Not really, reflect isn’t as bad. And it’s a nice add on, i do warn new players about it though since we’re on the topic, always make sure to see your Physical to IT ratio in damage breakdown. Sometimes you have good DPS but do crap damage, this probably because of your build having more IT focus than Physical
Even without it, i can take big chunks of damage against reflective enemies. The internal trauma and bleeding on top of that just seems to make things worse, even if i have 26 physical resist.
Hmm, well it’s been a while since I played the game but I don’t recall it being that bad. Or maybe I didn’t notice it thanks to Blast Shield
Thanks but others have improved and posted better builds than mine using MIs, i just can’t seem to find any unfortunately when i look back :undecided: .I guess i still have mine being MI-free as a plus point.
Edit: Nevermind, found the one i had in mind. Credit to korsar for it.
Edit 2:
Actually, i need to go back and update my Commando. There’s lots of things i could tweak, like why did i take High Potency BWC and Oleron’s Blood again?
Well of course, the entire point is to present a concept. You did that, there will always exist some version that will be better than your own. Even if it’s only slightly better
And MI free is a big plus point imo
As promised, here’s a short update to my original Fire Commando post as i’ve learnt a lot about character building since then :p.
Grimtools: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V004XVm
Few things to note:
- The belt augment can be swapped out for a Venomguard depending on your equipment rolls for Acid and Vitality resistance. If your Acid resistance on your Faceguard is lower, use a Venomguard. If your Vitality on your Shoulderguards is lower, use a Mogdrogen’s Touch.
- I’ve only tested this briefly but i’m having occasional energy problems. I’m fine with drinking with a tonic every now and then but it might be worth swapping out both Marks of Illusion for Ectoplasms. You’ll have to move points out of Cunning or Physique to accommodate for the Spirit they provided though.
- You can substitute another Invoker’s Burning Hand instead of the Shocking Touch. You’ll also have to swap out the Aether Soul on the Medal for a Black Tallow if you do this. The only difference otherwise is a slight loss in Fire %.
- This character was designed for use in Campaign, i’m not a big Crucible player but i believe you want around 2400 DA to be safe in Gladiator. If so, you’ll want to move all points out of Cunning and into Physique to meet this goal. You’ll drop down to around 2600 OA and gain around 1 000 health as a side effect. Not sure what other changes to make.
Stats are with Passives.
With the Justice and Barbaros proc active capping my casting speed, sheet DPS goes up to around 60k.
Not as stellar as some other Forcewave builds out there but for no MIs, it’s reliable and strong enough that i have used it to take out Mad Queen, Sentinel, some of the Nemeses (but not all, haven’t grinded the rep for it) and completed Challenger Crucible. I haven’t tried it but if you’re a new player and worried about getting your hands on a Worldeater, Infernal Brimstone or Shar’Zul’s Incinerator should work reasonably as a replacement until then.
Since this is the original build post or build update, I may as well place this here too. This is more or less what I expect this build to be with the expansion:
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZP4xxgZ Edit: Slightly tweaked devotion as I realised I was one point off of Kraken’s requirements. Slight balancing change to Physique/Cunning as well.
-Same as before - no MIs were used, well, technically Shar’Zul’s Worldeater is an MI Legendary but regardless, you should be able to use the epic version or Infernal Brimstone without having to make too many changes or losing too much % casting speed due to the Justice set proc.
-Some things could probably change like swapping out the relic to Ignaffar’s Combustion (I ended up with a fair few spare points anyway which went into overcapping Flashbang/Searing Light/Blast Shield so the +1 to Demo from Korvaak’s isn’t a major loss). I guess it’s a matter of preference whether you want a bit more offense via more resist reduction or more defense via Flashbang/Searing Light/Blast Shield. Also I remember seeing Korvaak’s granted skill on stream - it looked pretty damn awesome.
Where did you get those pants? 
Of course, i have to thank the community for being fast and reliable traders as well :D.
I actually started a forcewave character for fun ( On Hardcore no less… ) to try something different. I didnt go commando like the guide ( Kinda wished i did but worked out none the less ). I admit upfront I never play hardcore since I work alot and time investment into something you could lose at any time is well…ya…lag and BAM!
Anyhow i made the character in hardcore for fun and liked the overall build and i kinda over time wanted to see how far i could actually go with it. I started the character maybe 2 weeks ago ish? I’ve played grim dawn alot off and on but trying hardcore seriously for the first time…what a experience,lmfao!
I had alot of close calls and had no prior eq to work from so started from scratch as i dont have HC characters i use as previously started.
I saw this guide pop up a few days after i started my character and it kinda inspired me to take it more seriously and gave me a groundwork to start from and i took some of the idea’s listed and used them and patched together what items i could and slowly worked thru the game.
Overall, I gotta say hardcore was a exciting experience and wanted to share my end result with the build ( Tho i went witchblade and invested in honestly just Blood and COF, nothing fancy…most my skill points went into solider ). My attributes were mostly physique ( for HC reasons ) but some in cunning to help the dmg aspect later on.
Equipment wise you can see i had hot garbage mostly but again…was starting completely fresh with nothing to work from so i simply crossed my fingers and prayed! Haha!!
Fighting the final boss was a bitch to say the least…by far i can say it was the most challenging thing ive done on Grim Dawn so far given the eq i was working with and dps i could do; Also a special shoutout to the avatar of mercy saving me once during the LONG fight and saving me from ending my character! lmao
Overall, I’m proud of myself trying something i’ve never done before and accomplishing it and wanted to share on the thread as a way of saying thank you for giving me the rough ideas of how to progress with the character and a plan to work with as it helped alot. To say the least my hand was shaking so much after that fight…but i lived,lol…
The build overall i found from my experience is solid more or less…the aoe is decent for better parts of the game but the single target is meh…it kills but is slow so its more a attrition thing i found ( least for me…lol )
So Thank you and i’ll likely call it a career in HC accomplishing my goal and go back to SC for awhile and try something else, lmao!
I have started the process of updating my guides. The Grimtool link for the updated version has been added
Please notify me if any of the links is broken in any way
For now it’s only the GrimTool Links. I don’t have too much time at the moment but will update the write-up at some point. I have around 20+ other build guides to tend to so I am sure you guys can understand
Update:
Level 100 GT Link for Commando added
i can’t believe you will using that “massive sex toy” for a weapon change. that’s a massive -100% reduction to fashion statement. :rolleyes:
glad we’ll be having illusions!
btw nice gear setup once again. let’s get physical! 
Sorry about it but the GrimTools link was wrong again (happened with a bunch of my other builds, totally my fault)
Let’s not :eek:
EDIT:
Added faction gear version for new players
Was feeling a little too lazy to post anything new so decided I should atleast bother myself by updating this guide with stuff from other build authors
Links for Fire Forcewave Commando by Baka and Thrash have been added
I switched to this build from a dw pistol firestrike commando, when mythical stonefist rebuke dropped and I absolutely love it. Easily mowing through basically everything on ultimate without having to kite, even without the BiS gear… Thanks so much for the build! Lots of fun!
I have 2 questions regarding devotions. I’m a fairly new player, so perhaps I’m missing something obvious 
- What’s the appeal of Quill? Why not take the last point in Chariot of the dead to get the necessary eldritch affinity and Hammer instead?
- I was thinking to get Stag instead of Panther. Or is there a reason I’m missing that panther is obviously superior?
Huh
I just realized this build isn’t using the setup I am using. Don’t know how I missed it
Well, the changes only pertain to BiS setup so it’s not a big deal to new players
Anyways,
- Quill has DA, Resists and other stats which makes it much better than Hammer
- Stag adds nothing here. It’s primarily a Bleed constellation (don’t quote me on that). Panther on the other hand has crit damage, total damage and OA
Thanks for the feedback! I’m still experimenting a bit to find out which stats are most important for this build, so that helps. I guess I’m a little too focused on getting the +x% physical damage stuff instead of the other stats… 
Would be interesting to see which devotion setup you’re using now though, since the faction gear build has the same setup as the BiS build and all the other links are pre-expansion setup with only 50 devotion points instead of 55.
https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/8952
any particular reason not taking this medal?
It has cast speed apart from other useful stats such as:
+3 to Internal Trauma
+2 to Rending Force
+15% Crit Damage to Forcewave
+150% Internal Trauma Damage to Forcewave
why black star? you might be saying resistances and life leech. but is reduce target resistances really that good?
thanks
Quoting myself
I plan to update it last along with Pierce S&B Blademaster which also needs an update
Right now I need to post 5-6 more builds. Sorry for the delay so until then any itemization question would most likely be answered by that post above
cool! all the best then!
looking forward!
edit:
I see using that bear king medal boosts my dps over 10k so it must defeat black star’s RR powers!
I hope you dont mind me posting here Chthon! :rolleyes:
some small update to your physical commando forcewave!
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPmqklN
*ultimate sc with devotion procs on! (base damage with normal buffs 124k)
I wanted to test octavius but I realized I am building an elemental fw tac in the future so I scrapped the idea.
its pains to me see forcewave not in ultimate rank mode though… 
really enjoying this so far! one of my fave builds for sure. now gotta update my sj build next time!