[b]Contents:
[ol][li]Introduction[/li]
[li]Useful Tools[/li]
[li]Normal / Veteran[/li]
[li]Elite[/li]
[li]Ultimate[/li]
[li]The Hidden Path[/li]
[li]TL;DR & Final Notes[/li]
[/ol][/b]
I - Introduction
Hello! I often hear about people complain about how hard it is to play Hardcore in Grim Dawn and how leveling is slow because of how careful you have to be, but after nearly thousand hours of playing Grim Dawn on Hardcore and getting over a dozen characters to beat the game on Hardcore Ultimate, I honestly don’t find that to be the case. People often come to me for advice on Hardcore, so I decided it was time to make a thread!
This thread aims to be a comprehensive guide on how to safely level your characters to Hardcore Ultimate without fear of death. If someone wants to use this to get into Hardcore, then by all means use this guide. If you’re having trouble with your current Hardcore characters and hit a brick wall, look no more! If you want a bedtime story then you’re in the right place, this amount of text will put you to goddamn sleep!
Note: this is for vanilla GD only, no mods.
Warning: memes are present in this guide
Special Thank You for suggestions!: Chthon, TorusNC, Ryzel, Sinistrality, Roger, Barnacle_Ed, Draon Con Color, EnjoyTheJourney, and everyone else at the GD Discord!
Extra Note: My Suggested Way To Read This Guide
I’ll keep this short: you don’t have to read this whole thing to understand how to play Hardcore.
Play the game and if you’re worried about something coming up or something you’re currently having trouble with, find that section of the guide and see if it helps you. I encourage skimming, as I’ve made my guide bullet-pointed to death so that despite it’s huge size, it’s easy enough to read. And finally, ask questions! If you’re not clear about something in the guide, come in the thread and ask it. I’ll try my best to answer you and update the thread if things really aren’t clear enough. Happy playing!
II - Useful Tools
First things first, using 3rd party tools are going to help you a lot on your Hardcore journey. The most important part about playing Hardcore is being prepared and these tools help you achieve that. Between planning out your build beforehand, preparing replacement items for when you hit a specific level, skewing your resists to what you’re fighting at that point in time (whether through pots/oils/ointments or through itemization), and boss preparation, you’re going to need to do all of this to guarantee survival. Now, this might seem like a lot to do at first, but with these tools they make it all easy as pie.
The Maphack: http://the-maphack.com/index.php?page=2&lang=en
The Maphack is the entire map of GD’s world, although a bit outdated as you can see it doesn’t have Port Valbury. This is incredibly useful for finding shrines and to make sure you don’t miss any of the secret ones. Keep in mind not all the spawn locations for things are here and it doesn’t show anything to do with random map generation that still occurs in GD.
Grimtools: http://www.grimtools.com/index.html
Grimtools is great for both looking up items and setting up builds. I prefer the build calculator a lot more than Grimcalc when it comes to finalizing with items, although Grimcalc is super useful for leveling. Speaking of Grimcalc…
Grimcalc: https://grimcalc.com/
Everyone here should know this by now. Grimcalc is not as good as Grimtools for a finalized comprehensive report on a build, but it’s great to help you plan where you’re going. I use Grimcalc regularly to see where my build is heading every 10-20 levels and by when should I have what skill.
GD Stash: http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23414
Finally, GD Stash is a near-necessary tool after a few runs. You’re going to run out of shared stash space, that is an inevitability. For your first run, this is unnecessary, but when you notice that you’re trying your hardest to squeeze every last bit of space in your shared stash and have mules going, I highly suggest GD Stash.
Disclaimer: GD Stash can essentially be a cheat if you use it that way. If you do not trust yourself with the ability to dupe items or edit your characters do not use it.
III - Hardcore Normal / Veteran Guide
[b]Contents:
[ol]
[li]Preface[/li]
[li]Your First Run[/li]
[li]Subsequent Runs[/li]
[/ol][/b]
III.1 Preface
For all three difficulties I’m going to break it up into two parts: your first run and subsequent runs. What this means is that for those of you who’re trying Hardcore for the first time (or close to it), you want to follow Your First Run’s guide. For those of you who already have completed Hardcore Ultimate at least once, Subsequent Runs is for you.
Your First Run will be more about what to do in each act and how to complete the game without any items other than the ones you pick up. It is my honest suggestion to not rush through the game on your first playthrough on Hardcore. I suggest to take it slow and take in everything and try to amass resources as you progress through the game to completion. Many people often say that loot doesn’t matter until Ultimate - for the purposes of your first run and this guide, I’m going to say that’s incorrect. Early level blues (Epic items) are oppressively strong on later runs if you can get the sets together, so collecting them now and storing them away until later is actually a very good idea. Throughout the guide I’m going to identify good sets and other Epic items to keep ahold of if you run across them.
Subsequent Runs will not go into depth about what to do in any act, but more about how to utilize the resources you now have effectively to breeze through the game at an accelerated pace. This is the part of the guide where I go over early and mid level Epic itemization, shortcuts, and more extensive preparatory actions you can take to make the speedy run safe.
Finally, an important note for taking engagements in Hardcore: never let yourself get surrounded, especially with heroes nearby. You can always abuse constitution and kite enemies to deal with troublesome mobs, but when you’re surrounded you cannot. The easiest way to die in Hardcore is to realize at the last second “oh crap I can’t take this guy,” only to realize there’s a skeleton trying to give you a backrub blocking your escape.
III.2 Your First Run
[b]Contents:
[ol]
[li]Introduction[/li]
[li]First Ten Levels & Useful Skills[/li]
[li]Act I[/li]
[li]Act II[/li]
[li]Act III[/li]
[li]Act IV[/li]
[/ol][/b]
Introduction
So you’ve started your first Hardcore run on Normal/Veteran (or close to it)! Don’t worry, you’re in good hands, I play exclusively HC Veteran when I start a new character and I’ve only lost a dozen so far! Jokes aside, I’ve died and figured out why it happens and how to avoid it so you don’t have to. For the purposes of this guide I’m going to assume you don’t have Crucible, so below I will detail how to level in the early stages of Veteran Hardcore Grim Dawn via campaign only.
Also, if you’ve played in softcore extensively, you probably don’t need most of this part of the guide. Head straight on over to Subsequent Runs if you feel like I’m saying stuff you already know. It may be your first Hardcore run, but it’s hardly your first run to Ultimate if you’re part of this group.
First Ten Levels & Useful Skills
First things first, you want to start the game knowing what direction you’re going in. The most basic of this is choosing your starting mastery combo - and you want to know both so you can choose the one that’s better at leveling first. Not all masteries are equal, at least not at the early starting levels they are not. I’m going to bring this up again in the Subsequent Runs section later as well. Below I’ve listed the best starting mastery and leveling skills for each class combo:
- Warder: Shaman - Devouring Swarm or Primal Strike
- Battlemage: Arcanist - Olexra’s Flash Freeze
- Blademaster: Nightblade - Night’s Chill (Veil of Shadow upgrade)
- Witchblade: Occultist - Dreeg’s Evil Eye (with Focused Gaze)
- Commando: Demolitionist - Explosive Strike (Fire Strike upgrade), Stun Jacks, or Black Water Cocktail (with High Potency)
- Elementalist: Depends on your build. Both masteries have a lot to offer.
- Sorcerer: Arcanist - Olexra’s Flash Freeze. The -fire resists combos well with Demolitionist past level 10.
- Saboteur: Demolitionist - Explosive Strike (Fire Strike upgrade). Best used with dual-wielding.
- Pyromancer: Depends on your build. Both masteries have a lot to offer.
- Conjurer: Shaman - Devouring Swarm
- Warlock: DEE (with Focused Gaze) or Flash Freeze. I would go with Flash Freeze as it’s less investment early, but DEE scales much better.
- Witch Hunter: Occultist - Dreeg’s Evil Eye (with Focused Gaze)
- Trickster: Shaman - Devouring Swarm
- Spellbreaker: Arcanist - Olexra’s Flash Freeze
- Druid: Devouring Swarm or Flash Freeze. Devouring Swarm is better but synergizes less with Druid as a whole.
Soldier is generally a bad leveling class unless you go Blade Arc, and I’ve honestly not had a lot of fun with the skill so I’ve left it out of the list above. This is something out of personal experience, which is why I’m throwing this disclaimer down here.
Now surviving early isn’t a problem on veteran as nothing crits you for half your health (yet), but the reason you want to choose strong leveling skills early is so you can go to Hargate’s Isle ASAP and clear out the Slith there for easy levels. This makes everything move along faster and smooth as butter. Don’t forget the book that’s in the shack at the back of the island, it’s worth a LOT of experience!
Otherwise, for leveling past that point I hear the Searing Ember and Flintcore Bolts components are pretty good (thanks Roger), Canister Bomb for Demolitionist (thanks Barnacle_Ed), and Doom Bolt for Occultist (this is a joke, don’t actually do this). Additionally, Chipped Claw helps with physical-based melee builds in the early game quite a bit, but don’t forget to not sell the item once you’ve moved on from it and instead get the component out thanks to Kasparov’s apprentice - these are quite useful components for crafting! The same goes for Battered Shell for shield users!
As a final note about Soldier: if you have a shield or two-handed melee weapon, put at least a few points into Menhir’s Will. I usually keep it at six points for the entire game, the skill does wonders. Abilities like this are called Circuit Breakers, for future reference, and they’re very valuable to Hardcore builds. At least, the good ones are (there is a lot of bad/mediocre ones!).
Act I
Thankfully Act I isn’t that dangerous where you need to be worried about a random crit nailing you aside the head and ending your playthrough right there. There are only two bosses you need to be worried about in Act I besides the final boss, The Warden: Gutworm, the Maneater and Salazar, Blade of Ch’thon. Keep in mind that neither of these guys are necessary to kill at any point. If you’re up for the challenge and think you’re willing to take the risk, then I suggest to go kill Gutworm first. Gutworm is the easier of the two to kill, but he’s still a pain in the arse if you’re not prepared. He does absurd amounts of bleed damage, has a net that can trap you, and has a massive AoE stun. If you dodge his nets, save health potions for the stun, and have good bleed resistance you can definitely take him down (and remember to dodge his attacks if possible otherwise). Salazar is, well, another story, as he does tons of chaos and vitality damage and both those resists on items and ointments are hard to get this early. I wouldn’t suggest fighting him on your first HC run until later, after you’ve entered Blood Grove to shore up your chaos and vitality resists. He still has a one-shot chest after all, so it still might be worth going back for him. Keep in mind you also need a Strange Key to get at his sanctuary, which you can get either from cultists in Act I dropping it, or Direni (honestly though - just kill him. You get a Blood of Ch’Thon from it and Salazar only has a chance of dropping it unlike Direni’s guaranteed quest reward for little effort).
The resistances you want to work on the most in Act I are Acid/Poison, Cold, and Pierce. In that order.
Now the final boss The Warden is usually not an issue by the time you reach him if you’ve played your cards right, but just in case I have some advice: he does aether, physical, and pierce damage, so shore up those resists if possible. Dodge his attacks when possible and you should be just fine. Make sure you watch out for those large animations; they’re quite repetitive so you have plenty of time to do so.
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／ タ {!!! _ ヽ､
,/ ﾉ ~ `､ ＼ You are strong
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＼ `ヽ(´･ω･｀)" .ノ／ I will demonstrate
｀､ヽ. ｀`Y" r ' my true
ｉ. ､ ￥ ﾉ poweeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!!!!
`､.` -‐´;｀ー ｲ
Act II
Act II is where things start to get a bit annoying. Getting fire and pierce resistances should be your highest priority at the start of Act II, since all of Cronley’s gang, the Undead, and all of their heroes tend to do pierce damage. The undead do cold damage, which will be relevant post-Cronley (when you’re in the Arkovian Undercity or Steps of Torment), but until you kill cronley fire takes a much higher priority. Those exploding, molotov-cocktail throwing, gun-toting assholes Cronley has under him are a big pain in the ass and can randomly kill you if they’re all bunched up next to you when they die. Otherwise, being careful around heroes and Moneybags Martin (screw that guy) should keep you safe and progressing well. As for Darius Cronley himself… He does aether, physical, and pierce damage! Who knew! Treat him like The Warden, dodge his fire pits, destroy his crystals, and run away from him while his shield is up. Fairly straightforward fight. He can hurt a lot sometimes, but he’s so slow and lacks any reach so you can honestly use your Constitution to refill your health, circling around him as he meanders over to try and kill you.
Note about when you first enter Act II after killing The Warden: The very first boss, Edmund " Shanks" Doyle, is not a pushover. I personally have never had a problem with him, but after some other experienced players telling me they find him more dangerous than The Warden, I’ll give you some warnings: Do not get surrounded. He is in the midst of a ton of gun-toting gang members that will overwhelm you if you’re not careful. Dodge the cocktails. The exploding fire butt-heads throw them and they will hamper your ability to both deal damage and escape. And for god’s sake, get pierce resistance. Can’t tell you how important it is the very moment you step into Act II. Every other act, it’s not so important, but here it really is.
Also, another important note: Spined Cove will kill you if you’re not careful. Out of all areas, bosses, or dungeons in the game it is the reigning champion of my character deaths. Specifically, watch out for the desecrated shrine, it can spawn up to five heroes and they will ruin your deck and piss on your parade. I haven’t lost a character in a long time now, and I can owe it to respecting the threat that shrine has. New Grim Dawn and Hardcore players beware.
And another important note: Do not kill Isaiah Reddan as part of the Vengeance quest. He’s incredibly useful for wares in his shop that you’ll see later in Homestead. He carries Ointments in his shop, which are usually a pain to craft for newer players. I always let him go so I almost forgot you could actually kill him!
(Thanks for reminding me EnjoyTheJourney!)
For the next part of Act II, you’ll want to make getting cold and vitality resistances your highest priority. After Cronley you’ll be fighting tons of undead, which all do pierce damage (something you should already have resistances for), cold damage, and to an extent vitality damage. The skeleton giants also do some bleed damage, but just dodge their attacks and you should be fine. At some point you’re going to fight Kilrian, the Tainted Soul, and he’s really annoying for some builds and really chumpy for others. He does fire and vitality damage, so fix up your resists accordingly!
Once you’re done with Kilrean and into the Broken Hills zone, jump down Steps of Torment and kill off Grand Priest Zarthuzellan, if you have capped fire resist by this point (and you should have), you’ll be fine. Now, once you get the Skeleton Key do not go through the roguelike dungeon. This isn’t a place to mess with so early on and the keys are also best saved for Ultimate where the loot is much better. After this just complete Act II and head to Deadman’s Gulch (beware of Blitz hog heroes on the way, they’ll ruin your day if you’re not careful).
Act III
Act III is where things start getting harder. I suggest that if you have the dynamite, go to Pine Barrens and clean that area up. Besides Manticores, which are notorious for randomly killing people, there is a lot of bleed damage in this area. Make sure you have enough of that resist before going forward. There are two shrines in this area and a lot of quests that can nail you both Black Legion rep as well as XP. One of the quests requires killing Ungoliax, the Gloomweaver, and she deals a powerful Poison DoT, so take note of that. After this, clean up the area along the quests you get from Homestead - except for the Conflagration quest to find the lost cannons. Do that one after clearing out the fields. The damage types present in the fields is a mixture between the aether, fire, and lightning from the Aetherials, and acid/poison and peirce from the Dermapterans. The first boss you should run across is the Dermapteran queen, Swarm Queen Ravna, and she’s honestly a pushover in her first stage. Her second stage is when she starts following you around and causing rocks to fall, but if you can dodge those then you should be fine. The final boss of the farm fields area is the Aetherial The Amalgamation, a gigantic AIDS-spewing monstrosity that hits like a truck. Be very careful around this one, dodge the AIDS-floors and the aetherspouts he summons around him.
After dealing with everything in the fields, go to the Conflagration and complete the Lost Armaments quest. Be extremely careful of the aether floors that deal damage, they will end you if you’re not careful. Make sure to always have a health potion off cooldown before traversing them. After finishing the quest, it’s time to head to Blood Grove. This is a fairly safe area other than the Ch’Thonic portal which presents a mild amount of challenge. The damage types present from this point to the end of Act III are as follows: chaos, fire, vitality, and depending on whether you chose Kymon’s Chosen or The Order of Death’s Vigil, you’ll either be up against more fire and lightning (Kymon’s) or cold and vitality (Order). The final boss of Act III is Karroz, Sigil of Ch’thon and while he’s not a pushover, he’s not particularly hard either. He deals chaos and vitality damage and has two forms, the second stage of which creates an area of obstacles that hurt you if you touch them (tentacles).
A side note about Blood Grove: There is a little secret shop in the middle of this area and many don’t know their way there. Just click that little link to see the way. If you know where he is, good, he can offer some super useful crafting MI’s and other things.
Act IV
Finally, we’re on to Act IV. At the start of the final act you’ll encounter tough yetis who deal cold and physical damage, Aetherials contesting both the local yetis and Ch’Thonic forces, more Kymon’s Chose/Death’s Vigil faction enemies, and finally the last bastion of Ch’Thonic forces at the end of the game in Necropolis. Be wary of all damage types here. In the stretch of land between Fort Ikon and Necropolis lies a massive minefield that’s filled to the brim with Aetherial enemies, both of which will nuke you down if you don’t watch your step. This area is called the Plains of Strife, and it will ruin your day if you’re not on an exceptionally tanky build. They do predominantly fire damage, so if you have high fire resistance they should be a “cakewalk.” As an additional note of my own, you can position yourself in the middle of a bunch of mines if you’re ranged and rail on enemies from afar - this will aggro them to dumbly run on the mines and explode. Not only will this deal with your Aetherial enemies, it will also clear the road. Two for one, what a deal!
Fort Ikon Armory is home to Commander Lucius, who hits like a goddamn truck. Be extremely careful of this guy, he’s taken more than one character from me in the past, the only other thing in the game besides Spined Cove to do so. He does absurd amounts of aether damage. Even with high aether resists he still hurts, so just kite him around the pile of dead bodies in the middle of the room and do damage to him when it’s safe. Dodge his aether boogers that fall from the sky at all costs, because they do huge amounts of damage and also stun you. If they all land on top of you at once, you’re dead. Like, super dead.
(note: thanks Sinistrality for the video!)
Finally, Loghorrean, the Voice of Ch’thon is the last enemy you’ll need to face before moving on to Elite. As the final boss of the game, he’s no pushover, and deals a lot of different damage types. He does chaos, physical, acid/poison, vitality, and summons Ch’Thonian Dreadguards, chaos whirlwinds, and tentacles galore. If you’ve made it this far, good luck!
A note about Bastion of Chaos: if you’re overleveled and want to give it a try, go ahead, but it is difficult without proper gear. It also isn’t the most rewarding as you’re not in Ultimate yet. Fire, chaos, and vitality need to be capped and the rest of your resistances can’t be too shabby either.
An important note about Anasteria, The Outcast: You almost never want to fight her. She offers the widest range of augments and some pretty decent gear out of all the faction. While her quests come at the cost of Black Legion reputation, you don’t need to do that whatsoever. Just killing Aetherials or Ch’thonics will net you all the reputation with her that you’ll need to unlock all her stuff, it’s not even remotely difficult. The only reason you’d kill her is if you want to farm her legendary on that particular character - but that’s not really necessary since you can get it in Crucible too. The only reason you’d do her quests is because you’d want a guaranteed Mythical Relic reward (which I know she gives on Ultimate at least) and/or a guaranteed legendary reward.
One more thing. There is some terms you may need to know when people use them in threads, conversations, or when I inadvertently use them in this guide. Clicking the link in the “X - Legend of Terms” title above will take you to Draon Con Color’s thread, which should be incredibly useful. If you see an acronym or term you don’t understand here, just look it up in this link and see if you find it!
