Are damage Aura builds viable anymore?

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
1

So back in the day you could attach attack devotions to damage auras and things were sweet, but now days you can’t.

I created a build a while back build around 5 damage auras which was great, but I was thinking about the viability of one of these builds in FG with the Oathkeeper class to use the Guardians with Eye of Reckoning as a way of dealing additional damage while the Guardians and Aura of Censure weaken everything around me.

But would it actually work well or is it going to be difficult to pull off.

I through this together in GrimCalc:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZe77DY2
I have no idea how to spec an Oathkeeper so obviously this isn’t a final build, but I haven’t played Grim Dawn in a long time, so I have no idea if Aura builds in the current game are viable or not?

2

That was for one patch only, and it was a bug. It was not supposed to be allowed.

3

Don’t think there is any viable damage aura build, nor will there be one. It’s against Crate’s design philosophy to have a build where you can beat the end-game content without needing to click anything in battles.

edit: then I notice you did mention other skills for additional damage. Then I think it’s totally viable. But then you will need to attach multiple devotion skills to multiple skills, and you will be using a lot of skills. And then it just ends up being like using non-aura-damaging build.

4

I’m pretty sure there have been a number of recent auramancer builds. Mostly via Inquisitor Aura of Censure + supporting items. Some DW and some S+B.

So yes = viable. Devotions get attached to seal and other stuff. Probably needs to be a Paladin (OK +inquis for censure)

5

Yeah my intention is to use the new mastery for damage abilities and debuffs while I use the 4 damaging auras to increase damage.

From the looks of what I’ve selected it will be a whirlwind aura/retaliation build where you just spin around making things very dead. Issue I see though is very poor single target damage potentially…

6

Some pet builds work like this. You just walk around and everything dies. So if it’s against Crate’s philosophy, why do pet builds exist? Sure, some of them require you to press a button or two, but so do aura builds.

Example: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2dqKz9V
You don’t really have to press buttons. 100% RR without doing anything (I believe it’s even 130%+).

7

Yes, you do. Casting all those buff are still considered doing something. You are blurring line. Show me a build where you walk around without needing to activate anything at all besides aura and summon permanent pet. I specifically said “without needing to click anything in the battle” and here you are changing what I have said and trying to argue my point is wrong. LOL.

8

I never said you’re wrong nor even tried to prove that. You should learn to read.

9

You are the one who should learn how to read. I said it’s against Crate’s philosophy and you said it’s not.

There’s no point in arguing with people like you. Whatever floats your boats man.

10

You can have 7 damage auras active at once with right class choice/gear choice.
I use nightblade/inquisitor combo and use only 1 skill shadowstrike

11

My build basically uses skills if you want to fasten your clearing. Other than that, they’re just there to fill the bar. :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Yeah taking more skills will speed up your clear time most def.
But I wanted it to be as close to do nothing build as I could get :slight_smile:

13

I didn’t mean to speed it up by damage, but RR and DA reduction. :stuck_out_tongue: But yeah, some of these skills do deal quite a lot of damage.

14

Did you have a grim tools of that?
Is it Censure/veil with Tainted Ruby, Horns of Ekket’Zul, Ignaffar chest and 2 Seals of Blades?

15

Those are the 7 but I don’t use horns of ekket’zul in my build as gaze of empyrjon adds more damage to censure.

At work so don’t have access to the grim tools

16

So I’ve now got 2 additional Aura based builds, although these use way more abilities to synergise.

Got my 2H Winter King build, using Winter King’s Might and Flash freeze as my primary attacks while Veil of Shadow debuffs: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/8NKy7nOV

And then my other build is a Vitality aura Deceiver using Radaggan’s Folly which is pretty tanky currently and pretty passive as well, basically just casting CoF, BP, SoC and Doom Bolt:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2p48Ye2

Both of these feel pretty damn viable, but they’re a far cry from a pure Aura damage build…