3203

This softcore druid (Shaman + Arcanist) I’ve been playing since last week is up to level 62 today, and I just finished the Ancient Grove for the first time! Woooo! This character has got better equipment than any I’ve ever played, and as a result, just check out my resists. That’s what they would look like on Ultimate, but I’m only playing on Veteran and Elite so far.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2M85wmN

I used one of those fancy rune things from my shared stash to play Elite difficulty at the start, and I died a lot as a result. Then after defeating the Warden, I actually switched to Veteran difficulty, and everything was so easy since then. I finished Act 1 on Veteran, and then Forgotten Gods, then Acts 2,3,4, and am currently in the Ugdenbog doing Act 5. Like I said, this is the first character with whom I’ve beaten the Ancient Grove dungeon. I just face tanked everything, including the final boss, which I didn’t even know as possible. But if you look at my physical resists when I have everything activated, you can kind of see why I’m mostly invulnerable.

Of course, when I get to be higher level, I suppose I’ll have to switch to better equipment for the damage, and then who knows if I’ll find defensive equipment and resists as good as this. I mean, for god’s sake, check out that amulet I found yesterday. It raises all my max resists +4!!! And then I found a belt that increases my max bleed resist to 90!!! About the only thing I’m kind of vulnerable to is Vitality, since it sits at 78 by default, and doesn’t go up to 84 until I get hit by an enemy.

God, it’s good to be the Lightning God.

Btw, if you guys get the Praetorian Set, use it. That +15% physical resist is nothing to scoff at. It will keep you alive.

EDIT: For the last 12 levels, I’ve been slowly putting points into Shaman so I can get Stormcaller’s Pact. I’m aaaaaaaaaaalmost there.

Edit 2: Yay, finally got Stormcaller’s Pact last night. https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNkRoYQZ

Edit 3: Level 81 now. https://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V0LanRV

3204

I don’t think I can play this game anymore. It gives me that gross feeling of having eaten too much candy after Halloween.

744 hours was a heck of a run though.

3205

I was at that point, at really close to the same number of hours, and then I discovered the reign of terror mod…lol.

3206

Yeah, each time I’ve stepped away from the game, that’s a good description of why I’ve done so. But always something brings me back later. I’ll have to look again when i get home, but I think I’m probably approaching 1200 or 1300 hours now.

I have to say, I really like how much more plentiful good loot is in this game since the last time I played. The green shrines give so much good loot, and they’re present throughout the campaign, making it much more likely that each character will find something amazing over the course of play. It makes building characters around certain loot much more viable for the average player rather than just something you read about on the Grim Dawn forums.

3207

By the way, the decision to go for Eye of Korvaak at the top of the devotion tree was a really good one. I assigned it to my Windigo Totem. I haven’t put anything beyond one point into Windego Totem, so it’s there, healing me slightly, and hurting enemies slightly, but more importantly, it’s there, several times a second, having the chance to trigger a critical, which will trigger Eye of Korvaak.

So what’s Eye of Korvaak?

At my current level (15), it’s this:

image
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So basically, there’s my totem, sitting in the middle of the enemies, and out of it comes a spiral of little fireballs going round and round, hitting all the enemies, and basically massively debuffing them and petrifying them all. And you think, well, it only triggers on a critical hit, but I’m telling you guys, I don’t know how often the game checks for Windego totem “attacks”, but it must be a lot, because Eye of Korvaak triggers ALL the time for me. In nearly every fight I have, it triggers and petrifies and debuffs all the enemies.

The other Devotion I got for the first time with this character that’s also been a delight has been Spear of Heaven:

image
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Again, I’m really surprised that this triggers ALL the time. As I’m fighting, there’s spears of heaven dropping from the sky left and right, stunning enemies around me. I know it’s only supposed to trigger when I get hit, so I can only assume that these enemies are all “hitting” me somehow. I’m not sure how in some cases, because they’re really far away, and yet they get the spear from heaven dropped own on them. I’m guessing maybe some enemies have auras that is considered “hitting” me maybe? And maybe a lot of enemies have auras?

3208

In the reign of terror mod, has anyone found that the damage from vanilla classes is really weak compared to the diablo 2 classes?

3209

Read it wrong :P I haven’t played around with many GD classes in RoT, been too busy seeing how many different zons and sorcs I can make lol.

3210

I think that’s true. When I read an article about the mod they said you should pick as your base class a Diablo class for damage. And then mix it with a GD class for buffs/debuffs/resists

3211

It’s swap weapon by default for me with XB1 controller. Maybe it’s been a while since you went to keybindings and reset to defaults - they’ve probably changed it a bit over the years.

3212

Well, it sounds like I’d prefer these older controls anyway, so I’m glad they didn’t change them for me.

I did find the swap weapon button btw, it’s d-pad-left. Portal is d-pad-right, so this is a good way to do it.

I’m so used to doing L-stick button and R-stick button as abilities, it would be tough for me to switch to a new scheme where I have to use the d-pad for those abilities instead.

3213

That jogged a memory loose for me. I think I remember them changing something a while back (I think it was the prior expansion or whenever it was they added better gamepad support) that caused some bugs for people that had old configs. I had to fix it by doing what you describe.

3214

My Lightning Druid has been having a really easy time of it once she got past level 50. Primal Strike + support skills + Hand of Ultos to lower lightning resist + Wind Devil twisters to lower lightning resists + Arcane Bomb to lower lightning resists is a powerful combination, even throughout Elite difficulty. I’m level 84 now, and in Malmouth. Once I finish Malmouth, I’ll decide whether to do Forgotten Gods on Elite or just skip straight to Ultimate difficulty. I’ll probably do Forgotten Gods first.

The one thing left to work on, possibly, is to get my Maiven’s Sphere of Protection up higher so that it can absorb more damage. Once I do that though, the drain on my mana will mean that for the first time since the beginning of the game, I’ll have to start quaffing down mana potions again, since Sphere of Protection has an active mana cost that gets higher and higher the more points you put into it.

I’m finding a shit-ton of purple loot now at level 84, but I haven’t found anything better than what I’ve been wearing since level 50 for most of my equipment.

It’s kind of amazing how much easier this character is to play compared to my Purifier. With that character I had to constantly run away from enemies while dropping mines, then turn around and shoot enemies to death as the mines lowered their Chaos and Fire resists. With this lightning druid, the only thing I have to do is always have wind devils up, and to use the default Savagery attack a few times to get my offensive ability up, and then unleash Primal Strike’s lightning on everything near me, and it all just melts from all the lightning on the screen.

3215

I think it should be a rule that you can’t brag about how great your build is without posting a link to it!

(So I can plagarize it)

3216

I actually started playing this again with the goal of finishing all the acts. Believe it or not I’ve never gotten past Homestead before, as I always started a new character to see if I liked a given build more.

So far I am liking the new area and the many eggs I get to squish.

3217

Yah lightning druid is easymode. It’s probably the single most overtuned skill in the game, and it’s OP from the time you first get it. Once you solve the -resist problem, which you can, it’s pretty much unstoppable. Both the ranged and melee versions of this are really fun to play. I’m at the point where I just level any combo with a druid I have with it, even if I’m going for a different late game build.

3218

I did post it upthread a bit, but here’s the latest version:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2M8X70N

Notice the Ghoulish Hunger that kicks in at 45% health, giving extra health steal and physical resistance. Also, the Eye of Korvaak kicks in a LOT. Plus I’ve got stuff on my equipment that kicks in at low health to give even more physical resist. That’s why I haven’t died since before level 50.

3219

Could you hook me up with an up to date ranged version of the build (primal strike I’m guessing)? I’m trying to start playing the game but I don’t know if the build I used last time ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNDJseRxrSE ) is still useful after all the changes to the game).

I’m specifically looking for progression (when to invest in which skills, attributes), and gearing tips before you hit endgame.

3220

Hey nice, that looks neat. I’ve never tried that Eye of Reckoning Skill. I never tried the Whirlwind skill by the Barbarian in Diablo 2 either. I should remedy that.

3221

Been a while, but here is roughly the last one I played. There are a lot of ways to build this, all of them work.
Inquisitor second

You can also do something like
Arcanist second

You can also build a hybrid vitality/lightning character that’s really effective with a Necro or Occultist.

As far as progression, rush to thunderous strike/primal strike, get about 5 points in it, keep putting points into it when you have the mana to support it. Laugh at the rest of the game. You can level 100% as a shaman until you fill out all of the skills, and then add the 2nd class.

Gearing…I always play solo self found, so gear is just whatever floats my way. Fill in resists as needed and use the best thing that drops. As far as min/max on gearing, I never really bother so no help there.

Attributes are really dependent on what gear you end up with and are going for. You need enough cunning to equip decent ranged weapons, and of course physique. I do more or less 2-1 physique-cunning.

There is quite a heavy phys and bleed to this build, so you can really build those up as well as the obvious lightning. It’s one of the reasons it makes this build so versatile. You could use soldier as a 2nd even and have a great character. A lot of ways to skin this cat, and that’s part of the fun is trying out the different angles.

I actually like inquisitor the best, because standing on that seal with a wendigo totem plopped down makes you pretty much immortal. You can face tank just about anything with this build.

As per a lot of builds in GD, you probably won’t have much of a problem with DPS, it’s staying alive that becomes the problem at higher levels, one reason I like that inq seal so much.

3222

GD leveling is pretty much “slam everything into whatever active skill and murder everything, also pick up health and resists on gear” for much of the game. The times you get exploded tend to be because you were ignoring some resist (chaos/vitality/bleed are popular) and went after a boss that is heavy in those elements.

Respecs are so cheap they might as well be free. Play around!

I really like picking up defensive Devotions early until your build can kinda take care of itself. Dryad and Turtle go an awfully long way for a long time. Devotional defense tends to be a lot stronger than skill-tree defense. Though the “circuit breaker” passives that kick in at < xx% health can be quite strong.

Really though, pick an active and pump it early. It almost doesn’t matter what. If you’re shaman-first, the AOE bleed/slow vine thing is great. So much of your dps comes from the flat damage on the skill until quite a bit later, just invest and roll through shit. Like I said, respecs are cheap as free.

If you start getting into designing your own build, STAY IN ONE OR MAYYYYYYYBE TWO DAMAGE CHANNELS. Pick one and stack mods. Hybridization of your primary damage output is beyond foolish. Generally you should be direct+DoT in one element (physical is an element for these purposes). There are ways to build non-awful builds in multiple elements, but you gotta be careful and there are a million newbie traps. Just pick an element.

e: Also ground effects from enemies, particularly bosses, are extremely deadly in Grim Dawn. Keep moving and keep an eye on AOE zones when fighting anything boss-like. Mobile builds are particularly survivable, even moreso than they tend to be in other ARPGs.