Arcanist/demo question..or two.

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
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Asked on steam, but only got, well…half answers. Copied and pasted, and help appreciated.

I’m having quite a bit of fun as this, but had a few questions. I’m a bit lost, numbered at the bottom…may be trying to tackle too much but I want to see if I can make this work.

This may be a little long, thanks in advance for the help

As far as weapons go - I’m using a sword and tome, really don’t wanna use guns. Both have amazing procs (extra 1000 damage per hit from each), and…personally just like swords.

I’ve leveled arc to 50, demo is at about 20…or 25, cant remember, and the rest is mostly put in auras, the “passives” at the bottom of arc, mirror, and reckless power. Demo has fire strike, and the second one, top aura and the bottom one.

I’ve found with these 5, at least on normal, I can walk by most things and they die (thanks to items too). My tome has doombolt, and sword has arcane explosion…or field, something like that.

Anyhew, this leads me to my questions. I have it built for auras, and want to go that route, to try and be a melee mage type (not going soldier, probably better yes but trying like this), which has me a bit lost.

1, What should I be focusing more on, physical damage? Or - Elemental damage boosting items? Does “converts X physical to X Aether” etc, does it get a boost from phys or better to go straight elemental? I’m wondering which percentage/damage to shoot for. Fire strike is my main attack. basically, which should i shoot for on boosts from gear, elemental type, or phys type damage. (Elements referring to all magics/magic damage).

  1. What devotions would be good? I have Flame torrent on fiend, and bat for now (To get a bit of life leech while i figure stuff out). So, which devotions/early ones would be best to have, maybe up my survivability, or go full glass cannon?

  2. If dual classing, is it better to spend mastery in skills themselves, or go for mastery for extra stats? Or is there more then enough (with boost percentage stat gear) to make up for not having mastery stats - and can wear anything (eventually)? That said, given the melee side. Is it better to add/focus on (stat wise) spirit cunning or physique (aside from what’s needed for armor). Cunning ups physical damage (but based on question 1), if elemental boosts/ x converted to x damage) would spirit give me more oomph?

… Also 4. Do life leech, or “on damage gain x hp” moves, work off spells as well/procs, or retaliation damage?

  1. What’s a good constellation for resistances/melee resistances.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

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For everyone else’s sake, I’d recommend creating your build on http://www.grimtools.com/ then posting a link (I know there is some sort of forum rule about no links before 3 posts, so maybe next post, link your build). That way everyone else can see exactly what you have and are gunning for.

As for your specific questions:

  1. Elemental, probably. Demo and Arc are both quite elemental based, so probably them. % converted to X means that the damage is converted to X, then damage modifiers are applied (example: if you do 100 physical damage base, 25% is converted to aether, and you have +100% aether damage, you’ll do 75 physical, 25*2=50 aether per hit.) So stacking modifiers and then the associated +%damage works.

  2. Personally, I use devotions for a couple of things. a) improve OA/DA (offensive/defensive ability) if it is lacking. b) help patch those low resistances (you’ll want to aim for 80% in every main resist in ultimate, eventually). c) resistance reduction.
    Resistance reduction helps a lot. Enemies have high resists in Ultimate, and also there are plenty of very resistant enemies to fire/aether, so stacking this will increase your damage much more than just a little % damage. Rhowari Crown (the one that gives you elemental storm) is quite good for elemental RR, and Manticore is another popular one generally.

  3. A lot of people end up 50/50 in the build, because the stats are really nice and often they want something from the 50 row in each mastery. I’d say if there is something you want deep in the mastery tree, get it. (Brimstone in demo is insane for damage, even though it doesn’t spread in melee).
    As for skill point allocation, 90% points into physique is standard - allows you to wear all endgame armour, gives you DA/HP as well. Maybe a little in cunning/spirit IF you need it to wear gear. You’ll get plenty of %damage elsewhere.

  4. Yes/No. If it says “10 life leach”, or for that matter, anything that maybe says “20 <damage type here> damage” or any sort of flat damage, it will apply on anything with “% weapon damage” on. That is, basic attacks, or spells that say “x% weapon damage” in their tooltip - it will apply x% of that specified flat damage.

  5. Again, see what you can reach. Sometimes you may not have enough celestial affinities to reach a certain devotion regardless. However, I personally like going for 3 points in Obelisk of Menhir for the DA, and maybe Ulo the Keeper of the Waters for the resistances, but my opinions may not be popular.

Note: If you want ideas, I’d recommend visiting this page: [EDITED]: http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48165

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Compendium IV is a little outdated, might want to go with this http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48165

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Strange how Compendium IV is still stickied… but yes you are right. Edited my post accordingly