SPINNER Bruenor

(2x spin2win duration + temporary invulnerability alongside permanent physical dmg reduction)

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This build is all about getting double Whirlwind duration (meaning twice the total DMG) & an invulnerability buff while Whirlwind is active. Thanks to the Coldstone Guardian Set we get 25% Physical DMG Reduction + the buffs to Whirlwind. The burst damage is nice but Whirlwind is a skill on a long cooldown so it’s not spammable even with maxed out INT. Steel Launcher can shorten cooldowns by 3% on each hit which really helps. Combined with Cold or Lightning DMG and enough Condition Penetration, you’ll also be locking your foes in a freeze or shock state quite often for the cases when your Whirlwind is still not ready. The build can probably solo all Content (will be very slow tho) as long as reasonably geared up and works even better in a Group. When not using our Whirlwind or ultimate it could feel quite squishy unless you’re using Block BUT some things are unblockable so keep that in mind. You can heal up as you deal damage if you use one of the two combo moves that apply Vampiric on us – Warsong & Frostwave Grind. Frostwave Grind also recharges 3% of our Ultimate bar for the first enemy hit which seems pretty low and could use an increase to like 8-9% to make it worth spamming that move (which has a terribly slow animation/wind-up. During our Ultimate we’re pretty tanky and get extra Strength (Stalwart buff) which can be combined with the Cold DMG buff from Stomping Quake + the Fire DMG buff from Anvil of Clangeddin + the Frenzy buff from Backhand Spinner.

Build Video Version:

Abilities:

I prefer using the following two abilities:

• Whirlwind – is the centerpiece skill that our equipped set nudges us to use. A spin2win type of skill with a fixed duration. Thanks to the Coldstone Guardian Set we also get Invulnerability while the skill is active.
• Anvil of Clangeddin – Grants us & our allies near the anvil bonus Fire Damage buff. It also deals AoE Physical & Fire Dmg to nearby enemies over time for the duration of the skill.

Gear & Gear Stats/Rolls:

The FULL SET used is Coldstone Guardian, we use all 8 Pieces of that one for the 3 and 5 piece bonuses of +10% & +15% Incoming Physical Damage Reduction bonus (a total of 25%). The 8 pieces set bonus is what gives this build some great “DPS + Survivability on demand”: Whirlwind last twice as long and Bruenor is Invulnerable for its duration. This means not only does Whirlwind do 2x the total damage per cast it normally does but we’re also invulnerable while it lasts. Keep in mind that some affixes/stats can roll twice on the same piece of equipment so where it says 2x STAT below it means that I recommend using an item that has that stat rolled twice on it.

Also keep in mind that this build does not need the stamina related bonuses as much as my Cattie-Brie build did but the alternatives are stacking certain resistances and I still prefer more max stamina, stamina regen & stamina cost reduction over resistances, BUT you may prefer to stack a specific type of resistance if farming content that uses only that type of dmg.

Shield

• Crit Chance
• Strength
• Intelligence
• Ultimate Charge Bonus
• Good Alternative Rolls: CHA, Con, Max HP (if you can’t get the preferred ones). %MAX HP is better than +CON if you just need HP and no Stamina bonuses.

Axe

• 2x Flat Elemental DMG (Cold or Lightning for CC preferred)
• Condition Penetration
• +1 Filler (Armor Penetration or Elemental Penetration)

Helm

• Crit Chance
• 2x Crit DMG
• +1 Filler

Bracers

• 2x Max HP
• 2x Stamina Cost Reduction (not as important but still nice to have)

Chestguard

• 2x Max HP
• 2x Max Stamina (not as important but still nice to have)

Leg Guards

• 2x Max Stamina (not as important but still better this than resistance rolls)
• 2x Stamina Regen (not as important but still better this than resistance rolls)

Necklace

• Crit Chance
• Ultimate Charge Bonus
• 2xCrit DMG
• Good Alternative Rolls: Max HP, Armor Penetration, Elemental Penetration (if you can’t get the preferred ones)

Ring

• Crit Chance
• Ultimate Charge Bonus
• 2xCrit DMG
• Good Alternative Rolls: Max HP, Armor Penetration, Elemental Penetration (if you can’t get the preferred ones)

Attribute Points:

There are two ways to go about it:

• Version 1: main stats we’re MAXing out (investing into until you can no longer do so) are STR and CON for Physical DMG and HP + Stamina Bonuses. The remaining points you can either dump into INT (my preferred) for Elemental DMG + Cooldown Reduction or CHA for Ultimate Regeneration.
• Version 2: main stats we’re MAXing out (investing into until you can no longer do so) are STR and INT for Physical and Elemental DMG. The remaining points you can either dump into CON (my preferred) for HP & Stamina boosts or CHA for Ultimate Regeneration.

This concludes my SPINNER Build for Bruenor in Dark Alliance. I’ll be making more of those for each hero in the coming days/week.

The Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance aRPG developed by Tuque Games released on June 22nd 2021 for PlayStation, XBOX & PC (both Steam & the Microsoft Store) and is also available for both the XBOX & PC via the XBOX Game Pass. The game got shredded by the reviews on Steam for many reasons but after playing it for over 60 hours I can say that it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. It’s true that there are a lot of things that seem unpolished with the co-op and there are a some badly designed features (such as the looting mechanic that only rewards at the end of a mission), however, there is a lot of fun to be had while playing the game.