[1.2.1.2] Pet Necromancers <4:00 Crucible 150-170, SR 90, Ravager

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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Pets got a make over during the test patch and Crate did a great job with it, pets are now in a good spot (perhaps borderline a bit too good still in some cases). I tested a bunch of different builds during the play test but didn’t have enough time to adapt to the constant changes. After some time to fine tune the builds, these are the strongest strongest pet builds i’ve played so far and performance wise they are up there with the best builds from our top 20 post.

Some pets have a lot of shotgun effects vs Ravager, mostly Skeletons and Briarthorn Ground Slam. Ravager timers are very fast but they are not fully indicative of single target dps. While dps is top tier, its not a ~10sec faster than top DW nightblades kind of difference.
For Ravager of flesh i used Atephs Will jewelry augment in all slots.

Vitality Skeletons Grimtools
Crucible naked EX (4:19)
SR 75-76 (3:55)
SR 90 (2:41)
Ravager (:19)
_Skeletons vitality.zip (1.1 MB)

A bunch of records were set during the test patch by @banana_peel using this build. Ravager kill record, buffed crucible, naked crucible. It has since then rightfully been nerfed but after some fine tuning it’s still an exceptional build. Well rolled Salazar’s dagger is definitely BiS but Veilpiercer is a decent alternative. Theurgists is your strongest prefix. Of the Wild or of Bestial Rage on one of the MIs makes sure Briarthorn is hardcapped.

Ghol Grimtools
Crucible naked EX (4:14)
SR 75-76 (3:34)
SR 90 (3:05)
Ravager (:39)
_Ghol Ritualist.zip (2.6 MB)

Most people are familiar with Ghol already but with the buffs to pet abilities Blight Fiends are even stronger. Only non-skeletons build that provides the aoe clear to have top tier results in all content from my experience.
Make sure to farm an off hand with Wraithbound prefix to net you another Reap Spirit summon.

Chaos Skeletons Grimtools
Crucible naked EX (4:21)
SR 75-76 (3:52)
SR 90 (3:18)
Ravager (:27)
_Skeletons Chaos.zip (982.8 KB)

Generally I prefer Ritualist over Cabalist these days but for chaos or fire Cabalist still holds strong. Great damage and pretty easy to assemble.
For MI rolls you want of Caged Souls suffix on your medal to hardcap Skeletons. Theurgists and Wraithbound are both great for soul harvest points.

Bysmiel Skeletons Grimtools
Crucible naked EX (4:22)
SR 75-76 (3:57)
SR 90 (3:10)
Ravager (:29)
_Bysmiel Cabalist.zip (2.4 MB)

Another Cabalist I find strong enough to post. Top tier damage and decent tank. Resummoning Skeletons can be a bit annoying without +summon if they get wiped out but usually they survive pretty well. Theurgists is your best affix.

Leveling First off i'd definitely recommend @Paikis leveling guide focused on Skeletons

Skeletons are a really strong leveling skill. I focused on aether damage throughout the whole game since its easy to convert physical to aether as soon as you kill Krieg in normal. Picking up some MIs makes a big difference, use grimtools to find out drop locations. Use components! Pet resistances are the most important stat to keep skeletons alive.

Devotions
I started off with Fiend for some additional proc damage on Skeletons, followed by Imp for even more procs and Unlocking Behemoth. Next up Bysmiel’s command, Stag and Staff of Rattosh. I now specced out of Fiend to finish Widow and started working towards the lvl 100 devos.

These were my calcs while advancing through the campaign.
Start off your necromancer ways by putting a few points in Raise Skeletons before picking up Blight Fiend.
lvl 35
lvl 60
lvl 70
lvl 100 End game Aether

This is a work in progress, I might update with other builds. Feel free to ask any questions
Thanks to the discord guys and special shout out to @banana_peel for trying a lot of pet variants during the play test.

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Disgusting fur fan

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But what if it doesn’t kill Callagadra :scorv:

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Cheers for the shout out! My guide is for levelling a Cabalist, though you could use it for a Ritualist as well. However, I would recommend the Budget Brigade Aether Pets Ritualist by Uncle_Mac if you’re going to level a Ritualist.

I also value completely maxing the entire skeleton line out as soon as you can. It will slow down your bigger pets, but the skeletons will absolutely destroy the Normal/Veteran campaign on their own when maxed. The flat damage from Will of the Crypt really helps out early on when you don’t care what flavour of damage you’re doing and you just want MOAR of it.

Nice builds too. Awesome stuff.

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Very nice builds, thank you :slight_smile:
May I ask why you didn´t put a point into Blight Burst for the Cabalist?

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Thanks! The acid part is not converted, skill points are tight and the additional aoe is not really needed. And i didnt want to deal with the confuse :smile:

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Quite interesting tbh, wouldn’t it still be more damage (vit even being converted) and is confuse actually hindering sometimes? :slight_smile:

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Don’t think the damage would ever be noticeable and the confuse can be annoying when some monsters wanders off. But it’s just personal preference, blight burst is a threat gain and the confuse could be seen as a small defensive layer in deep SR

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Thank you very much for the insight and sorry for the late reply. :sweat_smile:
I really enjoy the different approaches this game offers and the huge variety of builds people come up with.
Is there some common ground for when to go for additional threat, taunt or when to avoid confuse?

Thank you

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Confuse can cause enemies to wander away which increases Crucible and SR clear times cuz they must be chased down. The added time is (very) small, but when challenging record times a few seconds makes a difference. If that is not your goal, additional threat, taunt, and confuse will keep you much safer.

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I would go for it if i had spare skill points to reach 12/12 skill level for the taunt break point, more taunts are always good. For increased threat and unconverted damage i chose to skip it

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Hi. Will there be builds for Conjurer in the future?

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Hey! Maybe, but for now im still experimenting until i find a setup im satisfied with :slightly_smiling_face: Conjurers dont have the same aoe dmg as necromancer builds and clear speed is therefore slower. Single target dmg is similar and the tankier pets perform better against super bosses, so it comes down to personal preferences. Either way you cant really go wrong with pet builds right now as they are all very good.

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Thanks for sharing these pet builds. For someone who wants to be a bit more lazy and drop Mark of Torment, how detrimental is it to the performance of these builds? Mainly want to use it for farming SR 75-76

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Should be no issue dropping MoT. Call of the Grave and Symbol of Solael are possible to cut as well if you want to lessen the buttons

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while i haven’t played this exact build yet, can confirm what nofika says
i basically never play with call of the grave or mark of torment on pet builds unless desperate, since i’m very lazy on pets/despite enjoying piano builds i find it hectic on pet builds to include temp buffs

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I am making the ghol’s ritualist and crafting the rings and helm, is there a particular blacksmith I should use?

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You want to try to cover your CC res as much as possible. Kaylon for freeze res and Egellon for slow res

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Your builds are truly next-level (and I love your youtube vids as well)! :smiley:

Looking at the Vitality Skeletons build with the 19 sec ravager kill, would a mythical Voidmancer’s Cord be a good alternative to the Nosferattis? Or does the emboldening presence overcap outweigh the damage?

Also, have you tested how Master of Death compares to Primal Bond in terms of damage/kill speed?

Anyway, I hope you keep those crazy builds coming.

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Thanks a lot and im glad you are enjoying!

Nosferattis is there to hardcap mogdrogens Pact for health regen and flat damage to pets, hardcap emboldering presence is an added bonus.
Second best option would probably be shadowfiends cord but you can use voidmancers cord if youre missing the other options.

Primal Bond is much better than Master of Death last time i tested it. Primal Bond was nerfed a bit since then but should still be the much better option, especially since it gives a good defensive boost.

Creating and min maxing builds is a hobby of mine so im sure there will be some youtube videos every now and then :grin:

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