I wll pass the torch to @mad_lee for this one since he was unbanned and can’t make others do his work anymore.
There are some builds worth mentioning, that were buffed (or we missed them). But they will not change the big picture that much.
4 Likes
ye ofc they didn’t but hopefully problem fix with threat generation will make a difference with survivability and overall performance
upd. also beastcaller set and devos buffs
upd2. clutter problem with pets seems impossible to fix tho
Yes I will answer the questions when I can. We also have our resident pet builder/tester: @nofika4u. And last time he made some banger pet specs but he said they were hardly worth including into honorable mentions.
Maybe latest patch changes that, we’ll see what Nofika has to say (if anything).
1 Like
hi, is the lists already updated for 9.8? i saw ur latest acid archon, but is the avenger archon still the best?
Hi, for now list remains the same. All of the builds in the current top20 are still super strong. There are some new builds however that are worth including into at least an “Honorable mentions” and I will try and do it at some point.
But I don’t think we are going to do a new list, just because there is not enough manpower and manhours to update this huge body of work.
5 Likes
Thank you for taking the time to test, create, and share this list. Wondering if there might be any additional ranking for class builds that didn’t make the list? For example, I have a purifier and I hate it, but curious what might be the best build(s) that you guys tested for that class, even though its not worthy of the top 20?
This one is good (GT in the description).
2 Likes
From Purifiers, Light’s Defender is very good and also Cold/lightning 2H ranged FS. Full Dagallon and Stronghold also perform well.
2 Likes
I’ve attempted to change my warder build to the avenger warder listed on this guide and have a question about the dread skull component on the medal. Is that correct? Just seems odd when compared to the other builds using arcane spark or tainted heart?
Was used to reach attack speed cap. Overall spark is better to get out of disrupt pools. I’ve tweaked the build for 1.2 test (and it should work for 9.8 too):
2 Likes
I really like the look of the Harbinger Conjurer build, however I cannot for the life of me figure out why it skips any points in Upheaval when the amulet provides such a massive bonus and conversions to it? Does Upheaval have some negative interplay with it that means you do more damage without it or something?
Upheaval procs on crits that are not already wps procs only. So it can’t proc when anything else procs.
The build has a 27% chance to proc Feral Hunger, 16% chance to proc Seal of the Void, 25% chance to proc Volley, and 18% chance to proc Blazing Fury, for a total of 86% chance to proc something, which prevents Upheaval from proccing, except for 14% of the time, and not every hit is a crit, so we’re probably looking at a 6 or 7% chance to proc Upheaval, if our crit chance is really good.
Since Feral Hunger is an amazing wps (the best skill based wps in my opinion) and Seal of the Void is the best (and IIRC the only) component wps, they really need to be in the build. The other two are somewhat less impressive, but solid. You could ditch the other two for Upheaval, giving you a 57% window for it, but keep in mind that it won’t proc without a crit.
Also, the amulet gives the same conversions to Savagery, so the ones on Upheaval don’t help this build, it’s just the bonus to flat chaos.
Upheaval had a buff to radius, which happened since 1.1.9.6, when this build came out, and IIRC there might have been a damage buff, too.
I don’t know whether it would be superior to play with Upheaval even with the changes, but either way would be viable, regardless of which is superior.
2 Likes
Good explanation. Thanks.
Do wonder whether it would be worth taking a stray point from somewhere just to chuck in it ‘just in case’ but I guess it’s largely irrelevant in the greater context of the build’s damage output.
I’m curious if you tested @fordprefect Dual Wield Spam ABB Witch Hunter in this test. That was one of the stronger builds I ran in 1.1.97. But then again, I am not as frequent a player as most.
Spam abb builds are not nearly on the same power level as the builds in top20 or around top20 just merely based on the spam abb power and support around it. 15k hp melee Witch Hunter with 2 active casts with low casting speed also doesn’t help the case. I am sure it’s a fun build tho.
Great builds, I love them all! I would like to play some of the story on ultimate and my question is, how can I reset the story progress on these characters from saves? Can I delete some file or something?
delete their quest folder
*keep in mind this will enable the quests with skill or attribute points too, so might cause more points than “vanilla”
**also keep in mind there might be some slight potential conflict possible with certain quest tokens/triggers depending what might be stored internally like on some NPC choices
1 Like
is the archon build still a valid number one top 20 build?
We are making a new top20 and I am sure that Avenger Archon of mine will get mentioned there, but it won’t be top1 build anymore. But you have to understand that even the builds that are in the “honorable mentions” here are absolute beasts/content destroyers, light years ahead of what most players will play when they reach character level 100, so top1 or top25 doesn’t matter much, it will be very strong either way.
9 Likes
thanks for the info! i played alot grim dawn but ALWAYS pet builds. i wanted to try something new and didn want bad thing to start with. i stick with archon. looks nice. 
1 Like