Arcanist + Shaman or Occultist?

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hi all. I was trying a Druid build last night, but I didn’t get far enough to actually get Shaman yet. So far I’m having fun with PRM, so I’m wondering if I should tinker with the build.

Would it be better to do Shaman for Wind Devil/Raging Tempest and Mogdrogen’s Pact, or Occultist for Curse of Frailty/Vulnerability and Eye of Dreeg?

Both options give a debuff for elemental resistance, and both provide health regen in some form.

Any advice for which might be the better “off mastery”?

Thanks!

2

Occultist /10char

3

Thanks. Any particular reasons?

I’ve used one or two of your builds too. Pretty fun!

4

YW

Well CoF is more newbie friendly, having the OA of Blood of Dreeg is valuable and it gives you 12% Physical resistance through aspect of Guardian

Btw for PRM i’d recommend Sorcerer

5

Hmm, thanks. I’ll look into that too before I have to decide.

Do you have a suggested PRM Sorcerer build? I don’t see one in the compendium that lists PRM as a skill.

6

For me it’s not obvious that Warlock is clearly better. I’d take ability to do damage while kiting (Wind Devil) over anything Occultist offers, esp. since certain someone claimed that PRM is more of an aether skill and investing into elemental is a waste.

7

The oft mentioned issue of druid is that for almost any given build there’s another mastery combination that does it better. Druid happens across crit damage in abundance but without any unique source of -%RR or flat OA bonuses can’t get much out of its crits in the absence of absurd greens.

Ultos druid is an exception in its niche of surviving gladiator crucible better than most other ultos builds.

On the topic of wind devils: their damage is pitiful by default, how the AI focuses on tagging as many enemies as possible with the RR debuff just makes this worse.

Warlock has OA, unconditional hp regen, physical resist and a big -%RR spell regardless of what route you’re going down.

8

I vote for occultist.

  • Curse of Frailty is easy to use and can amplify late game dmg.
  • Can switch elemental to play aether by Decree of Aldritch
  • Can switch elemental to play pure chaos by Blood Orb of Ch’thon
  • If get bored of PRM, can play AAR caster or Pet style.
9

Thanks for the advice everyone. So much to learn about these builds and how the masteries work (or don’t work) together!

10

if you just want more hp then go for shaman! :rolleyes: