Second class for tanky nightblade

Hello forum fellows.

I need your advice here.

I have just started a nightblade focusing on pierce/cold damage.

I want to be as tankier as possible, because nightblades tend to be quite squishy.

What second class should I choose? soldier (bladmaster) or demo (saboteur).

If going the soldier route I could invest in military conditioning = more life

Right now I am investing 1:1 in physique/cunning

If going demo, I could also add fire damage via firestrike as well as vindictive flame + temper + blast shield.

PS - I don’t remember right now if Menhir’s will (soldier) would work with DW or needs a shield or 2Hander.

PS2 - What are good “lifesaving” devotions?

Menhir’s Will doesn’t work with dual wield.

Blademaster (nightblade + soldier) would get you leaning more naturally toward pierce than cold, but could allow for both pierce / cold. It would also make you considerably tankier than going spellbreaker (nightblade + arcanist) to put more emphasis on cold damage.

Saboteur (demo + nightblade) is a strong combination with some solid builds that come out of it. It doesn’t really synergize well when aiming for a pierce / cold combo, though, in case that’s important.

devotions: chariot, dryad, behemoth, tortoise(at low levels), and Tree of Life are the most obvious but you can get a lot of mileage out of scales of ulcama and wendigo as well if you support vitality damage a bit.

I’d recommend going soldier for the life and physique boosts.

Thank you very much for your replies.

I think I am going the soldier route. For the “oh shit!” lifesaver trigger I am going to invest in Blade Barrier, because as someone said before, Menhir’s will requiere either a shield or two handed weapon.

PS. I would like to load my savegame into grimcalc, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. Can it be done? :eek: OK.

I will answer myself. It seems www.grimcalc.com and www.grimtools.com/calc are two different things.

I have a self found hardcore blademaster in late Elite, prepping for Elite Log and Ultimate. His build is below:

Grimtools for BangCrashBoom (click here)

You can check out his hodgepodge collection of gear, along with skills and devotions.

I won’t pretend that this is an optimal build, especially if you have access to high end gear. Still, hopefully this proves helpful.

PS: Getting crits is key for this build, so fighting spirit, field command, and attack speed are very important.

PSS: Unfortunately, one of BCB’s auras doesn’t show up on Grimtools (Veil of Shadow) and some of the resistance numbers it shows are understated because BCB is actually in Elite difficulty, not Ultimate.

I highly suggest Saboteur here. Pierce and/or cold BMs have just terrible damage output without gear they are honestly potato level which hurts survivability and Sabo is a lot better with gear late game now too. The key 3 defensive abilites of demo just as good as soldier’s hp/da boost and armor scaling. If you are committed to pierce/cold then I would go soldier second tough. Cadence BM is still pretty good. I wouldn’t use any life saving devotions for a BM outside of using Dryad for spam heals, anything else fucks up your devotions too much. Lifesteal is what you need to stay alive

Nightblade isn’t that squishy if you know which factor is important to survive.

Second class like soldier, demo or arcanist are good with good gears and builds.

About final investment I think 70:10:10 may be good for all. (Well, you need to be tanky so more Physique make more sense.)

Answer for PS

  1. need to wear shield
  2. Tortoise, Ghoul, Behemoth, Chariot of the Dead. These may fits nightblade.

Nightblade tend to be dealing high dps. So survival method mostly supported by ADCtH (Attack damage convert to health).
So defensive concept is to reduce fatal damage or jump out of bad situation.

Thanks again.

What is a good source for ADctH? Vampiric weapons I guess? and certain devotions (ghoul?)

Haunted steel, if you must.

But between Pneumatic Burst and its sheer damage output, a Sab is pretty freaking self-sustaining.

Check out jajajajaja’s thread.

Suggest gear

  • Solael-Sect Legguards
  • Black Star of Deceit
  • Lifegiver Signet
    Component : Haunted Steel, Hollowed Fang, Restless Remains
    Devotion : Ghoul (cheapest with 3 points to get 4%), Revenant

You may need 1-2 from these source.

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52683

Again. Thank you very much for your patience and replies.