[Sorcerer] - AOE madness.

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Since AAR is trash, I spend a little while trying to work out a different gear/skill combo to try and fit Callidor’s Tempest in. Its still somewhat a WIP.

Grimcalc:

https://grimcalc.com/build/cHXjhUB

Gear I’m using:

  • Head: Outcast’s Secret. BiS IMO. Anasteria Devastation is a really good proc.
  • Weapon: Warpfire. This is BiS. Cold to fire conversion makes 22/12 OFF a really good offensive tool, and not just a CC.
  • Offhand: Aldanar’s Vanity. BiS.
  • Armor: Clairvoyant’s Robe.
  • Shoulders: Clairvoyant’s Mantle
  • Gloves: Aetherreach. Might be a better alternative for this slot, but its proc is still good.
  • Boots: Boots with HP/run speed/armor/resists. Or Golemborn Greaves.
  • Legs: HP/Spirit/Damage/Poison resist. Some combo of those stats.
  • Rings: Band of the Eternal Haunt x2. BiS for this setup.
  • Medal: Badge of Mastery with +2/3 to OFF and/or CT. Might be a better option here. Most certainly is if you can’t at least get one with +2 to one of those skills on it.
  • Belt: Hammerfall Girdle: There could be a better option here, but it just happens to fit in with the rest of the gear I’m using.
  • Amulet: Nights Embrace. This is pretty core to this setup. Icechill debuffs freeze resist by 50%, and since we’re already using 22/12 OFF, I figured why not? 22/12 OFF has -166% fire resist, and this this allows you to freeze targets you couldn’t otherwise freeze and deliver a massive burst of damage while they’re frozen. Note even with this debuff, some things still can’t be frozen, but this opens up extra offense and CC potential against enough mobs to justify using an amulet slot.

Devotions:

Aetherfire => Flashbang
Aetherbomb => Callidor’s Tempest
Giant’s Blood => Any toggle.
Meteor Shower => OFF

Strategy:

For trash mobs just use flashbang & OFF. Anasteria devastation & meteor shower will often clear out a pack after a single cast of OFF. If you see mobs like Aether hulks mixed in, throw some thermite mines, pop icechill, then OFF freeze them, and watch them melt to CT and devastation.

For multiple hero packs:

Same as the above, just use mirror and devastation.

For bosses:

Depends on the boss, really. Some of them you can actually face tank with this build providing you keep flashbang debuff up, and freeze them whenever you can. And others you might have to kite. Oh and always use thermite mines on bosses. 1 of 2 things happens when you use thermite mines. They either stand on them, don’t move and roast. Or the mines screw with their tracking, and you’ll see them dance all over the place rather than get in your face and attack you. Bysmiel Guardian is one of the ones in particular you can do this too. Abuse choke points with mines, and kite bosses into them.

For nemesis mobs:

Valdaran, Benn Jahr, and Moose can be taken out. I don’t recommend Fabius with this build. And I most definitely don’t recommend trying The Iron Maiden.

Mad Queen: with proper placement of thermite mines, you can get her trapped temporarily around one of the pillars. Not long enough to kill her in one burst, but enough to take 1/3 of her HP bar away or so. Run back to the entrance, and try to do the same thing. I don’t recommend using mirror to try and tank her, because she can still leech HP from you when mirror is up.

Loghorren: He’s actually quite easy. All your offensive tools are AOEs, which makes all the mobs he summons get frozen and killed pretty quickly, even the 2 heroes. Just be sure you toss thermite mines at him.

Cronley’s Hideout runs: You can actually clean the place out really fast with this build with your only problem being Fabius. I recommend leaving him alone. I can’t beat Fabius without dying a few times and if you can with this same build, then go for it.

Other notes: This build IS squishy. Your survival depends on you applying flashbang to every single target, or hitting them with OFF. If a couple trash mobs manage to slip in and attack you when they’re not debuffed or frozen, it can hurt really, really bad. But with proper movement, application of debuffs, and using mirror when you need it, your can survive OK.

Not HC viable. If you play this in HC, you will die. As certain as a baby seal dies to an Eskimo clubbing its skull in.

Will this build work without all the same gear I’m using? YES. It can. The general idea, and playing style of it should work. You can always prioritize which skills you want to use the most, and not put points in the others. I don’t recommend maxing out Demolitionist mastery until you’ve got similar gear as me, and you can leave demolitionist at 32/50 if you want. That way you got more points to place in some of the other skills.

AAR is junk, please buff AAR. CT craps all over AAR even on a build like this.

I’ll edit this later, and post some videos. I got low data caps and have to wait until certain times to do stuff like upload videos, or download anything.

2

There is already a gigantic thread on this exact build which I mentioned to you in a previous thread :stuck_out_tongue: How to play CT by Most. I assume/hope you have agrivix of malice relic :smiley:

You can be plenty tanky with this build while still doing damage you merely chose not to. All those points in spirit are not helping your damage that much, you didn’t max blast shield, and some of your devotion page is kind of a waste imo. Ulzuin’s Torch seems like a huge waste outside of the OA/crit damage as we don’t need the proc for trash and it doesnt help much vs bosses, fire res, and the fire/burn % isn’t that great. You could grab chariot instead, spec out of the crap like rat, and then get a lot more health

Put ~all points into physique, get tree of life, add a few points in obelisk on top of watcher, max blast shield. Now you will have a lot of health, potentially huge regen with behemoth and tree procing at same time, god mode blast shield levels, and much higher DA. You will do plenty of damage

Gearing considerations

  1. Black Star of Deceit: -20 reduce is strong plus the other stats are nice
  2. Can consider wraithwalk boots for phys resist, cute proc, and +2 ct/off
  3. Albretch’s Duality ring. Debuffs on rings don’t stack and chaos->aether conversion, the fat OA, casting speed, cute cdr proc are all nice.
  4. Phantom thread girdle hands down for belt. Huge energy absorb on spells, relevant % bonuses, ~8% to dodge melee (10% with eel if you go tree of life, this is quite strong), 100+ OA, and +1 all arcanist
  5. Iskandra set if you wanna be tank god
  6. Peerless Eye. Being able to freeze sharzul or whoever is nice, but with the cooldown on off and the proc you are only gonna get one freeze vs a boss that isn’t moosilake. Don’t think that outweights all the eye offers even if it is temporarily a huge dps boost
  7. Mark of Anathema is also a solid medal choice!

I would definitely swap some points around and get flame touched+blast shield higher

3rd edit lol : 2 points in bwc = op

3

Putting all points into Phys is probably a good idea. And I’m not committed to my devotion tree. Which is why I said WIP. I’ll test out what you recommended. I’m also not committed to 50 points in mastery in Demolitionist. If I decide to raise Blast shield, I’d have to cut points from mastery to do it.

I’ll take some of the gear suggestions into consideration. Although I don’t think I even have most of the gear you suggested with the exception of Albrect’s duality. I was just mostly using what I had from my previous AAR build, even though it might not be the best gear setup for this new focus. I’m also borderline OCD when it comes to resists. When I start replacing pieces of gear, resists start tanking really fast, and then I need to look into reworking all my augments and comps. I don’t like gearing for specific areas/fights. I want one universal gear setup that works everywhere. And I’m willing to make cuts in DPS or whatever to get that.

And bwc - I already got too many skills. I got a left click, right click and 4 side buttons on my Logitech G700. Maybe a couple on 1-3, but too many more skills than that typically go unused. I’m one of those players who’s only comfortable with a certain amount of skills in their rotation. Skills outside of my primary rotation get forgotten about/neglected. If you’re not one of those players, by all means put a couple points in bwc.

And for a devotion setup, you’re recommending something closer to this over what I got above?

http://grimcalc.com/build/ECPLQjb

Has Chariot & Tree of life.

4

Here my build with + skills : http://grimcalc.com/build/cBFzbW3
The most dangerous Nemesis for that build is Iron Maiden. Fabius is almost a Kitty Cat with the right gear. But I killed many times iron Maiden, just gotta be carefull and don’t try to facetank him. If that matters I play HC.

I could have an upgrade but currently that’s my gear :
Weapon : Warpfire
Head : Outcast’s Secret
Rings : Judicator’s Signets
Amulet : Avatar of Mercy
Off-Hand : Aldanar’s Vanity
Chest Amor : Stonehide Bloodsworn Robes of Fortitude
Shoulder : Clairvoyant mantle
Gloves : Vigorous Handguards of Insight
Pants : Empowered Legplates of Valors
Belt : Phantom-Thread Girdle
Medal : Mark of Anathema
Boots : Stonehide Exalted Treads of Haste
Relic : Agrivix’s Malice

Random stats with my current gear
Health : 9.4k
OA : 2.4k with the rings proc
DA : 2494 with the rings proc (why not 2.5 k lol…)
Armor : 1342
DPS with CT : 7.8k

5

I would rather go with armor from Mehnir and hp from scales and OA+critd from Hawk instead of Chariot

6

High Potency and maxed Blast Shield are musts for every Demo build IMHO.

I also think 50/50 in Demo is too far; 40/50 for Agonizing Flames is as far as you should go.

I would go with Mr. Tek’s build except maybe put less points in Flashbang, Elemental Balance, and Maiven’s and put more points into BWC and Agonizing Flames. But then again I do not play HC. :wink:

Two Riftstones can also result in extreme amounts of fun but definitely is not HC. :wink:

7

I made changes to gear and devotion tree based on suggestions.

I facetanked Loghorren. Had to back off once after taking a big hit for like 6k. Other than that I was right in his face the entire fight. The 2 heroes he summons and the rest of the mobs got eliminated as an afterthought. Focus on Loghorren, and the rest of the stuff just dies as well. I thought I had a video of it just to find that the recording was a black screen. Must have been some settings I changed in OBS, but I’ll do another run in a little bit.

8

I was suggesting chariot if you don’t want to go the tree route, since torch isn’t amazing and forces us to go out of the way for it. My setup is that but replace chariot/owl with hawk, 2x 5% hp nodes, and 3 points in both scales/obelisk. Gives you a shit ton of hp

I don’t like having a ton of stuff to click, but for this I will say stfu and click another button for bwc on bosses :smiley: You don’t at all need it for mobs and only need to cast it a few times during fights with fab, sharzul etc, Besides this build isn’t super intensive for buttons at all besides flashbang spam. You hit OFF button, Ana devastation procs which then procs aetherfire. That shit clears screens with one button press and our deva proc is normally off cd for next mob. Also going to second what mister tek said, Fabius is a kitten you can facetank him 100-0 no problemo. I have ~11k hp, 2150 DA, 10% phys resist, and 10% to dodge melee.

Btw if you don’t have black star you can throw aethersteel bolts on one of your weapons for -15 all res and it does decent damage too iirc

9

My 2h Warder with 20k HP and 30% phys resist still gets killed by Fabius occasionally. There were a few times where he spawned with a leg or epic weapon that had some sorta debuff on it. I can’t recall the name of it off the top of my head, but it was an epic 1h that had 15% chance for 30% resist debuff or something like that.

Now, this build is an improvement over the AAR build I was using. With comparable gear, the CT build does more effective DPS and is tankier. And I’m happy with that atm.

10

well this is not entirely news, pretty much everyone thinks AAR is shit :smiley:

11

Dying to fabulous Fabius with 20k hp and 30% phys resist seems half way impossible to me

Razor of the blind assassin is the weapon you talk about. Definitely one of the worst he can spawn with

12

Yup, that’s it. I’ve seen him spawn with that 3x. All 3x he managed to kill me multiple times before taking him down. And honestly I haven’t really farmed Fabius THAT much. Either I’m super unlucky, or that’s a common item he carries in his loot pool. Fabius showing up seems incredibly rare to me. I’ve probably seen him under 30 times total.

I just did some Cronley’s Hideout runs last night, did 15 runs with my CT build hoping to try and see how he fairs against Fabius - didn’t see him once. Did another 8 runs a little while ago, and didn’t see him. So that’s 23 runs and no Fabius… I’m starting to think this isn’t RNG and there is something else going on here. If I do another 10 and don’t see him I’m gonna think Fabius took a permanent vacation from my game. From what I gather, about 1/4-1/3 of Fabius spawn locations are in the Cronley’s hideout run. Which puts me finding him around 25-33% chance. Making 28 runs and no Fabius seem like an impossibility.

The Cronley’s runs were extremely fast runs with the CT build, poor Cronley, after his shield goes down he just gets melted. I screwed up with this character though and killed Direni, so he doesn’t spawn in Cronleys. So that’s 1 free loot bag I’m missing out on per run.

Also, I get rekt pretty hardcore by Mad Queen if I get anywhere near her. I was hoping I could at least get in her face for 3-4 secs and survive without mirror up before having to back off, but she shreds me like a wet paper bag. Which means I still gotta kite MQ, and if I’m forced to kite, the AAR build did a little better. I was able to get MQ hung up temporarily on the pillar with thermite mines, which bought me 3-5 secs to channel AAR into her from range. That’s offensive potential I’m missing out on with CT in that fight. My other tools like devastation, etc were stronger on the AAR build. About 30% stronger.

Also, I took points out of thermite mines, and pumped up agonizing flames to either 11/12 or 12/12 I forget which. Still got thermite mines, they’re just a 1 point wonder. I only use them in boss fights.

13

Finally found Fabius, and honestly I’m pretty surprised how it went.

HE GOT FREAKING REKT! When I was sure the complete opposite was going to happen. Face tanked him like a boss and he went down in like 20-30 secs. Next time I find him, I’ll try to record it. So yeah, I’m happy with my Sorcerer build now. Thanks for the input guys.

14

Fab is easy to find you just don’t know the spots to look, takes no more than a few minutes to find him if you have a dash. Should def use a riftstone, easy to fit one in on this build w/o really losing anything. Here’s a list of locations

A. Port to Arkovian Foothills he can spawn at camp north of the portal as well as the 1st cronley base we encounter outside of DC. You can stop at crumbling watch along the way if you’d like, Moosilake spawns there a small % of the time and you can run spined cove for the boss + a ton of ghosts to farm too
B. Hideout obv, learn the spots he spawns so you don’t waste time running all over
C. Old Arkovia rift. He can spawn in the cave with Halion and at any of the areas where there is a forge to destroy between the rift and the very last forge that is right next to the entrance to Cronley.

Hard to say for sure, but I’ve farmed a lot of Fabius and the old arkovia spawns seem to be the least likely

15

Not my best Fabius fight, but its the one I recorded. He can still kill me sometimes.