Need tips for my Shieldbreaker Mortar build

Hi,

I’ve looked through a few builds that I liked, and I’ve taken what I liked from several ppl and looked at gear that enhances the “Mortar Trap”… But is there something I’ve overlooked that can make my experience better in any way?

I’m currently only lvl 84, but I’m aiming for the gear that I’ve put into the calc so far
Also loving the skill granted by item “Conflagration”, I used Firestrike until lvl 35.

So far I’ve considered the " Mythical Anderos’ Amplifier, Conduit of Destructive Whispers, Mythical Ulzuin’s Torment, Grava’Thul’s Legguards
And I’ve thought about making room for “Presence of Virtue” path, currently using it and I think I’ll implement it

Regards
Beleg

As a Mortar Trap build you’re gonna run into one key issue: health sustain. There’s no way to get %WD or lifesteal on Mortar Traps, so unless you slap a converted Bat onto them, you have two choices.

a) You opt for a secondary skill that does allow you to leech. I’m not a fan of this option because you want to get as much out of your Mortar Traps as possible to really feel like a Mortar Trap build. And in that case, you won’t have much room left to juice a secondary skill to reasonable levels and get all the necessary lifesteal to sustain yourself.

b) You go all out on regen. I can testify that this option is pretty damn bonkers. You can be nigh-on immortal and just stand in almost everything up to SR80. A number of items in the Mortar Trap direction (namely Pyran) already lean that way so you’re not starting entirely from scratch. The downside is, it’s expensive in terms of how much space it takes up in a build. It’ll eat up a good bit of your inventory and a big part of your devotions, i.e. it’ll cost you a chunk of % fire damage (I went as low as 1900 %) and some skill levels. You can tune it back and forth though, if you feel your damage is lacking and you’re over on regen you can pull back on one and pump the other.

Here’s my build for reference, not a Shieldbreaker though: Elementalist, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator I opted out of 4-pc Pyran cause having the ability to pump out all my Mortars near instantly thanks to the off-hand + gun combo is awesome and frankly, the bonuses Pyran gives to Mortar Trap (primarily the full lightning conversion) fall behind the ability to gain +2 mortars, in my opinion. But you can go either way with that.

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Where did you get your Flat RR in this case?

I didn’t. Between getting enough regen to sustain, getting -% rr and at least some damage proc (Volcano) on the tree, I couldn’t find a way to squeeze in Scales or Elemental Storm. And really, I wasn’t even looking to check that box either. All that mattered was whether I could make that build work at SR75-80 and it has more than done that. I’m sure it could be optimised further. Drop a ring for Combustion band, drop some devo (perhaps Magi) for flat RR etc. But why when the build already works great.

Edit: Actually it might be easier to take BWC for the final two nodes and sac some points on Mogdrogen’s Pact, Flashbang and Ulzuin’s Wrath.

Here’s an updated version with flat RR just for the hell of it: Elementalist, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator Also reshuffled some devos to fix OA cause the loss of points in Flashbang started to tank my OA a bit too low for comfort. Hard to say how much of an improvement it is as it still just kinda walks through SR80 without any sweat.

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This is my budget variant since the faction weapon i use gives me additional fire RR to thermite mines so i ditch solael witchfire. Managed to kill Lokkar and pushed SR50 with kiting of course. Offhand was tried affixless with GD stash so you if you farm for it you can better stats. Amulet can be changed but that 8% OA was too good to turn down. Pants and belt must be farmed/crafted for OA though. Overall very easy to gear. Thank you for the inspiration!

and yes OA seems pretty low for this health-regen set up but it’s super safe build to play tbh

You can easily squeeze some points from other less important skills and put into BWC, 14/12 Agonizing flames has -27 flat RR.

Not great, and the Spirit requirement is nasty but https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/8656 will give you an additional Mortar.

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