We’re both part of the Hades speedrunning community lol.
Oh Banana’s Sentinel, I forgot about it.
Oh really? It’s been a long time since I’ve checked the set, partially cause it reminds me of Octavius but for fire.
both Nery and Banana proved that a while ago. Mostly due Occ actually having some flat damage unlike SB and Garbagedin
Sue me, I don’t see either of them on the Compendium and I don’t look at the forums during my breaks so I must have missed Nery’s. Also some builders use titles for their builds which makes it harder to search. And sadly some builds are getting lost in time because of that.
wish there were some table, where all relevant eng-game builds could be listed by their main skills.
wish we had one indeed.
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Disclaimer: I’ve played only some classes/archetypes properly, neglected Arcanist for example. This a very subjective fun-to-play ranking but it’s not absolute as it changes over time. Also I don’t remember all builds so I’m not 100% sure about the order.
-
Reaper - <Necro, Cold> is my favorite <mastery, damage type> pair.
Btw Necro didn’t do it for me in games like D2/D3, it’s the Grim Dawn Necro that I enjoy. -
Oppressor - OK is a very good support class for Necro and I like additional CDR and Movement skill.
There seems to be a lot of variety in Oppressor builds and room for creativity. -
Infiltrator - that would be my go-to class for Flames of Ignaffar, which is the skill I enjoy, with Mageslayer.
Also RoH / Chillspikes / BS / Shadow Strike and other silly cold / pierce builds. -
Ritualist - my favorite Vit caster. Spamming Totems and RE with red visuals is satisfying.
Also builds such as Pet Ritualist / Vitality PS and others I don’t remember at the moment. -
Deceiver - I find Chaos Deceivers cool and interesting - i.e. FoI / Obsidian Tremor / Har’Zin / Black Scorch / Oblivion.
-
Vindicator - I enjoy making various (Lightning / Physical / Aether) Primal Strike / Storm Totem builds.
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Warder - the simplicity of Warder is appealing to me. I relax while spamming Forcewave and the lightning variant by Nery is my favorite. I’d probably like Avenger too if I played it. Primal Strike Warder is a classic.
-
Spellbreaker - haven’t built it yet but I’m certain I would enjoy Cold builds with it such as AAR / CT.
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Conjurer - gotta put good ol’ Conjurer in here. For huge versatility and a classic pet build.
-
Warlock - haven’t played this one much but it’s gorgeous with the Trozan set and has an interesting theme
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Didn’t even know this existed. I found them on your Grimsheet though. Tbh, I haven’t checked all the builds from the sheet and I probably should, I mostly checked Class rankings and some builds that would interest me.
Also @Ulvar1 from earlier
I think Crate have already made up their minds whether the game should be balanced around top performing gdstahsed builds or not. They made greens easier to farm the last few patches. I think some of the builds that were nerfed wouldn’t get nerfed this hard without Gdstashed greens ( Morgoneth set, for example). I believe that’s exactly why Madlee’s builds are popular. Most of them have no greens ( he gave into green mafia last 2 patches when greens became easier to farm) and still perform well so players are not forced into farming MIs for hours.
I’m going to assume you mean MASTERIES or do you also take single CLASSES?
- Paladin - I am a diehard melee warrior finding for a just cause. I fell in love with paladins in part because they were my favorite class in the first Greyhawk supplment of D&D back in the mid 70s and because at around the same time I was give a copy of Three Hearts and Three Lions by the astounding Poul Anderson.
- Classless - Because doing that challenge in SC and HC taught me soooo much about the game.
- Witch Hunter - it was my first mastery in Grim Dawn SC. it was also my first mastery in HC. And because I love the game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
- Druid - the longest running character I ever had in an rpg was a Druid/Ranger I had in 2ed in a game that ran from 1992-1994. I loved that character and researching historical druids and incorporating that into my game.
- Dervish - Book. Again. CJ Cherryh, The Morgaine Cycle. So damn good.
- Warlock - Book. Yet Again. Arguably one of my favorite series of fantasy books is the saga of Elric of Melnibone. I decided I wanted to create Cymoril and a Chaos Warlock was the closest I could get. And this we BEFORE Chaos Warlock was actually ‘good’ and it was my very first attempt at building my own.
- Purifier - Because who the hell doesn’t want to set fire to stuff in righteous indignation as Solomon Kane would.
- Blademaster - I wanted an assassin. This was, for me, the obvious choice. And it is hell of a lot of fun to play.
- Warlord - Coltaine of the Crow Clan and the Chain of Dogs.
- Conjurer - Because I love the Birb. Really. Was sad long ago when the nerf came to sacrifice an extra Birb. Birbs and Wind Devils. It’s like the coming of Ragnarok.
Apparently the theme here for me is my undying devotion to table top roleplaying. 
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That’s funny. We had almost the same response/ranking on this one.
So this list going to be less objective than my last one, and it’s top 10 now, not 5.
1. Spellbinder - best all-round, maybe not single totally broken build like only retals are currently but it’s doing good everywhere. Mot/Mirror gives a lot of possibilites to outplay bosses and going a lot of into damage. Flashy, can be build around everything in tree (and even more), fun to play, my favorite class so far (retal is concept, not a class 
).
2. Warlord - except a lot of retal builds variety it is good for FW, EoR, meele, BA. I like being unkillable and craft retals so 2nd place. I would say warlord due to retal is stronger than spellbinder but builds are too much similar to each other in gameplay so let’s say variety is worse.
3. Sorcerer - like spellbinder but for elemental damage type. DoTs and hit’run playstyle make it excelent SR pusher so it’s exactly in my type.
4. Conjurer - strongest pets, good vitality (altough for this damage I prefer Ritualist, less piano).
5. Death Knight - because retal in caster style. Also good for FW, BA, cadence and even aether damage with Krieg set.
6. Oppressor - brother of DK, just no forcewave, blade arc and cadence. Good for vitality caster, meele, physical caster, guardians build is very strong there too.
7. Ritualist - good pet class and vitality, like conjurer.
8. Dervish - objectively very strong and diverse but I don’t like class itself so lower place in my subjective tier list.
9. Sentinel - because a lot of strong retals to make and good for guardians build, doom bolt and some other caster things.
10. Witchblade - because retal like Sentinel, stronger in that case but less build variety otherwise.
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Beginner’s edition.
- Warder
- Cabalist
- Mage Hunter
- Blademaster
- Death Knight
- Dervish
- Spellbinder
- Shieldbreaker
- Ritualist
- Sorcerer / Druid
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Hello everyone! This topic caught my eye, so let me share some thoughts too 
. I have to tell first that I am a pretty average player, who does not care about Crucible and high SR (above 76). Nemeses, Celestials, MC, dungeons or just casual farming Ugdenblooms - that I like 
. Okay, stop mumbling, here is my top 10 classes.
-
Warlord. Sounds cool, the best S&B character in the game, resilient and reliant. Markovian Warlord was my first character for end game and remains my favorite still
. -
Witchblade. Great Physical/Chaos/Elemental damage, powerful with melee two-handers (my preferable playstyle with one exception above), sturdy as well. 2H Chaos Blade Arc Witchblade is simply fantastic in both visuals and performance.
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Battlemage. Versatile (caster, melee, S&B, ranged - all is great), simple, great sets and builds, easy to cap CC resists, decent damage along with defence. The only downside is lack of RR in most cases, but, to be honest, it was never a problem for every my Battlemage build. Krieg+Lucius sword Battlemage is one of the greatest melee characters, in my opinion
. -
Warder. Ultos, Bloodrager, Avenger - these outstanding sets are specifically created for the class
. Jokes aside, this is the healthiest 2H melee class in GD. It just refuses to die. For example, I have Bloodrager+Gutsmasher Warder, who only died once because of my own stubbornness. This class I would take to Hardcore for sure. -
Warlock. I call it “1000 and 1 AAR” class. If you like this beam of destruction despite its constant nerfing, Warlock provides the best support for all damage types (except for Pierce and Bleeding, they do not exist unfortunately
). -
Death knight. Surprisingly squishy for my tastes (cannot figure out why). Yes, I killed Ravager of Souls with my Leviathan DK, but it was pretty scary and uncomfortable
. Health jumps up and down constantly, it is too much to bear. Cool theme and Blood Knight/Krieg sets make the class appealing to build though. -
Cabalist. Great Vitality support, many decent Vitality sets (Dark One, Radaggan, Valguur etc)… and that is it
. Lacks CC resists and pretty weak in other damage types. But possible to build due to nice variety of RR. -
Blademaster. I like its simplicity and damage output (Physical/Pierce/Cold). Belgothian set looks amazing, Deathmarked one is pleasant to play. But squishy, demands attention.
-
Purifier. I prefer melee variants over ranged ones (Barthollem Purifier especially). Great Fire and Lightning class, double RR, thematically fits into the cruel post-apocalypse world. The downside - skill points-hungry, lack of decent melee sets and falls miserably against Grava
. -
Spellbinder. Yes, it has the greatest defence abilities, good damage (mostly in Aether department) but when they end… Well, in my hands the class falls down quickly. Poor variety of builds and bleak name
. Only because of Uroboruuk and Clairvoyant sets (which are good with this class) I give Spellbinder the place. I meant no offense to top builders, just my experience with the class 
The rest I did not play much or dislike absolutely (Templars and Paladins especially 
). Thanks for the attention!
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okay, so i suck at “definite rankings”/favourites and that type stuff allround generally with things, but lets see if i can use the “criterias” to add some context to my strange “rankings”
-
Blademaster
undisputed master of awesomeness fun and entertainment, possibly the best mastery combo ever conceived to grace Cairn past present & future
forgetting the sheer glee of your regular run of the mill dw wps/belgo BM, there is plenty of variety in the combo to have fun different ways, and it effectively allows you to spice things up in viable ways ranging from “glassy” to more “tanky” depending on what one prefer.
It’s the AllStar, has everything and does even more and never lets you down -
Nightblade >everything × ∞
okay this might be a little “cheating” since BM uptop already includes this, but Nightblade is easily my favourite mastery with some of my absolute favourite skills, and it pairs beautifully with so many other masteries utilizing those skills in samey or different ways.
Even if it’s a 1 trick pony build or samey gimmick over and over, whether it’s dervish, witch hunter, infiltrator, breaker, etc etc they are all great and most importantly; fun, because of what Nightblade does for all of them.
Nightblade is basically the mastery messiah of Grim Dawn, it saves anything, and makes anything good (and fun) -
Oathkeeper - anything; Aegis of Menhir/Vire’s Might
alright already a bit vague i get it, but since it’s more about the skills imo it doesn’t really matter what you combine it with or which of the combos are technically most efficient.
The point is Oathkeeper brought some of the most awesome skills to the game, and few things are as satisfying playing or leveling as either Aegis of Menhir, or even Vire’s Might as decent “secondary” choice.
The sound of using Aegis just trigger those little drips of dopamine and make your brain nice and mushy of gratification
, sprinkle a couple of treats of ragdoll ontop and you can skip your doze of Zoloft for the day -
Retaliation
again not so much about a “specific” class as it is a playstyle/“skill” concept, tho could be said retal Warlord might be the “best”, tho i’m not sure if that means it alone wins the spot, since entertainment is a big deal for me too and there are some fun RATA stuff out there
And ofc praying to the Primordials that Z’s neverending “nerf train”/retal’ism ends and that they will remain both powerful and fun, both passively and offensively -
Zeus/Thor lightning god, aka Shaman w Primal Strike - anything
Few individual skills are as spectacular as Primal Strike and the overall “flashyness” all of the “basic”/usual lightning stuff provides in FX. It might be simple design when you look close, or get repetitive going off 24/7 with less than 0.5sec intervals, or “muddled”/samey FX covering the screen when you have Ultos Tempest Spear Torrent etc etc everything going off at once.
But it’s dang entertaining all the same, at least to me. - i kinda wish we could get a bonus FX modifer to add additional flashy effects to the light show, VoS or not
-
AAR/Devastation Arcanist - “anything”
Take your pick, it’s kinda hard to screw up an “Arcanist” these days building around one of its core skills. Doesn’t even have to be the ever strong AAR, tho that definitely is a big part of it. But aside from PRM, everything in the Arcanist tree is just “great” even if not always top tier entertainment and performance at the same time.
Even going from 1-100 on Callidor is not something to scoff at, and there is “always” room for some Devastation lulz, even if it’s just 1pt while leveling for giggles.
And i would find it hard to pick one above the other, tho lock and binder definitely makes it a tougher contest to decide a favourite on. -
Bleeding
pick your poison, or in this case your hemorrhagic source.
most bleed builds combine some of the fun skills, fun masteries, with a fun and potent dmg approach, and lets you be a “hybrid” melee kiter if you feel uneasy waiting for things to die of exsanguination. -
alright so this is kinda a tossup between “a” dmg type, skills, and masteries
Vitality(not necessarily), Occultist/Necromancer/Shaman, Ravenous Earth Sigils Pox/plagues and general “red” draining stuff.
While it’s sorta a “slow burn”, stuff like the good ol’ Vit Conjurer, Ritualist, or RE/Sigil like spam fest is kinda awesome and being one of the few “low dmg” killers i enjoy or “tolerate” during ex leveling. Ridic sustain making you borderline immortal means you’re somehow a “tanky” caster @_@, while you have tons of exciting effects going off,
and with a few wonder skills, Pox, leveling doesn’t always feel like slog even tho it is intermittently. RE, Vines, even totems and ofc Sigil or Doombolt all are entertaining to use, and stronk skills, so your immortality doesn’t necessarily come with the downside penalty of doing crapola dmg, even tho it might not initially pack the biggest omph, (or after Z “destroys” ‘the 1 thing that made you great’) -
Soldier
it’s the most boring mono mastery by far at a glance, but, everything in it “works”, and works with anything. It’s neigh impossible to wreck a soldier build, and while individually some of the skills might not be super entertaining, it has the staple of the “best”/easy approach leveling skills in FW.
Blade Arc is fun no doubt, retal is fun no doubt(twinked), it’s hard to not be excited about Blitz, it has non-crap wps for shts and giggle on top because it wasn’t an OP mastery enough to begin with, and it ofc has the beloved by all, the every person (incl devs) totally knows how functions and never needs explaining: -
Cadence
Rivaled by few in dmg output, and perceived “suckyness” for leveling, Cadence might just be one of the best underappreciated skills, with dopamine gratification satisfaction factor you need a licensed MD to help you with replace. Only “downside” is you either gotta know what you’re doing, or have the right stuff to utilize it or “tolerance” to “forgive” it, tho Ulvar did make a good showing and confirming it’s not total trash.
Good news is that you can get that same awesome sound FX from Maul and Bullrush, so even if your build or leveling approach wont include Cadence, you can still get that melty brain oozer tingling sensation
my “worst”/most disliked rankings, just for balance
-
- Pet builds, “any” of them.
alright this one might not be “fair”, and no offense to our lovely pet lover Lady Birb Maya,
but, pet builds in GD are just “terrible” to play in terms of enjoyment for me, and are not really fun to build around because you’re sorta “locked” in in terms of “variety”/flexibility if you want something semi decent (at least from a casual level). And moreover, “aggro”/threat is just stupidly borked mechanic in GD.
-let me be clear, i don’t dispute Pet Powa or efficiency or capabilty or even beginner friendliness, if i had to recommend an easy to go to class/build for beginners, entry level or farming, it’s hard to not recommend a pet build, specially conjurer.
But, personally, they just don’t jive for me, and i know it can seem strange that i find a “passive” build like pets “boring” when i love retaliation, which might just be even more passive.
Love all you do Maya, and i really hope you keep making more and updated pet builds
(and that Z doesn’t obliterate them in 1.1.9 
), because i still have my hopes up that one day a pet build emerges i enjoy playing for the full duration
.
- Pet builds, “any” of them.
-
- FoI,
and this is just me, and it’s mainly just for leveling, but it’s just one of those skills that make you ask the question “why, why are you here, and why should i pick you; when AAR exists”
-clever Zantai retorts with “but not all inquisitors have access to AAR”, and it’s true, but they still have access to better and more fun skills (imo), that are also easier to build around.
.
- FoI,
-
- PRM,
“Please Rescue Me”, skill crying out desperately for attention to be “fixed”/put out of its misery. Iit’s not “fun” to level with, and i don’t like it suped up either, even tho it’s arguable a fairly spectacular skill visually, few things feel as much like an expensive/over invested dud as this
.
- PRM,
-
- Drain Essence, i just don’t like it, and my own endgame approaches with it wasn’t fun either, and i haven’t really been interested in trying the "elite builders"s approach to it
and the absolute worst class i despise playing(leveling) in the game is
-
- Battlemage. It is just bad and boring in all the “right” places - and no, “avoiding” it with a cookie cutter FW leveling isn’t a solution, a class should “feel” better than this and not require unique gimmicks to not want to claw your eyes out.
+bonus points for phys AAR leveling being possible now tho
but if there ever was a class i wanted to GDstash/use the blank template save, Battlemage is it, and it needs a few more saving graces than a couple of (current) MIs for me to bother with again.
- Battlemage. It is just bad and boring in all the “right” places - and no, “avoiding” it with a cookie cutter FW leveling isn’t a solution, a class should “feel” better than this and not require unique gimmicks to not want to claw your eyes out.
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
- Saboteur
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It’s totally 1 week. Totally didn’t edit a typo. Says 1 week since posting the thread 
Get your GD dictionary again cause you got your terms reversed. But someone already put solo occultist there so I guess I’m not gonna stop anyone from putting in single MASTERIES.
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Yeah. Paladin should be S.
@ya1 your list doesn’t have Apostate. Does it mean it’s worse than our big 3?
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Oh for frak sake, how the heck did that get mixed up from my brain to my fingers. This is like those times where you want to spell a simple word like, “trace” and suddenly it just goes right out of your head.
It’s fine. Classless is neither a mastery nor a class
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