gotta have some cosmetic phys res just to show how flashy your build is with spare points 
I see. Now try this on binder 10/10 class 
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Spellbinder. Both masteries just combine really, really well. Stupidly well in fact but no one can complain about it.
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Sorcerer. Like Binder, Sorcerer is another combo that combines really well. It’s been strong for Fire/Burn since vanilla and still remains a top competitor in that area to this day.
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Warlord. Good amount of variety in melee skills and supports Physical damage amazingly. Defense is also pretty good.
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Conjurer. Top combo for pets and makes a great caster for Vitality.
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Ritualist. Ritualist is great for pets and as a Vitality caster as well. Despite ranking it lower, I do prefer what it brings to the table compared to Conjurer.
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Pyromancer. My personal favourite combo. Chaos is really versatile having builds for caster, ranged or melee. It might not be as strong as the above but it’s good enough.
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Mage Hunter. Go-to combo for Elemental casters of all kinds. Mage Hunter all-around has the potential to produce good builds and a lot of them.
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Druid. Makes for great Lightning or hybrid Cold/Lightning casters and 2-handed melee or ranged Lightning.
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Purifier. Poster boy for guns. But really, Purifier also makes a great pairing for casters as well. Only reason I’d place it low is that it especially comes off as bland or overdone.
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Dervish. Covers Acid/Poison melee really well with lots of options to choose from.
3 Likes
Simple as dead 
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
- Battlemage
3 Likes
I’m going to make this a combination of objective + subjective rankings, as a lot of the classes are unfortunate in being strictly worse versions of other classes which really takes the fun factor away for me:
Top Tier
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Dervish - An incredibly versatile class that can do practically everything. Plays melee, ranged, caster, and “pets” all very well, and has an incredible variety of damage types that have been done with remarkable results.
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Infiltrator - The most boring of the top-tier classes, but you simply can’t argue with having two great auras that provide passive damage, RR, and damage reduction. Does both ranged and melee well because Inquisitor handles the ranged passives while Nightblade covers the melee passives. Multiple heals with large stacked DA, Blade spirits for more passive damage. Imagination is only limited by how many modifiers you can stack to Veil of Shadows at once.
Sentinel is very similar to Infiltrator as it also does a lot of different damage types and player styles at once, but while objectively Sentinel is in the top tier (probably in the 5th spot under Spellbinder), subjectively it lacks the trivial beginner leveling and ease of use that Infiltrator has.
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Conjurer - One of the most stacked beginner classes you can find because of the stupid amount of healing and resistances you get from the buffs alone, and that goes double if you decide to do pets. Can do any sort of pet damage types well, and vitality Dark One is so strong you can beat Crucible with Fevered Rage and not miss a beat.
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Spellbinder - In terms of what it does, it’s the best pound-for-pound combination in the game. Casters are always a lot of fun and I gravitate towards those more than melee. However, it loses points as the damage type you’re looking for with Spellbinder is either Aether, Aether, Aether, (maybe vitality), or Aether.
Great Tier
- Sorcerer - An absolutely incredible caster that has great results with Elemental, Aether or Chaos damage. Devastation is always a great spell to use, and thanks to Pyran’s Set, a build can be made that uses Mortar Traps, Devastation, and the Apocolypse amulet for maximum Meteors. It’s a tier below the other classes because occasionally it’s just a bit too squishy to handle difficult things to my liking.
Druid is similar to Sorcerer as it also has great caster abilities and also has amazing Primal Strike builds, but doesn’t have the same potential for explosions as Sorcerer does.
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Death Knight - I group Death Knight, Warlord, & Witchblade in the same category: unparalleled in Retal and great in Melee, and fairly lackluster anywhere else. Death Knight beats out Warlord in the subjective ranking because channeling retal to the face is best retal.
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Reaper - Reaper is similar to Blademaster in terms of being amazing at DW melee and mtuliple ways to stack ludicrous amounts of damage, but Reaper has the edge in handling both melee and caster roles while Blademaster is a more strictly melee role.
More Fun Tier than Objective Tier
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Deceiver - A low-key class that can surprise you in how versatile it could be. You can play an amazing Chaos ranged build in the Harbinger set, has both Curse of Frailty & Word of Pain for amazing proc-fiesta builds, and thanks to Radaggan Set, has an incredible Acid Sigils build that throws more Sigils than any other equipment could (I know Sentinel does it better because of Path of the Three, but screw that).
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Shieldbreaker - While in most cases, it’s practically an inferior Sorcerer or Sentinel, it does one thing that no other combination can dream of doing: a grenade launcher build where the “spell” is shooting a grenade to the face.
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Apostate - This class feels like a step-child; it doesn’t have a home in either Kymon’s or Death’s Vigil. Yet, people always find a way to make builds work with it and it warms my heart to see people trying to make unique stuff.
2 Likes
…´nough said.
But here is my personal list (Yes, I play(ed) only Bleeding Builds, but recognize the potential in other Masteries/Damage Types):
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Warder
Easy to play, hard to kill. Nothing fancy. -
Ritualist
I played it with Bleeding, which is definitely not the strongest setup. Still fun to play and a strong combination. -
Conjurer
Pets. And Birbs. -
Trickster
DW Bleeding is fun and Trickster is a) easy to play and b) much fun because of the mobility. -
Witchblade
Hits like a truck. Not as strong (with Bleeding) as Warder, but more interesting. -
Vindicator and Druid
Different styles of play, liked both. Both hard to kill (for someone with the reflexes of a 45 year old man this is important!), nice effects. -
See 6.
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Warlord
Everything is fine, but a little lack of special effects. -
Reaper
Because: Nightblade…sadly, I could never make a Bleeding Reaper. -
Spellbinder
Never played one but I saw @romanN1 play one. “Seems” to have potential.
5 Likes
Spellbinder is the only bleedster im never touching again @Rhylthar but stay tunned to make them gore set builds.
1 Like
Where’s the end result table or you decided to give extra time after the new patch?
I’m on night shift so I can’t work on it as fast as I could if I’m on morning shift I haven’t even tested a single theorycraft I did. Also because I’m kinda having fun with Minecraft.
I don’t think someone submitted anything past the 29th but if someone submits a list now I’ll still consider it partly due to the small amount of current submissions (imo) and partly due to me taking too long to do the compilation.
1 Like
I’m curious what people would say is the ranking of classes when you start with nothing (ie complete blank slate including recipes, factions etc) and play through the game on hardcore.
(I don’t know if it’s a dirty word around here, but I play POE and there it’s referred to as SSFHC - solo self found hardcore)
That’s more or less what Stupid_Dragon’s list is above:
Considering he’s wrote several beginner/budget guides spending tens if not hundreds of hours levelling and testing the characters behind them, I think he some level of authority in the area.
Edit: Just saw you also specified hardcore as well. So not quite the same then. Some combos might be omitted/some might move up due to being safer like Ritualist.
1 Like
Fair enough!
I kind of assumed that his list was based in part on ease of play since he said it was for beginners. I know that practically speaking, in a game like this, almost nobody is starting from 0 unless they are a beginner. That aside, maybe the list would basically be the same even if you were just making it based on a lack of gear / prior game progress.
I know RektbyProtoss regularly makes video guides where he’s starting totally fresh and playing through the game in HC, so that’s kind of what I was thinking about.
- Trozan
- Druid
- Trozan Sky Shard
4-10 some unknown randoms
5 Likes
still no deceiver. feelsbad.
1 Like
Lmao this didn’t age well
1 Like
Just saw this thread. Very nice initiative.
Now, I was reading your list and you almost caused me an aneurism with that one 
Say it to Belgo’s face 
My list:
- Belgo…
… - Shieldbreakers, all of them. I absolutely love this class
- Mage Slayers
- Saboteurs as of latest patch (i’ve always loved them since vanilla but they fell off)
sadly yes. outiside of retal BWC the nerfs were merely harmless.
1 Like
Hey, alkamos’ vf retal is also gutted from what I’ve seen in his thread. Probably the one hit hardest by the bero nerf. So that’s two builds
insert mad_lee’s long rant on why infil is better
Honestly I wouldn’t take sides right now on the whole belgo debate cause I don’t play it but still doesn’t change the fact that infil has better cold builds, better noctirn, and as of now better 2h pierce. But bm got no buttons other than autoattack and blitz so that makes it higher on my list
yeah, funnily enough he changed his mind all on his own later on, anways 
I get whet you were trying to say in your list. Belgo is it’s own think a very balanced set thet offers and auto attack as well to go with good WPS.
You were referring to BM in general. and it’s true. Or at least that’s how i see it. I was just poking fun
1 Like
FINAL LIST IS HERE >> Grim Dawn SUBJECTIVE Class Rankings by (some of) the Community - Final Results
1 Like