I cast Thundaja at the Darkness!
Based on the Older verson!
Still one of my favorite builds! And it’s been redone some! Huzzah!
This build focuses on Primal Strike and Savagery, and is supported by Wendigo and Storm Totems.
Mostly Physique for this build, since you get more than enough Spirit from Arcanist. Cunning is nice too, but make sure you have enough Physique to equip what you need, before putting points into cunning.
Pretty simple to play. Pop your totems as much as you can, Savagery with Right click, Primal with Left. Pop Mirror when you’re about to die. Not very complicated at all, and devestating.
After changing this build, It handles everything alot better. I’m not sure if it can take the Avatar, but most Heroes, Bosses, and Nemesis’ can be dealt with on Ultimate.
SKILLS!
[spoiler]Shaman is your primary Mastery
Savagery, along with the brute force tree, is your primary damage dealer, ramping up the damage pretty high, as well as getting OA and DA from Tenacity of the Boar and some attack speed from Storm Touched. It’s primarily Lightning damage, but if you can make bleeding a good secondary damage if you get the right equipment.
Put Falcon Swoop on it to boost it’s damage further.
Primal Strike is still a hard hitter that can cause alot of damage to one target, and additional damage to other targets with Torrent. Storm Surge also adds a bit of ncie damage, including Bleeding if you want to use it.
Mogdrogen’s Pact, Heart of the Wild, and Oak Skin bring significant survivability, an some additional points into Oak Skin can get you some important pierce resistance. Slap Healing rain on this or on Maiven’s Sphere for more healing.
Unlike what I did previously, I’ve gone with Stormcaller’s Pact this time, instead of Primal Bond. The 15% damage reduction was nice, but 35-70% crit damage is nicer.
Brute Force, Feral Hunger, and Upheaval get a point each. They’re nice, and benefit well from +skill bonuses. If you decided to grab a Devotion skill that procs off of crits, put it on Upheaval.
Wendigo Totem is an important skill. Max it, and use it as much as you can. It will keep you alive with its healing.
Storm Totem gives bonus damage, and I use it to proc Elemental Storm. put one point into it, and if you have extra points, you can start putting them into this to make it stronger.
Grasping Vines is a good crowd control skill that you can pop every so often, but is also really good to put Arcane Bomb on so it goes off fairly often.
Arcanist brings some important utility and stats.
Max Inner Focus for a boost to OA and some spirit.
A point into Mirror of Ereotes is all thats needed, use it when Oh Shit happens/
Bring Maiven’s Sphere up to 12/12. If you get items that give +skill to it, lower it till it’s 12/12, because you don’t get anything significant from going over that unless you hit 22/12. Put a point into Conversion for some status resistances. You can put healing rain on this insteal of Pact if you want.
Elemental Exchange only needs a single point in it. Max out Elemental Balance however. Elemental Balance, along with Stormcallers Pact gives plenty of extra Crit Damage, up to +106% with both at Ultimate.
[/spoiler]
EQUIPMENT!
[spoiler]
Head, Chest, Shoulders, and Necklace
For equipment, the Ultos’ Storm Set is your ultimate goal. This will give you +2 to all Shaman Skills, and a big point bonus to the Savagery and Primal Strike trees, as well as some nice resistances and shit tons of lightning damage. You don’t really need the weapon for it though. Got a better item for that spot.
Weapon
Stormreaver gives pretty heafty lightning and electrocute damage bonuses and lightning converstion, a little OA, and +2 to all Shaman skills. The active skill is also nice, and you can hook a Devotion skill to it if you like.
Legs
Fateweaver’s Leggings is good for pants, giving some Aether Resistance, +Skill bonuses to Maiven’s Sphere and Converstion, a decent proc skill, and other nice bonuses. Feel free to replace these with whatever you need though.
Belt
I use Tinkerer’s Ingenuity for a belt because it gives me some much needed Acid and Bleed resistance, some nice Health Regen, and it’s skill procs when you hit low health, giving you some damage absorption, regeneration, and damage. Also has -15% phys requirments for armor, which is nice.
Rings
For Rings, I used the Judicator’s Signet’s for more Survivability. Health regen, OA and DA, resistances. And a great proc that heals me on attack and boosts my OA and DA more. If you need something else though, replace as needed.
Hands
Empowered Thundertouch Braces is nice, giving more damage, a nice proc skill, a little bit of aether resistance, and some relevant +skill bonuses. But replace it with whatever you need.
Feet
Earthshatter Treads is nice for this spot. Nice armor, lots of really good resistances, some +skills, and an okay active skill. I mosetly use it for the resistances, but feel free to replace it as needed.
Badge
I use Mark of Divinity here. important elemental resistances, health regeneration, health, and a good proc skill that may save your ass. You can replace as needed, but this is possibly the best item for this slot.
Eye of the Storm Gives +1 to Shaman skills, some attack speed, lighting damage, and an aura that boosts lightning and electrocute damages alot.
Augments
For augments, Just put whatever you need into armor to cover up your resistances. Get a single Kymon’s Will into a ring or amulet for the Reduced Target’s Damage proc, the others can have Breath of Life for health and Vitality resistance, Mogdrogen’s Sanctity for Health and Elemetnal resistance, or Survivoer’s Ingenuity for Damage and OA/DA.
Potent Essence of CH’thon into the weapon gives 15% resistance reduction, which is very important.
Components
Fill out your armor with resistance giving components as needed. Silk Swatches and Antivenom Salves are most likely what you’ll be using. I use Hallowed GRound in the chest for the DA bonuses and Elemental resistances.
Rings work nice with Corpse Dust for Health and Vit Resistances, but change as needed, and the Amulet and Medal should also have resistances, such as Black Tallow for Chaos.
In the weapon, use whatever you want. It’s not important. I went with Oleron’s Blood for a little bit of speed and OA, and a pretty strong Active skill.[/spoiler]
LEVELING UP![spoiler]As you play, Start out with Shaman. Get Savagery first, and start filling out the mastery bar. Putting a single point into each skill as you fill out the bar will work just fine as you go through Normal, though make sure you put 3 into Might of the Bear as soon as possible for a good damage bonus.
Once you hit Level 10, you can put some points into Arcanist to get Inner Focus. Fill up the bar along side Shaman untill you get to Maiven’s Sphere, and then stop and fill up Shaman’s bar the rest of the way. Once Shaman bar is maxed out, you can finish arcanist up to conversion. Don’t get iskandra’s Exchange until you have access to Elemental Balance, since thats the reason for having it.
Once you fiull up the bars as needed, put points into Heart of the Wild as needed, and start maxing out Inner Focus, Maiven’s Sphere, Wndigo Totem, Primal Strike, and Savagery as you please. After they’re maxed, max out Stormcaller’s Pact and Elemental Balance for that sweet Crit Damage. and then finish off the rest of your skills. Put extra points into Storm Totem last.[/spoiler]
Have not beaten most of the Super Bosses or done Crucible with this build yet, but i will get to it.
I just picked up Grim Dawn 2 days ago and decided to use your build for my first ever character. So far I am having a blast but I am lost on devotions. I figured out to put Falcon Swoop on Savagery but from there on I got no idea how to get to the other ones. Could you please include the devotions in the Grimcalc link? Or provide a roadmap? Thanks!