So, theorycraft builds of Chillheart melee builds of Saboteur and Spellbreaker and they’re decent, but could definitely do with some feedback on them to make them betters.
The V2 Sab version I started last night and fixed today, which is pretty good so far in testing in SR75-76: Saboteur, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator Father Abaddoth is the most dangerous boss for it, but did redo the components/augments. Usually stays alive due to the layering of circuit beakers.
Use ABB for lethal assault (duration even getting buffed in 1.2) and would grab yugol for DR. Dreadchill grasp for more vit->cold and use Wraith’s Scream augment for even more flat damage.
Except they’re both autoattacker WPS builds - and adding ABB would detract from overall DPS and sustain from adcth. While the spellbreaker already has enough buttons to press anyhow Likewise the devotion paths can’t reach Yugol and lack acid to cold conversion and are focused on exploiting Chillheart’s fire and lightening to cold conversion.
Ring Augments wise - that one was chosen for a) 3% OA boost, which the sab definitely needs and b) the resists to bleed and vitality which the sab very, very definitely needs. dps for both is currently good enough in SR75-76 that I don’t think Wraith’s Scream will add that much of value.
The Spellbreaker doesn’t have space for ABB and it’s using buffed RoS for it’s mob clears/nukes/procs, while in theory I could drop that on the Sab. And from looking at in grimtools calc, yes it does increase flat damage. But the lack of conversion from acid to cold is a problem and there’s a lack of items available for it.
As for devotions - the Spellbreaker exploits Chillheart’s conversions to mostly convert Arcane Currents to ice, which provides it with more DPS, while it requires the resistances Attak Seru gives. And looked at using Yogul, but that actually decreases weapon damage since Leviathan becomes unreachable. As the flat cold and frostburn it provides gives a lot of damage. While the sab’s devotion path also provides it with needed resistances.
Frankly the sab seems tanky enough thanks to Turtle, so I don’t think the trade off in dps is work taking Yugol. While the Spellbreaker needs to be respecced to get Turtle, which I haven’t gotten around to yet. Might try Yugol for it, but I don’t model it working all that well compared to just getting Turtle.
Seriously, I only died when I screwed up or forgot to run away. And I don’t have Turtle proc skill at the height level either, but otherwise it stays alive through some hairy shit lawl. Which includes me constantly running right into nemei too.
Deaths were over 8 runs:
Running into Zantarin’s shotgun skill
A mob of healers champs + Zantarin that didn’t I run away from lawl
Was slapped to death by a giant statue, because I missed circuit breakers were on cooldown + I had low health.
Ye Olde Ground Effects, the bane of every build except vampire builds
Theodin’s 2nd phase killed me lawl, as the Cruel mutator was there, no facetanking for me that time…
Fumbled Blade Barrier key lawl.
Whereas before Turtle, well, I had to be even more ready with the Blade Barrier key or run far away, but now, running is more to spread the pack out and pick off the more trouble some ones, like healers. It also now laughs at gargoyles champs
[edit - fixed bad worbs, brain was dead when i wrote this…]
Better DA, a lot more armor. Could improve on OA and HP. Went with two T3 damage devotion for big damage, and Alkamos’ rings for DR.
Going Lethal Assault (DW lethal assault is OP) gives me 5K more flat cold damage, also optimized the utility skills, so this version arguable is tankier with better DA, armor and util. It does so much more damage coz devotions, and most importantly lethal assault.
Tried to use ABB in 2 runs of Sr75-76 and it took longer to kill mobs and boss as Chillheart x2 makes RoS a nuke that creates higher DPS of all skills. And when I went back to use RoS it was so much better, as I didn’t have to keep loosing out on DPS from FS strikes to hit ABB for LA.
/yawn
It was so much fun I’m awake at 2am NZ time -_-
But it was good to see my modelling on overall damage amounts was right, because sometimes higher weapon damage isn’t worth the cost to damage from other sources.
And ironically the Sab now feels more glassy that the Spellbreaker lawl.
Word of advice - cold resistance reduction is more important than raw weapon damage, as some enemies, particularly certain nemesi are high of cold resistance. Which is why I used the amulet and the MI pants to max out cold RR via Night’s Chill. Which gives a total of 45%, which combined with Rumour, provides -68% RR cold + 20% and 32 RR of elemental, which is enough to get around high cold resistance and send any other enemy into negative resist territory.
And that in turn means you do far, far more DPS Which is how my Spellbreaker burns through most enemies rather well.
I totally understand that ABB feels awkward to play when you’re not used to it and some people just refuse to use it for that reason, and I get that. But I’ve played enough 2w nightblades to know it’s worth it. That or I guess every 2w nightblade build (that benefits from flat cold/acid damage) on this forum is wrong too then, what can I say. The math behind it isn’t very hard to figure out either.
Would suggest a few more tweaks, but you don’t seem very receptive to feedback despite asking for it. I guess there’s no point continuing this conversation.
You are asking for feedback, I give feedback. My build would do more damage and be tankier 10/10 times. I went for legendary Alkamos’ rings coz of 14% DR, your build has 0%.
32% (Night’s Chill) + 23% (Rumor) + 10% (Ring) = 65%, and Viper and Elemental Storm. You could full glass cannon with Eternal band for 12%. My build has 3% less RR, but 12% DR compared to 0, higher DA, almost 1k more armor, 3k+ flat cold, one more T3 cold devotion. I would love to see in what situation would 3k cold damage be out-damaged by 3% RR.
And if you logic is RoS AoE burst, fine don’t go ABB+Lethal Assault. But you put 17 points instead of 9 in Star Pact for basically nothing?
Same goes to Elemental Awakening. Frostburn is useless, you spend 8 points for 70% cold damage on Star Pact, 8 points for 4% CDR is not worth it, you don’t use the phys and aether to cold conversion. Same goes for IEE and Elemental Balance, you can at least put these points to max out RoS, if you insist on your RoS nuke.
If your lidea is to convert your Attak Seru to cold (Yet probably not even 50% of damage is cold), why not just play Leviation, which is full cold? You don’t even need to change any other devotions, just respec.
DoT’s = stuff still gets damaged when you have to run away, sure it’s not a massive amount damage wise, but I’ve downed bosses in the boss shard with it while kitting quite a few times. Also, Star Pact gives cooldown reduction, which allows RoS to be used more often and the aether to cold conversion also helps with Arcane Current. So while it seems counter-intuitive, it works.
And 3K flat damage isn’t that much frankly, not for the damage differences I’ve seen in SR testing for ABB+LA vs RoS. Never mind the point of the ring set is a) more AoE, b) skill points for the every hungry Dual Blades skill line so WPS can hit hard enough plus a massive 5% boost to OA, as crits help.
And there’s another perk to the amulet too - the skill it provides allows you to easily freeze lock enemies in place + adds more damage on top of the -10% cold RR. Sure, Kaisan’s is the standard for amulets for point hungry builds, but it’s also a pain in the rear to farm. So being able to avoid using it is definitely a boost for anyone want to play self-found.
But hey, proof is in the pudding - here’s my tester+ file: _Tester+
So take it, GDstash the bits you need (haven’t levelled up all the devotions yet though) and rename for testing purposes and see how SR75-76 goes between the two different builds if you’re so sure your version works better. It’ll be interesting to see the results.
Oh I’m receptive to tweaks, it’s just that ABB just doesn’t work for this build weirdly enough. You’d think the flat damage would have resulted in SR being similar, even with the ever present +15% to elemental resists mutator, but even using it right (I have a acid build with it) after some fumbling it just felt slower to kill everything.
Also, trying to exploit everything Chillheart provides and synergises with, with this build is what’s driving the way I’ve built into it. And yes, it’s surprising that it works despite the maths and standard building methodology, but that’s Grim Dawn’s build flexibility for you.
Anyhow, the Spellbreaker’s stash is complete fully, so I can’t do any testing with it until I do the mules thing and clean everything out. Might try the Yugol path then, but I doubt it’ll make a big difference to performance to be worth it.
Just so you know, frostburn, aka. DoT’s is different from cold damage, like physical and internal trauma. They even are displayed in the spec sheet as different stats and their flat damage comes from different sources for flat cold and flat frostburn. Therefore if you are playing RoS, aka NO frostburn damage, why would you invest so much on frostburn%? It’s not cold=frostburn, they are not. Like Phys Forcewave and DoT forcewave, they for sure share many %damage sources, as they often come together, but they in fact use two different %damage modifiers, in your case, many skill points are spent towards frostburn ONLY, so it is not good.
Like I said, IT IS counterintuitive to use aether to cold when you can play flat cold. Also it is very inefficient to play so many points in star pact, like other skills as I mentioned. If you really are trying to play a RoS build, at least try to max it out, but not investing in other inefficient skills.
If you think that tiny CDR value makes a big difference, sure, keep it, but other points are so inefficiently distributed, at least soft-cap nullification for example, the DR is very good.
To conclude is, you are asking for feedback, good that can clear SR 75-76, but it is not about SR clears, but about optimizing the build.
Likewise the devotion paths can’t reach Yugol and lack acid to cold conversion and are focused on exploiting Chillheart’s fire and lightening to cold conversion.
Which is how my Spellbreaker burns through most enemies rather well.