0.3 Shin's Blood and Steel - Witchhunter (MASSIVE BUFFS)

Skills and supports explained:

The main gems are Armour Piercing Rounds and High Velocity Rounds

Id also suggest picking up Wind Dancer asap. But for full details, read on.


Core Attack skills:

Armour Piercing Rounds:

Leveling: Chain II > Armour Explosion > Rapid Attacks II
Level 56+: Chain II > Brutality III > Rapid Attacks II > Heft > Life Drain

This is our main de-buff ability and pack clear. We use it to spread bleed while also removing armour as fast as possible. We want to get Chain I asap and Armour Explosion to make its purpose that much better as we level. Once we hit level 56 and get our hands on Myris Uxor, we go all in on Physical! So drop the Armour Explosion and pop in Brutality III. Life Drain is also a good one to note as its the final support but makes our life sustain a joke.

Use is simple, spray and pray until everything is de-buffed with broken armour or dead. For big scary mobs use it to de-buff before switching to High Velocity Rounds.

High Velocity Rounds

Brutality III > Deep Cuts II > Heft > Physical Mastery > Deliberation

This is the big damage ability! We want to make sure we use it after Armour Piercing Rounds to maximise its damage. We link it with all the physical supports we can. This way it hits hard and makes great bleeds. Deep Cuts II does decrease the hit, but the bleed we get is just too good to pass up!

With the changes to High Velocity Rounds in 0.3, we benefit more from continues attacks. Break the armour with Armour Piercing Rounds then follow up with 3-4 shots of High Velocity Rounds to maximise any single target damage.


Artillery Ballista:

Brutality III > Blind II > Rapid Attacks II > Reinforced Totems II > Hardy Totems II

Replacing the Ripwire Ballista this patch, the Artillery Ballista is the new de-buff distraction we all grew to love, but just so much better! This things fun! Its so good at gaining aggro that i don't leave home without it. Pop it down to distract packs or prepare for a fight. Linked Brutality III to increase pin and Blind II to make it a de-buff machine!


Persistent Skills:

Wind Dancer

Blind II > Maim > Overreach

This ones amazing. You can get it early and you can add supports as you expand your spirit. It gives you a % of evasion per stack up to 3 stacks and if melee gets through that evasion, the stacks will be spent and a blast of wind will launch enemies away from you, giving you time to gtfo. Must have skill for any ranged. Linked with Blind II & Maim, it can make sticky situations much more survivable!


Herald of Blood

Blind II > Maim > Culling Strike II > Physical Mastery

This thing was introduced in 0.2 and is the GAME CHANGER we needed for this build to shine. It makes all enemies explode if they have blood lose, which they always will! Making clear even better. Unfortunately the Physical damage it does is not scalable, so we have to add some supports to make it an even better utility. More source of Blind II and Maim is a no brainer, but the real fun one is Culling Strike II which adds a buff to increase our culling threshold for 20 seconds after each cull, which procs very consistently. Good stuff!


Scavenged Plating

Prolonged Duration II > Precision I > Physical Mastery

This skill allows us to stack up to 40% more armour as we break others armour. A easy add that helps us tank allot more damage then we could otherwise. We add Precision I which maxes out our spirit and adds some accuracy to our ranged attacks. Very simple, very helpful.

Sorcery Ward

No links

This passive skill is acquired by selecting the ascendency passive. See "how it plays section" for more details.


Bonus skills for flavour and utility:

Emergency Reload

Cooldown Recovery II

This is just a flat damage boost when its loaded. I like to pop it on my R key to pretend im reloading my shots with special rounds. Good pop any time!


Bloodhound's Mark

Brutality III > Heft > Physical Mastery

This works similar to Herald of Blood but proc's when the stun metre is full or target is dead. Also unlike Herald of Blood, this can be scaled with Physical damage gems. However the real reason i run this is the Stun mechanic it adds. You see this bad boy allows bleed to fill the stun metre. Think about that when it comes to facing rare tanky mobs or unique boss mobs. Its a pain to cast but i really only use it rarely on select single targets that are not dyeing fast enough.

Spear skills (post level 80)

Spearfield

Brutality III > Pin II > Heft > Impale > Rage III

Our main source of PIN build up that allows us to get additional 40% culling threshold from Finish Them. We also get some nice boost to clear speed with Rage generation from Rage III

Blood Hunt

Brutality III > Heft > Execute II > Heavy Swing > Physical Mastery

This is our new finisher. We wait for a decent amount of blood build up and after breaking armour to maximise the hit. Good for bosses and tanky rares!