Ultimate Hardcore Shield Melee Tactician- Slayer of Beronath

Build Intro:

So I was just curious how viable would it be to use the following items in a build:

Mythical Beronath, Reforged
Mythical Peerless Eye of Beronath
Mythical Scales of Beronath


Artist- https://princeg07.artstation.com/


Pros & Cons

PROS

1.Very good crowd clearing speed
2.Consistently high Single Target Damage
3.Offensive Ability can surpass 4,000 (starts at 3,500-ish by default with toggled active skills)
4.High Mobility
5.Effortless switching between offensive & defensive playstyles

CONS

1.Can’t tank as well as most melee classes
2.Has no healing devotions- Mostly dependent on life steal to sustain health
3.Damage output may feel a bit inconsistent due to a heavy reliance on Critical hits


Leveling

For leveling, I referred to this guide [1.1.9.0] Pure Soldier [HC] Beginner Forcewave 1-75 Leveling Guide + Endgame Options and Class Combos

There are other ways to get to level 94, but an Obsidian War Cleaver with decent affixes and suffixes is extremely easy to farm. Most notably, it grants a significant damage bonus to Forcewave which turns it into a devastating skill.

Before moving on, here is how I recommend distributing our skill points following each Level Up:

  • 2 points into Soldier / 1 point into Inquisitor Skill Tree (Level 2 - 50)
  • 1 point into Soldier / 1 point into Inquisitor Skill Tree (Level 51 - 90)
  • If you are done with the soldier tree, then focus completely on the Inquisitor Tree

Soldier tree Skill allocation is as stated in the guide, though you might want to consider these options from the Inquisitor Tree as well:

  1. Word of Renewal (one point)
  2. Vigor (10 / 10)
  3. Steel Resolve (6 / 10)
  4. Deadly Aim (12/12)

Leveling to 94 was done on Normal & Elite for my case, so the above skills should be more than enough. The linked guide gives a lot of good advice for gearing. And as for devotion pathing, you may follow the above guide or continue below for my choices which pertains to this particular build (Recommended, since it allows you to level up your celestial powers sooner)

Once you have hit level 94, please continue reading and prepare to respec your skill points.


Build

Tactician, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator : Final Build

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Attribute points- Physique / 8 Cunning / 87 Spirit / 11

NOTE: When equipping your end game set, equip the Mythical Scales of Beronath first & ensure that you have 6 points in veterancy otherwise you won’t meet the attribute requirements for your gear. The numbers work as of patch 1.1.9.7, but may change upon later patches. As such, do use a Tonic of Reshaping if necessary.

In terms of playstyle, this build should mainly use Beronath’s Fury and Inquisitor’s Seal as the main attack mode of clearing regular mobs. Throw in the occasional Forcewave if you feel the need, but try not to spam it off cooldown too much. Blind Fury (that is binded to Beronath’s Fury) procs each time you land a critical hit, and functions as a 6 meter AoE attack (Pretty much like the Nightblade’s Ring of Steel) which is centered around yourself & can easily clear trash enemies.

The build’s most damaging skill is Forcewave which has a cooldown period of less than 2 seconds. I tend to use this skill frequently against bosses / champions while laying down inquisitorial seals to kite all over the place. For added damage, be sure to use war cry to proc Ulzaad’s Decree. The key is to just be patient and mind your positioning, because with such a high Offensive Ability, it is only a matter of time before your blows crit even durable enemies to death. Use overguard and your seals to mitigate damage if necessary, while landing forcewaves to top up your HP via life steal / Attack Damage Converted to Health.

Also, should you choose to edit this build, do know that there is a ‘9th’ resistance you need to take into account, and that is ‘Reflected Damage Reduction’. With zero to no reduction, you’ll die in less than 3 seconds if your forcewave hits a special enemy who can reflect damage (which is kind of impossible to avoid at times, since forcewave’s radius will often affect hit something with an active reflection aura even if you try your hardest not to.). As of now I’m unsure if the reduction value is capped at 80% or 100%, but I’m pretty sure that there is not really a point in exceeding 100% when it comes to negating damage (I mean, how do you negate past 100% of the damage value?). I can’t find any definite conclusions while googling, so if you know more about this kind of reduction, then please share in the comments section.

I only know that physical & Internal Trauma builds are affected greatly because it is tough to keep up 80% physical resistance at all times & IT damage cannot be mitigated (Again, this is from various sources so correct me if I am wrong), so you won’t like it if your own damage is redirected back.

Sources of Reflected Damage Reduction I’ve found are:

  1. Titan Plating Component
  2. Crane Constellation
  3. Solemn Watcher Constellation
  4. Mythical Sigil of The Bear King Medal
  5. Serenity Relic
  6. Kymon’s Fury / Uroboruuk’s Anguish Augment
    7 Miscellaneous items (Go to the GD Item Database and search- ‘Reflected Damage Reduction’)

Note that the Reflected Damage Reduction percentage of this build excess 100% and I kept it that way because the components / constellations themselves offer generous amounts of armor and various other resistances. So if you are not after more armor or resist values, then you can swap out a component or Constellation for something else of your choice.


Devotion Pathing
  1. Yellow Crossroads
  2. Assassin’s Blade (Bind to Forcewave)
  3. Purple Crossroads
  4. Empty Throne
  5. Blue Crossroads
  6. Eel
  7. Ulzaad, Herald of Korvaak (4 nodes only, Bind to War Cry)
  8. Sailor’s Guide
  9. Crane
  10. Toad
  11. Hammer
  12. Azraaka, The Eternal Sands ( Bind to Inquisitorial Seal)
  13. Anvil (Bind to Field Command)
  14. Oleron (Bind to Beronath’s Fury)
  15. Refund Yellow, Purple & Blue crossroads
  16. Solemn Watcher

Final Words:

When using this build, it is important to treat your character as a skirmisher rather than a tank. If you want something tankier, then I suggest the Warlord builds in the compendium. A lot of them have vastly superior defense compared to what I’ve come up with.

The intent of this guide was to explore more unorthodox playstyles for long time players who want to spice up their gameplay & I would say that this has been a successful effort. As a warrior who can give better than he can take, the tactic is pretty straightforward- Attack only when you have the advantage.

Rather than sticking your character in the thick of it, begin your assualt with devastating forcewaves from a distance before getting in close to mop up the strangglers. By all means, you can opt to be more aggressive when overguard is active, but if you are still losing health or if you feel that you can’t finish the job, then it is best to back off and kite with forcewaves only. At the end of it all, a superior offense will bring about victory, provided that you use a bit more cunning and footwork than usual to undermine your foes.

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This build looks great. I’m a new player, can this build do all content in the game?

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I haven’t actually tried it past HC Ultimate campaign yet.

Will update it if I have time for more testing.