Welcome to the Complete Build & Leveling Guide for the SIR BLOODYDOTS Vitality Bleed Conjurer. This build is great for new players, a top starter build, can complete all campaign content with self-found gear, is hardcore viable, has a Damage over Time (DoT) playstyle, and is solid for farming Ultimate. If you’re looking for a fun DoT-based caster build that is strong from the start and scales very well, and also allows you to beat on bosses with a gigantic club, this is the place! The GrimTools link is available at the bottom of the guide. I’ve always loved DoT builds and have been a fan of Bloody Pox for quite some time, but it just wasn’t strong enough for end-game. While Grim Dawn features numerous DoT types, I wanted to pursue a combination that had solid leech, great damage, and was fun to play. And with the recent update to Grasping Vines, it looks even better than before. Featuring great crowd control, vitality leech and bleed damage, additional supportive healing (Wendigo & Blood of Dreeg) paired with resistance reduction, this build is a DoT powerhouse that loves shredding everything to pieces. And while everything is bleeding to death, you get the beat on larger targets with your giant 2-handed weapon. The build has excellent AoE and solid single-target damage, and once your devotions are complete, it rips through all of the core content with ease. Oh, and it’s fun! This build is Hardcore viable! But because our Defensive Ability (DA) isn’t very high, we must rely on life leech from vitality damage and kiting tougher bosses for survival. The initial inspiration to make this build came from Beoron’s Carmilla; Bleed and Vitality Conjurer. It was after posting the first version of this build that Valinov came along, sharing his similar build (with a different devotion structure and a few items, but the same sets). His build also utilized Savagery to buffer damage and leech. Not only is his build rock-solid (I’ve switched over and it’s fantastic), he’s personally cleared SR89 with it, showing great end-game viability. The thread for his initial build can be found here. I asked him if I could integrate his build into this updated guide and he gave approval. So, a big thanks to Valinov for his support! Before we begin, I recommend these mods to anyone playing Grim Dawn, especially new players. Note none of these mods cheat or change the core of the game – they just add quality of life: GrimInternals (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-grim-internals/38773) This is hands down the best mod currently out for Grim Dawn. Automatic component pickup and monster name/labeling with legendary drop Sound FX are just a few reasons why every Grim Dawn player should have this. GD Item Assistant (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-grim-dawn-item-assistant/30491) This mod allows the player to store an unlimited number of items they find. This is fantastic because it supports “account building” with extending storage to be anything the player feels is important in the future or for another build. Item Color Filter (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-rainbow-filter-item-highlighting/42765) A fantastic visual modifier to the game that shows item prefixes and suffixes in colors based on their damage/resist/skill type. Extremely popular and valuable. Note this is for the WanezGD Tool, which auto-installs and manages the rainbow filter. Download the setup.exe for the Tool. Resistances are everything in Grim Dawn. If you die, it’s probably because your resists were low. Below is a list of recommended components that are commonly used throughout the leveling process: Components List
Augments are the most important thing for end-game and require honored or revered reputation with a faction to access them. Rule of thumb: as soon as you hit Honored with any faction (which will begin to happen in Elite mode), immediately buy the Writ (for 88,000 iron) that doubles your faction gain. This will help you get to Revered much quicker, and give you access to the necessary augments to help your resists in Ultimate. Augments List The factions a player gets Honored and Revered with first are generally: Devil’s Crossing, Rovers, Homestead, Black Legion, Order/Kymon, and Coven of Ugdenbog. I’m listing some of the most popular defensive Augments below for reference, which can greatly help in surviving both Elite and especially Ultimate.
Transmutation This is a new and critically important feature introduced with Forgotten Gods that allows the player to convert set items to another item of the same set. And it works with BLUE (non-legendary) set items! The quest to unlock Transmute is given by Kargon in the Conclave of the Three. The quest unlocks after you’ve progressed to the Oasis area. The Tome is found on Canen’s Corpse. It costs 120,000 iron per transmute, and uses 1 Eldrich Essence (which is quite rare, so make each transmute count!). Luckily, a player put together a guide on Farming Eldrich Essence. Remember, if you can craft the helmet of a set, you can transmute those helmets to other pieces. This means you can craft an entire set just from the helmet recipe! Another technique is to convert a set item to another random set item. This costs 30,000 iron, scrap and crystals (which is a lot cheaper than converting to the same set). A good example of this technique is if you want the Mythical version of a set item (but you have none, and don’t have the recipe to craft the helm), you can take another mythical set item and convert it to a random set item with the possibility of getting a mythical of the set you’re looking for! Once you get Grasping vines and Swarm up, this build levels very quickly. There can be energy management issues in the beginning (just throw Ectoplasm in your jewelry), but with Grasping Vines being your main damage during leveling, you just need to strategically place and cast it every few seconds (at most) because all of the mobs that run into it will get shred to pieces. Curse tougher mobs and even RR them with Swarm, you can also add Bloody Pox on top of all that, but most trash dies long before you have the chance to stack the damage. The Vitality Storm Totems also provide great leech support, and if you need it, Wendigo Totem and Blood of Dreeg are at your disposal. It’s great to cast Grasping Vines once and kill the entire screen full of trash. For bosses, you can whack on them with Savagery to cause additional weapon and bleeding damage. The General Play Technique focuses on Grasping Vines as your main damage dealer. It alone will often kill most trash (and it has a VERY large AoE). For tougher trash, just GV and Curse of Frailty (CoF) to proc Wendigo’s Mark. Rarely will you need to do more than this, but some trash in Ultimate (when you get to AoM or bleed/vitality resistant mobs) can require a 3rd cast of Bloody Pox, which spreads beautifully through a large group. Mobs rarely even reach you as they die of gushing wounds running through your AoE damage. It’s important to mention that the damage from Grasping Vines stacks, so be sure to keep those 3 stacks up on tough targets whenever you can! Survival is all about killing most targets from a distance and if necessary setting up the Vitality Leech paired with the regeneration of Blood of Dreeg (which should always be active) and healing of Wendigo Totem. But the great thing is we can get up close and personal with Savagery, which also increases our leech and health regeneration. The build can actually be quite tanky with the right gear and leech damage, but some bosses just hit too hard and you’ll have to kite them – but a DoT build is perfectly built for this gameplay style. Rotation for Trash: BoD always up. GV on the edge of the group you want to shred, and they’ll die running to you. For tougher trash, add CoF and BP on top of that. They’ll never reach you. Rotation for Bosses:: BoD always up. GV on the target, CoF, Swarm, BP, and lay down your Storm Totem, Wendigo Totem and then BEAT THEM MERCILESSLY WITH SAVAGERY! Cycle through the same as cooldowns are made available. The goal is to keep all DoTs, Devotions, CC and RR on the boss at all times while you whack them over the head. Most bosses can be facetanked with BoD, Wendigo Totem (with the leech of Swarm and Storm Totem) and Savagery, but when you need to kite, just follow the above and . RUN! Cast behind you and try to loop around to keep the boss in the GV field as long as possible. You can also whack them twice and run away. Some bosses will stun you as they rush; these are the most dangerous (for any build) and can be mitigated with stun resistance. For really tough bosses, make sure you get your armor absorption as high as possible (90% or higher recommended) so you can take the hits better. Final Level 100 Stat Distribution: 98 Physique, 9 Spirit Faction of Choice:Order of Death’s Vigil Items
This build utilizes bonuses from two sets: the first is the Wildblood set (3 items: 2H, Shoulders and Belt). This set focuses on enhancing Grasping Vines and provides both Vitality and Bleed damage. The second is the Valguur set, which provides more Vitality and Bleed damage with Storm Totem support. The good news is there are plenty of green and blue drops that focus on Vitality and Bleed damage during leveling, and the Wildblood set is very common (I believe Valguur’s is more rare to find).
Remember: with the Kraken devotion providing great damage enhancement, and using Savagery to whack on bosses, we always want to be using a 2H weapon! While leveling, you’ll find these items to be very helpful:
Skills
We first focus on Shaman leveling, damage with Swarm and Grasping Vines, rushing to Storm Totem and Blood pact. We then build out Occultist while mixing some Shaman, rushing to Possession to add solid support (including Blood of Dreeg, etc.). Finally we add Savagery and then touch up the final skills.
Phase I (Shaman) Swarm (6) → Mogdrogan’s (1) → Grasping Vines (6) → Heart of the Wild (1) → Swarm (3) → Vines (3) → Wendigo Totem (1) → Oak Skin (1) → Entangling Vines (6) → Storm Totem (6) → Corrupted Storm (1) → Blood Pact (1) Note: You can pursue Phase III at this point if you want to get Savagery and its supportive skills before pursuing Possession, but the build performs just fine at this point without it, and rushing Possession is important. If you are having single-target damage problems (due to self-found items) go ahead and take Phase III before Phase II and start beating on bosses. Phase II (Mix) Curse of Frailty (1) → Entangling Vines (4) → Swarm (Max) → Bloody Pox (1) → Solael’s Witchfire (1) → Vulnerability (4) → Blood of Dreeg (1) → Wasting (6) → Second Rite (1) → Aspect of Guardian (1) → Possession (Max) Phase III (Mix) Savagery (1) → Might of the Bear (3) → Brute Force (1) → Feral Hunger (3) → Tenacity of the Boar (6) → Storm Touched (1) Phase IV (Mix) Heart of the Wild (6) → BoD (Max) → Cof (6) → Vulnerability (Max) → Second Rite (Max) → Aspect of the Guardian (9) → Wasting (4) → Storm Totem (Max) Devotions
Crossroads (Eldrich) → Candle → Crossroads (Primordial) → Eel → Kraken → Jackal → Wendigo (Bloody Pox) → Crossroads (Chaos) → Revenant (Swarm) → Crossroads (Order) → Panther → Solemn Watcher → Dying God (CoF) [PARTIAL] → Lotus → Hawk → Remove Crossroads (Eldrich, Chaos, Primordial, Order) → Rattosh (Vines) → 1 Point into Gallows (15% Vit Damage) OR Ultos (OA)
As covered above, this build utilizes both the Wildblood and Valguur’s sets with additional legendary items for support. There are many alternatives that can be used as Jewelry, but the most important thing to focus on end-game is defense since the damage is solid. Make sure your resists are capped and get that armor absorption up as soon as possible.
Below are additional complete build guides you might be interested in!
Necromancers have always been epic in any RPG games. Since Crate Entertainment announced this class, it has been the most awaited mastery in Grim Dawn, just like the necromancer class in Diablo 3.
Most builds that you will encounter in this article focus on pets since necromancers have always been known to summon allies. As a general rule in playing a pet build. The pets will take care of dealing damage to enemies. Your primary job is to keep yourself alive and to re-summon any pets that have fallen in battle.
By the way, in case you don’t prefer pet builds, this article also contains references for non-pet types of build.
Here are the builds that will be discussed in this article:
Note: Recommended Devotions are not in order, meaning, it is up to you what constellation you should learn first. Just in case you don’t know, devotion points can also be re-assigned in order to meet certain requirements.
When it comes to gear components, resistance to different damage types should be the priority for your character to survive on higher difficulties.
1. Pet Cabalist Variant 1 (Necromancer + Occultist)
Our first pet build focuses on full power of necromancer’s pets, plus buffing it with Blood of Dreeg.
Attributes
Defense is your main priority here. Rd9700 usb ethernet adapter driver free download. Since your pets will deal damage for you, 90% or 95% of your attributes should be placed on physique.
You should still put points on spirit to be able to equip high-level enchanted items.
Don’t bother putting attributes on cunning, unless you are planning to equip something that requires cunning.
Necromancer Skills
Occultist Skills
Devotion
Equipment Priorities
Use equipment that grant bonuses to your pets, especially the one with add to a pet’s All Damage. Equipping items that let you summon more pets is also a good idea.
It all comes down to personal preference whether you want to equip caster’s off-hand for cooldown reduction or shield for better defense.
How to Play?
Follow the general rule in playing a pet build.
Also, never forget that you have Blood of Dreeg to buff and heal the whole group.
2. Pet Cabalist Variant 2 (Necromancer + Occultist)
This build variant lets you summon pets from both necromancer and occultist mastery and buff them with multiple toggled skills that increase their damage.
Attributes
Same as Pet Cabalist Variant 1.
Necromancer Skills
Occultist Skills
Devotion
Equipment Priorities
Same as Pet Cabalist Variant 1.
How to Play?
Follow the general rule in playing a pet build.
3. Dark Mage Cabalist (Necromancer + Occultist)
A non-pet cabalist build that deals major vitality damage with some chaos damage. This build also has great survival capabilities because it converts a lot of attack damage to health.
Attributes
Spend 60% or 75% of your points on spirit and the rest on physique. You may also put some points on cunning if you want more offensive ability.
Necromancer Skills
Salah satu cara menguasai bahasa inggris yaitu dengan berlatih, apakah sahabat SBI. Contoh Soal Announcement SMA Pilihan Ganda Beserta Jawabannya The. Sebelunya aku juga pernah menulis tentang soal essay tentang proklamasi. Contoh Job Safety Analysis Pengelasan untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaan.
Occultist Skills
Devotion
Equipment Priorities
You might want to say, 'Well that's stupid!' Page Tools.Hardware - Implements and FaunaThe Marked One has a weight limit of 50.0 kilos for about 99% of the game. Stalker how to holster.
Get gear with bonuses affixed to Vitality damage and Chaos damage.
How to Play?
Use Sigil of Consumption and Doom Bolt on long-range enemies.
Use Siphon of Souls when surrounded by melee to midrange.
Use Bone Harvest for dealing damage to multiple enemies in a straight line.
4. Grim Reaper (Necromancer + Nightblade)
For those who want to play like a Grim Reaper, I believe this is one of the closest builds that you can get. Grim Reaper is a melee type build that can deal heavy amounts of damage while converting a percentage of it to health.
Tip: To look exactly like a Grim Reaper, refer to an illusionist to transform your two-hand weapon into a scythe of your choice, your head armor into a hoodie of your choice, and finally, your chest armor into a robe of your choice.
Attributes
Since this build is a melee type, having high amounts of physique is your main priority. Spirit is your next priority because your main attacks are magical damage. Getting some cunning is also a good idea for better offensive ability.
Necromancer Skills
Nightblade Skills
Devotion
Equipment Priorities
For damage types, vitality, vitality decay, and aether are your top priorities. Cold and physical are secondary choices.
How to Play?
To survive in melee, don’t stop attacking enemies so that you can continuously recover your lost health.
I put a single point on Shadow Strike so that I have the ability to dash quickly from one enemy to another.
5. Range Blade Reaper (Necromancer + Nightblade)
This range build’s damage balances physical and magical while converting a portion of it to health.
Attributes
For this hybrid build, spend 25 or 30 points on cunning, and another 25 or 30 points on spirit, and the remaining points on physique.
Necromancer Skills
Nightblade Skills
Devotion
Equipment Priorities
Equip gear that increases damage to vitality, pierce, or bleeding. It is also advisable to equip a caster’s off-hand for energy regeneration and cooldown reduction.
How to Play?
Your primary damage dealing skill is Phantasmal Blades. Use it like your normal attack. Then cast your blade trap whenever available, especially to hold off melee enemies.
6. Pet Death Knight (Necromancer + Soldier)
Having Soldier’s Field Command provides good damage and defense buff to both your pets and party.
Attributes
Refer to Pet Cabalist Build.
Necromancer Skills
Soldier Skills
Devotion
Refer to Pet Cabalist Build.
Equipment Priorities
Refer to Pet Cabalist Build.
How to Play?
Follow the general rule in playing a pet build.
7. Grim Death Knight (Necromancer + Soldier)
This is a variant of the Grim Reaper build. Grim Death Knight is a good choice for those who prefer better toughness.
Attributes
Refer to Grim Reaper build.
Necromancer Skills
Soldier Skills
Devotion
Refer to Grim Reaper build.
Equipment Priorities
Your main damage type priority for this build are vitality, vitality decay, then aether.
Once you reach level 94, it is mandatory to equip Howl of the Wendigo. It converts your Blade Arc’s physical damage into vitality damage making it suitable for this build.
How to Play?
Refer to Grim Reaper build.
Regarding what skill to learn last, choose Blade Arc as last priority since it won’t deal that much damage for this build until you get How of the Wendigo.
8. Pet Ritualist (Necromancer + Shaman)
This build contains the full force and abilities of the necromancer’s pets in addition to having Summon Briarthorn with its Ground Slam. One thing I like about this build is that both Briarthorn’s and Blight Fiend’s area of effect skill can easily wipe out mobs.
Attributes
Same as Pet Cabalist Variant 1.
Necromancer Skills
Shaman Skills
Devotion
Same as Pet Cabalist Variant 1.
Equipment Priorities
Same as Pet Cabalist Variant 1.
How to Play?
Follow the general rule in playing a pet build.
9. Life Drainer Ritualist (Necromancer + Shaman)
This is a midrange mage type build that wields multiple attack damage converted to health skills.
Attributes
Same as Dark Mage Cabalist.
Necromancer Skills
Shaman Skills
Devotion
Same as Dark Mage Cabalist.
Equipment Priorities
Choose gear that increases vitality damage.
How to play?
Learn Devouring Swarm first. It’s the best skills to choose for leveling up on early game.
This build is generally a midrange build, but you don’t have to worry about taking some damage because all of this build’s offensive skills can convert attack damage to health.
© 2017 Arc Sosangyo
Last updated on March 22nd, 2018
In this guide, I’ll give you some useful Grim Dawn tips to help you to play the game in a more efficient manner. Hopefully it’ll also make it a more enjoyable game for you.
Grim Dawn is an Action RPG that have been around since 2016, and with every update, DLC and expansion, it’s getting better and better. The next expansion, Forgotten Gods, was announced earlier this month, and is due to be released on Steam and GoG in second half of 2018.
The first expansion (released October, 2017) brought some interesting features like new classes and the entertaining Fashion Dawn. So I can’t wait to see what the Forgotten Gods have to add to the game next. But before we all get too excited about the future of Grim Dawn, I wish to share some few precious tips I’ve learned along my journey in Cairn that I wished I’d known them before I started playing.
I’ll split the tips into more than one article, to give some details on each part.
One: Attributes aren’t there to mess with:
The customization in Grim Dawn is immense. You can customize and tweak every aspect about your character, when you first level up, or later. You have the spiritual guide, an NPC who can reset your skill points and devotion points, so you can spend them elsewhere. All of your choices can be changed later in higher difficulties. Be it faction, or some random trader you murdered on the road, you have a second and third chance to rectify your choices.
It’s all designed to give you freedom, and encourage experimentation. Which means you can virtually go crazy and make what you like, and change it all later. And it’s true, but for one small tricky part: Attributes!
The problem: It’s very easy to develop the wrong attributes
You get one precious attribute point each level, which you can spend on Physique, Cunning, or Spirit. Attributes gives small bonus to damage, health, or mana, but their main value is being a requirement for armors and weapons.
Grim Dawn Best Shaman Build Wow
That’s where it gets tricky, you are level 20, and you get a nice drop which makes you all excited, but sadly you can’t equip due to lack of Spirit, or Cunning. You level up, you immediately spend your point into Spirit or Cunning. Then it’s enough, so you level some more, and keep spending points this way until you able to wear it.
Then you spend one more hour, and your are level 30. Except now that awesome drop isn’t awesome anymore. By end game, you realize that attributes can’t be refunded and new gear needs different distribution. Regret doesn’t feel good, does it?
The Solution: How to play safe with Attributes?
Your two classes increase your attributes passively, which get you the points required to equip things. It decreases the need to spread your attributes points around and gives you a better idea of where you really need to spend your points. So don’t rush maxing all skills, but instead increase mastery bar early on.
Plain and simple, Physique is the most important attribute. It not only gives flat numbers in health (which can be multiplied by various ways), but the best defensive armor requires so many points spent on Physique – maybe even Allpoints in it.
If you – typically – spent all first 70 points in Physique, it’s probably wise to not spend the rest immediately. Leave the last ten or twenty points free until you get to Max level and have all the equipment you need. You might find a good accessory that needs five more spirit points or something.
Things like “Polished Emerald” , “Spellwoven Thread” , and “Vicious Jawbone” can be a source for some attributes early on. Even if they don’t give direct benefit to your build, using them for the stats is okay. You can see a full list of all components and what they do here.
Yes, the stars have attributes, and you might not need to go out of your way to get them! On the road to every major proc skill, you will find small boosts in attributes. You will grab these by default on the way, so don’t worry about changing anything for attributes.
Two: Build up your defenses properly:
No matter what level you are (beyond the first ten or twenty), you always need to prioritize defense. Yes, when I first heard this tip from professional players, I thought it sounded counter-productive, and boring, and that it would make progression slower. But having played this game over 400 hours, I can totally confirm the viability of the method.
The thing is: Grim Dawn is really grim. The enemies can be really weak on normal/Veteran, but become way stronger in Elite, and a total nightmare in Ultimate. Even in normal you can encounter some hard to pass encounters as a glass cannon. And if you can’t stand few hits, you will have to start running to escape, and will stop doing damage. While a good defense allow you to stand your ground for a bit, giving you better chance at finishing enemies before they finish you.
The solution: How to prioritize your defenses
There are many other sources of defense in Grim Dawn, but they are situational, and depends on build. Like Vitality damage builds, and retaliation builds, also solider shield builds are very strong and Crucible viable in general. But these are topics not for this article.
Three: Know what build you are doing
This one sounds basic stuff, but it could get very tricky. Grim Dawn is a rich world, with countless possibilities to replay the game and having different experience. Thus, the majority of the build guides out there are aimed towards experienced players, with long hours into the game, and decent stash of equipment ready to be used. In other words, many builds are gear dependent, which might not be friendly for beginners.
The matter is: If you don’t have the specific gear the build asks for, you either ask the guide writer to suggest you a beginner alternative, or don’t do this build. The drop rates in grim Dawn are very good, and you keep getting good items constantly as you play. But the loot tables are shared among all monsters in the world, meaning that anything can drop anything, and there are no specific spot to farm any item. The exception is some rare items called “Moster infrequents” or “MI”, which are moderately good items dropping from some specific bosses or monsters, and are okay for leveling, not top end game though.
Pro & Cons:
It’s good on one side, as it make you keep playing the game, go wherever you like, and enjoy all the content without worrying about the drops, since what you get here would be the same as you got there. But it restrict you from planning top builds without before having the items required. It might be wiser to plan your second character based on what you already have from first playthrough, not on what you wish/expect to have.
This problem extend to the first playthrough, since you have nothing to start with. Well, not “nothing” , since the faction gear can be excellent choices for some builds, best in slot even. These faction gear require some effort to get, but it’s fun and very rewarding to do.
Some beginners-friendly builds suggestions:
These are some quick concepts of varied basic builds in Vanilla to look forward. But notice that you don’t have to follow any of these suggestions, you can actually start the game and level with one mastery through the normal difficulty, then depends on your taste, decide where to go from there. Adding another mastery depends on your direction, or respec to another build entirely, Grim Dawn is flexible like this. These guidelines are only for those who don’t like to feel overwhelmed by the amount of customizations the game have.
Four: Learn how to craft, and what to craft:
And be patient for the recipes as they come one by one. Really, crafting a strong aspect of the game, that keep giving you candy along the way, but only gets to its full potential after hundreds of hours of gameplay. You can craft so many things. For example, consumables, powerful Mythical Relics, parts of legendary items sets and the most important components.
Saving the rare materials required for materials is crucial, as these are drops only, and not sold by any merchant (they can be exchanged for one another in act Four though). Things like Tainted Brain Matter, and Ancient heart and the like are precious little things, so use them wisely.
Don’t be afraid of trying to craft basic gear though; the items with question marks in the default menu of the blacksmith, named Enchanted Mace and Enchanted Boots. These are not strictly “magic” items. The crafting can give you rares and scales up with your level. You can actually get some solid gear from them to cover any weakness your character have. You just need scraps and gold, and some courage to go through the randomization.
I hope that you liked this article. If so, you could read Grim Dawn – A Detailed Analysis next. Alternatively, you could read Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Eternal Warrior.
Last updated on March 22nd, 2018
In this guide, I’ll give you some useful Grim Dawn tips to help you to play the game in a more efficient manner. Hopefully it’ll also make it a more enjoyable game for you.
Grim Dawn is an Action RPG that have been around since 2016, and with every update, DLC and expansion, it’s getting better and better. The next expansion, Forgotten Gods, was announced earlier this month, and is due to be released on Steam and GoG in second half of 2018.
The first expansion (released October, 2017) brought some interesting features like new classes and the entertaining Fashion Dawn. So I can’t wait to see what the Forgotten Gods have to add to the game next. But before we all get too excited about the future of Grim Dawn, I wish to share some few precious tips I’ve learned along my journey in Cairn that I wished I’d known them before I started playing.
I’ll split the tips into more than one article, to give some details on each part.
One: Attributes aren’t there to mess with:
The customization in Grim Dawn is immense. You can customize and tweak every aspect about your character, when you first level up, or later. You have the spiritual guide, an NPC who can reset your skill points and devotion points, so you can spend them elsewhere. All of your choices can be changed later in higher difficulties. Be it faction, or some random trader you murdered on the road, you have a second and third chance to rectify your choices.
It’s all designed to give you freedom, and encourage experimentation. Which means you can virtually go crazy and make what you like, and change it all later. And it’s true, but for one small tricky part: Attributes!
The problem: It’s very easy to develop the wrong attributes
You get one precious attribute point each level, which you can spend on Physique, Cunning, or Spirit. Attributes gives small bonus to damage, health, or mana, but their main value is being a requirement for armors and weapons.
That’s where it gets tricky, you are level 20, and you get a nice drop which makes you all excited, but sadly you can’t equip due to lack of Spirit, or Cunning. You level up, you immediately spend your point into Spirit or Cunning. Then it’s enough, so you level some more, and keep spending points this way until you able to wear it.
Then you spend one more hour, and your are level 30. Except now that awesome drop isn’t awesome anymore. By end game, you realize that attributes can’t be refunded and new gear needs different distribution. Regret doesn’t feel good, does it?
The Solution: How to play safe with Attributes?
Your two classes increase your attributes passively, which get you the points required to equip things. It decreases the need to spread your attributes points around and gives you a better idea of where you really need to spend your points. So don’t rush maxing all skills, but instead increase mastery bar early on.
Plain and simple, Physique is the most important attribute. It not only gives flat numbers in health (which can be multiplied by various ways), but the best defensive armor requires so many points spent on Physique – maybe even Allpoints in it.
If you – typically – spent all first 70 points in Physique, it’s probably wise to not spend the rest immediately. Leave the last ten or twenty points free until you get to Max level and have all the equipment you need. You might find a good accessory that needs five more spirit points or something.
Things like “Polished Emerald” , “Spellwoven Thread” , and “Vicious Jawbone” can be a source for some attributes early on. Even if they don’t give direct benefit to your build, using them for the stats is okay. You can see a full list of all components and what they do here.
Yes, the stars have attributes, and you might not need to go out of your way to get them! On the road to every major proc skill, you will find small boosts in attributes. You will grab these by default on the way, so don’t worry about changing anything for attributes.
Two: Build up your defenses properly:
No matter what level you are (beyond the first ten or twenty), you always need to prioritize defense. Yes, when I first heard this tip from professional players, I thought it sounded counter-productive, and boring, and that it would make progression slower. But having played this game over 400 hours, I can totally confirm the viability of the method.
The thing is: Grim Dawn is really grim. The enemies can be really weak on normal/Veteran, but become way stronger in Elite, and a total nightmare in Ultimate. Even in normal you can encounter some hard to pass encounters as a glass cannon. And if you can’t stand few hits, you will have to start running to escape, and will stop doing damage. While a good defense allow you to stand your ground for a bit, giving you better chance at finishing enemies before they finish you.
The solution: How to prioritize your defensesBest 2h Shaman Build Grim Dawn
There are many other sources of defense in Grim Dawn, but they are situational, and depends on build. Like Vitality damage builds, and retaliation builds, also solider shield builds are very strong and Crucible viable in general. But these are topics not for this article.
Three: Know what build you are doing
This one sounds basic stuff, but it could get very tricky. Grim Dawn is a rich world, with countless possibilities to replay the game and having different experience. Thus, the majority of the build guides out there are aimed towards experienced players, with long hours into the game, and decent stash of equipment ready to be used. In other words, many builds are gear dependent, which might not be friendly for beginners.
The matter is: If you don’t have the specific gear the build asks for, you either ask the guide writer to suggest you a beginner alternative, or don’t do this build. The drop rates in grim Dawn are very good, and you keep getting good items constantly as you play. But the loot tables are shared among all monsters in the world, meaning that anything can drop anything, and there are no specific spot to farm any item. The exception is some rare items called “Moster infrequents” or “MI”, which are moderately good items dropping from some specific bosses or monsters, and are okay for leveling, not top end game though.
Pro & Cons:
It’s good on one side, as it make you keep playing the game, go wherever you like, and enjoy all the content without worrying about the drops, since what you get here would be the same as you got there. But it restrict you from planning top builds without before having the items required. It might be wiser to plan your second character based on what you already have from first playthrough, not on what you wish/expect to have.
This problem extend to the first playthrough, since you have nothing to start with. Well, not “nothing” , since the faction gear can be excellent choices for some builds, best in slot even. These faction gear require some effort to get, but it’s fun and very rewarding to do.
Some beginners-friendly builds suggestions:
These are some quick concepts of varied basic builds in Vanilla to look forward. But notice that you don’t have to follow any of these suggestions, you can actually start the game and level with one mastery through the normal difficulty, then depends on your taste, decide where to go from there. Adding another mastery depends on your direction, or respec to another build entirely, Grim Dawn is flexible like this. These guidelines are only for those who don’t like to feel overwhelmed by the amount of customizations the game have.
Four: Learn how to craft, and what to craft:
And be patient for the recipes as they come one by one. Really, crafting a strong aspect of the game, that keep giving you candy along the way, but only gets to its full potential after hundreds of hours of gameplay. You can craft so many things. For example, consumables, powerful Mythical Relics, parts of legendary items sets and the most important components.
Saving the rare materials required for materials is crucial, as these are drops only, and not sold by any merchant (they can be exchanged for one another in act Four though). Things like Tainted Brain Matter, and Ancient heart and the like are precious little things, so use them wisely.
Don’t be afraid of trying to craft basic gear though; the items with question marks in the default menu of the blacksmith, named Enchanted Mace and Enchanted Boots. These are not strictly “magic” items. The crafting can give you rares and scales up with your level. You can actually get some solid gear from them to cover any weakness your character have. You just need scraps and gold, and some courage to go through the randomization.
I hope that you liked this article. If so, you could read Grim Dawn – A Detailed Analysis next. Alternatively, you could read Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Eternal Warrior.
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