Just wondering how feasible this will be in the longer run? Not worried about being the very best, but hopefully having a good time without running into a stone wall.
I didn’t really review much of the stat/devotion yet (still wrapping my head about some of it), I was just worried about some cunning points for a 2h weap. Got a couple constellations, just so far some pre-reqs to Kraken and then Kraken to aim for.
I see you’re trying a two-handed Firestrike build. There are a couple out on the forums, so try the Build Compendium IV for their builds (if you are interested):
Arcanist is possibly not the best support mastery to go with Demo in this case. Maybe Soldier (for tankiness) or Occultist (has a nice buff to attack speed, a good heal, etc). However, I think you could make Arcanist work.
Now, for your end-game build, there are a few things I’d change:
DEMOLITIONIST
Don’t bother maxing Static Strike. It’s been nerfed a bit recently, and now you should focus purely on fire damage.
Don’t bother maxing Canister Bomb. Instead, if anything, I’d use one point with modifier for stunning the room, but the damage won’t compare to your weapon’s. NOTE: Canister Bomb is amazing for leveling, feel free to use it loads and max it early and then respec it later.
Ulzuin’s Chosen is a waste of time now that you won’t be using a very strong Canister bomb as it only affects Canister Bomb, Grenado and Stun Jacks.
I’d personally take 11 points out of Temper - if you want to focus on fire damage, these points in physical aren’t as necessary.
12 points into Flashbang and 1 into the modifier (more if you have spare points). Flashbang is AMAZING.
14/16 points in Vindictive Flame and 1 into the modifier (optional tbh). Vindictive flame gives 14%/15% TOTAL SPEED! It’s amazing, trust me. Not only will you attack faster, but you will run faster too!
ARCANIST
Level the mastery to 25. Bonus stats are nice, and Elemental Balance (on the IEE line) is delicious - 12 points there for 25% crit damage.
Take out most of your points in Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange (IEE). Not worth it if you ask me.
12 points in Inner Focus. % Offensive Ability? Yes please!
If you have spare points, Olexandra’s Flash Freeze is a very nice ability, after all at max rank it will freeze essentially the entire screen, but it’s optional.
Here is the improved build with my changes put in place:
Wow, thank you for the tips! There is honestly so much to sort through here.
I put a few points into static because I started having trouble dealing damage to the fire resistant types towards Burrwitch. Am I going to need to be worrying about more fire resist later on?
I suppose that would lead me to the freeze then? I didn’t realise the radius expanded THAT much. That’s certainly something to consider then instead of Cannister for AOE. I could run in, drop the freeze and let loose a few shots before it wore off? The Calc you linked me to still has Static in place, but I could swap around eh?
I was wary of flashbang being an early skill so I thought I’d go straight to cannister. That’s good to know.
Inner focus, I totally missed the offensive percentage. That’s better than the total % damage output on arcane will?
Same with Vindictive, holy cripe that is quite a bit of speed boost that I missed. The kiting is fun, but the slow shots aren’t as fun.
The Crit damage with Elemental Balance looks great to go hand-in-hand with Kraken.
Honestly, I love ARPGs but I tend to go a bit number blind when there’s too many of them and shoot myself in the foot heh. I had a basic idea through reading the forum, but this has helped me quite a bit with some ideas.
IMHO if your build will depend heavily on attack speed, do not pick Arcanist.
But since you’ve already picked it, you can transition to something that depends on cast speed or cooldown instead. The cast speed route would max Reckless Power. The cooldown route would max Star Pact. The latter would probably involve some exotic TSS/Stun Jacks/Grenado build which probably hasn’t been published before. The former would likely result in a CT build which is quite popular, effective, and well-studied.
Whatever you do, do not go past 40/50 Demo with a Sorceror unless you are planning on something exotic with Blood Orb of Ch’thon.
Demo has attack speed so it’s fine to go Arcanist. I would’ve probably went Occultist though.
Do NOT encourage newbies to try exotic builds, especially caster ones. He doesn’t have gear to make them run smoothly, Fire Strike build will do better even if a few mistakes are maid.
Also, you’re welcome! My first build was a pure demo to level 33 in build 23 - completely crap now that I look back. You tend you learn loads and loads with every run, and once you understand all the mechanics, it gets easier.
As for the fire resistant enemies in Burrwitch, they are an absolute pain. Something in Grim Dawn that all builds must try and factor in is resist reduction, and when you get enough, they won’t be so much of a problem. Static strike isn’t too bad a way around them, but you will also be dealing some physical and that should help enough early on.
Yeah, Flash Freeze will be a great help to your fire based attacks as it will lower their fire resistance. The only issue with it, is that heroes won’t be frozen for long and bosses won’t freeze at all and you only get the reduced resistance while they are frozen. It will help you clear out the trash mobs on the way or the adds during a boss fight, but will be pretty worthless directly vs bosses.
If you do increase your points to get elemental balance (crit damage is nice!!, minor burn damage too) then use only one point to grab nullification as it will remove buffs from mobs, including reflect!! It can also remove dots like bleed or poison from yourself as well. Really no need to use more than one point in it though…
Thank you all, much more info than I had expected going in. This is fantastic!
I wasn’t sure on Arcanist, but I actually made a conscious effort to pick an odd couple on my first run! I mean if it fails, it fails, but I tend to fall into the habit of just making a tank and running with it (barb, conqueror, or warder/commando, types), so eh why not! I’m already learning a tonne
Odd in the meaning “unusual” or in the meaning “supplementary”?
Because Fire Strike Sorcs are far from unusual, just replace rifle with dual pistols and it would become one of the most cliche builds.
I meant ‘odd’ in the context of my usual habits of building straight tanks in other ARPGs, like D2/3 Barbarians, or TQ Conquerors. In addition, they looked like they could be complementary but still different classes, hopefully adding a different flavour.
My experience in GD is currently at 8 hours and a bunch of forum posts, so I’m not sure what the main typical builds are yet!
I did see a lot about dual pistols, but I figured I liked the idea of my steadyshot 2Hander with crit damage. Also something about both pistols not proc’ing 100% of the time.
As I was leveling up my Sorcerer, the plan was to go dual pistol, but I started using the Hellborne rifle at level 65, and decided to stick with it since it worked very well. The only piece of Ulzuin’s set I have found is the rifle so I am still waiting on that, but the pieces are starting to come together slowly as I found my first pair of Golemborn Greaves last night and a Lifegiver Signet a week or so ago.
My skill selection and devotion layout may not be perfect at this point, but I am really hoping to find a few more pieces of Ulzuin’s set before I really get down to absolutely finalizing my distribution and getting my resistances at a decent level. Right now I am mowing everything down on my way to the Loghorrean.
My first character was a Warlock(Arcanist/Occultist) and this character is way stronger with alot worse gear. Of course, I have learned a great deal of info since that first character, but the difference in power is insane, as well as survivabillity. I need to go ahead and make an endgame relic, but I have been holding off to make sure Ulzuin’s Pyroclasm is the best choice.
I really like canister since it stuns the regular monsters for a bit while I concentrate on the heroe monsters. I don’t max it by any means, but even just a couple points helps IMO. Having something with knockdown also helps since it will affect heroes. Well, most of them anyway.
for leveling, max canister bomb helps a lot. Later though, once you can finish out the firestrike line, CB will drop off and can be despecced or at least reduced to 1 point plus transmutter.
