[v1.0.0.9] Cold Blademaster, Icy Terminator the Slightly Crucible God

[Drizzto]

Alright boys lets do this, your loyal servitor offering you the fastest Gladiator farmer of 1.0.0.9, basically a cold SS breaker wannabe with a shield, gameplay is identical to his DW brother that you can almost forgot you are playing a S&B build, just sit down & enjoy the OPness.

[v1.0.0.9]Video: 100-150 Gladiator clear (20 mins 5sec)
https://youtu.be/TwQfi3TLSRM

Spoiler!

Since i have some IQ deficiency i was playing with Belgo relic instead of Nemesis, to lazy to record another run at the moment.
About the final timer, it is slightly slower than the average "19 mins" due to bad RNG mutators:
wave 110-120: Resistant (+15% Elemental Resistance)
wave 120-130: Toughened (+40% Health)
wave 130-140: Resistant (Again :'<)

With +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-n7qi03
Attribute: 69/0/21

Without +skills & devotions
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-qDJ2ru

Devotions binding:
Elemental Storm -> Shadow Strike
Whirlpool -> Ring of Steel
Blizzard -> Blade Spirit


Pic is selfbuff with Lethal Assault up

Head: Clairvoyant's Hat (Sanctified Bone / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Shoulders: Purging Zantarin's Shoulderguard of the Mountain (Antivenom Salve / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Chest: Deathmarked Jacket (Chains of Oleron / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Main hand: Olexra's Chill (Haunted Steel / Creed's Cunning (Black Legion))
Offhand: Siegebreaker (Imbued Silver / Creed's Cunning (Black Legion))
Hands: Iceskorn Talons (Restless Remains / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Waist: Spellbreaker Waistguard (Antivenom Salve / Mogdrogen's Touch (Devil's Crossing))
Legs: Warding Solael-Sect Legguards of Kings (Scaled Hide / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Feet: Golemborn Greaves (Mark of Mogdrogen / Mankind's Vigil (Black Legion))
Amulet: The Peerless Eye of Beronath (Focusing Prism / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Rings: Alkamos' Touch of Anguish (Corpse Dust / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Rings: Alkamos' Touch of Dread (Corpse Dust / Survivor's Ingenuity (Devil's Crossing))
Medal: Badge of Mastery (Black Tallow)
Relic: Nemesis

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

Grimtool (without endgame greens)
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pJApZq

Gameplay & Spells review:
SS fanboys & fanatics you gonna be pleased, finally a tier1 Gladiator farmer around SS, gameplay remain the same to DW SS breaker/BM so i'am not gonna stretch to much on this (if you wanna make a DW SS breaker be sure to check out Elementoid guide !). Some playstyle tips for Gladiator: dont stay static at the same place for too long, abuse SS mobility to spread your devo / frostburn dots & at the same time it allow you to kit/dodge mob which reduce significantly the amount of damage taken.

• Ring of Steel: Supportive spell, freeze / fumble in aoe with weapon damage involved to apply frostburn dot, it also excel to proc'ing devotion.

• Shadow Strike: Primary single target damage source & also unmatched mobility spell in the game.

• Amarasta's Blade Burst: Used mainly for Lethal Assault buff, try to keep it up all time. it can be use as a LMB autoattack remplacer which i dont recommend since the "spells queue" is kinda broken, if you want to maximize your singletarget situation use SS on LMB.

• Blade Barrier: Panic button (circuit breaker), try to anticipate the incoming damage burst for a smoother gameplay.

• Blade Spirit: Mainly use to proc devotion, each BS have its own chance & seperate cooldown to proc devotions.

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

• Bloodthirster(component): Grant you a huge amount of ADCTH (24%) for 8sec with a 24sec CD, it can make the difference when fighting some hard Nemesis combo. Due to this build dont have any physical damage, it is unaffected by the vitality conversion.

Crucible Mini-Guide:
Same general tips as my previous DEE Witchblade guide.

Spoiler!

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:

Alternative gear choices?
You can consider Crescent Moon or a GG rolled Loxmere's Frostblade, 4 deathmarked piece can also be an option.

Alternative devotion route?
If you are going to use another weapon type than dagger/scepter, some rework into the devotion route is necessary. Take into consideration that Oklaine road is better but this is one is still decent: http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-hEa2xK

How perform this build in Vanilla?
Didnt tested it into Vanilla content yet but it should be more than viable, if there is some demand i could record some Ultimate content.

What about Gladiator succesrate?
Succesrate is equal to any current tier1 Gladiator build (90%+).

What make this build so tanky?
Unmatched clearing speed (yes faster you clear safer you are ) / Soldier tree (kappahead) / 14% absorb damage from Menhir's Bulwark / 2400+ effective DA level / 14% ADCTH, supported by bloodthirster / great mobility / some overcapped resist / Fumble, dodge, deflect chance / 12% damage reduction from Alkamos ring set.

In Closing:

Special mention to JoV (The Grand GD Guru), since his amazing SS Spellbreaker is the main source of inspiration for this build.

SS is love, SS is life. <3

[Chthon]

That was quick i didn't knew you'd post it this soon

That image though

Originally Posted by Drizzto

Since i have some IQ deficiency

Rofl, wtf Drizzto

[JoV]

Your bleed resistance suck

[korsar]

Still exist people who don't use grimtools calc??

[PrinceXavieR]

Originally Posted by JoV

Your bleed resistance suck

bleeding eh, good thing Hangman Jarvis does not spawn in the Crucible


another slightly good build..

[Chthon]

Originally Posted by korsar

Still exist people who don't use grimtools??

I am one of them btw

Internet is too damn bad and i am not patient enough to wait 90 trillion years for it load with my shit speed

Latest build i had Sobertooth and Ceno to help me set GT link

Btw, Drizzto how is this build superior to your previously posted DoT and JoV's BWC builds? Seems inferior to me due to uncapped bleed and stun resistances for crucible i mean, not doubting single target potential

[Drizzto]

Originally Posted by JoV

Your bleed resistance suck

Originally Posted by Chthon

Seems inferior to me due to uncapped bleed

Capping bleed resist in Grim Dawn.

Originally Posted by Chthon

Btw, Drizzto how is this build superior to your previously posted DoT and JoV's BWC builds?

Survivability wise it is more or less equal to any current tier1 Gladiator build, main advantage is the unmatched clearing speed (it is actually as fast as pre nerf physical S&B witchblade in 1.0.0.6), tho my dots build are more accessible to beginner since it can work at a "decent" level even without highend gear.

[Nssheepster]

Cough. Tinker's Belt on basically all my builds ever. Cough, cough.

Sorry, had something in my throat there. Bleed Res, eh?

[JoV]

Originally Posted by Nssheepster

Cough. Tinker's Belt on basically all my builds ever. Cough, cough.

Sorry, had something in my throat there. Bleed Res, eh?

I was joking and bleed is joke in cruci

And to trade flat cold, OA, +1 to skills and crit % for bleed resistance is not even funny

[Crauler]

Not using frostburn augments in jewelry?