I did play my build for like an hour in AoM, and what I did was try a couple of seals for their abilities and use the transmuted DEE with that. Then I got bored and left it at level 88. Haven’t gone back since.
Are you trying to get me to record a video here mate? 
Sorry I play HC and that character is in Occultist heaven. As Heavyw8 said you do more with with a transmuted DEE due to the damage types.
Honestly all of Occultist’s main spells besides summons are in a bad place.
Sigil have lots of issues. DEE doesn’t do enough damage even when transmuted. Doombolt doesn’t do enough damage for the investment and the cooldown.
All imo of course.
Rah’zin/Harbinger doombolt does pure chaos damage in very respectable amounts thanks to 220% WD and the vit->chaos conversion. Chaining 2 of them with Aeon lets you two-shot some weaker bosses or heroes. Tenebris doombolt also does ok.
Dreaming about a viable choas-melee build for so long until I get my eyes on Rah’Zin’s Torment.
Today I tried a DW witch hunter to fulfill my fantasy. Well you might know the outcome right now.
Just like you mentioned, lacking of sufficient RR despite my dps is quite high.
Also replacing some components’ skills like Solael’s Flame with proc would be better.
With new rune augment we really can’t get our hands free on extra skill slot.
Well I forget this thread is all about pierce/bleed builds, but hey I do use a Nightblade here.
Can you share the GT? I find it weird that you can’t stack enough RR.
My poor imagination for your own amusement.:o
Just remember this build is still under beta construction.
I do consider swapping Spark of Reality with Plaguebearer of Dreeg.
But it cause a huge amount of dps loss. Also I don’t use Manticore.
Right now I just leave it there for a better possibility.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2Gm9aGZ silly version, overlook Eldritch Fire
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPa0mmN with Eldritch Fire as suggested by GraySkull
Agreed here, I have a DW Warder with Bloodrager set who is really struggling with the Undead, feels like a boss battle fighting with Nomos Dread an others alike with the amount of time it takes me to kill it, while using three different sources od RR which is another problem with sustaining enough energy to support casting of RR spells. Third problem is when I encounter reflect mobs, almost Instant kill.
To summurize it feels like you either have the option to go defensive and have underwhelming damage, or extremely offensive and be real glass cannon struggling with DA and phys res even with Soldier mastery. GT below>
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZyO3R02
Personally I think you would have more use with Eldritch Fire
than Shifting Sands and Phoenix Fire combined. As I can see you convert Pierce, Cold, Vit and Aether to Chaos not phys nor Fire. IMO you should redo devos keeping the above mentioned in mind and see where you stand.
I do have 35% physical damage converted to chaos, 25% fire to chaos.
My bad that I do forget Eldritch Fire has chaos RR. I’ll give it a tweak in no time.
Still can’t see this build has potential in SR. Come what may, all is for my own entertainment.
You’re missing a lot of sources of RR. Try this: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lV7qPW5N
You should now have…
Rings: -18% RR
Relic: -10% RR
Dagger: -15% RR
Amulet: -15% RR
Devotions: -35% RR, -28RR
Total RR: -121% RR
EDIT: You can change your solael symbol to riftstone or something else. There’s no point converting physical damage to chaos.
2nd EDIT: The rah’zin set is a top tier set - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2BAlAKN
^That’s how I would do it. The damage output and lifesteal you can have is insane.
If you want more defence, swap out riftstone for a second seal of blades, and get ravager’s eye instead.
@ Grayskull:
Your Warder lacks RR. Max. Devouring Swarm, get 1 or 2 Mythical Scions of Crimson Wastes and perhaps even Manticore (so might unnnecessary with 2 Scions).
talking about pierce, it would also be cool if Valdun supported all pierce ranged weapon and not just two-handers. there’s already close to no support for pierce ranged outside that set and it would combine well with the new Oathbearer pistol, but with the current state of thing you lose all the passives :undecided:
Grimtools is not anecdotal, personal experience of a build is literally the definition of anecdotal (personal experience). You should have said that you want anecdotal feedback.
In this context, actual gameplay experience is research.
Grimtools is just personal theory not based in reality.
Couldn’t agree more Z.
So I’m (unfortunately) back with my 2 cents on pierce -
There are a mere 2 sets dedicated to piercing damage: Belgothian’s slaughter, and Valduun’s.
I will ignore belgothian’s slaughter because it’s an excellent example of a set done right.
Valduun’s set
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lV7qPYwN
I was just piloting this before my computer froze, and I had to restart it. The recording software bugged out as well, and the run didn’t get saved, so apologies for the lack of a video.
I, however, want to draw your attention to several things listed in GT which tangibly translates into gameplay:
a. The lack of 100% armor piercing. With my current itemization, I can only hit 90% armor piercing, meaning that my dps is immediately gimped by -10%.
b. The crappy %pierce damage value. It is near impossible for a character to actually hit the healthy 2000% damage range for pierce damage. Even with this VERY offensive setup (held together by an unrealistically gdstashed green pair of shoes), I’m sporting 1800% pierce damage.
c. The fact that valdun’s set sports a 2H rifle - so given the way 2H’s work, and given the layout of devotions the player is once again forced into a zero sum game with this set.
Players can either pick devotions which will help boost your struggling %pierce damage, OR go for attack speed.
What makes it even more painful is that both these devotion pathing options yield very little OA/DA.
d. Not enough skillpoints: The valdun set forces me to give up the helmet slot, the amulet slot, and the belt slot (m. pack of treacherous means is simply a MUST for this set due to the increase in armor piercing). In exchange, it gives a mere +1 to Demolitionist/inquisitor.
It also, for reasons unknown to me, does not have any skill modifiers, and gives +points to flashbang and searing light.
Thanks, but no thanks.
e. It’s flat damage is AWFUL. Clearly the valdun set is being pushed towards a pierced based cadence/tactician set. Fair enough. But why would I ever build a pierce/cadence tactician when I can build:
> DW Warborn witchblade/warlord: Worth mentioning too that this guy packs more than TWICE the damage in ONE of his weapons than the 2H valdun rifle, and also has 200% AS.
> Or the octavius tactician.
To make matters worse, the only source of flat RR which exists outside of devotions can be found in grasp of unchained might.
HOWEVER, for me to apply this RR, I’d have to pick an infiltrator.
While this might seemed like a sensible choice on first glance, the lack of skill points, the lack of an auto attack replacer, and the impossibility of stacking piercing damage on the nightblade class (i.e. the only source of %pierce damage in the NB class is found in dual blades) immediately renders this option invalid.
In terms of gameplay, the valdun set does succeed in one area - and that is fragmenting round. Boy. Does that thing pack a punch and a half.
HOWEVER, it’s 3 second cooldown makes it a very unreliable (though hard hitting) source of damage.
Unlike the dagallon purifier, or the darkblaze pyro where you could really feel the impact of every single round fired from FS, the valdun-FS purifier fails to wow on all fronts.
In fact, the fancy animations of the WPS you get to stack on the valdun purifier makes it even MORE disappointing. Seeing something like jaxxon’s ‘lucky shot’ go off in a nem’s face filled me with a momentary sense of hope which was then replaced by disappointment when I saw how little damage it did.
While Veretragna DID do a valdun vindicator using savagery (GT link will be added as soon as the forum’s back) capable of clearing AoM’s 170 crucible with buffs and banners, he struggled every step of the way to make that happen. And really, it was more so a reflection of the power of the inquisitor’s WPS skills rather than the set itself.
In conclusion, the valdun set plays exactly like what it is - an average, unremarkable set. It’s not frustrating to use as it can get the job done, but it sure as heck is boring.
EDITED: As promised - here’s Veretragna’s valdun vindicator. I would also like to remind you that while he did clear AoM’s 170 crucible in 12 minutes, the top clear times back in those days were below 10min.
I don’t use green on any of my build.
Before this reply I did changed my devotion to Hungering Void.
Mostly it’s quite similar to yours, and the result is slightly better than Red Queen beta 1.
In beta 1 I realized SoC and Doom Bolt work less than intended. That’s why these points all go to BS just like you.
Later I also tried yours in similar testing environments. In the end they not only get trolled by Lokarr but get smashed in SR, only viable in Crucible.
No matter how high ADctH it seems to be, this build is not viable for tough situation.
Sorry Sir, hope I didn’t waste your time. And I have to say it’s fun to play melee chaos build.
My Red Queen Alice will have her revenge, just wait.
My Alice agrees with you in the void.
Only those who have tested hundred of possible combinations can dwindle the difference into minimum.
The difference is always there and waiting to be verified.
Of course you didn’t waste my time. If I didn’t want to do it, I would’ve ignored it.
Btw, you don’t need greens I think - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2BAlQWN
EDIT: I might try this in SR. I really like chaos damage. We’ll see how it goes.
2nd EDIT: You can also use serenity for extra tankiness and more skill points. I took BS because I like how they proc manticore, and I won’t need to worry about casting doom bolt.
Good to see someone is on the same big ship venturing into the Grimyland.
And your girl looks sturdier than ever by those extra tweak, which is waiting to prove its worth.
IMO Doom Bolt really works poorly on melee build without fast cooldown.
Caster builds might benefit more from it.
Don’t have too much fun.
Thanks for the advice, though this build is meant to be DW mele not a caster so -56% bleed res should be enough and as I mentioned earlier sustaining enough energy to cast debuffs without sacrificing damage is a pain in the …, which is not that admirable to begin with.
The reason I posted was to be in conjunction with the topic and before mentioned conversation that bleed damage lacks support. Also, this build was pre- FG so Scions were not available, It will definitely make a difference, but on the other hand it also brings the topic “lack of support” for bleed due to limited choices or that’s how I feel anyways.
There are other pierce/bleed sets available in the game, just people chose to ignore there existence because they’re non-legendary sets &/or they do not conform to the idea of a viable end game build. Not every build has to be consistently reproducible & be able to clear Crucible 150-170 with extra spawns in 5 mins or clear SR90.
An example pierce build (old test build from months back & not updated for FG):
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/gZwOBYKZ
Build was a little clunky, but playable & had good damage (300k+ in campaign). Not a complete set & has room for improvement. Was never intended for crucible (pre FG). Just simple testing & enjoyment.
Other non-legendary pierce sets: Luminari Regalia & Sharpshooters Duty.
Non-legendary items exist also to support pierce/bleed builds including GREENS! USE THEM, THEY ARE GOOD & ADD DIVERSITY TO BUILDS! like this item, for example: https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12640
Whatever happened to build individuality, build diversity & just downright simple enjoyment?
I get sick of this insistence to follow the META & I refuse to be another sheep among the flock, blindly following where everyone else goes.
Hounding the dev’s to say that a legendary set is rubbish because it doesn’t contain synergistic stats for your ideal META build is, to me, an insult to the countless hours of hard work to bring you a game which provides incredible amounts of diversity & replayability. Not every build needs to be “top-tier”.
Following this rediculous META logic, they may as well throw out all non-legendary set/items in the game & what are you left with?
Diablo 3?