Spellbreaker Ultimate HC (Zues build)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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This is my HC ultimate Spellbreaker. I’ve made some slight alterations to the build - specifically the boots: Stormtitan Treads - that need updated with stat changes. My biggest concern right now is how can I get more aether resist and physical resist without sacrificing my damage. I think the answer is in a change to my devotions but I’m still investigating. Right now I’m looking into de-buffs and damage conversions to hit for bigger numbers. Some bosses right now take far too long to kill but that may be due to their resists to lightning. It would be cool to work in the devotion Spear of the Heavens into the mix but would require a huge devotion overhaul. I may have too many redundancies in defensive abilities that activate when hp reaches a certain amount (ex: turtle shell).

Pro’s:
-It’s very mobile and can burst attack quickly and effectively (134% RS/140% AS).
-Has superb CC ability.
-Utilizes many skills so it’s never boring.
-Does not require Spirit Elixers to maintain energy.
-Can sustain good dps from range (exception is bosses that freeze).
-You look like the God of Lightning.

Con’s-
-Can be squishy at times.
-Keeping Blade Spirits up.
-Screen clutter. The price we pay for epicness.
-Health pots are sometimes necessary, don’t be afraid to use them to top off your Health bar.

BOSS FIGHTS:
Loghorrean [5:08]
[SPOILERS ALL, IF YOU HAVEN’T MADE IT THIS FAR YET DON’T WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW]
Edge of Reality - Boss fight, Zues + Lazy Pokemon Master. -8/20

New Game Play Video [10:15] Running to log. -8/16

Game Play Video [5:42] A quick run from portal to portal in Necropolis to demonstrate how the build functions. -7/23

The Build: Grim Calc
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Primary Damage Types:Lightning and Cold.
Active Skills:
Shard of Beronath - Used as your primary attack. The goal is to keep up stacks (not essential), but should be used with caution if you decide to facetank.
Shadow Strike - For mobility, escapes and engages.
Ring of Steel - For CC which can be staggered with the next ability, exclusively in this order to attain longest freeze duration.
Olexra’s Flash Freeze - Ring of Steel follow up for single targets, or for effective mass CC.
Pneumatic Burst - For healing primarily. For this to be used as effectively as possible, keep up continuously for it’s passive bonuses to TS(12% @ lvl12) and HP Regen (+33/s).
Oleron’s Blood - Used for burst damage.
Blade Spirit - Used to Proc Devo: Reckless Tempest & Item Granted Skills.
Mirror of Ereoctes - Used for OH $%^# moments, can be used effectively to burst down Heroes and Bosses when up against multiple.
Blade Trap - Used to proc Devo: Blizzard & CC mobs that can’t be frozen.
Summon Nemesis - Used to proc Devo: Elemental Storm and body pull mobs
Pet Move - Used to body pull with your Nemesis. This is not demonstrated in above videos, nor is it absolutely necessary that you do. I’m currently working on one because this is a recent play style change I’ve been working with.

Passive Skills:
Maiven’s Sphere of Protection
Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange
Viel of Shadow
Star Pact.

Devotions:
-Amatok the Spirit of Winter (4 points). Ability Blizzard bound to Blade Trap.
-Tempest (7 points). Ability Reckless Tempest bound to Blade Spirit.
-Chariot of the Dead (7 points). Ability Wayward Soul bound to Maiven’s Sphere of Protection passive skill.
-Behemoth (4 points). Ability Giant’s Blood bound to Star Pact passive skill.
-Rhowan’s Crown (5 points). Ability Elemental Storm bound to Summon Nemesis, Mythical Relic skill.
-Tortoise (5 points). Ability Turtle Shelll bound to Veil of Shadow passive skill.
-Empty Throne (4 points).
-Hawk (3 points).
-Sailor’s Guide (4 points).
-Jackal (3 points).
-Wraith (2 points).

Items:
Head - Ulto’s Hood - Sanctified Bone
Chest - Ulto’s Cuirass - Chains of Oleron
Legs - Stormcage Legguards - Molten Skin
Belt - Tinker’s Ingenuity - Molten Skin
Feet - Venomspine Greaves - Mark of Mogdrogen
Hands - Empowered Thundertouch Bracers - Unholy Inscription
Shoulders - Mantle of Mogdrogen - Silk Swatch
Mainhand - Stormheart - Shard of Beronath
Offhand - Crystallum - Oleron’s Blood
Alternate weapon - Stormreaver - Amber
Amulet - Celestial Stone of Halakor - Focusing Prism
Ring 1 - Empowered Starfire - Corpse Dust
Ring 2 - Soldier’s Obsidian Band of the Hurricane - Mark of Illusions
Medal - Impervious Kymon’s Badge of Decay - Attuned Loadstone
Relic - Nemesis.

The build relies mostly on granted skills from items that proc off of Chance On Attack or Chance On Critical Attack and CCs, so it is gear dependent but you will get a plethora of that specific skill quality while leveling. All items are primarily proc’d off of Veil of Shadow with 1 point into Night’s Chill (for aura damage so said items can proc). So, you can essentially run around in circles and rain lightning upon all foes. The pets are used to proc 2 devotions, Blade Spirits proc Reckless Tempest and the Nemesis (relic) procs Elemental Storm. The pets are mainly used in case you’re up against hulks or bosses that hit for big so you can sustain a lot of damage while keeping moving.

Let me know what you think, if you’d like more info on gear or why I chose some specific pieces or have any tips/opinions I’d love to hear about them. I made this post in hopes of finding new and better ways to play with this odd build, so please share!

Character File: - Zip File (dropbox)
-If I didn’t post this correctly please let me know and I’ll change/do whatever needs done asap.

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Reserved space

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This is a very different build, interesting since you went lightning as a Spellbreaker when there are alternatives to this for lightning damage dealers. I am looking over your build and I am guessing that your damage comes from IEE and depends on procs for part of it to go with the lightning debuff.

Your devotion could use some cleanup. I know you said it is not optimized, but the way to look at it where all the lightning damage nodes are to go along with survivability if you need it. If you want this optimized, you need to give a little more character information of what you are doing now and where you would like to go.

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Indeed I should have went shaman instead of arcanist. I didn’t realize until about 60hours of game play and at about lvl 75 that practically all Lightning gear is directed towards the Shaman class so I’ve just tried to make it work. The huge CC (Olexra’s Flash Freeze), energy leech (Iskandra’s elemental exchange), damage absorption (Maiven’s sphere) and 3 sec invuln (Mirror of Ereoctes) has made it relatively worth the investment. Ultimately, I actually prefer it now and wouldn’t change it if I could because of the playstyle and how well the build is synergizing.

You are correct in your assessment in that most of my damage comes from the procs off my gear (btw what’s IEE?). Devotions are set on my pets except for blizzard which is linked to my lightning nova (amber component) EDIT: I changed it to blade trap so I can benefit from it with either weapon out. Here’s a list of the item procs and their max possible damage output - https://puu.sh/qbdD8/4db8620c8d.png

I neglected to mention that another key item in this build is my alternate weapon, the Stormreaver, which grants Storm Tap. That gives me a 10k damage chain lightning w/ a 2.5sec CD and affects up to 12 targets. I use this when I can’t afford to risk getting into melee range, like hulks and bosses.

I think I would like to have the Turtle Shell devotion if I can manage to fill the resist gaps that would occur if I reallocated my points. I really want to replace the helm and chest piece for an item that grants a Chance on Attack or Chance on Critical Attack skill.

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IEE is Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange.

You should check how other people do their guides. You could’ve included devotions in Grim Calc instead of giving pictures, and you should’ve listed your gear.

Overall the only reason you call your build “lightning” spellbreaker is because you got Stormheart. :undecided: But nice try, reminds me of “the exiled starcaller” by Primeval.

Also, too bad you don’t have Shard of Beronath :undecided:

Your sheet DPS is laughably low. My level 53 cold/pierce spellbreaker has 7.5k. Your HP’s are also so-so for ultimate. It’s a miracle you made it to the end of ultimate. You must be one hell of a careful player.

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I wasn’t really making a guide, just a build to post and get feedback on. Although I would consider making a leveling guide for the build.

I’m still farming for the shard recipe D: …

I’ll list my gear for you a little bit later today, the difference between my sheet dps and actual dps is considerable because the majority of my damage comes from the granted skills on my items (specifically “Chance on Attack/Critical Attack”). It’s a shame there’s no dps meter :(… In the meantime, at the end of the short test run I highlight over all my gear if you’re interested in looking :).

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  1. I don’t need it, I’ve seen your gear in the video already. I think you might try swapping to Trozan set instead of Ultos. Less armor though.
  2. I understand it, but still your sheet DPS should’ve been past 10k at least. Some builds have sheet DPS over 40k, and they also have crapload of procs on top of it.
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Sheet dps in this game seems pointless to consider. This is a rough outline of my item procs and the maximum damage each can produce

4db8620c8d.png543×718

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You completely neglect cooldowns.

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That sheet was originally made so I could keep better track of my procs and the damage. I’m making a spreadsheet with more detail to replace that one which will include cooldowns :).

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hey stupid dragon why dont you provide some positive feedback? I hope you only represent .5% of the community. because if everyone else is a jerk and asshole like you i would feel bad for other people reaching out on these forums looking for help.

He’s not boasting and claiming this to be the best build in the game but more or less a “hey look this is the build that got me so far”.

end rant

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I represent 0.5% of the community that actually tries to give a helpful feedback, instead of just ignoring. I feel bad for people reaching on these forums looking for help/attention and just being ignored by everyone.

You make it sound like I harass him. I don’t.

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Was able to almost double my dps with the offhand switch from Trozan’s to Crystallum + Shard of Beronath! Thanks for the dps concern, adding the shard and removing the Severed Claw + more melee oriented weapon benefited the single-target capabilities. Still viable but a little more risky lacking the ‘Brutal Slam in and out’ tactic for merely added burst; more HP may be a necessary precaution.

After watching my friend play his pet build, and the lack of Severed Claw, it opened up a the approach of ‘pet first.’ Now that the build no longer requires the SC, it has opened up a skill slot which I can now use for Pet Movement. Having the pets lead the way allows for much better reaction, earlier procs and reducing initial aggro. It gives you the opportunity to pick your targets more carefully and traverse the battle field safer.

New play-style incoming. I’ll be adding a new gameplay video soon to showcase the altered approach to combat.

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lightning DW doesn’t really work with spellbreaker. if you want lightning DW, use a trickster.

i recently tried one, the dps was only slightly behind my elementalist, which i believe is one of the highest dps classes possible right now.

idea is to use 2 crystallum to cap stormtouched at 22/12 with savagery. for massive electrocute dmg. i was about 75k on sheet i think. it wasn’t a build worthy of posting about but it wasn’t terrible either for a non-mainstream dw’er

theres nothing on a spellbreaker that supports DW lightning style. go cold/pierce if ur gona dw on an SB. even bleed on the side for that matter.

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@jajaja
The build works though, I beat the game with it. this is HC too btw, is that build viable for HC ultimate?

Thanks for the tip though. I realized how bad of a decision I had made after around lvl 70 seeing all the lightening gear oriented towards Shaman facepalm. But I decided to stick with it and see what I could come up with. Turned out to work very nicely, just have to watch what you’re attacking in melee range. Maiven’s sphere has so much damage absorption and I figured any other class without that much DA would be too risky to DW in HC . This has been a slow and steady journey and I’d like most of all to continue being Lightning but make it stronger.

I’m going to add a character file to the top post because I think people may actually enjoy playing it.

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Character download is now available in the OP!

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HC ultimate viable = being able to beat all the nemesis/farm BoC/SoT etc. with reasonable efficiency. thats my definition anyway. Otherwise, I’d say a “strong” build is something like being able to clear fast, survive well and kill nemesis in like less than 20sec or less or something

spellbreaker doenst support lightning builds very well, probably shouldn’t focus that if u want to be most effective. it supports cold/pierce alot better

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Or use a Spellbreaker, as seen here? Seems to be working. Who cares if it isn’t optimal?

Interested in trying out the build, Twan. What’d you use for leveling?

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I completely agree, my definition is pretty similar so I’d say it’s PRETTY strong. The cold nemesis boss is rough but it can farm pretty much everything pretty efficiently. You might consider trying it out, its quite fun. Could I say ‘pretty’ more?? rofl

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I’ll have to consider that question and revisit some stuff before I can give you a definite answer to that. But I can say that at the 50 mark, use Glory of the Silver Knight helm for abolish evil and Severed claw for brutal slam. The class is super gear dependent, so you basically want to horde any item that will give you Lightning damage chance on attack/crit/hit. Once you finally have a few pieces, put a point into Night’s chill so you always have something ticking damage thus giving your gear a higher chance of procing.

edit: I have the character save file if you want to give it a whirl before dumping time into it.