Zealot
1-4 Bleed Stacks on non-Weak Spot Hits.
12.5-20% Critical Chance for 6s on successful Dodge.
5-8% Strength for every 10% of magazine spent during continuous fire. Stacks 5 times.
1-4% Toughness for every 10% of magazine spent during continuous fire. Stacks 5 times.
Let me start by saying that this is not a DPS build. You won't top scoreboards, and most of the time, you will be at the bottom of the damage done unless your team is literally throwing the game. However, you do have huge clutch potential if needed because Zealot + MK3 Combat Blade is just that good of a combo.
The intent of this build is to trigger your ability (Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude, also known as Relic) as much as possible through the 'Invocation of Death' modifier. This means we aim for a very high crit chance (80%+) and deal constant melee hits to massively reduce the cooldown.
The Combat Blade provides 55% crit chance almost by itself: +5% crit chance perk, +20% crit chance from Riposte Blessing, and Lacerate Blessing trigger our 'Scourge' passive for +30% crit chance.
Blazing Piety gives a "free" 25% crit chance: 15% once 25 enemies die around you and an additional 10% from 'Righteous Warrior'.
That's 80% crit chance if you are by yourself, just spamming light melee attacks at hordes.
Meaning you can use Relic every few seconds or so depending on your RNG and mob density.
Ability cooldown reduction is preferable but not mandatory on curios.
Because at some point, you realize that keeping your team alive is more important and fun than topping scoreboard mods or clutching impossible games. After more than a thousand hours playing this game, the "dream team" penance finally starts going up from 27 to 45 in only two weeks of playing this build constantly! This build is also extremely useful and what I used to obtain the A.S.S. (Auric Storm Survivor) title in a legitimate way. I rarely die, and when I do go down due to some mistake or lag, my team is usually alive and brings me up ASAP. If my whole team dies, I can still kite the horde infinitely/solo bosses (unless it's BoN, in which case keep kiting and revive your team)/speedrun to the prisoner totem/spam Relic on the horde and get breathing room every few seconds.
Again, this is not a DPS build. If you want that, you can look for any of the Eviscerator + Fury builds and deal a million damage with them. This build focuses on achieving near-immortality and effortlessly overcoming any hazards the game throws at you, all while ensuring your team stays alive. The combination of the Autopistol and Inspiring Barrage is underrated; it significantly enhances your ability to handle pox gas modifiers, even without relying heavily on relic.
Picture this: Toughness is broken, enemies are nowhere in sight, relics are stuck in cooldown, and you find yourself trapped in a Pox cloud. No problem! Simply fire the Autopistol into the air like a mad person until your toughness regenerates. (Note: This may result in spending more ammo on pox gas modifiers, so exercise caution.) To quote Razgriz, whose top stealth build inspired the use of the autopistol in this setup:
"...the breathing room Inspiring Barrage provides while out in the open is unmatched by any other blessing in the game. It effectively removes non-elite shooters as a threat and can save your life in situations that would normally be guaranteed death. The blessing is in fact so impactful, it should be considered the primary reason for ever choosing the Autopistol over the still extremely OP Zarona Revolver."
Its high fire rate also makes it more effective than other inspiring barrage weapons for this build's purpose; anything slower wouldn't suffice for auric maelstrom (for toughness regeneration).
If you're confident in maintaining your toughness without it, you can definitely switch to the revolver and immolation grenades. However, in this case, you'll need to be extra careful and avoid frontline combat as much. I don't recommend this, though, as the 'blades of faith' blitz perform just as effectively and are more resource-efficient than revolvers in today's game.
The build above is optimized for pub play... WITH RANDOMS. And keeping THEM alive while not dying in the process. It's harder than it sounds. So while you could switch some tanky abilities in favor of more DPS-oriented support abilities, I wouldn't because even with all the damage buffs, people will still backline hard if they have low HP/toughness, making the damage buffs useless. People push harder/play more aggressively when their toughness is always up/yellow.
Beacon of purity is something you can take in a backup build in case someone else is using a chorus build already, would not recommend for general use though.
- In combat use light melee attacks on hordes to trigger your CDR, use heavy melee attacks on muties and Ogryns, Autopistol is for toughness regen and tanking/killing shooters (melee is preferable if possible), Blades of faith is for specialists.
- Don't tunnel vision into one specific role. This build is very flexible with combat roles, you mostly want to melee hordes yes, but do focus on killing specialists if they spawn in your range to prevent damage. Sometimes you have to use blitz on snipers 70m+ away, not ideal but sometimes you are the most suited build/person for it.
- Positioning and game sense are extremely important. Don't get cornered. Be aware of where you and your teammates are and try to predict a course of action in case things go south.
- Don't go all martyr just because you are feeling tanky. If someone is pushing, trigger relic and rally behind them, but don't necessarily start pushes yourself, unless it's a room full of gunners then do Relic + push but fallback if no one is following you.
- Autopistol inspiring barrage triggers on each 10% of ammo you spend in a salvo, even if you shoot at nothing.
- Use your blitz to deal with specials and stray gunners; get used to aiming it at distant targets as well.
- Basic dodging knowledge is mandatory; the build doesn't work if your dodge button is broken for some reason.
- Prioritize using relic on front liners so you can make steady progress, but be mindful if your backline is getting cornered. In this case, rush to them and use relic to allow them to move; they will love you for that.
- If you are isolated, try to use autopistol for toughness regen rather than relic; you might get stuck on CD in case a boss/crusher conga line spawns without a horde nearby.
- If you need to clutch, kite the slower enemies while poking the faster enemies as needed. If you feel you can't clean everything or there's a BoN chasing you, go for revives.
- If relic is down and you're caught in the open (you shouldn't) with tons of guns trained at you, use autopistol + dodge back into cover.
- Avoid getting surrounded; always have your back free and an escape planned. The build is tanky but won't save you from mutie throw into sniper/whatever combos that happen in high-intensity BS modifiers.
- Some teammates might get TOO confident once they start feeling tanky because of your perks and aura. If they get isolated from you, they might go down or at the very least lose tons of health. Happens a lot, so try to keep your team together.
