They haven’t released any screenshots of the new expansion, right? I really hope this channels a bit of TQ feel. I love Grim Dawn, but I’m about sick of the grim. To be fair, I actually thought the look of the new swamp areas in the expansion was fantastic compared to the swamps in Act 1. But fuck those plant enemies.
All the way from Diablo 2 hardcore to other ARPGs to Grim Dawn, the latest where I am now playing hardcore, one thing I always wanted to do was if I knew my death was imminent, to hit escape and quit the game. But it never worked out that way. By the time I knew for sure I was dying, I was usually already dead and didn’t have time to quit.
Well, it happened today. You know that area you open up east of Burrwich Estates that requires 2 Dynamite, and a bunch of scrap to open up? Well, I went in there at level 29, only to find most enemies in there at level 35. I still fought my way through, and got to the part with the shrine, and I was fighting the frog at the end. Except that frog does bleeding damage, and despite my being careful at first, I got hit with multiple bleed attacks. Health potion had already been drunk, and bleeding had multiplied so much, my health was going down despite the health potion.
Oh shit! I hit escape, which paused the game just in time. Out of 2000 health, I was down to 105. Phew. Quit To Desktop. I’ll come for you later Mr Frogman. When I have some bleed protection, or I’m higher level.
Me too
Yeah, a change of scenery would be nice. I personally liked where they went with Acts 5 and 6. A new kind of swamp, and the broken husk of a town that’s been ravaged. Both Acts feel very distinct from the previous Acts. Hopefully the new expansion will also be in a unique area. Act 2 is already one where we play in an outdoor grassland/canyons area. And then the end of Act 2/beginning of Act 3 has you going on golden farmlands that have been corrupted by green Aether. If the new Act is on a desert area, there’s plenty of room to look different from Act 2/3’s grass, canyons, farmland.
By the way, last night I kept trying different high level side areas, to see if I could do it. So even though I said I did the whole “quit the game right as you’re about to die” thing for the first time successfully, I ended up doing it three more times yesterday in various boss fights that I clearly wasn’t ready for yet.
Last night I reached Level 40 with my defiler. I had done the quests around Homestead except for all the ones in the direction of the Blood Grove and later. Except for looking for the lost cannons in the Conflagration. I shouldn’t do that in hardcore.
But wait, maybe I can do it? Surely if I’m careful.
RIP Stinky the Defiler.
I’m making a new rule: No more hardcore characters in the Conflagration. Ever. Seriously this time.
Damn it, I was really enjoying playing this character. A Defiler kicks ass. I finally had all my resists up, including Bleeding, Vitality, Aether, Chaos, and even Stun Reduction. I did a LOT of physical damage, and my life steal was fairly high. And I lost the character to staying on green lightning ground for too long trying to pick up Aether Crystals in the Conflagration. Grrrrrrrrr.
Hate that place with a passion.
The green lightning ground damage ignores resists, and is a fixed % of health for damage, I.E. it’s always going to suck and be overpowered, regardless of how you build your character. One of the things I hate about GD with a passion, that ground stuff just sucks, and is in no way fun.
I got my Defiler back to level 27 or so. This time I got equipment that gave me almost maximum Aether resist, so defeating the Warden was cake. He can be so dangerous most times as a hardcore character, but with max Aether and Lightning resists, he’s almost harmless.
I’m thinking if my Defiler can last a long time, this should be my goal, approximately:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2mGq4GZ
Edit:
Updated: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2Gp4JnV
The theory being life steal + lots of physical damage, which is the common damage type between a Necromancer and a Demolitionist. Even at level 40, I was most of the way there. Note the damage and arcane barriers. I already have both of those in my level 27 Defiler. Very useful, you guys. The arcane barrier from the devotion tree activates all the time, and the Turtle shell activates when health drops below 40%, I think. Both of those combined gets to be a really nice defensive barrier at all times, plus Mark of Torment really helps there too against bosses, as does life steal.
The physical damage stuff is so cool for the Demolitionist that I want to eventually try out a Commando. Amazingly, I’ve never made one of those before. I was thinking something along the route of the Defiler I made above, but with the health and physical damage bonuses from a Soldier instead of the life-stealing and debuff of the Necro.
Something like this:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2Jr0k02
That character looks more vulnerable, with less health stealing. But the additional health from being a Soldier might make up for me. Unknown. I bet you he wouldn’t make it through Normal before dying.
Edit: Hmmm, I should make a Ritualist sometime. I can’t get enough of Vitality damage, and a Shaman + Necro should be a Vitality beast:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVb4OaEN
Edit: Additional note to self. Don’t forget your Warlock plans every time you play. Maybe aim for something like this, especially in the devotion tree:
My reconstructed Defiler is back in Homestead. I still haven’t quite caught up to where the last one died, since at the time I had also finished the quests to South of Homestead. Once I do those, I’ll have caught up to where I died last time.
This time around my resists are even better. My damage isn’t as high, since the weapons I found so far don’t match last time’s run. Despite the absurdly high resists though, when you get three enemies with Stars over their heads coming at you, my health starts going down mighty fast. So there’s something I was doing last time that was even better than this run.
Nevertheless, this is a great character for solo play. If I avoid the conflagration, I should be able to make it pretty far.
That defiler looks fun. I don’t quite understand why you have Ravenous Earth though. With just three points in it along the skill line it doesn’t seem like it would be strong enough to do much damage. Is there some other reason you’ve put points in it, like the debuf from Foul Eruption?
Not sure how he has his setup, but I often use it with minimal points to spread various devotions, like fang. You can get to a point, especially in the late game, where you just need more devotion triggers than you have with “main” skills.
Heh, you’re both right, sort of. That’s initially why I had it in there. When I got to calculating the final config though, I forgot that I probably won’t need it by the end there, if I ever get that far. Right now, close to level 40, it’s really useful just to have one point in it. It’s a very effective skill, both for debuf and killing, and being a trigger for devotions. If I survive long enough, it won’t be as useful later once I get other offensive skills like Mortar/Big One, and can tie devotions to that.
So I guess that’s three more points I’ll be able to put into Mortar. Definitely in this build it was a choice of whether to put all those points into Ravenous Earth or Mortar. I think Mortar works better because Physical damage is a better synergy for a defiler than Vitality damage. Truth is, I’ve never tried Mortar though. I wonder if I’ll like it? I should be able to put my first point into Mortar around level 55 or so.
I’ve been playing with that Defiler built and I like it. I’m in the early part of Act 2, level 22 or so, and have not had any difficulty so far. Though to be honest, I did die once, in the burial cave (?) - the one that’s full of undead - where you have to cleanse a corrupted Shrine that spawns three star monsters. I hung out too long and died. But I’ve never really been threatened by much else. And I’m not playing hard-core so the death did not traumatize me!
So I effectively have just Flame Strike and Grenado, and four passive auras, and then some sort of slam ability that I got by sticking a chipped claw on my weapon
The only devotion I have filled out so far is the turtle and that circuit breaker ability is quite good. Tell the truth, I usually don’t worry too much about my health because I know that if it goes low enough the turtle ability turns on and health is refilled. You can die from bleeds I think though. One time my health got low and I’m not sure why. So it’s not a full proof circuit breaker but it’s pretty close.
I saw another build that used something from the Ghoul over on the left side of the constellations. It’s another circuit breaker that turns on at 45% health. That was a fire focused build though so I’m not sure if it makes sense to go to that side of the constellations. Figuring that sort of stuff out it’s really difficult for me! So I’m waffling a little bit on what direction to go after the turtle. Not sure if I’m going down to the gold section or to the left to the red section.
I use Brutal Slam as well. Chipped claw is too tempting not to put on a weapon, especially when you’re Physical Damage-focused melee build. It’s a great one to use against single, strong enemies. The other one I’m using is on my shoes, it’s called Ground slam, it’s on my epic shoes, I forget what they’re called, but I find those shoes fairly often. I put that one on the left trigger.since I use it all the time, along with Fire Strike on the right trigger.
Yeah, I love the turtle as a circuit breaker. I also like the Crab’s Arcane Barrier, it activates all the time and protects against Aether, Chaos, Elemental damage. 15% chance to activate when hit, so that’s it’s up all the time.
I’m also tempted by Ghoul. Especially that node that adds 4% life stealing. I want that whole set for that node, but it seems like a waste of points just to get that one thing. Still, Ghoulish Hunger, the ability that triggers seems like a good one too. At 45% health, you get high life steal all of a sudden. I’m definitely getting that ability for my Petless Conjurer (Vitality Tank) build, but I’m not sure yet on the Defiler.
My progress after this weekend: I’m at the exact spot now where my previous Defiler died by going into the Conflagration. Level 41, and done with the quests to the south of Homestead. It’s soooooo tempting to head right back into the Clonflagration next. All I have to do is not step on the green area for too long by getting tempted by Aether crystals to pick up. Surely I can do that? Right guys?
It’s much better with dual weapons since each weapon applies the effect. Also, there is no reason you can’t level some aoe spells early until you get a more complete ranged damage armor and weapon set going. Once you get some good pistols and an effect that benefits dualies or ranged attack speed, then you can go back into full fire strike etc. Once I got to a certain point, I just ignore all the aoe spells and go full damage + inquisitor heal (which is RIDICULOUSLY good!)
By the way, I’m trying some different quest choices this time, just to try them out.
One of the things I did differently: In Act, you run across this guy who’s dying who wants you to avenge him. He says his business partner betrayed him. Well, I usually run into the business partner, and let him say his piece, and he claims that the guy was putting the moves on his daughter or something, and I let him go. Well, this time I said I didn’t believe him and killed him.
Well, later in the game, I encountered his daughter blocking my way in the game across a bridge. I had to kill her too, and she dropped a really nice ring that I used for a long time (and might still be using, I’ll have to check).
Anyway, I thought that was a nice touch.
Today I started up in homestead and realized that the normal homestead vendor I buy and sell from wasn’t there. What the hell? I’d done a few quests differently this run from what I always do in Grim Dawn, so I didn’t know which quest had gone awry. I checked the grim dawn wiki, and obviously I started off telling the story of this particular quest because it turns out that this is the guy that I killed and whose daughter I killed. He’s the one I normally buy and sell from throughout Act 3. And now he’s gone. Damn it. Now I have to run across to a different spot in Homestead to buy and sell. It’s very inconvenient!
I finally got high enough level to get Mortar for the first time. I really like it! It scales with player damage bonuses too, unlike Grenado, so I think I’ll be leveling up this skill first. Right now I have one base point in Grenado, one base point in Mortar, and Mortar does a lot more damage with each hit, and it fires a bunch of times. It’s a perfect way to clear out pesky aether clusters while you’re taking care of more important enemies.
My Defiler is now my highest level hardcore character, and has reached Fort Icon, Act 4. All my equipment is decked out with accouterments. My resists are all maxed out except for elemental resists and pierce, which are at 71 I believe. I’m getting a devotion node on the next shrine that should let me max out the elemental resists too.
Hopefully I won’t need to switch out any equipment up to the moment I die because I’m pretty much married to this equipment now for this character.
I also discovered you can have more buttons for abilities on the controller. You can hit Y to configure the controller, and then hitting Right Stick swaps to an alternate configuration. Then I went into the controls and assigned up on the d-pad to swap configurations. That way, I can swap back and forth between the two configs during the fight.
Basically right now I have one ability too many to assign to the buttons, so in the second config, I swap out the ability on the B button. So normally I do something with B, but any time I want to set down a mortar, I swap out to the other config and lay down a mortar using B, then switch back. It’s actually pretty convenient.
I learned about Y when I had a pet character that had something like 5 buffs, when between summon buttons and buffs I ran out of toolbar buttons. So I stuck my buffs on the second toolbar. It worked great except for that occasional battle where (I guess?) bosses would debuff you with something that turned off your buffs… and I wouldn’t notice until around 10 minutes later. But it’s definitely handy to have a second toolbar so easily available.
I rolled a Vindicator (Shaman+Inquisitor) who throws down Wind Devils and Storm Totems. Having a blast with that… heck, I even just visited the Conflagration and reclaimed those cannons (not to mention I made the side trip up to the Aether-covered Port Valbury!). I’m melting everything and unlike a Sorceror I tried this fellow uses so little mana to blow things up. He definitely feels like a powerhouse. Getting ready to move beyond Homestead real soon now.
I had no problems with my Defiler last night when I took on Commander Longarean, or whatever the boss’ name is. The one at Fort Ikon that usually kills my softcore characters. Since my resists were maxed out, he had a tough time even damaging me, though i did try to avoid incoming fire anyway, just in case.
I’m wearing the 3-set Herald’s ragalia, which gives +1 all skills as it’s final reward for completing the set. I’m also using a shotgun which gives +2 to all Necromancer skills. So I’m pretty set on equipment for a while.
Dead. RIP Stinky 2, the Defiler. Level 48.
What did I learn? No matter how strong and unbeatable your character seems, don’t go after the mad queen:
https://www.grimtools.com/monsterdb/165/skills
I was level 48, and she was scaled to 58. Just crazy. I was doing ok, and then VERY suddenly, I was not. And I was dead. Just stay away from her. She’s a completely optional boss with no quest associated with her.
Edit: Man, I just feel like I’ll never put together such great equipment again. Check out my resists (change it to Normal difficulty):
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZrrJajZ
All near max resist almost since about level 33 I think. And even when I juggled new equipment in, I made sure to keep them all near max resists, successfully. And Herald’s Set gave me such great bonuses. I had the melee weapon as huge damage, but I didn’t need it because even the +2 necro skills shotgun gave me plenty of damage at level 48, still.