5-8% toughness on Chained Hit.
Hitting at least 3 enemies with an attack, increases your cleave by 140-200% for 2 seconds.
Target receives 1-4 Stacks of 2.5% Brittleness on direct projectile hit. Debuff lasts for 5 seconds and can have a maximum of 16 stacks.
6-15% Strength bonus for 5 seconds after hitting multiple enemies with your weapon special explosion.
A build made to maximize the effectiveness of the Grenadier Gauntlet's 'Explosive Punch'. I did a LOT of testing for this, and while the bonus range damage from the right side is nice, nothing beats bleed + Shattering Impact. You can absolutely demolish a Monstrosity with this set up, especially since you can start off by dumping 5 punches into them, activate Point Blank Barrage and dump in 5 more, and if you're allowed to be fast enough get a reload off at the end and dump a final 5 that will always kill it. Granted, you rarely need to go that far since you are shredding their armor with each hit, so your team will often kill it before your first mag dump is even done. But, 'in a pinch', you can easily deal with it and it feels nice. Beyond that, you 1-2 shot anything (two shoting only maulers, crusher, and bulwarks if you hit their shield) with your explosive punch, so dumping it into waves and watching everything turn into giblets feels fantastic. And thanks to Ammo stash, I never felt like I was having ammo problems basically ever, even with the 5 less shots due to only doing 60% in ammo (because maximum damage!). Ohh, and I take Point Blank Barrage because the grenade part of the tap is ranged damage now, so the bonus to rending + both ranged and close range damage is really good and can lead to a lot more one hits to more things. I also use it primarily as a reload, trying to find a concentration stim early so I can save it to pop whenever a Monstrosity spawns, and then just otherwise use it as a reload in the middle of a wave when I need to nuke the wave RIGHT now. I also use it against rager/mauler/ogie hordes after dumping my first clip so I can clean up the rest should there be any. Beyond that, I take a knife so that I can put Savage Sweep on it and save a point/not need to take 'Great Cleaver', and thus can take Frenzied Blows instead and feel good about myself. I use the VI just for varieties sake (as I am using every other cleaver type, some more than once in other builds, and so it feels nice to 'shake things up' a bit now that they all are viable). And thanks to the Grenadier Gauntlet already having horizontals in it's light heavy combo string (with verticals in it's heavy light by contrast), having this Cleaver sport diagonals all day everyday is ACTUally desirable instead of pain! So I enjoy it, heavy into light for most wave clear as that's two wide screen diagonals, or I often do a push attack into a light then go into my heavy so it feels nicer. You can also like all Cleavers punch into overhead heavy stab to deal with basically anything, or just keep punching and light attacking with this cleaver specifically for continual light overheads that will just let you spam a thing to death. I tried using the Pickaxe too, but I already use most of the good ones on other builds and the II absolutely sucks/felt strictly worse than just using the Cleaver due to having to 'stack up' cleave on a slow hitting weapon. So I just immediately went back to the cleaver and never looked back. (It lets you be a lot more aggressive/gets you in nicer too due to the mobility, so you can actually gauntlet punch things. Can even maximize mobility and lower penetration if one wants, but I felt like it's 'good enough' as is and with this being likely the only build I'd use the VI on, I'd rather it perform the best it can verses not). I also AS always take Confident Strike so I can not have to take The Best Defence (but take Steady Grip because the Gauntlet has no regen Blessing that matters and it's nice to have for when a Burster/Sniper nukes your toughness). Think that's all of it, beyond 'you can hold/'charge' your grenade punch so make sure you'll actually hit something before releasing it, otherwise you feel very sad as you do a wiff animation', Also you can slide while charging that up, so do that too for greater distance and better likelihood of success! The rest is stated in other builds, and I've rambled on enough already. I'll just finish by saying, I take Bonebreaker Aura because more damage + This is probably the only build in existence that can realistically take it with Point Blank Barrage, so I took it for the novelty and still do just fine without Stay Close! thanks to the attack speed. I debate between 'Can't Hit Me...Again' and that 5% DR node, or even swapping Frenzied Blows for that node, but through out all my test games I rarely felt like I had to heavy of a DR issue. Depending on if that continues one might see the nodes/guide shift around, but for now 'I like everything where it is'. Ohh, and Batter only applies bleed on the grenade punches contact, not the explosion. So be sure to hit the main target (especially for Monstrosities) so you get those nice juicy 4 stacks of bleed! Do really think this build is quite good though, felt rather strong and capable the whole time, and always got the max radius 'nuke' when needed as a fail safe! So go about smacking, stabbing, and blowing things up to one's heart's content!
