I have a little difficulty with my build on Ultimate-Malmouth.
I have about 700 hours on Grim Dawn but I spent them on DAIL and Cataclysm Mods trying all sorts of builds (about 40 characters above 70). I have a good knowledge of the game but not so much on how to enhance your toon after reaching 100.
Since the expansion, I wanted to go classic GD and made a Mage Hunter (Inqui / Arcanist). Leveling with Word of Pain and Rune of Hagarrad from 1 to 40-ish, I switched to an Elemental Gunslinger build and loved it.
Visually and damagewise, it’s very pleasing but I simply cannot clear a single pack in Malmouth without using tons of potions and waiting for CCDs after. Even white mobs hit like a truck. And Caraxxus simply one-shot me.
Gameplay
Inquisitor’s seal on the ground, Word of Pain and shoot everything, with one devotion ability on each WPS.
Word of Renewal, Mirror of Ereoctes, Nullification and Horn of Gandarr for defense and utility.
Conclusion
I need your help on how to proceed from here.
Skill points distribution ?
Devotions ? I’m sure I’m doing something wrong here balancing damage, defense and RR.
What/where should I do/farm to get the right equipment ?
Or is this build simply not viable endgame … ?
Thanks in davance for your help.
Between your first and second devotion setup, I’m not trying to be rude but you’re not good at balancing your offense and defense very well
You need more defense for your second/current setup - Word of Renewal on it’s own isn’t going to carry you and neither is that bit of ADCtH you have. It’s not perfect but something like this is what I would probably do. Besides CHariot, Behemoth and Ghoul, other good defensive constellations you might consider is Crab.
-Replace the Mutated Scales on your shoulders and legs with some Scaled Hides or a Scaled Hide + Ancient Armour Plating for some more Armour Absorption. Physical damage is the most common damage type you’ll see and one of the most deadly as it’s resistance is rare. You might even want to consider swapping from Star Pact to Aura of Conviction for some.
-Something else I can suggest based on your build is to swap one of your Blessed Steels out for a Shard of Beronath as your build doesn’t seem to have a default weapon attack replacer. I would not consider an attacking build without one, even if I stacked WPSes up to 100%.
-Pull points out of Overload entirely and put them into either Arcane Empowerment for more damage / crit damage or Conversion for stun resistance to help against chargers like those Aetherial golems in Malmouth.
That was intentional. I wanted to try “I kill them before they’re on me”.
You need more defense for your second/current setup - Word of Renewal on it’s own isn’t going to carry you and neither is that bit of ADCtH you have. It’s not perfect but something like this is what I would probably do. Besides CHariot, Behemoth and Ghoul, other good defensive constellations you might consider is Crab.
Chariot, Behemoth and Ghoul were in the first set-up. I don’t understand the choice of Wolverine though in your exemple. Owl or Empty Throne ?
-Replace the Mutated Scales on your shoulders and legs with some Scaled Hides or a Scaled Hide + Ancient Armour Plating for some more Armour Absorption. Physical damage is the most common damage type you’ll see and one of the most deadly as it’s resistance is rare. You might even want to consider swapping from Star Pact to Aura of Conviction for some.
So, Armor and phys. res. is better than %health if I understand correctly ?
I considered swapping the Exclusive auras but I would lose 18 points doing so (32 to 50 in Arcanist).
-Something else I can suggest based on your build is to swap one of your Blessed Steels out for a Shard of Beronath as your build doesn’t seem to have a default weapon attack replacer. I would not consider an attacking build without one, even if I stacked WPSes up to 100%.
I indeed use Sacred Strike by default. I’ve never found the Beronath Blueprint unfortunately.
-Pull points out of Overload entirely and put them into either Arcane Empowerment for more damage / crit damage or Conversion for stun resistance to help against chargers like those Aetherial golems in Malmouth.
You could maybe try something like it but you’d need a ton of damage and a ton of life leech to keep you going. Fluff’s Belgothian’s Slaughter is an example. You might also want to look at JoV’s Crucible Tactician as well as it powerful but also rather defensive.
Chariot, Behemoth and Ghoul were in the first set-up. I don’t understand the choice of Wolverine though in your exemple. Owl or Empty Throne ?
Wolverine is for DA. The retaliation damage on is it is useless but it’s one of the few good sources of DA on the devotion map alongside others like Eel, Solemn Watcher or the lower 3 nodes of the Obelisk of Menhir.
You can go Owl or Empty Throne for a bit more damage or resistances instead and try to pick up some DA from elsewhere.
So, Armor and phys. res. is better than %health if I understand correctly ?
I considered swapping the Exclusive auras but I would lose 18 points doing so (32 to 50 in Arcanist).
I wouldn’t necessarily “better” but it’s definitely a priority. On low HP builds, I aim for at least 10 000 health at max level and then start looking at other options for defense like armour absorption.
I indeed use Sacred Strike by default. I’ve never found the Beronath Blueprint unfortunately.
Ah, that explains it. If you’re not hung up on trading, you could have someone make you one if you bring them the materials and bits for it. It’s not too bad to make, it can be a problem while levelling though if you attach one to a weapon you want to keep like a Legendary as you have to make more.
I’ve made the few changes you proposed (components, skill points). It’s indeed better.
I’ve tried a full defence devotion set-up, to really get the difference against Caraxxus: Charriot, Ghoul, Crab, Behemoth, Harp. I killed it but it took 8 minutes! I really need some more adequate legendaries. This build seems to be highly gear dependent. It will need some work to find a good balance between attack and defence.
I have 2 other characters at 60+. I will wait till I’m 100 and at Malmouth to theorycraft …
On a side note, how do you trade in GD ? Is there an unofficial website like PoE ?
I will try another one tonight : http://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZoWe19Z Devotion
Bard’s harp + Aeon’s Hourglass + Ghoul + Solemn Watcher and +5 point for Tortoise, Amatok or Revenant. Skills
Star Pact > Aura of Conviction (for %CDR)
Get rid of Inquisitor’s seal for 12/12 Mirror of Ereoctes.
I noticed that almost all similar builds run the Iskranda set. That 16% phys res bonus is a must apparently.
Which was inconclusive. I finally settled on almost the build you proposed @Evil_Baka (-Charriot / + Attak Seru). And you were indeed right, Wolverine makes a difference.
Check the trade forums stickied on the Gameplay Discussion of the board, people on the board list what they want there and what they have. After that, it’s just simply PMing the person or adding them to your friends over Steam, hosting/joining a private server and trading.
After further investigations, I tried this build Mom’s Panetti because we had almost a similar devotion set-up. And it’s quite effective in term of survavibility compared to my Gunslinger. The %health REALLY makes the difference.
