[v1.0.0.8] DEE Witchblade, Dreeg Dreadnaught the Slightly Crucible God

[Drizzto]

Wanna farm Gladiator without efforts ? Bored of your physical S&B Witchblade ? Well you might be interested by this build.
With a succesrate around 90% & an average of 22 mins for 100-150 clear, it meet all the required criteria to be a top contender for Gladiator farm.
If you have a leaning for super tanky character it also do a fine job in Vanilla content and definitely HC ready.

[v1.0.0.8]Video: 100-150 Gladiator clear (21 mins 52sec)
https://youtu.be/f1Qf_G8N2tM

[v1.0.0.9]Video: Ultimate Fabius (~33sec)
https://youtu.be/o1OjUyRVmvQ

[v1.0.0.9]Video: Ultimate Bastion of Chaos
https://youtu.be/eRGoqyjDh78

With +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1008-GUxL5b
Attribute: 69/0/21

Without +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1008-dlCkfg

Devotions binding:
Tainted Eruption -> Dreeg's Evil Eye
Wendigo's Mark -> Curse of Frailty
Acid Spray -> Siegebreaker
Scorpion Sting -> Dreeg's Infitnite Gaze
Giant blood -> Possession


Pic is selfbuff with Judicator up

Head: Hood of Dreeg (Sanctified Bone / Kymon's Conduit (Kymon's Chosen))
Shoulders: Mantle of Dreeg (Scaled Hide / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Chest: Vestments of Dreeg (Hallowed Ground / Demonbane Powder (Kymon's Chosen))
Main hand: Runed Dagger of Dreeg (Mark of Dreeg / Outcast's Venom (Outcasts))
Offhand: Siegebreaker (Vitriolic Gallstone / Outcast's Venom (Outcasts))
Hands: Empowered Handguards of Perdition (Unholy Inscription / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Waist: Girdle of Stolen Dreams (Rigid Shell / Kymon's Conduit (Kymon's Chosen))
Legs: Warding Solael-Sect Legguards of Nature's Bounty (Ancient Armor Plate / Demonbane Powder (Kymon's Chosen))
Feet: Golemborn Greaves (Mark of Mogdrogen / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Amulet: Black Gem of Dreeg (Focusing Prism / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Rings: Open Hand of Mercy (Corpse Dust / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Rings: Closed Fist of Vengeance (Corpse Dust / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Medal: Mark of the Apostate (Attuned Lodestone)
Relic: Dreeg's Affliction

Grimtool (original setup)
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/YVWP4rZJ

Grimtool (without endgame green)
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/mN4DrrNg


Gameplay & Spell review:
I voluntarily facetank near 80% of the crucible content to showcase the toughness of this build, tho you can play safer, more caster gameplay oriented and kit forever while watching everything succomb to your dots effects.
Gameplay is simple even if it require some amount of key input, paint everything with CoF, use Siegebreaker/DEE/DIG has your primary aoe damage source, DAS for bursting resilient target, keep OG for difficult moment, maintain BoD buff active, use weapon attack/blitz to improve your RR debuff.

• Dreeg's Evil Eye: Main aoe & single target damage source with a 4sec CD.

• Siegebreaker (offhand): Another primary aoe damage source (4sec CD), Allow you to apply Acid Spray & partially the %RR debuff from Open Hand of Mercy, since it shotgun x3 you can maintain permanently Acid Spray on singletarget situation aswell.

• Curse of Frailty: aoe RR debuff, doing incredible work coupled with Wendigo's Mark, apply it on as many monster as possible even if you dont plan to damage them immediatily to increase your HP sustain.

• Dreeg's Infitnite Gaze (component): Secondary damage source since it doesnt "pass through", still decent due to his low 2.5sec CD & good damage.

• Dreeg's Afflicted Spine (Relic): Secondary damage source due to a "long" 8sec CD, damage output is kinda high, try to keep it for bursting some big HP pool mob or champions/boss.

• Weapon attack: Apply RR from Open Hand of Mercy in singletarget.

• Overguard: boost your toughness by phenomal amount but CD is quite long, keep it for decisive moments.

• Blitz: Mobility purpose, can be use to apply RR from Open Hand of Mercy.

Some Crucible tips & strategy (mostly for beginner):

Wave#104: Be careful with Anesteria & her RR debuff, stay in movement.
Wave#137: Same things as Wave#104 but harder, try to kill everything else and finish with Anesteria.
Wave#146: The 3 hidden path Guardian, they have insane damage potential if they are together, stay in movement & try to split them with some kitting.
Wave#147: If Madqueen spawn, be careful when she active her deadly red aura, try to clean everything else first.
Wave#149: Dont try to facetank this wave, just dots & run, you should easily defeat any boss combo you meet.
Wave#150: Due to the high Nemesis combo possibility, i cant explain them all here but i'am gonna try to give a global logic to play safe:

Lowest priority:
Zantarin: Always keep him for the end, since his damage can be insane (RR debuff/shotgun), hide yourself behind a wall & bait other nemesis to kill them first.
Moosilauke: Another Nemesis in the bottom of the priority list, abuse is slowness, kill him last. (EXCEPT if Zantarin is there, he still have to be kill last)
Benn'Jahr: One of the easiest spawn, abuse is slowness, you can kill him in any order depending which combo you have.

Highest priority:
Maiden: Since she stick your ass like a cancer, we dont have much choice to get her in the high priority kill-list.
Fabius: Same as maiden, careful with his SS ability is applying a RR debuff.
Valdaran: he is a top priority to kill, his combo of RR debuff/shotgun is deadly especially if you dont have good lightning overcap and his *swap* ability can put you sometime in awkward position.
Zantai: my favorite nemesis & most lethal one.

Be aware of mutators aswell, some crazy combo can significantly alter your run , more info here.

100-150 Solo Farming & Tribute usage:

Like any top tier Crucible build, you can easily pullout an average of 15-20 legendary per hour and tons of MI.
An important point for efficiency is to properly manage your tribute to be selfsufficient with victory alone and dont waste your time on tribute farm.

Standard tribute usage for infinite loop (start with a minimum of 64 tribute):
Vanguard banner level 3 (25 tribute) + 2 blessing (24 tribute) + raise the stack (15 tribute) -> 64 total tribute used, meanwhile a 100-150 clear reward you for 66.
If you want to pursue you farm session, you can restart at checkpoint 2 time in row and perform 130-150 runs (5 -> 15 -> 30 tribute for each checkpoint, dont use the third checkpoint, the cost is bigger than a banner level 3), tribute cost are light & reward are great.

Final farming route looks like this 100-150 -> 130-150 -> 130-150 -> make new game.

Q&A:

Why full Dreeg set?
Dreeg set is probably the highest damage source for poison caster, tho it isnt mandatory since the core mechanic of dots caster is so flexible, kinda sure we can easily finish crucible even with 0 dreeg part.

What make this build so tanky?
Soldier tree (kappahead) / 13% absorb damage from possession / ~1700 hp regen with judicator-OG-behemoth up / insane lifeleech from Wendigo's Mark / 37% physical res / Fumble-Impaired Aim from Mark of Apostate / Confusion from Tainted Erruption.

Alternative devotion route ?
With Oklaine: http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-BpY5kx (be careful with this one without Rat we loss 23 spirit)
With Viper: http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-Jj3l6V

How perform this build in Vanilla?
Like the intro says, you can easily handle the full Vanilla content & being unkillable, tho it is a bit slow for my taste.

Why Caster are superior to melee for Crucible purpose?
Recently bwc build (Commando/Sorcerer) are ahead of the popular physical S&B (Witchblade/Commando) for one main reason: Versatility.
Due to the high damage income of Crucible, you have to build very resilient character which leaded to the first Crucible meta alias phys S&B.
The main problem of melee character reside in their core gameplay itself: you have to full commit to kill stuff, at the opposite a dots caster have the highest gameplay flexibility, you dont have to commit to do the job if you dont want to.
In the end BWC or DEE build can easily handle the hardest situations where physical S&B can struggle.
I will take Wave#149 with Shar'zul/Sentinel spawn (probably the hardest combo for this wave) as an example, this wave can be particulary tricky for a melee character, most of them will have to run for their life meantime a caster can smoke his cigarette while watching mob getting melted by dots.

In closing:

Special thx to JoV, who brought his help & insight for the theorycraft part.

Definitely tier1 cruci farmer.

[Superfluff]

Fantastic build! And with panache

Very glad you posted it.

[Sobertooth]

Mark of the Apostate is so underrated, was baffled they actually buffed it in the same patch they reduced the fumble chance from CoS and Searing Light.

Very nice build, never realized they made the perdition gloves so nice when they buffed the epic items.

[Ace of Baise]

Great build and thx for the detailed OP
I have a similar build here http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52021
Yep no audience at all

Firstly inspired by this one http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48083

What's your DoT crits damage in vanilla?

[JoV]

Great build from great crucible master Drizzto

Originally Posted by Drizzto

I will take Wave#149 with Shar'zul/Sentinel spawn (probably the hardest combo for this wave) as an example, this wave can be particularly tricky for a melee character, most of them will have to run for their life meantime a caster can smoke his cigarette while watching mob getting melted by dots.

I had to highlight this cuz it perfectly sums up state of current game meta. Melee builds with recent changes cant compete with casters/hybrid casters any more in any given situations.
Basically game lost much of its diversity and you can sum up current meta to two types of builds that are vastly outperforming everything else:

1. For crucible: Soldier/shield hybrid casters (BWC or DEE based) and few tanky enough casters.

2. For vanilla game: SS spamming setups, cold/frostburn and acid/poison.

Every other build is underdog to upper mentioned ones.

[DaShiv]

Great job on both the build and the presentation - kudos!

There were lots of votes for DEE/poison builds in the recent top 10 builds thread, and this thread will likely become a primary reference for such builds.

[Chthon]

"Slightly"

I see what you did there

Great build

Consider adding to Compendium V

[Drizzto]

Originally Posted by Ace of Baise

Great build and thx for the detailed OP
I have a similar build here http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52021
Yep no audience at all

Firstly inspired by this one http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48083

The inspiration for this build come from neither build you linked, the 2 primary sources are BWC Commando from China and my recent experience with DW Witch hunter.

Originally Posted by Ace of Baise

What's your DoT crits damage in vanilla?

Dots on dummy is 95k average without 5 part dreeg buff, up to 115-125k average with it active.

[Jägermeister]

Nice one!

Not playing Crucible that much, I'm interested in how the killing times hold up in Vanilla vs Nemesis and Rogue Dungeon run times?

[Drizzto]

Originally Posted by Jägermeister

Nice one!

Not playing Crucible that much, I'm interested in how the killing times hold up in Vanilla vs Nemesis and Rogue Dungeon run times?

Didnt measured much Vanilla timers yet, tho if there is more demand i could make some quick videos about fabius/BoC run.