[B31] Handmaiden of Dreeg (Witch Hunter - Poison DoT Skirmisher)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
21

So after playing and tweaking this build for awhile I think I’ve come up with a pretty good take on it. It blows through BoC and SoT with ease, nemesis bosses are no problem, Edge of Reality is clear, the only thing I haven’t managed is to take down ultimate Mog but I haven’t really put in a serious attempt yet.

For awhile I went with a tweaked version of Knibbles take on the build with 50 in occultist and 25 in nightblade and the damage was great. The only problem was it was extremely squishy even with maxed resists and some mobs would just instagib me which wasn’t very fun.

To solve this I decided to put 50 points in nightblade and go with almost all defensive devotions and ended up with this:

No gear: http://grimcalc.com/build/t8ifQR
With gear: http://grimcalc.com/build/4OPVvy

The difference in kill speeds is pretty much negligible but the difference in survivability is practically night and day. Pox + Guardian Eye is really the only offensive constellation I needed, I think everything else just ended up being overkill. The points in Ring of Steel and Blade Barrier are also well worth it, RoS pretty much gets used off cd and lets me take advantage of all the health regen I have and Blade Barrier is a great panic button and once you get enough Guardian Eyes going you can do things like wade into a pack and pop Barrier and watch the Eyes just destroy everything.

Anyways, I’m sure there are still improvements to be made with the devotions and everything so I’m all ears if anyone has any suggestions. I just thought I’d throw it out since this has been by far my favorite build to play.

22

Just got to 50 with this build, which incidentally is the first 50 i have, and I really enjoy this. I get all the fun I was having with the Blademaster, but with the poison/acid dmg it is more survivable for me.

I have a lot of gear farming and such so I can start elite.
I do not have a image, but i believe with the stuff I have and Auras, etc I am around 1400/1500 OA and 4300dps. I do not recall the Acid/Poison % at the moment but I know acid is lower than the poison % for me.

Just wanted to say thanks, and I hope you find the gear you seek and continue to update the thread.

23

Citrus, Wham: I’m glad you guys are enjoying the build and finding your own tweaks to it.

I have also been fine-tuning it and have gone through several iterations since my last edits. I’ll post an update soon.

24

A couple of suggestions I have for you:

  1. Is it necessary to max out nightblade tree given the point investments at the end? Just for execution and nightfall. I suggest the 20+ points are better spent in the occultist tree or throw in Ring of Steel (additional proc chance for a devotion) and/or raise other skills.

Generally, i don’t like to max out both trees of my classes. Usually 50 + 35 is the most i go for.

2 You may want to pick up some devotions that focus on defences e.g. crane. Without a shield, this build will be very dependent on gearing and also requires. I already think resistances are going to be problem in ultimate without legendary/empowered epics.

3 why not pick up blade barrier? Great emergency “oh shoot” button. It has an offensive aspect as well if the enemy is foolish enough to knock you when it’s on.

4 I would not rely on Shadow Strike for proc, it is more of a mobility skill (and time saving skill) imho. Instead, we can use ring of steel (given that most of time, we’re surrounded by enemies) - with an added ability to freeze enemies in place.

5 I prefer possession for the physical damage reduction and the passive damage buff.

Edit: 6 Given that poison damage is dependent on spirit, wouldn’t it be wise to allocate attributes like this: 1:1 physique/spirit or 2:1:1 p/c/s?

Great build so far, keep up the good work. This build begins to shine around lv 35+

25

Hey Caedas, fyi,

I just posted a (kind of) variation to your build there
A Caster/melee hybrid, relying on Poison DoT as well, but less focused on going Close Combat.

Best regards,

26

Build updated with major changes. See first post.

27

Hi I am lvl 34 atm and liking it.
Tried the caster version that another posted first but found was in melee often so i made the switch.

Im new overall and so just curious is venomlash that you say to equip just a random drop or where can i farm for this item?

and is rovers best spot for rep poison gear?

Thank you!

28

Venomlash is a legendary item. Random drop (or reward from end-game quest) as long as you’re level 50 or over.

They are fairly easy to obtain by trading with other players.

29

Added a basic gameplay video.
Added Fabius video.

30

In Grim Dawn, trading = cheating. Farming your own gear to make build = Achievement. :wink:

31

OK thank you guys for the help!

32

another question I have on where to put my points.
Atm im lvl 38 w/ 50 nb mastery and 32 occ mastery.
1point in most skills besides the dw procs on nb.

I have to pick up nightfall and execution w/ next lvl or 2 but after that should i got for 50 occ mastery and possesion or work on leveling like blood of dreeg or soleals witchfire?

33

As you may have read, I obtained Possession very late in my build.
While you’re still on Normal/Elite difficulty you can survive without the benefits of it. I would recommend you work on Blood of Dreeg/Aspect/Pneumatic/NJE for a while to make life and leveling easier. You don’t have to max Solael’s right now, either. Finish off the Occultist mastery, later. Getting Belgothian’s/Amarasta’s/Whirling Death to 5 ranks each for the 20% chance used is also recommended to ensure your devotion procs go off regularly.

34

I lucked out and chose NB/Occult just because it sounded cool and I always pick rogues for RPGs. I made it to 25 before stumbling on the guide so I’ll start from there.

Initially I had a build that ran w/ solael’s from the occult side and then basically invested most everything else in NB active skills. It was fun and normal mode lets you do whatever you want basically, but I wanted to get into veteran and above so I respecced and started going for the gear.

Devotion-wise I went scorpion first since I didn’t know maxing out poison was so good at the time.

So starting w/ the respec @ 25 I had to get a mark of dreeg for the poison volley active. I farmed depraved sanctuary (iirc) on veteran w/ just the blink strike, witchfire and passive on-hit skills and the self-heal from NB. It was hard and I felt like I had way less to do in combat besides blink in, auto attack a few times and hope scorpion procc’ed then run away as the cultist miniboss shotgunned my face w/ spells. Eventually got the marks and started gazing.

Mark of dreeg’s active skill is a pretty big power spike. I cruised along on normal until I got to the guy you farm mistborn talisman from. By that time I was about mid 30’s and heavily investing in occultist “bottom bar” points. I was rushing possession for a little survivability in veteran normal and b/c I didn’t read the guide right when it said “finish NB to nightfall if you want to do the dps…” No biggie as we’ll see in a sec.

I had started focusing on +poison dmg/duration gear and was in the +300% range by mid 30’s. Rolling w/ both the self-heals from NB and Occult, blink in, poison volley, melee until scorpion procs, volley, blink, rinse & repeat. Things started melting. I threw a gallstone on my non-dreeg weapon for a little extra poison and began farming for mistscape.

It took me probably 20-30 runs in the troll cave to get the pattern to drop, then another couple hours farming broken hills, and underground transport for the mutagenics and claws I needed for the patten. Once I completed the pattern, the power spike was comparable to when I got the mark of dreeg slotted. Suddenly single target DPS went crazy. 1k crits swinging in melee, poisons ticking, blink critting for mid 1k’s, poison nova doing work. All in veteran.

Picked up rat and zombie in the constellations by this point and now I’m 40 and pretty handily wrecking most things. The playstyle at this point is still somewhat hit/fade, but only on bosses or multi-star packs. Everything else can be face tanked and dies quickly.

Great guide so far!

35

Thanks for sharing your experience, Choonsey.

20-30 runs in Smuggler’s Pass? Ouch. That’s dedication!

Your’re absolutely correct in stating that Mark of Dreeg’s granted power and Mistborn Talisman are both milestones in damage potential. The other nice thing about Mistborn’s Troll Rage is that you can attach Acid Spray/Scorpion Sting/Guardian’s Gaze directly to it for regular proc occurrence.

Feel free to pick up Eye of the Guardian devotion while you’re leveling up. Having all three (Scorpion, Eye, Manticore) procs activating in combat is quite nice. I suppose it is my failure to mention so in the guide, but the devotion order list is flexible. Until you have the points to go after Abomination’s Tainted Eruption you can use other tools, then respec later.

36

WUT.

That’s a game changer!

I think I was too blasted from the farm sessions to realize I could assign the devo procs to that ability. Man I can’t wait to get home now.

37

Thanks maybe you could mention this is your guide

38

Your words compelled me. Done!

39

Does it matter if I go Kymon or Death’s Vigil?

40

Not particularly.