Okay my Blademaster can handle anything so far up to and including Fort Ikon … but on the Plains of Strife it is clear that certain enemies are starting to hit hard. I am following this build with my Blademaster …
I am playing on normal so for the resistances you will have to set the difficulty of Grimtools on normal.
It is really difficult for me to find equipment that can replace the current stuff without loosing a whole lot of resistance and/or Cold/Frostburn damage and such? Personally I find having an Armour Rating of 389 to low for a level 50 character. Well to low IMO for the Plains of Strife and onward, anything before Plains of Strife goes good IMO.
I still can not get Augments since I have no Honoured status yet with any of the factions …
Why is it so difficult to find good replacements for most equipment? For now the Sword is still very good IMO, but I am not so sure about the rest.
You need more points in Mastery, less in skills. I normally say “2 pts. in Mastery, 1 in skills” per level. You could do with 10 more in soldier mastery. Maybe reduce a few of your overlevelled skills a bit ?
I am level 100 and and have only 6 points allocated to Spirit. But I don’t know if you are allowing yourself to edit Attributes.
You need to go to the item vendors (ikon, homestead, devils crossing, rover) and look for their green/yellow items often. Something must be better than those. Focus on better level items and cold damage, less on resistances.
60% resist is fine, for Act IV you need Aether and Chaos resists first so focus on these two and downgrade the rest a bit. Vitality comes next for those doom bolt attacks from Bloodsworn. You’ll need some poison resist for absolute end boss.
From the second link you posted I can see why, you have heavy chest and light pants. You need to know what you are going to do then find gear around that. If you are going for 70% melee then you need to get heavy gear, depending on your abilities. For example if you have nightblades pneumatic burst, with shadow dance. You can use light armor, and find gear that gives you more deflect and dodge chance. Depending on also if you put more points in physique, if you do then you dont need heavy armor. Because you will have more chances for enemies to not land hits, but if you are going for more damage. Then you do need heavy gear, depending on the abilities you choose and also the constellations. You also need to take that in consideration, choosing more attack or defense.
Also dont worry about not getting always gear with resistances that much, you can use components to give you some % resistance.
Well I am following Ryzels build and he mentioned to put 70 points in Phys and around 20 in Spirit. So far I placed 12 points in Spirit so I guess I could go full Phys from now on. I doubt not putting those 8 points in spirit will make a huge difference?
As for the resistances, it is good to know that those 4 are the more important ones in act 4. As for the Mastery bar well from now till level 60 I will be working to get the Soldier Mastery bar to 32 while putting points into Field Command to 10. ( As per the build guide. )
Well Ryzel seems to have a higher OA and a lower DA so I assume that means the build is more melee … and that is how I play myself actually. I activate Veil of Shadows / Chilling Weapons and Ice Surge and then jump in with Shadow Strike. After that I attack with ABB( Linked to Elemental Storm. ) and also use Blade Spirit.
When needed I use PB / Blade Barrier and Overguard.
From the look of your character I guess that you’ve just started playing recently. No need to worry about gears because good loots will more likely to drop from Elite and Ultimate. Normal difficulty is just there so you can have a grasp at basic gameplay.
You can check shops for magic and rare gears every times you go to town. That’s the main way of obtaining somewhat decent gears in early game.
Your main damage output is frostburn a type of damage over time so when you finish your combo(shadow strike + amarasta blade burst) you should run around avoid getting hit. That’ll mitigate more damage than any defensive skill you have. You can die very easily in Grim Dawn no matter how tough you think your character is.
One thing you can do immediately to increase your survivability is remove all points from the Spider constellation, reassign them to the Anvil, and bind Targo’s Hammer to one of your auras. A stunned monster is a monster that isn’t hitting you. Also put a point in Blitz and Blindside; as a melee character, you need as much mobility as you can get. One of the biggest advantages of Blademasters is their access to two closers; use them both.
Here is another problem with your build, you have too many attack abilities and not enough toggle on abilities. Have 4 attack abilities and the rest toggle on, that is what I do. Do that and you will have more survivability, also why would you have 10 on field command. Why stop short, I would put that to full. and get also menhir’s bulwark, if you dont want to get that. Get turtle shell in the constellation, or some healing one like dryad. Do this and you will face tank.
P.S About only having 4 attacks, if you have a mouse that has lots of buttons. And can bind attacks to those buttons, then use 5 or 6 attacks. But you will need to get more constellations, that are defensive for example turtle shell, dryad, or wayward soul. You need to know what you are going to do before choosing constellations. Constellations are the last thing you need to choose, first its what damage type you will do, then which mastery you will spend more points in. Combined with what abilities you will choose out of that mastery, if you chose two then from the two mastery’s. Then comes the constellations, from what you choose in the mastery/s. You either choose more defense or attack in the constellations, that is how you do a build.
Well, I have made severall changes gear wise by visiting merchants, and by following what TigerMark mentioned about which resistances are more importend in Act 4. And survivebility on the Plains of Strife have become a whole lot better now.
For the resistance levels of my character, any one who wants to see them will have to set the Grimtools difficulty to normal first.
Oh and I am not kidding myself by believing my character is invincible, games like Diablo 3 and PoE showed me that there can be and will be surprises when you least expect it.
The Anvil with Targo’s Hammer looks really interesting I agree. But once I finish Viper, I will be going for Murmur followed by Amatok. ( The build I am following is in my opening post. ) If I would take out Spider at this moment then I will not be able to take Murmur after Viper. Now I am fully aware that I do not have to follow Ryzel’s build to the letter, but his Glacier Cold-Frostburn build has been great to play so far. Having Targo’s Hammer linked to one of my characters aura’s is tempting indeed. But then I would not know how that would influence the rest of Ryzels build.
I have 4 toggle on Skills at the moment, well Aether Ward is not a Skill but I have to toggle it on. And while leveling from lvl 50 to 60 I will be taking Field Command which is also a Toggle on skill, so at that point I will have 5 Toggle on abilities. Also I will take Menhir’s Bulwark once I can, it is part of the build Ryzel made. But how do you mean that I have to many attack skills, right now I use Shadow Strike … ABB and Blade Spirit?
Well Ryzel’s build shows me which constellations this build has, I am following those. Some where in his build thread he mentions this …
I think I gave a Devotion breakdown in a previous post, but basically get Tsunami (bound to ABB) first, then when you get 13 ( He mentioned 11 points but that was incorrect. ) points take out Tsunami and get Spider, Hammer, and first 3 in Crown for Elemental Storm (bound to ABB). Then get Blue Crossroads and Eel and Murmur devotion ( I have to finish Viper first before I can take Murmur. ) should be gotten after Crown but before Amatok. Then get Amatok/Blizzard, should be around the same time you’ve leveled up enough to get Blade Spirit. Bind it to Blade Spirit, then finish Amatok and Crown and Green Crossroads and get Hawk, which should allow you to take points out of Spider to put into starting/finishing Owl, which should allow you to take points out of Hammer. Then just finish the Devotion tree as shown on grimtools. ( Build link is in my opening post. )
Devotions aren’t permanent; later, nemesis bosses can even drop a potion that resets your whole setup. My suggestion was just to get you over the hump you’re experiencing; later, once you’re past it and you’re not having any more difficulties, you could always respec back into your desired devotion setup. You could even keep Targo - checking his build, it was pre-expansion, and the 5 new devotion points are free.
Hmm you are correct … I forgot that I can always respec when I want. Besides now that I think about it, I am reasonably certain that I will not get to see many shrines any more in act 4. At least not many that will help getting a full Murmur. Guess I could take Anvil for now and re-take spider in Elite again to get the rest of the constellations mentioned in the build by Ryzel.
Thank you Marney.
EDIT: Well there goes that idea … for now. I am most likely doing something wrong, but at the moment I can not seem to take back Spider? I went to that women in Devil’s Crossing and when I hovered over the Spider it showed that it is linked to Rowan’s Crown in red? Taking back the green crossroads point also did not allow me to take back Spider. Does this mean I have to take back Rowan’s Crown? ( And as such Elemental Storm. ) If so then that is a big no no.
Oh, sorry, I didn’t notice you were already up to the Crown. The tooltip means the green affinity points from the Spider are supporting the Crown, which has a requirement of 6 green.
The thing is, your devotions aren’t currently doing all they could be for you. This setup might give you more bang for your buck - it keeps the Crown, completes the Serpent, and adds the Anvil with its Hammer proc: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/4Vxbp0EN
You could even remove all the Crossroads points and start on the Chariot of the Dead constellation; with 3 more points you could add a very decent heal/defense proc too. Don’t be afraid to revise devotions as necessary; they level up faster as you get further into the game, because later enemies are worth more XP anyway. I’ve changed one character’s setup 3 times in the past 2 days.
OK, just saw this. Let me start clearing up some confusion. For starters, I’ve made a point by point breakdown of exactly what to do with devotion points for the build.
1 - Blue CR
2-6 - Tsunami
7 - Green CR
8-10 - Hawk
11 -
Remove Tsunami
Remove Blue CR
Remove Hawk
Complete Spider
Remove Green CR
Put point in Purple CR
Complete Hammer
Remove Purple CR
Put 3 points in Rhowan’s Crown (E Storm)
12 - Blue CR
13-15 - Eel
16 - Red CR
17-18 - Jackal
19 -
Complete Jackal
Remove Red CR
Put 1 point in Murmur
20-23 - Murmur (Get Frostburn Node)
24-26 - Behemoth (G Blood)
27-32 - Amatok (Blizzard on 30)
33 -
Complete Amatok
Remove Blue CR
Put 1 point in Owl
34-35 - Owl
36 -
Complete Owl
Remove Hammer
Put 3 points in Chariot of the Dead
37-40 - Chariot of the Dead
41 -
Complete Murmur
Remove Jackal
Put 3 points in Quill
42 -
Complete Quill
Remove Spider
Complete Toad
Put 1 point in Rhowan’s Crown
43 - Rhowan’s Crown
44 - Purple CR
45-51 - Leviathan
52-55 - Viper
The two devotions that have flexibility (meaning you can get them whenever instead of when I’ve listed them) are Behemoth and Viper, although I recommend getting them when I do because I prioritize getting devotion abilities ASAP so they can start leveling ASAP. That being said, if you feel like you want more damage earlier you can put off Behemoth till after Blizzard, and if you’re having mana problems Viper can help a lot with that.
Well Ryzel seems to have a higher OA and a lower DA so I assume that means the build is more melee … and that is how I play myself actually. I activate Veil of Shadows / Chilling Weapons and Ice Surge and then jump in with Shadow Strike. After that I attack with ABB( Linked to Elemental Storm. ) and also use Blade Spirit.
When needed I use PB / Blade Barrier and Overguard.
Yeah I see you only have three, so the problem you have is little defense. Like no abilities that go off on a certain thing, like soldiers menhir’s will or turtle shell for example. I would take away veil of shadow, and get pneumatic burst with shadow dance. If you dont want that then get turtle shell or another defensive constellation.
Well I have 2 Points in Menhirs Will, also there is Ice Surge from the Glacier Relic, I also have Aether Blastwave on the belt. Also the shield can call forth a Stallward Guardian. ( 10% chance on block, and my block chance is at the moment 40%.
Taking away Veil of Shadows … no way. As for Shadow Dance, that will happen but at a later level. Till level 60 I will first get Field Command to 10, after that I will work on these choices that Ryzel mentioned …
Nightblade:
12/12 Shadow Dance: Do this only after you get all the + to skills items, otherwise leave at 1 point. Great defensive buff for you, extra dodge chance helps you tank longer. Diminishing returns in ultimate ranks.
MAX Elemental Awakening: Flat Frostburn + Frostburn buff + Elemental resists. Yes please.
Soldier:
10/16 Menhir’s Will*- Solid circuit breaker. Diminishing returns for more points invested, skill at 10/16 is plenty strong enough.
12/12 Overguard*- Makes you practically invincible while it’s on. Important for tank builds. Diminishing returns in ultimate ranks means just leave it at 12/12.
10/10 Military Conditioning*- Great passive health boost. Could invest more skill points here if you want to be tankier, but not necessary.
10/10 Shield Training*- Makes having a shield turn you into much more of a tank. Diminishing returns in ultimate ranks.
MAX Field Command*- Very strong passive buff. Smaller diminishing returns means it’s worthwhile to max this.
7/8 Scars of Battle*- Great passive buff for tanking/CC reduction. Would max if I had one more skill point*
15/12 Menhir’s Bulwark*- Great passive for tanking due to health regen and damage absorption. Get to 15/12 since after that damage absorption starts getting diminishing returns.
One Point Wonders:
Blitz*- Great for mobility and applying 2 sources of Flat Frostburn at once with a decent magnifier.
Fighting Spirit*- Nice OA + damage boost.
Decorated Soldier*- Resist buff passive.
Squad Tactics*- Little bit of damage.
Amarasta’s Blade Burst*- Level this to 17/16 if at all possible during the leveling phase as you will need all the Frostburn sources you can get. Once you get your core legendaries though, the damage per skill point invested becomes a little too much and you should revert this back to 1 point since you won’t need the DPS quite as much.
Lethal Assault*- When the expansion hits, this will be maxed with the new skill points. In the meantime though, just leave it at 1.
Phantasmal Armor*- Nice passive armor buff.
Anatomy of Murder*- Nice +% damage to humans buff and helps OA through buffing Cunning.
Merciless Repertoire*- Great Frostburn damage boost, but only leave at 1 point because other Frostburn boosting skills do more (Elemental Awakening + Lethal Assault).
Shadow Strike*- Needed to apply Nightfall.
Ring of Steel + Ring of Frost + Circle of Slaughter*- 24% Fumble chance and a nice bit of damage for minimal skill point investment.
Blade Spirit*- Makes Blizzard Great Again™.
Put more points in Menhir’s Will. If you’re proccing it consistently, feel free to bump it up to like 10/16.
Remember that this is first and foremost a DoT build. You don’t need to facetank anything. Apply your skill rotations, kite for a few seconds, and repeat.
At the moment with the changes I made gear wise, survivability has become a lot better. Those Flesh Hulks are not so dangerous any more as they where before the changes.
It is not proccing consistently, but a bit more then at the beginning of the game. I use PB when needed and if it is in cooldown I use a health potion. But once I have a few points in Field Command then I will put a few more in Menhir’s Will for certain.
Yes that is what I started doing now, Shadow Strike in attack with ABB … activate Blade Spirit and run till I can use Shadow Strike again. The fun thing about Blade Spirit in my opinion is that for about 6 seconds you can have two of them active.
