Would you like to know about our lord and savior Chthon?
Foreword
Hello there! It's been a while since my last forum post (been busy IRL but I am on vacation right now) and I'm glad to be able to play Grim Dawn again.I’ve also been playing a lot more Hardcore lately, hence the motivation to write a beginner guide specifically for Hardcore.
Introduction
The inspiration for this beginner guide came from a random chatter on a Grim Dawn Twitch stream that I was watching: (non-verbatim) “What’s a good caster class for hardcore? I’m new to Grim Dawn.”
While there are already lots of beginner guides posted here, there is only one (as of writing this guide) written for a Chaos Pyromancer and none for Fire (which is the namesake of the class). I understand that the class isn’t as popular or “strong” as other options, especially in the endgame, but I’d still like to offer this build as a viable starter.
Before we continue…
This beginner guide will assume that you have both Ashes of Malmouth and Forgotten Gods expansions, since the build has items that require both.
Also, you should be okay with target-farming a lot. This build requires several Monster Infrequents (MIs), and the build’s performance will vary with what affixes you will get. More information about this later in the guide.
Build Introduction
Build Explanation
Build Template Grim Tools Link (no affixes)
This version only has the base (affixless) and faction items, basic components, and weapon/accessory augments to serve as a rough guide. The armor augments will depend on what resistances you are missing.
The idea is to play as a Fire caster that is both durable and can cover both AoE and single-target scenarios. I also made it a point that the build does not rely on random-drop Epic (blue) and Legendary (purple) items, which means all the basic gear pieces are either bought from a vendor, craftable from the blacksmith, guaranteed drops, or target-farmable.
This build also introduces the concept of damage conversion through items, which will be covered in more detail in the items section.
Pros
- You are playing as a class with both masteries that have skills that reduce Fire resistance (more about this in the Skills section)
- Straightforward to play
- Has multiple layers of defenses
- Can be played as-is or used as a transition to other Fire Pyromancer builds
- Your Doom Bolt is orange (red is the default color)
- All items are obtainable
Cons
- Not a lot of build options for Fire Pyromancer endgame (most of the items are supporting or enabling Chaos Pyromancer)
- You are casting 4 to 5 skills (6 if you count keeping Blood of Dreeg up)
- Needs a bit of RNG for good affixes on items
- Visual clarity issues (you’re mostly setting the ground on fire)
- Has lower HP compared to other classes
- Has no movement skills from either mastery
Skills Information
The main skills for this build are Blackwater Cocktail from the Demolitionist Mastery and Doom Bolt from the Occultist mastery.
Active Skills
Blackwater Cocktail
Throws a molotov on the ground depending on where your cursor is placed when casting. This is the main AoE clearing skill that also reduces enemy damage and resistances through the skill modifiers. This is normally a spammable skill but we are taking the High Potency transmuter that puts a cooldown on it but significantly boosts damage and area of effect.
Doom Bolt
Strikes a target area with what looks like red lightning. Deals double damage if an enemy is directly hit. The build’s itemization converts the damage to Fire and changes the color to orange.
Thermite Mine
Throws a cluster of 3 mines in a small area. You can have a total of 6 mines at a time, which means 2 casts. This reduces the enemy Elemental resistance (Fire is considered Elemental). We are not taking the Hellfire Mine modifier since we are focusing on Fire damage.
Conflagration
This is a skill granted by the Conflagration relic. Fires a beam (Albrecht’s Aether Ray at home) that deals Fire and Burn damage. You only want to use this when Blackwater Cocktail and Doom Bolt are on cooldown and if the enemies are not yet dead. Do not mindlessly spam because it drains a lot of energy.
Curse of Frailty
Places a debuff on the enemy that reduces enemy movement speed, defensive ability, and most importantly, Elemental resistance. You will know that the debuff is applied by a small icon above the enemy and on the top part of the screen if you enabled “show enemy debuffs” in the game settings.
Blood of Dreeg
Heals you and provides buffs such as increased Offensive Ability, health regeneration, Poison/Acid and Physical resistance. You usually want to use this off cooldown but you need to learn to when to press it during harder fights.
Passive Skills
Blast Shield (taken from my Beginner Fire Blade Arc guide)
Blast Shield is a Defensive skill proc that activates when your Health is at a certain percentage; in this case it procs when your Health drops below 60%. This and other similarly worded abilities is commonly referred to by the Grim Dawn community as “circuit breakers,” a.k.a. something that can prevent you from taking too much damage or dying. Another example of a circuit breaker is the Turtle Shell devotion proc, which activates at 50% Health.
Blast Shield is great because it provides Flat Damage Absorption, a chance to avoid Projectiles, large boosts to Pierce and Elemental Resistances, increases maximum resistances, and also gives Fire Retaliation damage. In other words, it makes you quite tanky when it’s active.
When Blast Shield activates, you will see the skill icon in your buff area above the health bar:
You will also see a small number on the lower right of the icon counting down. After the active duration ends, the cooldown timer begins:
This time, there will be no countdown number indicator. This means that even if you go below 60% again when this icon is present, Blast Shield will not activate since it is still on cooldown.
It has a base active time of 4 seconds before it goes into cooldown for 11 seconds. I have to emphasize that the cooldown does not count down when the skill activates; it only starts counting down when the active duration ends. This can be reduced by Cooldown Reduction (CDR) stats like on offhands or on items that specifically reduce Blast Shield’s cooldown.
Vindictive Flame
Provides an aura that deals AoE damage around you when getting hit. Also gives health regeneration and total speed (attack, cast, and movement). We only put one point on Ulzuin’s Wrath for additional effects.
Flame Touched
Together with the Temper modifier, this provides additional Fire/Burn damage and Offensive/Defensive Ability
Possession
We don’t really have another option for the Exclusive skill. Although this is supporting Chaos/Vitality/Acid damage, we’re still taking this for the percentage Damage Absorption, Chaos resistance, and Skill Disruption Protection.
Leveling Guide
Items
When checking loot for upgrades, prioritize the following:
- Resistances
- Higher armor value (bonus if it has Physical Resistance)
- Offensive/Defensive Ability
- % Elemental/Fire/Burn Damage
- Crowd Control resistances (Stun, Freeze, Slow, etc.)
Monster Infrequents
Grim Dawn has an item class called Monster Infrequents (MI), which are Rare/Green class items that drop from specific monsters in the game. These items mostly have skill point bonuses, and some have unique Item Modifiers which have varying effects like additional damage, damage type conversion, etc.
Most of these items also have different level versions (example: Zarthuzellan’s Codex has level 20, 32, 52, 70, 84, and 94 versions), so you’ll want to upgrade your MIs as your character levels up.
The items listed here are the core MIs of the build. Other leveling options will be mentioned in the Leveling Journal. Click the item names to view in Grim Tools (linked are the lowest level versions unless specified).
- Zarthuzellan’s Codex
Drops from: Grand Priest Zarthuzellan
Converts the Chaos damage of Blackwater Cocktail to Fire. Zarthuzellan can either drop the Codex or the Archive. You’ll soon realize why this area is called the Steps of Torment.
- Bloodsworn Sigil
Drops from: Bloodlord Thalonis, Father Abaddoth - Betrayer of Menhir
Converts the Vitality damage of Doom Bolt to Fire. But what about the Chaos damage, you say? That will be covered in the Endgame section.
- Gollus’ Ring
Drops from: Gollus, the Deepdweller
Lord of the Rings reference BATCHESTING. Provides health, health regeneration, Pierce resistance, and +3 to Vindictive Flame for more health regeneration. Also, he really liked that ring.
- Loghorrean’s Corruption
Drops from: Loghorrean’s Trove
Provides Offensive and Defensive ability, Physical resistance, and +3 to Doom Bolt. A bit annoying to farm but the stats really benefit the build.
- Dreeg-Sect Legguards
Drops from: Guardian of Dreeg
Provides Offensive Ability, health regeneration, Vitality and Stun resistance. You need to have Dynamite to access the area where the Guardian of Dreeg spawns.
- Vilgazor’s Heart
Drops from: Vilgazor
The only MI locked behind a Skeleton Key Dungeon. You might only need to farm this a few times as this will be replaced in the endgame.
Guaranteed items
Grants Elemental damage bonuses, Cooldown Reduction, and +1 to all Demolitionist skills. Requires a Skeleton Key to obtain. You don’t have to get the Elite difficulty version; the level 50 version from Normal is enough to carry you until you get to Ultimate and obtain the level 94 one.
** Note: you don’t have to fight the boss at the end of Ancient Grove; just Exit to Main Menu to leave the dungeon once you get the item.
Star Wars reference. The level 75/94 (Elite/Ultimate) versions provide +1 to all skills. The level 50 version in Normal difficulty used to also have the +1 all skills but it was removed, so no need to get it.
Faction items
Purchasable from Homestead Quartermaster. You can definitely replace this with a better one in endgame.
Purchasable from Black Legion Quartermaster. You’ll probably wear these for a long time as it provides a lot of good bonuses.
Buy the blueprint from the Malmouth Resistance Quartermaster, then craft it at a blacksmith. This item can only roll one affix (either Prefix or Suffix) since it is already a Rare item.
Relic
This item has its own section because the blueprint is a global random drop. However, you can buy this blueprint when you save a certain NPC when you reach Malmouth. I’ll be explaining this method at the Malmouth section of the Leveling Journal.
Skill Points Allocation
Some terms used:
Hardcap - the node cannot be further upgraded by skill points, will have a blue outline once reached
Softcap - the node reaches the designated maximum (e.g. 12/12) by virtue of items that provide skill point bonuses
Overcap - the node has reached hardcap with excess points from item bonuses, will have a red outline indicator on the node
Demolitionist
-
Blackwater Cocktail
Hardcap the main skill node and all modifiers. Don’t forget to take the High Potency transmuter. -
Thermite Mine
Hardcap for highest amount of resistance reduction. While some builds might put this at 13/16 because of efficiency reasons, we can afford to max it out since we have enough skill points. We don’t take the Hellfire Mine modifier. -
Flame Touched
Hardcap the main skill node first, then hardcap Temper once you’ve unlocked all active skills while levelling. -
Vindictive Flame
Hardcap the main skill node. Other builds usually put this at 11/16 only for the Total Speed efficiency, but we can reach 26/16 with our itemization. Put only one point to Ulzuin’s Wrath. This may reach overcap with enough items so remember to reallocate to other skills. -
Blast Shield
Put only at 5/12 while leveling, respec the skill points as you get more item skill bonuses. Later on, you’ll only put one point on this and will be at 6/12 from item bonuses.
Occultist
-
Doom Bolt
Hardcap. That’s it. -
Blood of Dreeg
Hardcap the main skill node and softcap Aspect of the Guardian. While leveling, put enough points into Aspect of the Guardian to have enough Poison/Acid resistance. -
Curse of Frailty
One point main skill and hardcap Vulnerability. You will only use this for tougher enemies. Put any remaining skill points (once you allocated all the other skills) on the main skill for increased area of effect. -
Possession
Hardcap. Yep.
Stat Points Allocation
The three stat points are Physique, Cunning, and Spirit. You can hover over the respective stats in-game or in Grimtools to see what each of these provide. For this build in particular, the stat point allocation are as follows:
Each time to you level up, alternate putting points into Physique and Spirit until you’ve put 30 points into Spirit, then put all the remaining points into Physique. We need the points in Spirit to equip the offhand, and we do not need to put points into Cunning as the mastery bar bonuses will be enough.
Devotions
This devotion tree was made in collaboration with mourndale17. The idea is to get Ulzuin’s Torch and all relevant Fire constellations while having the most amount of defensive procs.
TL;DR version (endgame setup)
(+ means add, - means refund)
This allocation guide aims to get all the necessary constellations while keeping refunds at a minimum.
+Red Crossroads
+Viper
+Fiend (bind to Thermite Mine)
+Hawk
+Solael’s Witchblade (bind to Curse of Frailty)
+Yellow Crossroads
+Turtle (bind to Flame Touched)
+Lotus
-Yellow Crossroads
+Alladrah’s Phoenix (bind to Blackwater Cocktail)
+Hammer
+Crab (bind to Vindictive Flame)
+Purple Crossroads
-Hammer
+Behemoth (bind to Blast Shield)
-Hawk
+Magi (bind to Conflagration)
+Ulzuin’s Torch (take all nodes, bind to Doom Bolt)
Viper
Taken for affinity and relevant bonuses. The 20% Reduced Resistance is useful when using skills that use Weapon Damage.
Fiend
Taken for relevant bonuses and the skill proc, Flame Torrent. This has a unique interaction depending where it’s bound. If bound to a skill that the player casts, the effect will circle around the player. But if it’s bound to a pet (Thermite Mine counts as a player-scaled pet, ask Zantai why), it will circle around the pet instead.
Solael’s Witchblade
Mandatory constellation for Fire/Chaos damage; the proc reduces enemy Fire/Chaos resistances.
Turtle
Arguably the strongest defensive devotion proc. Absorbs a total of 6100 damage at max level and has a cooldown of 8 seconds, before any cooldown reduction stat.
Lotus
Taken for affinity and some nice stats like Physical resistance.
Alladrah’s Phoenix
Taken for relevant bonuses and especially the proc, Phoenix Fire. It grants flat Damage Absorption throughout its duration.
Crab
Another defensive devotion proc that absorbs most damage types and has a very short cooldown. It’s practically up most of the time that you’re getting hit.
Behemoth
This constellation, together with Vindictive Flame, Blood of Dreeg, and Gollus’ Rings, provides a lot of health regeneration. We bind the proc to Blast Shield so it acts as an emergency heal.
Magi
Taken for relevant bonuses, affinity and the Fire damage proc.
Ulzuin’s Torch
We take all the nodes and bind it to Doom Bolt for 100% chance to activate on cast.
Leveling Journal
This will be divided into key areas and character levels. Your own item stats, especially affixes (since they are random), may vary from the Grimtools link. I will include tips and strategies per section, and avoid spoilers as much as possible.
Devil's Crossing to Warden's Laboratory
Welcome to Cairn, Taken. As of version 1.2.0.0, we now have an ability called Evade (default key is Spacebar) that lets you dodge any attack in the game. Mastering this is essential in Hardcore.
In relation to this, a new enemy mechanic called Sunder has been added. This is a debuff that increases the damage that you take. Most Unique enemies will have a Sunder attack (they will glow red-orange and wind up the attack for a bit), so you have to pay attention and use Evade at the right moments.
You can choose to pick Veteran Difficulty when starting, but I strongly advise against it as a beginner, especially in Hardcore.
You’ll also want to be familiar with a website called Grim Dawn Tools, or just Grimtools for short. We will be utilizing this amazing website throughout the guide.
- Get Francis’ Gun
- As you hit level 2, put 1 pt Fire Strike, 1 pt Flame Touched, 1pt Blackwater Cocktail
- Level 5 - equip Kyzogg’s Skull, put Searing Ember on weapon, use Fireblast on right click, refund Fire Strike at Spirit Guide, allocate High Potency as soon as possible.
- Once all gear slots have been filled except Relic and Medal, turn off Common Items (no affixes) in Loot Filter.
- Around level 10, turn off Magic Items (yellow text items) in Loot Filter.
- Once you have access to the blacksmith (around level 14), prioritize crafting two Wardstones and put these into your amulet and medal. Fill up the rest of your gear slots with appropriate components to cover resistances.
- IMPORTANT: you need to put a Chilled Steel on your offhand before reaching the Burrwitch Village rift. The fire zombies that spawn there have very high fire resistance so your skills will do very little damage, so use Ice Spike to kill them. Once you clear that encounter, you can replace the Chilled Steel via the Inventor.
Skill Point allocations
- Each level up after level 2, put 1 pt Blackwater Cocktail, 1 pt Vindictive Flame, 1 pt Mastery bar. Do this until Blackwater Cocktail and Vindictive Flame are maxed.
- Once Blackwater Cocktail is maxed: 1 pt Vindictive Flame, 1 pt Demon Fire, 1 pt Mastery bar per level up. Put 1 pt into Temper and Ulzuin’s Wrath when you can.
Devotions
Throughout the campaign, you will encounter Devotion Shrines, which grant you points to use on the tree (you can access this by clicking the Devotion tab while the Skill window is open). Each constellation has an affinity (color) requirement to unlock, and most constellations provide affinity as they are completed. This means that you need to get certain constellations to unlock others.
- Allocate the Red Crossroads point
- Viper
- Start Fiend
Tips (contains spoilers)
- When checking loot for upgrades, prioritize the following:
- Resistances, especially the first row. Aether resistance is nice to have for the act boss
- Higher armor value (bonus if it has Physical Resistance)
- Offensive/Defensive Ability
- % Elemental/Fire/Burn Damage
- Crowd Control resistances (Stun, Freeze, Slow, etc.)
- Collect 3 Slith Necklaces for a guaranteed ring in Wightmire.
- Kill Milton Hart for a guaranteed helm and necklace once you turn in the quest.
- Go west from the Foggy Bank rift for a guaranteed shoulder piece.
- Kill Direni for a Blood of Ch’thon.
- Always buy Scrap from the vendors. You will need a lot for early crafting and getting past Devil’s Crossing to Act 2.
- Do not sell components. Keep everything in your stash as you will be using those for crafting and gearing.
- Pick up all green items and sell them to the vendors for iron bits. This is (unfortunately) the main source of iron bits in the game.
Devil's Crossing to Twin Falls rift
- Before heading out to the left of Devil’s Crossing, make sure that all items have components. The first row of your resistances should be capped at this point, especially Pierce resistance. You can craft a Silk Swatch or two from the blacksmith.
- Talk to The Emissary and choose one of the Witch Gods for the movement augment of your choice.
- At level 15, craft a Flintcore Bolt and put it on the offhand. Place Greater Fireblast on your right-click.
- At level 20, craft an Enchanted Flint and put it on the weapon.
Skill points allocation
- Once Vindictive Flame is maxed out: 1 pt Flame Touched, 1 pt Demon Fire, 1 pt mastery bar. Do this until both skills are maxed out.
Devotions
- Complete Fiend (bind to Blackwater Cocktail)
Tips (contains spoilers)
- Kill Skinner for a guaranteed Fire weapon.
- When handing in the talisman to Greven, choose the “lie” option for a free relic.
- You can choose to farm in the Cronley area for two Monster Infrequents, Martin’s Crest and Incendiary Shoulderplates. Prioritize resistances over anything else for the affixes.
Twin Falls rift to Rotting Croplands
- Make sure you have maxed out Pierce resistance and good Armor Absorption (Scaled Hide, Ancient Armor plating components) before proceeding from the Twin Falls rift.
- You will be encountering a quest line that leads you to the Steps of Torment. Completing this quest will give you a Skeleton Key, but we will use it for later. Our priority is killing Zarthuzellan for his Codex.
Level 32 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/aZq6RGmN
- At Homestead, go to the area below the Royal Hive to get the next key item for this build, Gollus’ Ring. And we need two, which means you have to restart your game session (Exit to Main Menu) for Gollus to respawn. As per usual, prioritize resistances above everything else while leveling.
- This is also a good time to start the Hidden Path quest line, but we only need the Dreeg-Sect Legguards. You can definitely wear other pants, but the innate bonuses on the Dreeg-Sect Legguards fit the build very well.
- Note: While farming for Gollus’ Ring and Dreeg-Sect Legguards, there is a chance that the item will roll a level 36 affix. This means that you can drop a level 35 item base but you can only wear it at level 36 due to the affix.
Skill points allocation
- Once Demon Fire is maxed out, continue putting points into Flame Touched and mastery bar until you reach Thermite Mine.
- Put 1 pt into Blast Shield, then 1 pt Flame Touched, 1 pt Thermite Mine, 1 pt mastery bar per level up.
- Once Flame Touched is maxed out, 1 pt Thermite Mine and 2 pts mastery bar until you reach Agonizing Flames.
Devotions
- Hawk
- Solael’s Witchblade (bind to Blackwater Cocktail, rebind Fiend to Thermite Mine when available)
- Yellow Crossroads
- Start Turtle
Tips
- As soon as you reach Respected reputation with the Rovers faction, you can buy the blueprint for the Runestone component. This is a great headgear component that will carry you until the endgame (more about this in the Endgame section).
Homestead to Asterkarn Mountains rift
- You are probably around level 35-36 at this point. Before heading north from Homestead, we will take this opportunity to prepare:
- Respected Reputation with Devil’s Crossing, Rovers, and Homestead means you can buy gear and blueprints from the Respected tab on the Quartermaster NPCs (the community usually just calls them “faction vendors”).
- Make sure that you have good Chaos resistance (at least 50%) as the enemies from the Ch’thonian faction deal Chaos damage, particularly the Unique enemies.
- Regarding the choice between Kymon’s Chosen and Order of Death’s Vigil, it’s highly advisable to side with Kymon as their faction vendor sells items with Fire damage and Chaos resistance, and more importantly, a belt that grants +1 to all Demolitionist skills. You can choose to side with Death’s Vigil on Ultimate difficulty (more on that in the Ultimate difficulty section) but Kymon’s Chosen will provide a stronger start as Demolitionist. You should try to complete as many quests as you can with them in order to reach Respected reputation and get the Chosen Cord as soon as possible.
Level 36 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28MvWyV
Skill points allocation
- You should have reached the Agonizing Flames node at this point, and this is where we will stop putting additional points in the Demolitionist mastery bar and start putting points in the Occultist mastery bar.
- For the next levels, put 1 pt Agonizing Flames, 1 pt Thermite mine, and 1 pt to Occultist mastery bar. Once Thermite Mine is at 13/16, it gives -1% additional Elemental Resistance reduction per point allocated compared to -2% on the previous levels, so we’ll move on to other skills first before maxing it out later.
Asterkarn Mountains rift to Necropolis Interior
- You should be around 80% Vitality, Aether, and Chaos resistances (Vitality and Chaos having more priority) as you reach Fort Ikon.
- For the Outcast, it doesn’t matter for the build if you choose to be friendly or hostile, so it’s up to you.
- You might have some energy issues when fighting the act boss, but it’s just a longer fight than the others you’ve encountered so far.
- After killing the act boss, complete the Hidden Path quest before going to Gloomwald.
Skill points allocation
- Assuming you already have the Chosen Cord (+1 to all Demolitionist skills), put enough points to Blast Shield to get it to 5/12
- Put 1 pt to Agonizing Flames, 1 pt Temper, and 1 pt Occultist mastery bar per level up
Devotions
- Complete Turtle (bind to Flame Touched)
- Lotus
- Remove Yellow Crossroad
- Start Phoenix
Ashes of Malmouth Expansion
- Once you get to the Coven, make sure that you have some overcap on Acid/Poison and Fire resistances because we’re going to the Ancient Grove. Don’t forget to talk to Mogdrogen at the entrance for a free Skeleton Key.
- The main reason why we’re going to Ancient Grove is it contains two key items for the build: Vilgazor’s Heart and Totally Normal Dawnshard. These items each provide +1 to all Demolitionist skills and other stats relevant to the build. Don’t worry too much about the affixes on the amulet, you can work around it using other items slots. Once you have the items, just restart the game to exit the dungeon. I would not recommend fighting the boss at the end of the dungeon at this stage (especially as this is a beginner guide).
Just get it.
- While you are not yet level 50 to equip the Totally Normal Dawnshard, you can try to get an Ugdenbog Flamestrife from Janaxia. While the Flamestrife is boosting Blackwater Cocktail by a lot, the +1 to all Demolitionist skills will be much more beneficial in the long run. Also, the Totally Normal Dawnshard is a guaranteed item, compared to the three types of strife daggers that can drop. You can definitely use the Flamestrife if you want, I just chose to pick the guaranteed items for this beginner guide.
I hope your luck is better than mine.
Level 50 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZr4qwk2
- Once you’re in Malmouth and have reached the Crown Hill rift, you should have access to a special vendor named Hyram (provided you saved him). The 4th tab (Accessories and Consumables) sells Relic Blueprints that are level 35 and below. We will use this to “farm” for the Conflagration relic (if you don’t have it already):
- If you don’t see the Conflagration relic blueprint in the shop, go out of the area by teleporting to a different rift (Malmouth Sewers, for example), wait for 15 seconds, then go back to Steelcap District rift and check the shop. This is called “vendor resetting” and works on all vendors in the game. Repeat this process until you see the Conflagration relic and buy it.
- You need to be careful when replacing the Bone Talisman with Conflagration as the talisman provides 5% Physique, Cunning, and Spirit. If your items become unusable because of the stat requirements, wait for a few level ups before replacing the relic.
- You should have enough crafting materials for Conflagration at this point in the game. You can now replace the Flintcore Bolts on your offhand with another Enchanted Flint. Be careful with spamming the Conflagration skill (the fire laser beam) as it drains a lot of energy.
Level 52 (Zarthuzellan’s Codex upgrade) https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jbqRm2
Skill points allocation
- Once Agonizing Flames is maxed, max out Temper and keep putting points in the Occultist mastery bar. Put 1 point only to Curse of Frailty and start maxing out Vulnerability.
- After level 50, you only get 2 Skill Points per level up. Prioritize maxing out Vulnerability, then allocate points to Blood of Dreeg.
Devotions
- Complete Phoenix (bind to Blackwater Cocktail)
- Rebind Solael’s Witchfire to Curse of Frailty
Before the act boss fight https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pqDrBV
Forgotten Gods Expansion
- You should already be familiar with the basic gameplay once you reach this point. Remember to equip Vilgazor’s Heart at level 55. There’s not much else to say other than completing the quests for reputation, getting the devotion shrines, and upgrading gear as you go.
Level 55 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jbqzl2
- There are two notable bosses that are dangerous for new players: Kymon and Korvaak.
- For Kymon, the attack that usually catches people off-guard is the one where he shoots out projectiles from his belly. These can shotgun (getting hit with a lot of projectiles if you’re in melee) and deal multiple instances of damage in quick succession. You can easily avoid this by pressing Spacebar (or wherever you bound Evade to). Pay attention to where the lava floor is and you should be fine.
- Korvaak has a lot of attacks that shotgun and reduce Defensive Ability, leading to massive amounts of damage. The build has multiple layers of defense so you should be mostly fine, but avoid just mindlessly facetanking and spamming the Evade button.
Devotions
- Hammer (just for affinity, we will remove this later)
- Crab (bind to Vindictive Flame)
- Purple Crossroads, then remove Hammer
- Behemoth (bind to Blast Shield)
Before Kymon and Korvaak fight https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDbQyY2
Elite Difficulty
Congratulations, you’ve beaten the Normal campaign! Before you go to Elite difficulty, make sure you have at least 25% overcap on the resistances in the first row (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid/Poison, and Pierce), since Elite has a -25% resistance penalty on those.
On Elite, you are going through the campaign again but mostly for devotion shrines and faction reputation.
- You can get the remaining devotion points in Ultimate, but the devotion procs also need experience and levels, and the sooner you get them, the better.
- You should aim to be at least Honored in all factions besides the Cults in Forgotten Gods. Honored reputation unlocks weapon and accessory (besides medals) augments that can help with resistances
- I strongly advise not to go into the Ancient Grove again until you get to level 94 in Ultimate, as it’s not worth getting the level 75 version of the Totally Normal Dawnshard.
- You can go back to Normal difficulty and farm the next level breakpoints of Gollus’s Ring (lv 65) and Dreeg-Sect Legguards (lv 60).
Level 60 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2E9Qx72
- At level 65, you should be at least Respected with Coven (most likely Honored), Malmouth Resistance, and the Forgotten Gods cults, so we’ll do some gear shopping in Normal Difficulty:
- Get the level 65 Malmouth Arcane Waistguard to replace your current belt (the level 50 belt from Kymon’s Chosen is not worth crafting at this point)
- You can type in “fire dam” in the vendor search bar to highlight items with Fire damage, but the main thing is to check if you still have capped resistances when you switch to that specific piece of armor. You can do this safely in Grimtools without wasting iron bits.
Level 65 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2E9Qyn2
Level 70 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jbq6q2
- The last thing to do in Elite is to get the level 75 Fettan Mask, which gives +1 to all skills. The level 50 version in Normal used to have the +1 modifier, but it was removed and only the Elite and Ultimate versions have it.
Level 75 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p258y6PN
Skill points allocation
- You should now have all of the required skills and nodes from the Demolitionist tree hardcapped (maxed out with blue outline) besides Blast Shield (keep at 5/12 for now) and Thermite Mine.
- We are now going to max out Thermite Mine and Blood of Dreeg. As soon as Thermite Mine is hardcapped, put 1 pt Blood of Dreeg and 1 pt Occultist mastery bar per level up.
- Once Blood of Dreeg is maxed out, put all points in the Occultist mastery bar until you reach Aspect of the Guardian. From here, put 1 pt Aspect of the Guardian and 1 pt mastery bar. You will eventually max this node but check if you’re overcapping Acid/Poison resistance too much (adjust this on gear and augments).
- Put 1 point each to Flashbang and Searing Light (will be used for Ulzuin’s Torch devotion proc)
Devotions
- Complete Behemoth
- Remove Hawk
- Magi (bind to Conflagration)
- Ulzuin’s Torch, all nodes (bind to Flashbang)
I strongly recommend that you complete the entire campaign again (including Malmouth and Forgotten Gods) so you’ll have a better feel of the game.
Elite finished https://www.grimtools.com/calc/b28MQv7V
Ultimate Difficulty
Similar to Elite, Ultimate difficulty has a -25% penalty on all resistances (except Physical), on top of the penalty from Elite. This means that you must have at least +25% overcap on all resistances in Elite before jumping into Ultimate.
Also, you can farm for level 84 Bloodsworn Sigil and Loghorrean’s Corruption on Normal so you can play Doom Bolt as early as possible. Keep in mind the resistances as you swap gear.
Now that you’re on Ultimate, the immediate goals are as follows:
- Get to Ancient Grove as soon as possible to get the level 94 version of the Totally Normal Dawnshard.
- Go through the Forgotten Gods area only until you get the level 94 Fettan Mask.
If you’ve gotten a level 84 Bloodsworn Sigil and Loghorrean’s Corruption, you should be at the point in the Occultist mastery to allocate Doom Bolt at level 84.
Level 84 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YVWRkk52
Skill points allocation
- Put enough points into Doom Bolt until it reaches 12/12 points.
- Remove Flashbang and Searing Light as we are now using Doom Bolt to proc Ulzuin’s Torch.
- Leave Doom Bolt alone for now and put all level up points into the mastery bar and max out Possession as soon as possible.
- Once Possession is hardcapped, put all remaining points into Doom Bolt.
Once you reach level 90, you can now buy and use items from the Revered tab of the expansion faction vendors (Coven, Barrowholm, Malmouth Resistance, Forgotten Gods cults) provided that you’ve already reached Revered status.
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Buy the Elite Coven Arcane Chestguard. This will be your chestpiece for a while until you find a better alternative.
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Buy the Malmouth Arcane Girdle and craft until you’re satisfied with the affix (you can only get one as it is a rare item base). I hope you’ve been buying Scrap like I told you in the beginning.
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For Weapon and Accessory augments, buy the ones with Fire/Elemental and Burning damage
Once you reach level 94, you can now start farming for the level 94 versions of the Monster Infrequents. Since monster loot tables change with monster level (which depends on character level), you’ll have a higher chance of getting the level 94 version of the MI:
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For example, according to Grimtools, the Guardian of Dreeg has a 100% chance to drop the Dreeg-Sect Legguards, but it has a 50% chance of either dropping the level 84 or the level 94 version. The easiest way to know if it’s the level 94 version is by looking at the Armor value.
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Sometimes, you’ll get a level 84 base but the level requirement displays 92 or 94. This is because of the affixes that rolled on the item. It is unfortunate that level 84 bases can still drop from monsters even when the character is max level, but this is the item system that Crate put in place, so I wish you the best of luck in farming the MIs.
You’re probably at Nemesis infamy with Beasts right now (and close to Nemesis with Chthonians). The recent update to the Nemesis boss system needs to be mentioned here because it makes the MI farming a bit dangerous, especially if you have never fought a Nemesis boss before:
- At Nemesis infamy level, killing monsters of that faction contributes to a progress meter (mechanics currently unknown). Once a certain amount of monsters are killed (seems to be random for every game session), there will be an on-screen text announcement and a sound alert as the Nemesis boss monster spawns in an area near you.
This makes farming MIs a bit tedious (or even dangerous) if you’re just building out your character. To work around this, I recommend the following strategies:
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Since version 1.2.0.0, a lot of areas can now scale up to level 100 on Normal difficulty, and Elite difficulty scales all areas to level 100. Since we are targeting the MIs, I recommend the following routes:
- Bloodsworn Sigil and Loghorrean’s Corruption - farm in Normal (you can do this in Elite if your character is strong enough)
- Zarthuzellan’s Codex, Dreeg-Sect Legguards, and Gollus’ Ring - farm in Elite
- Optional: Vilgazor’s Heart - farm in Normal (requires Skeleton Keys; this may be overall inefficient but it’s to avoid encountering the Manticore Deathstalker in Ultimate and easier to kill Kubacabra as it’s practically guaranteed to spawn inside the Ancient Grove)
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The safest way to farm the target MIs is to kill enough monsters outside of the MI area so that the Nemesis boss spawns, then quickly rift away to your farming location.
- Example: if you don’t want to encounter Kubacabra inside the Ancient Grove, kill monsters in areas with lots of Beasts/Beastkin (e.g. the areas outside of Ancient Grove, Pine Barrens, etc.), wait for the Nemesis spawn announcement, then rift out of the area.
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I understand that this is extra stuff to do just to farm a single item but you are at the farming stage; your character might not yet be strong enough to fight a Nemesis boss (especially Kubacabra and Grava’thul, they WILL chase you down).
Preliminary farm done https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk9l1BV
- I settled on this before fighting Loghorrean in Ultimate. This is still missing level 94 Totally Normal Dawnshard and Vilgazor’s Heart. If you check the Gollus’ Rings, both are base level 92 but these had the best stats for the farming session. I can just farm again later for minmaxing the MIs.
Congratulations, you’ve reached the early endgame! From this point on, you’re on your own. Feel free to experiment with different item combinations as you see fit, and adjust skills accordingly.
These are the stats that you want to aim as you upgrade your gear:
- At least 30% overcap on all resistances, especially Fire, Acid/Poison, Vitality, and Chaos (at least for MI farming)
- At least 2600 Offensive Ability and 2400 Defensive Ability (as a general guideline, the actual amount is debatable). You can get away with less on the campaign but we are also going to farm Ancient Grove and Nemesis monsters in the long run. You want these as high as you can but prioritize OA as Phoenix needs a Critical Hit to proc.
- As much HP as you can
- At least 90% Armor Absorption
- As much % Fire and Burn damage
- Crowd control resistances (particularly Stun, Freeze, Entrapment, and Slow)
- Higher Armor values
- Physical resistance whenever possible
Early Endgame and Beyond
Item upgrade paths
If you’ve noticed in the build, Doom Bolt’s damage is not fully converted into Fire (the Chaos damage remains the same). In order to convert the Chaos damage, you need to craft a Conduit of Eldritch Whispers. The Conduit blueprints are random global drops but the vendor inside Tomb of the Heretic can sell those. I highly recommend that you go there on Normal so you have less risk of death. Once you have the correct blueprint (there’s one for each class), go to a blacksmith and start crafting.
At this point in the game, you should have enough materials to craft some, but unfortunately, the Conduits have a variety of Item Modifiers that it can roll. I really hope you don’t get as unlucky as me (had to farm more Ugdenblooms).
Peak Grim Dawn crafting
We will be using a Prismatic Diamond as the headgear component. The blueprint is a global random drop but you can buy it from the vendor inside Ancient Grove.
You can start farming some Totems for gear, especially for your glove and boot slots. You may come across two blueprints in particular, Emberguard Gauntlets and Stoneplate Greaves. Since these are Magic/Yellow base items, they can roll a prefix and a suffix. You should have enough materials and Iron Bits to craft, but you can just use any random Rare glove or boot that you picked up from the ground with decent stats.
Here’s my character with the upgrades: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZr4jA52
Ultimate Korvaak
You might have noticed that I did not include Korvaak in the Ultimate Difficulty section. In my opinion, Ultimate Korvaak is the first real test to see if a character is built well enough for the endgame, especially in Hardcore. The difficulty of the fight compared to all previous encounters in the campaign is very noticeable, especially if you are not well-prepared.
Shattered Realms
If you’ve checked the previous Grimtools link, you will notice that there is one stat point and three skill points unallocated. This is because you need to clear Shard 35 of the Shattered Realms to obtain all of these. This build can definitely clear Shard 35. (video in the Build Performance section).
Build Performance
Here are some clips showing the build's early endgame performance (with Doom Bolt conversion Conduit):
Shattered Realms Shard 35
Alkamos
Overlord Van Aldritch
Shar’zul
Gargabol
Kubacabra
Morgoneth
Conclusion, Feedback, and Final Thoughts
Playtesting this build and seeing the results have been an eye-opener for me, and I’m very satisfied with the performance. I’m still getting used to the Hardcore mindset shift, but I believe this build can help new HC players have a good start. Remember rule #1: Just don’t get hit. 
I will be posting an endgame version of this as soon as I finish testing.
Thanks to @Ulvar1, @Stupid_Dragon, @Nery, @Monceaux for their Beginner Guides. These helped me to figure out things when I was starting out in Grim Dawn. Check out @RektbyProtoss for more HC guides and builds. And special thanks to you for reading, until next time. 