Across every video game I’ve ever played, there’s a repeated idea that grabs my mind every once in a while and doesn’t let go until I’ve fulfilled it:
I want to play the guy on the box.
The idea of a “class fantasy” in Grim Dawn is incredibly well supported by the fact that you can literally SEE the mastery splash screens using items that actually exist in the game. The “base” Oathkeeper just as a concept has always been astoundingly cool to me - a flaming paladin fighting with the fury of Gods - hence Virtue’s Light, hence Aegis of Menhir, hence shield, hence block build, hence Soldier for a little bit of support… and maybe splash in Eye of Reckoning for good measure, a skill I haven’t ever really used before.
So after a lot of theorycrafting, testing, and more Stoneplate Greaves than is reasonable for any decent person to have in their possession, I present the fruits of my labor to be the guy on the box. Gal, in this case.
Grimtools Link
DPS shown is for Eye of Reckoning
With Ascension, Overguard, and Absolution
Total block stats with all of the above buffs active
A blocking tank is something I don’t usually consider building around, but with Aegis of Menhir requiring a shield anyway, it seemed like a logical avenue to go down when considering the character’s defensive layers. It relies on all three of its defensive cooldowns to get the nigh-impenetrable block pictured above, but you’ve still got a decent ~65% chance to block even with nothing on thanks to the direct mastery support from Oathkeeper and Soldier.
Obviously, Virtue’s Light is the star of the show here. Huge bonuses and CDR to fire Aegis, better Ascension uptime, +2 to all Oathkeeper skills, and a healthy amount of health and physical resistance. It also leaves the weapon slot open for Alladrah’s Spellblade, which boosts EoR to an acceptable level as filler between Aegis throws, but it’s certainly not the standout damage dealer of the build. It does, however, provide decent AOE and constant leech to help me sustain in between the Ascension/Overguard/Absolution combo. I chose Judicator’s Sigils to enable more freedom in my devotions by covering two types of RR (although I ended up picking Viper anyways just for the OA and energy leech).
Speaking of the devotions, I forewent a typical fire path for a defensive route with Solemn Watcher, Shieldmaiden, and Light of Empyrion. I did this mostly for flavor, but the block stats and DA help, and with the extra points from being able to skip flat RR thanks to my rings I also picked up Korvaak for good all-around stats and powerful OA/DA shred. I figured it was a decent take considering I already had the blue required to get to it.
Warlord is intensely point-starved (too many good things!) especially with zero soldier skill points across my gear, so I definitely had to make some sacrifices on that side of the mastery. I would really have liked to get to Scars of Battle to fix my frankly below average CC resists, but I was able to at least max Field Command, which contributes a lot of key stats to the build.
Before I go through my usual pros/cons, I should shoutout the main inspiration for this build, Dantioch’s Aegis of Reckoning Templar. I saw this build a couple weeks back and thought the skill combination was very interesting, so I figured I’d try my own take on it using a different Mastery combo and a more defensive approach.
SR 80-81 Clear (Video)
STRENGTHS:
- Good, consistent damage. Powerful against individual and many targets thanks to burn and the natural AOE inclinations of both main skills.
- Shield!!! Even without all the defensive cooldowns active, this build is still able to mitigate a lot of damage, and is able to comfortably pull multiple SR bosses with Ascension, Overguard, and Absolution (something I’ve never really done before.) This helps a lot with speeding up the boss rooms.
- High OA and DA. This point is exacerbated by enemy stat shred from Korvaak, and the high OA buff from Ascension. Hitting things and avoiding crits is rarely an issue.
- Very high health allows easier sustain over the periods where shield abilities are on cooldown. Leech with Solael-Sect pants and Restless Remains isn’t half bad either.
- Easy playstyle - hold EOR, throw Aegis off cooldown, press your defensive buttons when you’re in a tight spot. Less cooldown juggling than my Devastation Spellbinder for much of the same results. Bonus points for flavorful and stylish Empyrion goodness!
WEAKNESSES:
- Relatively low RR from lacking it on a second mastery. This makes foes like Fabius tedious, and especially Iron Maiden be a slog.
- Questionable CC resists without Ascension (which at least has a decent uptime)
- Low attack speed. That’s bound to happen when you’re using a shield, but I also didn’t feel comfortable not taking Restless Remains on the gloves, so Consecrated Wrappings also aren’t here to help out. Especially hurts on a channeling build like this, but being above 150% is frankly good enough for me.
- Relatively low physical resistance. Obsidian Grasp in the gloves could help fix this, but the pair I have are rolled to a comical degree towards Physical to the point where they’re somehow a global DPS loss even with the flat Fire. Might update when I get my hands on a pair of them that doesn’t suck.
- Eye of Reckoning itself. This might be a skill issue but it gets deactivated by me accidentally mousing over a wall like, a LOT. This combined with relatively low movement speed (something I’ve literally never had an issue with in this game before) can make channeling a little awkward in hallways and near arena edges.
NOTES/THINGS TO IMPROVE:
- It wouldn’t be a post from me without the usual shitty piloting disclaimer/preemptive apology for probably making a stupid devotion choice. Or a stupid choice in general. It happens. My bad. But I do appreciate feedback!
- I don’t know why I was so determined to get good double-rare Stoneplates. I wasted so much time and sanity crafting and dismantling and crafting and dismantling but I guess my efforts were rewarded, eventually. If you want to recreate this, just try to get Tempest and leave it at that. You can cover any resistance issues with different augments and/or different Solael pants.
- Thanks Crate for announcing the Loyalist pack with the perfect transmog for this build literally days before I finished making it!