Is there a reason you’re stacking xx% reduced damage (Living Shadow & Open Wounds) and xx% chance of Impaired Aim (Word of Agony & Shifting Sands)?
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Living shadow is mostly for the life steal, it helps a lot against larger crowds + damage.
Impaired aim was not once looked at, shifting sands was bound to WoP because its just the best proccer for it and it does damage + AoE
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I was just thinking you could probably use the skill points somwhere else on at least one of those skills, maybe deadly aim?
Damage reduction for celestials, yes you can squeeze out more damage as living shadow can work as our damage reduction.
However, this makes us very squishy against crowds. You want damage reduction applied on every hit, or else something like a Tempest totem will likely just 1 tap you.
Especially in the endgame setup where chilling rounds don’t proc as often and therefore there are less living shadows than in other pierce builds, its not a reliable source.
If you want to tailor a spec to squeeze out as much possible single target damage, theres much to be done in this setup. There are many double greens and upgrades/changes you can make, I went for the realistic & more balanced approach with defenses in mind
Thanks a lot for the guide. I just started playing Grim Dawn again after 3 years of break! Really enjoying the build so far, leveling is feeling insanely good with the AoE skill! I have one request tho, would you mind sharing a lootfilter aswell?
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For SSF, I usually just pickup everything. Block out weapons if you want, you only use Boltthrower so if you only play this one character, there are no potential weapon upgrades
Dang this build really melts! thanks again @Kaine , just have to dodge and learn the rat’s moves, we have the damage afterall, the hard part is getting KURN faction to revered 
, that took awhile.
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Modified it a little for Ravager speedrun (with messenger gun on swap). Can fish for a bit lower timer, probably.
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You’re gonna get cunning nerfed again LMAO
World record holder now lol
Did the guide skip Elite difficulty entirely?
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Yes, you come back later to it though if needed for 4% augs
I have not yet decided on a second mastery for the inquisitor I am currently leveling. I surely want to make a ranged build. Something like this seems like a good option to get ideas from!
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My apologies if this seems long and/or if this has already been answered/addressed.
Would it be easier, faster, stronger, and more expedient, leveling as a single mastery caster Inquisitor, using WoP, WoR, and either StormBox or Flames of Ignaffar? I’ve played the game before but took a very long break from GD, which has put me back to newbie level. I started a Runekeeper and was following your leveling guide. However, I feel that WoP’s damage starts falling off at level 18 to 21, and my single target damage from firing the weapon is also lack luster at that point. I started in the main campaign. Somewhere between 10-15, swapped over to the Crucible. I’m able to get up to wave 30. However, there are many times where I came close to the timer running out due to WoP’s damage falling off. I’m now back in the main campaign making my way to the Warden.
I pose the question, because:
- I know some stuff about the game, but I don’t know enough about the game
- I lack info. and an understanding of the mastery point allocation (what to max, 1 point wonders, when/where to put only a few points), devotions, and gear choices needed between 1-50 using a single mastery Inquisitor caster, outside of the generic stack up resists, look for MI items, etc.
- I rediscovered the idea of leveling to about 50-60 using a single mastery as a potentially more efficient and faster way to level (rush to 50 basically)
- I did something similar with a Necromancer as a single mastery, but this was many years ago, so my memory is foggy/unreliable
- I have some items collected while leveling other chars long ago, but nothing end game
- I found Malagants Inquisitor leveling video, but he uses a full Lokar set, which I don’t have, and there is nothing written.
- I’m not sure how much the set and his components/augments are propping up the build while leveling compared to a magic/rares/legendaries setup
- Yes, I could just sit and watch his video, even at 2x speed, but I’m not a fan watching long 1.5 to 5 hour videos to glean info. (it is a very rare occasion for me to watch a streamer live or their vods, because its not my thing).
- I found Cripptid’s SSF Chaos Word of Pain Deceiver Caster Build in the compendium ( [1.2.1.6] [Ranged] Beginner, SSF, Unconvetional Chaos Word of Pain, Vampirris build )
- Cripptid’s build stays in Inquisitor until somewhere between 40 and 50 where he adds Occultist
- I suspect Cripptid’s build suffers a reduction in kill speed, a need for greater tankiness (Blood of Dreeg), or access to the 2nd mastery bar for attributes to keep up with the gear requirement demands between 40-50, which is why he adds Occultist in this level range.
- At level 50 (150 points available for mastery allocation) with only points into Inquisitor, I would be able to add Berserker and reallocate points to match your level 50 grimtools snapshot. I just need to ensure that I have 30 devo points unlocked and the gear items to make the transition to your Runekeeper.
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What makes Grim Dawn the most fun is that there is no real pressure to be as optimized as you possibly can be.
For each mastery class, theres a most efficient levelling path, like Primal Strike or Force Wave. Investing heavily in Inquisitors skills will without a doubt be faster in levelling.
However, theres 2 things to point out here.
1), I purposefuly do not play the most efficient, I instead play the most thematic route. If I’ playing a gunner build, I level as a gunner as I find its more enjoyable.
2), Regardless of which route you take, the build will feel mediocore until Act 5 and onwards, when you powerspike with Boltthrower and all the other goodies around Ugdenbog area.
If you’re the type to enjoy the <4 hour speedrun power levelling characters then swapping into endgame gear, WoP and other Inquisitor skills will probably be better. But for reasons I mentioned above, I went the route I did.
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Hey, I leveled fresh SSF using the guide the OP provided and you are absolutely right, till you get the Boltthrower, it’s an absolut slogfest in terms of single target and fighting bosses. I guess AoE it’s fine but it’s very slooow when you have to fight bosses and mini-bosses. Of course, it’s worth mentioning I played on Veteran which made things harder to kill (esp bosses who have considerable higher HP compared to normal) so if you want faster and smoother leveling, def go normal route (avoid veteran).
I understand what OP did here obv keeping things thematic from the very beginning but if you want to reach for the actual boltthrower build faster and have a much smoother exp I can also recommend going berseker/bleed werewolf till malmouth dlc, it’s much enjoyable, faster, good movement Rip & Tear + Leap, good single target as they will bleed to death and very decent AoE as well. You can use two of this type of weapon and basically follow the devotion route OP provided (except avoid putting points in Kraken or Hydra at least until you have access to Malmouth DLC and close to Barrowholm).
Once you get the build’s main weapon + medal + belt, you can comfortably respec to OP’s snaphot at lvl 50 and you will basically become a god in no time. I’m in Ultimate atm (lvl 75+) and I’m deleting bosses with ease. That storm spread + onslought damage are already insane. Great build once you have the necessary piece.
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Thank you @Kaine and @Tarnum. Going from Burrwitch estates to the warden wasn’t bad. Crucible distorts one’s view. The waves between 20-30 with the mini-boss heroes take a bit longer to kill, and some of the mobs have a bit more HP and like to charge. Because of mobs charging some kiting is needed. Kiting, higher enemy HP and less points focused in WoP makes the kill speed slower. The Warden took a bit of time to wear him down, but he was not a major threat with 2x heal buttons. I did not bother to alter my char.
@Tarnum:
I have a cold WereRaven Evoker (Berserker + Arcanist) to level 52. I used GIJW’s [FoA 1.3.0.3] Beginner build guide Cold Caster Evoker ( [FoA 1.3.0.3] Beginner build guide Cold Caster Evoker with the Awakened Eastern Set ). WereRaven Evoker in normal difficulty is quite sturdy. It moves pretty fast with Berserker Leap, Leaping from Leaping Mantis augment, and evade. WereRaven form looks amazing. I haven’t leveled a melee Werewolf yet.
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Same feeling here, I am leveling as veteran and I feel this build is weak… I am level 36 but it takes me long time to kill bosses even MIs
Thanks for this post!! I’m following this guide, I’m level 36 playing on Veteran difficulty, but it takes me a long time to kill bosses and minibosses. I’m following this guide to the letter.
So it’s recommended to play it on Normal as a werewolf, as you recommend, until level 50? Once I get the weapon mentioned in the guide, I can go back to playing as a werewolf, right?
How we lookin’ after the 1.3.1 nerfs?