Grinder Run n' Gun Build

After browsing the guides section for some time, looking at the variety of builds available, I noticed something.
I haven't seen much Grinder builds. Which is not surprising since it is outclassed by other perkdecks such as Stoic and Anarchist and it's way past its glory days.
But I want to somehow make Grinder as viable as the two other perkdecks mentioned.

So, this is my effort to try and make it worthwhile using.

REQUIREMENTS: Ultimate Edition, atleast Infamy 5, and basic understanding of the game.

How does Grinder work?

To put it simply, Grinder gives you health when you deal damage.
Normally, high rate of fire weapons are best used in conjunction with this perkdeck. Which will be our weapons here.
Other weapons like the Flamethrower and the Kunai complement this perk deck as well.
In the end, it's still up to you to decide what weapons to bring for your own build.
However, I'll give what I think are the best weapons to use here.

Weapons (Option 1)

Primary

CAR-4
Mods:

• Stealth Barrel
  
• Concealment Boost
  
• Auto Fire
  
• Competition Foregrip
  
• Compact Laser Module
  
• Straight Grip
  
• THRUST Lower Receiver
  
• Vintage Mag
  
• Folding Stock
  
• LW Upper Receiver

For the primary, we want something that has a high rate of fire, with good concealment, and a good ammo pickup, but does not butcher the damage output. The CAR-4 takes the cake for that.

If you follow correctly, the stats should look like this:

Secondary

Compact 40mm Grenade Launcher
Mods:

• Concealment Boost

This concealable grenade launcher was a great Christmas present from Overkill. In the past, the GL40 was the only concealable grenade launcher available, which was a primary weapon. With the addition of this weapon, it opened up a whole lot of different builds.
Since the CAR-4 is our main damage dealer here, an SMG secondary is not necessary. Which is why I chose this. Grenade Launchers are perfect for clearing a room quickly, and with style.

Your stats should look like this:

Weapons (Option 2)

Primary

GL40
Mods:

• Pirate Barrel
  
• Sawed-Off Stock

The original concealable grenade launcher. Very similar to the Compact 40mm, can clear rooms hastily and I don't want to neglect this beaut. No more further explanation required.

Your stats should look like this:

Secondary

Compact-5 Submachine Gun
Mods:

• Auto Fire
  
• The Ninja Barrel
  
• Compact Laser Module
  
• Bare Essentials Stock

For the secondary, we'll want something like the CAR-4. Good ammo pickup, good damage, good firerate. With the recent buff of the Compact-5, it definitely fits the part for this.

If you follow correctly, the stats should look like this:

OR

Micro Uzi
Mods:

• Custom Barrel
  
• The Bigger the Better Surpressor
  
• Concealment Boost
  
• Auto Fire
  
• Micro Laser
  
• No Stock

Thank you to LordChkn for this suggestion!

If you follow correctly, the stats should look like this:

Melee, Throwables, Equipment & Armor

Melee

Kunai
Since the Kunai has a poison effect, it deals Damage Over Time. Similar to the Flamethrower, but has a shorter duration. Since Grinder gives you health on hit, the DOT effect of the Kunai is perfect in case you're caught with your pants down. And it also easily lets you dominate cops on hit. Cool.

Throwables

Concussion Grenades
In this build, we'll be relying on our weapons to do most of the work. Leaving room for some utility that can help us with that. With the Concussion Grenades, we can throw it to a large group of enemies, stunning them. Giving us the chance to kill all of them by spraying our gun at them or blowing them up using our grenade launcher. You may also use either the Molotov or the Incendiary Grenade for some extra DOT output.

Equipment

Ammo Bags
I've seen a lot of Grinder builds use First Aid Kits or Medic Bags as their equipment. Which is kind of redundant. After all, we are using a perkdeck that will give us health per successful enemy hit. As long as you keep fighting and killing, you will survive.

Armor

Two-piece Suit
Grinder only works with the suit and the Light Ballistic Vest. Equipping the suit will give us a lot more dodge than the LBV.

Skill Trees

Mastermind

• Basic Stable Shot - Never hurts to have a little Stability boost.

Enforcer

• Aced Underdog - With this build, most of the time, we're right in the face of our enemies. Not just one, but a lot of them. With the 15% damage bonus and the 10% damage reduction this skill gives, our survivability is lengthened.
  
  
• Aced Resilience - Since enemies are always shooting at us, the 15% increase in armor recovery rate is very helpful. Not to mention the 75% flashbang duration reduction.
  
• Basic Transporter - Throws bags further.
  
  
• Aced Scavenger - Pretty self explanatory. Increases ammo pickup range by 50% and every 6th enemy you kill will drop an extra ammo box.
  
• Aced Bulletstorm - Dropping an ammobag with this skill will let us fire our weapon without depleting ammo for some time. Perfect when trapped in a tight spot. Applies to teammates as well.
  
• Aced Extra Lead - Gives us 2 ammo bags to deploy with 50% more ammo.
  
• Basic Fully Loaded - Increases our ammo capacity by 25%.

Technician

• Basic Hardware Expert - Lets us fix drills and saws 25% faster.
  
  
• Aced Steady Grip - Gives us a +8 boost in Accuracy and a +16 boost in Stability.
  
• Aced Fire Control - Since this is a Run n' Gun build, we'll always be firing from the hip and firing while moving. With this, we gain 12 weapon accuracy when firing from the hip and it reduces the accuracy penalty by 20% when moving.
  
• Basic Surefire - Gives us a bonus 15 more bullets in our magazines.
  
• Basic Lock n' Load - It wouldn't be called a "Run n' Gun" build without this skill. Lets us shoot our guns while sprinting.
  
• Aced Body Expertise - With guns set in automatic fire mode, we deal 90% of the bonus headshot damage when we hit just the body of the enemy. No headshots required.

Ghost

• Aced Duck and Cover - Gives us increased dodge when sprinting and ziplining. Also increases sprinting speed and decreases stamina cooldown.
  
• Basic Inner Pockets - Increases melee concealment.
  
• Aced Parkour - Increases movement speed when climbing ladders. Also gives the ability to reload while sprinting and sprinting at any direction.
  
• Aced Shockproof - Easily lets us escape from tasers should we get stunned by marking them within 2 seconds.
  
• Basic Sneaky Bast4rd - Gives us increased dodge chance.
  
  
• Basic Second Wind - Increased movement speed when armor breaks for 5 seconds.
  
• Aced Optical Illusions - Increases concealment of silenced weapons and enemies will less likely target us.
  
• Aced Specialized Killing - Increases silenced weapon damage by a total of 30%.
  
• Basic Low Blow - Gives us crits if we have a low detection risk. (Which will be 4 for Option 1 and 3 for Option 2)

Fugitive

• Aced Nine Lives - Gives us 1 more down before going into custody.
  
• Aced Swan Song - When dodge and grinder fails, this is a nice failsafe. Allows us to keep fighting for 9 seconds 6 seconds without ammo depletion before getting downed.

Playstyle

This build requires you to be on the move most of the time. Of course, cover is still important and health too, but as long as you keep killing enemies, health regeneration is not a problem.
Hip-firing is recommended, which is why I didn't include any sights. Only aim down sights when fighting a sniper, otherwise, keep running and gunning. That's all there is to it, really.

I tested this on Mayhem and Death Wish myself, and it worked fine. Should work fine for you too, if you know what you're doing. Can be One Down viable, but not as effective as other builds.

Of course, there are still some mechanical skills required when using this. That includes knowing grenade launcher projectile trajectory and manual aiming.

Final Words

So yeah, that's it. This is my first (serious) guide and I hope you'll have as much fun as I did using this build. It's not supposed to be perfect or be part of the meta. It's just something that I did out of fun and to reintroduce Grinder to some people.

If you have any suggestions and/or comments, please feel free to tell them down below!

Have fun! (´• ω •`)

[idiot 3]

https://youtu.be/DdmNYNkcwKE

[ OGuiBlindao ]

Is this build still accurate? (Besides the removed skill) Also should i go for the secondary smg and primary gl or primary rifle and secondary gl?

[verticals]

this build is pretty bad

[Kenneth]

Still viable?

[xymz]

thanks for this

[Twi]

What is the UI mod used in the screenshots?

[DubG]

the compact-5 is godly

[Esawo]

@bocks You need the 4 infamy points surrounding the first infamy (center one) point that you allocate (so a total of 5 infamy levels). I recommend you take the "Set of the the corrupted" first for a skill cost reduction on the Mastermind skill tree which is always good for Medic/Inspire and Convert skills which are often used. Then take the top, bottom and left points from the center one in whichever order fits your needs. Don't forget that all other infamy points and such are (near-useless) XP bonuses and stuff to customize masks, never take them before allocating all your skill tree reduction points.

[brrrd-man]

@bocks Are you Infamy 5 yet? If you aren't then that's probably why. If you are then well, you maybe left a spare point or something somewhere else.

[beans]

the oppresor on the technition tree doesn't work because you cant get the top one