[1.1.6.2 - 1.1.9.1] Void inescapable - Black Flame Warlock [sr+] [mi] [vid]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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#1

Hello and welcome to my first class guide! :blush:

Today I would like to present a solid Chaos Warlock that uses two mighty skills to squash feeble Cairn enemies - AAR (Albrecht’s Aether Ray) and SoC (Sigil of Consumption). Massive damage, great lifesteal, defence, resistance overcaps, different counters against nasty mechanics - this build has everything for success. So, lets start!

  1. Grimtools link
    https://www.grimtools.com/calc/1NXYl582 - original old setup.
    https://www.grimtools.com/calc/aZqPR5vV - offensive one, full Fire-to-Chaos conversion.
    https://www.grimtools.com/calc/DV9LqGn2 - defensive one and better Energy management. Aetherfire still is mostly Chaos (~70% Fire-to-Chaos converted, even more with lucky rolls).
    https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZo0wwkN - setup with Chaos Volcanoes and fully capped AAR.

  2. In-game characters stats (for defensive variant)
    Warlock_stats
    general stats, only passive and Blood of Dreeg buffs are active

    Warlock_AAR_breakdown
    AAR damage breakdown

    Warlock_defence
    defence parameters

  3. Gear/Build explanation
    Core items for this build are Black Flame set (obviously :laughing:), Essence of the Grim Dawn (allows to lifesteal with AAR), Aethereach gloves (skillpoints and modifiers to our AAR again), Vestments of Severed Faith (huge Chaos and Offensive Ability percentages, Aether and Physical resistances) and the sole MI - Rylok Mark medal (defensive bonuses to SoC and large variety of delicious prefixes/suffixes to cover your resistances from different sides). Rest of the gear is of my personal choice. Rings give huge Chaos RR + valuable skill points, Serenity relic for +All Skills, resistances and circuit-breaker in dire situations, boots provide skill points to our SoC, pants - Defensive Ability, Spirit and convenient resistances, belt - conversions for our celestial Eldritch Fire, Aetherfire and SoC Vitality part (offensive variant) or +1 to Occultist, +2 to Blood of Dreeg and Energy regen (defensive). Craft a helmet with Freeze Resist bonus (blacksmith in Steelcap District, Malmouth) and, in my case, pants are crafted with %Armor bonus (Angrim).

    I tried to make build sturdy and reliable in unfortunate situations. So almost all important CC resists are capped (Stun, Freeze, Slow and Trap). For the rest - use your imagination and Mirror of Ereoctes :slightly_smiling_face:. Our main abilities - AAR and SoC - provide enough sustain to facetank hard-hitting enemies, and do not forget about Ritual Circle, it is really helpful against enraged hulks and Nemeses :grin:. If only its cooldown had been lower…

    About Resistance Reduction. Total amount is ~107% (-35% from Eldritch Fire, -20% from offhand, -18% from rings, -10% from Mark of Solael component and flat 24 from Revenant), not huge, but that is what we have. Damage is not a problem, though.

  4. Gameplay
    Straightforward. Spam AAR, throw some SoC under enemy’s feet and use Curse of Frailty to summon RR skeletons. If you face some tough monsters - add Ritual Circle and empower yourself with Hungering Void through Solael’s Flame. But be careful - it is very life-draining. Use Mirror and Nullification to escape/dispell auras and dots. Rift yourself out of corners if must. Do not forget to uptime Blood of Dreeg.

  5. Videos
    Here are some video perfomances (using original setup).

    Avatar of Mogdrogen defeated :smirk: (defensive setup, shown in video)
    https://youtu.be/rtYOb_mkWpU

    Benn’Jahr test as the Chaos-resistant enemy.
    https://youtu.be/xZjwezqzQHk

    Callagadra (defensive setup, potions shown in video). Pretty sad with results :disappointed:
    https://youtu.be/6TsNtLT3heQ - part 1
    https://youtu.be/muv7SUKityw - part 2

    Father Kymon facetanking (tested his damage against frail mages).
    https://youtu.be/NBUXkidBMq4

    Grava’Thul annihilation (almost, you have to avoid his null-orbs still, otherwise he is not dangerous)
    https://youtu.be/8qZBlGW2gyU

    Kra’vall killing (also hits hard)
    https://youtu.be/6VAG26syDZA

    Mad Queen facetanking (Nullification really helps much)
    https://youtu.be/JMY0W7tfeN8

    Morgoneth (hard-hitting with disgusting abilities)
    https://youtu.be/WC-qhUkfe8I

    Lokarr killing (need kiting or Fire resist potion)
    https://youtu.be/MFxmxCG2mcM

    Shattered Realm, 65th Shard Boss Room. Need to improve my piloting skills :thinking:. Definitely can get higher.
    https://youtu.be/5lvxOnquKmE

    Shattered Realm, 75th Shard Boss Room. Things become tough, but still manageable. Save your cooldowns, do not forget to teleport and you will be fine :wink:.
    https://youtu.be/UkVvlXzF23Q

    Crucible? Did not try. Yet.

Thank you for reading this topic. Hope you will find it helpful and not too tiresome :laughing:. Have any suggestions, questions, critiques? Feel free to voice them.

P.S. Big thanks to @AngmarDT, @malawiglenn, @Andrej553 and @Superfluff for amazing ideas and feedback, that help me to improve the build :grinning:.

16 Likes
Build Compendium X (Forgotten Gods)
[1.1.8.1][Guide] The Rookie Bloodsworn - A chaos Warlock Beginner Guide
Build Compendium X (Forgotten Gods)
#2

I played some time ago similar build to yours. Also performed similarily. :+1:

1 Like
#3

Congrats on your first guide, hope there’s many more to come! :slightly_smiling_face:

I also like your itemization, you have done great job. My only question is can you find way to fit Korvaak? Free DA/OA shred and nice damage proc.

2 Likes
#4

Why do you have chaos resistance as a completion bonus on the relic? You have 60 % overcap on chaos res. Wouldn’t 3 % DA be better?

#5

Thank you very much! :slightly_smiling_face: I have many ideas, definitely will post something in the future. About Korvaak devotion. Yes, it is good, but I just do not have a free skill to proc it (only Ritual Circle and Burning Rift remained). Not even a free space on my skill panel :sweat_smile:.

The bonus can be anything. I am just a little unlucky to get that useless resistance. Of course, DA is better (even Stun resistance, so that we can change helmet component for something more useful). Need some craft materials and patience :smile:.

#6

Congrats on posting a very good first buid. :+1:

In case you go on crucible and want more damage you could try replacing Lantern with Magi for Chaos fissure. I Did this on Chaos DB build and made a difference.

2 Likes
#7

Thank you :slightly_smiling_face:. Chaos Fissures, hm. Nice idea :+1:. It may work if I drop Empty Throne too and change my Movement rune to something like Amatok’s Breath to proc it. CC resistance loss can be compensated with Ulo blessing. For SR Lantern+Throne is better though.

#8

For SR 3 more points in Aeon for Time dilation could help. Depends how far you want to take it

#9

Maybe so. To take full Aeon I need to get Stun resistance, maybe through craft bonuses (or find other medal with something like Demonic or Thunderstruck prefix) :thinking:.

For now, 70th Shard is beaten.

SR70
SR70.jpg1920×1080 765 KB

Had two deaths in Shard 65 from Tigran the Mad Priest (why was he striking so hard?) and Slathzar (so annoying with its acid pools). But managed to keep timers.

Something off topic. Got this shiny dagger from SR loot. Are the prefixes good for Morgoneth builds, who knows?

Loxmere_drop_SR
Loxmere_drop_SR.jpg1920×1080 644 KB

#10

uuuh, yes man…that’s an amazing find.:+1: Put it on a pedestal and sing songs to it

1 Like
#11

:laughing: Then I know what to build next.

#12

Updated theme and topic. Lokarr and SR75 are beaten :slightly_smiling_face:. One small change in equipment - Serenity relic with slightly better rolls and Aether Resistance.

#13

Been playing this, even for a jaded veteran of the game like me this is good clean fun, not too many skills to fiddle with yet effective. Could probably do more damage with the beam as another class, this one lacks a bit of resist reduction, but who cares really. I’m enjoying it and that’s what matters.

1 Like
#14

Where do you find the rare medal ? In Grimtools link it is hown as “Impervious Rylok Mark of Hungering Rifts” but there is no item of that name in Grimtools item DB. There are 5 rare medals with Rylok Mark of Hungering though. Which one is it ?

#15

I picked up a few of these medals in FG now I’m there so I answered the first part of the question. None of them have the extended name though so I’d be interested in how that is generated.

#16

Rylok mark is a rare base monster infrequent (MI) item. It can roll with a prefix and a suffix. In order to get precisely that one being used here, you have to gather A LOT of them. In order to get many of them, you farm those places where the monsters that drop them spawn (or run crucible or SR to get a good mix of loot). I get plenty of them when I do the Lokarr dungeon and void- monster totems.

Same goes with basic items too, the common white bases you can see in grimtools too. If the item spawn with at least one rare-tier affix, it becomes green.

Yellow items that you can craft can get two affixes and same applies to them as with common white items - they become green if at least one rare tier affix was generated / crafted.

Green items that you craft can only get one affix and item will be green regardless of the affix tier.

Now Impervious prefix also come in 4 flavors. But it is a magic tier affix so its pretty common.
The suffix hungering rifts is a rare tier affix. It is as its name suggest, quite rare in drop chance.

Next patch will remove some of the magic tier affixes that are “useless” (like sheltering, spellweaving etc) and also increase the drop chances of getting rare affixes.

This is the reason why some/most people only post builds here without any green items. It is harder for anyone that wants to “follow” or “copy” a certain build if the affix dependence on the item(s) are too restricted. Usually there is no problem if you are an experienced player/theorycrafter to make the best out of what you have and find (shuffle around augments etc)

2 Likes
#17

This is a really good explanation, thank you @malawiglenn :+1:. Just want to add two more farm locations for these Rylok Marks - Void’s Edge (after Ekket’Zul boss) and Mourndale Chtonic rift (there is always a purple boss, Gabal’Thunn, with high drop chances, and on second level you can also farm nice MI belt for Necromancer/Occultist). They are safer than Lokarr’s den and do not require specific unlocking. You can meet Grava’Thul, however :smile:.

1 Like
#18

I have basically this information in my game mechanics guide :slight_smile:

yeah those are very good areas to farm those medals!

edit: I had some information about items in the guide, I added a section based on the discussions in this thread now!

#19

Chtonic totems can also be a good source, sometimes they spawn a lot of Rylok heroes.

#20

already mentioned