Very nice. That’s definitely what I was remembering. The Blessed Shield ability from the Crusader in Diablo 3. I always forget about the Crusader because that character came in the expansion.
Really digging the ability to start level 1 characters at higher difficulties. A quick jaunt to burial hill, kill the reanimator, turn in the quest and boom! Level 14. This will be a great way to get deep enough into different builds to see if they are gratifying without investing too much time.
Not sure about starting on Ultimate though. That’s pretty rough. Started on Elite and that brought me up quick!
kerzain
2745
It’s probably my imagination, but it seems like they increased the drop rate of weapons/gear 20-fold in the very, very early game. I remember having to choose between the named 2-hander or the pistol early on, but I had a full pack of whites blues and yellows before I even picked up both of them. I’m sure this doesn’t extend to the rest of the game, but I could swear my older characters had no such luck.
Is there a way to tell when you get a shield block? I wish there was more of a tell. I’ve been playing the original Diablo, and in that game, you can’t miss it. There’s a loud distinctive noise and you can instantly tell when you get a block. In Grim Dawn there’s usually so much going on, it’s hard to pick on individual things that are happening.
KevinC
2747
Diablo 3 is by far my least favorite of this generation of ARPGs but damn if they didn’t nail all the feedback details like that.
So, how does this work exactly? Doesn’t it make the game too hard? What level enemies are you fighting on Elite difficulty when you’re level 2? Are you fighting level 40 enemies? Aren’t they too hard to tackle?
You buy a token from a vendor in the new area and give it to your new character in Crucible, as they have access to the stash there.
I’m not sure how it will play out, but leveling of course is on a steep curve. Early levels take hardly any experience while later ones take lots.
I haven’t tried ultimate, but am currently in elite. The zombie dudes at the very beginning are much harder to kill with this character, but they don’t do so much damage either. Kill three of them and level. In 30 seconds, you are level 5 and can pump up a skill. Now you are powerful enough to take on the first quest baddie, the reanimator.
Turn in that quest and you get jacked way up. I’m at level 20 now and have played about 30 minutes.
If you think about it, the beginning game is so easy, this actually gives it a bit of challenge. It’s fun. I have no idea how the later game will be, but it is possible I will be a high enough level by then with the curve for it to be OK.
Cool. I’ll have to watch out for it for future characters.
For now I just used @KevinC’s Crucible method to start off with 10 devotion points and level 18 before starting the campaign. (For those that don’t know, just keep doing round 1 of the Crucible and collecting your reward until you reach level 18). By the time I reach the Warden, things are about the same as if I’d started the campaign with a level 1 character, but I like having a head start on Devotion shrines in the early game.
I played halfway through act 1 on Ultimate starting at Level 1 using Crucible and its an interesting experience. It is definitely the most difficult in the very beginning when you have no money, barely any potions and shit gear. Once you get a few levels under you it gets a little easier but killing the Reanimator on Ultimate at Level 4 was brutal with an Oathkeeper. After that you level up to 19 and things get significantly easier and with the mass experience you are getting its easy to see that Devotions will be the stopgap in making a new character in a very fast timeframe.
Holy hell you weren’t kidding. I’m level 12, can summon six skeletons, and they all do awesome stuff. I was thinking it’s a game like Diablo or something where they all have swords and shit. These guys CAST SPELLS and fling arrows all over the place. It’s AMAZING to walk into a bunch of enemies and have most of them dead before I even hit one.
I tried the new veteran difficulty too, so this is a lot more fun! Thanks for the recommendation.
LeeAbe
2753
Anyone having any issues with 64 bit mode? None here, but I haven’t played a lot.
Saw this on Reddit the other day, if you are playing single player, you can pause and hover over status effects to see what they are. Kind of handy to see what some boss is doing to you.
Looks like my Oathkeeper is going fire/melee. I was going to go with Solider, but I am really not sure it would add much. So I guess one of the fire heavy masters? My characters are always so scattered, I really do need to come up with a plan.
Daagar
2754
Sounds like The Night King might be somewhat outdated. Maybe this would suffice now?
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81004
For folks that want melee instead of pets, this is a hyper popular Deathknight build:
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74487
Is it? Seems to be working for me so far.
Daagar
2756
Only going by the end of the thread. I have no proof :)
Gah, how do I even read this?
So what sound like good devotion points to spend for a Oathkeeper/Soldier build?
This was my current plan with the devotions. Get quite a few shield ones covered, as well as some offensive ones.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZoqDGv2
I hadn’t decided between the Stag and the Lotus though. The Lotus is new to this expansion, but the Stag seems more appropriate to the character.
I’m doing oath/demo phys/fire, so far it’s pretty good. This is one of the few mastery combos where you don’t have to change a damage type, you can just roll with what the gear gives you, as fire and phys is a pretty common combo. Start Demo and get it up to blast shield, and then just go full oathkeeper.
Super quickie build idea
DeepT
2762
I just picked up the necromancer expansion since it was on sale. I am playing this with a friend and since I normally play melee types I wanted try a caster. So now I have a low level aether / necromancer character. I had put like 8 pts into skeletons so I would have some tanks/distractions to keep things off my caster. However, I then got to my first purple boss (under the waterworks) who was crushing the skeletons like there is no tomorrow.
Is this build viable long term or will the skeletons simply not be able to hold up on higher levels. Each level of skeletons only gives a small amount of health and I am already at 8 of 16 skill on it. Any advice for this build? IF it’s not viable long term, what is a good class to pair with the aether mage that will add a lot of survivability?
