[v1.0.0.3] [Witchblade] Blood Rite (w.i.p.)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

The build is based arround The Blood Orb of Ch’thon and its granted skill Blood Rite, which converts Elemental damage into Chaos damage.
Combined with Fang of Ch’thon (with Shard of Beronath) so that, all the elemental damage from Beronath’s Fury is converted into Chaos damage.

DISCLAIMER :

This build isn’t awesome for Nemesis hunting, in its current state. Although, I finally got a Necrosis relic and that made things really easier against bosses, Ch’thonics and Nemessis (But you lose the +1 to Occultist skills from Solael Decimation.)

All I wanted was a Witchblade that plays like a “Half-Witch, half-Swordmaster” with Chaos-powered attacks.

To be honest, I was going to keep it to myself, as it has nothing really special. It just happens to work decently.
As I was leveling it up, hosting or joining SoT runs in MP, a couple of players asked me about my build, so here it is : not-optimized, yet powerful enough to beat most of the Ultimate Content (Final story Boss included)

WARNINGS :

Just like many decent build, she can tank dense packs of whites and yellow enemies easily,
Relying mostly on a lot of Life Leech/Attack Damage Converted to Health and procs “on being hit”.
For that purpose, resistances to skill disruption and stun are mandatory.

However, evenif most heroes aren’t any real threat, some of them will require a different approach.
Human-sized enemies and non-resistant to knockdowns are pieces of cakes to deal with, but large, hard-hitting enemies will require you to rely on ranged attacks/spells.
(That’s one of the big Cons atm : unable to sustain hard blows for long, most of the “on being hit” procs become next to useless, as you’re precisely trying to avoïd being hit.)
Same rule applies to bosses : easy ones can be “face-tanked” (with basic cooldowns management, a.k.a. “I press keys as soon as it’s up and it works”)
and against the others, you will have to kite, place Sigils, drop Doombolts, throw Silvercore bolts and debuff with War Cry+Eldritch Fire.
The use of Necrosis is strongly recommended in that case, because it will greatly increase your kill speed.

How good is the build against Nemesises ?

Ch’thon, (Ben Jhar) : The fight is a bit long, but manageable without dying.
Undead, (Moosilauke) : First form is not really hard, of course. Second form is manageable if you have Necrosis
Aetherials : no data yet
Cronley’s (Fabius) : no data yet
Order’s/Kymon’s : no data yet

VIDEO :

¤ Blood Rite Witchblade VS last main story quest dungeon (including Nemesis, inventory overview, skills and devotion set-up)

I could have posted a video of the build wrecking undeads or Cronley’s, but the question would have popped up anyway : “how does it perform against Ch’htonics, silly noob Psyclown ?” So, that’s it, keep in mind the video doesn’t show the true potential of the build.
Note : if you ever wonder how/what did actually kill Log, my bet is on Eldritch Fire.

Half-Witch, Half-Blader, 100% Blood-Thirsty : the vampire-kin set-up

“Blood Rite” is the core of this build. The ability to turn Elemental damage into Chaos comes with a price : 50 Active Health Cost per Second.
And we are going to combine that with “Hungering Voïd” from the Dying God (275 Active Health Cost per Second at lvl 10)
because, you know, just for the fun of it.

So that’s a total of 325 Active Health Cost per Second, and in order to survive that strain, we will use :

adcth = attack damage converted to life

Lizard : 16 Health per second + Health Regen increased (15%)
Blood Of Dreeg (132 Health per second, always on)
Vulture : Life leech
Ghoul : Life leech, Adcth, 6 Health regen per second and Health Regen increased
Dryad’s Blessing from Dryad (8% + 350 Health over 10s) bound to Silvercore Bolts (100% chance on Attack every 3 seconds)
Wendigo’s Mark from Wendigo (90% Adcth scaling on vitality dmg, 15% chance on attack) bound to Beronath’s fury. (and Life leech from one of the node)
Sigil Of Consumption (15/12 = 30% Adcth scaling on vitality dmg)
Mend Flesh (6% + 175 health at lvl 4, randomly, whenever that silly Crow feels like using it)

The current itemization also provides some help :

Bloodfury Spaulders* : 2% adcth
Boneweave Leggings* : 21 Health Regen per second, Health Regen Increased (15%), procs a replica of Sigil of Cons. (33% chance on hit, 3s cd)
Thread of Mortality* : 7% acdth, 8 health Regen per second, Health Regen Increased (15%), procs a vitality damage “chain-lightning” with 50% adcth (33% chance on hit, 3s cd)

  • could be better or worse, those are the rolls I have

The 30% Crit and 8% total speed from Hungering Voïd are worth it, imho, I just wish I could get more OA.

I won’t lie, that -sometimes- makes the Witchblade a tight-rope walker, with the health bar going up and down. I wouldn’t go Hardcore with such a build.


So, How to lower enemies resistances to Chaos/Vitality ?

That job gets mostly done thanks to Eldritch Fire (from Solael’s Witchblade) which is linked to War Cry (100% chance, thanks to v 1.3)
As long as one single enemy is within the Area of effect of War Cry, it will be “infected” and will spread the curse to nearby enemies, even after having fallen down, for a short period of time.

Then we have our Fang of Ch’thon which will provide another -20% to Chaos Res and -10 to Vitality Res. But it’s a single Target debuff.

We also have our chest piece, the Devil’s Cage Hauberk which will proc another -20% to Chaos, Vitality and Physique Resistances while trapping enemies in obsidian. Note that, enemies immune to trap won’t be debuffed.
This is a 100% chance on hit, so it will often trigger against enemies’ front lines and won’t proc again untill the 10s CD is done.

Weapon augments : Currently using x2 Essence of Ch’thon (Black Legion)
mostly for the 10% Chance of 30% Reduced target’s Resistance For 5 Seconds. I have no idea if this actually grants me 20% chances on hitting an enemy, as this is something quite hard to test. In the case it doesn’t, the Outcast’s Riftstorm would replace it.
Note : This debuff doesn’t stack with itself and overwrite itself, but I assume it is added (somehow at some point) to the “total reduction of target’s resistance” formula. According to this document

And of course, the Necrosis helps a lot if you can get one. However, against most trash mobs/champions, you don’t even need to trigger Hungering voïd. Keeping Solael Decimation equipped is my personal preference, as it allows you to focus on the most dangerous threats, while Decimation procs kills the weaker enemies for you.

Current Itemization :

This is what I had when I beat Log the 1st time. There are better set-ups and better mixes of items, but unfortunately I don’t have those yet, so I can’t try.
This combination works however, so far.

Items are clickable and link to gracefuldusk

Focus : Blood Orb of Ch’thon (Lvl Req 65, Spi 634)

Dagger : Fang of Ch’thon (Lvl Req 75, Cun 341, Spi 426)

Head : Dread-Mask of Gurgoth (Lvl Req 50, Phy 209, Spi 389)

Chest : Devil’s Cage Hauberk (Lvl Req 50, Phy 618)

Shoulders : Bloodfury Spaulders (Lvl Req 58, Phy 381)

Hands : Voidsteel Gauntlets (Lvl Req 50, Phy 464)

Legs : Boneweave Leggings (Lvl Req 50, Phy 391)

Feet : Stormtitan Treads (Lvl Req 75, Phy 723)

Waist : Boneweave Girdle (Lvl Req 58, Phy 496)

Amulet : Thread of Mortality (Lvl Req 58, Spi 258)

Medal : Blood Sigil of Ch’Thon (Lvl Req 65)

Ring#1 : Belgothian’s Sigil (Lvl Req 75, Spi 313)

Ring#2 : Sigil of the Depraved (Lvl Req 68, Spi 282)

Relic : Solael Decimation (Lvl Req 70)

Relic#2 : Necrosis (Lvl Req 70)

For Augments, use whatever you see fit/most need. Currently, Aether and pierce resistances are very low.

A major improvement could be made, with the Crown of the Winter King which would allow me to use the
“Winter King’s Might” skill. With 45% Weapon damage + #Cold damage converted to chaos, that would be a real nice asset, both for close and ranged combat.

Legs, Feet, Waist, Amulet, medal and Ring#1 could also be replaced, with minimal impact to the “balance” of the current build.

SKILLS :

From Soldier ; From Occultist ; From devotion ; From Component or item

Active :

Blood of Dreeg
Blitz
War Cry (Eldritch Fire)
Sigil Of Consumption
Doom Bolt (Hungering Voïd)
Beronath’s Fury (Wendigo Mark) from component Shard of Beronath lvl req 55
Silver Spread (Dryad’s Blessing) from component Silvercore-Bolts lvl req 27, Devil’s Crossing Reputation

Toggled and Passives :

Possession
Solael’s witchfire
Summon Familar (-> Storm Spirit #elemental dmg is converted into chaos)
Field Command (Ghoulish Hunger)
Blood Rite from The Blood Orb of Ch’thon

GRIMCALC LINKS :

>>>Grimcalc w/o gear<<<
>>>Grimcalc with gear<<<

Character sheet :

TTMJedB.jpg?11736×836

Note : Beronath’s Fury sheet-DPS goes up to > 30,000 once you’ve stacked 7 charges and are under the effect of the proc from the Blood Sigil of Ch’Thon and of course, Hungering Void.

DEVOTION ROUTE :

¤ Crossroads : chaos node
¤ Complete Ghoul
¤ Complete Spider
¤ Complete Solael’s Witchblade

  • Crossroads : Reclaim the chaos node
    ¤ Crossroads : order node
    ¤ Complete Dryad
  • Crossroads : Reclaim the order node
    ¤ Crossroads : Primordial node
    ¤ Complete Gallows
    ¤ Complete Wendigo
    ¤ Complete Lizard
    ¤ Complete Sailor’s Guide
    ¤ Complete Vulture
    ¤ Complete Dying God

By the end of normal/veteran, you should be arround Wendigo’s 3rd node.
Note : “Ghoulish Hunger” from Ghoul isn’t a reliable proc through normal/elite.
Because it’s still low level, and that, most of the time you get under 33% health, it’s likely that the next hit will kill you before you can actually take any advantage from the skill.
But it’s handy as soon as your Health pool is high enough and you have a decent attack speed, once you’re in ultimate. I just took it as soon as I could so it would be max level sooner.

Note : many thanks goes to the human playing the character named “Joan Of Ark” who kindly gave me the Devil’s Cage Hauberk.

Next challenge : Bastion of Chaos !

2

reserved for further info

3

I hope I don’t come across too hard, but I find this build to be a mess.

Ive been playing Witchblade for a while now, and there are a few things that need to be understood to create an optimal build:

  1. CoF was MADE for this build
  2. Take advantage of Soldier’s 1pt wonders: Menhirs Will, Fighting Spirit, Mark. Adv, War Cry, Blitz.
  3. You either choose the chaos/physical/vitality or the physical/chaos/bleeding route. Route 1 is 50 occ/40 soldier. Route 2 is 50 soldier/ 32 occ.
  4. Your main route to dmg is AS, followed by insanely high levels of physical/chaos dmg through proccing.
  5. Your main active survivability is BoD (and lifesteal), your passive is Menhir’s Will & skills through Devotion.
  6. Your insane AS means that Chance on Hit is your friend, but also doesn’t have to be a high chance of effect (%5 actually works fine)
  7. Use Cadence since Occultist has NO LMB. This is critical: you up your dmg output almost by 3x, up physical, convert more to chaos, boost with Possesion, get the ‘3rd strike’ boost (which is amplified by your AS boost due to Witchfire and Squad Tactics)

Your build doesn’t have #1, maxes out some 1 pt wonders just for a little dmg boost, has little survivability beyond gear and devotion, has only poison/acid/chaos base resistances (you need at least 5 with any melee class), has little AOE/crowd control, and doesn’t make much use of the high AS other than dmg. It is also WAY to item dependent. It’s one thing if an item is highly preferred to due max dmg or better survivability. It’s another if your build flat out doesn’t work without an item. This build unfortunately falls into the latter category.

You also don’t use cadence, which I find extremely surprising. On my Witchblade, his AS is probably close to +70% base (+155% total), cadence makes my DPS reach 35k-40k with insane crits at +70k.

I understand that this is supposed to be one of those hybrid builds but by doing so, you kinda miss the synergies with the two classes. This build should really be a sort of Conjurer/Warlock, especially with the Ch’thon Blood Orb, or a Battlemage with Beronaths shard. Its like this build has to work especially hard at maintaining conversion of dmg, lifesteal, and debuffs all through items and using skill points for soldier melee skills. I would instead use skills for debuffs/survivability, and item/augments for pure dmg/lifesteal. Ive found you get better survivability and dps at the same time, with flexibility in what items you can use. For example, my witchblade can use a pistol with just slight respeccing in areas that I prefer to ‘stay away’ from combat.

You also rely 100% on items that are very rare for self-founders to get. This build is definitely leans more towards a G5 build.

EDIT: I just tried duplicating your build. Missing stormtitan treads and the amulet and Im 50 occ/ 40 sold (I also play self found only). Anyways, the build ‘works’ because of the items themselves, though I only ran to Fabius. Very very very tricky though, if you forget to maintain BoD or if you get hit by spells all at once, its easy to die. I don’t like the sigil, doom bolt actually works fine though. I took off the points in FS, and put them in Cadence and Consecrated Weapon just to see. You definitely get a increase, though I think Beronath doesn’t work here with that sort of setup. I almost want this build to be a Battlemage or Conjurer. It feels ‘off’ being a witchblade, probably because my witchblade build is hack n slash and uses more +1 to Soldier type items.

This build definitely isnt HC viable, Ultimate maybe. I do find it is fun, but this definitely wont be your ‘go to’ build for solo dungeon/Nemesis runs. This is more of a “look at all my legendaries” kind of build (like my Sorcerer build) in multiplayer. You look pretty sweet though, especially as a female (slimmer look = vampire).

4

Well, I had to read your comment multiple times.

First, because I’m not a native english speaker and then because it was unclear to me (no offense meant) if you were familiar or not with what the build is all about : using a focus (Blood Orb of Ch’thon) and a Dagger (Fang of Ch’thon).
Which means basically, going hybrid and being aware that there are -of course- much better performing ways to play that class-combo.

I couldn’t figure out if you wanted to post about witchblades in general or just say that if some one really wants to play a witchblade, that person should not attempt to build it the way I did.

So, people post builds. The way I see those, is that, they’re just here to give infos to other people. Like, “hey, guys, if you ever thought about doing something quite similar, just know that it works, if you have this item and that skill”

Builds here should considered for what they are : the way how a single person had fun with it. Nothing more. And we all know that “fun” is something very subjective.

I have to agree, this build is not “optimal”; You could build several other witchblades that would perform better. My intent was not to create an overpowered character who would “over-kill” every enemy on his way. I think I wrote something like that in the disclaimer.
That being said, the build works well enough to complete all of the current content in ultimate, softcore, except maybe the ‘secret’ quest boss(es), I haven’t tried yet.

Ok, so, those are good advices, if you ever want to build a “traditional, sword&board witchblade”.
BUT, what’s your point ? This is not a traditional, sword&board witchblade :

#1 CoF + Vulnerability : debuffs physical, bleeding, elemental, poison, acid and vitality resistances and defensive ability.

Fang of Ch’thon is doing pure chaos damage. Beronath’s Fury (from Shard of Beronath) is doing elemental damage BUT all of it is converted to chaos. All of the elemental procs are converted to chaos.
The only use I could have of CoF would be vitality res debuff. Clearly, I made a choice there : as I had no need to debuff most of the enemies’ vitality res (no need to amplify my vitality devotion procs) and that, most often, enemies resitant to vitality are also resistant to chaos (my chaos damage being way bigger than my vitality damage) I chose to focus on debuffing chaos resistance, by the means explained in the first post.

#2 Menhirs Wil : requires a shield or a 2h weapon.

#3; #4; #5 If you ever feel like posting a build of your own, go ahead, it will help a lot of player. The other lot of players will either : not bother posting (evenif they have a “better” build) or take time to post their own tips and tricks, alternative devotion set and so on. So that, in 4 or 5 years, the guy that just bought the game can read the full thread and make his/her opinion on how to build that type of character.

#6; #7 About cadence : I use Beronath’s Fury. See #1 about elemental damage being converted to chaos.
The fair amount of skill points saved, not using cadence, is imho, better used elsewhere.

The build is based arround Blood Rite. Obviously, you need the Blood Orb of Ch’thon. (Ok, that was an easy, bad joke. Sorry)
Anyway, as much as I appreciate people giving their opinion on my build, I still wonder why would you “complain” the build is “way too item dependent” ? Of course it is. It’s even clearly stated it is.
It’s like saying a sword&board build is way too shield dependent.

About the items : you could easily replace most of them for a much more defensive set-up. (Clearly, you can lose a fair chunk of %chaos damage, you won’t notice it much)
Head and Feet are only here for their proc (converted to chaos)
There are many amulets you could use instead of Thread of Mortality…
The only “must-haves” are the orb and a shard of beronath, and means to lower chaos resistances for BoC and Temple of the watchers. Everywhere else, you don’t really need to debuff enemies, unless you’re in the “speed full-clear” meta kind-of thing.

Likewise, I could have gone for a diferent devotion set. Having a Meteor Shower or Blizzard dealing chaos damage could be fun.
Again, builds on this forum aren’t meant to be followed and duplicated literaly. They’re just here to show what’s possible to toy with.

Finally, as you mentionned your dedication to the witchblade cause, I strongly encourage you to post your own witchblade build(s), so that the witchblade section of the build compendium grows larger.

5

Look, I agree with you on some points. Yes you can show how you had fun with a build and such.

But think about the problem that arises when someone unfamilar with the class should try your witchblade only to find it takes hundreds of hours to obtain the legendaries and that the build would work better on a vitality caster or warlock.

Anyone can browse through the legendaries section and find various ‘builds’ that naturally arise from legendary item combinations. But that’s not my idea of a build. That’s simply “overpowered gear combinations”.

Plus there are simply just mistakes in this build which I tried to point out, like your overspec’s on MA, FS, no CoF, etc.