Right on, ill give it a go, thanks DeputyChuck!
Ahh, I had the powers on backwards lol, just looked at the % chance to proc, figured 5 EG at 25% chance to proc seemed better than 5 EG at 15% lol, didnt notice the CD timer.
The time has come, its now SC/WD Warder time! Ill let yaāll know how it goes. Think Iāll try using a Merit thinger to start out and try the game on Ultimate, see how things are =)
Deadly 
I wouldnāt recommend starting in ultimate if you want to limit yourself to (semi-)passive builds. Elite is a lot more doable, not sure how itāll work on passive builds.
Yup, Bas, you was rightā¦ that was kinda stupid on my part lolā¦ oh how hard can ultimate be starting outā¦yea, turns out, its hard out there 
Also, if you reached Revered with the Malmouth Resistance, do yourself a favour and stash a few of those double xp potions for alt levelling 
Honestly, Wind Devils might actually be the only way to pull it off as a passivist. Still, I wouldnāt recommend it, apart from some speed-levelling techniques where you use a merit to collect a bunch of early lore notes, run to the Burial Cave in Ultimate, make sure the Reanimator has spawned, drink the XP potion, then use all the lore notes so you get level 8 or so, spawn Wind Devils and kite. Cash in the quest xp and revel in the number of levelups. Afterwards you teleport through Normal for easily accessible devotion shrines and then start your playthrough proper in Elite. Watch some of RektByProtossā speedlevelling videos to get an idea of how to do it. For this challenge I play SSF, but that is in general a good way to ease the repetitiveness of the early game.
Back to this after doing some other things. This is what Iāve got so far.
Almost died to Solaelās Guardian (that thingās killed me more than any other foe in the game) and did die once to Zarthuzellen.
Slowly maxing Guardians while climbing Nightblade to add Blade Spirits.
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I got beat down so hard I revived back in normal difficulty! Note to self, when starting over again, remember, you donāt have the gear or devotions that you had when cruising through Ultimate at level 100 
Still looking for my colossal fortress shield, suckers wont drop me one in Malmoth!
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Iāve been playing a passive-ish build the last few days and wanted to share where itās at now:
When it comes to active skills, I use pneumatic burst, and Iāve placed 1 point into every nod in the shadow strike line, mostly for movement, and one point into blade barrier as a panic button. So I basically shadow strike into the next mob of enemies and let my 8 pets do the dirty work.
The build has great damage and even better sustain: 3.5K health regen, pneumatic burst gives me back nearly 50% of my health every 5 seconds if needed and the Chillwhisper set adds 10% life leech to blade spirit. Pneumatic burst is also on a 2 minutes timer, so if I donāt get hurt, I just need to refresh it every so often.
End-game goal is to find a Mythical herald of Amatok for my off-hand, maybe some better pants (Morgoneth, rimestone and mageguard comes to mind). Amulet could be replaced with Mythical nightās embrace or another Ellenaās necklace with better affixes. Medal could be the same with better affixes or Mythical mark of dark dreams. Gloves could be replaced with Grip of Haggarad or Morgoneth.
Itās a bit comparing apples to oranges since my last blade spirit build was a pure passivist run, but this one feels just as good if not better. The damage is really there and 8 pets is better than 5.
Iām still not sure about the devotion path. Leviathan is doing great work, but Iāve also tried going for Yugol, and Amatok + a few nods in tree of life. They all work great, so iāM still debating which is best. In any case, between wind devil, Blade spirit and Nemesis, I have plenty of room for active devotion without using active skills.
The build could very easily be converted to a true passive build by moving the points in pneumatic burst, shadow strike and blade barrier to Phantasmal armor, dual blades, Anatomy of murder and Maelstrom. But the loss of pneumatic burst likely means that the tree of life devotion would be the best here.
Added to the list of builds to try out =)
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Note: Itās a little unstructured at the moment as I just wrote it while playing, Iāll come clean it up later.
I started over with a nightblade as my Shieldbreaker relies on getting hit. It has to be the most boring way to play the game, especially when thereās quite a few attacks that just never hit. Itās not that itās a weak character, I just canāt get myself to sit here doing absolutely nothing 
Shieldbreaker, Level 30 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
It will get the guardians eventually, so maybe I will try to level it a bit when Iām really bored till I get there 
For now though Iāll see if I can get the nightblade aura working and eventually blade spirits. Should be more fun.
Also tried to play with controller, because I figured that should be possible and better suited to being lazy on the couch today, butā¦ you canāt pick up stuff when there are enemies around AND no way to open crates and stuff with just āmove toā command, unless itās on the first slot which also results in it auto-attacking stuff! Soā¦ mouse it is.
This time I will also properly passively play the start. So went around looking for diaries and stuff. Took a little bit, but I found retal boots not too far out, and then when I returned a bit later to the merchant he had retal shirt, so now Iām going for isaacās shoulders. I decided to visit him to get the quest reward, but that was very dangerous! (Also playing hardcore) All the magic attacks from the cultists hurt and thereās quite a few of them in their little hideout. Luckily I got out alive. Went on to rescue the merchant Luther, so I get enough reputation to get into devils crossing which allows me to get some more xp by talking to Rook and Faldis among others. When running away after teleporting Luther to safety I find a retal shield. When I get back to Devils Crossing, Luther has an (expensive) ring with +13 health regen, which I decide to buy.
Currently level 6: Nightblade, Level 6 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Next level I can enable Nightās Chill and then I should hopefully be able to crush some aether crystals.
Next I go to pick up Isaacās shoulders and the enemies around it together with the quest reward bring me up to level 7, which allow me to equip the shoulders and enable my aura! 
I go back to Burial Hill, crush some crystals, enter the cave and slowly Kill Kryzog. I get my first devotion point, return to Devilās Crossing and reach level 8. I enter the aquafier and freeze everything to death, run circles around Viloth (literally), which brings me to level 10 after handing in the quest to Barnabas. I max out Nightās Chill here and increase the aura size. I think Iāll just pump the mastery bar after this again till I get to the blade spirits.
Not much notable happens after. I find some better items, do a few totems, get Duncan as blacksmith, get a few devotion points, more quests and when I get to the underground transit I decide to enable veteran mode as it feels too easy atm.
After enabling veteran I immediately notice enemies donāt die anymore from just walking by. So I have to run a few circles. I reach level 18 just after I activate the Wardenās Laboratory riftgate: Nightblade, Level 18 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Killing heroes is a bit slowā¦ I decided to try Krieg anyway, but hah he did not expect me to riftgate out of there! My damage is so low and he hurts
I go kill some bandits and help out the roverās elder first to get to level 20, so I can use some components for more aether resist extra damage: Nightblade, Level 20 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Oh I also decided to dual wield (crafted) adept maces, since replicating missles are all the rage these days.
I murder Krieg, slowly but steadily. Damage is much better than before and it doesnāt hurt as much. After I finish murdering the rest of the murderers/bandits and meanwhile also take the shield from Barros to boost my aura (forgot that existed). Take a ring from Cronley. Find out thereās no shrine on Hallowed Hill on normal. Tell the people at the coast that the bandits are dealt with and start making my way through the undead of Old Arkovia. After I quickly make my way to homestead and collect a bunch of xp. After also destroying the eggs in the fields and picking up Daliaās Diary I reach level 30: Nightblade, Level 30 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I now really have to decide what the second class will be as Iām starting to run out of skills to put points in Do I take inquisitor for a double aura? Though it does fire damage and not cold,
I took Shaman, maybe a bit dull, but thereās really not that many good options and I didnāt want to set myself up for failure this time.
I pretty much rushed to the Loghorrean, so I can jump to Ultimate. I thought about meeting the Coven firstā¦ maybe I should really, itās not that far. So I went to the Coven, such that I can gain reputation by killing beasts. I found an old man in the forest and send him to his daughter, and gained two levels in total gaining access to the wind devils: Trickster, Level 40 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
In ultimate, did the first act, including Hallowed Hill. Just the regular, get all shrines, all quests from DC. Was all fairly easy, just had to pay attention and drink some potions a few times (while running around) when doing totems. Reached level 50 after killing Krieg and he dropped a Cresent Moon for me and a meat shieldā¦ and I thought: āWhy not? I can use the regen.ā and the proc is nice. Trickster, Level 50 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I repair the bridge and make my way through the bandits and ghosts to the rovers. While there I bring Skinner back to DC and I pick up a new shield with a nice buff to veil of shadow, but after some consideration decide to keep using the meat shield for the regend and proc. Once by the rovers I start doing the quests. Getting the dynamite is easy, though it takes longer to kill Balthasar than Iād like. (Trash mobs clear fine, just bosses are a bit slow.) I run up to the elder and see a totem, so I activate itā¦ At the same time a bunch of skeletons spawm and I end up with half a dozen Skeletal Priests. And since I canāt target them it makes it impossible for me to kill the large group of mobs that I managed to spawn. I did manage to take down a few by wandering off trying to separate the group, but not enough to make it possible to kill anything substantial. I almost die in the process (glad I kept the meat shield!) and decide to give up and just quickly talk to the elder and run off again back to camp. I blow up the gate, walk to the shrine and think: āAh vengefull wraith! Let me go get one.ā Except I canāt go get one, because I donāt have the blueprint nor do I have any in my stash, so Iāll have to get back to this shrine later (hopefully). Too bad because I only need one more point to get Rumor. I end up at the rovers camp and find out that they sell the blueprint for vengeful wraith , luckily I already have enough reputation and I buy that together with a few others and return to DC to create the wraith component and offer it at the shrine.
I āfightā Gultgoth (or rather be sad at him not hitting me) while I write this. I get @RektbyProtoss to succumb to the local weather (somehow he spawned in the pit for the fourth time in a row for me). Boris gives me Dawnshard Pauldrons, which gives me some badly needed aether resist (just in time for cronley and friends). After killing cronley I hand in some more quests, including the one where you hand Kasparov 3 dynamite as I just found a few in the mines.
I make my way through the Old Arkovian ruins, this time completing the necromancerās assignment (but not handed it in yet). I reach 80% with all my resists using a rigid shell for the first time in my life. I finish the Murmor constellation and almost reach stormcallerās pact at level 57: Trickster, Level 57 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I continue towards Homestead, meat up with Ulgrim the cook, figure out what my devotion path will be, find Dhalia laying in a pool (poor lady), get another devotion point so Iām up to 34 now, then decide to first complete the quests in Pine Barrens to spice things up, instead of running straight to Homestead. I usually forget about Pine Barrens till later, but it actually has two devotion shrines, so itās probably better to pick up early.
The devotion path will include chariot and yugol, as I ran out of offensive abilities to put stuff on
After killing Mogara I reach respected with the Coven, better than the Black Legion which is still only at friendly 
. Then I go look for the cave that doesnāt show on the map, kill Bloodbriar, then jump down to go look for Gloomweaver and the shrine. Combat at this point is fairly easy, although a bit slow. Then I find this:
Which looks like a nice upgrade right now, but itās level 75 and Iām level 59, soā¦ weāll have to see whether itās still nice when Iām level 75 (probably not). I also keep finding blueprints for relics that have nothing to do with my build
Afterwards I visit the other shrine, which requires enchanted flint. I have to visit the blacksmith and while Iām in DC I finish Empty Throne and start on Chariot by taking away two points I had in crossroads.
I decide to kill Rutnik, but he ends up almost killing me, luckily I have 12k health and I survive. I continue the fight by hiding behind a pillar while he gets pummeld by the wind & blades. Afterwards I restore the bridge and get told my resolve is impressive.
I return to Tyrants Hold and begin to clean the place up (and loot it). Somehow I have another near death experience as something goes boom. No idea what. Killing Bloodfeast takes a while, but I did reach level 60 while in the fort: Trickster, Level 60 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Afterwards I run to Homestead and start turning in all the quests. I then go to steps of torment to talk to xxx and do his next quest, also picking up another shrine. While in steps of torment I regularly get hit for almost 8k damage and I donāt understand why. I guess it must be physical damage, but what skeletal enemy does 9-10k phyiscal damage at level ~70? Scary stuff.
Anyway, I reach level 64 and return to homestead and to start squashing bugs.
After visiting the Den of the Lost Iām one point away from the Chariot proc.
I hand in the various quests and start cleaning up the blood grove. When I reach level 65 I try to find better items to wear, but itās not easy to keep the resists capped. I do fiddle a bit and accept some high 70%, hoping I find something better soon. In the blood grove I get another devotion point and enable the Chariot proc. After handing in some Death Vigil quests I have to gather the essence and while gathering those I cleanse another shrine, completing the Chariot constellation. Next up is some cheap greens for points and then Yugol. While leveling up I put some extra points in Oak Skin for the resists and then soft-cap Stormcaller Pact at level 67.
I had to laugh at this:
I was looting a chest further down and when I came back theyāre all dead in a line
After killing Karroz (?) and handing in the quest at Homestead I reach level 68: Trickster, Level 68 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator (quite sure poison resist is higher in game and radiant gem was a mistake
) Amazingly that level 18 amulet is still the best I came across (resist wise).
I went to retrieve the cannons from the conflagration (and pick up a devotion point) and while I was there decided to take a walk around the Valbury outskirts collecting some crystals (and pick up another devotion point).
Afterwards I continue on the Asterkarn Road and pick up a devotion point in Asterkan Valley and finish Raven. Here I also find a note about some āhidden pathā, so I decide to pick up those juicy skill points. So back to DC, chill out the green guysā¦ and oh I forgot thereās another shrine here. It takes a while to take out the sentinel, but I stay safe by avoiding is attacks and hiding behind the benches. Along the way I also hit level 70 and I decide the shuffle around some items, including swapping the meat shield for something with more health regen and some physical resist. I also equip some imbued silver as Iāll be hitting more chtonians soon and I needed to cover the last few points of my chaos resistance. Level 70: Trickster, Level 71 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Since I now have +22% damage against beasts I decide to go and get Hargateās Formula. After slaying the first Slith (while I stand on the other side of a wall) she drops a quite nice amulet:
Kinda makes me wonder if I should try and pick up another one of those ghost shields again for more aura damage
Anyway, I return to Kasparov and decide knowledge canāt fall into the wrong hands.
I go kill Wradlith to see what heāll drop for me:
Not bad!
I decide to use it and sacrifice some defense for better offense. I continue with the main questline, kill Lucius and make my way to the necropolis. I do some quick thinking and go to secure the rift gate. Meanwhile I pick up two more devotion points, finishing hawk and getting started on yugol. After the rift gate I continue and destroy the blood wagons, and only then go back to fort Ikon.
I storm my way through the tomb to the Loghorrean. The fight isnāt too scary, even if my defenses arenāt that great and I get sundered all the time, it doesnāt do that much damage and I manage to kill it in a reasonable time. Not quite level 75 yet, but I did find a Trozanās Starkeeper, which could be a nice start to dual wield. However my shield is probably a better choice atm with the +5 nightās chill
and veil of shadow bonuses.
After a bit of a break I continue and decide to clean up the tomb of the archon, getting the ashes as well as my 51th devotion point. Handing in the quest at the Bastion of Order I reach level 75. When I reach the witches I decide to dual wield my Crescent Moon with a Trozanās Starkeeper for that dual moon look (and the falling skies proc):
On my way to Barrowholm I pick up another deovtion point, slay Sylvarra and somehow when I get to Barrowholm I have 30 ugdenblooms!
Something feels off in this village so I put a stop to it. (As I donāt particularly like their quests.)
I find this. Thatās some nice armor absorb!
I then hand the fetish back and do the rest of the witches quests, which brings me to level 78: Trickster, Level 78 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I make my way through the void to Malmouth, helping my friend and passing by the lady from the diary. When clearing the streets of Malmouth I find a Mythical Astral Mantle and some Mythical Rimestone Legguards, which are quite a nice upgrade I think. Nothing too special happens. I do the main quests with the resistance quests that progress parallel to the main quest. When I enter the fleshworks I quickly hop back to the coven to talk to the old lady so I can kill my other self. I had some doubts about the damage earlier in the run, but is quite acceptable now. I also finished my devotion setup. Killing Theodin takes a while, but itās not too bad. I could use some more health regen though. After the battle three legendaries drop, and even some with cold damage, but nothing really that useful to me. I hand in the quests, sort out my items a bit and equip some new ones before I set out to complete the rest of the Resistance quests: Trickster, Level 84 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After clearing the docks I find out that I donāt have enough reputation to do any more quests and since most of the map is already cleared bounties arenāt going to do much either at the moment. So I decide to take a break and come back to the bounties next session. In the next session I do all the bounties that are available to me, except one duplicate and I chop the heads off the council. After all that I still have ~9k reputation to go before I get to revered. I decide to help Dahlia and enter the cinder wastes. Killing Dravis minions is very tricky as they heal faster than I can damage them. So I end up luring one of the healers away (together with the big guy). Since he canāt heal himself I simply stand next to him till he dies. I then finish off the big guy and the other minion, bring the offering back to Dahlia and receive the blazeheart (not that useful to me though).
I found some Golemborn greaves while out and about in Malmouth and I decide to wear them after fixing some of my resists. I did find the ugdenbog leather recipe earlier in my run, so I can fix up the missing bleeding resist after switching the boots quite easily.
I then proceed to the conclave of the three and take on the challenge. Itās even easier than I expected. I just stand in the middle for a few seconds and everything drops dead almost as soon as it spawns. As a reward I get a Mythical Tempest Sigil, which might be quite nice to use when I reach level 94. I join the blue cult, do the initial quest of gathering 3 something of the watchers, continue to pick up the morgoneths second seal and then return to the conclave to turn in the quest.
I continue through the Cairan docks into the sunbane oasis and find the Tome of Ernatum and then kill the King of the Sands. I decide to leave Morgonethās seal for later. When I arrive at the Vanguard of the Three I stand around a bit and suddenly a Chillheart appears, which can conveniently convert the wind devilās lightning damage to cold. (Just have to wait till I level up.)
I continue further north, kill the Dustreaper, and the lady starts to complain that she canāt carry anymore. So after reaching the Korvan City riftgate I drop back to drop off my stuff.
I continue on my way north and take a detour to kill āThe Messengerāā¦ and he drops Okalothās Visage, the very thing I spend many runs trying to farm in SC not too long ago.
Also some enemies actually manage to hurt me, including Okaloth, so I canāt just stand around anymore, I have to pay some attention to make sure my hp donāt drop too much. Killing Dravis takes a while, but itās not too hard as long as I stay away from the vulcanos. The Steward also hurts quite a bitā¦ this is going ot be interesting
Surprisingly Kymon isnāt that hard, his attacks are easily avoidable and he doesnāt take too long to kill. Brother Sagarius was harder.
And then it was finally time to kill Korvaak. The fight took a while and I had to use a potion twice because I got hit with several of his attacks in quick succession, but overal it was relatively comfortable.
Level 90: Trickster, Level 90 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I might do more later, but Iām satisfied for now.
2 Likes
Do you think itās bad in general for passivist, or just as a sole damage dealer?
I have died a couple of times to them as well, yeahā¦
Interestingly, Aether Clusters take retaliation damage if you stand on top of them when they attack you. I think they secretly have a melee attack as well.
Well I was not impressed, the damage is roughly similar to that of Veil of Shadow, but Inquisitor has - apart from dual wielding bonus for guns and an oa buff on crit - nothing else going for it from a passivist standpoint. Elemental RR is also not that unique. I would say that Inquisitor is heavily outclassed by both Shaman and Oathkeeper, and even Nightblade if you go for Cold damage.
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Oh, good to know! This game is full of secrets
Ok then Iāll avoid going infiltrator
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Added a new entry in my own Trickster diary, and added a link to yours to the OP as well.
EDIT: Added grimtools links to all the completed challenges to the top of the OP as well. If you have a build that completed the Passivist challenge that is not yet there, let me know, and I will add it 
3 Likes
Iāve also completed the game recently with an aura of Censure build,
ā¦But I quickly abandoned the idea of remaining completely passive (hence why I didnāt bring it up in the thread)
My experience mirrors yours: Aura of Censureās damage isnāt enough to carry you by itselfā¦ UNTIL you hit level 94 and can equip 3-4 items that boost it. By that time, I already had a strategy for dealing damage that didnāt rely much on AoC for bosses (It was still enough for most mobs though) Olexraās Flash freeze coupled with a fire damage movement rune, and punching them in quick succession so that the -140% fire RR would still be in effect when I applied the massive Burn DoT carried by the rune was my most effective strategy. And of course, OFF coupled with just a tick from the aura was enough to delete the whole screen of foes that would remain frozen for more than 1 second
Hereās the character, in case anyone is interested: Mage Hunter, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
(Missing ring is due to playtest file issue, but it used to be a saphir of elemental balance)
2 Likes
Cool, thanks! I figured Iād write down what I do for once going pretty smoothly so far. Just no clue what Iāll do for devotions yet, and Iām curious what equipment Iāll find along the way.
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Finally hit level 100 last night on ultimate with the passive Warden build DeputyChuck posted. Been living in SR 20-22 from level 87 or so when I finished act 1. Heres the link to what I currently have. Gear is a work in progress, just waiting for some RNJesus to give me either the Dawnseeker Helm plan or more Dawnseeker gear. May have to go back to the fire aura BP and amulet I found, and mebbe browse the relics i can build a bit more to see what goodies are hidden away. I do have the Eye of the storm relic, was just messing around with the new summon one that the plan dropped for me finally!
My resists are over capped.
RNJebus be Praised!! Mythical Dawnbreakers Sledge dropped, yay!
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Awesome!
Move the extra points you have past maelstrom in Shaman, and some points from wind devil to max out Military conditioning, you wonāt regret it.
Rest is just farming the other pieces of the set and you should have a facetanking beast
Edit: Oh and Deathstalker doesnāt do much for you with that setup, no RR. Craft an eye of the storm instead: Shaman level, retal, lightning damageā¦ all good stuff
Here, try this devotion route instead, see if that feels better: Warder, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Will do DeputyChuck, threw the last devo point into Autumn Boar for the retal damage and stats.
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