Warlord Top 20 Build Question: Markovian vs Blitz, what is the difference?

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Now obviously I don’t mean gear wise cause clearly the two Top 20 builds for these each use different sets of gear. But when I check their skill builds and such they seem very similar!

I want to know what the actual playstyle and mechanical differences are though. I have a level 100 Warlord that is using Rekt’s older build (here is my current Grimtools, uploaded this morning Warlord, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator) so I have a starting point for either. And if I am being honest I am pretty sure I have the craftable Markovians piece so I could just build that whole set with some time.

I mostly want to upgrade this character to have more damage without sacrificing too much defense. I like being as tanky as I am, and this build can at least kill Lokaar so I got that going for me.

Help me understand just how the Markovian Warlord and the Blitz Warlord differ in playstyle so I know which sort of upgrade path I should head for.

Thanks in advance!

2

Markovian: more damage, faster SR/Crucible clears.
Blitz: easier to put together from scratch/if you don’t have any set items and improve from there, better for main campaign target farms because of lower Blitz cooldown (and it doesn’t have any problems against reflectors)

Tank wise they are similiar, against big cluster of mobs Markovian might be slightly better, against Celestials, particulary Callagadra Blitz might be slightly better.

3

I assume that Markovian still could do campaign farming if my current Blitzer can yea? Just might be slower?

4

not really that much slower, maybe a bit if you need to rush to some roguelike boss while skipping everything else. I am also not sure how is Markovian gonna react to main campaign reflect mobs, because it has much less physical resist and then a bit less reflect res (but it does have absorb and some regen so maybe it will be ok)

5

I mean I only have 17% Reflect Resist right now, and 27% Phys Resist, and most reflect mobs dont bother me in the main campaign areas or skeleton key dungeons.

Is Markovian worse then that?

6

are you on Ultimate already and is your character level 100 with most of the endgame gear on it?

7

Yup. That grimtools link up there in my original post is my actual character. Well I got a better hat now lol

Well not the markovian stuff or the other stuff. The “endgame” gear for Rekts version that I started as

8

well if you didn’t have problems with reflects on it maybe you didn’t run into proper reflects yet or maybe your char is not doing enough damage to be a danger to itself

edit: looked closer and indeed it’s true, your damage numbers are extremely low (and your OA is criminally low)

9

LOL Thats fair. It does seem to take a while to bring things down, but conversely I dont go down either so its very much “pillow fight” esque. I think I will start working towards Markovian then and fix things a bit.

10

Switch to oleron exclusive skill

Get these rings Coven Storm Seal - Items - Grim Dawn Item Database

Get this armor Elite Malmouth Vanguard Cuirass - Items - Grim Dawn Item Database

Get gloves and belt with %physical damage

11

You are probably measuring it against main campaign content which is still very far from endgame. You can easily switch to endgame Blitz build that has mostly farmable gear and like magnitudes more damage than what you have now and work towards markovian with that.

12

Well I am trying out the Blitz version you suggested and yea it feels much better, albeit a bit more squishy. Granted I dont have everything and I need to fix my poison res now

Thats what I am at now.

13

It looks like it’s missing several augments (ring, amulet and few armor pieces) and then ring and amulet components. Also your green pieces have a lot of random affixes

14

Yea that was after I upgraded a bunch and stopped playing last night. I am gonna get to working on crafting Doom today and fixing all that lol

The greens are MIs or Faction pieces (cant recall which tbh), so god only knows what I am going to get with those when I go after em.

15

Just wanna say thanks Mad Lee it does feel much better, a bit squisher, but on the whole better damage and such

This is where I am at now. Still gotta sort out better versions of the MIs (And get some gargoyle ones that are not total ass)

16

You have to take Empyrion if you don’t have Tyrant’s Bargoll root because you are lacking damage reduction right now. Your OA is also woefully low - you are not proccing Assassin’s Mark a lot. Any crafted belt with OA will be better than your belt right now. But you are on the right path at least.