▧ What and why is this compendium?
Most of these builds are already included in the ”real” compendium but might be hard to find. From my experience on discord, reddit etc, most people do not even know that these build guides exists. Perhaps by moving them to a separate compendium can make these builds and guides a bit easier to find and link to.
A common thing on the forum is to hide text within ”spoiler boxes”.
To read what’s inside them, click on them.
These spoilers are marked with a ►
F.A.Q.
Beginner builds – what are they?
Items are key for making good builds in Grim Dawn (GD). As a new player, you naturally have no items, so how to make a good build that can farm items? These builds and guides can help you with that, they are kind of ”transition” builds, something you can make even with terrible RNG luck. The builds are focused around faction items, “target farmable” green Monster infrequent (MI) items with not too good rolls (target farmable means you can target a monster or area and you have high chance to get them compared to random drop legendary items). Also some blue items (epic) are used since they have much higher drop chance than legendaries.
Most of these builds also contain leveling advice, some have journals to show real life examples of builds in various stages of the progress.
Some of these builds also uses the target farmable legendary sets Krieg’s Armament and Dark One’s Gift.
But what about this or that build guide I saw on reddit / youtube?
I have limited myself to include the build guides that are posted here on this forum. The guides included have a dedicated thread and follow the “philosophies” of beginner build like focuses on faction items and easy to get monster infrequents as described above.
Patches – is the build still viable?
Patches in Grim Dawn does not work the same way as in say Path of Exile. Even if a guide is 3-4 patches old, it is still 95%-100% accurate. Given that the purpose of these build guides are to help you get a char to start doing end-game, you should not care about it being ”old” or ”outdated”. You can also just ask in the thread for that particular guide if there is some important item or skill change.
What is more relevant is if the endgame - Best in Slot (BiS) geared builds that are often presented last in these guides are updated and viable. But the leveling and budget gearing part is as mentioned 95%-100% accurate and relevant.
Build uses items with variable rolls – how can I even try to replicated those?
Green items can be very powerful and drop way more often than legendaries (purples). The presented builds are just examples, never try to get exactly those rolls of affixes. Instead, try to puzzling good greens that you have found to cover resistances and stats like offensive ability (OA) and defensive ability (DA).
A particular kind of green item type is “Monster Infrequent” (MI) which very often give very nice skill bonuses. They drop from fixed monster sources so they are pretty easy to get. Mind though, a perfect roll might take forever to get, but a perfect roll is not needed for a build to “work”. Get around 5 or so of each MI and save them in your stash. Then you combine them together with other items that you find and faction gear to cover resistances etc.
What builds are HC viable?
For me, HC success is about your own play style and playing skills. Also, I think most people start with softcore to learn about the game and builds first. Some authors here only play HC, like Stupid_Dragon so check out his builds maybe. But again, he is an experienced and good player and builder, just because he was able to pull if off will not mean that you necessarily will. Vitality casters are also a safe bet, mostly because the amount of life steal they have. Finally soldier based builds can also provide the extra defenses for HC if you are new.
Playstyles - what are they?
Personally I think the most important thing is to figure out what playstyle fit you most, what do you enjoy playing? In this compendium builds are sorted in playstyle so it will be easier for you to pinpoint what builds looks interesting for you to try out.
You can learn more about playstyles in this guide https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/99898
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[Caster] - a generic tag for casters. Here are some important sub-categories:
- [Spam caster] - have its main spell(s) as skills that scales with casting speed and have essentially no cooldown.
- [Cooldown caster] - have its main spell(s) as skills that have cooldown and thus make it ideal for kiting/“hit and run”.
- [Channeler] - a build that has to “channel” a skill to do damage. Eye of Reckoning counts as one, even though it scales with attack speed instead of casting speed.
- [2H Caster] : for any caster that uses a two-hander weapon. No cooldown Forcewave counts as one.
- [Shield Caster] : for any caster that uses a shield for whatever reason, builds based around Aegis of Menhir and cooldown Forcewave automatically count as one.
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[DW Melee] - a melee autoattack build that hits enemies with two weapons;
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[2H Melee] - a melee autoattack build that hits enemies with a two-hander;
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[Shield Melee] - a melee autoattack build that carries a shield;
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[Melee Hybrid] - a hybrid of a melee autoattack build and caster, implies that a good chunk of damage is going to be from other sources, like cooldown spells and pseudo pets;
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[DW Ranged] - a ranged autoattack build that hits enemies with two weapons;
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[2H Ranged] - a ranged autoattack build that hits enemies with a two-hander;
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[Pet] - summoners and the kind; There are two kinds of pets, those that scale with pet bonuses and those that scales with player bonuses (pseudo-pets) often when we talk about pets in GD we refer to pets that scales with pet bonuses.
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[Skater] – Vire might skill, you skate back and forth dealing damage and activate procs. Fast movement means you can be quite efficient farming totems and materials for crafting.
I got stuck - what should I do?
You can read the other guides linked in the bottom of this page. You can also make a forum account and ask the author in the guide you are trying to follow. Also make sure to read all the comments in the guide thread, there might be others who have asked the same question.
You can also join the official discord https://discord.com/invite/8Dr8mge and ask there - try to be specific and explain what guide you are following and what you are trying to do and are having problems with.
▧ Beginner build guides:
The builds are sorted in playstyles as explained above.
The formatting is as follows:
- Link to guide thread (main damage type)(class)(author)
Here are the different classes (a class = two masteries) source:
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Masteries
Spam caster
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Beginner’s/budget acid Sentinel (Acid)(Sentinel)(Nery)
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Beginner’s/budget PRM Mage Hunter (Elemental - Fire/Cold/Lightning)(Mage Hunter)(Nery)
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Beginner’s Nephrite Spellbinder (Aether)(Spellbinder)(Stupid_Dragon)
Cooldown caster
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Beginner’s vitality caster Conjurer guide (Vitality)(Conjurer)(Nery)
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Beginner’s/budget vitality RE Oppressor + Cabalist version (Vitality)(Oppressor/Cabalist)(Nery)
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Beginner’s/budget lightning Vindicator (caster version) (Lightning)(Vindicator)(Nery)
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Trozan’s Ice Shards - A cold Warlock Beginner Guide (Cold)(Warlock)(Monceaux)
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Ruinous Apostle - chaos caster (Chaos)(Pyromancer)(Evil_Baka)
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Semi-beginner target-farmable Outcast Spellbinder (Aether)(Spellbinder)(AlkamosHater)
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Beginner Storm Box + Stun Jacks Purifier from scratch (Lightning)(Purifier)(teppieteptep)
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Beginner’s Sparky Elementalist (Lightning)(Elementalist)(Stupid_Dragon)
2H Caster
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Budget Physical Forcewave Warlord (Physical)(Warlord)(The_Coyote)
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Beginners Phantasmal blades Spite Blademaster (Pierce)(Blademaster)(supertolik)
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Full Faction Gear Ritualist (Vitality)(Ritualist)(AlexGoldFish_322)
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Beginner’s Phantasmal Blades Reaper (Vitality)(Reaper)(Stupid_Dragon)
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Pure Soldier Beginner Forcewave 1-75 Leveling Guide (Physical)(Soldier)(sp00ky)
Shield Caster
- Fire Shield Throw Paladin build from scratch (Fire)(Paladin)(Ulvar1)
Channeler
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Beginner’s Scorching Ray Templar (Fire)(Templar)(Stupid_Dragon)
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The Rookie Bloodsworn - A chaos Warlock Beginner Guide (Chaos)(Warlock)(Monceaux)
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Budget Physical AAR Battlemage (Physical)(Battlemage)(The_Coyote)
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Drain Essense Apostate – SSF journal and guide (Aether)(Apostate)(Ulvar1)
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Spin2win Shieldbreaker from A to Z (Fire)(Shieldbreaker)(Nery & Ulvar1)
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Beginner’s Vitality Ignaffar Deceiver (Vitality)(Deceiver)(Salvor)
DW Ranged
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Beginner’s/budget DW pierce ranged Tactician (Pierce)(Tactician)(Nery)
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Budget Lightning DW Ranged Purifier (Lightning)(Purifier)(Nery)
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Budget dw ranged pierce Paladin (Pierce)(Paladin)(The_Coyte)
2H Ranged
- Beginner’s/budget lightning Vindicator (2H ranged version) (Lightning)(Vindicator)(Nery)
DW Melee
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Beginner’s/budget DW cold melee Trickster (Cold)(Trickster)(Nery)
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DW cold infiltrator for beginners – build diary (Cold)(Infiltrator)(Nery)
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Budget cold DW melee Blademaster (Cold)(Blademaster)(Nery)
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Budget cold DW melee Saboteur - the journey! (Cold)(Saboteur)(Nery)
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Beginner’s Forgotten Blademaster (Pierce)(Blademaster)(Stupid_Dragon)
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Beginner’s Virulent Dervish (Acid)(Dervish)(Stupid_Dragon)
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American dream: from 0 to beating endgame (Pierce)(Blademaster)(banana_peel)
DW Hybrid
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Beginner’s Shadow Strike Infiltrator (Cold)(Infiltrator)(banana_peel)
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Beginner’s Phantom Infiltrator (Cold)(Infiltrator)(Stupid_Dragon)
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BYOB (Build Your Own Breaker) (Cold)(Spellbreaker)(Xervous)
2H Melee
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Beginner’s Apex Death Knight (Physical)(Death Knight)(Stupid_Dragon)
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Beginner’s Physical Two-Hand melee Blade Arc Witchblade (Physical)(Witchblade)(Nery)
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Voldrakian Cadence Warder – SSF journal and guide (Physical)(Warder)(Ulvar1)
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Beginner’s 2H melee Lucius Battlemage (Aether)(Battlemage)(Nery)
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Beginner’s Lightning Warder (Lightning)(Warder)(Stupid_Dragon)
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Beginner’s Fire Blade Arc Commando (Fire)(Commando)(teppieteptep)
Shield Melee
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Blitz Krieg - A SSF, HC-Viable, New-Player-Friendly Warlord (Physical)(Warlord)(Ceno)
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Beginner’s pre-Krieg Death Knight (Physical)(Death Knight)(Stupid_Dragon)
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Budget S&B Physical Battlemage (Physical)(Warlord)(The_Coyote)
Pets
- SSF Budget Bleed & Chaos Pet Conjurer (Pets)(Conjurer)(Ulvar1)
Skater
- Vanquisher Fire Sentinel, semi-beginner friendly and practically farmable (Fire)(Sentinel)(Udars)
Build collections
Some authors have made a compendium of their beginner builds with additional information and tips.
More Guides etc. (click me)
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RektByProtoss leveling guides for every mastery. YouTube video playlist. Give good and detailed advice on the “best” ways to level each single mastery up to “mid-game”. He has ton of SSF (self solo found) build videos/journals that you can watch and learn from. He is a streamer on twitch and also plays HC.
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Official Game Guide a must read for a beginner.
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Unofficial Game Guide from Reddit, by Divisnn contains more in depth information than the official game guide.
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Advanced mechanics guide by Nery et. al. link to external source, very detailed and advanced. Good to consult later in your “career”.
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Acronyms and Abbreviations Thread This is a must to bookmark and read to learn the Grim Dawn jargong.
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Grimtools very useful tool, you can plan a build, upload and share yours, check the important quests and shrines you have missed on a character, and much more.
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Monster Totems Video guide about farming monster totems.
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Farming Routes/Farming Guides Compilation Guide about how to get materials and generic farming in main campaign mostly, perfect for beginners.
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Builds types and styles in GD Guide about various playstyles in the game.
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Customizing Hotkeys for easier gameplay Guide with tips on how to set up your hotkeys and skillbar.
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Required Stats from Equipment during Levelling Generic leveling guide with focus on gear and stats. A good side resource.
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Component Setups before Endgame Generic leveling guide with focus on components.
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Guide: Recommended stats for end game Guide with focus on what stats you need for end-game and how to get them.
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Quests - how to do - famdom wiki Guide for basically all quests.
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Actual Resist Reduction formula guide that is explaining how resistance reduction works.
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Turbo-charge your auto-attacks with default attack replacers and WPS guide about what “default attack replacers” are and work.
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How to - Move your saves from Steam cloud to Grim Dawn's default location. how to stop using steam cloud save that is notorious for be bugged and can reset your progress several days when you get desync issue.