[1.1.9.5 - 1.2.1.2] Congregation Non-Gullible - Shepherd of Lost Souls Chaos Pets Deceiver [sr+] [vid]

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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Hi! :slightly_smiling_face:

The time has come to build something different, almost completely new for me. A pet build capable of endgame content. A small remark - this is not my first attempt. There were Skeleton + Blight Fiend + Reap Spirit Cabalists, Cold Briarthorn Druids etc. Some were okay, others not so much. Pet architecture is like from another reality. I felt like my Taken character was a fat stat stick (or rather, totem) that spawns various monstrosities and debuffs. Not killing enemies face-to-face is something unusual. Maybe I played too much Warlords :laughing:. Anyway, let us talk about today’s build.

I wanted to try specifically Chaos pets since it is my favorite type of damage in the game and great Dying God constellation offers bonuses to pets as well. The natural choice was freshly-buffed Desecrator Covenant set and Occultist main mastery. But what of support second one? Necromancer and Shaman for additional pets? Nah, they do not have any Chaos support. And I needed RR. Only two choices remained - Demolitionist and Inquisitor. Pyromancer for Chaos offers only clunky RR through Thermite Mines… and that’s it :unamused:. Flame Touched aura has meager impact. On the other hand, Deceiver has juicy buffs (Word of Renewal line - also healing, Aura of Conviction) and useful Chaos RR (Word of Pain). That was my final choice.

So I made and tested Desecrator Covenant Deceiver against various content and then realised - there was another way to build Chaos pets :thinking:. By combining Shepherd of Lost Souls set with Blood Orb of Ch’Thon for additional Hellhound and full Elemental-to-Chaos conversion. I tested it too, because why not? :slightly_smiling_face:

In this topic I will demonstrate Shepherd of Lost Souls variant as more powerful one. Let’s go!

1. Grimtools link.
Deceiver, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.5) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - Desecrator Covenant variant, just for history :face_with_monocle:. It is viable, but hard to beat two Hellhounds.
Deceiver, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator - Shepherd of Lost Souls variant I use.

The devotion tree includes Dying God and Ishtak as T3, also Bysmiel’s Bonds for additional pet spawn. Fiend bound to Hellhounds is good for AoE damage. Compact and simple (no Tree of Life unfortunately :confused:).

2. In-game character stats.
1.2.1.2_SoLSCPD_general_stats
general stats, only passive buffs, Blood of Dreeg and Word of Renewal are active

1.2.1.2_SoLSCPD_pet_stats_1
1.2.1.2_SoLSCPD_pet_stats_2
pet stats

1.2.1.2_SoLSCPD_defense_stats
defense stats

3. Gear/Build explanation.
As much Chaos conversion as possible, a little bit defense for character - these are two main criterias for gear choice. Let’s look at it.

  1. Core items.
    Set. Shepherd of Lost Souls. Allows to summon two angry Hell doggos with less CD. Sounds wonderful :slightly_smiling_face:. No significant bonuses to Raven unfortunately (except common).
    Off-hand. Blood Orb of Ch’thon. Converts all Elemental-to-Chaos damage for you and pets (great for Hellhound and Raven), +1 to Occultist. Craftable.
  2. Mandatory items.
    Rings. Voidwhisper Band. Great Chaos pets ring with bonuses to Hellhound and its aura Hellfire, Freeze Resistance for you, proc with additional damage as well as Physical-to-Chaos conversion.
    Chest. Fiendmaster Raiment. An amasing chest slot for Chaos pets with CC aura for them. Just take it, nothing is better, in my opinion.
    Pants. Bysmiel-Sect Legguards. Good MI pants with Trap CC and pets affinity. Look for “of the Wild” suffix for %Elemental Resistance to pets, prefix is up to you.
    Relic. Mogdrogen’s Ardor. Juicy Pet bonuses, +1 to All Skills (really needed). Completion bonus can be any.
    Gloves. Touch of the Everliving Grove. Pierce Resistance for pets (important), +2 to WoR, some healing proc for you (not much, but better than nothing).
  3. Can be changed.
    Belt. Nosferattis. +1 to Occultist, %Bleed and Phys res, Stun and Mind Control. Any +1 to Occultist belt like Shadowfiend Cord or Puppetmaster Links with right affixes also fit well. Not Lunal’Valgoth one though, it has bad Elemental-to-Vitality conversion.
    Medal. Halion’s Crest. Nerfed hard, but still has some flat damage for Hellhounds. “Wraithbound” prefix is good for Stun Resistance, any decent suffix is obviously great (I gained Nemesis reputation with Cronley’s Gang while farming the medal, the variant I use is most useful, not the best). Alternative - Overseer (craftable Malmouth faction medal, offers +4 to Ember Claw, nice %Slow Res and %Crit Damage to Hellhounds).
    Boots. Grim Harvest Boots. %Elemental Resistance for pets, an OK slot, not hard to get. Any crafted boots with “of the Wild” suffix are an alternative. Or if you get a medal with that suffix, use any pets boots.

Craft with Reduced Stun Duration (bonus is provided by Malmouth blacksmith in Steelcap District).

About Resistance Reduction. Total amount is ~78-85% (-25% from WoP modifier, -35% from Solael’s Witchblade constellation and flat 18-25 from either Ishtak proc or Bysmiel’s Bonds pet). Benn and Reaper are pretty sturdy (though manageable), Kuba is annoying maybe for all Pet builds due to its healing pools, others are more or less the same.

4. Gameplay.
Debuff your enemies with WoP and let your minions do all heavy-lifting :grinning:. Throw some Dreeg eyes to proc Hungering Void and do not forget to uptime BoD/WoR for healing/buffs. Amatok’s Breath for battlefield movement. Lazy pet builds :rofl:.

5. Videos.
Mad Queen (turn her away of your sight).

Kra’Vall.

Lokarr.

Morgoneth.

SR 75 full.

Avatar of Mogdrogen (old video, done with Desecrator Covenant set). Only healpots.

Ravager of Flesh (do not bother with potions, the boss has too much dispel. No Aether Clusters, occasional healpots and Beast Tinctures).

Callagadra (Elixir of Mogdrogen, no Aether Clusters, occasional healpots and Beast Tinctures. Tornadoes, especially big ones, are pretty lethal against pets :neutral_face:).

Crate boss (Elixir of Mogdrogen, no Aether Clusters, occasional healpots and Beast Tinctures. Annoying crates as usual, mess with our pets greatly).

Clones of Bourbon (Elixir of Mogdrogen, no Aether Clusters, healpots or Beast Tinctures).

So, this is my pet build. Definitely had fun with it, but pet playstyle overall is not my cup of tea, I prefer beating enemies by myself :laughing:. Anyway, have I succeeded as a pet builder? Feel free to comment :slightly_smiling_face:.

In these turbulent times I wish everyone sunny day and clear sky. Let all disasters go away as soon as possible. Stay safe and healthy!

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Reserved just for me :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:.

1 Like
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I love this.

Not gonna pretend I know anything about pet builds, but Deceiver is a class I often wished I could do something with, and always failed. The fact that it works with an Epic set is even more interesting.

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Thanks!

Deceiver has good mutual support in both its masteries, if you choose one as main. RR (WoP, AoC - from Inquisitor, CoF - from Occultist), healing abilities (WoP, BoD), some situational features like Solael’s Witchfire or Inquisitor Seal. You don’t have to spend much skillpoints to make Deceiver builds viable (unlike some skill-hungry masteries like Warlord, Saboteur etc). That is a huge advantage, I think.

Epic sets are often underestimated for endgame content (except some rare ones like Blind Assassin). Of course, they do not have such abilities as legendaries, but enable interesting builds nonetheless. Ideas (at least for me) are more appealing than time/Shard records in terms of fun :slightly_smiling_face:.

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Hello! :slightly_smiling_face:

Nothing significant in 1.1.9.6 patch, just this:

  • Hound: increased % Armor to 15%
  • Staff of Rattosh: increased Health to 250 and % Offensive Ability to 4%

Have fun!

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Hello again! :slightly_smiling_face:

As usual, fresh updates for current patch - 1.1.9.7:

  • Mythical Fiendmaster Raiment: increased Health to 800
  • Mythical Nosferattis: added 460 Health
  • Shepherd of Lost Souls Set: added 6% Defensive Ability bonus
  • Dying God: increased % Attack Speed for Pets to 8%
  • Ishtak, the Spring Maiden: increased % Total Speed to 6%, % Defensive Ability to 4% and % Total Speed for Pets to 8%
  • Aspect of the Guardian: increased base % Physical Resist by 2% and increased % All Retaliation damage scaling with rank
  • Aura of Conviction: increase % Physical Resist scaling with rank to 16% by rank 12, 20% by max ultimate rank
  • Word of Renewal: reduced Cooldown to 12s

Small bumps here and there, even more Health and DA to our buffing stat stick :laughing:. Build is still viable, enjoy!

7

Greetings!

This is 1.1.9.8 build update:

  • Rare Prefix - Wraithbound (accessories): increased % All damage for pets
  • Mythical Fiendmaster Raiment: added 18% Elemental Resist
  • Shard of Lost Souls: increased % Bleed Resist to 40%
  • Bysmiel’s Bonds: replaced % Health for pets with 20% Trap Resist and 20% Trap Resist for pets
  • Crane: increased % Poison and % Vitality Resists for pets to 20%
  • Hound: added 15% Stun Resist for pets and increased % Health for pets to 20%
  • Ishtak: increased % Bleed Resist and % Poison Resist for pets to 30% and % Total Speed for pets to 12%
  • Jackal: increased % Health for pets to 8%
  • Lion: increased % Run Speed to 6% and increased % Health for pets to 8%
  • Solael’s Witchfire: increased Defensive Ability to 40
  • Staff of Ratosh: increased % Aether and % Vitality Resists for pets to 20%. Replaced % Crit damage for pets with 6% Total Speed for pets
  • Nature’s Guardians: increased Duration to 8s and increased Physical damage for pets. Added 18 Resist Reduction / 5s for pets.
  • Summon Hellhound: increased base % Freeze Resist to 50% and % Stun Resist is now a flat 50% instead of scaling with rank to 40%
  • Ember Claw: increased Threat generation scaling with rank

The build is up-to-date. Have fun!

8

Hello again! :slightly_smiling_face:

The only endgame pet build of mine needs updating. Here are the changes:

  • Removed Defense against pets from Celestial bosses.
  • Pets now default to an Aggressive stance rather than the Normal stance. This setting can still be toggled on a pet by pet basis as desired.
  • More attributes have been added to the character sheet, mainly % Reflect Resistance and additional Pet Attributes.
  • Mogdrogen’s Ardor: increased bonuses on the granted skill
  • Mythical Fiendmaster Raiment: increased Chaos damage for pets to 8-22 and % Chaos damage for pets to 130%
  • Mythical Nosferattis: reduced % Physical Resist for pets to 5%
  • Mythical Touch of the Everliving Grove: increased Health Regeneration to 44 and % Health Regeneration to 35% and increased skill bonuses to +4
  • Mythical Voidwhisper Band: reduced % Health for pets to 10%
  • Shepherd of Lost Souls Set: increased % Health bonus to 14%. Replaced Vitality damage bonus for pets with 22 Physical damage for pets.
  • Beacon of Lost Souls: increased bonuses to Summon Hellhound and Will of the Crypt to +3
  • Mantle of Lost Souls: increased bonuses to Infernal Breath and Undead Legion to +3
  • Mask of Lost Souls: increased bonuses to Summon Hellhound and Raise Skeletons to +3
  • Shard of Lost Souls: replaced Vitality damage modifier for Summon Hellhound with 50 Physical damage modifier for it
  • Increased Health scaling with level for all pets by ~9%, with a few exceptions that received up to a 30% increase (Familiar).
  • Bysmiel’s Bonds: added 10 Physical damage for pets
  • Dying God: added 8-20 Chaos damage for pets and increased Defensive Ability to 55
  • Ishtak, the Spring Maiden: added 200 Armor for pets and increased Physical damage for pets to 24 and % Defensive Ability for pets to 5%
  • Staff of Rattosh: added 12 Physical damage and 80% Aether damage for pets
  • Bysmiel’s Command: increased % Pet Attack damage on the summoned pet’s special attacks and increased their Area of Effect
  • Blood of Dreeg: reduced Cooldown to 12s and increased Duration to 60s. Increased Energy Cost and Health Regeneration scaling with rank. Increased % Heal at scaling at ultimate ranks.
  • Focused Gaze: increased % Physical Damage Reduction duration to 6s
  • Summon Familiar: increased % Pet Attack damage on the Familiar’s basic attack to 12%
  • Mend Flesh: fixed an issue where the Familiar would stop healing, particularly other pets. Reduced % Heal scaling with rank and increased flat Heal scaling with rank. Radius now scales with rank.
  • Lightning Strike: increased Area of Effect. Increased % Pet Attack damage scaling with rank to 160% by rank 12, 205% by max ultimate rank
  • Summon Hellhound: increased % Pet Attack damage scaling with rank on the Hellhound’s Blazing Death skill to 135% by rank 16, 185% by max ultimate rank
  • Ember Claw: % Pet Attack damage now starts at 80%, but scales up to 155% by rank 12, 190% by max ultimate rank
  • Infernal Breath: increased Area of Effect. % Pet Attack damage now starts at 80%, but scales up to 160% by rank 12, 205% by max ultimate rank
  • Word of Renewal: increased Duration to 60s. Increased Energy Cost and Heal scaling with rank. Increased % Heal scaling at ultimate ranks.

So Shepherd of Lost Souls variant I currently use is updated, Desecrator Covenant one is left in history in case someone got interested, GT link is in main topic. But new videos, except for Mogdrogen, are only for Lost Souls now, sorry :sweat_smile:. Check them out, also added Crate boss fight.

That is all for now. Have fun!

2 Likes
9

Hi! :slightly_smiling_face:

Updating to 1.2.1.2 patch continues. This build is no exception.

  • This update includes a major pass on pet skills and itemization. Some of these changes might seem alarming in a vacuum, but the net result is a significant boost for pet builds with less keybinds required. In summary: pets are going to be attacking slower, but their special attacks are much more powerful. Permanent pets are tougher than their temporary counterparts and deal more damage. A significant portion of power has been taken out of pet sets and transferred to the base skills and pet Constellations, making non-set pet builds more viable.
  • Component - Bindings of Bysmiel: added 25 Offensive Ability and removed % All damage
  • Component - Seal of Might: replaced % Physical Resist with 8% Armor on the granted skill
  • Mogdrogen’s Ardor: increased % All damage for pets to 100% and removed % Crit damage for pets. Reduced Physical damage for pets on the granted skill to 15 and removed % Total Speed for pets from it.
  • Bysmiel-Sect Legguards: replaced % Physical Resist for pets with 6% Health for pets
  • Halion’s Crest: increased bonuses to Conjure Primal Spirit and Summon Hellhound to +4 at levels 84+. Replaced % Attack Speed modifier for Summon Hellhound with 100 Fire damage modifier for it.
  • Mythical Grim Harvest Boots: added 18% Slow Resist and 8% Crit damage for pets. Removed % Physical Resist and % Total Speed for pets.
  • Mythical Blood Orb of Cht’thon: increased % Damage for pets on the granted skill
  • Mythical Fiendmaster Raiment: increased % All damage for pets to 90% and % Chaos damage for pets to 180%. Increased bonuses to Ground Slam, Hellfire, Manipulation and Reap Spirit to +4. Increased % All damage for pets on the granted skill.
  • Mythical Voidwhisper Band: increased % Chaos damage for pets on the skill proc and increased % Conversion on it to 100%
  • Shepherd of Lost Souls Set: reduced Physical damage for pets bonus to 16. Reduced % Physical Resist modifier for Raise Skeletons to 15% and reduced their % Attack and % Cast Speed modifiers to 15%.
  • Mantle of Lost Souls: removed % Total Speed for pets and added +2 to Ember Claw. Reduced bonus to Undead Legion to +2.
  • Mask of Lost Souls: removed % All damage for pets and reduced bonus to Will of the Crypt to +2
  • Shard of Lost Souls: replaced % Total Speed for pets with 80% All damage for pets. Increased Physical damage modifier for Summon Hellhound to 160 and its Cooldown Reduction modifier to -9s.
  • Reduced baseline % Physical Resist on pets that had higher than average % Physical Resist (Briarthorn, Hellhound, Yeti, etc).
  • Increased baseline Speed of all pets to compensate for removal of % Total Speed bonuses for pets.
  • Increased frequency with which Mastery pets use their special abilities (ex. Slam for the Briarthorn) and reduced their base Attack Speed.
  • Increased base threat generation of all pets.
  • Bysmiel’s Bonds: increased % All damage for pets to 130% and removed % Total Speed and Physical damage for pets
  • Dying God: increased % All damage for pets to 140%. Added 100% Chaos damage for pets. Removed % Attack Speed and Chaos damage for pets.
  • Fiend: added 30% All damage for pets and increased % Fire damage for pets to 80%
  • Ishtak, the Spring Maiden: replaced % Defensive Ability, Physical damage and % Total Speed for pets with 160% All damage and 5% Physical Resist for pets
  • Lion: replaced Health with 30 Armor and increased % All damage for pets to 20%
  • Staff of Rattosh: increased % All damage for pets to 100%, % Aether damage for pets to 140%, and % Total Speed for pets to 8%. Removed Physical damage for pets.
  • Stag: increased % All damage for pets to 80% and % Physical damage for pets to 80%. Removed % Total Speed for pets.
  • Flame Torrent: increased Burn damage scaling with rank
  • Hungering Void: increased % All damage for pets scaling with rank
  • Nature’s Guardians: reduced Physical damage for pets scaling with rank
  • Blood of Dreeg: reduced Health Regeneration scaling at ultimate ranks
  • Aspect of the Guardian: Increased % damage scaling with rank to 100% by rank 12, 210% by max ultimate rank. Reduced % Physical Resist scaling with rank to 10% by rank 12, 13% by max ultimate rank.
  • Dreeg’s Evil Eye: increased Damage scaling with rank and reduced Energy Cost scaling with rank
  • Focused Gaze: increased % Damage Modifier to 160%
  • Manipulation: increased % All damage scaling with rank to 120% by rank 12, 240% by max ultimate rank. Reduced % Total Speed scaling with rank 15% by rank 12, 25% by max ultimate rank
  • Summon Familiar: increased Health scaling with level by ~20% and increased damage scaling with rank. Added 0.5 Radius to the Familiar’s projectiles.
  • Mend Flesh: now heals for an initial % Health amount, and then additional % Health per second for the duration of the buff. Mend Flesh is now cast less frequently and its duration scales with rank. Flat Heal removed.
  • Storm Spirit: increased % Elemental Damage scaling with rank to 120% by rank 12, 250% by max ultimate rank
  • Lightning Strike: increased damage scaling with rank
  • Summon Hellhound: increased Health scaling with level by ~12% and increased damage scaling with rank
  • Ember Claw: increased damage scaling with rank. Threat now scales to 100% by rank 12.
  • Hellfire: increased % Damage scaling with rank to 120% by rank 12, 250% by max ultimate rank
  • Infernal Breath: increased damage scaling with rank and increased % Damage Reduction scaling with rank to 18% by rank 12, 28% by max ultimate rank
  • Aura of Conviction: increased % Damage scaling with rank to 135% by rank 12, 210% by max ultimate rank. Reduced % Physical Resist scaling with rank to 10% by rank 12, 13% by max ultimate rank.
  • Vigor: added Armor scaling with rank

Quite a lot of updated stuff :laughing:. And, of course, %Phys Res nerf too. So I shifted more points to Hellhound abilities like Ember Claw, according to new mechanics, by taking away Solael’s Witchfire skill (we do not need it much since our rings provide 100% Physical-to Chaos conversion on proc) and other nerfed stuff like BoD line. For now, devotions and gear are same, build works fine. New GT link and screenshots were added.

Have a good time!

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