Drain Train

This build is a complete lvl 60 setup and is UP-TO-DATE with the game post-launch. The subclass used is Blood Drinker. I don’t consider the build as META as the Miasmic Train build but it is a build with much more survivability & but also less damage. When the right person uses it It can still dish out decent amount of damage when we are buffed up & our energy is full. A major source of damage of this build is our train skill Flamethrower Car (which counts as a minion). 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 [this shows up at 45% vulnerability on Blasting Charge with Tier 1 now so not sure if bug or intended]. To make things better we also have Drain that not only does damage in aoe around us but heals us too. Dance of Death is our relic “ultimate” and it does okay dps + bleeds enemies around us. The idea of the build is to generate as much energy as possible via the help of 2 Relic Passive skills: Energizer (+25% Relic energy Charge) & Blades for Cutting (gives us +50% basic attack dmg with sword/railhammer, procs a DPS skill, & give another +25% relic energy charge when hitting enemies with basic sword/railhammer attacks). All of that energy is then dumped via Drain so that we can use Dance of Death more often. For more survivability we have Living Barrier that heals us 20% HP per sec for 3 secs and gives us a 50% dmg reduction buff, that we pair up nicely with the Fighter’s Spirit passive that give us 50% damage reduction after hitting a enemy with a melee attack/skill (70% with Tier 2 Blasting Charge) 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) another +50% dmg reduction buff for 6sec. Skittering Shoulders (even without a set bonus) is a great source of survivability so it could be used if you would rater get more even more dmg reduction but it might be an overkill.

Build Video footage:

The skills I use:

• • Basic Attack (Sword or Railhammer) – a bit of extra DPS that also procs the Blades for Cutting passive.
    
  • 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 (which I don’t recommend for this build) so it won’t use up your endurance. The Tier 2 gives us extra 20% dmg reduction in melee bonus for Fighter’s Spirit.

• Build Train – well, we can’t have Flamethrower & Shotgonne Car without the basic train car. Also gets bonuses from +%minion dmg modifiers.
  
• Flamethrower Car – Passive: A flamethrower car that constantly attacks and burns nearby enemies. Active: Lets out a cone-shaped flame burst that deals good dmg and burns for a nice amount as well.  Also gets bonuses from +%minion dmg modifiers.
  
• 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 something else once it gets fixed)
• Living Barrier – heals us for 20% HP per second for 3 seconds and gives us a +50% Damage Reduction buff for 6 seconds. (if the shield/focus slow affix not slowing bosses is actually a bug then it might be nice to replace this and get something else once it gets fixed)
  
• Drain – decent AoE dmg + a self-heal. We also use this as an energy dump to build charge for Dance of Death
  
• Dance of Death – Nice dmg + bleeding
  

The gear I recommend using is:

MY IDEAL EQUIPPED GEAR:

• A good rolled + socketed 1 handed Blue SWORD + a good rolled & socketed Shield with %slow chance.  (I prefer wearing the shield). (You could also equip the Doompipe to free up a slot the legendarium but loose a lot of defence) OR a good blue 2 Railhammer
  
• Must wear at least 3 Cosmic pieces! I suggest wearing: Cosmic Helm + Gauntlets + Boots (or Pauldrons). If you want %elemental dmg from blue boots, slot the Cosmic Boots 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. This gives additional dmg to certain 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 Dance of Death (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. This gives additional dmg to certain skills]

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, +% Flamethrower Car DMG (on shoulders+pants+chest), + 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 not using the Cosmic Boots) 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:

• Doompipe (wear 1, slot the other) VERY GOOD SOURCE OF DPS for this build!
• Cosmic Breastplate (Chest) for the +2 Slammer skill points (see gear paragraph above)
• Ancient Ember Boots OR Pants (or Arc-Powered Pants before they replace its legendary power).
  

Based on availability & your preference there are alternatives:

• Option 1: Cosmic Boots, Legs or other set piece that you’re not wearing but want the bonus of
• Option 2: Berserk Crusher or Centrifugal Demolisher
  
• Option 3: Any other Ancient Ember Piece you like
  Or anything else you like (i.e. Skittering Shoulders if you need survivability) The Arc-Powered, Woodsbeast, and Skittering shoulders now give us an active skill to slot in the skill bar which not everyone may like.

MY IDEAL LEGENDARIUM COMBO (after they add the missing dmg affixes on legendary items):

• Doompipe
• Ancient Ember Chest
• Berserk Crusher or Centrifugal Demolisher or anything you like more

This would mean you wear Ancient Ember Boots, Pants + Shoulders alongside Cosmic Helm, Breastplate + Gauntlets.

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 Flamethrower Car is super good for this build!!!
  
• +% Damage to Drain (could be good if it exists but not a high priority)
  
• + 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
  
• -% Relic Energy cost
  
• +% 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
  
• +% Chance to Bleed is a decent DoT and stacks with other DoTs. It’s great for this build if you use Rupture!!!
• +% Chance to Burn is a decent DoT to stack 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 PREFERRED VERSION:

MORE CRITS:

MORE CRITS + ENERGIZER, NO PUPPET MASTER:

ENERGIZER WITH PUPPET MASTER:

SPREAD OF DEATH VERSION:

How to lvl the build:

At lvl 2 get Blasting Charge
At lvl 3 and 4 save points so that at lvl 5 you can get Hammer Spin lvl 3 and Spinning Blade
At lvl 6,7,8,9 save points. At lvl 10 get Lantern Flash lvl 6
At lvl 11 get Living Barrier lvl 1 & then start leveling Spinning Blade (which at lvl 15 you’ll get down to lvl 0 and put the points from it into Drain). Or save up all points for lvl 20 so you can have Flamethrower Car Tier 3 asap.
At lvl 20 get lvl 10 Flamethrower Car + lvl 1 Dance of Death
From here on get your points towards Drain Tier 3.
Eventually you can start working towards things like Hammer Spin Tier 3, Base Train Car (Lay Track, Build Train) Tier 2, Dance of Death Tier 3, Blasting Charge T2. Do it based on what you feel you need more as the ‘skeleton’ of the build is kind of rdy.