I see a ton of melee/melee caster builds after the last patch and it feels like the Harry Potters of Grim Dawn are suddenly freezing their jewels out in the cold. Please rank the top caster builds (meaning no nightblades, soldiers, demolitionists)
- CT agrivix binder
- Runefiltrator
- Arcanor tactician
- RE cabalist
- PB WH
RE is probably stronger that forcewave, haven’t compared. Sorry there’s a soldier and a nightblade. Noone really said soldiers and nightblades can’t be casters.
Not sure why Soldier, NB or Demo cant be casters. That’s discrimination 
In addition to this
-PRM (both ya_'s aether spellbinder and mad_lee’s elemental mage hunter both do 6:30min runs)
-Cold PB Infiltrators
-Storm totem/RE vits Ritualist
-RoH/Chillspikes Mage Hunter
I would say that Arcanor Tactician can be somewhat considered a caster only in a hybrid RoH spec (which is insanely strong). And if we are considering hybrids both Storm Totem/Savagery Conjurer and Vindicator are insanely strong. But as for pure casters I would say:
- CT Agrivix/Anasteria Spellbinder
- RoH Infiltrator (come in different colours and shapes)
- Vitality RE Cabalist
- PRM Mage Hunter
- Some kind of PB spammer (both vita PB WH and cold PB Infiltrators)
@MercyMaker so aether PRM spec can now do 6:30 runs too? How is it compared to my PRM Mage Hunter?
I’d honestly rank a PB vit Witch Hunter tied 1 or 2. Problem is you do need rare gear for it to work (unless you skip energy management and just take ulzuin’s blessing. Campaign will still be a bitch though)
Dunno, haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. ya_ posted a 6:30 run in his thread http://grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80299
Edit: Which you’ve already seen since your post is literally the first post lol
That’s why I don’t rate it that high. To me top caster should be all-around good and self-sufficient. Mana problems make one’s caster build less desirable to play. Double-rares is one thing I don’t mind so much, but if a build only performs in those that’s a point deduction too.
Not really, PB’s stupidly strong right through until you hit AoM on ultimate as long as you have the relevant epics etc. It’s just that once you hit AoM you’re going to be needing those greens to get enough resistances and damage. Also I’ve found that I just manage to have an excess of mana potions through the campaign.
I’m talking about energy management. Chugging energy pots every minute isn’t really fun. And you might run out of energy against select few enemies like kupa and lokarr while your energy pot is on CD
I`m using 3 ectoplasm in MC to deal with mana strain. You don’t realy need that extra 100 DA from Topaz.
I have death effigy of the oracle which solves all my energy issues
Order depends on the mood 
- Schmagrivix
- 5 Totem Vindicator (under 7 no banner ppl)
- Avatar the Balanced (it is a caster imo, at least most of it, if not than just scratch it)
- Malakor runes maybe
- PRMs (both aether and lightning)
- PBs
Counter question - 5 weakest casters at this time.
Answer - they don’t exist.
How many casting spells does demolitionist have again?
1)Fire SoC Pyromancer with DW myph Grim fate. Probabaly, the worst possible caster out there.
2)Phyz Trosan Battlemage.
3)DEE chaos warlock spammer.
4)Pierce grenade Saboteur.
5)Vitality CB Defiler.
I made acid RE reaper not long ago. I think it’s a candidate.
Maybe you are right. I stop playing my vit PB WH after 4X170ex run constantly with my crappy laptop. And I’m even not a good player. BTW, no Ulzuin blessing, no BiS MI
Okay, count
BWC and SJ are so bad these days?
BwC is ok as ultility and burn support. Jacks… I tried lately with Storm totems and it seemed like they had negative dmg or sth. Storm totems on their own would have been faster lol.