Need feedback on 2h ranged primal strike warder

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2Jpy0Zp

(Hope no one minds when I post this again since my last one didn’t get any replies.)

My main idea while creating this build was primal strike + lightning type procs, dropping down storm totems in between and war cry to help with dps.
I am still new to theorycrafting so bear with me.

Thoughts on equipment :

Weapon : Raka’Jax
-> imo the best one if going for a build like this, no idea if going 2 1h might be better though

Head, chest, shoulders, amulet : 4piece Ultos’ set
-> this is a beast, tons of damage, tons of resists and skill levels

Pants, belt, medal : Empowered Legplates of Valor + Tinker’s Ingenuity + Mark of Fierce Resolve
-> to round up the resistances, looks like the easiest way considering slots are occupied by ultos’ (with the ridiolous amount of lightning resistance =.=)

Boots : Seraphim Adept’s Greaves
-> Golemborn Greaves are also an alternative but then I would need to swap out legplates since they overlap in resistances, I am still not sure if this is the best pick here but I couldn’t think of something better

Rings : 2x Glyph of Kelphat’Zoth
-> helping out with fire resistance and damage, skill levels in stormcaller’s pact and pet to beef it up, the active is nice too

Relic : Eye of the Storm
-> I wish I could trade the retaliation damage with something else since it is useless in this build but there’s not a single relic that could rival this one

Compenents & Augments :
Cap resistances via armor, get the correct damage type on accessoires and weapon, 2x arcane spark mvp for its extraordinary 72 OA

Devotions :
Tbh I have no idea from devotions and tried beeline for tempest and spear while trying to grab some goodies here and there. Actually I didn’t intend to finish hydra, I had spare points and was in need of OA so I went for the %OA modifier on the 4th point and flat OA on the way until I realized that I could optimize my build a bit more when I complete it for the affinities.

Weak points so far :

  • Aether and chaos only at around 60%
  • OA seems really low even with points in cunning and buffs
  • There’s maybe an alternative, more efficient way for getting the tempest and spear of the heavens devotion but I couldn’t find a way without my OA going even lower than it is
  • Aquiring Ultos’ set, afaik it is quite popular
  • pants vs boots, golemborn look really good but I would miss the damage boost and fire resistances from the seraphim prefix (maybe I should pick golemborn as my boots and get green pants with seraphim prefix instead?)
2

You can’t use Primal Bond and Stormcaller’s pact at the same time. Boots you chose are complete garbage, you have tonns of other option that can patch your resists. You don’t need damage on boots. Check my signature for deovtions setup.

3

You can only have one exclusive skill active, ditch Primal Bond, possibly the pet too since it’s probably barely relevant at all.
Break Moral is barely useful here since you can have about 70% physical to Lightning conversion.
Fighting Spirit is only worth the investment as a one point wonder with + skills or when you somehow have spare points, which definitely isn’t the case here.

I’d get one point in Blood Pact for the ADctH, it’s much more reliable since last patch, particularly for ranged.
You need to max Storm Surge. Primal Strike isn’t all that great already and I don’t think you can afford to drop part of the damage. Torrent is fine as a one point wonder.

If you have that much issues with energy management, Focusing Prism would work better for the amulet.
You can replace those boots with homestead light boots and a fire resist augment.
A scaled hide would be more useful that Ancient Plate.

For devotions, you really want Arcane Bomb and Elemental Storm above anything else, resistance reduction will help your damage far more than the other procs and you have limited trigger options anyway.
Tempest lost a lot of it’s desirability with the change to how devotions work with player scaled pets, Tsunami is weak and even more so if only using it for the lightning part. Proc of SotH is also not that great but the nodes are nice.

4

Thanks for the suggestions, they helped a lot!

@sobertooth
I am not sure if I will need that much energy regeneration, but I will do that if I get into trouble.

So far I

  • got rid of primal bond, break moral, fighting spirit and war cry too since it looks lackluster without break moral
  • swapped out the boots for light harvest footpads
  • copied the pants from mad_lee’s build, they are insane but somehow I can’t find the of vitality suffix

results :

  • max resist on everything but slow and chaos
  • my oa dropped quite a bit
  • free belt slot since i dont need tinkers anymore
  • free augment slot

I am toying with the idea to scrap the idea of a warder and chose another subclass instead. The only reason I went with soldier was field command and war cry, although the former is still handy I am only making use of 4 soldier skills now. Since Sobertooth already mentioned that primal strike is weak at is already is, it would probably a better idea to replace soldier with a class that can give me a dps boost instead. Maybe a demo and use Ulzuin’s Torment?

5

Demo is the definitely the best next choice and i’d argue it’s better than Soldier for this build.

I also made a build similar to this one but it’s more defensive.

6

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/b289zqVj

Changed soldier for demo and tried my best at allocating the skillpoints though I am not sure if I should keep the points in full spread or rather distribute them over to searing light for the debuff or vindictive flames for the speed buff.

ALMOST max resist on everything, chaos at 76% and stun 40%. Ulzuins’ Torment and demo buffs boost my OA up to 2.5k but as you said my build is more offensive oriented and lacks DA which rests at 1.85k.

65% physical conversion to lightning, was hoping I could hit over 70% but oh well.

Probably going to swap out Empyrion’s Touch for Kymon’s Vision when I won’t be able to crit enough for procs.

7

So Thunderous Strike is a pretty meh transmuter (even after buffs), and using it with an item like Raka’Jax will give you problems because you’re going to want attack speed, and you’ll be struggling to get it without your weapon slots to help.

It’s very meh because of the -75% weapon damage, which is then further reduced by a -38% total (talk about arbitrary btw, was 37% found to be just too strong?). So your total weapon damage per hit with 25/16 PS is actually 220*.62 = 136.4%. For comparison, 16/16 Savagery at full stacks will do 172.5% (or 198.5% if you’re 2h with transmuter).

8

This was my concern too. It didn’t feel as bad as you mentioned while I tried to level this character (currently mono shaman w/ primal strike) but I had it coming to be honest. The negative total attack modifier kills primal strike.

And even if I wanted to use 1h instead of 2h, there are only 2 pistols that could even come close to being useful for a primal strike build, namely Exonerator and Arcanum Sigillis and compared to Raka’Jax they are straight up thrash.

I am still going to level this guy up and see for myself because this builds looks like it could be fun having all those electric procs on your screen and sweeping through dungeons like a tempest.

9

Why do you want to go Warder for Primal Strike? Your WPS skills from Soldier, like MA and ZT dont work with it, and Break Morale doesnt work cause lightning damage. I’d better choosen Occultist or Demolisher as 2-nd mastery - they both have nice buffs and resistance reduction.

Though you’ll want to learn both Savagery and Primal Strike anyway. Ultos set buffs both, and you can use Savagery against bosses (it doesnt consume much energy and deals higher DPS), while Primal Strike is to be used against trash packs (because it have huge AoE power).

10

That’s why I went with shaman/demo instead. http://www.grimtools.com/calc/b289zqVj my current build if you couldn’t find it.

I think going savagery/primals strike is the better than just PS. It gives me the freedom to take out the modifier and make the skills more viable. Any suggestions how I should reallocate my skills to have enough spare points for savagery?

11

I cant be 100% sure, because i lack full Ultos set (and without it, this build is crap).

BUT!
That’s how you should build it:
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zl59ZA

(i didnt even used ultra-rare items like drop-only MI with rare prefix).
I also changed skills, stats and devotions.
As you may see, with MY build, OA is much higher (and OA should be your top priority, with 2x crit damage). You should destroy enemies with your massive critical strikes.
Also, HP increased drastically (from 8.6k to 12.3k). You should be tanky to survive in GD (and maybe, even Crucible). To make it even better, you summon skeleton minions with your Primal Strike kills, they can act as sort of cannon fodder (since you’re ranged).

I removed points from useless abilities, like Stun Jacks or Storm Totem. But instead, i got Savagery and Thermite Mines (to reduce resistances).

12

I see.

Not beelining for soth nodes leaves enough points to get elemental storm for more resistance reduction. Torrent instead of storm surge since primal strike is going to be used for normal mobs. So you would keep the primal strike modifier? Is elemental storm’s flat resistance reduction as good as %reduction from other sources?

Is there a reason why you went with Stormtitan Threads over Wyrmscale Footguards? The later one has that sweet OA you were looking for and additional points on thermite mines for more resistance shred; also it has that nice to have 6k shield against bleeding and elemental damage. Meanwhile Stormtitan’s give 1k health, additional points into Ulzuin’s Wrath for higher debuffs and stun tenacity. I guess having high stun resistance is crucial in ultimate.

13

I suggest going this http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36295 if you want fun ranged build. Use Will of Fate and its empowered version for leveling in case you don’t have Vortex of Souls.

14

Sure, modifier reduce PS’ damage, but it also greatly reduces its cost (which is absolutely ridiculous without it), and it will deal far more damage, when you can use it 5-6 times during 2.5 sec interval, instead of just one.

Usually, abilities with CD are useful only if they either deal strong DoT, or add some ultlity buff/debuff. Primal Strike isnt one of those, if you exclude stun (which isnt useful against non-trash).

Elemental Storm, Viper, Arcane Bomb, Thermite Mine - they all stack their resistance reduction with each other. When you apply all, enemies (bosses) will just melt from lightning damage, as their resistance will be pushed into deep negative values.

I went Stormtitan mostly for stun resist and HP boost. They also can reduce enemy’s damage (you dont have other means to apply that debuff). Sure, Wyrmscale are great too, with useful shield, elemental resist, +2 to Thermite Mine and OA/DA. They will be particulary good, if you manage to get several jewelry pieces with “Thunderstruck” prefix (it grants great stats and stun resist as well).

It’s kinda different build, though.

15

Thermite mines with ranged can be a bit clunky to use. You can try conjurer for Vulnerability. Smoother gameplay in general

suggestions: You have lots of points in ulzuin’s wrath. What for? Get vindictive flame to lvl13. You need attack speed. Raka’jax has none. Some points in blast shield. Take some from wendigo totem for that

16

I’ve already made lots of “fixes” to his build with my suggestion :). Including yours.

I agree, that Thermite Mines are a bit clunky, and Occultist is a viable choice too. However, Occultist doesnt have massive DA reduction (Vunerability adds some, but Flashbang adds far more), has to use summon for elemental damage aura (summon dies quickly in tough fight) and lacks OA bonus from Flame Touched.
So both classes have their stong and weak points there.

17

I’m just tired of thermites a bit. About OA blood of dreeg is wonderful for any conjurer both for Oa and the heal/regen(i know you don’t much like it for some reason). Casting thermites and FB all the time can get a bit tedious. Before thermite nerf it was more worth it. lazy me:)

@OP. Also the build needs more DA OA. Some survivor’s ingenuity. If you want Electric dmg you wil need large %wp damage so primal strike with transmuter won’t do. Savagery with storm touched or primal on CD. Raka has no electrical dmg also. Stormreaver is actually best for that part

18

I dont like BoD, because it “eats” too many points for OA only, in most my builds. I dont like to spend skillpoins on ability, that provides mere 8-9 OA per point, and nothing more useful (regen, acid damage and retaliation - all are crap).
I agree that Thermite Mine is clunky, and i’d rather used Occultist as well, because i wont use Thermite Mine anyway. But others manage to use it effectively.

For elecrocute damage, Stormreaver is an only choice obviously, due to massive duration boosts. That’s why build with Rakajax should focus on lightning damage instead, i think.
Also, whole idea of his build was to go ranged. I find it kinda silly to suggest using melee weapon there.

19

More like it’s the only one which utilizes Primal Strike to the fullest. Otherwise there is no reason to build around Primal Strike and instead go for Warder Cadence converted to mostly lightning.

20

You forget, that Vortex of Souls was severely nerfed in latest patches.