The Gunslinging Sorceress [1.0.0.5 Build Guide] - Full Video Included!

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hullo everyone! I’m back with another build guide, woo!! As always, I’ve done a full video guide which covers everything in depth, click this link thingyto check it out!

Oh, and here’s the Grimcalc link!

This is a decidedly more “straight up” build than the last few I’ve posted about. The majority of the time spent here involves pointing dual pistols at enemies and shooting them a lot. Other than that, a few demolitionist skills are leveraged as stun/debuff and Arcanist comes in for survivability and some tasty damage boost!

What I find particularly cool is that you can almost get in the realm of stuck-lock with this build in some cases, due to the combination of active skills and devotion choices. So, without further ado…

Skill Selection
Flame Touched + Temper
Really nice damage boost and a really handy amount of OA on offer. Focusing on maxing Flame Touched is definitely worth it, Temper shouldn’t require more than one point in it.

Blast Shield
Uber defensive skill once you’ve invested a decent amount of points in it. Get it!

Fire Strike Line
The “main” attack, as it were. Maxing Fire Strike and Explosive Strike is definitely important, with Brimstone not far behind. Static Strike probably doesn’t need more than a few points in it.

Canister Bomb + Concussive Bomb
Just a one-pointer with Concussive Bomb maxed out. Used purely for crowd-control thanks to it’s delicious stun.

Flashbang + Searing Strike
The spammy version of our crowd-control, plus a nice little debuff.

Vindictive Flame + Ulzuin’s Wrath
Vindictive Flame is worth getting close to max. Really nice all-around skill, particularly the %total speed. Ulzuin’s Wrath is only worth one point, IMO.

Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange Line
Used mostly to get Elemental Balance - dat crit damage!

Mirror of Ereoctes
The good ol’ panic button if you’re in a real pinch.

Maiven’s Sphere + Conversion
As we all know, a really awesome defensive skill. It really helps to offset the inherent squishiness of this build.

Inner Focus
Dat offsensive ability!

Arcane Will
A nice little buff that triggers a decent amount. Worth a point.

Nullification
A nice little debuff. Also worth a point.

Demon’s Breath (from Devil-touched ammo component)
This deals quite solid damage, has attack damage converted to health and is also nice to have because it carries one of our devotion skills!

Devotions
Alrighty! So, there’s three “core” constellations used for their active skills in this build:

Elemental Storm - Bound to Flashbang
This comes from the Rhowan’s Crown constellation. It works in a decent radius, does decent damage, but moreover has a very solid debuff going on! Bound to Flashbang you should see this going off quite often, keeping the battlefield nicely nerfed and taking extra damage. I actually had this bound to Fire Strike for quite a long time, until I unlocked Elemental Seeker (see below).

Elemental Seeker - Bound to Fire Strike
This comes from the Blind Sage constellation. I haven’t seen many other builds out there that use this, I think this is a really fun option! These little blue orbs offer quite a nice amount of elemental damage in an AOE around them that scales with player damage - NICE! Also, on death they offer a 2 second stun (nice synergy with Canister Bomb) and also actively harass and distract enemies. You could argue that other options might be better, but I find this to be really fun and effective!

Fissure - Bound to Demon’s Breath
This comes from the Magi constellation. This is chosen basically for the nice fire/burn damage on offer, but also because it has a chance to stun enemies. Between this, Elemental Seeker and Canister Bomb we can potentially stun lock the entire battlefield at once :cool:

The other devotion points are invested as follows, as a combination of being relevant to our damage output, but in part purely to get enough affinity for Blind Sage:

  • Chaos, Eldritch and Ascendant at the crossroads
  • Hawk
  • Owl
  • Scholar’s Light
  • Raven
  • Hydra
  • Empty Throne

Gear
As far as compulsory equipment goes there is one key piece; something that will let you dual-wield pistols! For me, the easiest way to achieve this is via Relics. As you level up, the Gunslinger’s/Marauder’s/Plunderer’s Talisman are very nice, align to the build well and of course give you that sweet dual-wielding skill!

Other than that, I don’t really have much set in stone for the gear here! The good news is that I’ve able to run this build without much trouble using average, mostly self-found gear and minimal farming. If you click this thingy, it’ll take you straight to the point in the video where I describe the exact gear I’ve used to-date.

On the offensive end, you’re mostly looking for:

  • Fire/burn damage stuff
  • %OA buffs and %crit damage boosts
  • %Attack speed boosts
  • %Elemental damage and %Chaos damage boosts are quite handy too

The defensive end is the same as always: resistances, DA and armor as high as you can without completely nerfing your DPS output. Also worth noting is that you’ll want to try boost your health where you can. There isn’t a heap naturally on offer from Demo/Arcanist, so if you can you’ll want to try and help this along. That said, I’ve only got 6.1k health on mine and she rarely gets in much trouble.

And that’s about it! While somewhat simplistic in it’s gameplay style, this build is super fun. A lot of DPS output backed up by a nice amount of debuffing, stun and crowd-control.

Weeeeeeee!

2

Hiya , thanks for the build , I’m pretty new to the game , only played for a few weeks and like a kid in a candy shop have a crap load of alts , but none in ultimate yet , close though .

I have always wanted to play a dual weilding gun char . I have found so many epic and legendary guns surely the game is telling me to play one too .

So , I am trying to follow your guide on youtube on what to put skill points into first and hopefully that’s pretty straightforward .

My big concern is cunning . Should I be pumping that for each weapon I use , I’m just so used to putting every point into Physique .

Thanks .

Ahh , came across it in the video 3-1 phys to spirit ratio , so assuming cunning for weapon choices added in there too?

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Well, he needs 398 max cunning, for Exterminus, and only your mastery bars get you to 320. You will get cunning from devotions, gear, and if that wont suffice, you’ll probably end up spending like 10 points or so.
Ofc, these are just my thoughts, though I believe I’m right.
And gz, nice build mate!

4

I currently am also rocking a Gunner Sorc but went a slightly different route. I figure that I can easily swap items around to try out your build and thought I’d give you the option to do the same (although I go a little deeper into Arcanist than you did making your swap in my direction a little harder).

My big swap is to use a Vortex of Souls and consequently things fall into place from there.

The Vortex turns all your weapon damage into Aether so Reckless Power and Fabric of Reality become viable.

The Vortex is a 2 Hander which opens up the following options. Shadowflame Mantel, Harbinger’s Grasp, Mask of the Harbinger, the Kraken constellation, and the 2 hand transmuter on Fire Strike. Collectively there is a lot of attack speed and crit multiplier to be had there as well as good chunk of chaos damage.

But most importantly the Vortex has the “100% Chance to pass through Enemies” ability (currently bugged and not showing in game). So every Fire Strike fired into a pack will hit multiple enemies and every enemy hit will trigger the Explosive Strike and Brimstone effects.

Final note, if you haven’t experimented with OFF yet you might try that. It is my preferred CC since it also debuffs enemy fire resistance and gunner sorcs sure do put out a lot of fire damage.

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Thanks man , took a look through devotions and Hawk gives a -10% cunning for ranged :slight_smile:

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Nice going sorcerer with guns is a very fun class to play is awesome to shoot enemies with fire wepons in a RPG game :smiley:

this is the build im using for my 2h rifle sorcerer very fun

http://grimcalc.com/build/qI3Sgkd

im still at lvl 78 playing on ultimate atm

Screen => http://imgur.com/a/xwLAH

7

Seems like an interesting build… one question though… How are you distributing your attribute points?

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He answered me on Youtube that he was putting 3 Phys for 1 Spirit :slight_smile:

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Sorry for the confusion, y’all! Yeah, I chose to invest about 3:1 into physique and spirit (probably leaning even more towards 4:1). I find there’s not much worth investing in anything else. Gear, devotions and mastery bars often give you enough to wield any gear you need.

That said, you can of course tweak your attribute investments if you have particular gear requirements in mind!

10

Hey m8 , only just got back to play a little , being fairly new I am still wary of devotions and getting them in the right order .

Do I follow those in your video that you are going through one by one ?, or are you just pointing them out .

Basically following what you say above . And putting them in that order before I choose any others , is that right , no removing points at the crossroads etc ?

Chaos, Eldritch and Ascendant at the crossroads
Hawk
Owl
Scholar’s Light
Raven
Hydra
Empty Throne

Followed by

Rhowan’s crown
Blind sage
Magi

All in that order .

Thanks :slight_smile:

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Ty , that’s so helpful !

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I spent some time trying to work out how to get to Blind Sage, among the other constellations shown (thus far)…

I broke it down into 3 separate groups for the different crossroads… this is what I came up with:

1 green
4 raven
3 hawk
3 scholars light
7 magi

1 purple
4 owl
4 empty throne
5 rhowans crown

1 pink
3 jackal
6 hydra
-3 jackal

5 blind sage

There is a lot of leeway within those groups depending on which constellations you deem most useful early on since many only require the 1 crossroad point to start.

I haven’t seen any followup in regards to what was planned after this point since in the video there are still 6 points to be gained. I can say that the purple and green crossroads are no longer required once you get to the point where blind sage is available, so you could theoretically take those points back and spend them elsewhere.

I was thinking if HP are still an issue, putting a point in the yellow crossroads, then grabbing the first node in lion and following tortoise to turtle shell might be helpful.

Would love to see thoughts on how to spend those last few points.

13

So I picked this lil lady up because, frankly, it looked badass. This is only my second character, and the first one hasn’t even hit 50 yet. I wanted to play with a demo for a bit.

Unfortunately, she’s squishy as hell and has super mediocre damage output in the lower levels. So here’s what I’ve used so far to make her more palatable to beginners who have no idea what they’re doing (like me).
Level 10
Level 20

Canister bomb is going to be your major player through level 25 when you can use the gunslinger’s talisman. It does buttloads of damage and some decent crowd control with just a single point in concussive bomb. Fire strike and the buffs are there so you put out more than just fire damage and to give you something to do between canister bombs. You will still be pretty squishy, so kiting is the name of the game. I solo’d Krieg at 20 on veteran using this setup with a lot of kiting and about 10 tonics.

If anyone’s interested, I’ll post more as I continue leveling. Thanks for this build…it’s been a helluva lot of fun. Very, very different than the Handmaiden of Dreeg.

14

I would say just build up your demo mastery tree instead of skills (like 2 pts. in mastery, 1 in skills each level). Change LMB Attack to Fire Strike at one point, and then go with whatever weapon works best. I think I defeated the Warden with a two-handed sword at that point.
You need your DW pistols to be your best weapons before you switch over. Pistol and Shield can also be done, if you need the security.

Just my two cents!

15

Hi,

I am also pretty new to the game. But I don’t understand why I should invest 7 points into the arcanist mastery and one further point for conversion. It doesn’t seems too great for me to invest 8 points.

Please enlighten me :slight_smile: Thanks in advance.

16

Hey Klooga,

Would love to see this build guide updated a little. I have watched both your videos on this build and the original post is a little outdated. At least according to your build update video.

I am using your build as a starting point and would be good to get your opion on why you are using certain skills over others.

Thanks

17

I would also love an update. The video update you had gear equipped so working out points in each thing as well as what devotion things to equip to each spell is hard to work out. No grimcalc seems to exist for the update and thread has no link to the update vid either.

18

Loving This build so far. in Elite difficulty and mobs are melting. It’s my second toon through normal, so i had some lower level blue items to help the leveling process. Here’s a few tips for those starting this build from scratch (plus some modifications I went through along the way):

2h ranged is a viable option until you can get geared up for dual pistol. DP is a bit weak in the early game, so 2h is perfectly viable. even up through normal if your drops suck. 2h has it’s advantages: harder hits mean you can kite easier on bosses. plus many item based skills or procs work off of weapon damage, so early on a 2h has an advantage with this. my Brimstone was hitting much harder with a 2h then dual pisols.

Get used to moving your mouse in circles and “tapping” the mobs you want to hit. I hold my left button down (Fire strike is on it), and moving the mouse in circles to kite your toon, then the brief targeting of a mob (the "tap) shoots off one or two shots. move the mouse off immediately, and your back to kiting. once Olex is back off CD, fire it again, then unload into the group for 3-4 seconds. Wash rinse repeat.

GEAR:
This is more along the lines of “What to use when I don’t have all the elite stuff” section. I’ll provide some great substitutes you can use until the elite stuff starts flowing for you.

Marauders set:
This one set can easily carry you through normal, and it’s in the 20’s! 4 items, nice bonuses (including +1 to Demolitionist tree). you’ll want all 4 pieces to get the bonus to make it worth more then other individual pieces. Don’t worry about the cold damage on the offhand pistol, it still does fine and mow’s down mobs. I even put deathchill bolts in it for some extra cold damage and a nice slow. Even when I got “replacements” for these items as listed below, I waited until I got replacements for them all before I switched. Losing that +1 to Demo is a tough loss, make sure you have a few good items to replace them. The empowered set is also a great upgrade if you are lacking decent Items to replace all slots.

Weapon:
Empowered Leander’s Green Hand Cannon: amazing pistol for a blue! the Blackwater Cocktail goes off suprisingly often, and it’s like having an extra Demo skill! Oh yeah, the +1 to Demo tree…how could I forget about that…
The Mediator: solid fire damage. Good substitute when you don’t have anything else.

Chest:
Gunsliger’s Jacket - used this from 20 onward. gives you the dual pistol skill, which comes in handy if you don’t have the talisman yet.
Outcasts burning Curiass - Currently using this until i get the Shroud. perfect stat setup for this build. It needs rep with outcasts, so don’t kill Anasteria in Normal! if you do all of the available quests in Normal, you should have enough rep to pick this one up. very nice green.

Legs:
I tend to use this spot for defensive stats.
Hulking Leggards - nice defensive stats, and the earthquake proc is Gravy (it’s physical/trauma, but extra damage is always nice).
Hellfored Legplates - not exactly designed for this build, but the stats are right, and the proc is fire, so Boom Baby!
*anything with fire/burn damage, and defensive stats works well.

Belt:
Alchemists Belt: a mediocre replacement for Marauders, but when you don’t have the full set, it’s defensive bonuses are nice. the heal proc ads another layer of “Holy smokes” protection.
Empowered Frizzles Utility pack - probably THE belt to use if you don’t have Tinker’s. Defensive stats, %All damage, nice belt. The normal version is also a solid replacement for marauders.

Ring:
Seal of the Royal Crown: Nice elemental damage.
Elemental balance set (crafted): I got these schematics somewhere along the way, and the set is pretty nice for elemental damage and skill bonuses.
*anything with Fire damage and speed bonus

Relic:
Gunslingers of course once you get it. the normal version as well as the upgraded versions. If you don’t have the schematics, either Equilobrium or Sanctuary are good defensive options.

Amulet:
(empowered) Amulet of the eye - solid elemental damage. I used the normal version until I got empowered.

Boots;
Wyrmscale Footguards: A nice sub if you don’t have Golemborne Greaves. Or an effective replacement if your defensive stats are OK and you want some extra damage.
Windborne Greaves: I replaced my Marauder’s boots with these until I could wear the Wyrmscale. run speed, resists, and the proc when hit is nice to slow down mobs and do some health damage.

For the rest look for the typical stats. Fire/Burn, speed (attack speed and move speed), and defensive stats. I’m using greens in head and shoulders too…not much out there that gives you the stats you want in the blue/purple category.

DEVOTIONS:
your first Devotions in order should be: Scholars Light, Hawk, Owl. solid boosts to Elemental damage, burn damage, and some other useful stats. work up to Rhowan’s Crown asap after that. From there, I deviated a bit from the build path, and instead of taking Empty throne, I put points in Raven and Magi, then I went to Falcon. Yeah I know, it’s bleed damage. but it also gives us exactly the points we need to open Sage. So from there I went to sage, and Jackal/Hydra I save till last since it’s just more bonus damage on top of what we already have.

So here’s the devotion path I would take if i were to do it again:
+1 Green Crossroad
+3 Hawk
+3 Scholar’s Light
+1 Purple Crossroad
+4 Owl
+5 Rhowan’s Crown
+3 Raven
+5 Magi
+5 Falcon
-1 Green Crossroad
+5 Blind Sage
+1 Red Crossroad
+3 Jackal
-1 Red Crossroad
+6 Hydra
+4 Empty Throne
-1 Purple Crossroad
-5 Falcon
Total should be 40 (Math’s hard, may want to check my numbers), leaving us with 10 points to put anywhere else, and we also get into Blind scholar as were hitting act 3 Elite, a HUGE boost to our damage, and giving us plenty of time to level it up for Ultimate. Still working on where to put those last 10 points, but I’m not even to that point yet, so I got plenty of time (ideas welcome). My initial thoughts are Yellow Crossroad, and fill out Turtle (good defensive stats, and a very nice emergency proc).

SKILL TREES:
Here’s a few loadouts of skill points and where to put them when leveling. It may not be optimum, or the best, but it’s what I did, and worked very well:

Level 6:
– http://grimcalc.com/build/1008-wj39gc –
if you have it, throw in a component that adds some AoE (Mutagenic Ichor, Cracked lodestone, etc.) anything to help boost that clear time.

Level 10:
– http://grimcalc.com/build/1008-pWxCcS –
save points from lvl 9 for this. once you hit 10, put them all in Arcanist. Level mastery up to Olexa’s and 1 point in there. AoE and crowd control (some +cold damage can help with this too…you’ll drop out the cold damage later on, but it helps early AoE).

Level 20:
– http://grimcalc.com/build/1008-DYBdyq –
push Demo Mastery up to unlock Static Strike. End build doesn’t emphasize this, but at the time I had some hell’s band ammo (craftable), and it pumped the lightning damage (more AoE). even without, the lightning chain helps.

From there just focus on maxing Demo Mastery to unlock Brimstone, adding points in the other players in the Demo tree as you go. The only skill I pumped in Arcanist until i unlocked Brimstone was Olexas (i got it up to 9 pretty quick), a point in Iskie’s exchange, and a point in inner focus. Arc tree comes after you’ve comfortably fleshed out the full fire strike tree. Max out Fire Strike and Explosive strike as early as you can (w/o neglecting the other skills, but those should be your focus). That and Brimstone are you primary clearers until you can buff everything else.

And last but not least, if you are starting bare bones nekked, and have no decent gear, there’s nothing wrong with putting a few points in the skill tree in skills that can help out. examples would be Stun Jacks for some extra AoE and stun, or Grenado. But I found that the combo of Flashband and Olex’s is enough CC. This is really a kiting build, so get used to kiting early and often. Mirror of Erecotes in the Arc tree can help out as well if your hurting for defensive options, plop a few points in there. It’s great for face tanking and burning down a boss when he’s at 10% or so.

Hope this helps folks new to the build! very fun and fast clears so far. I’ll let you know how it goes once i get into late Elite mode.

19

How do you get to Hydra? I don’t see enough red points in this list (including the other three devotions, Rowan’s Crown, Magi, and Blind Sage) to unlock it.