Current Warlock Soulbinder Damnation PvE Build - Mod 9

garlaanx

Scourge Warlock - Soulbinder Damnation PvE Build - Mod 9+

Race - Tiefling / Dragonborn / Human
Stats - CHA/CON
Gear - Best in Slot is up for debate. Elemental Dragonflight is the way to go. However, you can snag the Masterwork gear for higher item level. Just be aware that it is more geared toward PvP. You could also mix/match the Dragonflight with Dusk, but I find the 4 peice Dragonflight will do better over all.
Weapon / Offhand - No doubt, the Twisted Set is Best in Slot.
On your weapon you want to put Essence Defiler +8% Damage
On your offhand you want to go with Dust to Dust +5% Damage and Also AP Gain as high as you can get it.

Rings - Sudden Brut and Sudden Precision +5 are ideal. However, the +4 ones will work as well.

3 Piece Set - Currently using the Lostmauth Set even after the Nerf will no major issues. You can switch to the Orcus set, just remember you will have to make up the lost Armor Pen.
Artifacts - Wheel of the Elements in main slot - You can sub in the Sigil of the Devoted if needed. Thayan Book of the Dead, Lostmauth Horn, Tiamat's Orb
Enchantments - Mostly Radiants in Offensive Slots, with some Azures as needed. Darks for Defensive Slots. Weapon go with the Trans Vorpal over the Trans Dread, trust me. The Armor Enchant go with the Trans Negation until you can afford a Trans Shadowclad.
Feats -

1/5 Energizing Curse
3/3 Weapon Mastery
3/3 Toughness
3/3 Empowered Rituals
5/5 Determined Casting
2/5 Blood Pact
3/3 Devasting Crit
Total 20 Points - If you roll a Human you will gain an extra 3 points that you can either place in Blood Pact to make it 5/5 or place it in Soul Reaping 3/3 if needed.

Soulbinder Path -
Damnation Tree
5/5 Parting Blasphemy
5/5 Sparkbinder
5/5 Spiritfire
5/5 Warding Spirits
5/5 Ghastly Commander
5/5 Wrathful Souls
1/1 Soul Desecration
Fury Tree
5/5 Crit Promise
5/5 Burning Soul
Total 41 Points

Powers -

At-Wills - Essence Defiler / Hand of Blight (Can Sub Dark Spiral Aura)
Encounters - Dreadtheft / Soul Scroch / Warlock Bargain
Personal - Dust to Dust / Borrowed Time
Daily's - Tyrannical Threat / Immolation Spirits
All should be maxed with 4 points in each as soon as possible.

Companions -
Legendary Pet - Shadow Demon - 3 Rank 12 Bonding Stones / Adorable Gear with Radiant and Dark Enchants - If you need more Crit at this Point, Sub the Radiants for Azures
Once the bonding stone change comes to Xbox, I will be switching Legendary Pet's - Shadow Demon will be done - Fire Archon will be upgraded.

Other Active Pets - Fire Archon / Air Archon / Siege Master / Erinyes

Once the bonding change comes and I swap the Shadow Demon with the Fire Archon, I will replace the Demon slot with either a Yeti or Dancing Blade.
Boons are in the video, didn't include in the written guide. They are pretty easy to pick which ones you should take.
The mount system is also in the video.

This build and set up is very tanky. I rarely die and do large amounts of DPS. I am normally #1 on leader boards every dungeon. The video guide is about 42 minutes long but goes in depth on every aspect. Deff worth the watch for new and old warlocks alike. Enjoy guys! Feel free to leave questions and discussions.

https://youtu.be/pGMFEHPpmNo

reefriednunt

Nice thread....curious why you say Vorpal over Dread...

garlaanx

reefriednunt#3177 said:

Nice thread....curious why you say Vorpal over Dread...

Thanx Reef!

I prefer the Vorp over the Dread because it works with all powers and not just the Encounters. I use my at-wills alot just clearing trash, crit's for 100k+ Dread is fine for a Fury, I just prefer the Vorp over all. Try both, see which one suits your build.

coldphoenix0815

Can you please put in a picture of the feats and maybe even for the boons? It's a pain in the HAMSTER to mouse over every feat and read the name instead of just seeing them in a picture.

reefriednunt

I like this build its a great starting point for dps warlocks.....I personally don't put any points into the feat that gives extra hit points (l believe it's toughness), and I split points between parting blasphemy and daughters promise 3/2....I feel I still proc PB often and get some DOT from DP....also I use brutals in all offense slots and obviously darks in defense.....and I think that once the binding changes come, sticking with the shadow demon will be better that the fire....is the reason your changing because the demon has a belt slot?...and for people without the bites gear, you can buy the gemmed aberrant belt off the AH for cheap it has offense slot, and if you can craft that into one that has 2 slots 1 off 1 def.....

garlaanx

coldphoenix0815 said:

Can you please put in a picture of the feats and maybe even for the boons? It's a pain in the **** to mouse over every feat and read the name instead of just seeing them in a picture.

Hey Cold, sorry for the late response. If you click over to the video on Youtube itself, you can actually just skip to certain parts of the video so you don't have to watch all 41minutes of it. But Yes, I would like to add pic's to this thread as well as the post on mmominds. Give me a few days and I will have all the pic's up. Including the Boons/Mounts.

reefriednunt#3177 said:

I like this build its a great starting point for dps warlocks.....I personally don't put any points into the feat that gives extra hit points (l believe it's toughness), and I split points between parting blasphemy and daughters promise 3/2....I feel I still proc PB often and get some DOT from DP....also I use brutals in all offense slots and obviously darks in defense.....and I think that once the binding changes come, sticking with the shadow demon will be better that the fire....is the reason your changing because the demon has a belt slot?...and for people without the bites gear, you can buy the gemmed aberrant belt off the AH for cheap it has offense slot, and if you can craft that into one that has 2 slots 1 off 1 def.....

Hey again Reef. Yea the build can be edited to your liking. I chose the pure Radiants / Azures over the Brutals. The Brutals are more expensive and yes you gain slightly higher stats, However, I run just fine with the pure enchants at this point. I'm almost to 100% Crit now and my Power gets up to almost 65k+.. I doubt I'll be switchin to Brutals. As for the Companion. Yea, the Shadow Demon has sub-par slots for gear. The Fire Archon has 2 rings and a Talisman, which all 3 have all Offensive slots vs the ones now that have 1off/1def .. So, by switching to the Archon I can have 6 Radiants or 6 Azures.. or 3 of each vs the Darks I currently have. I already have enough life steal, so dropping the ones n Comp for Damage will be huge. I have like 18k Life Steal atm with Comp procing.. Way to much ^_^

garlaanx

Have been getting a ton of feedback, questions, and input over the past month. Thank you all for spending the time to par-take in the discussion. The main question I have been getting is if this build will still be viable in Mod 10. Mostly coming from the PS4 community. Well, we still have a good 2 months before Mod 10 comes to Xbox (and most likely PS4) - So, if you are leveling up and using this build.. Don't be afraid. You can always retrain down the road. I will be updating this after Mod 10 releases and I test everything out to come up with another good solid build.

Thank You Again.

lvillanueva69

Hi there. I'm brand new to the game on PS4 and actually found your channel on youtube which displayed this particular build. I created a Tiefling but think I pretty much screwed up on the starting rolls.

What are the best starting stats to go for?

I see the end-game abilities that I should be using, but while leveling, is there any point where I should be switching skills until I'm high enough level to gain the ones I'll be using end game?

My SW is lvl 17 or so, so I'm still using the 2 original at-wills. I guess when I reach lvl 20, will I be switching one of them to Hand of blight?

Sorry for all the newbie type of questions, just trying to get a decent handle on how to play this character. Thanks!

garlaanx

lvillanueva69 said:

Hi there. I'm brand new to the game on PS4 and actually found your channel on youtube which displayed this particular build. I created a Tiefling but think I pretty much screwed up on the starting rolls.



What are the best starting stats to go for?



I see the end-game abilities that I should be using, but while leveling, is there any point where I should be switching skills until I'm high enough level to gain the ones I'll be using end game?



My SW is lvl 17 or so, so I'm still using the 2 original at-wills. I guess when I reach lvl 20, will I be switching one of them to Hand of blight?



Sorry for all the newbie type of questions, just trying to get a decent handle on how to play this character. Thanks!

Cha/Con for stats. Powers won't matter as you gotta place at least 2 points into most to unlock next tiers. Only place 3 or 4 points in the ones I mention

rayguncowboy

I can personally attest to the overall badassery of this build. Just yesterday I re-spec'd my Tiefling Scourge Warlock to match this build as closely as possible (initial stats off just a smidge). Went from getting my tail kicked thoroughly by nearly every Level 70 encounter to ending up top dog in sub-2k Epic dungeons. Many thanks for the guidance.

garlaanx

rayguncowboy#1759 said:

I can personally attest to the overall badassery of this build. Just yesterday I re-spec'd my Tiefling Scourge Warlock to match this build as closely as possible (initial stats off just a smidge). Went from getting my tail kicked thoroughly by nearly every Level 70 encounter to ending up top dog in sub-2k Epic dungeons. Many thanks for the guidance.

Very awesome to hear! Thanks and enjoy! Look forward to the Mod 10 changes.

marley

I currently use this build on PS4, and love it! thanks for the information Garlaanx.

iwarturtles

I think i ran a dungeon with u last night. My gs was like 700 more than urs and u doubled my dps. Time to make a sw lol

pr3stigex

What class are you? They get nerfed in MOD 10. lol Still viable but not broken like now.

tcel

PC player: Thanks for this build - here's why. I was running with another build (wont even get into the specifics of it, mem wiped it once I got yours...). Anyway, my DPS actually dropped and I was getting frustrated and almost changed back, but stayed with it and switched up my rotation and BAM!! The DPS started flying and I wasn't dying - w00t!! So again, thanks!! I don't have the gear you do, but I am getting there and feel more confident in going into areas that I would ask for help with before this build.

A question I do have is I have found there are some powers I can use just fine in a group, but hard to use solo and it stems from the need to keep moving when solo. I may have missed it in the video, sorry for asking if it is, but what do you use for when you have to deal with mobs on you verses group play when you can use powers that have the casting lag? I think one may be the blades going around you, but would like to hear more.

Thanks!!
Tcel (PC, USA)

iwarturtles

As a new sw. Whats the skill rotation? How do i synergize the skills.

garlaanx

tcel#8876 said:

PC player: Thanks for this build - here's why. I was running with another build (wont even get into the specifics of it, mem wiped it once I got yours...). Anyway, my DPS actually dropped and I was getting frustrated and almost changed back, but stayed with it and switched up my rotation and BAM!! The DPS started flying and I wasn't dying - w00t!! So again, thanks!! I don't have the gear you do, but I am getting there and feel more confident in going into areas that I would ask for help with before this build.

A question I do have is I have found there are some powers I can use just fine in a group, but hard to use solo and it stems from the need to keep moving when solo. I may have missed it in the video, sorry for asking if it is, but what do you use for when you have to deal with mobs on you verses group play when you can use powers that have the casting lag? I think one may be the blades going around you, but would like to hear more.

Thanks!!
Tcel (PC, USA)

I use mainly the same skill set solo or group.. Although, I don't really do anything solo anymore.

iwarturtles#3611 said:

As a new sw. Whats the skill rotation? How do i synergize the skills.

Trash mobs - TT > Bova > Dreadtheft - everything should be dead..if not pop a few sparks
Boss - TT > WB > Dreadtheft - Unload Sparks - Rinse n Repeat

pr3stigex said:

What class are you? They get nerfed in MOD 10. lol Still viable but not broken like now.

Yea, they get fixed, but their DPS is actually increased by a good amount. Will still top most DPS boards.

ghoulz66

Think HB is the way to go for damnation in mod 10. Feel better synergy between it and pillar of power and overall party support.

schietindebux

Til mod 9 damnation is broken, puppet deals >50% of your damage depending on your buffs and IL, at lower IL puppet deals >75%.
I run damnation, not sure if Hadar grasp/lolset was fixed on PS4/xbox (formerly one HG crit using lolset spand you 14 sparks)
But in case it doesn´t work as before the normal setup is BoVA for sparkgain, Soul Scroch and a third encounter like WB, HG or KF on single target.

Talking about mod 10 I think nothing can top furylocks, no matter if HB or SB, because cursesynergy changed and your maindamage will be creeping death. Every necrotic and fire damage procs your capstone. Near no encounter consumes courses.
Damnation and temptation are below fury, temptation far below.
Hellbringer is pretty much fun atm, since soloplay and PVP is different to SB.
Solocontent rocks, using Pillar of power and Gates of hell, and feats like flames of empowerment, Prince of hell (PVP) and NPNM are working fine.
Hellish rebuke is your main damage on singel targets and deals high numbers (allready saw 1 million hits).
Flames of empowermend, PoP and TT (no clue if TT is WAI) are huge selfbuffs/damagemultiplier. Till now I only saw one maxed GWF topping my singeltarget output even runnning PVP-setup.
But I assume a SB-fury with immolation spirits 100% up, plus SS spamming will deal more and I also assume I did not meat lot´s of BIS GWF with top player in front of the screen. The one I met made me feel ..at least I could hold against vs single target.

jackharper

Hello
This build work to in PC?

thefabricant

jackharper#1224 said:

Hello
This build work to in PC?

Not at all.

schietindebux said:

Til mod 9 damnation is broken, puppet deals >50% of your damage depending on your buffs and IL, at lower IL puppet deals >75%.
I run damnation, not sure if Hadar grasp/lolset was fixed on PS4/xbox (formerly one HG crit using lolset spand you 14 sparks)
But in case it doesn´t work as before the normal setup is BoVA for sparkgain, Soul Scroch and a third encounter like WB, HG or KF on single target.

Talking about mod 10 I think nothing can top furylocks, no matter if HB or SB, because cursesynergy changed and your maindamage will be creeping death. Every necrotic and fire damage procs your capstone. Near no encounter consumes courses.
Damnation and temptation are below fury, temptation far below.
Hellbringer is pretty much fun atm, since soloplay and PVP is different to SB.
Solocontent rocks, using Pillar of power and Gates of hell, and feats like flames of empowerment, Prince of hell (PVP) and NPNM are working fine.
Hellish rebuke is your main damage on singel targets and deals high numbers (allready saw 1 million hits).
Flames of empowermend, PoP and TT (no clue if TT is WAI) are huge selfbuffs/damagemultiplier. Till now I only saw one maxed GWF topping my singeltarget output even runnning PVP-setup.
But I assume a SB-fury with immolation spirits 100% up, plus SS spamming will deal more and I also assume I did not meat lot´s of BIS GWF with top player in front of the screen. The one I met made me feel ..at least I could hold against vs single target.

@schietindebux if you want to compare to 1 I can invite you to a run with 1.

schietindebux

thefabricant said:

jackharper#1224 said:

Hello
This build work to in PC?

Not at all.

schietindebux said:

Til mod 9 damnation is broken, puppet deals >50% of your damage depending on your buffs and IL, at lower IL puppet deals >75%.
I run damnation, not sure if Hadar grasp/lolset was fixed on PS4/xbox (formerly one HG crit using lolset spand you 14 sparks)
But in case it doesn´t work as before the normal setup is BoVA for sparkgain, Soul Scroch and a third encounter like WB, HG or KF on single target.

Talking about mod 10 I think nothing can top furylocks, no matter if HB or SB, because cursesynergy changed and your maindamage will be creeping death. Every necrotic and fire damage procs your capstone. Near no encounter consumes courses.
Damnation and temptation are below fury, temptation far below.
Hellbringer is pretty much fun atm, since soloplay and PVP is different to SB.
Solocontent rocks, using Pillar of power and Gates of hell, and feats like flames of empowerment, Prince of hell (PVP) and NPNM are working fine.
Hellish rebuke is your main damage on singel targets and deals high numbers (allready saw 1 million hits).
Flames of empowermend, PoP and TT (no clue if TT is WAI) are huge selfbuffs/damagemultiplier. Till now I only saw one maxed GWF topping my singeltarget output even runnning PVP-setup.
But I assume a SB-fury with immolation spirits 100% up, plus SS spamming will deal more and I also assume I did not meat lot´s of BIS GWF with top player in front of the screen. The one I met made me feel ..at least I could hold against vs single target.

@schietindebux if you want to compare to 1 I can invite you to a run with 1.

sure, that would be nice (and disillusioning), I only have to grind my way though this new campain, stuck in half with 22% frostresistance missing 6%.
Maybe a CN run would be sufficient or anything else.

gjrgamer

Respec'd to this build last night after getting in over my head with most groups in the Drowned Shore. Now not only do I survive, but I'd swear I do a heck of a lot more damage. I'm on the PS4 so we will be getting the Warlock tweaks in the October patch, so another respec will be on the cards then, but I am liking the look of the changes - especially to Pillar of Power.

Will you be doing a guide for the MOD10 version of your Warlock?

lvillanueva69

Is this build still viable for Mod 10?

humanplus

Come on Gar we believe in you!

garlaanx

Updated Mod 10 builds will be coming guys

d4ngermouse

I've been really happy using your build so far so cheers for your work on it. Would love an updated version for mod 10 so that I can continue using it when mod 10 hits xbox.

garlaanx

d4ngermouse said:

I've been really happy using your build so far so cheers for your work on it. Would love an updated version for mod 10 so that I can continue using it when mod 10 hits xbox.

Thanx! Yea, Mod 10 hits console on Oct 18th.. New builds will be coming a week or two later Stand-by