Rifle Sorcerer advice

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hello all

Just looking for a few tips on my rifle Sorcerer.

I started with Demolitionist, main attack is fire strike, picked Arcanist to back it up.

I have two questions really:

  1. Stats.

I’ve been reading around and the consensus seems to be: pump physique, add enough cunning to use rifle, and leave spirit alone (Inner focus will suffice to boost spirit for +fire damage). Is this about right?

  1. How far to level Demolitionist/reduce resists skills

This is a two-part question really. Firstly, how mandatory is brimstone? I really want to utilize some of the cool Demo skills, but maxing out a whole class takes a lot of points. Brimstone is the only skill worth getting at 50, whereas Arcanist needs 50 for Reckless Power. And explosive strike already adds splash damage.

Therefore, I’m thinking of taking Demolitionist to 40 for Agonizing Flames (Blackwater Cocktail) for the resist reduction. I assume this works on bosses?

I noticed Olexra’s Flash Freeze has -fire resist, and is a neat CC skill, however it seems to have no effect on bosses. Is thermite mine also an option for reduce resist, or like flash freeze, does it not effect boss?

Thank you

2
  1. Mostly, yes. You can also reduce Cunning reqs for guns, avoiding need for Cunning investment completely. But it could be annoying during leveling.
  2. Brimstone gives freaking flat fire dmg (x1.5 of FireStrike itself) and improves Devotion proc linked to Firestrike. It’s up to you.
    You can surely go Agonizing Flames though with a last patch it becomes not so easy to maintain it in case if you have to kite.

I personally prefer to use Manticore for flat RR (using it on a Firestrike) but it’s mostly the question of utility vs trading Skill Points to Devotion Points and vice versa.
Thermite mines affect bosses though have the same problem when you have to kite. It’s especially wonderful vs Loghorrean (you can even respec to fully max it during doing him on Elite or Ultimate). Thermite Mines works especially good with a procs that goes from urself (like a Fiend’s Flame Torrent or Scorpion’s Scorpion Sting).

3

If you want rifle then brimstone is 100% mandatory no matter if you make aether rifle build with vortex or fire rifle.

You can trick cunning with hawk constellation and even Ulzuin chest

Olexara won’t work on bosses and with rifle you won’t get much out of it, you will be too spread out on skill points.

If you want Aether rifle build i highly recommend this one http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48612

High damage and really easy to play.

If you want flat fire damage rifle you will hate your life:) I have a fire rifle commando and only after getting a good fleshwrapped incinerator have i been able to make it work well. Hellborne is fur burn builds as flat damage with it is pathetic

agonizing flames works on bosses but don’t waste your points, get elemental storm devotion instead for flat debuff

4

Brimstone isn’t NEEDED, but it is really nice. As for leveling…It depends on what you are going for. Pure fire? Then you only technically NEED the first two parts of the skill. Fire/lightning? Get to the third part at least. Fire/Chaos, you need Brimstone. Fire/Cold, with certain items…Only NEED the first two. Fire/aether, same.

If you aren’t scaling lightning, don’t get the Static Strike part, it’s a waste. If you want, it’s always a good idea IMO to get to Brimstone for the AOE.

5

Whatever fire damage pure or hybrid rifle you are going to need brimstone if you want to kill stuff in reasonable time. An extra 3K flat fire damage is not something you have the luxury to compromise in any fire rifle build hybrid or not

6

Thanks for the advice guys.

I’ll aim for brimstone then. I’m not sure whether I should rush for it, though, or wait and see how the build holds up w/o it.

I’ve also put a few points into cunning in anticipation of needing some but I’ll keep them to minimum (between 5 and 10). I had already spotted Hawk constellation for -10 cunning req for guns so that’s a definite.

I haven’t decided on damage type yet, probably fire/chaos or fire/aether. The levelling system in the game is so open-ended that I try to avoid completely planning a build beforehand, but stats and class bar levelling tend to be the two that need a bit of foresight :slight_smile:

I’ll play around with some of the other skills but I overlooked the -res from devotions! When I started my Warder I carefully examined every constellation to think ahead what would be most beneficial, but I’ve been having so much fun blasting stuff with a rifle I hadn’t taken the time to do it yet on my Sorcerer :slight_smile:

7

Sorry to dig up thread - can anyone give any advice for boosting the sorcerer’s defense?

I’m already wondering whether I should respec my devotions from offensive to defensive.

Basically, lvl 42, 7k dmg, just over 3k health, just passed Darkvale. This character is great at clearing mobs at speed, but struggles a bit with hard-hitting bosses.

My devotions are: Sailor’s, Hawk, Scholar’s Light, Kraken (big dmg boost), Jackal, and I’ve started on Solael’s Witchblade (I noticed this also has a good -resistance end skill).

For sure, I do enough damage to kill bosses in reasonable time, but I often nearly die and have to back off and pot. My first character was Warder and so I got used to facetanking with Wendigo! (This character clears mobs slower but can stand up to bosses quite easily)

The lack of easy heal is very noticeable. So far my philosophy has been “offense is the best form of defense” Should I just suck it up and keep with potions and then invest in defensive skills/devotions later, or respec now?? E.g. I’m looking at the Bat for lifesteal, Dryad/Scales for heal.

Thanks.

8

Add 3 Behemoth (for heal proc, anyway you satisfy reqs for it) and if this is not enough add Chariot of the Dead constellations.
And what’s with a Demolitionist’s Blast Shield? Do you have it? It should help as well, especially with added some heal from devotions.

9

OK - well should I just move forward and aim for Behemoth/Chariot or should I also add the Dryad/Scales/Bat?

10

Sorcerer has some great defensive skills:

  • Flashbang w/ Searing Light
  • Blackwater Cocktail w/ High Potency
  • Blastshield
  • Mirror of Ereoctes
  • Nullification
  • Maiven’s Sphere of Protection (if you are really struggling)

You can also use Oleron’s Blood component to reduce incoming damage.

Are you using any/all of the above?

11

Fixed it :slight_smile:

12

Hahaha :wink:

/10

13

Why the hate for Maiven’s Sphere? Flat damage absorption seems well worth the minor damage output drop in many cases. Obviously something to be picked deliberately or left out deliberately, but so many people seem to think it’s a garbage skill that should never be used.

14

Yeah I have Flashbang, Blastshield, Mirror, Maiven’s. But they’re not levelled very high as I’ve just finished maxing Demo and picking up Brimstone.

I have Maiven’s at 3 which already gives 10% absorb.

Yeah - why the hate for Maiven’s above? One of the reasons I picked Arcanist to complement Demo was for this skill. Dmg asborb was always a top stat in TQ. Surely nullifying 20% of all incoming damage is well worth the negligible -damage%, which can be easily offset by a single devotion point in various constellations?

15

I respec’d and put into Bat, seems to have solved the immediate problem, probably due to the life leech and chance for ADctH.

I’ll probably spec out of it later if/when I have some of these stats on items instead.

I imagine it doesn’t scale well in later game and that’s when the %heal devotions come into play? I tried Dryad and it made absolutely no difference

16

Dryad on itself is pretty meh as the only source of heal. Also it spread your devotion to the wrong direction if you are heading to the Ulzuin’s Torch. Chariot’s heal combined with a Behemoth’s usually enough for most builds and it goes same direction with a 4 Purple as Empty Throne to help with res and get entry to Chariot (which helps a lot with OA as well).
If you doesn’t scale Vitality/Piercing dmg at some moment Bat’s fangs will not suffice your healing.

17

I’ll update you folks, 'cause I know how invested you all are in hearing about my progress.

Most of the last act has been fine, I did start running into problems with bosses around the Homestead Act and beyond, especially since I upped to Veteran. Re-specing into Bat for Life Leech and AdctH helped.

Once I came towards the end of Act 4 and the Necropolis in particular I felt like re-specing. By this time I had completed Magi for big fire damage boosts and had Fissure assigned to Flashbang. I wasn’t satisfied with this however.

The big weakness of the build is fast moving, heavy-hitter meele monsters. In particular the Dreadguards/Dreadlords in the final Act, plus that fat poison boss and the guy before the final Loghorrean boss (most other mobs are laughable trash and perish by my flame)

It got so bad I was worried for the build, as I switched over to my savagery Warder (lvl 60) to test and found I could slice through them like butter (Wendigo, 9k hp and stacked physical dmg makes face-tanking a joke)

As such I decided to experiment with a variety of Devotions (to attach to Fire Strike). I switched to Rowan’s Crown for Elemental Storm (spammable, -resistance, AoE damage) which is AWESOME and crazy fun, but my DPS took a noticeable hit without Magi. I tried Solael’s Witchblade to see if Eldritch fire would be an improvement, but it felt much weaker.

In the end I decided to go back to Magi, and invested 3 points in first part of Behemoth. I didn’t initially realize that Giant’s Blood could be obtained without maxing the whole thing. This skill and the +hp has really helped (and its duration increases per level, another thing I didn’t know).

So overall I re-speced out of Bat and now have settled with: Sailor’s, Hawk, Scholar’s, Kraken, Magi, and the first 3 points of Behemoth. This enables me to assign Fissure to Fire Strike for huge procs and stun lock!

I also put a Restless Remains on my gauntlets for 3% AdctH which is small but adds a bit of heal for every shot (there doesn’t seem to be a lot of AdctH items in this game so far)

Lvl 55, 5k health, 11k damage (with buffs)
It looks something like this

https://grimcalc.com/build/1008-sCA36X

Tactics
I feel that this set of skills/devotions is the strongest configuration I could find for the last part of the Act. My tactic for beating the swarms of Dreadlords is to create a “Killzone” of Flashbangs, Thermite mines and spammed Fissures which causes confusion, slow, reduce resist and also (very important) STUN LOCK (from massed fissure)!

If they get too close, Olexra flash freeze, Devilbreath and Mirror. I also hit Rapid Strike periodically in the face of large packs. The combination of Giant’s Blood, AdctH and Mirror allow me to survive pretty well in between potions when facing bosses. And obviously some kiting is necessary.

KILLING THE LOGHORREAN
Though I felt stronger, I was still worried about facing the final boss, especially since he spawns his own horrid Dreadlords. However I went straight into it and somehow killed him in one go FASTER THAN MY WARDER!

I simply employed the tactics above, obviously backing off for Dreadlords, before renewing my assault on his ugly mug. Since he doesn’t move, you can simply plant Thermite mines under him for -resist and just plug away. For some reason he goes down much quicker to my Sorcerer’s fire than to my Warder’s physical. But hey, I’m not complaining.

It’s been a blast so far. Devotion wise, I’m planning on going Empty Throne and then Rowan’s to get Elemental Storm again, which will be my -resist skill, before moving back over to grab Chariot and Ulzuin’s flame. I will likely miss Solael’s.

What do you guys think?