[1.0.07] Beginner&Newbie Friendly Melee+Caster Hybrid SpellbreakerNO LEGENDARY&NO BLUEPRINT CRAFTS

feelgodstoya · January 21, 2017, 4:40pm

hi all, Stoya herenot the pornstar one sorry

LOG runexplained in videos part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hngxw1RLRZI&feature=youtu.be

VALDARAN run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU-cdWvTZek&feature=youtu.be

this guide main goal is helping beginners&newbies to create decent&successfull char in grim dawn without using;

any legendary itemcheck
no blueprint crafts check
%100 selfound check
no muling check

and finally a char which can capable of;

clearing whole main campaign deathlessdone
can kill&farm nemesis spawns deathless&reasonable pacedone
have good aeo clear check
have good single target dps check
not squishy or tanky either, has decent defence check
can farm all 3 rogue likes deathless check
can kill sentinel & mad queen deathlesscheck mq takes +2.30-3.30 mins*
can selfsustain check
have mobile&fast&satisfying&enjoying playstyledepends but check

***and finally and most importantly, combining 2 build types so well, melee and caster type, which means you taste both melee and caster playstyle together while playing grim dawn. which will let you learn more about build types and offers max enjoyment of both styles together.

so lets start with some basics keep in mind that, this is not GD beginner or basics guide ima just list some small tips and such thats it

BENDING THE LEARNING CURVEskip if you are not new to gd

first of all i want to point something important that, every arpg’s has learning curves which means you will prolly suck in your first chars or lets say some time till you learn the basics of game and fit&adapt your playstyle&game understanding to the game.

to bend the learning curve for your side faster and make things easier

a) you have to READ&WATCH&SEARCH about arpg you gonna play, which means you gonna spend some precious time to learn about that arpg…
this is my way to learn arpgs, read a lot -> learn alot -> learn faster -> become better player, so dont hesitate to read as much as you can

b) you gonna dive in arpg, make char play the game and learn painfully… i am saying this cause its gonna be super duper painfull with this method

in the end A>B esp while leveling 3-5 chars with zero knowledge gonna cost you more time then you read some basics, and you wont feel awfull or desperate becaue your chars sucks so hard and goes on…

i highly recommend mixing both tho, read some basics, watch some usefull youtube videosinformative ones, search forums&reddit for infoscrucial
and finally dive in game and start to play…

so some basics links can be usefull,not gonna list all ofc, search yourself

grim dawn advanced mechanics thread, has so much answers to your basic questions
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?p=251347#post251347

all shrine locations
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pgHX5xssDrjeXtDSChZRpM9MYdRAK3FHdEmgGRRackk/edit#gid=0

hero&bosses resistances
http://grimdawn.wikia.com/wiki/Hero/Boss_Resistances

a guy who has TONS of informative youtube videos you may wanna listen while playing grim dawntrust me you gonna learn A LOT with just listening him while playing
https://www.youtube.com/user/theunobviousnerds

thes are just simple example of thread and infos you can start learning about grim dawn, for more you might wanna search and bend the learning curve faster…

MELEE & TROZAN’S SKY SHARD HYBRID SPELLBREAKER

well this is our char screen with items we have at that moment,

SKILLS & STATS
grim calc with devotions lvl 79 : http://grimcalc.com/build/1007-057tuH

for stats, my end game plan is 90 physique such surprise much wow, physique gives you hp , hp regen and DA which actually spellbreakers only need… trust me you gonna have ridic dps with decent gear… 83 physique 0 cunning 0 spirit atm.

for skills, well keep in mind that this char is NOT pure melee or NOT pure caster designed by me… skills i picked might not be ideal and like i always say you are the tailor here, if you need something different just go for it, dont hesistate to tweak your own skill tree…
also i have to remind that , i have zero legendary items* even i found 5-6 GG legendary i can use in build* means just +1 all skill from amulet makes skill tree hard to optimize esp for hybrid char… feel free to change skill tree as your demands.

some important skills to note,
NIGHTBLADE SIDE
a)amarasta’s blade burst : wish it was a bit better overall anyway, decent aoe cold damage melee skill which has nice addition called lethal assault, one of our primary openining melee skill which has buff ->

lethal assault, gives huge flat OA get boosted by %oainner focus and %cold and frostbourn… just max it
b)ring of steel&circle of slaughter: it lets you freeze small pack of moster with okish damage, can bind celestial which has cooldownswhirlpool and circle of slaughter has chance to fumble enemies which makes enemy miss their attacks adds so much survivablity.
c) shadow strike: your mobility and opening skill, high cold damage burst and stuns enemies, can bind cooldown celestials
d) pneumatic burst: probably BEST skill in game hands down. gives total speed, hp regen, hp restore with super low cooldown. max it asap. also pburst line is awesome gives you flat da , dodges and elemental resist and dmg.
e) veil of shadows&nights chill: eh again BEST resist reduction source in game hands down;) reducing enemy OA and total speed which gives you huge survivablity boost and reducing enemy cold resistance by huge amount. and you dont have to cast ittoggle, which is huge quality of life as melee char.
f) blade barrier: one of coolest looking skill in game so far, 3 sec invulnerablity spell also lets you hp regen… way too good…
g) execution: this is dual wield exclusive skill, which deals massive amount of cold damage, super high main and offhand weapon damage and reduces target current hp by %… it really does what it has to be meant.
ps: keep in mind that ABB, uses offhand aka the weapon on your left hand as attack animation.
ARCANIST SIDE
a)Iskandra’s elemental exchange: converts your physical damage to elemental damage, gives energy regen and flat elemental damage suits perfectly for our design. elemental balance gives huge frostbourn and +crit damage just awsuummm
b) miror of ereoctes: lets you take NO DAMAGE for loooong 3 secs… this is way too goodbroken? time your mirror ->time your blade barrier -> pburst -> potions , combining with decent playstyle can make you unkillable.
c)maivens sphere protection: simply makes you bubble bitch and looks cool as f:cool: %20 dmg absorbtion, and conversion parts gives you CC resist… arcanist’s signature skill in game…
d)Trozan’s Sky Shard : lets you drop 3 sky fragments from skyi am genious, has huge cold and frostburn damage with again huge crit. this is our bomb on demand… this skill is pretty random and covers small area but dmg output is simply amazing and also freezes mobs.
e) STAR PACT : this is your exclusive skill, which means you can only have 1 active exclusive skill while playing… gives your flat frostburn damage which is always welcomed, high %cold+frostburn damage , converts your physical damage to cold damage. and finally reducing your ALL COOLDOWNs by %10 at lvl 12… which is huge for our build, TSS, shadow strike , pburst all cooldown abilities, you are all overall cooldown centric hybrid char.which doesnt give a fuck about caster offhand
f) nullification: my fav spell in game with pburst, you can use this spell ON YOU or ON YOUR ENEMY, and if you get close enough to enemy you can do both : purge debuffs from yourself and purge buffs of enemies.
you can make purge cronley bubble, valdaran resist reduction curse, rashalga red aura, rashalga resist + da and such shred debuff and goes on
this skill even reduce enemy ele dmg, seriously lol.

for devotions,
for a char which has decent items, i tried to push devotions setup to max GREED :undecided: this is way too offensive and not ideal setup for new chars imo, but in the end our spellbreaker is capable of doing whatever she can…
again as reminder, this devotion tree is not optimized or something just a devotion tree for my taste… feel free to change devotion tree as your demands.

for devotions your first priority is, getting damage and resist reduction for normal and mid elites… so i simply rushed rhowans crown asap, another reason is you want celestial powers reach max lvl asap for smooth playstyle.

1) rush rhowans crown, this is overall great constellation and have FLAT RR for our build… bind celestial power to shadow strike, for huge %chance and since shadow strike is your opening move you want RR to kick in first for upcoming damage.
2) get leviathan asap, generally i find this constellation suppppppppppeeeeeeeeer WEAK compare to other high tier constellations, it doesnt have OA which makes me so sad… but proc is good and other cold dmg boost is hard to pass up… bind whirlpool celestial to ring of steel for %100 chance, RoS is your 2nd or 3rd move after shadow strike…

rest doesnt matter which you take first or last, i would recommend going behemoth before ultimate, and get blizzard last, you can even skip blizzard to get other devotions np…

keep in mind that, devotions are there to cover your weaknesses or pump your strength to the top… there is no best devotion setup in GD for most builds, just experiment this part a bit also will let you learn about them.

ps: i am not gonna list devotion order like other guys do, you have access to grimcalc and spirit guide in devil crossing can respec your devotion points so, experiment abit never hurts. and yes falcon constellation is just for pathing nothing else

Click here to view equipment configuration

this guide written based around, assuming you are newbie and struggling about gearing and such so, for some basics

elite to ultimate difficulty jump can be harsh if you are not well prepared, what i did is farmed most of my factions for augments to make gearing easier… simply i overfarmed elite before ultimte, factions gear is so valuable while solo selfound going, and augments are MOST IMPORTANT thing for easy gearing…
components are so important aswell, you have to farm there and they mostly drop randomly… such rare and important components you have to save them for ultimate while gearing example, chains of olereon*purified salt etc.
if you ask me, best way to farming in GD is farming left to right :eek: ok to make it clear, dont farm nemesis guys, dont farm rogue likes if you want legendaryignoring crucible as usual, farm anywhere you want which has 2-5 unique bosses… you will be weak to handle some part of rogue likes and its risky and reward is super minimum trust me… like far bastion of chaos first floor and its chest, farm arkovian undercity always spawns 3 big guy + 3-5 minor bosses, farm cronley and his crew, farm random ass bosses you want.
i find this way more effective and less boring process while farming.
if its your first time in GD, open whole map in normal and try to get used to game. this will also let you get more items then usual, and play veteran imo… ya its harder and sometimes boring but its better than normal imo.
try to find balance on gear, get decent OA + DA , hp , hp regen, dmg, armor and armor absorbtion, resist reduction etc… resists are your number 1 priority while gearing.
pick order of death vigil on normal, kymons on elite -> farm kymon reputation then buy all their augments min 25 each then on ultimate pick necro lover guys and farm their reputation…
GD is a game which tends to drop items for your char, so you gonna get many good legendaries and uniques which suits your build… so never feel desperate just carry on and farm.
dont forget, blacksmiths can craft random rare pieces, my dagger is crafted at blacksmith that doesnt require blueprint, if you ever hit wall and wanna improve your gear, farm some scraps and money to craft your own goodies.
i use 1 item thats exclusive dropaka MI to 1 hero in game aka ‘loxmere the nightmare’, which spawns in plains of strife aetherial grounds bottom corner, this dude is extremely dangerous for most builds, id say he/she is X5 more dangerous than epicly geared fabius for most builds. my dagger is not bis or not even good, you dont need it, if you play hc skip it and use blacksmith craft. i have killed it twice got 1 decent dagger and move on… and ya this guy uses nullification to remove all your buffshi bitchez i am arcanist too, w/e this dude is farmable with trash gear but you may want to bind skill bar switch button to recast your auras, or zerk down it asap… he/she also spam 1 curse on you, nullify yourself insta.

there are million things to note about gearing, these are what i remember now and feel free to ask any questions about gearing…

PS: keep in mind that, these are items that i found while leveling and crafted 1 trash dagger which suits build, i found 4-5 BIS end game gear already for my build… this was solo selfound deathless project… which is done.
you can be and will be more lucky than me anyway…

some GEARING tips
you are basically COLD based char, your main goal is getting cold and frostburn damage from gear and rest is standart stuff, nothing special, just try to beat 1.9k da if you can its low but still decent thing

weapons: try to aim flat cold/elemental damage, %cold frostburn damages and % attack speed and maybe proc, and lifesteel if you are lucky, for this build you dont need any cast speed TSS is cooldown ability
chest: standart things, cold fburn damage, hp , regen da oa etc
gloves : attack speed, resist oa da hp etc basic things
pants: oa da armor resist phys resist skills and such basic things
belt: same stuff
ring: cronley rings are easy to farm, and viloth rings are also so goodsilith on barnabas cave
amulet: basics stuff goes on

gearing is least complex thing in grim dawn imo, since you dont need cast speed and daggers are absurdly fast rest is pretty basic stuff.

LEVELing
NORMAL TO ELITE

well i lvl my chars, like its planned for end game… lvld this char as same rule, dw melee + tss hybrid this is no where near ideal way but trust me i lvld like ferrari solo selfound. simple rule is open most map, farm most content, lethal assault is ridicly strong early game to carry you with TSS.
for normal enjoy the grim dawn atmosphere and muscis, take it slow and learn quests is my best advice. normal is easy let you jerk around freely.

lvl 40 grimcalc: http://grimcalc.com/build/1007-90OJM6

ELITE TO ULTIMATE

elite is a bit harder than normal and most important shit is , you need farm 1 diff reputation to make everything crystal clear, you gonna switch to kymon faction and farm their reputation to max buy augments and go ultimate, this is painfull but best trust me.
ultimate gonna hurt a lot since you are kinda melee char, you need to max your resist mostly even you can nullify bleed psn and burn effects on you it wont matter… get reasonable resist for all things before starting ultimate so it means you need to farm elite better.
this diff is where legendaries starts to drop, you can overfarm and overlevel it easily… game still not that hard but after act 3 it will start to hurt. elite for me is all about preparing my char to ultimate.

lvl 60 grim calc : http://grimcalc.com/build/1007-NRW8Ho

ULTIMATE

this is where things getting serious, mobs hit harder and get stronger. you need more defensive options and hp + hp regen to counter this. meanwhile you need to keep your dmg output high as much as you can.
getting reasonable resist and hp is your first priority while maintaining your dps, dont forget if you sacrifice your dps a lot fights length gonna be longer means you tend to do more mistakes and such.
try to start ultimate at lvl 70, which is crucial lvl for augments gonna make gearing easier…

lvl 79 grimcalc : https://grimcalc.com/build/1007-057tuH

PLAYSTYLE & COMBOs
like most cooldown centric chars you have strong deadly combo which should perform in order to maximize the dmg output,

1-> shadow strike to pack/boss , SS dmg is so much already and stuns and most important thing is, SS is where you bind rhowans crown to reduce enemies resistances… binding RR celestial to opening skills like SS is important

2&3- > amarasta’s blade burst, after SS… this skill is crucial because of lethal assault buff, you wanna get this buff to maximize remaining combo dmg effectiveness. also it has decent dmg to decent aeo and has to freeze mobs, i attached blizzard on it.

3&2-> Ringle of Steel, after or before ABB… this skill with tranmsuter has guaranteed 3 sec freeze on 4.5mt, and has chance to fumblemakes enemy attacks miss… if you want to play safer, spam RoS before ABB to get freeze and fumble kicking, if you want to max dps output spam it after ABB with lethal assault power cause, this skill carries your whirlpool which deals super high cold and frostburn proc.

4-> Trozan’s sky shard, dropping da HAMMER button… insane dmg output with high crit rolls, carries falcon swoop.

5-> Dual Wield WPSweapon pool skills, 3-5 autoattacks to let execution to proc and cause masive dmg output to single target… is cream of our combo.

rest is standart spellbreaker stuff, keep pburst up always, time your mirror, use nullification wisely, time your blade barrier and such.

VIDEOS and BOSSES

i will try to upgrade diff videos to build, when i have time

LOG RUN, in that video as you see its my first log run on ultimate, i knew how log process goes on with these kind of chars… my point was intentionally making fight as hard as possible, letting log spawn many uniques and such.
it nearly cost me my life lol, all around this is cocky play, what you have to do %100 safely is

kill log adds asap, time your blade barrier+mirror for his posion shityou cant tank it
rest is simple, get max psn and chaos res, last spawn of log reduces your resistance, seperate them and kill them asap
keep pburst up always
time your shadow strike and all deadly combo, cause this build has seriously deadly combo, SS -> ABB -> RoS -> TSS then start melee hits and when execution popswhich will so much your deadly combo finalised.
might wanna drink some hp regen potions since you will have many

VALDARAN, not so important thing… you can purge his light resist reduction debuff, and reduce his ele dmg. one of easiest boss to farm for arcanists. get max light res, and drink light res potion even or wear some +max light res items…

LOXMERE, well this is one of hardest boss in game for these kind of char, this dude nullifies you lol and has 1 more debuff that spams on you… insta purge yourself with nullification, be ready to recast your toggle passives and suchbind quickbar skill switch button imo he/she dies super fast but his dmg output is from another planet at that short period of time…
try to play safe, after he use nullification on you, step back and kite away recast your shits and zerk it down. and get good dagger rolli didnt bother for the concept even i had 2 godly already

didnt face other nemesis yets but all iron maiden, fabius are so easy as melee nightblade if you decided to farm them, circle of slaughter has fumble what you do is get +%35-50 fumble chance , you can push your dodge to %30-40 if you want easy, get decent armor and armor absorb and some bleed resist. for this dudes, aim to get +2k DA is crucial btw.
like i said if you are playing nightblade and cant farm a fucking melee boss, you are doing it wrong.

Rashalga eh killed it around 2-3 mins deathless 4 times, she killed me 5th time’you are not on her level yet’… to be more realistic, she is prolly hardest boss in game and you are farming it with lvl 79 char with zero legendaries ? is not something logical optimal but fucking possible… she simply drops nothing 1 metarial no legendaries, if you want her claw farm more get lvl 85… with better gear you can pretty much farm and heck even freeze lock her.

rest bosses and such ill try to record if i find some time…

CONCLUSION, yet another giant wall of text as usual from me

feel free to ask any question you want in this thread or via pm, me or other guys will gladly help you np.

i am happy to finalise my selfound melee caster hybrid project, i knew build gonna be super strong in the end as being spellbreaker fangay but this performance with these kind of items is just so satisfying… i wanna see the build performance with my other gears, lets see…

i tried to explain most parts, for newcomers and beginners or lets say guys doesnt have GG mi’s or godly legendary mules, these kind of guides&builds can be option to them… and i wish i had more time to detail guide… w/e

cheers STOYA

feelgodstoya · January 21, 2017, 4:41pm

reserved for later, lvl 85 build and other itemization etc

AyyyLmao · January 21, 2017, 11:15pm

Nice guide mate, keep it up!

Demonas · January 22, 2017, 3:19am

Looks interesting! Thanks for the guide.

[1.0.07] Beginner&Newbie Friendly Melee+Caster Hybrid Spellbreaker*NO LEGENDARY&NO BLUEPRINT CRAFTS*

[1.0.07] Beginner&Newbie Friendly Melee+Caster Hybrid SpellbreakerNO LEGENDARY&NO BLUEPRINT CRAFTS