Hey, thank you so much for this! I have a question as someone who just started playing Grim Dawn for the first time. My prior experiences include D3 mostly and some D2 and dabbling in PoE, so I’m not completely clueless, but I’m wondering:
What gear secondary stats should I be looking for the most in upgrades while leveling? More +stats (cunning, spirit, physique, etc)? Resistances? OA/DA? In what order of importance, in other words.
I wish there could be perhaps a priority system for gearing listed prior to obtaining the key items you mention in the guide, but apart from that this is an amazing guide and I really appreciate it. I sympathize completely with your opening statement, in that browsing guides had me overwhelmed and feeling like things were way too current-player focused.
I’m glad to hear this guide was useful. Best of luck!
So first, welcome to the world of Cairn - PoE isn’t a game I’ve played yet (though I’ve heard a lot about it) and D3 is very much a “drunken couch co-op” game among my circle of friends so I don’t have very much knowledge of either!
A priority gearing guide sounds like a good idea; If I have time I’ll add one to the gearing section of the guide here. Regarding upgrades while leveling, I wouldn’t sweat it TOO much early on, but you want your resists to be positive (or at least as positive as possible) before entering Elite difficulty. In general, +attack speed, +OA, and +lightning damage are what you want to shoot for early on to boost our kill speeds…some bonus energy regen is also great since PS is a total energy hog.
Really enjoying this newbie friendly build but I’m having a pretty huge problem with damage right now. I’m level 55 in act 2 elite and still using the level 35 weapon Chosen Bolter. The tooltip says savagery is hitting for 3-5k and not sure if this is normal/low?
So first, don’t worry TOO much about tooltip damage - the tooltip lies a bit.
That said, if you’re finding your killtimes are way too long, you need to find a better weapon trade, vendors, oneshot chests and crucible runs are the easiest way to find one (in that order of preference) at that stage in the game.
Can you give a better guide for the gear you are using (what relic etc?) and an update on how far through ultimate you are?
My mate and i play as a duo, he is running this build and has none of the ultos set yet and while he was fine in elite, we’ve just got to homestead in ultimate and he’s feeling really squishy.
what health are you running and whats your d/a and armor?
(his resists are all maxed)
Hey, thank you for this.
I just started playing Grim Dawn for the first time. I am used to games like this, i have played a lot of D3 some D2 and Torchlight II.
But I’m wondering about the gear, i am lvl 32 and just reached Homestead, i play on Veteran. I really enjoy the challange, but i feel like i am forced to play as ranged, because i can’t tank the damage anymore, but i have only shit for drop in ranged weapon, i am looking foreward to the Chosen Bolter !!!
As a meele, I try to peel the groups apart before engaging, but it takes too long.
The sheet DPS i app. 1 K, Meele, i feel it is ok. the elemental resistance i around 50% but the poisen and especially bleeding is killing me.
Can you help with some sub goals like, OA, DA, DPS, HP and resistence for lvl 30/40/50/60/70 or something like that.??
Yeah I really need to make a more concrete gear guide…I think I’m still in act 3 of Ultimate at this time? Been a while since I’ve played much GD - life’s been super busy for me. You probably want to shoot for ~2k DA and use some scaled hide for higher armor absorb if his resists are already maxed out
Glad you’re enjoying this build! Ranged is definitely the way to start with this setup IMHO since it’s more forgiving; Your paper DPS will be lower and your killtimes will be higher, but you can get away with less health and lower resist for longer. I wouldn’t worry TOO much about min/maxing stats before Ultimate - for Elite just try and have all your resists positive and through Veteran just use whatever gear you can get your hands on. However, as I said above, I definitely need to make a better gear guide for this!
Glad you’re enjoying the build and thanks for the kind words
Very fun build. I’m a new players and after trying 3 different builds to level 20 and not being happy with them, I’m really enjoying this one. My favorite thing is that I can use my ranged weapon to clear mobs at a distance, and switch to a 2H weapon for bosses or if I get overwhelmed.
I’m not sure what I should be looking for on gear though? Should I focus on armor to be able to tank better? Resistances? Offence? Or is it just a matter of trying to figure out what keeps my from dying and adding that?
Assuming you mean ranged Torrent, I think it was fixed in 1.0.0.9 - I’d check the patch notes to be sure on that though.
Glad to hear this build is working well for you! I wouldn’t sweat gearing TOO much at first, since it honestly doesn’t become something to start balancing out until Elite’s -resistance penalties kick in (and even then most builds don’t need to worry much until Ultimate frankly). Armor that gives +health, +phys, and/or +movespeed is invaluable early on. For weapons, just equip whatever gives higher sheet DPS.
Glad to hear this is working out well for you and I’m also glad that the latest patch gave 2H weaps some love. The nerf to tempest mines is pretty serious however…tempest might not be worth keeping TBH - it’s been a while since I’ve touched this build and I’ll have to do some testing to make this as optimal as possible for 1.0.1.0 but I’m sure it’ll be “fine” for campaign in its current form.
Starting with demo is going to hurt a bit early on. If you aren’t very far yet (say, below level 20) you might want to consider restarting your character since rushing to a maxed-out Shaman tree and relying on early Primal Strike is key for this build.
Regarding the talent calculators, grimcalc probably has issues with the older game version calcs in this build. I should probably switch them all to grimtools instead when I have time :rolleyes:
I really dislike storm totem; It’s takes a hefty skill point investment to be decent, feels slow compared to the normal pacing of this build, and honestly isn’t that great for AoE unless you can get a few of them up
Regarding AoE on this build post-1.0.1.0 I’d honestly think that with reckless tempest, wind devils’ lightning bolt attack, and the assorted lightning procs this build inevitably winds up getting from gear, we’re probably fine on the AoE side of things for campaign. Crucible is another story but this build isn’t designed for it
I’m level 28 and finding it very difficult to proceed with this build. The trash dies fast but any named mob takes a ridiculously long time to kill. I’m one level away from Stormcaller’s Pact but I feel like even that isn’t going to be enough to make this build bearable until Savagery. Maybe I’m missing something but I’ve followed perfectly thus far and it feels so weak in comparison to other classes I have around the same level range.
Previous 2 characters stuck at ~35 as it is too boring to play a cadence soldier and pet shaman.
At 50 just beat Elite Cronley.
I have no issue in veteran as long as you had a high damage 2H weapon. If you think ranged too slow you may go melee for some bosses. Once you are at 35 and get the Chosen bolter and you will breeze through normal difficulty.
I go melee savagery at 50 once I get the lightning 2h Sword as the lv35 bolter damage is too low.
I saw earlier post said the nerf of thermite mine so I skipped it and pick feral hunger for sustain. Once I finished tempest I will use wind devil to proc it, dunno if the AoE is enough.
trade, vendors, oneshot chests and crucible runs are the easiest way to find one (in that order of preference) at that stage in the game.
