The Pistol Vigilante (And Other Hard Mode Builds)

A guide mostly focused on a level 60 advanced Hard Mode build using Revolvers. Included are some other level 60 Hard Mode builds focusing on other weapons or talismans.

INTRODUCTION

If you've ever wanted to shoot a skeleton in the face and watch your bullet bounce off his head and go through the 3 skeletons standing behind you, then do I have a build for you. It's all about scattering ricocheting bullets everywhere.

Here's a few videos showing off some one-shot potential:
(Sorry for the video quality. My computer sucks. This was all I could manage without lagging and even then I still hit some lag spikes.)

In the four videos above, I'm using the Beserker Aura substitution listed further down in the guide.

Here's a stream of the build in hardcore hardmode.

Just a few things of note:

Recently, I decided to attach a bunch of my other builds that I get asked about to this guide. I will mainly focus on Pistol Vigilante. At least 4 of my other buids use it as a framework, so you're not wasting your time by reading it.

All builds discussed here were designed for Hardmode play. I've tested them on both Zagoravia and Motorhead campaigns. I completed those and suffered no deaths. Some builds have been tried and tested with 100 stacks of Epic (See 'The Devil's Kiss'), otherwise the builds here tend to shine around 10-30 stacks of epic.

Builds here use stuff from the Motorhead expansion (Revolvers, Guitars, etc.) and from the Fractured Worlds expansion (Talismans).

This guide also assumes that you have done a fair amount of grinding and acquired the equipment. It also assumes that you have max transmutations for all equipment involved (Demon Powers, Weapons, Wicked/Divine properties, and especially the Holy Warrior's Talisman).

But if you don't have everything here, it doesn't necessarily mean the builds won't work. I'm confident that you can come up with something that will make it work. Maybe you'll stumble on something even better.

Okay. First up: Pistol Vigilante. Let's jump into it.

BUILD TEMPLATE

Here is the general rundown of equipment you need to become a Pistol Vigilante!

Outfit: Vigilante

Talisman: Holy Warrior's Boon

Destiny Cards

Silver Bullet [2] (Speed on Kill, 7 seconds)


Oak [2] (Speed on Kill, 7 seconds)


Barbarian [5] (Increased Dodge)


Muse [2] (+14% damage when above 90% health)


Wildcard [8] (+14% damage when above 90% health)


Wildcard [3] (+14% damage when above 90% health)

Weapons:

Rock and Roll Legendary Revolver


Solo Legendary Guitar

Consumables: Two "Lucky Rabbit's Foot"

Demon Powers:

Blink


Shockwave

BEHIND THE SCENES: HOW THE BUILD WORKS & COMMENTARY

With Pistol Vigilante there's a lot of room for error, which is always nice, but knowing the details will make you shine. Here's a short overview.

1. Silver Bullet and Rock and Roll, a piercing weapon, maximize the value of every revolver shot. Bouncing bullets is the name of the game.

2. Muse modifies the Bang! attack, which generates supplemental area damage in densely packed rooms when Bullet Hell is on cooldown. It also applies a movement speed debuff in the form electrocuted.

3. Solo is the main form of healing through lifesteal.

4. Barbarian and Lucky Rabbit's Foot interact with the Vigilante Outfit to generate massive amounts of overdrive and keep Lucky Rabbit's Foot buff applied at all times.

Wicked Solo

This is the core healing ability of the build. Solo's special makes it apply lifesteal to you and your allies. It's the only way you can heal, which means you need to be dealing damage pretty much all of the time. It will also heal you for a small amount when you activiate it. Solo's 50% faster weapon skill cooldowns allows you to use it fairly often.

You can also use "Wicked Solo" as crowd control, since it's critical hits apply apply the headbanging condition. It's not bad damage either. I've used it as a heavy hit to finish off monsters. It's also a good mobility move. It can get you into danger and out of it quick.

Do note that you can dodge cancel out of it so that you don't have to be stuck in the entire animation. If you time it right, you can dodge cancel right at the end so that you also get the enraged buff without having to watch the standing up animation.

Holy Warrior's Boon

Boon gives Focus, Quickness, and Might. It's not overpowered like Charm and is very satisfying to play. It doesn't change your play style as it just makes your attacks more effective.

You can charge boon by having any buff up for 10 seconds. The Lifesteal applied from Solo's "Wicked Solo" is perfect for this. You should have Speed up almost 100% of the time (from wicked destiny cards and Blink), which stacks with Quickness and makes your "Pistol Barrage" feel like machine gun fire.

The Oak [2] card allows Boon to be up 100% of the time. You just need to remember to hit the button when it charges and you're all set.

P.S. I can already hear veterans criticizing Boon's placement in this build. The Focus buff is made useless by double lucky rabbit's foot and Might doesn't work against crit damage immune monsters. Yup, you could definitely pick more effective talismans. My response: go play a Charm build if you want to be overpowered. Otherwise, Quickness and Speed stacking is an awesome and fun way to play.

Barbarian Destiny Card / Two "Lucky Rabbit's Foot"

This is a very common combo in veteran builds. Crits charge your overdrive like crazy. And the Barbarian card will reset all of your cooldowns, including your consumables, when you max out your overdrive. With Oak [2] and double "Lucky Rabbit's Foot", you'll have 100% Crit for 13 seconds. Barbarian's internal cooldown is 10 seconds, which means it's perfectly reasonable to expect to have 100% crit at all times.

Make sure you're expending your overdrive whenever it is maxed out. With all of the crits occuring while wearing the Vigilante outfit, you'll be gaining overdrive faster than you can spend it.

You should note that there are monsters that are immune to critical damage. That doesn't mean you won't generate overdrive off of them. It's only the extra damage that you deal with a critical hit that they are immune to. They can still be crit. It just means that you will only deal regular damage, but you'll still be generating 4x the overdrive with a maxed out vigilante.

Rock and Roll legendary weapon

This is your main your weapon. You'll be spending more time here then anywhere else. The key interaction occurs between Silver Bullet [2] and Rock and Roll's Piercing attacks. Bullets will be ricocheting everywhere. It's quite satisfying to play.

Something important to note: Silver bullet can only bounce once during the path of the projectile. That includes piercing. So it's important to line up your shots through multiple monsters in order to maximize the chance that Silver Bullet activates.

If you're lucky, you'll bounce off a monster in the either the front or the back. With 2 monsters that's 300% damage. Shooting through 5 monsters will net you anywhere from 500% damage to 900% damage.

Keep in mind that, more often than not, your bullets will bounce off the front monster which nets you the max damage.



"Barrage" is your bread and butter. Just hold the button down and watch your bullets bounce around the battle field. You can also move slowly while channeling "Barrage." It's usually enough to avoid most attacks if you know where they will hit, but you'll still have to dodge often enough.

Always be moving when channeling this. Line up your shots to pierce at least one monster.



"Bullet Hell" is incredible area damage, and will charge your overdrive completely. I usually open with "Bullet Hell", which triggers Barbarian [5], and then follow up with another "Bullet Hell." Not many things are usually left standing. Monster with large hitboxes (Broodmother) can take multiple shots if you stand on top of them.



I don't use "Bullseye" that often, since it renders you immobile and has to charge up. However, the damage is great for a single target and Silver Bullet [2] gives it a 50% to bounce. Also it will pierce enemies if you manage to line your shot up right or get lucky with the bounce.

"Bullseye" applies its conditions based on how much charge was built up at the moment you released the shot:

0-25% Cripple
25-50% Bleeding, Cripple
50-99% Weakness, Bleeding, Cripple
100% Daze, Weakness, Bleeding, Cripple

Here's a little tip: You can blink in the middle of charging up the attack without interrupting the charge.

One way to take advantage of this is to "Wicked Solo" away from your target, making sure you get the enraged buff. Then start charging the attack. Blink right on top of them right before it goes off. You'll do damage with blink and get a guaranteed crit, since blink applies vulnerable, and the damage is doubled because of enraged.

Bang!

Solo makes this a 2 second cooldown. With Muse, this attack will leap to a bunch of targets, applying electrocuted to them as it hits. I don't know the exact number of times it can leap, but it's substantial enough to warrant using Muse in place of Wildcard.

"Bang!" damage and area spread is comparable to "Bullet Hell" except that it is considerably more likely to be deflected, since your only armor penetration is on Rock and Roll. The electrocuted condition is still applied though. "Bang!" will also entirely fill up overdrive if it hits 4 or more monsters with a Lucky Rabbit Foot buff up, deflected or not.

Use this ability as often as you can in a densely packed rooms. Cycle between "Barrage" and "Bang!" while waiting for "Bullet Hell" to come off cooldown.

IN BATTLE: TACTICS, TIPS, & TRICKS

I apologize in advance if I repeat anything which I mentioned above. As a general rule, if I'm repeating it then it's because I think it's important.

1. Start the beginning of the level by switching to Solo and using Wicked Solo to apply lifesteal. Wait 10 seconds and activate Boon. Keep the buff from Boon up for the entire level. Don't forget to hit the button.

2. Start every fight by activating both Lucky Rabbit's Foot(s). If, for some reason, they are on cooldown then your priority is to max out your overdrive so that Barbarian [5] kicks in and resets your cooldowns. So hold off on using Demon Powers until they reset.

3. As a general rule, you should be activating both Lucky Rabbit's Foot(s) whenever they are off cooldown. The only time you shouldn't activate them is when you're wrapping up the last few monsters at the end of a fight. Activate one of them and save the other for the next fight.

4. Bullet Hell is your biggest area damage ability. As mentioned above, it's a good opener. Begin by using a Wicked Solo aimed at the edge of the newly spawned monsters. The crits from the lightning will cause headbanging, which should give you enough space to get the enraged buff. Don't forget that you can dodge cancel out of the standing up animation.

Next, hit Bullet Hell. It should wipe out the weak enemies and max out your overdrive so that you can immediately use it a second time.

Contrary to what you might think, DO NOT use Bullet Hell in the middle of a group. Instead, use Blink or, as already mentioned, Wicked Solo (get that enraged buff if you are able) to get to the edge of the group so that monsters are lined up behind each other. This allows for more piercing shots and more chances to bounce those piercing shots. Only use it in the middle of a group if the whole group takes up an area wider than the radius of your shots. It's complicated to prove why it works better, so instead I'll ask you to trust me : )

5. In between Bullet Hell cooldowns, you should prioritize using Barrage. If monsters are densely packed and you have Muse [2] equipped, then alternate between Barrage and Bang!

6. ALWAYS be moving when channeling Barrage. Don't just sit there. Line up shots through 2 or more monsters. If nothing else, just keep moving to avoid attacks you may or may not be able to see.

7. Don't forget to cycle in Wicked Solo. Lifesteal needs to be up at all times. Comboing Wicked Solo to get the enraged buff for a Bullet Hell or Bullseye is great, but not if it comes at the expense of delaying lifesteal. On hardmode, you're just a few hits away from death. You will be taking small amounts of incidental damage and it will add up quick, so prioritize keeping lifesteal up before you do anything else. Although, the Oak [2] card gives you plenty of breathing room so you should still be able to get off those combos.

8. Use those demon powers! Demon powers ignore armor and cannot be deflected. Not only that, you need to be filling your overdrive every 10 - 12 seconds in order to keep up the Lucky Rabbit's Foot buff. You can't do that if you sit on them.

Shockwave does decent damage and applies cripple which increases Barrage damage. It also knocks enemies back. If you see a wraith charging up for an attack, knock 'em back. It'll interrupt unless they are immune to knock back. There are plenty of monsters that this tactic works on.

Blink applies vulnerable which a little redundant, but it also hits for decent single-target damage. When you clear all of the weak monsters out of the way, you'll often be left with the stronger crit immune monsters with high armor. This is a good single-target demon power to use on them. Most importantly, use it to position yourself where you want to be. It can save your life or place you in a spot to kill the entire room. It also helps you maintain the speed buff.

9. I repeat: Don't forget to activate Boon. The Oak [2] makes sure that this can be up for 100% of the time. It's really easy to forget to activate it though.

TLDR Summary

Keep up Lucky Rabbit Foot's buff.
Keep up lifesteal with Wicked Solo.
Keep up Boon.
Line up your shots through multiple monsters. Your bullets pierce.
Use your demon powers every time you max out overdrive.

OPTIONAL SUBSTITUTIONS

Here's some suggestions for changing the build up on the fly
NOTE: Keep the same Divine or Wicked transmuation that was on the card that was swapped out.

Swap out Muse [2] & Wildcard [3] for Seer [0] & Wildcard [8]

If you find yourself prefering to use only revolvers or if you keep forgetting to use Solo's Bang! ability, then this is a good change for you to make.

NOTE: If you make this substiution, consider also switching to Adventurer's outfit and add an additional Wildcard [3]. With Enrage, Boon, and 100% Crit up, you can even one shot (or very close to one shot) large hit box bosses (Broodmother, Orgasmatron, Warpig Machine, etc) by standing on top of them before using Bullet Hell. It comes at the price of being able to spam Demon Powers, but the damage is arguably a stronger trade.

Swap out Shockwave for Berserker Aura, AND 1 Lucky Rabbit's Foot for Aether Vial.

This substituion maximizes the damage done by this build, but it eats through Aether Vials and makes you squishy. You may only want to swap to it for boss fights.

Best used with the Adventurer's outfit substitution listed above.

This combo abuses the fact that Barbarian [5] resets your cooldowns when you activate Aether Vial. Your single Oak [2] card makes your one Lucky Rabbit's Foot last for 6.5 seconds, but you'll have 110% damage increase from Berserker Aura while you wait 3.5 seconds before using Aether Vial to reset your cooldowns.

Strangely enough, you'll see decent use out of your demon powers since you have 3 uses every 10 seconds (minus 1 if you need to refresh the aura). For my second demon power, I typically use Blink to help me get out of a tight spot, but Shockwave is also a good choice. Pick one that best suits your style.

Swap out Muse [2] for Tower [3]

This is a quality of life change. Instead of Bang!, this swap allows you to generate more overdrive and rely on your demon powers, like shockwave, for supplemental area damage. I find that a maxed out Vigilante outfit generates more than enough overdrive, but this really takes that to another level.

Swap out Blink or Shockwave for Heartbreaker.

Occasionally, you might find yourself in an area that's tougher than usual, like the upper level fracture tiers or the bottomles pit. Or maybe you're about to start Apocalypse and you know you're in for a tough fight. If so, this is the substitution to make.

Heartbreaker hits for 55 damage in 21 waves, which results in a tiny bit more damage than Blink on a single target if the monster stays within its radius the whole time. Also, the lightning beams between multiple rods hit fast and build up damage quickly. On paper this demon power has great damage potential, but keeping monsters in the beams is just not going to happen.

The most important thing about this demon power is that it applies weakness and electrocuted to all enemies within its range. This really takes the edge off of incoming attacks.

Do note that you'll have to rely on Wicked Solo to maneuver around the battle field if you substitute blink out, but that's not too bad since cripple (from Shockwave) and electrocuted should be applied to enemies at all times, slowing them down.

Also note that since heartbreaker applies electrocuted, it lessens the effectiveness of Muse [2] but does not necessarily render it useless.

Instead of Heartbreaker, consider Iron Fist.



Iron Fist does a little more damage than Blink and also applies weakness, although it doesn't apply the electrocuted condition like heartbreaker. It also does all of its damage in 3 punches. That's still leaves enough time for quick moving enemies to move out of it before all 3 strikes, but cripple helps with this and they still get weakness. I run this substitution pretty often as it helps me spread my damage around the map a little easier.

SUBSTITUTION WITHIN A SUBSTITUTION



If you're still having trouble surviving, even with the heartbreaker substitution, consider also swapping out the other demon power with Time Bubble. Time Bubble not only slows enemy movement, it also slows their attacks. It makes every enemy move a lot easier to predict. Time Bubble also stacks with itself. This is the answer if you find yourself being one shot. Throw it down and look for a pattern in the enemy that is killing you. This will give you the time to respond.

BEWARE: Even though the combo of Heartbreaker and Time Bubble is the ultimate defensive demon power pair, it will make your game very bright and it may lag you or your coop friends.

Something else to consider: if you have any version of the Heartbreaker substitution, you are now essentially using a group support build.

How is this possible, you ask? You're healing your team mates by applying lifesteal with Solo, slowing down monsters with both cripple (Shockwave and/or Bullet Hell) & electrocuted (Muse and/or Heartbreaker), and applying weakness (Heartbreaker or Iron Fist).

While your team mates might think that they're dying less because you're killing so much more than they are, you're also making it easier for them (and yourself) to survive.

PLAYING THE BUILD WHILE LEVELING

If you're interested in playing this build from Level 1, then the following is my recommendation of what equipment to use at certain levels. Start a new character. You can access your stash faster by switching to fractured worlds and thereby grab any gear you already have. Grab your gear and then switch back to whichever world you want to play.

Level 1:

Pick Vigilante Outfit when you start.

Equip: Blink Demon Power, Rock and Roll - Legendary Revolver, Holy Warrior's Boon, Silver Bullet (Speed on Kill 7 sec), Oak (Speed on Kill 7 sec).

Start off with the basic healing potions they give you.

Level 4:

Swap healing potion -> Lucky Rabbit's Foot. Equip Solo in Off-hand.

Level 6:

Equip the 2nd Lucky Rabbit's Foot.

Level 10:

Muse (+14% damage when above 90% health)


This is just a filler card until next level.

Level 11:

Swap Muse for Barbarian (Increased Dodge)

Level 14:

Shockwave Demon Power

Level 16:

Max out Vigilante Outfit

Level 20:

Requip Muse [2] in the new slot (+14% damage when above 90% health)


Alternatively: Equip Tower for more overdrive and rely on shockwave for more area damage. Or equip Death for more damage just rely on your revolvers.

Level 30:

Wildcard [3] (+14% damage when above 90% health)

Level 45:

Swap Wildcard [3] -> Wildcard [8] (+14% damage when above 90% health)

Level 55+:

Reequip Wildcard [3] in the new slot (+14% damage when above 90% health)

OTHER LEVEL 60 HARD MODE BUILDS

One day, after a conversation with Avasark (A.K.A Welcome), I was inspired to try making a custom gun to replace Rock and Roll to see what would happen. The resulting experimentation yielded four different builds that I was fairly happy with, each with their own various substitutions. It seemed best to include them in this guide.

I also decided to include some other commonly asked about builds that I designed just for the hell of it. I would have made a seperate guide, but it's hard enough to get this one rated considering the lack of population this game has been experiencing lately.

Keep in mind, these builds are still designed for Hard Mode play. They will get you through at least 30 stacks of epic, but some of them will lose effectiveness since overkilling is harder to pull off at higher stacks.

Weapon Properties Used By The Following Builds

• Cursed: +44% damage, but gold drops are reduced to 1
  
• Devastating: +28 damage
  
• Efficient: Cooldowns reduced by 44%
  
• Dancing: +22% attack speed
  
• Of the Fox: Cooldowns are reduced by 3.4 seconds on overkill
  
• Of the Duelist: +66 Armor Penetration

'HELL TO PAY' BUILD

This is essentially the same build as Pistol Vigilante, but it uses custom revolvers instead of Rock N' Roll. It also uses a lot of the optional substitutions in that guide and twists them around into this form.

Make sure Solo, legendary guitar, is equipped in the off-hand.

These changes alter the game play quite a bit. Instead of focusing on piercing damage, you're focused on spamming bullet hell and getting overkills. Again, thanks to Avasark (A.K.A Welcome), for the idea.



OUTFIT: ADVENTURER'S (28 POINTS)

• Silver Bullet [2]
  
• Oak [2]
  
• Seer [0]
  
• Barbarian[5]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Rogue [7]
  
• Devil [4]

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• Speed on Kill x 2
  
• Increased dodge distance
  
• +14% Damage when above 90% health
  
• Any 3 wicked properties (your choice)
  My suggestion: Cripple on Crit, Bleeding on Crit, Reduced Negative Conditions

CUSTOM WEAPON PROPERTIES

• Efficient
  
• Cursed
  
• Of the Fox

TALISMAN

• Holy Warrior's Boon

CONSUMABLES

• Liquid Madness
  
• Aether Vial

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Blink

STRATEGY

Wicked Solo to gain Lifesteal. Keep this up 100%. Boon should also be up 100%. Keep up Berserker Aura and keep dealing as much damage as possible to heal yourself. Roughly every 10 seconds, activate Liquid Madness followed by Aether Vial.

The goal is to spam Bullet Hell as much as possible with a sprinkling of Bullseye for single target damage. There will be times when Bullet Hell will refresh immidiately. I think it has to do with the distance you are from monsters. Being in the center of monsters for Bullet Hell is best with this build.

Use Blink to apply Vulnerability and force critical hits.

COMMENTARY

If you use the Berserker Aura substitution for Pistol Vigilante, then this build will be slightly worse in the AoE kills department. It's pretty close though. It's more effective than the core Pistol Vigilante build, but it comes as the cost of eating through your consumables.

This build should increase your single target damage with larger crits, but I still find myself beating bosses more or less about the same speed with the Berserker Aura substitution in Pistol Vigilante. Single target damage is roughly the same, slightly in favor of this build.

With armor pen on both weapons, Guitar attacks becomes a lot more effective, particuarly Wicked Solo. Keep in mind that the only way to force crits now is with blink, and you'll only be able to do it with one monster at a time. The ability to spam bullet hell mostly makes up for it, although some fights will be longer if you don't get your crits.

For controller users who don't like Blink, might I suggest using Crying Shame. If you're brave, you swap to Justice, legendary hammer, instead of Solo. This allows you to dodge cancel Crush to have a singularity orb gathering effect. You can promptly activate Crying Shame, followed up by Bullet Hell.



NOTE: When using Justice, you'll have a smaller window for Lifesteal, since Justice cannot keep it up 100% of the time, unless you're fast about swapping to your revovler and getting overkills. You might decide to Substitute Vampiric Blood instead of Liquid Madness. If you do this, I'd suggest making two of your optional wicked cards 29% for Brutality on Max Overdrive which will give you a 50% chance (cap) of getting overdrive every time you activate your Aether Vial. To keep brutality up, count on luck to extend it between orbs, and you'll have to be on top of orb collection from Devil. Not my favorite activity.

'PREACHER'S SCORN' BUILD

Use this version if you want to use another weapon besides revolvers. This is build is best for those who have one level 2 or level 3 card for their weapon that they want to use, but not both. A Death [2] card can replace a Weapon [2] card if you don't want to use any. Equip Solo, legendary guitar in the off hand.



OUTFIT: ADVENTURER'S (28 POINTS)

• Seer [0]
  
• Oak [2]
  
• Barbarian [5]
  
• Rogue [7]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Devil [4]
  
• Weapon [2]

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• +14% Damage when above 90% HP
  
• Speed on Kill x2
  
• Increased Dodge
  
• 3 Wicked Abilities

RECOMMENDED WEAPON PROPERTIES

• Dancing / Cursed / Fox
  
• Efficient / Cursed / Fox
  
• Cursed / Efficient or Fox / Duelist

NOTE: If you decide to use a 'Duelist' or 'Piercing' weapon, swap out your Devil [4] with a Wildcard [3]. Change 2 of your wicked abilities to +27 Armor Penetration divine transmutation. This allows you to either upgrade your Weapon [2] to a Weapon [3] OR your Rogue [7] to a Wildcard [8].

TALISMAN

• Holy Warrior's Boon

CONSUMABLES

• Liquid Madness
  
• Aether Vial

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Blink

STRATEGY
Wicked Solo to gain Lifesteal. Keep this up 100%. Boon should also be up 100%. Keep up Berserker Aura and keep dealing as much damage as possible to heal yourself. Roughly every 10 seconds, activate Liquid Madness followed by Aether Vial. Use Blink to force critical hits.

COMMENTARY
If this sounds familiar, it's because it is. The difference between Preacher's Scorn and Hell to Pay is the weapon choice. It's up to you. Plug any legendary or custom weapon into the empty weapon slot along with an appropriate destiny card pertaining to that weapon and you're good to go. I enjoy Dancing / Cursed / Fox the best, but this build will work with pretty much any style.

'DARK OMEN' BUILD

Use this variant of Preacher's Scorn if you want to maximize your damage. Equip Solo, legendary guitar in the off hand.



OUTFIT: PHIL'S (30 DESTINY POINTS)

• Seer [0]
  
• Oak [2]
  
• Barbarian [5]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Devil [4]
  
• Wilcard [3] or Weapon [2 or 3]

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• +14% Damage when above 90% HP
  
• Speed on Kill x2
  
• Increased Dodge
  
• 3 Wicked Abilities

RECOMMENDED WEAPON PROPERTIES

• Dancing / Cursed / Fox
  
• Efficient / Cursed / Fox
  
• Cursed / Efficient or Fox / Duelist

NOTE: If you decide to use a 'Duelist' or 'Piercing' weapon, swap out your Devil [4] with a Wildcard [3]. Change 2 of your wicked abilities to +27 Armor Penetration divine transmutation

TALISMAN

• Holy Warrior's Boon

CONSUMABLES

• Liquid Madness
  
• Aether Vial

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Blink

STRATEGY
Wicked Solo to gain Lifesteal. Keep this up 100%. Boon should also be up 100%. Keep up Berserker Aura and keep dealing as much damage as possible to heal yourself. Roughly every 10 seconds, activate Liquid Madness followed by Aether Vial. Use Blink to force critical hits. You'll have to watch your overdrive more carefully, since you'll only get 2 uses per Aether Vial instead of 3.

COMMENTARY
There's less overdrive to go around, but the damage is maximized as compared to Preacher's Scorn, since there are more Wildcards. I would suggest keeping Wildcard [3] unless there's just an awesome weapon card. For Custom Weapons, I think Efficient / Cursed / Fox is best. The power of this build can easily overkill.

'BLACKHEARTED VANGUARD' BUILD

This final variant of Preacher's Scorn is designed to let you use 2 weapon specific cards should you wish.



OUTFIT: VANGUARD'S (24 DESTINY POINTS)

• Oak [2]
  
• Barbarian [5]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Devil [4]
  
• Weapon [2] or your choice
  
• Weapon [3] or your choice (Wildcard [3] is great!)

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• Speed on Kill x2
  
• Increased Dodge
  
• +14% Damage x2
  
• Any Wicked Property (Your choice)

RECOMMENDED WEAPON PROPERTIES

• Cursed / Efficient / Fox
  
• Cursed / Dancing / Fox
  
• Cursed / Devastating / Fox
  
• Cursed / Efficent or Fox / Duelist
  
• Cursed / Dancing / Duelist

NOTE: If you want two Weapon [3] cards, you'll have to substitute Wildcard [8] for Rogue [7]. You're going to have harder time with crit immune monsters, but otherwise you'll see bigger crits.

NOTE: If you decide to use a 'Duelist' or 'Piercing' weapon, swap out your Devil [4] with a Wildcard [3]. Change your extra Wicked property to +27 Armor Penetration divine transmutation. This is great for builds using 2x Weapon [3] cards, since it frees up that extra point to allocate to it.

TALISMAN

• Holy Warrior's Boon

CONSUMABLES

• Liquid Madness
  
• Aether Vial

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Blink

STRATEGY
Wicked Solo to gain Lifesteal. Keep this up 100%. Boon should also be up 100%. Keep up Berserker Aura and keep dealing as much damage as possible to heal yourself. Roughly every 10 seconds, activate Liquid Madness followed by Aether Vial. Use Blink to force critical hits

COMMENTARY
With 150 armor, you find yourself more survivable. The extra 40 armor pen frees up wicked slots to go to extra damage divine slots instead. Or you could just stack wicked properties and be really effective against high armor monsters, who are often crit immune.

This has become a favorite build of mine lately. I like to run it with Silver Bullet [2] and Muse [2] as the optional cards and run with Cursed / Efficient / Fox revolver. It's pretty comparable to Berserker Aura Pistol Vigilante AoE wise, thanks to the 120 Armor Pen on the Gutair's Bang attack, to the extent that I barely notice a difference.

'VALHALLA DENIED' BUILD

For those that want a designer approved God-Mode without having to cheat for it.



OUTFIT: ADVENTURER'S (27 DESTINY POINTS)

• Seer [0]
  
• Oak[2]
  
• Oak [2]
  
• Oak[2]
  
• Barbarian[5]
  
• Wildcard[8]
  
• Wildcard[8]

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• +27 Armor Penetration x2
  
• +14% Damage when above 90% health x5

RECOMMENDED WEAPONS

• Fifty Shades of Slay in Main Hand, but anything with Duelist works.
  
• Solo in off-hand to start. Swap to Devastating / Cursed / Duelist Hammer after.

TALISMAN

• Holy Warrior's Charm

CONSUMABLES

• Aether Vial
  
• Liquid Madness

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Your choice. I like Sunray for destroying high armor, high health, crit immune monsters.

STRATEGY
Use Wicked Solo at the beginning of the level and then switch out to hammer. Wait for talisman engergy to max out and then activate it. Keep pressing your talisman button the very second it comes up. The better you are at pressing the talisman button when it comes off cooldown the better you are at this build. Doesn't matter how bad you play. As long as you press that button, you can't die. Oh yeah, go fight some stuff if you want. Or walk around and watch them try to fight you in vain.

COMMENTARY
Don't make this build. It will ♥♥♥♥ the fun out of the game. You cannot die. Time after time, I watched good players who were innovative and curious about the game make a build like this and completely lose interest. Charm needs to be rebalanced. If only it was something like 50-75% damage reduction instead of 100%. The only good thing this build does is allow you to walk among the game and study it without fear of death.

'THE DEVIL'S KISS' BUILD

Arguably, I've saved the best for last. This is a one-shot build that merges deadly potential of Ember with Haemimont's Crushing Magician.



OUTFIT: MIKKEY'S (27 DESTINY POINTS)

• Seer [0]
  
• Barbarian [5]
  
• The Magician [3]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Wildcard [3]

WICKED / DIVINE PROPERTIES

• +27 armor penetration x2
  
• +14 damage when above 90% health x2
  
• Speed on Kill
  
• Increased Dodge Distance

NOTE: It is necessary at high stacks of Epic condition to slot at least one Hope [8] card in order to prevent one shots. It's even worse in a group where the monsters are slightly stronger.

RECOMMENDED WEAPONS

• Fifty Shades of Slay
  
• Hammer (Cursed / Devastating / Duelist)

TALISMAN

• Brute Ember

CONSUMABLES

• Lucky Rabbit's Foot OR Liquid Madness (You'll have to use Blink to force criticals)
  
• Aether Vial

DEMON POWERS

• Berserker Aura
  
• Blink

NOTE: At higher stacks of epic, it is necessary to swap out Berserker Aura for something like Heartbreaker to apply weakness.

STRATEGY
Where to begin? I guess we should start with healing.

Every Demon Power you use heals you for 40%. Aether Vials mean that you'll be regenerating 80% of your health with Mikkey's every 10 seconds. You can also use Lifesteal buff you gain when you use Smash, from your hammer, to supplement that if necessary.

Know your tome abilities, inside and out.

First, Magic Missiles. Don't hold this down. Click spam it. You can do HUGE amounts of damage this way, especially since Fifty Shades makes this do enormous damage per hit, relatively speaking. It's the best way to charge Ember. Stay moving when using it. Tap it fast, 3-5 times and dodge away. Rinse and repeat.

Dimension Wave leaves shadows on the ground after it lands that deals damage BASED ON YOUR EQUIPPED WEAPON. That means if you swap to hammer in the middle of Dimension Wave and land on a target, you'll be dealing huge amounts of incremental damage. It also dazes the creatures it passes through.

Singularity Orb applies Frailty. It lasts long enough to charge Smash, but not long enough to completely charge Crush unless you have Speed condition. Singularity Orb has the same distance as Dimension Wave. So if you aim your Singularity Orb in such a way that it lands close to monster, but does not intercept any others on the way, which would prematurely end it's path, then you can Dimension Wave to the same exact spot, swap to hammer, and watch everything die almost instantly.

Singularity Orb does damage based on the weapon held after its animation finishes. Swap to hammer after firing and use dodge to animation cancel for max damage. Good for healing when you have lifesteal.

Know your Hammer.

Crush is great, but never charge it on top of monsters. Always charge it away from them and then use Blink an instant before it's finished to move yourself right on top of your target.

Never use Smash on top of monsters that are right under you. They will hit you. Use Smash to close a small gap of monsters attacking other targets or to get the Lifesteal condition safely away from other monsters. Combo it with blink to charge it in safety and suddenly appear where you want it to hit, just like Crush above. Use Singularity Orbs and Dimension Wave shadows to heal when Lifesteal is up.

Avoid the hammer's basic attack unless you know the openings in which to take advantage of its slow swings.

Know your Demon Powers.

I run around with Berserker Aura for anything less than 30 stacks of epic. Otherwise it's either double Blink or Blink / Heartseeker. Use Blink to line up Smash or Crush, to deliver damage, and/or to kite monsters safely. Every time you use a demon power you gain Enraged (double damage). Use this to deliver killing blows (Ember, Smash, or Singularity Orb are great with Enraged).

Heartseeker applies Weakness, but some monsters can do spawn-in damage that applies before the condition affects them. So keep your distance and cross your fingers. Eventually you get a feel of where the game likes to spawn it's monsters, and you'll be able to tigger a room and Blink back to safety. This really only messes you up in Bottomless Pit or Fracture.

One shot combos!

The number one question I get is "How are you killing everything in one hit?" The answer: simple damage stacking combos plus Ember. Here it is, step by step.

1. Aether Vial into full overdrive (and use Liquid Madness if you have that equipped).
2. Activate Berserker Aura.
3. Use Magic Missile to charge Ember.
4. Activate Singularity Orb on your target.
5. While the Frailty condition is on your target, Blink onto it to apply Vulnerable and gain Enraged.
6. Activate Lucky Rabbit's Foot if you have it, just in case a stray hit consumes Vulnerable condition.
7. Swap to hammer, since Ember does damage based on your current weapon.
8. Hit your target(s) with Ember.

It sounds like a lot, but eventually it just becomes muscle memory and you don't even think about it.

I've done millions of damage with this approach. 3 Million is my top and I think that's a record. It was done on test dummies in a controlled situation so don't expect to actually see those numbers without drastically altering your build into something that's pretty useless in battle.



You'll regularly see Ember do damage between 60k to 800k depending on which of the above one-shot steps you have to shortcut based on the situation at hand and the cooldowns available. Monsters can deflect this hit as well, but they usually die anyway.

This build is a combo machine with insane damage. The basic strategy is to run around using the tome's Magic Missiles to build up Talisman energy, while gathering Arcane Orbs. Look for openings to use your combos, paying special attention to one shot problem monsters with Ember.

COMMENTARY
This build is probably my favorite, although I really do love my Pistol Vigilante. It can handle anything in the game. It shines right in the ranges of 20-50 stacks of epic. I've taken it to 40+ Bottomless Pit and 2000+ Fracture, but 100 stacks of epic is still hard to deal with.

There's also a ton of substitutions that I make depending on what builds the other members in my group are running. Depending on the substitution, this build can be a trash clearer (Relic Talisman with Rock N Roll), a champion one-shotter (Brute Ember), group support (Heartseeker / Time Bubble / Solo Guitar), or crowd control lockdown (Time Bubble / Shockwave / Pull / Daze with Coldsnap / Lost in the Ozone with Blink for retreats etc). I'm not going to go into all of these in detail, because there are enough for its own guide, but all of that it based on this core build.

A note about 100 stacks of epic: It is easier to do solo, but more fun with a group. With a team, the monsters have more HP and do more damage, so it takes more coordination to be successful. Perfect coordination could in theory make it simple, but I haven't experienced that yet. It is also easier in Zagoravia (Bottomless Pit) than it is in Fracture. Motorhead has some crazy strong monsters when scaled up to 100 stacks of Epic.

This build is heavy on skill and game knowledge. You have to constantly be on the move and ready to adapt your strategy depending on what you're having trouble with, often anticipating the trouble before it happens. Hope you enjoy it.

THE END

I have no idea if this guide will be helpful to anyone, but I put a lot of effort into making and testing these builds and I just wanted to share them. Hit me with feedback if you are so inclined. I'll keep adding builds as I make them.

Also, thanks to Bloonis for testing this build out, giving constructive feedback, and just for being just an overall cool person.

Please forgive any typos you may find. I am my own copy editor.

[Bloonis]

It is not the author's fault if my video is not showing properly, it is my fault since I had to shut down my Youtube account and forgot to notify venum. Apologies.

[Oiregor Akanat]

I activate my Holy Warrior talisman, with weapons of ethereal charges, type Nekonomicon.

[Venuminostrates]

@pawel Charm is arguably the strongest talisman in the game, but it does not synchronize with this build.

I’ll make a loot grinding guide soon (sometime this summer). For now, I would suggest farming Motörhead Secrets and Monuments of Rock. Those will drop good loot and drop some of the things you need. It’s all random though.

[Venuminostrates]

@Sir.Tomato Cool! I'm glad you like it. :)

[Sir.Tomato]

Tried the build today ( or at least very similar one since i dont have all the gear needed) in normal mode. It is crazy how effective and satisfying this build is. Thank you Venuminostrates!!!!!! :D

[Amaya]

@Venuminostrates Perfect, so I’ll change these ones with +14%.
Thank you so much :)

[Venuminostrates]

@Amaya There's an Optional Substitution section in this guide. I think what you are looking for is there. I suggest swapping Muse [2] and Wildcard [3] out for Seer [0] and Wildcard [8]. I would suggest keeping the (+14% damage when above 90% health) divine transumtation on both, if you can. I hope this helps :)

[Amaya]

One question, I usually forget to use the second weapon (solo) so I was looking for the best ranger build, may I continue with your build changing muse and wildcard? If I have to change them witch seer I have to take (I mean the second power for the destiny card)

Sorry my bad english and thank you so much! :)

[Venuminostrates]

Sorcerous isn’t bad. This build generates a lot of overdrive. Maxed out, sorcerous takes 7 demon power uses to charge. With an oak card, you stand a decent chance at being able to recharge it before the buff drops if you're in the midst of battle. You might consider doing the tower substitution instead of muse, and focus on just your revolvers.

Also, running Aether vials will get you at least two of those seven to start, four of seven if you have barbarian. With the adventurer's outfit, you could potentially get six of the seven needed with only one aether vial.

[Doskias]

Hmm. I don't have luck, I craft boon talisman and it's give me Sorcerous boon. I must look another legendary demon power to craft another boon, this time maybe with ex. holy warior.