Build Issues, need assist

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Soooo…right out the gate I will say that I have played up to level 40 in Grim Dawn and played to around 30ish in Titan Quest so I get a general idea of how the stats, skills, classes, ect work. That being said I am having major issues where it feels like it counts the most. Here are a few things.

Devotions. I don’t know if the scale of the devotion page is just intimidating, or what, but things like “Spear of the Heavens” with that whopping 180% increase to both lightning, and aether damage, while seems nice, also impractical.
As a Shaman and Arcanist I can see SOME use out of it. Mostly, the electric side though due to Shaman being amazing for both electric and bleeding builds.
Though then you have “Tempest,” “Wraith” and “Tsunami” that bring the Lightning up to a good 348% increase. Yet you are bringing the Cold and Aether up along with it. While nice, it raises the question on Elemental increases. Is this a full up on the Lightning, Cold, and Fire all at once? Meaning 100 in each at a 25% to elemental goes from 300 split to a 375 split? Or is the Elemental increase split down so 75% increase only effects each of the 3 elements by 25% cause I know if I had 75 flat elemental damage it would do 25 to each element.

Those are all just thoughts and questions I would love some answers for if anyone can but more than anything I am trying to figure out how to be comfortable with where I am going in the game. I keep having an issue where I become too squish, never failing to die to a boss at least once even if I can deal a ton of damage OR I can stand there for days, but days is what it takes to kill the boss, even getting to the point of 15 minuet stand offs with normal mobs. This also tends to happen right at the end what I will call the first act, “Warden’s Cellar.” I should note I only play on veteran difficulty as well, was this a mistake for a new player?

Overall every class brings a lot to the table, but also leaves me a bit dazed and confused. Aether, Vitality, and Chaos seem hard to focus on damage wise. Nightblade feels like the only option for cold damage, but not really hard focused into it. Solder seems the most straight forward and frankly, comfortable to me as I have always been one to like my sword and board. Shaman is appealing because of the lightning and how I have always been drawn to it, but Shaman seems to rely on two handed weapons more than anything else giving me a hard time trying to figure out my “place” as it were. With all that said…

TLDNR

Warder is the class I want to shoot for. Lightning and Physical damage priority with sword and board fighting style. Retaliation damage is also welcome as it is just added damage. (I cant put links in my post yet so all I can do is give the build code) build/OtypD1d (at the end of the link) is about the best I could come up with. I don’t want a cookie cutter build to copy I want to understand various things to help me make something like this work.

2

75 flat elemental is 25/25/25.
+75% elemental is +75%/+75%/+75%

You maybe got the general idea how the stuff works, but it seems you don’t feel the game balance yet. That’s your main issue, and that’s why your concerns on devotions and classes sound funny :slight_smile:

Also, S&B in this game is an advanced build, generally not recommended for beginners. Maybe it’s slightly better in 1.0.0.5, but won’t guarantee anything. So shoot for warder, just the 2hander one.

3

Yeah, there are the class system and devotions of grim dawn are not exactly straight forward… There is a lot of combo damages like the lightning and aether on the spear of heavens, although it is rare that you will use BOTH lightning and aether, it gives you the option to use it if you’re using lightning OR aether. Arcanists have a lot of Aether damage support. Vitality is probably the weakest as far as skill wise, but it seems to be all over gear… Chaos is highly supported by the occultist class.

A warder is a good choice of a first build. They are very tanky and can gear easily. Little more easily if you go physical over lightning though… S&B as retaliation build actually works pretty well (some difficulty with ranged casters though…that is a small % of the mobs though). S&B lightning builds will be more difficult especially if you try to mix in retaliation too. Although grim dawn has a lot of different options, it is “typically” best to just focus on 1 or two… The “jack of all trades” build…or even jack of multiple trades, tend to be a bit weaker. However, this is your game and only you know what is fun for you, so do what makes you happy! Normal/Veteran mode is fairly easy so you can usually get through it with minor issue with most any build. Elite will become a bit harder and Ultimate will definitely destroy you if you haven’t figured things out yet. Sounds like you have a decent understanding of the game, but, as stupid dragon said, the feel isn’t there yet. That will come with time and playing. So just do what you find fun!

Your build is a decent starter. I do see a few things you might want to looking. Your main issue may be AeO. Storm totem will help so if you want to go that route, get that leveled ASAP or you’ll find your clear speed is going to be really slow… You may struggle with bosses are first as ST doesn’t do enough damage for them. Savagery will help. max that and stormed touch before tendency of the boar. I might even skip Boar and put those point in field command/squad tactics instead. You have a lot of 1 pointers… That usually isn’t a good idea. Blade arc, (BA) zoltan’s tech (ZT), fighting spirit (FS), unless they are just passives and you have +skill gear to increase them. ZT is what is called a weapon pool skill (WPS) and is activated off an autoattack (typically your normal attack). However, you’re using savagery which is an autoattack replacer, so that is good! Some people will use BA without the transmitter as their main again. BA is not an autoattack replacer and will NOT trigger ZT. Still at 1 point, you only have an 8% change to proc it. Most people will raise that to lv 9 where it maxes at 25%…even getting it to 20% would be ok… The buffs in the mogdrogen pack skill line aren’t all needed. Heart of the wild is the best HP buff in the game, so maxing that is great. Mogdrogen’s pack, itself is ok… you don’t have a lot of energy draining skills, so the extra energy regen probably isn’t need. Putting those points in Wendigo’s totem (WT) will help a lot more in keeping you alive. WT will help keep you alive as it is an awesome heal! Both you and the monster do have to be in the range though, but as it looks like your plan is to get in their face, that shouldn’t be in issue. Oaken skin (OS) is good for retaliation builds, but you can the other stats can usually be covered else where. There are better area’s to spend those points…

I keep looking at the build, but struggle coming up with a good suggestion for a S&B build as I’ve never played a S&B build. So I don’t really know what works great for them…but did I do have enough feel for the game to know what won’t work… You will after playing some too. The great thing about grim dawn is you can respect your skills and devotions to something else if what you’re doing doesn’t work. You can’t change your attribute and mastery points though (without a “trainer” program) so be careful with how you spend those… Typically putting most points into physique is good and saving 20-30 points towards the end to see if you need to invest in cunning/spirit (typically spirit) for gear once you get to the end game. Just try some things out and see how they work! One thing you may find is they build won’t really shine until later game when you can get the gear and you have more skill points… Early on, just try go focus on a few skills (and passives if especially if you have + skill gear). Don’t try to get all your skills early by investing only a few points into each one. The main attack skills you use are meant to be invested in so invest in them before moving one…

Another tip…you the components you find along the way… Some of them, especially ones for weapons are very powerful early on. Gives you a change to do some damage while you invest in your skills and build them to take over…

Good luck and welcome to Grim Dawn! If you do struggle, posting your current build is a great way to get some help. Usually much easier to help people while leveling tweaking things here and there then their final build before they even start playing…

4

It’s bad idea to focus on BOTH physical and lightning. You either focus on physical, or on lightning. I advice focusing on pure physical for “sword and board” build.
I mean the one, who will actually swing his weapon and kill enemies with his damage. With buffs to Cadence in 1.0.0.5, it’s completely viable (although, i’d used Witchblade for that).
For retaliation, there should be specific build. Your retaliation will be quite weak in “combat” build, and attack damage will be weak in “retaliation” build.

If you want to focus on lightning damage still, choose 2-h build (melee or ranged).

5

I have learned as much on the trying to focus on one thing. Lightning and shield is about all I REALLY want but I am having a rough time figuring that out.

Overall thank you all for the words though another question just plagued me in regards to my friends build.

Witchblade has “Solaels Witchfire” and the add on “Consencrated Blade” If I were to use “Cadance” With that, would the 15% conversion apply to ALL physical damage, and increases, or just to base damage before increases.

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The conversion happens after the skill bonuses are applied but before equipment bonuses.

7

So any devotions that increase the physical damage, for instance, would those fall in the former or ladder?

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You could do this with Warder or Elementalist. I think the gear support for Elementalist is probably better. You get more defense from your shield as Warder.

This would probably work as a base build:
http://grimcalc.com/build/0pGIW1E
You will get extra points from gear eventually so you can redistribute them however you like. I haven’t played this as a lightning build, so there is probably room for improvement.