Miasmic Train

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 consider the build as 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 our train cars (which counts as minions) such as Flamethrower Car & Shotgonne Car. 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. To make things better we also stack Minion damage from the Puppet Master Relic Passive & the Miasma Relic Active skill: up to +25% minion dmg from the passive and +100% minion damage while Miasma Tier 3 is active. All this damage bonus applies to our train cars. Add to this the extra of 25% Damage Buff from Miasma along its bit of DPS. 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.

EDIT: Oct 31st – Added (at the bottom) suggested way to lvlup this build.

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.
• 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.
  
• Shotgonne Car – Passive: Periodically fire a cone-shaped blast to dps nearby enemies. Active: shoot a single, large slug that pierces enemies. The Endurance version shoots 5 of those slugs. 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 Poison Nova once it gets fixed)
  
• 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 + one of the following two: Shotgonner’s Shield or Doompipe (Focus) . You could wear Shotgonner’s Shield and slot the Doompipe in the legendarium or vice-versa (I prefer wearing the shield).
• 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, +% Flamethrower Car 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.

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)
  
• Doompipe or Shotgonner’s Shield (wear 1, slot the other) 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: Blast Breaker
• Option 2: Arc-Powered Shoulders (if not equipped)
• Option 3: Centrifugal Demolisher
  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 Flamethrower Car is super good for this build!!!
  
• +% Duration to Miasma
  
• + 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 and is good for this build IF you get Spread of Death
  
• +% 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 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 Mortar Car
At lvl 6,7,8,9 save points. At lvl 10 get Shotgonne Car lvl 1 & Lantern Flash lvl 4 & Venomous Maw lvl 1
At lvl 11,12 get Lantern Flash lvl 5,6
At 13,14 get Venomous Maw 2,3
Option 1: At lvl 15,16,17,18,19 you save the points for Flamethrower Car at 20 or put them in Venomous Maw and respec to remove them at 20.
Option 2: At lvl 15,16,17,18,19 you put the points in Miasma while removing Venomous Maw‘s points and putting them there too.
At lvl 20 you want as many points in Flamethrower Car as possible (ideally try to get Tier 3 then) You’ll remove the point in Mortar Car as well (for now you won’t need the passive urgently). If you remove the points in Venomous Maw + the one in Mortar Car you should have 13 points to work with (if you didn’t put any in Miasma) I’d say lvl 10 Flamethrower Car + lvl 1 Spike Drive + lvl 1 Miasma + lvl 1 Arachnid Assault is good for lvl 20.
From here on get your points towards Miasma Tier 3 which you should be able to get at lvl 28.
At lvl 29 you can start working towards things like Hammer Spin Tier 3, Base Train Car (Lay Track, Build Train) Tier 2, Shotgonne Car Tier 3, Arachnid Assault Tier 3, Mortar Car Tier 2, Ghost Train Tier 2, Blasting Charge T2, and Puppet Master lvl 5. Do it based on what you feel you need more as the ‘skeleton’ of the build is kind of rdy.