[1.1.9.0] The Budget Brigade: Ritualist Aether Pets starter build

Hello,

I came back to the game after taking a break and wanted to do a pet build from scratch, with no shared stash gear or blueprints. The goal was to make something capable on SSF gear that could eventually transition into one of the high end pet builds, like a bleed spec or the “Ishtar” build by Maya. I think the result is solid enough to make a beginner’s guide out of it for anyone else looking for something similar.

Ritualist1
Ritualist2
Idle Buffs: Mog’s Pact, Primal Bond, Emboldening Presence & Presence of Might

Build Link: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NOLjj42

Edit for patch 1.1.9.1: No direct changes other than a slight buff to Bysmiel-Sect pants (trap resists)

Skeletons are the main DPS in this build, so the focus is to boost them as much as possible. Our pets do damage mainly by converting all their physical damage to aether by way of the Warden’s Judgment weapon. This and all the other gear I’ll go over can be obtained from easy farming routes, common drops, vendor shopping, and cheap crafting. No challenge dungeon or superboss gear required. The result is that we are able to summon 12 ultimate rank Skeletons. With our other friends we can have up to 15 permanent pets and one temporary.

Gear

Weapon - Warden’s Judgment

  • Although the Warden is easy to reach and defeat, this can arguably be the hardest of our items to farm. Rolling 100% conversion in addition to one of the two available pet suffixes (Of Binding or Of Bestial Rage) will be a test of patience, but I wouldn’t concern yourself with that until you can farm the level 94 version.

Off-Hand - Bound Wraith

  • Has everything we need and is fairly easy to farm. The best areas to target wraiths:
    -Janaxia’s Den
    -Barrowholm cellars
    -Area south of Barrowholm Rift
    -Area northeast of Barrowholm (north of the mine)
    -Savage monster totems
  • Bloodsworn Codex can be used earlier and is a very common drop from Cthonic humans.

Amulet - Death-Watcher Pendant

  • Vendor farm this from Benevald’s secret shop in the Blood Grove.

Rings - Wendigo Conjuring Seal

  • Can be bought after reaching Barrowholm ‘Honored’ reputation. Slap on two of these and you’re good to go. Important Note : if you decide to go hostile with Barrowholm, you’ll lose access to their shop. It’s better to level up your rep with them in Normal or Elite, buy the gear and multiple copies of augments, then go hostile in Ultimate.
  • Bloodsworn Signet can be obtained earlier since Conjuring Seals can’t be used until level 90. Drops from Thall’Nosh, the boss of Darkvale Gate. Also can be vendor farmed in the Bastion of Chaos dungeon.
  • Gollus’ Rings can potentially be BiS due to the innate bonus to Mogdrogen’s Pact, but good luck farming some with pet rolls. Gollus is a chore to get to and his drop rate is terrible. Personally haven’t bothered.

Medal - Wendigo Gaze

  • The other item that can potentially be a pain to drop, due to wendigo enemies’ cluttered loot pool. If you decide to go hostile with Barrowholm, just farm the cellar. Otherwise, wendigo mobs can be targeted in the same areas as listed for the Bound Wraith off-hand.

Helm - Ascendant Cowl

  • Drops from Ascended humans in Malmouth. Another key item to boost our skeleton squad. Best place to target them is the northeastern section of the Candle District. Once you’ve completed the quest to drop the drawbridge, it’s a quick jog to farm this area.
  • Spectral Crown drops from Wraith of Sorrows. Can be used until you reach Malmouth later.

Chest - Elite Bysmiel Stormshroud Cuirass
Shoulders - Elite Bysmiel Flameshroud Pauldrons

  • Both acquired from Bysmiel faction vendor. There are level 65 and level 90 versions.
  • Kra’vall Shoulderpads can also be target farmed and comes with an innate flat damage bonus, but getting a pet prefix and suffix will be rare.

Gloves & Boots

  • Consider these your “flexible” pieces. Equip these slots with common rare drops or vendored rares. You’ll want to use these to shore up pet defenses as well as your character’s. I recommend having one with a Taskmaster’s prefix, and the other slot dedicated to caster stat boosts & defense. Stats are likely going to be tight for you, so bonuses to spirit, physique and DA will be a welcome addition.

Belts - Player choice. You don’t necessarily need +Shaman skills but it does help a lot to min-max skill points in the endgame. The Shaman belts are also much cheaper to craft than the +Necromancer versions.

Relic - Player choice. I think these three are the best options, but I don’t think there is a “wrong” choice. Just be aware than if you decide to use Primal Instinct, you’ll need additional +1 Necro skills or +Raise Skeletons elsewhere on your gear to keep them at max level and 12 summons. Personally I like my Skeletal Servant. I mean, just look at him. He’s adorable.

Devotions
  • Crossroads blue
  • Imp (Raise Skeletons)
  • Crossroads purple
  • Shepard’s Crook (Ill Omen)
  • Crossroads red
  • Jackal, refund crossroads red
  • Raven
  • Behemoth (Mogdrogen’s Pact)
  • Manticore (Summon Briarthorn)
  • Crossroads white
  • Lion
  • Typhos, refund Lion
  • Empty Throne
  • Mogdrogen (Ravenous Earth)
  • Widow (Aether Corruption or other), refund crossroads blue
  • Last two points your choice. I put them in Bysmiel’s Bonds
Gameplay
  • Although this can be considered a “piano” build, it’s a comfortable rotation once you get in the rhythm. Start engagements with Ill Omen and Aether Corruption for the nice debuff combo, then drop Ravenous Earth, Call of the Grave, and summon your Primal. Drop your Wendigo Totem last. Then just cycle through the 1-2-3 combo of Ill Omen, Aether Corruption and Ravenous Earth to keep CC and devotion procs up. Reactivate CotG and your kitty when ready. Keep Mark of Torment at the ready when you get into trouble, or before certain telegraphed attacks.
  • Note: Seal of Corruption component is certainly not a requirement. I like it because Aether Corruption has a nice debuff and it’s good at proccing Arcane Bomb. If desired, you can use Grasping Vines and use a different component like a Wrathstone or something defensive.
Leveling Stat Distribution
  • Be aware that stat points are tight in late game with this build. We’re leaving Necro skill bar at level 32 and we don’t have any reduced Spirit requirements in our devotion setup. The max Spirit we need for a level 94 off-hand is 724. Max Physique needed is 992. You may need a spirit roll or two somewhere on your gear to equip a level 94 off-hand.

Early Game 1-35

  • Start with Necro, alternating between 2 points in Raise Skeleton and 1 on the skill bar. Once Skeleton is maxed, concentrate on Undead Legion. This will give 8 maxed skellies that will steam roll everything this early.
  • By level 18 or 19, I would stop the Necro bar at 25 for now. Raise Skeleton and Legion should be maxed and put a point or two each into Ill Omen, Call of the Grave, and Blight Fiend. Will of the Crypt can be ignored for now.
  • Start on Shaman skill bar until you can put some points into Mogdrogen’s Pact, Briarthorn and Heart of the Wild.
  • By level 35: Shaman bar at 32. 5 points in both Mog’s Pact and Heart of the Wild.
    A couple points in Briar.

Gear Checklist

  • Karvor’s Conjuring Bone can be obtained for an early game boost.
  • Farm a 100% conversion weapon from the Warden.
  • Purchase pet faction gear and blueprints from factions when unlocked.
  • Hysteria - craft relic after obtaining blueprint from Homstead.
  • Solar Belt can be crafted at level 35
  • After unlocking the Blood Grove rift, farm Benevald’s shop for a good Death-Watcher amulet.
  • Farm a Spectral Crown from Wraith of Sorrows.
  • Savage - can be crafted at 35 if you have the blueprint, but sticking with Hysteria is fine.
  • Farm a Bloodsworn Codex and Bloodsworn Signets from Darkvale.

Mid Game 35-70

  • Take Shaman bar to 50.
  • Couple points in Primal Spirit
  • Work on maxing Mog’s Pact and Heart of the Wild
  • Remember to add a point to Ravenous Earth and Grasping Vines when necessary (for Devotion procs)
  • Start working on Emboldening Presence and Primal Bond
  • Points in Oak Skin
  • Return to Necro and work on Will of the Crypt and the skill bar again (stop at 32)

Gear Checklist

  • Proceed to Ashes of Malmouth content after defeating Loghorrean.
  • Farm a Bound Wraith, Wendigo Gaze, and Ascendant Cowl
  • Follow the Hidden Path questline to farm Bysmiel-Sect pants
  • Solar Waistguard can be crafted at 50
  • Proceed to Forgotten Gods content
  • Work on Bysmiel Faction rep until you can purchase the level 65 chest & shoulders
  • Farm higher level versions of current gear (if desired)

Late Game 70-100

  • At this point just concentrate on filling out what’s left. Wendigo Totem, Primal Spirit, Ill Omen, Call of the Grave, etc.
  • I feel only 1 or 2 in Spectral Binding is necessary. Spectral Wrath is more important for the Aether reduced resist debuff.
  • Remember to refund any points for skills that don’t need to be overcapped
  • Remember to finish all your extra skill/attribute quests like Hidden Path

Gear Checklist

  • Work on maxing faction rep (priorities are Bysmiel, Barrowholm, Coven and Malmouth)
  • Purchase level 90 versions of Bysmiel chest & shoulders
  • Purchase 2x Wendigo Conjuring Seals
  • Craft late-game Shaman (or Necro) belt
  • Farm ultimate versions of gear (level 94+)
  • Farm monster totems for component blueprints
  • Apply high end components and faction augments as they become available. Poison damage pools in particular can wreck your skellies quickly in Ultimate, so buy the poison resist augments from Coven faction.
  • Craft mythical relic of choice once available
Endgame
  • So what to do now? Whatever you want! Well, within limits of course. This is obviously not a celestial killer or able to go deep into the Shattered Realm. Provided you’ve got gear and stats close or better than mine, you shouldn’t have too much trouble in the main campaign or challenge dungeons (Morgoneth can be a tough customer though).
  • I would avoid the Crucible as this is not well suited for it. Shattered Realm is certainly recommended as a good place to farm. Just find your sweet spot of survivability and completion speed. With the gear listed above, I have completed SR75 within the time limit, but it’s not a sure thing. A lot of it is dependent on modifiers and who you run into. Avoid Fabius and Grava’thul whenever possible. Rashalga is the bane of your existence as she can wreck your entire army in seconds.
Videos

Budget Brigade gameplay - short compilation vs random stuff

Conclusion

Aether pets turned out better than I thought it would, but it very clearly has a limited damage ceiling. The lack of any gear to convert pet vitality into aether really hurts it in higher end play, unfortunately. However, I believe the build accomplishes what it needs to, which is to go from nothing into an ultimate-capable build on cheap gear. It has certainly been a learning experience and a lot of fun along the way.

Well that’s all I got for now. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions. By no means am I a pet expert so any input from the veterans around here will be welcomed. Thanks!

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Hey for you hardcore folks out there, user @Paikis recently did a very thorough Let’s Play with the Ritualist. So check it out if you are looking for an updated run and some HC tips to compliment the build!

Additional note: just realized it’s been over 2 and half years (!) and I never got around to updating the guide. With the new expansion coming soon, I think it will be a good time to call Sergeant Thrifty out of retirement and get the green gang back together again to take a romp through Asterkarn. Stay tuned.

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Looks very fun! I am kinda pet noob myself, but is not blood pact one point worth it for life steal on the pets?

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Ah yes, thanks for noticing that. I had been messing around with min-maxing beforehand and forgot to put one back in for Blood Pact. I’ll fix the link later.

And I saw your Budget Bleed guide. Nice work!

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Thanks, I did not have as much time as I anticipated to finish it because I got buried in work (damn corona)

Well beautiful color

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Small update:

-Fixed Grimtools link to include Blood Pact. Removed one point from Rotting Fumes.

-Included a Videos section with a short compilation vid. I’ll get around to recording some SR footage soon.

Now that I’ve got some gear (again), I’ll also take a look at making an “expensive” version with some legendary support, although I don’t think there’s much I can do to improve the build without it looking like a hybrid (it already is, kinda). Really need some pet vitality to aether conversion gear. hint hint Crate :wink:

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I reall yhope crate fixes itemization with 1.2 There are so many items that hint at a build but then the build has no actual full support. Warden’s Judegment being a prime example. Ok so I went Necro/Arcanist to us it’s bonuses aaaaand…now what?
Same for Fire pets with Demolitionist. Just add sets or fine-tune some items so the build idea hinted at actually is fully supported.

It would help if you described what kind of build you are aiming for and then I could point you in the right direction. You can do a hybrid pet Spellbinder or Defiler but I wouldn’t recommend it if you are relatively new to the game.

There’s nothing to point me at. We have dozens of items with weird conversions, but without full actual support for a build.

Warden’s Judegment hints at a build, but you can’t convert Vit to Aether on pets.
All the items for that matter which give bonuses to pets but also to Flame Touched or Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange etc. Those need a rework imho. The bonuses just don’t make sense on those items, or there are no sets to support those builds being hinted at.

Has nothing to do with being new either, there’s no Spellbinder/Defiler summoner build. We have Conjurer, Cabalist, Ritualist, in that order, and the few builds that we have keep getting nerfed as well for no reason. While retarded acid retal builds and whatever get to be OP forever.

It’s the same problem probably as usual, no one on the dev team play summoner.

clearly has
otherwise you’d understand

builds don’t actually need sets to work in grim dawn, nr 1
nr 2 being, you can actually use some sets still with XY items

and that’s just pure ignorance talking
while defiler summoner might not be top tier, it’s plenty doable, just like how conjurer cabalist and ritualist isn’t the only ones that exists, death knights, deceivers, apostates, elementalist etc etc etc is all doable
heck spellbinder literally exists and even has a dedicated set for a hybrid approach

warden’s judgment sucks from vit conversion not being available true: doesn’t mean the item can’t be used or aether pets can’t be made or hasn’t been made, just means they dont’ perform as top dog as other builds, and nr 4: that’s ok

heck, nr5: if you actually bothered to go through builds on the forum etc, you’d see stuff you talk about existing

so yes, either it’s because you’re new and don’t know better: or you’re willfully ignoring stuff in the open or the potential/possibilities being there

probably says enough about you/your mindset…

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Try the setups and post in feedback section if they are underwhelming. Almost all pet setups have some sort of missing conversion, which I believe is a balancing decision, but if they are built well and still not performing that’s a pretty clear improvement request.

I haven’t tried defiler but pet pyro seemed plenty playable without really optimizating it, I think flame touched actually does have enough item support + RR in the mastery to keep it competitive. The IEE buffs I’ve found lackluster for end game support though, appears to be an RR problem with no enough raw stats to overcome it.

If you want to keep your sanity, I would not recommend trying pet defiler, or at the very least, Skeletons Defiler. Yeah you get some juicy flat damage to Skeletons, but the lack of any heal for you and your pets and you’re running around like crazy just to survive, plus the complete lack of pet resistances for either class makes it very constricting for gearing up the build. Mind you, this was before the Kymon’s Burning Blade buff so now you don’t need the conduit to get Vitality to Fire conversion, but still, playing Skeletons Defiler was pain!

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should have done chaos defiler :grin:

I think if you can do SR75-76, the build is decent.

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Currently leveling the build. As a newer playing I’m not quite understanding your instructions regarding the stat point distribution. I’m level 30. How should I be spending my points between spirit and physique? Thanks a lot and thanks for the guide.

Welcome to the forum. :slightly_smiling_face:

Click on the grimtools build link and then you can hover over the attributes to see how many points are in each one. Physique has 74, Spirit has 33, Cunning has none.

image

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Oh wow I didn’t even think to do that. Whoops. Thanks for the welcome and the quick reply. :slight_smile:

I didn’t put any strict stat distribution notes in there because it will be dependent on how your gear shapes out at endgame (level 94+). If you look at the gear in the link, there are 33 points spent in spirit like Medea said but there are also a few spirit stat rolls on the gear. For example, “of Binding” suffix on the weapon comes with spirit stats.

As you level though, it’s a good idea to keep some stat points in reserve in case you pick up a new off-hand that requires more spirit. Another tip is to use the Grimtools item database and search for the off-hand. It will show you what item levels they drop at and the spirit requirements.

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