[1.2.1.2] Void-corrupted Pet Cabalist [SR90+]

[wgnhbr]

After 2 years of pause I fired up Grim Dawn again and found some new love for my cabalist. I changed the equipment a bit and revised the devotions. Build is strong now and you are free to chose the main hand, helm and amulet. I chose the amulet because I like the pets.

I do not know what’s meta right now, but this build can breeze through SR90 damage wise. With the skill points shifting from Possesion to Master of Death you’re a bit on the glassy side but as long you’re kiting out the AoEs you should be fine. Be careful of chargers/shadow strike bosses, let the pets draw aggro first.

1.2.1.2.:
Grimtools
— Original Post —

Hi Guys,

Beside my conjurer I wanted to try out how a cabalist performs as a pet build. The most time it is an interesting item I find on grimtools that “activates” me and lets me level an Alt (again).

I found on grimtools the Fiendgaze Tome which made me wonder, how well chaos conversed pets can work. And yes they work extremely good.

This char is only a few days old, so I tested it in the shattered realm and against some nemesis and ravager, which all of them were no problem (at all).

Ravager was not amused.

Callagadra was not amused also.

Update 2: with 1.1.9.1 more changes have come to the character. Hands got +3 Hellfire, Pants got +3 Summon Hellhound, rings +2 Summon Hellhound, shoulders +2 Ember Claw and the resistances of the relic were upgraded. I appreciate the mastery point rain and we are now able to hardcap Hellhound and Hellfire, while soft capping Ember Claw and Infernal Breath. Wasting and Call of the Grave are also soft capped now, while Blood of Dreeg and Bonds of Bysmiel line also received a stimulus check. I dropped the new grimtools link below and this is the current setup I am running right now. Feel free to play with the points a bit if you have other preferences.

My goal for every character I have is to safely “speed” farm Shattered Realm 75 without breaking a sweat and I can guarantee this build absolutely melts SR75 right now.

Update: with 1.1.9.0 and the hefty changes to pets I had mixed feelings about my cabalist. But now it feels stronger than before, because the power was moved from the set bonuses to the pets itself, meaning the base stats(damage and health) of the pets are much better now. This and the buffs to the non-set Legendary Set items, it’s awesome.

Edit: SR75 done. Pretty easy to accomplish.

Edit2:SR80 done.

Anyway, here’s the char.
1.1.9.6:
Grimtools

1.1.9.1:
Grimtools.

1.1.9.0:
Grimtools.

1.1.8.1:
Grimtools.

Item decisions were mostly made to push pet related skills. Amulet is optional, but I was so so excited to finally use the yeti as a pet and its damage gets fully converted on top of that. Beside of that it looks very cool and freezes enemies!

Head armor “can” be optional, because we are running setless, but I did not find any alternative that has better bonuses for the pets (and the summoner). If you find a petbased triple rare of the Chosen Visage feel free to use it, because we do some fire damage also.

Edit: Better alternative headgear could be a Spectral Crown.
But have fun farming disgusting combinations like this (that Physical Resistance tho):

We receive our conversions from Solaels Witchblade - “Consecrated Blade”, the Fiendgaze Tome and both rings.

Near 100 % Physical to Chaos conversion
Near 100 % Cold to Chaos conversion
Near 100 % Vitality to Chaos conversion
100 % Aether to Chaos conversion for Reap Spirit

Resistance Reduction? Comes from Main and Off Hand

Why Bloody Pox? I used Curse of Frailty at first but if you want to keep up the shepherds call devotion uptime you have to cast CoF fairly regurarily, which pisses enemies off and draws aggro to you very fast. With Bloody Pox this problem is mitigated and Shepherds Call uptime is maximized (and you get OA Shred from Bloody Pox).

[Ulvar1]

Have you seen this? [1.1.8.1] KaosKats V2 Taking pets to the Darkside || EVERYTHING+++ 5.37 Cruci ||

[wgnhbr]

Yes, after my post. Looks hella strong, I wonder how good a ritualist would perform

[kompaniet3462]

Nice build! I like that you’ve managed to max all pets’ resistances.
Feels weird at first to play a cabalist without curse but it makes sense to use pox instead and the oa shred is good.

Would be nice to somehow get solael witchblade devotion as well for that sweet -xx% chaos res reduction but damage is pretty good as is.

In the gt link you have no component in the amulet. I picked the seal of ancestry for my cabalist. Maybe there is something even better? We don’t really need it’s vitality res but the other stats are good.

[wgnhbr]

Hi kompaniet3462!

Thank you for your feedback! Additionally pox is easier to apply and it feels like the shepherd devotion is proccing more often.

I agree, I like more beefy pets, but since the half of them are immortal, you can try to go more offensive devotionwise. On the other hand the not-so immortal pets are there for tanking and keeping off bosses, so…

Haha, the amulet slot is empty because I simply forgot to put a component there. I thought a seal of ancestry was already in, but after a good chunk of farming shattered realms (and doing the 80) I realized. So its only a win/win adding one, lol. Edit: I forgot, that the medal has a buff included also, I did my mistakes

[kompaniet3462]

I also killed ravager on ultimate with this. Was a pretty smooth fight.
Was checking for other amulets to use but i think the one you have might atually be the best with the chillmane pet.

[Tarnen]

Noob question here:

Why you use possesion? It works with pets?

[wgnhbr]

Hi Tarnen,

I compared Possesion and Master of Death and while Master of Death is giving pet related bonuses the biggest downside here is the conversion of precious physical damage to vitality damage. You dont want converted vit damage, you want all that physical damage converted to chaos.

So the next logical step was going Possesion. It does not work with pets, but 15% Damage Absorption, some Chaos Resistance and 100% Skill Disruption Protection are nice bonuses for the summoner (you have to survive, too).

[Tarnen]

Testing today, i saw how Possession works with Reap Spirit (chaos damage and vitality damage), so it’s not only a skill for guarantee your survivability.

Great build.

[Maya]

Nice. Really interesting build

[kompaniet3462]

Don’t pets normally get aura effects like from possession?

[Ulvar1]

Possession is not an aura

[Eusebe_31]

Hello,

I have a question, play with “Unstable Anomaly” is better than keep " Blight Fiend" permantly ?

Thk for your answer.

Eusebe

[wgnhbr]

I have a question, play with “Unstable Anomaly” is better than keep " Blight Fiend" permantly ?

Hi!

It depends on your playstyle and personal preference. For heavy shattered realm farming, I go with the double blight fiends because of dps reasons, but for the rest of the game content (without crucible maybe) one blight fiend is enough. Main damage dealers will be your Spirits nonetheless.

[wgnhbr]

Build is still up-to-date. Added Callagadra Kill screencap for motivation. Cally shreds your non immortal pets and then fights your spirits hopelessly. Did not know they could draw aggro.

[wgnhbr]

Updated post and build to version 1.2.1.2

2 years of pause but Grim dawn is still fun as hell.