Thanks, I meant Deadly Momentum. The no augment on my boots is totally a statement of how strong this build is, since it can clear SR80 without augmented boots, and not a reflection of the fact that I forgot to augment my boots. That boots augment really helped my overcaps, so I updated the grimtools link.
I did not know that. Googling said it wasn’t important. So how many separate sources would it count on a Cadence strike?
each instance of your flat physical
so deadly momentum is 1 source, 1 augment on 1 ring is a single source, if you have 3 augments that’s 3 individual sources, flat bonus in a devotion is its own source etc
basically each time you have a mention of X flat phys, that’s a single source, which gets checked against enemy armour on its own
*still boosted by your bonus dmg ofc, so it’s not like you get 12 phys checked against enemy armour, it’s still 12 phys * bonus dmg and weapon dmg
The weapon damage bonuses don’t all get grouped together as a single “weapon damage” damage? If you’re right, then Dire Bear is huge; I count 10 individual damage sources on Cadence (although I’m bad at counting).
nope, each instance individually,
so 1 ring augment with 12 flat phys, and 2500% bonus dmg would be 12*26 and then multiplied but whatever weapon dmg swing you did, “checked against enemy armour”
another 12 flat phys augment on other ring would then go through the same armour check on its own etc etc
it’s why dire bear got the armour reduction, because before we used to cheese the game by avoiding armour check, using converted phys dmg, (vitality/cold/x etc dmg converted into phys would 100% ignore armour), but that got patched out, and we got dire bear armour reduct to compensate (and some general phys dmg increases)
1 Like
Cool, I didn’t know that. (And the internet mislead me!) I think “Huge” may have been an overstatement, since with 10 sources a 2000 armor enemy can reduce at most 20k damage, if they have 100% absorption, which works out to 10% of the damage, so Dire bear would be around 3% damage boost. Not huge, but not insignificant either.
very few does, (totally obscure mechanic), and the guide that actually explained it got deleted 
if an enemy has 2000 armour
and a source is 12dmg, with 2500%bonus bonus dmg, and 500%wd, that 1 source is doing 12x26x5 dmg that’s 1560 dmg, on 1 (small) source
now if enemy had 100% absorb, which they luckily don’t that would swallow all those small sources entirely, a fat 0 dmg…
Fortunately they only have have 70%
so 2000 at 70% is 1400 armour, not much penetration there, 1560*0.3 = 468 dmg applied to the enemy from your 12 phys ring augment, dire bear increases that to 650 if i calced right.
basically goes from 0 immediate penetration, to a couple hundred, because enemy armour is now at 1300, and still at 70% effective, so now you have 260 free dmg at the get go, and only need to check the remaining, and becomes like a 38% dmg increase there/for that 12 flat phys augment/source
basically the more sources, and small, you have, the more dire bear benefits
2 Likes
and to makes the things even more complicated - physical resistance is applied before the armor check happens …
2 Likes
which is why phys RR becomes so valuable so the resist can go into negatives and boost dmg before the armour reduces it
2 Likes
So, I’m a total newbie to the game, and I’m trying out this build.
Loaded up cadence, zoltan’s and blitz. I’m level 22 now.
I really am not a fan of this build, or maybe it’s the game. Too new to decide.
This thing makes you a melee glass cannon early on, not a great combination.
This game throws elemental damage at you - all of the time. The only way to not die (veteran) is to run away from things and hit blitz every three seconds, because standing and fighting anything for more than two seconds gets you dead by elemental damage of some sort (if not the 20 things that mob you)
Welcome to the forum. 
If you haven’t played ARPG’s before then don’t play on Veteran difficulty, switch back to Normal. Also this is an endgame build, not a beginner’s one.
Best if you post your build here so we can have a look at it. To upload your character to Grim Dawn Build Calculator click the ‘up arrow’ button in the upper-lefthand corner. If you have cloud saves enabled (enabled by default) your save file will be in \Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata########\219990\remote\save\main_{character name}\player.gdc
Otherwise it will be in \My Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn\save\main_{character name}\player.gdc
Then click on the icon below the arrow and copy the link shown to paste here.
I have, I am a 20 year vet of Diablo series, in fact in D3 and D4 I play almost exclusively hardcore. In Path of Exile I exclusively play ruthless mode (I’m not nearly as good at it, but I finish the campaign, anyway).
Between the bulk of these builds being years old (aka, probably outdated), and these being end game builds…it really doesn’t help me at all since I’m trying to learn the game, you know?
edit: link - Death Knight, Level 22 (GD 1.2.0.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Speaking of this build calculator, it’s not clear to me how to even pull up skills on a build…
that’s why we have beginner/levelling builds seperate
Could stand to have its own sticky, since I clearly overlooked the one line at the very top of a massive post of builds.
no idea why it’s not on the “front” page of general build section but it’s in the compendium page
I also recommend Grim Dawn Discord if you want some tips / learn the game quicker / ask questions. For example at level 22 I’d already have many components crafted from Blacksmith to increase resists even further which could make the Elemental damage you take 1/3 - 1/2 of what you take now.
I’ll do that.
Main problem I see is that you’ve maxed skills out too early and not climbed the mastery bars enough to help with your survival.
What’s ironic is that before I looked at this build, I was using force wave and having a good ol’ time. Just thought I was doing it wrong…
I’ll reset my skill points and carry on.
Most classes can be played in several different ways. Forcewave is one of the easiest levelling skills to use in the game. And often the advice is to follow a beginner build until you have all the necessary endgame items and then switch over to whatever your endgame build is going to be.