I’m lacking one vase point to max out Curse. Searing Strike looks too good to ignore, but maybe I should take it from Ulzuin’s Wrath.
Also, how would you invest stat points, because I really haven’t even touched on that yet.
Really appreciate your advice by the way.
Yes that seems very reasonable. You could potentially drop points from Thermite Mine itself and go mostly Hellfire mines for the chaos damage and -chaos res.
In terms of stat points I am now going 100% physique because I fear I might run into survivibility problems.
Note that most of my advice is based on experience with B30 and prior versions, and not so much on B31. I’ve also never been in Ultimate difficulty yet. So take my advice with a grain of salt 
At least its more experience than I’ve got. Also, I’ve come to understand that a grain of salt is quite valuable in the GD universe
I finally got what you meant with “Hellfire Mines”. It seems GrimCalc hasn’t been updated to B31 yet, so it still displayed “Lightning Arc”, which got me really confused.
Ah yeah it’s not fully accurate yet. For 100% accurate theory crafting I would recommend downloading a clean lvl50 character (available somewhere on the forum) so you can toy around with skill points. There are always some errors in GrimCalc, so better be safe and go with in-game data.
Guys, I’m working on a pyro build at the moment (2h melee investing in ulzuin, blast shield & blood/armor of Dreeg in the hope of being able to stand in and brawl some). I like the 4-point canister bomb, which I had overlooked.
Wouldn’t the points in Curse be better in vulnerability? I love slows, but I’d think the -elemental resist would be very useful.
My only other comment is that possession seems like a great skill, but you are burning an awful lot of points just to get to it. I wonder if those 37 points wouldn’t be of more use fleshing out other skills.
If chaos isn’t that important to you then sure, don’t get possession. In a chaos/vitality focused build it’s amazing though, better than e.g. Menhir’s Bullwark is for physical builds.
If you’re dealing mostly elemental damage then vulnerability is good. Chaos/vitality isn’t elemental though, so it’s pretty much moot to get vulnerability. The slow is nice, but I fairly confident that for my chaos/vitality build Curse is a waste of points.
Well, it does at least satisfy the inner completionist to max out Occultist mastery, so I’m happy with that 
That aside though, I intend to build my character around Sigil and Hellfire Mines, in which case chaos seems to be everything (and 100% skill disruption protection doesn’t hurt either). However, if you’re gonna use your weapon directly as your main source of dealing damage, it might not be optimal at all.
Actually, the flat chaos damage only works with Weapon Damage (either from basic attacks, or skills with %WD). Even a little extra flat damage often gives more additional dps than more %, because you can easily get high % amplifiers (thus diminishing returns).
There’s a fair bit of fire damage in there too, though, from thermite and brimstone. And, perhaps more importantly, vitality resist reduction on vulnerability.
Ah true, I always forget it gives vitality resist reduction. Good point!
Updated my GrimCalc build to include Stats:
[ul][]Physique: 654 (for 38 points)[]Cunning: 471 (for 12 points)[*]Spirit: 721 (for 37 points)[/ul]With the Hawk constellation, 471 Cunning will allow me to equip any ranged weapon ingame. Physique is taken past the 650 mark for survivability, and the rest is dumped in Spirit, which is subsequently taken well beyond 700.
I’m now level 36 with my character. The Canister + Concussive combo is an absolute must when playing solo, but in co-op it has limited value. Most groups die too quickly for it to be usefull, while some tougher bosses resist it too well. Combined with what you said earlier about Curse doing little for a Chaos/Vitality based build, I actually don’t think it’s what I’d need, so I’ve been thinking about dropping both Curse and Vindictive Flame alltogether to free up 11 points.
Instead I am considering investing heavily in the Flashbang branch. With those 11 points, I could max out Searing Light, but I guess ideally I’d like to max out Flashbang itself as well, even if only for the increased area. That’d mean having to free up another 11 points. Maybe dropping points from Thermite Mine itself is not too bad an idea. I’m just not sure how that would affect my damage potential, since the Mines’ description make it very hard to establish anything about the influence the skill’s level has. Alternative I could drop Brimstone, as I should not really be using a main attack to begin with. Not quite sure yet what approach to take here, any more suggestions?
He forgot that it also debuffs resistance to vitality, as noted later in the thread. I wouldn’t be so quick to drop Vulnerability.
I never had the points to spec into Vulnerability to start with. If I’d stick with Curse, it’d be Curse only :undecided:
Maybe dropping points from Thermite Mine itself is not too bad an idea. I’m just not sure how that would affect my damage potential, since the Mines’ description make it very hard to establish anything about the influence the skill’s level has.[/QUOTE]
I checked the Wiki, and it seems points invested in Thermite Mine do nothing more than increase the flat fire damage output of the fire jets. As the amount of fire damage I am currently doing with this build is absolutely minimal (lower two digits) compared to my output of chaos and vitality damage, I am definitely dropping Thermite Mine itself to a single point, freeing up a good 15 points in the process.
This puts my core build at this, leaving me with 27 points left to be distributed, which I could use for example to max out Flashbang and Searing light, and which would leave me with 5 points to spend on one-point wonders (Vindictive Flame, Blast Shield, etc.). However, alternatively I could also pump it into Explosive Strike (e.g. something like this). The increased area of effect seems very usefull for distributing effects and damage types. Any suggestions?
Occultist is great coz Solael’s and Possession allows you to dish out a great amount of damage independent from your weaoin
I’ve done both a Witchblade and Witchhunter, I personally prefer WitchHunter coz the added aoe capability aids the clear speed tremendously.