[1.0.5.0] Enigma Caster Death Knight - An Unique Mysterious Physical Shield Caster Death Knight

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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[1.0.5.0] Enigma Caster Death Knight - An Unique Mysterious Physical Shield Caster Death Knight

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A Caster Death Knight…? Wut ??

For very New Players this one will be such an Enigma, what kind of damage this Build actually did ?
What is the concept lies behind this Caster Death Knight ?

I got some friends asking me about the build details

At a glance it seems do Cold and Fire Damage, some Vitality + Aether Damage from Drain Essence, also some Internal Trauma from Soldier …

Well for Veteran Players, it will seem obvious, just by looking at Might of Beronath icon and Seal of Might, they will know it for sure what kind of this build actually do :slight_smile:

Video :
>> Ancient Grove - Deathstalker - Gargabol
>> Port Valbury - Valdaran - Van Aldritch
>> Grava’thul Nemesis
>> Mad Queen Run
>> Fabius - Iron Maiden Full Run

Build Details :

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Grimtools :
Enigma Caster DK

Explanation :
This Caster Death Knight actually do Physical-Internal Trauma Damage
Whirlpool and Meteor Shower will be converted to Physical IT by Might of Beronath
Vitality from Drain Essence will be converted to Physical IT by Gladiator’s Distinction
And Aether Part also will be converted to Physical IT by Dual Seal of Might
Yup Damage sources come from Mastery Skills and Devotion Skills that we convert into Physical-IT + Physical-IT from Soldier itself

Soldier and Necromancer has good synergies for Physical Builds
Since both Mastery provide very nice Physical RR
Also Death Knight have access to Nice Soldier Defensive Skills

in 1.0.5.0, I use defensive setup with Perma Overguard that grant us nice Health Regen
Combine with Shield Training + Veterancy + Giant’s Blood + Harvestman’s Scythe = 1.8K Health Regen

Drain Essence gives Lifesteal + OA Reduction
Drain Essence will applied Assassin’s Mark RR to enemies (100% on Crit)
So it will be our Offensive + Defensive Skills simultaneously

Don’t worry about Overguard damage reduction, we have nice AoE Skills that mark it up
We don’t have to always use Overguard, just use it when needed

This Build also has Cool “Spell” triggers :

  • Blitz will trigger Meteor Shower
  • Forcewave will trigger Leviathan Whirpool
    Remember, Four of them will do Physical-Internal Trauma Damage

Last but not the least…
We have War Cry-Break Morale
This similar to Drain Essence is our Offensive and Defensive Skills
How come?
War Cry will Reduce Target’s Damages
Break Morale will aplied Sweet Flat Physical RR to enemies that will Boost our Damage

Actually I already tried a Physical Drain Essence Build with Cabalist
But this DK is more supported and more unique

Hot and Cool Physical Build also already tested several forms with a Commando

Well, I hope you like this Enigma Caster DK, it’s not too Powerful, but I like play it, it just feels unique, like have more Spells with just a few active Skills ^^

In Closing :

[spoiler]- DK has very nice synergies for Physical Builds

  • Grim Dawn is a Great ARPG with very Cool Builds Diversity :slight_smile:

[/spoiler]

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~Reserved~

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~Reserved1~

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I was thinking of something similiar when I became interested in your aether drain apostate, I stumbled over the belt while I was working on my Forcewave witch blade, then I thought about combining Beronath with Drain Essence. But when I tried to figure it out on paper, I couldn’t come up with something that felt good enough to compete, or maybe I just wanted too much in one build (had 12 more levels in Necromancer and wanted to grab maxed Soul Harvest as well).

Instead of Leviathan I thought of grabbing Manticore and while I had meteor shower in I got chariot too, still ended up with less life regeneration cause I couldn’t max the Soldier skills out.

I ended up with 400 less OA as well. Had a different medal and relic in mind too, but seeing your result they were far inferior choices. Feeling unsatisfied with my build I dropped the idea of a physical drain essence around the weekend for good.

It is nice to see that your build turned out so well. I have to try it sometime for sure. Great job!

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Interesting build. But man, you have dumped 8 points in Veterancy, why?

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Thanks !

Btw why taking Manticore?, you already have Break Morale for Flat Physical RR (it won’t stack)
Break Morale is far better than Acid Spray
It has wide radius

Yeah this build defense comes from Soldier,
Since 1.0.5.0 I need to readjust skills points to more defensive

In 1.0.4.1, I even tried the offensive setup without Behemoth, I took Bat instead
Here it is : Fabius - Iron Maiden

You can’t be more “greedy” by taking offensive max Soul Harvest
We need skills point for defensive line
Perhaps by taking Mark of Torment
But unfortunately Mark of Torment need to be targeted manually, it will be difficult when we sorrounded by a lot of hard hitter mobs
So, I feel Overguard is more convenience :slight_smile:

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Hmm actually I put more then 8 points, I max it all
For Flat Health Regen, and also it gives us ability to put more points into spirit
But since nerf to Topaz DA, Physique is still needed for boosting DA
I even use 3 Topaz on my 1.0.5.0 Build

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well, if I remember correctly I skipped Warcry altogheter cause I lacked the points which I invested in +12 Necro and maxed Soul Harvest, but thanks for pointing it out. Without the debuff cheat sheet I still get confused about the resist reduce phrasings at times.

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Yes, Flat RR doesn’t stack
Also you shouldn’t take over Decomposition in Necromancer Mastery line, so you’ll have good enough skill points to spare.

In the Iron Maiden link I gave you above there’s grimtools link on description
It was my first offensive setup with this build
I tried taking bat since the vitality part will be converted into physical
Unfortunately they nerf Earthshatter Threads, that’s why you’ll see an uncapped pierce resist
Kriegs Boot will be good as substitute

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that was my first thought (saw the patchnotes about pierce resistances being removed on a few items).
I saw the video and the build. If one is willing to give up on the two points in owl, it is possible to keep behemoth and to skip the rat devotion entirely, but one would be lacking a bit of stun resist, compared to your main build.
Maybe I can make up for it with another pair of boots. Mythical Dreadnought Footpads should work as well. They have a little bit less damage and armor, no health but more resistances, DA and +2% physical res. May depend on the item rolls and how one can swap around components/augments I guess.

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while there may be room left for improvement this might be closer to ideal, though I haven’t managed to craft the boots in this combination so far, depending on the roll, one might hit 80% stun resist this way:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZe1DLdZ

here is a variant with dreadnought footpads but one might not want to give up on rat here to fit in that point in stun resist (empty throne), still tried to aim for the benefits of bat from the start, until I can craft the green boots:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAE61DV

by the way, does an arcane spark help a lot with energy regen in this case? Might want to fit one in then.

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Nice variants !

Yeah we can take Bat over Rat by sacrifcing 1 point empty throne stun resist
Since we have Perma Overguard, we actually can overcapped it when active
Just less dps when Overguard activated…

Also thanks for pointing out another boots substitute for Eartshatter Threads
This one also nice boots :slight_smile:

Arcane Spark indeed gives nice energy regen, I used it on my previous setup when fighting Mad Queen, Fabius, and Iron Maiden
But since Topaz nerf on 1.0.5.0, I put more Topaz on Medal for DA

Is enemies OA reduction only applied on Cruci?
If it also applied on Main Campaign, I think I’ll change Topaz to Arcane Spark on Medal for more energy regen

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Glad to hear.
I am not sure about the balancing, but my next best guess would be the game being balanced as a whole.
I was just wondering if the Arcane Spark energy leech is applied in this case, because Drain Essence is a spell, but I might be remembering something incorrectly here.

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Well, if somebody can confirm about Enemies OA reduction, is it only on Cruci or Main Campaign too?

Arcane Spark, I think energy leech is applied on spell, since it’s different when I use Arcane Spark, energy regen is better (or perhaps it’s applied via other skills)

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where please fall seraphim items thanks

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Most items in the game are random drops so can be found anywhere. What do you mean by seraphim though?

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This build is 3 y old. Its “dead”. There has been like 15 patches and one expansions since.
You have done everything in the game except calla and crate and still dont know that affixes are just random? :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
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např. seraphic korvan knights shoulder straps,but it doesn’t matter if it can’t be folded

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You are asking in the wrong build thread for that, this build does not use those shoulders because it is a pre- FG build