Acid Slammer

This build is a complete lvl 60 setup and is not fully UP-TO-DATE but is still super viable without much changes needed (see the note for new gear/skills below). The subclass used is Bane. I believe the build can be META (but not as DPS-y as a bane+train setup) when the right person uses it. It can dish out serious burst damage when we are buffed up & our energy is full. A major source of damage of this build is the combination of Venomous Maw + Egg of Mayhem that results in nice burst spikes of damage when unloading all of our energy. Add to this the combination of Blasting Charge to apply vulnerability + the Tier 2 Lantern Flash passive to get a total of +95% dmg (30% vulnerability + 65% dmg vs Slowed) vs enemies that are vulnerable and slowed at the same time. Add to this the extra of 25% Damage Buff from Miasma along its bit of DPS that can be used right before dumping our energy with Venomous Maw to boost its damage. Hammer Spin is our escape mechanic and mobility skill that can also hit enemies and proc things such as Fighter’s Spirit or the damaging procs + it gives us (at Tier 3) a +50% dmg reduction buff for 6sec. Skittering Shoulders (even without a set bonus) is a great source of survivability so it could be used instead of the Arc-Powered shoulders if you would rater get more dmg reduction and you’re not wearing the Cosmic Shoulders either.

Edit January 2021: Since the time i made this build there have been some changes (nerfs/buffs) to take in mind as well as new items. Here’s a short list of some things to consider:

• Thousand-Volt Burst Tier 3 is different – it now does not do the OP dmg but rather gives us 50% energy generation for it’s duration (20 secs due to the Tier 2). It’s good and worth using in many builds but not everyone will want the energy regen.
• the non-class sets’ shoulders (Skittering, Woodsbeast, etc.) now grant Active Skills that can be placed on our skill bar and no longer get triggered by the relic ults (T-VB, Summoning Smash, Dance of Death, etc.)
• Amazing new items that one can chain-synergize are: Ancient Ember Boots (to give us the active skill Imbue Relic which recharges our energy fully & with the set bonus also the relic charge). Combine this with Arctic Armaments Weapon & Off-hand set where the Shield (Frostwall) gives us +25% (50% with the set bonus) can reduce the cooldown of Imbue Relic to 30 sec (or 24 sec with the class passive when they all work properly), when combining this with either the Glacier’s Edge Sword or North Mace we can use the Focus item – Lil’ General in legendarium (or slot the Frostwall and wear the focus) to get +25% dmg & dmg reduction for 8 secs when reaching full energy (which Imbue Relic triggers when used) + 25% cast speed from the set bonus. To further the synergy we can use other Ancient Ember set items or some of the amazing Winterweave set items as well.

Build Video footage:

The skills I use:

• Basic Attack – a bit of extra DPS.
• Hammer Spin – our escape mechanic and a movement skill. We also get 50% movement speed on Tier 1 for 6 sec. & on Tier 3 we get 50% dmg reduction buff for 6 sec after using it
• Blasting Charge – applies Vulnerability to the enemies to make them take more damage. Also does okay damage, especially when you have a Blast Breaker in the Legendarium so it won’t use up your endurance. The Tier 2 gives us 20% dmg reduction in melee.
• Lantern Flash – burns + blinds for 1 sec so you can do more dmg + has an amazing Tier 2 passive bonus
• Pound – a good source of damage + the Tier 1 bonus gives it stun chance which helps with getting the bonus dmg from Lantern Flash Tier 2. Pound Tier 2 gives all our Slammer skills +20% dmg as well.
• Spike Drive – good damage + applies a 6 sec. slow that works on bosses so you can do even more damage with your train cars. (if the shield/focus slow affix not slowing bosses is actually a bug then it might be nice to replace this and get Poison Nova once it gets fixed)
• Venomous Maw – an amazing and major source of DPS for this build (especially when combined with an Egg of Mayhem in the Legendarium)
• Miasma – decent dmg + an amazing party buff for DMG & defence + summons 6 spiderlings (1 every second, up to 6) + at Tier 3 we get a 100% minion dmg boost
• Arachnid Assault – Nice dmg + summons a Spider Queen at Tier 1 that also does decent dps

The gear I recommend using is:

MY IDEAL EQUIPPED GEAR:

• A good rolled + socketed 1 handed Blue melee weapon + a good rolled & socketed blue Shield or Focus. (You could also equip the Egg of Mayhem to free up a slot the legendarium). OR use a good rolled + socketed 2-handed weapon
  
• Must wear at least 3 Cosmic pieces! I suggest wearing: Cosmic Helm + Gloves + (Boots or Pauldrons). If you want %elemental dmg on blue boots, get the Cosmic Pauldrons+ optionally wear the Breastplate [if not slotting it in the Legendarium]:
  • Cosmic Helm – gives +1 Conductor Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it now gives you extra levels and DMG if the skill is already lvl 10 and you can use this to overcap skills]
  • Cosmic Gauntlets (Gloves) – Use any Train Car active skill: next melee attack within 5 sec. causes a Flame Burst, dealing 80% Weapon Damage (Flame Burst is caused on an additional attack)
  • Cosmic Boots – Hit with Basic Attack: gain a Seismic Charge. If already at 10 charges, consume them to send a shockwave, dealing 400% Weapon Damage (gains two charges pet hit with the 3 piece set bonus)
  • Cosmic Pauldrons – when you cast Arachnid Assault (the big/ultimate relic skill): spawns an Enchanted Railhammer (a floating railhammer that follows you around and attacks enemies)
  • Cosmic Breastplate (Chest) – gives +1 Slammer Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it now gives you extra levels and DMG if the skill is already lvl 10 and you can use this to overcap skills]
• Arc-Powered Shoulders (a great choice when not using the Cosmic ones) – Cast Arachnid Assault: become Charged Up for 15 sec., gaining 30% Movement Speed and dealing 100% Weapon Damage to nearby enemies on hit

If you ‘slot in’ the Cosmic Breastplate, you can get a good stat boost from a well-rolled + socketed Blue Chest.

You’ll be looking for flat dmg, optionally % elemental dmg and/or Crit dmg/chance, +%Evasion +%Block Chance, +% Pound and/or Spike Drive DMG, + X lvl to any skill you use and have more than 1 point into, + others.

• Blue Legs and Chest rolled for flat dmg + % elemental dmg or Crit dmg with a socket
• Optionally: Blue Boots rolled for % dmg (if stacking the same element across your gear) and/or Crit dmg with socket.

Blue Gear only gets 1 socket now.

Suggested Legendarium Powers (to fill in the gaps from items you’re wearing):

MY IDEAL LEGENDARIUM COMBO:

• Cosmic Breastplate (Chest) for the +2 Slammer skill points (see gear paragraph above)
  
• Egg of Mayhem (unless you’ve equipped it) VERY GOOD SOURCE OF DPS for this build!
• Berserk Crusher OR anything you like. I’ll probably use the new relic shoulder with the Relic Recharge/ Battery active or another of the new set items.

Based on availability & your preference there are alternatives:

• Option 1: Blast Breaker
• Option 2: Arc-Powered Shoulders (if not equipped)
• Option 3: Centrifugal Demolisher OR Battery Ram
  Or anything else you like (i.e. Skittering Shoulders if you need survivability) In an upcoming update the Arc-Powered, Woodsbeast, and Skittering shoulders will give us an active skill to slot in the skill bar which would be bad for some builds that relied on them so try not to get too attached to either.

The recommended stats to look for in your items are (the list is not in order of priority and is just listing good bonuses + there’s new stats and I might have missed some which will get added later):

• + Flat Damage (any)
  
• +% elemental dmg (any) – starts getting very good later on when you have a nice flat to boost with this if you match the flat with the %
  
• +% Damage to Pound can be super good for this build!
  
• +% Damage to Spike Drive can be super good for this build!
• +% Duration to Miasma is not that important for this build but it’s not bad
  
• + Health
• + Defense (the non elemental is good for any act but lesser numbers than elemental)
• +% Critical Hit Chance (the cap is 40% but some skills will be able to get it past the cap)
  
• +% Critical Damage (the cap is 300%)
• +% Gear Luck (eventually try to get like 50-75% total for good drop quantity – the cap is 100%)
• +% Energy Recharge Rate – VERY GOOD FOR THIS BUILD
  
• -% Relic Energy cost – VERY GOOD FOR THIS BUILD
  
• +% Block Chance (capped at 40%)
  
• +% Chance to Evade damage (capped at 40%)
  
• +% Endurance Regeneration
  
• +% Chance to Chill – a decent CC proc
• +% Chance to Poison is a decent DoT and stacks with other DoTs and is very good for this build since we’re using Spread of Death
  
• +X sec. Poison Duration is very good for this build as it helps get more Spread of Death with less need to re-apply poison.
• +% Chance to Bleed and/or Burn to stack the poison with the other DoTs.
• +% Chance to Shock – a decent proc
  
• +% Additional Bolts Fired on Shock – a decent proc but not that important for this build
  
• +% Chance to Stun/Slow/Blind – Slow is an amazing affix for this build. Sadly, Slow does not work on bosses unless from a skill (not sure if intended).

The Skills and Passives I recommend are:

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that my setup is WITH the +2 Conductor & +2 Slammer skill levels from the Cosmic Set Helm + Breastplate! On top of that I did NOT have extra +1, 2 ,3 Skill Point(s) from my Helmet.

MY IDEAL SETUP (The version I theorized about in the video):

MORE CRITS BUT LESS ENERGY REGEN:

MAX ARACHNID BUT LESS ENERGY REGEN:

WITH POISON NOVA BUT LESS ENERGY REGEN: