Most stuff stacks, but auras do not. Also be sure to equip and use the aura skill, it does not work automatically.
A good newbie tip is to use all the (completed) components you find, you will get more than enough and it's fun to experiment. There's whole builds around using skills from components as the main damage skill.
Yup, good advice about components. Given the coldstone auras don't stack, you may want to look at adding a chilled steel to one of your weapons, which grants an ice spike skill. If you've got a some extra cold damage, then it can trash most stuff pretty quickly through to the end of normal. Or you could just leave both coldstones for the extra damage conversion. Up to you really.
Searing embers skill is good as well (fireblast) but you have access to more cold damage as a spellbreaker so a chilled steel would probably work better.
Also the inventor in devils crossing can remove components from weapons but you lose the weapon in the process (or vice versa) this is good when leveling and replacing your gear fairly often, as you don't have to waste another completed component
- edit - actually a searing ember would work pretty well, if you're using flash freeze. That has a big fire resistance debuff, leaving shit to melt to fireblasts
Yeah, I made my way to Homestead last night and was annoyed by how spiky the difficulty seemed to be. One moment I'm trashing everything and in the next one of those elemental revenants completely shits on me. Never had these problems when I played a ranged character but I started looking for resistance gear. When I couldn't find anything I finally figured out I could try crafting. I've now put components into every slot and my resistances are at an acceptable level. Can't wait to play again tonight.
Yeah, I made my way to Homestead last night and was annoyed by how spiky the difficulty seemed to be. One moment I'm trashing everything and in the next one of those elemental revenants completely shits on me. Never had these problems when I played a ranged character but I started looking for resistance gear. When I couldn't find anything I finally figured out I could try crafting. I've now put components into every slot and my resistances are at an acceptable level. Can't wait to play again tonight.
Ha. yeah revenants were buffed a few patches ago. They used to be pushovers but not anymore.
Also, if you were getting murked by them in the steps of torment, that's a pretty high level area designed for later on, so they can be extra rough in there if you're not prepared
Level 47 now, next stop: Necropolis. I'm really happy with the Spellbreaker now. Tearing through most stuff like it's nothing, only cold resistant enemies are a bit of a chore.
When the expansion comes will someone make a new OT ? This game deserves so much more attention n i think that will help. Most expansions get new thread. Reaper of souls warcraft expansions etc
When the expansion comes will someone make a new OT ? This game deserves so much more attention n i think that will help. Most expansions get new thread. Reaper of souls warcraft expansions etc
If there's interest in it. I don't even mind if somebody else wants to make it. I had more plans when I made this one but then life happened and then when I had more time for games I got distracted by other titles. I still load Grim Dawn up time to time but not enough to really create discussion.
Level 47 now, next stop: Necropolis. I'm really happy with the Spellbreaker now. Tearing through most stuff like it's nothing, only cold resistant enemies are a bit of a chore.
Might need to start looking at resist reduction options if you aren't already
Now. Maybe I should have said something earlier, but... cold damage isn't the greatest damage type to focus solely on when it gets to higher level. The gear support isn't great and outside of Nightblade, not too many classes have much access to it. Also the devotion support isn't great either compared to other damage types. Not that it doesn't work, but if you want to build an OMGFACEROLL4LOLZ endgame type build, cold probably isn't the best. The strongest spellbreaker builds at the moment are based around phantasmal blades, which is more vitality
My level 85 cold based spellbreaker has the most dust collected out of all my toons right now. He's sitting at the end of Ultimate, and feels a bit broken with the way the game is at the moment, and I'm not exactly sure how to fix him with out respeccing him away from cold damage.
If there's interest in it. I don't even mind if somebody else wants to make it. I had more plans when I made this one but then life happened and then when I had more time for games I got distracted by other titles. I still load Grim Dawn up time to time but not enough to really create discussion.
Quick question: I'm at the inner necropolis, once I clear the game on veteran do I directly move on to elite or whatever it's called or should I farm better gear for a bit?
Quick question: I'm at the inner necropolis, once I clear the game on veteran do I directly move on to elite or whatever it's called or should I farm better gear for a bit?
You're supposed to mess up the three blood wagons and then go fight the not-cthulhu in the middle dungeon.
If you're done with that, make sure you've gotten all the golden chests, as they will give you one epic item guaranteed. Also a good idea to do each of the three roguelike dungeons once.
I really want to love this game, but I'm getting constant stuttering. Has anyone else experienced this? I have a gaming laptop with a 1060 (the 6gb variant) and a i7 HQ CPU, 16GB of ram.
I'm running at 1080p, settings maxed. If I turn off vsync, i can get above 100fps, so it's not that my hardware can't handle the game. But i'll go to kill a guy, and it just stutters, fps drops to 5 or less, then jumps right back up.
Is there a known issue or anything? I read somewhere that cloud saves could be causing it, so I turned that off. Still had the issue though.
I really want to love this game, but I'm getting constant stuttering. Has anyone else experienced this? I have a gaming laptop with a 1060 (the 6gb variant) and a i7 HQ CPU, 16GB of ram.
I'm running at 1080p, settings maxed. If I turn off vsync, i can get above 100fps, so it's not that my hardware can't handle the game. But i'll go to kill a guy, and it just stutters, fps drops to 5 or less, then jumps right back up.
Is there a known issue or anything? I read somewhere that cloud saves could be causing it, so I turned that off. Still had the issue though.
So, I went to Port Valbury and it didn't go so well. Some boss one-shot me because I thought I could tank his little meteor shower. I did manage to clear the Steps of Torment without any difficulty though. I'm now trying to get all the one-shot chests I missed and finishing up the new quests I got through higher reputation levels.
E: And I hate the green aether corruption stuff on the ground with the crystals you have to destroy. It's the most annoying element in the game for me, I hate dealing with that stuff. I wish they'd dial it down a notch.
Ya Port Valburys tough. It was only added recently and is noticeably harder then the other two. That's in part to the forkin floor damage. The boss is probably the toughest of the 3 as well. He becomes a real dps check when his health gets low.
Although I haven't played SoT in a while, that's supposed to be a little harder now too. BoC is still probably the best though. There's a ton of xp to be had there, and I think has the most guaranteed hero spawns of the 3.
Oh and if your level 50, I'd get cracking in elite. Its where the game starts to get interesting as purples start to drop, and builds really start to come together
I realized you can apply augments on top of components, now I actually have some aether resistance... Just got to Act 2 on elite difficulty and I'm pretty happy with my resistances now. Kind of facerolling it at the moment, I think I'm a bit overleveled...
Ha, Aether resist. You used to be able to get away with ignoring it, but now with Port Valbury and a buff to those aether wraiths in the rotting croplands amongst other things, it's hard to get away with. Not to mention crucible, where its pretty much suicide without it. Come Ultimate (and especially if you dabble in crucible) some stun resist will help too. That can be easier said then done though. It's a tricky stat to find
Augs can only start to be applied at level 50, and when you have faction rep, I believe, at honored. At that point its just rings, ammy and weapons. There's also another tier at 70 when you have them at revered status, that allows you to put them on all gear. Your resists take another hit when you go to ultimate, so they can get tricky to balance and thats where those augs come in. They finally just added to the UI showing how much over cap you are too, which is really helpful when trying to balance them all.
As for facerolling act 2 of elite (you shouldn't be too much higher then lvl 60), you're doing far better then my first character. Resists? What are they? However the last patch or 2 (aside from some nerfs at the top end) did apparently smooth out the difficulty curve on the way to ultimate. I haven't leveled anyone since those changes though and plus when you know what you're doing, elite is (or at least was) mostly pretty easy.
I just dinged 60 and I'm making my way to Homestead. The difficulty went up a bit when I got to the Arkovian Undercity. I thought I could probably still do the quest where you have to kill the three guys in there but the second guy one-shot me with the ice meteor thing he has. I think I'll leave this for later. I have to say though, I'm really impressed by how the difficulty scales in this game. It was a bit too easy for a while there, probably because I overleveled a bit, but generally the game does a great job at adjusting the strength of the mobs. I also really like that there are areas I just can't do yet and will have to revisit later.
Grim Dawns itemization is quite vast and complex. Legendary items feature a wide variety of skill procs and granted abilities, but still it felt like something was missing from the formula. With the expansion, we look to improve upon the vast array of items available to you by introducing Item-granted Skill Modifiers!
What does that mean exactly? It means that in addition to the basic attributes such as damage bonuses, health and resistances, items will be able to also Modify your Mastery skills. This means we will be able to introduce new effects, debuffs or even completely change the damage of an ability through equipment.
Just got the Crucible DLC on sale on steam. This is more fun than I thought it would be, I only played a couple of rounds though and haven't yet managed to even get to wave 100. These damn stone throwing things keep one-shotting me when more than one of them throws their stupid stones at me and I don't have time to react
Welcome to the endgame. Some people farm nemesis, I die over and over in the crucible. I have 15 level 85 toons, all beaten ultimate, all pretty well geared (none optimally though, cos drop rates) and can clear 150 waves on the second difficulty now with 8 of them. And most of those require some good rng to not get a fucked up nemesis combo. Two of those clears were just yesterday too, including my cold based, sky shard spellbreaker, who after repeccing devotions and making a couple of other changes is a bit of a beast all of a sudden.
Up to 100 is easy, but those last 50 with multiple nemesis on waves can be complete fuckery. I haven't even toyed too much with Gladiator yet, because I want to be able to reliably clear challenger first.
And yeah, I've died more times to those shamblers then probably anything else (although Iron Maiden would be catching up). Their fireball rocks deal a stupid amount of physical damage. Without 20+ percent physical resist, just one of them can knock half a health bar of a character with 10k hps. The trick is to get in close, and finish them quick. They only throw the fireballs if you are staying at range. They hit pretty hard in close as well, but their stuff is pretty massively telegraphed so its pretty easy to stay out of the way of. There's still the issue of 'oh look some stars on this side of the map let me just make my way over there and - ' *cops five offscreen fireballs to the head* Rip
Another tip is the crucible is no place for glass cannons. You can (and I have) scrape through aspirant 150 with a hell of a lot of pot guzzling, but challenger, especially wave 50+, is damn near impossible without a slightly more defensive setup. You want to aim for at least 2k DA, and around 10k hps (by level 85), give or take, which is easier said then done, especially on a class like spellbreaker (mine now has just over 2k and 9.2k). Also defensive devotions are a must. Some good ones of the top of my head that grant defensive skills are giants blood, tree of life, chariot of the dead and scales of ulcana. Don't be fooled by turtle shell or arcane barrier though. They're ok at lower levels, but in Ultimate its not worth it. The shields have zero resists, so the 3k mitigation disappears, just as quick as you see it go up. Other nodes you want to look at for defensive purposes are solemn watcher, wolverine, the eel (my homie), empty throne (resists, especially stun) and targo the builder. Or basically anything with a percentage boost to DA is pretty valuable
Also, if you aren't, chuck at least 1 point in nullification. Don't be put off by it's long cooldown. It makes bosses with auras, like shield and deflect absolutely trivial. Looking at you Cronley
I just cleared Elite yesterday and did some Crucible runs. Wave 89 was the best I could do. Haven't looked at respeccing devotions yet though and I currently only have points in offensive stuff. I really do enjoy having to think about resists and all that though. Spent a good amount of my playing time today just adjusting my components and augments to optimize my resists on ultimate.
Edit: Huh, respecced my devotions to a more defensive spec and managed to clear wave 100.
Let's take a quick look at some of the skills available to necromancers:
Please note that as the masteries are still under development, the following information may change by release.
Necromancers employ horrifying minions and debilitating spells that harvest the very souls from their foes, making them a deadly combatant at any distance. Their greatest strength lies in the use of Aether and Vitality magic, though they do not shy away from using Cold and Poison as well.
Drain Essence
"Necromancers firmly believe in the concept of greater good, and sometimes the greater good means that one's life essence must be sacrificed so that another may live. Though this transfer is frowned upon, some practitioners have trouble resisting the temptation of raw vital energy."
Who needs potions when you've got enemies? Healing yourself is just a mere foe away. With sufficient practice, a necromancer can cause this ability to consume vitality from additional nearby foes as well.
Raise Skeletons
"The art of reanimating skeletal remains is among the first rites of aspiring Necromancers, but also one of the most rudimentary. Through sheer will, a Necromancer may call upon the spirits beyond the veil and draw them into the bones of the deceased. Should the ritual succeed, skeletal minions, loyal only to the summoner, shall rise. However, due to the unstable nature of the spell, such minions will not remain standing for long."
A necromancer is not complete without an arsenal of undead minions to do his bidding. With this ability, you raise three skeletons to serve you. More powerful minions have a chance to emerge at higher ranks. Bring forth any combination of warriors, archers, mages and revenants.
Further mastery through modifiers increases the summon limit as well as the longevity and durability of your undead servants. When fully trained, any foes you slay have a chance to reset the cooldown.
Necrotic Edge
"By striking with the chill of the grave, your attacks inflict instant necrosis upon the afflicted wound, the sight of which can cause even the most resolute foes to falter."
This devastating weapon pool proc strikes foes with chilling fear. While it works with any weapon type, it cleaves additional foes when used with melee weapons.
And more...
Shatter the souls of your enemies to conjure violent wraiths. Bolster your minions with necrotic powers. Fill the battlefield with disease and rot. The Necromancer offers cruel new ways to dispose of your pathetic enemies.
Class combination names you can look forward to: Apostate, Cabalist, Death Knight, Defiler, Reaper, Ritualist and Spellbinder.
I'm gunna be that guy and say I'm a little underwhelmed. I was hoping if they did necro, it would be a fresh take, like an Aetherial witch that can summon aether corruptions and such. But nope, looks like a pretty traditional necro, which another big arpg out there also happen to be adding to their game this year as well. Not to mention the slight lore implications with Kymons Chosen
I'll wait and see though. I'm sure there'll be interesting stuff in there
Haha. Yeah, Death Knight is the one necro combo I'm interested in. Not sure how well it will synergize with Soldier, but it sure could be fun to roleplay.
I'm guessing (pretty sure it was confirmed somewhere) one act which will entail something along the lines of
- save Ulgrim from the void to give us reason to deal with more Cthonics.
- start the trek to the capital through the Ugdenbog (and maybe one or two other areas) and likely deal with a new faction or two on the way
- get to capital and deal with the aetherial threat once and for all
They also hinted in that stream that the new devotions aren't to far off from being shown. Looking forward to that. Can I get a proper tier 3 constellation for lightening builds please?
I'm making my way to Homestead on Ultimate and I'm really not happy with the damage I'm putting out on my Spellbreaker. I'm ok with how I can take damage and I'm not running into too much problems surviving stuff but it takes forever to kill bosses and stuff.
Edit: Nevermind, respecced and damage is pretty nice so far.
Edit 2: Hm, not sure if it's because the areas in general just got tougher or I've somehow lost a bit of survivability. Suddenly feel a bit squishy, but I think I've pretty much the same defensive skills as before.
Edit: 3: Damage is actually pretty nice, I think I've at least tripled my damage. Shadow Strike is a beast now.
Ya, Homestead onwards in ultimate can be pretty tough for squishy characters. Obviously resists are important, especially vita and chaos for a few late areas, but don't under estimate the importance of offensive and defensive ability. Ideally by level 85 you want at least 2400 OA, and 2000+ DA (DA is easier said then done on a class like spellbreaker). The DA has become especially important in the last few patches as well.
I've spent a bit of time with my spellbreaker in the last week or two, tweaking the shit out of him. I cleared Gladiator crucible to wave 100 (died on 108) just using the health buff from wave 90. If I load him up with other buffs, he should go further. Here's what he looks like now (still very much WIP, need to fix those resists up). I also leveled him a long time ago before realizing 100% physique is the way to go. I ended up with about 30 points in spirit which are a bit wasted. Also when I picked him back up a few weeks ago, I had something like 4500 hps, 2200 OA and 1700 DA, so he's come a long way
That OA's kinda low though, and health as well. Still far better then my first character. I guess without a treasure trove of goodies to dig into it can be pretty hard to get things to a good level. A couple of suggestions that shouldn't rely too much on good old rng dropping some nice stuff
- I'd ditch the swatch on the chestpiece and put on a chains of Oleron for a nice hit of OA. You should be able to pick up the pierce and bleed elsewhere if you're not overcapped
- I'm pretty sure I mentioned earlier but make sure Inner focus is at least 12/12
- If you have Devils Crossing rep maxed, seriously consider the survivors ingenuity augment for rings and ammys.
- Further to that if you have maxed rep with factions try to make up as much of your resists as possible with the augments that can go on any armor. That's their only purpose and can free up components, gear and devotions for other uses
- Get chariot of the dead devotion if you haven't. Its on the way to Leviathan (which I trust you have) Lots of OA and a nice defensive proc. I managed to fit that and giants blood for defense and elemental storm, blizzard and whirlpool for offense
- Shard of Asketaran is a good weapon for cold builds, Mindwarp not so much. Until you find a a better second weapon, maybe consider a caster offhand? Generally they come with some nice CDR. CDR can be really powerful, as it affects devotion as a well as skills. You should already have CDR from star pact, which you can pretty much double with one. Big difference between 15 and 30 odd percent
- Leathery hide component I've found is a must for most builds in the helm slot. Reduced stun is real hard to come by and some health as well is always nice
- More often then not corpse dust is the best component for rings
Yeah, I really have to do something about the gear, some of the pieces are kind of bad and I haven't paid that much attention to it. I'll respec when I'm playing next time, I don't think I've maxed Inner Focus and I don't even have enough points in Arcanist to get Star Pact...
I'll try to get chariot and giants blood but I'm currently specced in the other direction and have healing rain.
I started a hardcore character this weekend, a first for me in any Diablo-type game. I'm getting addicted to this game all over again I think. Already had a couple near-death scares so I guess we'll see how far I can go lol.
Yeah, I really have to do something about the gear, some of the pieces are kind of bad and I haven't paid that much attention to it. I'll respec when I'm playing next time, I don't think I've maxed Inner Focus and I don't even have enough points in Arcanist to get Star Pact...
I'll try to get chariot and giants blood but I'm currently specced in the other direction and have healing rain.
Re gear if you can get your hands on any parts of the eastern set, its pretty strong for cold builds. It's a blue set, so pieces shouldn't be TOO hard to come by. It even competes pretty well with a lot of the cold based purple gear
And nothing wrong with healing rain. Its prob the best defensive constellation in the game. Its does take a pretty big investment though. I think having chariot of the dead and giants blood is a little better, as the other nodes in chariot are good for offense, and giants blood has health and regen like the tree. And your dude needs that OA...
And i'd look at maxing arcanist for start pact. You also get the stats for leveling the mastery as well, which always help
I started a hardcore character this weekend, a first for me in any Diablo-type game. I'm getting addicted to this game all over again I think. Already had a couple near-death scares so I guess we'll see how far I can go lol.
Ha good luck. I played D3 pretty much exclusively hardcore for a few thousand hours. I wanted to here as well, but the time to level takes a lot longer, and the game can throw some nasty damage spikes at you when you least expect it, so I never had the balls.
I have leveled a few characters, that haven't had there first death till well into Ultimate though, so maybe I should think about it
Its probably too late, but you would have the easiest time with a sword and board Commando (Demo + soldier). Really tanky class combo and capable of some good damage as well
Ha good luck. I played D3 pretty much exclusively hardcore for a few thousand hours. I wanted to here as well, but the time to level takes a lot longer, and the game can throw some nasty damage spikes at you when you least expect it, so I never had the balls.
I have leveled a few characters, that haven't had there first death till well into Ultimate though, so maybe I should think about it
Its probably too late, but you would have the easiest time with a sword and board Commando (Demo + soldier). Really tanky class combo and capable of some good damage as well
I have uh...half of your suggestion lol. I'm doing Saboteur! (Demo+Nightblade)
I think Nightblade has some good damage avoidance, as well as some self-healing skills in there. In theory it should be very okay but uh...we'll see haha. Demo is amazing though for levelling. Canister bomb is super godlike right now.
But yeah I went into one of the optional areas I think right before burrwitch village where it warns that something much stronger than me was lurking inside. I forgot I was playing hardcore and said 'hey, how bad could it be?' Had a couple ultra close calls in there.
I would say that I'm gonna take my time and level but thanks to the level scaling and faction system I don't think I can just grind my way to victory in this game.
Re gear if you can get your hands on any parts of the eastern set, its pretty strong for cold builds. It's a blue set, so pieces shouldn't be TOO hard to come by. It even competes pretty well with a lot of the cold based purple gear
And nothing wrong with healing rain. Its prob the best defensive constellation in the game. Its does take a pretty big investment though. I think having chariot of the dead and giants blood is a little better, as the other nodes in chariot are good for offense, and giants blood has health and regen like the tree. And your dude needs that OA...
And i'd look at maxing arcanist for start pact. You also get the stats for leveling the mastery as well, which always help
I spent about 3 hours yesterday evening shuffling around points and gear. This is what I came up with:
Got rid of the Mindwrap and decided to go for a 3 piece combo of the Unseeing Eye set. Also replaced the head with an Elite Death's Headguard for the resistances, OA and DA stats. Completely respecced my devotions as well, I had almost no offensive devotions because I thought Ultimate would destroy me but after a couple of tests I think I'm not doing that bad. Whirlpool is a pretty great skill, like it a lot. My HP pool did take a hit though that I've mostly mitigated with Corpse Dust on my rings and the Breath of Life augment from the rovers. Oh, and I did replace the swatch on the new chest with a Chains of Oleron. I did max Arcanist as well and got Star Pact. I think I'm going to try moving stuff around again tonight, I don't know about the Unseeing Eye set, and I did like the Essence of Beronath amulet I had to get rid of to get the 3 piece bonus because it had +1 to all skills. I still have two other weapons I could try: Blood Carver and Duelist's Saber but they both have lower damage than the Fist of the Blind Assassin.
I have uh...half of your suggestion lol. I'm doing Saboteur! (Demo+Nightblade)
I think Nightblade has some good damage avoidance, as well as some self-healing skills in there. In theory it should be very okay but uh...we'll see haha. Demo is amazing though for levelling. Canister bomb is super godlike right now.
But yeah I went into one of the optional areas I think right before burrwitch village where it warns that something much stronger than me was lurking inside. I forgot I was playing hardcore and said 'hey, how bad could it be?' Had a couple ultra close calls in there.
I would say that I'm gonna take my time and level but thanks to the level scaling and faction system I don't think I can just grind my way to victory in this game.
Not to mention a big chunk of your xp earned comes from completing quests. Killing more will obv net more xp, but the difference isn't immediately huge. It does make a difference over the course of a playthrough though. As for the factions, one of those (Black Legion) is a little grindy to max, but most of the others you should have maxed somewhere in ultimate just from playing.
There are actually 2 of those areas, just before Burrwitch too. An unmarked cave, and a locked door. Arguably whats behind the door is worse, but both things can rip an unprepared toon to shreds pretty easily
Saboteur is actually one of only a couple of combos I haven't used yet. In theory it should do ok with survivability, with blast shield (seriously you'll need 10/12 points as a minimum) , pnematic burst, and debuff from nights chill, and skills like Flashbang and circle of slaughter. I don't think it would match a commando or even witchblade for tankiness, but should do ok.
In fact now you've got me thinking a phantasmal blades build (for lifesteal) with Flashbangs, and maybe Grenado for lols could be good fun.
Oh and you're right. Cannister bomb is a great leveling skill, but falls off a bit at higher levels. When you start to notice that, take the transmuter and it becomes pretty awesome cc though. Everyone take a knee....
I spent about 3 hours yesterday evening shuffling around points and gear. This is what I came up with:
Got rid of the Mindwrap and decided to go for a 3 piece combo of the Unseeing Eye set. Also replaced the head with an Elite Death's Headguard for the resistances, OA and DA stats. Completely respecced my devotions as well, I had almost no offensive devotions because I thought Ultimate would destroy me but after a couple of tests I think I'm not doing that bad. Whirlpool is a pretty great skill, like it a lot. My HP pool did take a hit though that I've mostly mitigated with Corpse Dust on my rings and the Breath of Life augment from the rovers. Oh, and I did replace the swatch on the new chest with a Chains of Oleron. I did max Arcanist as well and got Star Pact. I think I'm going to try moving stuff around again tonight, I don't know about the Unseeing Eye set, and I did like the Essence of Beronath amulet I had to get rid of to get the 3 piece bonus because it had +1 to all skills. I still have two other weapons I could try: Blood Carver and Duelist's Saber but they both have lower damage than the Fist of the Blind Assassin.
Yeah thats looking a bit better. Keep in mind you need to get some levels on the devotion skills you've repecced to, so it should only get stronger. Whirlpools pretty stonk too, one of the better tier 3 skills. I just wish it had better vfx. Its just like a big blue blob on the ground.
I haven't really used the set you're using, but a quick check looks like it supports bleed and pierce. Pierce is good for a breaker, but bleed doesn't tend to synergize as well with cold skills. The essence of beronath is also one of the better ammys in the game, and is pretty competitive for BiS on alot of builds. In fact prob the only thing that outright beats it is a peerless eye of beronath, which is a little harder to come by, but offers similar bonuses, +1 all being the main thing. I'd switch that ammy back in. You'll get more from that, then some extra pierce and bleed damage.
And craft a nemesis relic if you have it. +1 Nightblade and a pet manticore that scales of your damage is pretty damn good. Or an Iksandra balance is pretty good as well.
*goes and convulses in corner at thought of crafting mythical relics*
And try not to pay attention to sheet dps to much. That doesn't account for a lot of things. Its only looking at your 2 mouse skills, and doesn't account for a lot of other things. Also if you have a skill with any sort of cooldown assigned it seems to throw it out totally. As an example my spellbreaker has around 8k sheet deeps (from skyshard), and my Warlocks aether ray clocks in at just over 100k. My breaker can clear a lot faster then my warlock...
Also don't forget to check green weapons as well. Especially monster infrequents. They are easiest identified by having a monster name in the title of the item. Like Bloodlord Thalonis sword, or Wardens mace, or Cronley Signet etc. They often have a line or so of lore under the item name as well. It took me ages to pay attention to those, because they show as just a regular green drop. I've wished for the longest time that they change that to an easier way to identify them, but it is what it is. See here for a full list of whats out there
You may want to try farming Loxmere for his dagger, which with the right rolls can outperform even the best cold based purples. You should be able to find him in the plains of strife somewhere around those aether patches, around the right side of the map.
Or the crucible is great for MI's, from wave 100 up in just about any difficulty. Thats where I get most of mine from
Not to mention a big chunk of your xp earned comes from completing quests. Killing more will obv net more xp, but the difference isn't immediately huge. It does make a difference over the course of a playthrough though. As for the factions, one of those (Black Legion) is a little grindy to max, but most of the others you should have maxed somewhere in ultimate just from playing.
There are actually 2 of those areas, just before Burrwitch too. An unmarked cave, and a locked door. Arguably whats behind the door is worse, but both things can rip an unprepared toon to shreds pretty easily
Saboteur is actually one of only a couple of combos I haven't used yet. In theory it should do ok with survivability, with blast shield (seriously you'll need 10/12 points as a minimum) , pnematic burst, and debuff from nights chill, and skills like Flashbang and circle of slaughter. I don't think it would match a commando or even witchblade for tankiness, but should do ok.
In fact now you've got me thinking a phantasmal blades build (for lifesteal) with Flashbangs, and maybe Grenado for lols could be good fun.
Oh and you're right. Cannister bomb is a great leveling skill, but falls off a bit at higher levels. When you start to notice that, take the transmuter and it becomes pretty awesome cc though. Everyone take a knee....
Looking at Saboteur, I'm thinking I'll probably try to maximize DPS. Of course, it's very apparent that it's not gonna tank like anything involving a soldier so hopefully it will murder things fast enough to not matter. We'll see if it's a happy enough medium to carry on till ultimate (or else...well, hardcore and all lol). I'm starting off ranged and levelling with canister bomb + item skills but I'll probably switch to dual wield around level 40-50?
But hey, maybe if you decide to try a saboteur then you can find out which builds are amazing before I die lol. Of course, with the new classes and expansion coming out I'd be worried about burning out on this game. Kind of wish we had a release date on it. I want good necromancer action after wasting my money on Diablo 3.
I got to the blacksmith in Tyrant's Hold tonight and decided to blow my crafting mats on the lottery. Got a Direwolf's Crest and a Deathmarked Claw out of it and crafted the Tinker's Ingenuity Belt. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I also wanted to craft the Nemesis relic but it turned out that I'm missing the recipe for the Sanctuary relic.
