Hi everyone!
I’m starting this thread to document my journey with my current character. To be clear: This is not a guide in the traditional sense. It’s more of a blog or a walkthrough journal. Some of you might remember the old Diablo 2 forum days where players would document their PvM journeys and post regular updates—that’s exactly the vibe I’m going for here.
When I look at the existing guides on this forum, they are absolutely “non plus ultra.” I honestly can’t compete with those high-end masterpieces—huge respect to all the creators!
I was heavily inspired by this blog/guide: [Caster] Beginner's Nephrite Spellbinder Seeing a Spellbinder in the Top 20 made me realize I’ve never actually played one. I want to provide an “update” on how a leveling build for a Spellbinder looks today and show that it isn’t much worse than the standard “cookie-cutter” beginner builds. Since I don’t want to clutter Nery’s thread with my own monologue, I’m starting my own.
The Goal: Play an Aether Caster Spellbinder using only simple gear, Monster Infrequents (MIs), and Faction gear. The endgame goal is to defeat Lokkar, clear SR 26, and beat all Roguelike Dungeons.
Why Calidor’s Tempest (CT)? Originally, I wanted to play Albrecht’s Aether Ray (AAR). However, I quickly realized that AAR isn’t significantly stronger than CT—at least not before you have the specific endgame gear to support it. CT felt so smooth during leveling that I just decided to stick with it.
My Journey So Far:
Phase 1: The Standard Arcanist Start The beginning was standard: Arcanist leveling using OFF (Olexra’s Flash Freeze) and focusing on Fire Damage. “Greater Fireblast” (from the Searing Ember component) carried me into the late 40s.
- Skills: Reckless Power, Mental Alacrity, and Devastation for boss-killing support.
- Devotions: Quill → Scholar’s Light → Rhowan’s Crown (for fast Elemental RR).
- Early Setup: Spellbinder, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Strategy: Scale Fire % damage and stay mobile.
Phase 2: Respec to Calidor’s Tempest (Aether Focus) As soon as I reached Ashes of Malmouth and could buy the appropriate Aether off-hand, I respecced. I dropped OFF, put the points into CT, and shifted all scaling to Aether damage. I also adjusted my devotions.
Devotion Priority List:
- Widow (Arcane Bomb) – Absolute #1 priority for Resistance Reduction (RR).
- Sailor’s Guide
- Scholar’s Light
- Raven (The rest follows on the way to the endgame setup. Note: Raven needs to be respecced later to free up points).
End of Normal Campaign Setup: Spellbinder, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
My Progression Logic: I play through the full Normal campaign, focusing only on finding the right damage types and basic MIs (no heavy grinding). Then, I hit Elite Act 1 just for Devil’s Crossing reputation and extra devotion points before heading straight to Ultimate. In Ultimate, I rush the campaign first, get the malmouth resistance rep up and then circle back for all side quests, skill points, and attribute points. That’s when I start the actual farm for better MIs and gear optimization.
Normal State
Current Status: Ultimate Difficulty
I am currently fighting my way toward the Necropolis on Ultimate.
- Damage: 87k Paper DPS.
- Performance: Trash mobs die in 1-2 hits. For Elites and Bosses, I use a combination of Devastation, facetanking with Mirror of Ereoctes, and damage cycling.
Current Gear and Setup: Spellbinder, Level 83 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I’ll keep this thread updated with my progress, gear evolution, and my first attempts at Lokkar. Thanks for following along!