- [2H Melee] [1.2.1.6] O VINGADOR DA VIGÍLIA (Ralfhskz)
- Damage: Physical
- Active Skills: Blade arc, war cry, blitz, ravenous earth, III omen
To wrap up this waiting period before the new DLC and the massive patch that will dramatically reshape our beloved game, I decided to level one last character—a class that, in my opinion, has one of the coolest names in the game (hehehe). I also saw great potential in it as a true “first character”: a build you can comfortably start from scratch with, use to farm endgame content, and eventually evolve into an even stronger version.
The concept of a Death Knight using the Korvan celestial halberd and Krieg’s set was already covered in the beginner guides compendium, but I still decided to make my own version, bringing a more up-to-date approach and changing a few aspects of the build.
This character is perfect for players who enjoy being as tanky as possible. Its final version deals what I consider very solid damage (around 350–550k DPS, with critical hits occasionally exceeding 1 million DPS), has excellent health regeneration, and several additional defensive layers, such as the procs from Dryad, Dire Bear, and the protection provided by Crab.
Whether in the decaying Aetherial fields, the monster-infested caverns of Cairn, or the deepest Chthonic abysses, you’ll tank everything the game throws at you!
The gameplay is also very straightforward. Charge into enemies with Blitz, debuff your enemies with war cry, cast ravenous earth, then unleash your fury with Blade Arc! When facing massive hordes of enemies, such as in the Shattered Realm, use Ill Omen for some crowd control and to trigger Azrakaa’s proc, which will also help keep you alive while dealing additional damage.
This character was leveled entirely from scratch. I didn’t use Mandates, Merits, or any other leveling items.
This time, i streamed the entire leveling journey live on my YouTube channel. I’ll leave the links for each stage of the leveling process in their respective sections!
As for the gear required to make the build work: every item used is either target-farmable, craftable, a monster infrequent, or purchased from faction vendors. That means you won’t have to rely on random legendary drops to put the build together.
I started the journey like this:
Lvl 1-10 Soldier, Level 10 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I started by choosing the Soldier mastery.
The easiest and fastest way to begin the game is to equip a two-handed melee weapon and use Forcewave.
Spend your first skill points in the mastery bar until you unlock Tremor. After that, put one point into Forcewave and continue investing two points into the mastery bar each level until you reach Rending Force.
Spend a point in fighting spirit and a point in blitz. If you wanna play even more safe, spend a point in menhir’s will too.
Lvl 10-20 Soldier, Level 20 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Continue investing points in forcewave, rending force, and the mastery bar. Spend one point into Veterancy.
Don’t forget to farm a Shambler’s Heart from the boss in Flooded Passage on your way to Burrwitch, it helps a lot scaling your damage on this initial phase.
Once you have unlocked your first six Devotion points, invest one point in Order (Crossroads), complete Assassin’s Blade, and bind its proc to Forcewave.
Lvl 20-30 Death Knight, Level 34 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After defeating Warden Krieg, head straight to the Forgotten Gods expansion to farm the main weapon for this build: the Korvan Celestial Halberd. It drops from the boss located at the entrance to the Tomb of the Heretic Skeleton Key dungeon.
To access this area in Forgotten Gods, you must collect the three Morgoneth Seals and use them to unlock the path to the Lost Oasis.
Here’s a quick guide: https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Paying_Debts
After that, go back to vanilla campaign to farm the medal we’ll be using for this character: Balthazar’s Crest, dropped by Krieg’s lieutenant of the same name in the Staunton mine, on Arkovian foothills.
As soon as you can equip the weapon and medal, respec your points from Forcewave and its modifiers into Blade Arc and Laceration.
Continue investing points in the mastery bar until you unlock squad tactics. From there, put points into squad tactics and the mastery bar with each level-up until you reach Menhir’s Bulwark.
For your Devotions, complete Dryad, then remove the point from Order (Crossroads). Next, complete Hammer, then Crab. After that, remove Hammer, complete Lizard, and finally complete Harvestman’s Scythe.
Lvl 30-40 Death Knight, Level 40 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After farming the weapon, return to the base game campaign. Don’t forget to farm the amulet we’ll be using in Jagged Waste: Mogara’s Fang, dropped by the boss of the same name.
Once you reach Homestead and the surrounding areas, farm a Fleshwarped Casque, the helmet we’ll be using for this build. Don’t forget farming at least one gollus’ ring when you’re doing the dermapteran queen quest for
When you unlock Menhir’s Bulwark, invest points into the skill and bring it to at least 10/12, or preferably 12/12. Then, start investing points into the Necromancer mastery.
For your devotions, invest one point in Eldritch (Crossroads) and complete Raven. Then complete Kraken.
Lvl 40-50 Death Knight, Level 50 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After defeating Loghorrean, remember to obtain an Ugdenbog Girdle on your way to Malmouth. The easiest way is by defeating Carraxus Foul, as he will always drop one.
You can farm your main chestguard near the entrance of the malmouth’s sewer riftgate, just beat galakros, the mountain until he drops the galakros singed plating.
As soon as you unlock Spectral Wrath, max it out as quickly as possible (leave it at 10/10 for now). Spend a point in ravenous earth.
Spend points in war cry and break morale (leve both of them in 12/12, if possible)
For your devotions, after completing Kraken, complete Ulzaad and bind its proc to War Cry.
Invest one point in chaos (Crossroads) and complete Behemoth.
Remove raven and complete solemn watcher, then complete dire bear and bind its proc to ravenous earth, remove lizard, remove chaos and eldritch (crossroads).
If you didn’t dropped the juggernaut relic blueprint until now, it’s time to do some power shopping in Hyram’s shop to buy it’s BP, after completing malmouth’s resistance quests.
Lvl 50-60 Death Knight, Level 60 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
At this point, you’re probably either entering or already progressing through the Elite difficulty. Make sure to check your resistances and upgrade your gear whenever possible.
Invest points into Fighting Spirit and Veterancy, bringing them to 12/12 and 10/10 for now.
After that, start investing in Field Command and Spectral Binding. Also, put one point into Ill Omen.
Take a moment to check your reputation with the factions, and don’t forget to buy your Writs to speed up your reputation gains.
To finish your devotions, complete Azrakaa, the Eternal Sands and bind its proc to Ill Omen.
Lvl 60-70 Death Knight, Level 70 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Play through the Vanilla campaign and both expansions again. Upgrade your gear whenever you find better items, and don’t forget to keep an eye on your faction reputations.
Invest a few points into Scars of Battle, then start putting points into the Necromancer mastery bar until you unlock Mark of Torment.
Lvl 70-80 Death Knight, Level 80 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
As shown in the gameplay, I reached revered status with the Malmouth Resistance near the end of the Elite difficulty, allowing me to purchase Potions of Clarity and speed up the journey to level 100 in Ultimate. I recommend you doing the same.
From this point on, there’s not much else to cover besides starting the Ultimate difficulty. Check your resistances, upgrade any gear that needs replacing, and keep an eye on your faction reputations.
Lvl 80-90 Death Knight, Level 90 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Once you reach level 94, you can—and should—start farming your endgame gear.
Upgrade your medal and amulet, and farm a good pair of Gollus’ Rings (a nice and cheap alternative option here is using two coven storm seal.
For your belt, you can keep using an Ugdenbog Girdle for now, but I crafted a Stoneplate Girdle for the endgame because of its excellent crowd control resistances and Aether-to-Physical damage conversion.
For your leg armor, I ended up using this fairly common endgame drop. If you haven’t found one yet, a Dreeg-Sect Legguards is a perfectly good alternative.
I also did a run through Port Valbury to do some “power shopping” for a much stronger version of our main helmet from the dungeon vendor.
As for item affixes, look for ones that provide Physical Damage, Offensive Ability (OA), and improved resistances. Some good examples include:
Prefixes: 
Crushing 
Devastating Imposing Rampage Stonefaced
Suffixes: of Ruin of Soulwarding of Oleron’s Wrath of Supremacy
Lvl 90-100 Death Knight, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Once you reach Malmouth, it’s time to start farming the Krieg’s armament set.
You will obtain the boots by defeating Terrnox in the Burning Cellar. The gloves and shoulderguards drop from Valaxteria, while the chestguard drops from Krieg himself. (The drop rates for this set range from 3.5% to 8%, so I hope you have better luck than I did during the farming process 
)
You might be wondering: “Wait a second… what about the helm? Aren’t we going to use the full set?”
In this case, the answer is no.
You can absolutely farm Krieg’s mask and use it if you want, but in my opinion, it’s not worth replacing the Fleshwarped Casque with it. You lose the cooldown reduction for war cry (less time with damage reduction, enemy HP reduced and flat physical resistance reduction) and the skill damage bonuses, so I preferred to stick with the monster infrequent.
That said, if you decide to use the full set anyway, please let us know how it performs. We’d love to hear about your experience! 
Once you’ve obtained the set, it’s time to farm your endgame weapon.
Prioritize affixes that grant Physical Damage + attack speed, such as prefixes: Superior Officer’s Relentless Stonefaced Tyrant’s. For suffixes, look for ones that increase Attack Speed, such as: of Alacrity of Ferocity of Fury of Onslaught , and similar options.
If you manage to get a combination where both the prefix and suffix provide Attack Speed, and at least one of them also grants Physical Damage, consider it a nearly perfect endgame weapon.
Build after farming endgame weapon (not the best version, just to change the current gutsmasher back to our korvan halberd)
A good tip is to farm Morgoneth’s skeleton key dungeon. Some of the enemies there can also drop the weapon, giving you more chances to find a great one during each farming session.
Build after farming a decent version
After farming the weapon, I took the build to test it against some of the game’s endgame challenges:
As you can see, DLC bosses, Rashalga and Kra’vall are nothing to our giant brute vigilante.
The next step was to test the build’s performance in Skeleton Key dungeons and against a few Nemesis bosses.
As shown in the video, just about everything can be facetanked comfortably, as their health disappear quickly.
After clearing the dungeons, I decided to push the Shattered Realm to Shard 26–27, which I believe is the ideal farming level for an entry-level endgame build. The run is very smooth and can be completed with little to no trouble:
The final tests for the build were Lokarr, the Bourbon Clones, and the Avatar of Mogdrogen. You can defeat all of them without much trouble—just remember to use a stormshroud ointment when fighting Mogdrogen to cap the needed Lightning Resistance for this fight (and for uroboruuk’s sake, don’t let his sunder clouds hit you).
Well, I hope you enjoy this build, and ty for reading this guide!
I hope to see you all again soon, with our long-awaited new DLC and patch! 
