Melee Adventurer

This build is a complete lvl 60 setup and is UP-TO-DATE with the new relic subclass rework. The subclass used is Electrode. I consider the build as not underpowered and might even be META when the right person uses it. It can dish out serious damage when we are buffed up & our energy is full. A major source of damage of this build are procs such as Lightning Strike and in order to get many procs we try to maximize the hits per second via various skills. The build stacks extra damage sources that come from two skills: Loyal Shasta (taunts and then gives us passive +50% dmg vs taunted enemies), Sacrifice to Goose (applies vulnerability making enemies take 25% more dmg or 30% with the Tier 1 bonus). Add to this the combination of 25% Damage Buff from Localized Storm along its extra nice DPS + Ghost Visage (for mobility + an extra 50% crit chance buff that supposedly will go over the 40% cap but seems to not do so yet) & our spammy DPS and proc source – Mace Basic Attacks + the Shocking Force passive that triggers pretty often on a mace + Thousand-Volt Burst and its very high damage and +50% casting speed buff. And if this was not enough, we have another major source of procs – Scout’s Bones (with an Infectious Shooter in the Legendarium) with its amazing projectiles flying in every direction. Add Reload on top of this and we can spam have an extra round of ammo, that comes handy while moving around the map with Ghost Visage. 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 Musketeer 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.
• Reload now properly resets the cooldown of adventurer skills and can be amazing when you combine Reload Tier 3 with Scout’s Bones + Infectious Shooter for 3 quick casts of the skill due to the 2 Reload charges.
• 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:

• Mace Basic Attack OR Bow Basic Attack (if using the bow version) – our spammy DPS & source of procs. A very good source of damage considering the triggers of Shocking Force (which requires mid-range so not that great for a bow build).
• Loyal Shasta – used to taunt enemies and keep them grouped up for our dmg spam also makes taunted enemies take 50% more dmg. Can do some more dmg + heal us when the Shasta’s Promise shield is equipped/slotted in the Legendarium.
• Sacrifice to Goose – we use it to apply vulnerability, making enemies take 25% more dmg or 30% with the Tier 1 bonus
• Reload – resets the cooldowns of all Adventure Skills and also fully restores our ammo. Sadly it is still broken and only resets Loyal Shasta & Goblin Legion.
• Ghost Visage – our escape mechanic and a movement skill. We also get 50% crit chance for the next 3 uses of Targeted Strikes/Tight Grouping/Explosive Arrow after using it
• Scout’s Bones – When boosted by the Infectious Shooter pistol this one shoots poison projectiles in all directions as the rat ball(s) travel forward. It can become a major source of proc = DPS
• Curse of Pi’pi – a very good source of debuffing the enemies’ dmg by 25% and stacks up to two time for a total of -50% dmg applied on affected enemies. If using the Bow version then this gets Replaced with Explosive arrow.
  
• Localized Storm – It’s a great Extra DPS to nearby enemies + also helps get more stuff procing as well as a +25% dmg buff + another 10% Movement Speed to us and nearby allies.
• Thousand-Volt Burst – Our BIG relic skill that we can active after spending a total of 200 energy with other skills like Localized Storm. It’s good to save and use this on champions & bosses.

The gear I recommend using is:

MY IDEAL EQUIPPED GEAR:

• A good rolled + socketed 1 handed Blue MACE + a good rolled & socketed Focus or Shield. (You could wear Wideload’s Cavebreaker if no better DPS Blue 1handed is available) OR a good rolled blue socketed bow for the bow version
• Must wear at least 3 Musketeer pieces! I suggest wearing: Musketeer Hat + Gloves + (Boots or Shoulders). If you want %elemental dmg on blue boots, get the Musketeer Shoulders + optionally wear the Robe [if not slotting it in the Legendarium]:
  • Musketeer Cavalier Hat – gives +1 Precision 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]
  • Musketeer Gauntlets – summons one (or two with the 3 piece set bonus) archer spirits to fight alongside you (they use Tight Grouping)
  • Musketeer Boots (not a bad bonus and we o wear 3 Musketeer pieces for the set bonus)
  • Musketeer Shoulders – use a potion: restore a charge of Ghost Visage (2 charges restored with the set bonus)
  • If not slotting it: Musketeer Robe – gives +1 Adventurer 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 Musketeer ones) – Cast Thousand-Volt Burst: 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 Musketeer Robe, 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, +%Chance to Shock, +Additional bolt(s) fired on shock, +% Explosive Arrow DMG (if using the Bow build version), + 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:

• Musketeer Robe (Chest) for the +2 Adventurer skill points (see gear paragraph above)
  
• Infectious Shooter (Pistol) – this boost our Scout’s Bones skill and gives it an amazingly fun ability to shoot loads of poison projectiles which results in a ton of procs. VERY GOOD SOURCE OF DPS for this build!
• 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: Lil’Drake
• Option 2: Arc-Powered Shoulders (if not equipped)
• Option 3: Arc-Powered Boots (when at high block chance)
  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 Explosive Arrow (only when using the bow build version)
  
• +% Duration to Localized Storm may not be great if you wanna use Thousand-Volt Burst more often
  
• +% Damage to Localized Storm, Thousand-Volt Burst (I’d focus on either Localized Storm or Thousand-Volt Burst if going for relic dmg stacking)
  
• + 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%)
  
• +% Ammo Regeneration
  
• +% Chance to Chill – a decent CC proc
• +% Chance to Poison is a decent DoT and stacks with other DoTs
• +% Chance to Bleed and/or Burn to stack the poison with the other DoTs.
• +% Chance to Shock – a decent proc and is VERY nice for this build
• +% Additional Bolts Fired on Shock – a decent proc and also VERY nice for this build
• +% Chance to Stun/Slow/Blind – good and could be useful when investing into Tier 2 Rizzi’s Fate. Not a very important choice tho.
  

The Skills and Passives I recommend are:

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that my setup is WITH the +2 Precision & +2 Adventurer skill levels from the Musketeer Set Hat + Robe! On top of that I did NOT have extra +1, 2 ,3 Skill Point(s) from my Hat/Helmet.

MY PREFERRED VERSION (I PREFER TO USE A MACE):

BOW BASIC ATTACK VERSION 1:

BOW BASIC ATTACK VERSION 2:

Suggested way to level any Electrode Sharpshooter:

At lvl 2 get Localized Storm lvl 1
At lvl 5 get Ghost Visage lvl 3 + Chaotic Strikes lvl 1 (after saving points)
At lvl 6 get Targeted Strikes lvl 1 (unless you already respeced the 1 point from Tight Grouping into Targeted Strikes)
At lvl 7, 8, get lvl 2,3, Chaotic Strikes
At lvl 10 get lvl 1 Sacrifice to Goose, lvl 1 Tingling Sensation and lvl 1 Reload
At lvl 11 get lvl 4 Chaotic Strikes
At lvl 15 get Lightning Strike to lvl 5 (after saving points)
At lvl 20 get Loyal Shasta lvl 6 (after saving points)
At lvl 21 get lvl 1 Thousand-Volt Burst
At lvl 22 to 27 get Chaotic Strikes from lvl 5 to 10
At lvl 28 start investing more into Tingling Sensation if you lack chance to shock from gear
From this point it’s up to personal preference what to focus on – Tingling Sensation, Shocking Display, Targeted Strikes Tier 3, Reload Tier 2 or even 3 if you feel you need it, Thousand-Volt Burst, Energizer, Sacrifice to Goose Tier 1 or 2. All of those are good in their own way so prioritize what you feel you need the most at that moment.

Once you feel like you have all the legendary items needed equipped and in the Legendarium and you’re confident that it’s time to respec into the actual build, you can remove the points from Chaotic Strikes and put them towards other things (such as Scout’s Bones. Scout’s Bones is not that great for procmonster builds without the Infectious Shooter (maybe at lvl 10 it’s not that bad but still nowhere near as good as the boosted version).