Purifier crit devotion / triple element / autoattack fire striker guide for dummies

[Rachskald]

This is a first step because I was so eager to share it, I will add to it later. it may be a bit chaotic but I may rewrite later

What the purifier fire strike/devotion build does:
Autoattack things with dual pistols whilst constantly channeling (critical!) meteor storms, chain lightnings, lightning storms and blizzards through your bullets (as well as whatever your items can proc for you) simultaneously. Add some buffs and a flashbang. It's all we need. And it's never as boring as it sounds. In fact, It has me quite exited!

Constant triple element area, burst and over time damage as well as cc in the form of stunning, freezing, slowing and knocking down large groups of mobs as well as single targets. And this is without considering flashbang, even. Add that - and who's the real monster?
Also, with 3 (sorta) heals (4 if you add pots) we are far from squishy.

It really is as good, easy, and fun as it sounds. And soaring through ultimate, I wished to share the bare bones of this autoattack build.

As a diablo, diablo 2, torchlight and titans quest veteran with more hours under my belt than I would like to admit, I started to deviate from my preferred complex gameplay builds and drifted more and more to, well thought out and planned, 'easy gameplay builds' focussed on a few focussed spells and attacks.

Long story short, I (kinda, should, or at least hope that I) know what I am talking about.
But if you like to juggle cooldowns and use your entire keyboard and 20 active skills in the span of a mere minute, you can stop reading - this will not be your thing.
I made several commandos and chaos strike builds pre-expansion, but the inquisitor class and the new devotions (Ulthos is insane!) as well as those extra skill and dev points make it SO much better I can not bear to even play some of my old characters.

Feel free to try your variations on this build. Add a spell, use inquisitors seal, try different devotions (whirpool seems awesome, but I could not get behind the investement needed)
I went back and forth time and time again but settled on this one. I am not saying it is THE most effective but it works and does exactly what I want. What more could one want from an arpg? Grim dawn just gives all the options, and I am eager to make use of them :)

I will not give a detailed guide on items, orders, gameplay etc, just the bare basics and ideas behind this build. Be sure to give it a spin, it is more than viable, you have my word.
I reset my GD and this was my first new character, so no old stash to fall back to. Just what I found.

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CLASSES:

We are a demolitionist/inquisitor. Which makes us a purifier.
And purify we do!
We remove the ungodly from the face of the earth with fire, ice and storm... and a bit of brimstone, which is all too fitting for scorching sinners.
But we also rub shoulders with witches and necromancers because we like power, are as curious as cats, and not complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s (I tried 8 variations here, it seems every insult known to the English language is prohibited here.... the more you know) like the inquisitors of old.
We are not in the middle ages anymore, and this is the GRIM dawn, after all.
We adapt. Also, personally, I like the coven a lot. And Barrowholme. Such glorious, Lovecraftian deviants. Not to mention Uroboruuk is a thousand times more interesting than deluded Kymon... But I digress. Apologies.

Devotion is our third 'skill tab' and maybe more important than any mastery or class skill. The power of the Gods is at our command, and we are all too eager to accept. Of course we avoid the witch Gods, evil spirits, and the likes of C'hton and dubious Empyreon. And to hell with anything aether!
Ok, yes, yes - we need the wraith, which is both an evil spirit and aether related, but we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Who do you call a hypocrite? Begone, heathen! If not for my pure heart I would cast thee to the pyre!

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Stats are easy as pie: enough physique and spirit for gear, everything else into cunning.

Let's talk a bit of gear.

Fire strike is used mainly as a basic attack - something to proc our stuff, as are the inquisitor ranged nodes. Damage on the skills or weapons themselves is not important at all, but attacking (and as such, critting and proccing stuff) as often as possible is -
so your best bet is to dualwield pistols and look for attack speed and on hit procs (I find the empowered Orwells revolver is great for its proc alone, even if the rest is underwhelming)
Of course, offense and damage (single or all elements) is good, and most of the good items have it, but it's not a priority. Getting the best items will net you around 1000 percent to all elements very easily.
On attack/being hit procs (especially those that compliment the build and damage types) and all kinds of speed are things to look for as well. But I am not here to hold your hand, feel free to experiment.

HOWEVER...

Enough armor and life not to get one or 2-shotted, as well as max or nearmax resists to everything are paramount, but with the items available and the insane amount of good augments and components (not to mention word of renewal for great aether and chaos resists) this should never be a real issue.

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Let's talk kills and most of all DEVOTION (the all star of this build!)

We NEED just ONE point in fire strike to have a basic ranged attack. The third node of this - static strike - actually does decent early and mid game lightning damage, as well as knocking down mobs. Chilling rounds for inquisitor freezes enemies. Storm spread is a nice crowd killer as well, and to a lesser degree, bursting rounds. That is, until the damage becomes so weak it hardly does anything but be a proc catalyst. These and some great buffs such as flame touched (adds to 2 of our 3 main damage types and makes us crit more often!) ranged expertise, conviction, and deadly aim should be a priority early and midgame. Maybe flashbang if you have trouble surviving, but I find that not getting it makes for a more exciting game early on. Matter of preference.

Until we get that devotion steamroller going late and mid game, there is nothing special here, but you should be able to plow through normal by sheer attack speed and some procs here and there.

I can not stress enough that we don't care about the damage on the skills itself.
It is mostly, if not exclusively, through devotion procs and critical hits that we rip through the crowds (and bosses!) and fire strike and the inquisitor procs are nothing more than a catalyst for our devotion 'skills' Again though, the knockdown and freeze of chilling rounds are great cc from the earliest game to the very end, so consider getting at least 6 points in those asap.

As a fire strike build, this may seem counterintuitive, however:

Feel free to max or add to fire strike itself and its side nodes at the very VERY end, but 1 point in fire strike and some in the lightning node is all we really NEED, or want.
In this build, the fire, physical and chaos damage is nothing to write home about. Underwhelming is an understatement.
I did end up maxing brimstone and the because I had points to spare, but its just some icing on the elemental cake.
Don't make it a priority!

So, get 1 point in fire strike. Invest in the static strike node. Get 6 points in bursting rounds, chilling rounds and storm spread. Max or at least invest heavily in flame touched and conviction for offense, procs and DoT. Enough points in flashbang and its node for cc and then, build on the new allstar word of renewal and its side nodes for great extra damage, heals, resists and resistance to stuns and freezes and the like. Seals are viable, especially with the extra crit damage, but I personally didn't like being rooted on the spot to get my buffs.

Ranged expertise should be at exactly 10 (with items) for its attack speed and damage before diminishing returns, and deadly aim should have some points early, and should probably be at the max of 15 points around level 80 or so. That damage boost will be there ALL the time and the extra crit damage and offense is awesome.

Blast shield merits a point for sure, or more if you like. Vindictive flame is nice enough for a few early points but wait for heavy investment later. It's side node, Ulzuins wrath, is great cc and extra damage when stuff hits you, so kind of a no brainer later. I chose to max it at the end. the almost guaranteed stunning and slowing of attackers is a life saver.

Soon enough we have an autoattack that counts as a basic attack, and a 20 percent chance each of proccing a fire ice or lightning attack. Not to mention we crit (hard!) all the time. Not even kidding, 25 percent to crit on bosses is rule more than exception.

And here is where the devotion comes in:

Get Ulthos constellation proc (on critical) on the fire strike itself, and Ulzuins, tempest and Ulamogs winter storm on one (doesnt matter which to which) of the three inquisitor procs. This rips through everything like a knife through butter, especially with our superior offense and critical hits. Trust me, they will be activating ALL the time for great effect, damage and crowd control wise (freezes slows and stuns are insane)

As if this was not powerful enough, with a tight devotion build we can JUST manage to take the behemoth (for giants blood) and chariot of the dead (also for a hefty heal and extra defense) on taking damage. Add pots and the fact that refreshing word or renewal can function as a fourth heal when timed right, and we are far from squishy.

Adding our buffs and the downright overpowered flashbang for great damage, cc, movement and survivability, we are now an official powerhouse in offense AND defense/survibability/cc

* to be continued

* a link to the grim calc. The bare nessecities are here but feel free to switch around in the less important skills, such as fire strike itself, explosive strike, brimstone, ulzuins wrath, etc. And it will look very different with +skill items. The devotion is very tight, I suggest taking it as is. 6 points in the inquisitor 'rounds', maxed flame touch, word of renewal, conviction aura, and 10 points in ranged expertise and a decent amound in flashbang and its side node, as well as static strike, are the essentials.

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/eVLLJ64V

Enjoy!

[ᑕYᗷEᖇᑕᗩT]

Interesting read. I’ll have to tweek it a bit but I do like the concept.

[stylez]

I've started a similar "hold LMB and everything dies" Purifier, since I have lots of pistol and rifle gear stockpiled. But I'm still only lvl 30, so I'm a ways off from being able to try most of this for myself. Some questions...

1) 24 points to get 6 pts in Brimstone seems a bit extreme; nothing else is going on at the end of the Demo tree. Would those 24 points be better spent elsewhere, or are the ammo fragments really that useful?

2) Since this build is spitting out massive amounts of Elemental damage, would the -% Ele Res from Censure be more worthwhile than +% Pierce/burn/etc Dmg from Conviction?

3) Likewise with the devotions, Rhowan's Crown's proc provides flat -RR, would that be more beneficial in the long run over Ultos' proc?

[Rachskald]

Originally posted by stylez:

I've started a similar "hold LMB and everything dies" Purifier, since I have lots of pistol and rifle gear stockpiled. But I'm still only lvl 30, so I'm a ways off from being able to try most of this for myself. Some questions...

1) 24 points to get 6 pts in Brimstone seems a bit extreme; nothing else is going on at the end of the Demo tree. Would those 24 points be better spent elsewhere, or are the ammo fragments really that useful?

2) Since this build is spitting out massive amounts of Elemental damage, would the -% Ele Res from Censure be more worthwhile than +% Pierce/burn/etc Dmg from Conviction?

3) Likewise with the devotions, Rhowan's Crown's proc provides flat -RR, would that be more beneficial in the long run over Ultos' proc?

1. The thing is, that for this build the points are simply not needed anywhere else. You can easily max, near max, or hit the sweet spot on all of the skills and passives we use.
That is, unless you wish to add a spell or the seal. The mastery points themselves are pretty useful as well, if just for the amount of life (often overseen) Also, more fragments means more hitting, which means more procs (especially the flat percentage on attack skills of gear!) which is the point of this build :) To be honest, you can easily not get brimstone, it is definitely not nessecary or ideal or well, that good. But hey, damage is damage, hits is hits, and it looks cool.
Also a bit of sentimentality, it harkens back to my old builds. And I wouldn't know what to do with the rest of the points.

If you wish to forego brimstone, add a nice damage spell of the demo varierety or a nice inquisitor rune. Or get the seal to complement your word of renewal.
Or both! I think the build can probably be more effective this way, even. I just didn't like the hassle or flavor of these options. Experiment and let me know how it worked out for you, easy enough to reset ;)

2. I considered it, the main reason for getting Conviction is the bonus to offense. More crits = more procs. Also, censure has a limited range. Arguments can be had for both. I find the DoT boost of Conviction is also pretty good though. Also, keep in mind that Censures damage is not directly added to your attack, but dealt to enemies somewhat near you.
Last but DEFINITELY not least, conviction gives a whopping 15 percent physical damage reduction! That's godly good.
I only wish we could get one of the Arcanist or the lightning shaman exclusive here, sigh. One can dream.

3. Ulthos is probably one of the last I would get rid of... the damage is MASSIVE and often. And much more reliable than the other skills. On crit on your main attack means 100% chance to activate with our offense, too. Also the side nodes are GREAT buffs. The rowans seal is very small area while Ulthos hits everything like a heat seaker.
I also considered whirlpool and mana seekers etc. I ended up on these ones because of the flavor, diversity, and the crowd control of the stuns and freezes, slows etc. And that with tight building you can get all of these and the survivability of chariot and the behemoth.
It is effective, but feel free to experiment, this is what GD is about, in the end :)
I also liked the concept of all these 'weather' like spells, and the fact they remind me of Diablo. I always wanted a caster that used the Diablo equivalents of apocalypse, tempest, chain lightning and blizzard simultaneously, and doing so through dual pistol gunslingery is just icing on the cake ;)

Of course, there is no best way to build this, but I hoped I gave some insight into my choices. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Btw, for early game, just tempest on your fire strike and some static strike/ chilling rounds with tsunami goes a long way!

[Rachskald]

Originally posted by Psylent:

Interesting read. I’ll have to tweek it a bit but I do like the concept. :dwarven:

Thank you! Enjoy your variation :)

[ch1zra]

Bit of digging graves, but I'm new to this game (but coming from a lot of hours in D2 I instantly fell in love with GD). What path would you use for devotion development? Considering that you can't just jump right to Ultos.