- [DW Caster] [1.3.0.8] The pale shadow (Ralfhskz)
- Damage: Cold, Frostburn
- Active Skills: Shadow strike, amarasta’s blade burst, trozan’s sky shard, pneumatic burst, mirror of Ereoctes
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well!
After spending a long time away from Softcore mode, I decided to do another playthrough there for a few different reasons. First, it would be a TRUE fresh start, since I literally had absolutely NOTHING in SC dating back to before FoA was released.
The second reason was to learn a bit more about the mechanics of fighting the new Celestials. I lost several builds that I had previously leveled in HC to the new Mogdrogen, and I have to say, these new Celestials are some seriously challenging fights! 
But enough talk. Let’s get into the build.
A recent look at the new items and sets sparked my interest in a gameplay style I’ve always really enjoyed: Shadow Strike. While it isn’t one of the most popular skills, leveling with it is incredibly fast and smooth, and the Spellbreaker class (Nightblade + Arcanist) is a perfect fit for what I had in mind for this set.
The idea here isn’t just to showcase the gameplay with the complete set and legendary items, but also to develop a character from scratch that is capable of farming those items and even clearing Ascendant mode without too much difficulty.
I was excited about the idea from the very beginning, especially because there are now several items that grant additional charges to Shadow Strike. This means you can deliver multiple uninterrupted hits, resulting in some very respectable damage and insane mobility, even before having the full Zakull set at your disposal.
Despite being a Spellbreaker, this build doesn’t require too many buttons, so I would definitely consider it controller-friendly.
The skill rotation is dynamic and easy to memorize: you’ll be using Shadow Strike, Amarasta’s Blade Burst, and Ring of Steel (before having the full set equipped). Once you have the complete set, you’ll be using Trozan’s Sky Shard instead. You can also add Nullification to your gameplay if you want.
Remember that Pneumatic Burst should be active at all times. I use a Steam controller configuration that continuously triggers the button assigned to this skill, and it’s also possible to achieve something similar with mouse and keyboard!
Despite its strengths, this build, like every other build, has its weaknesses. It has low Physical Resistance and suffers from a chronic Spellbreaker problem: the class doesn’t have many bonuses to HP. So, always try to compensate for these weaknesses through your MI items, components, and augments.
Even with these minor drawbacks, I found this character to be remarkably durable. Even without the complete set, the budget spec of the pale shadow cleared the dungeons and even The Dread in Ascendant without a single death.
Keep in mind that this gameplay requires proper positioning and kiting whenever necessary. And let’s not forget that we have Mirror of Ereoctes to save our skin when things get ugly.
Another thing to keep in mind: sell your unwanted loot, activate all monster totems ( WE’LL NEED IRON BITS) and please… I repeat PLEASE: gather all the bloodbound totems you manage to drop from bloodbound mobs and bosses and DO NOT USE them for any reason until the endgame 
This character will serve you very well if your goal is fast and efficient endgame farming, and even taking on the superbosses.
I hope you have a lot of fun if you decide to follow this leveling guide.
Now, let’s get to what really matters:
Lvl 1-10 Nightblade, Level 10 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I started the game by choosing the Nightblade mastery. For now, the best leveling skill is Amarasta’s Blade Burst. You can use any weapon at this stage.
Allocate 1 point into the skill and 2 points into the mastery bar with each level-up. Invest one or two points into Shadow Strike once you unlock it.
When you unlock Lethal Assault, put one point into it, invest one point into Veil of Shadow, and start maxing out Night’s Chill.
Lvl 10-20 Nightblade, Level 20 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
With each level-up, invest one point into Night’s Chill and two points into the mastery bar.
When you unlock Ring of Frost, put one point into Ring of Steel and one point into Ring of Frost.
After defeating the Warden, you can start farming the first important items to begin the build’s true gameplay. You’ll want to farm two Spectral Longswords in Spined Cove, located just above the Arkovian Foothills riftgate. The ghosts in that area drop them.
It’s time to spend a point in dual blades to equip the swords and start investing more points into Shadow Strike and Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends.
Once you restore your first few shrines, invest one point into Primordial (crossroads) and complete Tsunami. Attach its proc to Amarasta’s Blade Burst.
Lvl 20-30 Nightblade, Level 30 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
While you’re in the vicinity of Old Arkovia and Four Hills, you should farm the chest armor we’ll be using all the way into endgame. It drops from Cronley’s gang members.
Useful tip here: lie in the elder rover quest to get the bone talisman relic, the mana infusion skill will be very useful to the energy regen issue + bonus damage for now.
Invest at least one point into Pneumatic Burst and one point into Breath of Belgothian.
With each level-up, allocate one point into Shadow Strike, one point into Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends, and one point into the mastery bar.
The goal now is to reach Blade Spirit and Nightfall.
As for Devotions:
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One point in Chaos and one point in Eldritch (Crossroads).
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Complete Rat.
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Complete Behemoth.
Lvl 30-40 Spellbreaker, Level 40 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Very well, after defeating Cronley with ease, I returned to Devil’s Crossing and took the portal to the Forgotten Gods DLC.
You can choose whichever cult you want; it won’t make a difference. The goal here, besides completing quests and restoring shrines, is to farm the belt we’ll be using for this build: the Gargoyle Waistguard.
You’ll farm it from the Gargoyle mobs in the Astral Fields, one area before facing the DLC’s final boss.
Going back to skill points: once you reach Blade Spirit and Nightfall, invest one point into each of them. Then, with every level-up, invest one point into Nightfall and two points into the Arcanist mastery bar.
Devotions:
-Complete Murmur (bind the proc to Shadow Strike).
-Remove Rat.
-Remove Eldritch and Chaos (Crossroads).
-Complete Quill.
-Invest one point into Ascendant (Crossroads).
-Complete Rhowan’s Crown.
-Remove Ascendant (Crossroads).
-Invest one point into Order and complete Tortoise.
Lvl 40-50 Spellbreaker, Level 50 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I returned to the vanilla campaign and headed straight toward the Ashes of Malmouth DLC, leaving FoA for last.
As you approach FoA, before reaching Kurn Bonfire, enter Icehowl cavern to farm the rings we’ll be using for this build. Farm two good Covenant of Siff rings.
Here’s a tip to speed things up: once I reached FoA, I used the Ascension Altar in Kurnhold, filling it with Aether Shards to accelerate reputation gain. The sooner you reach Revered status with the Kurn, the better.
Something I found really cool was that the build didn’t struggle at all, not even with the altar fully completed.
Another item you should start farming before completing FoA is your shoulder armor from Avinnia in bitter wind pass. (I farmed it only on elite bcs… Yes lmfao)
Skill Points:
Continue investing in the Arcanist mastery bar until you reach Star Pact. If you want, you can also invest a few points into Maiven’s Sphere of Protection and one point into Mirror of Ereoctes.
Devotions
After completing Tortoise:
-Complete Wraith.
-Remove Tsunami.
-Complete Bard’s Harp.
-Remove Order and Primordial (Crossroads).
-Complete Crab.
-Complete Chariot of the Dead.
-Remove Quill.
Lvl 50-60 Spellbreaker, Level 60 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After finishing all the DLCs, it’s time to start Elite difficulty.
It’s a good idea to take a look at your gear, make some upgrades, and check your resistances.
Here’s a very useful tip: to upgrade your swords, simply make a few visits to Benevald’s shop in Blood Grove. If necessary, reset the shop until you get acceptable affixes. Even generic cold damage-related affixes, such as Chilled and of Frostbite, will do the job.
Skill Points
I left Star Pact at 12/12. Start maxing out Maiven’s Sphere of Protection.
-Final Devotion Setup
-Complete Hyrian.
-Remove Wraith.
-Complete Lizard.
-Invest one point into Eldritch (Crossroads).
-Complete the right side of Ultos, and bind its proc to Amarasta’s Blade Burst or Ring of Steel.
One more thing: if you’re lucky enough to obtain the blueprint for this extremely useful relic, make a few trips to Jagged Waste to farm some Manticore Eyes from the Manticores there.
It’s definitely worth spending an hour or two farming them. Besides the bonuses to Nightblade and Cold damage, the relic’s player-scaled pet is an excellent proc for Ultos.
Lvl 60-70 Spellbreaker, Level 70 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
A few more tips for this level range: check your faction status and purchase Writs from the factions where you’ve already reached Honored status.
As soon as you reach Honored with Devil’s Crossing, talk to the Inventor to gain access to the quest on Hargate’s Isle. At the end of the quest, you’ll face Slith Ellena, who drops the excellent amulet we’ll be using from this point onward.
Another item worth picking up for now is the Devil’s Badge of Frost on devil’s crossing faction vendor, an cheap and highly effective medal.
Skills
Continue investing points into:
-Pneumatic Burst
-Inner Focus
-Shadow Dance
-Elemental Awakening
Also invest a few points into Phantasmal Armor and Merciless Repertoire.
Lvl 70-80
Don’t forget to make any necessary gear upgrades.
When I reached Fort Ikon in Elite, I immediately headed to Kurnhold to activate the Ascension Altar. I filled it with Aether Shards once again and then returned to finish the campaign and the AoM DLC. Getting Revered status this way was even faster thanks to the altar’s reputation gain bonus.
After gaining access to Potions of Clarity in Malmouth, I returned to FoA and finished the DLC.
To reach revered status with the kurn quickly, one effective method is to do a few runs through Ironeye Hideout with the altar filled with Aether Shards. You’ll gain access to this area of Ironeye’s hideout once you’ve reached Honored with them.
Don’t forget to farm Avinnia’s mantle when you’re in Bitterwind Pass.
You should also visit Elderveil Cave (located to the left of the Guardian’s Sorrow riftgate, through a somewhat hidden entrance). Complete a few quests for Elder Noktukari until you reach Respected status, as we’ll need the blueprint for the Permafrost relic very soon.
Lvl 80-90 Spellbreaker, Level 90 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
The first thing you should do once you reach Revered status with the Kurn is purchase the blueprint for Hrothnar’s Claw.
Remember the Permafrost blueprint? Well, we’ll need to craft two of these relics in order to obtain the weapons. (do yourself a favor and pls craft them on the kurn blacksmith for the cold/frostburn bonuses).
As soon as you reach level 94, replace your current weapons with two Hrothnar’s Claws. You’re probably already in Ultimate by this point.
Once you reach level 94, besides upgrading your weapons, you should also begin farming for the budget endgame version of the build.
Lvl 94 Spellbreaker, Level 94 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I farmed the final version of the amulet before heading out from devil’s crossing.
For the amulet and medal= you have some options. For the medal, you can use Mark of the Timeless or Ilgorr’s Eternal Vigil, but this cheap medal served me very well. Since we’ll be using a medal from the set in the final version, I didn’t really see much need to acquire either of those. Feel free to upgrade if you want to.
For the amulet, you can use the legendary Mythical Night’s Embrace, but I didn’t dropped any until now.
During one of the quests for Elder Noktukari, I ended up getting the pants that I used for the rest of the build: Mythical Slithscale Legwraps.
I went back to Elderveil and crafted the Awakened version.
If you haven’t gotten them yet, don’t worry. This is an extremely common drop, especially from Monster Totems. If you don’t have a pair yet, you can use a decent pair of Dreeg-Sect Legguards in the meantime.
The first DLC I visited in Ultimate was Forgotten Gods. My goal was to farm the level 94 version of the Gargoyle Waistguard, and I was also planning to farm the Horns of Korvaak helmet from the DLC’s final boss.
However, the Fettan Mask turned out to be incredibly easy to acquire and surprisingly effective, so I ended up abandoning that farm.
Even the Gargoyle Waistguard ended up being something I would farm later.
For the gloves, I ended up getting these epic gloves,
which were useful for a while.
Later, I found these legendary gloves,
which served me well until I finally got the epic drop I was waiting for: Mythical tainted Swampgrips, which we’ll be using in their Awakened version for the endgame (if you didn’t dropped any of these, use a elite harvest grips until you get a decent drop.
For boots, I was using the super useful and inexpensive Elite Legion Greaves, and then this blessed drop from Amatok came along 
.
If you didn’t get something similar, you can keep using the Legion Greaves until you find a suitable drop, or even craft a Stoneplate Greaves with good affixes if you already have the blueprint.
While progressing through the map and finishing up the campaign and DLCs, I got a pleasant surprise: a piece of the zakull’s set dropped after defeating the Amalgamation.
When you return to FoA, don’t forget to farm the level 94 versions of your rings.
While I was finishing the AoM DLC, I got the best surprise of the past few days: the blueprint for the set dropped.
Another option for a budget endgame setup is using the awakened eastern oath set to add the TSS replacing RoS in the skill rotation, feel free to do that if you want.
However, since I had planned to test the budget version of this build for endgame farming first, I decided to save the set crafting for later.
My build on Lvl 100
Spellbreaker, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
This budget version crushed the basic endgame challenges. It was also able to clear the Skeleton Key dungeons quickly and safely in Ascendant mode, and it even came out victorious against The Dread.
Here’s some videos from the gameplay:
The pale shadow X Rashalga
The pale shadow X Kra’vall
The pale shadow X Theodin Marcell
The pale shadow X Korvaak
The pale shadow X Beronath
The pale shadow X Lokarr
The pale shadow X Bourbon Clones
Update of the budget spec, now with awakened tainted swampgrips (used this spec to clear skeleton key dungeons on ascendant)
Spellbreaker, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
The pale shadow X The Dread
The pale shadow - Steps of torment run
The pale shadow - Port Valbury run
The pale shadow - Bastion of Chaos run
The pale shadow - Ancient Grove run
The pale shadow - Tomb of the heretic run
After finishing the tests, I finally went ahead and crafted the set and… oh my God, I honestly don’t even remember how many hours I spent farming those damn Bloodbound Totems.
Please, do not forget to save as many of these as possible during leveling. Don’t spend them on anything!
I crafted the entire set at the Kurn blacksmith and then transmuted the remaining three pieces.
I then moved on to the final version of the build:
Spellbreaker, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Well, I ended up forgetting to test the budget version of the build in SR26-27. But considering that this simpler version was able to defeat The Dread and clear the dungeons in Ascendant, I believe it’s more than capable of farming this SR range without any problems.
Did a little reroll on the rings and amulet too
I did a test using the final version of the build and… it honestly felt like I was playing on Elite.
Good Lord
The pale shadow - SR 26-27
To wrap up the journey of this ghostly spellbreaker, I put the build to the ultimate test against the superbosses, and it proved capable of defeating every Celestial:
The pale shadow x Mogdrogen
The pale shadow X Ravager of flesh
The pale shadow X Callagadra
The pale shadow X Crate of entertainment
The pale shadow X FoA mogdrogen
The pale shadow X N’erfatal Bobr
If you’ve made it this far, thank you very much for reading! I hope this guide helps you if you’re just starting out in the game, or if you already have some experience but need a little help developing your character.
Greetings to everyone, and see you next time!
Thanks for sharing your ideas and changes with us, man!