Brute Force

Grim Dawn Ideas and Feedback
1

I think Brute Force could use a buff. I believe it was already buffed recently, but it’s still not enough.

Currently it’s the 2H melee only passive that provides 58 flat lightning and +72% physical/IT damage.

58 flat damage is quite huge compared with other flat sources in the game, but for 2H it’s somewhat meh. It’s relativity thing. Something like Reaver’s Claw has base average damage of 88, so say 36 flat from Fire Strike looks big (40% of base damage). Stonefist rebuke has 315 base average damage, and 58 flat next to it looks much smaller (only 16% of base damage).

The level at which it would had been impressive starts with 100 flat or so. That said, 2H are typically not about flat stacking at all, because the magnitudes of flat are balanced around 1H. 2H loves attack speed despite the penalty, 2H loves %damage bonuses and high %weapon damage, crits as well.

+72% physical damage is also kinda low. Look at Temper. Temper has +100% physical damage. Available to all builds.

Generally, if an ability has such a strict limitation as “2H Melee only” then it is expected that it’s bonuses are of magnitude that make sense for 2H builds but too OP for everything else. A magnitude that is just quite a bit above the good for 1H doesn’t fit it. Currently Brute Force is just a transient towards the Feral Hunger.

A pitfall to avoid would be making the skill too specialized. E.g. now it provides flat lightning and %physical. Both Ultos build and 2H physical are among the most consistent 2H builds out there, so it’s possible that they will be made stronger while every other 2H build bites the dust. With this very reason I suggest to switch flat lightning to flat physical instead, because at the very least it could be converted into anything.

Another pitfall is to make Brute Force so good that every 2H melee build should have Shaman. I’d say it’s already like this though, mostly because Shaman has Feral Hunger, Wendigo Totem and HotW, while other classes have to struggle with both squeezing the most damage and finding sources of sustain and durability.

Any ideas & critique is welcome. May the Brute Force be with you.

2

Id love to see a transmuter on brute forse that make it work with 2H ranged weapons.
BTW do flat dmg on fire strike is added to weapon dmg or its just a separate sourse?

3

From fire strike yes, from static strike/brimstone no. Only wps will increase those.

4

While it might be cool gameplay-wise, from “lore” perspective i fail to see how someones “brute force” would help him getting better at firing a rifle ;).

5

By applying brute force to the butt of the rifle a skilled marksman can increase bullets velocity. =) I dunno if its possible to electrolute bullets by brute force rubbing :hmhm:

6

I like the idea of changing the flat lightning to physical. I understand why it is the way it is now, but physical would still make plenty of sense and make the skill more attractive overall.

7

I see no new transmuter and no changes to skill line in grimtool expansion prewiev :sad: No love for poor Shamans-atackers?

8

I agree, little buff would make it interesting. Right now there is no little use for dropping more than one point in it. Making it add flat physical damage is a good idea since Lightning builds got plenty of flat damage and conversion already.

9

It’s just an expansion update, new classes and devotion, next patch changes are not included.

The worst idea ever :smiley:

10

Why? It makes a lot of sense. Two-handed lightning builds utilize Ultos, Stormcaller’s Pact and Eye of The Storm aura, so they have plenty of lightning damage already (I have about 4k-10k on my druid for example). Making it flat physical means that it will still be more than ok for Ultos builds (since it has quite a bit of physical as well) but it’s gonna be more useful for two-handed shaman based builds that don’t utilize Lightning.

11

Because never can be too plenty of flat lightning :slight_smile: Conversion has low efficiency.

12

How is 4k-10k not enough? Plus there are two modifiers on Storm Touched and Stormcaller’s pact that have % chance of + % lightning damage.

13

There’s no such thing as enough damage.

14

It’s not like 2H Lightning builds atm have or are doing “too much” damage. Swapping Brute Force’s damage to Physical is going to make 2H Lightning builds worse for no reason.

Physical damage is one of the least resisted damage types in the game so it doesn’t need even more support for it when there’s already a good amount in Soldier and Demolitionist.

If I were to change Brute Force, i’de move the Internal Trauma duration on it somewhere else and replace it with something else on Brute Force like flat Electrocute damage or more flat Lightning damage.

15

Yes it is…“Being able to kill mob with acceptable speed”( it is relative though

16

Different people have different opinions about how much damage is enough and what speed is acceptable.

17

And this is just your assumption :stuck_out_tongue:

18

Sure, but I keep hope in my heart :slight_smile:

19

As of now, brute force is a 1-point wonder for any build. There’s no reason in just changing its flat dmg to phys, it will remain 1-point wonder, hurting lightning builds a little. Damage should be increased, or some other bonuses should be added.

20

What about a transmuter that makes the passive and the WPS work with shields?