[1.0.2.1] 2H Aether Death Knight

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

This is my first build and I really wanted to make an aether melee toon with the necromancer. I managed to get a well-rolled rare 2H Fleshwarped Core and decided to level this one to use it and the Krieg’s set I had.

It is not the fastest clear in the game, or the toughest build, but it is fully serviceable and capable of clearing the game on all difficulties. Most of the gear is farmable (Krieg set in particular is easy to farm) and it should be something more accessible than some of the top tier builds. I recently hit 100 with it and am tweaking gear and devotions. Advice on set up is always appreciated.

Updated screenshot with current gear:

From Soldier we get a lot of OA, attack speed, physique, a gap closer, and of course, our damage dealer, Cadence. The Necro tree gives us more OA, Aether damage, and -rr%. The gear for this class combo isn’t stellar, but the Krieg’s set is quite adequate for this set up, and a rare Fleshwarped Core mace serves the build well.

Current build and gear: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2d7XvJN

Final gear: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPzPWg2

Pros:

  • melee with a closer (Blitz; I can’t stand to run to my enemies)
  • durable
  • good single target; and decent AOE
  • craftable/purchasable weapon, and only 1 piece of MI gear

Cons:

  • another. cadence. build.
  • not the most gear choices (Krieg’s set is about the only legenary gear support I found)
  • almost all aether, so enemy resists can be an issue, though I have not found this to be a huge issue

Alternate Gear and Devotion Choices:
Weapon: Temporal Arcblade - Aether damage, 2H sword. I like the rare mace over this, but the Arcblade may be easier to farm.
Belt: Mythical Reforged Chains of Oleron - +soldier skills, and crit damage are nice. The Soulweave Epic I have compliments my resists nicely, and has +Cadence, so I imagine either will work fine.
Rings: Judicator’s Set - good defensive set up with attack speed to boot.

Devotion: Behemoth is another option if you are wanting more defensive options; Attak Seru or Rattosh would also work over spear of the heavens. I will try and put up some alternate devotion layouts.

Leveling

I would start in the soldier mastery and pump cadence early on, going down to at least war cry and putting a point in what I deem “1 pt wonders” (skills that help with just one point like Bitz, WPS skills, military conditioning, etc)

I would pick up necro around level 30 probably. Remember, use 1h/shield, 2h, or ranged, depending on what your current gear is that you find while leveling. That is why I pick up necro later: his aether damage won’t help you unless you have some aether damage gear. If you do find an aether weapon for instance, adjust leveling strategy accordingly.

For devotion, I would rush Kraken (if you are leveling with a 2h), and then go for offensive or defensive, depending on what trouble you are having.

The fleshwarped core mace I use is a drop from Aetherial Guardians or Aetherial Sentinels, so if you don’t want to farm one while leveling, here are some alternatives for aether weapons, or weapons that have aether conversion (note that for leveling, any weapon will do, especially in normal/vet):

I would love input on:

  • devotion choices (I feel these work, but I am sure I missed a better synergy).
  • Blitz v Siphon Souls v some other skill choice I should be looking at.
  • glaring problems with component choices.

Overall this build has been fun and solid. As I tweak the final gear I am going for, I will also post a non-Krieg’s build, and a 1h/shield version as well.

2

I am toying around with a DK build also. You may like the devotion setup I have: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/m23Xe8YV

I am still playing around with the skillz.

3

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/xZyDarnV

Didn’t look into the devotion setup too much but imo the Rattosh constellation’s life leech RR should be better for you

4

Haunt relic >>> Rathosh devotion.

5

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting it exists since it’s a non-Legendary relic

EDIT:

You can always get both though and SoTH

6

Is it possible to make a good DW aether DK build?

7

Sure, with Cadence and 2x Mindwarp.

8

I am using beronath instead of cadence. The damage may seem lower on paper, but with all 4 WPS maxed it is actually not that lower and cadence doesn’t go well with WPS. Also, you free up so many points that you can make your build actually superb. Lastly, ravenous earth>war cry by a long shot.

9
  1. Cadence> Beronath + WPS by a long shot
  2. Ravenous Earth < War Cry :stuck_out_tongue:
10

Hard choise. Permanent debuff of Decay ws trash-reduction of WC.

11

At the end it boils down to personal preferences imo. For melee I prefer War Cry over Decay

12

  1. Well, you can’t just compare cadence to beronath +wps. You should compare cadence to beronath + wps + 28 skill points. In all honestly, shit is dying so fast in ultimate i dont miss cadence at all. I also find it boring and repetitive but that’s a personal preference i guess.

  2. Ravenous earth does damage (quite respectable especially to “big” enemies due to shotgun), foul eruption completely annihilates screens and most importantly it can be up 100% of the time unlike WC. I dont like the 2.5 seconds WC ain’t up in ultimate really :stuck_out_tongue:

13

Ahh yes, how could I forget, Haunt. Good call.

I updated gear, including this relic. I am still testing out different devotion set ups to see what works best.

I kept the rare weapon I am using over the Temporal Arcblade, as I am having good results with it.

14

I have gotten to 100 and updated the original post with current gear and skill choices, as per some of the suggestions from the thread.

I have also added suggested skill and weapon choices for leveling.

15

Hello there! New player here, got a purifier to 100 and a Death Knight Aether to 92, I have a question regarding the “Craftable Weapon”

Is it really craftable tho?
As a Blue print? Because I managed to buy one for 300k from the Rare Good Seller from the SteelCap District in Malmouth by constantly making new session to refresh his stock, I can see that with good rng it can roll pretty damn well.
Is that how you got yours?
Anyway mine didn’t come out so great but I’m not 94 either, just wondering if I should keep resetting until I find a perfect one or if it’s really “Craftable”.

Also loving the DK gameplay so far, siphon souls is really cool and I like the theme of the character, plain old hits to the face while surrounded by cool skulls.

Cheers and good farm everyone!

P.S. Oh I also got one piece of the Krieg Set from a random mob in Malmouth, I thought it was a Monster Infrequens and thus only dropped from Fleshweaver Krieg? Which by the way I killed like 7-8 times and haven’t dropped one yet, I guess I’ll have to farm him around a hundred times? :stuck_out_tongue:

P.P.S. Oooh I just noticed you have updated the original post and explained how to get the Fleshwarped Core.
I can understand then that the Rare Good seller in Malmouth is a bug?

The fleshwarped core mace I use is a drop from Aetherial Guardians or Aetherial Sentinels, so if you don’t want to farm one while leveling, here are some alternatives for aether weapons, or weapons that have aether conversion (note that for leveling, any weapon will do, especially in normal/vet):

The Merchant sells those very fleshwarped cores, all rare, sometimes in stock of 4, so finding one with the proper stats seems better than farming those trees.
I am just scared they will fix it this week before I get a chance to buy a perfect one.
Also beware they can cost a shit ton, like 490k or possibly more.
It’s not impossibile but definetely a lot by my standard as a new player :stuck_out_tongue:

Last but not least, is there any way to link the gear I found?
Or does in the database exist a list of all possible rare combinations? How did you link yours :slight_smile:

16

I found mine on another toon from an Aether Sentinel, I believe. You know, I had forgotten that vendors offer a good way to find rare weapons, I will correct the original post.

Either farming mobs that drop it (like Aether Sentinel) or resetting vendors works. I managed to get super lucky, but you don’t need both the prefix and suffix to be great to use the weapon. A good prefix or suffix is often enough.

Also loving the DK gameplay so far, siphon souls is really cool and I like the theme of the character, plain old hits to the face while surrounded by cool skulls.

I am not using siphon souls at the moment, but I may switch some points around and see how it goes. I wish the damage was higher, but I may pick it back up for some added leech.

P.S. Oh I also got one piece of the Krieg Set from a random mob in Malmouth, I thought it was a Monster Infrequens and thus only dropped from Fleshweaver Krieg? Which by the way I killed like 7-8 times and haven’t dropped one yet, I guess I’ll have to farm him around a hundred times? :stuck_out_tongue:

I have not seen it drop from a Malmouth mob yet, but the MIs may indeed do that in some cases. I cannot say.

P.P.S. Oooh I just noticed you have updated the original post and explained how to get the Fleshwarped Core.
I can understand then that the Rare Good seller in Malmouth is a bug?

The Merchant sells those very fleshwarped cores, all rare, sometimes in stock of 4, so finding one with the proper stats seems better than farming those trees.
I am just scared they will fix it this week before I get a chance to buy a perfect one.
Also beware they can cost a shit ton, like 490k or possibly more.
It’s not impossibile but definetely a lot by my standard as a new player :stuck_out_tongue:

No bug, you are correct. They are vendorable; I completely forgot.

Last but not least, is there any way to link the gear I found?
Or does in the database exist a list of all possible rare combinations? How did you link yours :slight_smile:

If you go to grim tools calculator (http://www.grimtools.com/calc/), and look to the top left, at the icon of an up arrow over a horizontal line, you can upload your character there. Find your character saves folder, then find the .gdc file in the desired character’s folder.

I can’t remember the default saves folder path, and I am at work at the moment, but when I get home, I will try to put up the default save folder path.

Otherwise you can manually input the gear you have found. Once you select an item, you can pick from a list of prefixes and suffixes (for rares, for instance).

You can also search the prefixes and suffixes at the database(http://www.grimtools.com/db/) to see which ones appeal to you, in order to make item hunting a bit more manageable.

17

Thank you for all the answers, now I’m 94 and steadily pushing AoM content, once I’m done I will check more consistently with your guide and update accordingly.

18

well done on creating a death knight build

19

Looks like a cool build, and I am on the lookout for a build for my mindwarps.

Would the build look the same when dual wielding?

Not sure how good the necro wps are when dw.

Thanks.

20

This build seems amazing! I’m giving it a try, I’m still new in the game (bought it last week), so I’m trying to find a build that suits me. One doubt, you have Master of Dead skill in Necromancer, why? Am I missing something? Isn’t that skill pet-related? As I said, I’m new, so sorry if this is a dumb question :o